#Dorian awb

[krowspiracyanon]

Pink In The Night (Dorian’s regrets)

Angst. SFW, still MDNI 🔞

Dorian is from the 10:16 VN and belongs to @artwithoutblood

Notes: This was written very quickly and I felt like being just as melodramatic as the awful bratty goth, so please excuse any purple prose.

The plot has been haunting me ever since Dorian threw us into the elevator and I sent in an ask saying a certain yearning Mitski song suited him.

I love Dori but Woe. Angst be upon you.

…

Dorian is awake tonight, a pink glow on his face from the endless artificial sun.

Complex emotions are unfolding unbidden. He is completely alone but his cheeks are blooming with memories of you.

He can hear thumps and cracks from ash and birds outside, like the strong working and the sharp pain of his heart. He wonders what you can hear. If you still do.

The ash still rustles, patters, and sighs. It’s a taunting echo of your footfall, every light step a second he won’t get back.

Dorian’s chest pounds louder. The ash storm buffets, hapless birds colliding rhythmically with the windows like the booming of an agitated heart.  

Dorian is long dead, should not feel these sensations, but his body intimately remembers loss like a phantom wound. His breath comes thick as if gulping the corrupted smog inside. The rosy light is dimming as the slowly obscuring windows are buried and his eyes blur.

If he had only just been more patient in that moment… he could bear to stare at your turned back. Your averted face. The back of your sleeping head. He could endure any naivety or resistance for as long as it took.

He could almost have kissed you before.

He didn’t do any of that right.

If only the muzzle was off… if only he hadn’t lost his temper… He could try again. And again. And again.

[turnthepagevn]

Ivy League get-togethers are fuckin wild.

@artwithoutblood

@lockefell-library

@gryphons-n-kelpies

[artwithoutblood]

(Artshielded shitpost just 4 u mwah. Ps. this is not the Samir drawing)

BASICALLY DJCICJD

[girlfriend-to-death]

🎮 — What are some of your hobbies? Do you and F/O have any in common? If not, have you introduced them to your interests? Have they introduced you to theirs?

For whichever s/i you feel is best :)

(tried to answer this earlier and tumblr ate my response ;-;)

i'll be answering this with my general art without blood s/i and my 10:16 s/i bc i love them both very much and also want an excuse to talk abt doriri and aeron

gen. awb s/i:

aeron and i are both painters- i typically use watercolors while aeron tends to favor oil or acrylics! i also do junk journaling and write poetry, neither of which i've been able to get aeron into. that's fine though- sharing a love of painting with them is enough for me! <3

10:16 s/i:

dorian and i both read a *lot*- i make very good use of the library in heresy (except the restricted books- i know better than that!) i also do macrame- dorian and i have matching bracelets that i made (i'm still shocked he wears his regularly, but i'm not complaining.) i'm also huge into playing video games, which led to some interesting events- we had to figure out how to get an xbox to heresy (somehow it worked. dorian and i play assassin's creed and elder scrolls together- he's still trying to figure out how the controls work (it's cute))

[krowspiracyanon]

Practice piece of Dorian from 10:16 - @artwithoutblood

The pose is borrowed from Renoir - La Chevelure (Young Woman Braiding Her Hair).

I wanted to do better but the main goal of this was to practice figure drawing and line art. I can redo it later. I also worked on anatomy before the clothing, which helped the drape and shiny highlights on the silk PJs. So have a bonus shirtless Dorian under the cut.

Minors go away.

[artwithoutblood]

THEJFKVIVIDKD!,!,!,!;&:8,?&@/&/,&,8&::&

[krowspiracyanon]

Upon reading this post I blacked out and this image appeared in my drawing app.

It begins!

Dorian can have a maskless illusion for a minute. As a treat.

(I also have a WIP closeup of Dorian's face but Tumblr ruins the quality of images and that one looks especially blurry.)

From left to right: Genesis (AWB), Erebus (AWB), Dorian (10:16) and Aeron (AWB).

All of these characters belong to @artwithoutblood/@catskets and the 10:16 VN is now available on Steam.

[artwithoutblood]

Are the galleria demons part of hell and stationed elsewhere in vessels for their jobs? 

