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eloquentornot · 4 months

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"Hey, False!"

"Oh! Gem, hi!"

Just as Gem had hoped, False seemed startled by her sudden appearance by elytra, but recovered quickly! Gem giggled.

"Are you ready to teach me PvP?"

"Wait, what?"

"You know, like you promised me the other day?" Gem asked, slightly confused.

"Oh… oh, yeah, right!" False laughed nervously. "Sorry, my… memory… isn't always great. I remember now!"

"Oh… well, that's okay!" Gem tried not to let her disappointment show. "If you're not ready now, we can always-"

"Hey, now! I didn't say I wasn't ready for PvP. You know about me, right?" False smiled confidently, and Gem grinned in return.

"The Queen of Hearts, Heads and Body Parts! Oh, thank you so much! This is going to be so fun!! Don't go easy on me, okay?"

False brandished her sword, but then stopped to consider something.

"I mean… are you sure about that? You want to last long enough to learn something from it, right?"

"Well…" It was a good point. Gem couldn't hide behind the excuse of it being a lesson, for what she really wanted. "Okay, when we start doing proper lessons, go easy on me at first, but right now I just want to see what you can do!" She already knew what False could do, of course, but to see it up close, to be slain by the famous Falsesymmetry… "Come on, fight me! Let's go!" She swung her own sword enthusiastically, an attack that False easily dodged!

"If you say so…" False chuckled, and prepared to strike…

The battle was over even faster than Gem expected!

She lay on the path in spawn village, freshly respawned but head still spinning from adrenaline, grinning wildly as she tried to make sense of what she'd seen. One moment, False had been posed elegantly in front of her, the next…

She had so much to learn. This new life promised to be the most fun yet!

"I'm on Hermitcraft!!" she cheered!

"You sure are!" replied a familiar voice, as False landed somewhere in front of her. "Are you ready to start your PvP training today, like we said?"

Gem sat up, confused.

"False, you literally just killed me."

"Oh? Yeah… yeah! I have done that!" False answered awkwardly, and Gem was concerned for a moment. Was her memory really that bad?

But then Gem understood the joke.

"Oh, right! Killing me as a demonstration was so easy, you're ready to start actually training me right away? I'm up for it, sure!" She leapt to her feet, but then her vision blurred for just a moment. "Whoa, maybe gimmie a minute, though…" she giggled.

"Right, yes!" False replied. "You just wait right there, and I'll grab your stuff for you."

"Wait, you didn't bring my stuff with you just now?"

"No, I… left it in a chest! I didn't realise you'd respawn here. Sorry."

"Okay…" Gem was still a bit too dizzy to fully process what was going on, and then False was flying off, and then Gem sat down once more, this time against a wall, and took a deep breath. Within moments, she was totally fine. Nothing had even been wrong, just, new life, new body. She'd get used to pushing herself a bit more, soon enough.

After all, Gem was great, as the newly coined saying went…

*****

It was time to practice jump-crits, and Gem leapt high!

…And higher, and higher, and higher, screaming louder, until finally she landed with an unceremonious thud, all thoughts of the weapon in her hands now a distant memory.

"Whoa, are you okay?!" False crouched down beside her. "Hey, you haven't been taking Jump Boost potions, have you?" she joked, when she saw no sign of physical injury.

"That wasn't a potion effect!" Gem said in a panic, half forgotten Celestial instincts screaming, telling her exactly what had happened but not why… "It was like… gravity… changed?"

If False said anything in response to that, Gem didn't hear it. She almost left, then and there, but she knew that would only cause more panic for False. For all her friends, on Hermitcraft. She promised herself, there and then, that whatever happened next, even if things started to get serious, she wouldn't just abandon them.

*****

"Gem! Gem, where are you?! Gem!"

"False!!" she called in reply. The quakes were getting worse, blocks flying everywhere… Stress hadn't been seen in weeks…

But she still wasn't giving up on that promise!

"Oh, there you are!" False sighed in relief, as the two began running hand-in-hand away from the worst of the fractures in the land around them. "Listen, I was thinking, earlier, and…"

"We have to get back to the bunker! I think this one will pass soon!"

Gem hadn't been wrong, before, getting a sense of how the forces holding the world together were… interacting, with what was coming. The moon. It was clear now, what was going on. But still, the hermits held out hope. No-one wanted to leave, while there were still people missing.

"Gem, I… okay, I trust you."

Had False been about to say something else? It didn't matter.

"Wait…"

"What is it?" Gem asked, as the two of them suddenly stopped.

"I just realised… I guess it doesn't really matter now… but we would have been having our weekly sparring practice, around now…"

"Oh." She was right, Gem realised, and she disagreed. It did matter. It mattered a lot, actually, that things were getting bad enough that even the parts of the schedule the hermits actually managed to stick to consistently were coming undone. "Yeah. That's… I guess we'll have to do more work next week, then!" Assuming it all blows over by then. You just had to assume, right? After all, Hermitcraft didn't do unhappy endings. Did it?

"Right…"

Then, something happened.

The moonlight, already so much brighter than it ought to have been, seemed to brighten yet again, highlighting everything in blurry white, casting colour away as the two were swept upwards, now clutching both of each others' hands.

It was getting worse, worse, worse, this time they floated higher than ever before, but this time there was no screaming. Just this once, Gem allowed herself to feel some of the peace she so desperately needed, the celestial peace she could easily grasp in full if she just… let go.

But she held on. To this life, and to False, her dearest friend…

All around them, the roaring storm seemed to be pure silence, Gem's whisper carrying loud and clear:

"False… I promise, I will never leave you."

False's eyes widened, glimmering in the moonlight. The expression on her face suddenly seemed so familiar to Gem, from a distant childhood memory. It was a face she'd never seen since, until now. That intensity of emotion, which drew the great celestials towards humanity and other such creatures, the indescribable beauty that people could bring, even to tragedy…

Oh. From what she'd learned since she last saw it, that face wasn't a positive emotion. But before Gem could think on it any more, the moment ended, moonlight dimmed by a passing cloud, and the two of them gently lowered to the ground.

It was exactly as if a raging storm had passed, and neither of them spoke for a few moments.

Soon, they returned to the bunker, still hand-in-hand.

Days later, Gem wiped away a tear, as she stepped through the portal she had crafted.

*****

Things were a lot different, this season. Gem had started out a bit out of practice, and after a few more weeks, had approached False, both to apologise and to ask for more lessons. Thankfully, the feeling was mutual.

"Let's leave the past in the past, yeah?" False had said. "Things got weird last season… I'll be more than glad to teach you again, how's tomorrow?"

But the next day, things seemed… different. False apologised, again, and so did Gem, but then suddenly everything was fine, but then…

Gem wondered just how much of a memory problem False had. Her mood sometimes seemed to alternate each week, but Gem was too polite to point it out. She decided to think nothing of it.

Now, months later, Gem was almost winning more than False! Some weeks, False was going easy on her, full teacher mode, focused on technique and keeping things as even as she could. But other times, when she seemed more tired or stressed… Those times, Gem knew she was winning for real! It was fun to see False, the Falsesymmetry, actually struggle to keep up with her!

She was getting so good at PvP, starting to collect as many heads from the other hermits as she could, Geminislay!

But at some point, something changed. Gem didn't know what, only that it started when False missed one week. After that, she was always more reserved. She still seemed a bit stressed, sometimes, but kept the lessons even more professional than ever. She didn't even seem to respond to some of the in-jokes they'd made, during those more intense battles…

Was it just False's memory problem? Gem wondered if she'd done something wrong, but she didn't want to make things awkward by asking.

One day, she brought up the possibility of practicing less often, if False was getting too busy with her base or anything, and…

It almost hurt, how quickly False agreed.

Still, by this point, Gem was used to relationships coming and going. And with more free time on her hands… there was always that other world she had recently noticed, wasn't there?

*****

Gem sighed contentedly, gazing out across her little kingdom.

The Princess of Dawn. It was a nice title, if she did say so herself. She'd say she had big plans for this place, but really she was just going with the flow and creating whatever came to mind, in between how busy she was with everything else…

Compared to Hermitcraft, this place was somehow more peaceful and less so. Everyone was so much more dedicated to the roleplaying!

At least, that's what she told herself. If everyone here truly believed the stories they'd shared, at that campfire…

Well, one way or another, it was another world, wasn't it?

Suddenly, her daydreaming was interrupted, as she noticed the approach of a familiar face! One she hadn't had a chance to speak to one-on-one, yet.

"Falsesymmetry! How do you do?" she called, from her balcony.

False looked up, something in her eyes, almost startled.

"Um. You're Geminitay, right?"

"Princess Gem, yes," she corrected, but not too harshly. To make it clear there was no harm done, she smiled brilliantly.

"Right, we already know each others' names… Well, I just… I know we've probably never met before, but I just have this… feeling… about you…"

"Go on…" Gem leaned over the wall, not bothering to conceal much of her excitement. Oh, everything was so new, and interesting, and here, somehow, was False… what was she up to? How was she here? Was it really the same one, if she decided her character was feeling that way? Or was it memories leaking through the multiverse to a different person?

After a few seconds of silence, False decided what to say.

"Do you… want to practice sparring, some time? I mean, I'm not challenging you, or anything, it's only if you want to…"

"…Oh." Well, this was a little awkward. Gem probably should have seen this coming. "I'm sorry, False, I'm… a pacifist. The only challenge I've ever accepted was my own, to never so much as hold a weapon…"

"What? Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I don't know why I asked. Stupid of me, really, I mean you are a princess, it makes sense that you wouldn't fight…" She turned away, started walking, faster than she'd approached. "Sorry…"

"False, wait! It's okay!" Gem clarified, holding out her hand as if she could stop False from leaving. "I'm not offended at all! You can still hang out with me here, we'll just have to find something else to do, that's all!"

False looked back.

"…Right. Thanks, Princess Gem. I'll… think about it. Again, sorry. I don't even know why I came here…"

And before Gem could say anything else, False was gone.

"Huh. What is up with her?"

*****

All the way from Halloween to Christmas. That was how the length of time was measured by the hermits, anyway, the empires had a different system. But however they chose to recount it, it had been months of chaos, two worlds collided… and now everything was back to normal for both.

It certainly wasn't as if it had never happened, for one thing she now had a raid farm to look at from both of her shores…

Gem sighed. On a more positive note, her head collection was looking better than ever! The basement of her elven palace was now lavishly decorated, heads organised in various categories, cells full!

"Gem? Are you down here?"

"Oh, False! Is it time for our practice already?" Gem leapt playfully in the direction of the voice, and in less than a second, both of them had a blade pointed at the other's throat!

"Ah, there you are!" False grinned, and wow Gem had missed this!

Come to think of it, she hadn't spoken to False much during that whole crossover. Strange, really, given that her secret was finally out to most hermits and also Pixlriffs somehow, but she'd heard no word of anything similar happening to False. Even stranger if it was the other option, and she just had an alternate universe counterpart there, that no-one had seen two Falsesymmetries together…

But suddenly, that thought sparked an odd sense of deja vu for Gem, and she was distracted, False gaining the upper hand in their sudden battle.

Her disadvantage didn't last long, however, as she swiftly dodged around the stairs to gain the high ground!

"Ooh, too slow, False!" she teased.

"Oh yeah? What if I've got you right where I want you?" False jokingly bluffed.

Again, a flash of memory. But this time…

"Ahahaha! Now I've got you right where I want you!"

"False! This isn't funny, you know I can't fight back!!"

"Exactly! Might as well get the easy heads out of the way for my collection…"

"Hold on, time out, what is going on? What kind of character are you playing here? Who are you??"

"Oh, this isn't a game, Princess…"

"What? Oh, fine… Don't do this! I'll… I'll tell everyone!"

"No. You won't."

Gem gasped, stumbled backwards and found herself sitting on the stairs. What was that?!

"Wait, Gem, are you okay?" False lowered her sword immediately, and sat down next to Gem.

"I… I think I just… remembered something? But how did I forget? How did I forget… that?"

"Forget what?"

"I… it was something on Empires. I mean, in that other world. You know, the one through the Rift?"

"Oh… Right, I remember hearing something about you living there too? I'm… sorry the Rift closed. Thanks for choosing to stay here…"

"No, no, it's fine! I didn't even know about the Rift, I have my own way of getting there and back! So… is that why I haven't seen you there, since then? Were you using the Rift to get between lives?"

"What? You haven't seen her- uh, me?"

Gem frowned.

"Actually, I've been wanting to ask, but I wasn't sure how. Is it you, in that other world? Like, set aside the roleplay for a minute, is it really? I'm actually confused, here."

"Gem, what do you mean roleplay?"

"I mean… like, you know! Stories! Games! Like… those times, when we used to spar every week, and sometimes you'd get really intense and mad, but it was always just an act, afterwards it was all fine?"

But False didn't look fine. She looked… horrified?

"But that's… It was you!!" she gasped, suddenly enraged! "You did this to her! It was your fault!! Ugh, all those times I thought she was blaming me! All those notes she made for herself, 'she did this not you' and I thought she meant me but she meant YOU!!"

"What?? False, stop! Slow down, what are you talking about?"

"She's not me! And she's not my alternate universe counterpart, either!" Tears ran down False's face, but Gem had too many questions to stop now.

"Then who is she?"

"She's my sister! My twin! Or my clone, or I'm her clone, or something! I don't know! The point is, we were always together. The two of us. The two of me. We were the False Symmetry. Until you came along with your oh-so-innocent charm, using us to get stronger and egging her on even after she started to snap…" Realisation dawned. "Treating everything like a game!! That's what was going on, wasn't it? All along! You thought it was all a game, so you never stopped when it was clear she was getting too violent!!"

"Wait… what…?" Gem was horrified. How could this be true? "But that means… she was here? Both of you were hermits?"

"A hermit. We were a hermit. Together. We were exactly the same. Until she started to change… How could I have been so blind? Of course it wasn't just this season. Of course we couldn't leave behind all that nonsense… it wasn't just the moon. It was you."

"False… I'm so sorry…"

A moment of silence.

"Well, it's too late now," False said. "The Rift is closed, and either way, I made sure she can't be a threat anymore."

"…What did you do?"

"I made her forget. I sent her through it, ages ago, long before the whole crossover thing. That was around the time you offered to stop bothering me so much… I guess I never was as close to you as she was."

"Hang on…" Gem thought back on some of her moments with False. "Which one of you was it when…"

"It doesn't matter. She's gone, and when we were all stuck there I checked up on her. She's fine now, happy… Wait, but you said you hadn't seen her in a while?"

"No, but… there's something else… are you sure she's not a threat?"

False's face dropped.

"No. Wait, no nono no no… when you said you remembered something you'd forgotten, just now… you don't mean…"

"Something… I'm not sure, maybe, but if you said it was never a game to you, or to her…" Gem gasps. It all comes flooding back, full clarity!

The Princess of Dawn strolled down the elegant cobbled street she had just finished laying, admiring her handiwork in the golden light of the setting sun. It was bedtime, so she made sure her wandering took her towards her bedroom, but just a few more minutes of fresh air couldn't hurt…

A cold silver glint of light caught her eye, and Gem's head swiveled towards the shadows, instincts from another life telling her to reach for a sword she didn't carry as she peered into the darkness.

In moments, the silhouette of a cloaked figure appeared, stepping menacingly into the lamplight. The sharp iron knife in their hand glinted once more.

"Uh… H-hello… Who are you?" Gem politely asked.

The figure said nothing, only took one step towards her, then another, slow, methodical, purposeful.

Gem stood frozen, until she heard a familiar laugh echo from beneath the cloak.

"False?" she asked. "Is that you?"

The figure stopped. Then, Falsesymmetry raised her free hand, and threw off the cumbersome black cape in one fluid motion.

Her eyes seemed blank.

"Looks like I lost my element of surprise… Oh well."

In the next moment, False darted forward, knife gleaming!

Gem screamed, and ran into the nearest building, but unfortunately this one only had one door! She was trapped!

"Ahahaha! Now I've got you right where I want you!" False grinned madly, stalking towards where Gem cowered in the corner.

"False! This isn't funny, you know I can't fight back!!" Gem's heart hammered.

