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suehtamsatierf · 2 years

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Everything About My Process For The Comic Book Style

I want to open up this article with a funny comment I received in one of my tweets that goes briefly over my process for the last Amy Rose drawing I did.

It made me chuckle! Maybe I am a fool for sharing my secrets... unless it was my intention all along! After all, there aren't really any secrets as most things I do are done by several other artists as well.

Also, even if it WAS a secret, why the hell would I keep it all for myself? I mean, maybe by keeping it I could be the only exclusive artist capable of doing this kind of artwork... Naah! It's just a matter of time and a little bit of effort for other artists to figure out my ways, and like I just said: it's not really much of a secret as several other artists draw in similar styles already.

I actually see a lot of benefits in sharing my approach to drawings because this will help several artists to improve their skills or branch out in style. The world needs more artists, as well as the industry (animation, comics, games, etc.). It also helps to perpetuate whatever we have learned to future generations of artists. Could you imagine if the original Disney animators didn't transfer their knowledge to younger animators, or if we lost everything documented by the great art masters?

Now, of course, I am not comparing myself to any of these legendary artists. I am lightyears away from the skill level they were and I am not by any means a legendary artist myself. However, I did learn several things in my artistic journey that seems to draw attention from several folks out there, and if whatever I have to share is helpful in any way, I will gladly and proudly do it.

Now, let's get started!

The early steps

You see, as an artist, I need a few steps before getting to something I like. Not all artists are like that, some can draw awesome characters straight up without any supporting structural sketch underneath. These guys probably drew a whole lot already in their lives, I don't have that much experience yet. It could also be that I'm just way too picky with my drawings, but I digress.

Usually, I start with loose, non-committed ugly sketches. A lot of the time they come out when I am just doodling or sketching for fun, without any intention of turning it into a final image at the moment. In fact, I have a folder on my computer with lots and lots of sketches that never really went anywhere from there. I actually find a lot of them pretty ugly.

The image above is a page where I did some sketches. I did try to tell a story in some of these drawings by giving the characters a little bit of an attitude, but most of them didn't really go anywhere. There was no commitment here, it was a playground to explore and have fun without worrying too much about if it's looking great or not. After all, I never had the goal of sharing this with the world in the first place,these were for me! That's important.

When I see a sketch has potential and can be something fun to work on, I just develop on top of it. Some of these sketches have potential! Hence I took Amy over there and developed it further to a final image, and there are another couple of sketches there that could look very nice if more time is spent on improving them.

This is another sketch I did of Blaze when I was drawing her. I ended up not picking this one because some later sketches I did felt more interesting at the time. Unfortunately, I lost most of the roughs I did for this one, I did around 5-7 different poses before deciding on one, and the chosen one was heavily modified in the process as well.

Notice how loose and rough it is. It's pretty messy! At this point, I am not heavily concerned about anything other than the gesture and the pose. The lines are messy, the forms are not that well defined, the character proportions are off... that's okay! Really! These are things we can fix later.

I find it a lot easier when I pay attention to one thing at a time instead of trying to figure everything out at once. First, let's get that pose right in a way that doesn't take too long to draw and that can be easily modified. After that, we worry about structure, anatomy (if present), accurate perspective, shapes, lines, contrast, you get the idea.

This is the stage for playing! It's the stage where you get to mess up big time and do things over again because no commitment has been made yet.

Here I was getting closer to the pose I ended up committing with. I accidentally cropped the document and lost a good part of the sketches around, but you can see how I was still making changes to the pose trying to make it work. Initially, she was doing a very unrealistic and awkward twist with her body that just was not believable. If your drawing is not believable, then it falls apart.

This sketch is a little tighter than the other ones I did such as the previous to this in this article, and that's because I was mostly reiterating a very similar pose over and over again. I already had some foundation that was originally very loose, but as I made changes, it got a bit more defined.

Being tighter in this stage also helped me to better visualize what was going on with the character. Sometimes a gesture looks pretty good, but when you start developing it into something that makes more sense anatomically and spatially, you start seeing some breaking points that need to be addressed.

I made the twist less extreme and it started to look good! Once I am happy with the sketch, then I commit and start refining it bit by bit.

Here are some examples of how loose I usually like to be at this point:

Before Cleaning Up...

I usually like to have as many decisions made as possible before moving on to clean-up, because it's harder to make big changes once you're already doing clean, precise lines. The clean-up stage is where you focus your energy on making the drawing look pretty! However, before that, you gotta make sure things are working fine. It's important not to rush!

That's why I do multiple sketch passes before the final polished lines. Since the very early sketches are very messy, some smaller details are hard to see.

For Shadow, for example, I did 3 passes. The first one was exclusively for figuring out the pose because as you can see, it looks absolutely horrible. The hands are atrocious, the head barely looks like the character, the shoe is a box and there's one foot missing. I accomplished its objective though, which was getting a dynamic gesture that works as a foundation to all the other elements that go on top.

The second pass was where I started to define some elements better. I couldn't understand what was going on with his face and hands in the first pass, for example, so now is the time to get those things sorted out. That means I focused more on structure, defining the primary and secondary shapes more accurately. The primary big shapes were kind of figured out in the first pass already, except that it was too rough. The secondary only started making sense on the second pass.

The third pass was to clean up the shapes of the previous sketch a bit (lines are still rough) and to figure out the smaller details, that despite being smaller they are still too big to be dealt with in the clean up where my sole focus is to make the lines look nice.

What happens a lot is that even after going through all these passes, there are still some minor issues here and there that require adjustments when I'm already in the clean-up stage. On Shadow, it was his back leg that I had to lower a little bit to make the silhouette clear and his foot that simply wasn't there until the last minute. In other cases, I have to completely redo an arm or a foot, for example. That's when I go back to sketch just that part out and then clean it up again on top. That means there's usually some back and forth happening.

Here is another example of the multiple passes I make before cleaning up:

Cleaning Up

When I get to the clean-up stage, pretty much everything has been figured out on the sketch already. The focus here is to make the lines look pretty and to convey certain things such as overlapping, texture, Ambient Occlusion and a little bit of shading.

Having some of the shading done in pitch-black lines is a creative decision I made mostly because it's fun and feels nice to draw this way. I started drawing in this style with Rouge the Bat when I thought about rendering her in a painterly style but it would take too long and I had tons of other things to do.

However, the black shadows I make are mostly ambient occlusion and cast shadows. Unless it's a dark noir scene, making every single shadow black would not look very pleasing. In my opinion, it would be way too heavy and a lot of information would be lost.

When looking at my art, a lot of people think I do the black shading and the lines at the same time in the same layer, but that's not the case. I usually do the lines first and then on a separate layer I make the shadows using the exact same brush. That way it's easier to try things out and erase them whenever I don't like the result. It also allows me to focus on one thing at a time!

What I see people really like about my drawings is how I shade metallic objects. That is a topic for a whole article of its own, but in a nutshell, when making reflective materials, I usually don't think of light and shadows, but of what objects could possibly be surrounding this metal and how they are reflected on its surface. It doesn't have to be an accurate reflection as long as it looks believable. There are a lot of things I learned about reflective materials that I'd like to share in the future, but this is not the article for that.

I am currently writing another article all about line art and how to improve it, which goes in-depth on what I am usually thinking about when drawing. That being said, I will not go too much into the intricate details here, but I can say some things very briefly.

Line thickness matters a lot, and I usually use it to show important shapes and depth. I use thicker lines to say that an object is in front of another one with thinner lines. I also use thicker lines for the outline of big, primary shapes and also to describe volume. Making a thicker line on the side of an object that's in the shadows helps to convey a sense of tridimensionality, especially when it's a shadow made out of contact (which we call Ambient Occlusion).

Simplicity is key! Lines should be simple and not too bumpy. They should also flow and be confident! To achieve that, I usually draw with either my elbow or shoulder using fast movements. I sometimes use my wrist as a pivot point for a curved line, but avoid doing that as this can be harmful. There are 3 kinds of lines that I alternate when drawing.

Colours and Shading

Colours are tricky because their use is very abstract, which means there's no wrong way of using colours. Instead, some ways work and ways that don't work. There are, of course, guides that you can follow that helps you achieve better colour palettes, but since they're not rules, they can be broken as long as it works.

There are actually no irrefutable rules in drawing, every concept can be broken as long as it looks right. If it doesn't, it just looks like a mistake meaning that you failed. Using the excuse of "it's my style" is a very cheap way of saying "I don't know the fundamentals and I don't care but I still want to be appreciated".

The way I approach colours specifically for this style is by starting with the flat, local colours. On their own, they can look a little boring, although I usually do my best to make them interesting regardless of shading. That's why sometimes it's easy for me to be doubtful on whether the colours are looking good or not. I usually push it until the end though as I am almost always pleasantly surprised.

I think a reason I think the flat colours can look boring is that they need to be somewhat neutral, and by that I mean they are the halftone of the shading. That being said, I never go for full saturation or pure whites and blacks, because that limits the shading process and can make the image look a bit overwhelming.

Here's what I did with Amy, for example:

Now, of course, I didn't do a mathematical operation to figure out the best percentage of saturation for each of those colours in relationship to each other. I did it by feeling and by trial and error. Look at how horrible it would look if all the flats were 100% saturated:

I don't know about you, but this hurt my eyes! Vibrant colours are not necessarily associated with high levels of saturation, but mostly with the relationship of the colours used in a palette.

The colours around the 70% saturated red in the original Amy make this same red feel more vibrant. The 8% saturated white has an important role in making the reds and pinks pop up even more without hurting anybody's eyes.

In other words, never make a colour fully saturated, pure black or pure white in the flats.

For Shading, I often use the C movement in the color picker. I know, you have no idea what I'm talking about. It's basically this:

The reason I stress this out is that beginner artists usually pick shadow colours by simply lowering the brightness of that same colour, keeping the hue and the saturation the same. This doesn't happen. As light and the environment affects an object, its colours shift. Colour and light are directly related, meaning that everything surrounding an object will affect its colour in some way. I will be writing another article talking about this.

I usually draw the shape of the shadows on the character with the colour I picked for it and fill the inside with the same colour. Shape design is something that I like to pay close attention to, even in shading. I then make a layer on top of the shadows and use a slightly brighter tone that's more blue-ish to do the bounced and ambient lights. The reason I usually make it bluer is that I am usually thinking of the sky.

You see, the sky is actually a big light source that illuminates everything with a soft diffuse light. However, since the blue colour of the sky is actually the sunlight being reflected on the atmosphere gases such as Oxygen, it works as a much weaker light source than the sun. That's why you see lots of blue-ish shadows outdoors on a sunny day, and that's why I make bounced and ambient lights with a tint of blue.

