#like the reds and blacks are all on separate layers???

[witchtrix]

an old anthy and utena piece i found that i never finished! it's very big so please right click for the full view! ☆ platforms: https://linktr.ee/witchtrix ☆

[sweetnans]

Pairing: Fem reader/Bakugo Katsuki. Tw: Mention of injuries. Some angst with happy ending.

You turned on the TV, lately it was the only thing that could get you out of your head after you (mostly you) and your (ex) boyfriend decided it was better to go separate ways. Gladly, you sat in awe when you watched the main character of your favorite reality show (a guilty pleasure that only Katsuki knew about). You were very attracted by the fights, the plots, the drama, and the challenges.

The male character was about to kiss his enemy, the one and only that sabotage his new cabain made of leaves and branches when the Tv went all black, then the news started.

The helicopter was flying above a big villain who was making the hell of a mess downtown. Dozens of heroes were fighting with their quirks and abilities, trying to put it down, but it seemed like the fight was just in the beginning, and that monster was the kind that need a lot of time to knock down.

"Shit" you whispered to the TV when familiar faces started to appear.

You didn't miss Kirishima's red hair. The man himself was being held by his classmate and friend Todoroki while they slid on ice. Kaminari was there too, putting his electronic devices everywhere near the villain.

Your eyes were darting all over the screen. If you could enter to it to see further, God knows you would. You were looking for him, searching all over the place, discharging everyone who didn't look like him. It was hard. Everything was happening so fast that you were missing everyone you laid your eyes on.

"Dammit, please don't be there, please don't be there..."

It was selfish and unrealistic. Even if he wasn't on duty (like you), he would've run to the scenario, that is why he chose a place near his agency, to be there when he's needed.

Emergency messages started to ring on your electronic devices, the authorities called to an immediate evacuation to the zone.

You were far away. Bakugo made sure of that when he made you look for a place near the coast rather than downtown. You told him that you would be so far from him, and he said he didn't mind taking the subway or calling for a cab.

You were lost in your thoughts when you spotted him, but suddenly the helicopter ended the transmission when it got hit by the villain, and everything went blury. In an instant, you grabbed the television in despair like if holding onto it with that strength would make everything appear again.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck"

That's it, fuck the alarms, fuck the commission, you were going in.

You were aware that at least twenty heroes were there and a few more were about to arrive but you couldn't care less, you needed to see him.

You ran to your closet to find your gear when the Tv started the transmission again. You spotted him again, Deku was on his back, laid on the floor with Uravity on his hands. The cameraman zoomed, and it seemed like she was brutally injured but still breathing. Your heart started to beat so fast. He was the first in line, and you knew that his hands were starting to hurt just for the look he had on his face and the little twitch on his left eyebrow.

The back-ups started to appear one by one, some of them on foot, other through the air. Mina bathed the villain in her acid, and it made him go down on his knees. That was a huge help for the ones that couldn't fly. The sparks that you know too well appeared close to the screen. While Bakugo ignited his hands, Deku and Todoroki immobilized the Villain while Sero caged him with his tape, Creati appeared out of nothing and started tossing granades that exploded against the villain's body, penetrating through the thick layers of his skin. The villain fell right after.

Everybody cheered, they have reporters in different places along the city, recording the reaction of the people who were gathered watching the fight.

On the other hand, the heroes...

They. Were. Beated.

And you were on your knees right in front of the TV, processing everything that could've happened but didn't. Tears started to fall down your cheeks.

You hated what you were feeling. You didn't want to be that kind of person. The kind that realizes what could have lost once you can't have it anymore. He was a fucking person for God's sake and you played with him just because you were scared and now you were mourning something that didn't happened.

You wanted to be there every time he gets home all messy and full of scratches, you wanted to sooth him, to hold him and let him know that everything will be okay, you didn't want to experience anything like this again, not being all alone.

Instead of your gear, you fetched your keys and started to hyperventilate.

What would you say when you see him?

What were you going to do if he hates you?

What if it's too late?

You wanted to apologize for being a coward. You wanted to tell him that you loved him. You wanted to be his again.

You hated yourself for the time you lost with him, but you would hate yourself even more if you didn't try.

You avoided the news and social media. You knew that at least the fourth part of the heroes ended up hospitalized, but you were optimistic. Your guts told you that he was safe and sound in his place, and you wanted to believe that for his (and your) own good.

The time you spent on the cab was infinite. You have done the same path at least a hundred times, but the traffic was horrible because of what happened, and the shortcuts that the drive had to take ended up being even longer.

In an hour or so, you were on the entry of his building. You were bold enough to assume that he would go to his place instead of the agency. Didn't know if that was the most clever thing to do knowing him like you do.

The man on the entry desk greeted you like you never stopped coming, and that was like a pat on the back to keep going. You made it to the elevator even though you hated closed spaces like that and used to avoid them when you were all by yourself. But you lost an hour on the way here. You weren't wasting any more time.

The bell on his door was broken, and he didn't want to fix it because it was too annoying, his words, so you knocked, one, two, three times.

The door opened, not even a minute after the third knock, and Katsuki came into sight with a towel on his hand and his hair wet. He loved to come home after a rough day and jump to his beloved shower.

"Hi" you said, short of breath.

"Hey" He greeted like he wouldn't believe like you were there.

God. This was the first time you saw it after the breakup. First time in a month, and he looked exactly the same as the day you met him.

"I took the elevator," you explained, looking back to the metal box.

"Yeah?" He looked right above you and leaned in the door frame." It didn't seem like it"

Your chest was rising and falling fast.

"Are you going to...

"I'm sorry, I'm the most stupid person you will ever meet." You interrupted him, and he stared at you trying to figure you out like you were some kind of puzzle.

Silence. He stared at you in complete silence. It was a bad idea after all.

Everybody knows him for being this mess of a person who always says what's on his mind no matter if he's being an asshole or not, no matter if he has earned some kind of trust with you, no matter if you even met him. So, being quiet like that wasn't a good omen.

You shook your head, and your right hand went straight to cover your face. You were an idiot, but you couldn't help it. At least you tried.

Your hand didn't even get to touch your face when he wrapped around his fingers and pulled you to his chest.

The warmth that you felt was immediate.

"I fucking missed this" he said lower, just for you to hear.

"I fucking missed you" you complete while your nose scrunched against his chest. The smell and softness of his t-shirt invaded your senses. "I know I can live without you but I don't want to do it anymore"

You looked up, and he was looking down to you. His lips were firmly shaped in a line, but his crimson eyes were full of hope and happiness.

"Yeah, cut that shit, you ain't going anywhere any time soon," He whispered.

You let a laugh out and noticed the little scratches he had all over his face. He noticed how your eyebrows knitted together and showed you a grin.

"Don't ruin the moment," He warned you jokingly.

"I'm sorry, man, but I will," Kirishima emerged out of nowhere and pointed at you. "THAT was manly, not like you, Bakubro, weeping all over the agency with her number on your phone screen, but too coward to hit the button, she just crossed the entire town to say that she's sorry. SHE EVEN TOOK THE ELEVATOR! Do you know how's the traffic out there? Mina is still on the cab she took thirty minutes ago, and she was just four blocks from here.

"Shut up shitty hair, no one asked your fucking opinion" He separated from you to face his friend but never let go. His arms were still on your back, tracing patterns up and down.

"It's not an opinion. It's a fact," shouted Kaminari from the room upstairs.

Do not edit or reupload my works elsewhere! All rights reserved.

[lonelysheepling]

Recently read @queenofthequillandink ’s DPxDC crossover fic Unearthed, Reborn

I got inspired to draw character sheets for Danny, Sam, Jason, and Jazz’s vigilante personas. Here’s a link to the author’s drawings of their outfits (these were a vital reference for me when doing this so thank you so much for sharing them Quill) More commentary (like 7+ paragraphs plus 2 images) about this project and the designs below the “keep reading” line.

None of these thoughts I have for each character are in order, but I have a lot of commentary for these since this project was a lot more conceptual than my normal work. I also just like talking about my art/design process. If you ever find yourself wondering at some point why an element from the original design wasn’t included, the answer is that the removal was completely intentional and part of my grandmaster vision for this work and wasn’t because I just forgot about it entirely during the design process.

————————————————————————

Aconite (Sam)

This was the first one I sketched out, I wasn’t even sure at the time if I was going to fully commit to drawing all of them. I thought that Sam was gonna be the hardest since her description was way longer than the others, but then bird boy beat her out. I took a lot of creative liberties with her design, the bag was added bc I couldn’t figure out how to add pockets to the skirt. I was trying to avoid a joker color scheme so I had a lot of ref images that I got by searching like “purple green aesthetic” on Pinterest. The dark purple and dark forest/blueish green won out in the end. I desaturated a lot of my colors for her just to get as far away from the neon Gotham rogue aesthetic. I also added the bdsm harness over the armor to add more punk elements to her design, I know that in real life that would be very uncomfortable to wear over scalemail armor but sometimes we take creative liberties when they look sick as fuck. Also, I didn’t realize until I went to look for a reference for aconite flowers that aconite is wolfsbane! That was neat to learn! Also, the font I used for Aconite is called “zai Art School Calendar 1931”, I’ve used this a few times for other projects, it’s one of my favorite fonts. The ‘zai’ fonts the creator has are all very good.

Shade (Danny)

There wasn't much to add to this page. His outfit is pretty simple (besides the patterning). I wasn’t sure how to pull of an optical illusion pattern but I was reminded how I sometimes get an eyestrain induced headache when looking at someone wearing a patterned shirt with really thin stripes so I just leaned into the idea of a small/detailed hard lined pattern. I originally made 5 separate patterns for him and then turned them into stamp brushes in procreate. I only ended up using three of them, the one on the chest, the one on the legs, and the one on his hand. But, I imagine the patterns fade and shift when he moves, sort of like a lenticular print. I gave him constellation freckles and stylized the hair’s fade into white. The hair was inspired by how time-woods draws Martin Blackwood’s hair (linked: time-woods’s fanart of Martin Blackwood). Also put way too much effort into the teeth on the mask. I just like the chunky teeth design. Oh yeah and the font I used for him is called “Typewriter_Condensed_Demi”

Erinys (Jason)

Repeatedly ran into the issue of not having enough canvas space bc of my fervent need to thoroughly document and plan out how the wings worked. I also reversed the colors for the bodysuit & armor so the under layer was black while the armor plates were red. I only realized afterwards that I may have been inspired by the red centipedes in Rain World (linked: gif of the red centipede, don’t click the link if you’re unsettled/afraid of bugs/insects), artists subconsciously draw inspiration from other artists all the time though so I’m not like upset about it. I stand by it because it looks sick as hell. Also leaned into the magpie theming for the wings. I think the vigilante form was supposed to be reverse magpie coloring? I can’t remember, but I stuck with normal magpie coloring. The anatomy of how the wings connected to the collarbone was inspired by JayEaton’s Magpie Bridge Project. Reference image link. Link to the article the image is from. I didn’t draw the wing armor because I couldn’t figure out how to would work with the wing anatomy and I ran out of canvas space. Finally, the font used for him is “DIN Condensed” this is a default font, I would’ve used something more punk but I needed the text to be legible.

Insight (Jazz)

I did Jazz after I’d already finished the initial trio, so I had to switch to a new canvas for her bc I’d hit the layer limit multiple times on the previous one. I really do love doing that spiked under-eyelash thing with characters. Don’t know when that started. Anyway, I added the shoulder pads to her outfit to help break up the empty space. The golden eyes were a nice accent color since her design is very overwhelmingly green. Honestly the braid hairstyle and gold eyes really do obscure her identity, multiple times when drawing her I was worried that she didn’t really resemble Jazz enough. There wasn’t a drawing from the author for her so I only had the text description to go off of. I just realized that she sort of reminds me of a forest ranger and I don’t know what to do with that realization. I copy/pasted my drawing of her eyes when gold and recolored them to match her normal eye color. There were two layers for that, a hue shift and a hard light layer to emphasize the shadows.

Here’s what it looks like without the hue shift: 

It looks really cool and I’m 100% that color combo in another drawing down the line. Oh yeah and the font used for this sheet was “Euphemia UCAS”. It comes with Apple’s operating system, I use it as a neutral default text most of the time bc it’s nicer than helvetica but not overly fancy like Times New Roman—and why am I talking about fonts. ——————————————————————— Anyway, this project was very fun to work on. The alt text for this was its own endeavor, hope the folks using screen-readers don’t mind 4-5 paragraphs of description text. Also, I cannot remember for the life of me if Dani got a costume description, but if she does I’ll make sure to update this image set with a sheet for her. And to the author, QueenOfTheQuill, if you’re reading this message that I’ve left at the very bottom of this post below a read more line, thank you for the fic. It’s very good and I’m glad I caught it during my slow decent into DPxDC brainrot. I love the interactions between Jason and Tim, it’s nice seeing a revived Jason that’s not bogged down by pit rage. They definitely seem like they could’ve been good friends if not for the unfortunate circumstances that led them to meet in canon. Also, I’m sure Jazz will love interacting with Batman and Nightwing. So much psychological & childhood trauma to unpack with them. Feel free to use/share these images if you so desire and thanks again for your work.

[littyhoney]

Right Person,Wrong Time (part 3)

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

BIG SPOILER WARNING TO ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE!!

Earth 42 Miles Morales x Reader

Chapter summary: One last heart break...will you ever get enough of it?

Warning: Spoilers for the movie Across the Spider-verse, slight angst

ps: If yall have any request for one-shots and imagines message me im open up for requests! <3

You been avoiding Miles ever since the incident happened betweent the two of you… not that you are being petty but it just hurt your feelings to see someone you care looking at you thinking it be someone else instead even after you give your all to him.  You still went on to the patrol with him at night but separately,only come to help him when the situation is overwhelms him but nothing more than that.

You are sitting in your dorm room at  Vision Academy currently finishing up your essay, music blaring in the background. But your focus got disturb when a ring come from your phone on the bed, you use your web to pull it towards you to see the caller ID.

Coco Head calling…

You sigh contemplating you want to accept the call or not,your thumb hovering on the red button but your guts is screaming at you to accept. “Oh what the heck…” you mumble to yourself before accept the call and put the phone againts your ear hearing a panic screams from Miles reach your ear and a few groans here and there.  You shot up from your seat.

