#this was mainly just me testing out shading more.

[fouryx]

airy. its the guy!

(yes that is a soundgarden ref)

[ghoulette-knell]

In the Name of Research

Copia x Fem!Reader

You’re Copia’s personal assistant, and the two of you get onto a very interesting conversation regarding the most intriguing sin.

🔞MDNI🔞

TW: Power Play; Friends to Lovers; Marking; Cunnilingus; Dirty Talk; Rough Dom!Copia (kinda???); Cum Swap; Vaginal Penetration.

Word Count: 3,133

You were Copia’s assistant, mainly dealing with his paperwork and helping him translate any newly-obtained Satanic texts into English for all of the Siblings of Sin. It was a very important part of the job that remained mainly forgotten. You didn’t mind though. You had a good and healthy friendship with the newest anti-pope.

You sat on his office floor as he walked in. As Copia wandered in, he sat at his desk, “How’s the work going?” he asked with an amused smirk at the sight of you on the floor.

“Long. It’s been very long,” you commented while shuffling through another pile of endless text, “The ghouls brought all of this in. Apparently an anonymous source gifted them with these papers. I was sceptical about its legitimacy… but it seems real now that I start reading them. It’s nothing we didn’t already know that’s to our bible, but the more records we have of such texts, the better.”

Copia was looking through some notes; getting onto the floor beside you to investigate, “An anonymous source? That’s interesting.” he said in thought as you gave your input, “It’s a bit disheartening that we already know everything in the texts, but I agree, cara— the more proof we have of Satan, the better.”

He stretched out a bit, “What do the texts say?” he asked you, curiosity getting the better of him. Copia was never one to waste time.

“It’s concerning one of the seven deadly sins. Lust, to be exact,” you grumbled while watching Copia go through his side of notes; reading them to basically sum it up as quickly as possible.

“It emphasizes the importance of ritualistic sex. Ritualistic sex pleases the Dark One, which we already knew.”

Copia nodded, “Not exactly groundbreaking information. It makes me wonder if this unknown source has any more than this.” he said in thought, “What other texts are in this pile?”

Copia picked up the other texts from the piles on the floor to look through, “Lust has always fascinated me, though.” he added, shooting you a short, intrigued look, “I think it’s the one that the Dark One loves most. What do you think?”

“It’s definitely the sin Lucifer treasures the most,” you nodded in agreement, very slightly catching Copia’s suggestive look, “The Catholic bible, because it praises abstinence, makes lust very fickle, even for the most loyal Catholics. That is how the Old One gets his most followers.”

Copia nodded, “Lust tends to be a powerful force and Satan certainly uses it to his advantage.” he said slowly, his multi-coloured eyes lingering on your face once more.

“I can certainly see why it’s the most alluring of the seven sins.”

He smirked at you, “What about you? Do you think you’d be susceptible to the lures of lust?”

You chuckled lightly, a slight blush dusting your cheeks as you placed the texts on the carpeted floor in front of you. “Who wouldn’t be? There’s a reason lust is Satan’s most reliable sin. I’m not powerful against lust, Copia, just as no one else is.”

Copia smirked at you, his eyes following your flushed cheeks. Copia, still on the floor across from you, scooted over on his butt, getting closer to you. “That’s an honest answer.” he said, “How much I’d like to test that…”

The anti-pope finally scooted all the way next to you, “All in the name of research, of course.” he said with a grin. He leaned in closer to you.

Your face flushed an even deeper shade of red at this. In the name of research…

Yeah right, Copia.

You cleared my throat in an attempt to help your obvious blush disappear, and shot him an amused look, “Papa, I’m surprised at how forward you’re being.”

Copia laughed at your words, “Does that surprise you?” he asked, “The Old One has a reputation for being a tease, no? And he lives through me.”

You could help but chuckle, tilting your head slightly so you could look into his multi-coloured eyes. You’d always been intrigued by the Papa, but it had always been limited. Your contact with Copia was always professional, so this was a very unorthodox conversation.

You didn’t mind, though.

Copia looked into your eyes, “Is there something wrong with that?” he asked, playing innocent. He couldn’t help but notice your silence.

He began to lean in close.

He smirked, “Or would you rather me back off?” he asked, his voice low and husky.

“I don’t think I want you to back off, Papa,” you replied while shifting your weight so you were sitting while facing him, “I believe Lucifer would be very disappointed in me if I didn’t accept this research project. He sent us these texts on purpose so we could experience lust, hands on.”

Copia’s smirk grew wider, “Then let’s not disappoint him.” he said, his voice low. Papa leaned in closer to you, “For Lucifer.” he murmured.

He wrapped his arms around your waist, bringing you even closer to him. He pulled you into a kiss. It was slow at first but soon grew more passionate. Copia’s kiss was firm and his hands squeezed your waist.

Copia was sitting cross legged on the carpet. As your lips grazed his and slowly began to melt into something much more passionate, you slowly made your way onto his lap. You grinded down lightly, little moans leaving your lips as the two of you made out.

You would occasionally open your eyes and notice how Copia’s face paint on his lips was beginning to grow smudged from your saliva coming together through the heated kisses.

With every shift in weight, there was a loud creak from the floorboards. Copia looked around the office briefly before turning back to you, his hands sliding up your upper body.

This wasn't just research after all. He needed this.

He needed you. You needed him.

Copia’s gloved hands squeezed your waist roughly again; his arms quickly beginning to guide you to grind against his clothed dick. You could feel the hardening of it beneath his pants, which just made you grow wet with anticipation.

His tongue moved with your every kiss, pressing on your tongue, slowly exploring it. Copia’s hands held you tight as his body was growing warmer by the second. Copia was growing more and more tempted to remove your articles of clothing, one by one.

Copia tasted absolutely amazing. You could taste his morning coffee on his tongue… his toothpaste as an after taste. He smelled amazing too, likely being fresh out of the shower.

The anti-pope’s gloved hands began to creep up your shirt, and you felt a pulse beginning to hammer in your core. You continued to grind against his hardening member from beneath his pants. You needed the friction against your swelling clit or else you might die.

Copia’s hands continued to explore your body, his hands squeezing and pressing different parts, as he pulled up your shirt, leaving you in a tank top. He lovingly kissed the exposed parts of your neck, leaving little marks. He couldn’t hold back his moans of delight as he saw your bruising neck, proving his ownership.

Somehow, Copia knew hickeys were your weakness. Getting marked… showing everyone else that you’re spoken for… you wanted nothing else but for Papa to suck every part of your exposed skin, leaving hickey after hickey to show everyone how he made you feel.

How he made you groan and writhe as he took his time with you. All in the name of research, of course.

Copia’s hands gripped tight around your loose tank top as he moaned, before he bit your neck, kissing all over it. Without any warning, Papa shifted the weight you both shared.

The anti-pope wrapped his arms around your torso and pushed you to the carpeted floor below. His body was on top of yours, his weight making you squirm slightly.

“P-Papa!” you moaned in surprise as Copia took the reigns, forcing you off his lap and onto the floor below him. You felt his hips forcing yours to the floor, which caused your eyes to roll into the back of your head from the sheer pleasure… the sheer idea of Copia dominating you on this dirty floor…

Copia’s lips had moved down to your neck, where he bit and kissed you all over. He had successfully identified your sweet spot on your neck; enacting little squeaks and mewls of pleasure as his tongue did laps around it. Copia’s moans grew louder as he bit your neck, kissing and teasing you.

Copia was breathing heavily, his body pressing against yours. The anti-pope began to kiss lower down your body, exploring every inch of your skin. His grip on you was firm and it kept you from squirming away. His other hand moved under you, beginning to unbutton your pants.

Your hands immediately tangled into Copia’s hair as he rushed in unclasping your pants. You were so aroused right now that you were certain Copia could smell it if he placed his face close enough.

“Oh, Satan. You’re driving me crazy, Papa!” you whispered as you writhed underneath his chest and hips.

Copia’s hands expertly undid your pants and he began to pull them down, revealing your underwear. He chuckled while eyeing you in amusement. You were wearing lacy black panties, which made the anti-pope stop to laugh a bit.

“It’s like you were prepared for me to fuck you today, no? Did Lucifer himself come into your dreams and tell you what I would be doing to you, mio tesoro?”

You squealed and hid your face in embarrassment over Copia’s words and movements. You were easily flustered, so the anti-pope was likely having a good time watching you writhe and squirm under him.

Copia chuckled, “I love the way you squirm. The way you’re so hot for me is driving me insane, cara,” he said in a low, teasing voice. He continued to hold you by the waist as he moved his hands down, undoing his own pants.

“These need a little help.” he whispered to you, “Care to help me with that, my little assistant?”

Copia was breathing deeply now, his body shaking slightly as he was more than excited for what would happen next.

“Yes, of course, Papa,” you sputtered while removing your hands from your face to help the man unbuckle his pants. Your hands shook from being so flustered, which caused another amused chuckle to leave Copia’s throat.

Of course he didn’t need help pulling his pants down. All he wanted was to see your blushing face as he relentlessly teased you through the night.

Once Copia’s pants were undone and he pulled them down, he was revealing himself in all of his glory. He was around 7 inches long and quite thick. His tip was swollen; a bit of precum glistening against the low office lighting. Your mouth watered at the sight.

“Like what you see?” Copia asked, his voice low and quiet. Copia’s hands were holding your legs down, occasionally giving your thighs squeezes. as he began to kiss them, marking them with hickeys as he had done to your neck.

You moaned and groaned in anticipation as Copia kissed and licked your thighs. You couldn’t help yourself in this moment.

Your fingers trailed down to your panties, which still remained on your body. Your ring finger began to rub and massage your sensitive nub as Copia left his ruined face paint on your thighs.

Copia enjoyed the reactions you gave as he kissed and licked your thighs, “It seems someone is very needy.” he said with glee, as he kissed you again, “Perhaps I should reward you for your obedient behavior?”

Copia’s hands moved to your panties as he pushed your fingers aside, “Let your Papa do it for you.”

Papa slowly began to remove your panties. It was agonizingly slow. Every touch of his finger as he removed them drove you crazy. Little moans of anticipation left your mouth as he fully stripped you naked, “Please touch me, Papa,” you groaned; your pussy already dripping from just his kisses and subtle touches.

Copia smirked down at you.

“I think it’s time I reward you.” he said in a low voice.

All of a sudden, you felt something wet and warm slide up your cunt, trailing to your swollen clit. Your back arched immediately, a choked groan leaving your mouth.

It was undoubtedly Copia’s tongue.

Copia gave a smirk, “You like that, cara?” he asked low and sultry, “Or should I do this instead?”

He shifted slightly and moved his fingers to your entrance. He slowly inserted his gloved finger into your soaking pussy, conjuring another strangled moan from your throat.

All in the name of research...

Then, he began to lick and suck at your clit, as well as fingering your clenching hole that was begging to be filled with something.

“F-Fuck, Copia!” you hissed as your hips involuntarily bucked into his fingers and his mouth as he continued pleasuring you. This brought out chuckles from the man.

Occasionally, Papa would lift his face up from your cunt to shoot you a seductive look, and you couldn’t help but moan as you saw your juices coating his lips and nose; smearing his face paint on the inside of your thighs.

His gloved hands held down your thighs as you thrusted up to meet his mouth.

“So eager, no? It’s precious to see how much you want my tongue, (Y/N). It’s borderline pathetic how wet you are, how my every touch has you screaming.”

“Less talking, more w-working!” you breathily commanded, ignoring his jab at how wet you were, “I’m close, P-Papa!”

An amused and almost sadistic laugh left his mouth as he dived right back in. You could help but shriek as his swollen lips wrapped their way around your clit; sucking as hard as he could.

Your lower half was screaming for release as his tongue slurped up the rest of your juices. “Oh, fuck!” you screamed while attempting to wrap your legs around Copia’s head… but unfortunately, he continued to hold you down, “Please -fuck- just stop the teasing!”

Your teeth grinded together as Copia chuckled into your heat; the vibrations just being enough to put you over the edge and summon your first orgasm of the night.

Your legs stiffened up as the muscles began to contract. Your eyes rolled into the back of your head, and Copia could only chuckle again as your juices coated his face. Your stomach filled with pleasurable pressure as Copia slurped up your cum.

“You taste so good for your Papa, hmm?” he hummed while carefully crawling up your body and planting his lips against yours.

You could taste yourself on his lips, and that reignited your arousal. Without hesitation, your hand wrapped around his cock; a squeak leaving his lips as you began to pump his length in your palm.

“I see Lucifer isn’t done with you yet.”

You didn’t tease him for very long. You were very horny. You needed him inside of you now! You quickly lined his dick up with your entrance; mewls of desire flooding through your lips as his leaking head rubbed against your sore clit.

Copia roughly grabbed your torso and flipped you over so you were on your hands and knees in front of him. You obediently arched your back, causing your face to fall to the floor and your ass to rise into the air.

“Mi cara~,” the anti-pope groaned as he slowly pushed into your soaking hole, “You take your Papa so well, sí? Ah. -fuck-.”

He bit at your ear as he fully mounted your backside. Your back arched into his chest as he began pumping in and out of you at an agonizingly-slow pace. It made you groan with a increasingly desire for him to pick up the pace, “Papa, please!” you squeaked like a cock-hungry whore, “P-please go faster!”

Copia purred and dug his gloved hands into your hips, speeding up slightly, “You want your Papa to speed up? I was going slow for your comfort, sweet girl.”

“Trust me, Copia. I am more than ready for you to move faster,” you hissed in annoyance while thrusting your hips backwards to meet his as he began to angle his dick to hit just the right spot during his thrusts, “If you don’t start moving, I am going to push you onto your back and take over this whole thing.”

“I’m not gonna say no to that,” the anti-pope growled while eagerly speeding up his thrusts.

You groaned and mewled as his dick began to gingerly slam into your g-spot, causing your eyes to roll into the back of your head. Your legs and arms shook violently with each thrust, as they were already weak from Copia’s mouth making love to your pussy only a few moments before.

“You take me so well,” he whispered while biting your ear as he swivelled his hips into yours, “Goddamn it, (Y/N). You feel so good, -fuck- you drive me crazy!”

“P-Papa!” you groaned while meeting his thrusts; your juice streaming down your legs as the anti-pope pulverized your sensitive pussy, “I’m gonna c-cum!”

You could hear Copia chuckling in your ears as he hooked his arms around your waist, holding you in place as he continued to rut into your pussy.

“Cum for me, sweetheart. Vieni per me, tesoro.”

You growled as your orgasm wracked your body violently. You absolutely adored when Copia spoke in Italian. Just his words alone could push an orgasm onto your body. He could be calling you a cock-hungry stupid slut and you’d still come completely undone for his words.

Copia came in sync as your pussy clenched around his cock; the most beautiful noises of pleasure leaving his lips. As his moans subsided, he had no choice but to remain attached to you; his cock still buried deeply into your pussy.

You panted and groaned as your head grew fuzzy from the intense orgasm. You slowly rolled onto your back as Copia collapsed onto your chest. As you wiped the sweat from your brow, Copia leaned forward and softly kissed your lips.

“You took me so good, bella. You’re such a good girl for your Papa,” Copia purred while leaning his forehead against yours; his eyes fluttering shut.

You chuckled lightly in exhaustion and cupped his perfect face into your hands; lovingly stroking away the remainder of his face paint with your thumbs, “Do you think Lucifer is pleased with our research?”

“Oh definitely,” Copia laughed in amusement; little creases appearing at the sides of his eyes, signifying his smile and laughter was legit, “All in the name of research, eh? NemA.”

“NemA, Papa.”

[kozachenko]

Ok the WIP I posted a little while ago is no loner a WIP yipeeeeeee I am so tired of looking at this drawing.

Artist's Notes:

THIS DRAWING IS FINALLY DONE YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Ok so this drawing was a WIP that I had had sitting around for a while, and so because I wanted to do a test run with the new face style I'm trying out, I decided to pick it back up again. Now you may notice that compared to the other version of the WIP, the shading is different, and that's because I had to change all of it to match the light source of the moon, which was.... not exactly fun (especially cuz I stayed up late at night to finish this which was tiring), but it was worth it because I am a lot happier with the shading now. Also, when I initially redid the shading on the white trim of her outfit, I ended up making them look like indiscreet white blobs that just looked... bad, so I had to fix that and I think it looks a lot better.

My favourite parts of this drawing have to be the face and the hair, though I'm not surprised about how much I like the hair since hair is my favourite thing to draw. Also the wolf, I really like how the wolf turned out, since I also love drawing animals from time to time. I also like how the background turned out.

