#I've been having so so much trouble drawing lately but late like at like three am last night I actually started to have some fun

[oopsiedaisymae]

the audience for this post is like, the two people who have already seen it on discord, but nonetheless, i want to share.

my mc's name is winter. she's pretty straight-laced, logical, generally rule-abiding but will get into trouble if she finds herself lacking a challenge or something to keep her hands busy. on my obey me writing blog (cuz i have a twst one now too!) i have plans to write for her as an mc and ship her with solomon. but i ALSO have plans to write a winter x mc au and. i've been having some really good thoughts on that.

for starters, the general premise is that the exchange program accepted three being from each realm (which makes room for the angel oc i have brewing... 👀) and she's one of human exchange students. she's a self-taught sorcerer that's very much stuck at a beginner level, in part due to the fact that she had no idea all of this magical realm stuff existed before coming to the devildom. she applied for the exchange program in hopes to get more credits for her phd. obviously, she was not prepared for this situation, but she adapts pretty quickly and does well at RAD.

since it's a winter x reader au, winter lives at purgatory hall with the other exchange students. their dynamic is so wonderful to me-- in the house of misfits, she fits right in. she's an amateur writer, so she loves chatting with simeon over tea about novel ideas and eventually becomes a pretty faithful TSL fan. she's an exasperated solomon wrangler who dodges his cooking at every turn and is too prideful to ask the best sorcerer the human world has to offer for help with her magical studies. she's not all that fond of children, yet she finds herself protective of luke, letting down her guard to bake with him in the afternoons for all of their new friends. even raphael, someone she struggles to interact with (bc they're both oh-so-awkward) earbs her respect and affection over time as they're roped into shenanigans by their roommates. they make the dorm a home together.

but you? oh, how she's hopelessly in love with you.

in the chaos of the devildom, somehow her eyes are always drawn to you. she's not all that interested in making friends when she first arrives, dedicating all her energy to settling herself in the realm. but there's always things drawing you to each other. classwork, exchange program responsibilities, your growing camradarie with her roommates at purgaory hall. it's inevitable that you guys become friendly. she's awkward and always a bit stressed or nervous, but she's friendly enough in your interactions early on that you swap numbers about halfway through the year. groupwork turns into occasional text conversations, and eventually you're close enough to gravitate towards each other for a simple conversation at parties. by the time the exchange program ends, you're making promises to make time for each other in the human realm.

life happens. you guys keep up a friendship through texts and video calls. winter finds herself longing for an excuse to be intertwined in your life again. RAD was a rigorous school, but she'd do it all again to have an excuse to be dragged into late night study sessions with you. watching your life change from a small screen fills her with a strange sense of emptiness. when the call ends, do you still think about her?

your return to the devildom is revealed to her through a cheeky text from solomon. she's so incredibly *annoyed.* of course he'd use magic to steal you away and whisk you back to the devildom without her. oh, and simeon and luke are returning, too? lovely. the whole gang's meeting up eithout her. envious? never, she wouldn't stoop so--

she's jealous. obviously. there's some back and forth where he teases her (and makes her ask *politely* for his assistance) until he steps away for a moment to bribg her back to the devildom. finally, you're reunited!

it's in this stretch of time that she falls in love with you. oh, winter barnett, someone who adamantly denies herself pleasure in many forms, finds herself sickeningly subdued as she falls for you. once the realization hits her, it's like a poison has flooded her veins, leaving her in a stupor. she expected herself to be more resistant to the idea, but honestly... who is she to resist your charms? she knows you. she watched all seven of the demon brothers fall for you over the course of a year. it only feels natural to be drawn to you in the same way. you... so determined, so strong, resilent in the face of overwhelming chaos and somehow still standing at the end of it.

winter's a human. she's got a small farm in vermont and very mediocre magic to her name. she's not a famous demon, nor and angel, nor a powerful immortal. on some level, she knows she's not enough for you. maybe that's why she's content to keep her mouth shut for awhile.

maybe it's enough to sit quietly by your side, admiring your when you're not looking. maybe it's best to bide her time and hope that she can catch your eye one day. until then, she's content with the little things-- your smile, your texts, your laugh, the way you look at her from across the classroom and the way she's completely smitten against all odds.

#sorry this is a lot. i have so many thoughts about her #obey me #obey me x reader #obey me oc #obey me oc x reader #obey me oc: winter barnett #daisy talks

[creamecream]

Tfw your gf is famous and has one of those sleepy plushies.

Maeve belongs to @abyssnighthawk

#I've been having so so much trouble drawing lately but late like at like three am last night I actually started to have some fun #I got so worried about losing it that I stayed up so late just still drawing until my computer ran out of battery #and I was just forced to stop finally and go to bed finally #anyway just got inspo to draw alora's raccoon gf maeve #alora doesn't care about having plushes of herself just everywhere she's just sleepy #she's fine just sinking into a pile of any and all plushies while maeve lays against her snuggled up #the plushes are soothing lavender scented and can be warmed up just good for sleep because of course sloth demon #maeve just gets all her gf's merch she can get her raccoon beans on make a nest with them #alora has one of those heart locking bracelets or necklaces and maeve has the key they're very cute #I've been thinking about it a lot and I would go for a maeve and alora met at a bar #and a sleepy alora is being hit on and maybe someone put something in her drink and maeve just snatches the drink from her #because alora is very sleepy and didn't notice maeve just grabs drink and pours it on person harassing alora #and it happens again and maeve is just like 'okay why don't we just go out to drink together?' #and it just evolves from there but I haven't pitched the idea yet shhhh don't tell pay #hazbin hotel #fan character #maeve #alora

[egophiliac]

happy new year Ego!!! Just wanted to let you know that I absolutely adore your twst fanart and the tags are just an absolute pleasure to read! You are my greatest inspiration for my personal twst art and I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful masterpieces <333 if possible, may I ask what are some of your headcanons for the diasomnia family? If not for diasomnia then any other characters are fine as well!

thank you, and happy new year! 💚💜💚 that is amazing to hear; it's always a little bewildering but super flattering that other people like my silly little doodles so much!

I don't think I really have any really solid headcanons and also canon keeps validating me left and right (FLUFFY DOMESTIC DIAFAM IS REAL). mostly just kind of...impressions and general thoughts, if that makes sense! lately though I've been kind of obsessed with thinking about Lilia's hair, and specifically when/why he ended up cutting it. (l-look, we're bouncing around the timeline and I gotta make decisions about these things when I draw, it's relevant) (I mean I would probably be weirdly fixated on this anyway, but.)

I think I've settled on the idea that he kept it long until he went to NRC, partly because 1) I like drawing The Ponytail, and 2) I think he thought of NRC as a chance to reinvent himself a bit! he gets to go and be a wacky carefree teenager for a few years and have fun! (officially he's there to keep an eye on Son #1, but how much trouble could he get into, really.) so he gave himself a Cool Teen Haircut to go with his fresh new Cool Teen Persona!

also maybe he had some reflection on his hair's troubled past with three kids...

...and had to weigh his vanity versus the fact that he was going off to be around hundreds of kids on a daily basis, and. the choice suddenly seemed obvious.

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 part 6 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 part 6 spoilers #this is my blog and i'm going to write a million words about lilia and you can't stop me #but anyway i do genuinely get the impression that he's using Pretending to Be a Teenager as a chance to be even sillier than usual #he's a very silly man he's just being EXTRA silly #supported by his recent birthday card where he says he was specifically trying to cast himself as an adorable little brother-type #because he wanted the other students to give him free shit and save him seats and things like that #it worked for about a week before he turned out to be way too good at stuff and everyone just kind of ended up in awe of him instead #and he was like DANGIT. I'VE RUINED IT FOR MYSELF. #(then he and epel went on to talk about their hypothetical vtubersonas because the birthday cards are INSANE but anyway) #i'm bad at headcanons :( sorry! #unless it's dumb things like...what pokemon they would have or whatever #(malleus would have some kind of special fancy-colored dragapult) (but i digress) #i have a hard time putting things into words. just know that i love the grampa bat and his weird kids very much. #my brain is also still kind of fried from the last couple of weeks #i am however starting 2024 off the way i intend to continue it: in deep contemplation of anime hair #(sorry if these look weirdly aliased) (i realized about 3/4 of the way through i was using the wrong brush and i didn't want to restart :U)

[hannahssimblr]

tagged by @sirianasims

oc deep dive with Jude Turner

What uncommon/common fear do they have? If you ask him, he'll try to convince you it's something stupid like bicycles or his teacher's pinky toe after the time she wore sandals to class and it poked out over the strap, but actually he's afraid of his own thoughts and dying alone. Speaking of, anyone single? Wanna make out for a while?

Do they have any pet peeves? People who take everything so seriously. Painful bores. People who are obsessed with World War 2

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom? Rugby boots with mud still in the studs and getting all over the hardwood floor. Charcoal dust and mounds of sketchbooks, three coffee cups he neglected to return to the kitchen two weeks ago.

What do they notice first in a person? Something in their eye that tells him they know how to have fun and get up to trouble. A sense of humour, a nice mouth and teeth.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance? 5. Average, baby!

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? Flight. Oh things are hard? Brb deleting my socials again. Forgot to text back. Oh? Did you email me? Sorry I've been super busy...

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person? It's him and Ivy and their parents really. He's not a family person with regards to his fathers side (they are weird) or his mother's Dublin family. He yearns for the peaceful days at great aunt Maureen's and her four adult children....

What animal represents them best? Monkey.

What is a smell that they dislike? Tequila, Weed, Vomit, in that order.

Have they broken any bones? Of course. He got his hands on a skateboard at 10 and immediately tripped down a flight of concrete steps and shattered his arm bone. Being in a cast was cool though, everyone like, signed it and shit.

How would a stranger likely describe them? Wild, manic, troublesome (words taken directly from parent teacher reports)

Are they a night owl or a morning bird? Surprisingly, a morning person. He got used to being up early to get Ivy ready for school when his mom started going to work at 7:30. He stays up late sometimes, sure, but his inner alarm clock always has him wide awake at 7.

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love? Jude is not picky, he's an eater, but don't come at him with those big, wet, brown mushrooms they give you with your hotel breakfast. Not in a million years. Flavours he loves is broad, so I'll choose his ice cream preferences. Pistachio, sea salt, raspberry, cherry.

Do they have any hobbies? Drawing, rugby, playstation, hanging out with friends.

