#I need to change the size of the actual explosion

[aerofbreath]

Prologue - How It Started

Currently 3 years since the Accident, 4 years from the present day.

To be honest, Danny thought that the big reveal with his parents would have turned out badly. Especially since they keep on proclaiming how they plan on ripping every ghost apart “molecule by molecule”. Of course, there were a lot of uncertainties at first, but that's kind of what he gets for literally keeping his parents in the dark for 3 whole years. But, again, it's not exactly Danny's fault. There were plenty of talks and definitely multiple hours of reeducation and, who can't forget to mention, an ungodly amount of conversations on what or what not to say to a ghost.

Overall, this turned out to be the Best Case Scenario. By the end of it all, Danny's parents greeted him with open arms. Life was amazing knowing that all his fears were mostly for nothing. Key word is “mostly”.

In the three years that Danny hadn't told them about his ghost half, his parents, without any better judgement, agreed to have a strategic partnership with the Ghost Investigation Ward. Fentonworks would supply the GIW with weapons and research while the GIW actually goes out and enacts “the law”. What a stupid fucking law. Within a year of partnering with each other, Fentonworks easily became the GIW's top suppliers in anything EctoBiology. So when the meeting came to suddenly withdraw from supply raised some major red flags in the GIW.

To be honest, it took the entire Fenton Family by surprise. After spending weeks just struggling to break free from the GIW's hold, it wasn't long until they also find out about Danny's Halfa status. He knows it wasn't his parent's fault in this case. The GIW literally came in while Danny was out on patrol with weapons that no Fenton was able to identify and literally shot Danny down to the point of detransforming. They should've expected it, but they still weren't fast enough as they watched Danny being taken away. Although not officially, the GIW had declared war with the Fentons (and by extension, the entirety of the Infinite Realms).

Many ghosts from Danny's council (“You mean to tell me that my little boy is the King of the Dead?!”) stood by the Fenton's side as they fought tooth and nail for Danny's safe return. Sam, Tucker, Ellie, and hell- Even Vlad fought hard for Danny to come home safe. And he did… for the most part.

Although (half) alive, Danny was found battered and beaten with an ugly Y scarring his chest. Some were horrified and some were sad but even Danny knew that everyone was pissed.

Everyone who was there on the rescue mission and even some additional people that Danny didn't expect to join were on a warpath to make things right. And by that, they mean destroy everything that the GIW has ever had. Databases were cleared and/or destroyed. People were killed (a mother's rage is just a whole different breed) and many bones were broken. Not anyone important, mind you, but it’s still an uncomfortable amount.

Despite everyone Danny ever loves running on just pure adrenaline and rage, they almost lost. After almost burning all of the GIW to the ground, everyone beloved to Danny had collectively decided that in order for the GIW to never get a hold of ghost kind, they will need to destroy everything. Everything that the adult Fentons had worked hard for and everything they had built and rebuilt. They all had to go.

His family and friends gave Danny everything he would need to survive. Photos of them. Flash drives of everything the Fenton's have ever created. Food. Clothes. Everything.

Danny continues screaming why but their only responses were that they just couldn't join him. They said that they don't know how much longer they can continue to hold back. He wasn't safe, they said to him. Be happy, they said. They’re sorry, they said. They love him, they said.

Danny continued to thrash around in his parent's hold as they forced him through the portal, ghosts from Danny's council waiting on the other side. As soon as he fully made it through the portal, it closed with a horrifying boom. An explosion.

The Young King screamed in terror, trying to force himself away from the hold of his council. He had to revert back to his human form in order to break free from the ghost's hold. There wasn't a lot that his council could do at this point anyway since they couldn't touch him. All they could do was watch their distraught king cry and scream as he watched his family abandon him in sacrifice.

Danny knew that he wasn't thinking clearly. Once he was able to calm down from his breakdown, only then did he remember that he's the Fucking King. Ever since he took up the throne, he's been training to get stronger. Although not currently at his best, he can still do what he needs to do. With hands burning bright with green, almost greener than the Realms surrounding everyone, Danny clawed at the air around him, tearing a temporary portal in front of him. Thanks to Wulf, Danny's been able to create portals on his own. There's a lot of work to be done, but for now, it works.

He knows that making portals can vary. You will need to know the exact coordinates in the Human Realm and with math and dividing stuff, you will be able to teleport to the exact location you want from the Infinite Realms to the Human Realm. The best thing in this current scenario, Danny didn't stray far from where he was thrown in, so he can easily make it back home whenever he wants to.

The thing is…

There just wasn't anything here.

Maybe Danny got it wrong? Maybe he actually did move. He looked back through the portal where his council stayed, all of them giving him sad looks. No… This isn't right! He's got to be at the wrong place, he's sure of it! After all, Amity Park had buildings and trees and- and people.

