#Sorry this one took a while

[froizetta]

hi :D 21 and 23 for the writer asks! love ur work! <3

21) Share your favorite piece of dialogue!

I thought this was a tough question until I realised: no, my favourite moments of dialogue are always gonna be Alfred being snarky. He's the most fun to write for me, because being British I can actually capture the nuances of his dialect in a way that doesn't generally come easily with American characters. And his very dry, very sarcastic, very English sense of humour is the most fun to reread in edits. In particular, I'm very pleased with this exchange from chapter 2 of (Love) Triangles, especially the last paragraph:

“No,” Bruce snapped, a little more harshly than he’d intended. “I can’t just…ask him. Don’t be ridiculous, Alfred.” “Ah, yes. I suppose it would be ridiculous to simply ask someone to be your friend, rather than stalking their potential acquaintances under the guise of your secret identity. Really, you’re quite right, sir. Whatever was I thinking?” Bruce sent him a half-hearted glare. “That is not what I am trying to do. This is nothing so juvenile as a bid for friendship.” Delicately, Alfred raised an eyebrow. “Good lord. I hadn’t realized that having friends one’s own age was considered ‘juvenile’. Please forgive your aging butler for being so out of touch with the younger generation.” He sighed. “Alfred…” “No, that’s quite alright, Master Bruce. Things were somewhat different when I was your age, you see,” Alfred continued placidly. “We tended to consider friendship a healthy form of adult social interaction. I sometimes forget that nowadays the done thing is to spend hours of one’s time alone underground, and to associate honestly only with one’s young ward, butler and local bat colony.”

23) Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out?

Now this one actually IS tricky. Mostly what I struggle with is the overall flow of scenes rather than individual sentences or paragraphs; furthermore, it's sort of difficult to remember what one struggled with after the fact! Here's an example from chapter 4 of (Love) Triangles, chosen more because of recency bias than because it's a particularly striking example, but I think it's still illustrative:

Unfortunately, just as he was opening his mouth to try his luck again, Kent perked up as if he’d heard something unexpected. By instinct, Bruce felt himself tense as well. A split-second later, he heard it too: the gentle thudding of bare feet on thick carpet. A sound that was getting closer. Immediately and inconspicuously, Bruce braced himself for the worst. He was a civilian right now, as was Kent; he didn’t have his equipment but so long as he got Kent out of the way he could figure something out with hand-to-hand, perhaps talk them down— It wasn’t needed, he realized. Because only seconds later, it wasn’t a madman or Mercy Graves or any kind of villain, but Lois Lane herself who came careening around the corner.

I'm counting this as one paragraph because it started out as one. It got reworked a few times before I was mostly happy with it. Within the context, Bruce is transitioning from an internal monologue in which he's considering Clark as a romantic/sexual prospect, but is interrupted from acting on his thoughts because of the sudden appearance of Lois. In its final form, it's doing several things: linking scenes, planting the seed of Clark's superhearing (Bruce might notice it later), providing characterisation for Bruce (paranoid and hypervigilant, even as a civilian), and most of all creating tension for the reveal of Lois' identity. It was slightly challenging for several reasons, chiefly:

I find that transitioning from internal monologue to action can feel clunky sometimes if I don't properly connect the thought to the action. The easiest way to do it is the interruption of a natural train of thought with dialogue (like another character trying to get the POV character's attention, for example) but that didn't fit here. The first sentence of this excerpt is my attempt at bridging the gap.

The original version did not include Bruce's reaction to the sound. I realised during editing that Bruce would 100% react with caution to the sound of approaching running footsteps, so I needed to reflect that in his internal monologue; however, the addition of that detail made the paragraph feel a little long-winded, so I had to play around with it (e.g. changing the amount of detail, the sentence/clause structure, where to put the line break) until it flowed okay.

Balancing the surprise factor of Lois' appearance at the end was a little tricky. It's a slight surprise to the reader, but not a super dramatic one (say, in comparison to the cliffhanger at the end of the chapter). Building it up too much would make Lois' reveal anticlimactic; too little would undersell the moment and feel flat. Fixing it again involved playing around with the flow of the sentences leading up to it. Originally, the excerpt was all one paragraph, but I found separating it into two (with the em dash signifying Bruce's interrupted train of thought), and then padding out the new second paragraph to make the reveal less abrupt ("it wasn't x, y or even z, but Lois Lane!") drew about the right balance for me.

Am I happy with it? Enough to publish it! Most parts I struggle with end up being 'good enough' rather than 'amazing'. I don't have a beta-reader, so I'm only evaluating it from my limited perspective. And in the end, the reason I struggled with those bits is probably because I don't know the right tools to fix the issue; fresh eyes might see things more clearly and/or have a different perspective.

#my fic #ask game #asks #sorry this one took a while #and also ended up very technical and long-winded #I wasn't sure how else to answer the second question #hopefully this is more or less what you were after! #or if not hopefully it's still interesting

[confusedpandabear]

Chapters: 14/? ~ Chapter 12: The Finish Line Fandom: Free! Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Matsuoka Gou/Nanase Haruka, Matsuoka Gou & Nanase Haruka, Nanase Haruka/Yazaki Aki, Matsuoka Gou/Mikoshiba Seijuurou Characters: Matsuoka Gou, Nanase Haruka, Mikoshiba Seijuurou, Yazaki Aki, Tachibana Makoto, Hazuki Nagisa, Ryuugazaki Rei, Mikoshiba Isuzu Additional Tags: Friends With Benefits, Rating: M, Smut, Fluff and Smut, Idiots in Love, Angst, Pining, Porn with Feelings, Porn With Plot, Denial of Feelings, Adding tags as I go along for the suspense, No beta we die like Rei almost did in the ocean that one time Summary: When Gou comes to him for a very unique favour, Haru finds it difficult to say no. They agree to keep things between them and in the realms of "just friends," but Haru is leaving for Tokyo after graduation, and feelings just ruin everything, don't they?

#panda fiction #glowsticks #harugou #nanase haruka #matsuoka gou #free! #haru x gou #sorry this one took a while #it's extra long as an apology

[foldingfittedsheets]

Your pinned post did get me on why I decided to check out your blog. The cat comic is wonderful. But I followed because I really love your art and you seem like you'd be a cool person. As a trans lesbian artist and nerd, well, I am kinda inspired. I really want to get better at storytelling with my art. And actually do comics myself! I think you'll be a positive influence on my life.

I'm sorry I don't have time to make as many comics! But have a cupcake that the kitty is wary of, and I hope you like it here!

#ask ffs #ask game #I'm still taking these if you wanna tell me why you followed me I'll do a little doodle #sorry this one took a while #I had to get back to my tablet from New Jerseyyyy

[heyzeil]

is sugar paper friends with any of the other teachers ? :0

Crinkle gets serious for a moment and explains her theory and concern about Sugar Paper.

(gonna work on that new ask blog soon so bare with me!)

#Krinkle Kingdom #hazel answers #SORRY THIS ONE TOOK A WHILE #cookie run #cookie run ocs #cookie run oc #crinkle cookie #sugar paper cookie #latte cookie #eclair cookie #walnut cookie #almond cookie

[voidmenace]

✏️ owo

uwu

#sorry this one took a while #i got home and passed out for a bit #hi bestie <3 #rikkitikkitaavi #asked

[holly-fixation]

Angelic Aid: Chapter 4

Summary of this chapter: The Prince of Jenova finally showed his skills both in training and in battle, the last retaliation the Cetra can give. If it fails, the planet and their race are doomed. The Princess tries to understand the prince better, by learning the history of his planet. Maybe then he will be willing to spend 'time' with her, the deal Jenova made with the Cetra upon exchange of her warrior: her son.