“Miles? What is going on!?”  You panic as you hear Miles struggle againts or with someone over the phone,in your head maybe he is fighting againts a criminal when he is supposed to be in the principa’s office “you heard Miles  scream one more time before he manage to let out a loud “I NEED HELP HERE THIS GUY IS OUT OF CONTROL!” before another scream is heard.

“Where the hell are you Miles! Im coming to-” you start to walk towards the window before you see outside of the window makes you stop talking. Outside the window you see Miles is struggling to catch a guy…in a cow outfit? Or a dalmation,what a weird taste in costume for a criminal but you shake your head and tell him through the phone “be there in a minute!” you shed off your school uniform underneath it is your spider suit,believe me it gets itchy sometimes through out the day to wear this many layers of clothes to cover the suit man.

You put on your mask before jump out through the window and catch yourself using your web start swinging towards Miles and the weird criminal on top of the bus. You shot out a web towards the hand and foot making it fall on top of the bus as you land besides Miles,who is currently try his best to respond to his dad’s message.

“So uh what are you exactly?” you look down at the white with black spot guy as he struggle againts your web. He grunts around before answering “Im the spot! And no im not a cow OR a dalmation! I’am your nemesis!” clearly the guy is pissed off,but why? You tilt your head “Oookay?”

You turn towards Miles with your hands on your waist with a slight scowl shown on your mask “and you cant even handle a guy that looks like a cow?” Miles turn towards you slightly feel offended by you “That guy is a pain to catch! He can create portals and im late my mom is gonna kill me!” you shake your head slightly “That is a you problem with mama Rio” you turn your head back to the guy to shot a web at him so that you can give him to the police and finish the job easy,but instead of the web get on his body it goes through one of the holes and a black portal open up besides you as the web shot to your side “what the!-” you pull your web resulting to you catapul yourself into the portal resulting to you slam againts the street vendor “No way im getting my ass kick by a cow” you mumble to yourself before catching up on two of them.

Somehow you and Miles finally get a hold of this guy as he is now In a tangle mess mixture of you and Miles web to his limbs in his own portal that he made. You let out a big sigh before turning to Miles “You gotta go now man,don’t want mama Rio to go T-rex on ya” Miles let out a small shoot and look at you “Thanks for helping me with this uh criminal of the week” you nod your head “anytime man…anytime”

Miles look guilty as he contemplating wanting to reach his hand out to you “look, you been avoiding me for few days and I-I understand but-” you stop Miles sentence with your own “Look man,how about you go back to the academy first then we talk about this…after the party” Miles let out a defeat sigh before nodding his head and start to swing his way to the academy “I owe you one!” he shouted.  You turn your attention back to the cow looking guy “You stay put right there alright? The police gonna come by any minute” you start to walk backwards as you talk to the edge of the building

“Wait where are you going!? im not done yet!”the ‘cow’ guy screams as he struggle agaits the webs. “I have a class to catch up man, see ya never!” you fall backwards from the edge of the building and make your way back to the window that leads to your dorm room,but you’re still late for the class anyways.

(small times skip as miles got to face with his angry momma bear and stopping the spot with his dad)

It is later in the evening after a long day of classes youre making your way to Miles apartment to attend the party that mama Rio invited you to come,instead of swinging your way from place to place like Miles you love the simplicity to just walk down the sidewalk, looking at the people around you minding their own bussiness completely oblivious as the person that is walking among them is a spiderman/spiderwoman. Youre walking through the alleyway for shortcut before suddenly your spider sense goes off, huh that’s weird. Your hearing sense did’nt hear anything other than the busy street down the alley so you continue on walking.

You went up the stair leading to the party opening the door and see a lot of people are there enjoying themselves with foods and drinks and the music played by the DJ,wow the Morales really know how to throw a party. You make your way to Mrs Morales wanting to greet her first before doing anything else tap her shoulder “Hey mama Rio!”

The woman turn around and smile widely as she lay her eyes on you “(Y/N)! you finally made it welcome dear,we have lots of food and drinks help yourself out” you smile back at her “Thanks mama Rio” you were about to ask where Miles is before a voice came from beside you “Hey (Y/N)!” you turn to look at Mr Morales before held out your palm for a handshake “Congrats on the promotion captain Davis”you smile up at the man happy for him. The man chuckle shaking your hand “Thank you (Y/N),glad you could make it to the party It be a shame for you to miss some of Rio’s cooking”. You laugh lightly before asking where their son is,mama Rio nudge her head looking towards the water tank “Hes’s right there,with his friend”she put one of her hand on her waist looking at her son hanging out with the girl she never seen before.

Mama Rio voice drown away as you stand there,stunned to see who is standing beside Miles and chatting away happily together…It’s Gwen. Your heart starts to beat fast as you clench your hand to a fist on your sides,pursing your lips not believing that she’s there in person. Your heart seems to squeeze itself and you fight the urge to just storm away from the party,not only that Gwen didn’t come to see you but Miles didn’t even call or message to tell you that Gwen is here! Your brows start to turn upside down as your eyes are pierce to where they stand.

(Mama Rio’s POV.)

“She looks old enough to vote does’nt she?” Rio told her husband and the her son’s bestfriend before looking at the child who is beside her,who is clearly in distress. Rio is not blind or a fool,clearly she can see how much the child likes her son,deep down she is hoping Miles would see it but over the years it does’nt seem to grow past that point. Rio put her hand gently on the child’s shoulder giving it a light squeeze before speaking softly “I know you like him my dear,he needs some time to see that”

The child look down before speaking in a such soft tone it almost a whisper “I did give him time mama Rio…but…im giving up on it,maybe it’s better to be there for him and be happy for him you know…”

Rio sigh move herself to where her son is at not before giving her last words to the child “You are a good kid (Y/N), Im sure,one day you will find someone just as selfless and have so much love to give to you” she give the kid one last smile before make her way to where her son is.

Back to you POV.

Mama rio’s word ring through your head…your eyes trail back to where Miles and Gwen are before mumbling to the air “Maybe…in another universe…he would” little that you know…that universe exist,and it's called Earth 42.

To be continued....

(ALMOST THERE TO MEET EARTH 42 MILES BARE WITH ME LOVELY SPIDERS <;3)

tag list:

@dazecrea @i-love-milfs2 @usernamepassowrd-blog @frissy @musicownsme @randomhoex @dystop4in14nd @coldlamaspersonspy @repostingmyfavs @lovefks @wingedghostpepper @bath1lda @baku-boneless @biggestmacsstuff @milesquaritcheswife @mmst4rz @jasontoddsfavoritechair @jadyn-is-kinda-gay-ngl @manduse @angelbunnyboo @bbootyyyshaker9000 @thymom696969 @camilo-uwu @duckwithsunglasses @arlipooh

[chosetherose]

The Fortnight video foreshadows the convergence of Taylor Swift and her brand

In her videos, Taylor has continually played with the idea of herself as a person versus as a brand. These portrayals have almost been adversarial in nature. Think about the relationship between the two life sized Anti-Hero Taylors. The hooded robot Taylor who got to exist in the world while her bare counterpart was trapped in glass. Etc.

The Fortnight video introduces similar characters but flips the script because there isn’t a me versus her dynamic anymore. Instead, there is a story about coming together.

A scene by scene breakdown:

Taylor Swift™️ is chained to a bed in a white gown with a spicy slit and garter. A faceless nurse enters walking upside down on the ceiling (a continued theme suggestive of PR games). The nurse presents “Forget Him” pills, arguably reminiscent of a dark time where the world thought they could “cure” homosexuality. After Taylor Swift™️ begrudgingly takes her dose, the nurse unchains her.

We then see Taylor Swift™️ approach a two way mirror and wipe the mask off her face, revealing face tattoos we know to be Post Malone’s in real life. This reveal is setting the scene that within this video Post Malone represents Taylor’s inner self, her true soul behind the veil of celebrity. I’ll call him True Taylor.

Next, the mask is back and we see Taylor Swift™️ walk out of the observation room and into the workspace. She goes from wearing a leggy white gown with garter to a fully covered black poet-esque dress. She isn’t dressed for voyeuristic eyes anymore, she’s dressed to work on her art. I love this light to dark transition because black can be seen as the absence of light. Fitting for a tortured poet who can’t live her truth in public with her sunny muse by her side.

Note that we don’t get to see black dress Taylor Swift™️ through the two way mirror. She exists behind the bright lights of fame, making art in a room hidden from our view. Maybe the pills numb her enough to twist the art for an audience who likes to her to be chained to a bed while they watch her suffer.

But wait Taylor Swift™️ and True Taylor are collaborating. They start work separately but their art eventually drifts out of their typewriters, combining into a white light that bursts into a rainbow. Remember how I said black light is the absence of light? Well white light is comprised of all hues on the visible light spectrum.

We know there are layers to Taylor’s music: the surface layers chock full with to red herrings for the grocery line Swifties and the deeper layers of Taylor’s truth. They both exist in the art, swirled together.

But here is where things start to feel different. We cut to True Taylor and Taylor Swift™️ away from all those faceless people - they are alone in the middle of a road. That in itself is ridiculously symbolic of being on the way to somewhere (maybe brighter days). But there’s more because they are dressed identically, laying inside Taylor’s head that is made up of their art. This scene is like bonking us on the head that these two people are one and the same.

Note: The silhouette here is from the Style video which also portrays Taylor’s inner self as a man.

Taylor Swift™️ runs to True Taylor and they embrace in the middle of the road as pages of their art float around them. In the chaos, Taylor Swift™️ reaches out to True Taylor.

Maybe this scene is suggesting the public version of Taylor is ready to embrace her real self.

Then we see Taylor Swift™️ strapped to a table, wild hair from dropping the hairpins we saw in the opening scene. The drugs aren’t working, it must be time to escalate to shock therapy. The men around her gather and there is literally a sign in the background that says “Master Control”.

But one of the men in the room making decisions for the brand is actually True Taylor, who has been there all this time.

Enough is enough when True Taylor can’t take the pain and pulls the plug on the procedure, freeing public persona Taylor from torture.

Next we see True Taylor, familiarly encased behind glass, on a phone call. Perhaps making plans while safe from the rain. Taylor Swift™️ is elevated on a pedestal, out in the storm, in her best dress FEARLESS! Credit to @rep-princess-witch who put the fearless connection together in another post.

I’ll say it again, that is the huge difference in this video compared to others. Here, Taylor Swift™️ is not an antagonist, she is ready to brave the storm.

So what does she do? She’s back in the workspace burning all the files. It’s not without emotion but it’s necessary. We then see a stoic Taylor Swift™️ with no regrets.

After burning the files she’s back in the observation room. It’s time to fight back against the voyeurs and she does so by smashing the glass between her and them. She regains her agency by squashing their ability to hide. Shes deserting her past life.

Note: We don’t see True Taylor back inside. This fight is specifically for Taylor’s public persona.

In the closing seen, we see True Taylor leave shelter, step outside into the storm, and reach for Taylor Swift™️. The person and the public persona are weathering the storm hand in hand.

*Please check out @heyitsmoog on TikTok - he shared thoughts there that inspired me to make this post.*

[riaki]

thrifted romance | megumi fushiguro x reader

synopsis: you’ve never really spoken with megumi before, so when your friends leave the two of you behind on a snowy night, you take the opportunity to get to know him.

wc: 6.2k... SO SORRY I GOT CARRIED AWAY cw: swearing, college au, noncurse au, i don’t thjnk there’s anything else ??

this got way longer than i intended it to be and i rushed to grind it out so it may not be coherent.. if so i apologize :’3 and this one’s late but i hope the content makes up for it ! enjoy meemow barely proofread!

it's a late winter evening when you meet up with megumi and your friends on the side of the street— cozied up in puffy layers and a long blazer stained with coffee splashes and a few hot chocolate smudges here and there.

fall had melted away with the slow gradient of leaves from the trees, sinking into fluffy piles on the sidewalk that soon became coated and replaced with light snowfall; the first of many problematic inches. midterms were just around the corner, and with it meant late hours spent pulling all-nighters that left you exhausted, eyes dark around the edges with a lack of sleep; breaths of minty hot chocolate and coffee from the amalgamation you'd concocted to at least pretend to get into the holiday spirit.

(a fruitless effort, though— if not for your failure that warned you to stay out of mixology, but the way your roommate's cat had knocked over your mug and ruined the flashcards you'd been wrestling with and looked completely smug with itself.)

really, though, there was absolutely nothing jolly about school, or exams. so when your favorite inefficient, sidetracking study buddy had offered to spend the weekend out, who were you to say no? nobara had offered to go find a club, but it was far too cold out to frolic around in skimpy clothing and your expensive winter coats were much too valuable to risk being stolen in the haze of drunken students and sweaty bodies. so, you'd decided to go shopping, because what else is there to do with her? besides the usual karaoke session with the upperclassmen she seems to like so much, of course.

turns out, it'd had been a group endeavor. or, more accurately— a group of four, unlike the duo you had previously thought you'd be going out in. yuji and megumi were there too— friends from separate majors; you'd heard that yuji was involved in the uprising surge of software engineers and computer science majors clambering for a shot in the world of big AI tech companies, even though he supposedly was about as computer-smart as your teetering old grandma ripe with age, permanently stuck in her rocking chair crocheting the days away.

megumi, on the other hand, was a mystery. you'd shared a few classes together; his chipped dark nails that shone the same blue as his esoteric eyes beneath the warmth of the glowing sun, and his inky black hair that spilled over the collars of his simple gray sweatshirts like effortlessly graceful calligraphy on paper had captured your attention as smooth and seamless as the daylight turned to darkness, days cut short by the onslaught of cold. even so, you'd never brought yourself to interact much— he seemed like he'd prefer to keep to himself, if the way he'd disdainfully scoot away from anyone who tried to approach him and turn up the volume of his headphones indicated anything. you had laughed to your friend and called it introversion to its finest, only to promptly shut up when his unmoving gaze landed on you, leaving you feeling like a clown on the stage, rimmed by rich dark red curtains and a wooden floorboard as the beaming spotlight shines upon you imaginary button nose, hot and glaring under his gaze. 

even though you'd approved of his music taste once you snagged a few notes by the ear, you'd really thought his taste in fashion was too bland to be the type of person to shop with nobara— her meticulous style and image were much brighter and more flamboyant than megumi's jaded attempts at a splash of color through the occasional blue argyle or layered turtleneck. still, those were better than yuji's paltry attempts at fashion; at least the myriads of color on nobara's figure were coordinated. the pink-haired boy with funny scars on his face would probably have been better off learning graphic design or art, with the disasters of clashing colors on his person.

