#this was originally on a sketchbook i drew on first and i was waiting for the chance to finally draw it and make it a ship lol

[flamestar126]

Would a kiss suffice?

[blacktabbygames]

Slay the Princess Concept Art

We shared a bunch of concept art on Twitter today. Sharing it here, too, where you can find it all in one post. Post contains spoilers, so proceed with caution (or just play the game already if you haven't 😉)

Going to start with the first piece of concept art Abby drew for the game.

In the earliest stages of development, we toyed around with the concept of there being multiple "end game" forms of the Princess.

The initial outline, rather than being tied together by an overarching metanarrative, structured a full playthrough as a 5-6 chapter long, self-contained journey down a single route, determined by your decisions in chapter 1. Here's an alternative late-game form:

The idea of deviating end-game forms didn't lost for very long, though. As we explored the game's themes more deeply, it made the most sense for there to be a singular "true" form.

If your reality is shaped by subjectivity and perception, then the "truth" has to be what's left when that subjectivity is swept away. the Shifting Mound's final design feels like that initial truth for the Princess, though there's also another truth if you push back against her and press on into the final cabin.

We really liked this "void" design, and I played around with the idea of it being an intermediary to the final form. The "void" Princess would be what you saw upon encountering the final Princess without understanding your own truth, but once you had that understanding, you would see her as the Shifting Mound, as depicted in the game.

That gave way to the intermediary design of the SM being a sea of disembodied limbs, and we also took parts of both designs and incorporated them into the protagonist (particularly the wings.) You can see the eyes and feathers for this void form in the ending card of the original trailer below:

You can see extremely early concept art for the spectre (top), nightmare (top-right), stranger (left), beast (bottom) and ??? (right) as well!

The eyes became a motif in the Nightmare route (Paranoid's manifestation of the fear of being watched), but I also like to think of them as a part of The Long Quiet's truth. You are space and emptiness, but you're also that which observes those things, and it's your perceptions that give the Shifting Mound shape.

Anyways, on the note of the original original concepts for the game, the Princess was initially going to remain human for several loops before taking on more monstrous forms. Some concepts of that are below. Had to get Abby to tone down some of the more horrifically cartoonish designs because they creeped me out and I didn't want to romance them in a video game.

We had to hold our cards close to our chest in the non-metanarrative early drafts, which is part of why, even in the first demo, the cabin doesn't really change much in chapter 2. More room to subtly play with the concept of transformation over time.

There were a lot of reasons we moved in a different direction for the full release. The branching was unmanageably large to write, and the game felt like a slog to write.

Using an overarching narrative as a framing mechanism in the final version gave us a lot more freedom to explore wildly divergent ideas within routes while still driving the player towards the originally planned finale.

Anyways, now we've got some concept art for individual princesses. There's a lot more than this lying around somewhere, but it's all in sketchbooks, and we'll probably wait until we make an art book to show it off.

First is the tower, who really didn't change much at all. (She got a little thicker, I guess. All of the Princesses did)

Not a lot to say about her, other than the fact that we knew we wanted a set piece where she gets so big that the trees and cabin orbit around her.

The stranger went through many many redesigns over the course of development. Here, she was a "princess skin" filled with a hive of sentient bugs. The script wasn't working for me, though, so instead she became a peak behind the curtains without the necessary context to know her.

A lot of people ask how these earlier drafts of the Stranger route would have played out, and the answer is I can't tell you, because I couldn't figure out something worth writing.

The writing process for individual routes didn't really start with outlines or plot beats. Rather, the routes started from a theme and a relationship dynamic, and I organically found their outcomes by exploring actions within those themes, and then seeing if those passed Abby's editor brain.

Neither of us found actions we wanted to explore with those versions of the Stranger, at least actions that weren't a beat-by-beat retelling of chapter 1, which contained way too much variation to put on a single chapter 2 route.

If each princess examines a relationship formed by perception and first impressions, the Stranger examines one that's fundamentally unknowable. One where you've seen too much, too quickly.

An insect hive-mind pretending to be a person seemed like a good starting point, but it was too difficult to write any interactions that didn't immediately feel knowable, if still strange. So the final version of the Stranger was designed in such a way where her unknowability makes interacting with her on a human level fundamentally impossible, and you don't get to have a real conversation with her unless you satisfy extremely specific criteria.

Anyways next up is the razor's final form. We decided she needed more swords.

Hearts became an accidental motif very quickly in the development process, too. (The fact that it is only strikes to the heart that fell her in the demo was accidental, but it felt poetic so we extended it to the rest of the game.)

So on top of adding more swords, we made her heart visible. This is something we did with the fury as well, as a way of showing their emotional (and physical) vulnerability.

Here's an early version of the Adversary and what would eventually become the Eye of the Needle, back when she was still called the Fury. Originally her hair was going to be fire (as seen on the right), but it didn't feel right in its execution.

She's hit the gym since this concept art. Good for her :)

And we're going to end with the Beast, who at this point was called the Adversary. I think this was before the Witch was added? The Beast was originally designed to be a Questing Beast who lurked in the shadows, where you'd only see glimpses of her, and where each glimpse would make her appear to be a different animal. This was too difficult to execute, though we gave her a more chimera-like appearance in the final game.

This design was from when we still has the Voice of the Obsessed, and the route was going to be a more feral mirror of what eventually became the Adversary, but it felt too thematically similar while being less interesting, so we moved in the direction of making the Beast about consumption as a form of love.

Anyways, that's all we've got for you right now. Hope this was fun!

[sanctus-ingenium]

Another one of these since i haven't done it in a while! Sketch -> finished illustration

Thoughts & process below the cut :>

Out of Bounds: i deleted the sketch of this off my ipad because i didn't like it, and for months it only existed as a screenshot on discord. finally in january of this year i was like Wait Actually and decided to keep working on it. I didn't achieve the look I was going for (kind of foggy and vague. It came out too sharp and high contrast) but it was fun to throw the kitchen sink at it for an afternoon and then call it done finally. I don't remember which horse this was originally supposed to be, I think Macha?

I reused the pose, you'll find the same one in my Pascal sketchbook from the section on gait studies. That's the cool thing about doing 30 sketches at once, you can finish them up any time you like for a different drawing

The Fool ft Islin: the original concept for this is from [takes a moment to decipher the american date system on discord] January 2022

It wasn't dynamic enough, but I've had this on the backburner for sooo long. I think I completed like 4 cards in between this sketch and the final version lol. But, for a bit of background, this is from my series of major arcana based in Inver, and in particular the events of the 1860s-era book series, Moth Viper Foal (a demo of the first book, Said The Black Horse, is available for free/pwyw in my shop). This scene is a companion to Said The Black Horse, depicting the aftermath of the traumatic fight that caused Islin to storm off. He had been working at the mill as a semiprofessional back alley surgeon when he received an offer to join the church and work as a trained surgeon in their hospital. But when he brought the good news back to his friends it was met with utter rejection, driving him to basically run away to join the church. while gay and trans. thus the card.

he didn't actually bring a bag with him when he ran out but for the sake of the card i drew him with one

Gryfon and Pantera: This is how 99% of holy beast drawings start out, even the super stylised ones. I struggle a lot to draw them in procreate so they start in sai and then i transfer them over. The story of this is already explained in the caption of the original post so I'll just talk about the process which was... honestly torturous. I actually don't like too much textures and effects on things (wild, I know) and this one and Out of Bounds are ones where I kind of preferred it pre-texturising.

The text on the side is the official in-universe report of the event, detailing the casualties, the valiant actions of Gryfon's knight before he died and so on. There's also spoilers in there :>

My main struggle with this art style is how it always ends up slightly TOO sharp and crisp in a way the just a blur filter never can correct. There's not a lot of immersion to break, to be fair, but I think this still does it a little. I need to get more comfortable doing the lines with larger and softer brushes, and allowing imperfections.

[carrie-tate]

Well, I’ll really start to remember my ocs, starting with those that appeared on my blog first, gradually moving on to newer ones.

And my first original character on this blog was… Essy

/today/

A couple of blog-posts with her can be found by using the tag #moomin oc

I remember how I created it about two or two and a half years ago, when I was in the “phase” of active Moomin fanaticism, I watched the animated series of the 90s, and two books with original stories still proudly stand on my shelf. Back then, in particular, I still had a period of fanaticism for Snufkin, when I drew, like, only him in every sketchbook.

10/03/2022

So I confess that despite my love for snufmin, Essy was created in an impulse to bring her together with Snufkin (uh-huh). Although in the end it didn’t turn into anything serious, except for a couple of sketches about her falling in love (which I hadn’t posted before…). So they're still somewhere at the "awkward mutual attraction that possibly could develop into a relationship" level.

(And I could post those old comics and sketches of their interactions if anyone is interested)

But speaking about Essy herself and who she is. She is a wandering artist, a traveler and a girl with a bright character and a friendly nature. I'd say she's a little… boyish in her demeanor?

Not a fan of dresses or extremely stereotypical girly things. More likely, she can be found either climbing trees or running after Little My, who once again stole her sketchbook. Or how she quarrels with the Postman, because he cannot give her mail, because how can you give a letter that does not have an address (And Essy does not have a specific place of residence)? The calm Essy can only be found drawing, when she becomes quieter than water.

16/03/2022

She lives mostly almost literally on the street, in a hammock, not so far from the Moominvalley beach, where the role of a roof is usually played by an umbrella hung between tree branches. But it is obvious that when it rains, Essy will prefer to wait out the bad weather in Moomin House.

Well, something like that ^^

[archaiclumina]

Mayncient 19: Concept

I talked a little bit about Galatea's third concept/Ren's third summon in this post, and mentioned I might try do something with them for Mayncient. I had originally wanted to take some screens to accompany this scene, but alas, my crimes have not been cooperating c': (I might take some later still!) And Ignixotl's design is far beyond my photoshop editing capability, but here's the first mention of him in the Unsundered segment of the Blorbette's backstory c:

────────────

Galatea was wiling away the last of her shift doodling in her sketchbook. She’d already finished sending out all the interdepartmental research requests, she’d processed all the admissions and transfers, sorted all the concept crystals for delivery to the Bureau, and summarized all the most interesting things for Anamnesis and the Chief. There was literally nothing else for her to do.

The halls of the archives were quiet at this time of day, mostly empty, save for a few lingering researchers and lecturers. One of whom was Akis, who’d arrived asking after some reports from Elpis he’d been waiting for; and was now leaning in his usual languid way against the far edge of her desk while reading over them.

The sound of approaching footfalls elicited a muted sigh from her lips. They belonged to one of the ichthyologist professors, Polyphemus, she could tell, just by the lumbering stomp of his gait. She drew a little, sharp breath through her nose, preparing herself for his inevitable attempt to needle her into an unwanted conversation and ply his attempt at flirtation, which was usually discourteous, at best, and wholly affronting at worst.

Sure enough.

“What’s that one then, Gal?”  He asked, with a brash and booming chuckle, pausing at the threshold of the dark stone tabletop.

“It’s like… an ambystoma sort of thing, it can live in lava, and fly.” Answering simply, not bothering to look up from her design.

“Truly?” He gave a gasp, (wholly mocking,) “Whatever for?”

Galatea knew better than to look up and give this question any attention.

 “Just to see if I can.”

“If you can?” Polyphemus began to bellow again. “Galatea, you can’t. You’ll never even get a lesser concept approved if you keep adding so much nonsense. You’ll be stuck looking pretty here behind the records desk forever. Isn’t that right, Akis?”

“I’m terribly sorry, Pol. But could you stop laughing?” Akis said, looking up from the sheath of papers in his hands. “It’s like thunderclaps. Didn’t you ever learn to use your inside voice?” You could hear his raised eyebrow, even though you couldn’t see it behind his ivory mask. “It’s distracting me from reading these reports from Elpis about the progress of my student’s glacial ursine concept.”

Polyphemus fell quiet then. Which was when Gal finally paused her sketching and bothered to look up. She caught the scornful quiver of his bottom lip, letting her eyes graze past him swiftly to settle on Akis with a smile. “Iddy says it’s going quite well.”

“She has to say that… I think it may need to be altered somewhat still… Anyway, Pol, if you’ve no records to collect from Registrator Galatea, you might try laughing outside.” He gave a polite nod, readjusting his mask slightly before he returned to reading.

“You could read those in your office.” Polyphemus scoffed bitterly, trudging off toward the office of the Architect, casting an almost spiteful glance back over his shoulder toward them.

Akis waited until he was out of earshot, and then turned to Galatea,  “He’s probably working on another Petalodus concept.”

Galatea gave a snort at this, hiding her laughter behind her hand.

“At least your ideas aren’t boring. You shouldn’t listen to him, anyway, Attie. He’s a dolt.”

 “Thank you Akis.” She smiled sweetly at him, although it flickered swiftly from her lips as she continued, “Still, I told you not to call me Attie.” She gave a tut, shaking her head. “No one’s used that name for me since we were children. I don’t know why you can’t call me Gal, like everyone else does.”

────────────

Spoiler: it's because he's been in love with her since he was like eight c':

[catacamacat]

Finally some original character content

Okay…

I was not prepared for this shit.

I gotta tell ya something before showing my oc trash… sketchbooks idk

I just found my old sketchbooks in the dephs of my wardrobe to show some things… and I thought I remembered everything I drew in there, well long story short, I did not.