Inspired by this art by @tannarys on twitter and follow up art that is absolutely adorable

Please Enjoy!

Chapter 4: War Room and War

Sephiroth woke up groggy the next morning, the pillow somewhere on the floor, his hair an absolute bird’s nest, his shirt and pants untidy, and his skin temporarily conforming to the pattern of the fabric below with soft lines imprinted on his skin, yet somehow the covers below didn’t take any damage. He forced himself to shake off the lingering thoughts of the previous night as he pressured a hand through his currently knotty hair, tearing some of the strands free of their knots. Tonight was the night, his first attack of three, and he honestly could not wait for the chance to do what he did best. It didn’t matter how many or few he killed. A massacre was not necessary. He enjoyed battle as a place to test his skills, each bout of training pushing him further for the next conquest. That’s how angels prepared. That’s what his mother taught him. 

He winced as he slammed away the memory that threatened to enter. There’d be time for that later, when he returned to his comet. His home. There was no reason for any of the emotions he felt on this planet. It was a conquest, nothing more. He was a weapon, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

The sky was even darker than when the princess woke him in the middle of the night, he noticed through a window in the hallway. The small, quiet hour before dawn broke and the light of the sun bathed the city blanketed the streets. It was absolutely earlier than most of the inhabitants of this planet roused, judging by the nearly silent atmosphere outside the small window. Not a single Cetra appeared on the streets, only the occasional cat running around for a final catch of the day, or night. 

Then there was a crash from the floor below, metallic but not sword like. He closed his eyes and exhaled in frustration, an annoyed feeling that whatever caused that sound wasn’t a threat. The same way it wasn’t last night. Before any more disturbances hit, he pushed himself out of the bed, slipped on his coat, boots, and sword, and left for the kitchen.

Maybe once he wanted to be wrong. Yet when he entered the kitchen, he proved his assumption correct.

It was a nightmare. Dishes, utensils, towels, some kind of white shells, everything was everywhere and nothing was where it was supposed to be, all surrounding the center of the storm: the princess in her pink dress, who tried to clean something black and smokey off the side of their stove. Although he entered with cat-like silence, she somehow noticed him and looked up with wide eyes, surprised, excited, and clearly fearful of the possibility of getting caught.

“Prince Sephiroth!” She lit up with the kindest smile that one cringing at their own mistake could make, slightly shying away as she offered a plate with a perfectly yellow meal. “I made you eggs?” Her words curled up from a statement to a question at her own embarrassment and the expected negating of her offer. 

He could not explain how thankful he was for the battle today, if only to get some space from this clingy little girl.

* * * 

From dawn to noon, Sephiroth spent his time both assessing and training the most viable of the Cetra sword fighters, which struck him as the biggest oxymoron. They clearly desired to learn, for the sake of themselves and their people, but only a fool would put them out into battle. Even the most talented soldier struggled to reach the peaks of the basic techniques. Their greatest downfall: they didn’t think like sword fighters. They thought like mages. Mages he could work with, sure, they know how to attack, but of the five he was tasked with training, two of them thought like healers: how far back in the battle could they stay while protecting others, how much space could they keep between them and their enemy, could they persuade them from afar. 

None of this would do.

Every hour covered two tasks simultaneously: running through basics like proper footing and slashing techniques, and that their weapons were extensions of themselves. No healer understood the importance of their staff the way a swordsman attached their soul to their blade. Only the simplest thought pierced them today: if their blade fell, they died. Guaranteed. Even though it was the simplest lesson, they needed it more than anything. The only solace in this week off his world was their skill in magic. Each soldier understood the importance of separating offensive and defensive materia, all but one offensive limited to the blade, while the few that decorated armor included barriers, healing, and the last case scenario of sealing. 

Still, he gladly took training these infants in combat over his mother’s punishment of ‘time’ with these people. Hopefully the hours he spent training them counted as his half of teaching these people his ways. Now it was back to their small war room to inform each other of the resources gained for the battle tonight. 

The same people stood at the edge of the map: Claudia Strife, Reeve Tuesti in that odd cat-like machine, the Captain, their queen, and unfortunately their tiny princess. At first, his own presence there felt unnecessary, as they talked about supplies of ethers and potions for the people and the army, ration preparations, et cetera. More and more updates and plans for situations that did not concern him in the slightest. 

“Prince Sephiroth,” the queen called, gaining his attention immediately. “Let’s discuss the plan for tonight.”

He nodded before addressing the table. “What’re the latest updates?”

“I got a friend to lend us his boat,” Claudia explained simply, before scrunching her face. “A small one. Not a lot of fuel either, but it should be enough to reach Junon’s shores and back.”

“That’s more than enough. Your healers will not stay anywhere near me at the battle,” Sephiroth stated simply. “If you move the boat here,” he pointed to the map, miles west of Junon, “It will convince them I came from the west, and not the north. They might delay their next attempt north to search for me.”

The Captain seemed to hold his tongue before adjusting his thoughts. “What…advantage does leaving you out to dry give us?”

Throughout the day, the Captain finally accepted the truth of his skills and knowledge. He welcomed that. “I can fly a minimum of twenty miles. Even when injured.” His eyes darted to the map and he pointed to a location a bit off from the battle, but invisible to the people in the port town. “It’s north, so it’s closer to here. It will keep your people out of the line of fire without negating their purpose completely.”

“How injured should they expect you?” The blonde woman asked.

He turned to her, before glancing at the captain. “Anywhere from nothing to three broken limbs. Maximum. That depends on their fire power.”

“Which sadly, we can't prepare for thanks to their mechs’ auto self-destruct at high damage.” The Captain mentioned with a disappointed hand on his forehead, frustrated at their own lack of ability to properly train for the threat. 

“It scares me how large of a window you may take,” Claudia mentioned, eyeing the angel curiously. 

“I’m only preparing you for the worst case scenario.” He met her worried blue gaze. “But from what I know of your planet, they can only break a single bone of mine with a miracle.”

“You seem extremely confident,” came the voice out of the mog suit, suspicion growing on the creature’s face.

He stared at it blankly, shoulders and arms dropping. How many times did they need him to explain his strength? “I could claim your planet on my own.” The gravity of the threat shuttered through everyone’s eyes except his own. This was not a threat. It was simply a reminder of their situation. “The largest disadvantage here is keeping people alive. Burning the base down is a lot faster and a lot easier.” His eyes hardened, the creature barely listening to his words. “The more I keep alive, the larger chance someone will stab me in the back. That’s the only reason I’m preparing for injury.”

“Your Majesty,” this time Reeve turned to the Cetra Queen, a clear new goal in his words. “I must ask, how did your people gain power over Jenova?”

Sephiroth stared daggers at the hologram, at the audacity for the accusation alone.

“We never have,” Ifalna stated simply, truthfully, allowing the angel to loosen his glare, before looking down at the map and circling the north. “This crater is proof of that.”

“The Cetra developed summoning materia they did not understand, with the goal of summoning one of your ‘gods’.” The prince explained sharply, knowing that giving the tale would silence the spy’s questioning. “When my mother appeared instead, she brought a meteor to claim this planet in retaliation. But, Her meteor, was too large. Its size was a mistake, capable of total annihilation instead of mass extinction. However, Cetra barrier spells prevented incurable damage. She was impressed by the feat, and made a deal with your people to use us as summons in dire situations. But when your materia breaks, we will claim this planet.”