Also, Enoko's design was a hit hard to get right, and I decided to add the white trim separating her shirt and skirt mainly because I didn't like how abruptly it changed in the original design. Also, for some reason her dress makes me think of 1800s-y southern/western clothes, which has given me the headcanon that Saki gave her these clothes when they first met. Makes me wanna draw the two of them together in very western styled clothes, I think it would be cute. I also changed up some of the colours on her original design to fit in more with the palette that I was going for with this piece. Also, I like how her tails turned out, mainly because when I was working on some of the sketch for this I tried to make them smaller, but they didn't look right so I just went "fuck it" and made them big and poofy. Also drawing her wolf ears was fun, I like drawing simplified wolf ears like that. Overall, I'd say I did a good job incorporating elements (like the bear trap hands, the tails, the gem) in a way that didn't feel like they were out of place in the piece (something I was concerned about with Enoko's design).

All in all, I wouldn't call this my best work, but I do like a lot of aspects of it. I've also noticed that I'm kinda getting a bit frustrated with certain parts of my style like the lighting (mainly the lighting), so I think I wanna try and branch back into that more painterly style that I started out with when I first started posting here while still mixing in some elements of my lineless style. Also, I need to get better with my colour values, mainly just for clarity since I kinda think that's where this drawing falls flat a little.

[jadequeen88]

Watchin' You

Summary:

He walked around the corner of the building that housed the showers when he saw them. Eddie knew that was your canvas bag, the very one he saw you pull out of the floorboard of his van when you got out. There was no mistaking that the black, lace boy shorts lying on top of your other clothes were yours. It looked like you’d stepped out of them and laid them right on the bag. That could only mean one thing… “Oh, fuck me sideways…” You’d been wearing these. You sat in Eddie’s van wearing these exact panties.

Notes:

I had a mighty need for more Virgin Eddie content that resulted in this monstrosity of a one-shot... that will have a part two! Let me know what y'all think of my characterization of our boy in the comments!

TWs: Virgin Eddie Munson, Unrequited Love, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Eddie Munson Has ADHD, Vaginal Fingering, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss, First Time Blow Jobs, Panty Kink, Eddie Munson is a panty thief, Panty thief

“Hey.”

Eddie looks around his locker door to ensure he’s not hallucinating, that an actual, real-life girl is speaking to him.

“Y-yeah? Me?” goddammit, of course, his voice would choose to crack now.

“Yeah, you.”

Oh god, you’re pretty. Like, music-video-vixen level pretty. It’s terrifying.

“Um, what is it?”

“Smooth moves, jackass. Now you sound like a dick,” he thinks.

You bite your bottom lip, looking slightly amused. Ah, shit. You’re about to laugh in his face, aren't you?

“We’re twins,” you say, holding out the bottom of your t-shirt. Sure as shit, you are in matching Iron Maiden shirts. Eddie nearly faints. However, what he actually does could be considered worse than fainting in front of his dream girl.

“Oh,” he squeaks out, slamming his locker door and turning to walk away quickly.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! What the fuck was that?! his brain screams. The first time a girl speaks to him without ill intent, a girl who likes his favorite band no less, and he runs away like a bitch. Perfect.

That was the only interaction between you and the awkward metalhead in high school, but it was enough to make a lasting impression

.

After that day, Eddie soaked up any and all information about you that he could. He knew you had just transferred from Indianapolis and that you played the French Horn. You must be good because he discovered that you were first chair and section leader. Eddie knew that you liked to skip your third-period gym class to smoke. You often joked with your friends about how your days playing your instrument were numbered due to the bad habit (he may or may not also skip that period just to sit on the other side of the tall brick wall to hear your voice, not creepy at all, shut up).

He knew that you used expensive Italian perfume to cover the smell of cigarette smoke; something that in Eddie’s mind smelled like sophistication and raw sex appeal, but according to what you told Buckley, actually smelled like bergamot, sandalwood, and patchouli. He also knew you used cherry chapstick instead of lipstick in neon shades as other girls did. You didn’t wear much make-up, mainly eyeliner which made your eyes darker and more mysterious.

He knew that you mostly stuck to your group of band kids. There was this one time, however, when you saw Carol Perkins trip one of the chess team kids in the cafeteria. You gave her a black eye in front of the entire school and got suspended for a week. It was the most metal thing Eddie had ever seen.

He could write a novel about you. He could fill chapters describing how your hair caught the sunlight or how you twirled your rings around your fingers when you were concentrating on a test. He could write sonnets about your chipped, black nail polish and scuffed Docs. He could write dissertations about the intricacies of your music tastes and how closely they align with his tastes based on the bits of band merch you owned and how you chose to wear them.

But Eddie couldn’t fucking speak to you.

He considered it almost daily. But he’d always end up nauseous at the very thought of trying to approach you. So he never did, and you walked that stage in May of 1983 never to set foot in the halls of Hawkins High again. You got your diploma, went back to Indianapolis for college, and left Eddie behind to rot in the dusty trailer park he called home.

If you’d told Eddie then that a few years later, he’d be trauma bonded with Robin Buckley, Nancy Wheeler, and “King Steve” Harrington after fighting interdimensional monsters and saving the world, he’d have laughed in your face. But here he is, freshly graduated (finally), surrounded by friends, and sporting some gnarly scars to prove it all happened.

He was out by Steve’s pool (one of the perks of having a rich friend) watching the sunset and sharing stories with his friend over a beer. The crunch of gravel on the driveway drew their attention to the front of the house as they were standing to compare demobat scars.

“Buckley and Wheeler?” Eddie asked. Steve nodded.

“Yeah, and Robin’s other friend. Just graduated college. I don’t really know her that well, but she spent her senior year in Hawkins. She was a band kid or something, I think. Played the same instrument as Robin,” Steve waves his hands in a vague gesture trying to think of what the instrument in question was again. “That… big, curly trumpet.”

Eddie swallowed hard. “French horn…” he whispered, and Steve snapped his fingers in frustration that he’d forgotten the name of his best friend’s instrument.

There’s no way, it couldn’t be…

He didn’t have time to do more than grip the glass bottle in his hand and stare towards the side of the house where their friends’ voices echoed. He felt too exposed shirtless, so he bolted to grab his cropped Metallica tee and hurriedly threw it over his head.

“The fuck is your problem, man?” Steve asked, weirded out at his easy-going friend’s sudden burst of anxiety.

“Just,” he waved his hands around in frustration, trying to formulate a proper response. “The scars. They’re kinda gnarly, ya know?”

Steve scoffed. “Pretty sure it was Nance and me who kept you from bleeding out, and Robin has seen more of us than either of us are comfortable with, so what-”

Eddie shifted on his feet uncomfortably, arms crossed over his chest and eyes on the ground. Steve bent forward to meet his gaze, hands on his narrow hips and sporting a shit-eating grin.

“Oh shit, is it the band girl? Do you know her?” Steve walked towards him, speaking in a hushed tone, eyes brimming with mischief. The thought of Eddie “cold, cynical heart” Munson having a schoolboy crush was sending him over the moon with glee.

“Fuck off, Harrington,” Eddie hissed in Steve’s face right before you and the rest of the group rounded the corner of the house.

“Holy hell,” Steve murmured low enough for only Eddie to hear, “Didn’t know band nerds could look like that.”

Eddie was so enchanted by your sudden appearance that he almost missed the salacious tone of Steve’s voice. Almost.

“I will end you, Harrington. I swear to God, if you-”

“Jesus man, cool it. I won’t step on any toes,” he raised his hands in surrender, and Eddie’s glare softened marginally. “I’m only noticing what anyone who isn’t blind would.”

Eddie took a moment to look at you properly. You hadn’t noticed him yet, so he used the opportunity to drink in your form. He felt like a man wandering the desert deprived of water, finally making it to the bank of a river. Sure, he pined after you for an embarrassingly long time after you left Hawkins, and he never really forgot about you. There were other crushes and even a couple of make-out sessions, but they were never you. Seeing you now in that flowing, white swimsuit cover, skin glistening with sun tan oil, and that blinding smile spread across your face, Eddie felt like that sixteen-year-old loser who ran from you in the halls at school.

“Yeah, well,” Eddie grumbled under his breath so only Steve could hear. “If you try anything, I’ll make sure you do end up blind.” He schooled his features to look unfazed the closer you got.

“Jesus,” Steve wheezed, still a little shocked at Eddie’s rare burst of aggression. The last time he saw him this worked up he was holding a broken beer bottle to his neck in Reefer Rick’s boat shed. “Got it, chief. No funny business outta me.”

Eddie was so fucked. Not only was he trying to deal with being in your presence again without making an ass of himself, but his friends were also onto him. It’s almost like fighting monsters and nearly dying in a hell-dimension together made you all very perceptive of behavioral shifts. Who knew? It’s nice for Eddie to have a group of friends who finally get him, but hella inconvenient when he’s trying to hide the fact that he has a crush on the new addition to the group.

Steve, naturally, noticed first. Seeing Eddie get all “aggro” right off the bat killed any chances of him playing it cool. So his gaze followed him throughout the night, observing how Eddie would interact with you.

Steve’s attention then spurred Robin's attention. And when she has her sights honed in on a situation, it’s like a Great White sensing a drop of blood in the water.

The “Scoop Troop Wonder Twins” gawking at him (they were not being subtle at all, by the way) caught the attention of “super-sleuth” Nancy Wheeler. That led to the three of them huddled in a mass, whispering together on the opposite edge of the pool.

The only radars that Eddie was managing to fly under were Jonathan and Argyle’s. That’s not hard to do since they were balls-high on Purple Palm Tree Delight as soon as they sat in the metal deck chairs on Steve’s patio.

Then there you were, partaking in the rotation with the two stoners, a spot Eddie usually occupied. With your feet propped in an empty chair, he could hear you talking passionately about music with the other two. When he looked up as he heard you call out to him, Eddie knew his face had to give away how shocked he was.

“Hey! It’s Eddie, right?” You moved your feet out of the empty chair and motioned him over. “I remember you being a man of taste. Come over here and back me up on this.”

Eddie would readily agree to anything you asked of him. He’d fight to the death over it now.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he scratched his head a little and walked over to sit.

You promptly handed him the tightly rolled joint, smoke curling out of your nostrils like some sort of sexy wyvern, eyes half-lidded and just a little red. Oh god, he’s so terribly in love.

“I’m going to give you two options to choose from. No right or wrong, no pressure. But be warned,” then your lips curled in a mischievous smirk. He was reminded again of a dragon offering a riddle to a poor mortal that stumbled upon her hoard, the answer granting safe passage or untimely demise. “I will remember how you answer, and I will definitely judge you for it.”

Eddie almost choked on the smoke he’d inhaled like he was fourteen again and smoking for the first time behind his uncle’s trailer. “Wow, yeah. No pressure at all. Okay, hit me,” he responded, trying to appear calm as he passed the joint to Argyle.

“Black Sabbath with Ozzy? Or Black Sabbath with Dio? You’ve got thirty seconds,” you grinned evilly, swinging one leg over the other and leveling your dark gaze at him.

“Oh shit, man. Uh,” Eddie was losing it. He didn’t expect such a difficult decision. Choosing between his two favorite metal vocalists? Pure torture. But he’s a professional metalhead, after all. He’s put thought into this very question. “Ozzy Sabbath is iconic, of course. But Heaven and Hell is hands down one of the best albums ever written.”

You clapped once loudly and then pointed at Jonathan cackling. “What did I say?! One of Sabbath’s best albums ever made was with Dio fronting!”

The shaggy-haired stoner groaned and rolled his eyes. You looked over at Eddie, biting back a wide grin. “Jonathan said Sabbath wasn’t really Sabbath anymore once Ozzy left and that no one would agree with me when I defended Heaven and Hell!”

“Wait, you listen to Sabbath, Byers?” Eddie questioned, brows raised. He never took the gangly pothead as someone who would listen to metal.

“I listen to a little of everything, I guess,” he mumbled, passing the joint back to you to start another rotation.

You leaned your head back to gaze at the stars that just started to appear in the sky as you blew the fragrant smoke from your lips. “You passed my test. Congrats,” you extended your arm to Eddie, looking at him softly. Your fingers brushed as you handed over the roach, the joint almost gone by now. “I won’t judge you so harshly now.”

Maybe it was the high setting in, but Eddie swore he saw you throw a little wink his way. There was no stopping the goofy little grin taking over his face as he took the last hit off the joint and relaxed into his chair.

Eddie wasn’t ever, nor ever would be religious, but there is one quote he’s often heard that has stuck in his brain:

“The Lord gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.”

It only confirms there is no Christian god in his mind. He’s been thrown into the toughest battles of his life constantly over the past few weeks, and if there is one thing Eddie knows for sure, it’s the fact that he is no one’s strongest soldier.

Today’s challenge took the form of a slip of black lace peeking out of the top of your duffle bag.

This most recent dilemma was the result of Eddie agreeing to something he’d always avoided until now…

Fucking camping

Eddie hated the outdoors and hated being forced to spend more time than necessary roaming them. (Uncle Wayne always blamed it on having a dad who only ever taught him how to commit crimes and never took him camping as a small child, but who knows?). As soon as you consented to the idea, Eddie was totally on board with going along. Steve started to give him shit for agreeing so quickly to something he knew his friend hated until Eddie leveled him with a glare so toxic it could melt the paint off the walls.

By this point, he was pretty sure everyone besides you knew about his crush (and probably Argyle, but that guy was constantly operating on another wavelength). Even Nancy started giving him knowing looks behind her permed bangs when he’d laugh just a tad bit too loud at your jokes. Eddie nearly threw Steve out of his passenger's seat when you asked to hitch a ride with him out to Lover’s Lake campground.

“What the fuck, man! I can just get in the back-”

“Nope. No. Fuck off, Harrington. Take your own car this time.”

“But I just washed-,”

“Don’t care…”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake!”

Steve relented, making up a random excuse for taking his car. Robin happily jumped into the passenger seat of his little Mercedes and took over his radio. Eddie just grinned and threw a middle finger at his friend, who glared at him over the top of his car before getting inside.

“Thank god I’m riding with you! I don’t think I could suffer through any more of Argyle’s stoner tunes.” you hopped into Eddie’s van wearing a cropped Mercyful Fate tee and tiny denim cut-offs. So much exposed skin with no warning was doing terrible things for Eddie’s poor, inexperienced (dick) heart. “I love the guy, don’t get me wrong, I just needed to bond with a fellow metalhead today.”

Eddie cleared his throat and smiled, starting the car. He’s grateful he has the excuse of watching the road to keep his eyes (mostly) turned away from your exposed thighs. “Of course. Anytime.”

If Eddie weren’t so hopeless, he’d make some quip about all the fun ways the two of you could ‘bond’, but how could he flirt with you when looking at your legs had him getting hard like some fifteen-year-old? He was so hopeless.

“You can put in anything you’d like,” he gestured to the shoebox that held his cassette collection at your feet. “Most of my shit is at home, but I keep a decent variety here.”

He heard little ‘oohs’ and ‘ahh’s’ as you shuffled through the box. Eddie couldn’t help but feel a little proud that you approved of his musical selection. You yelled an enthusiastic “You’re fuckin’ kidding me!” and popped a tape into the radio before he could ask what you’d found.

“Where did you find this?! I’ve looked for months!”

Eddie started sweating when he heard the opening riff to the raunchiest goddamn song. It was his prized possession, one he only got his hands on because of friends in high places, W.A.S.P.’s “Animal” cassette.

“Umm,” Eddie’s brain short-circuited as you began to move to the beat of the music, throwing your head back and grinning at him wildly. “I’m pretty good buddies with a guy that owns a record store up in Indianapolis. Asked him to keep an eye out for me. I only got it a couple of weeks ago.”

“God, I’ve been dying to hear it again after hearing it live last March.”

Eddie’s nerves were quickly replaced with excitement. “Wait, live, you say?!”

“Yup,” you pop the p proudly and rest your feet on the dash. “I’ve got a cousin down in Dallas, which sucks, by the way. I don’t recommend ever going to Texas. Anyway, we saw them open for Iron Maiden. I’m telling you, it was a religious experience.”

Eddie slapped his hands on the steering wheel and a short, disbelieving laugh escaped his throat. “That’s insane! Holy shit, man!”

“I know,” you hummed. He felt you look over at him. “Have you gotten to see either of them live yet?”

“Nah,” he sighed. “Not yet. But one day! I’m already saving up.”

“We’ll go together,” you said it so casually, you acted as if it made perfect sense for you guys to go to a concert together. “We can split costs.” Eddie’s heart jumped up to his throat, and before he could form a coherent response, he saw you looking in the back of his van. He suddenly worried about what filth might be lurking back there. “We could even bunk up here and save on a hotel!”

Eddie stuttered and scratched his neck nervously. You must have taken it as rejection because you looked embarrassed as you sat back down and started fidgeting with your hair.

“Oh god, I’m sorry, Eddie. I do this thing all the time.” You waved your hands around in front of your face when you said ‘thing’, trying to find the words to express how you felt. “There aren’t many people I can talk about music with, you know? So I get all worked up and excited when someone else seems interested in the bands I love, and I assume we’re best friends.” You let out a self-deprecating chuckle, looking out the passenger side window. “I know it’s off-putting.”