I’ll just say that I literally cried while looking through them, and equally because i thought it was cute and beautiful and the cringest thing I’ve ever seen yk? Maybe it has also just been the memories and flash backs that came back to me at once •.•

So this are a few of my ocs, I can’t show you all of them because of multiple reasons ^^ (they are fucking ugly and I don’t want to)

And some more infodump: (You don`t have to read it, but do it if you want to)

- There is a whole story build around them, but sadly I forgot much of it and have to fill the gaps and plot holes again in all the notebooks i have skribbled the story in. (After I found them)

- Fyi, they cuddle a LOT (platonically) I think I can still remember that I wanted to use them to give me the feeling that cuddles and showing affection are cute and should be allowed (I don’t know how to say it differently, I know it’s allowed yk) without a romantic relationship or something idk wtf —w— (my two friends strongly disagree)

- In these pictures are only two of my characters, but as far as I remember there are five „main“ characters and a lot of side and backround characters. Just for you to know. The blonde boy (he has a name) is only the fourth one I designed, but he is definitely one of my favorites ^^ (The grey- haired guy is the first one and the first picture is also the first page with him. So that‘s where I designed him and his birthday is also the day I created him, so september 8th) (then there’s the pink- haired dude… he’s the second one, I can’t tell ya more ^^)

- This is actually only the second „universe“ I created, theres another one that is more of a science fiction story with.. planets and space ships and all this bullshit (i love this bullshit just for you to know) if you know what I mean. Maybe you‘ll get to see it, but I don‘t really have good drawings of it. Also I‘m currently working on anoter „universe“ (sorry I don‘t know how else to call it) with vampires and stuff… so eventually you‘ll see more of that.

- If you’re interested in knowing more about them… idk then either let me know or wait until I post more in… years or so ;)

!!!Please keep in mind that these drawings are about 2 years old… idk why it‘s important but it feels like it and please keep it in mind!!!

I will redraw some of them ig, all my hyperfixation about these dudes came back to me today yk…

Anyway, enough talking, more is under the cut

[lemonandlime22]

Can I request headcanons of Leona, Malleus, Riddle and Azul with an artist s/o who makes very realistic drawings. Also sorry if my request is bad, English isn't my first language.

Leona, Malleus, Riddle, and Azul with an artist s/o That has a realistic style

Warning(s): got a lil carried away with azuls

A/N: ty for the request!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leona

He honestly didn't even notice you drew at all in the beginning of your relationship

but after a few months a situation comes up where he can see it,

he realized you had left a book in his dorm room

he was originally just going to leave it be and you could get it the next time you came over, but then he got a little curious about what was inside

and when he looked inside, it was a ton of sketches of random students, teachers, areas in the school, and even a few of him, mostly of him sleeping.

He thought it was cool and then just told Ruggie to give it back to you.

Overall, He's not really one for art or anything but he does think it looks really good and he likes to watch you draw from time to time,

it's relaxing and he usually ends up falling asleep on your lap.

Malleus

He knew you were an artist before your relationship started but had never seen your process, just the finished resalt from time to time.

One early morning, he noticed you were doodling in a sketchbook at the entrance of the school

and when he asked what you were drawing, you showed him a very realistic beginning sketch of the raven gargoyle that was right ahead of the two of you

he was very impressed, he has met hundreds of artists throughout his years so, id take that as a compliment.

btw the moment you showed him your drawing of the gargoyle, he knew for a fact he was in love with you.

Riddle

He noticed you doodling in your sketchbook while the two of you were having a lil tea party date

now, he knows your an artist but has never seen any of your art

out of respect, ofc, you had never shown any to him and he didn't want to invade your privacy.

But he had accidentally looked down and saw a few sketches of what looked like different scenes around heartslabyul and even some of him

which he was blushing a lot about-

Overall, he's a fan of most forms of arts, and he understands how much work you put into yours. also, he could look at your art for hours and never get bored, he just adores it so.

Azul

similarly to Riddle and Malleus, he already knew that you were an artist

he just hasn't had much time to truly look at your work

tho he has glanced at your open sketchbook from now and then.

rn he's making his way into the ramshackle dorm for a surprise cuddle date

as he was looking through the dorm for you he found a rec room of sorts, filled to the brim with half done paintings, a couple boxes of sketchbooks, and a bunch of art supplies scattered all around.

he couldn't help his curiosity and started to look through some of the sketchbooks

it was a very enjoyable thing to do to pass the time waiting for you.

whelp! he didn't have to wait any longer

cause you had been leaning on the door frame for like 15 minutes waiting for him to notice you.

aaannddd, long story short, he got super flustered but after he calmed down and showered you in compliments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[blood-red-ocean]

really glad u loved the idea! i was afraid it's too silly cause I'm not thinking properly right this moment(it's past 3am in my country)

anyway, thank you for agreeing to write for femSal! can't wait to see what you come up with!

Sorry it took so long, this is my first request so I wanted to make it perfect!

Fem!Sal x Reader

The original request can be found here! This work is inspired by @classyfruit's genderbent Moreau art! Word count: 2.3k. Warnings: None

There may be typos <3 -----------------------------------------------------------------

The crunching of leaves underfoot ignited a kind of childlike joy in you as you wove your way through the trees. The snow was melting, the harsh winter finally coming to an end and at last, you were able to return to your favourite place in the Village.

The sun would no doubt have melted all the ice away by now – or at least you had heard from your neighbour that the lake was liquid once more, he had seen it on his way back from his foraging trip and he wanted to let the Village’s resident ‘water baby’ know. As soon as you had heard the news, you packed your satchel to the brim with your sketchbook, pencils, and snacks enough to last you hours, and off you went.

The sun warmed your shoulders and face as you went, and you took a moment to let your head fall back, relishing in it. Three months cooped up inside your house had taken its toll, and you were ecstatic to be out in the fresh air again. As you approached the lake, a slight breeze kicked up, sending the faintest of ripples across the surface, warping the reflections of the nearby trees. The ground was soft and muddy from the melting snow, but thankfully your usual spot – a large, flat rock, jutting out over the water – was free of dampness. You climbed atop it with a grunt and settled down, letting the sun warm you for a moment, basking in the feeling.

You frowned slightly into the distance a while later, your sketchbook open in your lap. You chewed absentmindedly on the end of your pencil, waiting for inspiration to strike you. The sunlight was casting thin ribbons of parchment-coloured light through the gaps in the trees on the opposite side of the lake to you, and you just couldn’t figure out how to encapsulate it within a drawing. But damn, you wanted to.

A faint splashing sounded from below the edge of your rock seat, and you put your sketchbook aside, leaning slowly over the edge and looking down. The sight of silver, shimmering shapes darting just beneath the water’s surface brought a smile to your face, and you readjusted to lay on your stomach, reaching down. As you gently trailed your fingertips along the surface of the lake, you giggled as the shimmering shapes nibbled your fingers curiously, some of them bumping up against your hand as they swam by.

“Well, hi to you, too,” you whispered. The fish swam beneath the surface of the water as if dancing, and you smiled softly, watching them. You pushed yourself back up to a kneeling position, feeling in your satchel for the container of mealworms you had brought with you, scattering some of them into the water. You sat back again and started to draw, oblivious to the larger rippled which were approaching from elsewhere in the lake.

The next day found you back at the lake again, not wanting to miss a day of being in your sanctuary. The sun was high in the sky, which was just as clear as the day before. You were distracted as you made the same walk as yesterday, and you didn’t notice the object on your rock seat until you were about to sit down. You made a noise of surprise and peered at it. It seemed to be an old boot, something from far before your time. It was covered in algae and aquatic moss, and the sole had been eroded over time. You looked around, thinking that somebody was playing a prank; but when you saw nobody, you simply shrugged and picked the boot up, placing it beside the rock in the soft mud. Again, you drew, this time paying close attention to the mud below the rock, trying to emulate the textures and patterns of it. Again, you fed the fish gathered near your seat some mealworms. And again, you were oblivious to the ripples rolling across the water’s surface.

The third day you went back to the lake, a sight saddened you somewhat. There, on the muddy bank, beside the untouched boot, was a small bone. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be a fish skull. You held it delicately in your hands, turning it this way and that, intrigue mixing with your faint sadness at the poor thing’s state. Holding it as if it were glass, you bent over by the edge of the lake and let it roll out of your hand into the water, fading from view as it sunk to the depths. You settled yourself down on your rock perch again, pulling your sketchbook out of your bag and, with one hand drawing and the other holding an apple you took occasional bites from, you began to sketch the intricacies of a piece of driftwood, floating atop the water. It bobbed up and down, slowly, as ripples coursed across the water’s surface. This time, just before you left to go home, you leaned over and whispered to the group of fish swilling in lazy circles beneath the steadily elongating shadow of the rock, telling them a fairytale from your childhood. Something you did quite often, even if it didn’t quite make sense.

The fourth day arrived and with it, dark clouds, heavy with rain. That didn’t stop you, though, as you simply grabbed your raincoat from the hook by the door and set out towards the lake again, slipping and sliding and laughing in the muddy puddles on the way. The lake had swelled with the overnight showers of rain, the boot now having been swept away. The rain had ceased for now, and you slowly climbed atop your rock again – stopping in your tracks as you saw something on the very edge. You peered closer and your eyes widened at the sight of an eel skeleton, curled up neatly on the edge of the rock. You looked around again, more vigilantly this time. The only footsteps in the muddy earth were that of your own, and the trees looked undisturbed, as well.

The eel skeleton looked beautiful, in a delicate, morbid way. You stepped off of the rock and to the water’s edge, where the mud was the softest, and you started to dig. With shaking hands, you very carefully lifted the skeleton and placed it in the makeshift grave, covering it up again and placing a rock on top. You took a moment to be pensive, and as you stared into the water, you saw ripples distorting the reflection of the trees. Following them with your gaze, you could see that they originated from the center of the lake. Stepping closer, just below the surface of the water you could see a faint, misshapen shadow lurking below. You frown and take another step, the water lapping at the toes of your shoes. Just as quickly as you had seen the shadow, it darted away, and the rain started to fall again, stirring the surface of the lake, rendering anything underneath invisible.

There were no peculiar objects on your seat the next day. The sun was high in the sky again, the lake still swollen from the previous day, and your fish friends had resumed their usual habit of circling for food beneath your rock perch. You laid on your stomach, fingers trailing through the water again as they swam excitedly. Lost in thought, the shadow moving towards you beneath the surface of the water went unnoticed. What was very much noticed, however, was one of the fish flying out of the water, soaring in an arc over you and landing with a wet shlap in the mud to the side. Gasping, you half rolled and half fell off of the rock, hastening to pick up the frantically flopping and flailing fish, gently placing it back in the water to join its friends.

“What the hell…” You breathed. There was another splashing sound and another fish flew out of the water, narrowly missing your face as it soared across your field of vision, landing back in the water. Returning to the rock and looking over the side of it, you saw all of the group still there, unharmed and circling as before. Mind reeling with questions and confusion, you looked around, trying to figure out what happened.

“I’m tryin’ to flirt with you!”

The sudden disembodied voice startled you, hands gripping the rough surface of your perch so as to not fall face first into the lake. Sensing movement out of the corner of your eye, you turned, and your gaze met those of someone almost completely submerged in the water. Their eyes were dark, a slight frown on their face as they stared you down. It looked as if they were wearing a crown of bones, and you gulped.

“Hey, are- are you okay?” Trepidation and intrigue combined in your chest to create a potent blend that kept you fixed to the spot.

The figure didn’t speak at first. And then: “I was tryin’ to flirt with you. Didya not like my gifts?”

The voice carried a tone of insecurity, confusion and determination. It was low and husky, like the vocal version of the crunch of gravel as it is stepped on – and it had a kind of warbled tremor, like the ripples of the lake itself. But it was pleasant, and you wanted to hear more. You sat back down on the rock and crossed your legs, pulling your sketchbook out of your bag and running your fingertips along the spine to soothe yourself.

“Flirt with me?” You asked.

“Yes,” The figure responded. The water rippled around them as they started to move up out of the water, and you saw that the figure was a woman, her skin tinged the same green-blue as the lake. “D’you not like my gifts?” She repeated.

“I… I didn’t realise they were gifts, to be honest.” The woman sloshed closer through the water, coming to fold her arms on the edge of the rock and rest her head upon them. You continued, “I hope I didn’t offend you with my actions.”

The woman stared up at you for a long moment. “Nope,” She said. “I see you here a lot. You’re good to the critters here.” As she spoke, you could detect the faintest lilt in her voice, which somehow made you want to hear her speak even more, if that were possible. Silence fell between the two of you, and without knowing what else to do, you grabbed a pencil from your satchel and started to sketch, not really paying attention to anything but her proximity.

“What’re you doin’?”

“Huh? Oh—” You glanced down at the paper before you, realizing that you had absentmindedly begun to draw her. “I’m just sketching. Would you like to see?”

You held the sketchbook up before you, going back to the first page and flipping through them one by one, telling her the backstory of every sketch. The view of the mountains from your bedroom window, the jewels of dew on a spider’s web, the iridescence of a raven’s wings in flight. Her eyes studied your sketches, focusing hard as she listened. Without a word, she splashed back under the water, leaving you alone. You couldn’t help but feel disappointed as she left and, with a dejected sigh, you turned back to your work, the pencil scratching over the paper.

“Look out! Outta the way!”

“Wh—Woah!” You leaped back as she emerged from the water, her arms full with weeds and grasses from the depths of the lake. She sifted through them, inspecting each piece and discarding some of them with an unimpressed grunt. You turned back to your artwork, but you were distracted now, curiously glancing up at her every so often. Her deft fingers worked at the pieces of grass, twisting and turning them in her hands, and after a moment you realized she was weaving something. You became mesmerized by her movements, a slight frown on her face as she concentrated.

By the time she had finished, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, the surface of the lake reflecting its orange glow. She held it out to you with a wide grin, your fingertips brushing her palm as you took it from her. She had weaved the grasses and weeds tightly into the shape of a fish, mirroring the fish that you often fed. It was intricately weaved, and your head spun trying to make sense of where each piece of grass started and ended. Gazing back at her, a blush crept up your neck at her intense gaze. As the chill of the night air started to settle in your bones, you were tempted to stay here for a while longer, if only to see her grin again.

“Thank you…” I trailed off questioningly.

“Name’s Sally. Sally Moreau,” She grinned, making your heart jump in your chest. “But you can call me Sal.”

You smiled. “Thank you, Sal. It’s beautiful.”

“So’s you, if you don’t mind me sayin’ so.”

Her boldness made your blush grow even more, and you shivered regretfully against the chill of the growing darkness. “I…” The words were hard to force out, as you slowly packed your things back into your satchel. “I should go home.”

Sally’s shoulders seemed to drop a little, but she kept the grin on her face. “Comin’ back tomorrow?” She asked, hopeful tones lacing her voice.