Closing Thoughts

That's all I got for now. Much of what I covered here can be described a lot more in-depth in a dedicated blog post, hence I didn't do into too much detail about several of the concepts I mentioned. I am already writing some posts that cover some of this stuff more thoroughly, it's just that I take my time doing it as I want to make it as clear as possible without boring the hell out of the readers.

The goal of this post is to describe in more detail my process and some of the things I am thinking about when drawing. I hope this is helpful to anybody who is reading, and if it is feel free to let me know!

If there's anything you're interested to know from me, let me know as well and I can write about it here.

Cheers!

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Time to shamelessly plug my product >:D If you liked what you read, and thought it was insightful, but want to see all that has been said and a bit more applied to an actual drawing? Well, I put together a 4+ hour-long commented tutorial of my drawing of Sally Acorn from the Archie Comics Sonic series. It's currently only $20 and it comes with the PSD for you to analyze and hopefully get inspired. You can find the tutorial on my ko-fi shop by clicking here.

#tutorial #art tutorial #art tips #drawing tutorial #drawing tips #comic books #comic book style #sonic frontiers #sonic the hedghog fanart

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yunjitsu · 3 months

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Heyoo!! I really love your artwork!! I was just wondering, do you have any advice for someone who really wants to improve their art? I've been doing artwork for about a year now, and I feel a little stuck at the moment with improvement. Like when I draw from a reference, (atm I'm trying manga panel redraws from aot manga) I feel its gotta be exactly the same, and it's really making me feel a little frustrated. Do you have any tips by any chance? 🥺

Hi there and thank you so much for your mail <3 I'll be happy to share my lil point of view with you (omg there is so much I want to say- it's gonna be pretty long):

First of all, it's completely normal to feel stuck (I sometimes still do and in general I'm reaaaally hesitant about my artworks all the time). I think we've all been there at some point. Just look at your old artworks and compare it to the new ones; I'm sure you will notice some differencies and improvements!

Second: in my opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with drawing from references - but from those that capture real people, like photographies, movie screencaps, magazine shootings, sculptures etc. Observing and analyzing is literally one of the most important things when it comes to art and it allows you to learn to simplify stuff into easier shapes. I would avoid using and learning from the references that are already drawn and simplified by someone else; in my case it just didn't feel right and it didn't help at all. If you like to redraw manga panels - that's okay, I did that too and you can learn some stuff like composition like that, but still - they've already been stylised by someone else (in this case - by Isayama) and you may just feel like copying his work and way of thinking instead of learning how to bring actual reality onto your own art, if you know what I mean.

I'd suggest creating moodboards maybe, too. When you think about the thing you want to draw and you have that picture in your mind, just search for various photos that capture that vibe. Anatomy, poses, expression, environment, colours, items... and make a little collage that you can look on while creating and get inspired by that. It's like connecting the dots to bring the final effect to your art.

And consistency, of course! I noticed I started to get better only after I decided to be very consistent and stubborn about drawing.

To be honest I personally use a shit ton of reference photos because I still feel like I do not have enough knowledge to just draw proper anatomy from imagination. I often just toss them all into a folder and switch between them constantly, looking, scanning, processing, drawing. Try not to use just one, but a bunch of them.

I hope this helps you somehow 😭 I'm sorry if it's not clear enough!

English is not my first language and sometimes I get a little lost lol

#jitsu's mail time 💌#happy to help

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okadaizoirl · 1 year

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ummmm so it wasn't a one-off after all?????? oops whatever writing this helps me feel better so fuck it

SO THIS WAS IN MY DRAFTS FOR AGES??? SITTING?????? FINISHED????????? so here's that second "chapter" of my BCS self-insert fic

8:15am.

Jimmy pulled in to his office just to see that Mike was already there-- A sealed folder in his hand. Figures that he'd throw such a fit over how early he was asked for, just to show up even earlier. As he unlocked the door and made his way back to his office, he set his hands down on the arms of his chair before finally sitting.

"What've you got for me?"

Mike let the folder fall onto the desk from under his crossword as he stood just a foot or two away. Despite his complaints, he sounded just as alert as usual as he took a sip of his coffee from its paper cup.

"Well, first off, kid's real last name is Morrison," he began as Jimmy opened the folder he was given. Photographs spilled out first, with printed paper falling just behind. "Owns some property willed to him by his grandfather, lives there, barely seems to pay the utilities. Has a cat. And a blog."

Jimmy first looked at the photos-- The first few seemed to be a perimeter view of his applicant's home. Dandelions littered the yard, the grass tall and unkempt, yet the home's exterior and windows seemed fairly clean. The house number was visible from the street, and Alex's beat-up ride was there in the driveway.

What a bittersweet sight, that car. It tugged at Jimmy's mind in a way that kept him thinking of how this morning would go throughout his sleepless night.

He didn't realize he was speaking until the words had already left his mouth-- "And what about a connection to music?"

Mike looked up from his crossword, head slowly turning to give that blank stare Jimmy was all too fucking familiar with. That attitude never failed to start even the smallest fire of annoyance in him, even now as he found himself chasing the most irrelevant thing about this new guy. His eyes widened, brows raised, before pointing to the printed papers.

"Huh? Is it in these? Anything on that?"

It took another agonizing moment of silence, but with a sigh, Mike spoke again.

"He was in band in school. Marching band, orchestra, seemed like he wanted to shoot for Carnegie Hall but ended up playin' an electric bass with a group of kids in a shitty bar. That is, until he got a call from grandpa asking for help-- That answer your burning question?"

It did, and fuck, did he regret asking. His prior teasing did, in fact, strike a nerve as he'd suspected, but not nearly the nerve he meant to touch. For a second, he tried to speak, but only a soft noise left his throat-- But he at least got it on the second time.

"Uh-- What else did you find, then? These papers, what are they?" As he posed the question, he finally gave the documents a look over, taking in the printed website's formatting.

"Blog posts," Mike answered. "I didn't print all of 'em, but I got the ones that stood out to me."

Jimmy gave each page a quick skim-- Some seemed almost like diary entries, others written by his to-be assistant stirred up in passionate frenzies about civil rights movements. The only thing close to criminal activity in the least was admission of possession and use of marijuana. He finally looked up to Mike from those documents, a silent question posed then and there: Can he be trusted?

Thankfully, Mike answered with a nod. "He's young and dumb, but loyal. He's fine to come aboard."

Jimmy let out a sigh of relief, but he didn't know why. Mike, however, caught that sound, responding to it with a raised brow.

"But he's also barely even grown. 25, says so on his blog, on his driver's license." From relief to suddenly being put on the defensive, Jimmy at first just scoffed.

"So? He's been an adult for long enough that he knows he needs a good job, he gets one." That was met with a brief shake of Mike's head.

"What I'm saying is, he doesn't need even half of the bullshit you bring to the table in his life." Instantly, he was met with protest from Jimmy.

"What?! I do not bring bullshit to the table, Mike!"

But even so, as if nothing had been said at all, Mike continued. "He can have a good-paying job. He can keep a secret. But whenever you have anybody around that you can rope into something, you pull them in before they even know it."

While Jimmy sat back in silence, Mike seemed to think it pertinent to lean in as he finally capped off his point:

"This guy's life is just starting. Don't screw it up."

Jimmy could feel his blood boiling under his skin, but Mike just turned to leave. And he let him. Oh, he'd likely think of comebacks he could have said for days, but the first only came to him after Mike was opening the front door to head back to his car-- Said just under his breath.

"Yeah, like he wasn't going to already."

With an irritated sigh, he looked over what had been printed again. Nothing stood out to him in particular, but the greyscale printed copies of an obviously full-color webpage made some things a bit difficult; for instance, a rectangle that looked enough like a flag stamped the bottom left corner of the website, but he couldn't see any hints of what colors might make up that flag-- It didn't look like the flag of Mexico, at least, but no country he could think of immediately.

Meanwhile, back in that property in the photographs on Saul's desk, Alex was just doing his best to wake up. Wake up, get ready, make a good impression on the first day. He looked himself over in the mirror, taking in the sight of himself in the suit he picked...

... It was maybe a little tight on his hips. It'd just have to do. With a quick tug, he just tightened his tie and headed for his car. Once in the driver's seat, he could finally take a moment to take a deep breath in, and out. He just needed to keep himself collected. Work would be work, and home would be home. That's all there would be to it.

Not two minutes after he pulled from his driveway and his cell phone starts ringing. Just typical. With a groan, he opens it, putting the receiver to his ear.

"You reached Alex Lobelia. How can I help you?"

"You miserable bastard."

Oh, Alex knew that voice. All he could do at first was sigh as he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder.

"Mandy--"

"You do not get to call me that."

"Amanda. Look, Amanda, I told you before and I'll tell you again, we're over. And for reasons you couldn't help even if you tried."

"What reasons?! Was I just not ever going to be good enough for you?!"

"I didn't say that."

His calm when dealing with the sudden interrogation was from nothing more than unfortunate familiarity. Even as his past lover screamed into the phone, his mind was more occupied by making sure he remembered the directions to his new workplace. It'd just take ten or fifteen minutes, pushing twenty if something backed up the highway. His mind raced with how exactly he could stride right through the door, looking ready and chipper to file papers all day, as that yelling continued right in his ear.

It wasn't helping him much.

"Amanda, I really don't have time for this right now. I'm on my way to my new job."

"Oh, a new job, huh? You're just getting on so well without me."

"You're hearing what you wanna hear. I have to go, seriously."

As Alex pulled into a side parking spot, he snapped his phone shut and exited his vehicle with one more deep breath. Last chance to pull himself together. He slid his phone into his pocket, also double-checking that he had his wallet, his pen...

All there. Last stop. Time to walk in.

As Alex opened the front door to enter the waiting area, he found himself taking longer strides. His shoulders square, his posture straightened; yes, this would be a fresh start. No longer would he have to repress himself to get respect, and it all started here.

The door to Saul Goodman's office swung open wide, the lights flickering on one by one until Alexei's figure was fully illuminated in the doorway.

"What's the time, boss?"

"Nine o'clock," came his answer. "You're early."

"Better than late," Alex laughed in reply as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

#alex is alive #alex's writing tag #saul goodman x oc #saul goodman / jimmy mcgill #bcs #jimmy mcgill x oc #jimmy mcgill tag

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knackfandomarchive · 1 year

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I say I keep thinking about making comics and animations and collages, and my dad tells me that's awesome you should try that.

I will perish at this rate. I'm having fun but also going insane.

