Bruce doesn't dream.
He never has, really - at least, not that he can remember. He never even had nightmares from the night his parents died. Maybe that's why; maybe he just subconsciously trained himself to not dream after that night, in fear of the nightmares that were sure to come. But the point is that he does not dream.
And yet.
The dream always starts out the same, every night, every time he closes his eyes and slips into the embrace of sleep. He's in a pitch-black room, one so dark that he can't see his hands even when he raises them right in front of his face. He knows, somehow, that he can walk for hours without coming into contact with anything - walls, furniture, anything at all to indicate that he was even in a room. Yet he knows that he is, although he's not sure why, as there really is no reason for him to know that.
The dream changes, after a while of walking. He knows that he won't find anything, no matter how far or how long he walks. This place is empty, desolate even. It fills him with dread every time. The change is never consistent, always bringing him to a different place each night.
(Once, it was a dusty old bedroom, one that made his heart ache, although he didn't know why. He had taken notice of the various space-themed decorations, the model rockets and NASA posters and stars on the ceiling. It was clearly a child's bedroom, but it hadn't been used in a long time. Another time, it was a darkened lab, illuminated only by the strange vials of green liquid lined along the many, many shelves. Bruce had wondered, after he had awoken, if it was Lazarus Water, but that felt wrong. It was something else. Something more. It had made him uneasy, and he got the feeling that something terrible had happened there. He didn't get a chance to investigate the gaping hole in the wall before he had been whisked away to another part of the dream.)
This time, he is in a brightly-lit white lab, and he has to blink stars out of his eyes at the abrupt change in lighting and color. He looks around; it seems like a typical lab, but everything is pure white, except for a green stain on the table. He can feel bile rising in his throat at the sight of the cuffs on the table, and though he still doesn't know what the green substance is, he gets the horrible feeling that it's blood. A lot of it.
He uses what little time he has to investigate the lab. There is an abundance of medical supplies, but many look unused, with the exception of the scalpels. The pit in his stomach continues to grow. Why were there so many? He reaches toward a vial of red liquid, wrong wrong wrong this is wrong, when the dream changes again.
Now he's in what is clearly a cell, except even the cells in Arkham aren't this bare. The only thing it contains is a familiar white-haired teenager, who is chained to the floor with cuffs that glow the same green as the vials of Lazarus Water that he's seen before.
Though Bruce has never learned his name, he has been in every dream, the one constant (besides the empty room, of course) in each one. The kid has never spoken, never done more than watch, but Bruce has always gotten the feeling that he was the reason for these strange dreams.
He knows that he should be more worried. If some kind of meta has managed to get inside his head, there's no telling what could happen. But he can't bring himself to be. Something is wrong, and it's not the teenager.
He can't help but think of his own children.
Something feels . . . off this time. The kid isn't looking up, isn't even moving - he seems limp, almost, as he kneels on the ground, weighed down by the chains keeping him there. Green blood - Bruce knows it's blood now, it has to be - drips from his still figure, pooling on the ground underneath him.
Bruce can't move. He desperately wants to, what could he even do? but it's like he's frozen in place. He can only watch as the teenager slowly, agonizingly, looks up at him, his bright green eyes dull and filled with fear and desperation and hope and -
Bruce wakes.
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Art Style #3 Practice
I have three art styles that I'm working on. There's my main (the more anime-ish style), my second/cartoon one (as seen in my Enid fanart; the one with the round heads and big eyes/pupils), and my very-inspired-by-Strawberry-Shortcake one (as you will see). The third is my least developed, but I'm liking how it's coming out so far.
As always, no reposting, editing, tracing, claiming, or using my art (in general), or using my artworks for any program, NFT, or AI. Nor do I permit using the designs of any of my original designs or characters for any purpose other than fanart of them.
I've started adding finishing dates on my artwork, since it's not like I can write it on the back.