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises? He is overjoyed! You guys did this for me? Whaaaaat?

Do they like to wear jewelry? Have you seen his cute lil earrings?

Do they have neat or messy handwriting? Neat enough, c'mon, he's an artiste. His pen control is exemplary

What are two emotions they feel the most? Boredom and melancholy (in private only, thanks)

Do they have a favorite fabric? Plain old cotton. None of that poly-whatever shit. He doesn't need to be the yellow-sweat-stains guy.

What kind of accent do they have? The weirdest Dublin/American hybrid. At this stage of the story he's pretty much just an Irish guy who says a couple of vowels in a weird-ish way.

This was fun! I'll tag @lynzishell @elderwisp @earthmoonz @stillgotme @rebouks @daniigh0ul @scrapplesims

#ask game #lucky boy extras

[solarmorrigan]

fic writing ask game: 4 and 13!!

Hello!

4. Link your three favorite fics right now.

Assuming that their wording here was meant like "your three favorite fics currently" and not a demand to link "your three favorite fics ever right this minute," here are a few I've been returning to lately! (I've really had Steve accidentally getting his feelings crushed/revealing fucked up coping mechanisms on the brain, so there's a theme!)

perfectly misaligned by @emchant3d Honestly, I adore em's version of Steve and Eddie and anything by them is going to get a rec from me, but this one is a particular favorite. Draws the tension out just long enough that the comfort feels thoroughly earned once we crack Steve like an emotional egg <3

Still So Much to Learn by @bonitabreezy I love this one because a) it speaks a bit to the fandom's casual disregard for Steve's canon style and interests and eloquently addresses how dismissing the things someone enjoys can be as harmful as dismissing the person themself, and b) such well-written hurt/comfort

the bitterness of an apology on the tongue by loverboysteve (I know they have a Tumblr but I can't remember what it is right now, if someone knows it, I'll link it!) I just. really enjoy reading about Steve having fucked up coping mechanisms he thinks are Perfectly Normal™ because this is the way it's always been, only for someone who cares about him to go "Steve, what the fuck" and then deal with the emotional fallout. I'm so glad we all seem to agree on this

13. Do you outline your fics? How much of a headache would someone get if they just looked at an outline of yours without reading the fic?

So here's the thing. I have two settings when it comes to writing: strict outline, and "I know the ending, that's good enough." If I outline something, I have a lot of trouble deviating from it even when the story wants to pull naturally into what might be a better direction, so I feel like my writing is a lot better when it comes from the second method. Unfortunately, my memory isn't... as good as it used to be, so if I'm writing something a bit longer or with a lot of things happening at once that I want to keep track of, I need to outline it

On the other hand, this means that my outlines are really more like very rough first drafts. I can't just stick random words in there and hope I'll remember what they mean later, so I write down ideas and plot points in full, sometimes with dialogue attached. The only thing that might give someone a headache is the structure; I use that tiered bullet point feature in Word and indent things as the mood takes me. Trying to decipher my method of organization when I write it by hand might prove even more frustrating, but if you can get past that, you get a fairly complete story!

Fic Writer Ask Game

#devondespresso #thank you for sending this #I feel so crappy today and answering some questions was a very nice distraction <3 #might be why it's a little long-winded though sorry D: #answers from solar

[dimonds456]

Howdy!

I'm Dimonds456, and welcome to my garbage pile. I'm a bat who stays up way too late and cannot decide whether or not to be productive. I draw, write, animate, play/write music, and I'm also insane so watch out for that.

I'm neurodivergent, disabled, queer, white, a singlet, fictionkin, and a proud cat papa. I am a cartoon character who is way too bouncy for their own good lol.

They / he / xe!

This is my main blog, but my ADHD ass also has a bunch more.

@dimonds456-art - my art blog! Almost all art gets rbed there!

@dimonds456-but-only-hlvrai - my HLVRAI sideblog! Because yeah why not. This is one of me current hyperfixations lol it's bad

@rubberhose-roy is my sideblog used to gush about 1920's-40's aesthetics, music, culture, ect., as well as an animation blog! All my animations specifically will be reblogged there, as well as any animation rambles or gushes I do.

I have more but those are the main three.

My fandom-specific blogs are:

@dimonds456-but-only-hlvrai (again)

@hlvrai-stuck-together - HLVRAI AU I run!

@halfnautica - Half Life / Subnautica AU!

@a-second-chance-su-au - Old SU AU that has been discontinued, but the blog is still there!

@batim-rewritten - a Bendy and the Ink Machine rewrite I'm working on

@cuphead-contract-au - A Cuphead AU where Mugman makes a deal (discontinued)

And, I have my own OC story, Follychromatic! I reblog all that stuff here, but its main blog is here!

@follychromatic

To see pictures of my cat, check the #Checkers tag! :D

Okay great. Now, DNI, trigger warnings, disabilities, special interests, and more below the cut. Make sure you read at least once, k? Thanks.

Welcome to my cave!

DNI

Trigger Warnings

Do not FUCKING interact if you are:

- A proshipper

- A bigot

- An LGBTphobe / transmed / ect

- Trump supporter

- Nazi / fascist / conservative

- Weird about furries or furry art

- Weird about fandom headcanons (specifically trans woman headcanons)

I will add more if anyone wants me to, or we can come up with a custom tag, like what I do for one of my friends! (#dimond don't look)

I will tag as much as I can, and if you want me to tag something specific, let me know! But as a general blog cover, things that appear on this blog often are:

- Current events

- Talk of / discussion of sexuality (sometimes boardering on NSFW but not usually)

- Blood

- Guns

- Flashing

- Talk of proshippers (I try to be respectful but also I don't stand for them and I don't support them. I block and move on, and try to explain why proship is bad, but eh. I've only been listened to like once lol)

- Swearing / swear words

- All caps

- Bugs

- Suggestive content / NSFW (RARE DONT WORRY)

DISABILITIES

Hiiii I'm disabled! Both mentally and physically. I talk about being disabled a lot and try to generate positive talk about it. I also vent about it. I've had quite a few of these, and I also try to reblog as much about others I don't have as I can to increase awareness and understanding. So yeah! These are just the ones I have, but they are not the only ones that appear on my blog!

Hyperthyroidism

Graves Disease

Graves Eye Disease

Astigmatism

Athsma

Audio processing disorder

ADHD

Autism

Trauma / PTSD

Brain fog / disassociation / memory loss

Anxiety

Depression

Cane user

Weak / trembling limbs / trouble walking / trouble holding onto things sometimes

More to be added lol.

This is also a meds/treatment positive blog, a self-diagnosis positive blog, and my general attitude is just "if you think something is wrong you're probably right, you know yourself the best, even if you don't know what exactly is wrong." This attitude has saved my life and other people I know. You don't need a diagnosis or medication to be disabled.

THIS IS A SAFE SPACE.

If you are Jewish, black, brown, Muslim, indigenous, any religion, any race, any sexuality, any weird gender, anything at all- I love and support you. I'm still learning, and I try to learn as much as I can, but I'm not perfect. If I say something offensive or something adjacent, it was NOT on purpose. PLEASE, PLEASE tell me what I said wrong. I will make an effort to improve in the future.

I directly support:

- All races

- All religions*

- All sexualities (except pedos, y'all aren't LGBT, I'm sorry. You're actively hurting children. I've seen it again and again. Stop.)

- All genders and pronouns

- All "weird" identities outside of that as well (I'm fictionkin myself)

- Protests and protesters

- Neurodivergent people of all types (and yes, this means NPD, schizo, and all those other types that are often seen as bad or evil. I love you, I see you, and I support you.)

- DID & OSDD systems

If I have reblogged or said anything that aligns with the bottom list, that was a mistake. PLEASE let me know and I will fix it as fast as I can. You reading this right now, I love you. I hope my blog can help you feel welcomed and like you have somewhere to go if you need it. /gen

I DO NOT support:

- Antisemitism

- Genocide

- Cults (*stuff like Jehova's Witnesses. I support the members, as they are victims, but I actively dislike the people on top who perpetuate the cycle. Not just JWs, but those are the big ones who come to mind. Hearts out to all the victims, I hope everyone gets to a better place soon)

- Racism in any way, shape, or form

- Religious discrimination of any way, shape, or form

- Israel specifically

- Trump, conservatives, Nazis, ect.

- Endo systems

MY FANDOMS / INTERESTS

I HAVE ADHD AND AUTISM AND I'M MAKING THAT EVERYONE ELSE'S PROBLEM /silly

The current special interests are HLVRAI and Half Life, current hyperfixations are Half Life and Poppy Playtime.

SPECIAL INTERESTS:

- Minecraft

- HTTYD

- FNaF

- Undertale / Deltarune

- BATIM / BATDR (unfortunately)

- Subnautica

- Biology

- Steven Universe

- Cuphead

- 2D Animation

- Writing

- HLVRAI

- Half Life

theres more but my brain is an egg :/

HYPERFIXATIONS (interests but not the special ones):

- Little Nightmares

- Hello, Neighbor (unfortunately)

- Petscop

- Portal

- Freemanverse (HELP ME)

- The Amazing Digital Circus

- The Owl House

- Gravity Falls

- Monster High (very first from what I can remember! I remember nothing though! But it's there!)

- Poppy Playtime

- Half Life

- Wild Kratts (I didn't even know there WAS a fandom until very recently, hi guys)

When it comes to ✨me,✨ I have a couple of original works as well! Specifically, Follychromatic! I won't get too into it here (bc shy) but it's 2D animation, rubberhose animation, magic, character-driven, action/adventure, mystery- yeah!

Outside of fandom, though, my special interests are biology, 2D animation, and writing. I am an animator and I suffer for fun.

