#sorry i'm going to be excited about this comic for the next month

[hoofpeet]

I'd probably have to read the printed version and web version back to back at some point to note all the differences but... ough

[pakhnokh]

House of Gentians Arc 2 || Pages 163-168 END

Wei Ying: Sorry, I can't let Lan Wangji hold me by the waist like that again ;___;

Me: Goddammit, alright, have it your way, but I'm going to draw the most intense panels of you putting your hands on his shoulders. Is Lan Wangji flinching cause it's Wei Ying who's touching him so fiercely? Is it the fact that his scars that are barely healed yet hurt from that grip? You decide!

ARC 2 EXTRAS FOR PАТRОNS Extra mini comic: The Dog Art pieces Extra mini comic: Cornetto commercial

ARC 2 Complete PDF with extras ARC 3 (TBA)

PREVIOUS PART

ABOUT+TABLE OF CONTENTS

IMPORTANT NOTE: Always be sure to click on my profile and check for updates because if you see a random part reblogged IT MIGHT NOT BE THE EDITED VERSION WITH THE WORKING LINK TO THE NEXT PART ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arc 2 has come to its end! Yes, I can't believe it too. It's been 11 months since I posted the arc's cover image. I've been through so much since then, so much of my life has changed and yet working on this project, providing 4 pages every week, was somewhat of a blessed constant and fairly, I'm going to miss it.

I have to say that I'm very grateful to you, the readers, because your excitement with this story and the wonderful comments and questions and interest and insights you left on each part is what kept me going and also helped me understand my story better, so THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! A HUGE THANK YOU TOO FOR MY PАТRОNS!!!! I wouldn't have been able to do NONE of it if it weren't for your amazing support. You have no idea how grateful I am that you are giving me the opportunity not only to create this story for you and for others, but to also develop myself further as an artist (this is the first time I do a long comic of such a scale and by thinking about you when I make updates every week, I think how much better I can make my work). Your support is also a huge help with my daughter, not only because you help me provide for her, but also because in spite of the fact that taking care of her gets more and more difficult, you being there keeps me motivated to not give up on drawing and succumb to 100% life of a mother and a housewife. You save me <3.

So what now? Now I will work on extras for members of the peke-king tier on my Pатrеоn. I will create extra comic pages, a few more arts, and a funny comic strip. When all of that is done, I will create the PDF and upload it to the shared drive (I think this arc+extras is going to be about 200 pages!!) after that, I will take a break from HoG to finish other MDZS projects I halted, and after those are done I will take a break entirely to reread MDZS and consume all its media again, so I will remember forgotten parts and get that spark ready for Arc 3! So absolutely stay tuned! Thank you all again for being with me in this journey, and hope you enjoyed the story! <3

[alltoowelltom]

hold your horses! (t.h)

tom holland x reader

summary: rumors fly during an interview leading to a shock announcement for tom and his girlfriend

a/n: inspired by a tiktok i saw months ago and have not stopped thinking abt since i literally could not think of one panel-type event that wasnt comic-con i am so sorry flsjsjksjs

・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆

Tom shifts in his seat, running one hand through his curls as he tries to keep his face animated and stop his eyes glazing over. he's been sat on a vaguely uncomfortable chair for the last hour or so at Comic-Con, promoting his latest movie and as much as he loves his job and the fans, all he wants to do is crawl into bed and curl up next to you for a good twelve hours.

"Tom?" prompts the interviewer.

"I- I'm so sorry, what was your question?" he asks, flushing in embarrassment at being caught zoning out.

"Is Y/N here today?" repeats the interviewer patiently.

Tom grins at the mention of your name and he sits up taller, eyes scanning the crows until he finds you, hoodie pulled up over your head to hide from eagle-eyed fans.

"She is, yeah. I basically dragged her here so we could kind of spend time together, as an apology." he admits.

"An apology?" the interviewer says. "What did you do, Tom?"

"Yeah, what did you do, Tom?" echoes one of his co-stars, laughing.

"I fell asleep during our movie date." Tom admits sheepishly, shaking his head at the roar of laughter from the crowd. "Twenty minutes in, I was out cold."

"You didn't!" laughs the interviewer. "What did she do?"

"She was the absolute best, of course. She just held me and stroked my hair and wrapped me up in a blanket and then stayed on the sofa with me all night." he says, eyes crinkling at the general "awww" from the crowd.

The interviewer's eyes glint mischievously as Tom tells his story, clearly sensing a way to divert the interview to The Good Stuff™.

"So speaking of Y/N, there's been a lot of talk about you two online recently." he starts. "Specifically, engagement rumors? Is there any basis, any truth to these rumors?"

Tom shifts around as he stalls for time until he can meet your eyes in the crowd, raising his fluffy eyebrow ever so slightly to silently ask if you're okay with him talking about your relationship. You give him a tiny nod, encouraging him to go on.

"No, we're not engaged." he says. "But we've honestly never been happier than we are right now. She's so creative, and caring, and funny, and gorgeous. There's no one else I'd rather spend my life with."

You can't help but feel slightly choked up as he gushes, resisting the urge to throw off your hoodie and run up to the stage, crushing him into a bear hug and never letting go.

"WHEN ARE YOU PROPOSING?!" yells a particularly enthusiastic fan, rousing cheers from the rest of the crowd and the cast members on stage.

Tom laughs as he winks at you again.

"When I'm sure she'll say yes."

This, of course, results in almost hysterical screams (affectionate).

You pull your phone from your pocket, tapping on Tom's contact and typing out a message. He's watching you of course, so when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket he pulls it out, cheering like an excited seven year old, "I got a text! From Y/N!"

Y/N 💗: i'd marry you in a heartbeat baby <3

He blows a kiss in your direction, grinning from ear to ear. As he's distracted, gazing at you lovingly, a co-star leans over his shoulder and reads the text.

"Holy shit!" they laugh. "Did Tom Holland just get engaged?"

The screams reach an all-time record and you wince slightly, bringing a hand up to your ringing ear. Tom snatches his phone closer, rolling his eyes.

"Hold your horses!" he laughs. "Let me check."

He balances the microphone in his left hand as he types out a quick message.

tommy 🤠: Did we just get engaged??

Y/N 💗: we will be when you give me that rock hidden at the back of your sock drawer 😳

Tom's soft brown eyes crinkle around the edges as he grins all but leaps up from his chair.

"Is this interview wrapping up soon?" He asks cheekily. "I've got to go get engaged."

・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆

tysm for reading! comments and reblogs are always super appreciated. i wanna thank you guys for all the love on my blog, you're the best <333

[cupcakeslushie]

Hello!! I absolutely love your artwork, particularly your '12 brain worm comic! I am so excited to see the Donnie angst that unfolds in it 😊

Please don't take this as pressuring you in anyway, but I am awful at remembering to check on things, and often miss out on updates by people even when I follow them because of this, so I was wondering if you have a rough idea of when you will be working on the brain worm comic again?

Again, please don't take this as me pressuring you, if you have no idea when you will be continuing this, that's absolutely fine!! I'm also sorry if I've missed you saying anything about this already 😅

This is purely me being selfish and trying to make sure that I don't accidentally miss an update as I really want to see what comes next 😊

Have a lovely morning/day/evening/night (whichever is applicable)!!