Or are they their own separate ‘pantheon’ or type of demon that are just naturally embodied on that plane, and the inbetween its own place, so Aeron has to absolutely break reality with the doors to visit Dorian? (Heh, the two traumatized red guys are distant and finding it hard to connect. Literally.)

And do the girlies occupy different areas of the same inbetween or are they in different worlds loosely linked? Apparently a galleria is a collection of small shops under a common roof, an arcade. I think of the kitchen as the shared convergence of their overlapping realities. The hub. 

(Also Genesis leaving doors/barging into Eri’s home? In a really ham fisted inappropriate way he’s metaphorically trying to make connections and experience/share Eri’s reality! He’s trying to leave the door open between them! He’s knocking down the walls! Or he’s just being a troll and a perv, I don’t know his life. Perhaps a past closeness Eri has forgotten eroded their boundaries and Genesis is still acting accordingly. Or maybe at this point Genesis is just settling for negative attention.)

Are they like hell’s demons or are they functionally more like demi-gods the way they have familial relationships and meddle with mortals? They make me think of the three muses. (I know that developed into the nine muses but I’m mining Wikipedia and pushing this idea as far as it goes.)

Perhaps through their gifts and jobs they are muses, both inspiring and documenting humanity.

Genesis is Aeode, the muse of voice and song. Perhaps he was the patron of oral history, passing events down through song. I can see him inspiring satire and dissidents.

Erebus is Mneme, the muse of memory. His preservation of books and artifacts plus committing existence to the written word fits well. In turn history and tradition are spoken into life. He sparks and immortalises.

Aeron is trickier. The last muse left is Melete, which can be translated to contemplation or pondering. Meditation. I guess art does involve looking thoughtfully at something for a long time, reflecting, interpreting and depicting reality through the filter of your own perspective.

Visual arts are a language pre-dating the written word in both history and human development, maybe even the first language. A child can see before they can speak. It’s subjective but universal. Keeping ancient experiences that could have been lost to time and making them accessible to anyone who looks.

Melete has also been translated as ‘practice’, which fits with the dedication and physicality of art. Melete has also been described as springing from water - a metaphor for creativity, for blood, for life.

Hell, capitalized in reference to dorian's nine circles, is part of the "in-between". the in-between is anything that isn't space but isn't human, situation between worlds, planes.

a lot of communities in the in-between are connected, but sometimes due to their roles, they are unable to cross. dorian frequents adonis's bar, but he is not able to stay long before returning. he is pulled out of an otherworldly obligation. but dorian cannot venture outside of "Hell" for very long, whether it be bars, aeron's gallery, or the mortal world.

in the case of the galleria, they're not affiliated with anything in particular. they created their own affiliations, and by they, i mean erebus with the archives. they do whatever the fuck they want. some are under obligations. adonis has their obligation to the town they inhabit, and though they can leave it and do as they please, they always return.

they share the same "area" of the in-between and have common areas. the three are nicknamed "the unholy trinity" by some because they are the literal (albeit accidental on my part) definition of "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil". genesis just wants everyone to be close. he's not great about going about things. not his fault entirely. just a little ditzy. and in case anything goes wrong, he can get between places.

they have one role: as long as the world needs their agility, they will remain. it is why they must continuously rebirth.

genesis is passionate about oral history. it's necessary. it's what music is for. it's what songs are for.

erebus has too good of a memory. it's what makes his grudges so, so bad.

with aeron that is why delusion itself can take a childish form.

[artwithoutblood]

When I first started hanging around Dorian was the darling. He was everywhere. I think it was no muzzle week? After that things were kinda steady.

Then I sent asks picking apart his manipulations in the game, and while there was a brief resurgence against Kayn, Dorian seems to have dropped off a fair bit. Everyone wants Eri now. There was barely even a reaction when Dori finally took off his shirt. (Which people had been begging for.)

D-did I accidentally end this man’s entire career? 😭

YOU DID IT....YOU KILLED DORIAN.....................................................YOU DID IT ANON....

[artwithoutblood]

Wait… if Aeron just ‘adds a bit back there’ and then when they return to normal there’s stuff leftover… where did that extra flesh come from?