"Exactly! Might as well get the easy heads out of the way for my collection…"

"Hold on, time out, what is going on? What kind of character are you playing here? Who are you??"

"Oh, this isn't a game, Princess…" False had reached Gem now, and held the knife to her chin, and said the word 'Princess' with such venom that Gem could no longer believe it. She felt foolish for breaking character, this was an incredible plot twist after all!

"What? Oh, fine… Don't do this! I'll… I'll tell everyone!"

"No. You won't."

False lifted a small vial of dark grey liquid, and smashed it into Gem's forehead, before going for the kill.

"I remember now! She was terrifying! Did that potion make me forget? And she didn't think it was a game??"

"No… no, that can't be right! She was happy, she was back to normal… But wait, if she used the amnesia potion on you, how did you remember? Gem, what are you?"

"I'm… a Celestial. I can jump through worlds whenever I want, and… I forget that not everything's a game, I guess."

"Celestial…?" False frowned. "I guess we never tested the potion on those…" But then something else dawned on her. "But she can't have just been pretending, when I was watching her. I know her, I know me! The amnesia potion did work on her, but sometimes it breaks? And, and, when she started going crazy, she talked about all kinds of stuff I had no idea about, but maybe she wasn't making stuff up, maybe she was remembering what happened before! Gem, maybe just being around you breaks her amnesia!"

"What do you mean, before?"

"Oh, well… It's like I said. We don't know which one of us is older. But, if I'm a clone… maybe something happened to her before I came along, that she forgot?"

"So whether it was the PvP, or my magic interfering with her mental block… Oh, it really is my fault! And every time she killed me in revenge I thought it was a game! Oh, False!" Gem started to cry, now. How had she been so naive?

"Hey, it's okay… wait, have you been sparring with her in that world too?"

"No! At least I didn't make it worse there! I don't fight on Empires, and when I told her that, she didn't seem to want to be my friend anymore… I didn't know what to do, that's why I never asked what was going on!" Gem suddenly stood, and dashed up the stairs. "But I can fix it! I'll go take a nap, get to Empires, find her and fix things! I'll… apologise! I mean, you said she was the one who…"

"Wait," False said, running after her, "if you being there makes it worse, what if she can only get better when you're not there?"

"Or, what if it's too late and she's remembered everything, and I can make things better with the real her?" Gem was desperate, but she had to keep believing. Everything always turned out for the best on Hermitcraft… except…

"Gem, wait!"

Reaching the top of the stairs, Gem turned around.

"And why does she keep her head collection a secret?? Why did you send her to a world where everyone takes murder so seriously for no reason!!"

False stopped.

"I… I didn't know where I was sending her… I just thought she needed to get away from… me…"

"Why? What did you do to her?" Gem thought for a moment. "Other than erase her memories."

"That was my last resort!" False insisted. "I didn't just wipe her mind straight away! I… kept her locked up, for… a while. Tried some… experiments. I was just trying to work out what had gone wrong!"

Gem stared. With effort, she didn't laugh.

"So, it's not all my fault, then?" she said slowly.

"I… guess not." False sighed. "Hey. If you do manage to get through to her… can you tell her I'm sorry, too?"

Gem nodded, with a sad smile.

"And don't worry. I'll try to keep all of this a secret… in both worlds."

"Thanks," False smiled weakly. "Good luck!" she whispered, as Gem dashed away.

*****

"Tick… tock… tick… tock…" sang a deep, heavily distorted voice. "So… a ruler of an empire of iron, with a dark side… And, either the wizard managed to ascend, or we have a very interesting visitor from another reality entirely… And the Sculk… Oh, there's so much fun to be had! Not long now… tick… tock… tick… tock!"

*****

From the "Sparring Practice" prompt of Geminitay appreciation week by @dronepikachu, sorry it's late!

#geminitay appreciation week #gemweek #fanfic #geminitay #falsesymmetry #two of her #hermitcraft #empires smp

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folyxfanart · 2 months

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I absolutely love you art!! I'm still learning myself, but I was wondering how you developed your art styles and also how you manage to get that sort of dream like fee?

Hey that's very nice of you and thank you for your interest!♡✨️

I like realism so I studied photos a lot, tried to reproduce them as closely as possible (with pencil and paper 1st) and it had an impact on my art. I realised I was more comfortable with black and white. I think doing studies helped me a lot to better understand how to render (shading, lighting...)

Then I wanted to try digital painting. That was not easy because I had to get used to new tools. I had OCs too. I think this is what motivated me to create my own stuff. So I began to pick up some elements that interested me here and there (composition, pose, color palette...) and added my own elements.

When I started to 'overthink' I took breaks or did just simple or (unfinished) sketches. It should remain fun. Thus, I can come back to the process later with a 'new eye'.

But I think the 'road' of developing my style is not over yet: I like experimenting from time to time (tools, brushes...), I try what appeals to me...and I realised I am also more and more comfortable with colors now, drawing rougher edges...sketchy styles...

Music also has an influence on my drawings. It helps me to create some kind of 'dream like' mood. For this, I like to add smoke and blurring effects, mix some textures, play with the opacity...it is all about experimentation until the result 'speaks' to me.

To sum up: I practiced and referenced a lot. All came with time and practice.

I hope this answers your question!

#art journey #anon #thank you for asking ^_^#art process #folyxart

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frostbite-the-bat · 2 months

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Your roblox pngs are so gosh darn cool!! Never seen em done like that before, the poses are so fluid and the lightings just right. What's your process like?

gaah!! thank you so much! it's actually a little less conventional than you'd think - but it works for me! idk how others do it anyway, i figured this out on my own. THIS guide will be a bit messier because it's late and i was talking to others during this but... hopefully it'll help!

i actually use the pose editor in a roblox game (or EXPERIENCE i ur roblox itself) named 'catalog avatar creator'. it exists to create and preview outfits - but you can also take cool pics in there an customize your poses (and even your items!)

you can even change background to various greenscreens, so that helps! i use this regularly to plan oufits before i may want to buy them! for example i haven't even bought the things for the tv head avatar i showed.

bu anyways, lemme show you how i do my pngs or 'renders'!!

first you either make an outfit in there... or just use your regular avatar! my current avatar is my silly space kitty i concepted in this game, so i'll use that to demonstrate.

FIRST you wanna click here on the sparkle button i masterfully highlighted in mspaint

2) and right away you see the pose editor!! click it!!

okay, at first glance THIS MAY BE SCARY!! but if you're even LIGHTLY familiar with even the most basic of like... 3d stuff WHICH I KNOW NOT EVERYONE IS - you will do swell. a lot of roblox editing things use this sorta system so you might've practiced there before? (i sure have in tprr's animatronic oc editor!)

3) what you wanna do is just select a body part you want to move. it will then highlight on your avatar and you can use the balls to turn em in it's respective axis. some angles will not work as well so move your camera while you do this

(but have a good camera point set in mind! you may wanna do camera trick stuff in your pose depending on what angle you're at. for example i disattach the tail from the body and make it slightly visible on the side. you aren't able to tell! makes it look nicer.)

to MOVE stuff and not just ROTATE it click the little arrows thing! you will move and not rotate that way. just play around with it :] don't be worried to de-attach things - roblox isn't exactly realistic so don't worry to mess around w that!

4) just pose it! go wacky! here's a few things to keep in mind

certain body parts are connected! and ofc, their respective items - i will cover this later.

for example, the pelvis, if moved, moves the torso as well. if you wanna make a floaty pose, move up the pelvis and rotate it first and then the chest (and other parts of the body)

references for poses may not hurt, but being an artist who likes drawing silly poses i'd say i have a DECENT enough grasp of good poses - so that definitely helps with the Flow of my poses you (anon) mentioned! practice makes perfect!

ALSO, you can save poses!

anyways, here's a pose i came up with!

but that's not all! i wanna move the items!

5) well, just click "apply" and re-enter the effects menu!!

then you click whatever you wanna edit and... boom! fancy new window! now you can play around with your item here - i won't explain that, just have fun!

but to move your item around just click "transform item" - it'll bring up the same options you had before while moving body parts!

aand... here's the result!

so, the pose is done... but we wanna prepare it for editing and actually take a picture! well, first, we can't use this background. so...

6) click the gear and then select 'environment' and select a good green, blue or pink screen! i have to settle with what's best since my fella is rainbow. (whatever doesn't clash with the edges of the character is best!!)

here you can also set the lightning! if you go back and pick 'camera & lightning'

I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU SET A LOW EXPOSURE AS IT MAKES LIGHTER COLORS LESS "FUZZY" AND **WILL** MAKE EDITING IN A SECOND EASIER! it makes it darker but you can edit that, too!

anyways... here's my final product after fiddling with the lightning!

7) take a pic! you can either angle your camera as is which is a bit limited... or... free-cam! which is a bit better but dear GOD is it annoying to control. (tho holding shift makes it less sensitive)

so... here's the final stage we'll do in-game! one last thing i did to make it look better is for a second turn my graphics to max and THEN take a roblox screenshot. (then turn it back down to not deepfry my computer)

honestly, i could've turned the avatar to face the camera with their body a little more when tuning my camera, but i'm not gonna fix that now i don't have much time now LOL let's speed thru this.

8) the TEDIOUS PART. yeeting this into an editing program.

your editing program WILL require anti-aliasing OFF options, a bucket tool and if you really wanna fix issues - a selection tool and just.. layers. and brushes. i use SAI 2 so it's specific to SAI 2.

if you did your camera settings right, you will have a pretty crisp outline everywhere, unless you're me and fucked up here. but this can be fixed. we don't want this fuzz that much

well, i use sai which has a nice bucket tool! i set it to paint with invisible/eraser bucket and adjust the rance of similar color. may take a few tries to get right pick 'similar colored area' or ' all similar colored pixels'.

personally, i pick all similar pixels.

AND TURN ANTI ALIASING **OFF**!! CRISP PIXELLY LOOK

before i do anything tho, i use the selection tool and pick up everything that's the same color as the background in it - being pink.

you can also use the selection pen!

some get tricky and pixel precise... remember if you use sai that the pen is fuzzy - but selection tool is more precise (not the lasso - that's fuzzier too)

here's the goober with all the Protected parts selected. then just invert the selection... (pointing at how u do that quickly)

9) ok NOW you get that bucket tool and just tap at the pink and watch it BE GONE... ofc, make sure you set it to transparent/eraser bucket tool

BOOM. gone. b-but... ENHANCE...!

NOT PERFECT!! CLICK THOSE OFF TOO! remove manually with pixel tool or whatevz if you must

10) look around the edges of the image and look for any fuzz like this... remove it! and if there's any jaggedies...? you can edit those in yourself, usually it's small enough to clear up yourself. (you can also just - save with a diff name, reopen original, copy the section you erased/has jaggedies and paste it into this edited version)

depending on what bg / greenscreen color options you chose (and yoour avatar's colors) and how careful you were... this may take a time to edit! it depends!

also, see texture mess up? depending on the texture and ur skill/patience... goot bye! i usually keep cover ups to simple things like this myself and i can edit things pretty well, too. u can embrace some roblox silliness and imperfections!

10) color adjustments i do to brighten it up...! once i crop the screenshot around the avatar to be a good size i copy it and paste it into the image again

and i set the layer effect of the top pasted image to SCREEN and fiddle with the settings...! (ofc, you can also use other settings - or even the regular color layer settings - but this one's more straight forward to me!)

then i may double check for stuff but... we're done! here's your finished "render" !!!

i don't have time to proof-read this currently, so i hope everything makes sense and there aren't any weird typos or left-overs from previous editing.

hope this was helpful! and not TOO long.

#roblox #guzma plays roblox #tutorial #[answered]

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comicaurora · 2 years

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I really enjoy how you layout your action scenes and somehow frame specific moments just right, but I have no idea how to even attempt it myself.

What do you recommend reading/engaging with to get better at comic making/page pacing?

Good question!

I've routinely recommended Usagi Yojimbo - feudal japanese samurai adventures and also everyone is an anthropomorphic animal. You may have encountered the protagonist during his regular crossovers with TMNT cuz the creators are best buds.

Really cinematic framing - you can practically see the camera circling - plus a good blend of diegetic and non-diegetic panel backgrounds to make sure the important details draw the viewer's eye. Movements carry weight with the help of flowy fabrics and design elements like Usagi's ears.

Direction of movement is communicated both through rigid elements like sword-direction and flexible elements like whole poses following arcs and lines, and remains consistent panel to panel.

This comic is a masterclass in clarity of movement, and as a bonus it's got a large ensemble cast of secondary characters our protagonist stumbles into one-shot adventures with. Lots of opportunities for weird stuff to happen. Just a fun read overall, and as a bonus you'll learn a lot about clear comic choreography!

So that's fight choreography covered. Page pacing I kind of had to learn as I went along. The early chapters of the comic are paced much more leisurely and not as much stuff happens per page - I favored big splash panels over flow of movement - so I don't know if I have any recommendations for comics that specifically teach you how to do that. If anything, I have the opposite - a comic that has very leisurely pacing and lots of large splash panels and two-page spreads that I nonetheless learned a lot from, mostly in the space of dialogue and character reactions. That comic is Girl Genius, a steampunk adventure comic with a hefty focus on mad science that's been running for most of my life.

If we want to talk about ensemble casts, this comic has an absolutely massive roster, and it's only getting more complicated over time. Every character is unique, most of them have highly complex interpersonal dynamics of various kinds and the status quo is constantly shifting.

Languidness of the page-by-page pacing aside, the comedic timing of this comic is top-notch. The dialogue and banter does its job and then some.

It also has combat/action sequences, but they tend to be secondary to dialogue and banter, and usually serve the narrative by way of character development rather than "how do we take down the strong bad guy?" As a result, the action is often paced more for comedy than for clarity of movement.

But the dialogue is really top-notch, and the way pages are paced seems to be "at least one new piece of information per panel." Single units of exposition will be crowded into one panel, one panel will be spent on new characters popping in to help, stuff like that. If the dialogue abruptly shifts in tone, that's also worth a panel transition, so when characters have sudden moments of emotional vulnerability or genuine concern for each other, that'll usually be notably separated from their previous angle.

It's a good way of making sure that the big dialogue beats hit with a lot of punch. The dialogue bubbles are also subdivided a lot more than in some comics, with basically every sentence getting their own bubble - all serving to make sure that the audience never gets lost in a wall of text and always knows exactly what everyone's thinking and feeling at any given time. For a character-driven story, this is all very important.

It's a good comic, but fair warning, it's got a lot of archives - it took me about three full days to get through it last time.

There are plenty of other good comics, but these two are the standouts I think had the biggest effect on me personally. I might be able to come up with more suggestions if given more specific follow-up questions, though!

#asks #not aurora

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smokeys-house · 1 year

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Hi Smokey! 💕

What do you think of pistol swords?

I know they were like, super inconvinient since they were a bit to heavy for a pistol and a bit off balance for a sword, but they look really cool I think!

Oooh they're super cool! To my knowledge there's not a ton of documented sources for use of them in actual combat of any kind, even self defense. There are a lot of logistical problems to get around, as with most combination weapons. I'll go into more detail under the cut!

Let's start by saying that the only notable combination weapons I can think of that mix a melee weapon with a firearm is the bayonet. Basically you could turn any rifle into a heavy spear to great effect! This works for a number of obvious reasons but it also combines a primary armament with a secondary to form a different primary armament. I only mention this because the pistol sword combo is effectively combining two sidearms. They're both "back up" weapons essentially which have little to gain from being combined.

During the time where a pistols of this type were used, if you were in a situation where you needed a sword or a pistol you would simply put the pistol in your off-hand and fire when you needed to. Sword and pistol is a pretty good combo in a close to mid range combat scenario. Btw I'm assuming you meant like, a flintlock pistol and a sword combo not like a fantasy gunblade or something so that's what I'm going with.

Anyway in scenarios where you don't have a "primary" armament, and you've got a sword and pistol, you're either a military officer or you're not on a battlefield or both. So you're likely not going to need too many follow up shots if any. Having a sword with a pistol built in would potentially give you the advantage of having either a free hand to use a shield or have an open off hand or even just use another regular pistol. But you have to consider the logistics of keeping the pistol on your sword maintained and loaded, which would be a massive pain considering you have a sword attached to it! That, and keeping it safe while holstered/sheathed presents the issue of needing even further specialized equipment.