This girl is supposed to be from the '90s (you know, jean overalls, high ponytail, all that), but I don't have a name for her yet. She's really just a design so I can practice. But in my head I've nicknamed her Ponyheart or just Pony for short. Because of the ponytails and the heart motifs, y'know? Maybe I'll come up with a name for her someday.
The strawberry background is a nod to my inspiration for this style, and also because I just like drawing strawberries. Clip Studio Paint was being a massive pain for me when I tried to use the align tool, so I just ending up doing the rows down by hand.
Shading was an...Attempt. Let me know if you have any polite tips! Sometimes I'm open to help/constructive criticism, but sometimes I'd rather just be able to doodle without worrying about getting it, "right." But in this case, I'd like some advice! Just be nice. :]
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[ID: Ryuunosuke Naruhodou from The Great Ace Attorney.]
Non-ace attorney guys (allo attorneys, if you will) I need to tell u about my dear friend ryunosuke naruhodou aka Phoenix Wright's canonical peepaw from turn of the century 18-1900s
NOT A TRAINED LAWYER he is an English major. However his gay best friend died so he went 'well I'll carry on his legacy ig'
His assistant is a 16yo wikipedia editor who seems to think of him as a small purse dog who will walk into traffic if she's not careful
^ 5 minutes after becoming his assistant she had to stop him from triggering an emergency alarm for funsies and eating the cheese from a mouse trap so tbh ? Not unwarranted
Has that certified visual novel (internal dialogue) but it turns out he's constantly mumbling it out loud and people are insulted by it
2 hours after he finds out his best friend in the world has died and he's been accused of killing him, he teams up with famed detective herlock sholmes (yes that's his name) in a showy display of deduction featuring a lot of snappy hand gestures and a seemingly-diagetic spotlight
Becoming a lawyer because of your best friend - because of the boy who stood up to protect you when nobody else would, dragging him out of antagonist status by revealing the truth of his father's death, being the defense attorney to his prosecutor, the blue to his red.... yeah, it turns out that's hereditary.
I swear up and down to high heaven he is wearing winged eyeliner. It's so noticeable when he's on the big screen of my TV
There are official animal versions of all the main characters and his is a mouse with ears the size of its head
[ID: an illustration of Susato Mikotoba and Ryuunosuke Naruhodou as animals in a chibi art style. Ryuunosuke is a blue mouse with large ears, decorated with blue flower patterns.]
^ his name is 'chuunosuke'
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WOWE! inktowbew day 4 (by @college-knockout!!) was looking forward to drawing these guys! more about them + bonus under the cut
anyway, bottle cap (they/she, they're on the left) is the resident free country organist (for the king of town). they keep to themselves most of the time, and only speak in whistling. she's unnoticed by most of free country, but occasionally some residents come to her performances. here they are in higher quality:
other guy is "hatguy" cooldude (he/him, on the right). doesn't have a job or role or anything, is pretty much just the resident failguy who thinks he's hot shit but. *really* isn't. only really friends with the cheat. they steal shit and cyberbully people together. higher quality here:
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A bit of a weirder ask but it’s been something that was on my mind fairly recently.
How would Gebura react to learning that Christopher’s kid is still alive and is working as an agent in the facility?
for context Christopher was a researcher that helped Gebura realize her humanity along with his wife in a flashback.
Rip that guy who we barely knew
TW: death
Gebura with Christopher's child
•she did not think that this man had more than one kid. Let alone that they survived.
•... But here they are. Having the same hair, eyes and even some habits from their late father.
•at first Gebura was thinking about telling that agent the truth about their family's death, but Lobotomy Corporation is known for covering the... Disappearances of the employees to their families.
•besides, maybe the kid already forgot about it, working in this place and all... Or maybe they already figured it out by now...
•regardless, Gebura decides that if they wanted to know, they'd come up and ask her themselves, she would answer...
•as for now, Gebura will just continue to work as usual. After all, Lobotomy Corporation is not the place for attachments and feelings....
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