I’m so happy you’re liking the Brainworm Au! You haven’t missed an update yet! Now that Feral Leo and the Maps short have gotten some attention, I’ll be switching it up to work on the updates for EW and Brainworm.

But I do have a few other projects for this month (I kinda promised a coworker I would illustrate a small book for their 1 yr old niece but it’s turning into a bigger project than i think she originally made it sound 🥲 but i will do it anyway 💪💪!!)

So I don’t know how the end of November will go. My biggest priorities are EW and this book (and other commissions) so I can’t promise the Brainworm AU will be updated super soon but it’s for sure not abandoned!! 💛💛 I promise!!

[wayfayrr]

So here's something I've been working on for a while where one of the links and reader get split from the chain, ending up on present-day Earth. And because Totk has now consumed my focus near entirely he's the lucky one to stick with the reader (as a separate link from wild, for extra ✨drama✨ with the chain - thanks to @neverchecking for sparking that Idea for me)

also if anyone has any ideas for what this au could be named any suggestions would be greatly appreciated I cannot come up with a name for the life of me

I've ended up writing a Part two where sage gets to adjust now as well! And a third to go with it!

It’s been a long few months with the chain since I ended up in Hyrule; being torn from your world certainly isn’t an experience I would wish on anyone.

being chased through all of Hyrule's different histories was bad enough, and now getting dragged through the portals that thing creates by those who once told me they would protect me?

It’s exhausting.

The links are welcoming, mind you, there's just something off about them in that uncanny valley where you know something is wrong, just not what. They’re still well, they're still links. And they’ve had to have known me leaving is always going to have to happen; no matter how overbearing they get; no matter the denial they have; no matter how much they may try fight it. 

I will never belong in Hyrule, that’s a fact.They know this. I have told them time and time and time again, they swore to me that they’d help me get home and now? 

god have they gotten attached, it's like I've been dunked in a potion or something with how comically obsessed most of them are, with how they look at me and treat me like I'm a glass doll.

Time takes advantage of being the oldest, of being the "leader" to arrange shifts where I'm next to him or partners with him for whatever needs be, Warrior seems to be following him to the blueprints when he gets the chance. The smithy looks like he's on the verge of a breakdown when I get within five metres of anything remotely sharp, even just a simple butter knife as if I'm so stupid that I'll injure myself with it. Twilight thankfully doesn't take after his ancestor although that doesn’t mean he’s not without his quirks, that wolf side has indeed left its mark on him after all. Wind’s just a clingy excitable kid, it’s not like he’s doing anything wrong. The Traveler seems clingy while at the same time, he doesn’t seem to think he deserves to be around me; Legend acts both similar to him but also his exact opposite, seemingly hating me with his very soul but being a leech at my side. Sky may play dumb about it to my face but he's down just as bad as the rest taking every opportunity to stake his claim over me with at least one of his clothes, it's uncommon now for me to be without his sailcloth about my shoulders. 

Sage is the one I would have to describe as the one who is the worst, it’s not like I don’t know the exact reason either - it’s only natural they handle it worst. Similar to Wild naturally, acting almost identically but with anything even remotely possessive amped up drastically. He’s the one who’s had to deal with loss the most; with the worst possible circumstances, I’m the one who should’ve expected this.

I mean - I guess it’s sweet as well? If having someone cling to you at all times as they’ve glued themselves to your skin is what you’d consider cute. Since he realised I’ll be leaving eventually, the bare minimum doesn’t even come close to how little time I’ve had alone - no not even alone, just existing without Sage holding me in some way.

“[name]? Were you listening to me?”

And there he goes again - looking at me with the saddest of eyes, like I’ll vanish if he ever takes his eyes off of me.

“Sorry juniper, I zoned out a bit there - what were you saying?”

And wasn’t that the wrong thing to say. His reaction to that was immediate, now he’s looking up at me with puppy dog eyes like I’ve just hung the stars in the sky for them; I can barely breathe with how tightly he’s holding me. I hadn’t even said anythin- I called him by a nickname, right. 

“... can’t you stay? I don’t- I don’t want to lose anyone else...”

And with that, he’s decided to press his face into my shoulder. Is- why is my shirt getting damp..?

He’s crying... Oh, damn it. How do I respond to this - I can’t stand to see him so broken up like this but what can I say?

"You know I can't Sage, I don't belong here and it's not safe for me either"

"but I can make it safe for you! And you do belong, you belong by my side. I know you do!"

Sage's sobs have to be the most heart-wrenching sound I've ever heard, even worse still when I know I'm the one who's the cause of it; not being able to comfort him with anything that's not an outright lie.

There's something else in his voice though, something much darker than heard from any of the heroes let alone Sage, and it sounds dangerous. 

"I have a house, I can hunt, I can fight, I saved Hyrule. I can make sure you're safe and I can keep you happy. aren't… wouldn't you want that [name]? please?"

He's gotten so desperate to keep me here that he's begging me through tears?

"Sage I - you know I can't. it's not fair for me to stay"

"I don’t care that it’s not fair! I just - I just… please, please don’t abandon me. I can’t - I can't lose you as well"

It took a few hours to calm him down but eventually, I managed to get him to stop crying. Granted they did pass out onto me shortly after. 

It was after about fifteen minutes of resting there that things started to feel odd? That seems like the best way to describe it. 

We were just resting after lunch; of course, due to Sage we were a bit further from the rest of the group when it hit, everything got blurred and distorted. Similar to the portals throughout Hyrule’s history but different. Stronger. It felt as though my very cells were being torn apart and remade, like when - like when I was brought here.

“[NAME], SAGE YOU NE- TO -VE”

Is someone screaming? It’s like everything’s been thrown underwater it's all muffled and faded. Even as I try to get up with Sage’s weight on me, I can barely shift, let alone get away from this portal drawing me in.

...

And then I was back on earth.

There wasn’t a large ceremonial goodbye, there wasn’t even really anything special about the portal.

I'm just here.

And with an oddly familiar weight on my side actually, a very very familiar weight on my side…

“SAGE???”

Sage’s here, of course, he is. Of course, the shadow hasn't had enough of just sending the links between different Hyrules. Of course, Sage gets thrown into my world with me. Do the rest of the chain know we’re even still alive? Know we’re safe? Or do they think - think that we were killed? How long have I even been gone? I spent months with the chain, months, did anyone report me missing, was I gone long enough for that? My phone should have resynced with the time here, I just need to check it.

It’s not even been a day.

All of that, everything and it's been less than a day. I have to slot myself back into everyday normal as if nothing has happened. 

Snap yourself out of this [name], there’s no point in getting stressed. Just deal with everything as it comes.

“Sage, wake up, please.”

He’s moving now, okay, that’s fine, he’s fine, He’s alive. He’s alive, the gloom didn’t worsen, can’t have worsened and…

There’s someone who should be fictional, who is famous in his own right, lying on my side in my living room. I've been gone for barely a day and now to everyone else, there's a stranger with a funky-looking arm in my house. How will I - is there even a way to explain this?

Everything in my life is upended now, this isn't a normal thing, not something that can just be explained away. how do I? Where do I-

I don't know - this isn't something I've ever considered dealing with.

Now I wish Sage was up and being clingy, anything would be better than sitting here in silence with my thoughts like this. There are a couple of ways I could think to wake him properly, but just as I move to shake him he sits up immediately. Panic set in at the same moment leading him to hold me close while looking over every corner of the room we’re in.