This place had a fucking crater.

“Why…?” Danny then said, floating down in disbelief. When he opened the temporary portal, it was supposed to be ground level. He should have been able to literally step out of the portal and touch ground. Instead, he floated down at least a good few meters (that’s a few meters too many) before he found solid footing in the center.

From what he can see, this crater goes on for miles. At first, he thinks that maybe he's just in the wrong universe? Or maybe the wrong timeline??? But no, the more he looks, the more he can recognize from whatever's left. The sky still looks the same and there's a very specific smell in the air because of the Nasty Burger that once stood. He can continue looking down the crater for maybe miles- It's not really, but it sure feels like it- and he can, unfortunately, recognize the god awful “Welcome to Amity Park!” sign. Although literally hanging by a thread, that seems to be the only thing that survived the blow. Whatever blew up here wiped out the whole town.

Wait.

No.

No no no.

Danny widened his eyes, bolting into the sky. For at least a mile up from the ground is the temporary portal. That shouldn't be right. Whenever he made the temporary portal, he made sure that it would open back up in his basement. That way, he can be able to help out his family if he needs to. By at least a 10 mile radius, there is just nothing surrounding the area.

Danny shook his head, now floating in front of the temporary portal. He is in pure disbelief as his thoughts started to form in his head, connecting the dots together. The Portal was the catalyst for this event. Most likely what happened was that when the Fenton's threw Danny through the original portal, they had set it to self-destruct taking everything and everyone with it. The Portal killed everyone who ever lived in this horrible town. His horrible town. His haunt.

Once the Poor King came to the realization, the air around him started to chill. The ghosts watching him can see the portal waver before it started to freeze over. They can see Danny curl in on himself as the ice begins to form on his person. It was only then that a few ghosts have started to make an effort to keep Danny from hurting himself. Unfortunately, it was all for naught as they were blown back through the portal once Danny let out the horrible wait he dreads so much. There was something odd about the way he wailed but he didn't dwell on it much further. It shook everyone to the core as he wailed his heart out, mourning the loss of everyone he ever cared for.

From after that point was a blur. Using the Ghostly Wail drains Danny to the point of detransforming. Danny fell from the sky before strong arms decided to catch him lest he break his head open on the ground. There was a bit of an argument that had happened before Danny regained his strength to retransform unconsciously and he  could reawaken if he wanted to but he can feel Nocturn's powers soothe him back to sleep, dreaming of people now gone from his life.

Many ghosts from afar came to Danny���s  need, also mourning the loss of his haunt. Pandora  probably had helped carry him back through the portal that he made. Someone else- Ember and Skulker maybe- held on to Danny's floating items for fear that some ghost would take it. Nocturn- most likely- led the poor soul towards The King's Castle where Clockwork awaited with a sad smile. Danny will know that although Clockwork knew all that was to happen, he couldn't do anything about it as it was meant to happen. He knows that Clockwork wants to say more, but he decided not to press on further knowing that he will never get that Ancient to talk. He'll realize much later that he will just need to trust Clockwork’s judgement since he knows that he would never do anything that will hurt Danny and therefore the timeline.

Not all timelines ended up the way it did, but this was the timeline that will lead to Danny's eternal happiness. For now, it will feel like he drew the short straw.

For the next few weeks, Danny mourned. Mourned the loss of his parents. He mourned the loss of his precious sister Jazz and his beloved friends Sam and Tucker. He even mourned the loss of Vlad, hilarious enough, because after so many weeks of being the Realms, that awful man still has yet to show up. He could only assume that he died too. He mourned the loss of his mirror twin. He doesn’t know where she is, but there was no way he could get in contact with her. Not without a home to return to. Not when the GIW are still out there, probably, hunting them down like animals. It would be safer for Ellie to not come in contact.

Eventually, that miserable feeling numbed down. Although having been dealt the worst card, he still had his Kingly duties to do. Duties to focus on instead of being infected with fear and grief.

For years, Danny decided to pour out his half life and soul to the beings of this infinite land. Making sure that everyone here stay loved and seen. They will all receive the care they all deserve so that they may live their afterlife in peace. Of course, there are those who are against him that anyone as kind as him is sure to fall. But they were easily proven wrong. For those who oppose him will understand why he is the King. They all fear him as they all love him. Because of that, it’s changed him. No longer was he the scared and scrawny Danny Fenton. No longer was he the baby ghost of Danny Phantom. He is now just The Phantom. The Phantom, Ruler of the Dead.

Prince of the Sky and Stars.

King of the Infinite Realms.

