#I am falling in love w watercolor!!!!!

[millenniumringg]

The Clean Sneak but it’s a watercolor painting I made for my watercolor painting class

[warmbloodedzines]

Well, it's summer and we've been making zines, and then totally forgetting to post them here! Here's one of Xalli's called I WANT!

[Image Description: The cover page of this eight-page mini zine has a watercolor painting of an anatomical heart in the background, painted with a mix of different reds and lineart done in black, brown, and white. The letters I, W, A, N, T, and an exclamation mark are in front of the heart, spelling the title I WANT!

The first page has a black background, with the dissected nervous system of Harriet Cole centered in the middle. The following text in white wraps around it: ‘TO FEEL MORE ALIVE THAN THIS! LESS ALIVE? TO WAKE UP-- COOL, DRY DESERT AIR ON MY SKIN-- & BREATHE IN ITS BLESSING & KNOW ITS GOODNESS. FOR MY BODY TO BE FREE OF THE FEAR THAT CAGES IT-- KEEPS ITS COLLAR ON TIGHT & MAKES THE SKIN RAWER & REDDER EACH DAY. I NEED TO KNOW & LOVE MY BODY DEEPLY. MY GUT CANNOT JUST FALL APART, TEARING ITSELF ASUNDER WITH HUNGER WHEN MY STRESS EMPTIES IT. WHEN MY HEART IS SO WEARY MY BODY FEELS IT HAS NO CHOICE-- STOP OR BE STOPPED. WHEN I THINK IT MUST BE TAKING ITSELF APART, WITH ALL ITS PAIN. I NEED A MORE CONNECTED SELF. I MUST LIVE FULLY.’

The second page has a white background and is covered in photos of different colored pressed flowers– one pink, one purple, one light yellow and purple, one dark blue and white, one yellow, and two orange. laid over the flowers, mostly filling the space between them, is the text ‘TO BLOOM IN THIS BODY, OR MAYBE JUST FIND SOME SOLACE IN IT-- THE OLD ATLAS-- EVEN IF I FEEL PINNED DOWN-- ABSORBING WHAT IT OFFERS AND GIVING PART OF MYSELF IN RETURN.’

The third page has a white background and, in the top right corner, an odd drawing of a pomegranate that’s sort of blooming still on the tree– its tough skin peeled back to reveal seeds. In the bottom left corner, there’s a sort of abstract and wavy drawing of a sun in pink and orange. The text on the page is a dark red/pink and squeezes between the two images, saying ‘to return to a more passionate state of living-- to be in love with everything around me. to feel my love hit me like a landslide– filling and overflowing. for it to settle, shift, change until it’s a part of me. maybe, to see the sun and smile; feel its heat on my cheeks, and know that i am a cup full of so much.’

The fourth page has a white background and, in the bottom right corner, two images. One is of a little statue of a small bull that is metal and colored turquoise in many spots titled ‘Toro bebé’ by Heriberto Juarez. On the right of it is an image of a sword with the blade pointing toward the top of the page. Filling the rest of the page is text in a dark teal-green color that says ‘to feel strong-- heavyset and sturdy like an old bull, like a creature who knows itself stronger than the hunter. to feel the blade on my skin and be unafraid. to feel like a mother bear, protector, calm & loving fiercely, prepared. to be a man who takes a sword in my hand and never uses it. a woman who holds you close & lets you be weak. to be strong.’

The fifth and sixth page are a single spread, most of which is taken up by the piece ‘Knight at the Crossroads’ by Victor Vasnetsov. It depicts a knight with a shield on his back and a long spear sitting on the back of a white horse that has its head bowed, both looking at a grave. Around the grave, there is an animal and human skull, other graves with crows or ravens on them, and a crow or raven flying. Grass extends into the distance, with more graves here and there, and the sky seems like it’s likely dawn. On either side of the painting, there are images of pressed flowers– one looking somewhat like pink lavender, and the other with several bunches of small flowers on a stem. The top of the page has a dark brown background that blends into the border around the painting, and a light yellow text on it that says the following: ‘to feel strong like a man heavy with grief, knowing he can only move forward. to be strong-- so soft, loving, despite it all. to breathe in the fragrance of a flower and feel at peace. to not need to be cold to survive. to feel at home in my body, self, world-- know that this is strength.’

The last page starts with just a list of credits at the top, saying ‘Credit for non-open access sources: 1. Nervous system of Harriet Cole, dissected by Dr. Rufus B. Weaver 2. “Toro bebé” Heriberto Juárez 3. “Knight at the Crossroads�� Victor Vasnetsov.’ Underneath that, there’s a dotted line, and below that, the text ‘thanks so much for reading!’, ‘by Xalli’, and ‘jun 29, 2024’, and next to those is pixel art of a yellow crescent moon. Near the bottom of the page, there’s more pixel art of two personified hearts, leaning against each other and snoring, with little hearts floating away from them. Wrapped around this image is text that says ‘insta: desertfirelight’, tumblr: canineical’, and ‘neocities: tehuan’. /End ID]

[pastelgrungewrecker]

Sunwarmed Nectarine || Demon Slayer

It wasn’t hard to realize- Love’s the death of peace of mind.

“Aw, come on Shinobu!”, she pleaded, hands together and eyes bright with honesty, “It’s always best to be prepared, and keep our skills sharp!”

“Yes, I... suppose so, Mitsuri.”, is the calm answer as Shinobu dries her hands, untying the strips of fine linen that kept her sleeves out of the way of her work, “Lead the way.”

“Hooray!”, squealed the pink-tinged hashira before she grabbed Shinobu’s hand to pull her along, “Come on, the boys just left the sparring room free!!”

“Ah, no weapons?”

Mitsuri giggled, suddenly awkward with a hand absently going to a heavy braid, “I WOULD’VE but... big bro- I mean, Teacher said it wouldn’t be wise just in case I got, well. Nicked.”

Shinobu raised an eyebrow before giggling, “Ah- Yes, I suppose he has good ideas on occasion~”

“Shinobu! He’s quite smart, he just forgets it sometimes!”

“Of course, Mitsuri.”

Mitsuri felt her cheeks warm at the way Shinobu’s glossed lips formed her name. She shook her head slightly, swallowing hard before clearing her throat and discarding what she wouldn’t need.

They faced each other in their uniforms- no haoris or decorations needed, feet bare against the tatami. They faced each other for a heartbeat, for the length of one deep breath.

Shinobu could feel herself soften, let her peripheral pull in every detail of the woman in front of her- the curve of a hip, the swell of her bosom, the way her lips parted as she exhaled. A shiver raced down the insect hashira’s spine- and then they moved.

Each strike cold and calculated from either side, each narrow avoidance of contact pulling at heartstrings pulled taut for eternity as they chased and fled in equal measure from each other; Shinobu ducked a strike just barely before throwing one of her own and glancing the blow off of Mitsuri’s collarbone and earning a squeak of surprise as she stumbled.

Shinobu paused, blinking lavender-accented eyes as braids gave out in a cascade of color; hair falling thick and heavy as a siren as Mitsuri’s gaze hardened almost playfully.

“Good one, Shinobu.”, she said, breathless from their earlier speed.

Shinobu’s breath caught in her throat, she cleared it and nodded after forcing a smile to prevent her jaw going slack.

They stood again- calculating and wicked in the sweetest way- sugar syrup laced in something they refused to name.

They clashed again- delight and demand blurring and mixing as their blows lost their calculating edge and became almost teasing; excuses to touch each other in a language that needed no words. Strikes at the face became excuses to brush fingertips near smooth necks, the midsection an excuse to be close to a higher heartbeat or the round of a hip.

Shinobu’s hairclip gave way- letting her own shorter waves flutter free like a hawkmoth’s wings as she pushed close to Mitsuri- her smile unwavering and almost elegant in its accidental sultriness before suddenly Mitsuri’s back hit the tatami with a loud thud.

Shinobu pinned one of Mitsuri’s arms to the floor with an almost vicious strength belied by her frame and there they lay- Shinobu straddling Mitsuri’s firm waist and the tips of their noses touching as they panted; breath mingling between them like perfume.

“I think-”, a panted breath, “That I am victorious, Mitsuri.”

“Y-Yeah.”, was the soft answer, green eyes gilded in the soft light around them, “I... Maybe? I think so, yeah.”

Shinobu tilted her head, a lock of hair falling over her eye as she took in the sight below her- Mitsuri’s hair spread in roiling watercolor waves like the painting of old masters- delicate strokes and blended lines and the insect hashira once again felt her breath catch.

“You.. don’t understand how lovely you are, Mitsuri.”

“No, I... I do.”, was the answer, “But I wanted... I want to know how lovely you think I am. I want to know what you think of me-”

“I am the silent echo that follows your laughter.”, she says, her lips brushing over Mitsuri’s with every word, “I am the moth that flutters around your comforting light. I am the monarch made of yearning and you are the cosmos blooms I orbit, hoping for just a taste.”

Mitsuri felt her heartbeat rattling her ribs before she moved her head to press their lips together. Shinobu gave a soft hum of surprise, and then of shock as a rock of hips and a push of elbows resulted in Mitsuri lounging between the insect hashira’s spread legs and each curve pressed against the subtle figure Shinobu hid beneath her uniform.

