#there’s so many characters now there’s even a bunch in the old one that aren’t in the new lol

[kizzycannon]

How times change, 2014 vs 2023

[azulsluver]

haunted house au??!! Is that a new event coming up? Will it relate to the last chapter 👀👀

Originally, bunch of ghouls who haunted this old house/apartment or whatever. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to that au but realizing the Halloween event was perfect for starters. For those who read the event then it would make sense of how the characters came to be in the world MC lives in.

Here are the basics of how they accustomed to their new life.

tw: yandere, ghost!twst, mentions of attempted suicide, obsessive/possessive behavior, mentions of gore-ish fantasies and acts, nudity (non-sexual), they watch you sleep every night.

Your apartment is small. With them all inside as ghosts they can physically interact with each other so it gets pretty cramped. They’re attached to you, literally, they aren’t able to leave the place they’re in unless you track down Crowley or COUGH COUGH the man who owned the store. Also moving places since it is “haunted house”, will lead to them following along.

-What did he do to deserve this? To be transferred into a world with no magic, and to be a ghost again! He can't physically touch you or use any sort of magic to collar you, it's a nightmare for Riddle when you break some of the (unknown) rules.

-To keep it short, Riddle is a noxious ghost to have around. He practically breaths down your neck for everything you do. You'll mostly see Riddle inside your bedroom, along with many others who are trying to get comfortable. Besides the bedroom, Riddle is one of the many ghosts who will volunteer to go along with you for your errands. That is if people like Ace or Floyd who always wanna tag with you.

-The second person to be leaning over your shoulder is Trey, he’s more than curious of your everyday life. What type of shampoo you wear, lotion or perfume that reminds him of you. He’s not a nauseous but you’d wish he’d leave you alone as well. The veil covering his face burns into your mind of the people he tore so easily, no matter how much he smiles sweetly at you.

-Like clingy dogs, Deuce is nearly always on you. Be it a hug, hand holding, or trapping you in his arms, he can’t stand the thought of separation now that you’re here and alive. Second clingy dog; Cater. He’s so fascinated by everything and you, often times teasing Deuce to not hoard you all for himself. Cater does bother you as much as Deuce does, his odd fixation on you is unknown and sometimes freaks even Ace out. But Cater thinks it’s adorable, funny even.

-Nobody really eats anything. They don’t have the stomach in your world to actually enjoy cuisines like you.

-Ruggie and Ace are always pulling pranks on you, inside your safe haven has been stripped from you completely. Where privacy privileges are nonexistent as the ghosts free roaming in your home. You’re always on edge with these psychopaths who have no problem using your fear to their advantage.

-None aren’t as kind as Silver however, but he doesn’t bring you much comfort. When everyone feels no guilt of killing the innocent, Silver is nothing but human to you as he shared a deep meaningful conversation with you during the late night. Times where you couldn’t sleep and he just so happens to be awake there for you.

-Speaking of clingy, Leona, Rook, Jack, Kalim, Floyd, AND Malleus are there to make your mental sanity DROP. With their weird confessions and obsession of wanting to cut you open and eat you is bad enough. Their touches burn like hell. Oh will somebody solve the problem of these big mean demons….

-The shop is your solution. With the shop owner spewing nonsense into your ear, hope drains when you catch upon the fact ghosts like them will stay until your time has been served.

-Like death themselves, until you can no longer breath will you be free, not unless one of them manages to snag your soul into their realm.

-However, there is a part-time solution if you wish to have peace and quiet. A sacred scroll that mostly works like a phone seeing how it needs to recharge energy to work; as it is unbreakable, it’s used to ward off evil spirits for a whole week before falling into a deep recharge for a month.

-Was it a scam, maybe, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

-Now there are some who aren’t as obnoxious as the rest, that being Vil, Jamil, Trey, Azul, Jade, Lilia, and Silver. With your space being respected if asked, they’re more curious about your world. Not being obnoxious doesn’t mean they aren’t playful, often making comments on how you’re gonna die. What position, what days, places, all the scenarios that feeds into your brain like scratching chalkboards.

-What should be dreaded most is sleeping hours. The touches are faint and almost weak, something that had to do with your current situation and mood. As your drowsy figure stumbles into bed, somehow they too become more docile and quiet. That sounds good but it’s the fact they don’t sleep. Instead now that you’re state is dreaming off they can’t really interact with anything else. Other than watching you in a single room. Their touch is haunting.

-No one can see them, other than you and Grim. With you and your fat little feline friend have to deal with losers like these. Sadly, Grim can’t do much as no physical contact works, much to Idia’s pleasure.

-Absolutely no one likes any of your friends coming over. Surprisingly even Sebek is possessive over you. They’d glare so hard it makes you pass out from fear they might cause actual harm. As they can’t be seen doesn’t mean the force of their wrath will.

-Having friends over is not a good idea. But leaving home doesn’t get rid of their pissy attitudes. As spirits have strong emotions and auras; leaving you feeling sick and lightheaded by their constant bickering.

-Settling for agreements are tough, people like Azul and Vil have no problem with that. In fact they were one of the many to ask before doing things. You recognize Azul as the one who attempted to drown you, as Floyd dose nothing but babble about how much he cried and how he whines it hurts. Azul and Vil someone….respect you in a way? You certainly aren’t seen as equal but from everything that’s happened to you? A pat on the back is all you’re given.

-Get use to nudity. They sure are but they’ll still be dicks about it: Ace, Sebek, Jamil, Leona, Lilia, Floyd.

-More about their physical touches. It can cause a lot of harm to your body. Leaving marks and evidence of their abuse. Depending on your circumstances it can hurt as bad as getting your nails ripped out, they aren’t able to dig their fingers into your flesh to the point of slicing limb to limb.

-That has something to do with life and deaths they aren’t allowed to kill you ad your are bounded to the book. Serving the years of unknown disasters (murder, accidents, etc…but any attempt of self harm brings agony until you are waking up with their faces hovering above you.) or old age

-Rook makes most of your situations worse somehow. He’s always teasing the others for stupid reason. He wants to sit with you when Leona has a arm slumped over your shoulder on the couch. Invading your personal space in from of Malleus when engaging (not so willingly) conversations. Asking stupid questions like; do you prefer waking up to me or blah blah when you awake from your slumber.

-“Neither.”

-They don’t seem very useful other than bothering you whenever you come back home. The problem is how small room there is, and they complain about it a lot as well.

-Luckily for you they aren’t completely useless nor do their powers; it’s still pretty weak and does little. Malleus is ancient, his power weakens him if used, but he’ll use it for your advantage. Good luck.

-That’s the power, yep. Only key holders contain powerful magic as they did back in their world.

-Technically Malleus has the power to bring good and bad luck. Depends on how silly he’s feeling. Cue the blackish grey skies with green thunder causing crashes outside.

-Riddle’s power does more harm to others however, like his usual unique magic, and the reason why you don’t bring anyone over/ victims are forced to experience a choking hazard, one that’s not visible to touch or see.

-Leona can bring you golds and jewels, those are rare times if he ever thinks you deserve it. As I say when you have a whole drawer of them.

-Azul’s power allows him to create illusions, they are weak yet powerful on your still traumatized soul. When angered he’s petty enough to bring the faces or place of the events that happened in the book.

-Kalim is like a drug, his power is anything including smoke. Smoke that can make you sleep, intoxicate you, feel hunger or smell something like childhood.

-Vil is draining and giving. Having the ability to give or take your fatigues, when used more it can cause you to bleed from the nose and lead to hallucinations. It’s best to be on his good side if you ever feel the need for more enthusiasm energy.

-Idia can create skeletons to the living world. They don’t last long but are able to sedate and hold you. He doesn’t use them much as it quickly drains him. (Skeletons won’t be seen by others btw)

[ashdreams2023]

hello dear! I don't know if you are accepting requests, but I would like to request a five hargreeves x fem!reader

where the reader is a psychic, and she works in the more "chic" part of the commission and she is interested in Five because of some visions she has of him and nananananana

Anyway, I hope you understood :))

a big kiss from Brazil MWAH!

I reached Brazil?! Y’all I’m worldwide now 😩💕

Five hargreeves x fem reader

Watching

There’s many characters in the commission to say the least, everyone got their story and how they got there, much how you ended up there.

But you weren’t that special, you don’t think so at least, not with your coworker having the head of a cow and speaking fluent Spanish and French.

You didn’t usually interact with other employees there that weren’t in your department, it wasn’t because you thought yourself better than them but everyone other than you moved too fast, worried at lot, but you suppose the calmness comes from knowing what your future is and how very little it takes to change your fate.

It was also noted that your department tended to stay to focus on appearances and self expression, you’ll be mostly found in different outfits and fun makeup, it clashed with the usual uniform but it was fine because in your case, it mattered what you said rather than what you looked.

In your years there you’ve predicted deaths, wars, fallouts and whatever you can think about.

It was your job anyways and no one knew your face to point fingers at who is telling on their little failed schemes.

Although….there has been a change of atmosphere since you began seeing some interesting visions about a certain agent.

Five Hargreaves.

An oldie he was, yet surprisingly this was the first time you’ve seen him do something so….unexpected.

End of the world? His family? A new threat from within? Interesting.

You find yourself watching him, from your department, from the windows, he always walked with a purpose and heading somewhere.

Your coworker likes to tease you about this…sudden interest of yours calling him a call for help and that you need to get laid or something along those lines.

"There’s a thin line between sliver box and a grumpy git sweetie"

"Oh come on, aren’t you even a little curious? He’s so…mysterious"

Your staring had led to some rumors spreading around but nothing crazy, you weren’t the first to show any interest in five but it did become slightly embarrassing when you caught him staring at you during a New Year’s party.

Then you were surprised to find him up in your department looking for you.

"I thought I’ll drop by instead of our regular routine of you staring down at home like a hawk and me pretending I don’t see you"

"Oh…sorry?"

"I’ll accept good coffee and a conversation as a form of apology, meet at six outside."

Did he just ask you out? You weren’t so sure about it but it did happen and there were cameras, and to say the least, you became everyone’s business within a few hours.

"Care to tell me why a woman like you was staring at old me? I know your job here and what you’re capable of" He was so calm it made you shiver but you still kept your professional face on.

"You know as much as me that if I let something out both of us would be counting our days here"

"I see the rumors are true" He smirked

"Which ones?" Your curiosity peaked.

He took a sip from his cup "that’s a subject for another day with a much filling meal"

You bit your lip and chuckled "Are you asking me to dinner?"

The older gentleman eyed you so intensely you could almost feel the blush creeping at the back of your neck "I know a good restaurant in 1987 France"

"Hmm, it’s a date then"

"Only if you keep wearing that red lipstick of yours"

So he was watching you too "don’t tempt me I might rebel off and put something else, mess with you a little"

"I thought your department was too much of a bunch of goody two shoes"

You smiled at him then moved your under the table and kicked foot making him wince in pain.

"Pick me up at 7:30pm and a word of advice, watch out for chainsaw at your next mission" You stops leaving him stunned and clearly interested.

"Will do, will do."

[writerquil]

Spoilers!

TW! A rant. Mentions of S@ and Abuse

AHEM! Alastor apologist (and apparently now partial defender) to the rescue!

This post is for anyone switching up on my guy after the newest episode. And the switch up originates from that one scene, you know, the scene below.

(EDIT: Sorry for the random censoring lol, I don't feel like going back to edit it and its an old habit of mine).

Yeah, we all know this scene. Basically the one where Alastor lashes out at Husk.

Immediately after seeing this scene I had TWO different reactions, in which consisted of “wow that was cool” and “people are going to twist this, aren’t they?”

And people did! So here I am!

I’m basically going to show a bunch of reactions and concerns to said scene that I disagree with and then I’ll say why!

1. “Alastor is like Valentino!”

Don’t even say that. PLEASE NO.

I like to think that I’m pretty good at letting my liking for characters go the moment that I realize they’re wretched in specific ways, but this never occurred for Alastor.

You wanna know why? Because he is NOTHING like Valentino apart from the fact that they’re both overlords who carry soul contracts. I don’t think I really need to pick apart their personalities because we can already tell how different they are.

The only reason why the two were “grouped” together was because Husk and Angel were stuck in situations both caused by soul contracts and an overlord which caused the two to be mentioned alongside each other.

2. “Husk’s relationship to Alastor is EXACTLY the same as Angel and Valentino’s!”