It seems they didn’t just move it from elsewhere on their body but added a surplus. And if it’s cushioning physical impact and behaving as living physical demon material it’s not just a glamour.

Do they have to conserve mass when they alter their bodies bigger or smaller? Like, do they stow any extra demon junk somewhere to get thinner - or consume matter/energy to get more material, pad their body out bigger then can choose to discard it after. Or do they just expand or compress?

Also if they assume an appearance just as a trick do they have to change? Or is it more like a hologram? Or an illusion from messing with your eyes? (I’m assuming Aeron is doing that to Dorian’s muzzle. I don’t think they have the power to remove it unless they put it there and I don’t think they did.)

Does the size of the latest absorbed host affect how much they have to work with? And can they partially consume to repair? Or they always have to wait until they’re a write off and do an entire body hop. (I know Aeron regenerates their body with a special ability from tattoos, but the demons in general.)

If they died and there was no host or entire corpse they could ooze to, could they stay alive in a severed body part just long enough for help or a proper host to come?

Don’t mind me and there doesn’t have to be answers, thinking about it is just intriguing.

there's a place for storage, or it's like a little ball picking up bits of dust and dirt. some sort of fucked up blood bending. it caaaan be an expression and compression of material, which is what makes skin in certain places a bit "thinner".

aeron didn't put the muzzle on dorian, i'll clear that up. an external force did. in dorian's current form, it is an extension of his body. a metal brace. the clothing appearance thing changes from person to person. aeron, for example, is able to change bodies and clothing because it's usually all some illusion. you may be seeing a pretty girl in front of you, but it could be aeron's regular appearance.

with someone like genesis, for example, he typically would have to change garments. he can appear some on from his trusty closet, but genesis usually wears baggy clothes for body-morphing reasons.

the tldr is if the demon's ability doesn't have to do with object manipulation, sight, or fabrics, they can't really change clothes on a whim.

genesis can also regenerate, it's not just aeron! genesis is just WAY more reckless.

the size, health, and state of decay of the host typically affects how long it takes for the demon to take over that body. excess material is stored. where it is stored is unclear even to them.

If they died and there was no host or entire corpse they could ooze to, could they stay alive in a severed body part just long enough for help or a proper host to come?

basically, though most prefer to travel as an ooze until they find something to take over. demons, at their core, are concepts. they are energy. if all else fails, they will reawaken in a body which uses them. dissonance will awake in the body of a person who has used hearing to deceive their opponents.

[artwithoutblood]

….I think Dorian is my new favorite

this means i have to do propaganda for you to like the others

[artwithoutblood]

I’m looking at the First Six and trying to piece it all together. *wild theories begin*

We all know Dorian /pos (bottom right).

The entity above Dorian (middle right) wears a veil so I’m wondering if that’s Delusion.

(middle left) They look like Eri with the bob, pose and clothing/silhouette but have wavy hair instead. I think I saw Aeron putting on this appearance like a mask when they said they could look like anyone. I wonder if this is the original demon of Delirium that gave up the mantle? Or maybe it’s Delirium themselves rather than the previous holder or the Eri we know. Delusion being there too might support this.

(top left) I’ve seen her face and hair before when Aeron was wearing them, switching rapidly between many who were probably these guys. I’m not sure yet who she is.

(bottom left) She looks oddly like Iris who I think will become a recurring character. Will she perhaps undergo the demon process to try and cure her of the parasight then, and take a demon mantle?

I don’t think I’ve met the Fog before, not sure which one she is. Perhaps she’s from God Is In The Radio which I still do need to check out.

Other thoughts -

I’m wondering if the actual demons are the entities with the D names/titles, and the characters we know are more like their representatives on the physical plane. Who have nicknamed and visually customised themselves to their taste. Kind of like angels do the ‘form you can understand’ thing.

This is maybe why they need to fuse their matter with human bodies, it’s material required for embodiment on the physical plane. They literally need to be made flesh. (And it’s why Genesis still needs hair conditioner. He’s a physical avatar. Or do I have this the wrong way around and Delusion, Delirium, Dissonance are the physical manifestations affecting the world? Dissonance isn’t seen when Genesis kills you but it seems it is heard - is it acting through Genesis as a vessel?)