and he'd gotten the opportunity to demonstrate his questionable tastes on the chilly evening, when black ice had begun to form on the roads and the soft light of boutiques with slow jazz flowing from the speakers filled your frost-bitten red ears as you walked up to the shade of a nearby lamppost. once you'd all met up, nobara had hooked an arm around your elbow and dragged you off, leaving the boys to follow along like it was walking dogs.

honestly, you wouldn't be surprised if you were— at least, with yuji. he carried nobara's bags like she was the next princess in line, without complaint and with the little fearful quivers that dogs get in their legs whenever their owners scold them for barking or misbehaving, much like how nobara would yell at yuji if he dropped a single cream linen sweater or ruffled pink cami.

megumi, on the other hand, was far too lethargic and quiet to be considered any kind of canine. although the weaved bracelet on his left wrist with a cute little puppy charm you caught sight of when he'd rolled his sleeve up implied otherwise. the only reason he'd even had to do that was to rub the sickeningly sweet orange blossom hand sanitizer nobara had spritzed on each of your palms after you took turns petting a stray cat, one that seemed to take a great liking to you and megumi in particular.

the night seemed to drag on forever; pale yellow lights and holiday decorations blurred into swathes and bubbles of color in your vision as the hours passed and the caffeine from the cute little coffeeshop you'd stopped at earlier began to wear off.

but there had just been something magical about that evening; spending time with friends (albeit, more like acquaintances) had granted you a much-needed break from cramming your mind with an overflow of information that was sure to spill out the moment you answered the last exam question. so, when it was almost midnight and it was time to retire to your bed, you'd insisted on staying out for just a little longer while nobara and the rest returned to their dorms to catch some sleep. yuji had complained something about his legs cramping, but you were feeling giddy, and the stars were twinkling just as bright as the light in nobara's eyes were when you told her you had to soak in the fresh air for as long as you could before being locked in to study again as she laughed and headed home with her pink dog-boy escort in tow.

megumi had mumbled something about staying with you since it was late and he wanted to make sure you were safe. you didn't think too much about it, because if you did, you were sure you'd end up with a faced even more flushed than it was frostbitten from the cold.

so, here you were, strolling down the quieter side of town, a brooding boy with inky dark hair and hands pale with blue veins shoved into the pockets of his jacket trailing behind you. he had one airpod tucked into his pierced ear; you assumed he hadn't brought his headphones because yuji would be there to prattle and babble. even so, you were content not to say anything, so there was plenty of opportunity for him to wear both. but he wasn't. you decided not to linger on it.

you'd just finished writing a silly little note out of the crisp snow gathered on the windshield of some stranger's car; the flakes were cold and biting on your skin, leaving it feeling numb with little droplets of icy water when you pulled away to admire your handiwork.

"actually, maybe i shouldn't be doing that." you decided after a moment, mumbling under your breath. it was just a little message with a whiskered smiley face, but the headlights on the car and the bumper seemed to form a frown at you when you stepped back, shaking its motorized head at your vandalism.

"you think?"

megumi's voice sounded from behind you, a little weighed down by the cold with a wisp of warmth leaving his lips like a powdery exhale, curling into the prickly night air. he was standing on the sidewalk, observing you all prickly-like as if you were some flagrant toddler he was babysitting. you still had to get used to the way his voice sounded after rarely hearing it; the few crumbs you got when your professors forced obligatory presentations onto struggling students had sent this warm, fuzzy feeling collecting in your stomach at the rich tone of velvet it held. not rough or overly deep, but smooth and reassuring. the kind you could fall asleep to; like there was a lullaby just waiting to be poured from his tongue with little scratches in the indent of his tone.

of course, you hadn't heard enough of it to make such an assumption, so when you heard the little quip framed with irritation at the edges, it wasn't all sugary sweetness like you imagined.

"yeah, well, sorry i like to live a little," you huffed, rubbing your hands together in an attempt to resuscitate some warmth back into them with a small little sigh.

"you call that living?" he scoffs a little, cocking an eyebrow at the vandalized toyota behind you. now, it just looked a little sad; imaginary eyebrows over the red lights droopy in disappointment. you followed his gaze, before looking back at him and making a sour face as you stepped onto the sidewalk.

"maybe we just have different tastes, y'know? doesn't mean we don't have to get along like this," you mumbled, shaking your hands out a little to get the remaining snow droplets off before stuffing them back in your blazer pockets. "just like itadori and nobara. one has terrible taste in fashion and the other doesn't, but they both like their bright colors." you feel satisfied with yourself for that one, but clearly, megumi doesn't feel the same. but the corner of his pink lips seem to quirk up just a tiny bit, and you feel pride blooming in your chest.

there's just something about the way it looks— an almost implausible smile coaxed onto his lips by something particularly amusing, reaching his dull blue eyes in a way that made their usual tedious apathy morph into something like fondness, or appreciation. adding a shine to his navy irises the lamp light overhead could only hope to mimic. then again, you didn't let your mind linger on it for too long like usual— so instead you chalked it up to the one other thing that had caught your eye besides the sharpness of his jaw and the handsome slimness of his face: his jacket.

you take back what you said about his style and its blandness before— it would be unfair to what he was wearing right now. just a simple black turtleneck (one that you were sure he'd worn to the early morning wednesday lecture you had a few days ago, when the sun was still bright enough to catch on the condensation of the cup of lemonade your white-haired, oddly sweet-toothed professor had), and black jeans, but the vintage racing windbreaker hanging from his shoulders brought it together in a way that was unfairly seamless; all dark blues and stripes of checker; a neutral grayblue that reminded you of the sky on rainy afternoons, trudging about the shopping districts in tokyo. there were a few brand patches here and there, some red bubble lettering of names you didn't recognize in patches of color that brought out the shade of his eyes. maybe the labels of those energy drink brands you often caught him running on when the shadows beneath his long dark lashes seemed heavier than usual.

all that to say he looked good. like, seriously good. you didn't know how you hadn't noticed all night— but now that you had, it was hard to keep your eyes from his slim and tall silhouette (not that he minded). the jacket really complimented it.

"that's a neat jacket. where'd you get it?" you asked after a moment of chilling silence; he'd probably noticed you looking, and you prayed he didn't think you were checking him out. although, if that meant getting your hands on one of those windbreakers, you wouldn't really mind. he glanced up at you, tearing his attention from the sad snowy toyota camry that seemed worn past its years at the newfound attention on megumi's racing jacket. he blinked a little, and you didn't miss the little flake of frost on his eyelash; probably caught from brushing past a windowsill earlier. by now, most shops were closed; even so, the street still felt warm and safe. well, maybe it was to be credited to a person rather than the concrete— but like you had been all night, you ignored it.

"oh, this?" as if he was wearing more than one jacket (it was cute), "i thrifted it." and for some reason, you didn't expect to be surprised, but you were. him? thrifting? the few western-fashion tailored thrift stores you'd been to with nobara had been lacking— not like you'd been able to stay in them long; the artificial ginger had this... beef with reused clothes. she liked her clothes clean and fresh from the press, even if you reminded her they could just be fresh from someone else's press. megumi must be familiar with the antiquated racks of varied worn graphic tees and frayed pants if he could fish something that classy from a thrift store.

then again, it's not like you had any experience to go off of at all.

"really? y'know, i've always wanted to go thrifting," you sighed, stretching your arms out, watching the fabric of your blazer wrinkle and curve to follow the movement of your muscles. a light dusting of snow coated the surface, like powdered sugar on tiramisu. that makes the coffee stains fitting. "but i feel like i'm bad at it." you said, stepping over a crack in the sidewalk, the rubber bottom of your sneakers brushing against a little clump of pine green weeds.

"bad at it?" megumi echoes, following you with a faint ruffle of smooth fabric, like the sound of a zipper sliding down. before, the world had been a cool shade of gray, like smoke rising from a cigarette or the blurry blue of the sky from the window of a speeding bullet train. but now, you let yourself soak in the sound of his voice, like grinded coffee beans and a smooth, soothing honey medicine for your throat on a sick day when you get to cozy up in your bunk bed and watch the clouds drift by.

it's nice.

"yeah. like, i wouldn't know where to go, or what to find, or what to look for..." you trailed off, rubbing your cold fingers together again as your breaths leave in little exhales of coagulating mist in the cold night air. now that it was late, it the temperature would only continue to drop.

you walked in silence for a little longer, listening to the scuffles of shoes against concrete, glassy with ice that had begun to creep up on the roads like a steady stream of seafoam from the tides.

"why don't we go thrifting now, then?" he asks out of the snowy blue.

you paused, and you almost smacked straight into a pole. "now?" you spluttered, turning around to face him. the look on his face was unreadable; a mix between exasperation, amusement, an attempt at stoicism, and something like affection in the corner of his lips as they curved upward. it was like a CPR compression; the smile that sent fuzzy electricity through your veins and reinvigorated your heart.

"yes, now." he said it like you were stupid, which you might just be, the way you stared dumbly at his face. "the place i got this jacket from is just over there," he said, jutting a ring-adorned thumb behind him. you had to lean up and peek around his shoulder to see it; you wouldn't've noticed if he didn't point it out. it was tucked between two buildings, a stairway downward into the store. the only thing indicating its status as a retail and thrifting store was the broken neon sign and painted red arrow that gestured towards the staircase.

"looks really shady. and it's late." you grumbled after you got over yourself, and he shot you an irritated look. that was all he really seemed to be doing tonight; that downward knit of his dark eyebrows and the slight pout weighing his lips down. not very suave, you think.

he swallows hard, and you aimlessly watch the bob of his adam's apple. "well?" he prompts, a hard edge to his voice despite the situation. you stand there for a little while, marinating in the growing cold until you cant feel the tips of your fingers.

"fine."

one accidental slip on the crosswalk and a few minutes later, you're stepping down the last wooden stair of the thrift store and into the building's basement; it's much bigger than you would've thought, with an expanse of layered clothing racks that obscure your vision, the corners of the walls clogged with cobwebs and years of dust build up. there's a faint lingering scent of cigarette smoke and cologne; something vanilla that you've caught clinging to megumi's wrists and neck on the rare occasion you brush past him. faint jazz spills from the speakers, something in a swing rhythm with the signature lilt of saxophone that makes you think you should be out enjoying a romantic fancy dinner instead of being cooped up between old wrinkly moth-bitten clothes. but you're here with megumi, so you convince yourself you don't mind either way.

"you sure this is the right place?" you asked, trying (and failing) to keep the obvious distain from your voice as you kick a folded 'floor-is-wet' sign from your path and step into the store. you can't even see the cash register from where you're standing.

"yes, i'm sure. can you stop complaining?" you can practically hear the eyeroll in his voice, and you're sure you could see it too if you just turned around. "trust me. it's not all shit." his voice softens, and you freeze up a little as he brushes past you; the corridors and margins are tight, so he has to turn sideways to fit. even so, a tag on your coat manages to snag on his jacket, and you hasten to unhook it before he can notice. he almost disappears into the racks, and you have to follow him, pushing your way through thick coats and worn graphic tees that have cracked logos and balls of lints clinging to them.

you're no thrifting expert, but you're pretty sure the store's supposed to be in better condition than this.

"hey." megumi's voice soon snaps you back into reality, and you look up from the mustard yellow top you were eyeing warily to meet his sedate gaze. "the good stuff's in the back. c'mon." he doesn't give you much room to argue even though it sounds like you're here to do drugs rather than find clothing, and before you can react he's reached forward to grab your wrist and tug you along. a yelp of protest almost spills from your lips, but you bite your tongue and let him drag you along, trying to extinguish the hue of cherry you know is making a home on the tips of your ears.

you brush past patchwork coats and a few leather belts that've tangled with the lace from the silk shirts next to them, but nothing really catches your eye, until you realize that he's let go of you only because of the lack of warmth around your skin and you focus yourself on the current again. you glance up at him, but he already has his back turned to you, sifting through a rack of black shirts that all look the exact same. maybe you have an untrained eye, though.

still, you can't help it when your gaze lingers over the back of his neck; one strand of dark hair has caught itself beneath the collar of his turtleneck, and it irks you. and you decide to do something about it because you'll know it'll bother you if you don't.

time seems to move in a liquid slow; things are blurring and there's no mothballs or ugly recycled coats to get in your way as you reach over and swipe your hand across his neck, hooking a finger beneath the strand and pulling it out of his collar. it takes you a moment to realize what you just did, and when you do, it's like there's a permanent mark seared into your index finger just from the touch of his skin against your own. you think he might have whiplash because he turns his head around so fast to catch your gaze before you can slink away, eyes wide and eyebrows knit, and you notice his bottom lip is snagged between his teeth.

he raises an eyebrow, but before he can utter a shaming word that'll only make you feel more embarrassed you shake your head vigorously, apologetically.

"sorry— it was bothering me. i hope you don't mind." you managed to say, the words spilling out in a rush before you turned away and slipped past him, disappearing into an aisle of dresses. you can feel his gaze burning cold holes into your back as you distract yourself.

you don't let yourself linger on what you just did— you seem to be doing a lot of that, lately, especially with him as you go through a few batches of clothing. by now, it's far past midnight, and you're feeling much more sluggish than you'd like to admit. you haven't seen megumi in a good twenty minutes save for the few times you picked up a few shirts and a cute diner jacket you thought would look good on him. he just thanked you bluntly, taking the bundle of clothing from your arms before walking away to the fitting rooms. you wished he'd stay to let you see the jacket.

you'd tried on a few things, discarding your blazer in favor of a cute knitted cardigan you grabbed, but nothing seemed to stick the way you'd like them to. it would be a great help if you had nobara to assist, but you were sure she was snoring away at home right now, and at the thought of your warm, inviting bed, your knees wobbled a little and you balanced yourself on the wall.

"hey— oh, you alright?" it's an unfamiliar voice; you lift your head up, looking for the source. it's a young boy— he looks to be about your age, maybe a little younger. there's a blue lanyard around his neck, and he's got a spattering of freckles on his hands, which are curled around the collar of a white linen shirt. he must be the one who's tending to the store.

"yeah, i'm okay. sorry," you said hastily, pushing away and rubbing the back of your neck. how embarrassing— he didn't seem to mind, though. he just smiled, big and bright and toothy. cute. reminded you of how toddlers would grin up at parents with those huge red lollipops in hand.