The accuracy of the pistol portion is going to be severely limited by the barrel length and also that it's attached to a sword, and if it's improperly made it poses a not insignificant threat to the integrity of the weapon but also to the user. If you sacrifice a proper sword grip to have better aim with the pistol, you lose some qualities of the sword. If you sacrifice the aim for a normal handling sword, you lose the accuracy of the pistol. In general when combining two things you want to make sure there's a reason to do so and that your combination offers something that's worth the exchange of potentially having one thing that does two things poorly or having two separate things that both do their job adequately.

The accuracy isn't as big a deal bc in general you're dealing with short to mid range targets if you're already committed to having your sword out, but that also poses the question of wouldn't it just be easier to have a pistol separately in the case of needing to engage targets at a longer distance? The whole point of a pistol is that it's small. I.E. not a long arm. Whereas the size of a sword of any type generally exceeds the length of a pistol.

I'm not entirely sure that historically they had any real purpose. There are a lot of instances of things of this nature being made so that rich people can have fancy interesting things, or so that someone who makes stuff can show off how skilled they are at making stuff. Or to sell to folks who want something neat. Our modern eyes tend to attribute every instance of these things as having a practical tangible purpose, despite that not always being the case. For a modern example, whisky stones especially fancy fun shaped ones have a limited use. The whole point is to chill a beverage without diluting it, but anything you add ice to is intended to be diluted before its consumed usually. Whisky tasters often add water to taste it. So what's the point of the stones? So you can show them off! Same as a pistol sword. You can show people how cool you are.

There are also instances of dinnerware with pistols attached. Steak knives and other eating knives. Allegedly in case of powerful political people needing a pistol to defend themselves while eating a fancy dinner. But that's... dubious at best and easily solved by just wearing your pistol to the table. So what's the deal? I'm not sure! But they're cool! And I like them!

Side thing to note, if you did need multiple shots for whatever reason, reloading a sword gun would SUCK. And you can always just wear two pistols or a brace of several pistols!

Another side note, arming any significant number of people with these would very quickly become expensive and impractical. Not to mention replacement parts would be harder to make and replace by virtue of being built into the sword. If you have an issue with the pistol barrel, you'd first have to remove it from the sword without ruining the sword itself.

Edit: although if you're in a fight it would be very surprising for the other person to learn that you shot him with your sword. Definitely gonna catch some folks off guard so to speak

#smokey answers #smokey's armory #that got really long sorry lol #but if u have further questions about pistol swords u can leave them in the replies!

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sideralumen · 4 months

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Since 2024 is right around the corner I wanted to type out a list of things I wanna do next year since I wasn't able to do most of the things I wanted to do this year because of the accident. I also thought posting em here would help motivate me to actually do them, so here we go!

I wanna get back into traditional art. It used to be my primary way I did art but over the years I kinda went full digital without realizing it so I think it would be a fun challenge for me to get back into the swing of traditional art. I also think it could help me in areas of my art I struggle with such as making interesting color pallets/moods by eye instead of relying on filters and blending modes along with doing poses without refs (note references are very good and very useful tool I ain't knocking em but I feel like I've been relying on them TOO much this year cause of just art block issues)

I want to post art more. I haven't really posted much art to my socials this year cause I haven't really been proud of anything I made and the few things I did post to various social media's never did well so it discouraged me from posting even more, But nothing ever did good cause I didn't post regularly so it was just a really bad cycle of art block and insecurity for me. So I wanna start posting more consistently on all my main socials I like posting art to no matter how good I think the quality is, i wanna build confidence in my art no matter the medium and just build a name for myself online. I don't really care too much about how popular I get I just wanna connect with people who love art just as much as I do and inspire people with my art and stories!

I wanna write more. I actually really like the idea of making my own webcomic/graphic novel so I'll plan these huge projects and get really far into the process but when it's time to actually write the story I just immediately burn out, I wanna get better at writing in general so it doesn't feel like a chore to me. I was thinking of actually making fanfiction again as practice to start off since fanfic communities have always seemed very welcoming to beginner writers like myself so all I really need to do is shake off the shame of my middle school klance fanfic writing days and create something. Honestly the only reason this really got delayed wasn't because I didn't have the time but it was because it was too much strain on me physically, because of the accident it was harder for me to focus on words on a screen/page so not only did I stop writing completely I also stopped reading for the most part too cause it made me really light headed and sick but now that I'm not suffering from the effects of a skull fracture as intensely as I was at the first half of 2023 I feel confident enough to give writing a try again. Also my spelling sucks i wanna fix that.

I wanna get outside more. I actually wanted to get into skateboarding really bad this year but after the accident I basically had to relearn to walk completely so even now that I can be up and about for way longer then I've been able to I still don't feel like my ankle could support me enough to skateboard. BUT I think I would be able to handle roller skating so I wanna get myself some skates and start doing that in my free time, nothing really intense or anything just kinda skating around my neighborhood or at a park or a rink. I've been doing daily walks in the morning but I feel like something more exciting and engaging would really benefit my physical health.

And thats my list for the most part, there's other stuff I left out but I wanted to focus on how to improve myself when it comes to my hobbies and how the accident effected those things, I'm not out here getting too personal on the internet. Ik this won't get seen by anyone but I'm not taking my chances lol

#new years resolution #2024 #sideralumen

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makeste · 3 years

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but I just feel too tired to be fighting

this is a follow-up post to what I said in my recap the other day about this arc being the Deku Angst arc, as opposed to the Villain Hunt arc or the Deku SIXQUIRKS Exhibition arc. I feel like the fandom discussion tends to focus on the flashier parts of the chapters -- the sexy villains and the new quirk reveals and the Shindous -- each week, and so the quieter emotional beats sometimes get overlooked, especially since the character arc here is playing out in little bits and pieces over time rather than all at once.

this has always been a very reactionary fandom, and there’s a tendency to judge the chapters week to week without ever going back to look at how they all fit into the big picture. so I figured I would try to attempt that, and basically go chapter by chapter here to look at what exactly Horikoshi is setting up and how it all fits together.

so let’s start with the end of chapter 306, which is when the arc officially kicks off. specifically with the very last page:

this is imo one of the best pages Horikoshi has ever drawn. I got the sense that this was a scene he’d had in his mind’s eye for quite a long time, and that he was excited to finally get to this part of the story. it’s extremely effective as both a chapter-ender, and an arc-opener. like, look at this:

it establishes the initial premise of the new arc -- the world is in chaos, and Deku is now seemingly on his own

it leaves the readers with a number of questions. why did Deku leave U.A.?? is he really on his own now?? why does he look so beat-up and exhausted?? what is he up to?? what is the world like now that all these villains have been unleashed and the heroes have been decimated?? and most importantly of all, what the fuck is going to happen next??

it pays homage to some of Horikoshi’s comic book influences -- Batman in particular

it dramatically hits us with that “THE FINAL ACT BEGINS” and lets us know that shit is getting real now

that’s some good shit. so much so that I think people tended to overlook the other notable thing about this page amidst all of the initial excitement and discussion and speculation about where the series was headed. and that is the fact that the final panel in this chapter is NOT the panel of Deku standing above the city. the very last panel, the one that this chapter actually ends on, is instead the close-up of Deku’s face. his face, which is covered in shadow; and his eyes, which have dark circles under them and are prominently missing the usual flecks of light that give him his signature “sunny optimistic shounen protagonist” look.

not to mention this last line here, which is a call back to the very first time we saw the 14-year-old Deku way back in chapter one.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Horikoshi chose to throw this reference in. nor is it a coincidence that THIS is the scene he actually chose to end the chapter on. what this does is show us the drastic shift in Deku’s emotional state of mind, and his attitude towards being a hero. he’s gone from being thrilled and excited to being jaded and exhausted. he’s matured, but at a great cost. it’s always been his dream to be a hero, but “be careful what you wish for” is a popular adage for a reason. and right now he looks the furthest thing from happy.

and this is the emotional beat that Horikoshi chooses to end the chapter on. this is the panel that closes out the War arc, and begins the final act. to me the message could not be clearer -- this arc will be about the exploration of Deku’s character, and his struggle as he tries to live up to the expectations that have been placed on him as the Last Holder of OFA and quite possibly the World’s Only Hope.

it’s a character arc that builds on a lot of the things we’ve already learned about Deku over the course of the series, such as the fact that he is reckless, and that he focuses on others often at the expense of himself. but more importantly, it’s an arc that finally expands on the dark side of what has up until now been a net positive for Deku -- the power of OFA. up until this point, despite its ups and downs, it’s been a boon for Deku overall and has allowed him to pursue his dream. but now we’re finally reaching the point where the monkey’s paw part of the OFA blessing/curse finally starts to come into play. OFA gives Deku more power than he could have ever dreamed of, but it also comes with a built-in destiny that he can’t opt out of whether he likes it or not. AFO is on the loose and out there trying to destroy the world. and now everyone has pinned their hopes on this sixteen-year-old kid, and the question of whether or not the sixteen-year-old kid is ready is apparently not one that anyone feels inclined to ask (possibly because they’re afraid that the answer might be “no”).

he doesn’t have a choice in the matter. he has to do it, because there’s no one else who can. that’s the kind of pressure that is on Deku now.

and on that note, we begin the Deku Angst arc.

chapter 307

this in hindsight was mostly just a set-up chapter to better establish the current state of the BnHA world at large (spoilers: it’s not good), while also providing an answer for one of the big initial questions of the arc -- namely, “what happened to all of those villains that AFO released from Tartarus?” these are important things to touch on, but the pacing could definitely have been better, and the bulk of the chapter was dedicated to providing fanservice to all of the Shindou fans who spammed the most recent popularity poll (which, whatever lol). anyway, so this was the sole chapter thus far with absolutely no Deku development. thankfully the arc picks up from there.

chapter 308

on to the next one! this was the one and only chapter thus far which I think actually qualifies as an “exhibition fight.” this was definitely all about showing off Deku’s current powerset, as well as introducing us to another of the SIXQUIRKS. however, there was Deku development here as well, most notably in this scene:

this is the scene that got a lot of people speculating that this arc was going to focus on Deku hunting down all of the old villains. but I think people got so caught up in that speculation that they overlooked what this scene tells us about Deku’s mindset. and yes, there is new information being revealed here, and it’s not just a rehash of the stuff we already knew. like yes, we know that Deku was shaken up by the recent encounters with Dabi and Tomura, and we know that made him start questioning why villains become villains in the first place, and all that good stuff, and that’s great. however, there are two additional important things that this scene helps establish for us.

the upcoming battle with TomurAFO is weighing heavily on Deku’s mind. this is something that will become a recurring theme in this arc. Deku is thinking about this constantly. the question of what to do when he finally encounters TomurAFO again is knocking incessantly at the back of his mind, and this won’t be the last time it comes up.

Deku is using these villain encounters as test runs. can Tomura be redeemed?? is he just being stupid and naïve?? or is this really something worth attempting?? the interesting thing about this is that Deku’s resolve to save people is usually so strong and unwavering that it’s more than enough to overcome any doubts that he might have. but this time it seems like the repeated objections posed by the Vestiges and Gran Torino have really gotten to him. it’s possible I’m just reading way too much into things, but to me it really feels like Deku’s recent attempts at Talk no Jutsu were meant to do more than just show his growing awareness that the line between heroes and villains is thinner than he once imagined. they’re also serving as trial runs for the real test, when it finally comes. if he can “save” even a villain like Muscular, there’s hope for him being able to save Tomura as well. and so that moment when Muscular rejects him out of hand is all the more disappointing to him, even if it wasn’t really unexpected. basically it wasn’t the answer that he had been hoping for.

aside from those little notes though, like I said, this was unquestionably an exhibition fight first and foremost. which is fine; we needed to establish where Deku is currently in terms of strength, and it was also just fun to see him kick some ass, ngl. in terms of story purpose this chapter was similar to 219, which showed us how Shouto and Katsuki had powered up after getting their provisional licenses. people who don’t care about those characters might argue that these fights weren’t necessary, but as someone who stans all three characters hard, I would disagree! but anyways, moving on.

chapter 309

in contrast to the previous chapter, this chapter focuses more on establishing Deku’s current mental state, as opposed to his physical state. and this is what we learn:

(1) Deku is ~technically~ being shadowed/accompanied by All Might and the Hawksquad (but in practice he’s avoiding them).

(2) it was Deku’s own decision to leave U.A., and he did it because he didn’t want anyone else getting hurt in order to protect him.

and finally, (3) Deku’s game plan is to stop Tomura and All for One before they reach full power.

this last part is very important, because it means there’s a countdown in effect. as far as Deku is concerned, there’s only a finite amount of time before TomurAFO becomes unstoppable. which means that he’s not only under “gotta get stronger” pressure, but time pressure as well. he doesn’t have the luxury of taking his time and training in safety. he’s being rushed now; this is do-or-die.

this chapter is also the first in this arc in which we get to see Deku’s expressions without the hood covering up his face, and what we see is very telling. as previously stated, the light is gone from Deku’s eyes. he keeps his expressions very neutral, and the only time we even see a hint of a smile is when he hugs his mom in the flashback, and it’s clear from the dialogue (“it’s okay, I’ll come home to you”) that he’s doing it for her sake in order to comfort her.

but aside from that, this is very much not the Deku we’ve grown accustomed to. this is the chapter that really establishes his current mental state imo. above all else, he’s afraid that more people will get hurt because of him, and so he’s distancing himself from everyone around him. and he’s also morbidly preoccupied with the inevitability of having to face TomurAFO again, and soon. the chapter ends on the flashback of Gran giving him his cape, and telling Deku that “killing can be another way to save someone.” there’s a lot on this kid’s mind, to say the least.

chapter 310

this chapter opens with a gang of civilians who are trying to open fire on a nice fox lady whose only crime was walking around in the rain at night. Deku intervenes to save her, and it’s the first time in this arc that we see anything close to the “old” Deku, who just wanted to save people with a smile.

but it’s bittersweet, because all the lady can talk about is how scared she was, and how horrible everything is right now. and so Deku, who feels responsible in a lot of ways for everything that’s happened, just feels that much more pressure to somehow make things right again.

there’s also this extra throwaway line which is especially heartbreaking:

“I can’t afford to be around anyone.” fucking ouch. just reinforcing once more how incredibly isolated Deku is right now -- not by choice, but because he feels like it’s not safe to let anyone else get close to him. and so he’s out here running around this dystopian cityscape in the middle of the night in the pouring rain all on his own, and neglecting himself to the point where All Might practically has to force a bento on him.

but does he complain? of course not. because his focus is never on himself. instead, when he settles down to eat, his thoughts immediately drift back to, guess who...

it’s that time pressure once again. “unless I draw out One for All’s full power, I can’t stop any of this.” it’s just nonstop, I have to get stronger, I’m running out of time, I have to do better, and constantly thinking about that inevitable confrontation.