And maybe the ones that were once human need to mesh rather than just be taken over like a shell. So it’s more complicated and painful - if it fails they are destroyed or die. They could retain a fragment of their old consciousness (Eri is still traumatized from life and so is Dorian) and prefer to retain some resemblance to their form in life.

(I wonder if I am looking at the wrong demon for Delirium? Going by the hair the demon I think is them had dark skin and a wavy bob when Aeron wore their appearance. Pre-demon Eri was pale and had long straight hair before cutting it. But Delusion does look different to Aeron.)

Maybe the form we’ve met is just chosen by Eri who kept and hates too much change from his original body. Or maybe there’s a limit on how much you can change an original human body and he just made a few adjustments to feel more comfortable in his gender, plus adopted the haircut (but he did that pre-demon?) and dressed in the archive style.

Dori does still look mostly like he did in life too, aside from the demon eyes and muzzle. (Did Delusion punish him with the muzzle in the same mocking way they pranked Eri with the snake demon eyes? Did silver tongue Dori try to manipulate or lie to them? 👀)

I can’t find the post with the timeline of when they all met though, I don’t remember it matching up like that. And Dori must be extremely forgiving if they’re besties and get intimate. But then Dori does expect forgiveness and intimacy of the murdered Fallen so… When he says he doesn’t know who has the key, is he lying? Aeron does make it look like the muzzle is off. Casanova has a key around his neck. Maybe God did it when Dori went to Hell or maybe Dori made a bargain with Aeron/Delusion during or after being killed. Do you need to still be alive to become a demon?

Idk how the demonification process works or what the rules are. I’m just busily looking for clues and grasping for the lore of the little guys.

My concepts of all this are also somewhat shaped by the Endless from ‘Sandman’. ie. Death appearing as the mortal Didi, or demi-mortal Daniel inheriting the mantle of Dream/Morpheus but slightly altering the form. Morpheus also had a supernatural accessory as keeper of his realm (helmet).

Not a comparison! AWB is its own new thing. Just saying I’m coming from some preformed understandings about archetypes/gods/angels and demons that might not be true here.

[gets out my reading glasses]

the middle-right is greed. she lives in opulence, and i based her design partially off mourners. greed, named prudence, likes her luxuries quietly. she decorates her hands in gold, but the paint melts off. she likes it that way. gilded. she doesn't flaunt it, and she prefers to keep to herself.

gluttony is the one to the middle-left. they're a hunter who likes fine things. i dont know why i gave them a long, fur coat. i think it's because it was cold. it rains with freezing rain, and he indulges. he does not discriminate in the flesh he salivates over.

top left is limbo. i wrote something about her that i can't remember now. there are lots of lost souls in her caverns. she walks with a lantern and cares where she can. there is a lively community of souls in the caves of limbo.

you are correct about what will happen to iris. bottom left is anger. he hurts himself and others in his rampages, sinks into the swamps and swims around. he just loves to fight.

top right is lust. she walks along the water, strolls through the sand in a long, white dress. references to the birth of venus. she is a virgin of eternal light.

I’m wondering if the actual demons are the entities with the D names/titles, and the characters we know are more like their representatives on the physical plane. Who have nicknamed and visually customised themselves to their taste. Kind of like angels do the ‘form you can understand’ thing.

you're more or less correct. the D names was just because having three with the same letter was satisfying on my tongue. they can change their forms at will. aeron does it more often. genesis does it when he feels he needs to. erebus refuses.

This is maybe why they need to fuse their matter with human bodies, it’s material required for embodiment on the physical plane. They literally need to be made flesh. (And it’s why Genesis still needs hair conditioner. He’s a physical avatar. Or do I have this the wrong way around and Delusion, Delirium, Dissonance are the physical manifestations affecting the world? Dissonance isn’t seen when Genesis kills you but it seems it is heard - is it acting through Genesis as a vessel?)

in ways they're vessels. due to story reasons, the only entity you see in awb is delusion. for delusion, it lives in aeron's chest. they're the same entity. they act separately but together. aeron can cut their chest open to allow "delusion" more control. they blend together when aeron spaces out. delusion observes life through the eyes of everyone it has ever come in proximity with. it is looking through your eyes right now. it lends aeron with the ability to scan for people to find them, as long as they know who the person is.