"no worries. i just thought i'd let you know that we're closing soon, since it's almost 2am." he said, shifting his weight on his sneakers. you nodded, about to give a hum of confirmation before another voice cuts through the slow jazz filling the stifling air above, all familiar in its smoothness.

before you could respond, though— "[name]?" megumi's voice rang out in the quaint little store, calling for you, and so you give the employee an apologetic nod before you turn and start toward the noise. you pass a mirror with a coat draped over the top, peeking your head around a tall rack of long skirts to catch sight of the raven head, in all of his glory. you notice that he's taken off his windbreaker.

"what’s up? we have to go soon," you reminded him, yawning a little and rubbing your eyes as you straightened up and stepped over to his side. there was another mirror in front of him, you noticed, with fading stickers pale in the dim yellow light stuck to the wooden rim. even so, with the smudges and the bare sheen of the silver, he looked good. that black turtleneck really suits him.

"i know. i just wanted to ask for your opinion." he said, glancing at you from the corner of his eye. you tilted your head curiously, and he held up a deep mauve sweatshirt, with some varsity logo branded on the fabric. it had a nice touch to it; a warm color that reminded you of red wine and slow evenings. you were sure it had been one of the pieces you'd picked out for him, but you were too sleepy to recall. "you should try it on. i think it'd look good," you said, gesturing toward the mirror.

you think you must've said something wrong, because he looks at you for a moment too long before he seems to catch himself staring and he nods, a choked little sound leaving his throat which he hides by ducking his head down and covering his face with his long bangs. you think you're hallucinating the pink on his cheeks.

after a moment, he glances at you. "hold this," he shoves his jacket towards you, and you have no choice but to take it. doesn't seem like he's used to taking no for an answer, but you're certainly not the one complaining when he tugs the sweater over his head, ruffling his soft black hair as he steps a little closer to you, observing himself in the mirror while straightening out the folds and fixing his turtleneck. you were right— it does look good on him. almost unfairly so— you don't know how he manages to rock granny clothes so well, like he was born a retirement home's runway model.

unlike him, you're not a reticent shut in— and although you'd like to say you have no problem telling him how good he looks, it's still a little difficult when the words feel like they're lodged in your throat in order to prevent you from making a fool of yourself again. but you ignore it and push on.

"you look great. i think it really suits you," you breathed, shaking your head as your hands tighten around his jacket in your arms. he blinks, adjusting the collar before glancing down at you. you take a moment to really appreciate the sight— him, bathed in the soft yellow glow of the chipped lights overhead. despite the dilapidated store and the antiquated, worn clothing surrounding him, he still manages to look like some ethereal angel boy you'd stumble upon in a bookstore on a dreary winter's afternoon and never be able to get out of your mind again.

ink black eyelashes flutter when he blinks, framing his eyes like the bangs falling over his face when he turns around again to observe himself in the mirror once more before he takes the sweatshirt off. it catches on his turtleneck, which rides up when he slips the mauve sweater over his head, tussling his hair and exposing the dip of his pale hips, all muscle and flesh and bone, and you pray he chalks up the red on your face to the cold. the end of his belt dangles from the buckle as you hand his jacket back to him, fingers almost brushing— just barely out of reach.

a meager conversation flows between the two of you; you follow him through the endless maze of used clothing until you somehow stumble upon the cash register and he buys his sweater; the only thing he manages to buy after all this time spent milling about in a dusty, dinky little retail store. the boy from earlier helps check him out, and the icy glare he receives from megumi when he glances at you seems to fly straight past your head as you pick at your cuticles. the tips of your fingers are still red from messing with the frosty snow earlier. you wonder when the car owner will find your message.

it's almost freezing when you get out of the dusty shop, emerging from the smoke-stained alleyway stairs and into the cold night air. your breaths almost seem to form a precipitate, and the thought reminds you of the chemistry conversions waiting for you on your desk beneath the lamp, and you cringe internally. staying out for a few hours longer seems way better than succumbing to the never ending stream of worksheets and documents calling your name. you wonder if your charismatic professor will let you get away with a few assignments if you call in sick. are papercuts excuse enough?

the click of a lock behind you signifies the store's closing— the employee left through a back exit, it seems. and you realize too late that you left your blazer in the dressing room when you turn around and a sigh falls from your lips. megumi, paper bag in hand, glances over at you.

"you okay?"

you almost forgot he was there, in his brooding vintage racing jacket glory. you shake your head, before sighing forlornly again. he notices this, making a little face; his lips press together and his pretty eyes narrow. he thinks you sigh far too much. you'd look prettier if you smiled some more. he likes it when you do.

"i left my blazer in there, but he just closed it and it's so fucking cold out," you whined, bringing your hands to your face and rubbing your eyes tiredly. you're cold and your fingers are going numb again, and there's light snowfall. so much for not losing your coat at a club. you can't tell which one's worse. "sorry to complain so much, but do you mind if we—"

you're promptly cut off; the words on your tongue left unsaid, burning with the taste of bitter black coffee. your gaze trails from megumi's hand, the clink of his silver ring against the zipper rail of his jacket as his fingers curl around the fabric, up his arm to the sleeves of his dark turtleneck, rounding the curve of his shoulders and up his neck to his face. he's not looking at you.

the words that leave his wet lips are so small and hurried that you think you're hallucinating them; when you inevitably looked back at this moment later, you'd realize that he was being shy. he mumbles something under his sweet breath, and you ask him to speak up.

"i said, you can use mine." he repeats, louder than necessary as he finally brings himself to look down at you from under his lashes, biting the inside of his cheek. his voice is a little strained, and a soft breeze carrying the smell of cinnamon and fresh ice rustles his hair. you blinked, feeling like a deer caught in headlights over a layer of thin ice, ready to shatter at a moment's notice.

"oh— okay. um, do you have anywhere else you need to go..?" you said tentatively, reaching forward to take his jacket again. it was exactly like how you'd done back in the thrift store, but the vague sense of deja vu you get is accompanied by an endless fluttering of warmth in your stomach that melts away the winters and tiring exams, and the night seems to become a soft warm orange, as if someone's drained the cool hues from the landscape.

megumi just shook his head, reaching into his bag and taking out the sweater he'd bought earlier. he slips it on again, adjusting it over his shoulders and refusing to meet your eyes as he crumples the paper bag in his hands. you notice they're slightly trembling as he does it, fingers digging into the material with much more force than is really needed. his hair follows each movement of his head; the strain of the muscles in his neck when he swallows again and gestures for you to follow him back down the empty street, past cars coated in melting snow and jaunty yellow lights twinkling over the awnings of closed store windows, shut down for the night. the sweater suits him really well, you think; not too loose, but tight enough in the right places to send your heart racing a mile a minute.

you pull his jacket over your arms, tucking your sleeves in and zipping it up. it's big on you— that's no surprise, and you can almost taste the vanilla on your tongue, his cologne lingering on every fold of the insulated fabric. it's warm, and it feels like being enveloped in a tight hug. in megumi's head, he hopes— prays its him you think of if you ever feel that way again.

you walk in a stiff silence; both of you want to say something, but you're dancing around it, letting your words linger unsaid until the other breaks the ice first. it's only ever cracked once you reach the dorms, where you part ways. there's light snowfall, and a thin layer of white has coated his hair when you turn to face him. you reach forward, learning onto the tips of your toes to brush off the ice. his hair feels unimaginably soft beneath your fingers, slightly damp from the snow. but he's the furthest from cold when you pull away; his face is burning up.

by now, you can't bring yourself to mind.

"thank you," you said softly, sighing contentedly. you move to take his jacket off your shoulders and return it, but he stops you, holding a hand up. the expression on his face is unreadable, but his lips are pursed together in a way that makes you think he's pouting.

"don't worry—" a pause. " you can, uh. keep it. i know you wanted one. just... give it back when you want, yeah?" he says, curt. almost prude, if it weren't for the way he was avoiding your gaze out of embarrassment. it was like trying to play the world's most difficult game of whack-a'mole, attempting to catch his eyes and see the iceberg that's melted into pools of warm glittering affection in his blue irises. at the thought, you wonder if he likes arcades, and you make a mental note to suggest an activity to nobara the next time she has the urge for an escapade.

you don't bother asking him whether he's sure, because you don't want him to take his words back. so you linger there in a moment of silence, letting it hang over your heads like a warm throw blanket, cozied in front of a fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate in your hands. maybe a coffee mix like you'd attempted before.

angel boy clears his throat first to speak, all honey that links the syllables together like christmas ribbon; rich like orange flavored dark chocolate. "i'll see you later, then." it's short and sweet, but your heart is already flying so high on euphoria you can barely bring yourself to care, or suppress the giddy grin that's spreading across your lips.

yeah, you're tired. yeah, you're still a little cold and you think you need to thaw at your desk for a week until exams, but at least you've got his jacket to accompany you when your study buddy passes out first and you're alone on all nighters. frankly, you can't bring yourself to care— your head is spinning with the events of the chilly night, from crude messages in the snow to thrift store mothballs and lanyards, to one checkered racing jacket. but you don’t think it’s so bad when it threatens to stick to your memory, like chewed up gum under your professor’s desk. whether it’s from the students or the professor, that’s a mystery you’ll never solve.

"yeah. see you around, fushiguro." you can’t say the same about the mystery that megumi is, though. in fact, you think you’re already one step closer when you turn around and part ways, catching sight of him in the reflection of a frosted window. he’s slipping both of his airpods back into his ears, crimson at the tips.

the sound of your shoes against the rug stairway fills your ears as you clamber back up to your dorm, eyelids heavy with drowsiness and face flushed a pleasant warmth. even when you finally get to bed, you can't stop your eyes from drifting over to the bundle of lapis blue fabric sitting on your desk, and your mind from the soft spoken boy with eyes like the night sky and inky hair like calligraphy.

you decide you don't think his style is too bad, after all. and when you tell him that the next morning when he's still sleepy and his lashes fall slow when he blinks the weariness from his eyes, you get to enjoy the steady flush that stains his cheeks and prompts a hoarse cough from his throat when he ducks his head away and grumbles something under his breath, probably about being offended you even thought he was boring in the first place.

and if you ever ask, the only reason he lent you his windbreaker that night was to replace the scent of mothballs and dust with your sweet-smelling perfume.

so, as it turns out, you're able to get your hands on one of those pretty vintage racing jackets— except, it wasn't a new one; it was his. nobara hasn't stopped pestering you with questions since you showed up to class the next day; the only thing you hear for the next week is how much she regrets leaving early.

apparently, it's all yuji's fault.

my (riaki) stuff. don’t repost and/or plagiarize !

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

Guess what time it is…….

CENTIPEDE TIME !!! she’s finally real,,,,,,,, based off Scolopendra hardwickei or the Indian tiger centipede

Before I go about the process I just want to say you guys have been soooo incredible and I love reading your reblogs and I love the idea knowing I’ve inspired a lot of people,,, the project, although it was a lot of work and I’m feeling not so great as of posting this, still motivates me to want to make another.

(Art process below)

This was entirely freehanded! I have a lot of experience working in 3D art settings that this part came easy to me but I started with a flat base shaped in the pose I’d like the creature in. I used one whole piece cut from a shipping box and filled in the gaps with tape; you don’t need a single piece for the base but for structural integrity it helps a lot. As you can see here I also cut the legs separate and glued them on using hot glue. The vertical cross sections are to give an early support for the structure of the creature, think about the frames of aircraft or boats. During this part I used a pen to mark the width and height of the previous section to get a gradual flow of shapes.

This next part I wish I got more documentation on but after the vertical cross sections I used soda boxes for the thinner and flexible cardboard to add contour lines along the length of the creature, gluing them on the cross sections. I did about 2 strips of this on either side to fill in the space and then I continued to use soda boxes to fold and shape the top of the creature, gluing onto the strips rather than the cross sections (this part was a mistake but I quickly adapted, no issues happened but it did make it slightly less secure). I also gave the legs vertical cross sections as well to shape them for the masking tape.

The worst part, taping everything. I used tape to further shape it how I wanted but that meant going over parts several times. I used 2 different widths of tape for this for efficiency but it doesn’t matter. The legs were very loosely taped and if squeezed then they’d lose their shape; I didn’t bother filling them in because I don’t have materials for that and I let the paper mache help support them instead. Tape was also used to fill any holes and gaps left by the cardboard skeleton.

The next phase is paper mache of which I haven’t done since 5th grade… I was not confident in this step. I used mod podge and a brush to smooth down the paper. Because I lacked materials I used fast food napkins instead of newspaper which worked totally fine, it just tended to tear a bit easier. Some areas required me to get hands on and I don’t really like the texture during this stage so that was fun (lie). I didn’t do too many layers, one for the body and 3 for the back and legs but some projects might demand more. I used half of a 16oz bottle of mod podge btw so please get more than you think you need.

Finally, texture hell!!! I did a base coat of white spray paint and painted everything else with acrylic. Start with your lighter colors first before doing darker ones! I originally mixed some yellow and orange for the body and realized it was too bright and so covered it with orange instead. It also wasn’t until later I realized I could’ve been smarter with my paint so I skipped over the segments that were going to be fully black, saving the orange for the rest of the body. I wanted my centipede to stand out and not look 2D color-wise so I also used the red for the head and tail to give gradients and edges to the orange segments and legs, later going back with burgundy to further darken them but not too much. For the black segments I also used a very watered down layer of sky blue to give a fake shine and show the intended structure of the segments. Do not be afraid to use your hands! I used mine to smudge my detail paints like the black fade on the legs and the back shading. To top it all off I sprayed a clear coat and punched two holes in the underside to hang it up, using thumbtacks angled upwards.

[owleics-fr]

Simple skin & accent tutorial!

I'm only familiar with making accents in CSP so some of the things you see here might be program specific, but for the most part it should be generally applicable.

Okay with that being said, here's a very basic tutorial, under a readmore because it got long (image heavy)

Assuming you already know roughly what you want to make and what breed pose you want to make it on, go to the custom skins page on the sidebar then download PSDs. For this step I'm choosing coatl F!

It should download automatically, the file will be compressed (zipped). I normally just open the folder and move the top file (without elements_friendly) to my accents folder to access it from my art program:

Open your preferred art program and open the file! It is a PSD file so it should be compatible with most art programs. When you open it, everything should look like this:

The layers probably look complicated, and it isn't super clear where you can and can't draw- but I promise it will get easier to understand! Before I even start drawing I do two things: I resize the image (changing the image resolution) to 700px by 700px. This means the image the resize better later on when I need to downscale it to 350px by 350px. Next, I make a new folder under both the existing folders with a single, full white layer in it. And set everything in "Through Skin Parts" to 50% opacity.