“Where are we? Did the others abandon us? This isn’t like anything I’ve seen in any Hyrule.” “We aren’t in Hyrule now.” 

Might as well just bite the bullet and get this over with.

“Welcome to earth link, in all of its awful glory.”

[partyhorn]

Have u ever posted your comic or animation workflow anywhere? Im super curious on how you tackle the process, especially not using a drawing tablet. I know you have a very simple (and adorable) style so that probably helps in terms of workflow -- Im just curious about the steps you take.

Thank you! With both comics and animation my key thing is to not spend too much time on any particular thing, just draw loose and fast. Honestly the only downside to drawing with a mouse is that I can tell my arm has extremely specific muscle memory regarding it- if my mouse breaks and I get a new one I have to spend a good month or so just letting my hand get used to it again lol. Same with if my setup gets readjusted too much- right now my setup is my mouse on one of those padded mousepads, on top of 2 books, with my elbow resting on my 3DS case (I'll get an actual pillow or something for it eventually lol). But luckily thanks to this I suffer very minimal wrist pain 👍

(...Okay I started to go really in depth in my process here, so sorry if this is way more than what you were asking. Putting it under a readmore just to save space lol)

With MFM in particular, I start by writing out the entire script for the next story arc, which really is just all of the dialogue and vague notes about any important actions. Then I do the paneling with very loose stick-figure like sketches of where the characters are and what they're doing. I prefer having very little planning when it comes to character poses and panel shapes, coming up with those on the fly makes things much more exciting and faster to make. But it's the opposite with dialogue... it needs to be 100% FINAL before I draw a single line lol.

That's part of my script for my most recent chapter, as well as what my extremely loose goofy thumbnail sketching is like. I write the script as one big thing and don't separate it into pages until I actually start drawing- then I go and color change it just to keep track of what dialogue goes on each page

After that, I go back and do the ACTUAL sketch, as well as the lettering (I don't believe this is how it's done professionally. I used to do lettering as the very last step in the process... but then found it hard to cram speech bubbles in the right places lmao.) After that is lineart, coloring, background flat colors, then shading/rendering for all of it. I do each step in batches, as in I sketch out ALL pages of a chapter before moving to lineart, I line ALL pages before starting coloring, etc. I find it way easier to be productive when it's broken up like that, though when I first started the comic I used to draw each page to completion before starting the next (but also, the comic's style was DRASTICALLY simpler back then haha)

(Unfortunately I merged some of the shading to the background flat colors so it's not entirely accurate... oops) FireAlpaca has a sand texture feature that I only found out about last year- adding that to the backgrounds makes them look 10x better with WAY less effort.

With animation, it depends on the project. For simple 5-10 second animation I make for fun, there's very little planning lol. I skip some steps in the process- I'll sketch out the keyframes (and maybe any difficult inbetweens if necessary), line those, then go straight into making linework inbetweens. I'm not a cleanup artist and have no experience in that, so I always find trying to line my rough animation makes everything jittery and wobbly. If I do it with a clean line from the start then I can avoid that and save a lot of time 👍

For my bigger projects (such as the Parvey cartoon and the MFM Kickstarter trailer), I do the whole animatic with final audio first and foremost, with the animatic being almost like the keyframes. I split them up into individual shots, .mp4 files anywhere between 1-30 seconds usually, and animate those one at a time. I'm a huge fan of free to use programs and try to use them as much as I possibly can, here's a list of the ones I use:

FireAlpaca- for the actual drawing part itself (storyboarding/animating/etc). FireAlpaca has a feature that lets you export every frame as it's own drawing, as well as an onion skin mode

Windows Movie Maker- for compiling all of those frames into video format, creating individual shots. If you upload all of your frames and set them to around 0.08 seconds, it equals about 12fps (I usually animate at 0.10 seconds/10fps, its a bit slower but looks nice)

Onlinesequencer.net- for making music. It's the place I've made all of my songs on, like the timeloop song, hyperworkaholic, and the background music for the MFM Kickstarter trailer.

Audacity- for editing audio/music. Also great for recording things directly from your desktop

DaVinci Resolve- for editing and putting together all of the shots into one big video. Can get kind of intensive on the computer during rendering, so watch out.

YouCut (app)- also for editing and compiling shots, I used this one a lot a couple years back but I'm not sure how well it holds up. Doesn't need much phone storage to download but needs a lot to render videos.

MS Paint (yes really)- for typing up text. FireAlpaca has a text option but I don't like it as much as Paint's.

...The only thing I genuinely can't do alone is voice acting. Luckily there's a big voice acting community on Twitter and they're all amazing to work with!

This got... way more in depth than I planned for it to be, so sorry if this is way more than what you were asking lol. But that's my general process when it comes to my art 👍

[ikroah]

Pistol packin' mama, lay that thing down before it goes off and hurts somebody! —“Pistol Packin’ Mama,” Bing Crosby (1943)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’ #24 - Ring-a-Ding-Ding III

Collaborative Issue! Guest Artist: @yesjejunus

«« First | « Previous || Next » | Last »»

Read IKROAH on Archive of Our Own

Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes:

Oh noooooooooooo :(

These pages might get shrunken a little by Tumblr for some reason so either right-click to view at full-size or just read it on AO3 at the link above. And give a round of applause to my wonderful and wonderfully talented friend @yesjejunus who returns to guest art duty with this new issue, which is just another car crashing into the pile-up that is happening to Agnes in the closing half of Volume 2. Issue #25 will be all of my own art again, and I've been working for a long time on reinventing the look, feel, and production of IKROAH's artstyle so I hope you'll all be as excited as I am. Some really big things are about to happen.

Original Pencils

Here's another reason why mr. jejunus deserves a round of applause: patience. I talk often about how IKROAH is a very long-term project but this issue marks the longest collaboration in the history of the comic: the original pencils for this issue were drawn in August 2021. This was also when yesjejunus and I first discussed him doing guest art for this issue, and it would have been a lot sooner, of course, but you know, things (like months of burnout) can just happen. By the time this issue was finally next in the queue, I had committed to increasing the resolution of IKROAH's pages just to ease my own production, but these pencils were still formatted for the old size. I had to reformat these pencils for the new size and aspect ratio.

The tumblr editor keeps crashing every time I try to include them, so here's links instead: [1] [2] [3].

The thing about working with yesjejunus on comic issues like this is that at this point we're so deep in each other's heads that I barely even need to give him feedback. He understands the assignment completely because we're both sickos pressed against each other's brain-windows going "Yes…ha ha ha…yes!" and drooling. It's the kind of friendship as well as creative partnership that you really just treasure.

Transcript

INT. BENNY'S BEDROOM, THE TOPS CASINO, NEW VEGAS.

AGNES SANDS stares down, exhausted, at BENNY, the leader of the Chairmen and the man who shot her in the head.

BENNY does not stare back. He is dead. His eyes have rolled up lifelessly and blood is oozing from the gruesome wound in his skull.

AGNES looks away.

Suddenly—

SFX: KNOCK KNOCK

VOICE FROM OUTSIDE (off): Hey, Ben-man! Everything alright in there?

AGNES jerks up in surprise. She searches her surroundings frantically, looking for a way out. The gun that she shot BENNY with—the gun that BENNY shot her with—is still in her hand. She sees a side door, barely ajar, leading out of BENNY'S BEDROOM with a dim light coming from behind it.

