#Had this idea for a long time but finally got the chance to draw concept for it

[narson03]

What if Off the Hook crossed over with WALL-E?

[jojo-schmo]

hi jojo! im just wondering but ive been wanting to make a comic for a little while but im not too sure where to start 😅. i really love your style of art and your forgotten land roleswap, and i was wondering if you had any tips for beginners?

Hello, hello! Thank you for enjoying my Forgotten Land Roleswap comic, it means a lot! <3

I'm very honored that people have been asking me for tips and advice. All of this is coming from a hobbyist who draws these comics purely for fun outside of my regular day job. Some of my methods would probably deal psychic damage to a professional, LOL. But I'm more than happy to share some things I've personally learned! :)

First of all, the book, "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud ROCKS. It literally gave me a new dimension to understand the medium of comics and how it presents ideas and emotions to readers! And I haven't even had the chance to finish it all the way! I'm very happy I own a copy and I recommend having one of your own if you can, but it's archived here if you want to read it :D

I also like analyzing other comics and thinking about how they get information across to me as a reader. It's helped me learn more effective ways to visually tell a story, like what to include in a frame, how zooming in or out affects the feeling from the panel, maybe building a scene by focusing on other stuff if someone is talking a lot... etc.

ANYWAYS-! Some other tips I've learned through my personal experience-

I had to overcome a lot of negative self-talk in order to tackle a huge comic project like this and stay committed. I was a pretty severe self-deprecator for most of my life so far, and getting help has allowed me to catch myself when I'm slipping back into those habits, look in the mirror, and go, "NO, JOJO! You pour your heart into what you make and that is a wonderful thing! You are appreciated and loved and you deserve to have fun making something you are passionate about!!" Some examples of the negative self-talk I catch myself in....

"I'm a noob at writing and making a story interesting... What's the point of even trying?"

When it comes to starting a project, whether it's 2 pages or 2000 pages, is to just jump in and start! It's okay to be a little insecure or nervous about your technical art skills, writing skills, etc... But writing a "bad" scene is better than no scene- because you can always edit a "bad" scene down the line, but what can you do with nothing? Nothing!! I also put "bad" in quotation marks because I am trying to use that term less, and instead call them "early drafts." or "works in progress."

The first Roleswap scene I fleshed-out was the first Bandee boss fight, in May 2022. I made this drawing on an impulse, getting my ideas down on the page without thinking about the technical stuff like comic panel borders. I consider it like a "pilot episode" almost, haha. The final project is going to be very different from how things play out here. But it got me interested in the concept and excited to see where I could take it, and I made the decision to commit to an entire game plot's worth of AU comics!!

Also, what's the point in trying you ask? The point is to have fun! Making a fan comic in my free time means I don't have restrictions like deadlines, nobody's telling me what I can and can't write, and I can make the story as long or as short as I want! I have full control, which means the world I'm writing is all mine to create! Yes, with a fan comic there is a pre-established world with existing characters. But a universe like Kirby has enough open-ended concepts for people to take basic concepts in the world and take them to whole new levels! I think that's why there are so many amazing fan interpretations of Kirby characters and OCs. The rules are so vague, you can just make up your own a lot of the time!! And it's a wonderful exercise to learn skills for someday building an original world with all original characters from scratch! Magical!!!

"I'm not good enough to make a comic. I don't understand perspective or color and other stuff. Anything I make will look bad.

I once read a two panel comic on here. I can't find it anymore but I remember most of it. First panel showed the artist looking at what they're drawing on their tablet, looking defeated and sad. "Man, I don't even know how to draw this....."The next panel was like them smiling and shrugging, I think rainbows and sparkles were coming out of their tablet, ".....I GUESS I'LL JUST HAVE TO DRAW IT SHITTY!! :D "

IF ANYONE KNOWS THIS COMIC I'M REFERENCING, PLEASE TELL ME AND I'LL LINK IT!!! Because it permanently and positively changed my brain chemistry.

No kidding, making the decision to just do my best even if it's not perfect, helped me a LOT. I was always waiting to "reach a certain level" to tackle a huge project because I felt like I'd never do it justice at my current state. Except I had been telling myself that kind of stuff for years and I still didn't start any projects!!

So the day I said, "Oh well! If I draw backgrounds shitty, then it is what it is! I'll learn from it and draw the next background a little better," Was the day I could commit fully to the project. I'll keep studying how to draw them better for my own benefit, but I won't let my skill issues stop me from even trying!

And for my limited confidence in full-color art, I solved that by making the comic in black and white with no-to-minimal shading lolol. Because I can only address one skill issue at a time before it takes me 25 years to finish this HAHAHA.

It saves a BUNCH of time to work with skill issues rather than against them! Because at least experience is gained in other ways, and who knows, maybe that new knowledge will help address the skill issues someday! So identifying your personal skill issues and deciding which one to try to grow stronger, and which one to work around, could help with big projects!

"Nobody will read this. I'm going to put months or years of my life into a dumb little thing nobody will even care about."

Learning how to draw for my own enjoyment instead of somebody else's was one of the biggest breakthroughs I ever made. Enjoying the feeling of being challenged artistically and just doing my best, even if it's not technically perfect, is the reason why I was even able to start this!

And just because someone doesn't directly like, comment or whatever on a post doesn't mean nobody saw it! I used to get really down on myself for the lack of engagement on my art on other websites.

I was a lurker for pretty much my entire teenage years and never posted my own stuff or commented much. But that didn't take away the fact that I really enjoyed the things I saw online. Those positive feelings were real to me, even when I didn't know how to articulate it in words. Granted, I grew up into a Words of Affirmation main, and I use words to tell people the positive things I think about them as much as I can! But I know not everyone prefers words to express themselves. So I think about the people that I don't know enjoy my work- that just because I don't see it doesn't mean I didn't make a positive impact on someone by sharing my stories.

THIS IS GETTING LONG-- UHHH, STORY TIPS!!

If you work best on technology, start building the story in a Notes app, or a Google Doc! If you work best with pen and paper, start a notebook and rearrange stuff as you need to!

Or if you're chaotic like me, a mix of tech and paper!! I bought a notebook with ring binding so I can remove and rearrange pages of drafts as much as I wanted to! Like here's two very rough concept pages of one Chapter 1 scene made months apart.

I'd say planning out the biggest basic plot points and then filling in between as I went was most helpful! I also have separate notes for character motivations, important story-changing events, etc... So I can have my own reference when I'm writing new scenes!

Okay this was a lot, sorry about the yapping! Hopefully it helps even a tiny bit. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to talk about my experience in the creation process! Or elaborate on anything I said above.

And finally, because I'm not a professional there are probably plenty of other tactics that could work better for some people. My ADHD probably doesn't help with the chaos of my process either, HAHA. But thank you for reading this far and enjoying the peek into the rainbow glitter and soap bubbles that inhabit the right side of my brain, heehee.

[seven-re]

Day 20 / Day 21 / Day 22

I'm really tired today and didn't have much time, so I took the chance to comply to that comment lol. Still had to sketch him shirtless, but I really idn't try much today, I lined it really quickly from the hips down too xD! I just wanted to show the concept :)

The idea had been on my mind for VERY long, so finally pushed through and got a design down lol. Sorry it couldn't be a complete drawing, ;_;

[pkmnirlevents]

How do you go about getting ideas for arcs? I’m struggling to figure out what I want to do with my character :(

Great question! This happens to be one of my absolute favorite parts of writing and pkmn irl itself. I've always been more of an ideas guy myself. I hope you don't mind but I decided to turn this into a bit of an overall tutorial for planning and writing arcs. Feel free to ask for any specifics because I could delve into my personal process for arc brainstorming, but I was admittedly writing this before getting ready for work and this post was getting kinda long haha

Knowing where to draw inspiration from can be a good place to start. It's wonderful to be inspired by music, a movie or tv show, a book, or even other people in the community and their writing. Ask yourself what elements of that thing draw you in. What do you like? What would you maybe do differently? I must mention though to be respectful of the work other blogs have put into their writing. Being inspired is a wonderful thing, lifting exact details or passages is not. If you're unsure, there's no harm is asking!

The most helpful thing I can tell you right off the bat is that you want to find out how to brainstorm. In schools they'll often try to teach you ways of brainstorming and outlining to structure your essay writing, if you're lucky they might even mention that there are multiple ways you can do this. The ones in school never worked for me personally, so for a long time I assumed brainstorming and outlining was a complete waste of my time and would launch straight into my writing drafts. But as I wanted to write more complex things and I wanted to indulge in more creative writing, I found myself getting stuck all the time. The truth is brainstorming is a helpful tool, but you have to know what type of brainstorming works best for you. Flowcharts, bullet points, stream of consciousness, word clouds, moodboards, drawings, whatever it is that gets your creative juices flowing. In my experience it works best to remember that not every one of these elements will make it into the final arc. You want to get your ideas down first and trim the excess later. I personally pay for a program (Milanote) that allows me to brainstorm in the methods that work best for me, but by no means do you have to pay for a program to do this. Pen and paper works just fine.

The next thing you wanna do is establish what you want your arc to do. Not every arc has to be a grand character development, but all arcs do something. No matter how small that something may be, something has to change as a result. Maybe your character meets a new person, obtains a new Pokemon, gets a new scar and a story to tell their friends, or maybe all they got was a t-shirt. If you already had a loose concept for your arc this can help you hone it. You can start asking yourself, "how does my character reach this point?" and work up to that. Map out what you think your character would do when dropped into a particular situation. This can also help you to establish the tone you want your arc to take. Is it silly and lighthearted or is it more serious and high stakes? Refer to the stakes tag post about proper tagging.

It can help to conceptualize your arc as a series of events rather than a single event. This allows you to understand how many posts you may need to split the arc up into, how much time the arc may take, or other hard to sort details.

These things ramp up when you start to incorporate more people into your arcs. Planning with your fellow writers is extremely important and that requires a lot of communication. Some writers prefer to do what we call pre-writing, which is typically you and the other writers get together and write out the posts in advance. This gives people the chance to look over each other's writing and make edits before the posts go live. Planning discords are useful for keeping things organized, but google docs or other collaborative writing programs can work just as well if those better suit your needs. Organize who is posting what and generally at what time, especially if the post involves other people's characters.

Remember all of this is for fun! These are not hard rules you need to follow. You should not force yourself to write things you do not like for the sake of others or for an imagined audience. Write what you want to write.

[creature-wizard]

The New Age concept of ascension - what is it?

The concept of ascension is central to New Age belief, so you'll hear New Agers talking about it a lot. So what is it?

New Agers essentially believe that it's humanity's destiny to undergo "spiritual evolution" to a next level of existence. At this point in time, the popular belief is that our DNA - or at least the DNA of those who "download" "DNA upgrades" from Source will "shift to 5D" in the near future.

Despite its name, "5D" has nothing to do with mathematical dimensions. Instead, New Agers believe that matter exists in varying states of density, and the fifth density is essentially more ethereal than "3D," or the third density, which we presently live in.