Deku is a thinker, you guys. and when left to his own devices he will overthink, every time. his mind will run in endless loops while he mentally works his way through all of the possibilities. and that’s one of his greatest strengths, don’t get me wrong, but at a time like this it’s also one of his greatest weaknesses. it’s just so fucking easy for him to get stuck in his own head, in his endless rambling thoughts and analyses. and without anyone else there to help distract him, or help him focus, he’s become fixated on his mission, and it’s slowly consuming him.

this, incidentally, is also the chapter in which we finally see Two and Three’s faces, and learn why Two in particular is so reluctant to lend his power to Deku. he appears to be the lone holdout at this point, so stay tuned on that, because I don’t doubt this will wind up being crucial to Deku’s future development, however it winds up playing out.

chapter 311

this chapter flips back to the Hawksquad for the first half, so we get a brief respite from the ongoing Dekuangst. right before we switch back though, we do get confirmation of something we had pretty much already guessed:

like, that much was already apparent based on what we’d seen (the bags under his eyes; the fact that he refused to sit still in any one place for very long even at night), but it’s always nice to get the official confirmation so that people can’t dispute it lol. so yeah, Deku isn’t sleeping much. and not eating much either, if all he’s getting is the occasional bento from Dadmight. so basically not taking care of himself at all, huge shocker there. but this is something that’s important enough to the story that Horikoshi took the time to point it out in the dialogue, in addition to all of the visual clues we’d already gotten.

and just in case we needed to drive that point in any further, this chapter ends with the appearance of Lady Nagant! like yeah, no shit Deku isn’t getting much sleep, what with him having to fend off racist civilians and hired assassins every five fucking minutes. smdh. can he live??

chapter 312

so this is the chapter that properly introduces Lady Nagant, who maaaay or may not be one of the primary antagonists of this arc?? like, it’s really unclear right now tbh, but she gets hyped up by Hawks and AFO, and has a flashback and a mysterious past and a weird trump card (where did you go, Overhaul) and all that good shit, so yeah? one can hope at any rate.

but anyway. so to his credit, Deku’s first thought is to retreat, but he quickly abandons that plan once he figures out Nagant’s location. this is played off like a logical strategic decision at first, but the subsequent chapter quickly makes it clear that Deku’s decision to take the fight to Nagant is less rational than he might have you think.

chapter 313

so yeah. last but not least, the most recent chapter, in which Deku’s real reason for targeting Lady soon becomes apparent:

what’s more, it quickly becomes clear that he miscalculated and probably would have been better off following Hawks’s advice, seeing as he promptly gets himself shot, and subsequently realizes that AFO gave Nagant an extra quirk, something he hadn’t taken into account. but instead of cutting his losses and running at this point, he doubles down instead and not only breaks out Smokescreen, but also the Third’s quirk which he has never even used before.

it’s worth noting that both En and the Third start telling him to chill at this point, and warn him that what he’s attempting is too dangerous. but tbh if they were expecting him to listen, they haven’t been reading the same arc I’ve been reading. once again, Horikoshi makes it clear that Deku has one thing and one thing only on his mind right now.

of course. once again it all comes back to this. hunt down AFO. it doesn’t matter that he’s exhausted. it doesn’t matter that he’s just been shot twice. it doesn’t matter that Hawks, despite knowing what Deku was capable of with his OFA abilities, specifically warned him away from this one person only. it doesn’t matter that even the Vestiges are trying to tell him you’re going too fast and you’re trying to do too much and it’s too dangerous.

he just doesn’t care. long story short, the only thing that matters to Deku right now is tracking down and defeating TomurAFO. and as the person who knows him best once so aptly put it, “he doesn’t take himself into account.” and therein lies the major challenge of this arc.

and so this is where we’re currently at now. and this has been a very long post, but if nothing else, I hope I was able to get this one point across: there is absolutely no way that Deku will be able to defeat TomurAFO as he is now. not a chance in hell. somehow he’s managed the uncommon feat of waging a war of attrition against himself, which is really quite an accomplishment. he’s not taking care of himself, and he’s refusing to listen to sound advice from the people surrounding him, and is trying to skip ahead to the final boss battle before he’s ready, because the guilt and pressure from feeling responsible for the current situation are eating him up. the only way that the world can go back to normal is if he can defeat AFO; therefore he has to do it as soon as possible, because time is running out and everyone is counting on him. this is who Deku is. and this is what inevitably happens when his saving mentality is taken to extremes, and left unchecked.

anyway so to wrap up this post now, I do think this arc is a lot more cohesive than it’s gotten credit for thus far, and Deku is the glue holding it all together. I for one am loving the exploration of his character and all the subtle little angsty touches as we build up to the big moment, whenever it finally comes. just keep in mind though that if his decisions right now seem reckless and short-sighted, it’s because they’re supposed to seem that way, because Deku is not in a good mental state right now. the cracks are finally showing in our perfect protagonist, just like everyone has been wanting this whole time. he is just a kid. he is doing his best. he is trying far too hard to do his best, and it is hurting him so badly, but he doesn’t even realize. this arc is not an endorsement of the Angsty Nomad Hero lifestyle, lol. it’s the exact fucking opposite, and I think it’s being wildly misinterpreted with all of the emphasis on “oh look at that, he mastered another quirk with no effort”, as opposed to “oh look at that, he is shutting down emotionally and is a few more missed nights of sleep away from a complete and total breakdown.”

tl;dr the overarching storyline of this arc is all about Deku slowly falling apart due to his trauma from Jakku, and the subsequent pressure that was put on him by the Vestiges with their whole “GUESS WHAT, YOU’RE THE LAST USER OF OFA, THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S ALL ON YOU BUDDY” pep talk. and mark my words, things are not going to go according to plan. something is going to go terribly wrong here. whether it’s something happening to All Might, or AFO setting up a trap for him, either way Deku is being set up to fail in a major way. unless of course, someone (or a group of someones) manages to intervene first, and possibly stage an intervention or something. it’s what he needs right now, but idk if Horikoshi is going to make it that easy.

anyway, but in other words, the point of this arc is not to show how much stronger Deku has gotten and how he doesn’t even need his friends anymore. it’s the exact opposite -- the point of this arc is to show that Deku needs his friends now more than ever. that in spite of OFA and all of its mystical trappings and fancy SIXQUIRKS, Deku can’t do this alone. he needs his friends. that’s the core message. and right now, we are at the “I can get by on my own” part of the story. and the part we are all waiting for, but which is coming -- I guarantee it is coming, you guys -- is “the thing is, you don’t have to.”

and that shit is going to slap hard you guys. and I for one can’t wait. but until then, enjoy the angst.

#bnha 313 #midoriya izuku #bnha meta #deku meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #long post #like 'long' is really an understatement here lol #our little green protagonist is really going through it you guys #and I just have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it

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meruz · 3 years

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once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous)

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL.

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close.

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

#ask #trying this new thing where i tag people in the body of the post instead

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headspace-hotel · 3 years

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Rating blatant misinformation from the weird antivaxxer side of Pinterest

Because if I had to see this shit, so do you!

First we have this charming infographic from the anti-GMO hysteria lobe of Alternative Medicine Pinterest. This has a lot going for it; I like the sheer ballsiness of throwing “dairy,” “eggs,” “meat” and “fish” in here because we totally have genetically modified domestic cattle and chickens. But what really elevates this to top-tier altmed bullshit is the baffling implication that putting something in a package makes it GMO. To truly avoid GMO’s, we must seek out foods that have never been in a box. 7/10 highly entertaining

Ah yes, the universal villain of alternative medicine: toxicity! Do you have anxiety? Are you tired sometimes? Do you want to eat sweets? Do you have a headache sometimes? If yes, then you probably are suffering from a build-up of Toxicity(tm)! 6/10 for not defining Toxicity anywhere and for the list of symptoms being broad and vague enough to encompass basically everyone

Pink salt hasn’t been proven to have any health benefits outside of having a fun color, but that won’t stop people on Pinterest from lying about it. 4/10 try harder

Do not do this. 0/10 this is just upsetting

This post is brief, but rich: there’s absolutely blatant lies, a grasp of the body that appears to be based around the four humors, and a list of Bad foods so broad that you would probably die if you actually successfully avoided them all. 6/10 you tried

Do you have A Symptom? It might be a parasite! I love this graphic. It’s so broad and vague it’s practically unfalsifiable. Can you prove that you aren’t bipolar because of a parasite? Can you prove that your peanut allergy isn’t because of a parasite? Hungry? Parasite. Not hungry? Also parasite. 8/10 the fun font for “parasite” really sells it

New thing that causes autism just dropped! 2/10 leaky brain

It was only a matter of time before the essential oil cultists threw their hat in the ring, and this one is truly stunning. You should totally eat these essential oils, which can burn your skin and which you cannot put in a plastic or styrofoam cup, in your ears or eyes, or allow near your keyboard. (DO NOT DO THAT.) Other strong points: The very disturbing use of “orifice,” and the implication that exposure to electronic devices will “interfere” with your oils. 9/10 telling people to literally poison themselves is a striking and bold move

This is pretty conventional Pseudoscience Infographic stuff, from the list of Symptoms that is so broad it probably applies to basically anyone, to the overly generic set of Good and Bad foods that cause the Symptoms. The “Your Body Is Acidic” side of altmed isnt putting their best foot forward. (In case this is unclear: You cannot change your body’s pH by eating a special diet and it’s not conclusively been shown that the ‘alkaline diet’ has benefits. That’s not how that works.) 1/10 yawn

Holy shit, this graphic has EVERYTHING. Antivaxx bullshit? Check. Chemtrails? Check. Advising people (again) to literally eat essential oils? Check. “Detox?” Check. Claiming that eating “chemicals” is unhealthy? Check. It almost detracts from the effect of the claim that water is fluoridated using radioactive waste. (It is not technically untrue that fluoride additives in water can contain small amounts of heavy metal contaminants, but they are well, well below the amount considered to pose a health risk.) It’s completely unclear how the essential oils “detox” your body of heavy metals, and the disclaimer at the end that they aren’t Really making a health claim really enhances the experience. But the choice to depict “heavy metals” using a photo of a woman with aluminum foil stuck to her face? Truly beyond compare. 11/10 I wish I couldn’t read

#science denial #misinformation #antivaxxers #parasites #disordered eating #ed tw #(thats what some of this is tbh)#cult mention #essential oils #oof

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anguigenus · 3 years

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For the Gus fluff thing, how about Gus teaching Mattholomule illusion magic and Mattholomule teaching Gus construction magic? I need this because holy shit that six gun sequel was brutal.