AGNES sprints forward, her arm outstretched to shove open the door, and barges in. Then she freezes in her tracks. In front of her is a large and ambulatory machine, with claw-like arms and a computer monitor in its center. The monitor displays an unchanging vector of a happily smiling face. It speaks.

THE MACHINE: Hello! I'm Yes Ma—

AGNES raises the gun with both hands and fires repeatedly, her eyes wide and mouth agape in terror. She empties it of every single other bullet that was left in it.

THE MACHINE (shorting out): I-I'm sorry…!!

THE MACHINE crumples from the repeated shots, which shatter its monitor-face like a glass window and send it falling backwards. Its robotic corpse snaps and cracks with electricity and malfunctioning hardware as AGNES remains stunned in the doorway.

SFX: KNOCK KNOCK

AGNES looks up as BENNY'S men pound harder on the door to the suite.

VOICE FROM OUTSIDE (off): Benny! We heard shots! We're coming in!

AGNES drops the gun and flees through the hallway's secret private elevator.

VOICE FROM OUTSIDE (off): Oh, shit, somebody iced 'im! Get security!

[anticmiscellaney]

no pressure to answer and im sorry if you've said this before but where did the title new/old/rare come from?

It's named after a very average record label compilation that I bought way back in 2002 because it included a song I couldn't get anywhere else by a band I used to go see all the time. I always liked the title and it seemed appropriate for this project for a range of thematic reasons, but also Blueline Medic came from a band called Caustic Soda, who wrote a song called Photocopied, which was the first song I successfully turned into visual artwork, and I discovered Jawbreaker from the sticker on the bass guitar when I saw that video on Rage one night as a teenager, and then when I finally saw Jawbreaker in April 2022 I came home and wrote this comic about Louis seeing them in March 1996, which led to me figuring out the overall story of what had up until then just been a series of loosely connected drawings.

Before everything was available on the internet, releases being old or rare often meant you couldn't get them, you might not ever hear/see them, and new releases may take months or even years to become available to you. Part of being into film and music was searching, archiving, collecting, sharing, bootlegging, waiting, and speculating. These days I likely wouldn't have to buy a whole CD just to hear one song. Smalltime local band singles are available on Bandcamp, not just at their shows. Archives of old or niche films are often hosted on streaming sites, or even lovingly restored and rereleased. This is all cool and I enjoy it, but it's new. Please remember that it's new, that in my relatively short lifetime it has changed hugely.

People have always cared and now it's so much easier to share these things, but there's still value in things being tied to times and places, in parts of life being ephemeral and transitory. I think you need external markers of times in your life that you can revisit or avoid as you choose, otherwise you'll end up adrift. Something being rare or limited isn't always bad; of course we don't get to experience everything we'd like to and it's important to pursue and value what you can. I pursued live music single-mindedly from when I was 12 or 13 until I moved overseas at 19, and while I've never stopped going to see bands or being very into music, that particular time of my life was unique. I can't replicate it and I don't want to because as much as I joke I've not changed (and wear band t-shirts I bought in 2001), I'm not the same person. I still remember though.

This story is partly about the balance between digging through the past and making space in your life for new things, about handling change and choosing what to let go, what to archive, what to keep, what to keep looking for. It's also literally about music and film.

Most of the places I used to go are gone now of course, and most of the bands have broken up and moved on. I'm gone too, I live on the other side of the world, but I like to put references in my work. I guess it's my way of saying this happened and it was important to me, these things other people made, those places, that time, they were small and brief but they mattered and I remember. Some things don't come back and all you have is memories of them, but sometimes bands who broke up in 1990 do a reunion show and you score a ticket.

Don't count on it though. Enjoy what you can when you have it, and if you miss it, don't dwell too much. Looking for the next thing to be excited and intrigued by is the best way to find it.

In the comic linked above, when Neil says they'll have a chance to see Jawbreaker together soon, he's wrong: Jawbreaker broke up a few months later and didn't play again until 2017. I think they would have gone together then though, I think they both remembered.

[thebroccolination]

Working in an indie bookshop has been a dream. Granted, it's only my first month, but man. :')

By nature of the shop, every shift is different. Tourists, regulars. Some are chatty, some are quiet. New books are always arriving. Events, book club. Seeing what people want to order, getting requests for recommendations.

The customers have all been absolutely lovely and deeply patient with me whenever I have an "I'm new, sorry, one second," moment.

And like, today, a girl came in for a book she had on reserve. I started to ring her up and she said, "Oh, sorry, I paid already," and I had a frozen moment because I realized I had no idea how to check on that in the software. So I made a judgment call based on Vibes and said, "You're good, then!" and handed her the book. She said, "Are you sure?" and showed me her bank app opening on her phone, but I smiled and waved her off. After she left, I rang up another customer, waved goodbye, glanced at the other customers browsing, and then she reappeared and told me, "I'm sorry, it'll stay with me all day if I don't–" and she showed me the transaction on her banking app. We both smiled, and as she headed off again (making sure to close the old door correctly behind her), I watched her go and thought, That's a lovely human being, and I hope she loves her book. (Percy Jackson.)

A pregnant woman came in looking for gifts for the children of a friend she was on her way to see, and she was so bubbly and excited about her own baby, she left me smiling for a good ten minutes after she left.

A man bought four books and his card didn't go through, but I was so busy chatting and laughing I almost missed it. I had to re-scan his books and redo the whole transaction, and he was so understanding and patient, we exchanged two more stories after his receipt came through, and both of us were laughing by the end.

A family of four came in, and one of the girls asked for a horror comic. I couldn't find one, so her father helped her pick something else. After they left, I ordered two middle-grade horror comic books so they'll be there for her next time.

Like, I actually rest on my days off now because I'm not dreading going back. I can't overstate how wild that feels. I have the next two days off, but I'm genuinely looking forward to being back there! When I worked Monday-Friday in an office, I did not have that experience. I got into the bedtime procrastination thing of staying up until 2am on my phone because after the commute to the office, work, and the commute home, I had so little time to myself. I was drained and anxious.

I don't take anything home now. No stress, no reports, no projects. I come home, I get head-bunts from my fuzzy roommates, and I unwind.

Small Talk About Books and Sometimes Also People's Small Dogs: The Job really has been a dream. Today I talked to thirty-six people about books, and in between customers, I read "Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop" by Hwang Bo-reum while snacking on rice krispie squares I made and listening to a soft piano Ghibli playlist I put on.

The only downside is the pay, but c'est la retail work.

In conclusion, indie bookshops are very yay, and I'm incredibly grateful to have a job in one. <3

[nicohverse]

April Update - Merch Designs and Last Call for Preorders!

Hi everyone! It's been a minute, huh? Sorry about that! After releasing Beloved Ghost I got to work on merch designs, but other things kept coming up, getting in the way, and well... If you've played the first game, seen the themes of this series, it should be no surprise that I do tend to give myself deadlines that get thwarted by my health. Even right now, I'm writing this update with a pounding headache...