“Yeah,” You smiled. “I’ll come back tomorrow.” That night, you fell asleep with a smile on your face and Sally’s grin burned into your mind, the woven fish standing proudly on the top of your bookshelf. Somehow, you knew that today had been the start of something wonderful.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Library of Ashes

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: Jason takes an interest in the family business (Gotham’s oldest library) when he stumbles upon a secret collection of journals, photo albums, and a book written by his mother.

Chapters: 4/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Kate Kane, Barbara Gordon, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, Lonnie Machin, Original Character(s)

Relationships: Jason Todd/Original Character(s)

Additional Tags: Library AU, No Capes AU, World Travel, Jason Todd-centric, Third Person POV, Hurt Jason Todd, Jason Todd Has Issues, Angst, Mystery, Mentioned Catherine Todd, Mentioned Willis Todd, Mentioned Sheila Haywood, Claustrophobic Jason Todd

Chapter Four: Honey Bug

“Is now a bad time to tell you I’m claustrophobic? Over,” Jason half-joked over the walkies as he crawled through the attic.

“Jason, please say you’re joking. Over,” Kate replied.

Jason's heart pounded as he laughed it off. "Yeah, I'm alright, though. As long as I can-. What the fuck?" Jason whispered as he saw a stack of boxes by the HVAC system.

"What happened?" Kate asked.

Jason stuck his hand out and reached between the boxes. "The HVAC is fine. Somebody's been using the attic as a storage space. Can you help me take some of these back to the apartment? Over," Jason asked as he grabbed one of the boxes and dragged it closer. "Okay. How many boxes are there? Over," Kate replied.

"Enough to make me think someone lived up here… Here. I'm on my way with the first one, and I need to get some air," Jason replied. Jason couldn't stay up there long but had to clear the boxes.

He gave Kate the box and stuck his head out to breathe. "Fuck," Jason panted. He shut his eyes and fought the urge to panic. "Okay… Alright. Let me see if I can push two at a time." Jason did that for the next half hour until the boxes were cleared out, and he rushed down the ladder where he sat in the hallway, surrounded by boxes. His hands shook, and he lay against one of the boxes, reaching upward to feel the cool air.

"You good?" Kate asked. Jason shook his head.

That time in the crawl space wiped him out. "I haven't done that in forever… Hold on. Let me see one of those boxes," Jason requested as Kate opened one with a box cutter and slid it to him. He pulled an old sketchbook out of the box and flipped through it. A loose paper slipped out of the book, and Jason picked it up.

"It’s a love letter from World War I,” Jason whispered. Jason skimmed the letter and set it aside, grabbing the engagement ring hanging from his neck.

“Jason-.”

“I had a sort of-. I had a religious awakening when I was with Naa… I um… I guess I still am,” Jason interrupted. He didn’t want Kate to ask if he was okay. It was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“What was in the letter?” Kate asked.

“He talked about her and how thinking about their life together got him through the war… He was looking forward to seeing her and starting a family,” Jason replied, “It made me think about Naa and how I-. We. We wanted kids and a house built from the ground up. I drew up designs and everything.”

“Do you-? Do you have any pictures of her?” Kate asked. Jason smiled and nodded as he pulled out his phone.

He showed a picture of himself and his fiancee sitting in a hospital hallway. She held his head to her chest, playfully pouting. She wore the engagement ring from Jason’s neck on her finger. “This is Sanaa, the day I proposed. Everything went wrong that day… Someone’s dog got off its leash and bit me. We spent half the afternoon in the emergency room waiting for a tetanus shot… And I got so frustrated that I proposed in the middle of my shot,” Jason chuckled.

“Well… Sounds like something went right,” Kate smiled, “She’s pretty.”

“Beautiful,” Jason whispered as he swiped to the next picture. “This is her with her mom. We did everything together. The three of us.”

“Why didn’t you stay?” Kate asked.

“She already lost Sanaa. She didn’t need two ghosts,” Jason answered as he put his phone away. “We should figure out who these journals and letters belong to. If we can’t find the owners, we should hand some of these journals to the museum.”

Kate picked up the letter and nodded. “We could make an announcement,” Kate replied. Jason nodded as he dug through the box and skimmed the other items. “We’re gonna be here a while… You wanna order some food?”

“I bought groceries, so I’ll cook,” Jason whispered, “And label the boxes by decades and families. We’ll do one box at a time.”

*

Kate fell asleep while Jason ate leftovers and rummaged through the boxes. He opened a handbound book and stared at the author’s initials. “Okay, CJ… What do you have for me? Fiction or nonfiction?” Jason whispered as he flipped through the pages.

“I took him to the same strawberry patches I went to as a girl. He laughs. His stained, sticky cheeks were sweet with honey and juices from berries. He makes me remember my baby. He feels like he's mine,” Jason read aloud. He swallowed hard as the image flooded his mind. He’d been to a strawberry patch before, but it was so long ago it felt like a dream. “I sat on the counter talking to his father while he bathed our precious boy. I didn’t know the sullen man could be that gentle. The way he held Jason’s little hands-.” Jason dropped the book, startling Kate awake. He sharply inhaled through his nose.

“What happened?” Kate questioned.

“I was maybe three years old when my mother took me to a strawberry patch. The memories are fuzzy, but I remember her-.” Jason choked back tears. “I remember her holding me. I remember my father scrubbing berry juice from my hands… And she wrote-.”

“She wrote the book you dropped, right?” Kate interrupted.

“But that’s not right. My mom said-.” Kate reached for the book, and he snatched it. “Never mind what she said… Actually, it’s late. You should go home.”

Kate shook her head. “Something’s wrong,” Kate replied. Jason shook his head. “You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m fine… Go home,” Jason smiled, “Home… Go home and get some sleep.” Kate left Jason alone, and he cursed under his breath. Jason stepped into the kitchen and poured himself a drink.

“What the hell do you mean, Mom?” Jason whispered as he held the cold glass to his forehead. “You gonna haunt me too?”

“Jason’s angry with Willis for an argument he isn’t old enough to understand. Willis spent his last twenty dollars on a singing light-up worm toy to compensate for my mistake. I accidentally destroyed his blankie, and Willis took the fall. Willis even stayed up all night, sitting at the edge of the bed, trying to earn his way back into Jason’s little heart. Insistence was an understatement. Willis demanded that I let him take the blame. It was probably due to my lack of blood ties to Jason. Jason started calling me mommy recently. Not Caty. Mommy,” Jason read. He downed his drink and poured another glass.

“What the hell are you saying?” Jason mumbled.

[protokirby]

Today I went out in public for the first time this year.

In Sunday school, the teacher kept talking about how God will use foolish people and then my mom said "don't we all feel valuable" and everyone including the teacher thought it was funny.

It's been a good day.

I brought a sketchbook with me to church so I had something to do with my hands (while waiting to someday acquire a fidget spinner) and I drew this baby dragon

My original idea was to draw a big tough menacing dragon starting with the horns but then I accidentally made the snout too stubby and went aww yeah it's a baby :]

I also drew a few pokemon characters from memory as a way to see how I'd do. I'm putting them under a keep reading because I'm not as open about showing them but I still want to show them

Ryuki from memory. And drampa. I knew for a fact I wouldn't be able to draw turtonator but I know he's got a drampa so I decided to draw the drampa. Since drampa is one of my favorite mons, I thought I'd do better on it but I didn't remember drampa as well as I thought I did. Plus I think I messed up Ryuki's face a lot and his neck is too wide :( I'll do better next time. I don't draw on paper a lot and he was the first one so- yeah- there's bound to be a few mistakes or more

After that, I drew Leon and charizard from memory. I remembered the diamond pattern thingy on the leg things(I never know if they're called tights or leggings) I just knew I would mess them up without looking at a picture so I left them out

And then finally, Hop and wooloo. I knew for a fact I wouldn't remember the detail on Hop's shoes so I just left those blank

Usually I draw on a computer with a mouse while looking at a picture and there's an undo button.

This time I drew on paper with a pen without any image of the characters to look at and there is no undo button.

I think I did mostly okay though :D

[elena-oc-blog]

Hey remember when I drew the hydra brothers back in august and mentioned in the description that i would have their parents out soon too? Yeah sorry, they got stuck in art limbo as i was distracted with other things but now I have the hydra dads for you to see! I actually finished this like 2 days ago and I was going to wait with posting them until i finished the hydra mom piece too but I'm going through another *im tired all the time* period so thats not happening any time soon so here is hydra dad by himself or themselves i should say. I only drew their heads because I have mercy for myself and am not subjecting myself on drawing an anthro hydra with 5 heads. I do have bust sketches of them in my sketchbook but I still need to figure out how to fit their 5 necks and heads on one body properly so maybe thats a thing for the far future Anyway lore on these guys uh, Im a lil tired so let me just copy paste some miscelaneous lore I posted in my discord server and ill try to elaborate when i feel less shitty. I'll put it under a readmore so this post wont clog up your feed.

The Lièrna family gang is made up of Greek monsters: centaurs, satyrs, chimeras, minotaurs, griffins, some undercover hellhounds, etc.

Don't have a proper ref for this gang yet as I still need to fill their ranks

They originally lived in and operated from Athens in Greece but had to leave almost everything behind when the police started to catch on to them. They fled to the carribean island of Isla Dracon and settled in Auron City, soon recovering their wealth and businesses and becoming one the top dog gangs there and close to being in control of the city. That is until Thorn showed up a few years after..

The Lièrna family front is a luxury car business (building, selling, repairing) while their criminal business is car towing with a lot of extortion of the poorer part of the city's population where they basically steal cars and any personal belongings left in them from the poor population because they can't pay the fees. They then proceed to either resell these cars in one of their used car dealerships or destroy the cars to use for parts and scrap metal. They also loan out money under preditory rates and own some real estate that they rent out for high prices with bad service. So really their whole business is exploiting people, especially those less fortunate. They revel in this, thinking the poor deserve it for not working hard enough.

As for their relationship with Thorn, they hate Thorn but they act like good friends of his whenever they meet with him or are talking about him with people they don't know/people who like him. They don't want to stir trouble until they have a solid plan on how to overthrown him. Thorn as of now has no idea the hydras hate his guts and are plotting against him in secret together with Morrison and whatever other allies they gain.

Im not sure how old they are. I need to figure out my timeline better for that first. And maybe change how dragons age compared to other species idk But I would say they are between their late 40s and mid 50s

Also pecking order of the brothers from top to bottom is: Don, Alekos, Roland and Boris and at the very bottom is Kashew. Kashew is mute and also rather friendly which makes his brothers and especially Don regard him as a useless nobody. Kashew gets a lot of verbal abuse and sometimes also physical abuse from his brothers :( The only reason they don't physically abuse him as much as they mentally abuse him is because having a beaten up head would be bad for their business and image with the civilians of the city. They also cant get rid of him as that would comprimise their health and ability to fuse back together. Hydras can split up into individual smaller and less powerful dragons but unless all individuals are present, they can't fuse back together. And eventhough hydras in their fused natural state can regenerate their heads effortlessly and have an increased durability for injuries, in their seperate state they will die if decapitated and are also much more defenseless in general. While a fused hydra could take a vicious stabbing/beating and live, a split hydra individual is much more fragile and will easily bleed out and if they die, their siblings are doomed as well. Thus hydras tend to only split up when in the comfort of their home or when they take on a human disguise. It can also occur when there is an extreme disagreement between siblings and one or multiple forcibly split off through sheer willpower, causing them to fall apart into seperate entities. This is not preferable though. Anyway i think thats all the lore i have at the moment, i hope you enjoy the boys. Feel free to ask questions about them

[fahbev]

@whumper-in-training

ok I don’t know how long my caption is allowed to be, but here it is! The promised fan art! I REFUSE to be self-deprecating here because I actually do like these a lot. Basically, I read this amazing story called ACP- The Agency for Cryptids and the Paranormal, (https://whumper-in-training.tumblr.com/post/673130936584568832/acp-the-agency-for-cryptids-and-the) and I totally fell in love with the character of Zak. This STORY MAN! It broke my heart in half and then lovingly stitched it back together, like multiple times, and I think that’s the ESSENCE of a good story. So yeah I made fan art. 

I was in the car on a fairly long trip, and I had my sketchbook, and I was like, hey, what should I draw? Fuck it i’m drawing Zak. So I drew Zak. I originally didn’t want to deal with how the hoodie would work with all the weird perspective and just gave him a tee-shirt, but then I yelled at myself: “COWARD! Draw the hoodie!” And so I erased the shirt and drew a hoodie. I figure that the hoodie in the picrew isn’t how the hoodie actually looks, it’s just the closest approximation you can get with a picrew, so I put an alien on it because yes. While I was drawing it though, I hit a fork in the road with the pose. I was going to draw him with his hand clawed and the other on his hip, but then I was like “what if he had his arm up instead?” And so I made two versions.

I drew werewolf Zak hell ya! I spent FOREVER inking this. Okay if was only like two hours, but inking is kinda boring and thus I procrastinated, and so it took me like three days to ink it. It took much longer than usual Bc I went over each line a bunch of times to make it look like fur/hair/eyelashes, but you can’t even see it Bc the colors are so dark! Argh! Usually color more than doubles the amount of time I spend on a drawing, but this time I just quickly threw down some color in only like an hour! I was so sure I was gonna say, “it’ll be quick” and then spend another six hours on it, because that ALWAYS happens, but it actually WAS quick so yes.

Last but not least, I drew the gang all together! Technically I drew this second, and colored it first, but you get the idea! This drawing filled me with all the happy chemicals the whole time making it y’all. After several hours it kinda wore off, but every time I zoomed in on Max’s face I got a fresh rush of serotonin. I decided to draw that one scene where they all fall asleep together because it was SO WHOLESOME! I wanted to draw the whole group, but didn’t know what kind of context to do. Then I scrolled through the blog, found that scene, reread it and was like “yes! That’s the one!”. And so I drew it. I did have to look up “do Muslim women sleep with their hijabs on?” And i’m glad it was a google search and not asking a real person Bc the response I found was basically: “No, you dumbass! Why would we do that? That makes no sense-” and several sarcastic responses to the same question on Quora and i’m just like: “:’D” I did look into it a bit more and realized the hijab has to stay on Bc while they are like family, they’re still not her mahrams. Also I figure that if I was gonna post this, even if she was alone, drawing her without it would kinda be violating her privacy yk? Like i’m exposing her for the whole internet to see. Kinda like drawing her naked would be. Anyway, I love this drawing, hope you love it too!