Ascension is functionally the Christian rapture with a eugenicist twist. Where Rapture-believing Christians believe that if you'll spontaneously be translated to spirit form if you convert to (the right kind of) Christianity, New Agers believe that you'll essentially be spontaneously translated to spirit form if you get close enough to God, or Source.

Some people believe that New Agers don't think they have to do any work to ascend - but this really isn't true. Most of them that I've seen believe that they have to "raise their vibrational frequency" so they can connect to Source energy and receive these "downloads." It's functionally the same idea that in order to go to Heaven, you have to get right with God.

So what are the problems?

First of all, it's spiritual eugenics. They effectively believe that people who practice their form of spirituality literally have superior genetics to those who don't. Many believe that it's just nature, fate, God's will, or whatever you want to call it, that those who don't or can't "upgrade" will essentially die off.

Because New Age doesn't have any central authority, beliefs surrounding this vary wildly, and there are relatively benign beliefs about what ascension will entail; EG, Earth will split into two timelines - one where the people who ascended get to live, and one where the people who didn't ascend get to keep reincarnating until they finally do get to ascend and join the other Earth.

Unfortunately, there are also those who believe that climate change is not a man-made phenomena, but rather is part of Earth's ascension process (they believe that Earth is going to ascend to 5D, too), and that related deaths are meant to purge the world of the unevolved.

Another concerning belief is that of "ascension symptoms," where symptoms that could potentially be very medically concerning are dismissed as a natural part of the ascension process. Couple this with a strong mistrust of actual medicine and real doctors (New Age is tied up in conspiracy theories of all kinds), and you've got a recipe for disaster.

One other thing the idea of ascension has in common with the Rapture is the number of times it's been supposed to happen, but failed to materialize. Lots of New Agers expected it to happen on December 21st, 2012. When it didn't, many rationalized it by saying that a consciousness shift had still taken place, and that this consciousness shift was important in preparing the world for actual ascension later on. Basically, it was pretty typical failed prophecy rationalization stuff.

New Agers continue to draw in people who are simply unaware of the movement's long, long history of failed predictions. The average person isn't going to go back and comb through 50+ years of New Age literature to see just how long they've been making extravagant predictions that just never manifest, let alone realize that all of these other failed predictions means the current predictions aren't all that likely to come true, either. If someone looks into it, there's a high chance they'll accept the rationalizations and believe that the predictions actually apply to their own near future, because "your generation is the special generation" is a powerful ego trap.

So yeah, in a nutshell, ascension is just the Rapture for people who believe in spiritual eugenics; and just like the regular Rapture, it has a long history of being involved in failed predictions.

[toothpaste-for-the-skin]

Sorry guys (hits my agents with the horse transformation beam)

Ok admittedly I’ve had a rough idea for all these designs floating around in my head for a bit now, but I never actually got the chance to draw it digitally so here’s a quick concept doodle ig?

Anyways, ig as you can see from the image, in the “mlp AU” Iota is an earth pony, Min is a pegasus, and Astra is a unicorn. Their personalities remain relatively unchanged but idk how they’d all be “agents” in the mlp world.

Iota is a survivalist with a strong dislike for magic. They believe magic is just something to “cheat your way to success” with. Generally unfriendly and tends to keep to herself. Her Cutiemark is a branch wrapped in thorns.

Min is a pegasus with pretty weak flying capabilities. She doesn’t let that stop her however, becoming well known as an excellent engineer (or mechanic, something of the sort). She’s still pretty down to earth and smart (but with a bit of a hidden superiority complex). Min is not actually a blank flank I just haven’t thought of a cutiemark for her yet.

Astra is a unicorn astronomer. She had moved to town fairly recently to study the stars, but she’s is seldom seen by the townspeople due to her work requiring her to live a more nocturnal lifestyle. But despite this, Astra is very lonely and wants to be able to make friends and interact with everyone, but she’s always too tired to do so when everyone is awake. To solve this, she began using her magic to force herself to stay awake for long periods of time, which does technically allow her to socialize during the daytime now. However, her extended overuse of this magic has taken a very noticeable toll on her, and now she just tends to scare people away as the weird unicorn with the pinprick eyes and unbreakable stare. (If you can’t tell, she takes a lot of inspo from the Apple Sleep Experiment creepypasta, but without all the murdering). Her cutiemark is the planet Saturn surrounded by 3 stars.

All of these guys are also gonna get MLP style names, I’m just really bad at coming up with those so I don’t have anything yet.

But uh.. yeah these are the agents but horse. I’m having a lot of fun just reimagining everybody and I’m def gonna do more with these guys (and hopefully I’ll finalize their designs soon)

[from-one-to-seven]

Hey Mun, it's so nice to finally get a chance to send this fanletter. I've been a big fan of f1t7 since 2020, and I'm so grateful to finally get to see this blog again and glad to know that this blog is still running. Your blog really inspires me a lot, especially your artstyles and stories. I drew a lot of your dwarfies, even on my water bottles lol. I know, I'm not so creative at making illustration, most of the fanart that I made is just redrawing from yours (please don't be mad at it, it's not my original idea so I don't have any rights to it, tell me if any of it's wrong). I don't really get into the QnA section, but I really enjoy the lore a lot. Btw here's some pic of my fanart and OCs. Thanks for noticing :)♡

Btw, were you ever got inspired by steven universe in creating this blog?

Ps: Popmart release a Snow White and the 7 dwarfs blindboxes, get em if ya haven't got one

((Heya! Great to hear that my story and characters inspire you so much ^^ And what a lot of awesome art that you made, as well as characters of your own, that's super cool! Making drawings based on my existing work is totally fine as long as you don't try and sell it, haha. This blog has changed a heckuva lot over time. The dwarfs are now called Domov and are basically their own thing; not Disney-related. I wanted to make them completely detached from anything pre-existing and truly make them my own original creation. So if you haven't already, you should catch up to that as well. I hope you'll find it just as inspiring. I originally had a more solid idea of the characters using their gems to produce weapons, but that was right BEFORE Steven Universe became popular and I decided to scrap it so people wouldn't call me unoriginal, haha. Fate is the only character who has stuck to that concept. And thanks for the Popmart tip! I'll look into that :D))

[ashtoberr]

ASHUTA IS SO COOL OHHH MYYY GODDD •□•!!!!!

Hi hi I loveeee your csm oc / insert ♡♡ THEYRE SO COOL Her lore is so interesting 💭💭 At least. The lore that I've seen so far is so interesting. AND HER DESIGN IS SO CUTE I ADORE IT SM 🏂🏾🏂🏾🏂🏾

I always love it when ocs break the "norm" of their universe (idk if that makes sense but her being a vampire when most, if not all of the supernatural entities are devils/Devil adjacent is so swag and cool and based I LOVE SEEING CHARACTERS LIKE THAT 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽)

Her and Aki seem so cute too :3cc I don't think you understand how STOKED I was to see them in the selfship tag. Saw it and ran around my room screaming (in spirit not in action) because YES !!! FINALLY!!! IM STARTING TO SEE MORE PEOPLE W/ CSM SELF SHIPS / OC X CC SHIPS !!!!

I wanna know all ur thoughts about Ashuta 💭💭 She genuinely seems like such a cool character they're so epic and awesome n cool n swag ((o(^∇^)o))

OMG HI!!!! IM SORRY I JUST SAW THIS Ahhh thank you so much!!! It's super exciting to met another CSM selfshipper!!!! :DDD I'd love to hear abt ur self insert omg I'm so glad you like her!!!!!!! It actually means a lot, she makes me really happy to work on :D

And trust me I will provide on Ashuta lore >:3 Here is The Food For Today. I didn't include art this time bc I have been eepy. I have ideas for long after this, but this is the general gist. I plan to eventually draw a lot (if not all) of this out. Here's her concept for her first appearance and mission (Chapters 14 to 20, or up to episode 7 in the anime):

So, after being found by Makima:

She is added to the team briefly after Denji and Power. I'm currently undecided at which point she should enter the story; I'm thinking about prior to Chapter 14.

Makima helps her find a place (up until this point, she's been homeless since becoming a vampire) near Aki's apartment, encouraging her to make friends. She suggests Denji could use a friend since he's similar to her (not fully human, rough background).

Ashuta believes that since she'll be on a team of devils and humans, she would be more likely to make friends since they should be more accepting, right? She shows up to the Hayakawa apartment with some food, trying to introduce herself as a new member of the team (and not disclosing herself as a vampire yet- Power can tell, but doesn't care enough to point it out).

Denji thinks at first she's friendly, but a bit too polite and wonders how someone like her got chosen by Makima. Power doesn't initially feel strongly about her either way, though she's delighted to meet Meowy.

Aki thinks she's polite (and finally someone easy for him to get along with on his squad), but questions why she became a devil hunter after a couple hours of them hanging out. She briefly explains that she's a vampire, and that her life was ruined by the Vampire Devil. Aki's tone quickly changes knowing she's not human, and the night is sort of abruptly ended.

CHAPTER 14:

She's integrated into the group with Chapter 14's mission in the hotel being her first (could be retconned later.)

She's a bit hurt with the talk of Aki and Arai not trusting "non-humans" and saying they don't have human rights, so she's quick to become very quiet since she assumed Makima's team of devils and humans meant she was more likely to be accepted.

Himeno can quickly tell that she looks upset and comes over to strike up a conversation, and the two make small talk throughout the mission. She tells her to not mind Aki, that he's just had bad experiences with devils. Ashuta protests that she's not a devil, but a devil makes an appearance before Himeno can respond.

Himeno discusses with Aki later in the mission that she's surprised Ashuta is so conscientious for a vampire- Aki shrugs and believes it's her being deceptive. Himeno goes to suggest he give Ashuta a chance.

CHAPTER 15:

Ashuta does bond a bit with Denji over the mission, both of them asking each other questions about their respective species ("So are you allergic to garlic?" and "Does it hurt when your chainsaws come out?")

CHAPTER 16:

In hopes of winning Aki's approval, Ashuta offers to help Aki hunt for the devil. She explains that since vampires don't really need to sleep much, she could help him all he wants.

Aki, unimpressed, asks why she's so hellbent on trying to please him when he doesn't care about wether she lives or dies as a non-human.

CHAPTER 18:

In the hysteria of facing the eternity devil, Ashuta finally snaps at Kobeni after trying to keep everyone calm the entire mission, telling her she's going to be a shit devil hunter if she freaks out at the slightest inconvenience. Kobeni yells back that it was easy for her to say, that she'd been calm and collected the entire mission because she can't die. Ashuta yells at her that pussying out and turning on her teammates made it more likely for all of them to die, and to shut the fuck up and help if she was going to stay a devil hunter. It certainly doesn't make Kobeni like her, but it shuts her up.

CHAPTER 20:

Ashuta joins the newbie welcome party. Denji questions how she can eat if she's a vampire, and she shrugs and explains that it's the same way devils eat- the only difference is human food isn't of nutritional substance to her and she doesn't retain any energy from it, she eats it for nostalgia purposes and the taste.

Ashuta lightens up when Makima joins the party, glad to see someone familiar- she considers Makima a friend, being the first person who was nice to her.