Nope. Both relationships, admittedly suck, trust me, I’m not discounting either relationship or saying “ok well one has it worse than the other”.

But come on guys, the relationships are not the same. Alastor sucks to Husk, obviously, considering he is forced to do his bidding for who knows how long? But there’s obviously a fine line between the two relationships.

There’s parallels of course, with the chains and the soul dealing. The situations aren’t completely the same but they have similar sources so parallels are bound to occur.

Valentino is an abusive ass whom frequently physically and emotionally abused Angel and Alastor (from what we’ve all seen) can be a jerk who drags Husk into clearly many “favours” such as working at the hotel and possibly many more considering he’s clearly met more of Alastor’s colleagues and friends before.

They’re both forced into things and with their souls under contract, they can’t do much about it. But the things they’re forced to do are significantly different. Once again, this isn’t me saying anyone has it better, because it’s not a competition.

But the relationships are not the same. The two are brought in for significantly different things. Do you really think Alastor is s3Xua!!y abusing Husk whenever he’s brought in? Yeah, no, me neither.

Do you think he’s mentally abusing him too, or that a situation like what was displayed occurs often whenever Husk does come in? Because no. Didn’t you see how startled Husk was? This clearly wasn’t just an average event that happened between the two frequently and the fact that Husk was willing to push Alastor’s buttons a bunch in the first place just shows that he wasn’t expecting it to happen either.

And for the people so insistent on Alastor abusing him like that. I suggest you hide your weird k!nks better.

3. “Alastor tortures Husk frequently!”

Okay and what gave you that idea? Was it the way that Alastor lashed out? Because he didn’t lash out of the blue as you may think.

Husk pushed his buttons and Alastor got angry. Trust me, I love Husk but he played a stupid game and got surprised when he won a stupid prize.

Considering Alastor abusive after pulling Husk to the floor is strange. Trust me, if he was supposed to be abusive, it would be explicitly showed throughout the episodes. And before you say “well it was implied”, I really don’t think so.

And once again, Husk was clearly extremely startled, which means this probably doesn’t happen very often. Which also discounts you all considering him to be similar to Valentino, who displayed hurting behaviour frequently.

Like the most we’d even seen interaction between the two was in the pilot and the recent episode. I think we’d get more display if there was more violence occurring in the relationship.

4. “I used to like Alastor before…”

Then what? You realized he was evil and did evil things? YEAH, he’s bound to threaten someone here and there.

Like if you don’t like him after witnessing his literal evilness then sorry to say, you never liked him in the first place.

I’m sorry for this guys but seriously. You can’t switch up on an evil character for doing evil things. He’s going to threaten people. Just know that when he does, it doesn’t signify he’s abusive or assaults Husk on a daily basis.

[yokohamapound]

Since tis Spooky Season, how about some wedding headcanons for our goth boys Bram and Akutagawa? :3

It might no longer be spooky season but goth bois are timeless. <3

Characters: Bram Stoker, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke

Contents: gn!reader, nsfw mention

Bram Stoker

Bram is certainly the marrying type. Once he’s found someone he feels he can spend the long years of eternity with, he’ll want to lock you down quickly and make it official. Dating is a foreign concept to him, but he will spend some time courting you. He’s very likely the one who proposed marriage, and like, you have eyes, so of course you were going to accept. Who doesn’t want to marry a handsome vampire lord?

It’s not enough to call Bram ‘old-fashioned’. The man is at least several hundred years old, (depending on whether his age is based on the actual Bram Stoker or Vlad Tepes, basis of the legend for Dracula). He’s between approx 170-600 years old. He’s seen trends become traditions and vanish entirely. The wedding would probably be some flavour of traditional, whether that’s a Western white wedding, or a wedding steeped in his spouse’s culture. If you really wanted to, you could have a historical-themed wedding to make Bram feel at home—just expect him to be finicky on the minor details.

“This is the incorrect type of date for this pastry.”

It might take some doing to find a priest willing to marry you to a vampire, or you can forge the documents and have a civil ceremony. It depends on whether or not Bram can actually set foot in a church. He’s probably relieved to discover civil ceremonies are a thing. 

Bram looks beautiful in a suit. Just imagine it. A suit tailored to his ridiculous, 6’5” height, possibly a tailcoat, with a cravat, his long hair tied back. 

You’ll have to bring him up to speed and explain that, apart from certain cultural traditions, dowries aren’t that common anymore, and that he doesn’t have to offer your father 50 goats for your hand in marriage. 

Bram’s a pretty romantic guy, but he always does it with style. He pulls out your chair, his hand is going to rest on the small of your back, and he takes the lead in the first dance waltz, no matter your gender.

The speeches will be short—he’s had to put up with too many of Fukuchi’s soliloquies to want to hear any more monologuing. The wedding dinner—feast, he insists on calling it—is sumptuous, although Bram doesn’t partake. (You’re his wedding feast and he’d rather enjoy that in private.)

Godspeed on your wedding night. Bram’s spent years without a lower half of his body and now he has it back, and a spouse to enjoy. He is…pent up, shall we say~

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke

Poor Akutagawa is still reeling over the fact that he’s getting married. I would say that either you proposed, or Dazai planted the idea in Akutagawa’s head that it was time for him to put a ring on it. If Akutagawa proposed, your ring is some beautiful antique with a large stone and a creepy story attached to it. Don’t forget that Akutagawa makes bank in the Port Mafia. 

Please, please, please plan a goth wedding.

Please remember that this is the same young man who said this when asked what he would give as a wedding present: “I'd gift them the enemy's freshly severed head decorated with bloody barren flowers.” Suffice it to say, Akutagawa should not be left in charge of either your gift registry or the flower arrangements. You will end up with a load of obscure antiques, knives, and bunches of rotting flowers “to show the briefness of our lifespans.” 

Maybe compromise with dried flower garlands or even black roses if you want to go full 2007 My Chemical Romance-core. (Look me in the eye and tell me Akutagawa wouldn’t look up if you played him a G-note on the piano.)

He hates being the centre of attention in the actual wedding, so he’s more than happy to deflect it all toward you instead. The moments he seems happiest are when he gets to see Gin wearing a bridesmaid dress, when Dazai stands up to make a speech (during which Akutagawa sits up like he’s in a school assembly while the headmaster is speaking), and during the vows, when he’s focusing on you and only you. 

He looks wonderful in his suit - let him have full tails and black tie and he'll be content.

Your wedding photographs look like one of those austere Victorian family portraits, save for Tachihara throwing up the bunny ears behind Gin’s head. 

Akutagawa has a secret sweet tooth he won’t admit to, which is why he tries to pretend that he hasn’t had three slices of chocolate cake. 

Either get Dazai drunk or put him in a corner with a plate of crab cakes to keep him occupied, because you really don’t need him making sly comments when it’s time for you and Akutagawa to climb into the car and head off for your honeymoon. His wedding gift for Akutagawa is an inhaler and a note saying, “You’ll need this! xoxo Dazai.”

[slutforsilverfoxes]

Letters From the Sky

[A/N: Bruv I so rarely write angst because I am a weakling and it makes me Big Sad, but this has been floating around in my drafts and I just binge watched a bunch of NCIS episodes that made me cry so 🤲🏽 a ficlet for u, here u go. It's not really the saddest ending so there's that, at least? I hope? I sorry] Pairing: Jethro Gibbs x wife!reader TW: references to funerals/loss, implied character death

__________

Settling down on the couch in your living room, you tuck your knees underneath one of your husband’s old USMC hoodies and create a makeshift table out of your lap. Writing a letter can help you deal with your emotions, help you move on with life, your mother had advised, and so here you were, pen in hand, staring at the blank piece of paper before you. Hi, I love you and I miss you didn’t quite cut it. And were you supposed to keep adding to the letter daily, filling him in on your life? Was time passing differently for him? How long would it be until you heard his voice again? Could you ask your friend for her thoughts, or would your questions bring up too many bad memories? Head growing fuzzy and eyes growing watery from your endless stream of questions with no answers in sight, you opted to just start writing. Foregoing a greeting, figuring your husband would know exactly who this was from, you let out a deep breath and put pen to paper. 

Funerals are such a funny thing, aren’t they, Jethro? The many faces from your past and present gathered around to celebrate life, lament loss, and say things aloud that they should’ve said to the person who needed to hear it most.

I miss you more than I could ever put into words. It was so strange being there today without you. How many of those solemn events did we attend together throughout the years? Family, friends, colleagues… Too many to count, and most of them senseless losses.

I don’t know how to keep going without you by my side, but it’s been such a blessing to be surrounded by your loved ones. We’ve been trading so many wonderful memories, stories about your fearless feats, your never-ending pursuit of justice, your stubborn nature, your devotion to those lucky enough to know you. I even met one of your former lovers after the funeral, and honey, let me tell you, we got to gossiping. Turns out you’re a regular Casanova, huh? It’s those steel blue eyes that keep you coming back for more, I swear.

I like to think that, even though we’re physically apart now, you can still hear me. After all, you always did say that about my optimism- “from your mouth to God’s ears, sweetheart”. Do you think, if I yelled loud enough, I could get a message delivered to you?

This big house feels even bigger without you. I guess I can think about it like those cases that would last for days, where I wouldn’t even get a glimpse of you until your perp was behind bars, but we both know it’s not quite the same. At least I can raid your closet without hearing you grumble about your favorite hoodies going missing- silver linings, my darling Jethro. I’m not sure how long they’ll keep smelling like you, but I’m determined not to wash them, just in case… My secret’s safe with you, right?

Speaking of secrets (more like hidden gems), I found a stash of Kelly’s artwork upstairs and I’ve started adding her drawings to the gallery of photos on the walls. I know I made some changes after we got married, but the sheer lack of decor when I moved in still astounds me. You’re such a man, she said lovingly.

Anyway, I think you’ll be pleased to know that

The sound of the front door opening alerts you to your friend’s return, and you hurry to jot down your last few thoughts.

Anyway, I think you’ll be pleased to know that your girls are all together in this big house of yours :) Hopefully, we’ll see you soon.

P.S. Not too soon. I know I call you my old man, but you’re not that old- yet.

Gibbs puts his truck in park on the driveway, returning home after another day added to the list of longest days of his life. He sits in the cab for a few prolonged minutes, trying to muster up the courage to enter your big house that feels even bigger now.

When he finally trudges up the walkway, he pauses with his hand on the doorknob and releases a heavy sigh before pushing the door open. And then, for just a split second, he swears he hears you calling his daughter’s name and her answering giggle overlapping with her mother’s voice.

The moment is fleeting, and no matter how hard he strains, he can’t conjure up the sound again. But the house feels warmer, lighter somehow.

And he smiles.

—————

LJG tags 🖤 @ilovemark1951 @doctorwhofan24

[ashshmee]

every now and then i see it float around that remus lupin would hate booktok and maybe this is an unpopular opinion but i don’t think he would. because. well. the inherent hatred of all things marketed toward women is due to misogyny and i just don’t believe that remus lupin would be into that.

i’m not saying that there aren’t reasons to dislike booktok. yes a lot of the popular books on there aren’t great and there are absolutely problematic authors that get more attention than they deserve, but in the whole it is just made up of a bunch of women and girls talking about things they are passionate about. talking about things that impacted them and made them feel deeply. and often times that ends up being books on topics of fantasy and comedy and romance. things that are innocently enjoyed by girls that are the looked down upon because of that same genuine interest.

but to bring it back to remus lupin, we do not at one point see him look down upon women or girls. obviously there are thousands of fanfics and everyone has their own head cannons so i can’t speak for everyone, but at least canonically we can see him exhibit genuine respect for young girls. the way he interacts with a 13 year old hermione as a teacher shows just how much he recognizes her intelligence. you can even see it later on with ginny in ootp, or with the way his friendship is spoken about with lily. and that is in the debatably woman hating canonical text!

anyway. i just think it’s important to look at the reasons why we look down upon the things that we do. if you genuinely have a problem with something, by all means drag it through the mud. but don’t put it onto someone who might be seen as a comfort character for many people, the very people it could be used to shame.

[hypersomnia-insomniac]

A First Kiss (1.3k)

Characters: x Chifuyu; ft. Mikey and Draken

CW: mild cursing; mention of minor wounds; cringe

Synopsis: Reader kisses Chifuyu's wounds after a battle and the embarrassment that follows.