Ok, still keep your expectations to an army crawl because I never finish stuff, but fanfic is in the works. I am probably gonna wait until it’s finished to post it though, that way I can edit things and change earlier chapters. Also! I’m a total novice writer! So it’s probably crap! I don’t care! I have this policy that I would always rather make the cringe fanfic, wear the ugly clothing, make the stupid drawings, the cursed memes, shout all the embarrassing shit, do all the dumb things that teenagers do (as long as it’s not harmful or permanent obvi), sing all the bad karaoke, embarrass myself a TON, etc, and regret it later, cringe so hard in ten years, than to never let myself do anything, constantly hold back, never reach my full potential and regret THAT in ten years. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. I still might very well be too shy to post it though ahhhhh. For some reason i’m WAY more shy online than irl, that makes no sense. Like I can walk up to a random person and talk to them no prob, but I get super anxious going in someone’s ask box. Maybe Bc I can’t read their body and face language like that? Idk. Like I said, just don’t expect anything.

[indiekidsau]

Chap. 10-Moving Pictures

Here it is! The long-awaited Bendy chapter! I originally planned this as Chapter 9, but I wanted to celebrate Basil’s birthday first. I know I’ve been releasing new characters left and right, but I want to introduce as many characters as I can before I can get into major story stuff. 

I know after the Bendy chapters I’m gonna take a break from introducing more characters and get some limelight on our other characters! Though I know who I’ll be introducing next after Bendy!

Thanks to @gigilefache for being my beta reader!

Hope you all enjoy it!

Art class was one of the most relaxing lessons for the kids. The lesson was run by Henry Stein, an artist and a pal of Vice Principal Joey Drew. He smiled seeing the kids painting and drawing together, enjoying art to its fullest.

Henry was an easy going guy. He wore a rusted gold jacket over a white shirt with a loose tie, black jeans, and black shoes. He had graying hair and his eyes looked like he hadn't slept in days even though he always said to his students he did. He was the type of art teacher who didn’t care how you drew or what style you went with. Henry respected all art styles, even anime.

Kel wasn’t much of an artist, but started to draw thanks to his friend Mincy; a young girl with black hair, who wore brown glasses, a gray jacket with darker gray stripes, a black hood, jeans, and brown shoes.

“So what are you drawing this week Mincy?” Kel asked.

“Well, after what you told me about Hat and Bow I figured I would draw something for them.” Mincy explained, her eyes not turning away from her drawing.

Kel carefully put down his paintbrush and looked at the drawing. It showed Hat and Bow on top of a hill looking at the stars and planets. Kel smiled as he looked at Hat Kid, who was also in their art class drawing away with some colored pencils. She and Bow have made the kids' lives a little bit brighter.

Henry glanced at the clock and saw it was five minutes before the bell was about to ring. “Alright class, your next lesson, or lunch depending on your schedule, is about to start soon!” He announced. The class did what they were told by putting their art away, and their supplies in their lockers before gathering their stuff and waiting for the bell to ring. Once it did, the kids walked to class or lunch.

Kel and Mincy made it to their history class and sat down at their seats while they waited for Mr. Prince to enter and start the lesson. Kel and Mincy took out their notebooks for their lessons until the latter noticed something missing from her backpack.

“Oh no!” Mincy exclaimed. Kel turned to his friend seeing her dig through her bag hoping she just misplaced it. 

“What’s wrong?” Kel asked.

“My sketchbook! I thought I put it in my bag, but I must've left it in Mr. Stein’s class.” Mincy yelled.

“Don’t worry I can run and grab it!” Kel replied. He got out of his seat and ran out of the classroom to get to Mr. Stein’s art room, however, Mr. Prince caught him running off and grabbed him by his shirt.

“Where are you going?” Mr. Prince asked.

“Mincy forgot her sketchbook so I’m going back to Mr. Stein’s class to grab it for her.” Kel explained. The warning bell reminded the kids that there was one more minute left before heading to class or they’ll be tardy. Kel sighed knowing he wouldn’t make it to the art classroom in time.

Mr. Prince smiled and led the boy back to class. Once back in class Kel went to his seat and put his head down. Mincy looked back at her friend and patted his back. “There’s always after class before you go to lunch.” She reminded him.

“Thanks.” Kel muffled from his seat. Once the final bell rang, Mr. Prince started the lesson for the day.

The bell to end classes rang, and Kel took this chance to book it and go straight to Mr. Stein’s art class. Luckily, everyone was to busy coming or going to lunch to notice Kel sneaking into Mr. Stein’s classroom. Good news, Mincy’s notebook was in the same place, and like a spy, Kel was low to the ground as he crawled his way and grabbed the notebook.

“Easy! Mincy is gonna be so happy!” Kel whispered. He was about to leave the classroom when he heard a voice.

“C’mon Henry, can we please join everyone for lunch?” A voice asked. Kel’s eyes widened, not recognizing the voice as any of his classmates. He took a small peek to see the silhouette of the art teacher as well as Vice Principal Drew, talking to someone in the art closet.

“I told you, no one can see you.” Henry told them. 

“Please, Henry!” The voice begged again.

While Henry was trying to convince the voice to stay put. Kel decides to look a bit closer and sees what looks like a cat talking with the art teacher.

“I’m sorry Bendy, but I’m not sure if anyone is ready to see you yet.” Henry told the figure named Bendy.

“Now, now Henry. He’s been cooped up in here long enough I’m sure he’s ready.” Joey told the art teacher.

Kel tried to get an even closer look, but he ended up bumping into a chair causing it to scratch along the floor. It caught the attention of the two adults, but before they could see who was watching them Kel had bolted out of the classroom.

In the lunchroom, everyone was enjoying lunch when Kel came rushing horrified and catching his breath. “What’s up with you Kel?” Aubrey asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I have.” Kel whimpered.

Aubrey and Micahel looked at each other, but both had different expressions over this whole thing. Aubrey didn’t believe this whole ghost in the school thing while Michael was planning an idea after hearing Kel mention the ghost in the school thing. “Care to explain before Michael gets too excited and comes up with something stupid.”

“Well, I went to get Mincy’s sketchbook. Then I heard Mr. Stein and Mr. Drew talking to someone named Bendy, and that’s it.” Kel explained.

“So it could be another kid at the school?” Aubrey replied.

“Yeah, but has there ever been a kid at this school named Bendy?” Kel asked.

“Maybe a relative? Plus if it was a ghost, how can Mr. Stein and Mr. Drew see them?”

Kel sighed and stared Aubrey straight in the eye. “They see dead people.” He whispered.

In a split second, Aubrey smacked Kel in the back of the head. “You're an idiot!” Aubrey yelled. Kel glared as he rubbed the back of his head. “I can think of hundreds of theories and none of those is the school being haunted.” 

“Well, I’m willing to see this ghost.” Michael said.

Aubrey groaned. “Look there is no ghost!” She yelled.

“What’s this about a ghost?” Mincy asked as she passed by the lunch table.

“Oh, Mincy!” Kel exclaimed. Quickly he saw her sketchbook and held it out for her. “I found your sketchbook! Safe and sound.”

Mincy smiled and put her lunch down, grabbing her sketchbook and hugging it tight. “Thanks, Kel!” She beamed hugging her friend tight. Kel chuckled in reply. Mincy let go and left the lunch room to go draw, forgetting about the ghost Kel mentioned.

“Okay, after school let’s check and look for this ghost.” Michael suggested.

“Michael there is no ghost.” Aubrey repeated.

“That’s why I said look. We went to the art room, took a look and if there’s no ghost then you're the hero of the day Aubrey.” Michael explained as he teased Aubrey.

Aubrey glared ready to smack Michael in the back of the head. The latter gave a smirk testing Aubrey, which proved her point as she smacked him in the back of the head too. “You two are idiots.” She grumbled. “But,” She continued with a sigh, “I’ll take a look too.”

Kel sighed as well and smiled. “Great!” He beamed. Kel didn’t know why he was excited. Maybe it was for the fact he, Aubrey, and the rest of their friends would do Ghost Hunts when they were kids. This brought back memories for him.

By the time school ended Aubrey and Michael followed Kel into the art room. On their way there they stopped seeing Audrey go into the art room. “What is Miss. Drew doing?” Kel asked.

“Maybe she’s gonna see Mr. Stein or her dad.” Aubrey guessed. “Remember, Mr. Drew is the father of Miss. Drew.” 

The three kept walking and looked through the window of the art room. From the other side of the room, the strong smell of ink lingered in the hallway. “Man I didn’t know ink could smell that strong!” Kel complained, keeping a low whisper.

Michael sushed the taller boy as they kept looking at Audrey as she talked to a figure in the corner. The shadow of it showed two horns.

“See no ghost!” Aubrey mentioned.

Michael got a closer look and glanced at Aubrey. “Yeah, but do kids have horns? We don’t have a ghost, we have a monster in the school!” He yelled.

The trio saw Audrey look through the window, which quickly made the three dash out of the classroom and out of the school. Once the three were out of there they caught their breath.

“Now do you believe me?” Kel asked.

“For the ghost thing…” Aubrey paused so she could continue to catch her breath. “I still don’t believe it, but with the wacky shit at this school. I can believe that!” She yelled.

“You know what this means?” Michael asked, making Aubrey and Kel look up at their friend. “We could do a monster hunt! Tonight!” He beamed.

Aubrey’s eyes widened as she turned towards the boy. “Oh no! We are not sneaking into the school again!” She yelled.

“Oh yes, we are!” Michael chuckled. “This time we are not gonna steal test answers, but gonna go on a monster hunt!” He beamed.

“You're an idiot, Michael.” Aubrey groaned, slamming her hand into her face.

The trio waited until sunset before coming back to the school. This time equipped with flashlights and Michael brought his video camera in hopes to capture the monster on tape and make a profit out of it.

Along on their journey joined Hat, Bow, and Basil who was dragged into this by Michael. The latter did ask if his siblings could come along, but they refused before Michael could explain more of the plan.

Aubrey thought bringing Basil and two little girls to this was crazy, but was surprised that Hat and Bow were excited to go.

“I can’t wait to tackle the monster!” Hat Kid beamed as she swung her umbrella.

“A-are you sure you should be doing this? Your father will kill us!” Basil yelled.

Michael scoffed. “He won’t!” He replied. “As long as we stay quiet, and get footage my dad won’t harm us.” If he kept his eyes on Basil, the latter whispered something under his breath. Michael did hear whispers, but couldn’t make out what he just said. Michael then used his sister’s bobby pin to unlock the door and let the group in.

Once inside the school, Micahel turned on his camera and Kel and Aubrey turned on their flashlights as they walked inside the school. “Alright gang, let’s hunt for this monster.” He said taking the first steps inside the dark and quiet school.

The school felt different at night. It was quiet and dark, and every corner felt like someone or something was watching you. Basil flinched every time they stumbled upon a corner. “S-so-w-where is this monster?” Basil asked, stuttering.

“It’s in the art room.” Michael replied.

Basil slowly nodded. “Okay, you guys go into the art room, while I stand outside to be safe.” He replied.

“Alright, but if the monster gets you first don’t come crying to us.” Michael replied. Basil whimpered as he slowly followed the group. Aubrey linked her arms to Basil’s in hopes to calm him down. It made the nervous flower boy smile seeing his best friend help calm his nerves.

“Hey Hat. Promise me you're not gonna fight this thing like previous monsters?” Bow Kid begged.

“Ha!” Hat Kid laughed loudly. “Bow you should know me by now! I'm not scared to fight some monster!” She yelled. Soon she was shushed by everyone.

“Don’t let it hear you.” Kel whispered.

A loud bang was heard from the art room causing Bow and Basil to yelp and hug each other in fear.

“Too late. It did.” Michael said. The group paused to see they were just inches away from the art room. It felt different for the trio to approach the room as it was night time and whatever they saw in there would have escaped and was hiding in the shadows. “So who’s going in first?” He asked.

“Well,” Basil gulped before speaking up. “Kel was the one who noticed it first he should go in.”

“I agree to that.” Aubrey replied. She then used her bat and pushed Kel to the door as everyone stood behind. Kel turned to his friends as Michael and Hat Kid gave him a thumbs up for luck. 

Chuckling nervously Kel slowly opened the door and was ready for whatever they were gonna face. Once Kel opened the door wide open he was surprised not to see a looming monster. Just an empty dark classroom.

“Okay, keep your guard up. The monster can strike at any time.” Michael said. Basil and Bow Kid whimpered as they held onto each other with Michael behind them using his camera to scan the art room. The ink still scented the room knowing the monster was around.

Soon a low growl shook the room causing Basil, Bow, and Kel to hug Aubrey for comfort. “What…are you…doing here?” The monster growled.

Michael turned to the group and shushed them. “Keep quiet.” He whispered.

“I can smell your fear.” The monster growled. “No need to go quiet.” Soon footsteps were heard as the group looked around for the monster.

“Alright, stop with the jokes Mr. Afton! You scared us good!” Aubrey yelled.

Michael’s eyes widened seeing something horrifying. “Uh Aubrey, if this was my dad, that door wouldn’t be turning into ink,” He yelled.

Aubrey was confused until she faced the door to see a spiral ink portal and something, or rather someone, coming out of it. The group started freaking out seeing the figure slowly coming out from the ink.

“You fools, you dare disturb me?” The monster roared. The group whimpered as they backed into the wall as the creature’s horns and feet appeared. “Well, prepare to fear, Bendy the Ink Demon!” Soon a small black and white cartoon imp came from the ink door.

The group opened their eyes in shock seeing that their “monster” was just a harmless imp. “Wait, THAT'S the monster?” Michael asked.

“Yep!” Bendy replied. “So do you fear me now?” He asked.