Eddie couldn’t have that. He shook his head so hard that his hair slapped across his face. “Nope, uh-uh. Cut that out.” He glanced over to make sure your attention was on him. “That was like…” he sighed. How could he reassure you without outing himself as being obsessed with you?

“It was so far from off-putting. You have no idea.” Eddie swallowed hard and noticed you looked a little confused. He gathered the meager bits of courage he possessed and continued. “I’m just not used to…” he paused. He can’t say ‘Sorry, I’m not used to my walking, wet dream asking to road-trip with me to go to a metal show, so I don’t know how to function right now.’ so he took a moment to choose his words carefully.

“I’m just not used to other people being as excited as I am about my music, either. So I was just… surprised. But in a good way!” He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and added under his breath. “In a great fuckin’ way, actually.”

Eddie watched you visibly relax. “Oh, thank god,” You chuckled. “I know I can be too much sometimes. I think the reason why one of the only people I’ve stayed friends with is Robin. She’s one of the only people that’s never judged me for it. Robin and I are kinda cut from the same cloth, I guess. Kindred spirits, if you will.”

It warmed his heart to see you smile when talking about the freckled girl that also wormed her way into his heart.

“Buckley’s a good one. She uh,” Eddie’s throat tightened as painful memories flashed across his mind. Tears and mud streaked across Robin's face, screaming something he didn’t understand…Her body quaking under his as she helped drag him along dank, dark earth… her sniffling and talking to him quietly as she bandaged his mauled sides, offering soft words of comfort and handling Eddie as carefully as if he were spun glass…

He cleared his throat and blinked away a rogue tear threatening to escape. “She’s one of a kind. Harrington, too. Shit, the whole bunch. You’ll see, you don’t have to be anyone but yourself around these guys. Promise.”

Eddie felt comforted as he watched you relax further into the passenger seat. He knew all about being ‘too much’ and how people treated those that dared to be unapologetically themselves. He had no idea someone as perfect as you ever experienced things similar to his own growing up.

The rest of the short drive consisted of talking about music and shows you’d been to, always with the promise of ‘when we see them next time.’ Including Eddie in your plans made Eddie’s insides all gooey and his heart flutter. He tried to keep reminding himself that just because you were being nice to him that it didn’t mean you were about to confess your undying love. It’s a problem Eddie has always had. He can’t love anything halfway; not his music, books, or even a few movies he’d been obsessed with over the years. It also bled into his relationships, this all-consuming, feral love. Uncle Wayne has always said that he wore his heart on his sleeve, even after life had given him every reason to build a barbed wire fence around it.

Eddie parked a little way uphill from the others since his van doubled as his tent and because he valued his privacy. He told himself he didn’t want the younger kids catching a whiff of his nightly smoking sesh (He knows they know about his drug dealing, but that doesn't mean he wants to flaunt it). A darker part of him knew that he might have to indulge in other nightly activities after watching you in a tiny, red bikini all day.

Eddie graciously helped everyone out with setting up their tents. However, he still periodically reminded anyone who would listen that he didn’t have to bother with tents since he owned the superior form of transportation that doubled as a car and a place to sleep. So what if his chest puffed up a little when you giggled at his comments? He didn’t think it warranted the gagging and eye-rolling he got from Henderson, Red, and both Sinclair siblings. Damn kids…

When everyone went to the campground showers to change into swimsuits, Eddie simply threw his shirt off, opting to swim in his cut-off jeans. He snickered, thinking about the look of horror he’d get from Mr. Former Swim Team Captain at his audacity (he banned denim from his pool to force Eddie into a pair of borrowed trunks, but they were at the lake now. King Steve had no power here).

When you left the showers with Robin and Nancy in a cherry red bikini, Eddie made a beeline for the toilets. There’s no way in the nine circles of hell he’d be able to swim around without getting hard at the sight of you. He walked around the corner of the building that housed the showers when he saw them. Eddie knew that was your canvas bag, the very one he saw you pull out of the floorboard of his van when you got out. There was no mistaking that the black, lace boy shorts lying on top of your other clothes were yours. It looked like you’d stepped out of them and laid them right on the bag. That could only mean one thing…

“Oh, fuck me sideways…”

You’d been wearing these. You sat in Eddie’s van wearing these exact panties.

He knew he’d probably hate himself forever for what he was about to do, but in his defense, Eddie did make sure you had extra pairs of clean panties before swiping these (He’s not a monster, okay? He wouldn’t dream of leaving a fair maiden pantiless). After taking them, cursing himself quietly, he high-tailed it back to his van to hide them. He couldn’t help feeling like Gollum, storing the One Ring away in his cave away from nosey hobbits.

Before going back to the lake, he couldn’t resist pulling the fabric to his face and inhaling deeply. Eddie’s eye’s rolled into the back of his head, groaning at the light scent of you that permeated the delicate fabric. He shook his head and threw them into the van to rest among his bedding. If he got too carried away now, he would never get rid of the persistent issue he had grown between his thighs.

After another adjustment and filling his thoughts with some of the most boner-killing scenarios, Eddie was finally able to rejoin everyone at the lake. If he had to remain solidly waist deep the entire time to avoid embarrassing himself and everyone around him… Well that was his business, wasn’t it?

As Eddie’s luck would have it, as soon as he dared to slip the tantalizing strip of fabric that haunted him all fucking day long over his face, there was a knock on his van door. He nearly jumped out of his skin, sitting up at lightning speed.

He cracked the back door open and gasped when he saw it was you, still clutching your panties firmly in his grip. He slammed the door shut before you could speak and dove towards his bedding, stuffing the offending garment deep into his pillowcase. Eddie took one large breath to steady himself before turning to open the back door again.

“H-hi, umm,” he wanted to curl up into a ball and die. He just knew you were on to him. You were probably knocking on his door to tell him what a filthy pervert he was and demand he hand over your underwear. “What’s uh… what’s up?”

You looked both amused and slightly confused, one eyebrow cocked upwards. “Well, the thing is,” you looked around the dark campground, biting your bottom lip. “My tent keeps collapsing. So I tried bunking with Robin and Steve, but there was no room. All the other tents are full too, so… if it wouldn’t be too weird, I guess…” you trailed off sheepishly.

“You wanna sleep in here?” Eddie knew his eyes rivaled the size of the full moon that hung above your heads. He felt equal parts horrified, shocked, and elated that you’d ended up seeking him out.

“I’m sorry if it’s too weird! I can just squeeze between Robin and Steve, it’s no big-”

“No,” Eddie barked. He cleared his throat a little and lowered his voice. “No, it’s totally fine. I don’t mind at all,” The thought of you snuggling up to Harrington was one he didn’t want to entertain. He hoped his smile was reassuring and not creepy like he felt it might be. You must not have cared since you beamed at him and announced you’d be back with your bedding in a minute.

Eddie scrambled around to ensure the mess in the back of his van wasn’t too out of hand. He’d thrown an old pair of boxers and an empty beer can over the driver’s side seat when he heard you knock again. He was relieved that he decided to shower and put on deodorant earlier when most of the other guys didn’t after swimming all afternoon. Eddie would have lain awake all night in misery if he’d had to share close quarters with you smelling like a fish.

Once you were both inside the van, he closed the door, and the silence was deafening. You must have noticed the tension because you shifted an inch closer and cleared your throat. That gave Eddie the courage to sneak a peek at you over his shoulder.

He nearly groaned as he watched you pull a joint out of your goddamn bra and wave it in front of you, cocking an eyebrow up and smiling.

“Purple palm tree delight?” Eddie whispered, his mouth dry as cotton before taking a single hit.

“You know it,” you responded, pulling a lighter out of your pillowcase. Eddie wondered why you weren’t using your pockets. He risked a glance down towards your lap. Your shorts (if they could even be called shorts instead of underwear) were so tiny that there was no way you’d fit anything in there, even if they did have pockets. He felt dizzy at the thought of you being in such little clothing this close to him all night.

You lit up the joint, the small, flickering flame casting your features in an enchanting glow. Eddie was close enough to smell that you’d used some of that expensive perfume. A tiny, pathetic part of him wondered if you’d done it for him. ‘Don’t be a fool’ he thought. ‘Just because she’s sharing her weed and talking about music with you doesn’t mean anything. Stop being a pathetic creep.’

He must have missed something you’d said because he heard you call his name and saw you looking at him questioningly.

“Oh, sorry. What was that?”

“I said, can I try something?”

“S-sure,” Eddie didn’t know (or care, if he’s being honest) if you’d asked to try out ritual sacrifice or if you asked to try a piece of his gum, but he knew he’d always let you try anything you’d wanted. “I need to get pretty close. Is that okay?”

Eddie nodded, transfixed by you getting up on your knees and leaning over his face. Your face was inches from his. Eddie thanked any deity that existed for the forethought he had to put his pillow over his lap. He’d beg to be struck down by lightning if you knew how easily he got boners when you were near him.

You brought the joint up to your lips. Before taking a hit, you asked, “Have you ever shotgunned, Eddie?”

Of course, he hadn’t. Eddie’s experience with the fairer sex was woefully lacking. Instead of admitting it out loud, he simply shook his head no.

“Do you want to try it?” you purred. Eddie gripped the pillow over his lap as he nodded yes furiously. You grinned and put the joint to your lips. Eddie could have cried when you placed your small hand on his cheek, thumb pushing his chin down to open his mouth for you.

Your hand traveled to the back of his neck as you released smoke into his waiting mouth, and Eddie shuddered. He grew so flustered that he could barely inhale what you exhaled towards him. His eyes closed, and he let out a shaky exhale as you began to play with his hair.

“How was that?” you asked, lips still heart-achingly close to his own. Eddie’s brain was mush. The defenses he usually kept up around you to appear cool were falling fast.

“Am I dreaming right now?” was the only coherent thought he could string together, so that’s what ended up coming out of his mouth.

Your laughter sounded like bells. “Why do you ask that, Eddie?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No,” you drew out your response, still looking at him suspiciously.

“I’ve been obsessed with you since I was sixteen,” you looked genuinely surprised, but Eddie couldn’t stop the words from flowing now that he unleashed them. “I think I might die if I have to pretend for one more day that I’m not,” He paused. Eddie was so terrified. He felt like he might puke. “You scare the ever-living shit out of me, but not in a ‘horror movie villain’ way,” he inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. “In the way you might fear a beautiful warrior queen on the battlefield, or a siren out at sea.”

When he opened his eyes, he saw you wearing such a soft expression that he felt safe to keep talking. He said your name so quietly that he barely heard himself whisper it. “I’m just a freak that dreams about entertaining a goddess.”

Before he could feel insecure about spilling his guts to you in the back of his shitty van, your hands were holding his face, noses pressed together.

“Eddie Munson, you are a fool,” you whispered before attaching your lips to his in the sweetest kiss Eddie knew he’d ever had.

Eddie only nodded in agreement, clutching at your waist. He felt drunk off your lips, all of his insecurities taking a back seat as he reached for another kiss.

“You really had no clue?” you spoke into his ear as you kissed along his jawline.

“About what? Oh, fuck!” he whined as you sat down on top of him. Your weight in his lap felt heavenly despite the stupid pillow being in the way.

“About what?!” You pulled away with a wide eye stare. “I’ve been wanting to get in your pants since high school, you dingus!” You emphasized your point with a light slap to his chest. “I thought you hated me for the longest time! I was so nervous when I talked to you that one time we wore matching Iron Maiden shirts! When you ran away, I thought that was it. Then, years later, not only do I find out my crush is now friends with my best friend,” your arms wrapped around his neck as you leaned in. “I also find out that he’s got a big, fat crush on me too.” Your noses brushed and Eddie shivered.

“No fuckin’ way,” he whimpered as your lips brushed lightly.

“Yes fuckin’ way,” you replied, capturing him in another kiss.

Eddie didn’t question how you found out about his crush because he quite frankly didn’t have the brain power for it. He’d deal with all that later.

“Not to run you off or anything,” he sighed, relishing the feel of your soft hands exploring his torso. “But I was so obsessed with you back in school. Like, to a concerning degree.”

He didn’t expect you to moan into his neck at his admission, but he also wasn’t upset about it.

“Tell me about it, baby,” your voice was a husky whisper. “Keep talkin’ to me.”

“Oh god,” Eddie whined as he felt you begin to suck a mark into the delicate skin under his ear. “Feels… that feels so good.”

“Want me to mark you up? Show everyone you belong to me, Eddie?”

“Holy shit, yes! Please…”

“Then talk to me,” you kissed over the mark that began to form on his neck. “Tell me all about your little crush.”

“Fuck!” He cried out, bucking up into the pillow. “I, uh. I n-never even looked at anyone else in school after I saw you.”

“Not even the pretty little cheerleaders?”

“No,” he gasped when your lips met his again. “No one, I swear.”

You got off Eddie’s lap and he thought he might cry at the loss. The pillow hiding the tent he was sporting in his sweats was ripped away and for a moment, he felt self-conscious. You noticed him tense up and cupped his face.

“We can stop, you know?” Your eyes glowed with affection and Eddie wondered again how he was lucky enough to warrant that expression from you. “I’m just thrilled that we can be honest with each other now. We don’t have to do anyth-,”

“I’m a virgin,” Eddie blurred out. “Like a uh, mega virgin…”

Eddie could tell you were trying to keep your features neutral, but he saw the smile that wanted to peek out.

“A ‘mega virgin’?” You said, biting your lip to keep from laughing.

“Yes,” Eddie answered with a grimace. “Like an ‘I’ve never seen boobies in real life’ level of virgin. So, I’m probably going to be very bad at everything,” he looked up from his lap to lock eyes with you. Any trace of humor was gone, replaced with that honey-sweet fondness in your eyes.

“Can I be blunt with you, Eddie?” Your thumbs brushed his cheekbones softly as you spoke. “I’m so insanely attracted to you that I don’t think any touch you decide to give me could ever feel bad. Do you understand?”

“Y-yeah,” he responded with a whisper. “I feel the same way about you.”

Your forehead met his and he closed his eyes, afraid that when he opened them again, he’d realize this was all a dream.

“Do you wanna feel what kissing you does to me?” Eddie could only nod and pray to Lucifer that this was going where he thought it was. You grabbed his hand and placed it on your lower stomach. “Go ahead,” your lower lip brushed his as you spoke. “Feel how bad I want you.”

Eddie’s fingers trembled as they traveled past the elastic waistband of your tiny black shorts. He was mesmerized watching your mouth drop open and your eyelids lower in pleasure. When his hand’s slow descent made it to your soaked entrance, he was floored by how impossibly wet you were.

“Jesus H. Christ, this is unreal,” he moved his fingers up and down, not having any sort of plan, simply wanting to feel. By the way you grabbed his shoulders and started panting, you didn’t seem to mind his lack of skill too terribly. “Are you always this wet?”

You shook your head no instead of answering verbally. Eddie’s forehead fell to your collarbone as he let out a loud groan. His eyes were fixed on the outline of his hand in your shorts.

“Can we get these off?” He asked. “I wanna look, please.”

“Yeah, sure,” you responded, laying down on his blankets. You lifted your hips to take them off when Eddie grabbed your hands.

“Let me?” Eddie’s hands shook and his breath froze in his lungs. He’d dreamed of this exact scenario so many times before. This all seemed as fantastical as the D&D campaigns he spent hours writing.

“Please,” your voice was so airy and desperate. Eddie still couldn’t comprehend that he was the reason for it. You raised your hips and he slowly pulled your shorts off along with your panties. Immediately, he began running his fingers through your wetness, looking up at your face to judge your reactions.

“Does this feel good?” he asked. You nodded, biting down on your bottom lip with your eyes closed. He continued that way for a couple of minutes longer, panting at how wet his pointer and middle fingers had become. He laid his head on your thigh and kissed your damp skin. He kept his nose buried there, reveling in your smell and taste.

“I-I wanna make you come. Please,” your eyes met his and he kissed higher up your thigh, not looking away once. You threw your head back with a loud moan. Eddie felt like a god, your obvious signs of pleasure giving him newfound confidence. His fingers sped up while he added the slightest bit more pressure to his strokes. “That’s it, get loud for me. God, I fucking love your noises. Show me, baby,” he stopped touching you and grabbed one of the hands you had fisted in his blanket and wove your fingers together squeezing gently to get your attention. You nodded and brought his hand back down between your thighs.

“Put them inside,” you coached him along as he breached your soaked entrance. He went as slow as he could manage, eyes flitting between his disappearing fingers and your blissed-out face. Once he was in far enough, you spoke again. “Now, curl the- oh, fuck!”

Eddie grinned wildly at your outburst. He might be a virgin, but he’s not clueless, okay? Weirdly enough, he’d learned this little trick from Reefer Rick, of all people. They got high once and when Eddie let slip he was still a virgin, Rick took it upon himself to give him some sort of fucked up sex ed class on women’s pleasure. At the time, he wanted to curl up and die of shame. Now? All the embarrassment in the world was worth seeing your jaw drop and eyes roll back like this.