Lastly, put the bottom two folders completely out of your mind, we won't be touching them at all. The only folder that matters is "Through Accent Parts". As I'm drawing the accent itself, I make the lines and shadows layer invisible because they can just be distracting, like this:

That layer beneath both lines and shadows layers? The one labelled "Accent Goes Here"? That's where you draw, and you can make more layers to draw more on later. For now you can sketch your design on that layer. Here's my sketch for my skin Strawberry Pavlova:

It's pretty rough at the moment so I want to add another layer to draw my clean line art on, in CSP this means just adding another layer and turning off clipping which automatically applies as the layers above it have clipping turned on. When that's done it should look like this:

(You can absolutely use more layers for lining if that's what you prefer!)

Next is adding colour. An important thing to note for this step is to avoid using colours that are very close to black, and to avoid using black altogether. This is against skin and accent rules as you need lines and shadows to remain visible over your design, and very dark colours make this a lot harder!

When I typically colour my skins and accents I will separate out design elements (so for example all plants on one layer, all blue cloth into another layer, all jewellery on another, etc etc.) into different layers- this is purely to make recolouring easier and isn't necessary. In this case I didn't have my colours separated out as I had no intention of recolouring this skin! This is what this skin looked like when I was finished colouring:

Now I just need to do some final finishing polish on the design! For this one it involves adding a bit of pink transparent colour behind the strawberries, adding pale transparent colour under my lace and of course- adding sparkles! One of the final things I do is recolour my own line art to a red-pink colour (in this case I had it set to multiply as well- but this isn't needed!) this takes some of the harsh edges out of the accent and make the design feel more cohesive imo!

And the design is finished! The final step before we can submit this is a big one! We have to change the lines and shadows that we've been ignoring this whole time. For this I flatten all the art work into one layer, like this:

Why do we have to change the lines and shadows? Well...

The default shadows are pretty high opacity and very grey, they cover up my accent and make the details harder to see. And the default line art is black. You can edit these layers to make them much nicer. You can edit them manually- making sure to lock transparent pixels so you don't edit the coverage of the lines and shadows. Or you can do this: (You can ignore this next part if you're finding it overwhelming) Duplicate your accent design twice (so you have three layers with it on total), set both your lines and shadows layers to normal and unclip them. Your layers will look like this:

Ignore what the accent looks like for now. Next move the copied layers so one is above the lines and one is above the shadows, keeping only one in the original position. And then clip these duplicated accent layers to the layers directly beneath them, it will look like this:

Merge the accent copy layers with its corresponding lines or shadows layer, you should still have 3 separate layers when you're done: The lines, the shadows and your original accent design. Like this:

Then clip both of the lines and shadows onto your accent design layer and set both lines and shadows layers to multiply. Like this:

If you've done it all correctly your accent should now look like this:

This is a lot better than the default lines and shadows already! It's pretty dark in spots and my lines are definitely too light in other places though. So next I usually start by setting my shadows layer to 50% opacity and then going over both lines and shadows layers manually recolouring the lighter parts to a darker colour so they are visible on top of my final design. When you downscale your art to submit it, lines and shadows that were super obvious suddenly vanish- so don't be afraid to downscale it and keep editing the lines and shadows.

Here's what the final product, downscaled to 350 pixels, looks like:

This got accepted first try by skin mods (just in time for valentines!) Important things to note: places where my design is less opaque the lines and shadows are also less visible, this is completely fine! You don't have to fix this. Lines should always be visibly darker than the shadows they're on top of, this means sometimes they will have to be black to get them to show up or you may even have to make your accent underneath lighter to get everything to conform to the rules! Lastly, lines and shadows are subjective and you may end up getting rejected a few times before they're to skin mods liking. Its one of the harder parts of skin making and you won't always get it right.

Community feedback is your best friend, don't create in a vacuum! Go join discord servers where other people are making accents too, ask for help! Now go forth and make!

[sinnerpalace]

𝖞𝖔𝖚

summary: what could happen when you involve jealousy, a crush, and alcohol?

pairing: daniel ricciardo x best friend!fem!reader

explicit content warning!

 ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Y/n’s Point of View: 

Yellow. Summer. Wide smiles. Optimism. Hope. Bikes. Oversized clothing. tattoos.  

All innocent things that remind me of Daniel. I was there when he drove those little electric cars around our neighborhood. I was also there when he eventually traded that little car in for a kart. I was raised around his high-energy, adrenaline-filled, and smile-filled childhood. I lived through a long-distance friendship when he moved to a different continent. I joined and followed him around the world on his hunt for a world title. I will always be there to support him 100% and that will not change anytime soon. 

Midnight. Clubs. Hands. Wine. Toned. Choking. Scarlet Red. Candles.

All sinful things I have associated with Daniel. I remember when Daniel first lost his virginity. He was so eager to share the details of that night with me. We laughed until our bodies screamed for oxygen and talked about how he could improve his “performance” for next time. I didn’t feel any emotion but happiness for him at that moment, but now 17 years later, the slight notion of him hooking up with someone lights my body in jealousy. My mind betrayed my head as I imagined what Daniel is like in bed. Is he sweet and caring? Rough and daunting? Kinky and adventurous? I can’t help but envy those who have seen him euphoric in pleasure. lost in another world yearning with a pure need for more. Animalistic with the need to cum.

I apply a thin layer of clear lip gloss before spraying setting spray and using a fan to dry my face after I finish my makeup. Stepping back, I admire my body in the black skin-tight and sheer dress I am wearing. I am hoping to maybe bring someone back to my place tonight seeing as it’s been a month since I’ve gotten laid. I grab a pair of black mules before heading downstairs to slip them on and head out to the club. 

I enter the club and allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness and strobing lights. I walk toward the VIP section and meet the looks of half of the grid. Once I arrive at the gate, Daniel unlocks it and offers his hand for me to grab to make sure I don’t slip. Once I get settled into a seat he leans down to my ear before whispering “You look great tonight.” A slight shiver goes down my spine and I stop myself from showing him how much he was affecting me. God if only he was mine… 

I turn my head towards him and offer a smile before shooting back “Thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself.” He laughs before grabbing one of the shot glasses off the tray sitting on the table in front of us, and offering it up to me. I take it from his hand as he reaches for another, we clink the small glasses together before we throw them back. I struggle to get it down for a few seconds, but I manage to slide it down before I spit it back up. 

Somewhere between another shot and a glass of red wine, I end up with some guy named Jake on the dance floor. His hands roam my body before settling on my hips as some weird club mix plays in the background. About 2 songs later, I look toward VIP to see if Daniel and some mutual friends were still there and I make eye contact with him. His look intensifies as I grind my ass back into Jake. I feel what I can only assume is little Jake. 

I flip my body around, throwing my arms around his neck before leaning my lips towards his mouth. Time doesn’t seem to pass as I continue to make out with him on the middle of the dance floor. Moments pass before my body begins to crave oxygen and I stop kissing Jake. A thin line of spit connecting our lips before I feel someone staring at me. I begin to separate my body from Jake’s and look towards the VIP section once again. 

Daniel's eyes bore into me. Is he angry? I move away from Jake and try to walk back to my friends when Jake grabs my wrist. 

“You are breathtaking.” He says while throwing me a shy smile. I return his gesture before responding.

“Thank you.” I continue to walk, allowing his hand around my wrist to slip. I make it back to where I was sitting and allowed Daniel’s hand to fall upon my thigh. He leans his head against my ear before whispering into my ear. 

“Was he a good kisser?”

“Are you jealous, Dan?” His hand strokes up and down my thigh while his hot breath hits my ear. I want him. 

Daniel’s hand trails higher up my thigh while he seductively whispers, “No. You’ve always been mine”. I need him. He grips my thigh a little harder than I expect and pulls a small whimper out. He places a small kiss under my ear before pulling back slightly. 

“Prove it.”

—-

As soon as we enter my apartment Daniel pushes my body against the door while he kisses down my throat. Little sighs leave my mouth as he begins to suck marks into the area below my neck pulling moans out of me. My hands grip onto his shoulder before sliding down to the front of his button-down shirt. I try to unbutton the shirt before getting frustrated and just pulling the shirt apart, ripping the button off the shirt. 

Daniel gasps before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards my bedroom, pushing me against the nearest wall. He grips my throat leaving me gasping for breath as he leans down to place a kiss against my pliant lips. “You’re just so eager aren’t you? You just couldn’t wait could you?” He questions into the air before guiding and pushing me onto the bed while still controlling my oxygen. 

“Please Danny Please” I beg between little gasps of breath. He begins to rid my body of the mini black dress. I kick my heels off and reach for Daniel. I wrap my arms around his neck and tangle my hands into his hair. Our lips meet again before I yank on his hair, he gasps and I take this moment to shove my tongue into his mouth, controlling the pace of the kiss. He begins to grind his hips into mine and I moan into his mouth. 

We break apart and I allow my eyes to travel down his body before he flips my body over. Daniel takes the opportunity to trail kisses down my spine before stopping right before my ass. I feel his large hand pull at the band of my underwear before he lets it go and snaps at my waist. A small groan leaves my throat as he tugs them down and discards them with the pile of our clothes. I feel him grip my ass before pulling them apart and for a moment, I struggle to breath. It’s only when he decides to flick his tongue against my hole does a moan escape my parted lips and steal my breath away. 

“Dan,” I moan. “Please. I need more.” Daniel just gives a brief “mmhh” before sliding his tongue over my asshole down to my clit. He flicks his tongue against it before placing his whole mouth on it and sucks. My arms tremble and my legs shake as I feel the inevitable orgasm coming closer and closer. “More,” I whine. Daniel doesn’t hesitate to follow instructions as he sucks harder and lets his tongue lap at my clit. I let out even more moans and I am so close to coming when Daniel stops. 

“What are you doing? I was so close,” I say. I wanted to scream and cry. 

“Awww. Don’t worry, baby. You’ll come on my cock.” he responds. I hear Daniel unzipping his jeans and coming near my body again. He places his hands on my upper back and pushes down. I let my body follow the guidance of his hands. My chest pressed completely to the bed while my ass is pointed upwards. He traces around my pussy with his index finger, teases around my clit and hole before pushing in. Daniel slowly fingers me with his index finger before adding his middle. The way they are sliding against my walls is driving me crazy. 

“Daniel please. Fuck me,” I beg while pushing my ass against his hand. The sharp slap on the lef cheek of my ass shuts me up quickly. Moments later, he adds a third finger and now I can really feel the stretch. He struggles to fit it in and applies more pressure which has me rolling my eyes back. 

“Listen to you begging for my cock. Hmm? You want it so bad don’t you,” Daniel teases while continuing fucking his fingers in and out. He pulls his fingers out my pussy and joins me on the bed. He lines his body up with mine and I feel his cock bounce against my leg briefly. Oh god. He is hugeeeee. 

As I internally freak out, the tip of his cock brushes up and against my pussy. “Fuck, that feels so good. More,” I moan out. Daniel presses the tip against my hole and wowwwww his cock stretches me out even more as he slowly pushes into me. Once I feel his hips press against my ass, I tighten my pussy around his cock and lose my mind at the groans he lets out. He presses his head against my back while speaking to me. 

“You are going to kill me,” Daniel mumbles out before sitting up again and pulling his entire cock out of me before rapidly thursting into me. I barely have time to breathe as my face is pushed into the mattress and he goes crazy. Moan after moan is heard in the room between his gasps of breath. 

“I am about to come,” I shout as Daniel's pace begins to lose its pattern. He removes his hands from my head and his fingers begin to swipe over my clit and bring me over the finish line. He doesn’t stop though, he continues to fuck me through the orgasm and into the point of oversensitivity. Tears begin to fall as I beg Daniel to slow down. He paints my walls white as he comes in my pussy and I clench rythmically on his cock. I groan and turn my head to the right to let out a few deep breaths. He leans his head down and places a few chaste kisses against my lips before he begins to slowly slide out of me. Once out, I collapse my lower half against the bed and roll over onto my back. 

I look up at Daniel and he has this kind of shy smile covering his face. I let out a small chuckle. How does a man who has just given me the best orgasm ever seem so reserved right after the fact? He joins me on the bed, pulling me onto his body slightly and pulling my comforter over us. His hand rubs up and down my back as the comfortable silence fills the room and washes over us. 

Daniel breaks the silence as he says “Dinner. Tomorrow night?”

“Of course,” I respond as I trace small shapes on his chest. “It’s always been you. You know that right?” 

“No, I didn’t, but I want to,” He says slowly before turning his head towards me and locking eyes. I give him a small smile and leave my head up for another kiss. His large hand rests on my cheek as he leads the kiss. I lean my forehead against his, sharing the oxygen trapped between us. I enjoy this moment before removing my head from his and laying my head against my pillow.

a/n: so I am giving this another try lol. i am trying to find time to for this blog since i am now in college and my schedule is really busy. - sinner

p.s. - if there is an errors please let me know. i do not have beta reader

[adobe-outdesign]

Have we gotten a houndoom line review yet?

I love how GameFreak's response to Pokemon's Satanic Panic problem was to make a hellhound the next Gen. And not just a hellhound, but a really good hellhound! I like that they went a more subtle route with Houndour than the Cerberus option by basically taking a Doberman and adding hellish motifs to it—black with fire-orange accents and white bones all over its body. Also nice are the shackles, which are likely a nod to how Cerberus is sometimes said to be chained.

Houndoom is even better, and does everything an evo needs to by expanding greatly on the original. Now a full-grown Doberman instead of a puppy, Houndoom has gained a pair of ribcage horns on its head, moved the skull to its chest, added an extra layer of shackles, and added a classic pointed devil tail. These all build upon the base design and themes wonderfully, and both stages are very distinct.

My only (very minor) nitpicks with Houndoom are that the skull on its chest could've been more skull-shaped as it looks more like an alien head, and the head is a weird shape. I hear a lot of complaints that it has no ears, but it has no ears because it has horns and there was no room for both on the original teeny tiny sprite. However, the Diglett-shaped head isn't quite anatomically accurate, making it look a little strange once you separate the horns from it.

(Also, side note: judging by the sprite above the chest skull and ribs were supposed to be a collar, which is a really neat idea that I kind of wish they kept. No big deal either way though, it still looks good regardless.)