YOU MADE IT! Have some Checkers for your time! :)

#dimond speaks #intro post #bout time i made one of these huh #dni #pinned post

[zhongrin]

HEHEHEHE i'd be very happy tbh, like just being able to spend time with any of them? with dad i'd probably revert back to my cat (was a bunny but cat is more fitting hehe) form cuz headpats since tea makes me eepy eheeh. with uncle haitham i'll most likely pester him about him giving me the flower encyclopedia and start spewing facts about different flora hehe. then with uncle wrio i'll jokingly tell him, "hey, are you underestimating me?" c:< (but i'll def let him know if anyone's giving me trouble!!)

yeee!! let's just say those three are probably gna be competing for attention smh smh /aff. all of them have their own kinda rizz

and yea ofc mom!! im happy that u like my silly flower doodles sjkdkshd ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶ might send another tbh since i've been drawing a lot of violets lately or! dad, haitham and wrio's favorites cuz i have a lot of ideas hehe

ADORABLE HSLDJFKLSJDLFSD they'd all dote on you so much in their own ways you'd be so spoiled hehehe <3

imagine them having their own competitions each day like 'who can make vi smile the widest' or 'who can get vi to kiss them more within the day' lmaoooo

they may be silly doodles for you but they're so pretty in my eyes!!! if i had a printer and my own fridge i'd put it up there... but i sadly don't, so you'll have to imagine your dad doing it and pinning it on one of the teahouse's corkboards ☺️

#rin answers #rin is having tea with: violet 💛 #rin selfships #zhongwrinth

[anonymouspuzzler]

Yay Yipee I Finally Remembered I Should Update Folks On Things That Are Happening

because hey whoops as some of you might remember Supposedly I Stream Sometimes! That Uhhhh Hasn't Happened In A While Has It! so I should probably let folks know what's goin' on!! the long and the short of it is

Around late November/early December I started having issues where Discord would crash and restart anytime I tried to screenshare my capture software with my friends who I stream with. This put console game streams (so 2/3 of the games we were streaming) on the backburner till I could troubleshoot and solve that issue

On top of that it was Fucking Finals Season for me at my Graduate School so at a certain point I had to be responsible and focus on getting my final projects & essays done, which meant sacrificing stream time till my break (where I would hopefully have time to troubleshoot and then do a ton of streaming to make up for lost time)

Except THEN literally the second I went home for the holidays my hard drive abruptly and completely died. It is very possible that this contributed to the aforementioned tech issues

I was able to replace the drive and get my computer working again but because I have a Fucking Curse a lot of tech-side things were lost or started experiencing issues due to the new drive, namely A) I haven't been able to get my capture software working yet and B) whoops my entire OBS layout is just gone now I guess

This whole saga, on top of juggling other life shit and work and the like, effectively ate up my entire winter break

so tl;dr! I have a computer curse and because of it streams are gonna have to wait till I can get both OBS and my capture software working again. I'm hoping to work on that this weekend so I can be back to streaming next week, but given my school & job workload I'm guessing it'll more likely be two or three weeks. On top of that, I won't be streaming most of March due to reason of "my partner is visiting then". all of this sucks cause I want to be streaming, both for reason of "i like spending time with my good friends doing this" and "haha whoops I'm not earning money now and oh boy there sure are a lot of expenses flying at my head like rocks huh".

I've already rambled a bit more than I'd like to now so here's da main points:

Streams will (HOPEFULLY) be back in February. When they are, they'll be Monday & Tuesday nights, 5:30pst/8:30est, for as long as my friends remain available at those times (we're all adults having to look for or maintain Day Jobs so availability could change. y'all know how it is). I may also do occasional one-off streams on weekends as my energy 'n schedule permits, most likely art streams

I'll continue to be around on Holly's streams Fri/Sat/Sun as her schedule permits, because I don't have to rebuild OBS from the ground up for that

There is a 99.99% chance I'll be totally absent stream-wise during March

Even though streams are facing The Troubles I am still taking art commissions! Those haven't been affected!! You can submit an interest form here and I'll reach out to confirm prices as soon as I'm ready to start work on yours

If, out of the kindness of your heart, you would like to toss some support my way during The Troubles (which would be much appreciated; as said I've got a lot of expenses coming my way and unfortunately my day job covers my rent and nothing more), here are some other ways you can do so: -- Tip me on Ko-Fi; if you pay $9 or more you can request a doodle that I'll do for you and post on here & twitter (and might stream the process of drawing once that's up and running again). Here's an example of some Ko-Fi doodles I did previously -- You can also tip through my stream page if you want but I probably won't see those till I start streaming again. Still appreciated!!! -- I have a Throne Wishlist that's mostly stuff like kitchenware, household goods, stuff for my kitty, etc. There's also a few Fun Things though, like vinyls and a billy big bass Jay insisted I add. Either way, if you wanna contribute to something on there it means a lot. You can also suggest items to make me laugh

an' above all: thank you for reading and for bein' around!!

#long post / #anonymous puzzler talks #sorry for the big ramble!! i just figured it was worth putting everything out there #you mighta heard bits and pieces of this on friends' streams slash twitter slash wherever #but i figured it was worth puttin' in one place #anyway if you read this far: i hope you're having a good day and if you're not i hope a good day comes your way!!!!! #edit: i forgot the link to the doodles!! silly me!!! that is in there now

[labarboteuse]

Plus one part four

Jake "Hangman" Seresin x f!reader

Summary: After running away from Jake she realizes that maybe she's really into him and that scares her.

Part one. Two. Three.

Warnings: wound, mention of blood, insults

Jake didn't have time to see it coming when she slipped out of his embrace and almost ran away. He was so confused that he stood there for a moment before he finally regained the use of his legs and tried to catch her.

"Y/N!"

He lost sight of her as she rushed into the building, glanced around to finally see her in the distance entering the ladies' room. He slipped between the guests to reach the place and when he was about to arrive there, he saw Erin entering in her turn. He stopped, couldn't see himself throwing the bride out of the bathroom at her own wedding and he preferred to avoid drawing attention to themselves, even if it was probably already too late.

Running a hand across the back of his neck, he raised his face to the ceiling and let out a sigh. Why had she reacted like that? Had he gone too far? This evening had brought them closer than they had been able to get in almost a year, he didn't think he was wrong in thinking that she shared a mutual attraction, well he had believed it up to that point and she hadn't really tried to put him on another track. Perhaps she had had a reason of her own for having reacted in that way. In any case they were going to have to clear things up.

•

She entered in hurry in the toilets and rushed to the sink, opening the tap on cold water she put some on her face to make go down again the inferno in her cheeks due to what had just happened with Jake and her race to leave him in the lurch. She turned off the tap and put her hands on either side of the sink and looked in the mirror. At the same time Erin slipped inside the room and walked towards her with a worried expression on her face.

"Something's wrong Y/N?"

She put a hand on her shoulder looking at her in the mirror. Y/N took a deep breath before turning to her. She needed to release what was in her heart and talk to a friend.

"Erin I like you a lot you know that. I have to tell you something but promise me you'll keep it to yourself."

The bride nodded before checking to make sure no one else was in the bathroom, indicating to her friend to continue. She then told him about her masquerade with Jake, the fact that he had offered to be her date to save her from having to endure yet more questions and pained looks, dates arranged by the aunts to meet their nephew, explained to her that she had felt for some time an attraction for her neighbor that she didn't think he shared given the number of women passing by his house and the lack of attempt to get closer to her if it was the case, and finally his attitude tonight, and his more than closeness to her.

"He turned me upside down. I panicked so I ran away, left him hanging there, oh my god what is he going to think? Maybe it offended him?"

She placed the palm of one of her hands on her forehead, the other on her waist and Erin put one hand on her shoulder and the other on her arm, amused to see her friend in this state, which was quite rare.

"You have a crush. But it's not a big deal, everything will be fine." She tried to reassure her.

"What if I just forgot? I've spent so much time alone that if anything I've forgotten how to behave! "

"Calm down. There's nothing to forget, it doesn't get forgotten and the way he's leading the way I'm sure you'll have no trouble following in his footsteps." Erin chuckled, "You should go back before he thinks you've really run away."

Erin replaced a few wild strands of Y/N's hair, hugged her quickly before gently throwing her out of the bathroom before she could protest. Y/N looked around looking for the blond head and saw him on the side of the dancefloor where he had been kidnapped by a group of older women led by Tilda. She smiled amused as she saw him giving them his charming smile, the conversation looked lively and he looked like a fish in water.

His bow tie was undone, the first buttons of his shirt unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up over his muscular forearms, he was so attractive that a wave of heat spread through her, thinking about what had happened in the garden. She turned on her heels to look away and cool her mind and was served by running into Harvey, Noah's grandfather, a small man approaching a hundred years old with two hairs on the rock fighting a duel, hunched over and walking with his cane as fast as he could to escape his wife. A tender smile stretched her lips.

"Oh darling! I haven't had a chance to see you yet. How are you?"

He put a hand on the young woman's arm, Harvey and Jody were Noah's grandparents and both having grown up together, they had become hers by proxy, especially the only ones for her, who had never had the chance to know hers.

"Harvey, very good, what about you, still running from Jody?" She sneered.  He glanced behind him.

"She's going to get my skin. I don't know how she hasn't done it in 70 years of marriage... She's baking me to a crisp."

She smiled, to tell the truth she hoped that one day she too would live something as long as these two, a tough love, a complicity and a support to any test.

"Darling, who’s this man that brought us? Is he treating you well? "

She almost lost her smile and had to make an effort to keep it and not worry Harvey with a sudden broken face. Lying to others had been one thing, lying to them was another. And this she hadn’t thought of before.

"Jake is my ... friend." She finally said in a way that didn't stray too far from the truth. "And he treats me very well." She reassured him in a soft voice accompanied by a smile.

"He'd better. Otherwise I'll take care of him."  He said as he made his cane dance, signifying that he would attack Jake with it.

Harvey patted her on the arm before resuming his frantic run to escape Jody.

And it was the case, he had treated her wonderfully well all evening, he had proposed to accompany her and he played his role wonderfully, she took her courage in both hands and turned around ready to join him. With what he did for her, she owed him an explanation, that is to say, she had totally panicked.

Passing her hands on her waist as if to avoid false folds on her dress she moved towards them before stopping suddenly. How was she going to manage to pretend anything after what had just happened, was he going to reject her? She took a deep breath as if to give herself courage and resumed her way. Arriving at their height, the women around her noticed her presence and gave her a smile. Positioning herself near the pilot, she slipped an arm around his.

"Oh Y/N there you are."

"Sweetie this man is wonderful, make sure you don't let him go."

Jake laughed and she had a little laugh too, she felt his gaze on her and without her expecting it under the circumstances, he leaned in and placed a kiss on her temple.

"Oh I consider myself the luckier of the two."

The women giggled and took their leave to move on to their next victim. Not daring to meet his eyes she contemplated the guests on the dance floor.

"Is everything okay? You seemed to be in a hurry to leave."

A grimace formed on her face after she bit the inside of his cheek too hard.

"I -." She was cut off by a young woman she knew all too well, but never thought she'd run into here.