What I have done so far is download someone's playthrough of the first game on YouTube and put it in daVinci Resolve, and then went through the footage and grabbed stills of every time Knack appears or changes size in a cutscene.

Backing up for a moment: I had first watched the whole thing on youtube and tried to record time stamps for every cutscene and some synopsis of what happens. This unfortunately did not track exactly to the time stamps in Resolve but it wasn't too bad.

Anyway THEN I went through and looked for any interesting poses and grabbed stills of those and put them in a separate folder. I then exported the stills as pngs and imported them into GIMP. Whereupon I manually cut Knack out of every frame (because I don't know how to do it automatically with all the different backgrounds) and arranged them into multiple character action sheets. These are basically my references. I am just going to draw them exactly as they appear for the most part. No tracing.

So I started drawing Knack and I have like 4 of him in my sketchbook out of potentially 112 or so. Just of his smallest form. And it doesn't necessarily take me long to sketch him out. But THEN I wasn't fully satisfied with the character design so I'm caving and downloading someone's playthrough of the second game. And this one is in a playlist so I have to find each individual video and download them and stitch them together in Resolve. (there are full single videos but they look like they've been deep fried sometimes). And I'm going to do the same thing as the first and find all the cutscenes, some interesting poses and assemble those. I was originally just going to grab a few screenshots and use those to decide how to do his arm spikes and feet, but then I saw some really fun poses and I'm losing it.

All this while making other insane posts like these and struggling to focus on my homework.

A major thing helping me do this is: DaVinci Resolve has a feature where each of the stills I collect have a time stamp in it, so it can take me to that part of the video.

#wall of text #howling at the sun #I am full of joy you guys but it's also getting in my way.#I also went back and unprivated a lot of posts #at this point i'm no longer worrying about looking tidy because I can't #also also: why does my website only show so many of my posts?#discoknack (me)

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kotokos-cafe · 2 years

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Sayaka, Celestia, Kyoko, And Kaede With A Fem!Artist S/O Who Used To Draw Nude Women And Is Embarrassed About It Now

Sayaka had been over to your house to watch a movie with you one morning.

However, you excused yourself to the bathroom for a moment or two, telling her not to do anything crazy without you.

Sayaka laughed and told you not to worry.

"I pinky promise, S/O! And a pinky promise is for life!"

Chuckling at your girlfriend's cuteness, you left her alone in your living room.

When you were gone, however, Sayaka eventually got lonely and bored without you, so she started poking around randomly to entertain herself.

You can only imagine the shock and redness of her face when she stumbled upon a sketchbook full of drawings of naked women.

Quickly, she tucked it back into where she found it and sat rigidly on the couch, clawing at the hem of her skirt.

You came in on your girlfriend looking as though she had been turned into a tomato, based on the shade of her face.

"Saya? What's wrong? Why are you so red?"

"N-Nothing, S/O! Nothing at all!"

Aside from that moment, she's an A-plus actor in pretending she never saw the sketchbook.

She'll never let on that she knows.

It'll be her little secret. :)

Celestia is the kind of person that appreciates the fine arts, such as the sculptures made by the Greeks and Romans, despite most of them all being nude, ad well.

She thinks the architecture and work that went into them just shows the dedication the ancient societies had for their deities, after all.

So when she broke in one morning, as she normally did, to ask you to accompany her to a café, she spotted a book hanging from one of your kitchen cabinets.

She thought it was an odd place to have a book, but nonetheless, wanting to be courteous to you, she reached for it to put it back. Then it fell out of the cabinet.

Celeste was shocked when it opened to a drawing of a woman with very large... assets...

Was that what you were into? She certainly didn't measure up... She didn't look like that...

That was when she realized... she now has blackmail for life.

"S/OOOOOO~."

"Yes, Celeste?"

"I order you to take me to my favorite café to order my royal milk tea. Or else."

"Or else?"

"Why, your artistry will go on display, of course!"

She shows shows the pictures on her phone and all the color drains from your face right before her eyes.

"Darling, I'm joking. Though I must say, your skill in the arts is remarkable. Have you considered doing it professionally?"

"That's what that was... Ah, please don't tell anyone!"

She chuckles.

"Darling, if you don't wish for it to become public knowledge, I will refrain from sharing."

And so you both move on, and yes, you get Celeste her royal milk tea.

When Kyoko showed up to your house, it was because she had agreed to come over and help you with cleaning.

When she entered, she saw how bad the house really looked. Including several drawings of naked women who were posed in normal-esque manners.

"Were you an art student, S/O?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've certainly drawn an incredible amount of unclothed women..."

You explained to her that you used to be an artist who drew those women for a profit, causing Kyoko to smile.

"So what I'm hearing is... you made money off of seeing girls naked? Anyone's dream, I suppose. Still, why did you remain with the career for long enough to do all of these?"

"Why else? Money."

"That makes sense."

She helped you clean all the drawings up and place them somewhere safer, leaving the choice whether to keep them or throw them away up to you.

If you chose to keep them, she helps you hang them up on your wall, reassuring you of you being talented and the drawings being spectacular, or placing them into an organized folder.

And if you chose to throw them away, secretly, she keeps them. She likes viewing the work of something so perfectly made by her own S/O's handiwork, after all.

She loves everything you've made, and can't see what's to come next. :)

Kaede was laying beside you after a cuddling session in your room when she spotted one of the drawings over your shoulder.

"Is that a naked girl?"

Not wanting to lie to her, you nodded and told her the honest truth.

"Yeah... I, uh, I used to draw naked women for practice and stuff..."

"I think that's really epic! I've heard that a lot of artists start that way, and have to draw naked women in art school, and everything."

"No, it's embarrassing... I feel like such a pervert now..."

"Nothing wrong with mastering the female anatomy artistically!"

Her enthusiasm, while very comforting, also serves to make you more embarrassed. You were convinced that Kaede was an angel and that you didn't deserve her.

What other girlfriend would be so accepting of you seeing the bodies of other girls?

Kaede Akamatsu, that's who!

She'll actually do her best to get you new models, if you'd like to continue doing it.

But if not, or if you'd like something else, Kaede will also volunteer to pose so you can draw her! Be it clothed or nude.

All in all, she's probably the most supportive out of all the girls on this list.

And you wouldn't have it any other way. :>

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apocalypticgargoyle · 3 years

Note

okay okay could i request some nsfw with professor!techno giving a little extra praise to one of his students and asking to see them after class (presumably a bad grade of sort, but thats most certainty not the case). I love your writing by the way !! could i be <3 anon?? thank you so muchhh !!!! :DD

˚⸙͎۪۫⋆ welcome <3 anon ˚⸙͎۪۫⋆

im going fucking feral for this idea, thank you for gifting it to me. i- my mind went to dark academia!techno and i lost it. if y'all know me irl, you don't after this. also this techno fanart by EtecteraArt, if you don't have clear skin yet.

𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒. ⚚ 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫!𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨

pairing: professor!technoblade x fm!reader

± warnings: nsfw (minors dni), pure filth, professor/student, slight degradation, domination, minimal dialogue

It started out as shameless flirting for you. You’d wear the most revealing thing your closet held, crossing your legs and leaning over to pick up a pencil just so you could show him the curvature of your body. You’d tie your hair up or pull it away from your neck when you answered one of his questions, basking in the slight smirk painting his face as his eyes surveyed your movements. You chewed on the ends of your pens and wore a shade of lipstick you knew would draw in his attention. You were positive your fellow lecture members cast their eyes downward at you, believing he was giving you special treatment just because you toyed with him.

You made sure to show him you knew what you were talking about and actively studying his assignments and works published by him. You were, in a word, hopelessly obsessed with Techno. This obsession led to his appraisal in class when you could fully grasp a more advanced concept he had posed. You didn’t even care about the other girls’ glared burning into your shoulder from behind you as he favored you over them.

One day in particular, you came to class a bit earlier with a coffee for him in your hand. You stopped before entering, pressing your back against the outside wall beside the door as you heard a feminine voice cooing to him. You smugly enjoyed the tone of his voice as he countered their attempts to hit on him with a grace only a man like him could muster. He thanked the woman for coming in and told her that his office hours were open if she needed actual help on an assignment. You swiped your thumb across your bottom lip before smearing the hue of your lipstick against the white plastic lid of the coffee cup. It was barely noticeable, something only he would take note of.

The woman exited the room, brushing your shoulder as she went past you. The two of you shared a look that could equate to two territorial wolves in a dispute. The only leverage you had was that he never shot you down, in fact, you noticed he usually enjoyed your under-the-collar comments. As you turned into the room, you noticed him lean back in his chair, running his fingers into his short pink hair and shutting his eyes slightly with a sigh.

You chewed the corner of your cheek as you approached the lecture desk, his eyes prying open with a small smile as he spotted you. “Good morning, Professor,” you hummed, setting the coffee in front of him. He sent you a hint of a grateful look as students began to file into the room. You turned on your heel and walked to find your seat, swaying your hips slightly, only because you knew he was staring after you.

As you settled in, you watched Techno bring the cup towards his mouth before his eyes darted to the edge of the lid. With the ghost of a smirk swirling into his expression, he looked up to make direct eye contact with you before pressing his lips to the spot and drinking from the cup. Your breath hitched, heat pulsing through your body at the slight gesture from him. You studied him as he swallowed, letting his tongue dart out to wet his lips as if he were further savoring the mild taste of you from the lid; something an outsider wouldn’t have noticed.

You clenched your thighs together as you thought about his rejection of other girl’s advances while now he was practically eye-fucking you from across the lecture hall.

That lecture had been an hour and a half of agony. Your tongue wettened as he twisted a pen in his hand absent-mindedly as he lectured on Eros, his eyes surveying your reactions as he’d quietly roll the pen in his fingers. You weren’t sure how he could have such an effect on you without even touching you. You knew the other girls were squirming in their seats as he sat on the edge of his desk, leaning his elbows on his knees as he answered questions towards the end.

All you wanted to do was get out of the lecture hall and do what you always did after his class: shower in cold water and plan your next phase of attack.

Techno had other plans.

He called out your name at the end of class, meeting your eyes as he instructed you to meet him for office hours. You hear someone whine next to you, nearly making you laugh as you agreed.

And that’s how you found yourself, pulling the door shut to his office behind you. He dug into a folder on his desk, setting a copy of your latest essay in front of him. Your eyes raked down his arms as he pulled his gold-rimmed glasses on top of his head and leaned over his desk, muscle tightening against the rolled sleeves of his shirt. “Come take a look at this,” he stated. Your eyes darted to the red pen marks, his handwriting only scripting praise on the first page. You knew you aced that essay before you’d even turned it into him.

