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#i wrote this because i was putting off drawing the art that i was doing to put off writing another fic
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“That One Hairstyle? RETIRE IT!” Black Hair is an Art (pt.1)
(This is part one of two lessons, with this one focusing on how our hair itself! The next lesson will encompass how to incorporate its existence into your writing. It'd be a massively long post otherwise.)
So! Black hair. Black hair is a CENTRAL, ESSENTIAL part of our culture and identity. Writing and drawing it means understanding the vulnerability and trust that comes with access to it, and yes, it is racist to suggest that ‘it’s just hair’ when our hair serves such an important role in our history and art. I already wrote a mini-lesson and ask on the topic, but being aware of what our hair looks like, and what means to us, will help you to understand why we care that you put in the effort to get it right.
Hair Textures
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We are not a genetic monolith! However, for the sake of this series, we are focusing on 3C-4C, because 1) it's most likely to be seen in life and 2) least likely to be seen in popular art! When you are creating your characters, consider the style and care for THESE textures. I will get more into this next lesson.
Let's get into SOME of the hairstyles!
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Afros (36 Afro Hairstyles)
“So, what’s the phenomenon behind the Afro? Well, it’s our hair in its most natural form, but that’s only part of the phenomenon. It’s a way to fight the status quo without saying a word.”
-Ebony Magazine, The History of the Afro
When nonBlack society hears ‘afro’, they think completely picked out, Black power imagery, political statement. And it was, and is! But in actuality, afros are just the natural hair growing out of a Black person's head. The same way your hair grows out of your head. Our texture. Even my hair is not allowed to be ‘hair’, it has to ‘assign’ my Blackness; my distance from whiteness. Imagine, the hair growing out of your head being automatically associated with how you should be perceived. Just by existing, it is making a statement in a Eurocentric society.
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Braids (31 Braid Styles)
There are SO MANY TYPES of braids and ways to wear them. If you can imagine a design, I bet there's a Black braider that can do it!
CORNROWS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY BRAIDS! Internalize this! They may be used in the same style, but they are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS!
Braids are considered a protective style; that is, a hairstyle designed to let our hair 'rest' and grow without having to manipulate it. If you have a Black character that's constantly on the go and/or doesn't have time to focus on their hair, and you want an accurate, more true-to-life experience for them, braids can be a crucial part of character design.
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Locs
(Yes, while that link has plenty of examples, it was also self-indulgent. Locs are gorgeous, Black men with locs are gorgeous!)
"Locs vs Dreads": As someone in the loc community, there’s been a push to refer to the style as ‘locs’, rather than ‘dreadlocks’. Some people with the style will not care, but others take it very seriously, so it’s something to keep in mind. There’s a societal stigma behind having locs, that they’re ‘dirty’ or ‘unkempt’ or ‘lazy’ and that is NOT true. Locs are beautiful, and they take far more effort than people seem to want to believe lmao.
Locs, though there is currently a positive revival, are still highly discriminated against. Kids have been expelled from school and even have had their hair forcibly cut off to be allowed to participate in sports. Many places won't hire you if they think your hair is 'unprofessional' or 'dirty', especially if you're a Black woman. To consider yet another example of the hair that grows out of my head 'dirty' is extremely racist.
LOCS ARE NOT BRAIDS!!!!
Locs are also a protective style, albeit a much more permanent one, and one that comes with a long history and culture behind it. Many Black people consider the biblical story of Samson to be a man with locs, and that our locs hold power within them. That not just anyone should be allowed to touch your locs. So, if you're interested in mythology and powers, that might be an intriguing way to go, that would be possible if you had a Black character with locs!
In Professional Media
The lack of awareness and concern about our hair isn't just a fan or amateur creator experience. It is ubiquitous in the professional media world. Black actors, actresses, and models have discussed having to do their own hair when working, because no one would properly care for it on set if it wasn't familiarly white. It’s admittedly grown better- however! After decades of not having options other than ‘stereotypical afro’, ‘box cut’, and ‘white people hair’, it is LONG PAST TIME to stop settling for the bare minimum in Black character design. We can tell when "one of us" (with some sense, at least) wasn't in the room to make decisions in popular media.
If you were curious about the lesson title, here's a current example of what I'm talking about in video games. Tell me if you see a pattern:
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This style? The Killmonger? We seent it!!!! It has become the “hairstyle to show I understand the exaggerated swagger of a young Black teen” option, the "I know the Black people!" go-to, and frankly, we are all tired of it. Okay it was cute on Ekko. The Black Delegation DEMANDS the professional video game industry pick something else! We have SO MANY DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLES!
I'll give you an example on the other end (not trying at all; refer to Lesson 1) from one of my favorite games, Hades:
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This is my blorbo. My favoritest guy. I’ll fight for Patroclus being Black til the day I die. While I begrudgingly settled in my excitement, I can tell you no one Black with any voting power was in the room at Supergiant when they approved this design. Why? His texture! Locs were such an easy option if they wanted long hair! Locs existed BEFORE Ancient Greece! The man did not have a flat iron while fighting in a war! A good Black designer would have considered that!
To give him a more accurate design, some artists (myself included) lean into giving him locs (one of my favorites is @karshmallow 's Pat; a phenomenal example in caring about your Black characters). It’s something Black fans find themselves doing- redesigning Black characters. That's not something we should have to do at all, especially in media we pay for!
But if you REALLY want your Black character to have straight hair, that leads into the last style of this lesson:
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Straight Hair
We do have straight hair. But it’s not straight because it grew out that way! It will still look and be thicker! It might be a wig or a sew-in (human or synthetic), it might be flat-ironed (while relaxed? While natural?) It takes effort to get and maintain straight hair.
'I think it looks better good this way!'
If you catch yourself thinking this, this is a racist statement. Whether you’re aware of it our not, there is a bias towards Eurocentric/white features in our society, and that includes in our media. When you think “I only drew [this Eurocentric hair texture and style] because I think it looks good on them!” I want you to PAUSE and think about the WHY. WHY do you think that this Black person’s natural features are unattractive in comparison to the white hair texture you gave them? And how hurt might a Black peer of yours would feel hearing that you find their natural features not worth drawing because they’re “not attractive”. It requires approaching your own internal biases, recognizing them, and then working to unlearn them. And that means practice! Using references to draw our hair and styles, and growing used to using OUR features on US!
Doing it in Art
Me personally, I think if you think drawing thinner hair textures is easy, thicker hair textures should be a BREEZE. I was curious, so I challenged myself and-
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(it took me about thirteen minutes total to do ol boy's hair and it's still not right. I'm sick fr y'all don't even know 🤢)
@ackee has a really good art lesson on the how-tos of drawing Black hairstyles. I highly recommend checking it out, as well as following and supporting a fellow Black artist (who is far better than I!)
Hair Brushes
Finally, an option you can use for painting is downloading Black hair brushes! Vegalia has an amazing array of brushes with different types of curls, locs, and braids at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on social media to see how she applies them, and support yet another amazing Black creative!
I know this was a long one, but you made it! Just keep going. Remember, it's the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!
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strangersmunsons · 4 months
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Eddie, My Love! eddie munson x reader // valentine's day special series Day 5 Prompt: Love Notes 💌 ~ 2,300 words Eddie writes you an anonymous love note. it doesn't go according to plan.
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Dear ____
I hope you’re not too weirded out by this. To be perfectly honest with you, it seemed like a really good idea when I saw this pink paper in the art room and swiped it, but now I’m not so sure…
Ah, fuck it. We’ve made it this far, haven’t we? The pen has been put to paper — I might as well nut up and finish the job.
I really like you. I think about you all the time.
You don’t know me, but we had a class together two years ago. And on the first day, when I was still fresh off a jilt by a different girl, you came in and sat down. I didn’t think much of anything at first; you were just another body in the classroom, and I was wallowing in self-pity, nursing my metaphorical wounds. But as the minutes passed, I found myself glancing over at you — at first just once, then again, and then again, and then I was staring, and all I could think was: she’s really beautiful. And then I couldn’t stop looking.
Day after day I’d watch you in class and in the hallways and anywhere else you and I happened to be occupying the same space. I still do. There’s just something about you that keeps drawing me in. You seem so genuinely good and kind, like you would never hurt anybody, not even a guy like me. But I still can’t bring myself to approach you, because I look at you, and then I look at myself, and I feel like I don’t deserve to be loved that way, by someone as perfect as you. I can’t take the leap no matter how badly I want it.
I have dreams about you. I dream about what it would feel like to hold your hand, to put my arms around you, and to feel yours around me. If my subconscious is feeling particularly indulgent, I might get a kiss. But mostly in these dreams we just exist together, which feels like the most unattainable fantasy of them all. They’re the sweetest dreams to have but the worst to wake up from. 
I’m not sure why I’m confessing this all to you now. Everyone else is sending each other candy grams and roses; I suppose it means I’m not as immune to this Hallmark-conspired holiday as I thought. If nothing else, I hope this gives you at least an inkling of how wonderful you are, in case you ever had any doubts. You’re a sweet girl. Anybody would be really lucky to be with you. Especially me.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Deliberately omitting his signature, Eddie sets his pen down and stares at the paper in front of him, rereading the fucking novel he just wrote you.
See, now this is far too much. 
Cheeks violently red, he slumps over the table in embarrassment. God, he sounds like such a serial killer! He can’t give this to you, no way. Even if it is anonymous.
…can he?
On one hand, you might find it touching. On the other hand, you might find it both disturbing and grossly predative. 
If it’s truly any one thing, it’s honest — Eddie has spent the past two and half years being completely and utterly infatuated with you. He’d call it love, if he’d ever said a single word to you. But instead he’s camped out here in the library during his lunch period, spilling his guts out all over this cotton-candy pink paper, with no intention of revealing his identity. 
He sighs, and with nimble fingers, folds the paper into a shape that resembles a heart. Tucking the love note into the pocket of his vest, he wrenches himself away from the table and stalks out of the library. His expression is sour; to the outward observer, he looks mightily pissed off, although what he’s really  experiencing is a fierce combination of ambivalence and humiliation towards his own actions. You’d never guess that his heart is thumping wildly against his chest as he speeds through the empty hallways, getting closer and closer to your locker, still uncertain of what he’s going to do when he actually gets there.
But he knows that if he’s going to do something, he needs to do it now, because lunch will be over in mere minutes, and then everyone will start pouring out of the cafeteria.
133…134…135…there it is.
Eddie stares at your locker as though in a trance. He fishes the note from his pocket and simply clutches it in his fist, mind racing.
Can I? Should I? If she’s disgusted she won’t know it’s me. No. No. Maybe I shouldn’t. Bad idea. BAD. Or maybe…I should…
“Whatcha got there, freak?”
A beefy arm shoves him violently from behind, knocking him to the ground. His fingers automatically close around the note, instant panic setting all his nerve endings on fire.
No. Oh God, no. 
He quickly tries to haul himself back to his feet, but he’s outnumbered. Two jocks pin him to the ground by his arms, thwarting any desperate punches he might have swung. A third yanks the note from his hand, smoothing out the meticulously-folded paper he’d poured his soul onto. 
There’s a roaring in his ears, but it’s not enough to completely drown out the bell ringing in the distance. Then the student voices start floating down the hallway, alerting Eddie to the fact that, not only is he about to suffer greatly at the hands of these meatheads, but he’s unfortunately also going to have an audience when it happens.
The third jock holding the note reads it silently, a slow, evil grin splitting across his face. He starts howling with laughter. “Shit, Munson! I mean, I figured you’d be desperate for pussy, but this? This is a whole new level of pathetic.”
“Give it back!” Eddie snarls, desperately trying to free himself. 
The third jock doubles over, cackling, then reads aloud in a nasally, mocking voice, “I have dreams about you…”
One of the goons pinning Eddie down snorts, and loosens his grip. “Hold up, I wanna read it —” 
Eddie, sensing his chance, breaks out of their grasp, and makes a move to snatch his note back. Before he can, the third jock crumples it into a ball and tosses it over his head to one of his friends; Eddie makes a wild grab for it, and misses.