“There we go,” he purred. The part of Eddie’s personality that allowed him to go feral while DMing was bleeding over into his interactions with you. He sat up and began rubbing back and forth along your soaked clit with his other hand.

“Oh god, Eddie!” you looked close to tears as he massaged you inside and out. Your hips began writhing and when your thigh accidentally grazed Eddie’s stiff cock, he nearly doubled over. You noticed instantly and repeated the gesture.

“Fuck,” his movements faltered and you chuckled darkly, “Baby, if you make me come in my sweats I might die of embarrassment,” he whined through gritted teeth.

“What if I wanna see you do it?”

Eddie closed his eyes and inhaled deeply to collect himself. “Nope. Uh-uh,” he looked back down with determination in his features. “I’m getting you off first. I’ve dreamt of this for years. I refuse to jizz in my pants before you come all over my hands,” he redoubled his efforts, tongue peeking out of his mouth slightly in concentration.

Your eyes flew open and your body tensed. Eddie began to feel your walls fluttering around his fingers. It was the most intriguing and arousing thing he’d ever experienced.

“Holy shit,” he gasped. “You about to come, sweetheart?”

You nodded and grabbed his shoulder, sitting up a little. “Kiss me, please?”

Eddie melted. You wanting to kiss him while you came was so insanely sexy and endearing at the same time.

“‘Course I will, baby. Come here,” you crashed into each other, lips brushing together between panting breaths. You had one hand in Eddie’s hair and the other had a vice grip on his shoulder.

“Oh, fuck! Eddie, I’m-,”

“I know, I know. Give it to me,” he kissed you hard and imagined he’d died and gone to heaven when he felt your whine against his lips. You tensed all over. Eddie felt your walls clamp down on his fingers. He was amazed when you got impossibly wetter and threw yourself back into his pillow, nearly screaming in pleasure.

“Good girl. Good fuckin’ girl,” Eddie brushed your hair out of your eyes, staying like that for a few minutes. After you came down from your high, he laid down beside you.

Eddie held up the hand he’d had inside you and admired his soaked fingers before licking them clean and moaning shamelessly. You looked at him fondly, raising your eyebrows at his dramatics.

“What? Can’t help it,” he said, as he made a show of licking up his palm. “You’re sweet as honey.”

“Hmm,” you hummed, turning to throw your thigh over his lap. He shuddered and you grinned up at him with lidded eyes. “I bet you taste just as sweet, big boy.” Your thigh traveled lower. Eddie groaned and bucked his hips to chase the sensation. “You gonna let me find out? I know I said I wanted to see you get these sweats dirty, but I think I want you in my mouth more,” you whispered filth directly into his ear while petting along his lower stomach the entire time.

“If you keep doing that, I can’t make any promises I won’t get these pants dirty either way,” he moaned, grabbing your thigh and grinding it into his crotch again.

“You didn’t answer me,” you responded, sitting up and positioning yourself between Eddie’s spread thighs. “Are you gonna let me find out how you taste?” You pulled your shirt over your head, leaving you in nothing but a black lace bra, one left little to the imagination.

“Uh, yes? Fuck yes!” Eddie was pulling at his hair, nearly hysterical with desire. He was on the verge of embarrassing himself because he was so worked up. He scrambled to get his pants down without knocking you over.

“Eddie,” you laughed lightly, grabbing his hands. “Let me,” he nodded and crossed his hands over his chest, not sure where they should go. It’s not like he’s ever been in this situation before.

“Relax,” you said as your fingers dipped below the waistband of his boxers. Eddie met your gaze and nodded. You began pulling his pants down and he tried his best to control his breathing.

He groaned long and low when you finally freed him from his clothing, the cooler air in the van a delicious contrast to his burning skin.

“I knew it,” you purred, wasting no time getting your hands on him. Your touches were firm but gentle, running up and down his shaft. Eddie keened when your palm slid over his weeping head, smearing precum down his length. “I knew you were hiding a monster in those tight jeans.”

“M-monster? Really?” Eddie lifted his head off the pillow and searched your face to make sure you weren’t just mocking him.

“Are you kidding? This thing has gotta be close to eight inches, Eddie!” You stroked him slowly from base to tip as you spoke. “It’s the biggest I’ve ever seen, anyway.”

“It is?” He said, probably a little too eagerly. He was practically glowing under your praise. And you seemed to catch on to it.

“It is baby,” your voice was low and sultry. “The biggest and the prettiest,” Eddie bit into his fist, trying to stave off his creeping orgasm as you began massaging his balls with your other hand. “I can already tell I’m gonna want you in my mouth any chance I get.”

“Oh fuck, oh god!” Eddie’s hips jolted, “I might not survive your hand, much less your mouth!”

You grabbed the fist he’d been biting and intertwined your fingers. “Only one way to find out.”

That was the last thing you said before taking him halfway down in one go. Eddie squeezed your hand and shouted.

“S-shiiit! Y-you’re so,” he panted and squirmed, trying to string together a coherent thought. “You’re so perfect. Your mouth is heaven,” you hummed in appreciation of the praise and the vibrations felt like electricity dancing along Eddie’s spine. “Oh goddammit, I’m gonna come so fuckin’ fast.”

You pulled off of him to meet his eyes, “Do it,” you took his hand and placed it on the back of your head, “Wanna make you feel good.”

“Oh, you sweet thing,” Eddie stroked your cheek affectionately, “You do. You really fuckin’ do.” His hand went back to your hair as you swallowed him down again. It wasn’t much longer before he began warning you.

“H-hey,” his voice rose in pitch the closer he got to his release, “L-listen, angel. I’m about to come. Pull off.”

“Want it in my mouth,” you said, kissing his hipbone as you kept stroking him. “Can I taste it? Please?”

“Goddammit, yes! Oh yes, please!”

You hummed around him and with just a few more bobs of your head, Eddie released straight into your throat.

You slowly bobbed your head, swallowing every time another wave of his release entered your mouth. After a few seconds, when you were sure he was done, you released him from your lips and sat up. Eddie’s vision returned just in time to watch you crawl over his body and lay onto his chest. Your hands carded through the damp curls around his face.

“Wanna know a secret, Eddie?” You whispered, tracing patterns into his scalp as his breathing finally slowed.

“Y-yeah.”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever let anyone come in my mouth.”

Eddie’s face whipped over to look at you. “Honest?”

You smiled as you bit your lower lip and nodded, “Honest, baby.”

He shuddered at the nickname. “Mmm, keep callin’ me sweet names and you’ll never get rid of me, ya know?”

“That’s the idea, my love.”

Eddie made a growling sound as he clung to you like a koala. “You’re lethal. You know that?”

You didn’t answer but sat up far enough to envelop Eddie’s plush lips in a deep kiss. You made out like that for a while, until he realized he began to harden again. You seemed to notice it as well.

“Down, boy,” you joked, stroking his sides and nipping at his throat.

Eddie groaned. “Nothing’s going down as long as I’m this close to you,” he turns you both to your sides facing each other. “I can’t stop thinking about how warm and wet you are,” Eddie squeezed your sides and kissed along your collarbone. “You squeezed my fingers so tight when you came. I wanna feel you doing that around my cock, pretty mama.”

You wrapped your leg around his hip and whined. “Eddie I’m not taking your virginity in the back of your van,” his hand found your still-soaked entrance and began petting you while his mouth worked your neck over. You returned the favor by fisting his damp cock.

“Oh god, I don’t give a fuck where it happens,” he gasps as you run your palm over his sensitive head. “Please, I need it,” he bit and sucked the delicate skin of your neck, whining the entire time.

“No, Eddie,” your firm tone made him shiver. “You’ll get my hand and my mouth tonight. As many times as you need it,” your hand sped up as his fingers followed suit against your clit. “But you’ll get my pussy in my bed. So you can fuck me into the mattress properly.” Eddie came for the second time with a shout into your fist.

He looked up in time to see you lick it up from your palm like it was sugar. Eddie’s brain short-circuited. “I-I wanna make you come again,” he blurted out, still circling your clit. You nodded and wrapped your arms around his neck, pressing your forehead into his.

“Keep doing that,” you encouraged. Eddie nodded and picked up speed. He watched you in a trance as you unraveled under his touch for the second time in one night. He felt like a god.

“Fuck, you’re so pretty when you do that,” Eddie kissed all over your face as you laughed. “Ethereal, stunning, a work of art!”

“That’s all you, pretty boy,” you kissed the bridge of his nose and he melted.

“By the way, I’m totally down for van fucking, ma’am,” he feigned irritation as he poked your sides playfully. “Making a twenty-one-year-old virgin wait even longer is just cruel.”

“Don’t pout, Eddie,” you cooed, cuddling into his side. “I promise you’ll be glad you waited.”

“If you insist, princess,” he sighed, pulling your body close.

“I do,” you yawned. “Now sleep.”

“Hey, sweetheart?”

“Hmm?”

“How soon after we wake up can we get the fuck outta here and preferably into your bed?”

Eddie let out an ‘oof!’ as you slapped a pillow over his face.

“Less talk. More sleep.”

“Yes, love.”

[luperpla]

i wanna gab about preshading and how ive been doing it lately. trying to type longer guides on patreon and HV but let's try a quick and dirty version here and see if that helps me get those posts together better. as far as tools used for this, i use an iwata hp-cs and hp-ch (which are .3 and .2mm nozzle airbrushes respectively) along with gaianotes paints for painting gunpla. proper ppe (nitrile gloves, a well fitting respirator and a spraybooth that moves enough air) are a must when working with lacquers. dont give yourself lung or liver cancer for plamo plskthx. pics are from a mixture of the mg sazabi's WIP and some test junk i was doing with the hguc sinanju.

step 1: primer yer part i like to use colored primers cause it really ups the saturation on the paint you use on it. pink for reds/oranges/yellows, blue for purple/blues, grey or white for whites/greys

step 2: mix your preshade color ymmv on these but personally i like using a darker shade of the main color to do the shading by adding a complimentary color to it. for example, for these parts i mixed brown in to the custom orange color i made. you can use whatever you want though. some folks like using black as a preshade and that's ok! i preshade my orange-yellow paints with pure orange, and blues with either a darker blue or blue with some purple/black mixed in. to goal is to compliment/blend a bit with the color that's going on top.

step 3: go around the edges and panel lines with your dark color, leaving room to fill in with your main paint. hope your hand is steady and your paints are mixed/thinned well! very carefully, go around the part and darken up the edges/panel lines/underside of your parts. i shade anywhere where the "light" might darken up on a real world object but i can't speak to how accurate of a sentiment that is, if that makes sense? it's just what looks 'right' to my eye to do it this way. but the part that's shaded above should serve as a good indicator. here are a few other parts pre-filling in:

i do this this way for three reasons: first and second, im lazy and cheap. i don't want to waste time and paint coating the entire part when i'm just gonna cover it up anyway. third, if i coat the entire part in the preshade color that's going to have an effect on the main color that's going on top. mainly, it's going to make it darker. i don't want that so i landed on shading stuff this way.

step 4: fill in your main color okay so i always do a shitty job taking pictures of this step (that's why there are no sazabi pictures here) but once you have the edges and stuff painted now it's time to take your main color and fill in the primer-spaces. don't go over your preshade lines, just get as close as you can to that line. it's fine if you hit the edge a little, after all this is the topmost layer of color. even if it doesn't turn out perfect, just work with the wabisabi of the whole thing. embrace the shading not being perfectly uniform. after all, things in real life have degrees of variance.

take your time, work with a psi around ~12-15, thin your paints well, and be very gentle on the trigger. i work really really close to the part for this step and have to be very careful to avoid splattering or overspraying. this is probably???? one of the trickier parts of this??? i don't know. when you've been doing this for so long your definition of that sorta changes. if you need extra help, look in to something to help steady your arm/hand while doing this part.

step 5: blending okay, so you've got your shading down, you filled in the rest of the space with the main color and it's feelin pretty good. but. there's one more step. get a little distance from your part and give the whole thing the lightest coat you can manage. the goal is to blend the primary color and shading layer together with one or two very light coats of paint. i'm not trying to cover up the preshading, i just want a very thin layer of the main color to harmonize everything.

see how the preshading isn't so stark now that we've given it those final two coats? i think this is the key to bringing the shading and main layers together. everything feels nice and "finished" now. from here, gloss coat the parts for panel lining and decals or flat coat (or whatever finish you wanna use) it if it's not getting any of those.

and...that's pretty much it. as an aside, glossy finishes tend to make the colors appear darker and flatcoats tend to look lighter but that could just be my eyes being weird.

and uhh....yeah. thanks for coming to my gunpla talk.

[scarlettlillies]

Hetalia- Selfoss

What's this? Lilly posting a new fic so soon after the last one? It's more likely than you think.

This was an old Nordipalooza submission from 2020 that I ended up discarding during the event. The prompt from this was 'Sweden, Iceland - Folklore'. Back when I was researching for this prompt, I ended up on a tourism website that talked about how a town called Selfoss was supposedly haunted by ghosts so I knew immediately that's where I wanted to set the story. I was having a hard time getting started though and after two incomplete drafts, I tossed them and picked a different prompt. This weekend I finally decided to finish them off.

Sweden and Iceland sadly don't have a lot of interaction but I get the feeling that Ice is most comfortable with Sweden just on the sole fact that he doesn't treat him like a child. Therefore he gets to be a bit more relaxed and not always cool and reserved like he is with the rest of the Nordics. I hope Hima expands on their relationship in a future strip.

Also, I hope I'm not the only person who headcanons both Ice and Nor as photographers! They've got some of the best places for a hobby like that. :D

If you'd prefer to read this fic on Ao3 instead, you can check it out here.

Hope you all enjoy it! Summary: During a trip to see the northern lights near the Icelandic town of Selfoss, Sweden couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was being watched.

----

No matter how much he tried, Sweden couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was being watched.

He questioned if it was all in his head. Hundreds of people, mainly avid photographers, were gathered here by the river near the town of Selfoss to catch a glimpse of the northern lights. Iceland stood across from him and didn’t seem to have a care in the world. He was too focused on setting up his equipment and running a few test shots with his camera pointed toward the skies. The boy had a good head on his shoulders. If anyone could sense if something was off, it would be him.

Yes, it was definitely all in his head. The ghost museum they had visited in Stokkseyri must have let his imagination get ahead of itself.

The show of lights slowly began and Sweden tried to keep his mind occupied by splitting his attention between the skies and his fellow Nordic. Sitting on a reddish-brown fleece blanket, Sweden felt over-dressed with his heavy navy blue peacoat and black leather gloves. After leaving the museum earlier in the day, he was struck with a chill that he couldn’t shake off. Meanwhile, Iceland was dressed lightly in a brown spring jacket with no gloves at all. Almost everyone else wore similar clothing.

“Aren’t ya cold?”

“Not at all. I’m surprised you are though. Don’t tell me you can’t handle a little cold in your old age Sví!”

Sweden rolled his eyes but the comment got the both of them chuckling. With just the two of them together, Iceland seemed more laid-back and less hesitant to hide his playful side. He’s sure Iceland doesn’t mean to, but Sweden noticed over the years that Iceland would quickly become uncomfortable and reclusive whenever Denmark and Norway (and to some degree Finland too) became overbearing with their ‘big brother’ personalities. He just wanted to be treated like an adult alongside the rest of them.

He understands that well. After all, Denmark did it to him when they were small children—despite the three of them frequently arguing over who was the oldest. Those arguments died the moment Iceland entered their lives.

So Sweden does just that. He still dotes on him—albeit more subtly than the others do. But in return, he is rewarded to hear more in-depth things about Iceland’s life. Just on this trip alone, he has heard of the late-night calls with Indonesia, the camping trip in Hiiumaa with the Baltics, and the coffee dates with Liechtenstein in Vaduz. He felt grateful that Iceland could trust him like that.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

The colours quickly grew more intense. Shades of green, blue, and purple danced across the sky and their colours reflected against the river below. Loud gasps of delight erupted from the crowd on the ground. Iceland was mesmerized by the sight. Even though he had seen this millions of times, it never failed to put his mind at ease. Any worries he had about his life would immediately wash away. With a hand placed on his left shoulder, Sweden surprised Iceland by coming up close at his side. The average person would never be able to tell, but he could see that tiny grin form on Sweden’s face. He was just as ecstatic to see the lights as he was.

“Gettin’ some good shots?”

“Yeah,” he nodded before he returned his focus to the camera. “The multicoloured lights always make the best shots.”

Sweden tucked his hands into his coat pockets. He watched him work and noted how meticulous Iceland was with each shot. Seeing him like this reminded him so much of Norway, right down to the focused but elated expressions. Norway was also a photographer who loved to shoot landscapes just like him. But Sweden would never dare say that out loud. Iceland would quickly get annoyed whenever comparisons arose between him and his brother, even as a joke.

