#possibly a part 1 if I can finish the other drawings before the end of tomorrow

[asdeadasasquirrel]

A Lego Star Wars Family Holiday is a holiday special I would personally make just for me

🎄✨ Merry Christmas to all who celebrate ✨🎄

[lialacleaf]

To Care For A Woman

Chapter 2

Simon Riley X Reader

Summary: You join the army as a last-ditch effort to avoid destitution, but when you sustain an injury protecting Lieutenant Ghost and earn yourself a medical discharge, you're stuck all over again. Or maybe not...

Warnings: Tension, Simon wants to care for you, small reader, a little bit spicy but not NSFW, man worrying about a woman's safety, typical cannon violence, deception, I'm sorry it's unedited...

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Reader POV

You were swimming in a deep pool of black, waves of some syrupy feeling caressing your mind, interrupted by the occasional pinch or sting. You felt the black ebbing away, replaced by the metallic smell of blood and the sting of bright lights in your eyes. You let out a sharp whine as the pinch became an agonizing, burning pain in your left knee.

A choked sob followed as you slowly regained your awareness. You were laying in a hospital bed, and a medic was carefully redressing your injured leg.

“Where’s Lieutenant Ghost?” You asked, remembering how he’d been shot down aiding you in your escape.

“Busy. Said he’d come by once you were awake to deliver the news.”

Your brow furrowed. The news? What could that possibly mean? You couldn’t be in trouble for the mission having gone bad. Your lip trembled as the medic finished their work and left.

Maybe Ghost had been right to leave you out of missions before. The pain in your leg was agonizing, and you wanted to curl into a ball and cry. You were all alone in a place you didn’t belong, and you were suffering, but all you could feel was anger at yourself. Anger that you just weren't good enough for the job.

A small part of you wanted to call home, but you couldn’t bare the thought of putting anymore stress on your parent’s shoulders.

You felt helpless, more so than usual, and you couldn’t stop the shaking in your hands. A knock sounded, drawing a shaky gasp from you lips.

You felt you shoulders tremble as the imposing figure of your Lieutenant quietly slipped into the room.

Ghost crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles straining against the black sweatshirt he wore. He simply stared at you through the holes in his mask, not saying a word.

You felt a shudder run down your spine as he took a step closer, holding out a tan folder to you.

“What’s this?” You asked, your hands trembling as you reached for it.

“Your discharge paperwork,” he answered curtly.

“From the hospital?” You asked, your voice wavering.

“From the 141.”

Your stomach dropped. “No,” you pleaded, voice wavering. “No, Ghost…please, no,” you begged, fighting back the tears threatening to run down your cheeks and expose the turmoil of your heart.

“This isn’t up for discussion,” he said sternly as you opened the file. “Have it signed by the end of the day-“

“It wasn’t my fault!” you interrupted, your lip quivering. “I did everything right! Please, you can’t do this to me.”

“This isn’t about the mission,” he stated gruffly. “This is about your injuries. You’ll be lucky to walk on that leg again. You’re unfit for duty.” His eyes bore into you with an intensity that made you shudder.

“You don’t understand, I don’t have anywhere to go. I can do other things, work in the office, do paperwork-“

“I’ve already spoken with Price. You don’t have high enough clearance for that,” he stated softly. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy for you. You both did. You were just a rookie. You’re pension would be little to nothing, and your injury would make it even harder for you to find a way to support yourself.

Ghost watched carefully as you took a shallow breath, a few stray tears sliding down your cheeks. “Are you happy now?” You asked with a thick swallow. “I know you didn’t want me here in the first place,” you accused.

It didn’t matter that you had saved his life, and quite possibly sacrificed any quality your own would have had otherwise. “You should have just left me there,” you whispered, and Ghost stiffened.

Silence hung in the air and your throat burned as you tried not to burst into tears.

“I’ll work somethin’ out for you,” he said gruffly, as if he was uncomfortable making you such a promise.

“You said Price made his decision-“

“I’ll work somethin’ else out,” he clarified. “Get those papers signed,” he said, turning on his heel and leaving you to shake your head and quietly sob into you hand.

~

Simon’s POV

He couldn’t watch you cry. The idea of your little sobs took him right back to that night that he thought he was going to watch you bleed out on the way to the hospital.

He’d considered yelling at you for what you had done, but then his mother’s frightened face flashed in his mind, and his stomach dropped. He didn’t want to be his father, didn’t want to be the man that made a helpless woman cry or feel fear from his presence. He wanted to make sure you never had to cry ever again, and he was about to do everything in his power to make sure you were safe and sound.

“You’re bloody mad, Simon,” Johnny said as he looked at the piece of paper he’d had prepared that afternoon. “Hope it works out.”

He hoped so too. More than he was willing to verbally admit to the Scotsman.

If you didn’t agree to it, there was nothing more he could do to help you. But he wasn’t going to let you just slip through his fingers without trying.

Reader’s POV

You cried for every medic that walked into your room, despite telling yourself over and over again that you wouldn’t. Something about watching them tend to your leg made the situation too real.

It was lonely in the hospital room, and the hum of the air conditioner was starting to give you a headache. Or maybe that was from all the crying you’d done.

A small part of you was scolding yourself for wasting time being emotional when what you really needed to be doing was making a plan. You needed to figure out your next steps before the hospital politely kicked you off base.

You couldn’t even walk, and there would be no one to care for you during your recovery. How the hell were you supposed to survive?

He didn’t even knock before entering, and you were quick to wipe your checks as Ghost approached your bed at a steady pace, another damn tan folder in his hands.

“More bad news?” You asked bitterly.

He let out a deep chuckle in response. “Depends on how you look at it.” His accent was thick, and you couldn’t help but catch the tinge of nervousness in his voice. It had to be bad for Ghost to be rattled.

“I’ve got a…friend, and he’s willing to help you out.”

He placed the folder gently in your lap and flipped it open. You felt your chest tighten and your eyes narrowed in confusion.

A marriage certificate. It was a marriage certificate with your name on it. “What is this?” you asked.

“A way out.”

“Really?” you asked incredulously. “Cause it seems like a nasty joke! Who the hell even is Simon Riley?”

“Does it matter? He’s agreed to take care of you,” Ghost muttered.

Indeed he had. His portion of the certificate was signed and dated. “In return for what?” You asked bitterly, voice thick with emotion.

Ghost clicked his tongue softly and sighed. “I wouldn’t send you somewhere potentially unsafe,” he assured you, brown eyes boring into you as he tilted his head to the side.

“I have a feeling you’d send me anywhere if it meant you never had to see me again.”

You could tell he was frowning at you under that mask, and you swallowed thickly. He’d never exactly been kind to you, but not unkind either. He’d simply excluded you, making it harder to have anyone on your side.

“You got another option I don’t know about?” He asked, holding a ballpoint pen out to you expectantly.

You stared at the object for a moment, feeling your lip begin to quiver again. No. Not in front of him. You snatched the pen from his grasp and hastily scribbled your name down, sucking in a deep breath as you did so.

“Atta’ girl,” he praised, patting you on the shoulder. You handed him the paperwork without meeting his gaze. He must have thought you to be a sell-out, that you were pathetic. Maybe you were. You just hoped you hadn’t made a terrible mistake with this Simon Riley.

AN: well, well, well. I hope you’re all on the edge of your seats! Thank you to everyone that has been interacting so far, I can’t explain how much that means to me! Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed from the tag list! Thank You!

Tag list: @warenai @livynicole @ghostlythots @hilowhiho @mrmountainman @miamia89 @shiraya92 @crocodilefeet2707

@zzariyahchan @gaida-511 @misshoneypaper @soldierlass @dazaiscum @mockerycrow @kaysav608 @classygardencroissantcolor @innerskylover @kristalhi @hotaruteba @tzutology @sushiumex @l3xiluve @immajustlikeok

@iplayghoul @linoskitten11 @zollaris @whore-for-anime @migeuloharaslxt @blog-luvdance @embermdk @buttercupmuffins

Gosh, I think that's everyone. I think some of y'all have settings that didn't allow me to tag you so I apologize if you don't get a notification. I did my best. Also, my dyslexia had a helluva time with some of the names XD Love you guys! Thanks again for your support! <3

[neoyi]

Neo Yi's Super Fun Webcomic Reading List Time!

I wanna do it. I wanna be the guy! I wanna recommend and impart my personal views on the webcomics I've read over the better part of the year. I feel like I've read more online comics since 2023 then I had in over a decade. It is an excellent time to get into comics.

Not every webcomic on the list worked for me, but I'm not going to comment negativity on any of them because all of them deserve to be read and appreciated. No, what I am going to do, regardless of how I feel about ANY of these comics, is to state some things I liked about it. Hopefully something will catch your eyes.

Links to each webcomic will be provided, though Tumblr hates annnnnything with actual links, so I'm just going to copy and paste them in an attempt to reach a broader audience and get these out into the greater wild. It ain't much, but I hope it helps the creators making 'em.

All images I used for each comic are usually the first cover/first page. If the creators prefer I not do that or have another image they'd like me to use instead, please let me know.

I'm also hoping I can regularly update this as I continuously read more and more as I had to split the current list I had into two parts. So consider this Part 1.

No rank because this ain't a ranking list; we going alphabetical order.

1. A Dance With Death (http://overmorrowtales.com/death/cover.php)

Summary: It's the end of the world and Death is waiting for someone to dance with. Who could it be?

Hi, I went into this comic because the main cover had the Grim Reaper in a suit. I know what I'm about, son.

I left this short (really, it's only 34 pages, so you can finish it in about thirty minutes) with a mix of existential crisis and an odd sense of peace. I love seeing anthropomorphic personification of human ideas and the world around us. Just seeing the creator indulge in what they interpret the likes of the Four Horsemen, or Pain, or Fear, or etc etc was a visual treat to see.

Who Death dances with might feel obvious once you put the pieces together, but its the explanation behind why he chose them, especially in the face of an ongoing apocalypse, that both felt utterly clever in its interpretation and worthy of the wait.

2. All Known Alternatives (https://akacomic.com/)

SUMMARY: Akane must find the 42 keys spread across parallel worlds in order to get back home. Eri and Ben is spending summer vacation before university, but get caught in the conflict when one of the keys end up in their world.

All Known Alternatives is described as both fantasy and slice-of-life and it definitely feels like it. I'm a huge fan of collect-a-thon stories, a quest forever molded and shaped by the approx. one gazillion platformers that I've been playing since 1989.

The comic is still new, so for the most part, I've mostly been seeing the slice-of-life aspect of Eri (and a reluctant Ben) settling Akane in. While no doubt finding ALL 42 keys would been an ordeal task for any comic artist (indie or otherwise) to write and draw about (indeed, Akane has half the amount prior to the comic's start), I am curious to keep going to see if the main cast will get the reminding 20+ left, and presumably, enter other worlds (well, other then the ones we've seen so far.)

In-between chapters are, what I think are flashbacks, centered on a squad of military folks. Presumably this will be a "How-Did-They-Get-Here" kinda tale, possibly centered on Akane's origin, but it's too early to tell.

It's three chapters in, each roughly about 40+ pages plus intermission chapters (roughly anywhere from 6 - 10 pages), so it's got a decent-sized backlog to get into. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

3. Augustine (https://comics.windywallflower.com/augustine)

SUMMARY: August and friends are constantly surviving in the region known as the Crater as they collect bounties, often with a huge heap of trouble they tend to leave in their wake. When they stumble upon an ancient artifact, they''ll be force to contest with other bounty hunters and Gods!

As of this post, I've only wrapped up Chapter 1. I think Chapter 2 had just started, so I haven't ventured further, so there's not a whole lot I can say about Augustine yet. However, the first issue is a good introduction to both the characters (lovable misfits who all Try Their Best) and the absolute chaotic tone of the whole comic.

Augustine wants you to be pumped. It's incredibly energetic and fun, helped by the largely orange background. And I'm not talking orange orange, I am talking bright, vibrant sugar-infested Tang orange. It really lends well to the vitality of this comic and it's really gorgeous when the creator mixes it with the other color they use a lot: deep blue.