High school students start to trickle in, drawn to a fight like flies to honey, crowding at the edges of the scene. 
The four boys play a game of Eddie-in-the-middle, the onlookers puzzled but intrigued, watching the mysterious paper whiz back and forth through the air. Growing angrier by the second, fed up with the childish antics, Eddie finally stops trying to catch the note. Instead, he cocks his fist back and lets it smash into the third jock’s nose.
There’s a collective “oooh!” from the mass of students. Eddie and the jock scuffle, both now determined to fuck the other one up as badly as possible. One goon steps in to help his friend, while the other scoops the wadded-up paper off the floor, so he can finally skim the content of Eddie’s heart for himself.
And then suddenly, the most devastating thing of all: the asshole is hollering your name over the din.
For the first time ever, Eddie finds himself hoping that the bully he’s fighting actually kills him. Because death would be better than this.
“Where’s she at? She’s gotta hear this — hey, guess what! The freak is in love with you!”
Eddie wheels around in horror. The other goon grabs him from behind, rendering him motionless again, but it barely registers. The crowd has parted like the Red Sea, everyone stepping aside to make a clear path for you to walk through. You approach nervously, looking completely bewildered as to why you’re being summoned. Eddie wishes that the floor would open up and swallow him whole.
The goon thrusts the paper out to you. “Looks like you’ve got a secret admirer,” he sneers.
“More like a stalker,” the third jock interjects, voice thick from his swollen nose. He steps in front of Eddie and gives him a bloody smile, flexing his hand menacingly. “Hold his face steady for me, would ya?”
“Stop it!” you shriek suddenly, snatching the paper without bothering to look at it. “You’re such assholes!”
“That’s ENOUGH!”
Principal Higgins has finally decided to do his job, it seems. He marches through the crowd — “Get to class, all of you!” — and pulls the two boys apart. 
“My office. Now.”
He corrals the four boys down the hallway, towards the office, as the other students scatter about, flushed with excitement. None of them cast a backwards glance at you, head bent, reading the crumpled note with a furrowed brow.
~
An hour later and Eddie’s finally trudging his way through the parking lot.
He’s been sentenced to three days’ suspension. The guy he clocked made it out with one after-school detention, which he’ll most likely get out of due to basketball obligations, and the other two got off scot-free. Principal Higgins’s reasoning was that Eddie, because he’s the only one who did any ‘real’ damage, should get the worst punishment.
Sure, he threw the hardest punch. But the idea that any of those three are suffering worse than he is right now is downright laughable.
The hot, bitter embarrassment of it all is making his skin itch. There’s a lump in his throat; he can feel the start of angry tears prickling in his eyes. He sucks in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he starts driving — the last thing he needs right now is an excuse for one of Hawkins’ finest to pull him over. God knows how much they love doing that.
“Eddie!”
He doesn’t turn around, rage and shame making him want to disappear. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now, or ever again, probably.
“Eddie! Wait!” 
A light hand caresses his back, then curls around his bicep. He whips around, already on the defensive; you flinch backwards at his aggressive stance.
As soon as he sees that it’s you, all the tension in his body dissipates. His eyes widen and his lips part in shock; his skin becomes dead-white, then bright red in the span of about four seconds.
“I’m sorry,” the words tumble out of his mouth. “For the note — for everything. You weren’t supposed to know it was me.” He stares down at his feet, unable to look at you. 
“Did you really mean it? All that stuff you said?”
Eddie shifts his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. “Well…yeah.” He rubs his clammy forehead with his hand in distress, heart rate spiking again. “I’m sorry, you probably think I’m the biggest fucking creep, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to give it to you —”
“I don’t think you’re a creep.”
Eddie falls silent. His eyes finally flit up to meet yours, and he’s surprised to find that you don’t look…angry. Or repulsed, or even annoyed. Your gaze is soft, the corners of your mouth pulled slightly down in a worried frown. You look concerned. 
Is that for him?
“You swear you weren’t playing a joke on me?” you ask.
Eddie starts, taken aback. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do something like that to you, ever. Or anyone else, for that matter.”
You nod slowly, seeming to believe him. You swing your backpack off your shoulder so you can unzip the front pocket, and pull the dreaded love note from inside. Eyes roaming the paper once more, a small smile appears on your lips. “This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me.” Then your expression turns more serious, and there’s a slight tremble in your voice. “And I’m so sorry that those jerks did that to you. That was terrible. But you don’t have to be embarrassed about me reading it. I love the note. Thank you for writing it.”
He can scarcely believe this conversation is happening. He’s thought about you standing in front of him like this for years — imagined what it would be like to have you look at him and really see him, the way you do right now. Now that he’s living it, it’s almost too much for him to handle.
You hesitate, like you’re unsure of what to say next. “Um, to be honest, I didn’t think you even knew who I was.”
“How could I not?” he says dazedly. The notion that he might not know who you are is absurd to him.
You shyly avert your eyes, like you’re overwhelmed by the praise. Pressing on, you tell him, “You did get one thing wrong, though.”
Eddie cocks his head to the side, waiting for you to elaborate.
“I’m not perfect — certainly not too perfect for you to come and talk to, or — or ask out. I think you’re a good guy.”
Is there air left in his lungs? It doesn’t feel like it. “Oh,” he manages faintly. He’s too scared to say anything else, that a single incorrect word will break this spell.
You give him a gentle smile. “So…are you busy right now?”
Eddie hides his shaking hand behind his back, blushing furiously. “No, I’m not busy right now. Actually, um, I’m not even allowed back here for the next three days, so…yeah, I’m — I’m pretty open.”
You nudge his arm playfully. “Do you wanna go do something?”
Even through his leather jacket the contact makes his skin tingle. “Yes!” he practically shouts, then lowers his volume. “Sorry. I mean, you read my note. So you understand that this is kind of a big deal for me.”
You laugh, and not unkindly. 
“Well, let’s get going then. We have a lot of time to make up for.”
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thank you for reading!! xoxo Valentine's Day Special Masterlist
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eyrieofsynapses · 5 months
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why Aurora's art is genius
It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.
And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.
I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.
SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???
All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3
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I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!
Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.
Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.
THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)
Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:
Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image?��FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:
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Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.
I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.
If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!
Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:
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Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.
A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):
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(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)
The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—
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—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.
(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)
Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!
One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!
And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—
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—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)
Additionally, the misting here:
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We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.
A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).
Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):
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First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:
The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.
The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.
The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.
A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:
The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)
The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart
The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand
The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)
I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.
Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:
Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.
Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)
And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.
Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.
Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):
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It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:
Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.
And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.
One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.
A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.
Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?
Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):
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The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:
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What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P
Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):
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They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.
Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.
And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3
...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.
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yuri-is-online · 4 days
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Jade falling in love for the first time and being an absolute loser simp about it.
Yuu lives in his head and fantasies rent free; he can't get enough of them. He wrote about them in his diary (one with a lock on it because floyd likes to snoop). He needs them so bad. It's like that one meme where the girl is like "I need him in a way that's concerning to feminism". He's so desperate someone help him.
Bro has innocent little fantasies of them together, like Yuu waking up beside him and peppering his face in sweet little kisses while he tries to hold them closer and convince them to stay in bed for 5 more minutes (it never really does just end up being 5 minutes though), and then his thoughts just take a sharp turn and what was a sweet little daydream has turned into thoughts of him softly and sleepily fucking Yuu into his mattress. He didn't get to go back to sleep but he's not complaining about it if this is the cost he's paying. The world us cold and hard but you're soft and warm and if fantasies are the closest he's getting to that peace then so be it
He is one jealous eel (he is in deep denial about this but us slowly starting to realize just how far deep into this he us and he really doesn't want to acknowledge that), and he get the most jealous over the most innocent shit too. One day he sees Yuu and Epel talking in a language he doesn't recognize and he's like ???, and it turns out it's their native language but it doesn't exist here so he can't learn it dammit. He sees them struggling to do something and look around the library for help, skipping right over him and asking Ace ir Deuce for help. They've even picked Leona for help before him! Seriously he is RIGHT HERE! what can any of them do for Yuu that he can't?!
Jade has to be careful with his merform around them. Partially because everytime Yuu walks into the room his body suddenly decides to cosplay a laser rave, but also because he's been overthinking shit recently. Yuu is a human, painfully so. They're expecting a human courtship and a human marriage and a human family and a human life and. He can't give that to them. Not unless he stays on land forever, which he might be able to do, but realistically he wouldn't want to. So that leaves Yuu coming to the coral sea where it's cold and dark and he just can't see Yuu doing something like that (he's wrong you've wanted to be a mermaid ever since your cousin made you watch H2O when you were like 7), so now he just trys to be as human as possible around you so he doesn't scare you off.
Also there's the fact that every time spring transitions into summer and he's stuck in his merfirm for the next week and a half and now you really can't see him like this because if he sees you then you're going to be dragged into the water so fast with an 12 foot long eel wrapped around you while he desperately tries to stop himself from being too desperate and start rutting against you and- Oh great seven he's so sorry-
Oh, you like that? Your bringing his face to your neck and fuck you smell so nice and he's biting down and tearing your clothes apart with his claws before he knows what's going on and your legs are wrapping around his tail and-
... Grotto. Where's the grotto he had picked out? He was just in it where is it?
Jade asks you for art supplies in one of his birthday lines so he can draw while he hikes. His "diary" is something Floyd took an interest in once upon a time until he saw it full of mushrooms, rocks, and mountains. Jade still puts a lock on it because he finds it funny looking, but there's more than just mushrooms in there now. Need he's not merely in love he's in need of you and it's affecting his ability to function.
If he wakes up alone in his dreams he will find you in the kitchen, trying to hurry up and make your tea so you can so you can surprise him for once. It never works as he's able to trap you against the counter and breathe down your neck, winding himself around you as you laugh the pure music that he thinks your laugh would sound like as he presses into you so you can feel how much he wanted to to be next to you this morning. How troublesome that he had to go find you and draw out his suffering, not to fret. He loves you so, there's no reason to worry that he won't be gentle with how he lowers you down onto the counter, he'll still prepare you softly but he won't be slow in how he takes you-
He's slow to return to wakefulness, he doesn't mind the cold because it makes him feel at home but he does not like being alone. Loving you is a lot like losing you because he becomes so aware of how he is alone. Jade sees himself as a good person to ask for help, he does not think he is wrong in his benevolence but perhaps that's exactly the problem. Perhaps you know what trifling thing he is working towards obtaining and find him unworthy, Epel can speak to you in ways he can't (to ask you to teach him your speech is an option of course but he knows it's too intimate a thing to ask of you now), those fools found you first and treasured you when he made the awful, idiotic mistake of thinking you boring so of course you would see him in the same way. Of course you would feel safer asking things of Leona, he's the one who saved you while Jade was helping Azul drown you and it's not like he did much to make you see him when you stumbled into the Lounge running away from Jamil. You asked Leona for help, you came to them by accident, and Floyd was the one who got to carry you. Something he definitely didn't make fun of him of him for being jealous about. "Ya got to wake your mate up and see what they looked like sleepin' wasn't that nice?" Oh how he hard he wanted to punch his brother for that. So he did. It made him feel much better.
It takes time but he manages to weave his way into your orbit. He gets to see more of you, and he feels conflicted. The octotrio has gotten to see a lot of humanity, and they feel like they have enough of a grasp on them to conduct their business. That's something that certainly contributed to his thinking of you as boring of course but well. The more he sees of you now the more he realizes how little he really knows about humanity and the surface, he might not see the appeal of the surface world but he sees the appeal of you. Still he knows he wouldn't be happy if he stayed on it forever, how could he possibly ask the same of you? There's barely any sunlight under the water and humans need that to survive... he's done his research on corners of the internet he would have just laughed at before he fell for you and he knows what they say. That humans and merfolk only seldom stay together in the way that he wants, that they find his sort of merfolk to be terrifying. It can't help that he was your enemy at first can it...