You smirked to yourself, dropping your bag beside one of his client chairs and mimicking his stance, planting your hands in the space between his. The size of him dwarfed you, making your mind race vulgarly. This was always how it was, you invading his personal space and him teasing you to go further. “What am I looking at, Professor?” You quizzed sheepishly, feigning innocence.

You leaned your weight on one of your hands, the fingers of the other tracing closer to his large hand. He grabbed your wrist, pulling you just barely close enough to him that you could feel his breath. Your cheeks flushed, goosebumps spreading over your body. “You think I can’t see what you’re doing?” He needled, voice dropping an octave to send heat straight to your core.

You gulped, practically tasting him he was so close to you. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Professor. But I could learn,” you avowed; your words barely above a whisper. For a moment, you truly believed he would kiss you, his breath cascading over your face with sweet hints of mint and the coffee you’d bought him.

His lips barely brushed against yours before he pulled away, sending fire to burn in your chest and your knees to turn to jelly. He stood back, his eyes dancing with a mocking ego, knowing he had you on a leash. He lowered into his seat, pressing his back against the leather of his chair, fingers tugging at his collar to undo a few buttons as he looked at your shocked and submissive frame. He chuckled darkly as he eyed you. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You’re just a child,” he teased.

You had half a mind to dig into your bag and sign over your ID to prove you were the opposite of his beratement. Instead, you let your breathing shallow, slowly walking around his desk. He tilted his head at you, watching you intently as you placed your hand on the back of his chair, and pushing him away from his desk. As you lowered to your knees, you allowed that hand to travel the length of his body. As your knees settled against the cold linoleum in front of him, you raked your nails down his thighs, making him chuckle softly, a sardonic expression flickering across his face.

You sharpened your eye contact, your fingers nearly hooking around his belt loops. “Teach me then, Professor. Use me,” you practically begged, making Techno smirk, his hand moving to rest in the crook of your neck while the other supported his head.

His fingers felt coarse against your skin, the feeling of him finally touching you nearly was enough to send you over the edge. You turned your head, pressing your lips to the inside of his wrist. “So needy. Like a lost puppy vying for my attention,” he mocked, gaze dancing from your lips to your eyes. “What would your boyfriend think of you like this? On your knees in front of a grown man.” His voice dripped with lust and restraint, yet he was completely calm and utterly in control.

His thumb brushed against your bottom lip, almost mimicking your gesture from earlier as if he’d pictured your actions with his coffee lid. “I don’t have a boyfriend, Professor. And if I did, I doubt he would taste as good as you,” you muttered, silently signing over your soul to him.

You could practically see the gears turning in his head as he debated what to do with you first. He pressed his thumb into your mouth, flattening your tongue with his finger pad. Your lips instantly closed around him, looking up at him with doe eyes. “Stop talking, pet,” he grumbled, the rest of his fingers angling your face closer to him and he leaned towards you. “If you’re going to beg like a toy, I’ll treat you like a toy,” he promised, making your heart flutter.

He pulled his thumb from your mouth, only to wrap his hands around your throat, bringing your lips against his roughly. You moaned at the taste of him, wanting to swim against his tongue and give him your dying breath. He groaned into your mouth, kneading your bottom lip with his teeth.

Techno tugged you to your feet, wrapping his hands around your thighs before pushing you on top of his desk. His hand slipped into your shirt, palming your breast while his other gripped at the flesh of your ass, pulling you closer to him as he ground his hips against yours. You tugged your hands through his soft hair, tugging slightly and savoring the moans he poured into your mouth. You wrapped your legs around his waist, wanting to alleviate whatever distance there was between the two of you.

Your fingers moved to skim down his toned body, unzipping his pants and palming his cock outside of his boxers. His lips moved to dig his teeth into your shoulder, muffling his groans of praise as he ground against your hand. You panted at the loss of his lips on yours, digging your nose into the crook of his neck and inhaling deeply as he moaned your name. You were convinced you were trapped in one of your many daydreams involving him, but with each nip of his teeth sending a flush of pleasure to your core, you were reminded that he was in fact, about to ruin you.

Techno pulled you off the desk, spinning you in his hold and bending you over the hardwood. You bit back a smirk as you heard him undo the rest of his zipper and discard his belt behind you. The anticipation of him made your knees shake as your hot breath drew clouds of moisture on his desk. His fingers pushed your skirt further up your hips, blunt nails dragging along the skin of your legs before gripping your hips. You felt him grind himself against your entrance, your mind already blurring with pleasure. He kicked your feet further apart. “God, I've wanted to do this for so long," he nearly growled, pressing a kiss to your shoulder blade before pushing himself into you.

You moan, your body adjusting around his length, begging him for more. His hands gripped your hips, driving himself deeper into you, beginning an animalistic pace. You groaned out his name, one of his hands holding tightly onto your side to give himself more leverage. Your mind blurred, mouth hanging open slightly as your cheek was pressed firmly against the wood of his desk.

Each of his thrusts sent a wave of pleasure coursing through your veins, as his deep, breathy moans hissed into your ear like a sinful symphony. His hand moved to thread his fingers through yours, giving you some kind of anchor as his large frame wreaked havoc on your body. You whimpered out moans of arousal with each of his movements.

His teeth grazed against your neck again, dragging himself deeper into you. You picked your head up, reaching out one of your hands to grip the edge of the desk, hearing him chuckle behind you. His hand snaked around you to wrap around your neck, bringing you up a bit further as he pressed his lips to one of your flushed cheeks, probably basking in the beads of sweat dotting your hairline from his campaign.

"Mark me," you begged. "I'm yours," you moaned, rolling your hips back against him. The satisfied moan that slithered from his lips sent goosebumps spreading against your skin.

He dug his teeth into you, finger tightening around your neck and you knew the brushes he left would be enough of a sultry reminder to keep you wet for a week.

He pulled you upward, pulling out of you only to put you back on his desk, pushing himself into you as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders. His lips melded against yours again, stealing your muttering of his name and replacing it with his hungry moans.

You ground your hips into him, wrapping around him again as his lips moved to your neck, breath cold against the cold spots from his teeth previously and the thin sheen of sweat coating your skin. With the new angle and his hands digging into your back, your legs were beginning to shake, the tension he'd been binding was becoming too much to hold off.

His hand tightened around your throat as if encouraging you to finish. He pulled your irritated lips towards him again, wanting to taste you as you went over the edge.

After that day, you stopped dressing so provocatively. You could wear a turtleneck and padded jeans and you knew he'd still be looking. He knew what you looked like under those clothes: marked up from his teeth, quivering only for him. No longer was there shameless flirting, only glances that told you to wait for him after class.

He was always hungry for you; whether it be in his car in a vacant lot, in his office to test his chair's range of movement, or in the bathroom of some random club you probably didn't have the qualifications to get into without him. It didn't matter, because he knew that you were his.

You liked watching the other girls throw themselves at him like you had, mainly because he'd always praise you later with your lips around his cock. You were his favorite, his star student. In his eyes, you didn't hold a candle to the rest of them.

#<3 anon #i am in love w him #technoblade x reader #techno x you #techno x reader #techno x y/n #techno smut #technoblade smut #college au #mcyt fanfiction #mcyt imagine #mcyt smut #mcyt x y/n #mcyt x reader #professor!techno

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lilblueorchid · 3 years

Photo

Thought process and easter egg on the Digimon Anniversary Illustration!

Hello everyone, today I feel like explaining some stuff over my Digimon Illustration, mostly why I drew thing this way or point out some little details and easter eggs you might have missed. ;)

Click on read more if you want a LENGTHLY explanation with a lot of rambling from me, or if not you can just enjoy the process gif. <3

The Digimon illustration was a special one for me for different reasons. Firstly, obviously, Digimon! It was a show I grew up with, and I find it quite fitting that after a tough year of graduation movie under a pandemic, in which I really experienced the pain of growing up, I ended up finding back Digimon.

Secondly, as a child, I remember spending HOURS looking for fanarts online! I would save all the ones I found pretty and keep them preciously, i still have the folders actually haha. While pursuing art, I always had in mind thatI wanted one day to make a fanart my child self would have gone crazy over! And, i think I achieved that with that one haha.

Anyway LET’S START! Shall we?

First off : the illustration process

When I do an illustration I always do a quick draft first, and most of the time, in colors. I think I’m more of a “color” person than a “line” person, I tend to need to see colors quickly in order to see if it’s ok.

For this one, I’ve always had in mind it would be a double illustration, with the older Tai’s silhouette acting as a frame for the children illustration. It was a bit tricky, I had to make the children illustration fit nicely into his silhouette, it was hassle around the neck area, that’s why I made little Taichi stand up haha. Also used Mimi’s hat to balance the picture : the bottom part is very heavy and there’s only sky in the upper part, adding the hat helps making it more balanced.

The character were the longest and the most challenging part by far. As you can see I had 3 different steps : super rough, they’re almost like stickmen and smiley face, a more detailled one in which I figure out their actual pose and anatomy, then a last one in which I fix some proportion, add details and clean. Fun fact I don’t clean over a new layer... i just erase the unwanted part of my sketch. :’D

I did a quick pass over the BG after that, then I colored the characters in flat colors before rendering them. It was a back and forth between the BG and the characters to make sure everything was working together nicely.

Now was the time to render the BG, I did the tramway first, the flower field after. Fun fact, I did my flower field study in order to know how to approach the flowers in this illustration! If your have the time, i totally recommend finding a photograph close to the kind of BG you wanna do, and make a study of it so you can try your hand at it first and go into your own BG later with an idea of how to approach this.

Adjust colors, add flower petals and butterflies and emotional text, slap over a paper texture, and THERE. You have it! On to the next part now...

The meaningful details and easter eggs

Be aware there will be spoilers for Digimon Adventure 01 (but I assume you already know it), but also for Digimon Adventure : Last evolution Kizuna, which is the conclusion of the first serie. So read at your own risk!

The tramway is obviously a reference to the end of Digimon Adventure 01. The kids used it to go back to their world, so It was their goodbye to their Digimon at this moment. In Kizuna, Tai and Matt find the tramway trapped in crystal in Menoa’s fake memory world. Hinting that had they been caught by her, their memories would have brought them back here.

Tailmon has Kari’s whistle! At the end of Digimon Adventure 01, Kari gives it to her as a memento.