I hear a lot of people say they wish [X] mega was an evolution, and like 90% of the time I disagree with them. Megas are generally handled differently than actual evos—evos often make drastic changes to the body shape and progress the Pokemon's theme in a notable way, while megas typically stick close to the original design and just add Stuff(TM). There is some overlap, of course, but generally speaking a good mega won't necessarily work as an evo and vice versa.

All of that is to say that mega Houndoom is one of the only megas where it could (and should) have been an evo. Every theme is expanded upon, the body shape has advanced pretty drastically, and there are about as many changes between it and Houndoom as there are between Houndoom and Houndour. It doesn't technically matter one way or the other, but megas are a rarely-appearing gimmick whereas evos are permanent, and this is a great design that should be used more often.

Anyway, this design is pretty perfect. It has a more muscular body than Houndoom with greatly improved head anatomy and longer legs (especially evident when you see all three lined up next to each other). The bone elements go from the small skull on Houndoom's chest to a giant wrap-around skull with tusks, as well as bigger horns and more ribcage bones. The shackles on its legs have also been broken, which is a great detail, and it's added a pitchfork motif in both the tail shape and the face markings.

My only minor nitpicks with this design are that the red claws feel a little distracting; keeping them orange might've balanced the colors better. Also, the orange on the chest should've gone under the bottom of the skull, as it creates a bit of a tension point as-is. Otherwise, this is pretty perfect all around.

Overall, a great line. There's a clear theme, each stage progresses in a logical and obvious way, and the designs are well-balanced. 10/10 would go to Hell again

[thedustyleaves]

Sorry if you’ve answered this before, but I really love how your illustrations have such a cohesive color palette, how do you pick your colors to have a certain theme without looking monochromatic?

(In your breakdown on the saloon/western BP illustration, you mentioned that the overall color was reddish brown so you added blue to the main group to set them apart. But like how did you decide on which reddish brown colors to use for the flats?)

Thank you!! Your art is really expressive and the colors always work so well in the illustration. I’m always in awe of your pics

That’s an excellent question! My drawings actually start out pretty monochromatic because I tend to put most of my effort into the lighting and shading part to help differentiate where I want people to look.

For all of my pieces, I want my characters to be in focus. So no matter what, I always have to keep their main colors in mind and make sure their outfits and the background don’t clash with them (Kain’s red hair tends to be a problem, pft).

For my flats, I generally work with two main colors that tend to contrast each other and then I mix a lot of neutrals around them. (Sometimes the main colors are in the light and shading itself, but I’ll just focus on the flats!).

Sometimes, I will change the hue of their colors. So while Kain has bright orange hair, I will dull it down if it overwhelms the piece or doesn’t fit with the tone - like I did for the cowboy drawing - but never so much that it no longer looks like him.

With the cowboy drawing as an example, if I strip it down to my flats, it instantly becomes very dull and monochromatic. I really enjoy working with these colors because they’re easy on the eyes (or my eyes specifically) and I can see the difference in subtle hues a lot better than if they were very high in contrast. I like working with subtleties when I want background characters to become a single unit but still be separated as individual people.

When I picked the colors for the background, I wanted to separate the characters from the walls. Therefore, I kept the walls red and gold, and the characters brown - they’re still within the same warm-colored family, but they’re far enough away from each other that they don’t become one with each other. I also like to not have clothes from different characters blend together, so overlapping colours can't be the same. I made one coat lighter than the other, the glove warmer than the dark jacket, and so on.

(their coats are also in the same realm as the green/gold colour of the details for the curtains and the frames on the walls)

For the paintings I actually chose to put a bit of blue and green in to help create some interest for the main characters and keep your eyes around that area, as it matches the blue they’re wearing, just a whole lot darker. It also makes them pop just enough so they look interesting against the wall, but not enough to overshadow the main characters

I know, because of the way I work with layers, that when I add my overlays, I automatically brighten and saturate the colors a lot. It’s a lot easier for me to saturate something “dull” and move it into all kinds of hues than saturating something already high in contrast and then trying to force it into a new color theme.

But because of this, I usually have to go back and change the colors I work with constantly while the overlays are on. Since the overlays don’t know what sort of materials they’re laying on top of, everything gets lighter and washed out, so dark skin tones, hair, and clothes have to be corrected one by one afterward. If I were to remove the overlays after I corrected it to make it feel like a dark blue outfit on Raki, it’s basically just a black void now; but with the overlay, it’s a dark blue outfit. Before that, he simple blended in with the background too much and he didn’t feel like he was a part of the group either. 

I always try to put down colors how I imagine they’re going to look like, unaffected by light, but I’m also naturally drawn toward more earthy and warm tones, so all of my color choices will tend to lean that way.

Here’s another example of main colours vs. neutrals; the main colours are red and green/turquoise, with dark browns and greys to encapsulate them, and gold for accents or to make certain things pop (the chair, Dakon’s dark coat, etc.).

I never want them all to wear the exact same color, but I want them to feel connected and be in the same 'colour family,' so Dakon and Kain have nearly the same dark red/brown, and Christie and Raki have nearly the same 'bright'/red.

The blacks and browns, I’ve kept warm as well, so they stay within that realm of red. I also make sure that none of them are too close to Kain’s hair since he’s in the middle of the piece, and I want your eyes to be drawn toward the middle, and his orange hair helps with that.

The paintings I basically do not care too much about, as long as each individual painting has a single dominating colour. I mute them down with a darker overlay and ensure they don’t have strong shadows and light, so they get pushed to the background, so despite being a bunch of different colours, each painting feels like a solid color and they’re still cast in the same light as the rest of the piece, so they feel like they belong in the same room.

I try to help move the eye around the piece as well, so I keep the big painting sort of in the same realm of red and brown as the main characters, because it’s so big it shouldn’t dominate with a new color and force interest toward it. The blue/purple ones melt in with the background as they’re close to the turquoise background, but without disappearing, the yellow ones work sort of like the gold accents and blend in with the frames, and the green paintings at the top give the illusion of a monochrome fade, so everything gets more eerie and green as the image goes up - there’s also a subtle green fade that affects the gold accents from the top down, to enhance that effect.

This is just a few examples, if there are any pieces in particular you were thinking of, and it’s neither of these, just let me know, and I can break those down as well!

Thank you for the question; I hope I answered it somewhat, and thank you for the kind words! <3

[millylotus]

I dyed my hair recently so y'all have to suffer through my ideas on if/how the batfam dies their hair

-

Jason:

Ironically in canon he had red hair during his first introduction & dyed it to match Dick as Robin, but that got retconed. I don't really use this but of canon but now I will just for the hell of it.

Jason's hair is like his bio mom Shelia's, a red-ish blonde, kinda strawberry but definitely not. It's a very odd color & recognizable so he starts dyeing it black to avoid suspicion. Post Death & Resurrection he dies it the same shade of black as his mom Catherine's was, refusing to look like the same woman who killed her child.

He bleached his hair once & cursed god, has never done it again.

-

Dick:

Has actually never died his hair, & probably never will, prefers just going wild with the cuts because "It'll just grow back", did once frost the tips but didn't like how it looked & just cut them off

-

Babs:

When she was younger she dyed some strips purple for the hell of it, but slowed down when she became batgirl to try & keep her identities a bit more separate. Nowadays just dies her grey streaks out [they came in early like the rest of her family's] cause she likes having a full head of ginger.

-

Bruce:

Bruce secretly actually being a brunette is a lil headcanon of mine. Like his hair was mainly black but the Kane Brown[& Red but he doesn't have the red undertones] started to shine through once he hit like 30 & now his hair is Black & Black-Brown. He didn't really care to dye it until he started getting greys & decided that just wouldn't do & now his hair is Black-Black.

-

Kate:

Has never dyed her hair in a proper state of mind, but has bleached her hair blonde just to see if she looked like Beth [she does & it freaked her out, so she buzzed it all off]. Now just has her hair cut short & doesn't mind it going gray, does have the iconic red wig that she treats like her baby.

-

Steph:

Was extremely cognizant of her hair as a kid & never dyed it. Mainly cause it was one of her biggest traits & even her dad would notice any changes in it & recognize her on the spot. Now though she like styling it in fun ways & darkened it a bit just to experiment.

-

Cass:

Does actually dye her hair, & it's mainly just darker colors & off-blacks cause she likes how it looks in the light. But she has dyed underneath her hair for a two layer look & that's where she hides the neons & such.

-

Tim:

He dyes his hair, like to a wild degree. All about side identities & gets fully into character, Alvin is a red head/brunette? he's dying his hair. Carolina has dyed blonde hair b/c she had it as a baby & her mom kept dying it blonde even though her hair went brown at 2? Then that's what Tim has to do. Everything is meticulous & his bathroom is a mess. He does under dye his hair a nice red & has the top dyed an auburny brown/red. Sometimes goes blonde for the underlayer.

He's also completely immune to the burn of bleach now.

-

Duke:

Dyes his hair, but not the roots cause he cannot do the burn. He likes to have fun little shapes in his hair, like stars & such. The type of person to use his clippers to shave in shapes on his fade that match the vibe of the color or shapes. Gets away with all this defining stuff because like Cass & Tim he's wearing a full cowl & who's gonna police his swag during the day when he's the only one around.

-

Damian:

Doesn't dye his hair, at all but does like to help his siblings with their hair, mainly Cass, Duke & sometimes Tim, also helps Dick & Steph with new hair cuts. Secretly like it because it's basically dress up, & he's still a kid, & kinda sorta wants a cosmetology degree when he's older.

[madlittlecriminal]

[02] Secret Ingredient⥓ Mafia!Miguel O'Hara × Female!Baker!Reader

y'all, im sorry. i was sick. im back now though, so hope you guys enjoy!

Warnings: mention of losing sleep, mentions of dana, mention of brothels, mentions of exotic dancer clubs

series masterlist | miguel o'hara masterlist

Miguel lost sleep that week.

The fact that you were the owner of the bakery he had his eye on was upsetting. Even though he still had to get to know you, he wasn't sure if he could if there was a possibility of falling in love with you and he wasn't sure if he was ready to risk it. Obviously, there were other reasons why his relationship with Dana ended. It was true that he didn't want her to have control over his club, but it stemmed from more than just business partnership.

Dana wanted to be the owner because she wanted to change things and he didn't want that. She wanted to make it into a brothel, but he didn't want that. Not only did he already have exotic dancers at their own clubs that catered to all genders since he preferred being inclusive, but he also hated thinking of how some men are gross and just disrespectful. In his clubs, he had strict rules, and he knew Dana wouldn't have enforced those rules; he didn't want it to come bite him in the ass.

This was different though.

You were different.

He felt weird, going to the club earlier just to get the chance to see you.

He hasn't stepped foot in your bakery since he met you. Lyla and Jess have been on his ass about meeting you again. They couldn't understand why their boss was being weird about a woman, but Peter did.

Miguel had a conversation with Peter which helped him out a little, but he wouldn't admit it to his face; he had to push his shy boy out the way in order to talk to you, but he didn't know how.

So, he decided to pay you a visit on his day off at Alchemax.

You were dealing with a girl who was currently doing cake testing for her quince (sweet 15) which made him smile softly when you gave her a piece of Neapolitan cake since she couldn't decide between chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

"This is the alternative if you don't want to do separate layers of cake." You say, making Miguel's body tingle with heat as red painted his cheeks.

He quickly concluded that he could listen to you talk for hours.

"It's amazing!" The fourteen-year-old jumped a little after swallowing the piece of cake, making you smile.

"I'm glad you like it." You look up and give Miguel a grin, making his legs shake slightly.

"We'll take this one." Her father said with a grin while ruffling his daughter's hair and pulling out his wallet.

"Great! When do you need it by?" You ask, tilting your head to the side as you look between the mother, the father and the daughter.

"About four months from now. It's the last thing we need."

You nod, giving them the price of the deposit and taking the list of cake ideas from the girl before bidding goodbye.

When they left, your eyes met Miguel's again, making his heart race.

"How can I help you?" You scan him quickly, taking note of his leather jacket, the white shirt that peaked from underneath it along with his black jeans and the same ruby colored sunglasses from your first encounter.

He gives you a shy smile before looking at the desserts, biting the inside of this cheek. "Surprise me."

You raise a brow. "Are you sure about that?"

He nods.

"You hardly know me and you're trusting me to surprise you with a dessert?"

He nods again.

"What if I poison you?" You joke.

"Querida, if you wanted to poison me, you would've done it when we first met." He states. (Darling/Dear)

You blink up at him before opening your mouth to say something, closing it and repeating the process once more before turning your back and grabbing gloves, a wax tissue sheet along with a paper bag and making your way to the kitchen.

His face goes red with embarrassment as he looks at the ground. He makes his foot graze your tiles like a child embarrassed or shy to ask a question. However, he noticed one of your tiles were cracked and another that was actually missing.

"Ah, don't mind the floor. It happened two days ago." You rest the bag on the counter that contained a few pieces of tamriyeh that you just finished preparing.

"How?" He asks, tilting his head to the side.

"A woman stomped her bulky heels on the cracked one and she kicked the other when she saw it was loose." You explain with a shrug before giving him the total.

He raises a brow before giving you $10. "Why did she do that?"

You snicker. "She was annoyed I got her order wrong, telling me I was a fake baker because my treats weren't as good as her mother in law's desserts, but I never advertised them to be better."

He rolls his eyes at the ignorance of the woman and takes the bag. "Thank you. Keep the change and don't worry about the receipt."

You sigh. "Are you ever going to ask for the change or the receipt?"

"Probably not. Have a good day and stay safe." He walks out, leaving you stunned.

"When I catch you, Ruby..." You say softly as you watch his tall figure walk away with a glare before taking the receipt and putting it away and putting the cash in the register.

———

tags:

@deputy-videogamer @barbiecrocs @deepinballs @faimmm @wakeupr41 @bubblegumfanfics @smartyren @kimmis-stuff @latenightcravingz @youcantseem3 @corpsebridenightamare @thedevax @cicithemess @diannana

*if you do not get the notification, i put the link of your blogs because it wasn't allowing me to tag you.

[tangledinink]

I love your style and how you utilize halftones and textures and colours. It’s just so tasty! I’m curious if you’d be willing to show a bit of your process on how a comic page comes together?

Ah, thank you! ; w ; And sure, I can try, at least! Usually I start with some kind of a script. Sometimes it's a bit more detailed, like this:

... And other times they look more like this.