I sort of like the idea that Yuu's interest in the less than human looking boys would be considered weird. The concept of a monsterfucker isn't foreign exactly but a monster-marry-and-raise-a-family-er is. There is a difference between a relationship and a sexual fantasy and Yuu sees no reason they can't have both, to the chagrin of damn near everyone around them. So it makes you sad to see him hide himself away from you and wonder why he hates his own beauty so much. He keeps his teeth from you, tries to hide his merform too and you just don't understand why. His bioluminescence takes your breath away and fills you with such soft stirrings of attraction you cry into your pillows and write 10 more pages about how desperately you want to drown yourself for just one chance with him! But he's running away from you and now Azul tells you he's going to be out of commission for a solid week with a sigh that you know is theatrical but still worries you. So you confront Jade about it and he seems almost sick, unable to control his transformation as he displays for you winding around the bubble that keeps you breathing outside of Octavinelle's dorm. The lights take your breath away long before he breeches the bubble to press up against you and moans somewhere deep into his throat letting his instincts guide him for just a few blissful seconds before he flops back with a stammer because oh no, not like this never like this please forgive him and run back to-
He's not expecting to be pulled back, you look as hungry as he feels as you guide him to your neck and whine something about how you need him when he's the one supposed to be saying that and scream in radiant joy when he bites. You are trying to wrap around him, to grind into him, babbling in frustration trying to scratch at his shoulders for a grip so you can wind your legs tighter around him-
He pushes the bubble away from the entrance and steers it haphazardly back, there's a place for this. Safe, secluded, and warm he made sure to pick one where a bit of sunlight could still reach the sandy floors and fuel you as he finally takes what you were always willing to give. Slowly and softly until he has you relaxed into his trap and then oh so gently for all the time after.
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emelinstriker · 6 months
Text
Soundwave & Shockwave ♡ Be More Expressive
Second X Reader one-shot to be dropped. And guess who's just been told that her wisdom teeth need to be extracted. Fuck. :D
[TL;DR] You have stickers and art supplies. And two lovely victims.
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♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡
"There is nothing logical about what you are doing."
"Shush'up, Shocky- I'll have you know I'm great at drawing!" You sassily stated as you continued working on a little doodle on his shoulder pad. You drew it right in your science lover's field of view so he would also remember you were there. However, your body was in front of the drawing to make it a bit of a surprise. So for the last few minutes Shockwave was only able to stare at your butt. Not bad of a sight in his point of view (literally), but he was still curious.
"That's not what I was referring to."
"I know, I know... But then you'll have something that reminds you of our relationship! No worries, it's easy to wash off if you don't like the drawing in the end." The cyclops ex-vented, deeming your response as logical enough to please him.
"And... tadaaa! What do you think?" You moved aside so Shockwave could have a proper look at what you did to his shoulder pad.
You drew an adorable little piece of his and Soundwave's helms, as well as your head surrounded by a heart. Shockwave actually felt a little flattered by your artwork, and yet he decided to play off what he actually felt.
"It looks logical", he commented. You pouted at his response. Again, he found your human way of expressing yourself interesting.
"Be more expressive, damn'it!" Suddenly your gaze locked onto your little bag filled with your art supplies... including stickers and sticky notes. You had a grin on your face as you pulled out a package of stickers and took out a few. Once you had a few sticking to your hand, you turned to give your Conjunx a bright smile before leaning down and lightly slapping random colorful stickers all over his chassis. If Shockwave had a faceplate instead of one optic, he probably would've given you a confused pokerface mixed with internal screaming. But here he was, simply observing your actions out of curiosity.
"What are you doing?"
"Sticking sticky stickers, duh. Here," you started as you grabbed a sticky note and wrote something on it before aggressively sticking the note just above his optic. "You deserve a DUM sticker for that question, mister!" You pouted at him before slapping his frame with more stickers. You finally decided to stop when you emptied one whole sticker package, finishing by putting a little unicorn sticker on your own cheek for a little partner look. Leaning back to have a better overview of your newest masterpiece, you hummed in satisfaction. The scientist was covered in stickers that looked definitely odd on him, accompanied by a DUM sticker over his optic. Good thing the note was so much smaller than his optic because otherwise giving him a little kiss on it would've made it a bit harder. "I love you."
After giving him the little kiss as appreciation for his tolerance, a certain Intelligence Officer came into the lab, much to Shockwave's relief and your happiness. You frantically waved one arm around up high, leaning back against Shockwave's helm. "Hiya, Sounders!"
As he walked over to the two of you, his visor held the image of a smile until he was standing in front of you and the bigger mech. The ex-gladiator raised his servo up next to you and gently rubbed your cheek with a digit. A pixel heart appeared on his visor as he did so. You giggled at his affection, leaning into his digit's touch. "Aw, I love you too."
You glanced at Shockwave's sticker-covered frame and smirked mischivously, turning back to face your other Conjunx' visor. The heart instantly faded and got replace with a raised eyebrow emoticon. He didn't like that look on your face and decided to leave while he still could. So, he slowly pulled his digit away from you and took one step backwards.
"Hey Shocky," you started as you pulled out another package of stickers. "Wanna see me make Sounders suffer as well?" His ear fins perked up in delight. He was definitely amused by your suggestion.
"Equality only seems logical, sweetspark."
Shockwave approached the shorter mech, already armed with you in his servo. You were smirking, menacingly. The scientist held you out towards the TIC's chassis. And before said mech could escape by moving further back, there was already a unicorn sticker slapped onto him. Surprised by your swiftness, he looked down at his chassis. You caught him off-guard once more when he saw you had already drawn a little red heart on Laserbeak's left wing.
That's when he heard rather evil giggling coming from his right.
Oh scrap. You were now on his shoulder pad, doodling away with a line of stickers already trailing up from his chassis to the side of his helm.
You and Shockwave weren't exactly the sneakiest duo, so this greatly surprised him. Then again, he must've been in some form of trance in that moment. However, there wasn't much he could do to stop you now that you already marked him with your stickers and drawings. Well, more like he didn't have the spark to stop you. You have managed to basically capture him and he was being a good sport about it.
The scientist had already resumed working on the project you had interrupted earlier, calm relief visible in his posture. His sticker-covered frame turned to you one last time. "They are your artistic problem now, Soundwave. Do not bring them back until all their stickers and art supplies are gone from their possession." His right ear fin flicked upwards by a little, as if he was smirking at your other lover.
You laughed at his words while the masked mech showed a smiley on his visor as he nodded. Then he decided to walk out of the room with you still present on his shoulder, having your fun with your supplies.
Bonus:
Shockwave approached Megatron's location, ready to report his progress, when the warlord suddenly let out a chuckle. He couldn't even look the cyclops properly in the optic. The DUM sticker was too much of a funny distraction.
"I see. Soundwave wasn't the only victim affected by this... sticky situation."
His ear fins drooped at his master's discovery, unamused by the joke. That's when he looked behind the grey mech and noticed Soundwave completely covered in stickers and lovely drawings. He had more stickers on him than Shockwave, and yet still held a pixel heart on his visor as he used one digit to pat their shared organic Conjunx, who was still on his shoulder pad, on the head.
[ Masterlist ]
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radiant-reid · 1 year
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omg cate the dad bod!spencer post😭 could u please write smth about that but like, not him being insecure about it because i see that all the time! but him using his new weight and filled out form to pin his gf/wife on the bed, face down and just breed her <3
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i was a couple mojitos deep when i wrote this
Spencer Reid is so hot.
It's the only thing you're thinking about while he's undressing in the walk-in wardrobe without the door closed, leaving so many beautiful inches of his body to your sight.
The heat inside you is definitely his fault.
"Did you see Belle's art this morning?" He asks as he walks through the door, looking absolutely delectable, only dressed in pants that hang low around his hips.
"Mhm." You mumble, pretending to be reading your book.
Spencer catches you ogling him. It would be practically impossible not to, especially for a profiler who has lived with you for years. "What's your pretty little brain thinking about?" He walks closer to the bed slowly.
"You." It's the honest truth that he knows, and there's not much else to say.
His gloating grin grows as he walks across the room to the foot of the bed, climbing on and crawling up the bed. It gives you the perfect view of his body, where his chest is softer now, his stomach protrudes more, and he's filled out. It's so attractive. Your legs fall open under the covers, letting him stop in between them.
"Yeah? What do you want with me, baby?" He asks.
"Spencer, don't." You hit him on the shoulder, predictably shying away from telling him what you want. "You know what I want."
"Tell me." He growls.
You glide your palm down his chest, stopping at the waistband of his pajama pants. "Another baby." You say before you can help it, which is not the answer either of you expected.
He doesn't flinch at the confession, his eyes darkening. He leans in to meet your lips for a quick kiss. "You're serious?"
"Very serious." You assure him. "We can handle two, right?"
Spencer doesn't miss a beat in nodding. "Yes." He answers. "No more discussion needed."
He works quickly once you nod, grabbing your hips and flipping you over. You pull the covers off, lifting your ass off the bed and pressing your hips against his, where you can feel the evidence of how much he wants you.
"Needy, baby." He coos, hands gliding up under your tank. His wide palms press into your sides while his gorgeous long fingers spread across your stomach.
“Could say the same thing about you.” You bite back, reaching behind yourself and making contact with the hard length in his pants. “Did I do this?”
He groans as you touch him, easily being distracted from getting you undressed. “You’re the only person in the world that can do this.” He tells you lowly.
“Prove it, Spence.” You request, challenging him. “Put a baby in me.”
It acts like an accelerant to the fire inside him and in one swift move, your sleeping shorts are being tugged down you legs, flung across the room.
“First time last time, you know?” He reminds you, still feeling cocky about it. “Think I can do it again? Because I know I can.”
You scoff, determined to tease him to ensure you get the best sex possible. “You’ve got no way of knowing if it was the first time.”
It’s true that you don’t technically know since back then you were having sex so much your daughter could have been convinced on a number of occasions, but you’re both confident it was the first time.
Where you’re expecting words from him, you get actions first. His weight pins you to the bed as his hips rest on top of yours, and it makes you let out a moan without him even touching you. “Wanna try that again?” He offers.
You shake your head into the pillows. “Stop teasing.” You scold when he slots his thigh between your thighs, softly brushing your dripping core with his pant leg.
“You know I’ll always give you what you want.” He promises. He draws his thumb through your wet folds, making you moan as he hums in satisfaction. “Warm up round?” He offers.
Adamantly, you shake your head. “For round two. I need you inside me now.”
He does what you ask, lining himself up and gliding into you in one swift motion. “Fuck.” He groans instantly. You can’t see him put you know that he’s throwing his head back in pleasure.
“Feels so good.” You agree.
It’s not just his cock hitting inside you at the perfect angle. It’s how good he feels on top of you, how his gorgeous body molds so perfectly onto yours.
You muffle your loud moans in the pillow, absolutely not wanting to get caught and have to stop the intense pleasure all over your body.
“God, I want to put a baby in you so badly.” He groans, on hand sneaking back under your tank to touch your nipples.
“Do it.” You plead, rolling your hips against his when he thrusts fully inside you.
He dips his head so his breath is right against your neck before starting to kiss your skin. He speeds up, pounding his hips against yours each time.
“Spencer!” You moan out his name followed by a trail of expletives.
“I know, baby. I know.” He coos softly against your ear. “Touch yourself.” He prompts and you struggle slightly under his weight to draw your fingers to your clit. “Help me make you cum.”
You’re over the edge in seconds, pleasure waves pulsing through you and all your senses focusing on how good it feels.
“Fill me up, Spence.” You beg, tangling your hand in his hair.
He pants against your neck as he stills, releasing cum deep inside of you while he moans out your name.
He falls forward onto you, slightly sweaty chest sticking to you, as you both come down from your highs together. His weight grounds you and it’s warm like being hugged by him.