The kiss jarred apart, then returned full force with a soft gasp between them as hands buried in hair and clutched desperately at the color of spring and summer and safety between cherry blossoms and aged wisteria.

Shinobu pulled away with a rapid whisper of, “You shouldn’t you’ll end up-”

“I don’t care.”, said Mitsuri with a waver to her voice, her emotion bubbling over like cordial as she buried her face into Shinobu’s neck and breathed in the smell of flowers and sword polish, “I don’t care, I don’t care- please, just let me kiss you until I can’t please-”

“My sk-skin!”, gasped Shinobu, “Where my skin is dry is safe-”

Mitsuri hummed, burying her face against the cool smoothness of Shinobu’s neck and wriggled her arms to wrap around the smaller Hashira as she felt slim ankles lock together and legs close around her waist.

Mitsuri felt her lips tingle, and grinned- using her sleeve to wipe away the scented oil she used as a gloss to mitigate the poison transfer; and she heard Shinobu giggle sweetly.

“...Did you plan this?”

“...Yeah, I did.”

“Well thought out, Mitsuri.”, she mused, freeing her hands to pet over unbraided hair, “...But why?”

“You are the only person who... who never said you loved me for what I DO for you. Only the things that I am.”

The embrace tightened, “...It made me feel. Wanted. In a way I’d never felt before.”

Shinobu felt her face grow warm, all the way to the shell of her ears and she wished she could hide in her haori, “I... I see-”

“How long, Shinobu?”, asked Mitsuri with that brush of innocence in her words as she looked up with decidedly coy eyes, “How long have you wanted in the garden?”

An answering sly laugh, “Now.. That would be telling.”

A kiss to Shinobu’s chin before Mitsuri pulled away, “Then knock at the gate after sundown- I’m sure it will open.”

And with a nymph’s giggle, Mitsuri spirited away with a flutter of cherry blossom petals and snatched her carefully bundled possessions before bounding out the door with all the spryness of a march hare.

Shinobu sat up, blinking for a moment as she tucked her hair behind her ear before the innuendo clicked in her mind.

“A-Ah. I see... well played, Love Hashira.”

Outside the door, familiar flame-bright hair was reflected in windows as Tengen looked up- Kyoujurou simply stepping aside and raising his free arm as he spoke with his opposite hand touching his own throat.

“Hello Mitsuri! Now as I was saying-”

“HELLO RENGOKU GOODBYE RENGOKU I HAVE TO GO BYE BYYYYYEEEE.”

“The hell was THAT about?”, mushed the flashier of the two as Kyoujurou bellowed a laugh from the bottom of his chest. Both witness Shinobu take dazed steps from the room Mitsuri had bolted from- and were overcome with snickering.

[tangiblejournal56]

9/6/11

In my attempt to ignore all exterior door slammings in the face of my efforts to find something to be happy about, I struggle, but manage to keep my head above water.  Despite a week’s worth of being ignored by the four of them, I managed to not reach that level of rage I’d met in my last couple of entries.  Even when they acted as though I were being a bitch after they blatantly stood me up & I stopped making any effort to hang out with them, still I did not yell in their faces, “Do you guys realize that NOT ONCE have you asked me to join you, nor was I invited on any of your outings, nor have any of you remembered my existence long enough to let me know you were all four going out of town, leaving me here alone in my obvious irrelevance & hurt, wondering what I’d done to become so invisible.”  Their complete dismissal of me, their indifference to how I would inevitably react.  Left me smarting, texting Posi Thom, crying when he’d respond “Come home.  We’ll get a place together.  I’m not nearly as cynical as I usually am lately, but I miss you like fucking crazy.  I’d never reject you!  I love you!”  How I’ve come to depend on his daily reminders that I do have friends, ones who want me around, who don’t forget my existence while under the same roof.  Sending me lyrics that make him think of me: “I hope that you’re happy & high as a kite, burnin’ up both ends & feelin’ alright, will we ever live in the same city again?  Where the sidewalks feel alright.”  Reminding me that, in all of his flaws, Posi Thom is one of my dearest friends, & can shine through like a balefire when I’m lost, when I need him.  No matter what issues we may face in our friendship, or how his admittedly tough-to-bear traits may frustrate me to a certain degree, I have this to remember, how he is there when I need him.  I miss him, to an awful extent.

Jennifer has gone back to Iowa.  Her last night here, she was falling asleep as I was leaving with Sammie to pick up Josh from work.  I told her to crash on my bed, & I turned to ask Jacob if I could again sleep in his bed, as I had for some of the past week.  He acted so mealy-mouthed & annoyed at the request that my blood reached a boiling point, & I gathered my blanket & pillow from his room, still in there from the night before.  I dropped them on the living room floor near where he was sitting, then walked out of the apartment, furious, feelings hurt.  After letting him sleep in my bed when Racha & Posi Thom were here so he wouldn’t have to take the floor.  After buying him dinner at Madam Mam’s that day, & packs of cigarettes & groceries & countless other sweet little deeds I’ve done for him.  I was so disgusted by this selfishness, this & the way he treated me all week being around Sammie & Jennifer, like I just annoy him, like he’s sick of me, can’t stand the sight of me.  Such a sharp 180 from just a week or so ago, & I was hurt & angered & spinning from it.  In the truck I texted him a sarcastic “Thanks a lot,” knowing he wouldn’t respond, wishing I could just tell him to go to hell.

Both he & Jennifer asleep when I returned, I lay in the dark & watching a movie when Max texted me, a song to douse the fiery anger.  He was full of unexpected unexpected kindness, compliments & encouragement, as if he knew it was what I most needed to hear at the moment.  We discussed my latest attempt at watercolor painting.  He said he hoped I stuck with painting, “You could be so great at it,” he thought.  Flattered by his encouragement, I sent him a picture of this latest attempt, a small painting across two pages of my little black watercolor journal, inspired by an old black & white photograph of Edie Sedgwick, her thin frame on a rocky hill, a fur draped over her shoulder casually, reaching across the abyss to these winter-dead branches, an ornate street lamp in the corner.  Inspired by Edie, wanting to be the mad girl painting her eyelids with watercolor, all energy & collapse.  Despite my going on about the picture’s rudimentary weaknesses & it being the first real attempt I’ve made, he complimented it, liking specifically the background & the street lamp.  Max not being one to pour out easy flattery, I felt like blushing, being the recipient of such praise.  He seemed genuinely concerned that I keep painting.  I loved him for this, for taking the wind from my rage, replacing it with this calm.

He asked me if I ever felt completely on the outside of all social groups, as though I would never fit in anywhere.  Told him wryly that I felt in touch with that emotion.  He wasn’t ready to discuss it, but he noted that’s how he was feeling.  We talked about going to art museums & reading all day, & when in Portland how we shall be able to make all decisions based entirely on self-centered ascendency, as we will not be encumbered by obligations to anyone.

Then sleep.  All through the day, like an escape.  When awake I ignored Jacob wholly, an iciness that would’ve discouraged anyone else.  He kept attempting, & I made it clear my total indifference to him.  I don’t think that I looked at his face once, even when it was necessary to answer one of his questions, & always monotone, always monosyllabic.  I was & am disgusted by him, I want nothing to do with him.  I can tell he imagines this to be one of my fits of anger, short-lived & unpleasant.  He has no idea.  I don’t have a single urge to speak to him at all, & could happily survive the next three months with minimal or no contact.  I don’t give a single fuck about what he thinks of me, & I am sick of finding out what stupid little acts of cruelties he’s capable of doling out, I want nothing to do with them.  I am embarrassed to have entertained any notions of a romantic nature towards him.  His callousness has left a scar on our friendship I don’t care to heal.  I am unforgiving, & I don’t care.  Few people have ever succeeded at making me feel like utter shit, & amid a time when I needed his friendship most.

[jocosejoni]

HI ok I love ur stuff and ur stories and ur style of making comics and im looking to start making comics in the near future, do you have any advice or tips???? I hope u have a good day :] !!

!!! Ooo!! Get ready this is gonna be a lot! Maybe I'll put in random art???? to separate it????

So for advice:

Before you draw any pages or anything, have the story written! It doesn't have to be a book it can even just be a word doc w/ bullet points of what you want to happen. For CoD I have a general 5 point story thing (beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and ending) with big things I want to happen under them that I end up building the chapters around.

Have your characters fully fleshed out too. Maybe your story doesn't have anyone get ice cream, but we all need to know what their favorite flavor is and why.

Find a style you like that's fast and easy and ideally doesn't do too much damage to your hands/wrists cause with comics you're gonna be drawing A LOT. Remember to take breaks to stretch your wrists/fingers/shoulders and to not look at a screen for a bit. And mental health breaks, they say "Comics will Break your Heart" and they mean it.

Lots of people say to start with short projects first and I think that's a good idea!!! you can always build on short stories if your heart desires, but also if you have a giant magnum opus idea that you think is perfect, just start it now! ALSO, also, if something happens and you gotta end it early its okay too, you can always reboot it! IF CARTOONS CAN HAVE A BILLION REBOOTS so can your comics.

Vintage 2013 Conner (technically CoD is a reboot of a comic I started in hs/early college that I had to end because a character I had based on a real person died in the comic and a few weeks after that page went up the real person died irl and I got SCARED.)