A/N: I was dead tired today but! I managed to write this! This was a very fun prompt and I had several ideas floating around, this one was the first to make it on paper. Also yeah rip, Hand In Bloody Hand still has me absolutely destroyed too (and I'm the author) (or maybe because I'm the author). Anyways, hope you enjoy this!

~~~

There were a lot of things that lived beneath Hexside. Some crawled and some scurried, while others merely slept, only awakening once a year. Today though there were more creatures than usual down there. Rhythmic sounds of digging rang down tunnels that hadn't been there in past years.

At the end of one of those tunnels, Gus planted his shovel in the dirt and leaned on it, catching his breath. "Hey Matt, are you almost ready to start digging? I think my arms are going to fall off if I do this any longer."

Matt just grunted in reply. Gus squinted over at where he was sitting farther back in the tunnel and gestured his light spell closer. Matt was bent over something, apparently shaping it with spells.

"Whatcha making there?"

Matt jolted. "Nothing!" He spun a quick spell circle, collapsing his work into dust.

The quick look Gus was able to catch was quite revealing though. Especially those tufts of hair. He grinned. "Was that a statue of me?"

"What? No!" Matt jumped to his feet and pointed at Gus indignantly. "You can't prove anything!"

Gus raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I was just practicing, okay? And you were right there, so I was using you as a reference."

That made since. References were always really important in illusions so that you got the proportions of stuff right. Although, this tunnel didn't really have the best conditions. "If it's a reference you want, I can get you the best reference I know!" Gus said.

"And what would that be?"

Gus drew a spell circle and a copy of him appeared doing a muscle pose with two spotlights shining down on him. "Me but standing still and with good lighting, of course." The copy winked.

Matt frowned. "Ok, but how do you do that so easily? Is that just the magic doing the work for you or what?"

Gus hummed thoughtfully. At this point, illusions were almost second nature to him. It was hard to distinguish steps between think of the illusion you want and create the illusion you want. Oh, they'd gone over this stuff in his first lessons though!

"Illusions," he started confidently, "take images from you head and then, uh…" How had his teacher phrased that last bit again? It'd been a while. "Fill them out. And stuff."

"So it does help you out?"

"A bit. Really though, you have to have a clear image in your head or stuff gets a bit wonky." He winced as a few of his earlier illusions came to mind. He'd always added far too many limbs for whatever reason.

"Huh. Mental image isn't really as important in construction. You just sort of move stuff around until it looks right."

"Weird."

There was an awkward pause.

"Hey, you know what?" Gus asked.

"What?"

"I could teach you some simple illusion stuff if you want."

"Really?" Matt frowned. "Wait, isn't that against the rules though?"

"Nah, Bump got rid of that after the whole basilisk thing, thanks to Luz," Gus said. He leaned against a tunnel wall. "Also, we are kind of digging beneath his school. Probably would get in a bit more trouble for that."

"Oh. Right."

"So! Your first illusion!"

"Wait, I don't remember agreeing—"

"Ahh, the first illusion, a proud tradition." Gus started pacing back and forth for dramatic effect. "From what I've seen, there are two main ways to do this. Either you can choose a beautiful object that holds deep meaning for you — and then fail horribly — or you can choose something simple and only fail a little bit!"

Matt drew himself up. "I bet I can pull off the fancy illusion," he bragged.

"Spectacular failure then," Gus said. "I like it!"

"Your face is a spectacular failure!" Matt shot back.

Gus puffed up his chest in mock offence. "Oh yeah? Well, have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"Oh yeah? Well— nyeh!" Matt rushed at Gus and the two slapped lightly at each other for a bit.

"Ahem, anyways," Gus stepped back, "Teaching!"

"Yes, teaching, right."

"So, the most basic illusion spell is a flat, still image you project on some surface," Gus said. He cast it to demonstrate, creating a picture of King on the tunnel wall. "See, you can make anything you want! It's like graffiti, except it's not vandalism since it disappears when you stop concentrating."

Matt frowned at the wall. "So I just… imagine something being there?"

"Yup! Easy as that!"

"If you say so." He skeptically drew a circle. The dirt on the wall started shifting around, forming what might possibly have been hints at lines. "Yeah, see? It doesn't work!" he huffed.

"Well that wasn't an illusion spell," Gus said. "That was just construction magic again!"

"What is illusion magic then? Because clearly just thinking it doesn't work."

"I don't know!" Gus yelled, then stopped as Matt flinched back. He took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't know. I've been doing illusions as long as I can remember. It just feels like magic to me."

"Whatever." Matt scowled and picked up a shovel. "I've been bad at magic my whole life. Why stop now?" He went to the end of the tunnel and started to dig.

Gus slid to the ground. Stupid illusions always messing up his friendships. He took another deep breath. Well, illusions had gotten him into this and illusions would get him out, just like always.

First order of business: figure out how to describe illusions. Maybe he could show how it worked somehow? The problem there was that he didn't have anything to show. It just… went from his head to outside. If only he could just teach him a single illusions spell so Matt knew what it felt like. But that projection spell was the simplest one he knew. Well, besides the—

"The light spell!" Gus jumped up in excitement.

"What?"

"You already know an illusion spell, or one like them! Illusions are just like a light spell:; you think of light and draw a circle!"

Matt set down the shovel. "Wait, but light spells always feel so airy, it's like they aren't even there. Are you telling me all illusions feel like that?"

Gus paused and thought about that for a bit. "...Do you mean other spells feel different?"

Matt opened his mouth, closed it again. Opened it again. "Uhhh… you know what? I think it'll be your turn to learn some new magic after this."

Gus shrugged. "Fair enough. Ok but now you got to try again!"

"Fine." Matt rolled his eyes. "So, it's like a light spell but with a picture?"

"Yep!"

"Here goes then." Tentatively, Matt cast a spell. A greyish splotch slowly appeared on the wall.

"Yes!" Gus jumped up and down cheering. "Matt, you did it!"

"I… did?" Matt asked, looking back and forth between the splotch and Gus in confusion.

"Yeah! It might not look good, but none of them do at first. Now you've cast one one of them though, you can get better!"

Matt grinned. "Well then, you just wait! Next thing you know I'll be even better than you at illusions!"

Gus crossed his arms, grinning back at him. "Oh yeah? Well I bet I'll be better than you at construction magic first! Remember, you owe me a spell lesson."

Before Matt could respond, a faint scream echoed through the dirt around them. The mood deflated slightly.

"Oh. Darn." Matt said. "See you at the graveyard tomorrow?"

"Sure. You can teach me then!"

"Deal."

The boys exchanged a serious high five to seal the deal, then started walking back.

"Ok but seriously, I can barely even feel the magic in the illusions, it's all just in the circle. It's weird."

"No, that's how it works! You're definitely lying about being able to feel the magic."

"No I'm not!"

#I might do some edits later in the week and add it to ao3 but for now I am. FAR too tired #also I may have missed the mark on fluffy a bit #oops #my angst brain may be gone but the muscle memory remains #but hey! I made the Gladurday release date!#anyways I do have a couple other ideas and I may or may not write them we'll see #thanks for the ask!#gus porter #Happy Gladurday!#mattholomule #the owl house #toh fanfic #de anguigeno #my writing #gladurday

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unicronian · 3 years

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a bunch of powers/hybrid smp character design hcs based around their powers in the mod:

(small warning for slight body horror in tubbo and wilbur’s sections, and horror themes in wilbur’s section)

this got long so here’s a snapshot of my fav bits above the read more:

tubbo can open his stomach up like a shulker, and just reach in there and put stuff in and get it out again

wilbur’s physical appearance is dependent on how well rested the person looking at him is

tommy glides by t-posing because his arms are his wings

ranboo can open unhinge his jaw and open his mouth like an enderman, and he has like an extra layer of mouth skin like a snake that you can only see when his mouth is unhinged

Phil hates places with low ceilings cause his wings are super long and he can’t stretch them out

Niki’s got gills on her neck to help filter water, so when she wants to talk to people above water she has to stick just her head out of the water and leave her neck beneath it

You know su!peridot’s augments she had at her intro, jack can like do that with his clawed fingers. Just like detach them at will and control them but they can’t go very far from him so it isnt very useful

Shulk!Tubbo:

tubbo has pretty thick skin with a slightly sickly pallor even though he’s perfectly healthy

he also has a carapace that’s similar in color and texture to a shulker’s shell covering the parts of his body that don’t bend(arms, legs, top of his head, upper chest) he can use these to block sword blows but if the sword is sharp enough it’ll stick cut into his skin

the carapace itself doesnt bleed, but it does heal and tubbo feels pain if it gets cut

like a lobster or turtle the carapace is a part of tubbo’s skin and can’t be removed(without extreme pain)

his hands are also reinforced by his carapace, giving him sharp claws at the tips of his fingers, and this is why he can punch through stone easily and without breaking his hand

he’s also pretty heavy underneath this extra armor and as a result he’s got a lot of intense muscle mass

tubbo can open his stomach up like a shulker, and just reach in there and put stuff in and get it out again, but it has limited storage

it kind of makes his stomach look like a shulker, with interlocking squares

the stuff inside his stomach exists in a type of hammerspace(we’ll just call it shulkerspace) so if you were to cut him open the stuff wouldnt be there

you do NOT want to stick your hand into tubbo’s shulkerspace, he can do it with no ill effects but if someone else did they might as well wave goodbye to that hand even if tubbo doesnt close his shulker mouth on your hand

Phantom!Wilbur:

wilbur can do like... ghost things like turning invisible and walking through walls in phantom state

particularly astute(or anxious) people can sense when wilbur’s nearby in phantom state, but not accurately guess where he is

wilbur oftentimes goes in and out of phantom state without even realizing it, sometimes just vanishing in the middle of the conversation because he let his mind wander

he also burns in the daylight which is sadge but not when in phantom state so he sometimes goes into the phantom state on reflex when entering a very bright room

wilbur can sense how tired people are, and if they are tired enough to summon phantoms wilbur can sense whose insomnia the phantoms are targeting on sight

wilbur looks like how you’d expect a ghost to look: see through, human, or at least... that’s what he looks like when you wake up in the morning

his physical appearance is dependent on how well rested the person looking at him is, but he is always corporeal when out of the phantom state

by nighttime, when you’re getting ready for bed wilbur’s eyes are green and if you look closely they glow in the dark, and if you look closer a skeleton makes itself clear beneath wilbur’s skin. it is not a human skeleton

by morning the next day without sleep transparent membrane stretches between wilbur’s claws and you can clearly see the skeleton. fangs protrude from its mouth and its rib cage stretches grotesquely outwards with every breath wilbur takes

by the second night wilbur’s transparent skin is blue and phantom membrane has escaped the confines of his hand and run down the length of his arm, extra bones begin to grow from the skeleton to accommodate the growing wing. it is harder to see through him.

by dawn of the third morning you can see a tail, more bone than blue, leathery skin, lashing behind wilbur, it seems to always whip itself in your direction. it stings when it touches you, but not for long. his frayed wings are fully formed.

night falls and wilbur’s glowing green eyes are sunken in, practically floating in black eye sockets. his skin looks vacuum sealed, giving you a perfect map of the meatless bones inside. he is entirely opaque, you cannot see through him but his stark white skeleton, expanding, stretching, and clawing at you, is clearly visible

you sleep, and wilbur looks human once again

this version of wilbur doesn’t only exist in the minds of the sleep deprived. if you let him stay in the edges of your vision too long, no matter how rested you are, you can see this form

by the time you focus your vision on him wilbur will be back to his normal state. you can’t see what your brain desperately tries to refuse. it is only when your mental walls have been broken down that you can witness wilbur’s form. for better or for worse.

Avian!Tommy:

instead of having an extra set of limbs like phil tommy’s wings and arms are the same limbs, like a harpy(and like wilbur)

where the wing’s wrist is(essentially where it bends, if you’re unfamiliar with bird anatomy) Tommy has some extra human-like clawed fingers that he uses as hands

tommy isnt strong enough to fly with them, even if he is very light thanks to hollow bones. he can glide, though

yes, this does mean that tommy glides by t-posing

tommy also has talons for feet, which sort of assist him in being slightly faster than everyone

his feathers are the same colors as a red parrot’s, and he keeps them very well maintained so they keep their lustrous color

he’s also got a lot of feathers dotting his body, like around his ears and stomach and they protect him from the cold in the high up areas he likes sleeping in

ok i dont really have anything to say abt his veganism he’s just Like That because parrot(cause god knows chickens are omnivores)

he has a beak that he uses for nuts and seeds and he can make bird noises!

And he’s got a small feathery tail that isnt useful for much but does look cool

Even though he can’t fly Tommy does have a third eyelid like a bird, it goes side to side and is transparent, he mostly just uses it while gliding or swimming

Enderian!Ranboo

Very tall boy with very long arms

Honestly very similar to dsmp!ranboo

Water burns him like acid and leaves behind very distinctive burn scars but he heals pretty easily from water burns

He is Constantly bamboozled by people wearing pumpkins and he’s Not a fan

Ranboo can open unhinge his jaw and open his mouth like an enderman, and he has like an extra layer of mouth skin like a snake that you can only see when his mouth is unhinged

He’ll avoid eye contact at all cost because it agitates him and gets him unreasonably angry at whoever he’s talking to, the others have gotten very good at avoiding eye contact with him, though

Teleporting is a lot of fun to him and he’ll sometimes just teleport around just for the sake of it, because he can sense the change in location when teleporting in a way humans with ender pearls cant

Enderians are the results of people trying to fuse together with end-based magic and so all of them have the half and half texture of their skin, but most of them all have the same powers

Speaking of skin, Ranboo’s ender skin is strangely smooth and he doesn’t have a protruding nose, just slits in his face he smells through

He also doesn’t have any body hair at all, but his long ears generally distract from that

Elytrian!Phil

Phil is an incredibly light person, compared to a human he’d be dangerously underweight

He’s essentially skin, hollow bones, and elytra because if he was anything else he wouldn’t be able to fly especially with armor on

However this and his hollow bones means he’s pretty weak in all areas, especially underground

Thanks to his Brain he gets slow and weak under low ceilings and also sadge

Aside from the kind of unearthly tint to his skin Phil looks pretty human, aside from the elytra of course

He’s got insect wings protected by an elytra. So, elytra on beetles and things are kind of like a half circle protecting the wings and pressing them to the body of the beetle, and this works because beetles are wing shaped- phil is not

So, phil has very unique elytra that completely encase his wings, and the top part moves out of the way to let his wings fold out so they’re like twice his height- and that partially adds to his dislike of low ceilings, he can barely stretch his wings

Phil’s got fragile beetle wings so they look pretty fragile but they can withstand a beating and carry Phil a ways(though it’s partially phil’s innate magic that lets him shoot into the sky)

Phil has a transparent third eyelid just like Tommy

And, he has antennae that he uses to feel the wind while flying

Merling!Niki

Niki essentially has two types of skin: a human-looking thick layer of skin that covers the upper portion of her body and an even thicker scale-like layer that covers the lower half

Her human-like skin is very rough and it doesn’t absorb water like human skin does, the scales are smooth but also don’t absorb water

She has two legs and a long, thick tail she uses to propel herself through the water, the tail is entirely covered in her blue scales

Her hands and feet are webbed so when she swims she spreads her hands out to help push herself through the water

Niki also has decorative fins on various places on her body like her ears, legs, arms and stomach, they’re all blue and can’t be controlled in anyway

She’s got gills on her neck to help filter water, so when she wants to talk to people above water she has to stick just her head out of the water and leave her neck beneath it

Breathing in air and rain at the same time is extremely uncomfortable and leaves her constantly feeling short of breath but she considers it well worth it to walk on land for a period of time

She also has sharp teeth because: yes

She doesn’t have eyelids, though, her eyes are built like a fish’s

Blazeborn!Jack

Jack constantly gives off heat, he wont burn anyone but you’ll get very hot if you stand too close to him for too long

He has metallic blaze skin that glows like molten metal if he was recently on fire or in lava

And, of course, he’s immune to poison and hunger because he’s basically an android, he’s like a gold material and metal cant get poisoned or hungry

Jack will, however, become fatigued if he’s away from intense heat like fire or lava for too long, like a week

He gets hurt in water because the water basically sucks the heat away from him and that actually hurts him

Staying in a cold biome too long would do the same thing if jack didnt go prepared with warm clothing and probably a flint and steel but tbf to jack humans also die in cold biomes if they’re unprepared

I’ve got nothing for fragranceman right now as i’m not sure if schlatt’s going to be on the server a lot

But i might make skins for these!

#powers smp #hybrid smp #tubbo #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #ranboo #philza #jack manifold #nihachu

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captainrexisboo · 3 years

Text

Shameless Flirt

Hey hoes! I’m (partially) back!!!

I had a sudden burst of writing inspo. I am very excited to finally give y’all my long awaited Hevy X Reader fic!! I loved writing this, Hevy was so fun to get into the head of. I was going to post this yesterday but then (of course, right as I wanted to start posting again lmao) Life Happened aHA-

Anyways! The Reader Is A Lady (although, it’s not really specified aside from she/her pronouns. still tagging it as female reader though)! No warnings apply, just a lot of flirty banter and a bit of smoochin! Reblogs, replies, and comments are highly encouraged. I love hearing from y’all! Enjoy!!!

Technically, it was your day off. However, being the workaholic you were, and bored just sitting in your quarters, you decided the best course of action was to pick up some things you had left at one of your workstations in the ARC training sector...like the stopping point of your last project. You waved and smiled past the guards and troopers patrolling the halls, the vode knew you so it’s not like they were surprised when you strolled through the stark fluorescent halls in your lounging civvies you brought from Corrie. It’s not like you didn’t do this every other off day. It’s not like they haven’t tried to stop you- but not even ARC Commander Blitz could give you orders to go relax as you hunch over another blaster, detonator, or even some type of launcher, without you grinning like a cheeky loth-cat, “I am relaxing, Commander.”

After the first few months of working alongside Blitz, he came to understand that nothing was going to come between you and your work. At least nothing short of the consequence of you kicking and screaming all the way back to your quarters. So he let you be. “Don’t mind her, boys, that’s just our weapons tech. She’s always at the armory, or here in the target range. Think of her as a part of the training- don’t you dare get distracted.” Every new batch of ARC-trainees got told the same thing, and everytime you’d smirk into your work with a casual but polite wave over your shoulder, not even bothering to look back-

“And what about after training, Commander, will she still be ‘distracting’ up here?”

-until today. His shameless intention laced his words, and you could feel his eyes run up and down the curve of your spine, following the shape of your legs. You stood straight from your bent position over the standing turret, turning around with an unimpressed brow as you cocked out a hip, “I sure will, but you’ve got curfew to make, trooper.”

It was easy to single out the flirt, even if they were all wearing helmets. There were five trainees this time, four of them had their shoulders shaking as they choked back giggles with varying snorts and fake coughs at their brother’s expense. The one second from the end to your right seemed taken aback by your retort, spine stiff, and visor still looking at you dead on. You slid your eyes over to where Blitz was sighing and shaking his head, taking as step forward as he ordered, “Fives, thump your brother’s helmet for me.”

“Aye, sir,” Fives managed to breathe out the two syllables without breaking, but needing to clear his throat before swatting the upside of the flirt’s head, effectively taking his gaze off of you and immediately to the floor. Blitz made his way across the room to stand in front of the trooper, and even though they were the same height, Blitz carried himself in a way that made him seem to loom over the younger soldier.

“CT-782, you said your name was Hevy, right?”

“Yes sir,” Hevy confirmed, voice coming out low, in a natural huskiness some clones seemed to have, as he stood even straighter, trying to mimic the Commander’s practiced stance. Blitz nodded a couple times, humming sagely- you recognized this though. He wasn’t thinking at all, he was just adding tension, the dramatic bastard. You couldn’t help but scoff silently at his demeanor as he took an inhale before continuing.

“I’ve read up about you and your brothers, soldier. The outpost at Rishi, getting recruited into the 501st, your entire batch surviving every fray, hells I just saw all five of you in action during the Separatist invasion just a couple days ago,” Blitz took a moment to exhale, something that could have been mistaken for a sound of intrigue, “You no doubt deserve to be here. An entire batch making it to ARC training? This hasn’t been done since the last batch made specifically to be ARCs themselves. But son-” in the pause, now you could never be sure, but you were positive in that moment you heard the grating clicking of Hevy grinding his teeth at the term, “-I don’t recommend playing with fire. Lucky as you all have been, even in ARC armor, you’ll get burned.”

Hevy stole a glance back at you, to which you gave him a mock salute with your screwdriver and a delightfully crooked smirk before turning back to your work.