“That was so good.” You declare, catching your breath.
He nods in agreement. “Love any chance I get to fill you up.” He kisses your shoulder. “And make more perfect babies with you.”
“I just love you.”
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1-800-deactivatednearu · 10 months
Text
woag character design notes
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[i.d.: a drawn line up of the half life vr ai characters, from left to right, gordon, dr. coomer, tommy, bubby, gman, and benrey. /end i.d.]
yeah i skipped some guys , i dont draw some of them enough to have much unique designs and some of them are a png of a dog
trust me i am just surprised as the rest of yall that i am doing hlvrai art . design notes below (very long, mind your step)
gordon:
wow this guy dont got no head
i didnt want to give gordon a face because of how unexact the person is as the fandom engages with it. is it wayne rtvs? (well as presented to an audience, yes) is it gordon freeman? (well as seen from an in game perspective, yes) is it a whole new guy entirely? (well as
i cut the confusion and took it a whole new direction: guillotine
hlvrai being treated as a very broken game is fun to me as a design perspective, so if you (the audience) are not supposed to see his face, what happens when you see it anyways? missing texture time
there are eyes drawn over because i did not have confidence in my expressions at first and then it grew on me
i think if i were to draw (and i have drawn) an actual person under the mask i would still censor the eyes because that is where the vr headset sits!!
(i do not like putting an actual flesh to gordon though)
though i really like seeing how other people interpret gordon hlvrai it is not . my gordon ? we are talking about the same guy . but this is my gordo . i made this one . this guy my guy . maybe i should draw other gordon designs
i can draw the hev suit from memory and it is also the entire reason why i can render metal confidently
i liked how people changed the lambda to read ai :] i also have no clue if i wrote the lambda correctly
(i did, i just checked)
dr coomer:
as much as i draw/drew him i find it more fun to not stick to one set design :)
so a lot of my takes on dr coomer tend to jump from idea to idea, especially from what other people are doing, though they could be fitted to the left and right designs!
the left design is mainly based off what i saw in fandom spaces
we see rounder shapes, making for a more friendly and welcoming appearance
i think of this as straying from the more professional uniform of the actual scientist models
enter swimming shorts and bright yellow socks, for some reason
so now he kind of looks like a cool science teacher :)
it might be the lab coat
the right design is mainly based off thumbnails for hlvrai itself
these use a more angular appearance
i want to push how comically buff he is because of strength he shows at times, especially since his left design seems to completely down play it as a comically not buff man who is still very strong
the shadows on right design coomer get so much more harsh and exaggerated because i have comic books on the mind :)
he really does look like a dehydrated comic book character huh
tommy:
stick bug (he gets it from his dad) (this thought process is explained at gman section)
i pushed a lot of the saturation of colours in her design because i think tommy gets to be a little silly with it
fun art story of the day! when you color, try messing with hue! you might notice you can get away with a lot as long as your values are about right
i like pushing this with white because you can get away with a lot of things reading as “off white”
old faithful for me is cool shadows with a warm transition colour to keep things visually interesting
i keep making white objects the trans flag
happy pride
tommys design looks a little like a school boy, with the tucked in button up shirt+suspenders+shorts+jacket tied around the waist . and the primary colours . but like it is really fun to dress up so brightly
i actually was strongly inspired by medieval babies if that is a weird descriptor? i wanted him to both be a middle aged man but also a young adult
do not be like tommy, who has their finger on the trigger of the gun while not even looking at where it is pointing and good god he is squeezing the trigger . top ten firearm safety of all time
bubby:
the absurd part is that i think bubby is tall . he is just between tommy and gman who are exaggeratedly lanky .
i wanted to make bubby a pointy kinda guy, so he is the only one actually wearing the lab coat proper . and the only one actually wearing dress socks but not even wearing dress shoes
i wanted to give him a novelty tie but i was running low on ideas and running high on boreds so we dont get a tie
he does have crocs though!! in attack mode!!
i do think we all kind of saw his model and collectively decided it works for him because i have honestly not seen major divergences from his model?
gman:
stick bug
i wanted to stress the more spooky and unknowable nature of him and took it in the dark souls direction of “make bigger than player character”
maked too bigger
he cannot walk through any doorways but you will have to crane your neck to look up at him
in the opposite direction of tommy, i pulled a lot of the saturation in gmans design
it feels important to make them both not fully match the rest of the slightly less broken npcs because there was so much work to make them look cool so i have to respect that
actually a lot of gmans and tommys designs are made in opposite to one another
gman has a largely stationary face and very stiff line work
while tommy is pushed to expressive as possible
thats pretty fun, way to go me
benrey:
benrey also has two designs
and in both of these i keep getting too lazy to use a reference so  the vests are super plain (forgetting the badge and black mesa logo) . i think the helmet is supposed to be darker actually .
the design ethos of benrey was “built like a brick shithouse”
a friend of mine took this cooler and interpreted it as a shield/wall/barrier as a physical (and narrative) obstacle
again the first uses fandom designs
most notably the overcast shadow (seen in video thumbnails but i never noticed it or understood why so many people did it until someone pointed it out to me)
i think hlvrai is such a great medium because it acknowledges it is a game and is able to play into that to great effect! i think the shadow is fun to imagine as solid black as a small reminder of the impossibility of the space :]
benrey is a smug cat in the body of a human . to be honest . and this is the full range of emotion i have ever drawn him with
the second was mostly because as fun as taking creative liberties are, i just really wanted to see benrey as is: the half life security guard model in all its slight wonk :]
i actually do prefer this design . it is a little more uncanny because i choose the worst translations of the model . i like it because it is a little more uncanny !
that can be said for like . every single design in this line up huh .
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shirecorn · 5 months
Note
Your reindeer designs give me such childish joy I can't wait to see the rest. What's your process (aka any advice) for designing from scratch with something like just a name or concept?
Redbubble (buy reindeer swag) || Patreon (see all early!) || Ko-fi
See more free tutorials!
You can see my process unfold in real time by joining any tier of my patreon discord. Which doesn't even have to go through patreon! If you want, you can just pay me $20 and let you in for a year (and then lose track and probably keep you anyway)
Here's a preview using comet! (nevermind the preview thing I wrote you a whole lecture lol)
initial sketches in 2021:
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Revisited in 2022 and 2023
I was constantly asking which design was the weakest, why, and how to fix it. Whenever I tested without the magical comet behind it, people could only guess who comet was by process of elimination.
I didn't want to rely on throwing icons into the design. I wanted each one to communicate through shape and silhouette alone. It would be like drawing a little cherub with a bow and arrow floating along with cupid. If you have to include a nametag to communicate, your design can be improved.
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So I tried a few different strategies to say "comet" before I realized I could twist the antlers into any shape I wanted. I was worried I would have to discard the drawing and restart from scratch! Which is what I did for rudolph about 6 times before I had a breakthrough.
Then I gave my patrons a brief lesson in antlers to explain where and why I was placing the tines. When I stray from the caribou structure, I do so knowingly in order to achieve something that cannot be achieved within the caribou shape, like dancer's tutu. Know the rules before you break them. My goal is to make animal nerds (myself chief among them) happy when they see species-specific anatomy instead of cop outs.
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I tried a few things before figuring out antlers could become comet
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Another thing that often caribou have is an unsymmetrical "spork" that comes forward off only one antler. I figured this out by looking at hundreds of reindeer pictures and saving them to my reference folder. A few of my designs have this, that's what the little spiral is in the final comet antler design.
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When I put comet in my lineup, I realized that the antlers I drew were way more stylized, chunky, and "tribal" than the others. I had already changed the proportions on one of my designs to match, so then I had to hack away at the basic comet rack to make it look natural.
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I already knew that comet's colors would be easy because a basic reindeer already Has the big comet on the shoulder. But here's a peak at all the reindeer images I posted for my patrons to look at.
As you can see below, I chose reindeer markings for all my designs instead of other deer or animals. Even vixen is tied to actually possible reindeer patterns rather than copy-pasting a fox. Almost all of my designs have light-colored anklets on dark colored legs, which is very common with caribou of any color. This is the sort of thing no one tells you; you have to observe it yourself.
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Ft cupid's early design! I was continually testing out my reindeer silhouettes and colors on new people, taking their feedback, and fixing what wasn't clicking.
I know I could have made vixen sexy and curvy to play into a recognizable trope, but I really wanted them to be scary and fox-like. Sometimes you gotta do what you want and not what you think will appeal to audiences. Reindeer Days is a purposeful exercise in audience resonance. Most of my art is 100% me and what I feel like doing with no regards to anyone else. So it was a fun challenge!
My patrons also got to see me making fun of corporate designs for recognizably/cliches at the expense of literally anything good
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One of these is going to get a lot more "that must be vixen!" results from people who aren't constantly thinking about animal colors, markings, hunting strategies, and teeth.
And one rocks.
Vixen changed the least from the initial 2021 concept!
A Vixen is a female fox. In english slang, it means a cunning, fierce human woman, and sometimes sexually attractive or promiscuous. Quite often an insult to someone because she won't date you!
But to me, a vixen is an animal. A predator.
When designing to reference something, I like to hit it at multiple angles, referencing obscure trivia about something to delight and educate. This is done by researching a topic deeply, far below surface level and beyond what you think you need to make your design. Or in my case its just knowing a bunch of animal trivia already.
After researching/dredging your knowledge, sit there and Think. Don't draw anything. Come up with several ideas and then throw them all in at once for the ultimate trivia design.
Trivia about red foxes:
They have Long bushy tails
They have teeth that include large sharp canines, flat incisors, triangular premolars, and chunky molars with points on them that slide scissor-like with the molars above to cut meat via chewing
They hunt rodents in burrows under the snow by jumping into the air, arcing, and slamming down with their face through the snow
They are orange
They have a dark vertical stripe on their snout
They have black legs, with the backs and bottoms being orange
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Translated into the design:
Pose based on a fox jumping, about to land in the snow
Antlers twisted to resemble teeth
Long (for a reindeer) bushy tail
black mark on snout
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Some adjustment to the pose to be at the top of the arc and flow better.
Tinkering with the design to make it recognizable but not 100% copypasta fox
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I was finally happy with a design that absolutely showed "fox" while still being creative and plausibly caribou shaped. This would absolutely communicate who it is! I thought!
The most obvious one of the bunch! After all, everyone knows what a vixen is!
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Nope! No they do not
Want to be part of the design process, help me with WIPs months before everyone else, see exclusive doodles every day, and join a funky little community?
(you also get to see photos of my dog)
Connect your discord to your patreon and join any tier to automatically get added to the server. Not a fan of patreon or monthly subscriptions? message me here, on ko-fi, or via email (shirecorn.art@ gmail.com) and ask if you can pay $20 to get put in the server for at least a year and longer if we work it out later!
This was supposed to be a preview to get you to pay me but instead I wrote an entire lecture for free because I can't help myself.
Want to thank me for the free info? Tag me when you use what you learned! Comment and give feedback! If I could pay rent with attention I would never need anything else in life.
You can also thank me by tipping my ko-fi! I use it to buy pens since I die if I have caffeine. But could you imagine??
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xiaowhore · 2 years
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heartbreaker.
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premise. in which you claim to be immune to the “bad boy” appeal but fall for his charms anyway.
includes. xiao, albedo, ayato, childe & scaramouche !
note. this is the product of watching too many c-dramas.