Reader: GN

can fight; used to be from an opposing gang

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

“Y/n!” Chifuyu called. “You alright?”

You smile as he grasps your face, turning it in his hands. You giggle as you gently pull his hands away from your face. “I’m alright. Nothing serious,” you say. He frowns as his eyes study your bruised eye and chin. “Besides,” you say, a smug grin spreading across your face, “you should see the other guys. Aaaand, compared to how damaged your face is, this is nothing.” Your expression turns solemn as you run your fingers gently over his warm cheek, tilting his face to see how badly his face was cut. Blood dripped from his temple and his lip. You sigh.

You understood how much Toman mattered to Chifuyu and wanted to do everything to help, even if that meant following him onto the battlefield. Still, it’d be nice if you didn’t have to worry about patching your boyfriend up all the time. 

As you rummage through your thigh bag for medical supplies, Chifuyu pouts. “Still…” he mutters, “I’m supposed to protect you.” He knew you were completely capable of defending yourself; after all, your first meeting consisted of you beating the shit out of some delinquents picking on a cat. However, that didn’t stop him from fawning over you as if you were made of glass.

“Hold still Fuyu,” you order as you dab his wounds with antiseptic wipes, too absorbed in treating him to notice his mumbling. You frown as he winces. “I know, sorry. It’s better than letting your cuts get infected.”

“I’d feel better if you kissed my wounds.” Chifuyu thinks to himself. He knows you aren’t the type to show PDA, but he can’t stop himself from wishing. After all, you’re just so damn cute when you’re focusing. 

“It’s fine. I’m used to it now,” he says, still pouting. “You patch me up better than I ever could anyways.”

You beam at the compliment, a wide smile spreading across your face. You giggle, “I’m pretty damn good, aren’t I?” As you apply the last plasters to his face, trying not to cause him any more pain than he was already in, a thought pops into your head. When it came to bandaging your brother and those of your old gang, you prioritized efficiency and speed over the comfort of your patient. Being the only medic in a field of groaning teenagers with sirens blaring in the distance tends to fill one with a strong enough sense of urgency to ignore any of your patients’ complaints. That being said, Chifuyu wasn’t your brother nor a friend. He was Fuyu, your incredibly sweet and handsome boyfriend who deserved the utmost special treatment.

With that sentiment in mind, you had previously asked Yuzuha for tips on how to minimize pain while treating someone since she treated Hakkai’s wounds when they were younger.

“You’re asking for Chifuyu right?” the strawberry blonde asked, grinning at your flushed face. 

“I- No! I just want to do things differently than my old gang.”

“Hmmm, honestly they’re just happy to be getting treated. For a bunch of idiots who get hurt all the time, not too many know how to properly take care of their wounds,” she says. Suddenly, a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. “Well, if you really want to make Chifuyu feel better, you could always kiss his wounds better.”

“Ki-Kiss?!” you question, blushing at the idea.

Back to the present day, you repeat the word in your head. “Kiss. Kissing Fuyu. Mhm. Kissing Fuyu, my boyfriend. Yep. Yep. I got this. This is fine.” Grabbing the nape of his neck, you pulled him down as you pepper his face with light kisses. “That better?” you ask, doing your best to maintain composure. Chifuyu jumps backwards, his face turning a bright red. “Eh- Eh??? What’s wrong?” you question, surprised at his sudden jerk. A million thoughts run through your head. Did I overstep? Am I moving too fast?? Is he uncomfortable??? Does my breath stink????

From behind you, Draken lets out a loud whistle. “Wow, Y/n. That’s pretty ballsy!” The other members of Toman also begin to get rowdy, laughing and poking fun at the situation. “You sure got yourself a strong partner, Chifuyu! I hope my girlfriend is as upfront as Y/n! Lucky you, Chifuyu!”

Your ears turned a cherry-red as you realized all of Toman was looking at you. “Wh- WAIT. WAIT WAIT. DR-DRAKEN!” you yell, running up to your vice-commander. You slap his arm, trying to explain yourself, “I swear! I- I didn’t mean to. I just-”

“Heeeh, you’re saying you didn’t mean to kiss Chifuyu? How could you steal his first kiss and then double back? Never thought you’d be such a casanova, Y/n-chin.” You turn to see Mikey standing behind you with a wide grin.

“Th-That’s not- Uh- I didn’t-” Unable to handle anymore embarrassment, your face burning, you let out a yell and take off towards the exit of the park. You had never run from a strong opponent or a fight with odds stacked against you, and yet here you were sprinting off all because of someone you liked. 

“Ah! Y/n-chin is trying to run away! Don’t let them escape!” Mikey yells out laughing, as he takes off to chase you.

“JUST LET ME WALLOW IN MY EMBARRASSMENT!” you yell, looking back to see Mikey attempting to tackle you. Suddenly the floor disappears beneath your feet as Draken grabs the back of your uniform, hoisting you into the air. “Lemme gooo! Mikey-san. I’ll buy you dorayaki everyday for a week. Just let me go!”

“No can do, Y/n,” Mikey says with a smile. Since watching Takemichi bawling in front of Hinata, nothing was more sweet than watching his friends making a fool of themselves for love. 

Unable to free yourself from Draken’s grip, you're helpless as he places you in front of Chifuyu. You both stare at each other, faces flushed. Normally, you’d be laughing at your boyfriend’s pink ears and flushed expression, but all you can do is fiddle with the end of your sleeve, averting his gaze.

After what seems like an eternity, he calls your name. “Y/n…” Chifuyu whispers as he steps closer to you, pulling you gently towards him. 

“Fuyu,” you say in a small voice, “sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I- I wasn’t-”

“S’alright,” he reassures, brushing your hair out of your face. “Y/n. Y/n look at me… please?” He places his hand under your chin, tilting your head upwards. You look up at him, his blond hair blowing gently in the wind. Small pools of tears well in your eyes, your face burning with embarrassment. “Ya know,” he says as he clears his throat, “I was actually planning on making a move today. You beat me to it.” Chifuyu smiles as he grabs your waist, pulling you into him. Cupping your face in his warm hand, he plants a firm, but gentle kiss on your lips. His face lingers in front of yours, his warm breath tickling your face. “By the way, you never actually kissed me on the lips.”

“H-huh?” you say, still dizzy from the adrenaline.

“You only kissed my cheeks. I stole your first kiss,” he said, a proud grin on his face. 

Your hand slaps over your mouth as you try to hold in your laugh, you wonder what manga he stole that line from. Small giggles leave your mouth as you intertwine your fingers with his.

“It’s not stealing if I wanted you to have it, Fuyu~” You plant another kiss on his lips before pulling him towards his bike. “Now, let’s go eat. I'm starving.”

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

Author's note:

Finally, I have mustered up the courage to post. I implore you, roast me. I am too embarrassed to seek feedback from anyone in my real life, so if you have any critiques, I am more than willing to hear them. If you have any suggestions or scenarios, let me know.

[quizmasterfred]

13 in 'The God Complex'

I saw a Reddit post a while ago asking 'what episode would you like to see a different Doctor tackle', and now it's been ages but i had some thoughts, and can't stop thinking about it, and just desperately need to write them down somewhere so here if you're seeing this: sorry, you've got to deal with my ramblings now.

This could replace ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’ wholesale. It was most people's least favourite centenary special, so hopefully we’re not losing much. OR, if you want to wrangle 4 specials in that year, it comes between ‘Eve of the Daleks’ and LotSD, which I’ll elaborate on later.

Arrival:

13 genuinely intends to follow through with “that moment on the beach where you tell me everything”, directly says as much at the end of EotD. Instead of fobbing it off with “whatever happened to the lost treasure of the Flor de la Mar”, they ARE going to San Munrohvar, which Yaz is ecstatic about.

In the OG God Complex (quick reminder: 11/Amy/Rory originally), it’s Amy’s faith in the Doctor which brings them there, and it’s the same now. Except it’s not just the generic faith of a particularly attached companion, it’s the exact specific moment of Yaz knowing she’s about to get that conversation.

Her faith is both restored, and about to be rewarded. After years of asking, and wondering, and being fobbed off, finally the Doctor is opening up. And right after Yaz’s coming out to Dan? Wow - what if!

They aren’t there because Yaz “has faith in the Doctor”, they’re there now because in the exact moment the TARDIS launched, that faith was higher and more intense that it has ever been.

Dan:

Common complaint is that Dan’s a bit of a blank slate – Diane, Liverpool, nice bloke. Fun moments, but not enough time to really develop as a character. I’m not going to make a spectacular reveal here and give him an amazing arc, but at the very least we have a chance to make that blank-slatedness really work. He takes on Rory’s role in the story:

13’s Room:

We never see 11’s room, only hear the TARDIS’ cloister bell as he looks in. The implication, of course, is that he’s afraid of dying – permanently. Trenzalore, no more regenerations. Very nice and subtle for 11’s arc/personality – the old man disguising himself as a 20-something.

13 has a very different problem: she’s the Timeless Child, she’s been alive for potentially a billion years before her memories begin, and she’s still regenerating. 11 is afraid of regenerations running out; 13 is afraid they’ll never run out.

It’s harder to convey my idea here with just a noise, not showing the inside of the room itself, so I will describe what I imagine the room to look like, but if there’s a way to do this without showing the viewer, that’d obviously be great.

Her room is a field of graves: “Susan Foreman”, “Sarah-Jane Smith”, “Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart”, “Donna Noble”, “Amy + Rory Williams” (an exact copy of the grave from ‘The Angels take Manhattan’), “Clara Oswald”, River('s Screwdriver/Neural Relay sitting on a Library server?), “Bill Potts”, “Yasmin Khan”, even one written in Gallifreyan (could be inferred to be the Master, but not directly stated). Only a brief look, but enough for someone to pause it and read a bunch of companions’ names.

Many are faded, symbolising a fear that one day she’ll be so old with so many lost loved ones, there simply won’t be room for all of them, and she’ll starting to forget their names and faces. Thousands more we can’t read, the people she’s yet to meet across all her future lives, and they will age and die all the same. In the centre, she’s still there. Alive, young, never dying. Maybe it’s not even Jodie standing there – maybe it’s Ncuti Gatwa, or some completely other actor: ‘generic future self’.

This is the moment of tragedy for her. After her own chat with Dan, the fireworks, seeing Sarah + Nick happy, she had decided to give it a try with Yaz. But seeing this room is what changes that. This is the moment she says to herself:

In OG, this happens immediately after 11 effectively invites Rita to join the crew, but maybe we can swap these around. So 13 sees this, completely psyches herself out of pursuing a relationship with Yaz, knows in her heart that her biggest fear is losing more and more and more people, but seeing Rita being a little bit brilliant again makes 13 invite her along anyway. She can’t help it – a clever little human working their way in, no matter what. Bittersweet.

Speaking of:

Rita:

Another young Muslim woman who’s a little bit brilliant and a little bit too brave? In all of time and space, it’s a bit weird for a bottle episode to have someone who, on the face of it, is basically a carbon copy of our main companion, right? We’ll see.

13 gets along with Rita just as 11 did. Maybe Dan is the butt of the ‘with regret, you’re fired’ joke. Maybe in a moment alone, Dan can crack a line to Rita that ‘she’s got a thing for clever Muslim gals’. But of course, most importantly, Rita and Yaz have a bit of bonding over their shared faith. Rita mentions ‘Jahannam’ in the OG, and we can use that to get some insight to Yaz’s faith. We know she’s practicing-enough to visit a Mosque (mentioned in Rosa), but really we get very little exploration of what Islam truly means to her throughout Chibnall’s run. Give Yaz something personal that isn’t tied to the Doctor, y’know.

Then, the phone call when Rita is about to die. Like 11, 13 tries to talk her into coming back: maybe she can save her, she really wants to save her. She can’t convince Rita, but Yaz takes the phone off of her. Two young women of the same religion have a heart-to-heart about faith and rapture and Jahannam. They both start off thinking Yaz was brought here for the same reason Rita was (and the viewer does too) – stealing their religion from them.

BUT, Rita gradually realises that isn’t true for Yaz. She realises that Yaz’s faith in the Doctor is stronger: “if you come back, the Doctor can save [you/us]”. That brief, shining moment of beauty that Yaz felt when the Doctor confirmed she would follow through on ‘tell[ing] you everything’ was so powerful, it eclipsed her religious faith. Not forever, she hasn’t become an atheist, but the novelty, the cocktail of love, and rewarded patience, and anticipation, and trust – for a tiny moment, it out-shone her other faith, and that’s why the TARDIS was pulled in by the eponymous God Complex.