When I drew Sora, I had in mind how she was in Kizuna, very stressed out by her mom’s expectation, which led her to neglect Piyomon. She realized it too late, and after that she refused to fight because she wanted to keep Piyomon with her as long as possible. Tragically, she was the first one to lose her Digimon. Here I tried to convey a softness and a kind of “I won’t forget to appreciate you” vibe in the way she holds Piyomon’s hand. As for Mimi and Palmon, in Digimon adventure 01 Palmon was very emotionally affected by Mimi’s departure, so, a hug was fitting. :’)

The screens on the Tramway display DA for Digimon Adventure, and also 01.08.1999 which is the date of the children’s journey’s beginning. :)

The little drawings also show the 8 crests.

There are butterflies flying over the illustration, it’s a reference to Butter-fly, the first Digimon opening, by the late Koji Wada.

"I'll become a happy butterfly, and ride on the glittering wind, I'll come and see you soon. “

Now, let’s the see the counterpart of the illustration. The one with the grown up Tai from Kizuna.

I made him wear the hoodie he had in his very last adventure with Agumon.... but truthfully the reason is that I think hoodies are cool lol. And the hood’s volume gave me more space in the silhouette, which made it easier for me to do the other illustration inside.

You don’t see it clearly, but he is holding his Digivice, albeit the darkened version once his partner bond with Agumon is broken. The Tai in this illustration has already lost Agumon. (Yes it was painful for me to go fetch the screenshots)

He is also holding his dear signature google he used to wear as a child. Fun fact, I rewatched the older movies, and as a kid he even used to sleep with it, how cute haha.

Also yes, the crest of Courage over his hand, which is his own. I’m so dumb I realize I should have made the time counter from the movie instead of the crest for a maximum emotional hurt impact.

And the quote is from one of the trailer for Kizuna, I think.....................

But then you go : Oh that illustration is so depressing then! Well. Yes. But no. but yes. But not really.

One of my favorite shot of the movie is this one : this is after Tai and Agumon learn their time together is limited. Agumon asks him if they will have to go separate ways once Tai is all grown up. Tai doesn’t answer, and takes him to eat something instead, as Agumon was hungry. In this shot Agumon eats to his heart content next to Tai, who’s not eating at all and just watches him fondly. I love that the framing doesnt show agumon. It’s a foreshadowing of their unavoidable separation.

At the very end of the movie, Tai write in his thesis about Human and Digimon’s relationship that Agumon was like a part of himself.

In a way, Agumon symbolizes childhood, the carefree days we would spend as a kid, with our big dreams and hopes. When you grow up, you tend to forget those simple emotions because you get swallowed into the stress of studies, figuring out your carreer, your life path. Just like us, Tai forgot this part of himself. In the madness of growing up, he lost Agumon.

However, it’s not the end. He will pick himself back up. He will move forward in life despite his worries and incertainities, and he will find himself again. Therefore, he will find Agumon again. The kids in the illustration are waving goodbye, but it’s not goodbye, it’s a see you later. In the meantime, Tai is holding on to these precious memories, until they meet again.

#Digimon #Digimon adventure #Yagami Taichi #Digimon adventure : last evolution kizuna #illustration process #kinda analysis #listen im actually writing this for myself #I spend 4 days on that illu with a lot of feels and I need to write them down #This is basically what my close friends have to endure each time I get an obsession

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simstorydirect · 3 years

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i apologise if you don't answer these types of questions but, how does one go about planning/starting a sims story. how do you go about creating dialogue, choosing a scenery and poses etc. do you draw up a picture of what you want etc? also how do you go about building/layout for sceneries that you want? sorry this is a lot of questions, i really want to get into sims stories, but i have no clue where to start and how to go about planning. i hope this makes sense D;

thank you so much for asking, anon! and yes, it does make sense!!

first and foremost, this isn't necessarily the same for everyone and is not be all and end all, obey this as gospel type idea - this is just what i do for my story.

also this is gonna be kinda long but tl;dr:

indulge in vague ideas and daydreams and write them down somewhere - in a google doc, on paper, on the walls, whatever.

channel your primary school english classes.

keep things general unless you can't substitute - only then should you go specific

all in all work to your strengths - as well as not being afraid to ask for help on your weaknesses

so to answer your questions:

1: how does one go about planning/starting a sims story. how do you go about creating dialogue [...] ?

i like to try to have a vague idea in my head - maybe i listened to a song and pictured a certain scene or two in my head, or maybe i made a sim that i got a little too attached to and wanted to see around more often - anything, really.

from there, i like to channel my primary school english classes and establish the skeleton - the who, what, when, where, why and how - of the narrative. that or i half-ass it and wait for Cool Ideas to pop into my head and write them in if i see fit. dialogue kinda comes a bit of a during-editing thing, save for significant moments or otherwise major events. i don't advise this at all, but also this is probably the easiest if you don't give too much of a care about potential plot holes or anything like that

2: choosing a scenery and poses etc. do you draw up a picture of what you want etc? also how do you go about building/layout for sceneries that you want?

for locations sometimes i usually think of a scene - is it outdoor or indoor? is the place lavish and lush, or is it a bit of a dodgy, rundown area? is it a city area or remote? - little things like that, and often curate the situation or environment to that. i'm not much of a builder, so i'll usually find some places on the gallery or - if i have some old base builds - repurpose them or otherwise fix them up so they fit the context of the scene. that or i just use the preset buildings if i really don't care lmao

as for poses, that is a bit more of a context-specific thing. i have a folder of general poses that could fit most situations - but also some emotion-specific or action-specific poses. if something is EXTREMELY specific and i can't find a way to repurpose a pose i have without it not matching what i picture, i'll try and ask a friend for help or even try to make a pose myself if they're not available.

i don't usually draw things up as i usually have a pretty vivid idea of what i want for a scene, but also drawing up a little storyboard for pivitol scenes helps a lot. that's especially helpful if you're trying to explain your idea to someone else who can help with things like making poses or builds should your skills in that area lack.

thank you so much for asking! i hope your story writing goes well!! looking forward to seeing it pop up on here someday!

#valentinic.txt #reply #ask #anonymous

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bluebudgie · 2 years

Text

10 YEARS OF GW2 – A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Hello peeps! As a little countdown to GW2's launch anniversary on August 28 I decided to dig up some old memories and take a small look at my personal journey through the game. Each day I'll make a post about another year.

DAY 6: 2017

Continuing in 2017, you won’t believe what my screenshots are about:

Yea. In general about half the screenshots I took are Tarir related, and a good chunk is chak gerent (though by far not as many). On rata lane even!

Speaking of Tarir, you know what the legendary day of February 7, 2017 brought us?

That’s right. Goodbye multiloot! Or.... so we thought. It was patch day, but the patch didn’t happen. If memory serves right it was a blizzard that was to blame (many Jormag jokes happened that day). So, the next meta cycle happened and..

Eventually we got rid of that stinker (a whole day later I believe?). Goodbye forever, multiloot. You’ve ruined the ectoplasm market permanently (43 silver ectoplasm went down to 20 smh) and you will not be missed.

In 2017 I also briefly dipped my toes into raiding, and while it didn’t last really long we’ve had a (for me stressful but) good time! We did beat Vale Guardian (while I druid healed! In part nomads! Hell yea!)

I uhh.. thought I’d have a nicer screenshot of some victory posing but apparently not. We’ll have to make due with this. We 9-manned that one! (Also apparently this was before the fat party HP bar patch. I honestly don’t know how we ever lived that way.)

Not long after raiding shenanigans SAB happened once again, and I have particularly fond memories of this one for its final moments before it ended.

A small group of people that really didn’t want to leave had gathered in the main hub and we’ve had a nice chat for probably what lasted at least half an hour? Every person that had to leave got their own little line of people waving and saluting them goodbye. It was honestly really, incredibly wholesome. I hope you’re all having a good time these days as well.

Not too long after LS3 dropped a new episode introducing one of my favourite maps.

Descending into Draconis Mons’ volcano to be greeted by the absolutely gigantic Primordus was such a cool moment. And in general exploring Draconis Mons was such a blast. I encourage everyone to explore this map mountless at least once to fully make use of the oakheart essence gimmick. One of the most unique and fun maps we’ve gotten to this day. Had a really good time with the jumping puzzle too, which was still challenging but not quite as brutal as Ember Bay’s Chalice of Tears.

In 2017 I also got a friendly request here on tumblr to help claim a guild hall.

While it wasn’t really planned, a “might as well stay for now” developped into my girlfriend and I finding our since then main guild and a small but really amazing group of friends. I’m really thankful I got this opportunity back then, wouldn’t want to miss any of you.

A bit later that year we got to play the Path of Fire beta, and with that try out the raptor mount for the very first time. I remember being really amazed by the detailed animations and how real the weight of the mount felt when controlling.

The beta also let me equip both my bow and staff at once and I thought that was funny (alas I did have to bug report it):

Not long after the beta, the real Path of Fire happened. A bit of a bumpy start on EU servers (aka, it was literally unplayable until the next day since we’d without fail get kicked out of the first instance. We tried for hours. We tried.) but that aside we’ve had a great time with the expansion. On that note again, remember when mounts were restricted to PoF maps only? Truly a simpler time we lived in.

My favourite part of PoF was exploring the dwarven ruins in Desert Highlands. I loved that feeling of mystery and not knowing what would await me in the deepest depths behind all those sealed doors.

Again, I cannot stress enough how much of my (big) screenshot folder is just Tarir. So much Tarir. That is until the final tragedy of 2017: The South Gate nerf. And with that ended my bff relationship with this once most glorious event. I try not to look back, the breakup still hurts. ಥ_ಥ

Permanent additions to the character roster that year:

Links to all posts: 2012 // 2013 // 2014 // 2015 // 2016 // 2017 // 2018 // 2019 & 2020 // 2021 // 2022

#budgie plays gw2

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tomtenadia · 3 years

Text

A Little Braver - 17

So, as promised, part 17 is her.

Be prepared to submerge our bird boy with hugs, he will need them.

I promise the chapter will end in fluff and in a good note. The angst is only for the beginning. I need to douse it a bit since from ch 19 onwards the angst gremlin will be back with a vengeance.

I hope you will love it.

A big hug to all the people who commented, reblogged or loved this fic. Thanks to all of you.

A week had gone by and Aelin and Rowan had taken the official decision to try and go back and both deal with the mess of their lives.

The week had been perfect. Rowan had taken her hillwalking everyday and slowly she had started to feel like herself again. His presence had helped immensely. In a very short time he had become her rock. Full recovery was still a long way ahead but she felt better and with him at her side she had no more panic attacks or nightmares.

She felt sad at the idea of leaving the cottage in the mountains but they had promised to go back for some special occasion.

It was morning and Rowan was getting ready to go back to work. They had set a date for the inquiry on his student’s death and that would be the day.