"Y/N honey! You won't mind me borrowing your date!"

Jake didn’t have time to react that the young woman took him the hand embarking on the track leaving Y/N on the spot the open mouth.

"What the fuck did just happen?"

At a glance she spotted Noah chatting with some people she didn't know and went to meet him.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?"  She took him by the hand and led him further away.  "I can't believe you invited her." She said turning to him and he understood immediately who she was talking about.

"Wow wow." He says, holding up his hands in defence. "Do you really think I would have done that? Y/N please."

"Really Noah? What the hell is Brandy doing at your wedding?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that it was granny Jody who invited her? She plays Crazy Eights every Tuesday with her grandmother and she was so proud of her grandson's wedding that she invited her, and because she thinks we've always been friends since middle school, thought it would be a good idea to invite her granddaughter too."

"What?" She asked stunned after shaking her head. "Noah, this girl is a psycho! I ended up with a bowl cut because of her! Do you know what it's like Noah to have a bowl cut in high school? I was teased all the way through the end of it because this crazy girl decided to cut my hair off in the middle of Mrs. Harris' history class! Because she thought I was trying to steal her boyfriend 'cause I was put in a study group with him."

Noah looked at her almost horrified, she was the one who looked like a nutcase now.

"Okay okay, this episode obviously created a real trauma in your adolescence, but she's just there as a guest, and you hadn't even seen her until then. Besides, I made sure that no pair of scissors were accessible." He said on the tone of the joke what earned him a dark look from the young woman. "No? Still too early to make a joke? "

She grabbed him by the arms and turned him around to see Brandy wiggling against Jake. He made a face that didn't escape Y/N and didn't reassure her.

"You don't think that ..."

"Think what?"

"That she would try to steal Jake from you for revenge?"

"But revenge for what?!" She replied in a hysterical tone.

"Look, I'm sure you're worried about nothing. Besides, you only have to see the way Jake looks at you to understand that there's no risk of him going elsewhere."

She raised her eyes towards her friend under this revelation. How was Jake looking at her? Noah passed his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek while giggling before moving away, leaving her ruminate.

One look at the dancefloor was enough to make her blood boil and she went to sit back down in her seat, mumbling. On the way she stopped at the buffet and took a plate and filled it with small cream puffs to try to appease her frustration. Seeing a waiter about to pass behind her with a bottle of champagne she intercepted him and took possession of the bottle from which she poured herself a glass. She leaned back in her chair, a glass of champagne in one hand, a cream puff in the other. She was fulminating to see Brandy laughing like a bitch while making eyes at Jake, who had obviously already forgotten that he was supposed to be in a relationship. While she was literally shredding a little cream puff to get over her nerves, she met his gaze and thought she would explode when she saw a spark of mischief in his eyes that she knew perfectly well since it was the one that animated his gaze when he teased her. He does it on purpose. She realized whereas he made rock Brandy backwards, revealing to the whole world her fabulous neckline. He was trying to make her jealous. While he slipped his hand in the back of her enemy to approach her, she saw a rictus stretching his lips, staring at her. Clenching her jaw, she drank the contents of her glass in one go, looking for the courage to get up and remove her pseudo boyfriend from the dirty hands of this bimbo. This little game lasted a little while during which their gazes clashed, and she hadn’t even realized that under the annoyance she had tightened too much her glass in her hand, this one breaking without noise in her palm. It was only when Erin, who was chatting with the people sitting next to her, realized that drops of blood were strewn on the floor that she looked up worried at her friend.

"My god Y/N what happened, you are bleeding!"

The other people around the table then gathered around her, picking up the broken glass and gathering towels to put on the wound. Jake, who hadn’t taken his eyes off of her, abruptly left Brandy alone in the middle of the dancefloor to run to her after seeing this small group gather around his presumed girlfriend.

"Y/N, you okay?!"

He made his way through this little group to kneel down in front of her worried and take her hand in one of his, the other sliding on her cheek making sure she was okay.

"What happened?"

"What the hell were you doing with her?" Said she dryly the tears starting to rise as she began to feel the pain in the palm of her hand.

His worried look gave way to a slight amusement.

"Jealous Y/L/N?"

"Shut up Seresin and fucking kiss me."

A huge smile stretched his lips revealing almost all his teeth and sliding his hand from her cheek to her neck, drew her to him to kiss her, as he had never kissed any of the bimbos who sneaked out of his house.

Well guys, this is the crucial moment. I hadn't planned on going further than one chapter and today we are on the 4th. The story can end here or it can continue in the fluffiest way. Please, let me know in the comments, even if it's just a thumb up 🙏, if you want to see this adventure continue beyond this wedding.

#jake seresin #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake hangman x reader #hangman x reader #top gun #top gun maverick #jake seresin imagine

[norisus]

Hey :) I've been looking at your blog and first off, wow. Second, you're really good at digital drawing and I'm trying to get better at digital drawing but I can never seem to get the lines straight or the colours even and in the lines. So if it's not too much trouble, could you maybe tell me what app you use or what brushes you prefer? I'm currently using ibisPaint X and I'm drawing with a sketchpad :) it would really help if you gave me some tips too! Thank you!! Also, you're really talented hehe

Hi there, I'm glad you like my art thank you so much! ; u ; <3 And sorry for the late reply, I wanted to write up a full response with some examples!

So for my artwork, I use almost exclusively Paint Tool SAI. I specifically use the original SAI atm, though I want to try using SAI 2 more (the brushes just feel... different. I've been using SAI for a decade now, so it's where I'm most comfortable.) SAI does cost money, but there are also free alternatives online as always. I'm not familiar with IbisPaint X, but I know that FireAlpaca and Krita are two good free options. I don't use a smart tablet or apps to draw, though, so I'm not sure what are the best options outside of PC.

As for brushes, I use three brushes for my lineart-- though 2 of them much more than the third. The first brush I use is my Marker brush. I've been using this brush to line my work for a very long time. It's thin and somewhat transparent (sometimes I copy-paste my lineart a couple of times to bulk out the transparency).

The second brush I named TEST when I made it and I just never changed it, so it's my very permanent TEST brush. It's sort of similar to my marker brush (it even uses the SAI marker brush base), but it's thicker and a little more ragged. I tend to change up my style when I use this brush.

The third brush I use for lines is not one of my "lining" brushes. It's a painting brush named GREGORY and I Mostly use it to paint backgrounds and details in fur. I change up the "blending" setting on it as needed. I usually only use this brush to line if I'm having artblock or am sketching around.

As for keeping lines straight, I honestly just gotta say-- there's tricks to cheat the system! The first, easiest thing is you can find the "stabilizer" setting on your art program, slide that bad boy up, and have some assistance with keeping your strokes smoother.

The second thing you can do is... not really "line" your artwork. I tend to fight with lineart a lot. Sometimes it's not so bad (especially with my TEST brush), but a lot of the time I just line something and hate the end result, if I can even push myself to finish it. So, instead of "lining" over my sketch layer, I just... make the sketch my lines.

My sketches are usually pretty detailed so I think that helps, but I basically just erase and go over the lines meticulously in small increments until I'm left with linework. And if I'm having trouble with a spot, I'll just make a new layer, "properly" line that spot, erase the section of the sketch under it, and then merge the layers and move onto the next section. (I also keep my fingers over my undo and redo hotkeys, since a lot of lining can be just undoing a mistake and redoing it until you like it.)

For example, here's this dragon I've been working on, in its original sketch:

And here it is halfway through the cleanup process, where you can see an amalgamation of clean lines amid the remaining sketch:

And here's how it looks now:

Lines won't cooperate? Make friends with the sketch! I often feel like it's easier to keep the personality of the original sketch when I do this also, though that's just personal preference.

Now as for keeping colour inside your lines, Layers and layer settings are your friends-- that and the magic wand tool (which is a selection tool).

When I use the magic wand tool, I tend to select the area Outside of my drawing first

If there's a hole in my lines and I'm having trouble finding it, I cut a line across the drawing and use the magic wand tool again so I can see which section of the drawing the linebreak is in and fix it.

Once the lines are sealed, I invert my selection so it's inside the lines rather than outside! I prefer to start outside since I find it easier than individually selecting the inner parts of the drawing. It's worth mentioning that the magic wand tool is not perfect (especially if you have sketchy, ragged lines like I often do), so you might have to clean up the edges.

You can make layers under your linework that you can freely draw on without disturbing your lines, and they will conform to your magic wand selection as well. What more, though, you can also make clipping layers/groups which are layers that affect only the pixels below them.

So like in this example here there are four layers. There's the lineart layer, the layer for the base fur colour, a layer for the details (beak, eyes, white spots), and then there's a clipping layer that is on top of the details layer.

Anything I draw on that clipping layer can only appear on pixels directly below it. This is useful for a lot of things like detailing and shading. It also means you can safely exit out of your magic wand selection and still remain in your perimeters.

You can also lock layers which is like using a clipping layer, only you're affecting that actual layer instead of going over it. Whichever one you want to use is pretty much just personal preference or situational. You can also use these layer settings to colour in your lines, if that's something you want to do!

I hope some of this helps! I also hope that you're having fun with doing digital art! :D <3

#also I love your username #so-once-i-was-a-chicken #digital art #replies #art tips #art programs #art brushes #brushes #paint tool sai #maybe I should put some of this under a readmore but naw #long post #not art

[tinyq]

Getting to Know You Tag Game

Thank you @eggbagelsjr so much for the tags! (And sorry I'm so late!!)

Three Ships: I wandered into the Dramione fandom in 2020. Before that I was pretty solidly in Draco/Ginny (Drinny), and dabbled in some Draco/Luna (Druna). (Yes, yes, I am aware there's a theme). But if I'm watching/engaging with something, I'm probably shipping someone with someone else...

First Ship: I was introduced to Sailor Moon at the ripe old age of 10, and fell in love with the idea of Usagi/Mamoru and became obsessed. (It also led me to read some things a 10 year old never should have read... I am so glad tagging is a thing now lol!)

Last Song: "Drastic Measures" by Sarah Slean. ❤

Last Movie: Haven't been watching many movies lately. We tried to watch The Mummy a few months ago, but our neighbour came and yelled at us because it was too loud... (Don't ask).

Currently Watching: I don't really watch anything other than Critical Role... (or Dimension 20 sometimes) but I'm a bit behind since July (and thus why I have not been posting any new art, because I usually only draw/colour while watching TTRPGs).