Bow Kid looked closer, her eyes widened as she blushed seeing how cute Bendy was. “Oi me Cutie!” Bow exclaimed in her alien language as she ran and scooped Bendy into her arms. “You're so cute! Aren’t you? Aren’t you?” She said in a gushing baby voice.

“No, I’m not cute!” Bendy yelled. “Alice! Boris! Help me!” He yelled just as soon as Bow started to nuzzle the demon.

The rest of the group stared in disbelief seeing Bow just cuddle and nuzzle the demon like it was a pet cat. 

“Don’t worry buddy I’m coming!” A deep voice yelled. The group turned back at the door and soon they heard another voice that followed suit.

“Wait Boris no!” A female voice shouted and two other toons came out from the door and fell to the ground. The toons in question were a black and white wolf wearing overalls, and a black and white Angel with horns and a halo.

“There’s more of them!” Aubrey yelled.

Soon footsteps came running across the hallway and quickly opened the door. “What’s going on?” Henry shouted. He then groaned seeing the kids inside the art room. “And how did you guys get into the school?” He asked again.

“Uh…” The kids all stuttered.

“Henry! Henry! What’s going on?” Joey asked, running into the art room. He then saw Bendy, Boris, and Alice as well as Michael and the gang all together in one room. Joey just let out a chuckle. “Well guess the cat’s outta the bag!” Henry sighed seeing none of this as a joke.

“Mr. Stein, Mr. Drew, could you explain what’s going on!?” Aubrey asked.

Henry sighed. “Alright. Alright. I’ll tell you.” He said. “So many years ago, Joey…” the second Henry said his name Joey let out a bright big smile. “Somehow brought my creations, Bendy, Boris, and Alice to life.” The second he said the toon's names, Boris and Alice did a little bow.

Kel and Michael had to think of how they were born, but before they went too far, Hat Kid quickly spoke up. “So they were just born like how everyone is born or…”

“Well with just a pencil and a dream, and a whole lot of ink,” he stated before mumbling, “from an ink machine.” 

“What?” Aubrey asked.

Joey ignored the girl and continued. “I was able to bring this lovely trio to life!”

“Like this bundle of joy?” Bow asked as she continued to nuzzle the ink imp.

“Henry! Joey! Help me!” Bendy called out.

Henry and Joey chuckled seeing how cute this was; Bendy was being treated like a plushy as Bow continued to cuddle and snuggle him. Bendy glared seeing he didn’t take this as funny. Henry stopped laughing and cleared his throat. “Uh… Bow could you put Bendy down?” He asked.

Bow Kid smiled and put Bendy down but not before giving him a head pat. The imp sighed as he brushed himself off. “Thank you! Now that I’ve been discovered, could I please be enrolled in the school!”

Henry sighed. “Bendy we talked about this. I can’t have you enrolled here.” He told the little ink imp.

“Why not Mr. Stein?” Kel asked. “I mean we have Cuphead and Mugman in the school, why can’t Bendy be enrolled?”

“Because,” Alice spoke up. “We’re different from them. Like we weren’t born by regular means.”

“So you're just gonna hide and live in the school for the rest of your days?” Hat Kid asked.

“Yep!” The ink trio said at the same time, though Bendy sounded not impressed.

Hat Kid frowned, feeling bad for the three as she looked up at the art teacher. “Mr. Stein, could you please give Bendy and his friends a chance?” She begged.

“Please!” Bow spoke up. “I wanna be best friends with Bendy!” Her eyes then grew big, which made Joey clench his heart.

“Oh Henry can’t you say no to that face?” Joey asked, pointing at Bow.

Henry tried to be strong and stick to his word, but he couldn’t handle the cuteness. With that he let out a sigh, giving up. “Fine.”

Bendy gasped with a big smile. “Really?”

“Yes, you three can go to school here.” Henry said.

Bendy cheered as he hugged Boris and Alice excitedly going to school. “Did you hear that guys? We’re in!” Bendy cheered.

Henry let out a soft chuckle seeing the little demon happy. Once Henry took a good look at the time he knew the celebration could wait till tomorrow. “Alright before Mr. Afton could see that we all should go home and sleep.” Henry said.

“Oh right!” Joey realized. He then cleared his throat and went serious. “Okay, kids! Get out of here! I hope to see you all bright and early.” He said. The kids complied and went out of the school building and went their separate ways home.

Not long after, Henry, Joey, and the Ink Trio followed and went home as well. Bendy was constantly talking about how excited he’d be about going to school and making new friends. The more he talked about it the more Boris and Alice smiled at the thought of going to school.

Once everyone left, the camera that faced the art room manually shut off.

[karakulialiny]

My year in review

I published 50 posts in 2022

This is 29 more posts than in 2021!

39 posts made (78%)

11 reblogged posts (22%)

Blogs I've reblogged the most:

@yugch

@truffeart

@daronmalakianofficial

@artisticzaati

I have tagged 46 of my posts in 2022

Only 8% of my posts were left untagged

#legend of zelda - 31 posts

#linktober - 30 posts

#linktober 2022 - 30 posts

#sketchbook - 28 posts

#hyrule park au - 27 posts

#zelda au - 25 posts

#south park - 19 posts

#south park au - 19 posts

#breath of the wild - 16 posts

#link - 13 posts

The longest tag: 87 symbols

#i just noticed that in fact this is my first entry for linkrober that features zelda xd

My most popular posts in 2022:

#5

Imp Midna and wolf Kevin Stoley

After the release of the first TotK (back then BotW 2) trailer, I (like many others) thought that this game would be more like Twilight Princess than Skyward Sword. And I, like many native folks, hoped for a return of Midna in this game😅. Generally, I decided that due to the break in the space-time continuum, a lot of characters from other games will appear in the second season of Hyrule Park (I already talked about this in the ninth day of Linktober), and Midna is no exception. What you see here is just a concept, as I'm not sure if she can turn into an imp again. But this is my first time when I drew Midna in this way. I can't guarantee that she will actually appear in the comic, but I will try my best to make it happen because Midna is one of the most beloved characters among Zelda fans😁

{Previous drawing] [Next drawing}

12 заметок - опубликовано 18 октября 2022 г.

#4

Hooray! I can't even believe that Linktober has already come to an end. And since "Free Day" fell on Halloween, why not draw something themed and not related to Hyrule Park. What we have here is Gregory as Link, the girl from the upcoming DLC ​​(I call her Daisy) as Saria, Glamrock Freddy as Navi, and a combination I'm personally proud of - Vanessa as Sheik. The badly drawn Glitchtrap as Ganondorf was drawn by Gregory himself.

I made this crossover as a sign that I decided to take a break from Zelda and focus on FNAF (and on the original characters too). Of course, this does not mean that I will postpone work on @welcome-to-hyrulepark again. But FNAF MA and GI.F.ON are also waiting for their creator.

{Previous drawing] ([All drawings])

16 заметок - опубликовано 31 октября 2022 г.

#3

In honor of the 8th anniversary of FNAF, I finally created a poster for my AU, whose characters I managed to introduce in one of my early posts (which set an absolute record for the most posts on Tumblr). I'll tell you about the plans for the animated series: of course, to make this idea a reality, I need a team of talented animators, preferably FNAF fans. Despite the endless stream of new theories that refute the previous ones, I was able to come up with a coherent plot for the animated series, in the finale of which Afton's finale will come.

The animated series will have 2 seasons - the first season will take place in the Scott era (FNAF 1 - UCN), that is, from the 1970s to 2024. The second season will take place in the SteelWool era (Help wanted - Security breach DLC). The season will be dedicated to Gregory's adventures in Mega Pizzaplex and his interesting discoveries about Fazbear Entertainment.

By the way, I'll be spending more time on the FNAF topic on my Deviantart (while on Tumblr I'll be talking more about Zelda), as this platform is arguably the main home of FNAF artists. They even styled their 22nd birthday event as FNAF!

And here is some songs from series' soundtrack:

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23 заметки - опубликовано 25 августа 2022 г.

#2

After the release of the trailer announcing the postponement of Tears of the Kingdom to 2023, I saw a bunch of comics where Link from Skyward Sword was about to kick his later reincarnation's ass for failing to keep Fi from getting damaged. And all this gave me the idea to make the spirit of Skyward either a grumpy grandpa who considers the new generation to be irresponsible losers the personification of Link's sense of unfulfilled duty to dead friends, or some kind of ghostly mentor who will help Link not to make fatal mistakes. And yes, I came up with my own design for Link in Tears of the Kingdom, exclusively for my AU.

{Previous drawing] [Next drawing}

24 заметки - опубликовано 6 октября 2022 г.

My №1 post in 2022

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85 заметок - опубликовано 24 января 2022 г.

Получите свой Обзор 2022 года в Tumblr →

[l-sincline]

Girlish Whimsy Chapter 11

AO3 Link

Previous / Next

AO3 tags: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types, Ootori Kyouya/Original Female Character(s), Ootori Kyouya, Suoh Tamaki, Original Characters, Original Female Characters, Morinozuka Takashi, Haninozuka Mitsukuni, Fujioka Haruhi, Hitachiin Hikaru, Hitachiin Kaoru, Slow Burn, Acquaintances to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, smart people that arent smart about romance, Oblivious, Battle of Wits, Ouran High is one giant social chess game

Asuka has her eyes on the prize as soon as she steps foot on Ouran High School grounds. Her goal? Impress her father enough to convince him to let her remain as heir to the company instead of handing the title down to her younger brother. She knows going to school at Ouran will be one big chess game, especially coming in late at her second year- but she’s up for any challenge.

Asuka finds herself intrigued by the Host club and the inner workings of it. More than that, she sees untapped opportunities to grow her resume. Now all she needs is a partner on the inside who’s equally as motivated, and he was easier to find than she thought.

Mayu had been a little mopey with her the next day, but her friend was easily brought back to life by tales of her interactions with Tamaki and how kind he’d been. Once she had been done cheering up Mayu, Asuka had weaved through desks to reach Kyouya towards the front of the room and hand him a manilla folder. 

“I kept the script, but the contract is there, signed.” She spoke quietly, but not quietly enough for anyone to question what they were talking about. She knew her own ears would be perked at some hushed whispers.

“No issues?” 

“No. Everything seemed in line.” 

“Great. I have Honey and Mori set up to talk to you after club hours today.”

“Honey and…?” She drifted off, he quirked a brow, “Oh. Haninozuka and Morinozuka?” 

Kyouya nodded.

“I see then. Thanks.” 

Kyouya shrugged. They were silent for a moment before Asuka turned and headed back to her desk. Awkward. 

She did not know that that would definitely not be the most awkward interaction she had that day. 

-

This was the first time she’d really seen one of these… themed days. A part of her thought this had to be Kyouya’s doing as an attempt to bring in more money, but the concept overall reeked of some ridiculous Tamaki scheme. 

Lots of tears today… She noted, tapping her pen on her bottom lip as she glanced up from her notebook. Somewhere across the room Tamaki seemed to weep into one of the girl's arms. The twins were in a similar predicament between themselves. At least Haruhi seemed as confused as she was. 

On the table in front of her, her notebook had really turned into a sketchbook. She’d tried to get into the designs for Haninozuka and Morinozuka early today, but wasn’t quite sold on what their pieces should be yet. 

On one page, matching bracelets. Then, those concepts turned into just one bracelet with two charms. Then she separated them again and drew two necklaces. Then… friendship necklaces? But that was too tacky. Asuka chewed at her bottom lip and tapped the pen aggressively against the page. Having to wait through club hours was starting to be a little pain staking. Maybe she was more impatient than she thought. 

“Your current posture really doesn’t fit the ‘zen’ image we’re going for today.” A saucer and teacup was set lightly on the table. 

Asuka shook herself from her concentrated state and set the pen down, looking up at Kyouya.

“Well I’m a guest, not a worker. I’ll do what I please. Customers are always right– isn’t that how it goes?” She challenged.

“I give you free tea when you’re here and you have a contractual obligation to the club. I’d hardly call that being a customer at this point.” A small, but typically sly smile made its way to his face as he looked off in thought, “Maybe glorified set dressing. Should I get you a costume as well?” 

Asuka groaned and rolled her eyes , “No, that's quite alright. I think you all have it covered.” 

Suddenly, loud commotion from the door. 

Kyouya turned as Asuka leaned forward to glance around him. The twins, Tamaki, and… a girl she hadn’t seen before all huddled by the door. The twins seemed rather amused by Tamaki’s sudden outburst of pain, Asuka’s ears perked trying to make out what exactly the mystery girl was yelling at Tamaki. 

Kyouya had already started moving towards the door, but Asuka found herself curious. If she had a contractual obligation to be at the club, she figured she should be allowed to get a closer look at what exactly was going on– right? Surely this aided jewelry research somehow. 

She shut her notebook and held it by her side as she made her way over as well, the girl’s voice slowly becoming more clear until,

“...my one and only prince charming!”

It was impossible for Asuka not to laugh. 

-

Personally, Asuka thought the speed at which she had clapped a hand over her mouth and stopped herself from laughing had been appropriately quick. The girl– Renge, she had learned– did not think the same. 

She was the next to receive Renge’s wrath, and now she was stuck here listening to this absolute trash fire of a conversation. She was shocked by how horribly this day had gone in terms of normalcy. In fact, Asuka believed that if someone pinched her right this moment, she’d probably wake up. 

“Otaku…” She found herself echoing some of the other Host’s cries of disbelief, letting out a deep sigh. 

Renge had seemed to ignore the sounds of disdain and disbelief from the rest of the group and fallen back into her own delusional world.

“She’s so in love with this character she must’ve deluded herself into thinking we’re engaged…” Kyouya seemed to speak out loud in that moment, “We must look similar somehow.” 

“So she’s not really your fiancee?” Tamaki asked, hopeful.

“Well, no. I’ve never met her before in my life. I’ve certainly never asked her to marry me.” 

Asuka was once again stuck wondering why she was still here as Renge seemed to finally come back to the real world– did Renge see making her sit through this impromptu meeting as some sort of divine punishment for laughing at her earlier?

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll be the manager of the host club!” Renge suddenly declared, “I’ll make this place even better– you’ll see!” 

“Kyouya…” Tamaki whined.