For once Aelin was the one worried one. She could not forget his reaction to the movie or the night he came back drunk after Fuzzy’s death. She knew he had put up a wall but hoped he would at least let her in.

“What are you going to do?” He asked her while adjusting his tie.

“I have a meeting with Dorian and the counsellor and then I will pop in at the station and say hi to the squad and apologise.”

“Good.” His tone was detached and she moved a step to him and hugged his waist from behind “are you okay?”

He sighed “nervous. This will mean revive the entire accident over and over again.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

He shook his head and kissed her “thanks for the offer but I will be fine. My squadron will be there and you have an important meeting as well.”

“Ok,” she wanted to believe him, but could not ignore his cold detached tone and Aelin had learned that it was his coping mechanism. He was not okay.

Rowan arrived at the airforce HQ and was met by Lorcan.

“Sir,” he stood to attention.

“At ease captain,” Rowan stood down from attention and placed his hands behind his back in a at rest pose “I am sorry it’s so quick. I knew you were coming back yesterday and I did manage to hold on until today.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Are you sure you are ready?” And for once Rowan heard concern in his CO’s voice “this is going to be brutal.”

“I know.”

“I am on the board too and we have Captain Walker from the 24th squadron and Captain Matthews from the 31st and two engineers. They have all copies of the inquiry sent to the board.”

“Who is the president?”

“Marshal Clark.” Said Lorcan in a preoccupied tone.

“Fuck. The man hates me with a vengeance.”

Rowan sighed again and sat on the bench just outside of the room used for the meeting.

His squad arrived a moment later and they patted each other’s back in support.

“We are all here.” Gavriel told him taking a seat at his side.

“Thanks everyone.”

One of the assistants appeared on the door and announced the board was ready to convene. Rowan quickly texted Aelin and switched off his mobile.

The marshal, being the president, was in the centre of the seating area. Rowan went to greet the other two captains with whom he got along nicely and had known for a long time. Then he went to the marshal and saluted as expected “at ease captain.”

Rowan went to his assigned seat and flipped through the folder in front of him. It contained all the documents they needed. His report of the accident, the reports from the engineering team and other supporting evidence.

Marshal Clark called everyone to attention and declared the board in session. He then proceeded to explain to the members the accident that had happened.

One of the engineers who had performed checks after the aircraft had been recovered was asked to present his findings “after the analysis of the recovered aircraft and after having studied the dynamics of the accident we have found out that the main cause for the engine failure was a disruption in the airflow in the port intake causing it to stall with enough yaw rate to induce a flat spin. Cadet Williamson, according to the records of the accident, flew in the jet wash of one of his classmate’s aircrafts. That caused the airflow disruption. The stall was unrecoverable.” explained the engineer reading from his report “with regard to the canopy, we have found a fault in some model of jets used by the students where the charges did not operate correctly, causing the canopy to separate incorrectly. All those planes are grounded and now being checked.”

“Thank you.” Said the marshal, then his gaze turned to Rowan “Captain Whitethorn, stand please.”

Rowan did so.

“Could you please re tell the board the events that lead to the death of the cadet?”

Rowan took a deep breath and retold step by step what happened. It was still vivid in his mind that it would take ages before he could forget it.

“Did you tell the cadet to eject?”

“I did, sir.”

“Why?” Asked the marshal with inquisitive tone.

“He had lost control of the aircraft. From the black box retrieved from his jet he had pulled 9g after he started spiralling. From my position I could see that he was about to pass out. Ejecting the seat had been the safest option. Little did I know that the canopy would fail.”

The two other captains nodded in agreement, knowing full well that they would have suggested the same thing.

“Would the cadet have survived if he had more high G training?”

“Sir,” Rowan almost growled at his superior “his jet was under 9g for almost ten seconds before crashing in the water. Not even an experienced and highly trained pilot can sustain or survive that.” He breathed again “and you know better than me that centrifuge training can be done only with some weekly limits due to its dangers.”

“Had the cadets received basic procedures on how to properly eject and when?”

“Yes, sir. It’s one of the first things they are taught. They are shown how to properly deploy their parachute and how to blow the canopy. Training is also done in different conditions to simulate possible combat scenery.”

“Training was not the issue here,” said Lorcan going in Rowan’s support “Captain Whitethorn is one of our most experienced instructors and hundreds of students have survived his crushing training and are still alive today because of what he has taught them.”

“The post mortem also backed the cause of death in the crash of the body against the canopy.” Added captain Matthews.

“What kind of training were you doing that day?” The marshal continued, ignoring the protests.

“We were going through some basic dogfight routines. The cadets were only five months out of the academy so we were just covering the basics as per fighter school curriculum.” Answered Rowan who felt lost all of a sudden.

“Would the manoeuvre you had practiced put the boy in a position to be in another jet’s wake? Didn’t you teach them how to stay away from the jet wash of another aircraft during a dogfight?” The marshal had an agenda, that was very clear to Rowan. He was trying to blame this on him.

Captain Walker stood angrily “why are we attacking captain Whitethorn? The problem was that the engine stalled due to the jet wash from another aircraft. An experienced fighter might have been able to find a way out of such deadly spiral, the gods know I have found myself in that situation and got out of it by pure damn luck. Not a cadet five months out of the academy. It’s our job to teach them such manoeuvres but only after they have mastered the basics.” He sat down again nodding at Rowan.

“A good instructor would have taught his students how to fly in close formation and to avoid the wake of a team mate. A captain should know what such manoeuvre could cause.” Continued the marshal who had taken the fight to Rowan.

Lorcan stood angrily “That is enough.” He shouted.

“I would suggest you to sit down, Air commodore.”

“Not when you accuse my best instructor of being the cause of the death of a student.”

“It is my job as president of this board to try and figure out what happened.”

“I told two of my students they were too close. I advised another one not to drop below hard deck. I care about the safety of my students.” Rowan almost growled at the marshal “also, I stand by my decision to order cadet Williamson to eject. Had the canopy worked he’d be alive now.”

The marshal nodded and with a bored expression he then went back to the engineering team and they discussed the canopy issue.

Rowan let them talk and his brain disconnected completely and tried to ignore the pain from what had just transpired.

He sat in silence listening to the rest of the board discuss in the background.

The marshal eventually called the board to attention “Following the evidence provided by the engineering team and the testimony of captain Whitethorn I declare that the death of cadet Williamson was caused by the port engine stall due to airflow disruption in the intake. The commission also noted that the flat spin in which the cadet went in was not recoverable. Captain Whitethorn is cleared of any faults.” Rowan noticed the disappointment on the man’s face for the fact the had been cleared of any faults.

The marshal then turned to Lorcan “Commodore, I expect you to keep the students grounded until the training jets have been fixed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The board is dismissed.” Clark stood and walked out.

The other two captain went to Rowan “I had no idea the bastard would try to blame you for this.”captain Matthews added with fury.

“I would have told my students to eject as well. It was the only option.” Added captain Walker.

But Rowan was not listening. It hurt too much, knowing that someone had tried to blame the death of his student on him. That the marshal had to question all of his choices and possibly his training methods.

Lorcan and his squadron were at his side as soon as the room was clear.

“The arsehole has some guts.” Commented Fenrys but Gavriel elbowed him.

Rowan stood in a daze and left the room ignoring the voices of his team calling him.

Aelin’s meeting with Dorian and the counsellor had gone better than she expected. Thanks to Rowan she had been able to open up and talk to them about what happened and how she had been before her escape and what had prompted her to flee. She admitted to them her fears.

She felt much better but she had confessed that she did not feel ready to go back in action. She felt okay about going back to the station and work from the office but was not ready yet to be in a fire. She was still too scared for that and Dorian and the counsellor accepted her admission.

So they had agreed for a transition period. Aelin was told as well to attend weekly sessions with the counsellor to track her progress and her mental health recovery. She would be on desk duty for a while and after that, Dorian was willing to send her back out but just at his side in a fire emergency allowing her again to be close to the fire scene and if that went well they could work on a plan on sending her back in.

She had agreed with the final decision and had left the room with a smile and a light heart. She stopped in the corridor to check her phone but no news from Rowan. The meeting should be over by now. She hoped he was okay.

Happily she drove back to her squad and everyone was eager to catch up with her. Then Aedion stopped in front of her “never again,” he told her and Aelin went for a hug. He remained stiff for a moment, then his arms enveloped her in a bear hug “looks like your captain fixed you up nicely.”

“Hey, I would recover from anything if I had such man looking after me.” Said Ansel and everyone laughed.

“He has been nice to me.” But all she could think was his face from that morning.

Rowan had been walking without a direction for a while now. He felt as if he had lost his rudder, he had spent the last twelve years of his life working for people who had been ready to blame on him the death of a student. He looked at his uniform and for the first time since he had worn it he felt no pride in it. He had been so tempted to resign his wings on the spot. No matter that he had been cleared, it stung so much, even if it had been the opinion of one man.

It had been too much. He knew the marshal was never a fan of his. The first student he had lost had been his son. But at the time as well the board had declared it had not been his fault. It had been the pilot’s mistake. The marshal never forgave him. Seeing him again at a board for a student’s death he had probably tried to punish him for what happened to his son.

In the distance he spotted a pub and decided that a drink might help. He got in and sat at the counter and ordered a whisky, but once the drink was in front of him he could not drink it. In his current state he would spiral down again to the same level of self destruction of many years before when he lost the marshal’s son and he could not do that again. He could not put Aelin through that pain.

So he did the only sensible thing. He called her.

Aelin was in the common room with the squad and they were having fun and the guys were telling her about some of the calls they had and then they were teasing Luca and his upcoming exam.

She was about to tell them to stop picking on him when her phone went off. It was Rowan and her heart stopped.

She quickly left the room and went outside, sitting on the bumper of one of the engines “hey,”

“Hi,” his voice was low and flat and she feared for him.

“What’s wrong.”

Silence.

“Ro, are you okay?”

“No.”

Shit. She stood and started pacing “where are you?”

“At a pub.”

“Which one.”

He told her the name.

“I am coming. Just stay there.” And closed the conversation and almost laughed at the irony of the situation. A week before she had been at the receiving end of such conversation.

She ran back to the squad “guys, I need to go. Rowan. It’s not good. I just have to go…”

She didn’t even wait for an answer. She just rushed back to her car and drove to him. He did not sound drunk so maybe it was not all lost.

She arrived at pub not long after and stormed in. Rowan was sitting at the counter staring at a glass of whisky in front of him.

“Ro.” She walked to him and his green eyes fell on her. There was pain in them, so much pain.

“You are not drunk,” she told him.

“He ordered the whisky two hours ago and had been staring at it ever since.” Said the bartender.