Instead of taking his Commander’s words to heart as a warning, he took them as a challenge. From that day on, whenever he found himself in the same room as you (provided Blitz wasn’t there to reprimand him) he would try his hand to win you over. Admittedly, it was very fun to trade bouts of wit with him. He was a cocky brute, but held a sharp tongue. His hot-headedness made it especially entertaining to get him all riled up, teasing him back, only to give him a flick on the nose or a poke on his chest plate. Hell, there was one time you went as far as squeezing his bicep. Specializing in weaponry, especially the heavy duty kind, his arms were definitely impressive. How could you not take that chance?

On the slower days, when he was too tired to even run his eyes over you, he’d still find you hunched over your workspace in the armory to watch you perform your task of the day. An arms specialist finding interest in a weapons technician’s work? Shocker. Still, being surrounded by the blasters and countless ammo and bombs in the armory, listening to the gentle clicks of your tinkering and watching your fingers go through repeating nimble motions over metal plates and little rivets did seem to put him at ease after a rough day. It was something you could much too easily relate to. Over the course of Domino squad’s ARC training, those days where he gave you quiet, warm company were your favorite.

Today was not one of those days.

You had been given a new assignment, transferring from the training base...to travel with the Domino squad once they graduated in the next few days. And it seems like they just got the message too. You rolled your eyes as you heard his low whistle from across the room, but from the safety of being turned around you couldn’t help a sly grin take over your face.

“And what, praytell,” Hevy’s gruff voice fills the armory as his boots echoed off the walls with their weighted falls, like you could hear the sway in his step to the beat of his walk, getting closer to you as you continued to lean over your work table, “Did the Domino ARCs do to get a pretty little thing like you to be our weapons technician?”

“Oi, leave her alone, Hevy,” ever the gentleman, Echo tried to ‘defend your honor’ from the shameless flirt as he walked in not a moment later, “Unless you want her to issue herself for a transfer to a different band of ARCs? Keep talking to her like she’s some meat pie, see where it gets you.”

“Awh, thank you, Echo,” you cooed over your shoulder before pushing up your goggles to give Hevy a sugar-coated pout, “Eat shit, Hevy.”

Hevy knew this game, taking his helmet off he shot you a charming wink, before turning to his brother, “What other ‘band of ARCs’? We’re the only notable ones, all the other ARCs are in CO positions, or are riding it solo and getting contracted to separate battalions for separate missions every day! We’re the only full squad of-“

“Half a squad,” Echo interrupted, taking off his helmet to shoot his brother a criticizing arch of his brow, “You realize a full squad is nine soldiers, right? This stuff has been drilled into us since decanting-”

“Then why do they call us the Domino squad?”

“Rolls off the tongue better than Domino batch,” you grumbled into your work, slipping your goggles back on and trying to focus amidst their conversation, “Look, are y’all actually here for something, or-?”

You trailed off, continuing your practiced movements as you waited for an answer. Hevy leaned next to you on the table, careful not to jostle it, or you, with his weight. He had learned that lesson the hard way...some nights his shin still throbbed with the memory.

“We’re gonna celebrate, not just the graduation, but now with you getting to tag along!” Hevy’s unusual cheeriness made you pause in your work. You turned to him, about to say something when he continued, “And we want you to join in the celebration too, mesh’la.”

You blinked at him, surprised by his offer. Sure, you were friendly to the troopers, and Hevy seems to have gotten especially comfortable around you, but you didn’t think they’d want to invite you to something as special as that. You pulled the goggles completely off your head, setting down your tools as you turned around to lean against your table, “I’ll bite. What’s the catch?”

Echo and Hevy looked between themselves, before glancing at you with mirroring expressions of confusion.

“Why do you want me to join?” you elaborated, bringing up a hand to count on your fingers, “You wouldn’t want me there unless you had a reason for me to join, what is it? Contraband liquor? Snacks? Do you want me to secure the armory for the get together so you don’t have to have it in the barracks, or my quarters, or what?”

“The catch,” Hevy took a careful step into your space, mimicking your new pose, giving you an amused if not surprised smile, “is for you to have fun, not surrounded by guns and ammo.”

“And that’s coming from Hevy,” Echo scoffed, but agreeing with a wide shrug of his shoulders as he crossed his arms. You looked between the two of them as the moment stretched out for what felt like a lifetime… for Hevy at least. All the times he spent with you, all the terrible flirting and unashamed eyeing- he really wanted you to join. He could feel sweat begin to creep down his neck, the longer he waited for a response, swallowing down a gulp of dry air as his gaze flicked nervously over to Echo. Echo simply rolled his eyes- all of Domino Squad knew about Hevy’s true feelings for you. It was hard not to take notice when Hevy was just, well, like that. But they never seemed to learn about Hevy’s quiet times in here with you, how you two would partake in silent togetherness, finding peace in each other’s company. Not that Hevy was embarrassed, far from it, but he liked having that little piece to himself. Of course, he wanted more of you to himself, but for now those comforting silences while you built and rebuilt blasters were enough for him, because they were enough for you.

You kept your gaze neutral as you weighed the option of joining in your mind. It was far from a bad option, you liked this batch. They had been through a lot together, loved and protected each other like brothers should, and along with Hevy they accepted you as one of their own. What was one night?

“Yeah, alright,” you looked between the two ARCs, a grin forming as you stole a glance at Hevy, “I’ll join in. When is it?”

Hevy could jump for joy at your agreement, but he was still leaning on your workspace. Instead he smiled wide, tattooed cheeks crinkling parallel to the corners of his eyes, letting out a relieving breath, “Tomorrow night, the eve of our first deployment as ARCs. Be at our bunks at 1930…and if you do have any liquor-”

“Hevy-”

“Of course I have liquor,” you interrupt Echo’s chiding with a wink to the heavy gunner, bringing your forefinger up to trace Hevy’s jawline, gliding along the sharp edge, the pad of your fingertip calloused from years of work, and swelling with pride at how his dark eyes fluttered shut as he leaned into your teasing touch. Coming off with a playful tap to the tip of his chin, his eyes snapped open at your sultry chuckle, “See you tomorrow, soldier.”

You turned back to your work, slipping your goggles on a final time, but not before a quick and casual wave over your shoulder, “Later, Echo.”

Echo couldn’t figure out your mood toward Hevy worth a damn. He looked between your aloof manners and Hevy’s moony grin, deciding it just wasn’t worth trying to pick your brain at, partially because he was smart enough not to get involved, but also he wasn’t certain he’d be able to stomach the answer. Catching his brother's eyes, he made a discreet gagging motion to him before fitting his helmet back on and walking out the door, “See you, techie.”

Hevy stayed back a bit longer, continuing to watch you work. He was completely quiet, but his silence was deafening. You breathed out a huff of laughter, the tops of your ears beginning to heat up at his attention, wetting your lips, “Well?”

“Hm? Well what?” he shook himself out of his stupor, blinking back into time at your voice.

“Are you gonna leave now n’ let me work?” You cursed inwardly at your harsh words. You liked Hevy, deep down he was a real sweetheart, but you always found yourself being so coarse to him. Thankfully, he was as much of a hardhead as he was a hothead, and he met your indifferent glare with a devilish grin that made your heart jump doubletime.

“No, I think I’m gonna sit right here and watch your lovely hands make something amazing.”

“Amazing?” you scoff, shaking your head at his compliment, “I’m just fixing up another DC-15A that some cadet broke. You need to head to the med station if you think that’s amazing. We both know the Z-6 rotary is far superior-”

“When you’re done with it, it’ll be the best DC-15A in the GAR,” Hevy interrupted, eyes shifting between your face and your hands, “Everything you do is amazing.”

You stopped what you were doing at the genuinity that filled his praise. He always spoke to you with a hint of truth, a bit of heartfelt sincerity to make his easy way of speaking more personal to you, more interesting. But there was something in his expression, maybe the dreamlike haze filling the depths of his eyes, or the way that his accent rolled off his tongue that had you placing your palms flat on the table before speaking low to him, “Hevy, what are you doing?”

“I thought I was pretty clear,” he shrugged with a sideways grin, still careful of the lean on your table, “I’m watching you. You’ve let me before-”

“I mean with the…” you gestured to his full self, keeping your eyes on your now resting project, “The whole...flirting thing.”

You caught him off-guard. The two of you have been at it for months now, but neither of you had ever said or acknowledged anything about it. It was like a silent pact between the two of you, continue the performance, but don’t mention the game. To suddenly come out of the unsaid arrangement, Hevy felt himself draw back, slowly lifting his weight off the table, “Do you...not like it? I mean I figured that you...you know, you’ve always responded…”

You couldn’t believe it. After always having something to say, being able to trade quips, building a friendship over the shared banter and ripostes, the fearless ARC trooper you’ve seen grow so much these past few months was babbling out broken sentences at a single question.

“I can stop, if you’d like.”

It was that whispered phrase that brought you back into the moment, turning to him with burning cheeks, “I didn’t say that.”

“Well then what do you want?” He took a step into your space, brow set and a jaw flexing as he frustratingly tried to understand your sudden shift, “We’ve been...flirting-” the word left him like he was saying it for the first time, each syllable carefully leaving his lips- “since the day I met you. Mesh’la, if you don’t like it, say something! We’re about to go to work together, travelling the galaxy for a long time-”

“Exactly,” you countered, poking at his chest as you stood defiantly to him, tearing off your goggles and mussing your hair off to the side, “Whatever this is, are we gonna continue it? Continue dancing around each other like some kind of goddamned soap opera where everyone but us gets off on our own self-denial?”

“Self-denial?” Hevy repeats, an incredulous sound leaving his chest as you saw a fire spark behind his stare, “Sweetheart, I’m not denying anything, especially things I haven’t been asked!”

“Alright then, fine!” Somewhere down the conversation, your voices had raised to shouting in the small space, even as you two stood almost nose to nose, and your breath hot on his lips you asked, “Do you like me, trooper?”

“Like you? It was love at first sight when you first told me off,” Hevy couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed at his confession, just focusing on fueling the flames between you, “And what about you, techie? How do you feel about me?”

“I think you’re a smartmouthed asshole with a heart of gold and a pretty face- yeah, I like you a whole fucking lot!”

This was ridiculous. You knew it was ridiculous. You could see it in his face too, the two of you breathing heavy, barely a hair’s width away from each other. You’re unsure who started it, later on you two would always claim the other giggled first, but eventually you found yourselves holding onto each other for support as you laughed out the rest of your pointless venom. His arms fit around you perfectly as your hands held strong to his wide shoulders, your laughter filling the room together, the sounds swirling in their melody as everything started to click perfectly into place. Once everything quieted down, your head resting against his chest as his hands ran up and down your back, you exhaled low and steady against him, slowly rocking in his hold, “Plastoid isn’t that comfortable to rest on, huh?”

“You should try wearing it,” Hevy snorted at your comment, leaning over to rest his cheek on the top of your head, “So...what now?”

You hummed, feigning thought before angling your face to brush your lips over the column of his throat, murmuring into his skin, “I wouldn’t be against a kiss.”

Something rich left his throat, the sound deep and thrumming through his chest before one of his hands found its way into your tresses on the back of your head, tugging gently at your hair to guide you to his lips. You couldn’t stop the brief hitch in your breath at the daring move, but you wouldn’t have expected anything less from the brash soldier. At your word he took the lead, slanting over your mouth in a soft motion, breathing you in as easy as air. You followed in confidence, welcoming the boldness with which he kissed you as the same boldness that had him playing the game you both set up. A small noise of satisfaction left you, not just from the perfect pressure from his lips moving so softly against yours, but also from the way his hand gripped so firmly at your waist through your canvas jumpsuit, his other hand still carding so thoughtfully through your hair; it was a sweet little gasp that Hevy swore he’d be replaying in his head for a week. Or at least until he was able to make another sound tumble out of you.

Your hands came up to cup his cheeks, thumbs tracing the edges of his tattoos, pulling him impossibly closer. The payoff of this single kiss was absolutely worth all those months of gentle torture, the teasing touches and glances, discreetly watching his lips when he’d talk and thinking about how he’d feel against your own. Or even how he’d taste. In a stroke of your own audacity, you ran a slow, languid lick of your tongue against his lips, and the growl that came from him made the most delightful of shivers shoot right down your spine.

He had a robust, spicy taste, earthy and rich with a bit of heat that came tickling at your tongue. It wasn’t too surprising- he smelled the same way, smoky and hearty with the biting musk all clones seemed to carry with them. What did surprise you was the honeyed velvet of his own tongue eagerly coming to meet yours as you repeated your action. You could feel his infuriating grin at the helpless whimper that dripped from you at the feeling, and you nipped brazenly at his bottom lip in retaliation.

Before he could respond to your playful attack, the two of you froze as a throat loudy cleared from the entryway of the armory. Hevy almost didn’t pull away from you, a near silent broken whine coming from him (for your ears only) as he came off of your lips with a wet smacking sound. After a quick flex of his fingers, he removed his hands from you just as slowly, your own hands sliding down from his face to clasping behind your back. You both turned to face the bucket of Commander Blitz, arms crossed and stance wide in the doorway. He nodded toward the hall, “You left the door open.”

You cleared your throat, pursing your lips to keep from saying something ridiculous. Hevy clenched his jaw, trying to accomplish the same thing. Blitz’s visor smoothly slid to gaze over you, and you straightened in the mimic of his cadets. “You finally relaxing, techie?”

A short chuckle escaped you, lips twitching up in a coy grin, “I am, Commander.”

He nodded, that same dramatic humming leaving him as he turned then to Hevy, who tensed at full attention to the ARC Commander. “What about you, son. How’s that burn feel?”

“To be perfectly candid, sir,” Hevy, always pushing the limits, turned to shoot you a look with a quick lick of his lips before responding, “Absolutely thrilling.”

Blitz nodded again, taking slow steps into the room, like how Hevy had earlier that day, letting each step echo off the walls until he was about two feet away, “I’m happy for you both, but please. Don’t be stupid. You’re lucky it was me walking by and not one of the longnecks, or the nat-born chief trainers. Close the doors. And do me a favor, wait till you’re both off Kamino for any of the heavier stuff, okay?”

You and Hevy both confirmed the Commander’s request with quick nods and mumbled “Yes sirs,” making him let go a long breath. Uncrossing his arms, he pointed to Hevy, “Trooper, hit the showers. Move it.”

Hevy shot you one last look, if you didn’t know any better you’d say he was bashful, before saluting Blitz, grabbing his helmet and marching out of the armory. You stood straight, still under Blitz’s cold stare from his visor, until he sighed, slapping a companionable hand on your shoulder, “If he steps out of line, I better be the first vod you call. I will kick his ass so hard, he’ll be knocked back to failing the Citadel the first time-”

“At ease, Commander,” you rolled your eyes, you hand coming up to hold onto his, brushing your thumb over his knuckles with a soft breath of laughter, “He didn’t lay a hand on me until I asked him to.”

Blitz squeezed your hand, taking off his own helmet to look at you. He looked a little older than Domino did, cheeks slightly hollowed and eyes a bit deeper set, a bittersweet shine coming over his amber stare, mouth twitching up into a lopsided smile, “I’m gonna miss you, after you go off with those fools.”

“You’ll make great friends with the next techie who comes along. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually listen to you,” you smile back at him, the two of you masking the tears threatening to fall from your lashes. He pulls you in, touching your foreheads together, before giving two more pats to your shoulder.

“And remember,” he pulls off of you, placing his helmet back on and causing his voice to come out in a soft static, “Please, for the love of Jango, don’t-”

“Don’t be stupid,” you salute to him, winking for extra effect, “Aye-aye, ori’vod.”

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platoniclokiimagines · 3 years

Note

All the Avengers a lil iffy with Loki after IW, but Loki meets Jane, and Valkyrie again and they fucking sprint to him and squish him in a hug and everyone’s confused cause... dangerous murderer Loki is getting hugged, and having his hair pulled by Bruce and just... ugh??? Fluffy stuff. Making dinner together. Group cuddles. Helping Bruce with his dumb science stuff. Ugh. Please

WC: 1417

Rating: G

TW: none

A/N: Each idea you posed made me So happy that I couldn’t just pick one to focus on so this is just a hypercut of each of these moments fleshed out a teeny tiny little bit. Also this is just a Complete AU in which the snap Did happen but afterwards was just Different mostly because I don’t want to deal with having to figure out the logistics of my own au l o l. But I hope you enjoy it~

It was shortly after the events of the Decimation that youjoined what was left of the Avengers. The team was in all but rags aftereverything that had happened, and you, left with no one else to go to with yourpowers, had sought out the Compound and pled your case, and since they’d beeneffectively cut in half in number, they’d let you stick around withoutquestion.

The first few days afterward had been the hardest. Everyonewas still in shock, and in various stages of mourning what had happened whilealso worrying about the unknowns. Tony, Strange, and Peter and the rest of theGuardians were in space, and no one had any way to contact them to see if theywere okay, so no one knew who, if any of them, were alive.

You weren’t the only one that had joined up with the group.A lot of old friends of some of the Avengers had sought them out, as well,seeking something familiar in the chaos the world had turned into. Thisincluded people like Jane Foster and Erik Selvig, and a bunch of other peopleyou’d never heard of before anything had happened. And once the refugee shipshad managed to make it to earth, Valkyrie was around, as well, doing what shecould to try to drag Thor out of his guilt-spawned depression.

Everyone was just trying.

But no one expectedthe day that Loki appeared out of thin air in the middle of the living room.

It had taken everyone a second to realize what they were looking at, when it happened. Loki didn’tquite look like the Loki they knew, or the one you had seen on the televisionall those years ago when the Chitauri had attacked New York. Loki looked sick,and weak. Their clothes were tattered, they looked like they hadn’t seen thelight of days in weeks, and they hadthe most horrible black and purple bruises around their throat.

It had taken a solid minute of staring before people startedreacting, the entire group split between looking surprised to see them andlooking ready to fight them.

“…we thought you were dead.” Steve was the first to speak,voice calm, but demeanor showing that he was ready to punch Loki, if necessary,and most of the original Avengers that were left looked the same, save forThor, who looked like he wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating.

But before anyone else could say or do anything, Loki wasall but tackled by Valkyrie, so forcefully that they gave a startled little “oof”in response.

“You’re a right idiot, you know that?” Val’s annoyedresponse was betrayed by the waver in her voice, and the way she practicallyclung to Loki.

No sooner did she let go of them enough to give them spaceto breathe than did Loki become engulfed in another hug, this time from, of allthe people you expected would want to hug Loki, Jane Foster.

“You’re still a jerk for whatever happened on Svartalfheim,but I’m glad to see you back.”

Loki managed a weak, raspy little huff of a laugh. “Iseverything everyone says going to be preceded by something mean, then?”

“Well, I’m justhappy to see you,” Bruce stated as he approached Loki, and rather than offer ahug, he just smiled, and awkwardly tugged Loki’s hair in a gesture you couldonly assume was meant to be affectionate. “You look like you’ve seen betterdays. And could use a nice bath.”

Loki laughed again, a little more genuinely, though stillstrained. “…and a doctor, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“Well, I’m not that kind of doctor, but I’ll see what I cando.”

Bruce stepped back a bit, then, and nodded, but in the nextsecond, Loki had been lifted from the ground in what looked like an absolutelyspine-crushing hug from Thor, who was somehow both laughing and sobbinguncontrollably.

He didn’t say anything, but really, he didn’t need to, andeveryone just watched in silence, with varying levels of confusion at thesudden and strange turn of events.

“…several of the people in thisroom have some explaining to do right about now,” Nat finally declared, and forthe first time, in a long time, everyone in the room laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~

It took several months for Loki to make the closest to afull recovery that they could. While everything physically had been healed,mentally Loki was still extremely troubled, and their vocal chords had sufferedpretty extensive damage from being crushed by Thanos, resulting in a change oftheir voice that really only went noticed by those that had been closest tothem.

But every day, they were healing.

You and Loki had become fast friends. You had always feltlike an outsider with the rest of the team, and it was obvious Loki felt thesame, and the two of you had found solace in your shared distance from thegroup, and the two of you did almost everything together that you could manage.

This included, much to the eternal excitement of the rest ofthe team, cooking together.

You’d helped Loki learn to cook as a way to cope morehealthily with some of their self-deprecating thoughts and tendencies, hopingthat, with having something to do for others, it might help Loki feel betterabout themself sometimes, and it had really worked a treat. Loki just had a wayin the kitchen that even you couldn’t match, despite teaching them everythingyou knew, and the two of you working together was just a different kind of magic.

Everyone always lovedwhen it was your turn to make dinner for the group, as the two of you were, asdeclared by the rest of the team, simply the best cooks out of the entirety ofthem all, and thus that meant dinner would always be better.

And you had to admit, it felt good to be gassed up all nightwhile you were both in the kitchen, and everyone else was excitedly setting thetable and pouring drinks and getting ready to eat.

And you knew that Loki, though they never showed it,secretly enjoyed the positive attention, as well.

It was just niceto be appreciated and wanted around, something you knew Loki had neverexperienced much of.

You hoped it would last for along time.