dissonance for genesis is used more as a tool. like a weapon fused with his spirit. it is in his music, in his instruments. genesis can use it to create awful sounds in certain proximities to find things or to wreak general havoc. but it's used mostly for the love of music. it's also a bit harder for me to design dissonance. i'm already redesigning delusion. delirium doesn't really need a physical form because it's in the words. you picture delirium yourselves when you read.

the entity and the body are the same, but it comes down to the love of the human world for how they present. the molding with flesh stuff i added just because i thought it was cool, but it can also be because the entities are sort of manifestations. they cannot make physical interactions. you will make a contract with something that looks human, not a ball of energy.

And maybe the ones that were once human need to mesh rather than just be taken over like a shell. So it’s more complicated and painful - if it fails they are destroyed or die. They could retain a fragment of their old consciousness (Eri is still traumatized from life and so is Dorian) and prefer to retain some resemblance to their form in life.

the ones that were once human were chosen by forces they can never hear in more than screams. it is painful. dorian cares little for his time as a human. he remembers it, but he knows that is not the person he is now. erebus is just mad at the world and how it has treated him every step of the way.

delusion and dorian look similar (in delusion's current form, which i may redesign) for other undisclosed reasons. aeron and dorian met when dorian was still alive, but aeron had no say nor any involvement over dorian becoming a demon. no one has a say unless they force it. their meeting was accidental.

genesis does mention he once tried to turn a human into a demon who ended up going insane. brutus hungers for flesh and the sinews in your shoulders like a rabid dog. if the person does not erupt into gore, they erupt into hysteria.

just as limbo must always be in gloom, just as lust may never touch another person with her skin, dorian must be chained. i have no reason for this other than "muzzle look cool" and angst. i do not know who has the key. it doesn't matter for dorian's story. he is fine as-is.

casanova shoutout btw i love cannibal sweetheart he just jumpscared me in this.

[artwithoutblood]

"You kiss like a corpse, you know?" Of course Dorian did. Any skill he had in his youth was lost through the metal bars that are often around his face. But tonight, with Delusion pinning him to a bookcase, threatening to knock off a copy of The Codex of Saint Alieana: Blood and Sex of the Martyr off its meticulously-kept spot on the shelf.

"And you kiss like a predator; one who has doubtless tasted his fair share of corpses." Dorian has spit drenching his lips, allowing them to shine with only the dim light. His hat had been discarded what feels like hours ago, and his glasses are on the verge of falling off his face. Aeron's fingers slip underneath the fabric of Dorian's gloves, gently trying to pry them apart.

"Is that your best attempt at flattery?" Aeron laughs with the culminated pitches of every person every absorbed into their body, whispering through the tattoos and the delusions inflicted upon their victims.

"One such as you, with fresh death upon your lips, is surely above flattery?" Dorian allows one hand to go free. His fingers rest next to Aeron's lips, rubbing the dark red lipstick onto the fabric of his gloves. It smears easily and looks like blood across Delusion's face. "Or are vain platitudes really that important to you?"

"Hmph." Aeron scoffs and allows their hands to run up Dorian's arms, gently caressing the muscle near his shoulders. Heresy has no need for this. He participates in vanity where no one but himself is audience. It makes Delusion laugh, but there is no sound, as their hands work their way up Dorian's chest and to his neck. Find the arteries. Squeeze them deep, and make sure to hold him still. Lift him off the floor a little, if you desire, oh sweet Delusion. "And here I thought you’d be plying me with your sweet little lies~"

Dorian should be kicking his legs, gasping for breath, but instead, his face is flushed. Not even Aeron knew he was capable of such a blush until a moan spilled from his throat, echoing through the empty library wing. "I’d ply you with another kiss, if only to silence you for a moment."

And Dorian did not need to ask for the sickly taste of blood, poorly covered with cherry, to hit his lips, knock into his teeth, sink onto his tongue and get bitten hard enough to bleed. All he had to do was look with those pretty eyes of his and roll them to the back of his head.