I'm also just a casual fan of Greek mythology, so I'm excited for the possibility of backstories and/or meeting with Godly pantheons. This bitch loves Godly pantheons.

4. BACK (http://www.backcomic.com/)

(Note: I used the front cover of the first BACK physical comic because the first page is kinda just background.)

SUMMARY: Abigail wakes up from a coffin and is immediately told she is the key to ending the world. With no memory of who she is, Abigail just accepts and goes about her mission. Trailing along is a druid named Daniel, someone with enough morals hoping that maybe, Abigail, shouldn't really do the whole Ending the World thing.

BACK was still updating when I first read it (up to the Dead Man Arc, I believe) and at the time, I remember being restless for reasons I now can't comprehend. I read through the whole thing again and asked myself, "Why did I feel like it dragged? This is one of the breeziest comics I've ever read!"

Ya know what I also like besides collect-a-thons? Its cousin, the "Fight Every Major Boss to Get To The Final Boss and Save the World: plot. BACK comic is actually pretty straightforward, but it's brandished with KC Green's (well, and perhaps Anthony Clark's: as of this post, I have not read Nedroid, but I've been recommended to it by a mutual) trademark sense of humor, so there's plenty of lingering weirdness and cartoonish, over-the-top characters. It's the kind of comic where the silliness never leaves, often used as much for laughs as it does for brevity whenever it gets serious. I kinda thing it'd work as a Cartoon Network program, honestly. It kind of dips a fine line between being all-age or something Adult Swim would play.

By the time I finished, I was left immensely satisfied. It's about 800 pages, but reading BACK felt effortless. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had been keeping up with it per update when it was still going, but diving into it as a whole? It works. Each chapter, character introduction, and action scenes never overstay their welcome.

I'm pretty invested in the idea of getting physical copies of these books soon, BACK is just that dang good.

5. Come Hell or High Water (https://www.chohwcomic.com/)

SUMMARY: Prince Gladimir did not want to fall in love with a pirate, but he's thrown into his world of sea-farers and ne'ers do-wellers if it means saving his kingdom.

Can I just say I love the title of this comic? Come Hell or High Water is probably one of the badassest of all catchphrases and the creator just chose to use it as their title and it rules.

Everything about this premise rocks my world: elegant princely figure falling for his dashing, roguish pirate guy, fictional kingdoms and the political intrigues and conflict that arises within, high-faring sea ventures, and etc etc. This comic, by all means, is my jam.

Soooooooo, I actually kind of fell out of this comic early into its run. Something about it wasn't clicking for me, personally, but with thirteen chapters under its belt and me, having only gotten up to, roughly, the third chapter, I want to give this one another go later down the line. There is no way I can't leave this comic left unread when EVERYTHING about it fits my particular mold so well. I'm not sure what didn't stick with me, but it certainly is not the sexual tension between the main characters which, god, Chapter One starts off with Gladinmir breaking up with his hot pirate boyfriend and if that isn't a good conflict for the two of them to work out their issues, then I don't know what is.

6. Dead City (https://topazcomics.com/deadcity/welcome/)

(NOTE: The cover is from the physical copy of Dead City. I screencapped this from their official store, hence why the link is watermarked on it. But hey, now you can go and buy it. It's good! Read it!)

SUMMARY: Two guys survive a zombie apocalypse, learn a little about each other, and maybe, just maybe, fall in love. ;O

If it wasn't for a couple of blogs I follow vouching for this comic, I might not have read Dead City. Me and zombie stuff are not syncopatico. Dead City is not about that. The zombie stuff is just background for what it's really about: a slice-of-life and cozy (yes, really!) story of two guys just trying to make through a dying world one day at a time. Throughout the comic, they learn to lean on each other, learn who they are, and get into internal conflicts fighting off their demons.

It's short (roughly 190+ pages), it's sweet, and it genuinely left me feeling like things will be alright in spite of a burning world.

7. Doris Doodle (https://www.dorisdoodle.com/)

SUMMARY: Doris Doodle is an old-timey cartoon struggling to find acting jobs in a media field where she's considered a thing of the past. However, when she is caught on camera for an act of goodwill that launches her into viral popularity, a new door opens up for her, but not without drawbacks.

I think Doris Doodle ended up being one of my new favorites. I'm fond of the Roger Rabbit-ish world of toons living in a human environment, breathed to life by animators, and going about their daily lives in-between gigs as actors. Indeed, you see a lot of crossovers from numerous famous cartoon stars (Betty Boop being a prominent one), which leaves me curious on how much workload the creator has to do with their current goal to make a non-copyright-infringement, physical version of this. It'll be interesting to see.

In any case, Doris Doodle left me emotionally yearning for a happy ending for the main character. We see how the media world chews and spit her out even decades later, and how, once a wide-eyed actress who wanted to be seen, can turn so cynical and bitter at what she was denied, through acts often not of her own faults.

The comic explores the usual horridness of Hollywood shallowness and sexist bullshit, but it also explains what its like to be an old toon out-of-touch of an ever increasing modern world. I love the latter a bit more since it's uniquely set for fictional pen-and-paper denizens; seeing how Toons exist, how restricted their livelihood is no matter what decade you were born, and the methods they go through to survive is fascinatingly good worldbuilding.

8. Earth In a Pocket (http://earthinapocket.spiderforest.com/)

SUMMARY: Anthropologist Halisi Mwangi wants to bring Earth's past to numerous human space colonies. Grabbing precious artifacts that has dotted human history, she blasts off to achieve her goals. Unfortunately, an accident causes her to be stranded on an unknown planet, with only its residences left to keep her company.

I think about the future of our planet a lot, and I'm often terrified of what will happen. I've found myself increasingly annoyed at End of the World stories heavily laden with cynical, edgy bents. I'm not saying these can't have commentary, but geez louise, one can only deal with another "Humans Suck and Can't Be Trusted In the Face of Despair" narrative without withering into a fetal position. Like, man, I get it, but also, come on.

Futurama has always been kind of a comfort show for me. There's something reassuring to see a fictional depiction of Earth a thousand years later, still thriving. Their problems aren't any more or less better or worse than ours, but they're living and doing things and it's just kinda nice.

Earth in a Pocket does something similar: it's a futuristic world where science benefited mankind. There are space colonies now and safe travels in-between, with no sign of the Earth itself in any danger. The main characters is utterly positive and obsessively in love with what humanity has accomplished. She praises the capabilities of what we have done and can do; it's this thinking that not only motivates her to survive, but educate the little adorable jellyfish aliens, all of whom are curious to learn about this strange, bipedal creature.

This is another short comic, so it'll take maybe an hour to finish. I urge you, if you ever feel sad about the current state of the world, give Earth in a Pocket a try. It's compassionate to mankind's achievements, endlessly encourages learning through curiosity and mutual respect for each other's cultures, and reminds us the good we can do. It's just feels good.

9. Fairmeadow (https://www.fairmeadowcomic.com/)

SUMMARY: Goma, a warrior orc, lost and broken, ends up in Fairmeadow, a small community of pacifists lead by Sanctuary. There, Goma is accepted as long as she abides by their peacekeeping rules, which she increasingly challenges every step of the way.

I was initially hesitant to approach this comic because of its tabletop RPG influence, something I am vastly unfamiliar with. I wondered if there would have been terminology I wouldn't get, but I strode on because the premise sounded interesting.

And it was totally worth it. I didn't need to know a goddamn thing about Dungeons n' Dragons or whatnot to enjoy the heck out of this comic. It is exactly what the summary say it is: hardened warrior who has Seen War clashes with a bunch of idealists who refuses to engage. It is damn good showing the flaws behind what an isolationist, hippie-like community is when they refuse to engage in politic strife that, though they refuse to admit, does reflect the world they live in. Goma doesn't instantly endear, both in-universe and out, but the further you read, the more you understand and even side with her frustrations on these crop-hoarding loners who seem content in their impossibly fantasy world. And I love that both sides represent their positions as justified. It's a constant battle and I am eager to find out how these characters will engage with each other, and especially, how it'll end. Fairmeadow feels like the kind of comic where we won't get an easy answer by the time it wraps up.

10. The Glass Scientists (https://www.theglassscientists.com/)

SUMMARY: In a city increasingly hostile to mad scientists everywhere, a one Dr. Jekyll took it upon himself to create an academy to encourage and prep those scientists to fit into good society. Course, things get complicated when Jekyll's other side, the impish Mr. Hyde, constantly takes over to rein a little chaos.

Okay, so, I do enjoy The Glass Scientists. The comic seem to be reaching its end point, so shit is hitting the fan, and I am glued. But I think I'm drawn more to the aesthetic of the comic than anything. Like Victorian-era mad scientists aren't my particular bread and butter, but everything about the Victorian-era fashion is, so Dr. Jekyll in a top hat as the first thing I saw was going to draw me in no matter what.

The second thing that dragged me in was the HOLY SHIT THE ARTWORK IS FREAKIN' AMAZING WHAT THE FUCK THESE LOOK LIKE ONE OF THOSE COMICS WHERE THEY SCREENCAP CARTOONS. I found out the creator works for animation professionally, so that explains a lot. This is a maddeningly great looking comic, with some incredibly good lighting haunting the streets of London.

Things really get interesting a few chapters in when Dr. Frankenstein appears and I feel that's when the comic really takes off. Like, if 19th century English literature and mad scientist gremlins are your thing, definitely give this a read. If anything, maybe you, too, will weep in tears at how gorgeous the comic looks.

11. Goth Western (https://www.gothwestern.com/)

SUMMARY: With an act of necromancy, Jack brings her lover, Evelyn, back to life, at the cost of working for the God she gave her soul to. Now she must hunt down a man in order for the two of them to have their happy ending.

Damn. "Goth Western." That's a title that goes hard. Another short comic that can be read in one fell swoop, Goth Western is pretty much what it is: a dark fantasy ol' west story between two women who would go to the ends of the Earth for each other. It's got all the hallmarks of the western genre: gun fights, bounty hunters, deserts and saloons, etc. I'm not particularly ride or die for Westerns, but it's there for those who are.

What I did love is the sheer optimism behind the grit. I like that Jack and Evie are genuinely decent people who just so happens to have no conniption committing some immoral acts or a crime or two if it means ensuring their own future. And they go through some shit. And you root for them regardless because they love each other and deserve to be together, and in spite of its harsh background, they will find it.

Honestly, with the length of the book, Goth Western feels like it could be an amazing and fun film.

12. Hans Vogel Is Dead (https://www.hansvogelisdead.com/)

SUMMARY: Ace pilot Hans Vogel dies in the Battle of Britain, wherein he ends up in a stagnating fairy tale world. Along with a girl cursed in a fox's body, Hans traverse the land as he strives to be a better person and unlearn the rampant fascism that has encapsulated his entire life.

I can only reason reading the summary above is enough for people to put two-and-two together that this takes place in 1940s World War II. And it's even more obvious what Party Hans is involved in, so if that kind of background is not to your liking, I don't recommend it.

If it's any worth, the majority of the story takes place in said fictional fairy tale world, using it as a thematic drive to explore Hans' background to have him realize, pretty early, in fact, that his entire fascist view is wrong. It's clearly a lovingly-crafted story, the creator constantly peppers each page notes with trivia and facts about the time period (her bio states she's a historian.)

I've gone in and out with the comic (one of those "I'll check back when it updates a few page" sorta thing), but I appreciate the chutzpah of the creator to make its lead character a literal Nazi and going out of her way to explore what it is like to have lived in that specific time period with a society and culture that devalued so many people. How will Hans get out of this kind of thinking and be a better person? Are his actions forgivable? I kind of feel questions like these are somewhat balanced by Hans himself, who, rather than portrayed as some arrogant jackass, is instead rather timid and unsure of himself.

Hans Vogel Is Dead feels very much like a "We will be doomed to repeat history unless we learn it" kind of comic, which, shit, given the politic course my country is going through, having a comic like this educating on why being a dangerous bigot is an awful thing, feels appropriately well-timed.