Maybe Rita says it explicitly, or maybe she doesn’t. Either way, Yaz also realises what Rita has seen, but the Doctor isn’t privy to Rita’s side of the conversation (because… phone). They hang up, turn off the cameras, and Rita dies. If Yaz hadn’t let the Doctor take over her life and heart, could she have saved Rita? Did someone die because she failed as a Muslim? (Obviously the answer is no – that’s not how faith/religion works, and Rita was dead anyway because that is how the minotaur works, but the point is Yaz has a total crisis here)

As with the OG, the very next scene is the Doctor’s ‘I figured it out’ moment.

Yaz is hit with a whole fresh wave of guilt. The whole reason they’re here, the thing that killed Rita – and the Doctor agrees with that assessment (the Doctor couldn’t hear Rita, so this obviously isn’t actually the Doctor saying ‘you’re right, you got her killed’ – the Doctor would never think or say something like that – but that’s what it feels like to Yaz).

Yaz’s Room:

Now this is what’s really beautiful about the change from 11 to 13. Amy and Yaz’s rooms are the same thing. Amy’s is a little girl waiting by a window for her Raggedy Man to come back; abandoned. Yaz’s is a young woman in a basic white TARDIS console room, surrounded by sticky notes and sheets of paper, after hundreds of failed attempts to make it fly, waiting for the Doctor to come back from Gallifrey; abandoned.

[Quick side-note: the moment between Amy and Gibbis where she says ‘I thought that room was for me’ about the Weeping Angels still works for Yaz. In her only meeting with the Angels, what was the result? They took the Doctor away from her for 3 years]

11’s speech to Amy, tearing down the image of him in her head – saving her life by pretending he can’t – absolutely stunning. But 13 has even more to work with here: Amy/Rory, Clara (died because she became too much like the Doctor – hello Yaz), River. The added tragedy of breaking not just a friend, but someone who is actively in love with her and who she shares those feelings for, and the only way to save Yaz’s life is to shatter those feelings.

AND: Bill. "Remember that man who tried to kill you, Graham, and Ryan in a plane crash the instant he met you? The man who tried to kill us all on Gallifrey, and is ultimately the reason I left you, vanishing for 10 months? The man you’re most afraid of, of every villain we’ve met together? I TRIED TO HELP HIM. I put his redemption above Bill and Nardole’s safety because ‘[he’s] the only one person that I’ve ever met who’s even remotely like me’ (direct quote, btw(!) – ‘World Enough and Time’), and it got her mercilessly killed and converted. That’s the sort of person I am, and now I’m about to get you killed too."

Falling Action:

Because Yaz is a little bit brilliant, and coming into her own as “becoming like the Doctor”, like Clara did, she later works out that the speech in her room was ‘the plan all along^TM’ to get rid of the minotaur, and starts to patch herself up by telling herself that the Doctor didn’t really mean not to trust her. So Yaz presses, once again, asking for the Doctor to tell her something about herself.

The Doctor, of course, actually was being genuine, because her own room – the field of graves – scared her that much. 11 rebuffs Amy’s question, continuing with his exposition about the prison. 13 does the same to Yaz. The episode started with Yaz being elated that the Doctor would finally open up, and ends with 13 reverting back to closed-off, and refusing to answer a personal question. Because 13 saw what was in her room, and decided, against everything they both wanted 45 minutes ago, that she can’t fix herself.  So back in the box it goes.

Then:

From 11’s perspective, this could be perceived as bittersweet. He’s still afraid of death, but at least there’s someone here and now commiserating with him. Maybe it would be a gift, and maybe he can accept it in time, and go to Trenzalore in peace. But for 13, it’s just bitter. 'Yes, it would be a gift – if only I could ever have it. But at least I can grant it to you.'

We can either do the beach scene now, ‘can’t fix myself’…

(and then in my ideal world, alter Power of the Doctor to give us a slightly happier end / opening up / explaining 13's hotel room / Thasmin kiss, because god knows us gays need someone to throw us a bone – but that’s not important right now, not relevant to 13!GodComplex)

Or this is where the Doctor goes ‘let’s fuck about looking for the Flor de la Mar’, cue LotSD. Again we see the contrast between her genuine intent to be honest with Yaz 45 minutes ago vs fobbing it off now. Yaz’s heart is broken for real, just after she managed to convince herself that the Doctor’s speech in the hotel room was all a trick.

I can't stop thinking about it, because Doctor Who has consumed my every waking moment for the last 2 months...

[artfromsaturn]

Saturn’s Free CSP Brush Recommendations, CS Asset Store Edition

I may sell brushes now, but I still love me some free brushes & love to share them with people.  These are a bunch of cool brushes made by other people that you can use to build up a nice library of tools without having to spend any cash on, perfect if you’re new to CSP or are on a budget.  If you do download these, be sure to like them & give some love to the artist if you enjoy them. :D

How to find: type in the Content ID or Ctrl/Command + C & P (copy and paste shortcuts) into the Clip Studio asset store on the Clip Studio application.  I’ll add a link as a preview but copying & pasting the content ID is easiest.  I have automatic translation ON, so sorry if you read some weird names.   Feel free to reblog this with your own suggestions, there’s many brushes out there I missed. :D  Check defsiarte’s suggestions too, and if you want to see my recommendations for stuff on Gumroad/DA & other places, check this tag.

Large Packs

“An analogue art supply" - 1813808 Huge pack of everything, including acrylic, oil, watercolor, marker, pen, & pencil.  I like the markers and sometimes use the acrylics too.

Crm's Toolbox, Watercolors, Markers, & other treasures

Fantastic use of texture and some cute effects pens.  The artist has posted everything from quality painting & drawing pens to quality glitter pens for writing.

The Old Default Assets - 1842027 & 1841759 These aren’t pictured, but if you ever see an older tutorial or video showcasing some default brushes you never had, it’s because CSP reworked its default tools around version 1.9.  Fortunately they rerelased them so anyone can redownload them. The old ones are still good to use, they’re just not included.

Painters - With Texture

Thiccpaint - 1707517 Never leave home without it.  I riot if I don’t have them on my computer..  They have the right combination of texture, shape, & blend with great handling and great variety.

Icyannyou's Momo Sets - user:Icyannyou Super cute packs that give a lovely painterly look.  The Storybook pack is fantastic, and even if you don't draw cute you can still use these painters & blenders to give your artwork character. :)

Thick Coating Brush Set - 1683127 I like these for background work, but it's a big pack of thick textured painters with good handling & neat effects.

Marredae's Brushes - user:Marredae This artist has a knack for textured brushes.  Very high rec, fantastic library of wet & dry painting/rendering tools.

Roro Oil - 1820057 Rompi is another user I enjoy the stuff of, and I'll recommend a few more brushes from them in other categories by the time this post is done.  Check 'em out!

Suika chalk -  1760304 Very useful rough chalk.  Sometimes, that’s all you need!

Sprongle -  1935694 A simple round brush with a nice rough tip.  Slightly rough without being too rough, great for quick paintings.

Johnnie halloween pack & Brokenhearted brushes... - 1876075 & 1938786, user:EnjieLemon EnjieLemon has some nice brushes in general, but some are paid for.  Still worth checking out due to their cheap clippy price (and clippy can be obtained for free).  The Brokenhearted brushes have a nice texture.  The Halloween pack includes a cute pumpkin stamp along with some easy to use chalk, oil, & watercolor brushes.  Compact and easy to use!

“Watercolor marker and texture set” - 1682349 There's a reason this set is one of the most downloaded on the asset store.  It's one of the best looking watercolor replicas out there, and even if you don't use the brushes, you can likely still find a use for the textures.  Great for soft coloring.

Grunge Brushes, Soft | Heavy | Complex Brushes & Xenomorphius' stuff in general -  user:xenomorphius Xeno drops some cool natural looking brushes out every so often for painting, inking, and dry media.  Please check 'em out!  The grunge brushes create a fun, grungy look like it says on the pack, & the soft/heavy/complex set can be used for painting as well as lining.  

Oil-h5 trial -  1976418 These brushes are hard to explain.  They work with the dual brush setting, & push around a layer of paint on top of your regular paint, creating a cool, streaky look.  They're a hidden gem.

MYNQZO brushes - 1993875 A pretty darn good set for painting.  I really love rough brush 2, it's great for sketching & rendering.

Painting, non-textured 

(basic rounds & other shapes for smooth rendering)

Kiminie71's Brush Set -  1728687 4 simple rounds that are great for rendering!   https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1728687

CHIMAKA Set -  1747974 Heavy drag paint that highlights well & applies thickly.  Great for bold shading.

Choms Paint -  1910936 It just gets me.  No further elaboration.

Honeypen<3 -  1786787 Fits great in my paint hand.  Very slidey & blends like intended!

Wet flat marker -  1917678 Super blending brush, gives super soft edges to paint.  Blends great.

oil mushblendiw -  1918739 Another simple & easy to use roundbrush.

Paint - 1760641 This plainly named brush is a triangle brush that goes between heavy & light with pressure.  The creator, Puppsicle, also sells some neat brushes on Ko-Fi if you enjoy this brush.

"The Scarlet Knot Brush Set 2" - 1916125 I use the watercolor of thought out of this set, but they're all pretty good & easy to use. https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1916125

Sunday - 1825825 A round brush with a watercolor border that gives a nice, sketchy feeling. https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1825825

Marker Brushes

Marker Texture Brush -1809506 A very nice subtly textured brush.  Has a nice instructional guide on how to get the best results with it. :D

Mirre's Marker set - 1749822 Another good brush with a subtle texture.  Comes with its own blender!

Woody Marker & Pencil set - 1772987 I also love the pencil in this pack.  Nice woody feel, feel free to turn off multiply.

Pencils & Sketchers

SU-Cream Pencil - 1761353 no wonder its popular.  Can be used for lineart, sketching, and coloring, this versatile brush delivers a great smooth look with a gentle textured end finish on pressure.

Write BoruPenP - 1753435 Probably the best ballpoint pen on Clip.  Please check out Pharan's things, I love them.😊

“Pencil-like Brush for Lineart” - 1692270 Ok this is kind of a weird way to recommend something.  It's SUPPOSED to be a pencil but I use it like a paintbrush with the opacity & density on pressure control, & another copy with blending turned on.  Whatever you use it for, you're sure to get a good result!

Grease pencil/china marker - 1774978 Chunky brush for chunky sketching needs.

Muda muda muda - 1715496 A pretty darn good dark pencil.

REDSketch soft - 1907313 just a nice sketcher!  Good for shading too.

MUGZ BRUSH - 1861032 A set of dry chalk & brushes.  Gives a fun messy look when used!

T Spade Pencil - 1769208 A pencil that looks great for lineart as well as sketches.  Good taper.

Magipencil 2 - 1755940 Utterly good for textured and smooth lineart.  These pens get me.  Can’t recommend them enough. :)

Pens & Inkers

G-pen 6 - 1767809 A generic name but a good Gpen with character.  Organic without sacrificing too much smoothness.

"Flat thick pen" - 1826131 I call it the card games pen.  I think you can see why.  Solid at high pressure, a little bit of texture at low pressure, and pretty great for sharp angles.

Haggiben_Lineart_Color - 1770988 A nice triangle liner.

Gabu Pen - 1894713 Very slightly rough pen on one side, another nice triangle-like liner.

Aeridus - user:Aeridis All 3 of their pens give a nice result.

Pilot Pen - 1895049 A great IRL brush now a digital one!

Fude set - 1726964 & 1759205 Heavy, beautiful ink!  The creator has some more good ink pens too, take a look. :D  

Dimi - 1763877 It's a ga,l with a knife and a nice calligraphy pen.  Can't ask for more. Turn on >particles "change with brush size" in settings to keep the shape without chaning.  

New Cali A nice set of Calligraphy brushes.  They have smooth transitions between big and small.  

Blend, Fill, & Erase

Noise and texture blur - 1842730 If you want a more painterly look to your blur, get these!  They said they're supposed to be turned from free to paid, but the artist hasn't come back and done it yet.  Will they do it?  I'm not sure. :0

Textured Blending & Blurs - 1904941 & 1971444 They're actually made by me, my apologies, but it's hard to find textured blenders by themselves.  Most are included in a set or are something you have to pay for, so I released a few free stand alone ones due to it.  Normal solid round blenders & blurs are easier to find & even easier to create yourself! https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1904941 https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1971444

Unhelpful Eraser - 1798605 The terrible hard eraser that you had in school becomes digital.  Download it as a tribute.