During the party, Makima asks Aki how Ashuta's first mission was, and wether she had done satisfactory. Aki admits that she did well, and Ashuta can't help but be a little happy at his approval.

As the night progresses, she gets drunk enough where she feels less afraid to approach Aki again. The two actually end up talking some. While drunk, Aki apologizes for the way that he had regarded her earlier in the night, and that she handled her first mission well, remaining composed in such a stressful situation .

Ashuta shrugs, and says it's fine- when she was turned into a vampire, she'd been shunned by everyone she once knew. She explains she still considers herself the same person she was before, but she fears rejection from humans more than she fears injuries from devils. He suggests she come stop by their apartment again sometime (more out of drunken guilt than actual like for her, but it's a start to them becoming friends).

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Iteration - a Malevolent fic, chapter five

John has been poisoned. Who did it? Unknown. How can he be saved? If not for Arthur, he wouldn't.

The ripples from this event hit far distant shores, and no one will come out of it unchanged.

Part 100 of the Surrogate series.

AO3 - chapter five

-------------

Not-John was not okay,

Not only had he died, but could again, and now would allow no one near them,  howling and flailing his arm.

Arthur was trying so hard. He sat on his bed, holding a drawing from Sadie. Get well soon, it said, and had been delivered by Faroe.

It’s a bunch of people doing things, said Not-John sullenly.

“You can do better than that,” Arthur said, trying so hard to be patient.

Fine. There’s a man who looks like you, twisting in mid-throw of some kind of spear. There’s that shitty little girl—

“Watch it,” Arthur said, low. “Fucking attack me all you want, but Faroe is off-limits.”

Not-John touched the mark. Is that your official request, my own? he said, low and smug.

Arthur shivered. “It’s a godsdamned line in the sand, and you are pushing it.”

It was a button, is what it was, but Not-John knew to hold onto it for when it would count. Fine. The girl is there, riding on… I have no idea what that is.

“A baby Dark Young,” said Arthur.

No, it’s not. I remember what they look like. That’s not one of those.

Arthur blinked. “You remember that?”

Yes.

“But not fucking anything else?”

Not-John paused. I… recognize, which is different from remembering.

Arthur sighed. “All right. We can work with that. What else do you see?”

I don’t understand why we’re doing this.

“Because we—” Arthur had gotten sharp; he stopped and gentled his voice again. “Because we built a life together, John. I’m hoping eventually something will help you remember it.”

What life did we build?

Arthur sighed heavily. “A complicated one. There’s Faroe, and Nibbles, and Hastur. The Keeper.”

The Keeper?

In the mirrors, Arthur looked uneasy. “I’m not sure how to explain her. She’s an Outer God.”

An Outer God!

“She’s helping us.”

They don’t help people. Outer Gods bring chaos! Outer Gods bring death! Outer Gods bring carnage!

“Well, this one brings books,” said Arthur. “Oh! Maybe you’ll recognize the comic books. I haven’t had the chance to give them to Parker yet.”

Comic books? said John as though the concept were absurd.

“Yes! Comic books, where the stories are all drawn in… in pictures! With Dick Tracy! You liked them before. They’re about a detective.”

Not-John was silent for a long enough moment that Arthur grew concerned.

“John?”

I give up. Why do we want to look at dick tracing?

Arthur choked.

And with incredible timing, there came a knock at the door.

Go away! shouted Not-John.

“Be more mature than that,” said Arthur.

No! I died! I don’t have to be anything!

Arthur sighed. He caught Not-John’s hand and held it. “Listen to me. You’re not dead now.”

I was, though! And you’re frail! Mortal! It could happen again!

“I”m not letting you die,” Arthur said softly. “I’m not letting you drown. I’m with you, John. I’ve got you.”

And that should not have brought the comfort it did.

This was a mortal man, a blind one, a ridiculously willful one. He was skinny and stubborn and covered in scars, and didn’t know his place to such a degree that he almost seemed insane.

And yet those words brought comfort.

John’s hand twitched in Arthur’s. Slowly, he returned that grip. You’re an idiot, he finally said.

Arthur rolled his eyes and headed toward the door. “Who’s there?”

“Hey,” said Parker on the other side. “Got a minute?”

And Not-John saw the way Arthur’s shoulders relaxed, saw the way his lips quirked in that soft, near-secret smile, and so help him, he almost threw a fit. His. This was his. Who the fuck was this, showing up without any kind of permission to—

Arthur opened the door.

"Hey," Parker said with obvious relief. "You're up. It's real good to see you up, English."

Not-John stared. Who was this motherfucker?

"Parker," Arthur sighed, and there was such relief in his voice and his expression that Not-John growled.

The other man looked a bit taken aback. (Which did nothing to make him less handsome, and that was a personal offense.)

Well that's just uncalled for, said the tiny golden piece inside this man, the tiny piece that felt exactly like him.

Not-John startled again, far worse this time. What? What is that?

“Moving on,” said Parker, who clearly didn’t find that growling as terrifying as he should. “You feeling any better?”

“I’ve stopped throwing up,” said Arthur. “I don’t… know what you were told.”

“We heard some fucker—”

What is that? Not-John repeated, and his left hand flew to the door to slam it shut.

This man—this Parker—stopped it easily (familiar with his own, handsome, and strong? Oh, no, no, no, this was not allowed). “The fuck, John?”

“He doesn’t know who he is.” And oh gods, Arthur was crying again, crying with this person, and in front of (what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck) that little tiny reflection of godhood. “He’s lost his memory.”

“Oh, shit,” said Parker. “Hey, take it easy, there. It’s gonna be okay.”

The tiny little golden bit sounded horrified. Oh… oh, no. No, no, no. Parker… Parker, he…

“Easy. I  think we’re all a little different than we were,” said this Parker, which made no sense, and caressed his jaw.

Not-John tried to close the door again.

“John, stop it!” Arthur snapped, and stepped away from it. “Come in, you two. I’m sorry, I… I’m trying to help him.”

Help him? said the golden bit as if suspicious.. Are you really? Your help can be… He stopped. I’m sorry.

“No, it… it’s warranted,” said Arthur, gaze down. “After what I did to you…”

They all had shared history, these three, and Not-John wasn’t part of it, and he couldn’t handle that right now. Leave! he commanded.

There was a pause.

“Nuh-uh,” said Parker.

Arthur looked like he was trying not to laugh, and that did not help.

Not-John snarled, a sound that went with bared teeth and flailing tentacles. I am god here and you will go!

Another pause. And again, this Parker defied him with complete dismissal of who and what he was. “Naw.”

Parker, whispered that bit that had no right to look like him, however tiny. He doesn’t know who he—

I AM THE KING IN YELLOW, AND YOU WILL OBEY ME! Not-John bellowed at the top of his lungs.

So am I, you fucking buffoon! the tiny piece yelled back.

Not-John gawked at him.

Arthur Arthur winced as though that hurt him. Of course it did; Not-John’s anger made him hot against Arthur’s seams, straining mortal limits. “Let’s, um. Let’s try to, um.”

“How about some good old-fashioned introductions?” said Parker, and began pointing. “I’m Parker. Arthur, you know. Sunny’s in here.” At his own head. “You’re John. You and Sunny, you’re both parts of the King in Yellow.”

Both parts? Both? No, that was his designation! Fuck you! Not-John decried.

Parker sighed, closing the door behind them so they’d have some privacy. “Guessin’ he wants to rejoin Hastur, too, huh?”

“He’s never rejoining,” Arthur snapped.

"Hold on, pal, I’m not saying he will,” Parker soothed. “Just establishing facts."

Rejoining! Not-John scoffed. Why would I want to? I need my own body, not someone else’s.

Your… your own? said Sunny.

“He doesn’t believe me that he doesn’t have one,” said Arthur evenly.

Oh, said Sunny quietly, and then evidently rallied. So he’s an idiot.

“Not helping,” said Parker, but his lips quirked.

You’re right. We’re going about this all wrong, said Sunny, whose voice had gone soothing (and it was his voice and what right did this pebble have to—) Have you tried playing any music yet, Arthur?

“No, not yet.”

“Maybe you should,” said Parker. “Though that shot Sunny like outta you a cannon before, so maybe not?”

"That’s why I don’t know if I dare risk it," Arthur said fervently. "I can’t lose him.”

It brought him back when we were in Addison, Sunny said, so quietly. It's worth a shot.

Be quiet, you fucking little sliver, Not-John snapped. Arthur plays music on my command, not yours.

Arthur rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry about him. John, you didn’t even know I made music.”

A pause.

Well, I do now, and it’s all mine! Not-John declared.

“Been like this since he woke up?” said Parker.

“Yeah,” said Arthur.

The tiny, insulting sliver of a god trembled. Parker…

“We won’t keep you,” Parker said evenly. “All right? We just got a few questions.”

Arthur looked up. That smile—oh, that smile, it hurt, it was knowing and comfortable, and it suited him so well. “What, you’re on the case?”

“Yeah, actually.” Parker didn’t smile. “Sunny and me are gonna get to the bottom of who tried to kill you.”

And Arthur took a slow breath. “The Keeper said it wasn’t aimed at me.”

They all took that in.

What? said Not-John.

“Huh,” said Parker. “That kinda… changes shit. There’s been no threatening notes, or nothing?”

“Not that I know of, but I don’t know much,” said Arthur.

Tried to kill me? Not-John said, stating to panic,

Arthur took his good hand. “You’re all right. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”

I’m sorry, John, said Sunny suddenly. I’m sorry this is happening. I know what you’re going through.

Not-John was spiraling. Bullshit!

No, said Sunny, this insolent little scrap of golden fabric. I do. I’m sorry it’s happening to you.

Not-John growled again. None of you know anything. You’re insulting to even witness. Leave, before I do something this fool of a human regrets.

“Since he woke up,” Arthur repeated.

“Yow.” Parker shook his head.

“But at least he’s awake. I’ll take it.”

Sunny made a small noise of assent.

“Anything else you can tell us before we go?” said Parker.

Arthur thought. “It tasted normal. It smelled normal. Everything was fine until I got ready for bed, and then… it was really sudden. It didn’t ramp up.”

Parker nodded. “That’s good info. Get better. We’ll be seeing you soon.”

You’re going to be all right, John, Sunny suddenly said. You will. You… you’re not alone in this.

How the hell would that breadcrumb know? Not-John fell quiet again (apart from growling).

Parker, said Sunny, voice so soft it was almost inaudible, I think Arthur could use a hug.

Arthur’s eyes widened.

Parker didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Arthur and pulled him in, a tight, firm hold that John could feel on their left side, a familiar, full-body situation.

In the mirrors, Arthur returned it, and  his eyes—still wet—closed as he rested his head on Parker’s shoulder and breathed. “Thanks,” he whispered.

“Take it easy,” said Parker, and let go.

Arthur predicted trouble and was already gripping his left arm. There was no chance to retaliate. You… Not-John started, unable to hit or anything. How dare you manhandle…

“Sorry,” murmured Arthur.

Parker just nodded, touched two fingers to his forehead like tipping a hat, and left.

Arthur relocked the door.

How dare they!