The spy swallowed, even though it was only a machine controlled by a human, mimicking its user’s behavior. “...Then,” He hesitated, “did your people actually find this planet?”

He scowled at the lack of knowledge clearly portrayed before him and glanced at the queen out of the corner of his eyes. “Did you explain anything to them?”

She bit her tongue against the display of teenage attitude and took a short answer before she answered, “Prince Sephiroth, I explained the benefits and the risks of requesting help from your mother. Our entire history was not important for this decision.”

His turned sigh clearly hid a groan.

“I know the story,” the princess’s voice rang lightly, like a tiny bell. She may have thought her interruption was a request, the rest of the war room clearly believed so, but the prince only saw a challenge. This little girl, who couldn’t say his mother’s name in her presence, suddenly knew enough to quell a war room. 

Though every eye on her jabbed for silence and obedience in the young girl, Sephiroth burned his challenge in his inhuman eyes, his cat-like slits captivating her attention, giving her the slightest taste of what she felt when they first summoned him. He gave her the opportunity to share the information she claimed to have. “Enlighten us.” Not a hint of sarcasm bled through his words, for he had none to give. What was this girl truly good for? How much ‘time’?

“After Queen Jenova returned to her comet, we changed part of the white materia to not only protect the planet, but send an angel back by force if they attacked too much,” The little girl explained, folding her hands behind her back and shifting awkwardly from side to side. “Not long after, her planet-comet, also called Jenova, but spelled with dashes between the letters for some reason, flew across the sky at night. Only once, but she saw us. She knows exactly where we are, and how to move the comet to get here if needed.”

Sephiroth, though surprised, found himself nodding in confirmation at her words. However, to his frustration, the human questions only increased. 

“Hold on a minute,” The blonde woman held a hand up in wait with a confused daze on her face, the crater still on her mind. “Your mother is over two thousand years old?”

The prince and princess nodded again before he answered. “We do not age the same as your people. After twenty years, our appearances barely change with time. You may think it odd, but I assure you, it’s expected.”

“Is she the oldest on your planet?”

“Yes, but that is not why she still rules,” Aerith explained. “She’s still the strongest. And even when she wasn’t, she won anyway.”

Sephiroth closed his eyes in silent annoyance. This absolutely is not how you prepare for an attack. He hated this treatment as a walking history lesson. If this princess knew, then they all clearly had access to whatever answers they wanted if they would just pick up a book. Apparently, this annoyed look on his face silenced their historical questions for now. They returned to topics or sections of failed battle and future preparation that did not concern him, so he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of the room, away from the map.

* * *

He hated those meetings, at no fault of their own. The few details that mattered to him could easily be sent on a single piece of paper, or a single message. He sighed in relief at the final dismissal. The last detail that mattered to him, and the only one after their unnecessary exposition, was the location of their vessel for departure: through the woods and past the village of archeology, which they had to avoid any kind of contact with the human residents before reaching the shore. Stealth mission. Understandable, simple, inconvenient but doable nonetheless. Still, he preferred the slightly organized war meetings over dealing with the little girl that ran towards him a minute after dismissal.

Why couldn’t he have a single moment to himself on this planet?

“Prince Sephiroth, wait!” Despite his movement slowing down, the princess still jogged after him, and eventually she kept up with his adjusted pace. “I have a quick question.”

He nearly groaned, turning to her with small contempt. “I’m not-”

“It’s not about your history,” She explained quickly, and he let out a soft sigh. “It’s about your allure.”

Allure? Why would that interest her? He never voiced the question, but his eyes reflected his curiosity. He figured she’d ask about his power, or speed, or something meaningless, or for his damn wing again.

“Why doesn’t it work?” She tilted her head.

He glared, answering after a pause, “It does work.”

“It does?”

“Yes,” He spat. “Why wouldn’t it?”

Aerith glanced away. “Well…” Her hands twitched from her own unfounded anxiety, “When we first met, it was so strong I could barely talk. But then I didn’t feel it until the meeting. Do you have to activate it?” Now her planet-green eyes met his.

He took a breath. “You felt my mother’s allure when we first met. I don’t project mine constantly.” It was true. He enjoyed the fight rather than diplomacy, but he quickly realized he gave the wrong description to the young girl. “Well,” He crunched the corner of his lip in thought, “consciously. We all have it to some level. I see it with some of the animals here, but not your people.”

“Does it feel weird when you project it?”

Why was she like this? He answered her first question, so why wasn’t this over? He grunted. “No. But I have to actively think about it. I’d rather use my energy elsewhere.”

“Where?”

“Battle. So I don’t get killed.”

“But you’re super strong?”

“And how do you think I got this strong?”

She thought for a moment, a hand on her chin before it came to her. “Not dying?”

“Not dying.”

“Ah,” She nodded in understanding, but she still wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. “Where are you going now?”

He flicked his head in gesture. “That mountain. To judge the terrain from here to the shore.”

“It’s just a lot of forest. Lots of trees. It'll be really hard to see the path.”

“It can’t hurt,” he brushed her off before glancing in her direction. “Where are you supposed to be?”

“Mama said I should stay with you until dinner time,” She stated simply, innocently, tugging softly at her own dress. “So I thought I’d ask a few questions…”

“Aerith,” He stared at her, not completely lying with his answer. He was just…tired. “I’m fighting. Tonight. I need to think.”

She pursed her lips, but nodded before meeting his eyes. Then she looked down, away from the strength of his gaze. “I can be quiet, if that helps…” She sounded heartbroken. 

He felt a slight ting at her tone and sighed softly. “...Just for an hour, okay?”

Aerith nodded again, but she stayed by his side until the accursed time arrived, through the mountain and the last minute training of soldiers. She remained through the final meal before the battle. The step off to the mission. Their kind’s last and only chance to advance against humanity. Humanity did not need to die. They only needed to understand the threat they forced the Cetra to summon. Yet if they, for some reason, decided to be hopeful for a chance to win against this angel, the days of Cetra were still limited. 

* * *

The princess absolutely knew she should not be awake. The entire mission required the cover of night, which made sense for stealth. They had healing materia. They had wind materia, gods forbid they ran out of gas or time. Sephiroth was on his own for the battle itself. She knew he could handle it, judging by the fear of the planet, but she wanted them all to get back safely, uninjured. It was childish, but she was, in fact, a child. With over eight hours of sleep, because she went to bed as early as possible, she sat awake in her room, at four in the morning. 

It didn’t take long to find out her mother was awake too, a door squeaking below her and footsteps tapping along the floor. Well, shoot. Now she couldn’t leave. She reached for the book on her nightstand and adjusted toward the window above her bed. The book about angels she was more than halfway done with. Moonlight made it slightly difficult to read, but it was better than darkness. The prince always seemed annoyed by her questions, and she believed with more knowledge, she could learn more about topics he enjoyed, and less of what he considered basic. 

Time. Why Time? The angelic queen’s request baffled her little mind. The prince took more comfort in solitude than her presence, no matter how much she tried to get him to talk. The queen must have known that when she made the request. Aerith tried to make good on her end of the deal, the white materia resting in her braided hair now. No one would look for it there. Even without understanding, she kept herself busy, waiting for the seconds to tick on and everyone to come back safely. She stuck herself in her book, eyes wide and pupils blown in the dark as she absorbed all the information her little mind could take as quickly as possible. 