We’re nothing alike. Don’t say dumb things like that.

He kept his comments to himself and continued staring up at the skies. He didn’t need to ruin the perfect day they’d had together.

The lights had lasted for around twenty minutes when dark clouds began rolling through. Everyone in the crowd knew it was their sign to call it a night. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The camera Iceland had been using throughout their trip had begun flashing a warning that the battery was running low. Sweden helped him pack his equipment and get the bags into Iceland’s trunk. The blanket Sweden used earlier remained unfolded and got tossed into the backseat. With everything packed, they were ready for the hour’s drive back to Reykjavík.

But there it was again. That feeling that someone was watching. Sweden was so certain about it.

“What’s wrong?” Iceland asked. Sweden was leaning against the open passenger door as he searched around the pitch-black landscape. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, just that it was something.

“We’re bein’ watched…”

“Huh? From what?”

“Dunno but—”

Laughter.

A child’s laughter.

It was such a high-pitched noise that rang inside his ears. He hated that he couldn’t see where it was coming from. There were no streetlights in this part of the country. The only light visible came from the inside of Iceland’s car and the headlights of others as many began driving away from the scene and onto the main road.

Sweden’s frustrations hit a boiling point. He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a black flashlight. He slowly made his way toward the river. Iceland tried to call him back however Sweden ignored his pleas. A frustrated sigh fell from his lips, “I'm never taking you to that ghost museum ever again,” He had no choice but to follow behind him.

Sweden hadn’t noticed earlier that the water was much lower than he had anticipated. Boulders of various shapes and sizes poked through the water, especially along the shoreline. He swung his flashlight around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The mysterious sounds of laughter from before had also disappeared. Was it his mind playing tricks on him again?

“Did ya happen to hear a child laughin’ earlier?”

“A child?” Iceland pondered, “The crowd was mostly full of photographers but I’m sure I saw a few families with small kids there. Maybe it was that you were hearing?”

Sweden made a disgruntled grunt as he appeared furious with himself. He hated how out of character this was for him. He could never recall a moment in time when he acted this paranoid before.

But on the furthest rock to his left, his flashlight picked up something stuck against one of the boulders. The two men investigated and discovered it was a small grey blanket. They had wondered if it was forgotten by one of the families from earlier. Upon closer inspection though, they noticed it was covered in mud, the material looked faded, and the bottom tip of the blanket had been submerged into the water. It was clear it had been here for some time.

“Sví, we should go. There’s no one here,” Iceland said as he tugged on Sweden’s arm. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”

It looked as if Sweden had finally come to his senses and the two men walked back to the car. But Iceland took one more look over his shoulder. Near the river, a small child stood there in a white gown. A short blond boy, possibly no older than three, hugged the dirty grey blanket that Sweden discovered earlier. Iceland put a finger to his lips and shook his head. The little boy’s smile turned to an angry frown and disappeared towards the water.

Iceland was open to sharing many things about his life with Sweden. But the stories of the spirits that inhabited this part of his home were not one of them. No one needed to know he could see things that mortals could not. He was determined to keep it that way.

[mistakenot4892]

Nebula vedlbog June '24

This devblog has been crossposted from cohost.

Hello, hello. This one's a bit late because there were a few bits and pieces pending merge. As a bonus, I moved back to Linux from Windows this month after Win10 pushed Copilot once too often, so that has taken up a bit of my time and effort. My workflow is a bit horrifying, but so far works well enough to be getting on with. Now if I could get Vulkan to stop crashing when I play Warframe...

Nebula SS13 is an open source project based on the Baystation 12 version of Space Station 13. SS13 is a topdown multiplayer simulation game where you play the crew of a ship, station, colony, etc. depending on your fork and map, with the Nebula and Bay forks having a focus on roleplaying and simulation interactions.

Notable changes

Melting has been disabled on dev due to the UX impacts of having all your clothes melt off if you step onto a fire for a few seconds.

Drakes have been merged! Big stupid lizards are now live on the dev branch. This has come along with stance and dexterity refactors to support non-human behaviors.

Bows have been reworked to have slightly nicer UX and to support multiple ammo types. Crossbows, regular bows and slings are now available in the crafting menu.

Penny has been busily moving all of the SS13-specific game modes into modpacks, to allow them to be dropped from maps where they wouldn't make sense. While it would be funny for a meteor storm to land on Shaded Hills, it probably wouldn't be a lot of fun to play through. A nuclear mercenary ship landing on Middle-Earth might be more fun.

A swathe of fixes to the atmospherics system have been authored by NataKillar, and should help resolve some of the weird edge cases that have been cropping up during testing.

We have finally, FINALLY removed /carbon from the /human mobtype. This means that the majority of life code like breathing or equipment handling are available to all /mob/living subtypes, not just humans (and diona nymphs). It also basically guarantees all map or code ports involving humans will need extra work, but them's the breaks.

We have replaced /datum/dna with a new mob_snapshot datum, generated on demand. This was a big job due to how entangled DNA was with mob code, and cleaning up like this allows for us more flexibility when implementing new things like a reworked changeling or new genetic conditions/superpowers.

I finished dismantling /under, which is a minor victory. Originally this was going to support adding a lower body/pants equipment slot, but in practice with accessory stacking the pants slot seems like unnecessary complexity; maybe something to consider down the track(pants).

Shaded Hills has had quite a lot of work done, most recently adding beggar knights and shrine attendants to the job roster. We are down to 6 items on the Shaded Hills MVP list, one of which is lobby art, which I have been putting off for something like four successive weekends.

Penny directed me through some adventures in updating the scripts we use for running headless Linux servers to support BYOND 515. I am still not sure where she finds the information, other than some kind of communion with nightmare gods.

Just recently I added a bunch of skeleton icons for kobolds, tajara and drakes, mainly to support zombies and skellymans downstream.

Bugs of note

We have an annoying issue on ScavStation where some quirk of the server scripts and the Linux setup is resulting in a round end looping the round end sound effects and warning message until the server finishes rebuild and restarts. It's not great to get bombarded with 50 YOU WANNA PUT A BANGING DONK ON IT out of nowhere.

Until a recent dexteruty tweak, drakes were fully capable of cocking aiming and firing a combat shotgun using nothing but their mouths. They could also arm grenades and perform surgery with scalpels. Thankfully they have been nerfed before they could seize power.

Current priorities

With the PR list in single digits, I'd like to take the opportunity to work through our backlog of fiddly issues. Getting that down to zero (or at least getting through some of the old issues and any new dev issues) would be nice.

r5 has been merged to stable, and r6 will be staged soon. One of the big remaining PRs is a flooring rewrite that I have been working on off and on for months. It's now blocking the next staging period, so hopefully that will put some pressure on me to finish it.

Just recently, the Shaded Hills map and the fantasy modpack have been spun into a fork server called Pyrelight. A lot of the content I'd like to make using the Shaded Hills map and Neb systems is a bit too magicy-fantasy for Neb main, so I'm going to point it at this fork.

[karamell-sweetz]

very random post but… i am a lipgloss enthusiast and here is my thesis statement on whether or not the proseka ocs would wear it and how often and what kind. hapoy new year.

L/N

ichika: doesn’t wear it too regularly but she’s probably saki’s most frequent test subject.

saki: LOOK AT ME. DEAD IN THE EYES. AND TELL ME SHE DOESN’T OWN EVERY TYPE AND SHADE TO EXIST. okay thats an exaggeration but she owns a sizeable amount. ya know, youth. clear, brightly coloured, flavoured, glittery, you name it she’s got it.

honami: i feel like she would actually. very simple shades tho, frequents a soft red gloss.

shiho: least likely to wear it regularly but definitely has a few flavoured lip balms. or ones that are shaped like cute animals.

MMJ

mmj would generally wear makeup more often than the other groups, what with the idol job and all. they probably have a stream section dedicated to beauty products, or at least get some collabs with them (cough cough stain busters)

minori: yeahhh she would. she’s giving me tinted lip balm vibes. she would look sooo nice in red btw.

haruka: a regular wearer mainly for skincare purposes. she’d worry more about the nutrients and moisturising stuff than the colour of it, but she probably owns some lightly tinted ones that she found filled her criteria.

airi: literally has a card of her putting lipgloss on. of course she does. mostly shades of pink lip gloss, but i think she’d own some glittery ones.

shizuku: has probably worn a lot of shades for her model job, most likely wears some regularly because skincare is important for an idol. because she’s shizuku she looks good even in clear lip balm, but i think she’d frequent a lightly tinted balm. a peachy colour maybe.

VBS

kohane: probably doesn’t think about it very often, but being friends with minori probably means trips to buy makeup. strawberry flavoured lip balm vibes.

an: hmm yeah i think she might? just some simple clear gloss tho, or a red gloss. nothing too crazy.

akito: a hard no. ena probably forced him to try some on for her at some point in the oast but he’d never wear it willingly. i’m not sure what his skincare stance is so i think his lips are just forever chapped. sorry akito.

toya: also a no. i can’t think of an excuse for him wearing any so he’s out of the picture for this one. MAYBE clear lip balm.

WXS

tsukasa: i think he’s the most likely out of the boys to be wearing lip product regularly (ya know, skincare and stuff…) but i don’t think he’d wear anything too crazy. prolly just a clear moisturising lip balm, or maybe a flavoured one. saki has probably put some crazier things on him though. also, stage job requires some level of makeup and from past experience this also applies to the boys, so maybe a nude lipstick when he needs it??

emu: OH MY GOD she owns a lot probably. look me dead in the eyes and tell me she doesn’t have at least ONE glittery lip gloss. i think she’d really be into the flavoured kids ones tho. she probably owns some insane colours too. the other day i saw a mint green lip gloss and wasn’t too sure what to think of it. emu probably owns it. idk.

nene: not an avid wearer but she owns a few. i think a cute coral red would suit her… emu probably bought her some flavoured ones too.

rui: hmm rui’s a hard one because he definitely would own some but he also wouldn’t wear it? to me he’s that guy who just splashes water on his face and somehow still has clear skin?? anyway thats unrelated. he’d own some (most likely flavoured lip balm) and forget to put it on because he’s off in the clouds about shows. he looks good in it tho. rui kamishiro gender icon of the decade.

NIIGO

kanade: no. mizuki tries to get her to wear some but she probably forgets. i really can’t see her wearing any at all!

mafuyu: clear lip balm. has not considered anything else (or rather her mom didn’t let her consider anything else). mizuki probably put some light tints on her.

ena: of course!! resident selfie girl probably owns a lot and wears it extremely regularly. mostly very normal makeup shop shades.

mizuki: you cannot convince me that the cutest in the world would NOT have any lip product. mizu probably owns a lot more lipstick than anything else since they dress up often, but they also own some glosses.

feel free to add on or agree/disagree with anything i’ve put here!! <3

[mariana-oconnor]

The Cardboard Box pt 3

OK, so this was mostly solved last part, with a few hanging threads, mainly being the motive and who the second ear belongs to. Our working theory is a man that Mary's husband thought she was having an affair with. But how that all relates to Sarah Cushing and why he sent the ears to her specifically. My best guess is she was encouraging Mary to leave him and 'befriend' this other guy in some way?

“Lestrade has got him all right,” said Holmes, glancing up at me.

Welp, that was quick. I guess no one is dying in a mysterious shipwreck this week, even though there are actual sailors involved this time.

“In accordance with the scheme which we had formed in order to test our theories” [“the ‘we’ is rather fine, Watson, is it not?”]"

Are we going to get Holmes' commentary throughout? That would be fun. Throwing shade at Lestrade here for taking partial credit for everything. Fair.

@ameliahcrowley did the research about May Day and apparently it wasn't in use as a distress signal yet at this time, which surprised me. So this ship name is just retroactively ironic, which is one of the best flavours of irony.

"I found that there was a steward on board of the name of James Browner and that he had acted during the voyage in such an extraordinary manner that the captain had been compelled to relieve him of his duties."

This guy has zero chill, which we already knew because he was going around murdering his wife and sending ears to her relatives, but he fails so completely at getting away with it, it's kind of farcical.

I guess it makes sense that he'd be a bit weird after killing his wife. But at the same time, the kind of effort it takes to cut off ears, pack them in salt and send them off to women in Croydon indicates a level of thought and planning that is clearly not evident anywhere else in his crime. So weird.

"He jumped up when he heard my business, and I had my whistle to my lips to call a couple of river police, who were round the corner, but he seemed to have no heart in him, and he held out his hands quietly enough for the darbies."

This reads as though the guy is feeling guilty or remorseful, but please see prior notes about taking the time to pack ears in salt. The remorse was a really delayed reaction, huh?

Mr Browner's understanding of what he did dawning:

"...bar a big sharp knife such as most sailors have..."

If he has a big sharp knife, why did he use a blunt one to cut the ears off? Unless the blunt just meant 'not as sharp as a scalpel', which seems an unfair benchmark of sharpness to put on a knife. Not everyone can be a scalpel.

"The affair proves, as I always thought it would, to be an extremely simple one, but I am obliged to you for assisting me in my investigation."

This isn't exactly a lie. Except it kind of is. Lestrade at least claimed to think it was just the medical students the whole time, but at the same time he called Holmes in, which seems like a weird thing to do if he was convinced it was a prank?

"I tell you I've not shut an eye in sleep since I did it, and I don't believe I ever will again until I get past all waking."

Again, this is strange to me. Like did he get through the whole posting of the ears and did the guilt set in immediately after that, or did he do that while feeling guilty? which makes no sense. I do not understand this man.

"Ay, the white lamb, she might well be surprised when she read death on a face that had seldom looked anything but love upon her before."

And this does not read like the words of someone who feels remorse. I feel like Jim Browner is a very disturbed individual. This is very creepy. Anyone who compares another person to a 'white lamb' is instantly ten times creepier than they were before. I'm already getting 'my wife drove me to it' delusional self-justification from his language.

"For Sarah Cushing loved me—that's the root of the business—she loved me until all her love turned to poisonous hate when she knew that I thought more of my wife's footmark in the mud than I did of her whole body and soul."

Oh, I did not see that coming. Although thinking back, the way her interactions with him were referred to were a bit weird. I thought it was just a Victorian flare for language coming through, but no.

I said last time that Mary needed better sisters. She really needed better sisters.

"The old one was just a good woman, the second was a devil, and the third was an angel. Sarah was thirty-three, and Mary was twenty-nine when I married."

A devil and an angel? Right, this guy has unrealistic expectations of the women in his life, I can tell you that right away. The Madonna-Whore complex called, Jim, it thinks you might have a problem.

For someone who is so guilty he can't sleep, Jim Browner is trying very hard to seem like the victim here. Dude murdered two people and cut off their ears and he's determined that it's Sarah's fault. I'm not saying she had nothing to do with it, but seems like he's having a little trouble with accountability here.

Also, her seduction of him is very... like she took hold of his hand and looked at him? That's all she did? I was expecting something more overt. Although this is the Victorian era, I guess maybe that's pretty overt by their standards? Or he misread the entire situation.

"Things went on much as before, but after a time I began to find that there was a bit of a change in Mary herself. She had always been so trusting and so innocent, but now she became queer and suspicious, wanting to know where I had been and what I had been doing, and whom my letters were from, and what I had in my pockets, and a thousand such follies."

This whole thing reads very strangely. 'so trusting and so innocent', and the pedestal he seems determined to put his wife on. It's all a little icky. He seems like a remarkably unreliable narrator.

OK, maybe it happened like he says. We have no evidence in the text contradicting him as of yet. But at the same time we only have his word for any of this and it's possible that he hit on Sarah rather than the other way around, she told Mary. OR that neither of them was hitting on each other, but they both thought the other one was hitting on them and things... spiralled.

"I can see now how she was plotting and scheming and poisoning my wife's mind against me."

If this story hadn't ended with him murdering people and mutilating their corpses, I'd be more inclined to believe him at face value, but knowing the extremes he went to, I feel like this is just massive paranoia.

"And then this Alec Fairbairn chipped in, and things became a thousand times blacker."

Ah, we finally get to the owner of the second ear. Alas, poor Alec. You were doomed by the narrative.

“‘It was only a little thing, too. I had come into the parlour unexpected, and as I walked in at the door I saw a light of welcome on my wife's face. But as she saw who it was it faded again, and she turned away with a look of disappointment."

His entire motive is based on two moments when he saw a look in a woman's eyes? Are you kidding me, Mr Browner? Are you a telepath? Can you read their minds? You have no evidence of literally anything and you just murdered people?

Maybe we're getting to the evidence. Maybe you're going to walk in on them in a compromising position, or find a love letter, or overhear a incriminating conversation. But so far all we have is 'my sister-in-law was upset I didn't enjoy her company and held my hand and made eye contact with me' (which I agree was a bit weird, but not conspiracy worthy) and 'my wife looked like she was looking forward to talking to someone who wasn't me'.