“I’m going to lie down,” said Arthur, who… come to think of it, was pale.

Not-John switched tracks at once. You still haven’t eaten.

Arthur wouldn’t even move toward the car with their breakfast. “I just don’t feel like it.” He flopped on the bed.

Damn it, Arthur, it’s my life you’re playing with, too! Not-John growled.

“It’ll be fine,” Arthur said.

This was beyond frustrating. Here was his person being a moron, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. Had to stay so compressed, couldn’t just take control here without hurting him… it felt horrible.

Surely, this couldn’t be how it felt all the time.

Surely.

Unacceptable, he said. You must eat.

Arthur sighed into the pillow. “John…”

You are temple to the divine, said John. You will care for yourself.

Arthur started laughing. It was quiet, muffled in the pillow; his whole body shook.

What? Nothing is funny!

“You’re even worse than before,” said Arthur. “I swear, telling you about Hastur just sets you off every time. How do you even do that?”

What? said Not-John. What?

“I’ll eat soon. I promise.” His words were already on the edge of slurring. “I just… this was a lot. I need to rest.”

His person did need it. Then sleep. And he brushed the mark to make it so.

Arthur was out like a light, for once behaving as expected.

What an absolutely infuriating human. He wanted to eat him.

None of this was how things ought to go. He didn’t know enough to take true mastery of any part of this situation. He was shackled by this human. Everything hurt. And he was afraid, and liked that least of all.

Someone had tried to kill him. No wonder Arthur was sick.

For now, he was stuck, and as Arthur slept on, he picked up the drawing Arthur had left by the bed, and tried to remember what any of it meant.

#

“You did good in there. I’m real proud of you.”

Sunny felt pleased by the praise. You were right, is all. He’s not what he was. And… I do understand John.

“That might come in real handy,” said Parker, on his way down the hall. “That guy’s full of bats right now. So, question: any chance there’s like… magical poison that can get triggered by something?”

Sunny paused. Do you think we triggered it? he said quietly.

“No, bud, no. I’m just thinking… what he said. You don’t go from fine to not fine like a switch hours and hours after being poisoned. Unless that’s how magical poison works.”

You have… that’s a good point, said Sunny, thoughtfully. Curses do that, but this is specifically poison. I don’t remember if it can be triggered, but perhaps… we could research?

“Research means one thing. You thinking what I’m thinking?” said Parker.

Librarian, said Sunny.

“That’s my guy,” Parker praised him, and made a left at the next hall.

#

The Librarian was surprised to see them—or, at least, Parker assumed. It was hard to fully confirm when the person you’re trying to read had a book for a head, but he tried not to dwell on that too much, instead brushing it off under the thought of ‘something new every day’ and focus instead on their task: tracking down the poison.

Our problem is two-fold, Sunny said, voice low and emphatic. First that the poison appears to be magical in nature. Parker and I were with Arthur for the better part of an hour, and yet Arthur didn’t feel the effects until he was fully alone. The second is that John was the intended target, which… if John was the target, the assassin knew much more about the inner workings of the palace than is reasonable. Things that no one outside the palace should know, information that Hastur has not revealed.

The Librarian had been very still ever since they’d explained who they were and why they were there, taking a seat on a large pile of books, half-closed. It tugged at the sleeve of its coat, before its head snapped open to flip to an illustration of Parker, with a halo, and a humanoid blob next to him with another, much less humanoid, blob in his arms.

Parker furrowed his brow, trying to decipher it, but Sunny seemed far ahead of him. Oh, no! John isn’t… Oh. You haven’t met them. That… complicates things.

“Sunshine, catch me up,” Parker muttered.

That seemed to catch the Librarian by surprise; one of its white-gloved hands flew to its chest and its head flipped to an illustration of Parker, face peaceful, head tilted towards a stylized sun.

Parker felt his cheeks flush a bit pink.

Um, yes, Sunny said, almost shyly. That is… Yes. Parker, the gist of what the Librarian said was that… Well, it asked how, since John is Hastur’s offspring, which is… Not true. At least, not in the conventional sense. John is… John is like me.

The Librarian’s head snapped shut.

Parker could get the idea. “This ain’t public knowledge,” he said, voice low. “We’re askin’ because you’re one’a Hastur’s most loyal. Sunny vouched for you.”

The Librarian pressed its hand to its chest again, nodding, and then rose, stalking off between the rows of bookcases like a dog on the hunt.

Parker let out a low breath. “What are we lookin’ for, bud?”

I’m afraid I’m not entirely sure, Sunny said, soft and wary as they surveyed Hastur’s private library. I’m hoping we can seek out some answers by process of elimination. One of the most intriguing aspects of this case is the idea of a magical trigger that sent everything into motion, particularly since that would mean Arthur wouldn’t react until the trap is sprung. Most poisons that would kill a god would absolutely kill a mortal as well, long before the god began to feel its effects, but Arthur…

“Arthur wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things,” Parker finished. “I mean, shit, he’s up and walking around again. That means it was targeted specifically to hurt… you know, I never thought there was a type of thing involved here. What exactly are you, Sunny?”

Sunny made a low noise of frustration. I… I’m not sure. I’ve never had to really think about it before, Parker. My whole life I… I didn’t think there was anything particularly strange or unique about what I was until John was unveiled as Hastur’s ‘offspring’. It had never occurred to me that my—his—our true origins needed to be a secret.

“You think understanding that will give us a leg up on this hunt,” Parker said. “Smart. We already know it’s someone on the inside; who might have that information, much less access to Arthur as a whole? Good thinking.”

Sunny would preen, if he could.

Instead the Librarian returned with a stack of books nearly as tall as Faroe was, and Parker’s eyebrows shot upward, and Sunny let out a soft groan.

Parker cleared his throat and smiled. “Thank you, mist—mi—Librarian. I don’t, uh, suppose you have any specific chapters for u—”

The Librarian flipped through its pages and made a sound almost like a laugh, its spiraling arms already pulling books off the stack and opening them to particular pages.

Most of these books were in languages Parker could not even begin to parse, but luckily, Sunny was on the case.

#

So this was complicated.

Forgotten Ones. Apparently, they were called that now because the gods who’d made them back in the day often just left them on their own… usually, to die.

Once again, Hastur was a weirdo.

Sunny and John were both weird, too, surviving as they had, but it got weirder still: apparently, John no longer looked like a Forgotten One.

The Librarian made it clear, showing illustration after illustration of tiny little versions alongside larger gods, and then showing John.

John looked fucking Arthur’s size. It made no sense. The Librarian didn’t know why that was, either; there was no record of such a thing ever happening before.

(And Sunny was…)

(Parker had to process, had to think later about the fact that Sunny…)

(Sunny would fucking fit in his hands. Sunny would fucking fit in his pocket. Sunny would fucking fit in his mouth, which was a funny idea, and one that would send Parker into hysterics if he thought about it too much right now, so later, later, later.)

They also found that the spell-trigger idea was valid… and continued to narrow things down.

It was a deeply complicated piece of magic. Very few beings had the power to do it, and the trigger tended to carry “fingerprints” of whoever handled it. Esthetic resonance aside, they also tended to be disguised like insects, or small animals—though they were not alive.

That right there gave Parker and Sunny the next step: since no one would have known to look for the thing, they needed to get into Arthur’s room and search on their own.

Unfortunately, that would be a bit challenging. This was a crime scene, and not exactly open to guests.

Parker eyed the Dancers in front of Arthur’s empty bedroom. Sharp, golden, deadly, beautiful; not for the first time, he shook his head at how perfectly Hastur had represented his essence in these creations.

How are we getting in? whispered Sunny (who was little and Parker could not think about it).

Parker exhaled. “We’re gonna test something. You up for it?”

With you? Always, Sunny vowed, barely above a whisper.

“The way it is on Earth, a lot of authority is assumed,” said Parker, peering around the corner at the Dancers. “It’s real simple. Back there, you wear a nice suit, you act like you’re supposed to be someplace, and most of the time, it works.Though I had to have Arthur do that for me a lot. Racialism.”

Sunny considered this. Here, no one cares about your heritage.

“Yep,” said Sunny, counting guards, timing their movements.

We may be able to bluff our way into his room.

“That’s what I’d like to do, pal.”

Sunny was having a little too much fun, he was pretty sure. I’m sure they’ll let us in. We can bluff it.

“Well. Guess we’re about to find out,” said Parker, tugging his shirt down and smoothing his trousers. Then he marched toward the room as if expected.

Dancers had no faces. They still sure as fuck looked his way, all at once, creepily synced.

Parker nodded as if all of this was normal and reached for the door.

The one on the left, raised her (its?) arm to block him.

“We’re here on orders,” he said without hesitation, without stammer, without stutter (and it hit Sunny just how bad Arthur was at lying). “King in Yellow himself sent us. Check with him, if you want.”

The Dancer didn’t seem to know what to do with that. Maybe it was outside her routine.

He is my partner, Sunny rumbled, and we need to investigate the Composer's quarters. Kindly step aside.

And the Dancers… recognized him.

Not who he was. As in who he had been.

They swept aside, forming two perfect lines along the door… and bowed.

Parker was a damned good liar, but it still took effort to keep his face straight as he stepped inside.

He leaned against the door, eyes absolutely huge in the mirrors. “You did it again. How’d you do that?” he whispered after the door shut. “That was fucking amazing!”

I… Sunny said, stunned. I just… asked. Perhaps it is because I am a piece of the King, I don't know. Maybe they also listen to John. But that is… very good to know. And reassuring. Comforting.

“Fuck, Sunny.” Parker looked (so many mirrors) and sounded impressed. “You are one heck of a guy.” Which, from him, was a hell of a compliment.

Well, maybe to you, Sunny said, flirting just a little.

Then again, flirting in Arthur’s room lacked a distinct amount of appeal, so Sunny let it go.

“Right,” said Parker, surveying the space before stepping further in. He snorted. “Thought the mirrors were bad out there. Geez.”

It seems the King wanted John to see Arthur at all times. Perhaps to ensure he was fit for court before leaving the room?

“Pal, I got no idea,” said Parker. “I never seen nothing like this before.” And then, so casually, he said, “But if you were the King, why would you do it?”

Oh, said Sunny at once. To keep John bound.

“Bound?”

Constant reminder of what was his. Arthur is… far from my favorite communicator, but he makes so many faces. He’s not like you, Parker; he doesn’t have full control over his emotions or himself. I will begrudgingly admit he… can be interesting to watch.

“So you think it’s a honeypot for the bee that’s already striped-ass-deep in honey,” said Parker with a grin.

I… I think so?

“I got questions,” said Parker, “but that’s gonna have to wait. Okay. Let’s see. Time to do some inspection.”

They had done this before in the Dreamlands, and had it down to a science. Parker missed nothing—as long as it was in the physical world. Sunny caught the magical things Parker couldn’t see. Between the two of them, bad guys had a lot of trouble hiding their tracks.

The downside was only vaguely knew what they were trying to find.

The room seemed huge for one guy, especially one who was blind; the bed was a four-poster with a gauzy white canopy that dominated one side of the room, facing a balcony that overlooked an interior garden. A massive wardrobe lay across one wall, mirrors inset into the doors and walls and ceiling.