13. Harpy Gee (https://www.harpygee.com/)

SUMMARY: A young, magic-less elf enters the town of Podunk. There she has fantastical adventures with her new friends.

I know the summary's lacking, but 1.) I imagine most people already know about Harpy Gee or its artist. I've followed her stuff before she launched this comic because of wowie-zowie I would kill to use copic markers the way she does let me learn your ways coloring skills and 2.) That's kinda what Harpy Gee is.

For sure there are scenes, foreshadowing, and characters that launch off future plot points, but otherwise, Harpy Gee is like watching a family-friend cartoon. It's got the bright colors, often has cheesy little dialogues, magic and monsters, and every other little dangerous, but manageable adventures the main characters get into. It's a nice comic to read when you want to unwind, and I really dig how earnest it is with its kid-friendly appeal. There's not a drop of cynicism or edge to it; the optimism and sense of fun is what gives Harpy Gee so much of its charm.

The creator has since graduated to digital coloring (though she still inks her comics the ol' fashion way), but I really recommend checking out the early pages to see how she works her magic with markers. Like, I'm biased, my stuff is traditional artwork, so I'm endlessly fascinated when I DO see another webcomic in the wild doing the same, but her stuff is eye candy. Like *chef's kiss.*

14. Hoppscotch (https://z-t00n.tumblr.com/tagged/hoppscotch)

SUMMARY: Bunch of animal people get into wacky shenanigans and boy, that is an understatement.

So, as far as I'm concerned, this comic is only hosted on the creator's tumblr page. It also doesn't have a cover and I wasn't very comfortable even posting a full page because of where its hosted, so I just took a small screencap of a couple of panels from a newer page to give an indicator of the kind of humor you are in for when reading Hoppscotch. (Though let me know if you'd rather this pic be removed.)

In any case, this comic wondered into my radar when a person I follow reblogged the one Hoppscotch comic with the exploding school bus. I remember scrolling down thinking it couldn't possibly get any more bizarre, but it kept elevating itself until I was left in awe at how GOOD with spontaneity it is. This is a comic that sets you up to think it'll go the expected route, but will often always, always go in a completely unpredictable, unhinged ending, and it gets me every. single. time. I haven't laughed so hard in a comic in a while. I was floored by its mastery of deranged comedy and I am genuinely looking forward to more.

A lot of this is really helped by the appealing artwork. Furries aren't in my radar, but I love the character designs. They're colorful, adorable, and really streamlined. Like this kinda has a mid-to-late 2000s Nicktoons/CN sorta vibe.

15. Kidd Commander (https://kiddcommander.com/)

SUMMARY: Phineas Kidd vows to gather a crew so she can fly off to Kairos Crossing to accomplish her goal: to catch the Sun.

Kidd Commander immediately drew me in the moment I read "to catch the sun" in the comic's "About" page. Maybe it's my love for cosmic eldritch horrors. Maybe it's that one Specter Knight fancomic I'll never get to making where I have him literally cut the sun (long story), but whatever it is, I bookmarked the webcomic to read it when I had time because I had to know what the hell I was getting into.

And then I read it (as of this writing, I wrapped up the Mile High Engage arc and stopped shortly after I started the A Wretched Analog arc) and I sat there with my hand over my head, wondering, "What the heck did I just read?"

I mean that in the best way.

Kidd Commander is a dense webcomic. It pounds you deep into its constructed world, with terms that I admit, I'm still trying to make sense of. Mind you, the comic explains what I need to know. What is it about Kidd Commander is that it goes with the assumption that you, the reader, is not a moron. It won't hold your hand; it expects you to keep up with the characters' nuances, the nature of its world and how it exists, and every other little intricate of foreshadowing waiting to be unraveled. The creator has a degree in English literature and it shows, in that while this can be a wordy comic, it's less about how much is squeezed in a word balloon (of which Kidd Commander does fine), but the way it is written. If it isn't casual dialogue, then it gets evocative, especially when it gets serious and/or bigger plot stuff unravel.

After I finished the first arc (which was a sizable 440 pages), I had to take a breather. It can be overwhelming, but it's also a comic that is clearly driven both by passion and anger. It feels like the comic equ. of wanting to punch all the bastards that has ever wronged you. It wants to internally liberate itself as much as it hopes for you. Its constructed world genuinely feels like the creator's own, all the while drawing in the best of shonen comics (bonus points for the aesthetic airship. This bitch loves airships.)

I plan to read further into the comic, but I wanted to make sense of the world it has laid out first. And I found out that sometimes the best way for me to read a piece of fiction and really get to the meat is not through digital format, but physically in my hands.

So I ended up buying the book to do exactly that:

I implore people to give Kidd Commander a shot. If you want something that feels so raw, built to give you a sense of catharsis to people of things with greater power that has wronged you, then this comic might as well be its spokesperson.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Drawing each other (CRPS 1/2)

I'm probably going to forget to break these posts up unless like- I dont write all the fandom parts at once so I'm sorry you guys have to see the same prompt but different groups of characters/fandoms over and over LMAO

Characters: slenderman, splendorman, masky, hoodie, ticci toby

Notes: reader is GN, admin tossed a coin on whether or not the reader is an artist or not

CWs: none

SLENDERMAN

neither of you are... good artists... but neither of you are about to judge one another for your skill levels

im... not even sure hes picked up a pencil before in his life, and that shows in his drawing of you

he keeps the art you make of him tucked away somewhere, where exactly... youre not actually sure, but you know he keeps them as youve caught him holding them before

you keep his drawings of you tucked away somewhere where they cant be damaged

... its not the best bonding activity, but its a nice little moment between the two of you that feels... normal

SPLENDORMAN

he love love loves watching you draw, so when you approached him with this idea hes over the moon! you want to draw him? and you want him to draw you as well? say no more!

hes not insanely skilled, but he doodles here and there! likes using bright colors, so expect his drawing of you to be vibrant! if you let him hes going to add extra stuff such as glitter and stickers! youre not sure where he gets them...

waits patiently for you to finish your drawing, he even does his best to sit as still as possible so you can get a better reference of him

even if its not your best work- in your opinion- hes going to treat it like its the greatest piece of art made by anyone ever

hangs it up on the fridge, and will constantly praise you

is it a little much? ...yes... but damn it hes going to let you know how much he loves it!

MASKY

i like to think that proxies are the ones who create slenders pages, and... well they arent exactly pretty, a lot being just scribbles

doesnt find much enjoyment in drawing, but he may agree to do this with you

now you on the other hand, you like drawing... and its likely masky may pick up on some of the things you do when making it, even if you dont notice him hes somewhere watching you

his drawing of you has the scratchy look a lot of the pages have... but since hes given more time to work on it, it looks a lot nicer than some of the pages even if theres some flaws in the anatomy and all

quietly looks at the drawing youve made of him, he doesnt seem offended by your portray of him so at least you have that going for you!

gently places it on the table, but youre sure hes going to put it in his stash somewhere in the house to keep for later

HOODIE

not much of an artist, and neither are you

generally the interaction is pretty light hearted, even if there isnt much talking between the two of you

very proud of his drawing of you, even if it ends up being a mass of colors that only slightly resemble you- similar to masky, theres a lot of that scratchy black scribbling on his drawing of you

gives you a thumbs up when he receives your drawing of him, he doesnt say anything but thats to be expected from him

tucks it into the back pocket of his pants

TICCI TOBY

he cant draw, but you can... it leads to a.. funny exchange

you put so much time into drawing him how you view him, even if its just a quick colored sketch, its going to look like mona lisa compared to what toby is about to show you

you both poke fun at the skill difference between the two of you, it quickly leads to the both of you needing to take minute in order to catch your breath

hes not interested in art, or improving his skills however hes going to jump at the idea of you offering to teach him some stuff

just to spend time with you, really! there isnt much spare time to do that given his being a proxy thing... likes any excuse to hang around

[halfusek]

Something inky this way comes! The Ink Demonth emerges once again!

The Ink Demonth is a 31-day event dedicated to the game Bendy and the Ink Machine (and other games associated with the Bendy universe). It’s based on daily themes. As long as your creation involves elements from the game along with any interpretation of the respective day’s theme – it counts!

You don’t have to create something for each day, make as many creations as you’d like. However, if you manage to do all 31 of them, you can submit a form to receive a little gift (drawing request)! In the form, you will have to provide a link to each of your posted event submissions (it doesn’t have to be Tumblr, just a site that’s publically accessible!).

Here is the link to the form (it will be opened from September 1st to September 30th):

Tag your creations with #The Ink Demonth and #Bendy and the Ink Machine. It’s important if you want to have your entry reblogged by me, which I’m going to do to everything I’ll see in this tag. (So don’t @ me, just tag it with the event’s tag and the game’s name. It’s possible that your post may not show up in the tags, if you notice that I’m not reblogging your entries for a longer while, feel free to DM them directly to me on Tumblr. My focus will be mainly on Tumblr, I may interact with posts on other sites but it is going to be with whatever I run into, as this event is Tumblr-focused. Feel free to post on other sites too, though!)

(Due to special circumstances in my life I might be especially slow this August with reblogging stuff, so if you notice that I'm not reblogging anything at all, I might just be having a busy day and will get on it when I'm free! <3)

(And, though I think it goes without saying, if I notice a post containing something I consider harmful content, I will not reblog it and will warn the creator of such content that, depending on the case, they cannot continue to take part in the event with content like this or perhaps even not at all.)

Remember to tag only the finished entries, so the tag isn’t clogged with WIPs!

You can create whatever you’d like! Draw a picture! Write a fic! Do a video edit! Take a cosplay photo! Anything you can come up with that is a creative interpretation of that day’s theme!

(Don’t try to „cheat the system”, though – don’t submit a, let’s say, straight line for each day, I will notice this kind of spam and remember: spamming is a terrible sin. You can make an entry that covers a few themes but as long as you don’t create 31 things, the gift will not be granted to you.)

The event starts on the 1st of August and ends on the 31st. Although, don’t worry if you’re too busy in August, late entries are always welcome! (…for reblogging, as for drawing gifts I’m going to give all of you an extra month, so if you’re aiming for that, the end of September is your deadline.) (I usually also give an extra month before for preparing during July but this year I’ve been too busy to make it for July so apologies!)

Why in August? I figured that since August is the month on Joey’s calendar in his apartment and August is the month during which BatIM takes place, it should be the one! 

Please, make sure to tag appropriate trigger/content warnings!

Thank you for taking your time to read this. Reblogs are appreciated in order to get the word out.

Have fun everyone! 💛🖤

You can view the text version of the full month under the cut~

1. Pencil

2. Friendship

3. Creator

4. Choice

5. Benevolent

6. Machine

7. Flow

8. Pen

9. Failure

10. Creation

11. Reason

12. Angel

13. Children

14. Puddles

15. Color

16. Legacy

17. Eye

18. Purpose

19. Ghost

20. Factory

21. City

22. Radio

23. Contraband

24. Keep

25. Cycle

26. Demon

27. Pit

28. Devour

29. Meat

30. Duck

31. Revival

[trashy-tries-writing]

Part 1: In which the first encounter of Ravine leaves unpleasant or pleasant memories for some of our CoD characters with John Price / Gaz Kyle Garrick / Simon Ghost Riley

Part 2: John Soap MacTavish / König

Part 3: with Phillip Graves / Alejandro Vargas & Rodolfo Rudy Parra

(Totally didn’t cloud his head because I can’t draw his customized helmet)

Warning: I know nothing about the military and stuff😭

If I wrote smt that the characters wouldn’t say, please correct me because I don’t know any slang from their nationalities either or point out any mistakes I have made. LET ME KNOW please! So I can fix them. 😰 I’m not a great writer, especially because I live under a rock so don’t expect too much. Feel free to bash me in the comments if I use a bad/forbidden word from your country, I swear I didn’t do it on purpose🙏💦

Let me know if Ravine passes as a xMale!Reader or a xMale!OC  :’))

John Price

Price wanted to leave this hellish place as soon as possible

It was uncomfortably hot that he believed his flesh was oozing down his bones. No one knew what caused this overwhelming heat and the man wasn’t exactly ecstatic to find it out either with the scent of burned flesh hitting him hard on the nose.