A knock at the door drew her out of her concentration. 

“Aerith,” Her mother’s voice rang from behind. “They’ll be back soon. Would you like to wait with me at the plaza?”

She jumped up and immediately opened the door. She nodded rapidly, and her mother tried to hide a chuckle. 

“Okay. Go and get changed. I’ll be waiting downstairs.”

Aerith couldn’t close the door fast enough, rushing out of her pajamas and into her proper dress. Her mother didn’t seem worried, so she shouldn’t be either. She practically bounced off the walls as they left through the streets, but considering the hour, she did try to be quiet. They waited on a stone half-wall, watching the roads ahead, past the homes and to the path from the forest. The soldiers had to come through here, no matter the results of the mission.

At first light, it finally happened. Laughter from outside the city, two voices, approaching at a casual but upbeat speed, exhaustion in their voices paired with…victory. 

They made it back. 

They won.

.

.

.

.

Thanks for reading!

Author’s Note: I have a few more ideas for this fic, but probably less plot and more Aeriseph to be honest. I planned on having more backstory/history questions about Jenova and company in this chapter but I (honest to God) forgot what questions I was going to ask. So if you’re interested in the lore and have any questions, feel free to leave a comment! 

And as always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

#ff7 #final fantasy vii #ffvii #sephiroth #jenova #ff7 aerith #aerith gainsborough #aeriseph #Next update is Tainted Child again #And I can't wait #Hopefully classes will let me #Sorry this one took a while #thanks for reading!! hope you enjoy!! #angelic aid

[theladyeowyn]

You shall live to see these days renewed. And no more despair.

requested by @the-mawp

#lotredit #tolkienedit #the lord of the rings #tlotrgifs #lord of the rings #lotr #* #thank you for the request! sorry it took me quite a while; most of it was just narrowing down what moments to use #injury tw #faramir looks too clean & put-together in his sad moments and even in his 'about to be burned alive' ones so arrows it is :P #('then what about arwen?' well she's just Like That)

[soosoosoup]

Fluffy rearing

#trolls #dreamworks trolls #trolls poppy #trolls branch #broppy #trolls fanart #why are they rearing moths? #really wanted to put them in fuzzy outfits and couldnt help but think about fluffy moths #for poppy of course the rosy maple moth #for Branch the inspo was based off of the polyphemus moth but did my own spin on the design (haha at this point it's an entirely new kind) #just with the same size and caterpillar form #i took some liberties with both moth desgins tbh though haha #it was fun to design them #was very delighted to find out how the poly is one of the biggest while the rosy is the smallest (silk moth wise) #moths #please let me know if this needs any tw/cw for bugs #Im really sorry for such a long wait #it has been a very long week… #my art <3 #excuse the messiness

[jabesa0]

🍒🍓🥭🍋🥝🫐✨

#obey me #mammon obey me #obey me shall we date #obm #obey me mammon #mammon #obey me fanart #obm mammon #ohhhh this one took a while #sorry familia #but ohh it’s done now Godbless #oh to have a little cafe date with mammon #❤️❤️❤️

[yourlocalabomination]

Tick Tock, Teddy-Bear.

#the bastards box wasn’t enough I had to trap this fucker in a hour glass #IM NEVER RENDERING GOLD AGAIN IN MY LIFE I DIDNT LEARN THE FIRST TIME- #anyway guess who’s not dead. sorry I disappeared for a hot sec as you might be able to deduce this one took a while #also life happened lol. I was doing this inbetween uni work a social life and being ill. #I’m not going to reveal how long this one took because I’m genuinly ashamed I put so much time into drawing Ted fucking Spankoffski #just know this might be the most amount of time and effort Iv ever put into a artwork in my entire life #I’m not too mad about it actually because I wanted to make one final big artwork before I turn 20 #ted spankoffski #theodore spankoffski #starkid #team starkid #starkid productions #starkid fanart #fanart starkid #time bastard #starkid time bastard #time bastard nightmare time #nightmare time #starkid nightmare time #hatchetfield nightmare time #nmt #hatchetfield #hatchetverse #hatchetfield universe #fanart #my art

[caelanglang]

chuuya will go insane seeing dazai cry? zamn would pay to see that lmaoo

hi, i kinda went insane thinking and drawing about this one.

a continuation of the drunk fem!dazai post !

mini bonus:

update: now with extra here ~

#girls kissing girls kissing girl being gay aaaaaa #i wanted to draw ugly crying bc tbh crying feels ugly esp when you cant control the tears #yes i went a wee bit insane to finish this I'm sorry it took a while to reply this inbox #this was a very sever brainrot thats for the encouragement anon #severe* #chuuya is weak af when dazai actualy cries and does anything to stop it #dw she did not go insane #she merely flooded the living room but hey it made dazai stop crying so its a w #im the one who went insane finishing this comic i think... #hope you like it! thak you for reading this super self indulget comic #can u tell im so so torn with what hair to give fem chuu? yes. #bsd #skk #inbox #inbox sketch #sketch #my art #my comic #soukoku #fem skk

[kinnbig]

✨ Simple Gif Colouring for Beginners ✨

I wrote up my basic gif colouring process for a friend recently, but a couple of people here mentioned they'd also find it helpful! so, as requested, this is a beginner-friendly walkthrough of the way I colour my gifs :) it's aimed at brand new gif makers with no prior experience with photoshop or photo editing.

when I first started gif making I found colouring and photoshop in general suuuper daunting, so I've tried to simplify everything here as much as possible. hopefully this will be relatively easy to follow and not too intimidating!

a couple of things to begin with:

I'm only talking about colouring here - this is not a full gif making tutorial. I've linked to some of my favourites of those here!

I personally like to make bright, 'clean' looking gifs with vibrant but natural colours, so that is the style of colouring this tutorial is geared towards. most of gif colouring is subjective and about personal taste - the only thing that I'd say is possible to get wrong is skin tones, which I talk about a lot in this guide.

as I mostly gif Thai dramas, most of the advice is geared towards colouring for East Asian/South East Asian skin tones - but the techniques should be fairly universally applicable (and here are some tutorials that talk about gif colouring for other skin tones).

I'm not an expert! I'm not claiming this is the best or the only way to colour gifs - it's just how I do it.

this post is very image-heavy. if the images aren't loading (or the gifs are running slowly or cutting/looping weirdly), then try viewing the post in its own tab (rather than on the your dash or someone's blog) and refreshing the page.

okay, full walkthrough beneath the cut!

contents:

1. intro a. natural gif colouring goals b. very very basic colour theory 2. super simple colouring (the essentials) a. curves b. selective colour (and skin tone correction) c. hue/saturation d. saving and reusing colouring e. another simple colouring example 3. other adjustment layers a. brightness/contrast b. levels c. vibrance d. colour balance e. channel mixer 4. troubleshooting a. curves b. saturation 5. fin!

1. intro

the colouring part of gif making can be super overwhelming, especially if (like me when I first started!) you're completely new to photoshop and/or have no experience with colour theory or photo/video editing.

if you're opening photoshop and making gifs for the first time, I highly recommend getting used to making a few basic, uncoloured gifs to begin with. just to practice, rather than post anywhere (though you can always come back and colour them later if you want) - but it'll make the rest of the process much easier if you're already beginning to get used to working in timeline mode of photoshop. give yourself a bit of time to practice and get a feel for things like how many frames you tend to like in a gif, where you like to crop them for the best loop, what kind of aspect ratio you like etc* - so that you're not trying to navigate all of that for the first time on top of everything else!