The whole place was warded to hell and back. Parker’s heart fell as Sunny described it. “Confirmation it had to be someone trusted,” he murmured.

Yes. No one else could have done it, Sunny said, softly grieving. It’s someone they know.

Parker looked through Arthur’s wardrobe. “Some of it’s kinda clowny,” he said, because it was just the two of them.

Strange, said Sunny. They’re also… wildly inconsistent in size.

“More questions,” murmured Parker. He finished inspecting the closet and returned to the perimeter.

There wasn’t anything notable around those walls but mirrors. Which were weird. Parker squinted at himself. Then he stuck his tongue out at Sunny with a grin.

Sunny curled the tip of their tongue to touch their upper lip and Parker let out a snort of laughter.

I don’t mind the view, but these… these just seem excessive. There’s nothing magical I can see in the reflections, at least not yet. He let out a rumble. I think their bathroom is to the right, past the bed, if it follows a similar layout of the rest of the palace’s rooms.

“Good thought. Let’s see…” Parker backtracked to the door. “Right. Let’s go slow. See if you can spot anything on the way to the bathroom.”

And Sunny gasped.

Parker went dead still.

Under the bed, Sunny whispered. There’s something… under there. Fuck.

Parker swallowed. “Think it’s our trigger?”

I don’t know, Parker. There’s something strange about it. It flickered into view, like a broken spell. It’s… it’s moving a little. Weakly.

So there were no weapons of any kind in this room. Parker exhaled through his nose. “Fuck. Do we get the Dancers, or go check it out ourselves?”

It’s very small, said Sunny. And… I don’t think it’s… long for this world. But don’t touch it, or you might compromise the esthetic resonance.

Parker went into the closet and found a shirt. “Guide me, partner.”

Parker trusted Sunny to direct him toward a thing he could not see. That  trust was powerful, and Sunny treasured it—Arthur had never trusted Sunny as much as Parker did.

But then, there were reasons for that.

Under the bed twitched a… thing. More like a spider than anything else, but it wasn’t alive; it was a spell with a time-limit, and as they approached, it faded more, bits of it flaking away.

Sunny’s instinct was good. Thousands upon thousands of years of handling magic didn’t go away just with loss of memory, and he understood something at once: Parker, he said quietly. We need magical help at once. Something in it malfunctioned—it should have already been gone, but if we don’t act now… wait. I know.

“Yeah?”

Spell. I think I can… I think I remember… He thought, precious seconds flaking away while the evidence faded. It’s… it’s a stasis spell. It should keep it from fully fading away. Though it should’ve faded already, and I don’t understand why it didn’t.

“Maybe Arthur’s so toxic he cursed it back,” Parker joked.

Ha, said Sunny, then sobered again. Ready?

“Yes.”

Mgfm'latghnah.

Parker felt it slide in them the way magic always did, starting in his throat and somehow slipping through his veins, feeling oddly foreign, as if his blood briefly turned to solid glass, yet kept flowing.

There was a spark under the bed, and suddenly, he could see it: an ugly little thing, weirdly textured as if made from ash, twitching inside a glass box.

“Got you, you son of a bitch,” Parker said to it.

I think we may have found the trigger, said Sunny.

“We gotta show the King.”

Yes. He’ll be able to identify who handled it.

“Safe to pick up?”

Yes.

Parker did a further search of the room just to be sure, but the Dancers had done their job, and it was clean. “Why’d they miss it?”

It was made by someone very powerful, said Sunny nervously. If we hadn’t been at exactly the angle we stood at, I would have missed it, too. And like I said… it should already have been gone. He paused. Maybe Arthur did somehow accidentally break it.

“More and more questions,” said Parker, using Arthur’s shirt to hide it. The glass cube was surprisingly heavy. “But with this, maybe we can get some fuckin’ answers.”

#

Hastur was having trouble finding words for this situation.

Upset was a mortal term, appropriate to lost pencils or (heaven forbid) keys snapped in locks, requiring aid.

Afraid fit smaller beings, who had no idea what the loss of themselves would bring, and could more look forward to erasing their carbon footprint than they could affecting the very world.

Furious only worked in the sense that he was, indeed, angry, and he could apply the Latin for violent passion, rage, madness, and  to rage, be mad.

No… this was something else. This was threatening a six-year plan in one fell swoop. This was disregarding the good god he'd been, ignoring how hard he'd striven, and shitting on all his recent effort to make peace and be even more good.

This was threatening his end game of Faroe Safe At Any Cost, and that alone was enough to make him feral.

Whoever it was had more luck than they knew because he didn't know who had done it yet, but when he found them, oh. Oh. The world would feel their suffering.

In the meantime, he had triage to do.

Arthur and John were speaking as he approached the medical wing. He’d thought—maybe hoped—that his absence would give them the chance to establish John’s personality, identity, self, but that… did not seem to have worked.

Surprise, surprise, they were fighting.

It happened here, and that means I am in danger. We need to leave!

“This is the safest place we could be,” Arthur snapped. “What do you want to do, go wandering around the Dreamlands? Like that’s ever worked out well for us!”

You—we did that before?

“Yes! It’s where I got half these scars!”

Well… you… didn’t have me then!

“Yes, I did, you twit!”

Clearly not, Not-John rumbled. Given that I was calling myself John and didn’t know I was a god.

Oh, good. They’d clearly handled that revelation well.

“You did know.”

Liar!

“I’m a lot of things, John, but lying well isn’t one of my skills. Look me in the eye and tell me I’m lying.”

A pause.

Well… you… Sputtering sounds. We did it wrong! That’s what that means!

Arthur sighed. “Look, John, I’ve been in the public eye for… fucking years now, and we’ve been at Court for months. We can’t go out unnoticed. We can’t sneak around unseen. They’ll know who I am, and…” He sighed. “We couldn’t defend ourselves, anyway. We’ve only just started magic.”

Just started! It’s been ten years!

“You didn’t know you could at first, and then I wasn’t attuned, and you tried and it stopped my heart, and—”

I would never be so inept, Not-John rumbled as if he’d been directly insulted.

Arthur sighed. “The point is, this is the safest we can be.”

Where we were attacked!

“We weren’t attacked.”

Then what the fuck happened?

“I—”

You will tell me, Arthur Lester!

Hastur stiffened. He felt it happen—felt John trying to use the mark to force his way. Well, damn. Had that been happening all morning?

Another pause.

OW!

“That’s what you get!” Arthur declared.

Hastur had to see.

He opened the door to find John wildly shaking his left hand, on which reddened bite-marks indicated exactly how Arthur had shown his displeasure.

Hastur stared.

You bit me! He bit me! You… Not-John gasped. Oh!

“Who is it?” said Arthur, voice cracking, afraid.

“Me,” said Hastur.

“Thank fucking hell! Where the fuck have you been?” Arthur snarled at him.

What… what…. trembled Not-John.

“I am the King in Yellow,” rumbled Hastur without putting much effort into it.

Not-John made one small, unhappy sound. I… see that you are.

“He doesn’t remember anything important!” Arthur cried.

Important!

“Yes, important! Me! Us! My daughter! Arkham! Anything!”

“Been holding this in all morning, have you?” said Hastur mildly, and picked Arthur up.

Not-John gasped and smacked wildly at him. No! Mine! Mine!

“Calm.” Hastur inspected closely. “You are improved, Arthur.”

“I still can’t stay awake very long,” Arthur said.

“The Keeper said that you are… ah. Recharging,” Hastur said, lifting Arthur’s arms one by one, peering close. “Whatever it is in you that protected John was used heavily.”

“He’s still all right, though?” said Arthur.

“Yes.”

Put my… put him down, said Not-John softly, and he sounded like he was going to cry. He’s mine. You can’t have him. I marked him first.

Hastur sighed. “Reduced to the most base parts of himself, I see.”

“Something like that,” Arthur muttered.

“John, I will not take him from you. Now shut the fuck up,” said Hastur. “Your heart still isn’t as steady as I want.”

“When is it ever?” Arthur muttered.

His heart?

“When the poison could not snip you clean from him, it struck at that which blocked your death,” Hastur said simply. “Arthur, you aren’t well enough to resume any of your duties. You will remain here.”

“Sure,” said Arthur, who clearly didn’t mind.

Poison? Poison? Not-John sputtered. That’s what was done? We were poisoned?

“You didn’t tell him?” said Hastur.

“I… he was already freaking out so badly,” Arthur said.

Freaking out—you neglect to tell me this, and then attempt to convince me we’re safe here? Not-John’s voice rose, building to a full-on bellow.

Hastur paused. “I am being requested. Remain here. You are safe, John.”

Bullshit!

Arthur sighed.

Hastur put him back down (so much more gently than he used to) and left, closing the doors.

You fucking liar, Not-John seethed the moment he was gone..

“Hey! I never lied to you!”

You did! It was poison? What next? What else haven’t you told me?

And yet another knock at the door.

Arthur and Not-John shouted at the same time: “What?”

Faroe opened it.

Her eyes were red, her cheeks blotchy; she carried a tray with numerous spoons, two small bowls, and a glass of water. “I’m so glad you’re awake.”

And at her heels, Nibbles entered, like a guilty stormcloud.

“Oh, baby girl,” Arthur said, sliding right off the bed and heading for her.

Faroe handed the tray off to Nibbles before Arthur could knock the whole thing down and let him grab her in a tight, tight hug.

“I’m so sorry I scared you,” Arthur said, muffled.

She clung. Clung like a little monkey, clung like an almost-young-woman who knew too well the frailty of life. “I love you. You’re okay. Uncle Dagon knew what to do.”

“That he did,” Arthur said with a gentle laugh. “The Keeper told us she’d consulted someone—I’m glad it turned out to be him.”

Hmph, Not-John opined.

“I brought you something to eat,” Faroe said, pulling away just enough to look at Arthur, at the naked expression of relief and joy on his face and the cold, calculating expression in those golden eyes. “The medimages said it needed to be simple, so it’s just some broth and rice. I cooked it myself.” Her face set, grim. “I know it’s safe. But Nibbles volunteered to test all of your food from now on, too.”

Ha, said Not-John. Bad luck for you, because this asshole isn’t eating.

“Thank you,” said Arthur. “It looks delicious. I’ll eat it with pride.”

What!

“Don’t you know, John?” said Arthur, a twinkle in his unseeing eyes. “The secret ingredient is love.”

Faroe giggled.

Not-John was baffled silent.

“Nibbles will test it now, just to show—well, John, I guess,” Faroe said. “Do you want me to describe it? Or is he behaving?”

“It’s fine,” Arthur said.

It was almost comical as a thin tendril, little more than a root, picked up a spare spoon on the tray and gently scooped a bit of rice onto it, pulling it into a toothy maw that opened on the side of the goat’s face; the entire spoon disappeared with a crunch. Then Nibbles did it again, this time taking some of the broth (and another spoon).

“She’s probably able to do this just sniffing it, but… she’s really, really sorry she didn’t sniff your food beforehand.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” Arthur said, his voice gentle and soft as he reached, blindly, with his left hand. “You’re a good girl,  Nibbles. Thank you.”