Currently Reading: Do textbooks count?? Do fanfics??? I haven't read a proper book since before I started my PhD... So, it's been a while... I think the last thing was A Discovery of Witches? But I had also read The Snow Queen series by Joan D. Vinge before that, and I really enjoyed it.

Last Thing I Wrote: Wrote and completed? I posted The Trouble with Mistletoe back in December 2021... But there are several half finished stories I've been pointedly ignoring.

Currently Writing: When I am not being a responsible adult and am instead taking a break from what I should be writing (which, you know, is technically being responsible: self-care is very important and writing for fun is part of my self-care), I am working on my current wip Light Me Up. I think I am currently editing chapter 76? Though I was also poking at chapter 95 as well this weekend...

Tagging: I feel like everyone has been tagged?? So, if you haven't been called upon to answer, and you happen to read this far, then I tag you!

#asks #tiny q #my life is chaos right now #but I'm muddling through

[napneeders]

Ever since DJ said his original plan for the show was to have Ed/Stede be unrequited, I've wondered if it wasn't actually that Izzy 'needed' to die as the Blackbeard part of Ed to free Ed, but just that Blackbeard needed to die in DJ's intended story about the brevity of the Golden Age of Piracy. He could no longer kill off Ed now that he'd written a gay romance that people were heralding as non-cliched, and while Izzy was probably always doomed, his death now had to be Blackbeard's as well.

//sorry, anon, this is a bit of an Assorted Thoughts. I hope it doesn't seem too much like I'm shooting you down - I found myself disagreeing, but this was an interesting way to sort out some thoughts, and you might have different thoughts.

that's an interesting idea, though I'm not really convinced it was ever the plan. even with unrequited blackbonnet, I'd imagine the ed/izzy stuff was already in place at that point, and that whatever the plan was for Blackbeard it was always tied up in that (interpersonal, intimate, intense) dynamic. the rockstar of piracy dying as a representation of piracy seems a bit too straightforward; one half of a dysfunctional twosome dying as a representation of the worst parts of both of them, against the backdrop of whatever they're saying about piracy, has a bit more meat to me. again, as an idea that could have worked if it was done with any consistency.

on more of a sidenote, if this were the case I don't think it was/would have been the fan response that would have stopped DJ & co from killing off Ed; I think it's pretty clear from that interview that the commitment to the romance came from what happened on set. (which is still surprisingly late in the game, though the article seems to imply the bathtub scene was shot early on.)

it's an absolutely fascinating statement (partly for being so surprising) but when it comes to speculating on the implications I'm kind of floundering without more information. what was the follow-up to blackbonnet's falling out going to be if a reunion wasn't on the cards? were the characters going to develop in parallel, still exploring themes like masculinity and what being a pirate (captain) means? or was Ed just a stop on Stede's journey? were they going to be awkward-to-bitter exes? did the idea of a three-season arc exist before the romance solidified itself and in that case what was the driving force?

similarly, I feel like the stuff about the end of piracy in ep8 (which admittedly I've only watched the once. not exactly intentionally but my slow rewatch has been very slow.), and Izzy's (narrative, symbolic) role in it, consists of too few, too small, disjointed pieces for me to draw any conclusions from*. clearly they were going somewhere with it, and clearly there wasn't enough room in the season to actually do that. maybe season 3 would have answered some of my questions. (the hints that we would have found out more about Izzy in season 3 are interesting as well.) but I suspect even with a ten-episode season the storyline would have been compromised by trying to do two conflicting things with Izzy's character.

*the difference being that one of these is an epitextual tidbit about what could have been, and the other is, you know, part of the actual text.

imagining killing Ed as Blackbeard for a moment - obviously it could be very dramatic and tragic. maybe Ed in his kraken era without a genre-backed future does manage to kill himself by proxy. maybe Stede realizes too late what he had. or maybe they have to work together and Ed gets killed in the equivalent to the plotline that killed Izzy. the question then is what does it mean for the story? probably depends on my previous question of what Ed's role in that version of the story would have been.

I think it would also be pretty bleak for the indigenous, troubled soul, poet pirate captain Blackbeard to succumb to his own violent legacy while the touristy white guy that broke his heart gets to go on and maybe reap the lesson from both of their stories. unless he doesn't, obviously, maybe Stede gets hanged too. still pretty bleak. which is not to say bleak is categorically bad, but that would be a drastically different show.

#ofmd critical #to be tagged #ask

[12timetraveler]

Beware the Jabberwocky

Summary:

Arthur and Hosea go on a boys trip. But when Arthur picks the wrong mushrooms, they take a trip of a different kind

CW: Mushrooms, recreational drug use

Word count: 3936

Notes:

For my dear friend @hoematthews on his birthday. Based on a late-night conversation we had with some other friends. I hope you enjoy!

AO3

~~~~~~~~

"So what are we hunting exactly?" Arthur asked, realizing he really had no idea what they were doing out here.

Hosea had asked if Arthur wanted to go hunting, and after weeks of doing job after job after job, constantly working, he was ready for something different. Any sort of change of pace.

"Moose, didn't I say?" Hosea chuckled, looking over his shoulder at Arthur.

"Oh. So we're just pretending we're going hunting," Arthur chuckled. He and Hosea had gone after moose many times over the years, but never caught one. Arthur had only even seen a moose a handful of times in his life, and never when he was looking for one.

"Nonsense," Hosea huffed. "I've been watching this area for a while. It's a little lake, remote in the mountains. All the wildlife around drink from it. Including a number of moose. We'll catch one this time, you'll see."

"Whatever you say," Arthur huffed. He wouldn't horribly mind if they just wasted time. Hosea was probably his favorite person to waste time with. He always ended up with a story to tell, and came back to camp feeling refreshed. Just getting out of camp with the man, spending a few days watching the lake for the elusive megafauna, that was just fine with him.

~~~~~~

They reached the lake just before nightfall. No time for hunting that night, but just enough time for Hosea to catch a couple fish while Arthur set up camp. Since they'd be there a couple days, Arthur used the canvas of his travel tent to make a sort of lean-to between the trees in case it rained. But he set up their bedrolls around the fire.

He knew his old friend would want to lay out under the stars, weather permitting, and enjoy the view. He'd likely tell Arthur the same stories he always did, legends and myths that made up the constellations. Arthur didn't mind. It was nice to hear Hosea talk about simple things.

It reminded him of the old days when he'd wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares and go sit by the fire only for Hosea to join him and talk his ear off until the sun rose. Back when it was just the three of them, and he was nothing but a gangly little street urchin.

So much had changed, and yet he always found comfort in Hosea's voice. Most of the time nowadays Hosea was busy helping the others in the gang. He was good at talking folks through their troubles. But that meant he didn't have as much time for Arthur as he used to. Arthur didn't get many chances to just sit with him and listen to him talk anymore.

"A feast befitting kings," Hosea crowed, drawing Arthur out of his musing. He approached the makeshift camp holding a pair of sockeye, which he'd already bludgeoned and gutted.

"Nice catch," Arthur hummed, looking up at Hosea from where he sat by the fire. "Here. I can filet 'em,"

"You'll do no such thing," Hosea huffed, swinging the fish away from Arthur's reach before sitting down by the fire. "You'll lose us all the meat the way you butcher fish. I'll do it,"

"Whatever you say," Arthur sighed, but there was no malice behind his voice, only familiar affection.

Hosea was right, it was quite the feast. The fish were so savory and tender, even with the crude ways the men had of seasoning and cooking. When Arthur lay down on his bedroll he felt pleasantly full and sleepy.

Across the fire Hosea was also settling down on his bedroll, grunting and groaning dramatically as he settled in on his back, hands resting on his chest. It was quiet for a moment, just the crackle of the campfire and the sounds of night.

"Do you see those three stars lined up," Hosea started, pointing up at the sky. Arthur couldn't help but smile as his earlier prediction had been right. "That's Orion's belt,"

"Is it?" Arthur hummed tiredly. He knew all the constellations Hosea knew. He'd been shown them time and time again. He didn't even have to look for it, he knew right where it would be.

"Yep," Hosea chirped. "Goes right across the constellation. You can see Orion himself, just around it,"

"So I can," Arthur murmured, his eyes closing.

"And right there, do you see the big dipper? It's crystal clear tonight," Hosea murmured.

"Oh yeah," Arthur mumbled.

"You know, escaped slaves used to call it The Drinking Gourd. They used it to guide them north to freedom,"

"Well I'll... Be," Arthur sighed, barely even awake.

"The big dipper is also part of Ursa Major, the great bear..."