“You can do what you like,” says I, “but if Fairbairn shows his face here again I'll send you one of his ears for a keepsake.”

OK, no. You're just going straight to threats of violence. No further proof needed.

“‘Well, I don't know now whether it was pure devilry on the part of this woman, or whether she thought that she could turn me against my wife by encouraging her to misbehave.'"

The paranoia and entitlement is so strong in this one. He's completely irrational. We're all agreed on that, right? Maybe he was right about everything, but he's based all of his conclusions on...

heh...

He's based all his conclusions on vibes.

I played myself.

At least I didn't kill anyone over it.

"'How often she went I don't know, but I followed her one day, and as I broke in at the door Fairbairn got away over the back garden wall, like the cowardly skunk that he was. I swore to my wife that I would kill her if I found her in his company again, and I led her back with me, sobbing and trembling, and as white as a piece of paper.'"

This is slightly more incriminating, but given that there was a threat made to cut off the man's ears, that seems enough reason for him to run away. And death threats are never cool.

"'The thought was in my head as I turned into my own street, and at that moment a cab passed me, and there she was, sitting by the side of Fairbairn, the two chatting and laughing, with never a thought for me as I stood watching them from the footpath.'"

Honestly, at this point if she was having an affair with him I'm kind of okay with that. Mr Browner is clearly paranoid, violent and unstable. Divorce wasn't really an option for her because Victorian divorce laws were sexist and terrible, and from Browner's earlier description Fairbairn seems like a pretty cool guy. I hope she at least had fun before her husband brutally murdered her.

OK, point of Victorian etiquette, was it considered scandalous to be alone in a cab together? To me that's far less intimate than being found alone in a house together. But chatting in a cab? I suppose there isn't a chaperone, so maybe.

“‘Well, I took to my heels, and I ran after the cab. I had a heavy oak stick in my hand, and I tell you I saw red from the first; but as I ran I got cunning, too, and hung back a little to see them without being seen.'"

Either you couldn't think straight OR you could think straight enough to be cunning. You can't have it both ways. That's not how it works. EITHER you're blinded by jealousy and commit a crime of passion, OR you're thinking through your plan. My dude, you're undermining your own argument (although, as mentioned, the ear thing already did that).

They do seem to be having a very nice date. Good for them. Pity about the murderer lurking in the shadows.

And he's spending an entire day stalking them. Yeah, no, Mr Browner, we're way outside of 'blind jealous rage' murder. You hired a boat specifically to hunt them down and kill them without witnesses. This is now officially premeditated.

"'I cleaned myself up, got back to land, and joined my ship without a soul having a suspicion of what had passed. That night I made up the packet for Sarah Cushing, and next day I sent it from Belfast'."

Yeeeaaah, those are not the actions of a remorseful person.

You're just a dick.

If only she'd had good sense and just run the fuck away with Mr Fairbairn and changed her name. Genuinely, usually I'm super against infidelity in all forms, but you seem like a real piece of work. Your story is so full of inconsistencies and irrational jealousy and paranoia that I can't believe half of it.

"'I cannot shut my eyes but I see those two faces staring at me—staring at me as they stared when my boat broke through the haze. I killed them quick, but they are killing me slow; and if I have another night of it I shall be either mad or dead before morning.'"

Can confirm: you are already 'mad'. Your actions were not those of a mentally stable person. Not that that's why you did it. You clearly have problems, but loads of people deal with problems without killing people. You just suck, my dude. And honestly, zero sympathy.

'I feel super guilty about the crime I threatened to commit, then deliberately set up so as not to get caught, then followed up with acts of bodily mutilation, cover-up, and terrorising of the victim's relatives. But now I feel super guilty.'

Yeah, this whole account is just one long rant about how he's not really responsible. It was the women who drove him to it. By... talking to men and... looking at him funny.

“What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.”

Super philosophical at the end there Holmes. Seems like Holmes at least is taking Browner at his word about Sarah, or else the cycle doesn't really make any sense here. Even if Sarah did put events in motion, it's not really a cycle. It's just... a couple of rather horrible people being horrible to each other.

Or maybe he's referring to the death penalty?

Well, this one was weird. Given ACD's predilection for spiritualism and the afterlife, it's possible he intended the guilt plaguing Browner here to be the spirits of the people he murdered, which - given his lack of accountability throughout his own narrative - actually makes more sense. But there's no evidence of that in the text, so that's just me. But mark it down as another score on the 'supernatural Holmes universe' tally.

[emerxshiu]

kirby doodle dump (+ some small animation tests)

(this one from today) this dude lives rent free in my head, still trying to make his gijinka more interesting, i dunno, also trying to draw other types of hair, mainly curly (main reason i even wanted to change the one i had) here im just practicing, hold on im rambling and going in cir- next

remember last post when i said i was gonna drop some kirby doodles but choose to draw other stuff instead, from this one to down, these are those doodles. i scrambled to search for my crayons but i coulnt find my blues and purples, and also my pink, at least i have the others. sometimes i get the need to draw with stuff like that, im thinking about buying pastels, i rlly like the art i see with them, but im afraid i might not like using them that much and end up wasting money, it has happened quite a few times with stuff like acrylics.

he will.

welp, already knew abt the story, i just bought deluxe for the epilogue (fun fact, rtdldeluxe released on the 24 of february (if i remember correctly) two days before my birthday, needles to say i ate good that day (and also because the sploon3 dlc would drop two days later too) i also have a exclusive rtdldx poster for the pre-order :3 )

aaand then i procrastinated it and basically took up almost a year to finish the main mode and magoland missions, then beat magolor epilogue in like 4 hours, already kinda talked abt magolor epilogue in another post so basically, loved it, wish there was more stages there or to be abe to even further upgrade abilities.

rn im doing extra mode (a bit reluctant because im only doing it for the 100%) not rlly liking that mode a lot, but its ok, bad thing is that ill have to do the true missions in magoland, its gonna be a pain

first i was gonna make it a gijinka, but i didnt like how it was turning out so i did it with normal kirbs, i think it was suppossed to have some inplied kirfluff, i forgor

the grimm reaper and loaf, felt way too lazy to do fluff too so he's just there with the text, i love epic yarn so much, i have tried emulating it but it either requieres me to have a wii remote or runs like absolute shit. im thinking about someday getting a 3ds, not just for epic yarn, robobot, triple deluxe and also because i always wanted to try flipnote (it seems cool!) but that is if im lucky enough to find them at a good condition and affordable price

digital doodle instead, was gonna make an animation but got too lazy, im so inconsistent with my shading

i did make this animation, its more of a test, but it didnt work out that well

i do have this silly one tho

Jambuhbye!

[partnersincrimesuau]

☆HOW TO DRAW LIKE JINXY: PART THREE - SPACE BACKGROUNDS☆

ALRIGHT FELLAS, HERE’S ANOTHER TUTORIAL!!! This time, we’re drawing SPACE!!! Thank you to my dear anon who asked me to do this, y’all are blessings to me ^^ <333

And without further ado, here’s a crappy tutorial on how I draw the dark yet beautiful abyss of space!!! (On FireAlpaca – although it should work for any other drawing software ^^)

BE AWARE – ALL OF THESE STEPS TAKE PLACE ON DIFFERENT LAYERS. For each step, add a new layer ABOVE the previous one!

Step 1: Start with a completely black canvas, and add asymmetrical diagonal navy blue lines with the airbrush tool or anything similar! The opacity doesn’t particularly matter as these will be pretty concealed later, but make sure they are pretty dark ^^ Also I recommend adding some subtle airbrush touches around the centre or ends of the lines, making the sky a bit bluer ~

Step 2: We add the colours!!! My go-to colours are pink, blue and very subtle touches of green/yellow ^^ These are all applied using the airbrush tool at about 30% opacity. Keep them fairly dark, but definitely lighter than the blue of the background! I mainly apply them horizontally, but this doesn’t particularly matter. Make them soft and fluffy like clouds ~

Step 3: Lighter colours!!! Alter your colours to make them closer to white, (but not fully white just yet!! That’s the next step ^^) and make the brush size smaller than the previous step. Apply these to the centres of the bigger colours, as if they’re the ones that are glowing!

Step 4: EVEN LIGHTER!!! Go over a second time with a white colour, less opacity (Maybe 10-20%?) and a bigger size! Fill in gaps and make it glow ^^

Step 5: The best step – THE STARS!!! I use FireAlpaca’s Particle brush for this step. Always use a variety of star sizes!! Some will be bigger than others, some will be very small, and some will be so tiny you can hardly even see them. Play around with opacity as well, and background stars can even be different colours! (Yellow, blue or pink are my favs). Always make sure the biggest/closest stars are pure white, though ^^

Step 6: STARS GLOW!!! Find the biggest stars on your drawing, add a layer BENEATH the stars, and use your airbrush tool to make them glow!!! (about 50% opacity, using the colours you used previously)

Step 7 (OPTIONAL): After I finish the stars, I sometimes go back to Step 4 (the white colours) and sharpen them. I went over with a transparent airbrush (or eraser, both work – the eraser comes out a little too sharp tho) and sharpened some parts of the white glows. This is just for effect, and isn’t necessary ^^

Step 8: You can actually stop here if you’re satisfied! Personally, I think it’s good… but it can be better~!

GO HAM!!! ADD MORE COLOURS!!! ADD TEN THOUSAND STARS!!! ADD A SPACESHIP OR A SHOOTING STAR!!! ADD A PLANET EVEN!!! SPACE IS FILLED WITH ENDLESS OPPORTUNITES!!!

Step 9 (JUST FOR PIC): Here’s my finished galaxy, with the Injector in the foreground ^^ One thing I wanted to add is that the Injector actually does glow – so in my drawings, I always add one layer of a faint pink glow radiating from it ^^

And yeah, that’s about it!!! I really hope this helps some people ^^ Feel free to use, but if you do test it out, please tag me so I can see how you do it!!! I’d love to see what comes from this ^^

Thanks for reading!!! <333

★｡･:* Hyperlinks to Jinxy’s Other Tutorials *:･｡★

Gemstone base colour Gemstone shading Character shading (Send me an ask if you'd like me to do this tutorial!)

[artificialinsanity]

Hunting the Missing Link

Story Summary: When a mysterious individual crash-lands in the sleepy town of Starlight Edge, four unassuming individuals begin on a journey to find its origins, kickstarting a chain of events that would alter thier lives forever.

Chapter Summary: When Emily gets a new car, she takes them for a road trip to all thier favorite places, as a start to the most interesting day in the rest of thier lives.

[Next]

Story under the cut.

Just a few hours drive west from Empire City lies a small, sleepy town by the name of Starlight Edge, with a population in the low ten-thousands. Though small, the town is quite a hotspot for tourism due to the Starlight’s Edge of which the town is named after - a massive 100-foot cliff overlooking a series of 16 waterfalls flowing into a deep lake, known by the residents as Lake Selene.

A few miles away from Starlight Edge, on a street leading in from the town, lie 4 houses in a cul-de-sac, though only one has a vehicle parked outside - a yellow sports bike. Inside this house, a young hyena woman is tinkering with something while the 8am news plays in the background.

“In global news, Sonic the Hedgehog appears to have stopped the evil Doctor Robotnik yet again in the outskirts of Metropolis Zone,” reports the newscaster. “Sources say the Doctor, quote, ‘Didn't put up much of a fight.’”

“Why does this idiot keep trying these stunts!?” shouts the hyena to an audience of none. “By this point he should KNOW it’s not gonna work!”

Dressed in black with the proper safety equipment, the hyena is hard at work; soldering electronics together with a tutorial on her phone. Electronics lay all over her “garage”, from busted CD players, to old computer motherboards, to failed projects, parts and tools litter the place like they’re a rare commodity. Outside her work space, her living space isn’t much better, with clothes scattered all across her furniture, mainly centered around a single chair in the back corner.

Next to her TV is a slew of various SEGA video game consoles - Genesis, Saturn, and even Dreamcast - and next to those is a shelf full of video games, all of them about Sonic the Hedgehog. From the first one on Genesis to the last one on Dreamcast, she has them all. She even has the ones released after that, but those are on her PC, which lay just next to the shelf of video games.

With one final solder, the hyena raises her safety goggles to her forehead, eager to test out her contraption, when she hears a knock at the door. Steadily, she removes her safety gear, attaches her contraption to her wrists, and begins preparing herself.

This perky young hyena girl has big dreams, big ambitions, and a surprisingly ample bosom. Her fur is a creamy tan, like a warm latte, contrasting well with her clothes dark as night, much like the markings dotting her fur. She wore a light, yet tight black tank top with a cute yellow star adorned on its front, a black-and-purple tartan skirt with a purple waistband, some tight black sport shorts, purple combat boots that go up to her knees, and a crop top leather jacket with pins of some of her favorite musical acts - Neck Deep, State Champs, and All Time Low. Her eyes were a much darker shade of brown than her fur, much more akin to the trunk of an old and world weary oak tree. The contraptions she placed around her wrists were gold ring bracelets. Upon her hands, she also wore fingerless gloves, revealing the black tips of her fingers; and also had small purple glasses, which she wore on her nose. As for the girl’s name? It was-

“Stella!” barked a deep female voice from beyond the door. “You ready yet? I got something to show you!”

“Just a minute, Emily!” Stella yelled in response. Quickly turning off the TV, she rushed out the front door, eagerly awaiting what the day may bring.

“There you are, slowpoke!” said Emily. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry! I was fixing up my Light Bracelets.” Stella replied. “Why’d you call me out, exactly?”

“Come on! I got something to show you!” exclaimed Emily, clearly excited; which was rare for the porcupine, as she mostly stayed to herself. Her quills were a deep maroon, like autumn leaves, with her pupils a fiery red. She wore indigo boots with white stripes on them, jean shorts, and a pink tube tank top, with an indigo vest overtop. She was also one of the few members of this group to wear eyeshadow, hers being a striking lavender in color. She also had white gloves with spikes on them, as well as spiked bracelets around her wrists.

Emily took Stella two houses down, where a rounded object covered in abstract haphazard D.I.Y. canvas rest just out front, where it didn't just an hour ago.

"What's this?" questioned Stella, knowing full well what might be under the sheet, but feigning ignorance for pleasantries.

“Can’t say right now,” replied Emily. “Gotta wait for Lyla and Vicki first.”

Emily looked around.

“...Hey, where are Lyla and Vicki?”

Just then they noticed two figures racing down the street, one of them hovering just above the ground. As the figures got closer, Stella and Emily noticed it as a cheetah and a crow, rapidly approaching. As they got even closer, the cheetah slid to a stop just in front of the others, while the crow flew face first into a telephone pole. Everyone winced.

"Ooh, you okay, Vicki?" asked a concerned Stella.

"I- I'm fine!" said the timid crow, holding her head, dizzy. "Just a small bump, is all."

"I'll trust you on that, Victoria." Stella then replied.

Victoria is a shy, mild-mannered crow. Shorter than the rest, she wore a pristine white dress overtop her black feathers, though now its formerly spotless appearance has taken on dirt, grime, and a small bit of snow from the wintery ground. She doesn't seem to notice, or care, though. She's spacey - appropriately keeping her head in the clouds and rarely focusing on the situations at hand. Her hair feathers are always frazzled, despite her keeping them in a ponytail, and her boots are as black as her feathers, making them almost invisible unless you're focused on them. She also wore, on a chain around her neck, a small yellow heart-shaped gemstone, burning with a small flame to match, kept inside a small iron cage. Supposedly, in the time she’s owned it, Vicki has never seen the flame go out. 

"Probably shoulda warned ya about the pole, Vic. Sorry!" Said the cheetah in an oddly chipper tone.

"Yeah, maybe you should have, Lyla. She could have gotten seriously hurt!" Stella yelled

"Don't yell at her, Stella! I'm fine!" said Vicki in response.

Lyla is an upbeat, chipper cheetah with a heart of gold and balls of steel, despite being a girl. She will charge into any situation and will not stop until she either saves the day, or gets so hurt she has to retreat. She's impulsive, sporty, and VERY friendly, but has a fear of heights. She's also somewhat inattentive, often not realizing the true gravity of a situation. She wears a navy blue sports bra and sport shorts, as well as sneakers in the same color. Her short, manic hair is a rich, creamy brown, that falls overtop the rest of her bright yellow fur, and her eyes are a deep, rich blue that almost pierces into your very soul. She smiled, rubbing the back of her head in a bashful manner.

"You know I worry about you, Vicki," Stella said. "I just don't want you to-"

"I get it, mom. You don't have to lecture me, I'm fine," replied Vicki in response.

"Now's not the time for arguing, you three!" exclaimed Emily. "We can worry about this later - I have something to show you all."

"I take it it's underneath that car-shaped cloth?" Stella pointed.