Don’t! Not-John yelped.

The goat pressed her nose into John’s hand, ruffling the sleeve of his shirt with her nose as she nuzzled into it.

“See? She knows you. You’re safe. But is it safe for her to be testing this?” said Arthur. “If they had a poison to target John, they might target her. I don’t like that.”

Nibbles gave him a magnificent look of deep offense, which unfortunately was wasted.

Faroe sighed. “Dad’s already setting up a pretty rigorous testing system. I think we’ll be okay, I just…” Tears filled her eyes again. “I just want to be sure.” She smiled weakly and wiped her nose on a handkerchief. “You can’t keep doing this, you know. Almost dying. Stop it. That’s a royal order.”

Arthur saluted her. “Yes, ma’am, order received.”

She jumped him for another hug. “I love you, dad,” she whispered in his ear.

This was all absurd. Every last bit. Maybe she’s the one who poisoned us! Not-John said. Trying to get rid of me!

Faroe rolled her eyes. “He’s really a jerk without your influence, isn’t he?”

Arthur laughed. “We’re good for each other. I wasn’t great before him, either.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” She stepped back, took the tray, and gave it to him. “Please eat.”

“For you, baby girl, I will.”

Fuck you both.

“John,” said Arthur evenly. “I told you. That’s the line.”

Fine. Fuck you, then. Just you.

Arthur nodded like that was fine and dandy and felt his way to the spoon. “Where’s the bowl?”

What? So you can re-infect yourself?

“The rice is right in front of you, a little right of center,” Faroe said—she gently took Arthur’s hand, lifting it, setting it down onto the surface of the bowl. “The broth is about five inches to your left. It will probably be easier just to sip it.”

“Thanks.”

Not-John lifted his hand as if to knock it all away.

“John!” snapped Arthur. “Do I really have to have Nibbles hold your damned arm down so I can eat?”

No, Not-John said sullenly.

“Nibbles wouldn’t lie to us,” Arthur said. “And Faroe definitely wouldn’t.”

Faroe stuck her tongue out.

Not-John gasped. She made a face!

“Good for her,” said  Arthur, getting a spoonful of soup.

At me!

“She’s nine, John.” He sipped carefully, testing his stomach.

“And a half,” she said. “Practically ten.”

“Growing so fast,” said Arthur a little thickly.

Not-John sniffled.

Arthur sighed. “You’re fine, John.”

Nobody’s listening to me, Not-John bemoaned.

“Be reasonable, and they will,” said Arthur, and let John contemplate on his own what reasonable might look like as he took another bite of soup.

#

Hastur came to Sunny’s call.

Parker gave him the spell.

Hastur recognized the etheric resonance.

He gave the trigger to the Keeper along with the second volume of the Leaves of Leng.

And then everything started moving so very fast.

(chapter six)

[bvannn]

Weekly Update January 5, 2024

I’m still recovering slowly. I never mentioned this because I want to be as vague as I can about my big congenital medical issue, but the surgery last week removed some tissue that affects my endocrine system, and now that it’s gone I’m having some problems with my mood. I have a medicine that corrects it, but I need to wait another week and a half to get my dosage adjusted, so all next week I’m going to be volatile which sucks. Stomach has seemingly gotten better though so hopefully that pain was just caused by those cysts and nothing else was wrong. Sorry if I ramble on a bit too much tonight, I am loopy because of the endocrine stuff so I might go on too long. Anyway artstuffs.

I got a music project done. It was for Mav, and it was pretty small but I stayed up all night working on it. Working on it I discovered a big set of plugins that I got somewhere that look to be automatically doing some of that balancing I was worried about. I still need to double check what exactly it can do, since I’d like a widener plugin, but I don’t want to stack my brain over it if I already have one. I have a few ideas floating around for the next song thing, I’m a bit hesitant on continuing that vocal one I haven’t finished because I watched a bunch of videos today in the bad lyrics of the Wish soundtrack, and the lady kept bringing up cadence and pentameter which are concepts I know about but can’t hear. Like, pentameter is supposed to be the natural inflection a syllable has, but like whenever I hear it, I just hear the inflection of the vocalist. I think I’m overthinking it, since she used a writing scheme to explain it and I think the vocaloid software uses that same writing scheme so maybe I can learn through practice? Or I can just write lyrics that match the melody and call it good as long as the flow sounds natural because of subconscious understanding, like how I figured out how to do harmonies. Whatever. Music theory is hard but my stupid will and brute force is harder.

Other instrumental things I’ve been kinda thinking about include a little Zelda medley that I already recorded the melodies and stuff for, instrumental themes for my OCs because of course. And then I kinda want to just do a big fat medley that goes on for like an hour-ish because I love those kinds of medleys they’re great for car rides and stuff. And the final two I’m thinking about would be for animation memes: either an arcade beat-em-up style boss fight sounding theme, or a cover of a 90s pop-punk-rock (idk what genre) song. I think that one would be cool because I could use it as promotional stuff for a comic.

Oh yeah that O’Malley comic! I actually did good thumbnail work on that this week! I was going to do more today but mood and sleep schedule were wonky, plus I had a meeting this morning, so good chance I’ll put it off until tomorrow. But either way, chipping away at it, trying to watch more movies so I can get better at understanding shot comp, watched Kill Bill part 1 last night and wasn’t expecting it to be like, the best fucking movie ever? Like why does everyone talk about it like ‘eh it’s pretty good’ like no that shit was *Phenomenal*! Hoping part 2 lives up to the first, planning to watch it maybe tomorrow night? Definitely before I go back to uni. Anyway pitch comic is coming along nice, after it’s drawn I can either work on the rest of that story or a pitch for the secondary story I’ve been working on, depending on demand. Right now leaning towards series, since I have general synopsies for a couple more general ‘episodes’.

Also only done like one general drawing for comsheet practice hehehe it’s fine I can try others as time comes and is appropriate. Also did epithet stuff but not as much as I’d like. My original plan tonight was to work on TTRPG stuff but maybe I’ll do writing or thumbnailing instead. Or maybe both.

TRGA: got shot 1-4 done enough. Also got Jon tweened for 1-5. I need to clean him up and do his face and stuff. Tonight maybe if I’m having trouble focusing on the other stuff I’ll clean him up, I think I want to go back to that ‘one significant development a day’ schedule I was on for a bit, but pushed a bit further since I have better strategies now. I’ve also started the ‘every time I sit down and open clip studio I’m going to draw one (1) prop’ strategy so hopefully props won’t be as bad in the future either (even the ones I can’t just recycle). Tomorrow if I’m doing better I’ll try to get 1-5 Jon’s face done (and clean him up too if I don’t tonight) and maybe do another drawing. Maybe more epithet TTRPG stuff maybe not.

I’m trying to get my priorities back in order. 1) TRGA 2) Comic work 3) fix your commissions 4) other projects. Inspiration is fickle though so I’m really all over the place. My mood being volatilized is also not helping but I’ll keep going until my brain explodes. For now I’m able to plan out enough with time for sleep and stuff. I don’t know what’s exactly going to happen when classes start but I am taking *fewer* credits than normal so theoretically that means more time.

[rockybloo]

i like the way you draw zeke's gashes and gore, do you like horror/have horror recs (any media)

As much as I like to draw mushy wholesome romance between two characters...I love horror to an almost unhealthy extent. It is my favorite genre of anything honestly (I have spent days binge watching horror films back to back to back on Netflix, even the bad ones)

I've never really done a recommendation list before for anything so I can only list my favorites that I could spend a day rewatching no problem. I also need to add that I am a gore hound and the gorier the film or series is, the higher my chances of enjoyment so please keep this in mind.

My FAVORITE horror films are:

Brain Dead/ Dead Alive: I need to state that this film basically has EVERY trigger in it and did not age well AT ALL in terms of some of the jokes. However, having watched it when I was young, it was a crucial part of me becoming a horror fan and I love this trainwreck dearly...for its special effects. Mainly just the special effects. I do appreciate how the film is kinda split in two. The first being funny zombie comedy stuff and the last half being...well a shit ton of blood and gore. Also it has stop motion in it at some points which I love as someone who also adores stop motion.

The Final Destination Franchise: Not recommended for the paranoid but I love this 2000s ass film franchise. The premise is creative as well as the deaths. I also love that Death is super petty in this series and refuses to just kill someone up front and instead chooses the Rube Goldberg approach to offing people. Plus the original voice actor for Kratos pops up in one of the films which is a bonus if you are a God of War fan like me. If I had to pick a favorite out of the franchise, I'd say it's a tie between the first and the last. HOWEVER, the last film is oh so more rewarding if you watched the entire franchise-I will not spoil why but just trust me.

Candyman: The original film specifically. It's so interesting how the antagonist is a living myth and is so poetic in his words that sometimes I kinda forgot he was the villain. I love his design and the fact this film deeply touches on certain issues and not just being focused on being a typical slasher.

The Haunted Mansion: Yes the...original Disney live action film with Eddie Murphy. I count it as a horror film because it was genuinely scary to me as a kid. There's still some horrific stuff in it now. I mean, you got the opening credit scenes leading up to a dude straight up hanging himself, the zombies looking like straight up corpses, A DUDE GETTING DRAGGED TO HELL. The music still haunts me to this day.

Nope: A recent addition but this is def one of the best horror films I've seen. It is filled to the brim with so many details that you don't catch on the first watch. Plus, the "spaceship" is such a well designed element that I still think about how it works and how smart of a concept it was. I love the protagonists in this film as well and the bit of humor sprinkled in. I actually enjoyed this film so much I read the script for it since it was online (which I've never done for any film before). Cannot recommend this film enough.

Us: This film is just a level or horror that I only feel when reading Junji Ito stories. The idea of a doppelganger never scared me until this film because the entire concept is your other self hunting you down to kill you. There's a murder spree scene in this film that is so well framed and done because you see both everything and nothing at the same time because of the camera angle. The Tethered are underrated as monsters.

The Thing: The old one with the husky dog. The original Among Us and the best "WHO THE FUCK IS THE KILLER" film. The special effects are amazing and the fact that the audience cannot tell who the alien is is so great because we feel just as scared as the crew members. Plus...the alien absorbing people is just straight horrific.

This list is getting long and I have so many horror films I got jingling around in my brain but my last one is Pet Semetary. I was gonna put Poltergeist, which is also a favorite and is the only paranormal film I enjoy (I am not a big fan of ghost movies but that's because I love gore and carnage), but I kinda...don't really see it as a horror film. It certainly is one but there's so many cute and funny moments and it's kinda more whimsical than scary to me.

ANYWAYS BACK TO PET SEMETARY-There's an unsettlingness to it that I can't really explain. It's not just the dead pet aspect, it's just the vibes in it. The happy music becoming twisted as well as the always foreboding mood where you know something bad is gonna happen. There's a couple things that are left up to the audience's imagination but there's enough context that you just KNOW something terrible happened (like that ending). Plus, the little kid actor going on a killing spree is...kinda funny. He's just a little fella with a knife having a good ole time before bedtime.