Quick Lasso Fill -  1978471 Fills up a lasso'ed area.

Random Color Fill - 1707873 Picks random spaces to fill.  The picture in the demonstration shows it better than I can describe.

Scratchy Coloring - 1845677 A fun scratchy brush that can fill areas up.

Quick Lasso Eraser - 1875033 This and the next brush are both @pharan​ ‘s again.  This does the same as the lasso fill, but erases as you can tell.

Erase along Edge - 1800143 An eraser that takes advantage of reference layers.  The description explains it in detail.

"Create Solid-irregularity set" aka adding texture to black solid ink patches - 1768052 These distress the paper, making it look more textured.  Easier to look at than to explain, click the link for more!

Mirre Cross Hatch Brush Set - 1972956 I love the look the spaced lines give.  Fantastic set.

Overlap Hatching (…"a texan"???) - 1712720 One of the most popular Clip Studio Hatchers for a reason, easy to apply hatchers that you can just keep adding to for a sparse or dense look.

Dust hatching brush - 1966237 Simple light hatcher with dust particles around it for a dusty feeling.

Cross-hatching Blur - 1684830

I actually recommend all of  user:もの区 ‘s stuff they have posted for crosshatching.  There’s a whole bunch of great free brushes there for anyone who enjoy hatching!

“Rough and Solid” - 1874629 A ribbon brush that makes good borders.

“Coarse Solid Erase” - 1872105 For those who like to fill an area, then erase the light parts away.

chaos brushes - 1569895 A great marbler.  

"Dirty cross hatching_monochrome" - 1727346 A nice, thick, analogue hatch.  SB has some great material in general, but most needs clippy.

Creepy Lines 1 & 2 - 1405766 & 1707236 Get some spooky lines into your art!

Simple Retro Halftone - 1802041 A small set that's easy to use to add some halftone texture.

retro halftone brushes - 1852027 A larger yet still easy to use set with more specific brushes to use for each color.

Mar's Halftones -  1949506 A set with a lot of fun patterns!  Check out SpiralPuzzle's stuff in general, they post some unique brushes.

Pixel Art

Pixel Brushes by tsiox - (small) 1971800 & (large) 1969097 THE Clip Studio pixel set.  Has a ton of tools & textures to use.  The small set is better for slower internet connections & if you don't want all the patterns.

Studio Screen Tones - 1803496 If you like Flipnote studios or need more dithers, get this!

Pixel Foliage Brushes - 1883082 I apologize for promoting my own assets again, but I promise they're useful if you're doing anything with grass, trees, or bushes! ;w; My basic set - 1910804 Another lighter set with a few noise brushes that are useful at tiny size.  Did my best not to overlap with tsiox’s set while covering the basics.

Bonus: two blending pixel brush sets.   Mao Pixel (1779745) & Scummy Pixel(1782455). They’re not for exact pixel art, they’re more for playing around with & painting. :)

[tea-plantz]

Hello!! I sent a request earlier but I wasn't that specific with it so ignore that sorry. Anyway can you do yandere Darcy Wu x reader romantic head cannons ( Btw love your vibe <33 )

Yes, of course I can do that! I love Darcy sm I swear they were one of my fav Amphibia characters, and thank you for the compliment!<3

For background info, y/n was teleported to Amphibia, along with the other girls, and knows about the whole “possession” thingie. Btw I’m also going to write Darcy as more of an evil/robotic Marcy, rather then a bunch of old dudes, cuz y’know.. that’s a bit weird, well anyways, onto the head cannons!

They/them for the reader

She/them for Darcy (plus the ‘we’ and ‘us’ stuff)

!tw! Blood, dark themes, yandere stuff

~Yandere Darcy Wu x Reader HCS~

So for starters, I think that the reason Darcy would feel an extra strong emotion towards you, would be because you were Marcy’s crush!

Since the Core possesses Marcy, it would probably obtain some of her quirks as well, such as loving you. (This can also be seen in the show, I believe. Y’know with the muffins and the clumsiness)

They would often look through Marcy’s memories to find information about you, like what you enjoyed, your favorite foods and small details about your personality. Sometimes they would even just sit there and watch you for hours on end. Replying their favorite memories over and over again, imagining what it would be like to hold you and simply just being in your presence. At one point, Darcy’s little interest became so strong that you couldn’t really consider it just a crush anymore… it became an obsession. After time, it got so bad that Darcy couldn’t take it any longer. They had to have you, and believe me they were going to.

Now, Darcy would probably feel a bit out of place when it comes to romance. This is a field they aren’t familiar with at all, and they wouldn’t really know what to do about the situation. When she confronted Andrias about this, he suggested that she could simply just ‘ask you out’. Darcy thought about this, and honestly, it didn’t seem like that bad of an idea. Maybe you would actually agree to be with them, I mean based off of Marcy’s memories you seemed like such a kind and understanding person. And if you didn’t agree, they could just make you. You don’t really have a choice, and Darcy had their ways.

After sending out a couple of frobots to get you, they returned a couple of hours later with you, completely unharmed as instructed by Darcy.

Immediately after being dropped off by the robots, thick, heavy metal tentacle-like wires wrapped around you, lifting you off the ground. You struggled, while panicking until you heard a distorted voice that kinda sounded like… Marcy?! “Why hello there, y/n”

——————————————————————————

Now that Darcy finally has you in their possession, they would insist on accompanying you everywhere. What can I say? Their clingy. And since you guys have established a relationship (you didn’t really get much of a saying in that) she’s not gonna give you that much personal space either. Darcy’s constantly going to have an arm or two wrapped around you, standing uncomfortably close, or leaving light kisses on your face. The many eyes always keeping a closed watch doesn’t make it any better either.

I also have this one head cannon that Darcy is like, super mean to everyone except you! Like for example, they could be shouting their lungs out at Andrias, telling him that he’s such a screwup (#stopAndriasabuse), just being an complete asshole. But when you came waltzing into the room, their mood completely changed and her face light up. “ANDRIAS YOU FOOL, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SO DIFFICULT! I’M GOIN TO- oh hey y/n darling, how’s it going?”

Darcy is a BIG fan of showing her dominance around you! They always tell you have much power they have, sometimes droping a few threats here and there. Of course, Darcy is still a quite polite yandere, but they can be extremely threatening at times. To them, there’s just something about seeing you all frightened that causes such a rush! Another thing they certainly enjoy is to see you all flustered and nervous in front of them. This meaning that Darcy would spend a lot of their time leaving flirtatious remarks, doing stuff like hugging you from behind while whispering in your ear, and just generally flirting with you. Seeing you in such a state makes her feel all fuzzy inside, and she lives for it! They really can’t get enough~

Another hobby of Darcy’s is simply just watching you. You’re entertainment alone just by being your adorable, cute self! (Darcy’s words) All the little things you do, the expressions, the reactions, your smile, the way you slightly poke your tongue out when you’re focusing, they could simply just sit and study you all day long! Darcy also loves to show off her thighs to you, “and here, human, you can see our deadly laser beam! Pretty cool, right?”

Other times, they would just drag you off to eat red velvet cupcakes with ube frosting, and trust me, they eat A LOT of those cupcakes. “Come, our love, we truly desire something to eat now! Therefore, we are bringing you with us to the kitchen to search for cupcakes!”

I believe that Darcy is the type to be a ‘manipulative yandere’. They use manipulation to make you do as they please, and show their love for you.

Punishments aren’t really their forte, since they would much rather just keep you in line by scolding you or tying you up with the wires when you misbehave, but if you’re just gonna keep being impossible, they would gladly put you in your place. “Pathetic. You can’t even follow some simple rules, and you know what happens to rule breakers, don’t you sweetheart?” Isolation is usually what works the best for them, since after the punishment, you become so needy for human contact. After leaving you alone down in the cold, dark cellar for a couple of hours, you become so desperate to be close with Darcy, which is their exact intention. She loves to hold you close, telling you that their the only one you need, all with a red blush spread across their cheeks and a lovesick expression plastered on their face. Call it a bit of a psychological trick if you will.

Darcy is extremely jealous and would probably even keep you away from anyone that is not Andrias (still they don’t like the idea of you being alone with him). This is probably because Darcy possesses Marcy’s body, therefore, they inherited some of Marcy’s trauma, including abandonment issues. They’re just so terrified of the love of their life leaving y’know? She has gotten blood on their hands before, from people trying to rescue you or from teaching you ‘lessons’, as they like to call it, and they aren’t afraid to do it again.

All in all, I don’t feel like yandere Darcy is all that different from regular Darcy, they just have a bit more of that intensity and possessiveness, but it’s just because they love you so much!… maybe a little too much.

I’m so sorry for being a bit slow with this one! I just have some important tests coming up that I need to focus on, but I promise I will get my other request done as soon as I can<3

LOOK AT THEM AAAAH

[thesovereignsring-if]

There's no excuses for what Shitrick did, but oh well he's protected by the plot and author and not forced to be incompetent like mc with a bunch of shit excuses for why mc is the most useless character in the game. It doesn't even make any damn sense people mc's age are skilled lol

Oh no, baby is a little pressed aren’t we?

Eirik is not protected by the plot. He’s literally framed as the main antagonist, it’ll take plot armor to keep him alive and the goes the same for a lot of people in the cast. All he’s got going for him is a lot of money and family blood. Anything else beyond that was Eirik’s own hard work.

He’s also five years older than the MC, who is only eighteen. Think a little about how much a person and learn and grow in that time.

In fact let’s put it into a more modern example so its more clear. Within four to five years, someone can go to a post secondary institution and develop all the skills they need for their career, get an internship and or continue it. It’s like comparing someone with a full bachelor degree versus the a person who just fresh out of high school. That feels unfair doesn’t it?

Now, the only characters truly around the MC’s age we’ve met so far are Finny and Thea. And they are don’t compare to the literal veterans in their fields either. You really think Finny can take on Sieg and survive? Ha. Wait until you meet him. Yes Thea, is talented, yes she had a jump start at magic, but that’s because she’s a product of her environment, just like the MC is and Thea is VERY aware of how powerless she really is. If she went up against someone like Medea or Rothbart in battle, she’s dead. End of story.

Since you referenced my replies in previous asks,(very old asks now that I think about it) I can assume you’ve must have read a lot of what I’ve written, so i am astounded at your ability to not comprehend the kind of story this is…or you do, but still choose to follow and be upset when it remains to be exactly what I say it’s going to be.

How many times do I have to say it without saying it directly that the MC is the underdog? Their biggest disadvantage is that this succession crisis begins right at the beginning of their adult life? The audience for this game is 18+ surely you have enough media literacy to understand this.

If you cannot accept these fact then I will kindly ask you and your power tripping kind to leave. The story is written in a fashion that there is a lot of grey and nuance between the characters and their upbringing and the conflict. Eirik is an antagonist, but his flaws are rooted in his backstory that is written to be sympathetic and human, because he IS human. But god, if you cannot handle Eirik, you’ll barely be able to handle the rest of the cast.

If you cannot understand or have sympathy for a boy who’s lashing out because people are trying to forget his father was brutally murdered in a civil war by his own family, then everything else is going to fly over your head and your going to have a bad time- and honestly look stupid when you come crying into my inbox. Step outside and talk to some people, you could gain some emotional intelligence, it’ll do you some good.

This is not a power fantasy. You’re not going to get all powerful and trample over people to get your way. No, you’re going to have to make alliances, understand the MC is only one person in an conflict involving an Empire. The MC is going to be feeling a lot of negative feelings because their human like everyone else who has flaws and weakness.

I will never change my story to appease you so you’re talking to a wall. If you can’t handle that, you’ll be happier if you leave, unfollow, rate the game no stars.

This is the last time I’ll be replying to a comment like this because honestly, you and I have better things to do.

[key-lime-soda]

Hades Incident Theory (YTTD)

You all remember the Hades Incident, right? It was supposedly the very first Death Game run by the heads of a bunch of rivaling criminal organizations. We know very little about it so far. According to Keiji, it took place decades before the current main game. Only one person survived: the Memorandum Man. But who were the other participants? So far we only know a significant amount of information about two more participants: the Memorandum Girl and someone named Shinobu Gokujo. I’ll talk more about them later. 