Still, progress has been made! I'll be sharing the merch designs later in this update, along with a link to preorder individual pieces if you missed it during the active campaign. Besides the merch, I've been getting started on commissions- If you're expecting one, get excited! This along with the usual work on Entropic Float 2 itself, of course... And events! I amazingly got to meet a few fans of Entropic Float at Connecticut Gamer Con earlier this month, and if you'd like to join their ranks, I'm confirmed to be tabling at Holyoke Pride in June as well as both Springfield Comic Con and Connecticon in July! 

Now, on to the designs! These are the new merch items available in reward fulfillment, but it's not too late! If one of these items wasn't in your reward tier, or you couldn't afford it as an add-on at survey time, or you just didn't realize till now that you want it? Preorders are still open on my etsy shop until May 13th!

Let's go smallest to largest here- The key for the stickerpack! This will be included with the stickers, and the stickers will be included with every physical reward tier. If you'd like the stickers, but only bought a digital reward and don't plan to preorder anything else, just reach out to me~ Especially since I can ship them with STAMPS for CHEAP INTERNATIONAL if you're willing to FORGO A TRACKING NUMBER! Every stickerpack contains ALL of these characters~

Next up, the aluminum pin badges! These eight add to the eighteen already available which reference EF1 endings. Four for EF2's endings (hm, I wonder what these could mean?), one Beloved Ghost badge in the Mesteri Moas, one more EF1 badge with The ~LUMP~, and two additional EF2 badges with the Possum Pal and CROWNPRIMROSE campaign badge! These were offered with most physical reward tiers, but can also be preordered for just $3 each.

New acrylic keychains! These, likewise, are in addition to the existing four that have been available since the shop first opened. Shinjiro, JJ, Cobalt, and Renfield were all requested by specific backers at survey time! They're $8 each to preorder, if you're just now realizing you want them as well~

Acrylic standees! Little guys to stand on your shelf or your desk or wherever! 50mm circular base, 90mm tall, these secret fullbodies are always included by the wonderful Soyokaze when commissioning titlescreens~ It's $15 to preorder a small friend.

Last but certainly not least- Throw Pillow Plushies! 40cm in size, these are shaped pillows with the designs printed on them in a plush fabric. We're not quite big enough to go full-blown plushie, but these things are still super adorable! These were only included at the highest reward tiers, so if you'd like to get your hands on one of these, it's a $25 preorder!

That's all for now! As always, thank you for reading, and I'll update you again soon!

[insanityclause]

Have y''all forgotten that Tom will be in Japan for three days from 3 - 5 of May next month. The ask from you got about he being a EP that he has to stay in London for preparing The Night Manager. In y'all excitement of him filming The Night Manager in coming days he saying preventing him going to the Met Gala is the Met Gala is very next day after the final day of Osaka Comic Con and he wont get to Met Gala on time flying from Japan to US

Oh, that's right. I'd completely forgotten about that, tbh.

Sorry, I'm more excited about him filming The Night Manager.

[livelaughwhump]

Whump Fic - Worthless

Concept: before getting kidnapped, Whumpee was something of a comic relief for their team. They were loud and fun, but no one on their team really took them seriously. After months of being degraded and dehumanized by Whumper, being laughed at starts to hurt.

Content: degradation, dehumanization, reference to past captivity, self-deprecation, emotional whump

(This takes place post rescue)

-

Worthless

Useless mutt

No one could ever want you

No one is coming for you

Annoying

Ugly

Stupid

Pathetic

Worthless

Worthless

WORTHLESS

"Whumpee?" Caretaker's voice called, followed by a gentle knock at their door. Whumpee started. They tried to suppress their ever-flowing tears. "Supper is ready. Are you hungry?"

They don't want you there. They just want you to know that they're hanging out without you

"N-No, Caretaker," Whumpee called back. Their voice was quivering. "I'm fine."

A moment of silence passed, and Whumpee almost thought that Caretaker had left, until they heard, "Are you sure? Everyone really misses you."

They're lying

"That's-That's okay, Caretaker."

"Whumpee," it was Leader's voice this time. "Please, come eat with us. We miss your smile."

They miss laughing at your ugly face behind your back

Whumpee sniffled and wrapped their arms around themself. "I-I'm not hungry," they lied. They were ravenous. They couldn't remember the last time they had eaten.

There was a collection of heavy sighs on the other side of Whumpee's door. Whumpee whimpered.

Look what you did. You disappointed them. You're nothing but a disappointment

"Whumpee, can we come in? Please?" Caretaker asked.

They want to laugh at how pathetic you are

Tears started to pool in Whumpee's eyes, but they didn't respond, which Caretaker took to mean yes.

Whumpee's door creaked open, but they refused to look at their teammates. They couldn't bear the thought of their friends seeing them cry.

"Whumpee," Leader started. "Come eat with us, please. It'll do you good to get out of this room."

Whumpee shook their head. "I don't-I don't want to be a bother," they admitted.

"There's nothing bothersome about you," Caretaker assured them. "Just come eat with us. It might make you feel better."

Whumpee's lower lip was trembling. They knew that Caretaker and Leader weren't going to leave them alone until they said yes. So, they reluctantly pushed themself off of their bed and followed their friends into the dining room.

. . .

Whumpee sullenly played with their food, hardly listening to the conversations going on around them. A few of their teammates had tried to start a conversation with them, but Whumpee didn't give more than one or two word responses.

They were starving, but they couldn't bring themself to do any more than push their food around their plate.

"What do you think, Whumpee?" Teammate A asked.

Whumpee lifted their eyes from their plate, looking at their teammate from across the table. Suddenly, all eyes were on them, and Whumpee flushed. "Sorry, I-I wasn't listening," they admitted, their gaze returning to their uneaten plate of food.

Whumpee flinched, expecting to be hit or berated for ignoring their friend. Instead, Teammate A said, "That's okay! We were just talking about our next mission." Whumpee nodded, just to show that they were listening this time. "Are you excited to start going on missions again, Whumpee?"

Whumpee shrugged. "I-I guess. I don't know," they mumbled.

Teammate B laughed, and Whumpee flinched again, dropping their fork. "Remember that time when Whumpee got drunk after a mission and started flirting with a mannequin in a store window?"

The whole table burst into laughter, but Whumpee shrunk into themself, their face getting hot.

"Or that time when Whumpee had a fever and started hallucinating?" More laughter erupted from the table. "They were spouting nonsense for two weeks!"

Whumpee felt tears prick the corners of their eyes. Their chin started trembling and they lowered their head to hide their humiliation.

"Or what about that time that-"

"Guys," Caretaker's voice shouted, silencing the mocking laughter. All eyes turned to Whumpee once more, and Whumpee could feel the mood in the room shift when their teammates laid eyes on the tears streaming down their face.

"Whumpee?" Teammate A said. "What's wrong? We were only joking."

Whumpee's suppressed sobs escaped when they heard that. They covered their face in their hands. Their shoulders were trembling beneath the weight of their tears.

You see? You're nothing but a big joke. That's all you're good for

"Whumpee, come on," Teammate B said. "We joke about this stuff all the time. What's the matter with you?"

"Shut up, B!" Medic shouted. "Can't you see you're making it worse?"

Caretaker was rubbing gentle circles into Whumpee's back, but that didn't slow the never-ending sobs wracking Whumpee's body.

Stop crying, you worthless, pathetic bitch

Whumpee sniffled, struggling to wipe away the snot and tears on their face. "I'm-I'm s-sorry," they cried.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Whumpee," Caretaker soothed. "It's not your fault."