ANYWAYS-I'VE RAMBLED ENOUGH ABOUT HORROR FILMS!

[animoholicredux]

KNY OC Female

Inspiration IDEA: Inu Yasha(mainly), Ao No Exorcist.

Names- Sanae

Surname - Kuze

Arc - The Half-Demon's Wings"-In Japanese as 半妖の翼 (Hanyou no Tsubasa) Name Meaning - 早苗(さなえ)|早苗 or 沙苗

Kuze(久世) ... Meaning : 久 meaning long time, 世old story.

早 means "early."　苗 means "seedlings." Trivia - She's a half demon. She was born out of a demon mother and a human father. Before her birth, her mother turned into a demon when her parents were attacked by a demon, killing her father. Her mother managed to escape and transformed into a demon which affected her as a fetus . Demon slayers managed to hunt her down after she had given birth to Sanae. Before the Demon slayers could finish her off Kanae decided to adopt her as the organization wanted to study the baby for preparing lethal poison but Shinobu was kind enough to take her as a caterpillar girl in her butterfly mansion.. She kept her for close monitoring too as well as raised her as a human being. Kanae was the main reason the baby was saved from getting killed by Sanemi.

 she is the very first half demon baby.. And seedling means baby. She was neither accepted as a human nor she was considered strong enough to join the demon squad at night by the demon, which is what makes her unique.

Long time old story means demons had been trying to flourish and evolve since 1000 years. .

She didn’t get the chance to choose her own surname. As a half demon, she has 

She has 2 breathing techniques (derivation of wind breathing , insect breathing and flower breathing). Her weapons would be not exactly the traditionally large katana but much a smaller one, usually the ones suitable for butchery and shrubs/herbs/bushes chopping. She got them because she usually goes hunting goose and swan with those.

Blood Art Techniques:

  Blood Strike: Sanae can use her short swords to draw blood from her opponents, and then use that blood to create a powerful Blood Strike technique. This technique would focus on delivering a single, devastating blow that could incapacitate or kill an opponent.

Blood Mist: Sanae can also use her blood to create a mist that would obscure her movements and make it difficult for opponents to track her. This technique could also be used to disorient opponents and create opportunities for Sanae to strike.

Blood Shield: Finally, Sanae can use her blood to create a shield that would protect her from attacks. This technique would require a significant amount of blood, but could be a powerful defensive option in desperate situations.

TAISHO SECRET

She survives the final selection and  becomes a aid for the demon slayers she would have a flying swan as a kasugai animal because innocent swans would never be targeted by demons because demons were targeting in killing the messengers.

DO NOT POST OR COPY ANY PART OF MY CONTENT OR AS A WHOLE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION Author's notes - I decided to bring one of Zenitsu's crush to life :3... Half demon happens to be unexplored concept in the poorly organized plot of Kimetsu No Yaiba. He mentions her name for the first time here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhbcVks85MU Time to hone KNY art style. 

[trashboatprince]

Normally, I tend to keep quiet here on theories, but sometimes I like to indulge in them. The Henry is a perfect Bendy one is a mixed bag, but I can’t deny I've played around with the concept in the past. (I used to have an au for it, but someone stole my ideas and I left the au alone because it upset me to work on it.)

And since the theory is making the rounds again, I decided to write up an idea that's been rolling about in my skull for a while, well before the release of the new trailer, and now is a good chance to write up the idea.

Warning: mild anxiety attack

Please note that this is all headcanon based, since the game hasn’t been released yet, haha. Also, there’s some art included! 

On with the fic!

--

“It’s amazing how much stuff is down here.” Audrey commented to the little devil that walked alongside her. “I mean, it’s one thing to find art supplies and some equipment, but a whole little community? A car?”

She laughed a bit in disbelief, and Bendy couldn’t help but to laugh with her, his laughter whistles and wheezes, it was all he could do, he wasn’t allowed a voice.

No, he didn’t have one.

Bendy never talked in the cartoons, hence the lack of a voice. 

Yes? Yes.

He grinned, whistling a jaunty tune as the two of them continued to walk the halls, on a mission that Bendy hadn’t paid too much attention to. Audrey listened, she’ll know what to do, he’ll help however he can. 

“Oh! I recognize this!” 

Bendy stopped, blinking, and looked up at something that caught Audrey’s attention on a wall. 

Like many of the hallways, there were posters and framed items, drawings, writings, and scattered sheets of paper peppering the wooden boards. This one was no different, though whatever was framed seemed to have the human’s attention. Bendy made a questioning sound and she looked down.

“Ah, well, in my office, in the-the real world, I have this framed animation cell! It’s an original, I don’t think it was ever actually in a cartoon, a special cell as a gift from Mr. Drew.”

Any time Bendy heard Joey’s name, he felt a twinge in his chest, he hated it.

“The cell’s always been in my office, for as long as I can remember. It’s like a little bit of motivation, you know?” She was smiling at whatever was behind the glass, the lights of the hall reflecting off of it, making it hard for Bendy to get a clear look. He didn’t like being short, made it hard to see some stuff.

“I wonder what it’s doing here.” Audrey frowned. “I bet Wilson brought it down here to taunt me or something.” She sighed and Bendy squeaked, reaching for the frame. “Oh, do you want to look?”

He nodded and she removed it from the wall. “Now, be careful, this was a gift to Mr. Drew from an old friend of his.”

Bendy nodded again and carefully took the frame from her, grinning as he finally got a look at what she had been staring at.

Oh.

It was an animation cell, there was no denying that, including a background to go along with it. The cell contained Boris, Alice, and Bendy himself, looking so happy as the trio walked down a path together.

There was writing down in the corner of the inner frame, protecting the cell and background.

The writing was clear, familiar.

Congratulations on your success! 

Your Best Pal,

H-

Hen-

Henry S-

Wait, he knew this name. Knows this name.

Why does-

Who am I now?

“Bendy?”

He could hear Audrey’s voice calling from somewhere far away, muffled by what sounded like rushing water ink in his head.

Alright Joey, I’m here...

A hand was on the frame, gently taking it from his own and he looked up, confused, alarmed. “Bendy, are you alright? Your eye is...”

Blinking, he touched at the side of his face, his fingertips came back coated in runny ink. 

Why did she call me Bendy?

What’s going-

He blinked again, rubbing at his leaking eye. Huh, Bendy frowned, confused as to what just happened. He looked up at Audrey, smiling at her, why was she looking concerned? 

“Right... should we get moving?” She asked, giving him an awkward smile.

He squeaked, his grin wide. He must have spaced out or something, he didn’t remember anything of what just happened. She put a framed image on the wall and took his hand, the two of them continuing down the hall. 

--

It’s not a trashboatprince au without Henry and/or Bendy having a weird eye.

[peachhoneii]

Can’t say we’re totally surprised about the Cruella twist, but I got an idea Disney. Hear me out.

Cruella is a lonely rich girl raised by a domineering mother who keeps her locked in the attic for long periods of time. No friends. No socialization. For years and years, she wastes away in her mother’s home, dying for a chance to escape.

All the while, she watches from afar as her mother, an accomplished dog trainer, train her beloved Dalmatians. Her pride and joy. Shimmering, obedient and loyal beasts. She envies them really.

Then one day, she escapes. A man. It’s always a man and he gives her the tools for escape and a little bit more. The man is smitten, infatuated and can’t help feeling ice going up his spine whenever she looks at him. He ignores it. She’s the first woman to ever really see him, spare him the tiniest bit of affection and her story is tragic. She’s lost two fathers, each a man her mother married and discarded.

The time comes. She confronts her mother. She stands against the witch who betrayed her, locked her away and denied her all the joys of life. She accuses her of heinous things while her mother stands stoically.

“Are you going to do this?” She sighs gravely. “My daughter, are you? After everything I’ve done to protect you for your crimes.”

Cruella smirks. “Crimes?”

When her mother stares back, eyes glossy with tears, the man realizes he’s made a mistake.

“Your father. Your stepfather. I know what you did, but I couldn’t send you away to the madhouse. No. Not my little Cruella.”

Where are the denials? The refusals? The pleas of innocence? None come. He doesn’t expect them to. Her eyes are like brimstone, finally aflame and her razor sharp smirk slices through her mother’s grief, a grief she’d carried for more than a decade.

Then her attention seeks the dogs, the prize winning Dalmatians that afforded her mother some comfort in life, the comfort she never sought again in Cruella. Her smirk turns devious, triumphant and before he can stop her or whimper pathetically in the background, she sets the tools on them.

Cruella watches her mother’s beloved pets, her children for all purposes, tear her apart. It’s so quick, she realizes. She’s surprised at how efficient they are, but that shouldn’t be surprising. Her mother is - was - brilliant dog trainer. She understood them at an instinctual level and rejoiced in their presence. Her screams quickly fall into a pattern of gurgling terror, then mumbled resignation.

It is messy. The other weren’t messy. All she had to do was find the right poison or ride her bicycle at the top of the stairs while they hurried to the office. Timing it had become an art and she’d practiced to her satisfaction.

She’s kneeling beside her mother, caressing the remains the dogs could not tear into. It is a temporary delirium and they return slowly, bit by bit as confusion gnaws at their simple brains. She hears their whines as comprehension draws near, pacing back and forth around her corpse as if they weren’t responsible in the first place. Their mother is dead. They killed her. The loved her and killed her. They did this, white and black draped in her blood.

She knows the man is gone. No man ever stays and she helped her mother realize that. In all honesty, she should’ve been grateful to her daughter for that, for helping her understand this dangerously simple concept. No man ever stays.

Her mother died. Dalmatians killed her mother, and Cruella loved them all the more for it. In fact, she loved them so much, appreciating the monstrosities hiding underneath their spotted coats.

Fashioning them into beauty, well, that would be an honor for them and she was more than happy to have them adorn her body. Kindness deserves kindness and no kindness exists without some cruelty.

(Oh wait, that’s from Once Upon a Time. Totally gave her a really interesting backstory that subverted their sympathetic villain storylines.)

[kingofthewilderwest]

What did you think of the last two episodes of TNR S4? The plot was about what I expected, but I did like the alpha(?) Night Light design

In some ways, this two-part episode has been waiting to happen since Gift of the Night Fury, where the lack of other Night Furies got highlighted the first time. It's been waiting to happen since ROB's We Are Family where Hiccup was hoping to chase down Toothless's family. It's been waiting to happen since THW had us meet one Fury, but not provide the specific awe my imagination has been envisioning for a decade: the inevitable moment our characters come face-to-face with a flock of Furies.

Of course, some HTTYD fandom members are extremely attached to Night Furies as a concept, and will draw fanart of OCs, or at least alternate designs of Night Furies, Light Furies, Night Lights, and all things Fury. I suspect many of them have had the same fantasy fly through their mind as I have about meeting a Fury flock up close. But because I'm not one of those people who rests my love of HTTYD closely on the Night Fury, I am both worse and better suited for enjoying the TNR S4 finale.