For Tips:

I love using all mediums. Sometimes its fun to experiment and use mediums specific to your story. Maybe you wanna do a mermaid comic, maybe try it in a watercolor style??? I normally use like a heavy ink style, but with CoD I wanted something sharper so I've been trying that.

Usually the flow with comics is Script, Thumbnails, Pencils at page size, inks, colors, and finally lettering. But after Scripting and Thumbnailing It can go in whatever order.

For lettering font choice is important! You want it to be legible and fit well with the tone of the story/dialogue. There's lots of good lettering info and free fonts for personal/self publishing use here: https://blambot.com/ They also have a scripting guide but there's been a newer guide floating around too that's trying to standardize scripts (cause if you start working with writers you'll find that EVERYONE is so different when they send you a script) https://www.oheysteenz.com/scs-template

I am inhumanly fast at comics usually, and that's because I like to cheat. I don't always do pencils. on digitally drawn comics I'll take a photo of the thumbnail and draw over it cause its just a general idea of where things need to go. On traditionally inked ones I do the same thing but I end up printing the thumbnail onto the Bristol paper.

Following sample is from apoppy chapter 2 and features traditional penciling which allows you to make fun notes like "less dick shapes" very accurate inks and to flesh out any drawing problems you might have.

For Drawing Print Comics:

In Clip Studio/photoshop/procreate, You want a canvas that's 300 DPI or higher sized appropriately for what size book you want to make. Regular size comics I make at 11x17 inches and size down for books to like 10 something by 6 something. Different printers have slightly different requirements and they all should have templates available. If you're coloring it export your image in CMYK, its gonna look weird on the webpage but don't worry.

For traditional drawing: 11x17 Bristol Board and ink. Some people swear by certain brands, I'm cheap and use a giant bottle of Speedball Ink and a brush or a set of fine tip pens like Faber Castell Pitt Pens or Microns. I like those because they're waterproof and I like to paint at random. Scanning should be done in full color at 300+ DPI but, that size is a challenge, I've had to scan in sections and piece it together digitally. It Sucks, but large flatbed scanners are hard to find. I haven't tried one of those kind that feeds the paper through tho.

I don't know much about the mobile format comics as far as pacing goes. I'm in the grandpa zone and think mobile format is making you do more work for nothin cause if a "normal" episode has like 60 panels you could equate that to print comics and say that it's 10, 6 panel pages or 6, 10 panel pages (which is a lot of panels you sorta don't wanna go over 10 if you don't have to but that's all up to you) and over the course of history webcomics have only ever posted like 1 page a week or more. anyone posting a page every day is wildin.

Oh oh oh also! Coloring!! everyone colors differently but i swear by making your own color palette. CoD started with a limited color palette and has been building over the years, and Apoppytheosis has a very very limited color palette and a rule for that comic was to not use any other colors. (any other colors seen were from another palette color doing something weird over the top of that layer) (This is the apoppytheosis color palette. Apoppy 2 is similar but more vibrant.)

Anyway I'm going rambly!! feel free to reach out if you got specific questions on pages or approaches to stuff!! I went to college for comics and I could talk about this all night.

[bloodpacks-archive]

ooooh if it hasn't been done yet could I request cruore with Seven!!

these were meant to be blurbs. this one is not a blurb. i don't know what happened. also if there are typos shhh. also second part of my birthday event wooooo

cruore | saeyoung choi

warnings: blood/wounds, trauma, it's a hurt/comfort fic w saeyoung it is what it is y'know

word count: 1.9k

Sometimes, it can feel as though Saeyoung Choi is man meant be a painting—someone meant to be adorned in the grotesque shades of scarlet, azure, and violet that are only meant for those who dare test the limits of what life can be. He is covered in differing textures, scars that she cannot fully see now as he wraps himself tighter in his clothes, but ones that she knows lay beneath those layers, ones that she can see peak out from under the seams and the hems.

A bitter crimson now flows from his brow down to his jaw, and he does not dare meet her gaze, not as she gingerly raises a hand up to press at the wound, her touch interrupted by the raised skin of an old scar there.

Sometimes, it feels as though Saeyoung Choi is nothing more than messy watercolor—an outline that was meant to be followed that has now flown out past sketches and black pen. There is too much of him to contain, too much of him left to leak out from the barriers he’s set, even months after he’d sworn he’d take them down.

Of course, he doesn’t feel that way to her. Those are all his words, ones said in poetry or in the confidentiality that only the bloom of nightfall can bring.

Soap and water touch the wound, and he winces, his eyes scrunching and a breath searing past his teeth. He mumbles an apology, leans back into her touch; this is where her interpretation of Saeyoung Choi can begin.

He’s come home to her more times than she could ever wish to count, bloodied and beaten and begging for something of forgiveness as if there was anything he ever had to be forgiven for. She’s seen him collapse onto chairs and lean onto walls, a half-felt smile pressing into his cheeks as though he could hide how hurt he was through the weakest of facades. She’s held his weight against her, led him to their bathroom and helped him sit on the counter when walking made his head feel a little too light.

She’s seen the ways color has adorned his skin in the worst ways, and though she hates to see him like this, wishes to never press another bandage into his flesh, she knows part of his messy watercolor—the part that has broken past the original sketch—is the part that allows himself to come to her.

“I’m sorry,” He whispers again, as though any louder and he may bleed in darker hues than before.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” She replies, a sweetness in her voice that contrasts against the bitter feeling that pushes into his flesh, a softness in her touch against the bandages that lay just ahead of his temple.

“You shouldn’t be doing this.”

“And you should do it yourself?” She says, and although it hardly feels appropriate for the situation, there’s a familiar air of teasing that lays somewhere in her voice, one that makes Saeyoung’s lips perk into a hesitant smile. “You can hardly stand, babe.”

He doesn’t speak again, only bows his head further into himself. She can see the way his fingertips press into his own thigh, the way his jaw clenches and unclenches at the silence that settles into their little space.

She cleans a scratch on his cheekbone, a bruise and a scrape formed together into awful hatch marks amongst the wash of violet. He winces again beneath her, and an ache forms somewhere deep in her chest. By habit, an apology falls out of her own mouth, but as the words curl around the room, as the trill of her muttered voice creeps past both their ears, he leans into her—he pushes himself into her torso, and she’s so sure that he can feel an undeniable ache from the way his wounds press into her, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t even make a sound.

His name falls past her lips in a question, her hands now in his hair, her fingers careful against his scalp. She feels as he slips his hands around her waist, wrapping them closer together.

In this moment, it feels as though pieces of him have fallen apart into her hands, as though she can feel the hues of his hurt and his pain slipping through the cracks of her hands, seeping into the pieces of her skin that she’s left open to him (Which is every part. No matter how deeply 707 lays into him, no matter how many layers he’s left for her to uncover, there is nothing he would ever have to work for to know every part of her. It’s the only gift she can think of that may be good enough for him).

She knows the words that lay on his tongue. In the death of nightfall, he’s murmured them into her ears thinking she’d been long asleep—but that pull could never outweigh the wish to hear his every thought, and so she knows.

There is so much more you could do without me.

Something he’d said nearly five days ago, after they’d danced in the kitchen when she’d pulled him to his feet away from his desk, when she’d smiled into his chest as music filled their little kitchen.

I am forever indebted to you, and it will never be something I could repay. I can only wish for you to move to better things, for you to know how much you deserve, and that though I will always want to give it to you, I don’t know if I can.

A whisper after they’d gone for a drive, when they’d explored the fields and the stars and he’d told her of all the ways she’d made him better, and she’d only returned the favor. A night where dusk had fallen into his eyes and left him buried deep into her shoulder.

Why me?

Last night. He couldn’t bring himself to shower, had avoided any reflective surface they owned in this damn house. She’d blocked him from the mirror and undressed him, pulling him into the shower. She’d washed his hair and called him pretty and told him every good thought that had ever come into her mind—past and present.

And she’s sure that now, those words have found their way to crowd into his mind—a broken mosaic of doubt and hatred and hurt so deep into his flesh and his bone that she can’t tell where it begins and ends.

She wants to erase the sketch that was forced upon him, to create something new out of what he’s painted with himself over the years, to let his borders and barriers fall with the breath of morning air as though dusk had never fallen over his bruised and scarred body.

“Saeyoung,” She repeats, broken whispers forming through the cracks in her voice, “Doesn’t that hurt?”

He doesn’t reply, no shake of his head, not even a hum from somewhere deep in his throat, so she sinks lower until she can meet his gaze.

It’s the first time she’s been able to look him in the eyes that night. He’d been so careful about it up until this point, sure to keep his eyes hidden behind his lashes. Now, she can see everything so clearly in him, from the scar that rests above his brow to the way he can’t keep his gaze still on her, lets it flick over her face as though there would be something more for him to discover in her.

His face has become red, little blotches dotting across his cheeks and his forehead, and she knows it’s from how hard he had pressed into his bruises, from holding back a whine that had begged to settle into his throat.

He’s adorned himself in more colors, forced his skin to mold into the pieces he was given, allowed himself to be hurt because hell, what else has he been?

Loved. Something in her begs. He’s been loved.

Looking upon him, she knows she cannot take away his scars no matter how badly she wishes to erase them from where they lay on his flesh. She knows that every drop of blood is one that she can only attempt to bandage and heal, but it is not one she will be able to forever remove from his mind. Every bruise will never be the way it was before. She cannot love away the marks that rest on his skin.