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xiao as the inconsiderate classmate who closes the door on you even when he notices you walking behind him towards the lecture hall. the guy who never replies when you try to talk to him, like he believes it to be a waste of breath, always ready to put on the headphones resting around his neck and ignore your endless rambling. (the seatmate who quietly places a book upright on your desk when you fall asleep, preventing the teacher from catching you in the act. the boy who sneakily leaves your favorite bread and milk on your desk when he overhears you telling your friends you forgot your packed lunch at home.)
albedo as the haughty honor student who peeks at your test scores and does a little smirk. the boy who draws you with tiny devil horns and pointy teeth in art class. he doesn't roll his eyes when you grab his pencil case to borrow his stationery, but he comes close to it. you can't even begin to imagine what he's going to do if you break anything so you panic when the eraser's wrapping comes off; the cardboard slips away, revealing a name written underneath in elegant scrawls—and to your surprise, it's yours. (back in middle school, everyone believed the person you like will return your love if you wrote their name on your eraser... and succeeded in using it all. it doesn't take a detective to know this doesn't actually work.) (the eraser is only a quarter of its original size now.)
ayato as the jerk who tugs on your hair whenever he sits behind you and nobody believes the tale because “he looks too nice to do that!” (he isn't a 9 year old who bullies the girl he likes, goes unsaid.) the intolerable distraction who takes the seat beside you when you're studying at the library just to bother you, toying with highlighters and doodling small hearts on your notebook. with each sneer he receives, the bigger his smile becomes. (he likes your attention. steals it when you're talking to someone else, demands it back when you try to ignore him.) (he found that you look cute when angry, too.)
childe as the asshole who laughs in your face when he catches you in your pajamas while throwing out the trash. the rich scion who brandishes his wealth in every opportunity, dressed in expensive clothes and switching gold watches every day. randomly invites you to hang out one day without providing further context and frowns at your plain clothes while you gawk at his pressed suit. (he brings you to the mall, forbidding you from checking the price tags. he scours the store for the perfect outfit, grinning in satisfaction when the makeover is finished. “you're my date for zhongli's party today, okay?” ???)
scaramouche as the tyrant who sits at your lunch table without asking because “i can sit wherever i want” and apparently you can't do anything about it. the bully who chucks paper airplanes to your head, writing down stupid notes you pass back and forth via balled up paper and getting scolded by the teacher when he catches the both of you fooling around. (when he notices someone staring at you for too long in class, he smacks their head with a crumpled piece of paper scribbled with “what the hell are you looking at?”)
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Camp Counselor Ethan Hcs🤭
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HES SO POOKIE UGH I CANNOT
Warnings ⚠️ swearing, drinking, suggestive comments, no gf, children 👎🏾 fem!reader
This man LOVES being a counselor and as his s/o he ropes you and everyone else into helping that following summer
He’s in charge of the shyer kids because they feel more comfortable with him (and he used to be one)
Chad and Ethan’s cabins are right next to each other and if he’s not with you he’s with Chad (since he isn’t so hellbent on stabbing Chad)
LOVES TUG OF WAR WITH CHADS CABIN gets slightly over competitive
He’s making sure his cabin is going ALL out for color wars
Unfortunately you guys are on opposite sides of the camp and it’s not a long walk but being so far🙄 makes him touch starved and horny
He doesn’t know it until you or Mindy says something but all the 12 year old girls have the biggest crushes on him but he’s so unaware of it. (This would’ve been me at camp lolz)
When you guys tell him he gets beet red in shock.
When it’s arts and crafts time he always makes sure his group is sitting next yours
when he notices one of his campers crushing on yours he takes upon himself to help the little fella out (he also uses it to spend time with you)
He likes most of the other counselors
Especially if they swapped with him so you two could spend time together
But he really just likes hanging with the kids and listening to their stories
“.And Tommy started talking about his hot wheel collection and apparently he’s got this collection of rare ones”
Also LOVES camper drama
Him and Annika love debriefing each other
Campers are very shocked when they learn you two are dating (this is early in the summer)
WHEN HE DOES A FRIENDSHIP BRACELET DEMO HE PUTS IT ON YOU AWWW
When the campers see the look he gives you as you get off lifeguard duty or lake time with your girls
They try harder to push you two together but when you guys realize you just play into it
“ yeah girls you’re right Ethan is kindaaaa cute”
“Idk guys I DO think Y/n/n is very pretty”
When you guys do canoeing he’s always your partner
“ETH BABE YOURE GONNA FLIP US” (this is how they “figure” it out)
“Yeah Counselor Y/N called Ethan BABE”
The campers love the two of you
But mainly him- he’s always getting small drawings or projects from kids and he always keeps them
LOVES leading nature courses and talking about bugs
This man LOVES S’mores probably his favorite treat (he’s definitely the type to burn the marshmallow) that’s actually me self projecting lolz
Okay suggestive/NSFW warning
He’s obviously a guy and going a WHOLE two months is a lot and seeing you gets him riled up regardless
Those looks during Lifeguard duty weren’t sweet loving ones (they were but also 😈 lol)
He loves seeing you tan with your girls and lies down in front of you if it’s a lake and lays on his stomach so he can get a “good view of the campers” good view of your chest
During Counselor Night he keeps you on his lap by the bonfire while you both sip on Alcohol that was snuck in
You guys sneak off and fuck in the woods GOODBYE
he brought a blanket incase he got lucky
He got lucky and thank goodness because he would’ve exploded
Cannot help staring if you’re wearing shorts
And Chad teases him about this (but then Tara walks by)
Get jealous if other counselors flirt with you this may or may not lead to steamy makeouts behind trees
One morning he surprised you on the cabin porch for a makeout session and accidentally moaned too loud causing some of your campers to wake up (he pulled away in time but was hurt his noises cut your time short)
If you guys sneak off during Color wars a nosy camper HAS to ask why there’s red face paint on him and blue on you
Chad and Ethan smoke behind their Cabins at night and talk about you and Tara
Loves doing physical labor near you so you get riled up as much a he is
A/N: I feel like I wrote too much lol but hope you like Pt.2?
Also this is inspired by Murdrdocs go check theirs out!!
Also please request I’m so bored when I’m not writing
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qaxqxd · 11 months
Text
Colorful Confession
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♡Pair: Spider-noir x spider!female!reader
Genre: barely any angst / fluff
Warning: Injuries, fluff
A/n: just enjoy (wrote on phone that's why it's a little weird)
Summary: You're taking a break from being spider-man. Noir decided to visit your dimension, and he seems to have something to confess.
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Being spider-man was your job, your first job. But you picked up a hobby. Painting was something you liked to do in your free time, but it was also somewhat of a job. You weren’t a famous painter, but you still made money from the paintings you’ve done.
You decide to take a break from being spider-man. Not from your dimension, but just the whole spider-multiverse madness. You just wanted the week off painting, watching movies, and etc.
It's not like you hated staying at Spider HQ, it was just sometimes unbearable. With your boss, Miguel O’hara being all pissy.
There is one spider-man who catches your eyes a lot. Spider-Noir. You’ve only been on one to two missions with him, or you would catch him around the hallways. His trench coat and fashionable fedora make him look amazing.
He was also pretty sweet too. Lovely person you could say. A total gentleman. And maybe you had a little crush on him? No it was pretty big, you couldn’t even breathe when he was around you.
You wanted to draw him at every chance you got, but never had time. Now you finally have the time to do it.
You walked into your small studio, placing your canvas down. You needed a sketch of him. You sat on your stool. Trying to recollect what he looked like.
Blank.
You couldn’t draw an image in your head. It's probably because you don’t see him often. You sigh in slight frustration, before an image of him appears in your thoughts. Your face turned slightly red, since it was somewhat unholy.
You sketch out a few references into your spare notebook. Before actually placing the design onto the canvas. You were going to paint it too, so it’d have some color instead of it being plain.
You put the image of him onto the canvas. Starting with a circle and working your way making a spider-man figure. You made sure to sketch his trench coat and his fedora.
By the time you're done it's midnight. You decide to paint him since the image of him was still fresh in your mind. Before you could place down your first stroke of paint. An orange portal opens up.
Spider-noir?
What is he doing here?
"Hello!" He spoke, his voice a little monotone.
"Noir? What are you doing here?" You spoke trying to hide your canvas.
"I— uhm well." His words were stuttering. Both of your watches lit up for an anomaly. "I'm here for an anomaly!" He quickly said.
"Oh, would you like help then?" You asked. You needed more references of Noir's fighting.
"Yes! I mean— absolutely that would be lovely." You couldn't see that he was smiling, but you could tell he was. You let out a chuckle. Which got him a little red.
"Let me get my suit, requick." You rush to your room to put on your suit and rushed out.
"Ready?" He had his hands in his trench coat. His goggles shining in the light. You gave him a nod and he slid your window open. You both hop out the window and swung to where the anomaly was at.
The anomaly sighting was at an art museum. It was a Vulture. A weird looking purple one. It didn't look like your dimension Vulture. It seems rageful. You looked at Noir.
As he gives you a nod and you both lunge at the Vulture. The Vulture shook Noir off and Noir landed somewhere through the wall. You jump off of the Vulture. Swinging your webs to Noir.
"Noir!" You shove the broken parts of the wall off of him. You were kneeling down to him. His suit seems scratched, but not too badly. Just minor scratches.
"Are you alright?" You helped him up.
"I'm fine." He dusted himself off. You got close to him to see a scar on his neck. You placed your hand on his neck. He leans into your touch. You touch around his scar and examine it.
Noir wincing at your touch but not pulling away. It wasn't a great scar.
"Cmon' let's finish this so I can patch you up." You spoke, clearly concerned about his wounds even if they were small. He nodded, holding onto your hand. You thought he wanted you to remove your hand, so you did just that.
You two got back to the Vulture and took care of him. Lunging at him again and pushing him down enough to web his wings. You called Lyla to take care of the situation, and you both headed back to your place.
"Sit" you pointed to the couch in your art studio, taking off your spider-mask. You went to grab your medkit. When you got back to the studio, Noir had his mask off and his glasses on. His fedora in his lap.
He looked.. so very handsome.
You could quite literally look at him all day. You shook the thought out of your head, blushing slightly. You watched Noir remove his trench coat.
You took the cotton balls out of the kit, you applied some liquid on the cotton balls. Before rubbing it onto Noir's scars. You could hear him hiss in pain, but he's trying his best to sit still.
It was time to clean the scar close to his neck.
"Hey Noir, mind if I get closer?" You asked slightly nervously.
"Ah, if you want to. I don't mind." He spoke. His lap was the closest you could get to his neck, so you scooted onto it. He shifted his legs slightly, moving his fedora.
"A— Are you uncomfortable?" You asked, wanting to know if it was okay.
"It's. Fine, don't worry about it, doll." He spoke with his hand on his mouth. He made room for you to sit on his lap. The nickname he gave you made you more red.
You could feel his hot breath on your forehead, as you tried to clean the scar on his neck. You could feel his breath hitch in pain. You would then wrap his wounds up with band-aids.
"Hey, (Y/n)?" He asked.
"Yes?" You looked around him.
"You draw pretty great."
"W-What?"
"I like that drawing. I looked really nice." He pointed to your canvas.
Oh right. You forgot to throw a blanket over that. He wasn't meant to see it, but he liked it. So… he probably didn't think you were creepy and weird for drawing him.
"You don't think it's weird?" You asked him.
"No, I think it's really lovely. You have great talent." He smiled.
He got your face to turn into a deep red. You were still in his lap. You could feel his heat radiant off. As you put everything back in the kit. Getting off his lap.
"Right, one more thing." You lean down to place a kiss on his head. "That's for being a great patient." You walked out the room, blushing like crazy. You couldn't believe you just did that.
You peek into the room to see Noir's reaction. He was also blushing. As you put up the medkit, you come back to the room.
Noir was still sitting there, flustered.
"You could stay a little longer if you like." You sit on your stool to continue painting, as you apply the first stroke of paint. Noir pulled up a stool right next to you.
"Could I— hold you?" He asked, you obviously said yes to it. And he held you by the waist. His head on your shoulder. You two were blushing like crazy. You couldn't even think about painting.
You applied yellow to the canvas next.
"Is that purple?" He asked, which earn him a giggle from you. You forgot he wasn't the best at colors.
"No, it's yellow." You smiled at the flustered man.
"I knew that, doll." He mumble.
"What about that one?"
"Blue?" He was correct. You gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Good job." You said. Before you could get another word out. Noir place his lips onto yours.