I'm worse suited because I'm not the Fury fanatic that this episode would want to appeal to. There's less chance of my emotions catching in my throat finally seeing this come to be. But I'm better suited for the same reason: there's fewer emotions to disappoint if TNR doesn't hold up to standards. And we all know that TNR has not been a show of great standards - and I'm someone who hasn't minded that.

I'd say I had a mediocre reaction to the two-parter, feeling both mild yays and nays to it. Like many fans, I was offended and appalled when the human cast encountered Hiccup's somehow-still-intact prosthetic and flung it around. What the heck!!! That was too far even for me!

But for a brief moment, watching the full Night Light family take flight, I was teleported back to a younger version of myself: the self that dreamed for a full Fury family flight and desperately hoped that'd happen in HTTYD 3. Bad animation quality aside, questionable dragon design aside, for that short moment, this decade-long expectation got met.

I didn't care that TNR had us wait with anticipation for the Fury reveal in the sense that Thunder, in parallel to Toothless, was mourning a scarce family. But I do like that TNR gave us a full flock of Night Lights because that's absolutely what should be the case - this is no longer a "last of their kind" situation, and so we got to see them!

The believability of carrying that much black is low genetics-wise and designs could've used improvement (why did Mom have to have EYELASHES and why did we color code "white" as female???), but there were also designs with potential, and I accept them and like imagining what they'd look like on a bigger budget. I liked the roughness of the father's scales, as though they've gotten thicker and grayed with age. It looked odd with the limited budget and the light rendering in particular, but the concept is something I get behind.

And the Elder? The Elder? Best Fury of TNR, hands-down. Honestly, best Night Light of the franchise.

For starters, he had the best design of the furies pattern-wise. I like how the blacks and whites faded into one another rather than being a stark black jutting against white. I liked his particular pattern being both understated and regal, as well as realistic and common to real animals (once Night Light pattern ideas get too wild, I quit caring for them). I liked his scars and tears on his wings - this is a dragon of great experience. The animators needed to fix his chest size, but other than wonky proportions there, he gave a grandeur to the Night Lights I quite liked.

And it got me thinking: I wish the Elder, rather than Thunder, had been Tom's dragon. Too quickly stories lean into youth, including trying to make animal companions the same age as their owners. We did that with Tom and Thunder. But Thunder doesn't hit in part because he has virtually no personality. The Elder does. How cool would it have been if our main character's dragon was this suspicious, slow-to-trust, grand old man? Think of how the development of their relationship could've gone! When Tom was riding on the back of the Elder, I found that fantastic, and for a brief moment could enjoy the idea of the Elder and Tom being the pair instead.

The thing about the Elder is that he evokes a concept I wish the main HTTYD movies never left: this is an Offspring of Lightning and Death. This is a wild animal of great power. The reason Toothless was lovable and compelling in HTTYD 1 wasn't just "awww cute pet." It's because he was a real, complex creature of majesty. Real creatures can be silly and dorky, too, and it's fun to get to know a goofy side as he becomes familiar with Hiccup. But Toothless should never have been close to the category of "cute animal sidekick used for marketing," as he increasingly became as the years passed. Dare I say it, he was Flanderized. The Elder reminded me of the dignity that made me stare with appeal at Toothless in the first place.

Amidst all the questionable plot choices and questionable designs and questionable graphics, that one sentiment is worth it, ain't it?

[bukojuiice]

— genshin boys as your late night study buddy

ೃ ft. childe, diluc, kaeya, zhongli, xiao and albedo x gn! reader

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ೃ tags: college au, modern au, and lots of fluff. 

ೃ thank you so so much for 1k notes on my very first batch of genshin hcs! i appreciate all the luv it received and i can never thank all of you enough 🥺 i’ll be making a genshin masterlist soon to compile all of my current and future works so pls stay tuned for that!

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ZHONGLI:

– Zhongli would be a very chill study partner. He will always keep his cool and focus, never letting his attention stray away from less trivial things. If he can focus, he’ll focus. There’s always this sense of comfort surrounding him that brightens up your mood and productivity. The both of you are sat in this long table, papers, books, and cute matching pencils are sprawled about. You lean your head on his shoulder, as he serenades you with his deep and butter voice, explaining all the formulas to you. Being able to study in peace and quiet with him is always a blissful experience. He never fails to brew you green tea (as it helps the brain function) even if that meant going down to the kitchen at 2 in the morning. He always brings a small humidifier and some essential oils with him that can help brighten up the study mood and that emits a wafting vanilla pinecone scent to keep you happy. (He’s just fancy like that.) When he doesn’t understand the concepts right away, he’d turn to you, his sharp amber eyes gazing at yours with nothing but innocent and love, and asks: “(Y/N)... what reference is this supposed to be? pepe the frog? kermit the frog? here come dat boi? aren’t they all just amphibians? what are the differences between them? I am very intrigued.”

CHILDE:

  – Childe loves a challenge. An academic challenge. He loves the thrill of finishing school works the night before the deadline, he loves studying for a pop quiz twenty minutes before the bell rings, and most importantly, he loves to pretend he doesn’t know how to solve point a to point b if that means getting to spend time with you as you tutor him on how to do so. He’s at the top of the class, He’s popular and friendly, He’s the captain of the Archery Team, and one of the vice council members of the Fatui Club. But, no other title will ever come close to being your study buddy. You and Childe always chill on the bed whenever you study. Especially when the both of you have the sudden urge to just laze around. Well, it is the wee hours of the night, so just lounging around and trying to resist the urge of sleep is pretty understandable. Sometimes, the two of you would take power naps in between study sessions. This meant cuddle times! Childe will always cuddle with you, (he’s the big spoon and you are the smol spoon) and often times you would be immersed into your textbook while he’s scrolling through his phone and looking for some of the current and popular memes. He’d poke you on the cheek and show you what he’s found. It was quite annoying sometimes and you would reprimand him for it, but it never fails to make you laugh. You jokingly suggested one time that the two of you sneak in the library after closing hours, and your chaotic boyfriend turns to you with the biggest smirk plastered on his face. “Let’s do it baby. I know the law.”

DILUC:

–You and Diluc are the cutest pair of night owls. So, studying late at night is never a problem with him because with the help of each other, the both of you are unstoppable. An actual power couple. Batman and his love interest who? I only know (Y/N) and Diluc. Mondstadt University should be giving you the title of #NoSleepGang for the “Campus Cuties” awards because the two of you are able to ace every test still despite lack of sleep.  You and Diluc are very very organized. The both of you own matching couple planners (that the both of you had gifted to each for Christmas) and have your entire study schedule planned out already. Since the two of you prefer to study at night, your dates are usually done during the day. Which meant never having to worry about the upcoming finals whilst you’re at a cute little café with him. The both of you have respective desks whenever you study together, but you never fail to gaze at your crimson-haired boyfriend with the cutest pout and biggest puppy eyes. He always gives in and next thing you know, your swivel chairs are practically glued next to each other and the both of you are cuddling in your seats. One thing that Diluc never fails to do is pamper you with comfort food or little gifts that you love after a long and tiring week of hell (aka exams) It’s such a sweet gesture and the blissful relationship that you have can’t get any better than this.

“I got you some boba and that necklace from Pandora that you’ve always wanted. I-I’m so proud of you (Y/N). You did great, my love.”

KAEYA:

- You are the Lawful Good to Kaeya’s Chaotic Evil. Kaeya is always tempted to ask for answers from your professors. He’s quite the teacher’s pet, but with good intentions. That’s just how he rolls. Every time he jokes about going to the faculty to help out and the answer sheets are just out in the open, waiting to be snatched, you always glare at at him and punch him softly on the arm, every time he tries to bring up the idea. To which he would always reply with, “I’m kidding. Just kidding my love.” You and Kaeya have amazing study hacks. He is always able to find a movie that is somewhat related to the topics that the both of you are currently studying about. For example, when the topic was an introduction to different branches of science, Kaeya chose Big Hero 6  as the “Educational Movie Of the Day.” He is always able to find something fun and informative for the both of you to watch. Well, Kaeya does find fun and interest in everything. Another effective strategy that both of you do is every time you or him get an answer right, you reward each other with either a kiss on the cheek or a bear hug. Both of these affectionate gestures give you butterflies in your stomach anyway, so it doesn’t matter which is which. With the ideas that Kaeya constantly makes up every single day of your study sessions, there’s a high chance that you’ll never fluke a test ever again.

“Oh. That’s pretty cool of you (Y/N). You got 30 correct answers! If we count everything, so I basically gave you 15 forehead kisses and 15 bear hugs. Congrats! I know we’re going to ace our finals!”

XIAO:

– Xiao is extremely intelligent and talented in a myriad of things. However, he lacks self-confidence. You’ve sworn to your boyfriend that you’d help him gain confidence in his academic abilities. Which is why you became study buddies in the first place. It served as dates with him too! Although he stubbornly refused at first, his reasons being that he can do things by himself and he doesn’t need any help. You continued to encourage him that this was going to help the both of you and it was a way for the two of you to bond, and Xiao hesistantly agreed right after. As the captain of the soccer team, “The Liyue Adepti”, The only free time that Xiao has was during the evening which is the reason for your scheduled late night studies with him. This brought so much more intimate and sweet moments with him though! It meant sleepovers with him, midnight snack runs, and casual early morning strolls in the park. It became sort of a routine. Your hand interlaced with his, the crisp morning air, the little chirpings birds, and the tranquil swaying of the trees brought so much comfort to the both of you. Xiao would be the type of student to not speak up unless he’s called. Even if he knows the answer. The both of you sit on some floor pillows whenever you would study. So, whilst you read aloud, Xiao always hugs you from behind, resting his head on your shoulder.

“I don’t deserve the patience and love you give me, (Y/N). I am eternally grateful for everything you’ve done for me. I hope you know, that I’ll always be here for you.”

ALBEDO:

- Being the university’s library assistant has it’s perks. Access to infinite knowledge, quiet solitude within the library walls, and being able to hang out with your boyfriend. It was truly a perfect deal. After classes, Albedo would be heading straight over to the library to do his work. You’d meet him there and wait until he gets his work done, and then the two of you head home together or have dinner. Albedo likes to plan things in advance. He’s quite busy, being a part of university’s alchemist group and as a library assistant, but, he will always study with you. He even brings Klee with him at times too! She’s always an energetic and cute addition, + she tattles on and on about how in love Albedo is with you and how he would never shut up about you at home. Albedo puts a lot of effort into creating review materials for the both of you. He makes very intricate drawings of modules, dioramas of certain science models, and has all the formulas memorized for him to list down. He’s a genius after all, and although you’ve constantly told him time and time again that he doesn’t have to make a review paper specifically catered to you, he still insists. He always gifts you one whenever it’s exam week (he adds extra detail to them during your finals) The cutest thing about these papers are scribbled about in all of the pages. The cutest doodles of the two of you with hearts and flowers drawn all over. Albedo + (Y/N) is even written in the last page, along with a heartfelt message: 

“I put all my faith and belief in you, (Y/N). I know you can do this. I’m proud of everything you’ve reached so far, my beloved. and I know you’ll reach greater heights. Let’s continue to excel and thrive together. I can’t wait to spend the rest of this journey with you.”