“The Houshakuji’s are very important Ootori family clients. So please just play along and do your best not to offend her, alright?” 

At this point Asuka had had enough and stood, brushing out the wrinkles that had formed while sitting for too long. She leaned down and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. 

“Well, if that's quite all, I think I’ll be going.” She pushed some hair behind her ear, “I’ll just reschedule the interview for another day.” 

“Wait!” Renge cried, stomping a foot up on the small coffee table between them. Asuka jumped slightly in surprise, “You have a very important task and you haven’t even heard about it yet!”

Asuka laughed slightly, “With all due respect, I’m Host Club ‘set dressing’,” She threw up air quotes, “not really a member or anything. So, there should be nothing you require of me. Anyways-” Asuka moved to leave again when Renge grabbed her wrist.

“No! You’re the oldest daughter of the Kaneko family. You thought I wouldn’t recognize you?”

Well, I certainly didn’t recognize you… Asuka thought to herself, but settled with a simple shake of the head.

“You must make Kyouya and I’s wedding rings! I’m sure you’re the only one for the job.”

Asuka scoffed and opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a loud cough behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see Kyouya, arms crossed, face fashioned by a very fake smile. He purposefully mouthed, ‘contract’ and Asuka turned back around quickly. 

“Uh… yeah. Sounds great. I’ll start drawing up the plans.” 

“Wonderful!” Renge finally let go of her iron grip on Asuka’s wrist and cheered. 

As soon as she was free, Asuka booked it out of Music Room 3 as quickly as possible. A part of her felt a deep-seated remorse for the boys that would now have to deal with their new lady manager, but then she reminded herself that she’d be dealing with Renge too– that remorse turned into self-pity. 

[nxrthmizu]

kill em’ with kindness

fandom | miraculous ladybug 

genre | lila salt, so much salt 

summary | marinette takes the high road to a better life. 

w.c | 8.1k 

author’s note | had this idea for a few days after i wrote victory tastes bitter, which really blew up on ao3 (thanks for all the support <3). always wondered what it would be like if marinette just. played nice. so here she is, being an absolute badass. 

author’s note.2 | okay so since i did not write this in one sitting, i get that the story probably doesn’t flow as properly as it should. will edit if i ever find the will to do it. 

Marinette was done. They wanted her to be a model student? Fine. They wanted her to stop being mean? Fine. They wanted her to be friends with Lila? Fine.

Luckily for Hawkmoth, no akuma plagued the sky of the previous night, or she would rain hell on him. There was no more tolerance left inside her to spare, and she certainly wouldn’t go out of her way to make some for the manipulative pest problem Paris has had for way too long.

She looked up into the mirror, having exchanged her pigtails for a low ponytail, strands curled to frame her face. Bluebell eyes glistened with a fire that burned brighter than hope— Hope that her ‘friends’ would see sense. Hope that Adrien would be there for her. Hope that the good guy would always get the happy ending. No more being patient, no more being passive, no more putting up with things she didn’t have to.

If Lila Rossi wanted a battle, then fine, a battle she would get. Marinette was lowering her white flag, replacing it with a battle emblem that scorched red, redder than blood and redder than the anger her friends would feel when she was finished. No more peace negotiations. Rossi wanted a fight, Rossi wanted a challenge. Who was Marinette to deny her from what she wanted?

They didn’t know what was coming for them.

The power of makeup was truly one that reigned apex among the world. A few touches of her makeup brush was all it took to erase her dark eyes from existence, give her skin a more radiant glow (She promised that she’d take time to give it a natural glow after she was done being nice), and ease a cherry-pink blush onto her cheeks, making her freckles stand out more in contrast. Marinette Dupain-Cheng meant business, and when she meant business—

“Good morning, Marinette! You look great today!” The head of the student council, a sensible, down-to-Earth blonde by the name of Noelle smiled, speeding up slightly to catch the bluenette on the steps of Francois Dupont. “Love the new look.”

Ah yes. The new look— A royal blue blazer, detailed with golden embroidery of cherry blossoms bursting at the sleeves and the collar, accompanied by a classy-looking silk blouse tapered with a soft, black felt. The pleated black skirt (Made from heavy cloth so that it wouldn’t flap about in the wind) was lined with a beautiful scarlet at all the edges to complete the look. Knee-high black socks trailed all the way into the slight heels that Marinette had added flower adornments on, just so she could tap a little of her own touch on it.

“Thank you,” Responded the bluenette with a smile.

“Woah! Someone looks like they got a good night of rest.” Madeline, the president of the Art Club teased, flocking to the other side of the girl. “That mascara looks sharp enough to kill, girl!”

Sharp enough to kill?

Oh, that wouldn’t be necessary, Marinette mused to herself, sending out thanks to those who had complimented her on her way to class. Nothing sharp was going to be required for the liar’s downfall— No, no. That would just be too messy, and she wouldn’t even think of staining her new outfit. Of course, the ensemble was crafted from her own hands, as stated by the classic MDC that graced the inside of her blazer, the collar of her blouse, and one of the pleats of her skirt. Besides… Lila wasn’t worth getting her hands dirty.

She was going to do things the right way.

The kind way.

“Good morning, everyone.” She greeted, walking into the classroom, garnering their attention with her punctuality. Every set of eyes in the room were attracted to her, like iron fillings to magnets. Some of the gazes were malicious, hateful; Some were doubtful, wary; One was pleading, as if spelling out ‘Please keep taking the high road!’— And then there was Chloe, who was entirely uninterested.

Good, Lila was already present.

“I’d just like to take a minute of your time. Won’t be too long, I promise.” She took a deep breath, ignoring the imploring gaze that dug at her side, courtesy of a blonde that sat in the front row (And no, it wasn’t Chloe she was referring to). “I’d just like to say…”

The class watched with bated breath.

“I’m sorry.”

Alya blinked. So did everyone else in the room. Stunned faces greeted Marinette’s apologetic one, including Lila’s— She didn’t even have to fake her reaction. What on Earth was Marinette trying to pull off? What kind of stunt was this?

“I realise that I’ve not really been the best version of me lately,” She admitted sorrowfully. I haven’t been the best version of me because I was being boycotted and isolated, “It wasn’t fair to put you all through this,” It wasn’t fair that you idiots had to lose all your reputations because of the words of one liar, “And people got hurt as a consequence,” Me. I was the one who got hurt. “I realise that things haven’t been all smooth-sailing in our class lately, so I’d like to apologise to everyone.” I’d like to apologise for not being able to save you from a liar who only sees her own personal gain.

A practiced breath escaped Marinette’s throat as she waited for her cue— The school bell— And set her bag on the teacher’s desk. Good, everything was unfolding right on time. Not quite far away, there was a distinct clack-clack-clack of someone’s heels— An auburn teacher, perhaps? Marinette reached into her backpack and drew out a package she had meticulously wrapped in brown paper and tied in golden ribbon. Sitting passively on top of the package was a small note, decorated in hand-drawn flowers and a hummingbird in the corner.

“Here,” Marinette strode up the steps of the class, stopping right in front of her former seat— Now Lila’s— Internally taking pleasure in the first time she’d seen the Italian’s true expression. “For you, as a token of my apology. I understand if you don’t want to forgive me,” Marinette swallowed painfully, biting her lip, as if she was trying not to cry, “But I just want to make things right.”

Lila blinked.

What the hell was happening?

The silence was broken by a quiet sob, one that did not originate from Marinette. Instead, Mlle. Caline Bustier stood in the doorway of the class, clutching her books and notes for the day’s lesson, wiping away a tear that dropped from her eye. “Oh, Marinette,” The teacher sobbed, “I’m so proud of you.”

“That’s so sweet of you, Marinette.” Rose sniffed, wiping away a few tears of her own that had started dripping during the bluenette’s speech. Juleka patted her girlfriend’s back, trying to calm the emotional blonde before she cried out a tsunami on top of her textbooks, giving Marinette a thumbs up to show her approval.

Alya beamed, seemingly proud of her former best friend, who had (In her opinion) finally started to see sense. “I’m so proud of you, girl!”

(Adrien was too shocked to form any words.)

“Could you… Open it?” Marinette asked hopefully, ignoring the teacher for the favour of the liar who ruined her life. “I… Just want to know if you like it.”

The Italian could do nothing more than grit her teeth when Alya urged her to open it. What kind of trick was Mari-Brat up to? Never mind— She’d just spin it into something stupid and the class would take to it like starved animals. With no other choice, she tore apart the brown paper, discarding the golden ribbon on her desk. The class gasped, oohs and aahs echoing all around as the package unfolded to reveal a pretty, beige-coloured cardigan, hand-stitched with murals of foxes, jumping livelily among berry bushes.

Stitched into the inside of the cardigan in pastel blue were the words ‘Lila Rossi’, done in an exquisite cursive that could no doubt only come from Marinette’s hand.

“I made it for you myself,” Marinette sniffed humbly. “I know you’re a really great model and you’ve probably seen clothes that are much better than this one, but I poured all my feelings into it. I spent every night of last week working on it, and—” She hiccuped rather loudly, instantly covering her mouth with her hand in embarrassment. “I just hope you like it.”

“I…” Lila was at a loss for words. She had an itinerary full of the lies and stories she would spin that day (“Marinette texted me mean things last night,” she would weep tearfully to Alya, sniffing and wiping away tears on Alya’s shirt sleeve, “I just want to be friends but she just keeps… Attacking me!”) but no matter. A smirk danced along the Italian’s lips. “Did you design this yourself?” 

Judging by the smirk that Marinette could practically hear in the other girl’s tone, the liar already had a trick up her sleeve. If Marinette had to guess... 

Something along the lines of she stole this design from [random designer], who just coincidentally had the time to be Lila’s friend. Or maybe the friend of Lila’s grandmother. Whichever didn’t matter much, because Marinette was prepared. 

Marinette crossed the room in mere seconds, returning back to Lila’s seat with a sketchbook that she’d pulled from her bag. “Here!” She chirped, flipping open the page with an exercised movement, not even having to shuffle through the pages to find the correct sketch. “I brought the original sketch, just in case you wanted to see it so you could get a professional to redo it for you.” 

Lila opened and closed her mouth like a gaping fish out of water. Beside her, Alya’s eyes sparkled, envy still glowing in her eyes at the sight of the intricate foxes, coloured in hazel, gold, and orange threads. 

“Thank you, Marinette.” Lila gritted through her teeth, basically seething at the thought of having to thank the girl in front of her, who was smiling like an innocent sunshine child. 

The bluenette then turned her attention to her homeroom teacher. “Sorry for interrupting and taking up class time, Mlle. Bustier.” 

“It’s not a problem, Marinette,” Mlle. Bustier wiped at her eyes, slightly embarrassed now that the whole class was watching her cry at the sight of her ‘model student’ correcting her wrongs. “E— Excuse me.” She mumbled, clearing her throat. “Let’s pick off from where we stopped yesterday. Open your textbooks to page 63, please.” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

The rest of the day went along smoothly. Marinette sat at the back of class, as usual, sighing in boredom as class was derailed off course, whisked off by another one of Lila’s tall tales. Honestly, they were already weeks off schedule— How the hell were they expected to sit for the final exam, at this rate? 

She huffed quietly to herself, watching Bustier trying (and failing) to act like she wasn’t interested in Lila’s story. The woman— An actual adult— Fell for Lila’s usual tricks like a fool, taking in every single word in drunken thirst. Did Mlle. Bustier really have nothing better to do than get absorbed in a teenage girl’s wild fantasies (in a way it was like that). At that thought, Marinette sat up straighter in her chair, an idea going off like a lightbulb above her brain. 

Was it...? 

After further thought, Marinette settled back into her chair, humming thoughtfully as she drummed her fingers against her table quietly. Yes... Yes, perhaps. 

Perhaps it was possible. 

The rest of the lesson passed in wasted time as the class took a major detour to go on a warped journey through Lila’s lies, and before Bustier knew it, the lunch bell had rung. Students chattered animatedly as everyone got up, Mlle. Bustier’s announcement of ‘please go home and study this chapter by yourselves, everyone’ was pathetically drowned out by the rest of the noise. 

Marinette collected her things quickly, needing her exit from the classroom to go off without a hitch, exactly the way she planned it. “I’ve got to go back to my parents’ bakery for lunch,” She said shyly, shrinking into herself as her classmates turned to look at her. “I... Was thinking of bringing some macarons back later. Before I go, though... Lila, is there anything you’re allergic to?” 

“What?” The girl being asked snapped back as a reply, the words leaving her mouth too fast for her to register. Before she knew it, the whole class was staring at her, mouths agape. “I... I mean.” Clearing her throat, the liar plastered on a sweet smile. “What was it, Marinette?” 

“I wanted to bring some macarons back for everyone.” Shyly, the bluenette repeated her plans. “And... Since I’ve been in class with everyone else here for a while, I know their allergies, but not yours. Is there anything you’re allergic to that could be in baked goods?” 

The Italian cursed under her breath— Mari-Brat really wasn’t letting up. The bluenette had made sure to cover any ground that the Italian could use and turn back against her. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not allergic to anything.” 

Brightening visibly, Marinette nodded, shooting the Italian a smile. “I know things between us aren’t going to get better immediately, but I promise to do my best in fixing things! See you guys after lunch.” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Lila was getting really, really fed up. For the whole morning, she wasn’t able to come up with any reason to blame Marinette. If things kept going at the rate that they were, the class would be fully convinced that the bluenette was a changed woman, and that couldn’t happen. There was, in the end, a downside to having such a gullible bunch of classmates— Sure, they swayed easily to her side, but that meant that they swayed back to Marinette’s just as easily. 

Hissing under her breath, Lila looked up to catch Alya and Nino’s concerned looks. 

No. 

She was Lila Rossi. She was resourceful. She had Gabriel Agreste behind her back. She was powerful. She was not going to let Mari-Brat halt her plans in their tracks ever again. 

“I’m going to go use the bathroom real quick,” She said, excusing herself from the lunch table. Perfect! Now all she had to do was come back in tears, saying that Marinette confronted and mocked her in the bathroom, and the class would be all hers, once again. 

Little did she know that Dupain-Cheng was one teensy step ahead. 