You both let go to catch air.
"I love you." He uttered.
"Me too."
-
W.C 1.4k
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glo0b · 4 months
Text
So this is love?
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I do not own the characters or art
Content: Yandere!Knight!Sebek Zigvolt x Princess!Yuu/F!Reader, mentions of Prince!Silver x Princess!Yuu/F!Reader
TW: Yandere themes of course and slight mentions of death
note: I wrote this for a class project so I was limited lol. I wish I had more time and could have put more gore in it, sad day. BTW it's in Sebek's POV
word count: 1429
Here I am, Sebek Zigvolt, a knight of the Bair Valley kingdom and lover to Princess Yuu, walking to her sleeping quarters. Oh, I just can’t wait to see her beautiful face! I clutch the flowers in my hand and smooth my green hair back before opening her door. “Yuu!~ I brought you a surprise!~” I pause as I look upon the empty room. I step inside inspecting the room, it seems like someone left in a hurry or was taken in a hurry with objects out of place and thrown on the ground. “No, no, no, no, she can’t be gone! Where is Yuu!?”  My booming voice bounces off the walk as I rush through all the places she could be. I search the halls of the palace in a panic. My heart beats against my ribcage rapidly as I am unable to find my beloved Yuu. 
I stop in my tracks when I overhear other knights talking of how Prince Silver of the Moonlight Kingdom had taken the princess on a trip. “Prince Silver sure is handsome, I bet the princess will pick him as her husband.” The knight speaks in such a casual tone, of course he doesn’t know how horrible Prince Silver is! He would never be a fit man to marry Princess Yuu! “I heard the reason the prince is named that is because of his silver hair-” I drown out the conversation as their talk continues of that horrible Prince Silver. It seems like I’ll have to take a trip to Moonlight kingdom myself. 
At night I planned to sneak out and take my horse out of town. I saddle up Romeo and get on. I named my horse Romeo since Yuu’s personal horse was named Juliet, silly to name the horses after characters in a love story I know. I didn’t pack much since the Moonlight kingdom is only in a day of travel. I tug the reins and Romeo begins to move. “Don’t worry love, I'll be there soon.” I whisper to myself so the other knights wouldn’t hear me leaving. 
It takes time but I finally arrive at one of the towns in Moonlight Kingdom. I pay for a room at an inn and put Romeo in the stables. This town didn’t seem that bad at night, of course there were those few drunken fools running around like any town would have at the dead of night. Though I didn’t see any shady folk I kept my hand on my sword just in case. For now I’ll rest in my bed and wait till morning to investigate where Yuu could be. “She can’t be far, she just left today….” I think out loud as I slowly drift into a slumber.
I wake up to birds singing at my window, groaning as I get up. “I hate those annoying chirps!” I grab my small dagger from my bag and slam the window open in an attempt to rid the small bird from the area. The small green feathers of the bird are stained with its red blood, the small screeches fill my ears. I flick the bird off my blade, the bird falling to the ground twitching. I wipe my dagger with my handkerchief. “What a shame, such a pretty green. Yuu would have loved it.” I throw on my tunic. I wouldn’t want to draw attention to myself with my armor, it clearly had the symbol of the Bair Valley kingdom. 
Walking outside I look around at the people walking around. They all seemed quite cheery and excited. The streets were decorated and filled with singing and dancing people. Carts filled with food and crafted goods. I grab a man’s arm to stop him and ask him what’s going on. “You sir! What’s this festival for?” The man looks at me confused. “Don’t you know? It’s a festival for the prince and his soon to be wife!” I release the man’s arm in shock. The prince was forcing Yuu to marry him already! I have to move quickly! Before the man could say anything else I dash away.
 I make my way to the grand castle, many guards roaming the area. I examine the tall wall blocking entry. The bricks didn’t seem too difficult to climb. Putting my foot in one of the cracks I begin to climb the stone wall. Putting my hand on the top of the wall I hoist myself up over the wall. I look into the small garden beyond the wall. My feet hit the soft grass with a thump. Perhaps I should pick some flowers for my darling? I lean down and pluck a few lilies. “These will be a perfect surprise for Yuu” I mumble to myself as I sneak towards one of the windows to the castle. Peering into the window I don’t spot any servants or guards walking the halls. I push the window up and carefully climb inside. 
I creep up stairs and through hallways until I hear a familiar voice singing a small tune. “I’m coming, my love!” I whisper out to myself. I push the wooden door open silently so as not to be detected. There I finally see my Darling Yuu! I watch as she brushes her soft, long, black hair, gods I bet it smells delicious. I step forward. “Dear, is that you?” I hug her waist from behind. “Oh yes it is!” I squeak out happily, I’ve waited so long to hold her in my arms. I feel her freeze in my arms and I drop the lilies in concern. “Is everything okay, Darling?” I feel her push me away and my heart sinks. 
“GET AWAY FROM ME YOU CREEP!” She looks so angry but scared, what happened to make her feel this way? “What do you mean darling? I came to save you!” I step forward but stop when I feel a stinging sensation on my cheek. I reach up and cradle the cheek. She had slapped me! Why would she slap me, her knight in shining armor! “Silver! Guards! Help! He followed us her-” Before she could continue screaming her head off I cover her mouth. “Stop yelling! They’re not here to save you, I am! Why can’t you understand I came here for you! I love you!” I tried but couldn’t hold back the tears from falling from my green eyes. Yuu started to fight against my grip. “This isn’t how it was supposed to go! I was meant to save you and you were meant to fall for me! Why can’t you get that! Just love me!” I feel my heart sink even more when Yuu’s bedroom door swings open revealing the man I despised. 
I let go of Yuu and push her on the bed so she wouldn’t get hurt. “Get away from her, she obviously doesn't want you here.” Silver glares at me. “No! She loves me and I love her!” I draw my dagger from my pocket. “I do not want to fight you, old friend. We can still get you the help you need…just further away.” I clench my fist at the idea Silver proposes. “I can’t leave her! I won’t go anywhere!” I swing my dagger at Silver but he dodges. He grabs my hand trying to disarm me but I use the opportunity to knock him into the floor. 
Though the dagger is knocked out of my hands I use them to choke him. “I can’t let you have her! I can’t, I can't, I can't!” My eyes widen as I feel a sharp pain in my chest. I look down to see blood dripping down my tunic, I look behind me to see Yuu holding my newly bloodied dagger. “D-darling, why?” My lips quiver as I let go of Silver and fall to the ground. “You were hurting him! I just-” My body starts to feel cold, everything seems to quiet now. I grab out to Yuu and smear my blood on her white dress as she falls to her knees. This isn’t such a bad ending for me, is it? I have my darling by my side as my life leaves my body. This is all I could have asked for when it came to my death. My vision starts to fade out. This is it for me, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you Darling. “Goodbye, Darling….” My body goes limp as my vision goes black. I can’t hear anything anymore, my body no longer has warmth. So is this love?
================================================
Goodbye~! Drink lots of water and get lots of rest dear readers!
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desultory-novice · 4 months
Note
Will MariPav continue, or is it, like, canceled?
"Ides Loss Bautifal Sarla~"
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I know I'm Dess of the Frequently Neglected Promises, but I hold that the day "Marionettes' Pavane" is cancelled is the day I leave the fandom for good and not a moment before.
I'll admit I have splurged on sword boy content as art therapy for the past long while because I was in a rough place and he was good therapy as NO ONE is in as bad a place as Noi-... :cough cough: but trust me that I am absolutely ill about these two, and the reason you don't see me writing and drawing little sketches for them all the damn time is that, unlike the siblings' story, where I've been writing their lore off the cuff (ie: ma~king it up~) based on fan response, THEIR story is intricately plotted out, so there is slightly less room for the many randomly inspired side content that the siblings get.
(...Because I already wrote ALL of those down and worked them into the script!)
Also, I'm still supposed to be resting my eyes right now XD
-
Title source is EXEC_SPHILIA from Ar Tonelico 2, btw. One of several songs on my MariPav Marxolor inspirational playlist. The lyrics, the back and forth, it is so them in the context of this story.
Betrayed by the world...
...You and I are much alike...
Finding comfort in their mutual, smiling hatred of every.goddamn.thing. They are such antagonists! Sympathetic ones, tragic backstories included, but oh they burn with the desire to wreck stuff (and look good while doing it, sure)
And yes, call it cliche but MariPav Marx can sing really beautifully. When he wants to, that is. Marx can and WILL sing bad on purpose to annoy people and put them off guard of his true vocal capabilities. (Should he ever step up to the mic alongside Kirby... run.)
Magolor, just like in canon, has a fondness and innate talent for a variety of different musical instruments. He rarely had the leisure to practice but the reveal of Marx's singing capabilities sparked something in him and he has since taken them more seriously.
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lillylvjy · 1 year
Text
Tender is the night (for a broken heart)
A/n// hello! So I’ve been writing this fic for… a long time. But it’s also one of my fav fics I’ve wrote so far, and it means a lot to me. It is long but! It’s cute so, enjoy! Also, if it seems like it’s everywhere, I’m so sorry. I tried to make it as connected and sensible as I could!
Warnings// kissing, some sexual innuendos at the end ig, hurt/comfort, reader being insecure, crying, swearing, panic attack, a lot of fluff at the end, Sarah being a bitch. (Please tell me if I missed anything!)
Edited and 5.5k words!
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When you and Wilbur started dating, you thought it was a joke.
Wilbur was the smart and nerdy, yet extremely attractive and well known kid. He was the lead trumpet in the band and a straight A student. He liked to play guitar for small gigs at your local coffee shop, but it was also the same place he worked at on a regular day basis after school.
And you. You were the smart and nerdy kid that no one really knew. You always kept to yourself. You were usually sitting at one of the corner tables at lunch watching the group of girls crowd around Wilbur. You worked at the diner down the street from the café as a waitress. You wrote poetry for fun and put your art in art shows that happened in the city to try and sell them to gain a couple bucks.
To put it simply. You were a nobody. An outcast.
So when Wilbur came over to you at lunch one day, tapping your shoulder to get your attention over the music blasting in your ears, you were shocked.
“Hey! Y/n right?” The boy asked you as you took off your headphones and looked up at him. You took a quick glance over at the group of girls and saw all of them looked confused and jealous he was paying attention to you. The schools nobody.
“Uh.. yeah! Yeah I’m y/n.” You said hesitantly and quiet. “What are you doing over here? Don’t you have other girls to talk to?” You said with a bitter tone.
“Ouch. I can talk to other people you know? What? Don’t want to talk to me?!” He asked as he leant against the wall your table was against and smirked down at you.
You rolled your eyes as you put your pencil down on your notebook. “No Wilbur. I really don’t want to talk to you. I’m busy.” You pointed down to your notebook with a rough sketch of the scene that was in front of you a couple second ago. You had the silhouettes of the students drawn out but got rudely interrupted by Wilbur before you were going to start drawing him.
“Ahh. I see. Is this what you always do at lunch?” He asked as he stole your notebook from the table and flipped through the notebook.
“Wait! Wilbur, stop it! Give it back!”
“What?! Got something bad in here?! Do you draw naked people like Jack from Titanic?! Even worse, do you draw me-“ Wilbur froze as he looked down at your notebook, his face falling slowly into a look of confusion and disbelief.
You quickly grabbed your notebook from Wilbur’s loose grasp and closed it up. You held it to your chest as you closed your eyes and waiting for him to start laughing. But yet, no laughing came.
“Was- Was that me?” He asked in a hushed voice for only you to hear.
“Yeah, so what?” You asked back in a harsh voice.
“I- It’s really good. Like super good. Can I see it again?” He asked you softly as he sat down next to you and held his hand out, head slightly turnt to look at you.
You hesitantly put the notebook in his hand and let him have his fun. As he opened the notebook and flipped through, you watched his face. His face was always perfect somehow. Not just because it was symmetrical! But, because it was always so loose. He had very few wrinkles and he had a little crease it his forehead from when he smiled. He looked peaceful and beautiful. Regardless if he did have any or not, he would always be perfect to you. Always.