“Hey,” she caressed his head and he closed his eyes at the touch “what happened?”

He shook his head “not here.” He stood and Aelin followed then came back and chugged down the abandoned whisky and went after him.

He was walking away and she ran after him “wait, you have long legs, damn you.” He extended an arm behind him and Aelin grabbed his hand “fine, we are outside, spill the beans.”

She definitely had no tact.

He walked silently a bit longer until they reached a small park and he sat down on a bench and Aelin took a spot at his side never letting his hand go.

And then he told her. Everything that had happened in the room. The results of the inquiry, the marshal’s accusations. The identity of the first student he had lost and his desire to quit.

“I wanted to throw my wings in the marshal’s face.” He looked down dejected “I feel lost now. I want to go back to my students, I owe it to them, to teach them how to be safe. But everything else… I don’t care about it anymore.” his head leaned against her shoulder and Aelin brushed his head with her hand and kissed it tenderly “Ro, how can I help you?”

Rowan turned his head to her and she thought his eyes were wet with tears “what you are doing just now is enough. Having you with me helps.”

“Do you need to go back to the airbase now?”

Rowan nodded sadly.

“Ok, I’ll drive you.” Aelin stood and Rowan followed but before moving he pulled her to him and drew her in for a kiss “I love you.” He said quietly.

She flicked his nose “let’s go.” She offered him her hand and together they walked back to her car.

They arrived at the airbase not long after “do you need me to come in?”

Rowan shook his head “my team is there. I will be fine. Gav will stop me from doing anything stupid.”

“Good. I am going back to the station.” She leaned forward to kiss him “Will you be okay? I am worried about you.”

“I am a big boy.” He joked.

“Ro…”

He leaned forward and kissed her “I do love so much when you call me Ro like that…”

Aelin smiled against his lips “don’t do anything stupid and tomorrow you can ravish me all you want. You can even be super creative.”

“How can I refuse such proposal?” He kissed her again “I will be fine.” His hand went to the door handle and opened the door “I will see you tomorrow morning at home. Have a nice night shift.”

Aelin’s heart swelled with joy at the word home. Their place. They hadn’t made it official but her house had become home. Their home. And she loved the feeling of it.

“Think creative, captain.”

He winked at her and left the car. Then he waved at her and Aelin left, he put his cap on his head and headed back inside the airbase.

Rowan made his way to Lorcan’s office and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” came from inside.

Rowan entered the room and Lorcan looked up at him and he did notice the expression of disbelief in his CO’s face.

“Rowan —” but the other man stopped him.

“Thank you for today. For the support.” Rowan said quietly sitting on the chair in front of his CO.

“The man was out of line.” Lorcan growled “he knows what kind of instructor you are. How strict you are. The man was trying to get you sacked as a punishment for his son’s death knowing full well that again it was not your fucking fault.”

Rowan looked away, shutting away the painful memories.

“I already sent orders to start working on the canopies and check them all.”

Rowan nodded silently.

“I know what we can do to cheer you up.” Rowan turned his head staring at a surprisingly cheery Lorcan. Elide was really doing miracles.

“Grab you gear and let’s get out in the air, this man here needs to fly. It’s been so long that it’s a miracle I can still be called a pilot.” And he chuckled.

Rowan stood “Fine, be ready to be crushed.”

Lorcan grinned and stood as well “Oh, I submitted a proposal to allow women to serve in the airforce.”

Rowan’s head whipped to one side “who are you and what have you done with Lorcan Salvaterre?”

“The captain and Elide. Turns out we have both chosen very strong women.”

“I like that.”

“Me too.”

Rowan was doing his pre-flight checks when he noticed Lorcan joining him. The man had always exuded charisma.

“You should really send Elide a picture of you in a jump suit. I know how much Aelin likes it, I guess Elide might appreciate it too.”

Lorcan lifted an eyebrow while he reached his jet and popped open the canopy “you think?”

Rowan nodded “how is it going with her by the way?”

“She is incredible. She is tiny but fierce and stubborn and quite amazing.”

Rowan could not believe it, Lorcan was in awe of someone a feat that he thought was impossible.

“You are in love with her.”

“I think so.” said Lorcan hiding the words in a cough, almost embarrassed by his admission.

“Good.” Then he stared at Lorcan and he realised that going out out for a flight had been a good idea. They were evenly matched in skill and it was going to be a fun one. They had a few turbulent months but he had more or less always got along with him. Flying together again felt like the good old times.

“You missed a spot.” Rowan pointed at one section under the wing.

Lorcan replied with a middle finger and it felt nice to have their old banter back when Lorcan could finally put aside his CO mask for a while.

“I am not a cadet, I know how to do my pre flight checks.”

“Well, you are not following the order we were taught at flight school, cadet Salvaterre.”

“Stop being a smartass, cadet Whitethorn.”

Rowan climbed in his jet and finished his checks inside and communicated with the tower to finalise the flight plan and get the authorisations required.

“Come on Lorcan, you are so slow. Tower gave us the all clear and the flight plan is in. Are you sure you still remember how to fly? Do you need any pointers, Chaos?”

Chaos was Lorcan’s callsign and he had earned it very early in his career for his flying skills.

Eventually they were both ready and the two jets got taxied away and not long after they were in the air.

“Rules of engagement: anything is allowed and two out of three?”

“Copy that, Iceman.”

“Good, be ready to lose.”

The two jets broke apart and went in different directions and for a while they just ran in circles above the airbase to study each other.

Lorcan hadn’t wanted to admit that he was a bit rusty and Rowan was indeed a nasty customer.

Gavriel and the three young pilots were walking along one of the long corridors on the airbase when they heard the sound of jets in the air and ran to the next window to look who it was. The classes for the cadets were still grounded and the three of them were on ground.

“Holy fuck,” muttered Gavriel when he realised who was out flying.

He ran out to the viewing tower followed by the twins and Vaughan.

“Is that who I think it is?” Asked Connall speechless.

“Rowan and Lorcan.” The older man turned to the three young guys “you are in for a treat, they can make you feel like a newbie.”

Gavriel saw Rowan pull in a vertical and flying into the sun, roll on his back and continue in straight line flying just a meter above Lorcan, finally flipped his jet once again and placed himself at Lorcan’s six.

Lorcan tried some evasive manoeuvres but Rowan did not let go, always at his tail attempting to get a lock on his CO.

Lorcan felt trapped and as a last ditch he went into a high G barrel roll to try and shake off Rowan.

“Rowan is going to overshoot,” said Connall who was silently watching the dogfight between their superiors.

Then Rowan pulled a trick out of the hat and kept his jet in line with Lorcan’s then rolled and found himself upside down and fired at the other man.

“Holy fuck,” was Fenrys’ comment at the scene.

“What did just happen? How did he even manage that?” Added Vaughan.

“That is Rowan for you. Now you realise why we can’t ever win?”

“One nil for me, Chaos.”

“You are a sneaky bastard, Whitethorn. And where did you learn such manoeuvres?”

Rowan laughed over the comms “get your act together, Commodore, and you can probably get me.”

The dogfight between the two went on for much longer. Lorcan did manage to win an engagement but Rowan still won 2-1. They landed back and they found Rowan’s team waiting for them.

“Good to see you two flying again. The youngsters never had the chance to see the pros at work.” Said Gavriel relieved that the two men seemed again at ease with each other.

“Oh, yeah. Our dear CO was a bit rusty and I took him out to stretch his legs and I handed out his arse to him twice.”

Lorcan gave him the middle finger in response.

Elide was in the ambulance doing some inventory checks when her phone pinged. She opened the text from Lorcan and almost fainted on the spot. It was Lorcan in his jump suit beside his jet and the man actually had a hint of a smile on his face. The second image was of him and Rowan standing back to back, their arms folded at their chest and both had a goofy smile on.

She jumped off the ambulance and ran to Aelin who was in the equipment room checking out their gear “Ace, look!” She shouted as she stormed in.

“What?” And she looked at the two pictures on Elide’s phone.

“Interesting…” Aelin stared with curiosity at the picture of the two men.

“He is soooo hot, I have never seen him in a jump suit and gods I don’t know? Want to remove it one bit at a time?”

Aelin laughed “that’s what I would do to Rowan right now if we were together in a private place. I would peel that jump suit off him until he is naked in front of me.”

She saw Elide blush “Lorcan and I haven’t… passed the kissing stage yet. He has never touched me. He is very considerate of me. But a few times he hugged me and I… felt him.” And she made a gesture and Aelin understood.

“Elide that is normal. How do you feel about the next stage? Like exploring each other’s bodies?”

“As in naked?”

“Yes, but you can start with keeping your underwear to have a barrier on if it makes you feel better.”

Elide sat on the bench beside her “I don’t know how to do this. How do I touch him?”

Aelin could see panic rise in the woman “ask him to show you and then once you feel brave enough to try just give it a go. It can be quite fun.” Aelin stopped for a second trying to find a way to tackle the next issue “Elide, have you ever… you know… explored your body? Down there?”

Elide blushed savagely “no.”

Aelin took the woman’s hand “take a nice warm bath and then…” Aelin wiggled her fingers “just put a hand between your legs and see how it goes, what you feel.”

“Oh.”

“At least once you two take the next step you have an idea of how it feels.”

“And Lorcan does that as well?”

Aelin nodded “yes, and if the man is as good as the others claim he might leave you a satisfied mess just with his fingers or mouth or both. A sort of appetiser before the main course.”

“Do you and Rowan…?”

Aelin nodded “and not just him to me but me to him as well.”

“This sounds so much.”

“Elide, look at me.” Aelin placed her hands on the woman’s shoulder “you do not have to take the next step until you are okay with it. Talk with Lorcan. Explain to him that you are getting curious and want to try more. You can use a safe word so that when you start to become uncomfortable, you shout that word and he has to stop.”

“Oh.”

“He hasn’t rushed you or anything?”

Elide shook her head “no, he has been so understanding, and never pushed.”

“Good. You set the pace. You are the one who needs time so he adjusts to you, remember. But if you feel like you are ready for another step just tell him.”

“Is it… is it as good as everyone says? Is it worth it?”

Aelin nodded “with the right person is something incredible. The intimacy… the connection…”

“Do you have that with your captain?”

“Yeah, and some.”

“Uhhh… are we getting serious?”

Aelin looked away for a moment “I loved Sam. A lot. We were good together but it was never like this. Never this deep.” She threw her head against one of the jackets “I don’t know how to explain it but my feelings for Rowan are so strong that sometimes I feel like I can’t breath.”

“I want that too.”