-

drabble based on something zack wrote in the awb server, which you can find here. all of the dialogue is from him.

[artwithoutblood]

also redesigning dorian for his segment of awb. i love capes.

[artwithoutblood]

ways to support AWB

So...it's been a really awesome few weeks. I've been getting a whole lot of support and sweet messages on everything that's part of this little universe, and I'm very grateful.

Unfortunately, at the moment, I am unemployed. I recently quit my retail job due to complications with my boss, and I am searching for a more sustainable career in the field I graduated with a Bachelors in (game design and the game industry).

For accessibility, most of my games are free, and some run on "you can donate if you desire" on itch.io. The only paid game I have, My God is the Sun, was free for a week before I put it up for $1. Only 8 people have bought it. I want to continue making either free or cheap games for people to play, but I also...Need to be able to live, especially as I look for a career in a failing industry.

So, I'm posting below some ways, financial or not, that you can utilize to support me. Only if you want.

Join the Patreon

I recently relaunched my Patreon, which you can join here. The general monthly rewards are going to be one exclusive Twine game and also sneak peeks at what's going on in my projects. Any NSFW versions of games, such as Silas's upcoming project, will be locked to here. The most expensive one is maybe $5 a month. You can use this also as a monthly tip jar.

2. Buy something from my Ko-Fi shop

I have two sizes of Dorian keychains + stickers that you can buy!

They're cute! Super cute! I may make more merchandise in the future if I have the funds and the interest. You guys can also tip me on Ko-Fi if you want.

3. Comment/leave star ratings on my games.

Comments help the itch.io "algorithm" a lot, as in people will be more interested if they see a piece is getting attention. If you've ever liked something of mine, you can go comment on it and leave a, like, one sentence review! Even if it's just "I want to kiss Dorian." Also, leaving a quick star rating helps a lot!

4. Joining our Discord!

We host lots of fun events and do lots of silly stuff. Please come over. We are very funny and silly and cool.

[artwithoutblood]

I don't know if anyone already asked that but if they did I'm sorry, I couldn't find it!

So Dorian is the keeper of the Heresy. But as a human he questioned God and was burned alive for trying to explain his reasoning to others.

And my question is, were other demons sent to hell to be keepers of each circle because of these small sins? That are literally in human nature?

And what happens to souls that for example sinned in the similar way to Dorian. Why aren't they demons too? They are burned yes? If I read this correctly.

And another question if I may, does Dorian really care about us?? Or are we just something to fill the void of loneliness to him?

Does he lie or is he telling the truth to us..

I'm sorry it's long!! You don't have to answer it if you don't want to. I really enjoyed the game and I wish to understand it more

And my question is, were other demons sent to hell to be keepers of each circle because of these small sins? That are literally in human nature?

Yes. Lust is the character I have most developed behind Heresy, but I won't reveal much about her in these posts since it's for a secret project. She was not lustful, per say, but she attracted it just by existing. She dresses conservatively, barely showing skin, floating in an endless sea. Violence is not a violent man but a victim.

And what happens to souls that for example sinned in the similar way to Dorian. Why aren't they demons too? They are burned yes? If I read this correctly.

There are three ways to become a demon in the scope of AWB:

You are created as one (take Aeron, Genesis, etc), demons from the start.

You are turned into one by another demon (a dangerous procedure. Erebus is one. Most die in the process)

You have it forced upon you when you die because you embody the horrors of a growing ideology

Demons are creations of humans, and yet they are miles and miles ahead of them. They are creations in that they are born from the desires, needs, or horrors of humanity, but from there, they do what they want.

Dorian and the rest of the Keepers came into power and demonhood around the same time, as this sort of fantasy Christianity began to emerge.

Therefore, any other humans who commit similar sins are simply taken care of in different ways. Some liked what Dante had written in his fanfiction and decided to use those methods. Others have their own ways. Dorian prefers to burn the heretics.

And another question if I may, does Dorian really care about us?? Or are we just something to fill the void of loneliness to him? Does he lie or is he telling the truth to us..

I think Dorian is complicated.

I think he cares, but he's also been so lonely that he doesn't really know the extent of his emotions. Or what emotions he has left. It's up for interpretation.