That only seemed to make Whumpee cry harder. They wrapped their arms around themself to try and quell their trembling, but it didn't help.

"I'm s-sorry," they repeated. "I-I think I-I'm just gonna go back to-to my room." Whumpee stood up from their seat, ignoring Caretaker's attempts to stop them. "I'm-I'm sorry for always being such a-a bother."

"No, Whumpee, you're not a bother," Leader said. "We love having you here."

Whumpee shook their head. "Everyone was-was having fun before-before I r-ruined it."

"Whumpee-"

"Just-Just finish without me," Whumpee said, already turning and making their way out of the dining room.

-

Part 2 coming soon

I've been running low on ideas for whump fics, so if anyone has any requests, please send them in my asks!

[scarletify]

Hello! I have I have an update about the state of my comic going into 2024. If you enjoy my comic, thank you so much 💖

More under the cut!

Hello! The year is coming to an end, and as I tend to do at times like this, I find myself looking back on what this year was for me.

It's no secret that this has been one of the worst years for the comic in a long time, and it's not something I'm particularly proud of. It's also no secret that the comic slowing to a crawl is something that has been weighing on me greatly. It's something I feel a lot of regret and guilt over, and though I've said it many times this year, I still think it's important to say again. I'm very sorry that I've been unable to keep up with my comic. 

Next month the comic will be reaching its thirteenth anniversary. It's been a long road, and the comic's state through the years has directly reflected my own. When the comic is doing well, I am doing well. When it's not, I am not. I feel this is reflected in both the speed of updates and the quality of the art. 

This story is something I've put my heart into, and I want nothing more than to see it through. So, needless to say, the poor output of the comic this year has been a direct result of my own struggles. It's been a very hard year for me, a year I've struggled to stay afloat, and a year I've tried to find myself and who I want to be. 

I apologize if this comes off as too dramatic, but I can't help but think about these sort of things at times like this. Thirteen years... that's such a long time. I think I just hope to be understood. No one is more disappointed about the current state of the comic than me.

That said, I don't mean for this to be a sad post. On the contrary, I want it to be an uplifting one. 2023 was a year of struggles for me. A year of soul searching. A year of trying to find meaning. The answer I found was this. I love my comic. I love what I do. I love the people who enjoy my work. I love to share my work with you all, and I don't want to stop. 2023 was a year of struggles, so I'm going to make 2024 a year I can thrive again.

That's what I hope the takeaway of this post will be. I have been unwell, but I'm still determined to keep going. And I'm going to be trying harder than ever to find myself again this upcoming year. 

That said, I know that's easier said than done. I don't expect the comic to catch up to speed again overnight. But I'm ready to take those steps. Starting tomorrow, public updates will be resuming. Updates will continue to come first on my Patreon. My goal is to finish at least one page a week. Over time I hope to make that number even bigger. I hope to ease my way into more frequent updates again. These are goals, not promises, but ones I'm going to be trying as hard as I can to meet. 

You know what's been really hard? This scene we're on right now is a scene I've been looking forward to since the comic began. We're on the cusp of some big character moments, and it's driving me wild that we've been so close yet so far for so long. I'm excited about what's about to happen, and I truly hope you enjoy what's to come. 

Earlier this year I mentioned wanting to change the story medium at some point. This is something I still intend to do, but it won't be happening in the near future. At the very least I plan to finish chapter 6 as it is. Honestly, I really want chapter 7 to continue the comic format as well. Whether or not chapter 7 will be a comic however, I do intend to switch formats once the lycan arc is over. I truly believe this will be a good thing, and it will make finishing the story a lot more realistic. I'm excited for it when it comes, but I don't anticipate it coming just yet.

Also, I spoke before about issues with the hosting for my comic's website. This is something I've been working on behind the scenes, and I have good news in that regard! This issue has been resolved. Thanks to the help of a very kind friend, my website has new hosting and can continue running for the foreseeable future. I'm very relieved and very grateful that things turned out this way. That's one less thing to weigh down my mind.

Once again, thank you so much for all the support you've given me. Thank you for enjoying my work. Thank you for sticking by me for so long. Thank you for giving me a chance even as I've struggled. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything. Here's to a better 2024! ♥

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Catch and Release

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: AU where Jason doesn't die in the explosion and he and Tim end up attending the same high school months later.

Chapters: 7/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Sebastian Ives, Jack Drake, Janet Drake

Relationships: TBA

Additional Tag: Jason Todd Lives, Jason Todd-centric, POV Jason Todd, POV First Person, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Jason Todd is Not Robin (Anymore), Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Alfred Pennyworth Knows, Stalker Tim Drake, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd Has PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unlikely Friends, Injury Recovery, Emotional Baggage, Rage, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating

Chapter Seven: Rock On

Tim showed up after sundown and ate dinner with me. I pulled myself out of bed long enough to set up the fold-out bed while Tim was in the shower. I even set up a movie on my laptop while I waited. I thought if I could push my feelings down long enough, I'd start to feel normal. Dick texted me to check in, and I told him I was alright. I was better off than Bruce was. I knew that. Bruce hadn't been home since he ran out on me, and I had no reason to believe he was coming back at all while I was home.

"You okay?" Tim asked. I shrugged, and he sat on my bed with me. He kicked his feet in his socks like an excited toddler. "Sure?"

"No, but I'm happy to have you here. Beats being alone," I answered. He blinked hard. "No, Tim... I didn't mean it like that. I'm having a rough day. I meant to say I'm glad you're here and haven't left me alone."

"Oh, well, I don't plan on leaving. I'm here as long as you need somebody," Tim whispered. We did our homework together as usual, and Alfred brought us dessert.

"What were you so excited about a second ago?" I questioned. Tim gasped and went through his backpack.

"I got you something. You're gonna freak," Tim grinned, "Close your eyes." I chuckled and obeyed as he opened my hand and placed a piece of paper in my palm. "Open."

Tim wanted to take me to a rock concert. I'd never been to one. "Tim, this-. Thank you-."

"Please don't say but. It's one month from now and-."

"Oh no, I get my cast off. So I'm going even if you gotta carry me on your back," I laughed, "I wouldn't miss it for the world... But you have to let me pay for dinner or something after. I owe you."

Tim shrugged and grinned at me. "Jason, thanks for letting me come here every day. I think I might actually get an 'A' on my report card this semester," Tim joked.

It wasn't long before Tim fell asleep on my shoulder. I didn't have the heart to wake him up, so I threw one of my blankets over him and rolled on my side. Tim was the kindest person I'd met since the explosion, and it was comforting to have him around all the time. I never had a little brother before, but it felt like we'd been brothers my whole life. I think that's part of why I didn't feel weird about him sleeping in my bed. He was a strange kid, but he was harmless. Besides, I hadn't been this happy in months.

I woke up before him the next day, feeling well enough to return to school. I took a shower and got dressed before waking Tim up. "Tim?" I nudged him. He rolled onto his back and sat up.

"Oh man, hey... I'm sorry I fell asleep in your bed. You coulda woke me up," Tim mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

"I didn't mind... Besides, it was freezing in here last night," I replied. I really didn't mind. Alfred came in with breakfast, and he lit up.

"It's good to see you upright again, Master Jason," Alfred whispered. I offered him a half-smile. "Will you be joining Master Tim at school today?" I nodded.