I think the remaining participants all have something to do with each of the current candidates. Specifically, I think those were their parents. Almost every candidate (that we have backstories for) have at least one missing parent. 

Sara was adopted by Mr. Chidouin, but is still related to her mother

Joe’s dad was (most likely) Mr. Policeman, a cop who tried to investigate a case that got him fired. That case was supposedly about the police’s corruption, and it probably connects back to the Hades Incident too

Keiji was raised by his poor single mother

Gin lives with his mother and step-father

Q-Taro was an orphan in an orphanage called Asunaro

Kai was raised by his father, and we don’t know anything about his mother. Gashu is already working for Asunaro so that probably counts enough.

The only exceptions to this are the two sibling pairs: Reko and Alice, and Shin and Kanna, along with Nao as well. All have explicitly mentioned that they grew up with both parents. We also don’t know much about Mishima, Midori, or the Dummies either, so that's still to be determined.

Why would they take the children of these people and throw them in a death game? it's probably to determine something related to their criminal organizations. To be honest, I don't think the second death game is specially reserved for the children of the Hades Incident participants. For example, Gin and Kanna are both younger than 15, making them a little too young to be the child of someone who died "decades" ago. However, they could be the grandchildren of the original participants, which explains how characters with both parents still alive ended up here. I think they just wanted the youngest descendants of the original participants so they can determine who gets to inherit Asunaro. If you think about it, this explains why none of the participants have siblings that aren't present in the death game (that we know of). Maybe the original death game wasn't fair, and they needed a proper redo?

Let's go back to the Memorandum Man. In the painting found in Chapter 2, he can be seen wearing a suit very similar to Meister’s. Meister’s suit is already just a different colored version of Mr. Chidouin’s suit, and many people have already guessed that Mr. Chidouin is Meister. I’m willing to take a guess that the Memorandum man and Meister are both Mr. Chidouin. I think he was the last surviving member of the Hades Incident. He’s very clearly tied to Asunaro in many ways, and he was even seen in a flash-forward scene at the end of Chapter 2 in the victory room, where he said: 

“Your father's glad you've survived... Now, let's begin, shall we?  ...The final Death Game.”

Why the final death game? Aren’t they already in the death game? Wouldn’t it make more sense to welcome her to the final main game? That is unless he was in another main game before this. If anything, it almost sounds like he’s implying that Sara has been in a Death Game before, which brings me to my next point. 

I think Sara Chidouin is the Memorandum Girl. I believe she participated in the Hades Incident. Now, of course, the first big problem lies with how the Memorandum Girl died during the 3rd victim conference. In addition, she’s 17 now, and according to Keiji the Hades Incident happened decades ago. How can a 17-year-old girl die and then come back decades later as the same age? I’ll get to that in a moment. 

The Memorandum Man has a strange personality. He quickly took interest in the charismatic teen girl that managed to rally everyone together many times. He respects her skills, and tells her his true feelings of respect after the second victim conference. He suffered a great loss after her death. It was so painful that he was supposedly unable to love any other woman as much as her. This man, who is supposedly now the head of the most powerful criminal organization, has just lost the one person he cared for more than anyone. He probably realized that he alone had the power to bring her back. How? By using AI and machines to create the Dolls we are already so familiar with. He brought her back to life and pretended that she was his daughter. This explains his extremely overprotective personality when regarding Sara. He snapped at Kai when he mentioned how much he also cared for her. He already had to watch her die before, and wasn't willing to lose her again.

She lived her everyday life as a doll, similar to Midori. He's been dead for years before Alice "murdered" him and no one could tell. (Maybe she has some/most of Midori's body parts, similar to Mai, but that's just a possibility)

Now, you’d think Sara would be aware that she’s a doll, but that's not necessarily the case. Dolls don’t know they’re fake until it’s proven. And if you count all Game Over sequences as non-canon, then Sara has not canonically bled at any point in the game. We have no proof that she’s human. Your Time to Shine seems to support this, with the presence of a character named “Sara?” that seems to be in charge of certain parts of the simulation. So far, only dolls have been referred to with a “?” at the end of their names. 

This might explain why Sara was brought here despite never signing the consent form. She had already participated in a death game before, and also isn't human. If her dad gave permission (and was in charge) then there was no urgency to get her to sign it. They probably only did it for formality reasons (I believe Midori mentioned something about people dying if they didn't get everyone's signed forms).

Also, Sara’s role as a member of the Hades incident also explains why the AI simulations showed her as ruthless, leading Midori to encourage her to unlock her true potential and become the killer she once was. If she was in the Hades Incident, that would make her the former head of a criminal organization. It would make perfect sense for her to be both a charismatic leader and a heartless killer. Only now, she doesn’t remember anything.

This also made me think about Shunsuke Hayasaka. In his victim video, he blames Sara for being stuck in the Death Game. He worked at a medical machinery company, and had data on her (and the rest of the participants). However, he specifically curses out Sara and the organization that did this. If Sara wasn't human, then he'd probably know. After all, he worked at a medical machinery company. They probably have a hand in developing the tech used to make Dolls (I can't remember if this was explicitly stated or not). He cursed her specifically because he saw how she was different from everyone else, therefore making her seem like she's in on it.

It seems, however, that Mr. Chidouin might not be in charge of everything in Asunaro. After all, he didn't have any reason to create a second death game with the chance of his daughter's death (again). There might be someone above him, forcing everyone to abide by a strict set of game rules. Who is it? I have no clue. Hopefully, Chapter 3 will answer these questions…

[kmenkea]

Bloodlust - Part 5

Summary: After their big night together, Astarion is left on the forest floor to think, reminiscing the last few days, whilst disgusts curls his viscera. His only gratitude is that he is finally free from his master.

AN: I tried to expand on both Leeith's and Astarion's character in this chapter, between the pillow talk and the exploration that comes later, as their relationship starts to grow.

w/c: 5.3k

Read on AO3

I started this WIP months ago and I'm posting it now in this chapter because I thought it fit very well with the "like juicy autumn grapes" comment in this chapter.

They laid under the night sky, neither of them uttering a word, just admiring the stars. They were still sharing their arms in place of pillows. 

The only thing bad about casual sex, thought Leeith, were the moments afterwards, unsure of what to do. Neither of them were the type to cuddle with a stranger, but the vampire and the drow were just friendly enough that it would have been weird to stand up and leave. She scavenged her mind for a conversation topic, but only one thing troubled her at that moment. 

“So, I assume vampires are sterile… right?” He didn’t turn around, just hummed affirmatively in response. “Another one of the many things Cazador took away from me.” He sighed, spitting the name of his old master. “At least there aren’t chances of finding more little Astarions in Baldur’s gate.” 

“As if I would go and be so careless as to sire a bunch of mutts.” He said in a snobbish tone.

“Well, you really strike me as a Don Giovanni; there’s no way in hell you didn’t spend the past centuries sleeping around. In my experience, men like you tend to be very careless.” For some reason, the comment really irked the elf, who glared at her with a grimace. 

“Like me? What do you mean like me?” He raised his voice, bearing his fangs. 

“I’m sorry, I really don’t mean it in a bad way. I’ve had my fun too in the years. But, the things you say and do and say… you’re an expert, is what I mean.” The vampire was still weary, but his expression relaxed just enough to calm the drow. 

“You’re speaking of things you know nothing about.” His tone was plain, but it was clearly a hurtful spot for him. She wanted to excuse herself again, but the vampire returned to his smug and grandiose self. "Just be glad I’m such a consummate lover.” 

“Oh absolutely, few things are worse than a man who can’t even please.” she chuckled, wanting to divert the conversation. “I’m just distraught that I’ll never get to meet an Astarionette in my lifetime.” 

“Darling, are you so infatuated with me that you’d have me even as a woman? I’m flattered.” 

“Oh no, darling, you got it wrong.” The drow glanced at her nails having grown pretty long. “I would prefer it if you were a woman. Sure men have the advantage of a built-in tool, but they're only good when they know how to submit.”

“Ha-ha, and still, I'm here. And my undying charm has got you pleading my name.” His face was extremely content and cocky, somehow more than normal. The drow roller her eyes, unpleased and humiliated. 

“Tks, you’re an exception. Consider yourself fortunate I’m not… I don’t know, whatever you darthiir - surface elves and traitors - think drow do after sex. Decapitate our male partners and feast on their guts.” She stopped to consider her words a moment. “Not that it doesn’t happen, but you know, it’s less common than you might think.” 

“And I assume the women get to survive your mantis mating rituals?” 

“Sometimes, yes. Why would I waste a true lover? There’s nothing better there’s than to lose oneself in someone that understands you completely. There’s a connection that I cannot experience with normal men. An instinctual knowledge, as if we’re both one and the same; the warmth of her body, her soft skin, the way even her ears reddened-” She stopped to consider her words, having found herself trailing off into the past. “Or maybe I don’t prefer women, I just want back those whom I’ve loved.” Leeith wasn’t going to have anything like that back. She didn’t want to have it back. 

“How quaint. I’ve never thought I’d see a spiderling in love. Let me guess, they grew some sense, escaped the underdark and left you there?” She faced the vampire: this time it was her sporting a pained grimace. She wanted to punch him in the face and leave him there after that comment. But it probably hurt her as much as the Don Giovanni comparison hurt him. 

“It ended like many other relationships in the underdark end: a dagger at the throat, hate sex and a corpse in the place you used to make love.” The drow looked back at the moon extending her fingers towards it, a simple gesture, as she relieved her memories. She caressed her wet, crying cheek for one last time, forever engraving in her memory how soft it was. How her lips were salty from tears. How her lover's hands trembled, while she pointed a blade at her chest, biting her skin, hesitating. Leeith couldn’t even feel that pain. “Dolor.” A mist of blood and brain matter rained upon her. Upon the bed where they used to adore each other. 

It had happened already more than once in her life, the details of each event twisting and mingling into each other. Did they use a dagger in the night or did they fight in the centre of a tavern? Did they laugh at their pain or cried together while hugging one last time in a muddy hallway? Was she the one that had been ordered to kill or her lover? It was fine now: none of that was ever going to happen again. She could have sex without sharing her soul, so why bother? 

“I love the underdark. I feel at home there. Baldur’s gate is probably as foul and bloody, but doesn’t its splendour shine brighter thanks to its darkness?” 

“Monsters like me thrive in the city. I suppose it does have its charm then.” He said with a shrug.  

“Do you consider me a monster, being a Lolth servant and all?” Leeith’s voice was starting to get heavy, as more memories flooded her mind and she was called to her trance. 

“Oh please, a bit of violence and religious fervour has never made anyone a monster. Sure your culture can be a bit - how can I best put this - intense, but I like your thirst for blood.” he licked his lips at the mention of blood.

“Then you aren’t a monster either. You just have very picky tastes.” She yawned, fully closing her eyes. “Glad I’m not alone up here on the surface. Good night, elf.” 

A cold shiver ran down his spine. The air of the night hit his body, still damp with sweat, but that wasn’t the source of his discomfort. As he laid on the grass, surrounded by trees and the calls of critters, he kept waiting and waiting. Soon, the spawn would hear those steps, coming from the long corridor behind the bedroom door. Then the click of the lock and faint torchlight invading his eyes. He flinched.  He was still alone. The breeze hit his nude body again, and he shivered. 

The drow was still beside him. She didn’t disappear; no hands fell upon her and whisked her away. She was the first person he had slept with in years not being taken away crying and pleading. Yes, right, he was free now. His lips curled up and he closed his eyes, basking in newfound bliss. No matter how much his mind dragged him to that damned mansion, with its dark corners and red carpets, his body firmly rested on the grass, lit up by the moon and the stars. The night could have been cold, but never as much as those four walls that imprisoned him for centuries. 

And it wasn’t all too bad. Astarion could feel the warmth radiating from where his skin touched Leeith’s.  Maybe he should have got closer? She was already protecting him, using their bodies to shield themselves from the elements wasn’t going to be that problematic of a request. He turned to the side, softly, knowing full well how light a trance could be. Maybe it was better not to push his luck. The vampire was free to walk in the sunlight thanks to her protection, guarded from the swords of monster hunters and possible mercenaries sent directly from his dear master Cazador. She had pledged to kill the bastard too: surely a naïve expectation, but it still sparked an inkling of hope in him. 