Hosea kept talking long after Arthur was snoring. He knew how Arthur liked to hear him ramble.

~~~~~~~

The next morning the hunt began. After a breakfast of bread and some pheasant eggs, they set out from camp along the lakeshore.

The lake was truly stunning. The surface was smooth and sparkling in the morning sun, disturbed only by ripples of fish catching a morning meal of mosquitoes. The image of the trees and mountains reflected off the surface of the lake like a giant mirror.

It didn't take Hosea long to find some large moose tracks. Unfortunately they headed directly into the water, so they couldn't be followed more than a couple yards. There was no sign of the moose on the other side of the lake.

Hosea led Arthur up a slope overlooking the water, and the two sat there for a while watching the wildlife visit the lake, hoping their large friend would stop by. Plenty of other animals came to the lake. Elk and deer, foxes and rabbits, even a pack of wolves drank across the way, but after hours of sitting and watching no moose came to drink.

Some time after noon Hosea sent Arthur down to the lakeshore with some potent herbivore bait, hoping to lure the moose down. It certainly drew in a number of ungulates, but never a moose.

Finally around mid afternoon they decided to circle the lake and look for tracks that might lead them to their quarry. But the only tracks they found were old, or too small for a moose.

Along the way Arthur gathered some plants on the shore. Mint and burdock root and some mushrooms that looked like parasol mushrooms. Arthur was always a little hesitant with mushrooms because he really didn't know what the dangerous ones looked like. But these looked enough like parasols that he was confident in picking them.

By the time they were almost back to their temporary camp, the sun was starting to dip low in the sky. Arthur had a bag full of plants and mushrooms, but no moose.

"Well, seems our friends have eluded us today," Arthur huffed, stretching his shoulders.

"For now," Hosea sighed. "I'll see if I can catch us a rabbit to eat,"

"Alright. I'll get the fire going again," Arthur said, clapping Hosea on the shoulder. He could tell the old man was a little disappointed, but not completely disheartened. Mostly he was just tired after circling the lake. Arthur knew letting him hunt dinner would boost his spirits some.

Arthur had the fire going strong by the time Hosea returned to camp with a rabbit, already skinned and gutted.

"Good catch," Arthur hummed. It had been a big rabbit, he could tell.

"Not bad," Hosea shrugged, passing the rabbit carcass to Arthur. "Any of those plants you picked today good with rabbit?"

"Mmm maybe," Arthur hummed, opening up his satchel. He looked through the bundles of herbs in his bag. "Could stuff the rabbit with some mushrooms and wild carrot to cook. And a couple spices," Arthur pulled out the plants.

"A rare feast," Hosea chuckled, sitting down and pulling out his knife. Arthur handed him the carrots and Hosea chopped them roughly with his knife while Arthur halved the mushrooms and stuffed them and the carrots into the rabbit before sticking it over the fire to roast. As rustic and thrown together as it was, it was fancier than the usual plate of stew.

Soon a nice aroma filled the air as the rabbit meat cooked at the carrots and mushrooms began roasting in what little fat the rabbit had.

Both Hosea and Arthur were feeling a little funny, but both assumed it was likely just from being out in the sun. Neither had made the connection between the funny feeling and when they started handling and cooking the mushrooms.

The fire cooked the rabbit quickly, and soon enough their supper was ready. Arthur carved the rabbit and dished some out onto Hosea's mess-kit plate before dishing some out onto his own.

After a long day of hunting, the men were ravenous, neither worrying much about talking or table manners. Before long they'd scarfed down the rabbit along with the mushrooms and carrots, and licked those plates clean.

"What kind of mushrooms were those, Arthur?" Hosea asked as he licked up the last crumb.

"Just parasol mushrooms," Arthur shrugged.

"Really? Didn't taste much like parasol mushrooms," Hosea hummed. "Must have been something to do with cooking them inside the rabbit,"

Hosea set his plate aside before flopping down on his bedroll with a contented sigh. Arthur followed suit, rolling into his back to look at the stars.

Arthur was starting to feel really funny, almost like he was drunk. But not quite the same. Not any kind of drunkenness he'd ever felt before. He felt floaty and spinny, like he was drifting through a dream, but he was sure he was awake.

The stars above him began to twinkle brighter, and the colors seemed to shift in a beautiful rainbow of colors. The stars rippled like scales on a fish across the sky. It was all Arthur could do to stare open mouthed at the light show above him.

"H-hosea?" Arthur mumbled dumbly. Hosea hummed in response. "The stars look different to you?"

Hosea had been drifting off to sleep, feeling thoroughly relaxed after dinner. He opened his eyes and frowned upat the sky. When had the sun risen? And why was the sky such a strange purple color? But... No, there were stars, and the moon out. But the world was much brighter than it had been a moment before.

"Now that you mention it..." Hosea grumbled, rolling into his side. The world seemed to zoom in and out as he did, before settling into something akin to focus. "W...woah. Arthur you... You've grown!"

Indeed the man laying across the firepit seemed to have grown at least three feet in length.

"I have?" Arthur grumbled, holding up his hands, looking for any sign of growth. Arthur pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking over at Hosea. His eyes widened comically as he took in the sigh of his friend.

"Y... You're a moose!" Arthur gasped.

Indeed before him, instead of his oldest friend, a man who was more father to him than his own blood, an anthropomorphic moose sat on Hosea's bedroll. He had sprouted ears and magnificent antlers. His nose had grown long and looked remarkably squishable. His body had sprouted fur and though he moved like a man, pushing himself to his hind legs and using his front legs as hands, he now had hooves.

"Am I?" Hosea asked, looking down at his hands. And as if by magic, Arthur was right. No longer did he have fingers and hands. Instead he saw two large cloven hooves. He looked back at Arthur, who only seemed to be growing bigger, but was somehow still looking up at him with comically wide eyes.

"What... Are we dreaming?" Arthur mumbled.

"I don't think so..." Hosea hummed, still staring at his hands. "But..." He couldn't help but giggle. "But I'm not sure what else could be happening,"

"Maybe a bear got us," Arthur huffed, starting to panic a little. "Maybe we got mauled to death. Is this heaven?"

"I doubt it," Hosea chuckled, walking over to his giant friend. He practically had to break his neck to look up at Arthur as the man stood up. Hosea settled one cloven hoof on Arthur's giant arm. "Don't worry so much, huh. What's that thing Javier says sometimes? Que sera? Just relax,"

Hosea had a sneaking suspicion of what was happening. He'd tried his fair share of substances. They were very popular among theater troops. He'd never had an experience quite like this, but he was sure it was something in that realm. But telling Arthur would only make him anxious, and he knew during experiences like this, anxiety and fear were not your friends.

The sound of a flock of ducks coming to land on the shore near the lake caught both of their attention. Moose and giant both turned to look at the water.

Hosea gasped as he saw the lake before them, sparkling under the purple sky. The water was a rippling rainbow of colors. Shades and hues Hosea had never seen before. Colors no human had ever witnessed, he was sure.

Arthur was focused on the ducks along the shore, frowning as they laughed at him. They teased him for being so strange, for his hair cut and the scruff of his beard. They mocked the way he could only walk, and couldn't fly like him. None of their words really upset him, or cut him deep. But had they been some barfly he'd likely have smashed their faces in. But fighting ducks just seemed unfair. They were too small. Especially with his new size.

"Come on Arthur, let's get a close look!" Hosea cheered, inexplicably grabbing Arthur's arm with his large hoof and dragging Arthur behind him toward the lake.

"At the ducks?" Arthur grumbled. He wasn't sure he wanted to get even closer to the mean old ducks.

"No at the lake! Look at it!" Hosea gasped, coming to a stop right at the shore.

Arthur blinked, not quite sure what Hosea saw in the water that had him so excited. But as he studied the waves he began to see it. Or at least he saw what he assumed Hosea was also seeing.

To Arthur the water seemed to be made of flower petals. Reds and yellows and whites and oranges all rippled in waves across the water, lapping at the shore in front of him. Arthur bent down and scooped some of the petals up in his hands. They seemed to trickle out between his fingers like water, something between a liquid and a solid.

"Remarkable," Arthur murmured, watching the petals ebb and flow before him.

"Let's go swimming,"

Arthur looked over to see moose Hosea shedding his clothes until he was just down to his drawers.

Hosea tossed his clothes on the shore, ready to leap into the lake of colors before him. He whooped as his feet splashed into the rainbow water. It was crisp, like mountain lake water should be, but something about the cold water seemed to warm him, like the rainbow of colors was filling him with light.

Once he was deep enough, Hosea dove into the water, letting the strands of color and light woosh over him. He was pleasantly surprised to find that even if he swirled the water, the colors never muddied. They just swirled together before pulling back into separate streams.

Hosea surfaced, gasping for air. "Come on in, dear giant boy," he called to Arthur at the shore. "The colors are incredible,"

Arthur shucked his clothes quickly, getting down to his drawers as well. He'd always loved the feeling of flower petals against his fingers. He couldn't wait to see what they felt like as he swam through them.

The water was cold, and the moment he was up to his hips Arthur felt his balls draw up inside him. But against gritted teeth he kept moving through the water. The petals swirled around him moving aside for him but hugging to his body as well.

"Isn't it incredible?" Hosea asked, laying on his back in the water and floating around him.

"It is. I've always wanted to swim among them," Arthur mumbled, still wondering at the petals around him.

"Me too," Hosea admitted, thinking of all the rainbows he'd seen in his life.

The two men spent some time just swimming around, lost in their own hallucinations. Time meant nothing to either of them. It may have been a half an hour, it could have been a week. In fact it seemed to be both combined.

"Ahh. Just listen to the musical sounds of nature," Hosea sighed.

Arthur paused, listening for what Hosea might be hearing. Slowly the ducks, the fireflies, the crickets and frogs and bats, all the creatures around the lake began singing a familiar tune.

<I>The ring dang do

Now what is that?

It's soft and round like a pussy cat

Got a hole in the middle and it's split in two

That's what they call the ring dang do</I>

"I didn't know they knew that song," Arthur mused.

"Of course they do, Arthur," Hosea chuckled loudly, slapping Arthur's bare back. "They wrote this song,"

Hosea of course was referring to the loud symphony of quacks and ribbits and chirps that seemed to drown out all other sounds. It was growing so loud in fact he couldn't even hear Arthur humming along to Ring Dang Do.

"We should go back to camp," Arthur said after a moment. The water was cold, and he wasn't entirely certain but he thought it may have snapped his balls off. He no longer could feel them between his legs.

"What?" Hosea called, as if talking over a great cacophony of sounds.

"Camp," Arthur yelled back, grabbing Hosea's hoof-hand and tugging him back to shore.

Arthur didn't bother trying to find their clothes. He was pretty sure he saw his shirt fly off with a couple of ducks when Hosea started yelling.

Back at camp, the two settled onto their bedrolls once more. Arthur not so subtly pulled at the hem of his drawers, checking to see if his balls had indeed frozen and fallen off. He breathed a sigh of relief when they still seemed to be there, though he swore for a second his scrotum blinked up at him, but he didn't want to think about that too hard.

"Is the sun rising or setting?" Hosea asked.

"Erm... I think it set a while ago," Arthur mumbled, not really trusting himself.

There was a big ball of light in the sky but he wasn't sure if it was the sun or the moon. Or maybe it was gods eye staring down at his miscreant children.

"The stars are still out so it must still be dark," Hosea mused. He easily located Orion's belt in the sky.

But... Wait, had Orion always worn a gun belt? Since when was Orion a gunslinger? Oh shit he was drawing his weapon.

Hosea quickly reached for his rifle next to his bedroll, aiming up at the sky. At the same moment Orion pulled his gun, and the two gunslingers fired.

Hosea wasn't sure where Orion's bullet landed. His own shot seemed to go just over Orion's shoulder. Like gentlemen they'd both shot over each other, neither wanting to take the other's life.

"A draw," Hosea called out, setting his rifle aside.

"Nice shot," Arthur hummed, looking at the new home in the sky that Hosea's bullet had ripped through. He obviously had not seen Orion draw his gun on Hosea, else he likely would have tried to tackle the constellation out of the sky.

"Thank you," Hosea said proudly, laying back on his elbows.

He sighed, staring up at the stars once more.

The two men lay there for a time, lost in their own hallucinations. Eventually they both drifted off to sleep, just before sunrise.