Alfred left Tim and me alone, and we ate breakfast together. "Tim, am I still invited to your new campaign on Saturday?" I asked. Tim's eyes widened as he nodded excitedly. "I've been working on my character sheet while you were at school this week. We can talk about it at lunch if you want."

"So, you're gonna come?" Tim asked. I nodded. "Wait until I tell Ives! He's gonna freak!"

I had to smile as I hobbled around my room, looking for my backpack. "Hey, Tim, what do your parents do?" I asked.

"They're archaeologists, and they've made a business of it... Which is cool and everything, but they're gone more than they're here," Tim replied, "Which used to suck, but it's cool to have the house to myself sometimes."

"I thought they were private investigators," I replied. Tim finished eating and changed into his clothes for school.

Tim sat with me for a minute and looked at his shoes. "Tim, remember I said you were like a brother to me? Do you wanna stay here when your parents aren't home? Like you know... Do you wanna move in?" I whispered. I was lonely, and it wasn't like Tim didn't spend every waking moment with me anyway.

"You really mean it?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, and you can even have your own room. The one next to mine is empty, and when I get my cast off, I'll even help install a door that connects our rooms," I replied. Tim gave me a half-smile.

"You can do construction?" Tim asked.

"I've got a lot of time on my hands," I whispered, "Almost ready to go?" Tim nodded.

I grabbed my backpack and reminded Tim to grab his homework. I took the stairlift down, and Tim walked alongside me. "Is your-. Is Bruce coming home?" Tim questioned.

"Probably not... We fell out," I replied. Tim touched my shoulder and gave me my crutches. "Can't wait until I'm back on my feet... So I can get my license."

Alfred drove us to school, and I met eyes with the boy I fought on the first day of school. "Jason, come on. Let's go the other-."

"No, it's okay. We're not gonna have any problems," I reassured.

We walked past him and went straight to class. I could hear kids whispering about me, but I didn't care. I was in a good mood, and things were looking up. Tim squinted at me. "What's the look for?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's just weird to see that you're smiling at school," Tim replied. I shrugged at him. I had a lot of stuff to look forward to. Things that didn't involve me fighting Bruce tooth and nail. Things that didn't have anything to do with Bruce at all.

[stardew-obsessed-ora]

hi do you have any headcanons involving morris and the junimos (or maybe just magic in general) ?

Hiiii anon! Thank you so much for the ask! This was actually quite the interesting topic to think about, so thank you for that! I apologize for how long this took to pump out. I was so busy with college math that I wasn't really able to focus on writing. Regardless, I'm excited to finally be able to sit down and answer this!

(Some of this is going to be based on the before the farmer comic)

Word count: 1,621

tiny bit of angst but it gets better! ∼ ~~◡◡◡◡ ~~ ⥽ Ⅰ ⥼ ~~◡◡◡◡~~ ∽

For starters, the Junimos have made themselves somewhat known to Morris for quite some time. Not in a positive way, of course. They were there when Joja was first making its presence known within the valley. Maybe they were trying to ward the company off with what little mischief they could pull? Or maybe they just wanted to use what little remaining power they had to screw with the man before shriveling up due to the continued environmental damage from the corporation. 

From the first day he started working as a district manager onward, they would appear out of the corner of his eye. He thought it might’ve been flickers of light, or maybe he was just up too early? That was probably it. This went on for weeks, months even. It was maddening. It was hard enough setting up a new store in town, but with the added paranormal activity? That wasn’t what he signed up for. 

He would clock in at 5am sharp each day, do a routine check of everything and make a mental note of what needed to be done, the usual. And then- something would fall. Morris, being rather jumpy, would flinch every single time without fail. Whenever he checked the room where the source of the sound was, however, there was nothing on the ground. There wasn’t a single trace of what could’ve made the noise. Of course, there were boxes being perpetually scattered from their uniform positions, but they couldn’t have made such loud noises.  

There were numerous meetings with his employees regarding the incidents. If it wasn’t just him, it had to be some elaborate prank, right? These meetings would go from casual reminders of company policy regarding messing around on company time, threats that whoever was to be found wasting so much time on an elaborate scheme as opposed to getting the upper-hand working would be fired, to subtle pleas for whoever it was to turn themselves in and that their punishment wouldn’t actually be that bad. 

“What if it’s like- raccoons? Those little guys can go crazy all on their lonesome. I remember one time mom had accidentally messed up a recipe, so she threw the most burnt pieces out, and a few hours later we found like- all kinds of trash on our lawn!”

“Respectfully, I think I’d know if they were raccoons, Sam. I’d have come across the mess already. And- I’d probably have come across one of the raccoons on my daily searches. I’m very methodical with my process.” 

“Also… sorry to butt in- I’d probably hear them coming in. I’m always here early.” And then Claire yawns. “I hear a bit of rustling, but it’s not really… that obstructive.” 

“Seriously? So you’re inattentive. There’s no way you’re not hearing- well- what I’m referring to.”

“They say regions like this tend to be a bit haunted.” “Haunted? Seriously?!” “Yeah, next thing we know Morris’ll start seeing the lights flicker when nobody else does. Then, he’ll see his reflection laugh at him. And then-”

“Shane, enough. Seriously. Spirits aren’t real. They’re mere fairy-tales at best.” “Fine, alright. If it’s such an issue, why don’t you install cameras?” 

“For your information, we actually do have- wait.” And then he checked the cameras. It became somewhat routine for him to skim through the footage daily in an attempt to find anything incriminating. Maybe he’d catch the person putting him through this annoying, relentless hell if he remained vigilant?  

As much as he wanted to act like he wasn’t unnerved by the thought of the Jojamart being haunted or something, he was. Horror terrified him, he was the kid who dove behind the couch whenever something even slightly unnerving came on the television. He didn’t want to be living through a real life horror movie! Maybe he should’ve just accepted the raccoon suggestion… Thumbing through the camera footage, he became distraught. He, in fact, did not catch anything. The most paranormal thing he did catch, in his mind, were both Shane and Sam doing their jobs exactly as he had asked. Great, so that was a fruitless- wait. Checking the camera in the storage room, he saw something. He saw several of the boxes rustling, moving on their own then stopping. If all of his employees were at their stations, then what was..? 

He decided to investigate himself. 

“Hey, Mors. Don’t die back there, kay? It’s always the people going on investigations themselves that get caught in horror movies!” 

“Shane, I’ll dock your pay if you don’t get back to your station.”

“Goooot it.” 

The first time he stepped into the storage room and heard squeaking he assumed it was rats. Great, they had an infestation on their hands. Another lengthy email to corporate. And then- he saw a flicker of green, a dash of blue, and- an apple stem? There they were. The Junimos. It was ridiculous, but he wanted to run away. Even if they looked cutesy, they were spirits- ghosts- supernatural beings, for crying out loud! In his moment of panic he stood, pale and wide eyed as he observed the creatures. 

And then his panic quickly subsided, replaced with soft laughter.

“Is this a prank? Some kind of toy? Seriously…” When he tried to pick the creature up, it quickly hopped away, then reappeared behind him. Of course, Morris, being stubborn, doubled down on his internal viewpoint that they were toys. The squeaking didn’t help. Neither did their bouncy movements or overly cartoonish faces. He thought they were toys for the remainder of his encounters with them. 