Gradually the corpses of the enemy trope increased the deeper he went down the concealed facility. Price grimaces under his breath at the torched faces, skin tissues were burned off which showed the flesh underneath that was still bubbling and sizzling. The blackened chunks of flesh sitting on the ground continued to smolder while what leftover blood turns to steam as it spills from the wound.

Following his gut feeling, Price ends up in a corridor splattered with the blood of the victims he was supposed to spill. Including the objective of this mission, although the label wasn’t plastered on an unmoving, lifeless weapon that Price thought it would when Shepard sent him down in this hellhole.

“Bloody hell- Laswell, I… found the objective.”

The name was plastered on the door of the open cell with a human inside, sitting in front of a pile of corpses that looked like civilians. It- They- were motionless beside the immense heat reeking from its body which left more questions than answers for the bearded man.

Kyle “Gaz” Garrick

Gaz believes Ravine to be a heartless machine.

He watched the masked man run past falling soldiers without wavering in his steps. No reaction as his teammates die before his eyes or struggle until their last breaths. Sees him leave the training room after finishing beating up everyone until exhaustion as they lay on the ground groaning. 

Ravine doesn’t care about anything or anyone, and possibly not even himself. He takes orders after orders, sometimes requesting to solo it, as if a team would only drag him through the mud.

Gaz hears the whispers of hatred towards Ravine, how heartless and cold he is. How rude he is with how he answers with one word only. How unnerving it is to be in the room while he just stands there silently, not knowing where he is actually staring at through his helmet he never takes off.

Ravine doesn’t care about anything.

Gaz believed that Ravine was a heartless machine.

He saw Ravine running to the nearest corpse of their fallen brothers and sisters after the mission was done. The tall male scoops them up like broken glass, aloof at getting soiled or that there are special units to collect their bodies coming later. Ravine makes sure to leave no one behind and pile them together next to each other with their possessions as carefully as one could be, before paying his respects.

Gaz heard the heartless Ravine requesting to solo the missions when he deemed it to be too dangerous for the others as the higher ups know Ravine to be capable enough to do it on his own due to being different from any other existing soldiers, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Gaz noticed the soldier rushing back towards the training room with first aids, water, snacks and towels. He peeked inside to discover a relaxed atmosphere with the recruits chatting to each other tiredly, some drinking from their cup and gnawing on the energybar like hungry bears. They were sitting in a line and at the end was the cold Ravine giving them medical care.

The hateful whispers have turned into harmless jabs, whether it be about a new recruit being in trouble for something small as breaking a plate and pushing that soldier towards Ravine as if he was going to play alongside them.

His limited vocabulary was slowly picked up by them. Instead of saying “Yes”, some have started to respond with Ravine’s “Aye”s towards each other. Each time they couldn’t help grin when they see Ravine slouch even more than he already is from their jest.

“Fuck I’m hungry.” He hadn’t intended to say it so loudly, not that anyone was around to hear Gaz anyways. It was late and cold, he couldn’t wait to duck out and make something to eat and throw himself in bed.

But not even an hour later something warm touches his cheek from behind him and he jolts back in surprise from the warmth. He sees Ravine stepping back just as much, before hiding his body behind the corner, his upper part still sticking out with an arm stretched towards him with a bag.

“...Is that for me?”

“Aye.”

He slowly reaches towards the bag, a familiar smell reaching his nose. Gaz couldn’t help but smile when he opened the package with his favorite food and a thermos inside, his stomach growling loudly in urgency to take a bite.

Turning around to thank the man, his words are lost in his throat when the faceless soldier is nowhere to be seen.

Gaz believes that Ravine is a warm person who loves and cares in his own way.

Simon “Ghost” Riley

Ghost had been sent off to capture someone from a hideout. It was supposed to be easy but missions always go astray. What else he didn’t account for was the soldier sent by his superior to wipe them all out on the opposite side of the building. This wouldn’t have been a problem if the soldiers knew of each other’s existences.

One of them needed the target alive, the other came for a massacre.

When they crossed paths, shots were fired and when all bullets were gone, knives were raised. While It didn’t matter who died first, it would not end well with either loss. Weren’t it for the chain of commands voice ringing through both of their coms, the machete would have gone through his arm.

Ravine as Ghost came to know, backed away from him and kept that distance throughout the whole operation. Now that he got the go to kill everyone, the lieutenant saw how efficient the other was. No hesitation, no stumbling, no waiting- Ghost let the silent man do what he wanted, out of curiosity what he could do.

The lieutenant started trusting the newcomer more when Ravine jumped behind him without flinching and threw his chained machete at the enemy targeting his back. With a pull the weapon was back into his hands and his head whipped around,Ghost could mentally hear the snap.

His helmet moved in sharp, short turns at the lieutenant until he realized he was eyeing him for injuries beside the ones he himself inflicted on him a few minutes ago.

“All good Ravine. Let’s move.”

Back at their headquarters, Ghost would find little trinkets in front of the room he was currently occupying with a note stuck on it “I am very sorry for almost murdering you.” He knew immediately who this was from, especially since his ‘murderer’ in question has avoided him like the pest.

At first he thought nothing of it besides not liking him very much which happens anywhere in the workspace. But it got out of hand when Ghost came into the kitchen to get some tea and Ravine straight out jumped out the window.

It was the second floor.

Price had sighed into his palm so loudly, his soul could be seen leaving him. “I corner him and I want you to talk to him. He’s letting the guilt eat him up and I can’t let that happen.”

The captain literally shooed the tall man like a cat into his office with Ghost and held him by the collar of his turtleneck to keep him from leaving. For once Ravine stood at his full height and the lieutenant had to tilt his head up.

“Bloody hell…”

[generalhumancloudalmond]

Part 2: Friendship

Ending 1: White lilies

Ending 2: Red lycoris

...

Tea

Platonic!Yandere!Mori x Child!Fem!Reader x Platonic!Yandere!Dazai

You hated your position in this hospital office. Yes, you were grateful that you were sheltered and provided with everything you needed. However, you knew that you didn't belong here and it wasn't even a matter of a sense of morality, but of your stupidity. Besides Mori, Dazai and Elice, you had no one, so they became an unattainable role model for you. Elice was indifferent most of the time and only occasionally let out caustic phrases, and Mori and Dazai were smart: they had common secrets, they understood each other from half a word, and Mori himself liked to note their similarity to Dazai.

It would probably be better for you if you knew that you are normal, not stupid, normal. Yes, you didn't have the genius of these two, but you weren't any worse than the other kids. But surrounded by grown-up uncles and aunts-other doctors of this hospital and seeing that Elice is trusted with the same secret that Mori and Dazai keep, you became scared. What if you look stupid from the outside? Whether their secret is connected with you... Or are they just afraid that you'll ruin everything? Maybe you've already messed up something?

Afraid to hear the answer, you didn't ask these questions, but the idea that you need to leave them alone did not leave you, but only grew.

"Y/n, are you all right, are you some kind of silent lately?"

It was Mori, he turned in your direction and looked worried. Dazai also became alert, pushing some pills aside, he also looked at you. Moreover, at that moment, you stopped hearing the pencil scratching on the paper, Elice stopped drawing. You flinched.

Did they understand? Understand what you know about how stupid you are?

"If something has happened or someone has offended you, then you can tell me or Dazai and Elice, if it will be easier for you to confess to your peers."

The voice of the underground doctor sounds calm and even soothing, and you realize that you still have a chance to escape the ruthless truth. That's why you smile your stupid hateful smile, for which you are ashamed.

"No, nothing happened, just everyone is silent and I am silent too."

"I see."

Reluctantly agreeing, the doctor turns away, returning to the medical card. However, you still can't hear the pencils scratching and feel the piercing gaze of Dazai.

How could you, stupid you, even think that a fool like you could hide something from them?

"Y/n, is the real reason for your silence somehow connected with the mafia?"

You don't want to look in his direction, you don't want to see his penetrating eyes, so in an unusual manner you avert your eyes and cling to Elice's drawing. The girl immediately begins to finish drawing it.

"Maybe with an underground hospital?"

"No, Dazai, what do you want?"

A stupid question from a stupid you.

"Find out the real reason for your silence."

"Fine, but only if I can buy some tea before your interrogation."

By pretending to turn your nose up, you put Dazai in front of the fact. You want to get away from them, you want to escape, you need to escape.

Osamu wants to say something, but seeing Mori take out his wallet, he falls silent.

"Y/n, here you are."

"But there's more than I need. Do you want me to take something for you too?"

"No, nothing, just spend it the way you want."

"Okay, thanks."

After accepting the money, you leave the room and walk to the store. There is not a single good thought in your head, just a feverish attempt to come up with a decent lie for Dazai. You try to think through every question of the boy.

When you finally reached the store, that annoying thought, more like a dream, which has now begun to come true, suddenly hit your head. You want to leave, you can leave, you have to leave.

Yes, you can leave, but can you hide and avoid the hunt that the mafia will start on you? Will you be able to avoid Dazai, who will personally search every possible nook and cranny where you could go? Will you be able to avoid Mori, who will search every orphanage, every shelter where you could be taken?

[sincerely-sofie]

Seeing as you have finished writing the script for your AU thingy, I wanna know, how?

Like, were you motivated the whole time? Or was it a on and off writing type thing?

i'm trying to write but I don't know if I have the motivation...

How did you keep the motivation if so?

Oh man. I have so much to say about writing and creativity that I could make an entire series of posts talking about the subject, but I'll try to keep things orderly and brief.

Disclaimer: I should let you know that I have never finished a writing project before recently finishing my TPiaG AU. Keep that in mind when reading the advice I offer— the tips I give have only been put into work in my own life over the course of the last couple of months, but they’ve proven very effective in my experience!

Sofie Creativity Tips Episode 1, go!!!

Was I motivated the whole time I was writing TPiaG / How did I stay motivated?

Absolutely not. If I hadn’t provided myself a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline for TPiaG before starting the writing process, I would have given up thanks to a mix of writer’s block and absent motivation. Motivation is a fickle muse and prone to ditching me for months on end, so I’ve adapted by trying not to rely on it, but also by creating new motivation rather than clinging to past motivation. I create motivation for myself in two ways: removing friction when writing and being my own fandom.

Removing friction is pretty simple— I create very detailed chapter outlines that remove any fear of writer’s block, set up my devices in a way to make it easy to access my manuscripts and notes, download premade writing playlists that have Pomodoro session break timers built into them, and more. Anything that makes the writing process easier to get into and enjoy doing, I make sure to incorporate into my life.

Being my own fandom is less intuitive, but a thousand times more rewarding in terms of motivation. I make memes of my characters. I write self-indulgent snippets on the side. I make AUs of my own work. I make playlists and save audio clips that suit the characters. I draw comics exploring concepts that might not get into the manuscript itself but that I want to make content for regardless. Basically, I dive in deep into the story, characters, and world, and try to do so with the enthusiasm that I give other people’s projects.

(That part is extra fun, because if I have a headcanon, it automatically becomes canon to whatever AU or original project I’m working on. I have all the power in the world when working like this, and it’s very fun.)

What changed and made it so I finished my first ever written project?

This isn’t exactly what was asked, but because I have eschewed motivation as the main driving force in my writing process, I figured I’d give another insight into how TPiaG went against the pattern of half-started and swiftly abandoned projects that came before it and actually got finished. Late into October, I adopted a new method of producing first drafts. Previously, I would spend weeks polishing the same chapter and would only move on to the next chapter once the current one was perfect. My new method is the complete opposite. I’ve started calling it Writing BFF:

Write bad

Write fast

Write fun

First up, write bad. The point of this is not to waste your time writing prettily during your first draft. Don’t bother agonizing over how to reword that one sentence to be more elegant when it does the job well enough to get its point across. Don’t go off on a 30-minute research tangent in the middle of a writing session because you want to fact-check that one detail and make sure it’s perfectly accurate when you could just put a placeholder detail in brackets and CTRL+F search and plug in something accurate later on. Don’t write pretty, write bad. And be okay with it. You can’t edit an empty page, so fill the page with as much garbage as possible so that you can turn it into gold later on.