~~~~~~~

When Arthur woke up, the sun was high in the sky. Actually it seemed like it was already on its downward journey, on the western half of the sky. They'd slept through most of the day already.

Arthur took a moment to take stock. He was still in nothing but his drawers, and it was only the shade of the trees they were camped under that had saved him from a terrible sunburn, laying out in the sun all day.

Arthur looked over the smoking coals of their dead campfire. Hosea was curled up around his bedroll like a cat, knees tucked up under his chin. That could not be comfortable, especially on older joints. Carefully, not quite trusting his balance after the night he'd had, Arthur pushed himself to his knees and crawled over to Hosea.

Carefully Arthur guided Hosea to lay on his stomach instead, easing his muscles out. Hosea grumbled and groaned, stirring but not quite waking up. He weakly tried to swat Arthur away.

"Come on, let me sleep," he grumbled.

"Fine, but if you keep sleeping like that your back is gonna seize up," Arthur chuckled.

Slowly Hosea seemed to wake up, rolling into his back and blinking up at the bright sky.

"You know, Arthur," Hosea grunted as he pulled himself to his feet. "I don't think those were parasol mushrooms,"

"Really?" Arthur huffed, rolling his eyes. "What gave you that idea?"

"But you know what?" Hosea sighed, clapping Arthur on the shoulder. "I ain't felt that good in... I don't know how long," he chuckled.

"Yeah, I suppose," Arthur huffed a laugh. He had to admit, he hadn't slept so well in quite some time. True now he had a bit of a hangover. The sun was quite bright and he still felt sleepy. But he also felt relaxed and calm.

"Why don't we take a walk back around the lake to were you found those mushrooms. Take a closer look," Hosea hummed with a little gleam in his eye. Arthur recognized all to well the signs that Hosea was not-so-subtly trying to coax him into going along with something.

"What, you wanna do that again?" Arthur laughed.

"Why not?"

"Well I think it'll be pretty hard to hunt a moose when the trees are dancin',"

"Ah forget the moose," Hosea scoffed, waving his hand dismissively, smiling at Arthur. "You and I hardly ever get to just relax and have some fun. Let's just take a few days and... Let loose,"