All of this at a modest price, something he had done for two hundred years to stay alive. He stared down at his bare skin, shame and disgust wrenching and twisting his guts. At least the prostitutes in Sharess's Caress were living in the lap of luxury, not fighting for their life and tortured for the smallest mistake. He wanted to puke, and had to cover his mouth to stop himself. He felt so foul, covered in sweat, both his and hers. His left hand reached up, clawing at his throat and chest: maybe if he peeled his skin off, he would finally feel clean. Something got caught under his nails and the smell of copper hit his nostril, entrancing him.

If there was one saving grace out of all this act, it was the blood. He still smelled it in her neck, now drying up. Some was still on his chin and chest, but had dried up too much to be edible. Not that he needed it since, for the first time in two centuries, he was actually satiated, happy, and his veins saturated with fresh, sentient blood. It felt so good to sink his fangs in warm flesh and to be met with the soul of the person he was drinking. Her joy, her excitement and her warmth, all laid out for him, ripe for the taking like juicy autumn grapes. It was almost worth the disgust that curled his viscera. Again the smile returned on him and the vampire relaxed, closing his eyes and calling upon the memories of what he had just experienced. Maybe this night he was going to dream about that, without Cazador interrupting it to punish him. He was free now. Astarion was just going to dream about Leeith’s elegant neck, searching for her pulsating artery, puncturing her skin, savouring her and at the end… his own pleasure. Countless people had given themselves to him, few able to grant him that moment where everything was void, and he didn't even remember them. But this wasn’t about his climax. Something stirred differently in him this time around, yanking his guts towards a different direction than simple shame. 

The memories of the past days returned to him. That rude awakening on a cliff, where he was sure he was going to die, incinerated by the sun. Fear gripped his heart when he walked out of the pod, but death was probably preferable than living life as a slave. Then relief and the warmth of the sun on his skin, gentle and assuring; his clinginess to life returned now that he experienced a morsel of freedom. The arrival to an old temple where he expected a fight, just for the new leader to lie and intimidate her way in and then, when other bandits attacked, she smiled and laughed at their pain. Maybe the drow wasn't too stupid and useless. The first time he had to give in to his hunger and the drow was alone near the campfire, but she woke, just to laugh in his face at the revelation he was a vampire, as if it wasn’t obvious from the start. So if it was so obvious, why didn’t she curse him and stab him? Why wouldn’t she chase him away instead of letting him feed? 

What a weird woman. But one that could help him. And so it started, his ploy to conquer her favour, met with very little resistance. It was so easy to be with Leeith and it wasn’t just for the fact the drow flirted back. She seemed nice to him, like a friend, someone that wanted to help him. She… had her quirks and surely made hurtful comments, but he couldn’t expect much more from someone whose favourite activity was spilling blood and laughing at people’s fear. Fierce and rich: like a pepper infused chocolate, the spiciness was part of the experience. 

Well, some of her kinks did worry him, but she didn’t seem too focused on trying them out if that night was anything to go by. Along the spiciness, came a soft calming warmth: her fingers tracing the wrinkles of his palm, while she asked him what he wanted for the second time that night. Her hand reaching up to his cheek, bringing him back to ask if it was all fine. And now her arm under his head, as he came back to the present again, in a cold, still night. 

Tonight did feel different. He couldn’t just forget that warmth. And suddenly his gut got yanked again and he realised what was tugging it sideways, away from disgust. Fear. Along came the answer to the question: why was he so worried about her falling in battle today? 

For the first time he was simply… accepted. Whatever he was, it didn’t matter to her. Or at least, even if she got a kick out of being his blood bag, he was more than a monster, more than his condition. Yet today he had been on the cusp of losing the only person who had shown him any amount of warmth in two hundred years. 

Sweet hells, blood was one hell of a drug. 

The only problem now was how to keep Leeith on his side. The sour taste returned to his mouth: to have that, it probably meant more nights like this. 

Leeith’s last dream, before opening her eyes, was of a spider biting her under the watchful eyes of the great matron. The memory of her new life began her day, calming her fears. A wave of peace rushed down her body, waking it. The pleasure was soon replaced by the frigid air of the morning and soreness in most of her muscles, especially her back, which felt stiff like a tree trunk. Her neck hurt so much it was hard to move her head and, just to add insult to injury, her whole shoulder was dark red. Getting up nude on the forest floor was a new experience for her: one could say, there weren’t many trees and grass back in the underdark. 

She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. The morning was still young, enough not to hurt her eyes. And how could the light do it, when the vampire was in front of her, hogging it all, basking under a ray of sun. His porcelain skin almost reflected it, giving him an angelic glow. He kept his arms spread, as if he was just waiting to sprout feathered wings and fly off, so unbothered by anything “earthly” that he didn’t even notice her waking up. It would be such a  perfect vision, if it wasn't for an ugly circle scarred into his flesh, surrounded by weird glyphs: its aura was evil. That must have been what she felt under her hands the night before. 

“Not staying in for a cuddle?” She called, surprising the vampire. 

“Mh, I expected you to sleep light, but I thought you’d be exhausted after last night.” He only turned his head, preferring to enjoy the sun on his chest. The drow scoffed at his ego. It’s not like she didn’t enjoy yesterday night, but she did have better in her life, partners enough into it to go for hours. In comparison, Astarion seemed a bit less interested. 

“Did you enjoy it? It felt like you weren’t fully there.” If she had to take a  guess, sleeping around as often as he did, probably stunned his enjoyment of sex. 

“I was holding back a little, it’s true. I didn’t want to lose control. Delicious as you were, I didn’t want to go too far.” Something was off about his tone, but he kept speaking before she could dwell on it. “Shall we get on? I want to go before anyone else thanks me for saving their tails.” The drow didn’t move and returned to look at the scar, admiring the craftsmanship. 

“I want to ask about your scars first. Where did you get them?” She was sure she had seen something similar before. The vampire flinched.

“It’s a poem. A gift from Cazador. He considered himself quite the artist and used his slaves as a canvas. He composed and carved that one over the course of a night… He made a lot of revisions as he went.” His voice broke down on that last sentence, re-experiencing the agony. Leeith stood up, squinting her eyes. She got close to the vampire and one finger was about to touch the symbol, when the vampire turned around, lowering his arms. A flash of recognition flared her mind.

“Why did he write it in infernal?” Astarion’s eyes shot open and he looked over his shoulder for a moment. 

“Infernal? I… Who knows. The bastard was insane.” His face turned ugly in a frown. “Now let's go. We’ve wasted enough time already.” He walked off, collecting his shirt from the ground. 

The drow looked around for her clothing, but other than a necklace that broke during the act, she didn’t find anything. Something soft hit her in the face and she saw black. In her hands she found the cape, the only article of clothing that she got with her. Astarion was standing proudly farther along on the path. 

“Wouldn’t you prefer seeing my ass while I walk?” She threw the cloak around her shoulders, keeping it closed with one hand. 

“I got my fill last night. It’s better we concentrate on our duties today.” The vampire seemed distant: both his tone of voice and his expressions were cold and uncaring. The drow rolled her eyes and walked behind him without one more word. 

When they arrived in camp, only Lae’zel was awake, busy with her morning exercises. She shot a glance at both of them, returning together from the forest. The Gith spat something in her language and returned to her one-handed push ups. The githyanki had proposed a little rendezvous of their own before with words that were poetic, unexpected coming from an alien warrior. It wasn’t just the old regurgitated, albeit funny, lines of the vampire, nor the pompous and totally stereotypical flare Gale used in his speeches. It was hard to turn down her proposal, however, it had only been a few days since they had met and the drow was still weary of her companions. Judging by Lae’zel expression, she still held a grudge. It didn’t matter, the drow had some fun with Astarion.

Leeith shrugged and went towards a water barrel, throwing the cloak on a rock, uncaring of any peering eyes resting on her nude figure; Lae’zel could admire her body now, if she so wished, as she showered. The barrel was mostly empty, but it would be a waste of time to fetch more water now that they had to dismantle the camp. She dipped a rag into it and carefully cleaned up her blood and sweat. The water in the barrel turned murky as she dipped and washed the cloth. She wondered if Astarion could drink that and be satiated, especially since she wasn’t planning on feeding him for the next few days, to recuperate her energy after almost three days straight of blood loss. She was also going to need a strong coffee and hearty breakfast to make her head stop spinning. 

It took about an hour for everyone to awake and get ready. The plan for the day was that of dispatching the goblins from the village. Everyone was ok with a surprise attack, except the vampire. who would have preferred avoiding a fight completely.

“I’m glad you’re smarter than proudly marching in.” He sighed, already feeling spent. 

“Come on, Astarion, at least you will get to see some blood today.” Said Shadowheart, fixing her braid. 

“Ugh, goblin blood. Hardly anything to cherish. Besides, I’ve already had my fill for today.” He looked down at his nails. “Sure one more little nibble wouldn’t hurt, but I’ve learnt not to be too greedy.” He seemed to have cheered up again, enough to glance at the drow with a raised eyebrow.  

“Spicy.” Said Karlach. Some of the party’s member eyes fell on Leeith after this, but she chose to ignore the comment.

“Karlach, Shadowheart and Astarion, you’ll come. Karlach, I want to test you.” The drow spoke in a commanding tone. “I do not need weaklings with me, so don’t fail me.” She stared at the wizard, who turned his eyes away from her, scowling. 

“And what about me?” Said the Gith. 

“Another day, Lae’zel. We need people who can walk without making noises. Your armour is the opposite of that, unfortunately. Understand me.” The drow’s voice was sweeter now, soothing. The gith still rolled her eyes, but didn’t press the matter further. 

Leeith was on edge, not knowing what to expect. Were they going to get swarmed with beasts and vermin? She was sure she could take a few goblins even alone, the problem was just the amount of enemies who could be around. They attacked from the side, Astarion took out one of the sentinels on the roof and then… What a let down. There were barely any goblins around. Even the big ogres, who they surprised from the roof of a house, were easily killed by their spells and arrows - and left a most precious crown for the drow. Among all the rubble and gore, Karlach was showing off her lifting skills to a smiling Shadowheart, while the vampire piled more stuff over her back. Leeith thought that they wouldn’t notice as she put on the crown, since they were so busy having fun. When that gold headband touched her skin, she was cast into a deep colourful void. She probably stared off into the distance for a moment too long, listening to the chant deep in her psyche. 

“Are you good? What’s with the crown?” Karlach let go of all the stuff she was holding, in a large rumble of wood.

“It’s as if someone whispered the secrets of the universe in my mind. It’s great.” The drow’s  smile reached her ears. 

“Are you sure that thing isn’t cursed, darling? It might explode that pretty head of yours.” Said Astarion, rolling the r in pretty. Leeith took it off to study it and, upon sensing emptiness in her head, promptly put it back on.

“It’s just an intelligence boosting enchantment, no curses or anything, other than - well, it feels bad to take it off and feel normal again. I’ll take this for myself.” 

“I’m sorry, but we fought just as hard. How come you decide who gets the reward?” Shadowheart sounded pretty annoyed.

"Excuse me? I’ve been dividing weapons, armour and items to everyone equally. You get what fits you best. And since I’m the one doing the talking, I would assume having a little extra knowledge would help.” She tapped her temple.

“I’m pretty sure any of us would be able to talk, it’s not some remarkable drow ability.” Continued Shadowheart, looking at the vampire for support.

“I kind of agree, darling. I can stab with my words just like I can with my sword.” He raised his chin in an air of superiority. Leeith waited for Karlach to also talk against her, but the tiefling just wanted everyone to calm down. The drow breathed in deep, relaxed the muscles of her face. She sauntered towards Astarion, her hips swaying elegantly, like a panther on the prowl. She pointed one index at his chest, brushing against his clothes, and circled around him. “Look at me. Tell me, how can you stare into my eyes and refuse me? I will stay by your side and sing your praises forever in your ear.” Her voice was quiet and warm, melodious like a siren deceiving her next prey. Her visage was pure, not betraying any of her intention; unlike the vampire’s smile, too perfect and composed, hers looked as natural as the sun - she even summoned a faint red glow to her cheeks. Ambrosia couldn’t have been sweeter than her appearance. Astarion wanted to pull away from her, but the drow noticed how his eyes flared up in hunger and his tongue licked his fangs. 

She whipped away, facing the cleric once again. All the gentleness and admiration was washed away from her face. Her features were twisted, sneering in disgust and loathing. Her right hand glowed green and purple with a spell.