Next, write fast. This is only effective when paired with writing bad. Don’t pause, don’t hesitate, don’t deliberate. Write as much as you can and do it as fast as you can. This idea is best illustrated by Chris Fox’s book 5,000 Words Per Hour, where he talks about increasing your WPM (words per minute) and how it makes everything about your writing better. The person who creates a beautiful first draft once every three years is doing okay, but the person who cranks out a complete manuscript every three months learns leagues more about writing than the first person does by the end of three years. The second person has practiced outlining, drafting, editing, publishing, and more with every manuscript completed. The faster you write, the better you get, because practice makes perfect and quantity begets quality.

Finally, write fun. I write what I enjoy, and if I’m not enjoying it, I pivot the project so that I enjoy it again. I like writing deeply personal stories, so pretty much everything I write is heavily based on my life and experiences— TPiaG included. Grovyle’s portrayal is deeply influenced by my experience being an elder sibling who has been a bad example of self-talk, and cleaned up my act because my younger sister started echoing how I spoke to myself. Dusknoir’s portrayal is informed by my experiences with being the therapist / mom friend in different social circles as well as attending actual formal therapy. Twig is the character that my experiences have the greatest influence on in her portrayal, and I joke about her being a self-insert, but ultimately all of the characters are self-inserts to some extent. I also enjoy low-stakes and slow slice-of-life stories that are driven by character growth. If I ever stop having fun with a project, I inject more of myself and my preferences into my work to get it back into my favor.

TL;DR / Writing advice lightning round

Write as badly as possible as quickly as possible, and have fun as you do it. Momentum yields motivation and stagnancy yields doubt. Editing comes only after the first draft is complete. Be your own fandom and your project’s biggest fan. Give yourself direction and ward against writer’s block by making detailed chapter-by-chapter outlines. Make the writing process as easy and enjoyable as possible. Motivation is a lie and if you chase after it instead of making your own, you’ll be writing on hard mode for the rest of your life. Reject perfectionism, embrace flawesomeness.

If I didn’t answer your question right, let me know! I’ll do my best to correct it.

[mysoulspiralbound]

Malevolent Portal! AU

Some ideas:

Arthur lost his vision in a lab accident on the same floor he acquired his companion cube, John. He's honestly lucky the high energy pellet didn't kill him completely, but the electricity damaged both his eyes and some of the feeling in his left arm

(Please do not worry about medical accuracy. Here at Aperture Science, all side effects are good side effects!)

Later, he'll acquire an Aperture Science Experimental Prosthetic for it, which John will be able to take over if needed.

KAYNE (Kinetic Activity Yielding Necessary Education, but I will gladly take other acronym suggestions) takes the place of GLaDOS, but is just as invested in making the test subject as miserable as possible.

The KiY program takes the place of Wheatley. Not a full naritive 1 to 1, but it was the best fit I could find.

There's no cake at the end of the road for Arthur, but KAYNE does promise him that he can take the "companion cube" with him when he finishes testing.

Before meeting John, KAYNE used to promise to let him see Faroe again. Arthur found an accessory of hers poorly hidden next to one of the incinerators. Now KAYNE dangles the safety of his "companion cube" over his head instead.

The original portal game mentions a bring your daughter to work day, offering it as "a good opportunity to get her tested". I haven't gone anywhere specific with this yet, but it will probably end up part of Faroe's story.

After discovering he'd lost Faroe for good, Arthur had to be moved to paired testing to get any results at all. He and Parker were put through several of the military test levels together. Parker was the one who taught him how to safely take out the turrets, but he couldn't dodge them forever.

KAYNE decided this clearly meant Arthur needed a sturdier companion, hence the introduction of the companion cube!

Unlike in the original game, this version of the companion cube does have a level of intelligence to it. A corrupted back up file of the KiY program. (KAYNE does not realize this when he gives John to Arthur).

As a cube John can't really move or feel, but he can access the same security cameras KAYNE can in order to guide Arthur through the floors.

Arthur finds the name John Doe in a list of dead as tracked by Anna Stanczyk's notes, which were hidden mid level alongside some canned food and empty water jugs. John can't "see" inside since it's hidden from the security camera's.

Arthur explains that John Doe is the name for an unidentified dead or missing person. It's a human name, not a program name, and John gets rather attached.

I'll probably have more details/ thoughts later, but this was mostly spawned by watching my friend play portal for the first time, and a general desire to draw malevolent, so it's not super fleshed out. Thanks for reading!

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence:💙Script progress + Updates💙

Hello and welcome new followers, long time no see! I was very busy most of this month, but I am back and ready to continue from where I left off on the game! This game development post might be a bit long but I tried to condense everything! :]

"How are things going so far?":

It's going slow and steady! I haven't been able to do too much these past few weeks, however, I wrote a few parts out before I got too busy and couldn't do anything else.

I want to be very careful when it comes to spoilers but, based on your choices, some of these areas will give off immersive cozy/homelike vibes that really express Noah and the player(Y/N)'s view towards each other. In the old 2023 script I was very new to writing so the small semi-hints of romance weren't the entire focus compared to the horror aspect but there's a better balance between both genres now and I'm still aiming for a meaningful slow burn versus it just being all over the place. :] I liked writing them a whole bunch which lead to a lot of these taking place in the mid/end of Day 4+, they just need to be placed in specific areas that call for it. With that being said, it felt really comfy adding key details about Noah and creating meaningful sections in the game. I was even going to draw out some of the unseen script/scenes but I believe the best thing to do is give deeper lore from the [Extended Demo] first. Even though my writing style has improved I still have to fix the multiple pacing issues I wrote last year.

"Playtester's advice":

I wanted to continue working through Noah's backstory but I kept having moments where I'd get sidetracked into wanting to fix up the start of the game again. Eventually, I talked to my play testers about it and they gave me a few encouraging pointers.

To help keep my process at ease, I will fix the beginning of the game when I take breaks from writing up Noah's backstory. :]

I talked about this during early 2024 but the start of the game that leads up to the cabin is still getting reworked. I was able to get some of it fixed for the [Extended Demo] but I wasn't done. Things are still up in the air but, I will say that I have a better view of everything than I did before. :] Another priority that needs fixing are the backgrounds! I've improved a lot on drawing and they need to be optimized. When you first start up the game, you wake up in a holed out tree in the swamp with the choice to leave this area and possibly end up in the forest. I was going for a very immersive form of symbolism that only a few noticed but, I believe I can do a better job about this. Unfortunately I don't have any new backgrounds to show right now but maybe next week I'll have some finished up! :]

"Art process/Noah's sprite sheets":

As far as Noah sprite sheet goes, it's still in sketch mode.

I didn't draw anything since I was gone so I need to do a few warm ups before I get to them. There are some old drawing prompts I wrote down and old sketches that I never got a chance to doodle so hopefully I can get to them at some point with some attached lore. :,]

My Q&A / Ask box has been reset!

Thank you to those who have sent in asks in the past, unfortunately they all disappeared except for 1 while I was gone. I have no idea what happened but I can only guess it just got reset.

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask or resend them in here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

This is all I have to share so far, Thank you to everyone for the continued support and patience while I was gone! I was ready to accept the interest for this game to fade out and coming back to see that it didn't happen makes me happy, I really appreciate it. :,]

[earthflaxmachina]

The (Brief) Metahistory of Ben-Gal

Yet another instagram request. Bengal hasn't gone through much change because PH development is pretty recent. But still, good to keep an archive of these things.

Note that Powerhouse is a comic in the works so obviously I can't share every detail about certain plot points because where's the fun in that?

Let's a go!

CREATION: 19th September 2020

Figure 1. First drawing (19th September 2020) | Figure 2. Second drawing (23rd September 2020) | Figure 3. Third drawing (30th September 2020)

Before he was Bengal, he was my AMONG US SONA!!!!!!!!!!!! Also Powerhouse didn't exist yet. That's it.

A NEW NAME AND A NEW STORY: 6th December 2020

Figure 3. Bengal concept art (6th December 2020)

Now he was no longer a sona, but alive! His story (aka Powerhouse) was called Orbital Immolation at this time. You can see he is quite scrawny and scared. The story was pretty consistent to what it is now, being that he escaped from his work prison and is trying to find his way back to his family and sister, Grizel. Kasper was created around this time too. Since this is a post about Bengal, I'm not going to go the extra mile of mentioning other PH characters (unless someone wants that) despite being made the same time, because I'm tired. More Orbital Immolation art (with Bengal in it) below.

Not dating these individually but they were from December 2020 to June 2021, in order of creation.

By the way, it was called Orbital Immolation because I had the idea to make Bengal blow himself up to save the world in the end of it, hence, Immolation. At this time, I also had an idea for a sequel that would center around Grizel in the future still grieving over Bengal, as you can see in that picture with her and Robot Bengal.

In the 7th picture, there is a cat-looking girl. She was supposed to be Kasper's niece trying to avenge him after Bengal killed him. I don't remember exactly when I decided Kasper was a robot, but at that time he probably wasn't one because he had a niece. Or she was a robot created by a sister company of Kasper’s engineers, hence making her a cousin? Idk. Also you can see Cain in the 5th picture!

Also back then, Bengal was aroace.

From Bengal's toyhouse page (roughly December 2020):

"Bengal is a worker for MADA Space Corp, a prison-like space station floating in the middle of Mezuno. He boarded the ship when he was 16 to make money for his sickly mother, as well as provide tuition funding for his sister, Grizel, so she doesn't have to end up like him, rotting in manual labour. Bengal would describe himself as hardworking, nimble, and expendable. He has had the same routine for 12 years hoping his effort has paid off and that there may be a slight possibility he could return to his home planet. Little does he know, Isari had been destroyed for 2 years now, along with its culture and inhabitants. The only Isarians alive now are either refugees or had migrated to different planets before its destruction."

Interesting part about his planet, which probably isn't still canon. I had forgotten about that.

POWERHOUSE: 19th October 2021

Figure 4. First Powerhouse poster | Figure 5. First Powerhouse poster (sketch), both 19/10/21. A day before my birthday!

Here was when I decided to change the name of the comic because Orbital Immolation was Not Catchy. By now I had established the role of Reckoners in the story and wanted a technology-related title that also reflects something about our protagonist. I had 2 ideas for names: 1. Live Wire, and 2. Powerhouse. My lovely oomf helped me choose, so you have her to thank. Imagine calling it Live Wire.

Besides a bit of a personality change (he's silly now) and a workout, that's about all that's different from modern PH. I told you it was brief. Let's just look at the evolution of Bengal illustrations to finish this off.

Figure 5. What would become the basis of "Jailbreak" (28th June 2021) | Figure 6. "Snack" (18th July 2021)

Figure 7. Supposed redraw of "Snack" (23rd August 2021)

Figure 4. (19th October 2021)

Figure 8. "Murder Machine" cover (24th November 2021)

Figure 9. "Jailbreak" cover sketch (4th February 2022) | Figure 10. "Jailbreak" cover (2nd May 2022)

Figure 11. Powerhouse title sketch (17th July 2023) | Figure 12. Powerhouse title (7th August 2023)

Ohhh they grow up so fast.

Bye!

[snifflyjoonie]

Call Me What I Am

In which Jimin has to take an immediate leave from work.

Whump-centric featuring an injured Jimin and a stubborn Yoongi. (plus a little allergic!Yoongi as a treat)

Word count: 3032

FlowerShop!AU Part 5

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

a/n: Hi, all! I’m so excited but so incredibly nervous to be back with my first full-length fic in awhile. I feel so unbelievably rusty, and I’m really hoping that doesn’t reflect too much in my writing. I’m so beyond appreciative of those of you that have been so kind to me while I took a much longer than anticipated hiatus. But I’m happy to be back! The featured flower for this installment is a black dahlia. Points if you know what types of emotions they represent! This is my first ever fic on this blog that doesn’t involve illness, and is my first injury fic period. It required me to do a bit of research, so I hope I did the story justice! Please let me know if you guys end up liking this one xx thanks for reading!