As soon as Lila rounded the corner of the cafeteria, Marinette appeared, having just had a lovely chat with Rose (And Juleka, although it was Rose who did most of the talking). The two were at the front steps of Francois Dupont, having a lovely couple moment that Marinette hated to interrupt— But she needed to have at least a word with them. 

“Rose, Juleka!” Marinette greeted, box of macarons held carefully in her arms, as if it were a box of important jewelry instead of just a box of pastries. “Oh— Rose, is that a new watch? I’ve never seen you wear it before!” 

“Yep, it is!” Rose beamed, delighted that someone (Besides Juleka) had finally noticed it. “Isn’t it pretty?” Indeed it was. The watch in question was a pretty, intricate-looking thing done in rose-gold metal, with a pastel pink leather strap holding it down. The background of the watch face was a white background with a thin film of rose-gold metal, cut to resemble a wall of precious rose vines. 

“It is!” Agreeing wholeheartedly, Marinette offered her classmate a smile. “Oh by the way, what time is it?” 

Rose peered at the watchface, returning the answer with an equally-bright smile. “11.47.” 

“Thank you.” Marinette thanked, continuing her way through the school until she reached the cafeteria. Just before she fell into line of sight, though, she hid behind a wall, peering over the corner until she spotted the table she was looking for. 

Perfect— Lila just walked away. Marinette thanked the gods for all the luck that she was having— Okay, maybe she thanked one god in particular more than the others. Gently, she patted the secret pocket that was sewn into the lining of her blazer— Tikki, who had magic powers, managed to create a miniature ‘room’ inside the secret pocket, with the pocket itself acting as a portal of sorts to the room. After a few seconds, she felt the pocket tap back, managing a small smile of gratitude for her kwami’s constant love and support. 

“Hey, Alya, Nino.” Marinette greeted shyly, box of macarons propped up against her hip. “Where’s... Lila?” She hesitated slightly with her question, acting as if it was a little out-of-place to ask about the Italian girl. 

“She went to the bathroom.” Nino provided, mouth still full of unchewed food. This gifted him with a smack from his girlfriend (“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” she scolded,). 

“Oh, I see.” I definitely see. I know what she’s going to try and pull later— I have to time this properly. Timing is everything. 

Marinette continued to make small talk with the two, whom she had not talked to for a very long time. Much to her surprise, they were very warm and accepting, quite unlike the people who slung slurs and accused her baselessly a few days ago. One morning made all the difference to people who believed anything, she supposed. 

All of a sudden, something in her chest buzzed, as if it were a fire alarm, vibrating in warning— She had to go. “It was nice talking to you guys again.” She admitted, having briefly dipped into a pool of what their friendship used to be like. “But I have to go. I promised Kagami I’d meet her for a few minutes before lunch ended.”

Alya’s eyebrows jumped up comically in surprise. “I didn’t know you still talked to her. I thought you two were… Love rivals.”

“So what if we were love rivals?” Marinette shrugged with a simple smile. “Adrien is… As much as it’s odd to admit, he’s just a boy. Neither of us let him get in between us. He’s just a boy, and it’d be stupid for us to not get along just because we like the same boy. It doesn’t bother Kagami that we used to like the same boy, so why should I let it bother me? Besides,” Marinette tilted her head slightly. “It’d be stupid to give up a great friendship just because of a boy.”

With her last words still hanging in the air, Marinette turned tail and left, walking faster than usual. She had little time left— As she neared the wall that would shield her from the view of the cafeteria, she sped up her footsteps, practically half-sprinting just so she could get out of sight before Lila Rossi returned, looking like someone just killed a puppy in front of her very eyes.

“Oh my god, what’s wrong?” Alya jumped to her feet instantly, reaching out to comfort her best friend, who was moments away from having tears stream down her cheeks.

“I… I thought she’d changed.” Lila sniffled, biting her lip to appear as if she was desperately trying not to cry.

Alya frowned. “Who?”

“Marinette.” Lila stated as if it were obvious, faltering for a moment— Why had Alya bothered to ask? Shouldn’t it come pretty obvious? The liar dismissed the thoughts and continued in her performance. “She threatened me in the bathroom. She… She confronted me and mocked me, saying… Saying that all of you… All of you are idiots for believing that she’s changed. She… She said everything was an act to turn you all against me.”

Nino’s jaw dropped so far that it touched the floor. “Uh… Dudette, are you sure it was Marinette?”

“Yes!” Lila spun to look at him so fast that it was a wonder she didn’t break her neck. “Are… Are you doubting me? Oh my god, it’s working. She’s turning you guys against me. I just want to have friends, I don’t get why she hates me so—”

“You’re… Absolutely sure it was Marinette? You saw her face?” Alya repeated her boyfriend’s words, emphasising each and everyone of them as she looked Lila in the eyes.

“Alya, not you too.” Lila sniffled, tears basically dropping out of her eyes like big, fat droplets of salt water. “It was her— I saw her blazer, it had MDC stitched onto it.”

An uncomfortable silence settled in between the girl and her boyfriend, neither quite knowing what to say. “Oh. I… I see.” Alya said at last, turning back to her food. “Well… Lunch is almost over. Let’s… Let’s get back to class.”

“Marinette just threatened me in the bathroom!” Lila puffed up, clearly upset now. “She mocked me! She called you guys stupid for believing her act!”

“Dudette.” Nino shattered the ice-cold silence at their lunch table, swallowing heavily. “Marinette was with us the whole time you were in the bathroom.”

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The tension inside the room was so thick that Adrien could cut it with his bare hands. God, what had happened? The day had started off so well— Marinette agreed to be friends with Lila, god bless the girl— But as it turned out, one hurdle folded over only to be towered over by a taller one. 

“Alya—” Lila began tearfully, her pitiful look attracting the sympathy of those who still didn’t know what was going on. 

“You claimed that Marinette threatened you in the bathroom.” Alya interrupted. “While she was with us the whole time in the cafeteria.” 

Faltering, the Italian struggled to find a way to squeeze herself out of the tight spot. “M— Maybe it was someone else.” Reluctantly, she backed out one trap into another one. 

“You said that you were sure! You said that she was wearing a blazer with MDC stitched on it. Marinette was wearing that blazer during lunch!” The reporter shot back, Nino at her side, trying to extinguish the conflicted fire blazing inside Alya’s heart. 

The seeds of doubt had been sewn, and Lila was going to have a tough time weeding them out. “I... I’m sorry!” She burst out into tears, sobbing pitifully in front of the class, most of which were already in attendance. “My lying disease is acting up again. I... I can’t help it. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone!” 

“Uh... Is this a bad time to ask if anyone wants macarons?” Marinette cleared her throat awkwardly, standing at the front of the room. Her royal blue blazer had been shed, and it now hung over her arm, properly folded into half. Earlier, she had asked Rose for the time to make sure that she had a witness in case Lila tried to pull another act— But as it seemed, the Italian was determined to dig her own grave and all the work had been done. 

The students of Mlle. Bustier’s class shared looks. 

“I’ll... I’ll have one.” Mylene cleared her throat, hoping that it would diffuse the situation. 

“Me too.” Kim followed, not missing the way Marinette flinched slightly at his words. Most of the words he had said to her of late had not been nice at all— But he justified that with the fact that she was being a bully to Lila, like Chloe had been to Marinette herself. 

“Great!” Marinette cleared her throat awkwardly, slapping on a strained smile. She passed the box to the front row, where Sabrina and Chloe were, gesturing for them to pass the box along until everyone got their fill. 

Internally, Lila seethed, anger burning like a wildfire that tore down every lush sign of life in her path. The girl had never felt that livid in her entire life— Who did Dupain-Cheng think she was, having a change of heart out of nowhere, pretending to play along with those oh-so-innocent eyes of hers? 

“I... I think I know why my disease acted up again,” Lila sniffled, loud enough to gather attention again. Unsure glances passed around like an object that no one wanted, carried from hand to hand forcefully as no one wanted to hold onto it for too long. “It... It must’ve been because of... Of the cardigan that Marinette made me! You must’ve known that...” The Italian squinted at the cardigan on her desk, “... Cotton triggers my lying disease!” 

The bluenette, still passing around macarons, stopped in her tracks. Inside her mind, Marinette was shaking her head, an amused smile on her cheeks. She had to give Lila credit for that one— She would’ve never anticipated that lie from her nemesis. “That’s terrible!” She sucked in a breath, putting on a dismayed look. “I’m really sorry, Lila! I know it seems like I did this on purpose, but I promise I didn’t! To make it up to you, I’ll make you another one.” 

Is she serious right now? Lila scoffed mentally. How long does she plan to keep this going? No matter— She’ll eventually drain herself out and I won’t even have to meddle in this matter. 

Marinette sniffled, collecting the cardigan pitifully from Lila’s desk. “But to prevent future incidents, Lila, I just want you to know that this isn’t made of cotton... It’s made from the highest-quality of star silk, which is incredibly difficult to produce and is rather expensive. It’s such a pity... I thought that only the best of materials would be deserving to be used to make an apology present... I guess you can’t wear it. I’ll just make another copy of the cardigan with some normal-range silk.” Sighing, the bluenette pretended to mull in sadness for a few seconds before an idea struck her. “Alya! You aren’t allergic to star silk, right?” 

The flow of conversation redirected suddenly, with the reporter snapping to attention and nodding eagerly as she realised what was about to happen. 

“Then... Since I’ve spent so long on this, I don’t want it to go to waste... Why don’t you have it, instead?” Offered Marinette with a sweet, shy smile on her face. 

Lila, still caught up in shock by the reveal of the material— Was then slammed with a wall of flaming anger as Alya squealed, coddling the soft, fluffy material that made the cardigan the exquisite product it was. 

“Marinette’s right,” Adrien chipped in with his own two cents, “Father can rarely get his hands on that material— It costs a fortune, and if hand-made... It takes forever.” 

“Oh, I wove the silk by myself,” Marinette added shyly after Adrien’s contribution, “So I apologise if it’s not up to the quality of industry-level star silk.” 

The reporter gushed, still cooing and running her hands over the gorgeous threads of fabric that made up the cloud-like base of the cardigan, eyes sparkling and the details of the embroidery. 

Marinette smiled, returning to her seat without a fuss. The rest of the class continued to pass the pastries around, the perfect description of ‘ignorance is bliss’ as they pretended as if they couldn’t see the way Lila was shaking in anger. Alya, on the other hand, could see nothing but the garment in her hands, her ‘best friend’ having become invisible for the time being. 

Just as well that it turned out this way, Marinette hummed, twirling her pen in hand, Let that be my departing gift to Rena Rouge. 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Tomorrow arrived like clockwork, never late and always on time. The crowd of students clamouring by the front of Francois Dupont hushed to silence as they parted for two dark-haired women, both of which were giving off waves of confidence. Simple conversation flowed between the two, who were perfect examples of elegance and grace, their traditional-inspired attire complementing the royal-like aura they had. 

“This dress is really lovely, Marinette,” Kagami smiled gently, admiring the way the fabric flowed around her. The designer had gifted her friend with a maroon-coloured hanfu-inspired dress, complete with hand-sewn embroidery of a golden dragon curled around Kagami’s waist and neck. The dress was completed with a pleated skirt that went all the way to the heels. At first, the fencer was reluctant about the skirt due to the limited maneuverability, but then Marinette revealed that the skirt was very simple to take off as it was just tied around the waist. 

“You look gorgeous in it. It suits you.” Marinette replied, dressed in a similar looking dress. Her hanfu-inspired dress was light pink in colour, with silver threads depicting cranes flying about freely. The pleated skirt was grey in colour, lined with a soft circle of white. 

Kagami blushed slightly. “Thank you.” Briefly, the Japanese girl wondered why on Earth Marinette would go and embroider a dragon onto her dress— Was it purely a coincidence, or...? 

“I’m really glad you decided to transfer here,” Marinette smiled softly, her dark blue bangs framing her face as the rest of it was gathered into a braid that Kagami had helped weave. “It’s going to be nice! I’ll get to see you a lot more often.” 

“We’re in different classes, though.” Frowning, Kagami wondered if she should request a change of homeroom. 

“For now.” The designer winked playfully. “Oh, I have to get to class. See you during lunch?” 

Without waiting for a reply, the blue-eyed girl moved away gracefully, leaving Kagami in confusion. 

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“Good morning,” Marinette greeted gracefully, sweeping into the classroom with her bag over her shoulder and a package in her hands. This package was clearly not as exquisitely-wrapped as the one from the day before, as it was just brown paper and some rough string. 

Alya brightened at the sight of her friend, shrinking away slightly whenever Lila tried to say anything. Sure, the reporter did shake off the initial reaction and respond to whatever her ‘best friend’ said, but the damage had been done. 

“Here’s your new cardigan. It’s made from the same material as your shirt,” Marinette smiled warmly, placing the package on Lila’s table. “It’s a little different from the one I brought yesterday, but I still poured in all my emotions when I made it, so I hope you’ll accept it.” 

Through a gritted smile, the Italian thanked the designer, clenching her fists under the table. That was the second time in two days she had to thank Mari-brat! She swore that if she had to do it again a third time, she was going to slap someone. 

“Oh, Marinette!” Alya called out excitedly, wearing the cardigan that was originally supposed to be Lila’s. “This cardigan is so soft! It’s really amazing to wear! As expected of you, girl!” 

The bluenette stared back at the reporter, wavering for a bit. She had a feeling that Alya wanted something from her... 

“So... I was wondering...” The reporter’s expression turned sheepish, with Marinette’s internal thought-train going ah, there it comes— “Could you remove this and put my name instead?” Alya picked up the corner of the cardigan, pointing to the inside of the garment, where ‘Lila Rossi’ was embroidered on. 

“Ah...” Marinette didn’t even have to fake her nervousness. We already agreed on this, She told herself, No more doing free stuff for people. No more. “Sorry, Alya. My parents need a lot of help in the bakery recently,.. You know how it is! Family always comes first. I’ve already taken out a lot of time to make the cardigan for Lila... And I promised Kagami I’d go out with her this weekend. I’m afraid I don’t have time...” 