~~~~~~~~~~

One afternoon, when you and Loki had intended to spend sometime in the training room to work on freshening up the both of your trainingskills, you’d realized you had no idea where Loki was at all.

After checking all of Loki’s normal hiding places, youfinally checked Thor’s room, only to find quite the sight.

While you’d expected, at the very least, Thor and maybe Loki, if you were lucky, you foundnot only them, but Val and Bruce as well, all four of them absolutely cuddledup together on the floor, and all four of them fast asleep.

You didn’t have the heart towake them up, and a nap didn’t sound so bad to yourself, either, so rather thantry to wake Loki and wrestle the group apart, you just settled yourselfcomfortably in the middle of the cuddle puddle, and let the warmth of thedogpile lull you to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Another time, you went looking for Loki and were completely surprisedto find them sitting in Bruce’s lab, writing down notes as the two of themworked on an equation that Bruce had written on a whiteboard.

“So, if we look at it from this perspective… Take thatnumber instead of that one, and see where that gets us with the isotopecompound.” Bruce hadn’t even noticed you as he was talking, too busy watchingLoki scribble something down.

“The effectivity rate nearly doubles entirely-”

“Giving us exactly the reaction that we want!”

You had absolutely no idea what on earth they were talking about, but you didn’t have the heart tointerrupt them, so you just stood in the doorway and watched them geek out overwhatever it was that had them so excited, taking the moment to be grateful forhow long Loki had come in the short time since they had arrived at theCompound.

They had been through so much, and had suffered even more,but here they were, making friends and having fun, and being appreciated by theothers.

You couldn’t have been more proud.

#Loki imagine #platonic Loki imagine #Loki #Loki Laufeyson #Loki Odinson #Loki x reader #platonic!Loki x reader #anonymous #ask #answered #fluff #this is Soft #I'm Soft #feat. Bruce #feat. Thor #feat. Jane Foster #feat. Valkyrie

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dream-a-little-bigger-x · 3 years

Text

‘Til I Forget About You | Reggie Peters

JATP x BTR Week - Day 2: BTR

Song used: ‘Til I Forget About You - Big Time Rush

Pairing: Modern Day!Reggie x Reader

Summary: When Reggie’s girlfriend breaks up with him, he’s completely devestated. Now it’s up to y/n, Luke, Alex and Julie to cheer him up again. With the help of parties, movie nights and just overall fun things, Reggie completely forgets about Lisa.

A/N: Thanks @jatp-btr, @meangirlsx and @darlingsteveharrington for this amazing idea! Honored to be a part of this! Extra special shoutout to @darlingsteveharrington for making me these amazing time jump headers!! I am forever grateful and appreaciate you so so so much! 💕

Warnings: Underage drinking, party, alcohol, heartbreak

Words: 5,880

Reggie sat by himself in the garage one afternoon, plucking the strings of his bass guitar soothingly as he tried to forget about the screams and clatter of plates breaking at his house. Things had gotten heated again when his father came home drunk for the nth time that week. He didn’t blame his mother for slowly losing her patience with her husband. Sure, he couldn’t help it if his boss fired him instantly and he couldn’t find a new job. Albeit he didn’t search for one either.

His thoughts were thankfully interrupted by his phone buzzing on the coffee table in front of him. He halted his fingers before leaning over to see if he could ignore whoever needed him at this moment.

Confusion rose within him as his girlfriend, Lisa, smiled back at him on the picture that had appeared on screen. “Hello, gorgeous,” he said upon picking up, a smile playing on his lips. A smile that faltered as soon as it appeared when he heard sniffles coming from the other side. “Are you okay, Lis?” he asked, worry lacing in his voice.

“I can’t do this anymore, Reggie. I… It’s over. We’re done.”

With those simple words, Lisa hung up, leaving Reggie frozen in place. He couldn’t move his muscles, let alone feel them. His mind had blanked. His eyes focused on the closed white doors in front of him.

He didn’t even know what he’d done wrong for Lisa to suddenly break up with him. It wasn’t like anything had happened between them. In fact, last time they saw each other, everything still seemed peachy. More than peachy. They’d spent the night together, which seemed to have been the very last one at that too.

“Oh, hey, Reg,” a voice made him jump out of his trance. He finally dropped the phone in his lap and stared at the girl that had entered the garage. “Are you okay?” she asked, growing worried for her friend. He almost seemed catatonic.

“No,” he muttered, and finally remembered to blink. “Lisa.... I think Lisa just broke up with me?” Tears pooled his eyes as everything dawned on him, the words repeating in his head. Over and over again. It’s over. It’s over. It’s over. “Lisa just dumped me…” y/n’s heart broke at the sight of the confused and broken-hearted bass player.

“What?!” y/n exclaimed as she moved over towards the boy. She grabbed his bass and gently placed it on its stand again before pulling him to his feet and wrapping her arms around him. As he cried, y/n rubbed circles on his back, trying to soothe him a little. “I’m so sorry, Reg.”

He sniffled once more before gently pushing the girl off him. “I-I think I’m gonna go for a walk,” he said and made a beeline out the door as Luke and Alex walked in together with furrowed eyebrows at the haste their friend just left in.

“Is he okay?” Alex asked y/n, pointing back to where the other boy had just left.

“He will be, I think… Lisa just broke up with him.” Y/N’s forehead creased as she frowned, concerned for her friend’s broken heart. “Before you ask me, I don’t know why, I don’t know how. I just know she dumped him and that he’s pretty distraught.”

Luke only moved one muscle, intending to follow behind Reggie, but y/n stopped him. “Let him be. For now. He’ll come back when he needs us.”

He did come back that night, but only for band practice and only because he knew he needed the music to numb his brain that was overflowing with thoughts about his now-ex-girlfriend.

He’d been breaking his head over the reasons why Lisa would ever break up with him. They were doing so well. What changed that she ultimately decided to break it off. Has he done something wrong?

For days, he’d tried to call her, went to her house, tried something to get her to talk to him. But it was all in vain. Lisa cut off all communication. She blocked his number, told her mother that if he ever came to their house, she’d have to send him away, … She didn’t even grant him one glance when they passed each other in the hallways at Los Feliz High.

His friends were at a loss. Reggie was so disconnected from the real world, he didn’t even care if he missed a few chords during rehearsals or his notes sounded flat. He didn’t care anymore. He just wanted Lisa back.

For days they tried to patch him up. They’d talk to him about the most random stuff they could think of that wouldn’t remind him of Lisa. None of which seemed to have an effect. Even at the boys’ banter Reggie just chuckled half-heartedly. Even when y/n made him a peppermint hot chocolate, he shot her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Nothing worked.

“I’m at a loss, you guys,” y/n mumbled as she got up from the couch after the Julie and The Phantoms band rehearsal that night.

Reggie had just left the garage to go for another ‘walk’, which they knew by now just meant going places that reminded him of her, and left his friends with a sour and tense feeling lingering in the air.

Julie nodded her head as she turned her keyboard off, but stayed put on the stool behind it. Luke placed his guitar on its stand while Alex came out from behind his drum set, leaving the sticks behind. Julie then said, “I really wanna help him, but I don’t know what to say to him anymore… I’m so scared I’ll say the wrong thing.”

“We can’t just keep tiptoeing around him though,” Alex chimed in as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jean jacket.

Y/N started pacing the floor nervously whilst going over some ideas in her mind that could possibly help out her friend.

Reggie had been there for her so many times whenever she’d gotten her heart broken by someone. He’d cuddle her, make her peppermint hot chocolate, let her cry for a while and watch 10 Things I Hate About You with her as it was her favorite movie. It gave her the opportunity to open up the floodgates without having to feel guilty about crying her eyes out.

Luke grabbed her by the shoulders, stopping her from making him so nervous. “This is not a runway, angel,” he told her before turning to the others. “We need an intervention.”

Alex pointed a finger to his friend in agreement. “Yes! Any ideas?”

Y/N’s brain immediately went to one occurrence during one of her very many heartbreaks. Reggie’s very own intervention to the road to happiness. She remembered his words to a t, “The only cure to a mended heart is a party and alcohol.”

Her friends’ heads whipped around to face her after her mumbling.

“I know what we need to do.”

Reggie plopped down on the armchair after yet another failed band rehearsal. He pulled at the fabric of the piece of furniture, silently cursing at himself and Lisa for letting him fall down this far.

With one collective glance, the boys, y/n and Julie turned towards the brunette bass player. All four of them crossed their arms and glared at him sternly. Reggie felt their eyes burn on the side of his face and he already knew what was going to happen.

“Don’t even try,” he warned.

Y/N uncrossed her arms in defeat and went to kneel down in front of him, placing her hand on his to make him stop tearing the chair apart. “Yes, try. Reggie, we’ve let you be miserable for an entire week. It’s time for an intervention.”

“Guys…” Reggie sighed, shaking his head in objection.

“Reggie,” Julie stated sternly, capturing the boy’s attention. “We’re gonna help you forget all about her. Okay? We’re gonna party, we’re gonna spend so much time together to the point you’ll be focusing on how sick you are of us and you’ll have forgotten all about her.”

The dark-haired boy glanced at the boys first before his eyes landed on y/n’s, who was still crouched down in front of him. She nodded her head encouragingly. Then finally, a soft smile fell to his lips before he got up from the chair slowly as if moving was against his own will.

That night, they all got ready together for the night ahead. While y/n and Julie were doing their makeup and jamming to all the tunes that were bursting out of the speakers, the boys were chilling on Julie’s bed. Neither of them were ready yet, but they said they were going to bequeath the girls their precious time in front of the vanity mirror.

“The mirror is all yours, pretty boys!” Julie sang as she pressed her glossed lips together and popped them before getting up from the stool.

Luke and Alex both whistled as the two girls stood in front of them in their party outfits. Julie opted for a tight purple dress from her mother’s chest of fashion treasures while y/n was wearing a black mesh top and a pleather skirt, paired with black over-the-knee boots.

The two girls striked a pose, both pouting their lips simultaneously. Their giggles filled up the room until y/n’s eyes landed on Reggie, who was just staring at her with a bright pink dusting his cheeks. Her giggle faded and changed into a simple smile. A smile that said ‘I see you’. A smile that caused Reggie’s heart to skip a beat.

Julie had picked up on the change of vibe that exuded from the interaction between her two best friends, and a smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. “Get ready quickly, boys. We wanna partyyyyy!” she dragged out the last word and threw her hands up in the air, clearly ready for letting loose on this wonderful Friday night.

The gang arrived at the Wilson estate an hour later than the party actually kicked off. “Being fashionably late” Luke had called it, though that was just an excuse so the girls wouldn’t complain about him taking so long to style his hair.

“You took longer than we did and we’ve done a full face of makeup!” y/n had teased him which had earned her a glare from the perfectly coiffed guitarist.

They stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at the grinding bodies in the middle of the living room as the music thumped through the speakers and the stench of alcohol filled up their nostrils. It was an overwhelming feeling to arrive at a party that was already in full swing, and y/n could tell Reggie was somewhat agitated.

To ease the tension in his shoulders, she reached for his hand and squeezed it, saying, “The only cure for a broken heart…” She didn’t even need to finish her sentence for he already had a smile climbing up his cheeks.

“Let’s start with shots!” Alex suggested excitedly and skipped through to the set-up bar in the kitchen. The remaining four glanced at one another and collectively chuckled at the drummer’s eagerness before following behind.

The blondie stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a pretty long-haired boy the gang knew as Willie, Alex’s long-time crush. Nobody was really sure what was happening between the two, but they did find them sneaking off at every party they went to together.

They were lining up six shots of Tequila, ready for their friends to shoot back. Every party the group attended, these two took care of every beverage. Whether it was lining up shots for their friends or shaking up a good cocktail. They were the pros out of all of them. The self-proclaimed Liquor Kings.

“Tequila for the pretty lady,” Alex handed the small cup to y/n, sending a blush straight up to her cheeks, but Alex was too busy handing out the drinks to even notice the effect his flattery had on her. Y/N always blushed whenever somebody complimented her, even if it were the people she had been friends with for a long old time.

Willie handed her a lime slice, which she held between the fingers of the hand her shot was in as he needed her other hand to line up the salt in the crook between her thumb and index finger. She shot him a quick thank-you wink before turning to the rest of the group who’d been equipped with all the ingredients for the perfect tequila shot.

“Ready?” Willie asked as a wide smile lit up his face. The group nodded, one a little more excited than the other, and Willie started the countdown. On three, the entire group licked the line of salt off their hand, threw back the shot and then sucked the lime.

Y/N’s face scrunched up as the three tastes mingled on her taste buds and the burning sensation of the liquor slithered down her throat. Reggie was mirroring her expression with the slice of green between his lips.

She giggled at him as he groaned, throwing the sucked-dry lime on the counter. “Feels great, doesn’t it?” Reggie coughed and reached for the two cups their Liquor Kings handed over.

“Amazing,” Reggie mumbled with a chuckle, though his smile fell almost immediately as he brought the red cup to his lips. Y/N knew Lisa was still on his mind and she’d have to do a lot more than just have him drink a shot of Tequila.

Determinedly, she grabbed his hand and led him towards the living room where all party attendees were dancing. Reggie looked scared for his life as y/n started to move to the music, coaxing him to follow her lead.