"Whatever you say," Arthur shook his head. But Hosea could tell from his big grin that he was on the same page, just as ready as Hosea to have a good time.

~~~~~~~

"Well," Dutch called as the two rode into camp some days later. "You two sure took your time. Did you catch the moose?"

"No?" Hosea mumbled, uncertain. "No I don't... I don't think so,"

"You don't... Think so?"

"We got a little, er... Distracted," Arthur chuckled sheepishly.

"Distracted by what?" Dutch asked, looking between the two. Suddenly Dutch felt like he was faced with a young John and Arthur having just gotten back from doing something they shouldn't have been. "Don't tell me you two spent the entire trip drunk out of your minds," Dutch sighed.

"Er... Something like that," Hosea sighed.

"I did manage to find some mushrooms. You can have some if you want," Arthur mumbled, holding out a handful of the special mushrooms.

In sync Arthur and Hosea burst out laughing, nearly falling over with glee at Dutch's confused face.

#arthur morgan & hosea matthews #mushrooms #recreational drug use

[nuagederose]

As the Seasons Grey | Chapter Forty-Three: Build God, Then We’ll Talk

ao3 link

All week long, Alex kept his eye on Christine, especially when he brought it back in to show her the framing: he also insisted on the inclusion of her signature at one point. He even gave her a brand new pen just for that, and the pressure was especially on her when she did it during class as well. She took off the cap and pressed the tip to the very bottom of the page: careful not to make the frame fall down the wall onto the floor, she lightly signed her name at that very bottom corner on the right.

“Christine has this untapped talent in art,” he explained to the class. “Hence why I've been rather intense about that in particular lately. She just... has it. You know, it's like when you meet someone and they have this utterly beautiful singing voice, and you wonder where it's been all your life. It's just like that.”

She lifted her hand and turned back towards him so everyone in the class could see the drawing as he had perched it against the blackboard. He brought it with him every day that week, and she knew that she had done something to him for him to do that.

“This should be in the Guggenheim,” he declared as he ran his fingers through his black hair. “I really mean that, too. This feels historic. It should be seen where everyone can see it.” He then tapped his pencil on the edge of the podium. “Five hundred word essay on French art! Due next Wednesday.”

“French art?” Christine asked him.

“Yeah! Go read about French art and tell me how you feel about it. Any era you'd like, be it the Renaissance or the modern era—bonus if you can get it to correlate with literature, too. Mr. Hansen offered to help me grade papers so my load's a little lighter this time around.” He rubbed his hands together and took off his glasses. “You all think you can do it?”

“Maybe,” Eric replied with a straight face.

“Oh, come on, Sluggo, it's at least five hundred words! It'll take you twenty minutes. Just tell me how you feel.” He waved his finger in the air as if to dismiss everyone.

“Does that include me?” Christine asked him in a low voice, and Alex glanced up at the drawing.

“I think what you did was plenty,” he replied to her, also in a low voice and with a wink to boot, to which she gasped.

“Alex, for real?”

“For real. A plus plus plus for Miss Peck.” She pressed a hand to her chest and mouthed “thank you” to him, and she scurried over to her book bag and scooped it off the back of her chair. Eric waited for her to put her coat back on, but then she caught a glimpse of Alex picking up the drawing and looking on at it. She hoped that he would take it home and put it in a good place where Captain Howdy wouldn't be able to find it. Christine ran her fingers through her ponytail and then she and Eric walked on out of there and to the hallway.

“I have to pick up Lou again,” he told her.

“Again?”

“Yeah. He's going to be over at Washington Square Park, though. Not that far of a drive this time around.”

“May I ask what he’s doing over there?”

“He’s got car trouble and… just enough change to get a single bus ride back to the park. He called me and said he doesn’t have that much money on him to make it all the way back to Queens. You know, with the feeder buses and whatnot.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah…”

They walked out to the parking lot, where the clouds hung low over their heads. Christine shivered and tugged the lapels of her coat up to her ears.

“Are you cold?” he asked her.

“A little bit, yeah,” she replied with a shudder and another shiver. Eric fumbled the keys but he caught them before he dropped them on the ground; when he reached the driver’s side door, he was quick to unlock the doors for the two of them. They climbed into the car at the same time, to which Christine shivered some more.

“Goddamn,�� she muttered.

“I hope Lou can boogie over to us quickly,” Eric said as he fired up the car. “It’s too cold.”

Even though they made their way back to the street and they reached the archway within no time, they still had very little heat in the actual car itself.

“Let’s get out of here,” Eric grumbled as they pulled up to the curb and climbed out onto the sidewalk together.

“Yeah, it’s actually warmer out here than it is in there,” Christine declared as she joined him on the other side of the car. The fountains were silent for the winter time, but the water still swirled around before them, and they moved around enough for Eric to pick up a few flat stones from the concrete on the way over to the outer rim. Christine shivered and tugged her hood over her head: she hoped that Louie wouldn't be long as she could feel more snow upon them.

“I can't believe he put you on the spot like that,” Eric declared as they reached the water's partially frozen edge. He held the stone between his index finger and his thumb, and he skipped it across the surface: three skips before the head of the fountain at the center of the water.

“Who?” she asked him.

“Alex. He made you sign that drawing right in front of everyone. Totally put you on the spot.”

“He didn’t put me on the spot,” Christine assured him with a shake of her head. “I promise you, I wasn’t put on the spot.”

“If he put you on the spot, you’d be cursing him out, I would think…” His voice trailed off.

“He's very particular, Alex is,” she confessed to him.

“Come to think of it, I would imagine,” Eric replied as he skipped a stone out across the water. “I would imagine you are, too.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that I am particular,” she said. “I like you with the white buttons on your shirt.”

“You like the white buttons?” He adjusted the lapels of his sweater underneath his jacket: he wore a black knit sweater with bright pearly white buttons the width of a cucumber medallion.

“Yeah. I don't know, it's a good look for you. The white buttons bring out the pale round shape of your face. It's like how I imagine Alex looking really good in a white shirt.”

“A plain white shirt or a shirt shirt? Like one that buttons up?”

“Either one,” Christine said. He showed her a little smile as he skipped the third stone, which brought four skips out before it sank on the other side of the fountain head.

“Excellent!” she decreed.

“I’ve gotten ten skips on this fountain here,” he told her. “Lou’s the skip master, though, at thirteen. No idea how he does it, either.”

“Does he like… flick his wrist really quickly or something?”

“I think so? I’ve watched him do it before and I can’t hardly watch him do it because his elbow blocks it.” He brushed off his hands and tucked them into his coat pockets, and shivered a long slow hard and deep shudder there next to her.

“Would you call yourselves boyfriend and girlfriend at all?” he then asked her.

“Who? Me and Alex?”

“Yeah.”

“I don't know what I would call us, to be perfectly honest,” Christine reluctantly confessed. “He's got a fiancée already and I'm the other woman. But he's never called me the other woman, though.”

“But it is obvious, though.”

“Oh, yeah. Between me and him, absolutely. But neither of us have said anything about it, though—probably because we can't. Whenever we get together, we just talk about stuff, rather than relationship stuff. When there is relationship stuff, it's usually about how his wedding is coming up but he would rather be with me, but he can't make up his mind, though.”

The two of them congregated by the railing of the fountain, just so they could peer into the freezing cold dark water right beneath them. Through the sparse pockets of ice crystals, they could see their own reflections gazing back at them. The feeling of snow lingered in the air over their heads, and Christine knew it was upon them.

“How do you feel about him getting married?” Eric finally asked her.

“I don’t want him to get married,” she replied. “You know, because we’ve had the misfortune of encountering her.”

“Right, right.”

“But at the same time, there’s this huge part of me that feels like I don’t deserve him. He’s perfect and everything I could ever ask for in someone else.”

“He reminds you of Chris,” he followed along.

“He reminds me totally of Chris, yeah,” she said as a few flurries fluttered down from the cold gray sky. “Even down to the nappy, kinky, slightly curly hair and the unusual nose. I’ve also just never… felt worthy of the time and attention of other people, either. Everyone else is good-looking and interesting except me. I have to fight to gain the attention of people, like it's not enough to just be boring. No guy—especially no guy like him—would ever want to be with me, it’s crazy to even think about.”

“You know, if it’s any comfort, I often feel that way,” he assured her.

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. What girl wants to be with a short stubby half-Mexican boy with long black hair halfway down his back? Like it baffles me.”

Christine turned her attention towards him and the somber look in his brown eyes.

“This girl,” she said with a point to herself. “At least, be friends with each other. You know, you and I are going to California for some time in a few months.” And his face lit up as she said that.

“Indeed we are!” he chirped. “I’ve got almost enough money saved up for our little trip, too. Just waiting for my next refund to come through.”

“Beautiful!”

Something caught her eye right then, and she gazed past him to see the black newsboy cap over the head of black hair and a black pea coat on the other side of the fountain. A part of her wondered as to why she was there, especially when she lived further up along the spine of New York, but she would have to save that question for later.

“What?” Eric turned his attention behind him.

“Valentina!” Christine called out to her. “Valentina! Hi!”

“Hey!” she called out to them. She skirted around the side of the fountain and fixed the lapels of her coat all the while. “What're you guys doing here?”

“I should ask you the same thing,” Christine declared once she came within earshot. “We're waiting for a friend to come in on the bus.”

“I'm waiting for that same bus, too,” Valentina replied. “Marlene wants me to come and help her with some things.”

Christine then glanced over to Eric, who still folded his arms over the railing around the fountain and kept his attention fixed on those cold waters. They were leaving for California in June, and Alex's wedding took place in July. Not enough time once she put some thought about it and when she realized that the gray sky overhead only lasted for so long before it turned blue again. The hourglass only had so much sand in it.

“I have to think of a plan to interrupt that wedding,” she told her, to which Valentina showed her a smile.

“You’ve come to the right person. And we’ve got time, too.”

“Not that much, though,” Eric pointed out.

“Yes, but we really do have time,” Valentina insisted as she joined the two of them there. “First things first, do either of you know if you're invited or not?”

“Not at all,” Christine replied with a shake of her head.

“Okay, that's going to be a touch more difficult. We can always sneak in—especially if it's an outdoors wedding.”

“It's going to be Fourth of July weekend, so I reckon it'll be outdoors.”

“Okay. And I assume there's going to be booze there.”

“Knowing how Alex likes his wine, absolutely,” she decreed.

“You're gonna drink him under the table?” Eric followed along with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Val's one part Ukrainian and three parts Romanian, she can do it,” Christine assured him.

“I was also think of doing it to her, but I imagine it having a better effect on him,” Valentina said with a chuckle.

“Or you could do it the night before and give him a hangover,” Eric suggested. “And one such that he won't want to partake in it.”

“Hey, yeah! The night before during his bachelor party.” “But it's going to be a bachelor party, though,” Christine pointed out. “No girls allowed.”

Valentina held onto the brim of her hat and raised her eyebrows, and Christine gaped at her.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously! Eric is going to introduce Alex to his new friend Victor.”

Christine rounded Eric with her arm outstretched.

“You're Batman,” she told her.

“I am Batman!” Valentina declared with a chuckle.

“Dude—”

“Dude.” They gave each other a high five.

“I assume the other Sundaes are going to come along, too,” Christine quipped.

“I'll ask Sabrina if she wants to partake in the fun. You know, 'cause she and I are so close. I have no idea if Marlene and Colette are going to have time then, but I'll ask them, too.”

The bus lumbered up from behind the corner behind her and she hastily gathered herself.

“Looks like that's my ride,” she told them.

“What else are we going to do once we drink Alex under the table, though?” Eric asked her.

“Chris is gonna come in and make it all better for him,” Valentina declared as the bus came closer to the back of Eric's car. “He'll be far removed from his bride to be, and he'll hopefully have his feelings invested in the right place. It's simple, but we can only hope that it's airtight.”

The bus pulled up to the curb and the door squeaked open. She held onto her hat as she neared the open doorway, and at the same time, Louie almost stumbled right out of the back half of the bus. He flashed the driver a wave as he strolled on over to Eric and Christine.

“I just think of what Nelly said about them,” she confessed to him. “How they’re trouble.”

“Who, the Sundaes? The four girls who sat behind us in Mr. Hansen’s class?”

“Yeah. I remember her distinctly telling me that, too. But it’s weird, though, it’s like she had a change of heart or something. In fact, when she came back to school the other day, I mentioned to her that I spent the night with Valentina and she never bat a lash.”

“Interesting. I also hope it can all go according to plan and you can get to Alex in time, too.”

“I hope so, too. My one fear is that he can actually see through her disguise, or that neither of you can get into that party…” Her voice trailed off as Louie entered within earshot. She also had the pervasive fear that anyone from the outside, be it Louie or anyone else, figured out as to what they were doing.

#Spotify #as the seasons grey #as the seasons grey fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic with art #chapter 43 #alex skolnick #eric peterson #oc art #traditional art #traditional drawing #artists on tumblr #badgalnirvhannahart #testament #testament band

[kalyssto]

Alright I'm gonna do

1... bc how could I not on this site of all places

22... bc I like how open ended that one is

aaaaand

43... bc I'm dying to know

Figured three is a fair number of questions

Sick new icon btw

~Ciao

1: "who is/are your comfort character(s)?" my sona Kaly's obv the character i lean the most into 'cause he's an idealized me, i put a lotta soul into him and try to give him a little reprieve from the troubles (often in daydreams more than just drawing) (mostly 'cause of my hesitance and slow speed lmao) and some of the comfort comes back to me from that. i've also got a gray fox, Eridani, that i rarely draw, but I've not been so nice to him lmaoo, he gotten dropped into a few more of the angsty situations. As for characters that aren't mine, i don't really fall into fanning for much enough to make them "comfort" characters, but i love big, kind, and protective types. Really liking BG3 Karlach lately lmaooo.

22: "what type of person are you?" i'm sillymaxxing, i'm the world's most whimsical yote, i'm clowning for free when i should be getting paid for it. but i'm mad low energy too. i like bein funny and talkin to people i know, it just doesn't come in spades when i'm tryin to just stay afloat much of the day. i'm optimistic much of the time, which is the opposite of how i used to be, and generally on fine self-esteem, but i still have my days. unfortunately my low energy really impacts my imaginative aspects, it makes it hard to draw often too but when i do i try to make it good!

43: "what’s your take on spicy foods?" i like it, i've just been a picky eater for a lot of my early life and never pushed out my heat tolerance far. i usually will have spicy thing or 2 only when i eat alone 'cause i'm not about to have my nose running in front of someone else lmaooo

and thank you! I love my icon sm. I finished it a couple days back 'cause i didn't have any long-hair fall icons. my full piece is around here, i might bump it up 'cause it's been a day or so. ty for the ask!

#asks #olisp

[turtlethon]

Turtlethon Extra Slices: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures" #1

Above: Cover "A" for TMNT: SMA #1, by Tim Lattie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures is a new ongoing comic series by IDW Publishing that presents original stories set in the continuity of the 1987 TMNT cartoon. The first issue’s story, “VR in Deep Trouble”, is written by Erik Burnham, with art by Tim Lattie, colours by Sarah Myer and lettering by Shawn Lee. 

NOTE: Mild spoilers to follow, but unlike regular Turtlethon entries this won’t be an exhaustive frame-by-frame analysis of the comic, just a general overview and my thoughts. There are plenty of surprises throughout for seasoned viewers of the show, and I don’t want to ruin it for you! 

Above: The Turtles hooked up to Donatello's new simulator.

April reports on the relentless rain that has been a burden upon New York as of late. With a supercell storm about to make the situation even worse, the Turtles find themselves stuck in the Lair. Donatello sees this as an opportunity to road test his new battle simulator, which he declares is like virtual reality “but more advanced”. The other Turtles and Splinter are divided as to whether this is a good idea, but eventually agree to give it a try. 

Above: Leonardo battles Baxter Stockman in a fighting game setup paying homage to the Super Nintendo version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters.

Once the Turtles are inside the program, Donatello reveals that the setup is a game of capture the flag, but with a twist – if they fail to do so, the flag disappears, and the team will need to engage in one of a series of mini-games before they can have another try. While the quartet take on a simulated version of Shredder – and discover that they can feel pain while playing – a lightning strike back in the real world causes the system to malfunction. Now the Turtles are unable to leave, and each of our heroes finds themselves doing combat with a variety of their old foes in different genres of video game as they search for a way out. 

“VR in Deep Trouble” is a light-hearted and engaging debut issue for this series, that generally feels faithful to the spirit of the 1987 cartoon, specifically the long stretch during the show’s heyday where it wasn’t afraid to be irreverent and silly. The depictions of the characters are almost spot on, their dialogue and interactions perhaps not an exact match to what we saw on TV, but I think it’s okay to bring a little bit of a modern sensibility to the proceedings. New writers working in this sandbox thirty years after the event will inevitably have a different approach than the creators of the old cartoon. 

Above: Donatello from the pages of Saturday Morning Adventures #1 versus his appearance in the season three episode "Turtles at the Earth's Core".

Similarly, the artwork captures the spirit of the 1987 series while incorporating a modern polish; the saucer-eyed Turtles evoke memories of season two and three episodes like “Return of the Technodrome” and “Turtles at the Earth’s Core”, and while those weren’t the flashiest outings in the original series, seeing that vibe in the pages of Saturday Morning Adventures makes me happy.  

Above: Rocksteady is one of more than thirty old enemies that the Turtles battle while trapped in the simulation, retaining his helmet from season one.

The big draw for veteran Turtles fans will be the bonkers levels of easter eggs and cameos incorporated into this story; once Donatello’s game malfunctions a plethora of familiar villains appear, many from episodes I've written about for Turtlethon, as well as a few from the toyline and later years of the show that I've still to cover. Almost none of them get to say or do a whole lot, but they’re fun to see. This does lead me to worry that perhaps the series is doing too much too fast, and that by shoehorning in practically every notable villain in the first issue – albeit in simulated form – Saturday Morning Adventures might have peaked too early. Hopefully the remaining issues will be compelling enough in their own right to overcome this. 

Issue #1 of Saturday Morning Adventures gets a big thumbs up from me, a nostalgic romp that manages to incorporate the conventions of modern comic storytelling to great effect. You can purchase it now from your local comic store, digitally through Kindle/Comixology, or directly from IDW’s website. 

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #Turtlethon #Ninja Turtles #Saturday Morning Adventures #VR in Big Trouble #Comics #Comic Books #IDW Publishing #Comics Review #Comic Book Review