But hurt is not the only thing that should ever define him.

“I love you,” She whispers, because there’s nothing else to say beyond that. She will love him until he doesn’t let her anymore, and then she will love him beyond that. She will love him until a last breath passes his lips, when crows feet have crossed the corners of his eyes because if he goes any sooner than that hell will whisper her name.

“I love you,” She repeats, and then again, until it is no longer the words that hold the meaning but the way her voice feels as it carries in her breath, and the way it meets him both by his ears and the way it hits his skin.

He doesn’t say it back to her, the words lost somewhere on his tongue, but he doesn’t have to. She knows by the way his lips purse and how his body lurches closer and closer to her with every moment that he means it too.

She lets him do as he wishes, so he curls into her once more, wraps himself so close to her that there is no separation between them. When he does speak, it’s a mess of languages that she doesn’t know, mumbled into her skin with the cracks of whispers.

Te amo in Spanish.

Je t’aime in French.

I love you in English.

Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, Cantonese, and then Korean.

She doesn’t need the translation for the ones she doesn’t know, she knows by his breath that they all mean the same. He doesn’t press his flesh into her like he had before, but he holds her as though there is nothing else left on this Earth that’s keeping him here. He holds onto her as though the stars have begged him to leave, and he wishes for nothing more than to touch the grass with her one last time.

He holds her like he knows, like he has heard every one of her thoughts, like another border has been erased before her very touch.

Sometimes, it seems as though Saeyoung Choi is a collection—a movement of pieces that leave different whispers creeping at her skull. But, all the same, each of them are him. No matter the medium, no matter how much the paint spills past the canvas or the how far the protruding pieces reach past the glass casing they’ve been settled in.

Sometimes, it seems as though Saeyoung Choi is not a singular painting, but many, and she can only hope to be there as the gallery grows.

[rinnntastic]

I was hoping for a Attack on Titan matchup! Sorry for any mistakes

Looks - I'm 5'6, afab, pale w/ freckles, I'm pretty thin and lanky, Brown hair w/ a red tint that goes to my collar bone. I have dark brown eyes, i always look tired. I have my ears pierced (2 on each) and a nose ring

Age - not a minor, but i don’t want any of the 104th unless you think i really match w/ one of them

Pronouns and Sexuality - They/She + Lesbian

Likes/Hobbies - I enjov drawing (mainly pencilsketches and watercolor) Coffee, Cats and Dogs,Indie and OOs + 90s rock. LOVE the rain and the cold. I love to read. I'm a book worm. Fall and Winter. the color forest green. Cuddling, Naps, Writing, At home dates. Being alone or being alone with my partner, Late nights. Love notes (giving and getting them), Crime shows, Romance Novels, Listening to music 24/7

Dislikes - The sun, summer, Not a fan of PDA, Going out, people being nosey when they don't now me,kids, Loud places,

Personality - I'm a INFP, i'm super sarcastic, I love to be alone, I'm pretty open with my opinions but not with my emotions, I'm caring but also a asshole at the same time. I'm a good person to vent to as I am told.

Thank youuu!!! Sorry if this super long 😭

A/N: I had a nose ring last summer but I took it out cause I got annoyed with it but now I want it back but I’m too scared because when I got it pierced it felt like someone punched me in the nose

For Attack on Titan I match you with…

Pieck Finger!

- The two of you give off similar vibes, I feel like Peick would be portrayed to be very similar to you in a modern AU

- You both love to take naps together, and spend a lot of time indoors watching movies and doing crafts

- This is probably so random, but the pair of you make me think of the color forrest green, like I can see you guys living in the woods in Oregon with a subaru(side note I love subarus im getting a new one soon 😎) and you would have a lot of dogs

[forffax]

1-5!

TY FESS!!! :]

1. Favorite game(s) in the series?

definitely explorers of sky, but super is a close second! the rescue team remake and gates are also very close to my heart sgdhzgs (pmd.... good)

2. Do you prefer the 2D or 3D games (in terms of style or the games in general)?

2D for sure! The sprites were so good and had so much charm.... although I do love the watercolor texture they put over the 3D models in the rescue team remake! I hope they do smthn similar if they ever remake explorers vdhgds

3. Which final boss and/or final dungeon do you like the most (whether from a narrative or gameplay perspective)?

mmmm my gut response is to say either temporal tower and primal dialga or the tree of life and dark matter... both had such intense energies as u climbed to the top, knowing that it was just u and ur partner left to keep the world from falling into ruin (or being thrown into the sun, in super's case sgdhsgs)! The dungeon themes in both also having two sections was so so cool to me, with a driving powerful theme in the first half and a calmer, more subdued theme as u got closer and closer to the top..... man.

4. What were your hero characters like before being turned into Pokemon? What did they look like and how were their lives? Do they ever recover any of their memories?

dvdbxvzvzhs I will admit. most of my hero characters are self inserts,, there's also one thats just an older oc but he got sucked into the pmd world (so did his bf, unbeknownst to both of them) dvdjshs

my psmd hero though was a cyndaquil named Felix, (and iirc super's whole thing was that ur hero and parter both had been reborn to finish the job of defeating dark matter) so he was probably just a fairly normal human teen (who kept getting reincarnated w/o his knowledge, just at the wrong times) who very suddenly got yoinked back to the pmd world (finally the right time to save the world)!

5. Which Pokemon from Gen 7-8 would you consider potential hero/partner starter options, outside of the regular Starter Pokemon?

hm! definitely rockruff, alolan meowth, and alolan vulpix from Gen 7, and probably nickit and yamper or wooloo from Gen 8! Applin would be cool too I think sghdgs

9. Are there any soundtracks you think are underrated or overlooked, or are there unused tracks you wish were in the game?

Am I allowed to say the entire gates ost bc. The entire gates ost. I know ppl don't like gates much (and I have some complaints abt it as well) but the ost RULES.

Also really like Mt. Horn from pmd2, and Fire Mounain Volcano from super!

10. Which ending do you like the most?

SUPER'S GUT PUNCH SWITCH HURTS SO GOOD.... every previous game is like "oh your hero can't stay in this world/has to dissappear" and even in game your character is preparing for that eventuality when suddenly nope! There goes your partner, disappearing into a ball of light and floating off into the sky </3 made me bawl when I got to it the first time

11. Any headcanons that take place after the games that you want to share?

I always love the idea of ur hero and partner becoming veteran explorers and helping/teaching new adventurers, particularly if they form a guild!

Also I think that for pmd2, dialga allows (infrequent) visits between the future trio and your hero/partner :] it wasn't goodbye forever!

12. If you could change one thing about your favorite game(s), what would it be?

FASTER TEXT SPEED FOR GATES PLEASE.... that's like the number one reason I don't replay it more zgdjdhzs... also expanded post game/better pacing for super would've made it probably my fav pmd game ever ngl

[sleevesareforlosers]

discussion group!

ok so you already knew i went as poison ivy but i want you to know about the shoes i wore because i didn’t post any pics of those they were bighuge black platform sneakers with these wraparound straps that were studded with silver spikes and red roses (like roses and thorns!! get it!!) and they were incredible

i made that truly godawful skirt but i guess some other things ive recently made were a bride of frankenstein themed epic kandi cuff, my halloween costume (!!) and uhhhh some terrible watercolor paintings for class. kind of running dry in the making things department i’m hoping once i get my class finals done i’ll have some time/energy back to make things that don’t suck <3

i don’t drink tea!!!!! i am a godless heathen who doesn’t drink tea OR coffee (im very very picky. #justautisticthings)

my favorite kind of fall weather is when it’s still a little warm and it’s bright & sunny with a pretty blue sky but there’s crunchy leaves everywhere and it’s got just the tiniest crisp bite in the air/wind so when you go to a pumpkin patch or fall festival or something you can wear a cute jacket with the sleeves rolled up and you can drink hot chocolate or cider and it feels fitting

anyways good luck with the essays i love you and thank you for the strip of lace and the crunchy leaf! i am handing you a strip of leftover black cord curtain trim from my black parade costume from two years ago and a handful of shiny beads and buttons that are shaped like old fashioned shoes

here is pretzel going very fast!

[ID: a picture of a medium sized golden curly-furred dog running and looking up at the camera with his tongue sticking out a tiny bit and his ears flopping behind him. he is right at the top of the image and the background (a paved path and grass with brown leaves on them) is blurry indicating that he is moving very fast. end ID]

!!! hello love!

YES ur costume looked so good and those shoes sound like they absolutely fucked oh my god??? i love that

oh !!!! thats SO much stuff and all sounds so cool hello?? the cuff sounds fucking breathtaking and im sure ur watercolours were awesome too!! fingers crossed for more motivation post-finals and also good luck w ur finals!!

askdfjh valid!! spiritually handing u a mug of hot chocolate

oh thats ALSO a good weather! i get those in spring more i think but its like. yeah thats a good vibe when it happens in october <3 had a shorts and croptop day yesterday which was insane but so nice

also ty!! gratefully accepting a little cording and some beads and buttons <3 AND a very fast pretzel!!!

[greatuncleoak]

my application to be your friend or partner, I guess

I am extremely lonely so if you wanna chat w me and think I’m fun please don’t hesitate to msg me here or on my insta! @ eggs_eggss   anyways,, onto the shit about me :) 

I will start with physical attributes and then go into personality :)

-Pronouns are he/they, I’m asexual and like all genders!