"I told you not to peek, you jerk," Emily teased.

"Oh yeah, sure, I'll just NOT look at the biggest thing on the street right now. Sure. That sounds reasonable." Stella jokingly replied.

"Alright, I get it!" Emily jeered. "You've made your point."

"Alright, so what's under the cloth? Better be something good," Stella asked. "If I find out you bought a damn mom car, I'm going to be most displeased-"

"Don't worry, princess," Emily teased, "I know your taste in cars is very exquisite."

"It's a symbol of EXPRESSION!" Stella yelled.

"So you've told me a thousand times," Emily responded, rolling her eyes so hard they could drive down the mile street to Starlight Edge and back. "Don't worry - I picked out my favorite. And it should be one you'd enjoy."

Emily grabbed the cloth, said "I present to you:", and yanked it off with force, revealing a red Mitsubishi Eclipse sedan, with a vanity plate reading "VELS"

"VELS?" questioned Stella.

"It's our initials," responded Emily. "Vicki, Emily, Lyla, Stella. V, E, L, S."

"Chaos, why didn't I pick a name with a better initial?" joshed Stella, snickering. "Like Andromeda, or Aurora?"

"Oh yeah, because 'VEAL' is SO much better-" Emily teased.

"At least it's a real word!" yelled Stella in response.

"Whatever," brushed Emily. "So, you guys wanna go to the shops, and take this puppy for a spin?" She said, twirling a keychain on her index finger.

"YEAH!" Lyla, Stella, and Vicki all cheered in unison.

"Great! Let's go!" Emily exclaimed, excited.

Emily hit a button on her keychain revealing possibly the coolest thing about her new car - It was a convertible.

Everyone's eyes lit up brighter than the moon.

"Wait," Stella puzzled, "would putting the top down really be a good idea? It's January."

"Well, it's not snowing right now, is it?" Emily responded.

"Hmm, fair enough."

They all jumped into seats - Emily took the driver's side, as she's the only one legally allowed to drive; Stella took the passenger's side; Lyla sat behind Emily; and Vicki sat behind Stella. With everyone seated, Emily put the key in the ignition, turned it, and sped off down Parker Street into Starlight Edge.

It was a cold January day in Starlight Edge - the town had just been hit with 6 inches of snow just a few days before, and the town itself lit up brighter than ever before with the reflective snow on the ground. The small town adores its winters, having wonderful celebrations with each one. Just in from Parker St. is the shopping district, starting with Saturn Blvd., the biggest street in shopping in Starlight Edge by far, with stores, fast food restaurants, and even the Hogpine Mall, still kicking despite the decline in malls all over the world. Stella likes dropping in from time to time to pick up a CD or 2. After the shopping district is the residential district, where the citizens of Starlight Edge, well, reside. There's a few small shops in here - small mom and pop shops, convenience stores, bars, and some more fast food joints, but most of the space is taken up by housing. And just beyond the residential district is where the tourism takes charge - on the far East edge of town lies a renowned observatory, public pools, springs, parks, forms of entertainment like sporting fields, amusement parks and arcades, and beyond even ALL OF THAT lies the ever famous Starlight's Edge. Though that's MILES away from the town for the safety of its citizens, of course.

As the red Mitsubishi Eclipse pulls into town, the question arises among its passengers: Where to first?

"First things first, I should REALLY pick up Vimu," Stella said first. "I wanna have him with me, and make sure he's okay!"

"Then I wanna go to the bar!" Vicki yelled.

"Are you even old enough to drink?" Lyla asked, half joking.

"Oh, I'm not interested in alcohol!" Vicki responded. "I wanna swindle some suckers at darts and billiards! It'll be fun!"

"After that I wanna go to RCS Field on the East End," said Lyla. "My 1200 meter record is 25:58, and I wanna see if I can beat it!"

"Good luck with that!" scoffed Emily. "The only person who can run 1200 meters faster than 25 seconds is Sonic himself!"

"You don't know that!" yelled Lyla in response.

"Okay, but before you do that, I wanna buy CDs at the Hogpine Mall!" Stella butted in. "RCS Field is on the other side of town! It'd be a long drive there and back!"

"Stella, it'd be far quicker to get your CDs on the way back," Emily said. "If we're going to the far side of town anyways, better to get it out of the way as early as possible."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Stella said. "After, then."

"And then after all that we can get some fast food and go home," said Emily. "Sound good to you guys?

The car said "Yeah!" in unison.

"Great, then that's our day. Hope you're all ready!"

"I know I am!" said Stella.

"In it to win it!" said Lyla.

"I'm ready!" Vicki chimed in.

And with that, thier day had truly begun.

- - -

Thier first destination was Clysedale Care Clinic on Stellar St., the street Stella got her name from. The clinic takes care of all manner of creatures, from Chao, to Wisp. They're very trustworthy, with plenty of glowing reviews, which is why Stella has enlisted thier services for a while now.

Emily pulls the Eclipse up front, and Stella gets out.

"Wait here, guys," Stella said. "I'll go in alone."

She walked in the door, and the bell rang to signal her presence. Upon walking up to the counter, she was greeted by one of the Clysedale siblings - Ezrieal.

"Welcome to Clysedale Care Clinic!" They say in that customer service tone. "What can I do for you today?"

"Hi, Ez!" says Stella. "Is Theo in today? I'm here to pick up Vimu."

"Ah, of course! Let me call them out!" Ez says, before disappearing into the back. After a few seconds of muffled shouting Stella couldn't understand, a tall figure emerged from the back. They had glasses and brown hair, and just kind of looked tired all the time. His eyes quickly looked to Stella, seeming to know exactly what she was thinking.

"You're here to pick up your Chao, yes?" They said in a sleepy tone.

"Y- Yes, sir." Stella stammered, slightly intimidated. Dr. Theo always gave her a weird feeling.

"Let me get him for you then," He replied, disappearing into the back.

After a few seconds, they re-emerged with a white robotic chao with a screen for a face.

"Vimu!" Stella shouted, and gave him a big hug. "Oh, I'm glad to see you're okay!" Vimu made a cute little chime in response.

"Your Chao was a tad bit… unorthodox for us," Dr. Theo said, "But he appears to be perfectly healthy. No slowdown, no clutter, no viruses. One of the healthiest we've ever seen."

"Thank you for your services, Dr. Theo!" Stella exclaimed. "How much do I owe you?"

"The standard fee, my dear," Dr. Theo replied. "30 Rings an hour."

She paid the fee - 2,160 Rings. The price was steep, but it was her own fault for not coming to get her Chao sooner.

Theo did some counting, gave a satisfactory nod, and put the rings in the register on the front desk. "Once again, it has been a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Stella."

"I'm just glad the work you do here is so sublime!" Stella said. "Thank you!"

"Any time, my dear. Do come back if you require our services again."

"Of course! You guys are the best in town! Have a good day!"

"You too, Miss Stella."

With Vimu in hand, Stella walked out of the clinic, and got back into the car. Lyla and Vicki immediately greeted Vimu with pets and treats.

"Weird group of folks, those guys," Emily made an off-handed remark.

"Yeah, but they do good work, though," Stella replied. "They're not hurting anyone, so I don't judge."

"They've got some odd vibes about them, though," Emily said.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing, Emily," Stella assured as Emily pulled out from the clinic and got back on the road. "Where to next?"

"Mighty Bar & Grill," Emily said. "Vicki's request."

Vicki pumped her fist in response.

That would take a trip to the residential district, which, like most things in this town, was relatively uneventful. After arriving at Mighty Bar & Grill, on the corner of Calmac St. and Griffith Rd., the band of four went in. Lyla, Stella, and Emily sat at the bar - Vicki had other plans.

"Don't you think it's a bit early to get sloshed, ladies?" the barkeep, a British mouse with the nametag Carrie queried.

"We're not here for alcohol," Emily responded. "These 2 are underage, and I'm driving these idiots."

"What? I'm 21!" Stella interjected. "I just personally abstain."

"Fair enough," replied Carrie, pulling out a glass. "What'll it be?"

"You got any sports drinks?" said Lyla.

"I'll take a sparkling water," said Stella.

"Orange juice for me," said Emily.

"Very well," Carrie responded. "It should be ready in a few minutes. In the meantime, have some fun!"

Which is what Vicki was already in the process of doing. She was haggling as many patrons as you could ask for at 10 in the morning to play her at various games, claiming she could beat them with her eyes closed. She'd even take bets - sometimes up to 500 Rings! Her strategy was foolproof - deliberately missing the first few shots, but then cleaning house after turn 3 or so. Darts was easy - with a steady aim, and enough precision, she could hit the bullseye or triple 20 every time. Pool was a bit more difficult, requiring a bit more skill to be able to handily win without sight. But Vicki's been at this for years - she's studied the slight variances in every pool ball, being able to pinpoint each ball without even knowing what color they are. Sure, for every 5 wins at pool, she had at least one loss. But that was the thrill of the game to her.

After getting thier drinks, Stella, Lyla, and Emily all went off to do thier own separate things. Stella perused the various arcade games at the bar, playing Sega classics like Hang-On, and House of the Dead with Lyla joining in. And when she wasn't playing with Stella, Lyla was indulging in some of the other games at the bar, namely the basketball hoop. She missed nearly all her shots, but she had fun at least. Emily, however, just sat at the bar, drinking her orange juice and scrolling social media on her phone. She didn't want to get too involved into anything, because she had to drive these dorks across town when this was over.

By noon, Stella and Lyla had gotten bored of the activities, and Vicki was finishing up her escapades, beating some poor sucker at Darts 501 for the fifth time in a row. He wasn't even drunk.

"Come ON!" he said, agitated. "There's no WAY this is legit! You HAVE to be cheating!"

"Maybe it's just a skill issue, Charles," Vicki said to the patron, spinning a dart on her finger. "I'll be taking those 50 Rings you wagered now."

"NOT till I have proof you ain't cheatin'!" Charles yelled in response.

"Forget it, man!" another patron yelled from across the bar. "She's legit. Just give her the money."

Charles, reluctantly, reached into his pockets and gave Vicki 50 Rings.

"Thanks for being such a good sport, Charlie," Vicki said smugly. Charles just glared in response.

"Yo, Vic!" Lyla said to her. "You almost finished yet? We've been here almost 2 hours now!"

"Yeah, I'm done," replied Vicki. "Let's go, then! Don't keep me waiting, slowpokes!"

As they went to leave the bar and reenter the car, they had a small conversation.

"What's got you so cocky?" Stella asked.

"Feeling like I'm on top of the world with all those victories!" Vicki responded.

Vicki accidentally walked into the door on her way out, causing the rest of the group to wince, though Stella winced the hardest.

As they got out of the bar, Stella asked Vicki "You okay?"

"I'm fine!" Vicki retorted. "That was all part of my scheme, anyways…"

"So how much did you make out with this time?" Emily inquisited.

"Meh, only around 850," Vicki responded, disappointed. "We gotta come back here after 8pm when everyone's sloshed - I'll make out with plenty for sure!"

Vicki giggled to herself, and everyone else smiled and joined in, laughing and giggling all the way to the car, where they then headed to RCS Field on the East side of town.

RCS Field was a hybrid football and track field, where the local football teams regularly practiced. While physically large, the field itself drew few visitors, namely due to the small size of the town, and the fact that the only games that really took place here were local anyways.

Lyla didn't really care much about the local football team - she was banned for being too violent as a kid anyways. What she cared most about was the track.

Olympic sized at 400 total meters around, Lyla practices her speed here many times a month to ensure she's in top shape, still trying to beat her best time - A little over 25 seconds for 3 laps around. She's tied it 3 times since she set it, but never passed it. She's hoping today she can break it wide open, though at this point, even a millisecond faster would be enough for her.

The track was in pretty good shape, as the architects had the foresight to put a glass roof overtop the field, so that the players would be unaffected by the weather, though Lyla did have to brush a small bit of snow off the track, as it had started snowing by this point in the day..

Lyla lined up at the starting area, with Stella on stopwatch duty, and Emily and Vicki on the sidelines for moral support. Stella was just glad she wasn't the one running.

"What are you gonna do when you beat it?" asked Stella. "You'd need some kind of a celebration."

"Think I might load up on lasagna and pig out for a bit." Lyla replied. "But that's IF it's possible."

"Alrighty then," Stella said. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"GO!" Stella shouted as she started the timer. And with that, Lyla was off to the races, literally. She had a bit of a rough start, as she typically does, but after a few minutes, she put her arms at her sides with her fists in front, and ran as fast as she could, completing 3 laps in 31 seconds.

Lyla was a bit upset, but she didn’t let it get to her - her first run wasn’t going to beat her record anyways. So she lined back up at the start, and ran the track again, and again, and again, over and over, slowly but surely closing the gap. 30 seconds. Then 29. 28 seconds. 27…

While Lyla was running, Stella began shivering. It was the middle of winter, and the thickest jacket she packed was a leather jacket that didn’t even fully cover her torso.

“Brrr! Is anyone else feeling a bit chilly?” She said to the rest of the group. Vimu huddled up next to her to try and warm her up.

“Maybe you should have packed for the weather, then,” Emily said, pulling out a puffy jacket.

“I don’t feel cold!” shouted Vicki.

“Here, take this then.” Emily threw a wool blanket at Stella. Stella nodded as thanks.

Lyla kept running, over and over running 3 laps around the track, closing the gap ever further, down to a 26:01, then 25:98.

“Just a little bit more!” Lyla exclaimed. “I think I can do this!”

Lyla lined back up at the start, determined to run as fast as she ever had. Stella yelled “Go!”, and Lyla was off, running at speeds she hadn't reached before. However, halfway through her second lap, she tripped on her feet, falling to the ground. However, making a miraculous recovery, she rolled into a ball, got back up, and finished the rest of her laps, finishing with a final time of…

“25:5…9.” Stella read off the stopwatch.

“59!?” yelled Lyla. “I tripped and fell, and was able to miss my record by a single millisecond!?”

“Well, this rounds up to 2 places, and milliseconds are counted in thousandths,” replied Stella, “So it could be anywhere from 1 to 10 milliseconds.”

“So? I missed my record by 10 milliseconds! By tripping and falling!” Lyla screamed. “Can I get a redo on that? Please?”

“Sorry,” Emily butted in. “You’re out of time for today. It’s 3 pm - The sun’s almost setting.”

“Damn it!” Lyla yelled. “But I’m coming back to tackle this tomorrow! I know I can do it!”

“Yeah, but we have other things to do today,” Emily replied. “Sorry.”

Everyone slowly walked back to the car, Lyla upset, but regaining her composure shortly after. Getting back in the car, they realized it was snowing harder than before. Not snowstorm levels, but definitely more than the light sprinkle of earlier in the day.

Emily drove the car back to the west side of town, but stopped at a grocery store instead of the Hogpine Mall.

“You didn’t clear this destination by us beforehand,” Stella said. “We cleared our destinations with you.”

“I know,” said Emily. “I just need to pick up a few things real quick. I’ll only be a second, I promise.”

And with that, she got out of the car and went inside. Stella, Lyla, and Vicki were left in the car to do whatever they wanted, though for some reason, Emily left the top down on the car. After 20 minutes, Emily still wasn’t back yet, so everyone was just doing their own thing. Lyla was playing a Game Boy Advance, Vicki was reading a book, and Stella was listening to music. Suddenly though, something caught Stella’s eye - someone shivering in a back alley. With the snow, Stella knew they wouldn’t last long out here, and considering the person was shivering in an alley, they likely didn’t have any place to go. Stella looked around for some way she could help, and noticed a taco truck on the other side of the street. After quickly instructing Vimu to stay put, Stella began to hop over the car door, when Lyla took notice of her.

“Where are you going?” she questioned.

“I’m just going to do something real quick,” Stella responded. “I’ll be right back.”

And with that, she hopped out of the car, and ran to the taco truck.

“Ahh, if it isn’t my favorite customer!” the truck owner said to her. “How many will it be, Stella?”

“Five, please, Donnie!” Stella replied.

“And I take it 3 more for your friends?” Donnie joked.

“No, just 5,” Stella said with a giggle.

“Coming right up!” Donnie said. “They’ll be done in just a minute, so don’t go anywhere!”

“OK!” Stella responded. In the wait she was able to get a longer look at the stranger in the alleyway - They appeared to be a female wolf with black, matted fur. She was covered in dirt and snow, and shivering from the cold. Her clothes; a red flannel, black jean shorts and combat boots, and white fingerless gloves, were tattered and torn, not nearly in enough shape to survive the winter. She had a gray muzzle and yellow eyes, and looked clearly distraught, almost on the verge of tears. Stella felt really bad for this woman.

“OK, kiddo!” Donnie said, startling Stella. “Here’s your tacos!”

“I’m, uh, still 21 years old, but thank you!” she said in response.

“Just because you’re 21 doesn’t mean you’re not a ‘kiddo’, kiddo,” responded Donnie. “25 rings please!”