It just depends on my mood! But either way, I typically have a pretty good idea in my mind's eye of what the comic is generally going to look like. Once I know what I'm making, I do all the rough sketch pages.

... And then I line it!. For Gemini, I go for a dark blue rather than black 'cause I like the way it feels, and it lends to the overall 'papery' vibe. I usually lay down a grid pattern at this stage, which helps a lot with keeping panels and dialogue straight, and with perspective. I always do the gutters and the words first, then the figures and backgrounds. I been leaning a lot into really heavy shadows recently-- one of my professors in college told me once that a black-and-white comic page should be about 50% black and 50% white, and I've been trying to bring that to the table, lol.

I can ditch the grid at this point, and I put down a really light, pale-gray 'wash' on all the panels. It's a pretty subtle effect, but helps separate the panels from the 'background' of the gutters/negative space, and also just adds texture.

I lay down all the color next. Flat colors first, then a second pass over some parts to add depth/shadow, and then all the spot-colors like Leo's red stripes, light gray eyes, etc.

I use a pretty fine-grain half-tone brush for the background, and then a slightly more defined one (layer set to overlay) on the characters.

Once that's done I go back in and add highlights and such (white shine to eyes, hair, etc.) and go and add light outlines to any areas that need a little help being defined-- like Big Mama's arms and hands, for example.

And then the absolute last step is adding paper grain textures and gradient overlay over the top of everything!

(A lot of the brushes I'm using for this comic I got from True Grit Texture Supply, just by the by for anyone who's curious.)

... With Swanatello I kinda tend to just. Go for it. I (sometimes) start with a vague script and then I just draw it. 🤷🏻‍♂️ No thumbnails, no sketches, no heroes, no gods--

Just Swanatello.

[simplydannie]

Vaughn Montegue

Forgot to mention a little node to my friend @jules0511 in this story 🥰 the mantis!

A storyline set in the Under Rageous AU:

Floyd knows the dangers the twins face in Rageous, both upper and lower. As fate would have it, he rescues them and brings away from it all… but now… twins have been taken… along with his brother. Taken by someone you don’t want to mess around with…

The twins sat in the back seat of the black vehicle as it made its way further down to the depths below. A series of columns and layers separated Mount Rageous from the under-city. The deeper they went, the lights from the city above began to slowly fade.

Velvet and Veneer sat quietly in the back seat staring out the windows… Their nerves began to kick in…Especially Veneer. All they had on them were the clothes given to the by the detention center: two red oversized hoodies and black combat boots. A tight mini skirt for Velvet and skinny jeans for Veneer. Veneer was able to claim his purple beanie again while Velvet fidgeted with the pink bracelet around her wrist ....They both knew where they were going…they knew this car all too well, at one point they had owned dozens of them. They were being taken back to their father….

Veneer turned to his sister, “...Vels?”

She remained silent. He knew a part of her was still angry at him for what he did those couple months back. They were living the life they had wanted, they were finally making a name for themselves like they had planned…but at what cost? Veneer saw the tides changing, Velvet was blind to it. He had to do it.

“Vels, maybe things will be different. Maybe if we just talk to dad about everything…”

“Talk to him about what, Veneer? How we ran away? How we wanted to make a name for ourselves that didn’t involve the Montegue burden? Oh yeah, i’m so sure he’s going to understand all that.”

“Maybe he will. Him bailing us out like that…that means he….he still cares….right?”

“God, how are you so clouded? He only cares because the business and everything goes to us when he’s dead and gone! Don’t you remember how hard he was on us?”

“...No…I don’t think that’s true…”

“Then you’re a moron.” She crossed her arms facing away from her brother. Something in Veneer began to fuse…

“Me? Clouded? A moron? Who was the one losing it back at the Rage Dome show? That sure wasn’t me. That was you!”

“Look at that. Little Ven finally found his voice.”

“I’m trying to talk to you as your brother!”

“Well my brother is dead. He died back up there when he outed us in front of the whole damn city!”

PLOP!

Something was heard landing on top of the vehicle. The twins glanced at each other…

“....What was that?”

“Might’ve just hit something. Now simmer down. We’ll be with your father in no time.” One guard said.

“What’s taking so long?” Velvet demanded.

“Safety. We can't take the same road all the time.”

Velvet huffed and rolled her eyes. She leaned back on the seat crossing her arms…

PLOP!

The sound was heard again…

“What the heck…”

From Veneer’s shoulder popped a little pink haired Troll, “Hey Ven.” Veneer let out the highest squeal one would ever hear. The guards up front panicked, swerving the car, pulling it into a hault. Velvet quickly reached over and grabbed Floyd in her hand before they could see.

“WHAT THE HELL! WHAT HAPPENED?” One guard said holding a gun.

“What do you think happened? My idiot brother saw something on the side of the road…Probably something dead…” Velvet rolled her eyes.

“Well for goodness sake, knock it off!” The guard said, turning back around.

“Yeah whatever.” With a click of a button, Velvet rolled up the divider covering the guards, allowing them some privacy in the back seat. Opening her fist she let Floyd down on the seat in between her and her brother. “What the hell do you want, Troll?”

“You still can’t call me by my name?” Floyd said.

Velvet scowled, “Never. You’re dead to me and Veneer.” Veneer glanced at her and looked down at Floyd.

“How did you get all the way down here? How did you find us?” Veneer asked.

“Long story…Well not really, just not important. What’s important is for me to ask you this…Do you guys really want to go back to your father?” The Troll looked between both of them. Veneer was the one lost in thought for a moment before speaking….

“....I….”

But Velvet answered for him, “No. We would rather go anywhere than back home with him.”

“Then you guys would be looking for a way out of this?” Floyd asked again.

“What do you think, Troll?”

“But…I…” Veneer attempted to talk again.

“Shut it, Veneer.”

Veneer leaned back against the seat, a sigh coming out of his lips…Truthfully, he did want to see his father again. He wanted to see if things could be mended between them…He loved his dad, and he was sure Velvet did too.

“..Then I’ll take that as an answer.” Floyd made his way up to Veneer’s head, reaching up, he knocked at the top of the vehicle.

“....What was that for?” Veneer asked. His answer came in the form of yelps from the guards sitting up front. Velvet rolled down the divider to find the guard's view blocked by a white armadillo bus plastered against the front window… Veneer smiled, recognizing the little creature immediately. He saw a guard reaching over, pulling out his gun.

“Wait no!” He reached over and grabbed the guard's hand, causing him to swerve the vehicle.

“Let go kid!”

“Don’t shoot it!”

Floyd hopped over to the front of the car, “Floyd!” Velvet called out. While Veneer struggled taking the gun away from the guard, Floyed ran to the buttons up front, pressing them, rolling down the windows.

“Squash the Troll!” The other guard yelled.

SWOOSH!

Swinging in were more little Trolls, slingshotting into the guards stunning them for just a moment.

“I can’t believe I agreed to this!” Branch said landing on the dashboard. One guard started pounding away, attempting to squash him flat.

“Oh no you dont! Bombs away!” John Dory swung in hitting the guard square in the eye. Rhonda crawled getting on Velvet’s lap.

“Ew!” She scowled as the creature began to drool on her leg. Floyd unhooked the seatbelts from the guards while they were distracted. He unlatched the doors of the vehicle.

“Branch! John! Now!” He called out. With a final single swing, the brothers looped around and hit both guards square in the forehead. They went tumbling out of the vehicle and onto the road, rolling and whimpering as they hit the ground. The vehicle began to swerve from side to side, losing its sense of direction.

“OH CRAP!” Veneer quickly jumped into the drivers and took control, his hands shaking on the steering wheel. He looked in the rearview mirror to see the guards had gotten back-up and began to chase them down.

“What the heck was that?” Velvet demanded. She moved her way over to the front seat next to her brother, staring down at the three small Trolls.

“Don’t look at me, this was all Floyds idea. Mission: Get the ungrateful twins out of Rageous.” Branch added.

Velvet crossed her arms, “Really get us out? And take us where?”

“For starters, back to BergenTown. They have accommodations big enough for you two for the time being.” John Dory chimed in.

A quizzical look came across Velvets face, “BergenTown?”

Veneer panicked at the driver's seat, “Guys I still don’t know where I’m going!”

“Just trust me Vels, we’ll work it out when we get back. You really think Rageous is the best place for you after everything that has happened?” Floyd said. Velvet pursed her lips. What other choices did they have? Go back and see if they were still in good favor with the Mistress after their little fiasco…Or return to the under-city… to their father.

“.....Fine….We’ll go….For now.”

Floyd smiled, “Perfect! Veneer turn this car around and head back the way you were coming. From there you’ll just follow my directions.”

“That’ll lead me past the guards.”

“Just run them over.” Branch said.

“WHAT?!”

“Don’t mind him. Just do it Vennie. Trust me.”

With a small hesitation, Veneer swerved the vehicle back around to head back up the column….So close to their father… yet so far…

We’ll be back dad, Veneer thought.

The drive took hours.

It took them back through the city of Mount Rageous. Velvet had stared out the glistening lights, listening to it’s sounds…Remembering what they once had…and now, that was gone. As he drove, Veneer casted a glance towards his sister, a hint of guilt coursing through…

They made it out of the city and out into the highway leading away…the lights of Mount Rageous fading the farther and farther as they drove. Well, that’s it. Will I ever see it again? The question replayed over and over in Velvet’s mind as she continued to stare out the window.

They all rode in silence. Rhonda asleep in the back seat, the three Trolls sitting on the dashboard staring out the front window. It was Veneer who finally broke the silence:

“How did you know where to find us?”

Floyd contemplated his response, “I got your letter.” He looked at the male Rageon.

“You did?!” Veneer responded with a smile.

“Yeah. I responded…but I never heard back. I responded again, and again. But nothing. Eventually my letters were getting returned from where I was sending them from. That’s when I figured something out, someone was keeping me from reaching out to you… I figured Mistress was trying to get back to you.”

“....Well you weren’t entirely wrong.” Velvet finally spoke up, “Her goons came to pay us a visit. Offering another chance. In exchange, they bail us out.”

“...You guys didn’t take it.”

“We said we would think about it…It wasn’t long before a bail was sent for us. We thought it was her…but then we found out we were being taken back to Under Rageous. We knew who it was right away.” Velvet finished.

“...It was fate. We came just in time..” Floyd sighed in relief.

Branch scoffed, “...I don’t know about fate Floyd…This all doesn’t seem like a good idea. If there dad is as bad as you told me, then we’re in SERIOUS trouble.”

“...He’s not that bad…” Veneer protested.

“Kid, your dad is a mafia crime lord. That seems pretty bad to me.” John Dory said.

Veneer pouted, “...He's not that bad…He’s….He’s been a little lost ever since…” His voice trailed off. Velvet side-eyed her brother, she knew what he had wanted to say.

“Ever since what Ven?”

“....Nothing….” Veneer continued to keep his eyes on the road. They continued to ride in silence a while longer before John Dory called out.

“Here! Take a right down this road here.”

Veneer turned the wheel to make the way down the bumpy, dusty road. The sun had long since set and the moonlight lit everything around them. The twins couldn’t help but marvel at the sights…They had never set foot out of Rageous before. They were accustomed to the synthetic nature of it all and reality hit them like a ton of bricks. There were actual living trees and animals. Away from the constant lights that lit Rageous, they could see the sky actually had stars like some books said.

“...Woah….” Veneer exclaimed.

“Okay…What the hell is that?” Velvet pointed to the buildings that began to appear on the horizon.

“BergenTown. That’s what you’ll be calling home until we get things sorted I guess.” Branch said.

Veneer held a face of amazement as they grew nearer, while Velvet’s was twisted in disgust, “A castle?”

“Yep. King Gristle of the Bergens lives here. He extends his welcome and hospitality to both of you. Has some pretty nice rooms set up for you in the castle too.” John Dory added.

“Cool Vels we get to stay in a castle!” Veneer beamed as he pulled the vehicle in through the gates and towards the Bergen castle.

“I don’t know if I would call this much of a castle…” Velvet murmured. The road took them down towards a giant tree at the center of the town. “What’s this? They worship some kind of tree god or something?”

The small Troll brothers frowned, “No…That was…Or still is the Troll tree. Serves different purposes now than it did before…” Branch replied.

“Like what?”

“....A story for another time kid.” Was all the Troll said. Their vehicle came to a halt at the foot of the Bergen castle. Waiting for them at the front were two small Bergens, and one tiny Troll. The twins walked out of the vehicle taking in their surroundings…uncertainty still clouded Velvet, but Veneer was more than excited about everything, mainly about being in the outside world for the first time. Something small caught his eye near the tree.

“Woah Vels check this out!” He scooped something up in his hand.

“What?” She squealed as her brother opened his hands to reveal a small bug, “GET AWAY GET AWAY!!!

“It’s just a… unmm… I think it’s called a Laying Mantis. No. Praying Lantis… no that’s not right either…”

“…. Praying Mantis….” Branch said.

“Yeah that’s it!!”

A small Bergen hopped forward grasping Veneer by the hand, shaking it excitedly.

“Hey yo! I’m King Gristle! Welcome, welcome. This is my lovely wife Bridgette and this is our castle. You guys are welcome to stay here as long as you want! Honestly, I’m excited! This is like the first Bergen-Rageon interaction outside of Rageous! So like…we're totally making history!!” He said. Veneer couldn’t help but smile at his optimism.

“We had Bergen body guards as kids! So this is pretty cool!” Veneer exclaimed. Velvet elbowed him…a warning. Not everyone knew about their past except for the three brothers…and it will be best kept that way for now, “..I mean...During our time in Mount Rageous. Kids? What kids?”

Velvet moaned, rolling her eyes. Idiot, she told herself.

“Oh! Well, that’s neat I guess. You’ll have some of those here too, but I guess they’re more for the aesthetic…We really have no danger here. Now come on! Let me give you a tour of the crib!”

Veneer happily followed Gristle up the steps. Velvet lingered a while longer at the foot of the castle. She turned to face the horizon, to look at the long road they had traveled…

BergenTown. It wasn’t much. It definitely wasn’t Rageous. She began to wonder if she would ever see again, but then another thought hit her….This place was better, and safer, than Rageous…At least for now. She looked at the black vehicle that stood still at the bottom… Somehow she couldn't help but feel that it was a remnant of their father, of what possibly could have been. Maybe he did care…

“Vels! Come on!”