(This is not the horrible rough draft that I was talking about! This first chapter is maybe the actual complete first chapter (prologue)! If anyone wants, I can post the general plot in another post! Okay bye!)

[hotshotsxyz]

Hiii Abbie 💕💕💕

Buddie + “ i didn’t know where else to go. “

-❤️🪐

(buddie) (1.5k) eddie's pov before and after the events of this fic written for the same prompt! (technically i only used the line in the first one but oh well lol)

cw: vague description of a very bad car accident

Eddie doesn’t make a habit of watching the news. It’s depressing as hell, he runs the risk of seeing Taylor fucking Kelly on his TV, and if something he actually needs to know about is going on, he’ll hear it from Buck some time in the next few days anyway. All that to say, Eddie isn’t watching the news; he’s just flipping through the channels.

“Pick me, choose me!” Meredith Grey is saying in a rerun of Grey’s Anatomy.

click

“—low pressure system moving in from the north,” a meteorologist says on The Weather Channel.

click

“Alright boys, saddle up!” says the captain on that crappy network firefighter show.

click

“—multi-car pile-up on the 405. It’s unclear if—”

click

“—raw dough. It’s such a shame—”

click

“—urging drivers to avoid—”

click

“—looking for a loft in the city, while Jennifer would prefer—”

click

“—unclear if there are any survivors of the initial crash.”

Eddie puts the remote down. He doesn’t make a habit of watching the news, but every once in a while, something catches his attention.

The image on the screen is an aerial shot of a massive, burning multicar pile-up. The 136 is on scene, but they can’t have been there long if the size and ferocity of the fire is anything to go by.

“—compounded by the explosion of a tanker carrying gasoline—”

Eddie winces. They’re going to be there all night if they don’t get more companies on scene. He reaches for the remote at the same time as the shot switches from the aerial to a reporter on the ground. She’s not what stops him from changing the channel. The crushed and smoldering Jeep behind her is.

And it’s—there’ve got to be a thousand silver Jeeps in Los Angeles. And Buck wouldn’t—why would he even be on the 405? So obviously it’s not Buck’s Jeep, even if it is the same color and probably year. It’s just a shitty little coincidence.

An unpleasant pressure begins to build in Eddie’s chest.

He’ll just—it’s not late. He doesn’t even have to tell Buck why he’s calling. Eddie scoops his phone off the table, navigates to his favorites, and taps Buck’s name. The call goes straight to voicemail. Eddie frowns and taps his name again. He gets the same result.

“—and rescue is under way, but I’m being told that until the fire is contained—”

Buck’s phone is dead, probably. Or—or he took Jee to that movie he was talking about so he had to turn it off. That’s—he’s sure that’s it. Eddie rubs at his sternum and stands. He’s just… feeling a little paranoid.

He calls Maddie. She answers on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Maddie,” Eddie says, brushing a hand across the back of his neck. “It’s Eddie.”

“Uh, hey,” Maddie says. “Is everything okay?”

Eddie winces. “Yeah, I think so. I was just wondering if you’ve talked to Buck tonight.” He’s being ridiculous. Buck’s fine.

“No,” Maddie says, obvious confusion in her tone. “Why, did something happen?”

“No, no,” Eddie says. “I just haven’t been able to get ahold of him.”

Maddie hums thoughtfully. “He might’ve had a dental appointment earlier,” she says.

“Okay, thanks,” Eddie says. “I’ll probably just swing by the loft then.” There’s a pit in his stomach. Buck’s fine. At worst he has a cavity or two. He’s fine.

“Oh!” Maddie exclaims. “Hold on, let me check his location; I’ll save you the trip if he’s not there.”

Eddie pinches the bridge of his nose. Duh. He has Buck’s location too. He didn’t even need to bother Maddie with—

“Nope, sorry,” she says.

Eddie takes a breath. He’s fine. Buck’s fine. “Maddie,” he says slowly, “where is he?”

“Um, as of twenty-eight minutes ago, looks like he was driving through Culver City, on the 405, I think,” she replies. “Eddie, what’s going on?”

“Oh god,” he breathes. He can feel the blood draining from his face.

“Eddie?” Maddie asks. She’s starting to sound worried.

On the TV, the camera zooms in and pans across the wreckage. It reaches the Jeep. Hanging from the rearview mirror is a bigfoot air freshener that looks exactly like the one Chimney gave him as a joke a few months ago. It’s—

It’s Buck’s Jeep. He’s fine. He has to be fine.

“—understand that search and rescue efforts are underway, but as of right now, no additional survivors have been located.”

He could be dead.

Eddie’s knees give out beneath him. He lands heavily on the couch.

“Don’t turn on the news,” he says.

“What? Why?” Maddie asks.