-18

-I am 5′6 and weigh appx 210 lbs

-I have hazel eyes that are more green than brown, three tattoos, and a man bun which I constantly am dying different colors

-I have been on T for appx 7 months

-I have size 2 gauges, a septum piercing and an eyebrow piercing

-I really like writing poetry, love letters and short stories

-I love painting with watercolor

-I enjoy creating OCs

-I love gardening and interior design

-I play Animal Crossing and Minecraft pretty much everyday

-My favorite colors are matcha green and mustard yellow

-I really enjoy history, archaeology and psychology

-Philosophy is a big passion of mine, though I rarely express that

-I collect stickers and stationary

-I listen to bands like 5SOS, Taylor Swift, Mother Mother, Florence + The Machine, Sleeping At Last, and Ricky Montgomery

-My favorite YouTubers are GMM (Rhett and Link), Unus Annus (Mark and Ethan individually as well), Kurtis Conner, Danny Gonzalez, Drew Gooden, Game Grumps, and SuperMega

-My favorite shows are Bob’s Burgers, American Horror Story, Gravity Falls and Adventure Time

-I really love horror movies

-My favorite kinds of books are fantasy or historical fiction; my favorite books/book series are Fablehaven, Percy Jackson, the Simon Snow series, Jackaby, and Montmorency

-I really love writing letters and would write you some!

*Friends can be any age!*

*My ideal partner is 17-19*

I’m from Kansas City and my time zone is CST and bonus points if that’s your time zone!! Even more bonus points if you’re within 3 hours of Kansas City!

please please reach out to me!

(Since tumblr doesn’t show dates,,,this was posted 9/17/20)

[jaideite]

Hey!How about bakugo and denki (maybe overhaul???) With an s/o that draws on themselfs all the time? thanks ❤❤

OVERHAUL I SCREAM YES

look at my non creative ass making this using the same excuse 😐 oh well

My first time writing for overhaul and I went a little overboard 00pS probably didn’t write him right but send me feedback if I did 😔👊

lmao I’m probably not doing any of this right pffft— 💀

anyways this is coming out on Christmas so I wanted to let you all know...MERRY CHRISTMAS and for those who don’t celebrate it HAPPY HOLIDAYS :D I love you all and thank you for helping this account grow!! ☺️🥰

BAKUGOU, KAMINARI AND OVERHAUL WITH A S/O WHO DRAWS ON THEMSELVES ALL THE TIME

KATSUKI BAKUGOU

— “Stop drawing on yourself idiot.”

— “Oh my god let me write that on my arm so I won’t forget.”

— he watches while you out of pettiness pull out your crayola markers and start doing some calligraphy on your arm in big warm letters saying “STOP DRAWING ON YOURSELF”

— you decorate it putting them dots all over it and add your hero symbol and smiled at him with “Thank you for the reminder, this is why I like you.” and keep it going

— he always tries to hide your pens and markers

— he would blow them up but he did that once and the ink spilled all over him

— you laughed at him after beating the mess out of him for touching your markers

— “My jiji bought those for me, baka!”

— “Y/N...get off me...your crushing my balls...and let go of my fucking leg—OW!”

— “You crushed my markers you mother—“

— he buys you new markers after patching himself up

— you inspect them with a glare “they aren’t my jiji’s limited edition watercolor markers but they’ll do.”

— he just twitches an eye but keeps it going

— jokes on you she bought them cause your jiji bought them from staples lmaoo

— “When you get sick no one is taking care of your bitch ass.”

— “Oh please my quirk isn’t going to make me sick.”

— “Your what—“

— You explain to him that when you draw on your skin it actually start to move and this is how you can plan out battle moves and he’s just

— “Hah. Lame ass quirk like it’s owner.”

— you know he got his shit rocked for that lmfaoo his stupid ass💀

— he can’t even get irked at you whenever you draw on yourself cause it’s your quirk damnit

— sometimes he likes to draw on you lol

— “Hypocrite.”

— “Shut, the fuck up.”

— you made sure to get your soft bakugou pictures in without him not

— it’s very therapeutic yknow you just sit in a t-shirt while he doodles on you and watches them come to life

— hes actually pretty good at it

— “Yeah shitty lady I’m good at everything.”

— “Apparently not cause if you were you’d be good at shutting the fuck up.”

— “OOP—“

— one time while you were getting ready to hop in the shower you happened to glance down at your calf and see an ‘I love you’ written inside a heart

— of course you took a picture of it

— of course you sent it to him

— of course he denies writing it but you know better

— “That’s not my fucking handwriting.”

DENKI KAMINARI

— look at bakagou i fell in love again UGH

— you guys are so bad omg

— like it’s terrible

— “Babe lets draw dicks on your arm.”

— “Absolutely.”

— “I don’t think I like where this is going.”

— honestly should have been the first warning

— he doesn’t really care about you doing it cause he sticks things into sockets

— you draw on your arm

— potato potato oh well not much y’all can do

— till one day he just gets curious as to why you draw on your arms so much and your just like

— “Kami do you not pay attention?”

— “Huh?”

— “Babe...it’s a part of my quirk.”

— poor pikachu is just 🥴??¿ but you just stare at him and put your quirk into motion

— you think it’s kind of lame but basically your skin is like paper and whatever you draw on it if you wish becomes reality

— he’s still confused until you just draw a detailed apple on your arm in record time and pick it up

— and he watches as it just peels off and becomes real

— and poor boy is shook

— “Here, eat it.”

— and he bites into it and just screams and drops it

— your just like poor apple

— “THATS REAL!”

— “Yep.”

— “Y/N THATS REAL!”

— “I know.”

— “ITS GOOD!”

— “Should have finished it.”

— “Y/N H-HOW—“

— “Kaminari wait—“

— “Y/N I’M WKDKWK—“

— “How the hell did you say that out loud—oh wait shit Kaminari don’t go stupid—“

— after this poor boy is so amazed at you

— “Draw me!”

— “Kaminari I can’t draw living things.”

— he gets so excited over it

— constantly shows off your drawing skills too

— “Look at what Y/N can draw! Isnt it so cool?”

— “Kaminari I love you but please baby stop showing me off.”

— he likes doodling on you lmaoo

— sometimes he draws the weirdest things while other times it’s cheesy pick up lines that you find yourself reading during a lecture

— he tried to make himself AirPods and they came out looking exactly like the drawing he drew

— he cried in the corner like an idiot while you sighed and Yayorozu patted you on the back and handed you a pair

— damn rich kids wksksk

— it isn’t until days later he comes up to you and asks whatever happened to the dicks he drew on your arm

— you just 🥴, pat his head and send him on his way lmfaooo

OVERHAUL

— ugh his name just gives me the shivers I love it

— also this is my first time writing for beak boy so don’t come after me oOP

— y/n are you out of your goddamn mind

— “Absolutely not.”

— “hUh?”

— the first time he catches you he just takes the markers

— he thinks drawing on your skin is a way of you dirtying it and that’s a big no no

— “You are making your skin dirty, and you know how I feel about dirty things.”

— “That’s not what I get when we’re behind the bedroom doors.” you mumble annoyed

— he just shoots you a look but hides them anyways

— you have to be cleaner than Mr. Clean himself you understand?

— and Mr. Clean is very clean there’s a reason why his head is so shiny and his clothes are so white

— so some time passed and you just continue on

— till you’re playing with Eri one day and she has markers and your just like 😶 cause those are your markers

— meaning one of his henchmen gave it to her due to her either being good or not being able to calm her down

— but either way it doesn’t matter because she’s happy and when she sees you her eyes red eyes just shine like rubies

— “Y/N, come draw with me!”

— so happily you give in and you guys are drawing

— until you uncap a marker and smirk

— “Wanna see something cool?”

— and Eri who doesn’t get to see much is absolutely happy with this and agrees immediately

— so you pull off your jacket and start doodling on yourself and as soon as your hand moves away the drawing on your skin practically comes to life

— it runs up your arm and jumps around and dances almost as if it were an animation

— and Eri is just mind blown lmfaooo she’s so curious to how you did it

— and your explain to her that your quirk allows you to animate the drawings on your skin but only on your skin

— it doesn’t matter because she thinks it’s the coolest thing in the world

— so you happily roll your pants up and let her doodle all over your exposed skin and your both having fun watching the animations move

— till Kai walks in on you both and it’s like tires screeching to stop

— at first he sees the markers and then his eyes go from the box to the paper to you laying on the floor with your clothes rolled up and Eri drawing on you

— poor girl is trembling on your leg

— and he’s about to say something when he just stops and watches the deer you drew run across your arm and hop underneath your sleeve

— your just like “oops 😬”

— but he just stares at you with an unreadable expression and just walks out the room and your just 😐 cause your just like “am I in trouble??”

— later when you guys are alone he just pulls up your sleeve and stares at the deer

— and it’s silent as he watches the deer jump and move around like it’s a normal animal

— your scared of what happens next but he just takes his glove off and gently touches where the deer is

— “Kai—“

— “It’s so real...”

— “Uh...yeah...”

— your just silent as his cold fingers brush against the deer until his eyes just move up to you

— “It’s...incredible. Just like you.”