* frames: for me between 60-90 frames is ideal, but 40-120 frames is the absolute min-max I'd personally use in a normal gifset loops: for the smoothest loops, try to avoid cutting someone off mid-movement or mid-word if possible. aspect ratio: for full-size (540px) gifs, I tend to go for either 8:5 (slightly 'skinnier' gifs), 7:5, or 5:4 (particularly big, thick gifs lmao)

✨ natural gif colouring goals

part of what can be so daunting about starting gif making is not knowing where to start or what you want to achieve. this is definitely something that gets easier with practice - the more gifs you make, the more you'll get a feel for what kind of look you like and the more instinctively you'll know how to get there. it also helps to see if any gif makers you like have made "before and after colouring" posts - these can help with getting a sense of the kinds of changes made through gif colouring. here's one I made!

in general, I like to make my gifs bright and 'clean' looking, with vibrant but natural colours. these are the things I'm usually hoping to achieve with colouring:

brighten dark scenes

remove muddy, yellowish lighting or filters

saturate colours

correct any skin lightening filters or overexposure

make lighting and colours as consistent as possible between gifs within a single gifset, especially gifsets featuring gifs from multiple scenes/episodes/videos

this guide is focusing on natural colouring, but of course there are many cool ways to make stylised/unnaturally coloured gifs. imo you'll need to master these basics first, but if you want to learn how to do things like change the background colour of gifs or use gradients or other cool effects, then @usergif's resource directory has loads of super helpful tutorials!

✨ very very basic colour theory

[disclaimer! I don't know shit about fuck. I do not study light or art. this is just an explanation that makes sense to me exclusively for the purposes of gif making.]

the primary colours for light/digital screens are red, blue, and green. having all three colours in equal measures neutralises them (represented by the white section in the middle of the diagram).

so to neutralise a colour within a gif, you need to add more of the colour(s) that are lacking.

in practice this usually means: the scene you want to gif is very yellow! yellow is made of red and green light, so to neutralise it you need to add more blue into your gif.

it can also mean the reverse: if you desaturate the yellow tones in a gif, it will look much more blue.

looking at the colour balance sliders on photoshop can make it easier to visualise:

so making a gif more red also means making it less cyan.

removing green from a gif means adding magenta.

taking yellow out of a gif will make it more blue.

tl;dr:

neutralise yellows by adding blue (and vice versa)

neutralise reds by adding cyan (and vice versa)

neutralise green by adding magenta (and vice versa)

2. super simple colouring (the essentials)

starting with a nice sharpened gif in photoshop in timeline mode. (these are the sharpening settings I use!)

some scenes are much harder to colour than others - it helps to start out practising with scenes that are bright/well-lit and that don't have harsh unnaturally coloured lights/filters on. scenes with a lot of brown/orange also tend to be harder.

I usually save a base copy of my gif before I start colouring just in case I end up hating it, or find out later that it doesn't quite fit right into a set and need to redo it etc.

so here is my base gif!

it's an okay gif, but it has a bit of a yellow tint to it that I want to reduce.

colouring is easiest to do in adjustment layers, which can be found under layer -> new adjustment layer - or for me they are here:

there are lots of different types of adjustment layers that do lots of different things - but for me the absolute essentials for colouring are curves, selective colour, and hue/saturation.

I also use brightness/contrast, levels, exposure, vibrance, colour balance, and channel mixer sometimes, depending on the gif - but I use curves, selective colour, and hue/saturation on every single gif.

✨ curves layer

the first thing I always do is a curves layer. when you first open one it will look like this:

first I usually click the ‘auto’ button, just to see what happens. sometimes it makes a big difference (it usually brightens the gif a lot) - but on this gif it didn’t do much.

if it had made the gif look nicer then I would have kept it and added a second curves layer on top to do the rest of these steps.

the next step is selecting the white and black points with the little eyedropper tools.

the bottom eyedropper lets you pick a white point for the gif. click somewhere super light on the gif to see what happens - for this gif, I clicked on the lampshade on the left. if it looks weird, I just undo it and try somewhere else - it usually takes a few goes to find something that looks good.

here's what that did to the gif:

then I pick the top eyedropper and use it to pick a black point by clicking somewhere really dark, again playing around until I find a black point that looks good.

here's what the gif looks like after picking the white and black points:

this can take some experimenting, but you can make super easy drastic changes to your gif just with this. in this case, the curves layer took out a lot of that yellowy tint.

and this is what the curves graph looks like now:

you can click and drag those lines to make further changes if you want - I usually leave them alone though. the colours of the lines indicate which colours have been changed in the gif - for example, you can see from that steep blue line on the graph that blue has been added to neutralise those yellows.

next I usually do another curves layer and just press the ‘auto’ button again to see what happens. usually it brightens the gif a bit more, which I like.

‼️if nothing is working: usually with a bit of fucking about a curves layer works well - but sometimes you can’t find a good white and black point anywhere, and instead your gif turns wacky colours and nothing looks good. this happens more often with very heavily colour tinted scenes :( the troubleshooting section at the end goes over some options, including starting with a levels layer instead.

✨ selective colour (and skin tone correction)

skin tones are made up of a mixture of yellow and red.

removing yellow (or adding blue or red) to a gif will make the skin-tones too red - and removing red (or adding cyan or yellow) to a gif will make the skin-tones too yellow.

adding blue to this gif with the curves layer took out the yellowy tint, which I wanted - but it also took the yellows out of Kim's skin tone, which I don’t want. so I need to put yellow back into the skin tones specifically - without putting it back into the rest of the gif.

selective colour layers let you select an individual colour and adjust the levels of other colours within that colour. you can change how yellow the green shades are, or how much cyan is in the blues, for example.

I need to add yellow back into the red tones to correct the skin tones on this gif. this is the case for most gifs in my experience - the vast majority of the time, unless a scene is very heavily tinted in another colour, a curves layer will add blue/remove yellow.

in the 'colors' dropdown, select the 'reds' section and drag the 'yellow' slider higher - this will add more yellow into just the red shades within the gif.

the amount of yellow you need to add back into the reds depends on how much yellow was taken out of the gif initially - I just play around with the slider until it looks right. if you're not sure, it helps to have some neutrally-coloured (not white-washed!) reference photos of the people in your gif to compare to.

here's the result. Kim's skin is a lot less pink toned and much more natural looking:

✨ hue/saturation

this adjustment layer lets you adjust the hue and saturation of the gif as a whole, and also of each colour individually.

I don't use the hue or lightness sliders unless I'm trying to do something more complicated with the colouring.

clicking the dropdown menu that says 'master' lets you edit the saturation of each colour individually. this is useful if your gif is still super tinted in one colour.

I thought the yellows on this gif were still slightly too bright, so I switched to the yellow channel and desaturated them slightly. (remember if you do this then you need to go back to selective colour and add more yellow into the red skin tones to balance out the desaturation!)

then I increased the 'master' saturation of all the colours to +5:

I usually find the right amount of saturation is somewhere between +5 and +12, but it depends on the gif.

‼️if the gif feels undersaturated, but the saturation slider isn't helping/is making the colours worse, try a vibrance layer instead.

done!

✨ saving and reusing colouring

you can copy and paste adjustment layers between gifs to make your colouring even across each of your gifs for one scene - so if you're making a set of multiple gifs of the same scene, or you think you might want to gif the same scene again in the future, you can save it as a psd so you can reuse the colouring again later.

each gif's colouring will then still need tweaking - different cameras/angles/shots of the same scene can still start out with slightly different colouring.