“Come on, Reg! The best cure to a broken heart is a party!” She tried again when he didn’t even move a muscle. “And at a party, you dance!” Next thing he knew, she grabbed his hand and placed it on her hip while her hand sneaked up to the back of his neck, pulling him closer towards her until their chests were pressed together. Slowly but determinedly, she started to sway her hips to the music, automatically forcing him to move along with her.

Reggie moved along absentmindedly as his cheeks heated up at the close proximity in which they were dancing. He had never seen his best friend in any different way. Y/N had always been there and she’d always been just a friend in his eyes, but dancing so close to her gave him a whole different perspective.

He blamed it on being vulnerable post heartbreak.

After a refill on behalf of the Liquor Kings and a few songs dancing together, y/n was suddenly being pulled away by Julie and Flynn as they shouted, “Come on, Bitch! This is our song!” Y/N mouthed an apology to Reggie and joined her two best friends in their dance circle.

With his support system gone, the dark-haired boy had fallen still. He didn’t have another move inside him, not without her, at least. It was like y/n was the battery and now that she wasn’t empowering him to dance, there was no energy left inside him. So, instead of standing in the middle of the dance floor like an absolute loser, he shuffled into the kitchen to get something else to drink. He was in need of something stronger.

Luke had been chatting up a girl when he saw his buddy walking in, looking solemn for someone who loved going to parties. He excused himself and walked over to where Reggie was pouring himself a glass of whiskey.

“You okay, buddy?” he asked with worry laced into his voice. Reggie offered him an unconvincing smile as he poured the liquor into the empty red cup.

“Yeah, totally.”

Luke sighed and grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the boy’s hands. He poured some into his own cup before placing it a little out of reach from the sad bass player next to him, who glared at him.

“I’m sorry, bro. But you’ve been sad for an entire week. We let you be miserable but it’s gotta stop at some point.” Reggie scoffed as he stared at the brown liquid in his cup. “Listen, I know Lisa meant a lot to you and she was amazing and everything but you gotta let go. I know it’s hard, but you gotta forget about her.”

“How can I forget about her when she’s literally everywhere I go?” He nodded to somewhere behind Luke and when he turned his head, he saw the auburn haired girl talking to Carrie on the patio outside. “She’s doing this on purpose,” Reggie said through gritted teeth before chugging the 5 ounces of whiskey.

The guitarist blinked a couple of times, impressed at how Reggie could just throw that back without even flinching the tiniest bit. His ear suddenly picked up at the beginning notes of a song the bassist would always go crazy on at parties. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as an idea popped into his head.

Reaching over the counter, he grabbed the bottle of whiskey again, poured a bit into Reggie’s cup and guided his hand towards his mouth, demanding him to drink it. Confused, but obedient, Reggie threw back the bit of liquor. The burn in his throat felt right. Numbing.

As if on cue, three girls waltzed into the kitchen, singing along loudly to the first verse of the song as they approached the two boys at the counter. A smile befell on Luke’s lips as y/n tapped Reggie’s shoulder and beckoned him towards the dancefloor as Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) by ABBA blared through the house.

Chuckling, and mostly because the alcohol was forcing him to, he obeyed to y/n’s rules. Luke, Flynn and Julie followed behind them, shouting along to the lyrics. The commotion lured the Liquor Kings to the dancefloor as well. This was the song Reggie needed all along.

“Come on, Reg!” Julie demanded as he was moving now, but not belting along to the words like he normally would.

As the chorus floated through the speakers, the magical powers of the ABBA song finally reached his brain and he started to shout the lyrics. The rest of the group threw their hands in the air, cheering the still brokenhearted boy on.

All he needed was his ABBA song to get him loose, to get him to forget all about the girl with the auburn hair. All he needed was his friends and a good party to let loose of all the negative feelings that had been bottled up inside of his chest over the past week.

By the end of the night, all six had to support Reggie as they walked to Julie’s house where they’d crash in the garage. He was singing a remix of all different ABBA songs whilst the others tried to quiet him down. Their giggles tangled up in the shushes and Reggie’s singing, carrying through the fresh, spring air.

“I love you, guys,” he slurred as y/n tucked him on the mattress. “Gimme hug,” he pulled the girl on top of him and held a tight grip on her body as she giggled. His lips pressed a kiss to the crown of her hair whilst she tried to wriggle loose.

“Reg, lemme go!”

“No! It’s cuddle time!” He protested and didn’t let go of his best friend.

“Fine, but at least allow me a bit more air.” Reggie’s arms loosened a little and y/n got situated properly. She laid on top of him, stomachs and chests pressed together, one hand tangled up into his dark hair while the other rested on his chest, next to her head. His arms were wrapped loosely around her.

His eyes were fluttering shut as he mumbled, “Can you stop spinning us around, y/n?” She giggled at his drunken mutters and started drawing patterns on his T-shirt clad chest. It seemed to relax him a bit as a big sigh of contentment expanded his lungs, bringing y/n’s head up with it too. “Goodnight, y/n.”

“Goodnight, Reginald.”

Saturday didn’t count. Everyone was hungover and didn’t want to move at all. So, they just watched movies together all day long in the garage, a tangled up heap of humans. But from Sunday onwards, Reggie was in a whole better mood.

A mood where all he wanted to do was write songs and be productive. So, that’s what he did. Every day he worked on the song; after school, after band rehearsals, even during his free periods. The words, the melody, the beat, it all seemed to just float out of him.

On Friday, Reggie told everyone he’d written a song and wanted their opinion on it. He was both nervous and excited as Luke would never listen to any of the songs Reggie wrote by himself. Though all those songs had always been country songs and Luke didn’t think country fitted the image of the band.

“No, Reggie, we’re not doing country,” Luke repeated for the nth time.

Reggie was fed up with the guitarist’s neglect of his creativity. “Shut your mouth and listen for once, asshole.” His voice was strident and taut. A tone he’d never used. The rest of the group was a little taken aback and exchanged nervous glances while Reggie handed out a sheet of paper with the song worked out on it. He’d used the copier at school to copy the page in his notebook.

They heavily discussed his idea for the melody and listened to his ideas for the beat he wanted until a song floated through the garage. Soon after, Reggie started singing the song too with Julie and Luke throwing in some harmonies that Reggie approved with a smile and a nod.

By the last chorus, everyone had the lyrics down and sang along with the bassist.

“Dance hard, laugh more, turn the music up now Party like a rockstar! Can I get a “what now”? I swear I'll do, anything that I have to Till I forget about… Jump up, fall down, gotta play it loud now Don't care, my head's spinning all around now I swear I'll do anything that I have to… Till I forget about you! Till I forget about you!”

As the music stopped, everyone stayed silent, basking in the adrenaline and the amazement of the song. This was exactly what Julie and The Phantoms sounded like. This was a soon-to-be hit.

“I think we’ve found ourselves our closing number for tomorrow night,” Alex said with a grin from behind his drum kit. The bassist was surprised to see Luke and Julie nod in agreement to the blondie’s statement. Reggie had finally written a song for the band they didn’t immediately dismiss.

They rehearsed the song a couple more times on Friday, and some more on Saturday before their soundcheck to tweak it a little bit until it was perfect and everyone had it down. Now all they needed to do was perform it at the end of their set at The Mint, a gig they landed thanks to their amazing marketing team -- Flynn and y/n -- and the fact the owner was a family friend of y/n’s.

It was a gig. And a gig meant exposure. And exposure meant the possibility of a manager noticing them increasing.

“You guys ready?” y/n asked as she knocked on the door of their dressing room five minutes before kick off. Her eyes darted from an all dolled-up Julie to a shirtless Luke and then to a drumstick-twirling Alex, realizing they were a man short. “Where’s Reggie?”

Luke shrugged as he pulled his T-shirt over his head. “He said he was going to the bathroom, but that was like half an hour ago.” Y/N pulled her mouth into a straight line before turning and leaving the room to find her friend.

Cruising through hallways, she finally stumbled on a room that wasn’t being used by them until she noticed the door ajar. She carefully pushed the door open a little further to find Reggie on the red carpeted floor with his phone in his hands and a tear running down his cheek.

“Hey,” she announced herself as she moved towards him. He looked up at her and offered her a half-hearted smile whilst wiping the tear away. “You’re on in five.” Even though the words screamed urgency, her tone didn’t and her actions didn’t either. She went over to sit next to him, shoulders touching.

“Yeah, I’m ready to go,” he said, but didn’t move.

Y/N’s eyes landed on the phone in his hands, a conversation blinking at her on the screen. At the very top of the conversation was her name and the only message she could read was “I miss you, please come back.” in a bright green.

Her body heaved as she inhaled deeply, “You can do this without her, Reg.” The boy shook his head in objection. “I know you can. This girl is not worth your tears and frustration. She’s not worth anything if she can’t see how amazing you are.” Reggie looked up at y/n, his eyes gleaming with tears as he listened to her words. “If she doesn’t appreciate everything you do for her and how much you cherish her, she’s not worth it.”

The girl fell silent for a moment, anticipating his reaction as their eyes were locked in an intense stare. What he did next was something she hadn’t calculated with the speech she’d prepared in her mind on the spot. His hands lifted to her cheeks and his lips pressed against hers in a spontaneous passionate kiss. He pulled back hesitantly but when y/n kissed back, every doubt in his mind just washed away.

Y/N couldn’t say she had ever thought of kissing her best friend, but at that moment it seemed so comfortable and familiar. Like she’d been doing it for years. Their lips just fit together so perfectly and moved in sync like a choreographed dance.

When they pulled back for air, the back of y/n’s neck was aflame and her lips tingled. The flustered Reggie in front of her coughed as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “I-I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

She knew the only reason this happened was because Reggie was so overwhelmed with this broken hearted feelings and she was just there. A smile formed on her lips as she patted his chest and while getting up, she said, “That’s cool, Reginald. Glad I could be of assistance to let go of your frustrations.” She reached out a hand for him. “Now, let’s go rock this place, yeah?” He placed his hand in hers and let her pull him up to his feet. Entangling their fingers, y/n guided him out of the secluded room and backstage to where the others were waiting for their bassist to start their show.

“Sorry, guys!” Reggie said while the sound guy helped him out with his in-ears and another one handed him his bass.

Luke patted him on the shoulder. “You okay, buddy?”

“Yeah,” Reggie answered with a smile that for the first time in two weeks reached his eyes. He glanced over to y/n. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay, ready to go!” Sound Guy 1 said. Y/N and Flynn put their thumbs up to wish them good luck before the band rushed onto the stage, an uproar of cheers erupting from the crowd. They were rowdy tonight. A good omen for an amazing show.

“We’ve got one last song for you guys,” Julie said into her mic with a smile bright enough to light up the whole room as she glanced at Reggie. “You wanna introduce this one, buddy?”

He stepped closer to his mic, a nervous grin spread on his face as he spoke. “This last song is for everyone who has ever felt heartbroken before. Remember that even though it might seem dark and lonely without that one person there, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Follow that light because it will lead you to amazing things.”

The other band members exchanged glances, all with proud smiles plastered on their faces. Reggie had come a long way from two weeks ago and he still had a long way to go, but he was on the right path. As long as he had his friends, his band, his family, by his side, he’d be good. Even better if the girl that stood in the wings on his right was at his side too.

Alex counted them in and Luke and Julie began to play their instruments before Reggie’s voice floated through the venue along with the thumping beat of Alex’ drums.

“Get a call on a random afternoon I pick it up and I see that it's you Like my heart, you were breaking the news, you say It's over, it's over, it's over.”

He looked over at Julie and Luke while his fingers were plucking at the strings of his bass. They shot him an encouraging smile, offering him a little boost of confidence as he continued the verse.

“Heading out, cause I’m out of my mind All my friends are gonna see me tonight Stayin’ here until the sun starts the rise, And I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna…”

The beat went up a notch as confetti cannons went off, covering their entire view in purple butterfly confetti pieces as they slowly whirled onto the dancing and screaming audience.

In the wing to Reggie’s right, Flynn and y/n stood, dancing and singing along to the music with the widest smiles on their faces. A big perk to being the band’s marketing team was definitely the free gigs they benefited from.

Luke then takes the next verse, his growly tone sending some of the girls in the front row into a frenzy. A smirk tugged at his lips upon noticing but then he focused his gaze onto Julie as he sang with her harmonizing.

“And you thought, I'd be here on my own Waiting for you to knock on my door Since you left I don't wait by the phone I'm moving, I'm moving, I'm moving”

Reggie walked over to Alex’s platform. The drummer shot him a toothy smile that could land him a spot in a toothpaste commercial. Reggie really appreciated the support his band gave during performances and with this song in particular.

“Found a place where I can lose myself And just leave your memory on the shelf See I'm fine, no I don't need nobody else Cause I'm, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going…”

When Reggie turned back to his mic, his eyes landed on y/n, and he shot a quick wink her way. Unbeknownst to him, this sent her cheeks aflame and her stomach fluttering. That kiss about an hour ago really wasn’t just something that happened because he was overwhelmed. She actually felt something then. And she’s feeling it now too.

“Dance hard, laugh more, turn the music up now Party like a rockstar! Can I get a “what now”? I swear I'll do, anything that I have to ‘Til I forget about… Jump up, fall down, gotta play it loud now Don't care, my head's spinning all around now I swear I'll do anything that I have to… ‘Til I forget about you!”

The bassist’s eyes now lock onto y/n’s as he sings the bridge towards her. She had barely even recovered from his wink and now he’s staring right through her soul while she had to act like it didn’t even affect her in any shape or form.

“Spending money like you don't mean a thing Going crazy, now don't even think Losing my mind, is all I can do Till I forget about you”

He turned back to the frenzied crowd as he belted out the high note.

The band then played a musical intermezzo. Luke joined Alex at his platform and Reggie stepped up to Julie’s keyboard as she played the synth-sounding notes. The Latina girl was happy to see Reggie in his element again and actually have fun as they played their set. It was a nice change from the otherwise solemn and sad Reggie they were plagued with in the past weeks.

For the first half of the last chorus, they all stopped playing their instruments except Alex. He went wild on the drum solo Reggie had blessed him with while the rest clapped their hands to the beat, getting the crowd to mirror them.

“Dance hard, laugh more, turn the music up now Party like a rockstar! Can I get a what now? I swear I'll do, anything that I have to Till I forget about…”

They picked their instruments up again and continued singing. Even the crowd started to get a hang on the lyrics by now, which hyped Reggie up even more for the rest of the song.

“Jump up, fall down, gotta play it loud now Don't care, my head's spinning all around now I swear I'll do anything that I have to…”

“Till I forget about you!”

Reggie belted out a high note, which made y/n’s heart leap. His voice had always been her favorite sound in the whole entire world but hearing it so confidently coming out of him had her on her toes.

“Till I forget about you”

He turned to y/n again as he sang the very last line with a certain glint in his eyes that she couldn’t quite place.

“I can’t forget about you!”

The band played their very last chords, notes or hit their last cymbals, and when the song rang out, the audience were applauding, cheering and whistling. But Reggie couldn’t bear tearing his eyes off of y/n.

She was smiling at him and he was smiling at her.

Both of them knew that he was okay. He was going to be okay with Lisa being gone because he had y/n by his side. She was the one who changed everything around. She was the one who made him go out to Carrie’s party. She was the one to remind him that he would be okay without the auburn haired girl. She was the one that helped him forget about her. She was the one.

JATP Taglist: @hannahhistorian92 @marinettepotterandplagg @thequirkybookaholic @bookdealer5 @tenaciousperfectionunknown @hemmingsness @iainttakingshitfromnobody @ifilwtmfc @angryknightstatesmantrash @kiss-themoongoodbye @rudysbay @thedarkqueenofavalon @caitsymichelle13 @calamitykaty @wiselight @kcd15 @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic @stars-soph @kinda-really-lost @notasofti @alexpjoyner @n0wornever @kaitieskidmore1 @tefilovesreading @happinessinthedarkesttimes

Names crossed out are the ones I couldn’t tag, sorry!

Lemme know if you wanna be on my taglist!

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #julie and the fat ones #jatp #jatp x btr #jatp x btr week #jatp-btr #reggie jatp #Jeremy shada #reggie x reader #reggie nolastname #reggie fic #reggie imagine #modern day!reggie #alive!reggie #2020!reggie #til i forget about you btr #reggie peters

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