-

It had only taken Jimin a few months to realize that there truly was no-one out there quite like Min Yoongi.

Granted, he had expected so from the very beginning. There was just something about the tattoo artist that continued to draw Jimin in the more they spent their time together. Each date would seem better than the last, and Jimin found himself more times than not planning out what the two could do on their next outing before the current one had even finished. But despite the unbridled amounts of joy they would experience together, there was something about Yoongi that had been on Jimin’s mind for quite some time now.

For one reason or another, the tattooer did not want to call him his ‘boyfriend’.

The pair had been exclusively seeing each other for a while now and had mutually enjoyed every single excursion they’d been on, but yet…nothing had been made official. Jimin was more than ready, but Yoongi – despite his normal air of nonchalance – seemed oddly hesitant. The florist had tried to subtly hint at his eagerness to be partners, but whenever any kind of ‘boyfriend’ or ‘lable’ conversation began to rear its ugly head, Yoongi was always quick to change the subject. Jimin had even tried asking Namjoon about it, hopeful that maybe the man’s ex-coworker could shed some light on his uncertainty, but all the other could offer was a shake of his head and an unsure-sounding ‘Yoongi is…just like that.’

Yoongi’s unwillingness, or perhaps tentativeness, to solidify their relationship had started to fill Jimin with anxiety and self-doubt. The longer this went on, the worse the feelings would get. There were many nights he’d lie awake second guessing if he was maybe too loud on their most recent date, or possibly too giddy, or too annoying…too anything that would make Yoongi not want to see him anymore. But, Yoongi would always call him the next day, ready to plan something else, or to even just talk. It would always leave Jimin feeling more confused by the end of it. It almost felt as if he was getting pulled in two different directions — the relief of Yoongi still wanting to see him on one side and the frustration of maybe not being good enough on the other.

Finally, Jimin had had enough. He was going to get an answer out of Yoongi one way or another. He owed it to himself. He wasn’t going to get strung along like all of the other times in his life.

Yoongi was going to make a decision whether he liked it or not, no matter the outcome.

*

Jimin stares out his shop’s window with his chin resting in his palm as the fingers of his free hand drum anxious melodies against the wood of his front counter. It’s raining outside, and the florist can see the fat water droplets draw indiscernible patterns as they trickle down the window pane. It has been raining for two days straight and, according to the weather forecast, would rain for at least three more. Jimin sighs. It was almost as if the weather outside could feel his own inner turmoil, the sky crying alongside him in chaotic solidarity.

He pushes himself away from the counter and heads over to the front door, locking it and flipping his sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed’. Today had dragged on, and Jimin was both relieved and nervous when the clock had finally struck five.

He had been anxious all day, playing the conversation he wanted to have with Yoongi over and over on loop in his head. He dreaded the worst case scenario. Despite what he kept telling himself, he really wasn’t ready to possibly lose the other. He couldn’t bear the thought.

Letting out a shaky breath, Jimin pulls on his coat and slips on his shoes. He knew Yoongi would be at his tattoo parlour tonight, so that was where Jimin would head next. It was now or never.

*

As he pushes open the door and tumbles in, Jimin hears the words before he fully registers that Jungkook is resting stomach down on one of Yoongi’s tattoo beds.

“Oh shit, Yoongi — your boyfriend is here.”

He sees Yoongi glance over his shoulder towards him briefly before turning his focus back onto the half finished artwork on Jungkook’s back. If he was at all taken aback by Jungkook labelling him as “boyfriend” his face doesn’t show it.

“Hey.” He greets, and Jimin is barely able to make it out over the buzzing sound of his tattoo gun.

“Hey, sorry to bug you.” Jimin huffs as his soggy hair drips cold raindrops down his cheeks. “I knew you were working late so I thought I’d drop off some food. Hey, Gguk. There’s enough for you too, if you want.”

Jungkook makes an appreciative noise as he turns to Yoongi with mock surprise plastered on his face.

“Yoongiiiii, I would die for your boyfriend.”

There it is again, that word...boyfriend. It makes Jimin go ridgid, but why would Jungkook consider them anything else?

This time he sees Yoongi scoff slightly before deciding to speak up.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” He mumbles as he turns his attention back to Jimin, his expression unreadable. “Just put the bags on that table there.” He nods towards a small coffee table that sits in the corner of the room. “I’m a little busy right now.”

Jimin can see Jungkook’s eyes dart to him like a homing beacon. He’s waiting for a reaction, waiting to see if what Yoongi said was out of line or really the truth. Jimin doesn’t give it to him. He instead simply smiles tightly, nods, and sets the food down where Yoongi had instructed.

“It’s Chinese.” He murmurs. “Hopefully it’s okay.”

Yoongi hums instead of responding. He’s too focused on what he’s doing which Jimin finds both admirable as well as frustrating. Jungkook on the other hand seems ecstatic, which Jimin guesses he appreciates.

“You guys…almost done?” He questions as he wiggles out of his soggy jacket and kicks off his muddy shoes.

“Nearly.” Yoongi deadpans as Jimin slowly makes his way over to take a peek. From what he can see, Yoongi is etching one of his beautiful signature floral pieces into the other’s skin. The artist had already finished the line work and was now working on delicately shading each individual petal.

“Like it?” Jungkook asks, his smile growing when Jimin nods back. “I just let Yoongi do whatever he wanted this time. I’m glad he had some space for me today because I—”

The host is cut off as Yoongi suddenly sniffs sharply, lifting the tattoo gun from Jungkook’s back as he pushes himself away. Jimin can see him scrunch up his nose before he aggressively begins to rub it against his shoulder.

“All good?” Jungkook asks, glancing curiously over his shoulder to try and see why the tattoo artist has stopped.

“Ugh, yeah, just…fuck.” Yoongi suddenly snaps his attention to Jimin and the florist is surprised to see that he’s glaring. “Did you come straight from the shop?”

“I? Yes?” Jimin blinks, surprised by the sudden bite in Yoongi’s voice. “I mean I grabbed the Chinese before coming here, but I—”

He’s cut off by the artist aggressively waving him away.

“Look at you, your shirt’s covered in pollen. Ugh, you smell like a goddamn garden, Jimin, back up.”

Although taken aback by the other’s hostility, Jimin obeys without question and takes a deliberate step backward. He’s aware of Jungkook’s eyes once again locking onto him, clearly searching his face for any sign that Yoongi’s behaviour is perhaps abnormal, but again Jimin remains stoic.

“Why are you even—hh—hH’ISSHhhiuew!” Yoongi interrupts himself with a sneeze that he desperately tries to aim anywhere but towards his sanitised equipment. After the first comes a second, and then a third. Finally Yoongi swears loudly and slams his tattoo gun down onto his table, swivelling fast in his chair towards Jimin. “What are you doing here, Jimin.” His voice is like venom, but he becomes considerably less intimidating upon a gurgling sniffle. “I’m busy tonight. I told you that when you texted me yesterday.”

“I just needed to talk to you, Yoongi.” Jimin murmurs, “I knew you’d be here and I don’t mind waiting. Why don’t I just go sit in the lobby so I don’t—”

“Talk about what?” Yoongi cuts him off as he presses his nose against his tattooed forearm. “What could possibly be so urgent?”

For the first time since walking into the tattoo parlour, Jimin can feel his voice start to falter. Up until this moment Yoongi had never once before spoken to him in this tone, and frankly, the florist wasn’t sure what to make of it. He had expected Yoongi to get annoyed with him, granted, but to be annoyed even before the conversation he wanted to have began was making Jimin’s initial adrenaline start to sputter and fizzle out.

“I think I’d…rather talk in private.” He almost whispers, glancing towards Jungkook with mild embarrassment as the host looks back and forth between the two. “That’s why I don’t mind waiting. I’m sorry about this, Gguk…” he offers meekly, but the host quickly shakes his head and gestures that it’s fine. Despite this, Jimin can still tell that he feels uncomfortable — who wouldn’t?

“You came all of this way without warning, you’ve now interrupted my session, and on top of everything you’ve made my allergies flare up in the middle of a tattoo.” Yoongi scoffs, emphasising his last point with another wet sniffle as he pulls off his gloves, making Jimin wince. “So you might as well just say what you need to say so that I can blow my nose and get back to work.”

“Yoongi, I really—”

“Jimin, just get on with it.”

“But I just—”

“Listen, you’ve got about five seconds before I—”

“Yoongi, I need to talk to you about us!” Jimin blurts, instantly flushing red as he watches Yoongi’s mouth fall agape, his sentence abruptly dying on his tongue. Jungkook in turn buries his face into his hands, clearly wishing he could be anywhere else but here.

“…What?” Yoongi chokes, obviously taken aback.

“Us, Yoongi.” Jimin continues on, desperately trying to ignore the unexpected third person in the room. “I just…need to talk to you about us.”

To Jimin’s surprise, a light pink blush begins to spread across Yoongi’s cheeks.

“…What about us?”

“I just…” Jimin rakes a hand through his damp hair and allows himself a moment to search for the right words. Despite all of his attempts to prepare for this conversation he still doesn’t feel ready. “…I need you to tell me what I am to you.” He finally says, locking eyes with Yoongi as he does so. “I need to hear you say it.”

“And this couldn’t wait?”

“I’ve been waiting.” Jimin retorts, but the tone of his voice is starting to noticeably pitch up in desperation. “It’s been months, Yoongi.”

“And somehow you think the right time to bring this up to me is when I’m…when I’m in the middle of— HATSH’hhiuew!” Yoongi twists to the side and catches his sudden sneeze into cupped hands before he swears loudly once again. Jimin can see he’s getting visibly agitated at himself and the situation, but the florist isn’t ready to back down.

“I tried to tell you it could wait until you were finished, but you weren’t listening!” Jimin shouts back as thunder claps somewhere off in the distance.

“Why the hell does this matter so much to you?”

Because I’m falling in love with you!

Jimin bites down hard on his tongue and fights back the tears that are starting to well up in his eyes as his inner voice screams the words he’s too afraid to say. The silence that follows is loud and horrible, only being broken by the crashing sound of raindrops as they pelt wildly against the windows.

“Jimin,” Yoongi continues after a moment when it’s clear Jimin has nothing more to say. “I like you and I want to keep seeing you. Shouldn’t that be enough? Why do you want to label this so badly?”

The florist feels his cheeks grow hotter with a mix of rage and humiliation. The conversation was going absolutely nowhere and he nearly felt ready to rip his hair out. He opens his mouth to respond again, to maybe come up with some type of response that would somehow magically show Yoongi exactly why it felt so important to him, but instead he’s cut off by a sudden interjection from Jungkook.

“Um,” the host starts, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “I know this is probably bad timing, but…are we going to eat that Chinese food, or…?”

The other two stare blankly at him in pure dumbfoundment. Sensing this, Jungkook merely nods in understanding and resumes his futile attempt to disappear. Yoongi is the first to speak back up, but thanks to Jungkook there is considerably less tension permeating the air around them.

“Jimin,” he sighs, and Jimin can see the man’s eyes visibly darken.

The same eyes that he could see oceans in, the eyes he’d get lost in, the eyes he’s grown to love…Jimin dreads what’s to come next.

“I think you’d better leave.”

The bluntness of Yoongi’s words cut into him like a hot knife through butter. He purses his lips and nods, doing everything in his power to fight the continued urge to cry. He feels stupid, regretful, and unbelievably embarrassed. He’d really thought that Yoongi was someone special, someone different, someone he could truly see himself loving for years to come. He was devastated to realize that wasn’t the case.

Without another word Jimin heads to the door. He pulls on his now chilly, damp jacket, slips into his water-logged shoes as fast as he can, and rips open the door. The violent rain wastes no time slamming against him like a thousand tiny bee stings as the hot summer storm rages with no sign of letting up.

Blinded by an indecipherable mixture of his own tears and the pouring rain, Jimin can’t help but immediately lose his footing on the steps outside of Yoongi’s shop. He tries to catch himself, reaching out dramatically for the railing to his side, but it’s too late.