I recommend uploading the gifs as a draft post on tumblr so you can see what they all look like next to each other and catch any inconsistencies.

✨ another one! (speedrun!)

HI KEN!

the white point for the curves layer was in the window behind them.

the curves layer removes the muddy yellow tint, but again it makes their skin tones (especially Ken's) very red toned, which is adjusted by the selective colour layer.

3. other adjustment layers

imo many many gifs can be coloured really nicely with just those three adjustment layers, but some need different adjustments.

✨ brightness/contrast

pretty self explanatory!

I personally usually avoid using the 'brightness' slider because I rarely like the effect - I only tend to use the 'contrast' one. 

the 'auto' button is sometimes useful though, especially if you’re struggling with the curves layer.

✨ levels

levels alters the white and black points of the gif, like curves - but unlike curves it doesn't also alter other colours.

use the sliders beneath the graph to alter how dark/light the gif is. you can slide the black slider further to the right to make the blacks darker, and the white slider to the left to make the whites lighter.

levels is a good place to start if your curves layer isn't working.

(I'm going to hit the image limit for this post lol so here are some screenshots of a table I made to demonstrate this rather than actual gifs. sorry!)

on both sides, I dragged the sliders up to where the big jumps are on the graph - this is usually a good place to start!

✨ vibrance

vibrance... makes the colours more vibrant. it's more subtle than saturation.

it's really helpful for gifs that feel grey. sometimes adjusting saturation just makes the greys kind of weirdly tinted, but a vibrance layer can fix that.

vibrance is much more subtle!

✨ colour balance

colour balance affects the overall balance of colours within a gif.

it's good for scenes with heavy tints.

I tend to stick to the 'midtones' dropdown, but you can also alter the colour balance within the shadows and highlights if you want.

✨ channel mixer

I avoided channel mixer for such a long time because it scared me. but it's great for scenes that are very heavily tinted in one colour.

basically, it works with the levels of red, green, and blue within a gif. you select an output colour and then play around with the levels of the colour you selected within each other colour.

kind of the reverse of selective colour?

so in the 'blue' channel, the levels of blue are at 100%, and the levels of red and green are at 0% - but you can impact how much blue is in the reds and greens and blues.

this tutorial explains it well - but imo the best way to get to grips with channel mixer is just to play around with it a bit (sorry)

(when I made this guide for my friend, I also made a slightly more complicated gif colouring walk-through that included using channel mixer. there isn't space to include it within this post, but if anyone is interested I could always upload it as an 'intermediate' gif colouring tutorial - lmk!)

4. troubleshooting

‼️curves

usually with a bit of fucking about a curves layer works well - but sometimes you can’t find a good white and black point anywhere, and instead your gif turns wacky colours and nothing looks good. this happens more often with very heavily colour tinted scenes :(

for example, with this base gif:

using many of the brightest points as a white point turn it wacky colours, like this:

yikes :(

some options for these cases:

try brightening the gif first with the 'auto' button on the curves layer or with a levels layer. having a brighter gif to start with can give you better options for picking a white point.

try finding an alternate, whiter/brighter white point. look for places the light reflects - on this gif, using the light on Porsche's cheekbone works well as the white point. it also helps to find places that would be white if the scene wasn't tinted - the lightest part of a white shirt is often a good place to start, for example.

skip the curves layer, and instead use a levels layer to alter your white/black points, and colour balance or channel mixer to balance the colours.

‼️over/undersaturation

if your gif (especially the skintones) is looking a little washed out or lifeless, it might be undersaturated. boost that saturation - or if that's not working, try a vibrance layer.

oversaturation is often easiest to spot in the mouths and ears of any people in a gif. if the mouths are looking unnaturally, vibrantly red, then you've gone too far with the saturation.

5. fin!

and done! I hope this was coherent helpful to somebody.

if there's anything that I've missed or that doesn't make sense pls feel free to shoot me an ask or a message and I'll do my best to help! I've also collated a bunch of additional reading/resources below.

happy gifmaking 🥰

✨ some links!

photoshop basics by @selenapastel

gifmaking for beginners by @hayaosmiyazaki

gifmaking guide for beginners by @saw-x

dreamy's gif tutorial by @scoupsy-remade (includes instructions on how to blur out burned-on subtitles or annoying video graphics)

beginner's guide to channel mixer by @aubrey-plaza

how to fix orange-washed characters by aubrey-plaza

colour correcting and fixing dark scenes by @kylos

does resampling matter? by usergif

how to put multiple gifs on one canvas by @fictionalheroine

watermarking using actions by @wonwooridul

resource directory by @usergif

#i got a couple of asks about this so i figured i'd type it up as a post #it's been sitting in my drafts for a while now though i'm so sorry omg. #i had to replace my laptop and it took me a while to get round to downloading photoshop on the new one #but i hope this is helpful!! #gif making #tutorial #photoshop tutorial #colouring tutorial #coloring tutorial #gif colouring #gif coloring #photoshop resources #gif tutorial #gif resources #userbunn #uservik #darcey.txt #darcey.gif #usergif

[shittyutmv]

I really thought you gave him furry head here

he is Such a dogboy

#badly drawn utmv #utmv #undertale multiverse #undertale au #cross sans #ok the coloring is pretty gross but look! it's the guy ! wahoo :))! #sorry it took me a while to get to this one uee hee hee #ahhh my artstyle has shifted since. this doesn't look like the same artstyle as the one in the ask. I drew both of these ! ahahaa #-mod maxy #🛼

[spaciebabie]

Where did we go? What did we do? I think we made something...entirely new....

some closeups under cut :)

and here's the first image w/out text :)

im normal. su makes me feel so normal

#su #steven universe #sapphire #ruby #su ruby #su sapphire #sapphire su #ruby su #FUCK FUCK FUCK OHHHGHGH MY GODDD THIS SCENE HAS BEEN IN MY HEAD FOFR DAAAAAAAAYYYYS #GOD HELPPPP OUGOGOHGGHOG #THE FIRST ONE TOOK SO LONG. I SWEAR #THE GROUND WAS SO HARD 😭😭 #SORRY 2 THE PPL I IGNORED WHILE WORKING ON THIS I WAS IN THE ZONE #spacie scribbles #OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH IM #FINALLY DONE #SO PROUD OF THIS TEEBEEACHE #rupphire #THIS SONG IS SO BEAUTIFUL I COULD CRYYYY #GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

[libraryofgage]

Addams Family B-Side (3)

Part of: Steve Deserves Good Parents, Actually Debbie and Fester Addams One | Two | Three (you're here!) Rick and Evelyn O'Connell One | Two (on the way!) Harley Quinn One 10th Doctor and Rose One | Two (on the way!) Scooby Gang (there are plans for this one lmao, so plz be patient with me orz)

Did I already post today? Yes. Did I also post two chapters of Modern Steve in 80s Hawkins today? Yes. I am just incredibly productive today, who knows when it's gonna happen again lol

Anyway, finally! The next B-Side! This bitch has been stewing my guys, so I hope you enjoy it lol

There are two memes at the very end of this one, so definitely stick around

As always, if you see any typos, no you didn't 😘

--------

For four weeks, Eddie feels himself losing his mind. He finds gifts in his locker every other day, and he's convinced they're from Steve Harrington. He now has a taxidermied bat, a fancy-looking vial with a skull and crossbones embossed in the glass and filled with mysterious liquid, an actual human skull that Eddie immediately incorporates into his next campaign, and a spider. An actual spider. A live spider that, after a little research, he learns is a fucking Black Widow that seems unnaturally friendly.