There was no missing the way Alya’s face fell instantly. “Couldn’t you put off Kagami for me? Aren’t we best friends?” 

“I thought Lila was your best friend,” Feigning an expression of innocence, Marinette tilted her head slightly. “You shouldn’t go around saying things like that, Alya. You might hurt Lila’s feelings. Besides, a promise is a promise. I wouldn’t want to hurt Kagami’s feelings either. Not to mention— I gave you that cardigan for free. That was two weeks’ worth of hard work. I’m afraid I don’t have the ability to take time out to alter it for free either. If you really want to get it done, you could ask an external tailor to do it for you. I know a few who can do really good embroidery.” 

Alya faltered. “But... We used to be best friends...” 

Snorting mentally, Marinette continued to hold her calm composure. “Like I said, you really shouldn’t say that, Alya. Lila might get upset and we don’t want to hurt her feelings— Right, Adrien?” 

The blonde jumped when the conversation turned to him out of nowhere. All of a sudden, every eye in the classroom was fixed on him. “R— Right, of course.” He said, forcing out each word. 

Satisfied, Marinette nodded, still wearing her ever-so-kind smile. “Exactly.” 

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“Hey, why don’t we all go out and have a picnic outside during lunch?” Alya suggested loudly, jumping up as soon as the lunch bell rang. “Marinette, you can come along too!” Something inside the reporter’s chest was stirring, and with the events of the past few days, Alya felt like she just had to quench that unsettling feeling— And the first step to that was to mend things with Marinette, even though it was the bluenette’s fault for always having been biased to Lila. Alya smiled, proud of herself. She would be the bigger person, she would forgive Marinette, she would integrate the designer back into the class again. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Marinette replied just as quickly, “We don’t know what Lila might be allergic to— She could easily trigger a reaction if we go out, especially since it’s spring.” 

A collective choir of groans rounded the class. 

“Well, I’m going to go back to the hotel to have a first-class meal,” Chloe turned her nose up at her classmates. “... Dupain-Cheng, would you like to come?” 

Shock painted the faces of the whole classroom. Did Chloe just... Ask Marinette something... Politely? 

“I’d love to take that offer, Chloe.” Responded the bluenette, graceful and flawless as ever. “Perhaps tomorrow?” 

“Suit yourself. They’re serving lobster today.” Chloe huffed. “If you’re really that busy, then fine. We can discuss...” The Mayor’s daughter trailed off as she blushed. 

The bluenette giggled knowingly. “You’d like to commission a dress from me, right?” 

“... No.” 

“...” 

“... Maybe.” 

“Alright.” Marinette nodded. “Then maybe it’ll be more convenient if I head over to the hotel after school. I’ll need to take your measurements and we can discuss the prices after.” 

“Whatever.” Chloe waved her away haughtily, a poor effort to cover up her embarrassment. “Sabrina. Let’s go.” 

“Chloe?” Alya guffawed. “Why are you commissioning something from Marinette?” 

Rolling her eyes as if Alya had just asked the stupidest question ever, Chloe answered plainly. “Because she’s one of the up-and-rising designers in the industry? Have you seen what Dupain-Cheng is wearing today? Celebrities are already fighting for spots in her commission list. Even my mother and Gabriel Agreste acknowledge her talent. I’m not dumb, Cesaire. I can recognise a future fashion queen when I see one.” 

Wow, Marinette breathed, looking at the stunned faces around the room, Chloe sure knows how to create an impression. 

“W— Well.” Stuttered the reporter after Chloe made her big exit. “Then... What about going to the bakery for lunch?” 

“Didn’t Lila say she saw a rat in the bakery the last time she visited it?” Marinette pointed out. “The health officer checked the surveillance and the claim was dismissed, of course, because my parents make sure the bakery is as hygienic as possible— But I’m sure Lila is traumatised from that incident. I wouldn’t want to force her to come along to the bakery— And we wouldn’t want to leave her out either, right?” 

This elicited another round of groans. 

Oh, I am enjoying myself way too much, Marinette chuckled mentally. 

“Then— Then...” Alya struggled visibly before she was put out of her misery. 

“It’s fine, Alya.” The designer reassured her. “I wouldn’t want to bother Lila. I’m sure she’s still upset at me. You guys go ahead. I have to go back to the bakery to help my parents out. See you guys after!” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Slam! 

Lila fumed, hand still pressed on her locker door. What. The. Hell. Was Mari-brat trying to do? She didn’t miss the way some of her classmates sent her unsatisfactory looks after that pre-lunch stunt that Marinette had pulled. 

And what was the thing about high-and-mighty Chloe commissioning from Marinette? 

Sure, Lila would admit that the cardigan that the designer made was indeed gorgeous, and the fabric was smooth and velvety, a quality unlike any of the clothing that Lila had ever had the privilege to touch— But surely a lowly brat like Dupain-Cheng couldn’t be that popular... Right? 

Dammit, hissed the Italian girl, Maybe I should’ve tried being friends with Mari-brat instead of Cesaire. 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Is that... Marinette and Kagami?” Nino gaped, prompting Alya to turn around. It was true— Walking up the steps of Francois Dupont together were the two blue-haired girls, a gentle smile dancing on Kagami’s lips as Marinette talked animatedly, her hands waving around quickly to further elaborate her point. 

Students lounging around the entrance for lunch couldn’t tear their eyes off the two and their matching dresses. Sure, the two girls had walked into school the same way that morning— But now that the afternoon sun was high up in the sky, the golden and silver embroidery was glinting luminously, revealing the true caliber of Marinette’s craft. 

“But... They’re rivals.” Stuttered Alya. She just couldn’t understand... Weren’t they supposed to hate each other? 

“They both like Adrien but they can still get along,” Nino remarked thoughtfully, taking a bite from his sandwich. “So Marinette wasn’t lying about going to meet Kagami yesterday.” 

Alya was silent. 

“Alya? What’s wrong?” Worried, Nino put a hand around his girlfriend’s shoulder, care and concern shining through his honest eyes. 

“If... If Marinette doesn’t get jealous or biased over someone who also likes Adrien...” Alya started quietly, eyes still fixed on the two girls, “Then why was she so against Lila?” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Mlle. Bustier?” The teacher looked up at the voice of her favourite student. Fondly, she smiled. Marinette had finally seen the light and changed her ways, becoming the helpful, generous, kind Marinette that served as a great example for her peers. “May I make an announcement before class ends?” 

“Of course, dear.” Mlle. Bustier gave permission instantly— Marinette was taking up the reins of leadership again! The teacher couldn’t help but do a happy dance internally. 

“I have an announcement to make, so if everyone could listen, I’d be really thankful.” Marinette started, her clear blue eyes meeting those of her classmates. 

She took a deep breath. This is it. I’ve done what I needed to do, now it’s time to finish the job. 

“These past two days... Have been great,” Marinette started wistfully. “I really missed hanging around everyone, just like we did before,” Before you all turned your backs on me and stabbed me when I wasn’t looking, “But I can’t deny— And neither can you— That the things that have happened... They had a really deep impact. And I’ve realised that I can’t just ignore that damage that has been done.” The damage that has been done to me. “So, for the better of everyone— I’ve decided that I... Will transfer classes.” 

It was as if an explosion had gone off in Mlle. Bustier’s classroom. 

“Girl! You can’t do that!” Alya exclaimed in dismay, “We can fix things! Everything has been going well these few days, haven’t they?” 

“Dudette! Honestly, we forgive you.” Nino sighed, “Things just aren’t the same if you’re not here anymore.” 

Adrien didn’t say a word, but the imploring gaze he wore said enough. Please don’t leave me here alone. We promised we’d fight together, right? As long as both of us know... 

Marinette held her hand up to silence them, and the classroom, just as swiftly, became the deadly silence that followed post-disaster. “I understand. But once again, this is for the better,” — Of my mental health, “I’ve talked to Mlle. Mendeliev, and she’s agreed to take me in. I believe that once the changes have taken place, we can all grow more freely without restrictions.” 

In the corner, Mlle. Bustier was tearing up and dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve. 

“Mlle. Bustier,” Marinette turned to her teacher, no malice in her eyes. “I’ll be under Mlle. Mendeliev’s care now.” 

“Marinette...” The teacher sobbed quietly, with Chloe shooting her a look of disgust from the front row. 

“It’s not going to be easy for any of us,” Marinette turned back to the class, “But with time, I’m sure we will all prosper. Especially since you will now be under the care of our one and only Lila Rossi.” 

Adrien looked like someone had just killed a puppy in front of him. 

“Since I am the current class president, I thought I’d pass on the duties onto the most capable person in our class.” Marinette explained warmly, never moving her gaze away from the bewildered Lila. “Lila has the most connections in our class out of all of us, and she’s met so many CEOs and entrepreneurs that she must know a lot about organising and planning. I’m sure you can do it, Lila, but...” She paused. “You can handle it, right?” 

“Y— Yeah. Of course.” Lila stuttered. 

“You promised the class that you’d get BTS to perform for the year-end fundraiser since you were supposed to be in an arranged marriage with their youngest member, Jungkook.” Marinette continued, God I am enjoying myself too much honestly, but I ain’t going to stop now, “And you said you could convince your godfather, Bruce Wayne, to allow the class to go to Wayne Enterprises for this year’s class trip.” 

“She said she could convince Tony Hawk to give me an internship, too!” Alix chipped in. 

“And that she’d bring me along the next time Prince Ali asks for her help for a charity cause!” Rose smiled. 

“She said she’d introduce me to the CEO of Graham Films!” Nino’s eyes shone at the idea. 

The class continued to talk all over one another until Marinette silenced them once more. “Now, now. Let’s not overwhelm Lila. We wouldn’t want her to be overworked or to feel like the expectations are set too high, right?” 

The class agreed, nodding along. 

Marinette made eye contact with Lila, offering her a sweet smile as she did so. Lila, on the other hand, had no taste for such politeness. Instead, she straight-out glared at the former class president. 

This is your problem now. 

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“Marinette! I was hoping to catch you before you went home,” Alya panted, having been able to find the bluenette in the locker room before the designer slipped out of her reach. “You... You’re really serious about leaving?” 

“Yeah.” Smiled Marinette, organising her textbooks into her bag, dusting down her skirt. Noticing Alya’s crestfallen expression, she took the initiative to continue the conversation. “Is there anything else, Alya?” 

“Did you... Did you really hate Lila because she liked Adrien, too?” The reporter asked somewhat timidly. 

Marinette giggled. Normally, when the girl giggled, you could hear a gentle tinkling of wind chimes— But at that moment, Alya heard the freezing winds on Mount Everest instead. “Don’t be silly, Alya. All this over a boy? Besides, I’m over him.” 

“Then...” Alya swallowed difficulty. “Lila... Really was lying this whole time?” 

The gaze that swept across the reporter was stone cold, and it made Alya feel as if she was dangling over a valley of jagged rocks. “What do you think, Alya?” Even so, the bluenette maintained a sweet smile. 

“She was. She was lying the whole time.” Alya suddenly felt as if she had a shortness of air. “This whole time—” 

“Oh, good for you. You finally learned how to see further than one feet in front of you.” Marinette hummed. “I’m proud of you, really. But I’m afraid that I don’t have the time to listen to you slowly come to conclusions after I’ve tried making you see sense for the past half a year. I tried to stop you from ruining your futures, but I guess determination was always one of your good traits.” 

Alya slipped to the floor, having lost the feeling in her legs. She placed one hand against the lockers for support as she shook, weakly looking up at the girl who she was once so proud to call her ‘best friend’. 

“Marinette?” Kagami’s voice rang through the room, indicating that the girl was waiting at the doorway. “You said you were heading to Bourgeois’s hotel after school— Would you like a ride?” 

“That’d be nice, Kagami. A moment.” The designer looked down at her friend and smiled, albeit a little sadly this time— And then she lowered her voice. 

“Determination was always one of your good traits.” 

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“Marinette,” Adrien perked up at the sight of the bluenette leaving the school doors— Side by side with Kagami, who looked ready to draw a sword and start a duel then and there. 

“This’ll just take a minute, ‘Gami.” Marinette reassured, gently patting her friend’s arm. “Why don’t you get in the car first? It looks like it’s going to rain.” 

Reluctantly, Kagami nodded. “Alright.” Warily, the fencer stepped down the stairs and into the car— But even as she sat in the vehicle, she watched over her fellow bluenette like a hawk, ready to jump out and challenge the blonde if the situation called for it. 

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say. Luckily for him, the designer decided to start the conversation. 

“I just wanted to say thank you.” Marinette smiled softly. A few months ago, when she looked at Adrien, she would see the kind, generous, pure-hearted boy with the finest golden hair and the brightest green eyes. Now? All she saw was a spineless, sheltered, passive child that was afraid of confrontations. 

“For what?” Adrien looked at Marinette, and no longer did he see the cute, pigtail-adorning girl that would blush fiercely everytime he tried to talk to her. Instead, he saw a beautiful, young woman, a rock that had pulled through all the odds to become a vibrant, iridescent diamond. 

Marinette was glowing with confidence, her presence diffusing into the air around her and triggering eyes to look up every time she walked by. There was something about the way she held herself that just made the woman demand awe and respect from those that crossed her path. The old ‘Clumsinette’ had been shed like an old snake skin to reveal a treasure, a better version of the bluenette that had always been waiting for her time to come. 

Bluebell eyes met green ones just as rain began to patter down onto the streets of Paris. Marinette glanced up slightly, not at all bothered as she smoothly retrieved an umbrella from her bag, holding it out for the blonde to take. A flush of deja vu burst through Adrien’s veins and through his skin as he took it with a mumbled thanks, eyes blown wide as Marinette let loose her hair from her ponytail, pulling her blazer over her head to avoid getting her head wet. 

Adrien could only gape as Marinette uttered familiar words back to him, a knowing smile dancing across her lips as she ran off into the rain as if an invisible weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The bluenette looked lighter, brighter, ready to take flight and soar towards the success that her crops of hard work had finally started to bear. Before the blonde model knew it, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had slipped out of his grip, already spreading her multi-coloured wings to land among the stars. 

“Thank you for telling me to take the high road.”  

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this was both satisfying and tiring to write...