— you turn scarlet at his words and move to pull away but he refuses to let you go, simply admiring the deer in the shadows of your bedroom

— and his touch is absolutely soothing

— so soothing you end up falling asleep looking into his eyes

— later on in the day your doing some cleaning when your sleeve goes up and you see a soft black heart on your shoulder and you smile softly at it

— “I love you too, Kai.”

[forestryfae]

small business tiktok is so fucking annoying half of them are like GENUINELY good businesses that sell stuff like homemade clay pins or stickers, clay tableware figurines, pots, etc. homemade watercolours or yarn of other art supplies, metalware and jewelry, glass, prints and canvas art, woodworking, clothes and other fabric products, soaps, etc. most of them also, while maybe not making The Worlds Most lno waste ecofriendly products atleast try to make their their packaging as low-waste and recycleable as they can, and the ones that are independent or self made are genuinely independent or have a small team of coworkers meanwhile, the other half and the most prominent parts of small business tiktok, not to mention the most WHINY and guilt tripping, we have resin and earring tiktok. first off, the fucking audios they use!!??? “PLEASE STOP SCROLLING!!!111!!11!! im just a small business, and tiktok is shadowbanning and hiding my videos so noone can see them ever :’((((( i know im just a small businesss and most people dont care about me at all :’(((( but itd mean the world to me if you liked, shared, and commented on my video 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 pwease? for me?? pweeeaaasseeee???? 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺” its worse than the fucking “like comment subscribe and turn on notifications” shit youtube creators are pulling. and the fucking way they talk and word it? its so fucking entitled and whiny

and its not just resin tiktok, its a very specific part of homemade jewelry tiktok ive decided to refer to as earring tiktok, because they primarily sell those. idk if they bulk buy their studs off of amazon or aliexpress or if they go to target or hobby lobby or whatever yall have in the us, but they then try to frame it like their design is an original one of a kind? i dont have a number on how many times ive seen a small business with a guilt trippy audio complain that noone wants to support or buy their items and then its like. a mini watercolor set or a rubber duck or a pair of cards from a cardstock they bought at dollar store, or some charm or premade stuff that is very obviously bulk-bought from aliexpress or some company that sells bowling alley gacha prices. like yeah theyre cool and they definitley dont sell those at H&M but its also not something id pay over 30 dollars plus shipping for, and not after that guilt trip. not that it wouldnt be hard to find another shop to buy fromt with the exact same or similar product. and then theres resin tiktok. ive seen youtube woodworkers who use resin to spice up their wooden tables, and ive heard about some people who put wedding bouquets or a late relatives ashes in resin to rpeserve them, and im onboard w that! that fuckin dope! but resin tiktok consists of resin coasters (STILL dont understand wtf coasters are good for just wash your table if you spill something), resin jewelry holders (yall ever heard of a jewery box??), resin nonfunctional guns? what???? resin combs (wooden combs? hello?) resin ashtrays and tableware which i am so mad about they need an entire post of their own, resin jewelry (which i can understand to a certain degree because i saw someone put resin on slices of fruit and make jewelry from which looked so tasty and absolutely amazing and i stll want to buy them because they were pretty and not just trendy), resin dice (acceptable as resin dice are used frequently and even if you get tired of them you can sell or give them away to other people instead of throwing them away, and there are people who collect them so theres an interest so if you get rid of them someone would want them, but there are still non-resin options as well which would be cool if people looked into too) starting off with the designs, just like w the earrings i talked abt, theres basically no originality. clear resin with some dried flowers and glitter, or witchy holographic stickers stuck into a mold, btw everyone uses the same 15 molds, i could go to any resin tikok and id find the exact same product and the only difference would be where they placed the flowers and what color it is. usually daisies. i love daisies but not like this. theres also that fucking stop scrolling🥺🥺🥺 audio, so thats fun. and a common issue between all these small businesses, and some jewelry businesses too, is the packaging. there is no need for those tiny cloth pouches. yes theyre pretty but what the hell are you supposed to use them  for after youve unpacked the stuff you bought? they last for like two weeks if you try to use them for ANYTHING else and they fray and fall apart instantly. then the pouch is put in a box or envelope with a ton of shredded paper, then the shredded paper and pouch is wrapped in a fucking silk paper sheet?? what??? thats so much! i bought vintage christmas ornaments\ off of etsy and it was wrapped in less shit than a pair of metal earrings! just put some shredded paper in an envelope, and put the jewelry in a paper envelope in that envelope. better yet, i saw a guy design a special envelope to put his stickers in. do that! anyways, my hot take of the day is basicallly i love small busniess tiktok but i could do without the guilt tripping ans SUPPORT ME!!!! and that resin is a waste. its plastic, its not biodegradeable, and im gonna make a post aout how much i hate ashtrays now

[paulisweeabootrash]

2020 mini-review pack

Di Gi Charat (1999)

Episodes watched: 7

Platform: VRV (Hidive)

Di Gi Charat (pronounced like “carrot”) is a series of fast-paced 4-ish-minute shorts nominally about Dejiko and Rabi-en-Rose, rivals trying to be Earth’s greatest idol.  Who are, respectively, a catgirl and a bunnygirl.  Oh, and also they’re aliens?  That’s... uh... certainly a premise, I guess.  The actual show consists of self-contained gag-filled episodes with no ongoing story, in almost a sitcom kind of way, throwing the characters into situations without context, but with a stable “baseline” situation (unlike, say, Pop Team Epic, where the characters serve more as stock personalities playing different roles in different sketches).  Dejiko is a snarky schemer.  Rabi-en-Rose is a snarky schemer whose main activity seems to be bothering Dejiko at work.  Puchiko is a small and quiet child and behaves accordingly.  And Gema is... something?  I have no clue, honestly, and neither does the fan wiki.  Other recurring characters fill stock roles such as “manager” and “otaku”.  A lot of the humor centers around poking fun at fandom.  It’s a show by, for, and about otaku from an era before our current internet culture, and since I’m a millennial and not from Japan, that makes it unusually hard to evaluate.

W/A/S: 8/2?/5?

Weeb: Chibis.  Catgirls.  Idols.  Kappas.  Kawaii verbal tics.  Akihabara.  Low-detail background characters who look like blobs or thumbs with faces.  Kanji left on-screen but untranslated.  Particular sorts of highly-exaggerated facial expressions we may have become familiar with through emoji, but which still haven’t made their way into American media generally.  This is ludicrously Japanese.

Ass: This really isn't that kind of show.  Although it is certainly designed for adults, as evidenced by the presence of phrases like “naughty doujinshi”.

Shit: The art is fun.  It has style shifts from comic strip to watercolor painting to mainstream 90s anime, and looks better than some of its contemporaries that were, uh, “real” shows.  The opening takes up about a quarter of the total runtime and gets annoying quickly (but that's because it’s clearly designed for being part of a broadcast block, not binge-watching).  Still, unless I’m missing hidden cleverness on account of not having the background knowledge, there’s not much to it.  It’s just okay.

-----

First Astronomical Velocity (band, active 2011-present)

Platform: Spotify, surprisingly

Okay, this one is a bit different, and I’m jettisoning the whole format for it.  Remember how I said the music-centered episodes of SoniAni were actually pretty good, even though the modeling-centered episodes were so offputting I never finished the show?  Well it turns out that First Astronomical Velocity, Sonico’s band, has released several IRL albums.  Physical copies may be a little hard to come by, but official uploads of a lot of their music can be found on Youtube and Spotify.  Do your musical interests include at least two of: string arrangements that would be at home in a particularly sappy movie soundtrack, 90s-00s alternative rock, synthesizer beep-boops, and that constricted cutesy Japanese women’s vocal style (you know the one I mean)?  Then this is for you.  They’re a pretty good... uh... alt-pop-rock band, I guess is what I’d call them.

-----

Interspecies Reviewers (2020)

Episodes watched: the entire 12-episode season

Platform: I plead the 5th.  But it’s getting a video release soon, so it will finally be legitimately available in English!

I started this year with a plot-light fanservicey animal-people show, and now I’m ending the year with... a plot-light fanservicey animal-people show.  But unlike Nekopara, this show had me cracking up, eagerly clicking “next episode”, and not complaining about the premise.  I’m sure a lot of people do have a problem with this show’s premise -- which centers almost entirely on various forms of sex work -- and I understand and respect that they will want to skip this show.

But for the rest of you: Interspecies Reviewers is a wildly-NSFW comedy about a group of fantasy world adventurers who gain fame and fortune reviewing brothels of different species.  I expected excessive nudity and fantasy tropes, but I didn’t expect to also get serious thoughts.  Like showing, in the golem and Magic Metropolis episodes, some of the unsettling problems that are looming IRL as deepfakes and sex robots are in development -- note especially the contrast between consensually and non-consensually basing automata on real people in those episodes.  Or the discussion in the last episode of how much riskier sex would be in a world without magic (i.e., ours).  This is a much smarter and more interesting show than you’d expect, considering that it has so much sexual content that it got dropped by two of the networks airing it and even its US distributor.

W/A/S: 5/10/4

Weeb: Although heavily influenced by the Western fantasy media canon of European mythology and Tolkien and tabletop RPGs, familiarity with the tropes of fantasy anime will help you “get” this too, as will familiarity with the -sigh- character dynamics and censorship practices of hentai.  Especially because it’s a comedy, there are probably also instances where I have completely missed topical references or wordplay that a Japanese person would get, but I can’t think of any specific instances right now of “there was clearly supposed to be a joke but I missed it”.