“Now, dare defy me again, surface dweller, and you will come to know what true fear and pain is like.” Though her eyes were aflame, her voice was like still water. The cleric tensed up, almost trembling under her fervour. The drow let go of the act an instant later, returning to a grin. 

“Karlach, sorry I can’t put up a little show for you, but I hope now you get why I’m the one doing the talking. As a reminder, you don’t get my kind of powers without being able to deceive or entice your patron. If I can do that to a creature much more mighty than all of us together, imagine how a lowly vermin can react.” She smiled again.

Her companion’s eyes darted between one another, until Karlach herself broke the silence. “Well, that’s nice, but can you do this?” She grinned and lifted up a chiselled wardrobe over her head, holding it up like it was just a small wood plank. 

“Yes… If I can threaten it to fly.” 

“Wait- I’m not done.” With a roar, the tiefling launched the wardrobe across the room, flying over Shadowheart and Astarion. They both ducked, the rogue even rolled away in an excess of carefulness. 

“Sweet hells, devil, first my nose and now this?” He screeched, still ready to jump away. 

“Hehe, It’s your fault fangs: you're just too sneaky and I can’t see you.” She placed her fists on her hips and pushed her chest up, looking down at everyone with an aura of grandness. 

“I think maybe it’s best we get going before more goblins show up, with the mayhem we’ve caused.” Said the cleric. The rest agreed and moved along.

With newfound confidence in herself and the group, Leeith went to talk to some goblins who were having fun with a deep gnome. They scattered off after being glared at by the drow. The deep gnome instead, had the good sense to thank her, be grateful for his life and run away. 

They went around the village, pillaging what was left. Most houses were empty and broken down, the only point of interest being a well, smith workshop and across from it an alchemist's shop, all dilapidated. While searching for ingredients for her own potions, Shadowheart found a hatch leading down in a basement full of coffins. The skeletons protecting it, proved themselves a more dangerous foe, but they were all crushed by the barbarian’s raw strength: she swung that sword like it was a hammer, breaking bones and throwing them far. Each slice or arrow that hit her, only served to grow her rage. She was unstoppable and powerful, but lacked the precision and technique of the Gith. 

After exploring around, finding only some rotten food and weird books from a certain Ilyn Toth. The group were ready to leave, generally disappointed with how the day went. The only last thing of note was a giant ornate mirror. It was weird for such an object to be mounted on a wall in a gloomy, humid basement. The guy owning the shop was probably just a madman with even madder interior design, but she still checked it out. At first the only thing she saw was her reflection and that of her companions, minus the vampire. She turned around, raising her eyebrow. 

“I guess the tadpole doesn’t solve this pr-” 

“Spea-k your name.” A face appeared in the mirror, startling Leeith. 

“Ilyn Toth.”  She said, after thinking for a few seconds.

“My master was human. True and pure. You are not Ilyn Toth. If you are his ally, ste-p forward and declare it.” The drow breathed out harshly, too tired to put up with fucking mirror riddles. She could have tried passing off as an ally of whoever this guy was, but didn't want alliances with people she didn't know.

“Open or I'll smash you to pieces - bad luck be damned.” She pointed her thumb at the big fiery tiefling behind her. The mirror’s face disappeared and, with a rumble, it slid away. 

“I think that crown is already working its magic.” Said Astarion, walking past her into the room. The place was fairly big, with books scattered on the floor and on the two large desks facing eachother. The walls were lined with bookshelves and two corners of the room housed small alcoves, with chests and more books. One even had a stuffed bear. As they explored the room, pocketing anything of worth, Shadowheart found a way back to the first room of the basement. Both Astarion and Leeith were much more curious about a little gated room.  

“Someone left a surprise for us.” Announced the vampire, pointing towards a mechanism. 

“Can you do something about it?” Leeith leaned in to look at it better. She could have maybe tried disarming it - she had come across tons of traps in a hundred years working as a criminal - but her fingers weren’t as nimble as the rogue’s. 

“Mhh, maybe. Maybe I could have a little nibble first, for good luck?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“No way in hell, blood-sucker.” She slapped a Guidance on him. “This is all you’re getting until I've had a few days of rest and my blood back.” He rolled his eyes in disappointment and sighed, muttering something about ungratefulness. In a few clicks, the trap was disarmed and the gate opened safely. 

The only thing inside was a pedestal, with a demonic book resting on it. Leeith was about to pick it up, but the vampire stopped her. 

“Wait, it’s trapped. You should really get glasses, darling.” He took out his tools again. 

“Why would I, when I have your perfect eyes around?”

“Because maybe one day I’ll let you walk on a trap to have a laugh.” Another mechanism clicked. Shadowheart and Karlach came over, curious of what was going on. 

“The Necromancy of Thay. Sounds ominous.” Read the drow, picking the tome up. A face with a large open mouth was facing it and the cover felt like being bound in raw skin. Darkness radiated from it, calling to the drow within its folds and pages.

“Please don’t touch the big scary book!” Said Karlach, with a tone halfway between annoyed and scared. 

“Yes, it looks heavy. Give it to me.” Astarion instead was way too eager to have it. The drow turned the tome over, but the lock holding it close didn’t seem to have a key. She shrugged and stuffed it down her backpack, ignoring both of them for the time being. Maybe she would let the vampire have it: he was already cursed with undeath, more necromancy magic through his body couldn't hurt. 

“First we need to find whatever opens this thing. No one’s found a key around here, right?” They shook their heads. “I think it’s best we make it to camp for today, then. We can stay in the town now that it’s safe and sleep with a roof over our head for once. Maybe even a bed and I'll have a warm bath.” With a vision of all these comforts, they left the alchemists’ cellar.

[mars-ipan]

let’s be honest it was only a matter of time before i babygirlified an old man

closeups and (many) design notes under the cut :)

ok design notes time (these r mainly for the narrator bc. well. stanley has an actual physical appearance):

- while thinking of how to design the narrator i got the idea that he took one of the models in the audience for the ending where stanley gives a speech and edited it to make his “human” form

- because of this i wanted to include a bunch of little things that he “got wrong” during the process of mimicking a human. most of them get ironed out when stanley points out how weird they are but some of them stay

- to name a couple, his teeth are all flat- no canines or molars. also his little headset + glasses have nothing that actually attach them to his head. they just Are There. not to mention his interesting fashion sense of tie + turtleneck + blazer (he defends this choice no matter how much stanley laughs at him). he’s just weird enough to be slightly uncanny- it’s an imitation, not the real thing

- since i’m indecisive as hell he’s a bit of a shapeshifter. he actually doesn’t use his physical model in-game a lot and tends to just show up in things. shadows, reflective surfaces, screens, etc. even more often than that he’s just his voice

- bc he plays the guitar in the out of bounds ending i am now convinced that he can play many instruments. that little piano in the memory zone before the first review? yeah he’s there playing that in-game he’s just not visible to you

- designing his hair was SO DIFFICULT i literally went searching thru the tag for inspo and i liked so many different things. after a struggle (you can see a slicked-back attempt in the shadow idea doodle) i eventually decided on the style shown in his main drawing. every time i draw it i fight so hard to make it distinct from miles edgeworth. to make this easier the cowlicks aren’t too pronounced and the larger bang is more of a fringe. it still sometimes looks like miles edgeworth whoops

- some of my favorite fanon design things are the Line™ tie the square glasses and the little gay ass highlight so i knew i had to include them. those were my only definite choices going into this

- once again bc i’m indecisive the narrator can scale his model up or down as he pleases. he prefers to be bigger than stanley but stanley complains that it “makes his proportions weird” because he’s “short-coded” so sometimes he goes to a more human size.

- the narrator being stout just makes sense to me it’s correct in my soul (i actually think i drew him too skinny in most of these. i just didn’t wanna redraw shit bc i am tired but if/when i draw him again he will be less skinny)

- i wanted to work with shape language a lot because the narrator’s whole character is a voice- i wanted to make sure i captured the vibe of some stuffy old writer who has an undeniable silly streak. so he is squares and circles (his tie is the only triangle save for maybe the hair)

- for similar reasons stanley is squares and triangles. felt right

- speaking of stanley his soul patch is a goatee now bc i hate soul patches with a boiling passion. so now it’s a goatee

- i also gave him a little beauty mark by his right eye. i don’t know why i just knew in my heart that it was correct

- stanley uses asl and not bsl because i want to learn asl sososososo bad and this just might be the thing to get me to actually do it. he can project his thoughts to the narrator but he doesn’t like it so he almost always signs

[gaelfox]

Getting a lot of activity here more than usual, so I guess Tumblr is up and thriving again! I figure its time for me to reintroduce myself for all you knew and returning lovely folk. So —

Hello, my name is Gael!

I am a lady cartoonist that went to college for animation and since graduating I’ve been a part of a whole bunch of projects - from internet media companies to solo YouTubers to my own merch to online fandoms, I’ve found myself in a lot of places for my work. My favorite things to create are comics and short-blurb joke images, but I also love narrative storytelling and character design. Right now, I work on YouTube thumbnails for my favorite Theme Park Podcast (Annual Pass) and a wonderful dude named Ray Narvaez Jr. over on Twitch!

I live with my fiancé (who I will refer to as Babbus) in the PNW and we’re getting married this Summer ~ He’s my light and joy and my biggest muse, you’ll recognize him on my blog as a large-horned Tiefling character of the same name next to my own Persona, Lich Queen Gael, when he’s not being my partner-in-crime in other fandoms.

What Kinds of Things do You Like?

Well, y’all found my blog for a reason - whether you were here since the beginning for my AH/RT designing and worldbuilding to my own worldbuilding with LQG/DPB to various other tidbits, y’all know I like many things. What fandoms can you expect from this blog? Things including, but not limited to:

YouTube Gamers (AH, GameGrumps, Jack, Mark, etc) - my radio for the day. Especially loving the variety of my channels between game play, horror game lore, theme park and history documentaries, and whatever the hell

One Piece (constantly on the hunt for more good good Law FanArt and uh…may be trying something a little new for NaNoWriMo this year…?) I just want more of my Trash Husband

Video Games - These shift and change depending on what I’m playing at the time to be honest, but some of my solidified favorites are Stardew Valley, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Minecraft, Pokemon, the Phoenix Wright series, Monster Hunter, Yakuza, and small indie games that I discover. My sisters and I bonded over video games growing up so they hold a special place in my heart, always.

Critical Role - I’ve started watching pretty regular since C2E1, and I’m watching all of C3 while slowly catching up on C1. Maybe you’ve seen me in the old art reel a few times?

Theme Parks - I’ve got a deep love for the way that theming and storytelling comes into play in the Theme Park world, its a sort of special niche of mine that I hold dearly since my grandmother was a cast member and the joy of theme parks runs deep in my family

TTRPG’s - I do love me a good tabletop system! I have a lot of games I’ve played in the past, and many more ideas for the future. I always love a good character, whether they start out as a joke and come completely into their own (Riss) or they just remain a silly protagonist for the sake of keeping the mood of the table light (Bobert Rossington, Esq., who beats the devil out of his enemies) I always love the design elements that can come from a simple system that can lead to incredible character development and choices.

Food - what more is there to say? I love food.

But ultimately, overall? Expect art and jokes. Art and jokes to me are the spice of a good smile, and even if you’re having the worst of days, sometimes all it takes is a smile from a good post to get you though. I want for my art to give people joy, for that in turn gives me joy. And that’s why I do what I do.

Do You Take Commissions?

I do! On occasion. They have to open up and I can garner a bit of a long waitlist if I do - but because I don’t require payment until the work is complete, all you gotta spend is an email and some patience. Right now they aren’t open due to time constraints, previous commission queue and contract work, and I can’t say when they’ll open back up again. But I’ll make an announcement here if they do!

Do You Do Anything Else Aside from Fine Dining Art and Breathing?

I do! Strangely enough. I have a Twitch channel that I sometimes haunt playing games/doing art with friends of mine (under my same pseudonym) and I’m at the gym 4 days a week for HIIT/weightlifting. I enjoy a good podcast, a good book, and binging Netflix. I love animation as a medium and comics and stage plays, I’m getting into NHL/hockey when my gym shows me games. Variety is the spice of life, after all!

So, there ya go. Maybe we have more similar interests than you think? In any case, thank you for coming along for the ride, and hope you enjoy what we have together!

Welcome aboard this Life in Cartoon Motion!