Stella paid the 25 rings, and proceeded to move to the other side of the street, slowly. Lyla caught a glimpse of Stella, and noticed her going into the alleyway.

What are you doing, Stella? Lyla thought to herself.

Stella approached the mystery girl slowly, so as not to startle her. She was whimpering, rubbing her hands together next to a small fire for warmth. As Stella got close enough to the girl, she began to take notice of her, at which point Stella outstretched her hand and offered a taco.

“Here,” Stella said. “Take this.”

The girl did not. Instead she growled, bit Stella’s hand, and sprinted away on all fours, behind the store and out of sight of Stella.

Weird girl, Stella thought to herself, as she walked back to the car.

“So what happened?” Lyla asked Stella as she hopped back into the Eclipse.

“Not much,” Stella lied. “I bought tacos though!”

“Sick!” Lyla responded.

“Your hand!” Vicki pointed out, noticing the bite mark. “What happened?”

“I saw a homeless girl in the alley, and offered her a taco, but she bit me and ran away,” Stella answered.

“You gotta be more careful around strange girls, Stella,” Emily responded, exiting the store. “Is it infected? Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

“I’ll probably be fine,” Stella responded. “Just gotta wash it and bandage it.”

“Nuh-uh. Not good enough for me,” Emily responded. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“Alright, fine,” Stella responded. “I bought you a taco!”

“Sick” Emily said as she took it, and began the drive to the hospital.

- - -

“See, Em? I’m fine!” Stella said as they left the hospital on the east side of the residential district It was just about sunset now after everything that had happened throughout the day.

“Better to know for sure than to assume,” Emily retorted.

“But I’m going to be fine,” Stella said, pointing finger guns at Emily with her newly bandaged hand.

“Be more careful next time,” Emily scolded with a sigh.

“Whatever,” Stella says in response. Vimu made a happy noise.

Emily looked up into the sky. “It’s getting late,” She said.

“Maybe we should be heading home?” Vicki added.

“Good idea! My legs could use a break from all this walking!” Lyla chimed in, stretching.

“Were we out all day?” Stella questioned. “Maybe we should make tomorrow a bit more low-key.”

“Good idea, ladies,” Emily chimed, pulling her car keys from her pocket, pleasant with how the day went on. “Get in. Let’s go home.”

The drive home was less talkative and less chaotic than the rest of the day had been. Everyone was mostly just talking about some of the things that happened today, and new interests of thiers - but softly so as not to disturb Vicki, who had fallen asleep in the back seat. Suddenly, the topic turned to sports, and Stella tuned out, looking out the side of the convertible car that still had its top down. She began looking at her bandaged up hand in the fading sunlight, and for a brief second thought she caught a faint glimpse of the mystery girl again, but when she turned to look again, the girl was gone, almost as if she was never there.

“You okay, Stel’?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Stella sheepishly said in response. “Must be a bit tired, is all.”

“I feel you there,” said Emily.

By the time they had arrived home, the sun had fully set. Checking her phone, Stella noticed it was 5pm, which made sense, as it was late January. Everyone had gotten out of the car, and was about to head inside and turn in for the night, when Stella looked up and noticed something.

A meteor shower! Here! The Starlight’s Edge would probably be a better place to view it, but nobody wanted to miss a single second. Light shows like this were a rare occurrence, especially meteor showers and shooting stars! Everyone began “ooh”ing and “ahh”ing at the pretty lights and colors, and quickly began pointing out pretty stars. Stella even pulled out her telescope, The Constellation as she called it, to get a better view.

“I like that one!” Lyla said, pointing to a star that was shooting especially fast.

“That one’s very pretty!” Stella said, pointing at one of the brighter stars in the sky.

“I think that one’s pretty cool,” Emily said pointing at a large star.

“That one’s not even moving!” Stella responded.

“Should we wake Vicki up?” Lyla inquired.

“No, let her sleep,” Stella replied.

“Uh, guys?” Emily asked, slightly concerned and pointing at a particularly large star.

“Yeah, we get it, Em. You like the large one,” retorted Lyla.

“No, I think she’s onto something,” Stella said, now worried. “Is it getting bigger?”

“Hit the deck!” Emily yelled, causing everyone to scatter into different directions. Which was a good call, as the “star” crash landed in front of the Eclipse, tearing open the pavement and waking Vicki with the noise.

“What’s going on?” Vicki slurred, bleary eyed.

“We don’t know!” Stella yelled.

“Stay calm, Stella!” Emily commanded.

“Looks like… a person?” Lyla noticed.

To which she appeared to be right - as what has just crashed into the pavement is no ordinary debris or meteor. Sure, it LOOKED almost otherworldly, as it sparked on its way down, but what remained in the crash site looked far too…

…Mobian…

To Be Continued...

[bosskie]

Molluck in Leather

Man, I don't know how long I have been thinking about drawing Molluck in leather but it's probably been over a year... And I just had to draw it now. I started this at night and ruined my sleep rhythm, again... Just had to force myself stop drawing and I finished this later today. It was that leather jacket that took me so many hours... I have no idea how to draw leather, so it was like 'trial and error' like stuff... I wish to draw a proper version of this in colour, so this was a practice sketch thing. I got new colour pencils now since I didn't have proper ones for black paper. I haven't tested them yet but I got plenty of drawing ideas inside my head.

I do call pretty much everything a sketch that ain't rendered in a detailed and 'proper' way. A sketch can take me 5 hours but if I did a full piece out of it, it could take 10-20 hours more, so it probably makes sense why it's a sketch for me. Man, I used to do so detailed line art, shade with doing those little dots, do patterns... I kinda just couldn't stand my line art without much details, though it's still like that... I could give that style a try with fineliners. I wish that I had more time to draw since I kinda don't have time to draw but I wanna draw so badly and it makes me feel better. I basically started to draw this to calm down, gather my thoughts; drawing helps me to clear my mind.

But yes, I have just been thinking that black leather would suit Molluck. I'm not sure about his necklace but I wanted to try it out. I also thought that he could have his chest visible since he got nothing to hide there! I know that there are some flaws still but I tried my best. It felt like I l still earned new thing about Molluck's shapes while drawing this... His head is full of fine details! His expression is pretty random, didn't feel like redoing it. Oh, and now thinking this more, a leather jacket could make sense since maybe there could be some use for the skins of the animals/creatures butchered at his farm.

I don't know if there is more to say. I have been just having so many doubts related to myself and my stuff... I kinda also started drawing this to check if I can (still) really draw... Sometimes, it can just feel like maybe my skills have disappeared, maybe I have forgotten everything, because I don't really trust my own skills, don't even feel like I draw well... Man, mind can be so odd and twist things into so absurd thoughts... But they still feel real, even if I knew that it was just my mind's trick again...

And yeah, I don't feel like submitting anything to that OWI's 'fan celebration' thing since I feel like I got nothing proper to submit, been just doing mainly sketches and I'm not a fan of my 'proper' pieces... My whole blog is 'an Oddworld creation' I could submit but well, just too much stuff for them to check out. I wouldn't also feel good if they did a video about my stuff... I would just love to hear Lorne talking about Molluck but everything else... It just gives me anxiety and my impostor syndrome would bloom...

I just tend to feel embarrassed of my own skills... I have so much to learn, been drawing too little... I drew much more about a decade ago. Only if I had more time but this is a good start already since I barely drew anything last year; I have already drawn more this year! It has been also a big step to finally start using those unused art supplies I have had for so many years... Still got some more recently, like an eraser pencil. It's been very useful, something I really wanted to find! I should try to use some proper graphite pencils and stuff too since I have been doing these pencil sketches with a mechanical pencil and erasers. Just so much stuff to try out, man... I got like two packs of graphite stuff; yeah, should put them in use too...

Oh, and I'm sorry for the quality of these traditional things. Sometimes, I get a better picture but sometimes, it's just terrible... But I try to edit these as well as I can, and yes, sometimes I also like to add some colours digitally or do some fixes.

[kozachenko]

I've crawled out of my cave after playing Final Fantasy IX for a long ass time what have I missed?

Artist's Notes:

I'M BACK BABY! A while back I made a post with a new style experimentation thingy but I ended up deleting it because it was just kind of a boring face thing, I was planning on doing more art but then I started playing Final Fantasy IX and uhhhh yeah so that game has kind of taken of my brain for the past two weeks and I am 20 hours into the game because I love it so much. I wanted to draw Vivi because Vivi is just really fun to draw ok? I've kinda been feeling really burnt out with my lineless style, mainly because of how hard it was to do lighting. I'll show one of my initial art style tests on the bottom of this post. Again, used to have it be an individual post but it was just one face so it was kinda boring, so might as well include with this one on the subject of art styles. I wanted to kinda mix some aspects of my older style with the sketchy shading lines with a more painterly way of doing the lighting (mainly in the shadows). All in all, I think that's my favourite part about this drawing, it feels nice to finally be able to do some proper lighting again, and I want to experiment even more with my lighting and rendering in future pieces. Also, part of the pant shading got kinda lost in the sketchiness, so for next time I'll probably focus on the clarity of the more sketchy parts of the drawing, since I did go with my initial sketch for the final drawing. I also gave up on the background since I had no idea what to do for it, and I didn't put too much detail into the staff as I forgot which one I gave him in my current playthrough and I didn't want to risk spoiling myself via looking up references, but that's ok I like how the singular yellow circle on it matches Vivi's eyes. Also I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how to draw his body and how to pose him, but I like how the pose turned out a lot. It was inspired by his idle animation when in a battle in game where he does a little shimmy.

Ok I need to talk about Vivi's design because I love it so fucking much oh my god-

I absolutely love how his face is just in complete shadow and only his eyes stand out, it's so cool and unique and I love how they recontextualized the original black mage design from the classic Final Fantasy games. How they did it I won't say because I don't wanna spoil the game, but someone give this poor baby a therapist because he goes through a lot. Actually, same can be said for all of the FFIX cast, they all need therapy (again, I won't spoil anything, please go play the game for yourself).

While I do love almost all the characters in the game, even though Vivi is most fun to draw, my favourite character has to be Zidane (the main protagonist of the game). He's a really fun protagonist, and they could have easily written him as a misogynistic jerk who doesn't respect women but they didn't, and I really appreciate that. He's just an overall cool dude who's a really nice older brother figure to Vivi and also just has a cool character design (who I also want to draw eventually). Initially in the game I was planning on grinding levels for Vivi to make him the tactical nuke of the party, but then that title went to a different character (who was initially multiple levels behind the group since I grinded the party in the starting area way to much before they joined, but now they are two levels ahead of everyone and have pulled the team through a lot of tough battles, again I won't say who it is because it is kind of a spoiler and the way the gameplay actually ties into their character arc is just so good omfg). Once I eventually finish the game I'll probably write a full review on here, so no spoilers until then lol

Also, I've kinda been burning out a bit with making Touhou art, which also made me a bit burnt out with Touhou stuff in general (although I will continue keeping up with the manga) so getting into other things (i.e. Final Fantasy and even Fallout since I've watched the first season of the TV show which is a whole other post for another day) has helped me refresh and given me something new to think about. I've ended up in the exact place I feared ending up, where I would start drawing fanart for it not because I wanted to but because I felt like I had to, so I'm taking a bit of a break. When I do draw Touhou fanart again I'll try to draw for the sake of myself, and to all the other artists and fanartists on this platform (and on any social media for that matter), take care of yourself and don't forget to take breaks when you need to!

(Ok part of that last paragraph was definitley influenced by the good ol' "it's 9:00pm and I need sleeb, but the message at the end still holds up, always take care of yourself)

Oh yeah, and here is that one style experiment I did btw

Man I really fell down the "Yoshitaka Amano art enjoyer" to "Final Fantasy fan" pipe line didn't I?

[shions-new-blog-of-stuff]

"The New Host"

Plaga Leon x OC, CW: Suicide mention/thoughts

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

The next night

Catherine walked out of the bathroom, in cow print pajamas, brushing her hair. Leon had his back turned to her, watching something on the black and white TV. He had showered before her, and was given a box of clothes, a gift from her uncle. Mainly plain t shirts and pants, plus some undergarments and sleepwear. Anything was better than those hospital clothes that always smelled of antiseptic. He was wearing a slightly oversized plain blue T-shirt and baggy white shorts.

Leon was now more active at night, due to the parasite. The sedatives finally wore off, and the marks from where an IV was placed in his arm had long since closed up.

"Hey..." Catherine called out, "Mind if I...ask you something?"

Leon turned to face her as she sat close to him on the bed, "Yeah. It's about me, isn't it?"

"You could tell, huh?"

"It was gonna happen eventually."

"How exactly did you get infected...I was there with Ashley, when we used Luis' machine."

Leon reached to hold Catherine's hand.

"The ones we had, we did get rid of them," he replied, "However, Saddler had one last trick up his sleeve. When I tried to retrieve the sample everyone was after, something from his corpse stung my arm. Like how a jellyfish does even if it's dead, best I can put it."

Leon sighed, "Remember when we got back to land, the blood tests and all? We came out healthy. I felt completely fine...until after the concert sometime afterwards."

He continued to retell the events surrounding his infection. The symptoms were more or less the same--loss of consciousness, convulsions, and coughing up blood. This particular strain of the parasite had essentially hidden within his body for a while, waiting for just the right time to reveal itself.

Osmund Saddler must be laughing from beyond the grave.

And so Leon was confined to a sterile room, his only company was a parade of people in surgical masks and gowns, occasionally being wheeled around for X-rays and injections. Though the lab could recreate Luis' suppressant pills, they had little to no effect. Surgery would mean that while the parasite would die, its host would die along with it.

Leon wanted to end it all, while he was still himself. He never wanted to become the very thing he had been sent out to destroy.

During the last days before he felt his body change completely, his hearing had sharpened, and could catch almost entire conversations outside his room. He could hear Morgan arguing with other lab staff.

Then came the fateful night--Leon felt his body grow unbearably hot, and freeing himself from his restraints he found himself on his knees in the middle of his room. It felt like a repeat of his dream in the cabin by the lake, but this time it was real.

Lying on the floor, hand twitching, his surroundings being washed over by shades of red. He saw familiar faces flash before his eyes, and then everything went black.

Catherine raised her free hand, "Th-that's enough for now..."

"It's a lot to take in, I know," Leon replied, holding her close.

"I'm okay, I am..."

Parasite or no, I'm glad you never forgot about me.

@squashfics @mishwanders @notrattus

[yaspup9000]

so.. I’ve been hearing about some glaring issues regarding we love katamari reroll and well, it’s very concerning.. mainly about how they reused assets from katamari reroll instead of giving the characters their design from we love katamari ie, Ace not being spikey nor Ichigo being strawberry shaped. They still have the same design as they did in damacy reroll. Okay I understand why in katamari damacy cousins like ichigo, Ace, and even Opeo would have their old designs from the first game since it was a remake of the first game however with this

they didn’t even bothered in bringing back their we love katamari designs in we love reroll, so it’s kind of worrying. And on that note, I’ve already talked about my friends about how young king of all cosmos’ blush looks off here let me just show you a comparison between Young king of all cosmos in we love reroll vs Beautiful Katamari

Okay soo, I’ve pointed this out to one of my friends awhile back about how the blush on the king doesn’t really blends very well to his skin, this shade of pink should of been more deeper and less lighter since well, compared to most cousins, most of the cousins/cosmics have a lighter skin tone. And again, I can understand reusing assets as a base while working on your games but it shouldn’t be used for the final product. And before some people say it, No Im not trying to pull a whole “sonic has green eyes so this game suxs now” crowd, No. There’s a clear difference between criticizing how some colors of blush doesn’t work well for some skin tones vs just complaing about a minor detail in a character that doesn’t really matter. Like say what you will, but at least with modern sonic (sonic with green eyes) at least some of the games still care about details and stuff (not talking about the newer modern sonic games tho they do not look good. I was kinda thinking like sonic rush at least.. and maybe even sonic adventure)

but that’s not all of the issues about we love reroll. So yea there was audio issues left and right and there were bugs. And how I know about all of this, is because there was a stream testing out the game and well.. it made me depressed.. like no really. I wasn’t feeling too good mentally as it is but it seems like some of the devs who were working on it Just straight up have the codes hold up in spaghetti string. And it’s really concerning since I don’t want another Pokémon SV again.. like Glitches the eye can see and stuff. Pokémon SV Already depressed me a lot and I didn’t even want to play the game.

The trend of Quantity over Quality with most games is very much concerning and depressing. Im sure that the devs would fix these issues before release and actually make things a little bit better? But I’m just asking too much and a part of me has this feeling that they don’t really care and they’ll ship it anyways regardless by how people people talked about this issues.

Im sure it still be good but not as great or better than the original We love katamari. If anything.. let’s try to not get our hopes too high…

anyways imma crawl back into my depress nap guys, sorry to bum you all out..