Ass: Look, this could not possibly have more sexual content without unambiguously becoming porn.  Genitals are (almost) always carefully hidden by viewing angle or conveniently-placed glowing (something lampshaded in one episode as an actual feature of one of the species they review), but otherwise, expect lots of nudity and almost nonstop crude humor.  Do not watch this with children.  Do not watch this with your parents.  Do not watch this with friends you don’t know well enough to know how they’ll react to something like this.

Shit: This show is better-made than it deserves to be.  It’s pretty dumb at points, but it’s fun enough to make up for it.  The art is consistent and pleasant, and the opening and ending themes are extremely fun, but it’s not a serious standout in any of those departments.  Also, I swear the background music is stock music, but I don’t remember what other show(s) I’ve heard it in before.

Stray thought: Crim is a precious and relatable cinnamon roll and I love them.

-----

OreSuki OVA (2020)

Platform: Crunchyroll

So, I know I didn’t cover the whole season in my initial review, but I still want to mention the hour-ish-long finale of this show, which was released straight to streaming.  Short version of the rest of the season: Joro starts to actually fall for Pansy, but a new challenger, Hose, appears.  He is irritatingly attractive and effortless at maintaining the right persona for the situation, leading Joro to describe him as “the main character”.  Hose is the sociopathic manipulator Joro wishes he could be, and Pansy, who has a bad past with him, clearly wants nothing more than for Joro to stand up to him.  But, since this is OreSuki, it’s not going to be handled simply.  No, instead, strap in for a grand finale of Joro and Hose competing in, and trying to manipulate through rules-lawyering, an absolutely ludicrous competition to win the right to date Pansy.  And, on top of it, we also get to finally see how Sun-chan got to be the way he is and what happened at that pivotal baseball game that set off the whole plot.  What has Joro learned from the experiences of the past season?  You’ll see!  And you’ll facepalm about it!

Really, you must watch this if you watched the regular season.

W/A/S: 6/5(!)/4ish

Weeb: Basically the same as I said before.  Gags referencing other Japanese media, anime and otherwise, and it's better if you’re familiar with the high school romcoms and harem comedies Joro thinks in terms of.

Ass (and slight content note): -sigh- Why does the camera need to be there?  Also, Joro, you just committed a little bit of sexual assault for the sake of this contest.  Stop.

Shit: I want to rate this overall better than I did the regular season because I think it’s an excellent finale overall because, even though it ends in a very “let’s leave everything unresolved” way that’s common in media that rely on absurd relationships to propel the plot, it does so in a way that makes sense in character.  I personally think it would’ve been stronger if it had, well, confirmed its title, and at least some of the other “challengers” had lost interest in Joro, but I guess they probably want a Season 2, since they have so much more source material to work from.  There are... oh god 14 light novels?!  That is too many.

-----

Your Name. (2016)

Platform: DVD

Two high schoolers -- small-town girl Mitsuha, from Itomori, and big-city boy Taki, from Tokyo -- find themselves in each other’s bodies for a day.  They both think at first it must be a very vivid dream, but when it happens again, and they start finding clues like notes they don’t remember writing and comments by friends and relatives about their out-of-character behavior, they realize the body swap is real.  This begins a relationship of mutual understanding that nobody else can really understand -- or would even believe (except Mitsuha’s grandmother, who is... familiar with this phenomenon) -- and the plot then pivots to a tense adventure where they use their connection, some crucial information Taki has, the skills of Mitsuha’s friends, and the intervention of Itomori’s patron deity, to save the town from an impending disaster.

And that’s all I’ll say about that, because I really do think this is something you should go into blind.  My only remaining comments are that (1) the red string of fate is critically important imagery, and is particularly interesting to me here because, if I took a particular scene correctly, Mitsuha made her own red string of fate from sheer necessity, which is a very different twist on that trope, and (2) I am now curious about the history of the body-swapping phenomenon in-universe.

W/A/S: 4?/2/2

Weeb: As mentioned above, symbolism of the Red String of Fate shows up throughout the movie, as do the occasional distinctly Japanese quirk like a wildly out-of-place vending machine or a café with dogs, and but for the most part it’s a cross-cultural story of understanding and dealing with someone else’s life, and of forming a connection other people don’t -- can’t -- truly understand, and to some extent of divides between urban and rural and modern and traditional that I think could play out in any country with just the local symbolism tweaked.  The significance and content of Shinto beliefs and practices depicted, particularly kuchikamizake, are made pretty explicit, so although foreign to the vast majority of the non-Japanese audience, I feel like this movie also has nearly no barrier to entry for people not familiar with the cultural context, so I don’t want to rate it very high on this scale.

Ass: Look.  It involves teenagers switching bodies.  What do you think they do?  Especially Taki?  But it’s played for laughs, not titillation.

Shit: This movie is beautiful and punched me in the feels and was very satisfying.  The closest I have to a complaint about any aspect of it is that the musical breaks that I guess are supposed to mark acts of the movie almost make it feel like binge-watching a short series instead of watching a single self-contained movie.

[timetot]

7/4/2020

happy 4th. here’s some tunes to drown out the fireworks.

my rules for this playlist:

mostly artists of color

only songs from the last decade, mostly 2016-2020. (only exception was American Idiot, no ‘fuck america’ playlist is complete w/o it)

genres: rap, punk, hip hop

content warnings: profanity; f-slur + n-slur (only sung by a bi man and black artists respectively); disease as a metaphor; themes of genocide, racism, and police brutality

tracklist, selected lyrics, and image description under cut

1. american dreams - flobots

the merits of the heretic is where the patriot lives

2. bumbling shithead fascists - guante & big cats

i pledge allegiance to red flags that teach us / when allegiance is mandatory it doesn’t mean much

3. americans - janelle monáe

die in church, live in jail / say her name, twice in hell / uncle sam kissed a man / jim crow jesus rose again

4. american attraction - anti-flag

there's no escaping the american attraction / a bait and switch that's gonna fill you with distraction

5. american idiot - green day

now everybody do the propaganda / and sing along to the age of paranoia

6. AMERIKKKAN IDOL - joey bada$$

sorry white Amerikkka but I'm about to black out / got a message for the world and I won't back out

7. the disease - anti-flag

misery loves the company / apathy is feeding the machine / carried in the heart of kings and queens / and we are the disease

8. quarantine - flobots

women children frontline, platinum melt it down / eyes dripping milk as they try to smoke us out

9. this is america - childish gambino

this is america / don't catch you slippin' now

10. burn one down - ursus minor, boots riley, m1, umi, d' de kabal, & spike

fuck it, damn it, light it / i ain’t trippin’ if a cop’s excited / even if we hear the siren sound / you and me finna burn one down / burn the flag

11. dancing in the light while the city still burns (phoenixes) - flobots

i am a sleeping giant / deep inside i want peace and quiet / when unheard I may speak in riots / when unhinged the country’s on fire / when unquenched the thirst brings empires / to their knees and unspins the spires

12. a pragmatist’s guide to revolution - guante & big cats

so this is for the ballot, the bullet, the bulletin and the boycott / for the hand to hand, and the door to door / more and more, it’s growin’ in popularity / we don’t say peace, we say solidarity

13. crazy, classic life - janelle monáe

we don't need another ruler / all of my friends are kings / i am not america's nightmare / i am the american dream

14. LAND OF THE FREE - joey bada$$

in the land of the free, is for the free loaders / leave us dead in the street then be your organ donors / they disorganized my people, made us all loners / still got the last names of our slave owners

15. freedom - beyoncé feat. kendrick lamar

open correctional gates in higher desert / open our mind as we cast away oppression / open the streets and watch our beliefs / and when they carve my name inside the concrete / i pray it forever reads / freedom!

[image id: Screenshot of a Spotify playlist. The playlist art is a collage of album covers. The cover for “Noenemies” by Flobots is in brown tones and features a giant decaying steampunk robot looming over a crowd of protestors. The cover for “War Balloons” by Guante & Big Cats is a watercolor piece of giant purple jellyfish in a starry sky. The cover of “Dirty Computer” by Janelle Monáe is a picture of the artist from the shoulders up. She is wearing a beaded veil over her face and a sun forms a halo behind her. The cover of “American Fall” by Anti-Flag is a picture of the oval office with a stack of cash in the shape of skull in front of the desk.

the playlist text reads

Title: 7/4/2020

Description: happy independence day. burn a flag. wear a mask. black lives matter.

Created by timetot. 15 songs, 1 hr. /end id]

[hakhub]

oh look I have Internet time to write some dumb answers no one cares about!

Art programs you have but don't use I have Pixaki growing dust bc I still haven’t taken the plunge into pixel art -_- also Rebelle Painter bc I don’t have a working desk or pc that can run it yet

Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even) Depends on the subject! Usually if a person has a hair part closer to one side, I prefer drawing them to the opposite (so the hair part is obscured or minimized). Others I prefer drawing forward.

What ideas come from when you were little “You know what this setting needs? More explosions.” IDK how to answer this really. I guess it’s just the philosophy of loving kabooms and actiony scenes?

Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw Guts. Anyone with a not Leiji Matsumoto noodle body. Anything my brain deems visually interesting (I am not a good artist).

Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself I used to be about 80%? I’m now about 50 to 60. I’m working on getting it up higher though :V

Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it) A lot of Akira Toriyama sneaks into my work even though I haven’t played every DQ game, and I’m not a huge Dragonball fan (although I did obviously watch it growing up!) Like both are fine and I totally comprehend the impact the guy has had on the art world but it has been years since I really obsessed over his art!

A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate Oil painting. Don’t understand it. Respect anyone that can do it, whether it’s digital or on canvas.

What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in I lost a lot of steam with something called Nomad. Need to work out a few gamebreaking issues and maybe I’ll pick it up again? There’s a lot of neat stuff in there but it seems to fall short when I look at it really hard.

What are your file name conventions I’m so boring now. Month-Day-Year. I very rarely name my drawings/bigger pieces nowadays.

Favorite piece of clothing to draw Jackets and pleated skirts.

Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what Could be music, could be white noise, could be podcast/long youtube video. For fun I’m right now in a phase of listening to Rory Gallagher’s early work.

Easiest part of body to draw Everything is hard. I don’t have a ton of variance myself but I do like eyebrows given how expressive they can be.

A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing Chiho Saito. Love dramatic Utena art. Always have. Would never draw in it.

Any favorite motifs Wingies. Warm tones. Spamming the multiply/add filters for cheap lighting lmao

Where do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth) Before I wrecked my knees, on a coffee table on the floor. Until I have a desk I’m stuck in bed. orz

Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing I like to think I’m a decent writer but I don’t have a lot of fun with it. There’s moments, but it also isn’t an activity I can do socially with others, which is why I like drawing more when I’m hanging out with people. With art specifically, apparently I’m good at making people be close together when I’m drawing couple stuff. It’s not fun though because it’s hard lol

Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what Water most of the time. Back in the days I could stay up late drawing I was frequently getting a little buzzed with whiskey or beer but nowadays I can only squeeze in draws early in the morning.

An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken I broke 2 whole pen+tablets from overuse. I have slain many ballpoint pens. I recently had to toss out some decent quality watercolor tubes because I was an idiot and didn’t screw on the caps tight enough (thanks 2017 me, you done gone ruined your paint).

Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.) Trees. So nature? I like pointy rocks too. I’m slowly working up a love of drawing guns.

Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy I’m gonna repeat myself from the last one and just say “closeness” and composition?? I struggle with comp a lot though, even if it’s the backbone of whatever it is you’re supposed to do.

Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways Super shoujoy stuff. Your typical Artstation mega polished portfolio. Super painterly stuff. I’m not hard to impress and I’m generally pretty easy going when it comes to critiquing other people’s work. If something’s not for me I don’t want to make a huge deal out of it.

What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any I have to stretch my legs and knees now if I’m gonna be seated or in some set position for more than a half hour now, so just the basics.

Do you use different layer modes Multiply and Add pretty much and that’s it. I sometimes have used other ones but I don’t rely on it as much nowadays (not to say anyone that does is bad or anything! I do things this way to help me learn grey values more).

Do your references include stock images They have. Also the typical great resources like Adorka Stock and related ilk.

Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by A friend told me my style reminded them of Ashita no Joe which is a HUGE honor tbh so I can’t possibly be offended by it lol When formulating my style tho? Didn’t even watch AnJ until like 2018 (the comment was from 2015)

What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended I’m lucky that this hasn’t happened to me before. I did however get a ton of attention on something I halfassed and then crickets on something I put my soul into tho. Several times!

Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with No. I wish I was one of those Cool People that could do Warmups for 2 hours before getting to art but I got maybe 2 hours a week to make the best of it so I have to get to whatever it is I got planned or I’ll never get to it lol.

Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines) I used to do weekly trades, and then monthly trades. I hope to get back into it soon. I’m not good enough for zines lol!

Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically Hmm you know, I think most things I’m super into more or less has found some way to influence my creative process. I guess JUST visually, I’m not super into Spartacus? (I’m super into the story and acting tho oiwjfowjegiao)

What piece of yours do you think is underrated For Art: This one :V (pls give it notes I am a sad little man that gets the zoomies when I see Tumblr notifs) and this one. For writing: this one’s cringe as hell but gdi it took 6 months to write and it’s full of my cringe, sweat and word vomit.

Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game

Didn't see a lot of artist ask games, wanted to make a silly one.

(I wrote this while sick out of my mind last year and it's been collecting dust in my drafts, I might as well let it run free) 1. Art programs you have but don't use

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

3. What ideas come from when you were little

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

9. What are your file name conventions

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

12. Easiest part of body to draw

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

14. Any favorite motifs

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

23. Do you use different layer modes

24. Do your references include stock images

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

[beetlejuwuce-archive]

Thaurens with 18, "Its late, shouldnt you be asleep?"

18. “It’s late, shouldn’t you be asleep?” w thaurens

babe. light of my life. dearest. i would die for you

send prompts!!!

~~

The music was blaring a little too loud from the art room for Thomas’s liking. He tossed and turned in the bed, trying to find the cause of said music, but of course, he was nowhere to be found. What a stupid thought. John always turns the music off before he crawls into bed with paint still on his arms and stains the bed sheets yet again with yellows and blues and oranges and whatnot. It was always frustrating to get out, but hey, that’s just what life is when you’re dating an artist.

What he didn’t know about dating an artist, though, was that they woke up in the middle of the night to try and work on a painting. He seemed to forget that fact when he signed up to be Laurens’s boyfriend, and then Laurens’s fiancé.

He could have sworn that John crawled in behind him at around eleven, wrapping himself around him like a sloth to a tree branch, mumbling something sleepily into his ear before snoring softly. It was endearing to a point, and maybe even helped him fall asleep. But the sloth that he knew was in his bed was no longer there, and the sheets were just barely warm.

Thomas sat up, blinking blearily around the room. It was dark, and it would normally be silent, save for the Queen music coming from down the hall and filtering in through the cracked door. They had taken a vacation to their home-away-from-home, and why Thomas let John paint during these vacations, Thomas would never know. Maybe it was the puppy eyes he got when John begged and protested that he should be allowed to convert a spare room to an art studio, in case something in the countryside piqued his fancy.

And Thomas supposed that that was what happened, then. Something had struck John in the middle of the night out of nowhere (as it often did) and forced him to get out of bed and start painting. It wasn’t abnormal, but nightly painting was usually a one-and-done deal with John. He paints till eleven-thirty and then clocks out.

Thomas felt around on the nightstand for his phone and grabbed it, blinking at the screen before grunting. He didn’t understand why John had decided to roll out of bed at the ungodly hour of four, but he was determined to tell him off for his music and tell him to come back to bed.

He rolled out of bed and slid into his slippers and a robe, pushing his glasses up onto his nose before walking out and squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light in the hallway. He walked down the hall, looking around at the different paintings the two of them had made over the years.

They both had an affinity for art, so they either made it themselves or bought it at auctions or in random places to support people like John. Usually those artists return the favor from commissioning John on Etsy.

Most of the paintings were of sunsets or fields or dogs John wished he owned, and likewise, paintings of cats Thomas wished he owned. The two of them were polar opposites of each other, and that’s what made them so attracted to each other; John was loud, a fire, a dog person and a night owl. Thomas was more collected, calculated and methodical, while also being a cat person and an early bird. Their opposite habits really made them the poster couple for that silly old saying, ‘Opposites attract!’ and that is what drew Thomas towards John. That, and he was fantastic in bed.

Thomas, caught up in his reminiscing about their relationship over the last four or so years, didn’t quite recognize that he was leaning tiredly against the doorway of John’s art room until the music paused and John was smiling at him from over a canvas. “Tom,” he practically whispered, seeing as Thomas was far away in dreamland at the moment, “it’s late, shouldn’t you be asleep?”

Thomas blinked at him for a few moments before smiling at him dreamily. “I woke up to the sweet sounds of Freddie Mercury yelling down the hallway about his bicycle.”

“Was it that loud?” John huffed a little and fiddled with the volume on his phone. “Sorry. I really didn’t mean to wake you, Tom, but I had this dream about-”

“Jack, as much as I would love to hear about your mind’s exploration of another galaxy, I really am exhausted. I need you to come back to bed.”

“Aww, Tom can’t get any sleep without me, huh?” John laughed and dropped a paintbrush into a mug labeled ‘paint water’ in calligraphy, because God knows how many times he’s confused the paint water for his coffee. “It’s alright, I”ll just tell you in the morning about it.”

“You’re doing watercolor? I thought you hated watercolor.”

“I do, but the only way to get better is to practice, right?” John smiled at him as he wiped his hands off on a dirty rag, and Thomas smiled at him more. “I suppose that’s true.”

“It is. It’s all everyone’s drilled into my head since I picked up a paintbrush.” The word ‘everyone’ in that sentence had a star next to it, due to its exception, but neither of them paid mind to said exception. They were both a little too tired to reminisce about that sort of thing.

“Oh, whatever,” Thomas yawned, reaching to grab for John’s hand, “just come back to bed with me. You owe me one for waking me up like this.”

John grinned at him as he grabbed his hand. “I’m sure that can be arranged.” He waggled his eyebrows at him, and Thomas slapped his arm before dragging him down the hall. “Tomorrow, Jack. Now it’s bedtime.”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say, Tom.”

The life really couldn’t get any better.