A moment later the conversation was interrupted by Lysandra entering the room “Here you are, why are you hiding?”

Elide showed Lys Lorcan’s picture.

“Oh mama…”

“Elide is feeling… curious.”

Lysandra hugged the woman “that is wonderful, darling. With such a specimen I’d be curious too.”

“Lys.” Shouted Aelin laughing.

“What? Fine the man can be an arsehole but I can’t deny that in that picture he is one hot bastard.”

“Show her the other.”

Elide showed Lysandra the picture with both Rowan and Lorcan.

“Ok, I really need a cold shower now.”

“I am pretty sure Aedion is available. Just keep it quiet.”

Lysandra laughed “don’t you think I tried? He said it would be against the rules.”

“I am almost done with equipment checks. This room will be free soon.”

“You are a wicked woman.”

Aelin winked.

“Did you do it in here with the captain?”

“No, but his office is quite comfortable.”

“Nice.” Commented Lysandra.

Lys then took Elide’s hand “come on, we got a couple of things to finish.”

Once the two ladies left she phoned Rowan and he picked up at the first ring.

“I am jealous, Lorcan sent a picture of the two of you to Elide and I don’t get a copy?”

“You liked that?”

“You were both smiling.”

“We talked,” added Rowan “Lorcan was even more pissed than me. I think Elide did the miracle.”

Aelin laughed and relaxed at his admission “how so?

“He chuckled. Lorcan chuckled.”

She heard mirth in his voice.

“And the man is totally in love with Elide. I swear I never heard the man talk like that about a woman.”

“Interesting.”

“Also, apparently he has decided to support my idea of having women in the airforce and submitted a proposal to the higher ups and he is prepared to fight for it.” He told her, knowing she would love the news.

“Ok, I might finally start to like the man. What changed?”

“You and Elide apparently.”

Aelin smiled smugly “so he does listen, I am impressed. I don’t think I can cope with the idea of Lorcan not being the bad guy.”

“His job is very stressful and I don’t think I could be able to cope with the amount of shit he has to deal with.” He sighed “put me in a cockpit surrounded by enemies and I will be fine. But the idea of being stuck behind a desk playing the political game day in day out…. no. I will retire before it happens.” He added sadly.

“So, what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day, captain?”

“I am helping him with a few things. Then do more prep work for our performance review.”

“Do you think you are ready for that?”

She heard a lot of noise in the background and she guessed he was back in the hangar.

“Aye, we are good to go.” He was silent for a moment “I have to go, Fireheart.”

“Sure. Be safe and have a nice drill.”

“I love you. Have a nice night shift.”

“Send me that picture, Whitethorn.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She closed the conversation and relaxed heavily. Rowan sounded so much better and she was smidge less worried. With a big smile she went back to her work.

It was past 9pm and Aelin was in her office working away on some paperwork Dorian had sent over. She had a good day. It had felt good being back and she realised that Rowan’s help and their time away had helped very much. She felt saner and being at the station did not cause any problems. She was not ready yet to go back fighting fires, of that she was well aware. That was the last challenge she had to face but she and Aedion had discussed a training regimen that would slowly allow her to find the courage again to go fully back on duty and she felt excited at the idea.

She had been so engrossed in her work she did not hear the knock on the door. When it happened a second time she slowly raised her head “come in.” She said flatly and almost annoyed.

A head of silver hair appeared on the door and she stopped “am I interrupting?”

“Of course captain. How dare you?”

He smiled and took a step in “I can go if you are working.”

Aelin rolled her eyes “get your arse inside and give me fifteen minutes of silence.”

He nodded and walked to her bookcase, giving her his back. His hand behind his back, his spine ramrod straight and his feet slightly apart in a perfect at ease position. She grinned. You could take the man out of the military but not the military out of the man.

She stopped working and rested her chin on her hands and a pen in her mouth. She studied him from behind and was impressed how still he could stay. A feat that had alway been impossible to her.

Rowan grabbed one of her manuals and started flipping through it. It was only fair, she had done the same to his flight manuals.

“A chemistry book?”

She eventually decided to stand and join him at his side.

“I hated chemistry in school. I was good at it but never liked it. I preferred physics.”

Aelin smiled and grabbed another book: fire science “this one might be more interesting.”

He had a look through it and smiled at her “can I take it at home or do you need it here?”

“You can take it home.”

Rowan smiled and placed the book on the sofa then cupped her face “hi, by the way.” And he kissed her.

“About time. I thought you were more interested in my books than me.” She teased him, pulling away briefly.

“You told me to stay silent for fifteen minutes. I was just following orders.”

“Screw that.”Aelin switched off her computer and walked to him, palm upturned, offering him her hand “follow me captain.”

“Do I need to be scared?”

She glared at him.

They walked along the corridor of the fire station and it was so silent and quiet compared to what he had seen during the day “where is everyone?”

“Resting. We got beds, you know? But Brullo and Ress are probably up watching tv as usual.”

They walked through the common area and as Aelin suspected the two guys were watching some series on tv.

“Hi guys,” she greeted them.

They raised their heads “hi boss,” then noticed Rowan “oh captain, you found her. Good.”

“When I walked in I announced myself. I could not just waltz in.”

“Come on,” she grabbed his hand. Aelin dragged Rowan to the area where they kept the fire engine and the truck. She moved to the engine and opened a door on the side and pulled out two thick blankets then with them under her armpit, she started climbing the ladder at the end of the rig “Come on captain.”

Rowan looked at her puzzled.“Where are you going?”

He saw her rolling her eyes “on top of the rig.”

“If the alarm—”

“Captain, if the alarm goes off we have enough seconds to get our arses back down. They will not drive away with us on top of the rig. Do you trust me?”

He looked at her in a strange way.

Aelin threw the blankets on the top of the engine and climbed back down and marched to him, grabbing his hand “move.”

With force she dragged him to the ladder and prompted him to climb. He did as ordered and once at the top he stopped. Aelin stopped behind him, then in a swift motion she pulled her leg over the engine rail and climbed on its roof.

She took the blankets and placed them on top of all the hoses “it smells a bit of smoke. You’ll get used to it.”

He climbed over and stood for a second admiring the view from on top of the engine. When he turned he saw Aelin laying down on the blankets, her arms extended to him and a goofy smile on her face. He joined her and took a place at her side.

She nested against his chest and his arms looped around her frame.

“I come up here a lot on a night shift. I don’t sleep, I just relax, I love to imagine I am laying on the grass and that if I look up I can see the stars.”

“I do that when I am on an aircraft carrier and I am not on standby. I just walk on the deck along the rail, although is not as quiet as here as there are still flights happening, but it’s less busy. I just lean against the handrail, near the island and look out at the sea and I my case I can see the stars.”

Aelin turned in his arms and faced him “can you navigate by just using the stars?”

“We don’t use it much, GPS is a very handy tool, but it’s a skill we learn in case something fails and you are left with no GPS or any other electronic help.”

“What about you? Had a good day at the station?” He kissed the top of her head.

Aelin nodded eagerly “yes, I admitted I had a problem out loud and both Dorian and Aedion have offered to help in anyway they can.” She looked up at him “and you… you helped so much… and still helping…”

He smiled tenderly “it goes under my job description for boyfriend, I assume?”

She caressed his face loving the sound of him calling himself her boyfriend.

“Say it again,” she whispered to him.

“What?”

“That you are my boyfriend.”

He went for a deep kiss “I am yours.”

Aelin smiled against his lips “those are powerful words, captain.”

“They are true, though.”

Aelin’s heart raced and her hand went to his chest and found his doing exactly the same.

“I love this. Us. I really do…” she stuck her head in the crook of his neck inhaling his scent “but it still scares me because it happened so fast. One day I wanted to punch you, the next I wanted to kiss you. And it frightens me. I want this to work. I want us to work out.”

His hand covered hers still on his chest “you are not alone. This is a lot for me as well. But I am done fighting my feelings.” He hugged her closer “I love you, even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will love you.”

Aelin kissed his chest “you are so cheesy it’s disgusting.”

Rowan pushed her away and she rolled on her back at his side, her hand still in his “I was trying to be romantic and you ruined the moment.”

She smiled “sorry, I used to do that with Sam all the time. He would say something super romantic and I would respond with a joke. When he proposed I replied that I had to check with my lawyer first.”

“You are a brat.”

“It was so funny. Then I texted him and said that my lawyer had agreed.” Aelin brought their twinned hands to her mouth and kissed them “I showed him later on that night in bed how much I wanted to marry him. He did not complain.”

“You really are a handful.”

“I know, but now you picked me and there is no turning back.” She said against their hands fearing she had gone too far.

“I love a good challenge.” He rolled over and was now half on top of her, his hand on her side caressing her gently.

Aelin grabbed his face in her free hands and kissed him stupid but Rowan pulled back when he remembered where they were. He was still terrified they would drive away with the two of them on top of the engine.

He lay back down and his hand started trailing along her injured arm exposed by the short sleeved shirt. The burns had healed but the skin remained marred. He traced the length of it and leaned over to kiss it.

“Does it bother you?”

“No,” he said softly while continuing to kiss her injured arm and her scars “you are my brave and fierce Fireheart. It scares me that I almost lost you. But you scars…” another gentle kiss “they don’t bother me.”

She snuggled closer and he enveloped her in his arms.

“I forgot.” He propped himself up on one elbow “I have received an invitation.”

“Oh?” Aelin did the same and faced him.

“This weekend the navy is throwing a launch party for the new aircraft carrier, down at the dockyards before she is set at sea for the trials and then off to deployment.” He explained “Me and the guys have been invited and I can bring a guest. Fancy being my plus one?”

“Are we going public, captain?”

“If you want to.”

Aelin thought about it “I could wear the stunning black dress I bought in Doranelle.”

Rowan remembered that dress and the effect it had on him when she wore it in the shop.

“Are you trying to give a heart attack to the whole Terrasen military?”

Aelin giggled “just going to show all those posh boys what an amazing taste in women you have.”

“That I do.” He flicked her nose.

Aelin was about to reply when dispatch alarm went off and she bolted on her feet and pulled Rowan up and grabbed the blankets “come on, captain.”

She climbed down super quickly and by the time he made it down, the blankets were back in the truck and the squad was getting ready to go.

“Showing the captain your special spot?” Joked Aedion.

Aelin nodded and patted his shoulder “keep the guys safe and you stay safe too.”

“Always.” Quickly Aedion ran to the truck and a moment later the squad was gone.

“It’s hard to see them go and not being able to be with them.”

He pulled an arm around her shoulder “come, I’ll make you hot chocolate.”

She followed him “that’s exactly how you woo a woman, captain.”

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