Her train of thought broke when she heard her brother's voice. Looking up she saw him waiting for her at the top…

“Well…Here goes nothing.”

One month…

That’s how long it had been. Just one month. Within that month, this place had begun feeling more like home than Rageous had in a long time…and Floyd made sure it was a home to them…at least he began to hope they would see it as such and choose to stay. The only little Troll that still wasn’t too fond of the idea, was Branch. He stayed away from the twins as much as he could, he wanted no association with them, but that even that in itself was proving to be hard…

Veneer would follow him everywhere. Once he saw Branch, it was as if his whole world would light up. Branch couldn’t put a finger on why. He could even begin to see the jealousy creep into Velvet whenever he is around. Branch smirked at that part; he took pride in Velvet being envious of him… but yet still, he’d do his best to avoid Veneer as much as possible… Branch would never admit it, but the lanky Rageon was growing on him…

It was an early morning that would change everything so suddenly though…

Branch lay against the foot of the Troll tree. His eyes were closed, the day was beautiful so far. The ground underneath him began to tremble…That could only mean one thing.

“Hey Branch!”

“Yep…I knew it.” The small Troll opened his eyes to see Veneer’s big blue ones gazing down at him. Was he getting taller? Was that even possible for a Rageon? “Weellllll, nice talk got to go now.” Branch hopped to his feet and began to walk away.

“What already? I wanted your opinion on something.” With one stride Veneer caught up to him. Branch did his best to quicken his pace. Darn those long legs of his, the small Troll thought.

“Um, maybe you could ask Floyd….or anyone else.”

“But…but I want to ask you.”

“Sorry, I got uuhhh, duties back at Pop Troll village I got to do.”

“Oh! Can I come?”

“...Dude…Last time you were there you squashed half the village housing.”

“...Not on purpose though.”

“They're still scared of you. ‘The Wonky Giant’ is what they call you.”

“....I’m not that wonky….”

Looping his hair, Branch swung himself up and over the Bergen wall…and was out of sight. Veneer let out a long sigh.

“I don’t know why you even try bro.” He spun around to the sound of his sister’s voice. She stood behind him cross armed, “Like you really don’t get the hint he doesn’t want to hang out with you.”

“...Y-yeah…But…i don’t know. I want him to be my friend.”

“You’re pathetic.”

“Yeah, you’ve told me more than once.”

The day went quick as Branch spent most of it in Pop Troll village. Poppy and Floyd went to spend the rest of their day at BergenTown. He and the rest of his brothers managed to get things settled as more of the Put Put Trolls began moving in. Areas needed to be cleared and homes built for their new guests…Plus, an area that Veneer had accidentally squashed needed to be rebuilt.

“Kid, still wants to hang out with you?” John Dory asked him.

Branch rolled his eyes, “Please, let’s not go there.”

“Come on, Branch! Give the kid a chance. They both are honestly not as bad as we had thought…Just a little misguided like any kid around.”

“I said let’s not go there John.”

“Alright, alright.”

Silence lingered for a moment before the ground beneath them began to shake. Footsteps, they knew that much. Branch rolled his eyes. Veneer, he had followed him when he had explicitly told him not too.

“Veneer!! What did i…..say….” Branch's voice diminished as he and the rest of the Trolls turned to face the giant standing amongst them. Veneer…it had to be…it looked like him. But..it wasn’t him. The giant smirked at them, a cunning glint in his eyes. The Trolls weren’t afraid, it was a Rageon, they trusted Rageons, but not running was the mistake they made….

“Looks like I hit the jackpot.” The giant said, his voice deep and sinister. With a single swoop he reached down and grabbed Branch before he could run.

“HEY!” His brothers yelled below him. The giant brought Branch up to eye level…Why did he resemble Veneer so much? Except, this Rageon was older, he could see it in his eyes, his light, blue icy cold eyes.

“Now. While your little friends here start screaming…Tell me what you know about Veneer.”

It was night at the Bergen Castle. The twins were in the room ready for bed. Veneer stayed staring up at the ceiling as he lay in bed.

“Gosh Veneer, you’re still not butt hurt about stupid Branch ditching you?” Velvet said.

“What? No. I just… I wonder why he doesn’t want to hang out.”

“…. Cause we basically captured his brother and tortured him.”

“…Well…. Yeah, yeah good point.”

“Get over it bro. Let’s just please go to bed! I want to finally sleep in tomorrow….” Her voice was cut off by the sounds of arguing and crying.

“What?” Veneer asked. She placed a finger on her lips as she crept close to the door. She could hear the voices: Gristle, Poppy, Floyd… was that Clay, Bruce and John? They sounded terrified. “What’s going on?” Veneer crept in.

“I don’t know..” The voices grew louder, they could hear a small yell, then a cry… it was Poppy. The twins opened the door and made their way down towards the noises. They came upon the scene of a massive crowd of Trolls in the common room of the castle. Some were crying, some silent with a terrified look in their eyes, others with a mix of both…

“Mom! Mom! Where’s mom?” A young Troll cried.

“Dad!”

“My wife! They took my wife!”

“My family is gone!!”

“...What happened…” Veneer looked at Velvet. She stood silent…too shocked to speak. Poppy had fallen to her knees hugging herself, tears flowing from her face.

“I’m sorry. We tried. Tried so hard for all of them. We escaped with those that could. He went for Branch first..” Clay spoke, “He went for Branch because he had mentioned-....” His voice trailed off as his eyes fell upon Velvet and Veneer. The crowd of Trolls also fell silent…a pin drop could be heard.

“....Who Clay?” Poppy’s voice broke the silence, “Who did Branch mention? Why was he taken?”

“...He mentioned….Veneer.”

All eyes turned towards the two Rageons. Even Velvet looked at her brother, “The hell Veneer?”

“I’m as shocked as you all are!” a frightened look came to his eye.

“They were giants! Just like you two! You planned this!” A Troll yelled.

“This never happened until you two arrived!” The Trolls began to rally up and yell insults at the twins.

Poppy stood up, “Guys! Please! There has to be an explanation!” She looked at Veneer, “Would there be a reason why a Rageon out here knows you? Or even take Branch for that?”

“No…I don’t know…”

Poppy turned back towards the Trolls, “What did this being look like?”

“...He was tall, obviously. Pale, like them,” Viva motioned towards the twins, “Kind of looked like them too…Except he was older…Tattoos…”

The twins' eyes grew wide as they looked at each other…a wave of nostalgia hitting their minds…They knew EXACTLY who the Trolls were talking about…He had found them afterall…or to say the least…he was close.

“...It’s your dad isn’t it…” John’s voice broke their train of thought. They stared at the small Troll, “Floyd told us everything. Who he was, what he did. He was dangerous, unfortunately, that means you guys are too. Obviously. I’m sorry. You two need to go.”

“John enough!” Floyd exclaimed.

“What?” Veneer spoke, his heart breaking in two.

“Seriously? You’re going to banish us. You can’t do that!” Velvet turned to Gristle, “This is your castle. He can’t do that.”

“...I….I….” He looked at Poppy. She was torn. Poppy was never one to feel angry, never one to feel rage…But right now she was angry, heartbroken. Branch was taken from her. He was terrified, alone, and she's not there for once in her life to comfort him. He would tear heaven and Earth to be there for her….and now he was gone…

“...I don't know what to do….” She finally said.

CRASH!

Something came breaking in through the window…a canister?...

….A mist began flowing from it…

“Run! Hide! Hold your breath!” Poppy screamed out as she ran to assist her people. Gristle and Brigdette held their noses as they escorted the crowd of Trolls through a hidden escape route…the mist began growing thicker…

The twins began coughing and gagging. Velvet turned to see that her brother was no longer visible by her side.

“Ven!”

“I’m still here.” He said in between coughs.

“Where’s your hand? We need to leave.” She reached out in attempts to grab…that’s when she felt a firm grasp along her wrist. At first she thought it was Veneer, but the body swung her over covering her mouth. Muffled cries escaped her mouth.

“Vels? Vels!” Veneer too felt something grab and pull him. His mouth also covered as he began getting pulled away against his will. “Floyd!...Floyd!!” He cried desperately as he was dragged out…

Without being seen, the two figures dragged the twins out from the Bergen castle. They kicked and attempted to scream. They were thrown into a black vehicle…and were driven off…

Floyd heard Veneer’s desperate cries for help.

“Ven! Ven!” He tried running back into the mist but was held back by his brothers, “He needs me!”

“No Floyd! Wait!” Bruce yanked him back…within moments…as if nothing happened…the mist was gone. Floyd pushed his brother's hand away from him as he ran back out… the twins were gone. He could see the signs of struggle; furniture knocked over, tables upturned…

“No…no…no….no.” Floyd ran out the front door. He saw the tire marks within the dirt that lead outside BergenTown….they were gone…he took them…and his brother….

“Hey! Hey!” Velvet banged against the doors of the giant vehicle, she pulled and pulled on the handles as she could feel it driving off. Veneer attempted to unlock everything…but nothing worked.

“Vels! What do we do!” He desperately pulled on the handles.

“Just keep pulling!” Velvet cried.

“Now, now, are you really that desperate to leave me again.”

The twins froze…they knew that voice all too well. He was in there hiding in the corner watching them the whole time…their father. He reached over to turn on the lights in the backseat. It illuminated his face, the scar across his left eye, his peacock green hair slicked back… he still gave off the same cold demeanor the twins remembered.

“If you would have come to me when I had sent for you, we could’ve avoided this mess.” Vaughn said.

“How…How did you know where we were?” Velvet demanded.

Vaughn smirked, “I have my ways. But this little guy made sure to direct me to where EXACTLY you were.” He held up a little container holding a little Troll inside…

“...Branch…”

[theavianlady]

...tw? Tw.

TW: Gore, Blood, Injury, uh...Pain and Sadness-

@psychologicalwarclaire

Ha ha! Tis I! I was the anon!

(Cue dramatic exclamations of disbelief)

Ahem. Tis the anniversary of Spider's Web with Strings Attached, and I wanted to make something! Go and read the fic if you haven't already; it's incredible.

Lots of ramblings and other versions under the cut (if anyone wants to see any other parts with or without different lighting and stuff that I didn't include, just let me know; I'm happy to share).

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This is the first (almost) completely original thing I've drawn digitally! Poses are really hard for me, so I'm super proud of this. No tracing, only references!

...so. Many. References.

Except for the bricks, which I'm not counting, because bricks are scary. And the chains. I used a brush. Chains are scary too.

I started July 28th, and then spent almost 40 hours across various canvases planning, experimenting, and actually working on this. Not including research. It took me absolutely forever, but I regret nothing.

Except for the fact that I spent over 6 hours just shading bricks. I didn't even draw them! I took a pattern for the grooves from google and filled it with black, (rotated and edited for some variance in their cells), and then did the red lighting and some shadows you can't even really see. For 6 hours.

I tried to draw their spider brooches many times, but I could not get them to look right (especially from a side angle), so I gave up. Let's all just pretend they're there until I come back later. Eventually. Maybe. Oh, and Leo's chains. At the time of posting, I really just want to get this up and posted, so they're not shaded, but again, I might do it later.

I wanted to have this set when they're both in their separate cells, right after Viper was, uh...in the cell with Leo. So, Donnie is all stitched up and healing, while Leo is...not doing great (not certain about the timeline, because I'm paranoid about everything, so it's probably fine). But, I wanted to convey what happened to Donnie, so I drew that weird glowing spine thing to indicate some kind of mystic healing something. I don't even know.

It didn't turn out as well as I wanted it too, but I'm probably biased. Because there was so much gore on Leo's side, Donnie's looked boring. I couldn't figure out how to do the lighting. The values could be better. It could do with more time spent on the shadows. Etc, etc. I'm a perfectionist.

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Uh, in order of posting, behold!

1. Big version.

2. Big version without lighting (except on the bricks) or Japanese characters.

3. Close up of magic spine representation thing because I'm proud of it.

4. Close up of gore-covered-Leo because I'm also proud of that. I have never drawn such...messy gore before.

Fun fact, the group of layers all of that was on is called "Bad Stuff".

5. Close up of Donnie's shell stitches without the spine thing, because I worked hard on those. It was also pretty tricky, because I couldn't find any references for large stitched wounds. Only open ones. If anyone knows any good places for references like that, t'would be greatly appreciated.

Also, they don't usually stitch puncture wounds, because it could trap infection, but I feel like with something so large and deep as dragon teeth it would be necessary? So I tried to include those.

But also, would they just stitch the skin in such deep wounds? Is there still a gaping hole under the skin? Do they also stitch muscles with the dissolvable sutures or something? I'm like, going to go to med-school just so I can draw more accurate wounds and stitches and stuff.

6. Close up of Leo without the gore because he's pretty and I'm really proud of the plastron. And the right forearm armour piece. I couldn't get the other ones to look as nice, much to my dismay.

The Japanese characters write out to Omae wa hitoribocchi da, which translates to You are alone. I think. Google Translate says it's You are all alone, but translation services that I trust slightly more, like Reverso.net and ChatGPT (the most reliable of sources, I know) just say You are alone.

Omae is the equivalent of anata, for those familiar with Anata wa hitori janai. They both mean you, but omae is more...condescending, from what I can tell. Informal and rough, often used to express disdain or superiority.

Wa indicates that anata or omae are the subject of the sentence.

Hitori is present in both, meaning alone, though from what I can see, hitoribocchi is more...desolate and painful. It's a more emotional term for being alone.

Janai kind of means is not, or are not, while da is just like...closing the sentence. A firm, declarative ending particle.

I tried to paste the actual Japanese characters from different translation services (I am not fighting with using a keyboard from another language), but Tumblr wouldn't let me. Boo. So, you can all suffer with my English-Japanese. Also, don't trust anything I say. I'm learning Japanese on Duolingo, but I've only just started and it gets way more complicated. So, pretty much anything I just said could be wrong. I just did a lot of research.

If anyone does speak Japanese, and knows a better way to convey this, please tell me. I crave knowledge and accuracy.

I should get like, a personal human translator. No AI or program can truly understand a language like its people. Especially comparing Japanese and English. From what I've learned, there are a lot of words that could be translated many ways, depending on exact feel. It's complicated, and I'm scared to get farther into Duolingo's course.

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I also just discovered yesterday that today is also the anniversary of the Rise Movie, so yay! Happy Anniversary to the movie that literally changed my life. And Curly, you're awesome. It's authors like you keeping this fandom alive, so thank you!