“I like this one.” He snaps you out if your thoughts as he points to the page he’s on. One of your favorites as well. It was a portrait of him, but it was his side profile while laughing. He continued flipping until he got to the one he landed on. That one was a drawing of him playing the guitar in a flower field. Something you kind of just.. came up with. But it was by far the one you admired and cherished the most. “Now this. This is incredible. How did you draw this?” He asked looking up at you.
“Oh! Um.. I just kind of imagined a place you would possibly play at and came up with this. It took a while but, it was worth it.” You tell him as you trace over the likes of rough pencil markings and dark shaded areas, admiring the piece. While you did that, Wilbur never took his eyes off you. He watched how your eyes filled with happiness and nostalgia from when drawing this. Filled with relief and longing. He watched your lips twitch as you held back a smile. God how much he would love to see you smile. “But it’s nothing important. Just a silly little sketch.” You concluded as you grabbed the notebook and put it into your bag as the bell rang.
“Do you put any of your art in the art show they do up in the city? Because if you do, you should definitely put that one in there.” Wilbur says as he gets up with you and slings his backpack on his back.
“I do. But I don’t know if I want to put that one. I like it too much.” You gave him a small smile as you looked up at him.
Wilbur smiled back down at you. “Do you have another class for the rest of the day?”
“Um… no actually. Why?” You asked him as you both started to walk out of the school.
“Would you maybe want to go get coffee and maybe go to that flower field so I can play you some music? And so you can draw my handsome self again, obviously.” Wilbur cockily added the last part.
“Hmm. Only if I pay. It’s the least I could do since you’re letting me get a free show and a drawing session in one day.” You offered him.
“Deal. But this is the only time you will be paying. Also I’m driving.” Wilbur says as he stops in front of his car. It was an old, rusty, beat up red truck. But it fit him so well. Like it was made for him.
“Oh? So you’re saying there’ll be another time?” You jokingly questioned him.
“Only if you want it darling.” Wilbur told you as he opened the door for you as you gave him your bag. Wilbur quickly put the bags in the back and ran to the drivers side. He put his phone on the aux and put on a random playlist.
“We’ll see how today goes pretty boy. And maybe there will be another time.” You said as you rolled down your window and let the fall breeze into the car. Wilbur did the same with his and chuckled at the nickname. You looked at him from your seat and smiled brightly at him as he looked at you.
“Well then. I’ll try my best to make it the best time you have ever had.” Wilbur says as he backs out of the parking lot and to the coffee shop.
After that day, you and Wilbur grew closer. You continued to hang out as friends. And eventually those feelings turned into more for the both of you, and the hangouts became dates. And by the end of your junior year, you and Wilbur were dating. Everyone always told you how good you and Wilbur were together. And you thought that too. You loved him. A lot. Yes you had worries but, those quickly subsided when he was around.
You and Wilbur graduated high school with the both of you getting voted best couple of the year in your year book. Wilbur went to college for a couple years but soon dropped out to pursue music. He made a band and quickly started to make music and publish it, which was going extremely well. You, on the other hand, went to college and finished. Going to classes for drawing and painting, to improve your skills, and majoring in fine arts and digital arts. You continued to sell and show your art off at shows and art museums when they offered. You also got a job at a school teaching art and teaching kids that art can help express things and tell stories.
You loved that Will followed his heart and pursued music. You loved watching him just play small snippets of the things him and the guys were working on for you. Loved being apart of the writing process, as well as the designing process. You loved seeing him so happy and excited with his music.
You both lived together in an apartment in downtown Brighton and you were both happy!
Well. At least you were. You didn’t know about how Wilbur felt after finding those text.
Wilbur and you were both lying on the couch, watching a movie. Well. You were at least. Wilbur fell asleep half way through the movie with his arm holding your waist, pulling you close to him. The other hand that was tracing your arms was now in yours as you played with his fingers, listening to his soft snores and his little whispers from his dreams. He looked so peaceful.
Your thoughts got interrupted by the sound of Wilbur’s phone buzzing on the coffee table. Thank god it was on silent or he could’ve woken up immediately knowing him. You took the phone and pressed the ‘shut off’ button to turn of the buzzing.
Once you were settled into Wilbur again. The buzzing started up again. You groaned as you moved and turned the buzzing off again. That had to be it.
A couple minutes later his phone started to buzz again, but short, little buzzes from text messages.
Now you were curious.
Who needed his attention this badly, besides you of course.
You slowly reached over to grab Wilbur’s phone and turned it on to show his lock screen.
The lock screen was a picture of you and Wilbur, sitting on the couch that was in the studio. You sitting on Will’s lap with his guitar in your own lap. Wilbur’s hand fingering the chords, as you strum whatever song you guys were playing. Wilbur’s free hand on your thigh as you both looked at each other with goofy smiles. You remember that day like it was yesterday. The day Wilbur told you he loved you.
When you finally snapped out of your thoughts, you looked down at the messages that continued to come through. You grimaced as you swiped up into his phone to reveal the numbers asking for the password. You hated going on or even through his phone. You didn’t want to be considered that girlfriend. You weren’t the jealous type and it wasn’t like you didn’t trust him, because you did! But. His phone never went off like this unless it was you wanting his attention or his band mates trying to get him to wake up on Saturday mornings for practice.
You typed in Wilbur’s password for his phone, which was your birthday. He said it was “more romantic than a stupid little password that didn’t mean anything to him.” Which you didn’t argue with. As you finally got into his phone, you took a deep breathe and went into messages.
But the name you saw didn’t seem real.
Sarah. A girl throughout high-school you were always jealous of. She was the cheer captain her senior year and she was always on varsity cheer throughout the years. She was the definition of perfect to you. She was beautiful, nice and extremely smart. She was one of those popular girls who was always super nice to people… well like you. The quote-on-quote “weirdos”. Even when she was friends with absolute assholes, it felt nice to be noticed by her. Now, junior year, it was rumored that her and Wilbur liked each other. I mean, they always talked to each other, sat by each other, and you could tell by the way Wilbur looked at her that something was going on. That’s one major reason of why you were jealous of her. But, the rumors were quickly shut down when Brett, the quarterback, asked her to the homecoming after the big game against their rivals. She obviously said yes and that was the end of the story. Sarah and Brett started dating and Wilbur was, you could say, forgotten by her. But you could tell Wilbur still had feelings for her after that night at the football game.
“Why is she texting him?” You thought out loud. You heard Will groan and shift slightly after you said that. You froze and looked at him until you heard his snores start back up, that’s when you relaxed. You looked down at the text.
‘Hey Wilbur!’
‘Are we still getting coffee this afternoon?’
‘Text me back when you can!’
When you say your heart stopped, you meant it. Coffee? With her? With the person he knows makes you insecure about everything? He said he had a get together with his friends tonight. What the fuck is going on?!
You scrolled up and saw the text messages they had earlier. Nothing screamed ‘cheating!’, you know Wilbur wouldn’t do that. But some whispered, ‘watch out for her.’
As you heard Wilbur groan and begin to wake up, you quickly put his phone on the table and smiled up at him.
‘Act normal. Talk about it later.’
“Hey sleepy head.” You put on a small smile as you ran your hands through his hair. He looked… perfect.
“Hey. Have you been awake this whole time?” He asked in a scratchy deep voice. He looked at you as you scratched his scalp and smiled.
“Eh. I woke up about 10 minutes ago.” You said while pecking his chin. He laughed and cupped your face in his hands as he pulled you up to be face to face with him. “What’s up?”
He smiled and looked at you for a couple seconds. “You, my love, are so beautiful.” He leant up and kissed you. Slow and passionate.
The kiss lasted shorter than you both would’ve liked but Wilburs phone started buzzing again. He groaned as he reached for the little device and grimaced as he looked at it. “Sorry love. I have to go. James is calling me.” Wilbur said as he got up from underneath you and put his shoes back on. “I’ll bring back some food for you ok?” He asked you as he pecked your lips one last time.
“Mhm. Just don’t get the wrong thing this time.” You teased him.
“That was one time! And I promise I won’t.” He said back to you as he kisses your forehead and grabbed his wallet and phone.
“I love you. Have fun.” You said as he opened the front door.
“I love you too darling.” He smiled at you as he closed the door.
You quickly frowned as thoughts started to crowed your mind.
‘When he comes home, I’ll ask him about it.’
Well. That was two days ago. And you still haven’t talked to him about it. It’s not like you haven’t had time or you haven’t seen him! You two are basically stuck to the hip when you can be. But. You just couldn’t bring yourself to do it. Afraid that maybe it was true. Maybe Wilbur never loved you and kept in touch with Sarah secretly this whole time and waited until she was either single or loved him again.
No. Your head was just playing tricks on you right? He wouldn’t do that! He’s a good guy. And he loves you. Right?
Wilbur came home from filming a video with Tommy and the rest of the boys. Once he came into the house and greeted you, you sat him down on the couch with you and sighed.
“We need to talk Will. And it’s nothing bad, maybe.” You said, anxiety filling your body as you looked down at your hands in your lap and started picking at them.
“Love what’s up? Talk to me.” Wilbur whispered to you as he grabbed your hands and kissed them.
You looked at him and sigh. “Do you love me? Like… truly. Do you love me?” You asked, slow and drawn out. your voice quiet and breathy, almost like you didn’t want to be saying those words and you didn’t want the reply to them.
The moment those words fell from your mouth, Wilbur’s face fell. He felt… sad? Angry? Confused? Why did you ask him that? Didn’t you know you were all he can think about half the time? Of course he loves you! “Love. Why are you asking that?” Wilbur asked in confusion and disbelief you would even ask that.
“No. Wil. I need you to answer the question. Do you love me or not?” You said, your voice raising slightly as you let go of his hands and got up from the couch.
“I- what brought this up y/n? I just want to know what I did to make you think this-“
“I saw the text. I saw what you both were doing that night. You fucking lied to me Wil! How long has this been going on? How long have you been seeing her?!” You raised your voice as you spoke. You couldn’t control your emotions. You weren’t angry per-say. You were more upset and disappointed. If this was true, you were done.
“What text?! What are you talking about?” Wilbur said as he scrunched his face up and looked at you like you were crazy.
“Oh don’t fucking try that on me. You know exactly what I’m talking about! You and Sarah have been secretly seeing each other this whole time, right? All the times you went out with the “guys”. It was with her. Right?!” You yelled at him, your voice cracking as you held back sobs.
Wilbur just looked at you with the most heartbreaking look ever. You saw the text? He got rid of those! He wasn’t even worried about the text at the moment though. He was upset and angry you thought that about him. Thought that he would do that. But disappointed at himself for not getting rid of her number and just telling you about what happened. “Y/n-“
“Please tell me this is fake. Please tell me what I’m feeling is just my mind playing games on me!” You sobbed as your ran your hands through your hair. “Please, Wilbur. I- I love you so much. Please. Please don’t leave me.” You whimpered as you choked back sobs as you looked at him through blurry eyes. Wilbur hurriedly got up and walked over to you. He wrapped his arms around your shoulders and brought your head to his chest and held it there as you sobbed. You wrapped your arms around his torso and scrunched his sweater up in your hands and squeezed.
Your thoughts persisted as you sobbed into his sweater. ‘He doesn’t love you. He never did!’ ‘He was using you the whole time to get over her.’
It didn’t feel real.
“Please- Wilbur please-“ You gasped out through sobs as you grabbed your chest, trying to get air into your lungs.
“Hey, hey. Look at me, ok? Focus on me.” He said in the softest voice you have ever heard as he gently cupped your face. “Deep breathes. In and out, ok? Do it with me. In-“ Wilbur inhaled as you grabbed into his forearms and followed him. Once he saw you take in as much air as you could, he exhaled. “And out. Good girl. Yeah. And just keep doing that with me ok?” You nodded as Wilbur helped you get a steadier breathe.