Eddie can't stress that part enough. Multiple people have mistaken the spider for an intricate vest patch because it just sits perfectly still over his chest pocket. It only moves to rub its head against Eddie's fingers whenever his hand passes over it, and even then it's careful to avoid hurting him with its pincers.

He names her Nox.

Those aren't the only gifts he's received, but they're the most notable, and Eddie is overwhelmed and flustered by the positive attention he's suddenly receiving.

The other thing driving him crazy is Pubert Addams, a guy Eddie had never paid much attention to before but now considers his mortal enemy. He's convinced Pubert is, at worst, potentially abusive or, at best, delusional and taking advantage of Steve's kindness and inability to brutally turn him down. Or maybe Eddie is the crazy one; he doesn't actually know. Whichever it is, Eddie is ready to take the very nice dagger he now has (gift number 15; yes, Eddie has been counting) and stab him with it.

Because he can't get more than two minutes alone with Steve before Pubert appears out of nowhere. Eddie runs into Steve in the hall while everyone else is in class? Pubert shows up with a hall pass two seconds later and literally waltzes Steve away from him. Eddie finds Steve camped out in the library during study hall? Pubert materializes in the chair next to Steve before Eddie can sit down, leaning far too close as he asks Steve to explain something from their shared Gothic Literature class. Eddie, by some miracle, is behind Steve in the lunch line (and he calls this a miracle because Steve always brings his lunch in a pink box with black skulls, which Eddie considers incredibly brave of him to carry around like it's nothing)? Before Eddie can do more than say hi and get a blinding smile in return, Pubert fucking Addams shows up and drags Steve away while promising to share his lunch.

Eddie is just about to lose the last shred of patience he's struggling to maintain when Steve finds him. Ironically, it's the same bathroom where they first talked, the one with mysterious mold growing in the corner that Eddie is convinced is some new species. It's the only bathroom with a busted smoke detector, and Eddie goes there to get high during his free period.

He's halfway through a joint, smoke curling around him as he sits on the sink counter and tries not to think about what else has been there, when the door swings open, Steve walks in, and Eddie chokes on his inhale.

"Don't die like this," Steve says, stepping closer and patting Eddie's back like they know each other, "It's no fun."

Eddie finally gets himself under control, taking a deep breath and wincing at the way his lungs burn. "No worries," he croaks out, regretting the departure of Steve's hand on his back. "What are you doing here? Please don't tell me you plan to use this bathroom."

"As curious as I am about the bacteria teeming on these toilet seats, no." Steve sounds genuine, like he really does want to swab the toilet seats and see what grows. Instead, he places his bag on the sink and pulls out a familiar vial with a familiar skull and crossbones. "I just came to drink."

"Oh?" Eddie says, leaning forward with a grin. He looks Steve up and down, taking in the pale blue sweater vest and immaculately pressed jeans. "You don't look the drinking type, Stevie."

Steve hums, popping the cork out of the vial and taking a swig from it. "This isn't exactly hard stuff," he says after he swallows, distracted enough that Eddie thinks he misses his eyes lingering on Steve's throat as it bobs.

"Just beer then?"

"What?" Steve asks, looking at Eddie like he's delusional. "No, it's cyanide and vinegar."

He says it with such conviction that Eddie believes him despite knowing cyanide is poison. "Metal," he says, looking away to take another drag of his joint as he struggles to break through his own awkwardness and hold a conversation that will somehow sweep Steve off his feet and make him forget all about Pubert Addams.

Before he can think of something clever and smooth and funny, Steve leans close and raises a hand to his chest. Eddie is about to warn him that Nox is, in fact, real when the spider scuttles onto Steve's fingers and settles in his palm. She does a little up-and-down motion, circles in his hand twice, and rubs her head against his wrist. "You've been taking good care of her," Steve says.

"Uh, yeah. How is she not biting you right now?" Eddie asks, remembering all the times Nox has warningly snapped at others who tried to touch her.

Steve snorts and allows Nox to return to her spot on Eddie's vest. "I raised her," he says, his tone casual like he isn't admitting to showering Eddie with inexplicable gifts for the past four weeks, "of course, she won't bite me."

"So, it has been you," Eddie replies, wanting to hear it from Steve himself.

With a soft hum, Steve takes another sip from his bottle. "Who else would it have been?"

Eddie licks his lips, takes another drag of his joint to brace himself, and hops off the counter. "So, uh, does that mean you li--"

Before the rest of the question can be asked, the bathroom door swings open again, and Eddie feels his eye twitch as Pubert Addams frowns at them. "So, this is where you were," he says, walking over to Steve and putting an arm around his shoulders.

"I told you I was going to the bathroom," Steve says, rolling his eyes as he stuffs the vial back into his bag.

Pubert looks Eddie over, a derisive huff escaping him as he dismisses Eddie and looks at Steve. "On the other side of the school? Really?" he asks, and Eddie would be overthinking what that means if he weren't sure his veins were about to burst.

"We were talking, you know," Eddie says, gaining Pubert's attention again. Steve looks at him, too, his eyes a little brighter.

"I'm sure," Pubert replies, rolling his eyes as he takes Steve's bag. "And now we're leaving." With that, he leads Steve out of the bathroom, the door swinging shut before Steve can do more than smile apologetically and wave.

Anger surges through Eddie, and the shaky drag he takes to finish off his joint does absolutely nothing to soothe it.

He's going to kill Pubert Addams.

--------

Funnily enough, Steve's mother doesn't learn about his crush until he's five weeks into it. When Debbie finally does discover the crush, it's because she walks in on Fester and Steve decorating homemade cookies shaped like anatomically correct hearts. She pauses in the doorway, looking between the two covered in flour and raspberry jam, and asks, "What on earth is going on here?"

Steve looks up, sees this as his chance to finally tell Debbie, and smiles brightly at her. "I'm in love, Mother. He's allergic to raspberry, and Father agreed to help me make him cookies with raspberry filling, so he can feel the same breathlessness I do when I see him," he explains, using his thumb to wipe raspberry jam off his cheek.

Debbie stares at him for a few seconds before looking at Fester. "How long have you known?" she asks.

"Five weeks," Fester admits, looking apologetic. "I wanted to tell you, Pumpkin! But Steve asked me not to so he could tell you himself."

She sighs and walks over to the island, sitting on the edge of a stool and taking one of the cookies for herself. She bites off a pulmonary vein, looking thoughtful as she chews. "I must admit, these are damn good cookies," she finally says, taking one more bite before passing it to Fester to finish. "Tell me about him."

And Steve does. He gushes about Eddie for a solid hour without taking a single breath, spilling everything he's seen Eddie do and how he's reacted to all of Steve's gifts and how he gets so obviously jealous when Pubert butts into their conversations. He tells Debbie about Eddie not screaming when he saw Nox, about him selling drugs, and about his interest in music. Steve laments his hair but eagerly describes the treatment routine he already has in mind.

By the time he's done, the cookies are decorated and his mother's expression has grown a little pained. "Steve, darling, come with me," she says, getting up from the chair and leading him out of the kitchen while Fester starts to clean up.

Steve waits until Debbie has brought him to her spare room to ask, "Did I do something wrong?"