The florist tumbles to the ground and lands hard onto his right wrist with a horrifically gory sounding crunch.

Hot searing pain shoots through Jimin’s joint like lightning. The agonizing tendrils reach all the way down to his elbow and up the very tips of each of his fingers. He cries out involuntarily and the sound he makes is shrill and animalistic. He barely even recognizes it as his own voice.

It feels almost as if he's been punched in the gut; he gasps for air greedily through his now gritted teeth but it never feels like enough. He sees spots and his head swims. Any attempt he makes to move his wrist is met by unimaginable amounts of sharp, protesting pain and he knows without a doubt that he’s broken it.

The florist grits his teeth harder still, whimpers, and awkwardly tries to cradle his now broken wrist. He swallows thickly at the misshapen sight of it and starts to feel woozy. He desperately tries to will away the cloudiness that starts nipping at the edges of his consciousness — he had never been good with pain and this time was clearly no different, if not worse, and now Jimin was almost certain that he was going to pass out.

Suddenly the door of the tattoo studio flies open and out rushes Yoongi with Jungkook hot on his heels.

The men rush down the stairs carefully and are on Jimin in a second, but the florist can barely register their presence. He’s able to hear Yoongi ask him if he’s okay, but it’s muffled and low. Jimin can’t respond, he can only gasp.

“Emergency services, what’s the location of your emergency?”

Jimin blinks up at Yoongi, his eyelids starting to feel heavy. He can see Yoongi barking his shop’s address into his cellphone, but everything is starting to feel much slower than normal. He vaguely registers Jungkook trying to help him sit up as rain pours down around them.

“Alright sir, and what seems to be the problem?”

Jimin realizes that Yoongi’s phone is on speaker as the blonde quickly begins assisting Jungkook.

“Hi, yeah, we need an ambulance. Fuck. His wrist is broken really badly. I think he slipped down the stairs? Fuuuuck, how long will it take?”

Jimin can hear the rising panic in Yoongi’s voice as his vision begins to blur around the edges.

“We have paramedics on route, sir. What is your relation to the injured?”

“My boyfriend.” Yoongi chokes out. “He’s my boyfriend. Shit, please just hurry, I think he’s passing out.”

“They’re on their way, sir. I need you to stay with him until they get there, okay?”

Jimin can feel Yoongi carefully pull him into his lap as he speaks, but he can’t hear what the other is saying anymore. It sounds too muffled and too far away, almost as if he were drowning thousands of feet underwater whereas Yoongi was somewhere safe on dry land.

He blinks one more time, one last in vain effort to try and stay conscious as Yoongi leans his upper body over him, shielding him from the rain and speaking more words that Jimin just can’t make out. He wishes he could stay present, hear Yoongi, assure him that he would be fine, but it was fruitless. He knew himself, and at this point there was nothing he could do to stop the darkness from enveloping him like a wet weighted blanket.

As Jimin finally lets himself succumb to blissful unconsciousness, his mind explodes into images of intricate and colourful floral patterns before everything fades away. The last thing he registers is the feeling of a gentle kiss being placed on his forehead as the wail of a far-off siren fights to slice its way through the thick summer storm.

[upn-the-sky]

Give me God of War!! (Ares OOAK, Part 2)

Just a reminder that there was Part 1 of this madness.

OKAY

I wanted to wait until I finish sword and spider legs before making a post, but there are three days after finishing the whole armor and I can't wait, I am screaming about Ares's supremacy.

Now I can say, it was hard. And the most hard thing was finding a balance. There are differences between Ares's 3D models from the different years, even in color palette. And I wanted to be as much close to the first game design as it possible. Some features were fully recreated from GOW1, some others I found more good at latest model from GOW3 and reworked them according to it. So at the end we have a good symbiosis I think.

Now let's a take a bow and look a bit closer at the mess under the cut.

Preparatory process

Until eyes are frightened, you can't do anything. To be honest I had no idea from where to start, the plan sounded like a "How to draw an owl" tutorial. Complexity of his armor scared me as hell, and after spending some time with drawings, where I tried to figure out a hook and loop system, which should attach parts to each other, I gave up and started to make his scaly iron belt, it felt more easier. YEAH.

Iron belt

You can see it at the screenshot. Well, one of the versions. Seems, it has no purpose beside decorative, I mean, maybe it can protect the groin, but eh, not really, honestly. At GOW3 model of dead Ares it became more detailed with round flower-like pendants and a little green jewel drops, but also it became golden as all metallic elements. I decided to make everything silver, but anyway, belt is very beautiful and I headcanon it is the same belt, which Ares gifted to his daughter Hippolyte in the past.

I weaponised myself with the smallest crochet hook and red thread and started to knit. WHY KNIT YOU ASK?? I don't know, it is easier for me than sewing all these scales %) Maybe they represents some fishy motives? (His connection with Aphrodite). Or serpent? (One of Ares's children, who was killed by Kadmus). Maybe green jewels is a hint to his mother Hera, because she loves emeralds. Who knows.

Scales, flowers, suns, glass drops.. If I were Ares, I'd present it to my beloved warrior daughter too.

Pteruges

As an example of the true manliness, Ares wears a skirt of course. He is not a barbarian, who hides his beautiful freckled thighs in the pants! How dare we to judge..

The easy part was to make a leather stripes and pierce them with the rivets (little nails, which I cut after this to left a head only). The hard part (which I had a chance to feel over and over again) was to figure out how to attach it to the body and hide all of the fasteners, and how to let stripes flow on his thighs and how the hell it should cover his.. godlike butt, I can't believe I wrote this.. %)

ANYWAY, A MONTH LATER I decided to make it a single piece with the iron belt, by creating a two-part wide leather base, attach knitted waistband to it, then join the each stripe to the separate piece of cloth to make them movable, then attach this cloth to the leather and sew some hooks. Aaaand the final result!

Cuirasse

I just say I literally hanged up myself with it. Here will be ranting...

Let's just think that it is not enough just to recreate appearence. In making 3D you can ignore some aspects like hidden straps and strings, which keeps armor conjoint on the human body. But how to make it wearable to the doll body, which is not soft and has a stable reliefs? How to make armor firm and shaped, but not completely firm, so it can be taken off from the body? Yes, my wish from the beginning was to make whole armor with a possibility to take it off and send nudes dress Ares in different outfit, which i will also make someday. How to make it light, so the doll can stand by itself? How to make it textured, to make it looks rough, to imitate metal or at least used condition? How to make metal parts without using a metal?

OKAY, WE NEED TO BE CANON - I thought and it was a day I decided to not invent armor, but use an experience of the hellenic people, who was smarter than me, I guesse. Because long time ago these people invented Linothorax - composite armor made of laminated linen fabric. ____

First of all, I splited Ares's cuirass to the segments: chest+collar segment, belly segment, spine segment, which emphasizes Ares's love to hunching over a little, and a waist-and-lower segment. Plus cuirasse has chained shoulder straps and side straps.

Well, when you have all elements, it is easier to imagine a complete piece. After that you just buy fabric, glue, chains, 27 hours for your day, new eyes, paint and other stuff. You wrap the body with the film and tape to protect it and start to glue. And here it is time for me to shut up, I know, you are here to watch a process, not to read an essay. I started from the front pieces of course. You imagine a pattern, you cut it, you glue it to hold the natural body forms as close as possible. Collar was formed right here. Gladly we can remove Ares's head when we want to do it...

Waist piece (eheh, spider butt (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ) and first attempt to assemble the cuirasse. Here I literally lost my last brain cells and bravery, stopped the process and didn't make straps until the last week.

Anyway A MONTH LATER!!11 after the first assemble I started to sculp a relief of the reinforced chest and the metallic collar. Also we can check how's our decapitated dogs doing. Here you can see a belly piece of the cuirasse, which needed it's own dog decor. I was that meme boy with a knife, yeah..

Seemed they doing great! I felt that and decided to finish arm armor. Shoulder pads and bracers Thankfully making them requires the same process: cut a pattern, glue it, repeat for each arm. Here is close ups of the leather "feathers" pierced by rievets, chained bracers (I am very proud that I recreated it fully like at the Ares model. Bracers has no other strings and stays at arm only because of the chains) and shoulder pads as a base and as a complete, fully Cerbered piece. Actually this part wasn't really difficult, I've just delayed the inevitable.

Boots The first GOW novel says he weared sandals!!! Bloodstained SANDALS! But this novel was written much later, so we are making rocker boots. ᕕ(シ)ᕗ HEY!, we are laughing here, but Ares is smart, Ares don't want to break his toes by kicking someone's helmet! Maybe after having some experience %)))

Well, as I said in my previous posts, his boots was the most agressive part his armor. Heel and shoes toes should be firm, but sole should stay soft. Also the whole construction of the boots should looks monolite with the greavers which cover up the layers of the material above the ankles. Don't forget about the chains and double emotional damage, because there is two legs!

A little more damage as a person you receive, when you understand that you need to process each edge of each piece, because all armor pieces has visible layers. And only after that you can paint everything, draw Ares's assymetrical ornaments and dress him up.

That's how we reach the end. Here he is. O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men. Kratos's yes-homo partner and his personal most vieceful enemy.

Ares! God of war!

Thank you everyone for your patience while reading this duvet cover. See ya in Part 3, Skeletor will return soon with a sword, spider legs and normal photos. And stay tuned, I will post some portraits next time!

[7rus7m3]

BIG 101 PENTAGON THEORY // SPOILERS FOR CANTO VI, DEMIAN (book), LITTLE PRINCE (book), LEVIATHAN, LIBRARY OF RUINA, a little bit of Divine Comedy too

RG - Red Gaze, PT - Purple Tear, LP - Little Prince, DC - Divine Comedy. Grammar mistakes can appear due to me not being very fluent in English.

So… After the new Demian scene appeared, I found it convenient to finally unleash my Dante=Sinclair pentagon theory, based on some assumptions I made from reading the source books of all of these characters. Before I start, I need to aknowledge some other things:

1. I don’t find this theory as something that actually will happen, since it may be based on my own biased opinions towards some of the characters included

2. Most of my assumptions are made through reading into intertext of the source books and how it would look more cool to potentially appear in a game. PM interpretation of books may be completely opposite from mine, so ig we will see how close I was later

3. I don’t use other sinners for my theory, since most of them are not marked, can’t use shin from what we know and/or mostly have finished self-centered story. The only one that probably will be added to pentagon is Faust, since her source is too important for Hesse as a writer and the motif of soul duality exists as an important topic in both Demian and Faust books. Also she knows too much about the Stars from what we can see in the prologue and later in her dialogues with us.

Part 1. Purple Tear

PT=Demian’s mother feels like canon already for me, but maybe just because I discussed it too much with my friends. So the main point of this theory is that Demian and PT appear to have the same main themes as characters and have similar powers, so him being Iori’s son will be natural. For example, the snake theme being introduced to us with Iori’s snake eyes in Leviathan manga or with the blue snake representing Demian on LCB Sinclair art. Multidimensional traveling powers, Shin being mostly PT’s disciples thing etc etc. Also Demian had purple eyes on his first promotional art and even though it was changed later, it is still an important thing that was planned by PM. For me it's an obvious moment for a lot of reasons, but in reality they just feel like relatives and the more you think about it the more it becomes obvious. 

As Demian’s mother, she becomes frau Eva naturally and potential Sinclair milfhunter’s interest. 

Also I believe in Iori as a higher-up person in Limbus Company assumption. As a person, who sees countless possibilities, her choices on sinners of LCB feels natural and the fact that Vergilius out of all people becomes our guide just approves it to me. 

So I added ‘Demian’ to her as a source just to start, but we can also add ‘Little Prince’ as I believe that she also represents the snake from the start of Prince’s adventure on Earth and his end on it. The Snake claims to have some sort of space-traveling power after all and while representing Birth and Death of Prince on Earth, she's a good pick for a mother figure representation.

Part 2. Red Gaze

Not too much to say here, but the obvious things we know. The Shin user triangle, even though Verg and Demian probably ain’t ever met each other once, still exists in the context of this theory. We can or can not draw a line between Demian and Vergilius, but I like to do it for the sake of making a point how they both are PT’s disciples. 