Regardless of how much they tried to keep him on his toes, annoy him, make him resign and bring peace back to the valley. They couldn’t get under his skin as they had his first few months of working. 

I like imagining the Junimo are very determined little creatures, however. They both don’t understand human emotion very well, and also don’t understand the concept of knowing when to quit. They continued to make messes, hit against things to make unruly sounds, appear out of the corner of his eye, but it only made him crack down further on policies regarding workplace ethics and appropriate behavior. 

Of course, this wasn’t to say Morris didn’t humor the “toy” he had found. At times he’d act scared, or frantically pick the mess it had made up, or try again to pick it up, somewhat impressed at the fact it had such sharp reflexes. If only the person controlling it put those skills to something productive. 

When he’d spot one of a color other than green he wondered if the person who owned the toy had invested in multiple just to freak him out. 

He found them kind of cute, and almost endearing. A part of him thought about pitching an idea to corporate regarding Joja potentially making their own line of the little things. 

Before he knew it, however, the ruckus stopped. 

The little creatures stopped squeaking, they stopped rummaging through the back room of the store, they stopped appearing out of the corners of his eye. The Junimos were losing their magic within the valley, and the spread of Joja was at fault. They couldn’t even ward off one store chain from the valley with the best of their abilities. 

When he finds the last Junimo he almost jumps out of his skin at the sight of it. Anything unexpected caused him to jump, let alone one of the very things that had tried to annoy him for months on end. But now, there it was, its little leaf hung low and its eyes half shut in defeat. 

Of course he was confused. A toy shouldn’t have been that expressive. Maybe it was another one? Maybe it-

And then, it disappeared. Right in front of his eyes, to his own dismay. Its little leaf had withered away, followed by the rest of it. 

Panic, worry, and a strange sense of guilt filled his chest as he would bolt from the storage room. The realization they weren’t toys and that he had spent months pinning their appearances on employees embarrassed him, yet also, terrified him. Up until that moment he had assumed fairy tales, magic, and things of the like were fake.

Afterwards, he spent months making sure the Jojamart wasn’t haunted or anything like that. It was ridiculous, but nobody bothered stopping him. It took time he spent chewing them out for meticulous things away, and kept him preoccupied. 

For a while, he tried asking other townsfolk about what he saw, being met only with confused glances and a few remarks here and there regarding him possibly losing it. 

It made him feel crazy. 

When the farmer actually reaffirmed the existence of the little fellas he had seen, it lifted a weight off of his shoulders. He didn’t have to feel even remotely worried that his unhealthy work hours were actually taking a toll on him. Nope! 

And yet, it still made him feel bad. 

Bad, as in wondering if something had happened to them that might’ve been caused by him. Or- by the collective efforts of the corporation he had been working so tirelessly for, anyways. It ultimately helped feed into his doubt regarding whether or not what he was doing was truly right. 

It wasn’t until after the community center had been rebuilt that he saw the little fellas again. He was tending to his garden when he spotted something from the corner of his eye. He thought it was an animal, or perhaps just something blowing in the wind.

That's when he saw it, a Jumino making its way onto his property with a flower in tow. A white tulip.

It takes the Junimos a while to grasp the concept, but they realize Morris wasn't intentionally trying to fuck up the valley. He was just a victim of circumstance. So, after coming to this profound realization, I like imagining they occasionally drop off little flowers of varying positive meanings at his door to both reassure him that he didn't help permanently ward them off and to show that there's no hard feelings.

(also this takes away from the more serious nature of these hcs but if he could grab one of the little guys i do think he'd squish it in his hand. he finds them really cute outside of the initial five nights at junimos encounter he had)

[thepaintedlady00]

Ok, honestly I have a lot of ideas for requests, but this one stuck out to me (I might post the others later):

Angst/fluff, Nightshade/Sweetbitter fic. Jake x Lena (or reader, whichever you prefer) where the two are watching Sandman. Lena/reader jokes about how Jake looks like Morpheus/Tom Sturridge, & the two laugh it off. Then, middle of the night, Jake wakes up to find Lena/reader having a nightmare. He wakes her up to talk about it &/or makes her breakfast in the morning. Doesn't have to be canon to your story.

Sorry if this is too detailed. I had it in my head since the recent chapter of Nightshade dropped & you announced request week. Have a nice day/week! Take care of yourself!

This idea is so cute and funny! It's also one of the first requests I have for my Sweetbitter fandom! So I'm excited! Thank you so much for the request! 🥰 I decided to go Jake x Reader just cause there's so little content for Sweetbitter I want everyone to get to enjoy it without them feeling like they need to read my fic or anything. 😊

Your days off mostly consisted of time with your boyfriend Jake. Today he'd unfortunately been called into work to cover one of the bar shifts. He hadn't been too happy about it, muttering a few choice words under his breath as he got dressed and instructing you not to have too much fun without him. Jake kissed you and was gone to spend his night dealing with the guests and making overpriced drinks.

You'd gotten cozy on the couch and ordered take out from the Chinese place you knew Jake loved so he'd at least have good good and a loving embrace ready for him when he got home. While eating you turned on a new tv show, some kind of comic adaptation called The Sandman. All while you watched you could have sworn you recognized the actor, but nothing came to you. Jake's heavy footsteps made your attention shift to the door as he walked in and began tossing his clothes and shoes off.

"How was work?" You asked, swallowing your food.

Shirtless he made his way to you, kissing you quickly and snagging an egg roll from the box. "Fine." He nodded to the TV. "What are you watching?"

You turned your head back to the TV. "The Sandman. It's new."

He sat down beside you, quietly eating for a moment before noticing the way you kept looking back and forth from him to the TV. "What?"

You ruffled his hair and looked at the TV again before laughing. "You look exactly like this guy!"

"No I don't!" He insisted.

"Yes you do!" You pointed. "Same hair, same pouty lips, same pale ass skin."

Jake rolled his eyes, pulling you close. "You gonna start calling me Lord or King then?"

"God no! Your ego doesn't need any more stroking."

"I can think of something you can stroke," he teased.

You kissed him, giggling. "You're disgusting."

When you two went to bed that night Jake stayed up, laying beside you as he read his book. You were fast asleep, but seemed troubled. You jerked around and made quiet whining noises until you awoke with a startled cry.

This wasn't the first time you'd had nightmares, but ever since you started staying with Jake they'd gotten better. His arms wrapped around you as he whispered reassuring words in your ear until you relaxed. His hands rubbed soothing shapes into your arms as he slowly coaxed you back to sleep.

"You're getting good at this," you mumbled.

He chuckled. "Yeah, maybe you should start calling me Sandman."

"Mmmm, goodnight... Sandy."

He made a noise. "Ugh, never mind."

"Too late." You yawned. "You're Sandy forever now."

The next morning Jake made you your favorite breakfast, something he'd spent months practicing so he wouldn't fuck it up. He brought it to you in bed and the two of you ate together, quietly making plans for a week away together. Jake insisted your nightmares were stress based and wanted you to have fun for once. As you looked over at him, that messy hair and bright blue eyes and cute little pouty lips you just smiled. Leaning over you kissed him. "What's that for?"

"I just love you."

Jake rolled his eyes, still always so adamant to act aloof. But he kissed you back and for a moment you could've sworn you saw stars in his eyes as he whispered back, "I love you too."