Once you nodded at him to tell him you were alright, he brought his forehead down to your own and sighed. “Can I- Can I please explain, all of this?” He asked you as he leaned back to look at you. You nodded, afraid if you spoke you would start crying again.
Wilbur sighed and gently brought you to the couch. He grabbed your hands and held them in his own as he kissed them gently. “Darling. I love you so much. So goddamn much. And I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Wilbur started but quickly stopped as he got choked up. He was scared to be honest. Scared you would leave him either way. Scared that once he explained the whole situation, you would still be upset about all of it. He couldn’t lose you. He wouldn’t be able to bear it. Not having you there with him. Not having your stupid jokes and your silly faces when he wakes up in the mornings. Not having anyone to come home too. Not having you to share music with.
He didn’t like the thought of you not being in his life anymore.
Wilbur looked up to see you looking at him with a sad lopsided smile and waiting patiently for him to continue as you rubbed his knuckles. “I-“ He took a few breathe before continuing. “I saw her at the coffee shop a couple weeks ago. And I hadn’t seen her since high school so I just went up to say hi and ask how she was doing.” Wilbur took a deep breathe before continuing the story. “She said that her and Brett broke up and she was home for the holiday. I had to leave, so I gave her my number, just to catch up her! Nothing else. And she texted me later that day if I wanted to get lunch and catch up in person. And me being the person I am said yes. And then during lunch I-“ Wilbur cleared his throat as he got chocked up once again. “I knew she was trying to flirt with me. She kept touching my hand and making unnecessary comments about me and just- it didn’t seem right. So I started talking about you and she got annoyed. That’s when I finally realized she didn’t want to catch up, more like she wanted to see if I was available. Which I made it super clear that I wasn’t! I mean. I thought I did. I thought I blocked her number, truly. I didn’t think she would keep pestering me about seeing her after talking about you. Y/n-“ Wilbur got cut off by his own sob. All you did was bring him into your chest while crying with him. “I’m s-so sorry. I didn’t mean to h-hurt you. I didn’t mean for you to think like that. I should’ve never said a-anything to her. I’m so sorry.” Wilbur sobbed out into your chest as he held you close to him like a lifeline. Like you would leave any moment.
You buried your face into the messy mop of hair on top of his head. You just sat there, holding him and crying with him, whispering to him that you loved him and it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t know this was going to happen. He didn’t plan for this to happen. It wasn’t his fault.
As you both settled down and your breathing was back to a regular rhythm, you lifted his head in your hands and wiped his tear stained cheeks and gave him a weak smile. “Wil. It’s not your fault. You were just being the nice person you always are, and I love you for that. And I’m not mad at you or anything. I’m just, kind of mad at myself and confused about everything. Mad at myself for letting myself get upset over this without letting you talk. Letting myself get insecure about our relationship and your feelings about me because of her. But also knowing your history with her, it kinda made my brain go into thoughts I didn’t like.” You let out a shaky sigh as you tried to blink away your tears. “But I’m also conf-“ you cleared your throat before continuing. “I’m just also confused on where you went that night and all those nights that you just left in a hurry or just left while smiling at your phone. It doesn’t make sense Wil.” Your voice cracked as you ended your sentence, putting your head down to look at your lap as your bottom lip quivered and you took deep breathes to stop yourself from crying.
Wilbur frowned at you as he sat up and took your hands in his again. “Love. You had all the right to be upset. I should’ve have told you I saw her, I should have told you about the lunch, I should’ve have told you about everything. And I’m so sorry you felt that way love. You shouldn’t have to be insecure about yourself or this relationship. I love you. And only you. You are perfect. And I only want you. Not her. Not anyone else. Just you.” Wilbur sniffed as he lifted your chin up so you were looking at him. “There’s my perfect darling.” Wilbur smiled at you as he cupped your face and rubbed your cheeks. You sent him a weak smile back as you leant into his hand. “And if you’re wondering what I’ve been doing all of those nights. I’ve been with the Phil, Tommy, Jack, James, practically everyone. Every night. Not with her. And I had a plan, but I cant wait any longer so-“ Wilbur cut himself off as he went to his coat on the rack and went through his pockets. He held the mystery thing in his balled up fist and came back over to you.
Wilbur knelt down on one knee in front of you as he looked at you with a small smile. You just sat on the couch with a confused yet shocked face. “Wil-“
“Y/n. Ever since that one little interaction in the cafeteria in junior year, I’ve been utterly in love with you. From your art to the way you laugh and talk about the things you love for hours on end. You have become home. And I never really believed in that stuff, about how a person could become home to you. But now I do. I have found that one person i want to spend every moment with until I die. And the only person that will put up with my bullshit.” You laughed at that as you sniffed and held back tears. “And that is you, darling. Always and only you. Now-“ Wilbur sniffed and smiled as he looked at you and opened the small black box. Inside, a silver ring with a small yet beautiful diamond, which you knew was fake, on the top. You admired the ring as he took it out of its resting place and held it up to you. “I know it’s not much but, it’s something. Y/n L/n, will you make me the happiest man to ever exist and marry me?” Wilbur asked you, his hand slightly shaking as he awaited your answer.
You laughed a little as you yet again held back tears and nodded. “Of course I’ll marry you William. Oh my god.” You say in shock as Wilbur put on the ring and cupped your face. He pecked your lips softly and rested his forehead on yours as he laughed.
“Thank fuck. I was scared you were gonna say no.” Wilbur sighed out as you smiled up at him.
“I would never. I love you too much. That is unless you did do something bad-“
“I swear I didn’t!”
“I know, I know! What made you decide to do… that… now?” You asked him as he sat on the couch and pulled you into his lap.
“Well, knowing you had those thoughts and knowing how impatient I am to just make you mine forever, fuck the plan. Sorry Phil but, I needed you to know that you are my forever. My one and only. My sugar plum. My little soft cute baby-“
“Ok now you’re pushing it.” You deadpanned at him as your crossed your arms and tried not to laugh at Wilbur’s pout.
“Fine. I just won’t call you anything. I won’t even call you my fiancé!” Wilbur whined out as he looked away from you.
Hearing him say that word. Fiancé. Brought a whole other world into you. A whole other part of your life you get to experience, with him.
“Nooooo! No please! I’m sorry! Call me what you like!! See what I did there- please I’m sorry!” You whined out as you kissed all over his face, not a spot left untouched by your lips.
Wilbur laughed at the song reference as you continued to kiss his face. He placed his hands on your waist and squeezed. “Ok! Ok, fine. I will call you whatever I like. And I won’t stop calling you my fiancé. Well- not until we’re married. Because then I get to call you my wife. Oh! I get to call you my wife then! Can we just get married now?! Please-“
Wil! Wil! Calm down dear. We’ll get married when we can afford it. And plus I want our family and friends there. But for now-“ You ran your hands through his hair and rubbed his head as his eyes fluttered shut. “You can call me your fiancé or any other nickname you want.” You smiled at him as he looked at you. Wilbur leaned in and softly connected your lips together. The kiss wasn’t quick or rough. It was like Wilbur was summoning all of his love for you into one kiss. The kiss was soft, slow, and love-filled.
It was perfect.
Once you both needed air, Wilbur pulled away and panted softly as he smiled widely at you. “I love you. And I’m sorry for what happened and not telling you anything. I promise to tell you everything for now on, like i should’ve been doing.” Wilbur sighed and rubbed your waist lightly. “I love you.”
“And I love you. So much.” You smiled at him as you leaned in and kissed him again, but quickly pulling back before the kiss could go anywhere. “And what do you mean ‘like you should’ve been doing’?? I swear to god if you did something el-“
“Hey. None of it is bad. Maybe somethings I did with Tommy or the band that we kept secret, but nothing bad. Now shut up and kiss me.” Wilbur quickly reassured you as he pulled you back into him and kissed you again.
But you being the person you are, needed more answers. “No no no! Did- Did you and Tommy break the TV that one ti-“
“Darling. Love. Baby. Stop talking more kissing, ok? I want to show my fiancé how much I love them.” Wilbur quickly mumbled out as he started to kiss you again.
“Yeah but you have some explaining to do.” You mumbled out in between kisses.
“That depends if you even remember it after we’re done.” Wilbur says as he flips you over, so your back meets the couch, as he hovers over your frame.
“Oh, I will. But you can try to make me forget pretty boy.”
“Oh I certainly will.” Wilbur smirked as he leant down and pressed an intoxicating kiss onto your lips.
You were gonna have to try really hard to remember.
Taglist: @deadphantomsociety @jadeissues @aimi-chann @z0vamp @art3m1s-adelia @bird-shack @mcr-pr-fob @hop-scotchh @romancingdaffodils @sixofshadowandbone (if you want to be added, all you have to do is ask or message me dears <3)
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hamishsteele · 2 years
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Dead End: Paranormal Parl | How to draw Courtney
Courtney's design had to have a lot of thought put into it. Not only is their a twist later in Season 2 about their horns, but also the handcuffs were gonna come off during the show, so we needed to make sure Courtney looked good no matter what.
Included in this collection of Courtney art is a turn around of just her head, something we didn't do for other characters because the horns are deceptively hard to get right. I know I've struggled a lot with them in the comics.
And no, we didn't put that line in about her looking like a croissant because the fandom was calling her that, the crew were already saying that when we wrote it.
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xaeyrnofnbe · 1 year
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been thinking reaaally hard about the tritons on mana. i’m making things up as i go but damnit this is fun (yes they’re naked. i didn’t want to bother covering them up with clothes. and i wanted to show off the markings n stuff. but realistically they would wear clothes.)
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BASICALLY the idea i have is that a very long time ago tritons were split up into three main groups, the ones who live in the shallows, the ones who live in the open ocean, and the ones that live in the deepest depths available. (details, of which there are many, under the cut. oh and additional versions of the drawing) (do take a look if you can, i wrote a lot)
the shallows variant, living near islands in shallow kelp forests and in coral reefs (sometimes even inland lakes and rivers), were the smallest. a bit shorter than the average human, in fact. they came in bright green-blue colors with a vibrant and diverse array of brightly colored fins, webbing, and gills. they were also the most humanoid.
those in the open ocean lived just about wherever as long as it wasn’t too deep or too near the oversea, and were bigger than humans. averaging well over ten feet in height, and nearly double that if you include the tail. they came in darker blues accented with green, often mirroring the deep blues of their environment. they are most defined, however, by their slightly uncanny features. they lean a bit more towards fishiness than their little cousins.
and in the deepest, furthest reaches of the ocean, where hardly any sunlight reaches at all, are the biggest, and least humanoid breed of triton. they’ve gone by many names, colossals, poseidons, leviathan tritons, you get the idea. coming in dull blues and purples, but with dazzling displays in the form of bioluminescent markings, along with coral-like horns or antlers growing from their heads, suggesting draconic influence in centuries past. they are enormous, so big in fact, that because i’m not great at eyeballing measurements i’m leaving it up to the concept art i’ve done to show off just how big they are. once upon a time, they lived among the leviathans, oceanic gods of their time, truly colossal in nature. but they were just as advanced and intelligent as their relatives. they were also the earliest tritons, from which the rest are descended.
now, the leviathan tritons are gone. whether something killed them or if they simply vanished, it’s impossible to know for certain. but the two surviving variants put aside their differences and became one, and now modern tritons sit comfortably between the appearances of both their ancestors. and as for what remains of the leviathan variant? well, it’s less obvious, but some bloodlines of modern tritons still carry those magnificent flashing spots and stripes, and on occasion, an infant is born with budding, brightly colored horns that grow with them as they develop and age.
these horns are generally thought of as a sign of powerful magic, or of godly influence. it can skip generations, but is passed down nonetheless.
here are the unshaded version, and the sketch, of the drawing seen above (oh and. i completely forgot to give the Big Tritons hair. as an excuse let’s say this is a bald one, but they’d normally also have hair.)
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