The christmas trauma line here is mostly for funsies, but it’s obviously not a coincidence on how the whole Sinclair’s family killing incident happened at the same time as Vegilius’ orphanage incident and how both suspicious shin users just watched them suffer to mentor them later. 

Dante and RG are connected through Divine Comedy, which is told directly from the game. 

Part 3. Demian

The most interesting and most intertextually written character in the game.

Sinclair being the rose became more believable to me than him being the fox after a new scene, but I still think both can be true. As we know from Demian book - Sinclair is final destination of Demian’s journey, from whom Max parted for unknown reasons (basically not answered his letters while doing his own fun stuff ig) and even tried to adapt to live in the world ignoring his marked nature (the “I am actually a lieutenant” scene in the 7th chapter). He is meeting Sinclair at first to part with him later just to end up becoming a metaphorical part of him at the end, probably dying physically. The same happens with Prince and Rose relationships in the LP. From them meeting suddenly to part later because of Prince’s complicated feelings to Prince finally coming back to her after learning how to love her and realizing her importance for his existence as a person in the metaphysical form, leaving his physical body behind. The story is too similar for Sinclair to not be Rose. The main counterargument here is the fact that we don’t know when Demian started his journey and Sinclair quoting dialogue of LP with fox. I still believe that Sinclair-Rose theory is more likely though, but Sinclair-Fox is still leading us to doomed yaoi in the end.

The Demian-Beatrice part comes from ‘Demian’ as a source too. Sinclair met Beatrice as his muse and basically Demian’s replacement as an image of his own ideals in life, she became a reason for him to stop his self-destruction path. Young love for Sinclair here is more of a reason to keep moving forward to become a better person than actual loving feeling. She is a mythological muse, but not a romantic interest fully. And in an attempt of engraving her image (haha engraving aspect), he accidentally draws Demian instead. We can put it as a direct equation of her to Demian and as a method of inserting an androgynous archetype into Demian’s character. I think of Demian-Beatrice as a cool way to introduce us to Paradiso later with him being our new guide instead of Vergilius. It will become a more logical guess later, in the context of the main part of this theory.

Part 4. Dante and Sinclair

So… Dante is a book version of Sinclair with part of Demian’s soul inside him theory… The main thing from where we should start to think about this is the whole number dilemma within Sinclair’s coat. He should’ve been the 10th Sinner before Dante appeared, but then got changed to 11th. Which is funny since 1.0 and 1.1 is a funny version number calambour. So, questions that theories answers:

1.Demian having sudden interest in Dante and giving him riddles that mostly answers the nature of more of a Demian himself as a person, than giving Dante actual usable information

2.Dante seem to have mark 

3.”What will become of me who have been robbed by me”

4.Sinclair is the only sinner we resonated with out of his Canto

5.Sinclair Canto only focusing on the first two chapters of the book, but not taking it as full. His Canto takes not even half of a book, but focuses on a really small part of it. Moby-Dick is a pre-story in Canto V, same basically for Canto I and Canto IV, we are close to the ending of CaP in Canto II and we have seen the true ending of WH in one of the Mirror Worlds with Cathy and Hareton.

6. Why they aren't changing numbers on Sinclair's coat for six Canto already

7. How Demian is able to understand us and how we are able to deeply understand Demian's feelings

8. Why we have any connections to Demian in the past and why we owe him a drawing of all things (Sinclair was a painter in the book)

9. Star is the main motivation of Dante

10. The whole engraving aspect thing. Again, Sinclair was a painter in the book and used drawing as a way to analyze his instinctive feelings

11. Dante having religious motifs and powers associated with either Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge. Sinclair’s EGO “Branch of Knowledge” naming based on that

12. Dante’s White Night motifs. White Night is basically an Antichrist, but also a God, which connects it with the concept of both god and demon and connecting it with an Abraxas

Maybe some other questions are answered too if you think about it for a little. This is just a very solid assumption that will explain why Demian is so important for us and why Dante seems like a descendant of the Star in the prologue. As a character having another big source book I also believe in him having his own Canto and if he is a part of Dante's character then we should have the duo Canto for both Dante and Demian.

Main thing is how it happened. It's mainly fanfiction from now on. We know that there are Mirror Worlds where the whole book plot is already happened at some point (Cathy and Hareton scene in C6). So one of these basically is the one where Sinclair journey happened some other way. Maybe it was the one, where Demian helped him before the whole Kromer situation happened. After that moment in book Sinclair fastly falls back to his family and stops questioning their beliefs, so in my theory he could after all have a prosthetic operation that he was destined to before incident. That way we have his life going more calmly and as a son of prosthetic factory owner he could become a big and rich person. That would explain why Panther, Lion and Wolf were very excited over killing him. So, Sinclair of this universe goes over his way just like book Sinclair and participate in the whole June-985 thing. What else happened in June? World War 1 start. Sounds stupid, but WW1 is the main thing to change the world in Demian as a book. So the start of new world is destined to be in June-985 in the City setting, which represents WW1 starting in the Real World. The whole thing happens, and Demian either dies or merges with Sinclair to become some sort of part of him. To prevent the whole June-985 thing from happening, Sinclair travels back in time (which basically not the same, but another Mirror World) using Golden Bough and tries to engrave something that is a key to preventing the whole mass death thing. Limbus World Demian is pissy with Demian from future trying to stop the new World from happening, so he confronts us, but tries to do it in his own way. That way Dante is Sinclair from future from other mirror world and is partly a Demian himself.

In the LP, Pilot also is a child-like adult, really similar to Little Prince in some way. I personally like to read his journey with Prince as a metaphor for himself maturing and letting go his childish side, which Is again connects Dante to Demian.

So, Dante=other Sinclair=Pilot=partly Demian.

[minimalist-language-learning]

ヒカルの碁 volume 1

I finished volume 1 of ヒカルの碁！A long time ago, I've read the first 4 or 5 volumes in German. I was fascinated by the story and the board game Go. (I even bought a Go set and played a bit) Somehow I never bought the other volumes … which I later regretted… T^T Now, many years later, reading this manga in Japanese is a very special experience to me.

(Very light) spoiler warning: In the following, I want to highlight some aspects of the story and characters. I tried to be as vague as possible to avoid clear spoilers. I didn’t describe specific events but just in case you definitely don’t want to know anything before you read the manga yourself you probably should not read the following text.

The manga is quite old, but the drawings are still excellent in my opinion. I like, how the main character Hikaru slowly changes his opinion about the board game Go (it's usually not very popular among young people; or at least not among Hikaru's peers). In the beginning, he is a bit arrogant and selfish boy (in a childish way). Some of his remarks are quite rude. He’s not really a mean character, but he often speaks without thinking (like many boys this age). That’s why he unintentionally offends people or hurts their feelings. But he gradually learns from his mistakes and becomes a bit more compassionate. Or in other words, he matures over time.

Another character I really like is Hikaru’s rival, Akira. He is quite the exact opposite of Hikaru: very polite, friendly, well mannered, privileged and — most importantly — an extremely good Go player. This is no coincidence since his father is a professional Go player who earned several titles and who taught Akira from a very young age. The manga shows his perspective aka what it means to be perceived as a "genius“. From the outside, it seems like a good thing: All the praise and attention. But there is also rumors, envy, hate, loneliness, …

I really like that the story also shows his perspective because this is something that is often overlooked in real life. Someone who reached a high level in a certain area is often called "talented“ or "genius“ but people don’t see that these "geniuses“ had to work very hard (often from a very young age) to get that good. They’ve spent a great amount of time practicing and had to sacrifice other things. Their childhood was very different compared to other kids. Plus, just because they are perceived as talented because of their skill doesn’t mean they live a perfect happy life without any problems. They are humans with feelings and faults like everyone else, after all.

(Possible spoilers end)

Another thing I like about the manga is, that it shows the beauty of Go and conveys the passion of the people who play this game. It's really impressive, how a good manga can spark interest for something you didn't even know that it exist. (In Germany, I think everyone knows what chess is but people who heard about Go are rare.)

I expected this manga to be difficult to understand because of the Go related vocabulary and the game rules. Now that I’ve read volume 1, I can say that it is a bit difficult but once I got used to the most important words, overall this volume was not as difficult as I expected. This is only the beginning, of course. I vaguely remember parts of later volumes that will probably be more difficult to understand because of the complexity of the story.

[campbyler]

ok. a genuine question. how do u guys write 20-30k *chapters* bc i will outline fics minutely or i will just let myself start writing based off a vibe & either way i will get 600 words out of maybe. two hours of work. on a good day with no distractions/interruptions, & i very much do not have an uninterrupted two hours to write very often, so you can imagine how slowly things get written T_T so i’m interested if there’s any aspect of any of your writing processes that really enables u guys to write so much or if it’s not really something you think about? anyways i really like ur guys’s work, & thank you for deciding to write for byler bc i know me and a lot of people enjoy it a lot. thanks!!

hello !! this is a super valid question and i’ll try my best to answer it for you 😗✌️

andi infamously writes a lot faster than thea and i do (she finished draft 1 of chapter 3 in like. two days. which was so scary. i’m in awe of her fr) but she has also spent a lot of time editing ch3 so it’s definitely not like these chapters are publish-ready in a short amount of time by any means! it took thea a couple of months total to fully write + edit ch1 and it took me about 3.5 weeks to write ch2 and another two weeks to edit it which is part of the reason we’ve spaced out our posting schedule like we have — we put a lot of effort and care into these updates and we want to give ourselves as much time as possible to get ahead before all 3 of us inevitably get so super busy with work and/or school in the fall!! so while we do write a lot, please don’t think we are so insanely speedy about it because unless we are having Really Good Writing Days, that’s definitely not the case. sometimes we do have days where we are really in the zone and write more than usual, but at least for me, this is so so so rare. whatever i write in this time gets heavily edited because so much of it was nonsensical brain vomit LOL

as far as writing process goes, i think one of the things that motivates us a lot is that we genuinely do just talk about this au constantlyyyyy like we’re always coming up with silly little hcs or drawing for it or adding to the Lore ™️so we’re always getting inspired to write! all three of us are definitely people who use writing as a way to relax or even reward ourselves after a long day; we would probably die if we had to go too long unable to :/ messages like “i can’t wait to get home and write after work today” or “i’m going to write a little bit of ___ before bed because i deserve it” are very commonly found in our gc because we really just look forward to it so much! as for our scary word counts, i feel like there is a lot of worldbuilding in this universe specifically, and pacing is really important to us — we want to make sure introductions and set-up to a scene and character interactions are meaningful and flow naturally, and building tension (which is a hallmark of this fic hehe) does take some time, which can definitely add up word count-wise.

for the most part, none of us usually have a solid few hours to sit and write either (unless it’s on our days off or after work if we’re not too tired) and we get a lot of writing done in chunks! we hold each other accountable for short check-ins (“ask me for a snip in 30 minutes”) which is super helpful when you’re stuck, because it kind of forces you to get Something down without worrying if it’s super polished and edited and perfect. if you’re writing on your own, something i’ve started doing lately is setting a 15 minute timer and just seeing how much i can get done in that time, and then setting another and doing it again (up until however much time you have to write that day). i’ve found that the artificial deadline helps break the monotony of sitting in front of your computer for Hours on end with nothing to show for it bc TRUST we’ve all been there and it sucks so bad 😔✊

this got super long so i apologize but i hope at least a little bit of it was helpful! it definitely helps that we are constantly feeding into each other (i.e: having brainrot) and offering inspiration and advice, which does wonders for creative flow tbh. we’re definitely not cranking these chapters out as quickly as people might seem to think — thea started chapter four, which won’t be posted for about a month, maybe a week or two ago. i just started chapter 5 — about 6 weeks away — yesterday lol so we do take our time! don’t be scared by the giant chapters, we just had a lot of content we wanted to include in each one and are in too deep to take anything out 🥳🥳 thank you for the question! good luck with your writing we believe in you 🫡