"Well, did you remember my rules about crushes?"

"Yeah. I've talked to him a lot."

Debbie smiles and brings Steve over to the bed, sitting him down and straightening his hair before perching next to him. "Then, you're not in trouble, but you've been going about this all wrong, dear."

"Should I tell Pubert to stop making Eddie jealous?"

"Absolutely not," Debbie says, shaking her head firmly. "In fact, he could try harder. Nothing gets to a man like someone he can't have, especially if he thinks they're in distress."

Steve blinks, frowning slightly as he tries to figure out where, exactly, he's gone wrong. Eddie seems perfectly enamored with him, after all, and Pubert's goading is encouraging his affections, which is the only reason Steve has allowed it to continue. "Did I give him a live spider too soon?" Steve asks, figuring that's the problem here.

"No, that's not...," Debbie trails off, mutters something about Fester being an idiot, and clears her throat. "Steve, your father is the last person you should approach for love advice."

"But...you agreed to marry him, so he must have done something right," Steve says.

Debbie barks a laugh, waving her hand dismissively. "I married your father for his money. I attempted to kill his entire family and only stopped when he promised to give me everything I asked for. I would hardly call him a casanova."

Steve nods along, smiling a little as she speaks. He's heard their great love affair many times, but he doesn't get tired of it. "But you actually love him anyway, right? Father says it's because he showered you with gifts. So, that's what I'm doing."

"I...do love your father," Debbie admits, sighing as though she doesn't know how that happened either. "But it's less because of his gifts and more because...he gave me the devotion I wanted. Anyway, if you learn anything from us, it should be that love comes second."

"What comes first?"

Debbie smiles, the expression positively devious, and Steve can't help returning it. "Obsession," she says, her shoulders rolling back some as pride fills her. "Occupy his every waking thought. Make yourself irresistible. Make him dream of you at night. Overwhelm him with desire until he simply must act on it."

"Oh," Steve says, thinking of how his father acts around Debbie and realizing that obsession never quite went away. But it's worked out well for them, and he knows his mother has experience with luring men into her arms. He nods once and asks, "So, what should I do?"

"I'm so glad you asked," Debbie says, her smile bright and her eyes filled with excitement. "You'll have Eddie falling to his knees before you in no time."

--------

Eddie didn't think it could get worse. He was already attracted to Steve, already distracted by every little movement.

He was wrong. So incredibly wrong.

Because here he is, his mouth dry and his palms sweaty and his cheeks warm because of Steve. He's not even doing anything. Well, that's not true. Steve is curling his tongue around a lollipop before sucking it into his mouth like he'll die without it. But it's more than that. It's the painted-on jeans that hug his legs; it's the pastel pink hoodie (with little bats on the cuffs) that rides up whenever Steve moves to show off a strip of skin just above his waistband; it's the way he finishes the lollipop and pulls out lipgloss, casually telling Pubert it's raspberry flavored as he puts it on.

Eddie swallows around the dryness in his mouth, gripping his locker door so tight that his knuckles turn white as he looks inside it. Sitting innocently on top of everything is a Tupperware container of cookies with raspberry filling (according to the label), and Eddie is ready to eat one just so he can die knowing what Steve's lips taste like.

That's not even the worst of it. The worst is that Steve transfers into Eddie's Music Theory class, smiling innocently while the teacher introduces him and then directs him to sit at the empty desk next to Eddie. When he's close, Eddie realizes Steve smells like cookies and cream ice cream, and he's tempted to ask if Steve smells like his favorite flavor on purpose.

The teacher saves him from the embarrassment of blurting out the question by announcing a project. The teacher then dooms him by telling everyone they're required to work with their desk neighbor. Eddie grips his pen tightly when the teacher tells them to spend the rest of their class time discussing the project.

"So," Steve says, getting Eddie's attention. When he looks over, Steve is leaning forward on his desk, chin propped in his hand as he looks at Eddie. "Want to come over to my place after school? To work on the project, I mean."

Eddie stares at Steve for a few seconds, his tongue stuck in his throat. To his credit, Steve doesn't say anything or call Eddie out for staring at him. He just waits patiently with a little smile curling his lips. Eddie finally clears his throat, his voice coming out a little strained when he says, "Yeah, sure, sounds good. After school. Your place. Project."

Smooth. Real smooth.

When Steve just smiles wider and stretches his arms above his head, pulling his hoodie up, while suggesting they do the project on the evolution of heavy metal music, Eddie realizes he's probably going to die after school.

He can't wait.

-------

Tag List (I think there's still room for a few more people ^_^)

@estrellami-1, @itsall-taken, @mugloversonly, @fandomcartographer, @hippielittlemetalhead, @agree2disagre-kicks, @ledleaf, @just-a-tiny-void, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @ink1177, @maya-custodios-dionach, @littlebluejane, @steddieonbigboy, @ravenpainter, @read-write-thrive, @deadontheinside20, @yeahhhh-suga, @nectandra, @mogami13, @mx-jinxous, @thoughtfulbreadpolice, @anne-bennett-cosplayer, @xoxoladyclara

@zaddipax, @dycte, @breealtair, @geekymagicalpotato, @janea-grill, @juliasthename-adhdismygame, @yikes-a-bee, @wayward-people, @st-fics, @disrespectedgoatman, @bipusssy, @cottagecorebutnaturescaresme, @nightowl14028018, @that-binchh, @your-confused-friend, @irethsune, @goosesister, @strawberryyyenthusiast, @irregular-child, @theverywest

And, finally, a two-for-one meme special because I couldn't decide which was funnier:

#steddie #steddie fic #addams family b side #addams! steve harrington #steve harrington #eddie munson #pubert addams #fester addams #debbie jellinsky #steve deserves good parents actually #my writing #sorry it's been so long the inspiration took a while to hit for this one hfdjks

[zecoritheweirdone]

hehehehehhooo,, decided to draw some hermits as the mystery skulls animated gang!! why? uhhh mostly just 'cause.

special thanks to the ibaaf server for helping me pick the roles! gem is vivi,, false is arthur,, pearl is lewis,, and etho is mystery!!

better pic of pearl under the cut, where you can how lazy i am,,ms ksmsksjs

#my art #hermitcraft #mystery skulls animated #falsesymmetry #geminitay #ethoslab #pearlescentmoon #falsesymmetry fanart #geminitay fanart #ethoslab fanart #pearlecentmoon fanart #this wasn't supposed to have this much effort put into it. and then it took five hours. #chose etho's role first cuz i really like the kitsune etho headcanon #(yes his collar has a maple leaf on it) #and the lil deadbeats are a bunch of lil tillys!! #we also gave roles to some of the other characters. bdubs is shiromori and cub is reverb/???/possession guy #sorry guys; you're antagonists now 😔 #actually i don't think cub would mind this #also i refuse to think any harder about what bdubs being shiromori means. they're both plants okay. #it was either this or joel #or that one sock monster guy from season six #joe and cleo are duet and chloe respectively. joe as duet fits. cleo as chloe does not but also no one else really fits chloe anyway so idc #no more wanting an undead boyfriend.... THEY are the undead boyfriend now. #i think we had uncle lance as iskall??? still not too sure #they both have beards tho. that's something #oh!! also rendog is galaham bc i said so. #anyway. please watch msa it's so so good. #(or watch hermitcraft if you haven't already. a new season started a while back it's the perfect time to join) #not sure if i'll draw more of this;; this is less an au and more just me being silly #but i hope y'all like it regardless!!