“There was an accident on the 405,” Eddie replies mechanically. “I think it might be bad.”

On the other end of the line, Maddie sucks in a sharp breath. “Eddie—”

“It’s his Jeep,” Eddie says.

He’s okay.

He has to be okay.

He’s not okay.

He could be dead.

“I have to call Bobby,” Eddie realizes aloud. “He can—he can get in touch with IC.”

“Okay,” Maddie says shakily. “Okay. I’m going to call Sue. Maybe she—” Maddie cuts herself off with something like a gasp.

“I’ll call you when—” if “—I get ahold of him,” Eddie promises.

“Same,” Maddie replies.

They end the call without a goodbye.

Eddie tries Buck again, just in case. He doesn’t answer.

He can’t—

Buck has to be okay.

He has to.

Eddie takes a steeling breath and calls Bobby.

…

Eddie’s crawling out of his skin. The captain of the 136 has him on hold, and that’s already more than he’s obligated to do but—

But it’s Buck and Eddie’s fucking terrified.

The longer he waits, the farther afield his imagination goes.

He’s got a broken leg and a concussion; they’re taking him to Cedars-Sinai.

He wasn’t conscious when we found him. They’re airlifting him to UCLA.

I’m sorry, Diaz. He was DOA.

Eddie paces back and forth and tugs at his hair. He needs to do something, anything! He needs—

Flashing blue and red lights filter in through the window.

He’s dead.

He’s dead, and this time Eddie wasn’t there to coax him back.

He’s dead and they sent an officer to tell him in person and Eddie’s never going to catch his breath because Buck’s the one that taught him how to breathe after—

There’s a knock at the door.

He can’t do this. Eddie can’t do this. He can’t—

How is he supposed to go to work without Buck? How’s he supposed to tell Christopher? How is he ever going to get up in the morning again? How is his heart supposed to keep beating in a world devoid of Evan Buckley?

He opens the door.

His phone clatters to the floor.

“Buck,” he sobs.

…

Eddie watches the slow rise and fall of Buck’s bruised chest as he sleeps.

He’s alive.

He’s okay.

He’s got tangible proof right in front of him, but—

Eddie reaches out and brushes an errant curl from his forehead.

Buck is alive and breathing and sleeping in Eddie’s bed and he’s okay. But Eddie—

He rests his palm on Buck’s sternum and counts each inhale.

Buck’s here. He’s fine. Maddie knows and Bobby knows and Eddie’s got the living proof right in front of him, but—

Eddie shuffles a little closer until the heat of Buck’s skin is overwhelming against his own. He hooks his chin onto Buck’s shoulder and tries to memorize the strange shadows and highlights that are painted on his skin by the light of the moon.

He’s alive.

He’s alive.

He could’ve—

Eddie squeezes his eyes shut and shudders.

Buck’s alive and he’s right here, but Eddie can’t quite escape the moment when he was certain neither of those things would ever be true again. His breathing goes a little ragged, and his hands curl into fists.

“Eds?” Buck mumbles, eyes still closed.

Eddie lets out a shaky breath. “M’sorry, go back to sleep,” he whispers. The words are sticky and thick in his throat.

A small furrow etches itself between Buck’s brows. Eddie smooths it with his thumb. He drags his gaze back down Buck’s face and finds his eyes open and fixed on him.

“Eddie,” he whispers in the dark.

He takes a deep breath. “I’m fine,” he lies.

Buck frowns. He watches Eddie for a long moment, then something in his expression shifts. “Switch sides with me,” he says.

Eddie blinks. “What?”

Buck huffs a soft breath. “Just—trust me?”

And oh, Eddie does. He carefully climbs over Buck, who shuffles to his right to give Eddie more room.

“Okay?” he asks quietly.

“Almost,” Buck replies.

He pulls Eddie flush against him and guides his head down onto his chest. Beneath him, Buck’s heart beats strong and steady.

“Oh,” Eddie exhales.

Buck runs his hand through Eddie’s hair and down his back.

Eddie closes his eyes and finally, he sleeps.

[hazymoonlinh]

Could you pls make a Part 2 of your recent Mydei fic pls?

- 🌹 Anon

“A scientific method of falling in love.” — Part 2

Save me…I have to go to school again soon…

(Mydei x Researcher!Reader | Soulmate AU — Continuation)

Amphoreus was chaos incarnate.

At least, that’s what she thought the moment Mydei dragged—no, retrieved—her from the sterile halls of Herta’s Space Station to this blazing, unpredictable world. Gone were the cool, metallic walls and quiet hums of data processors. Here, the very ground pulsed with heat, ancient structures carved from white stone rising like the spines of some slumbering beast. The air was thick, charged with an energy that felt both sacred and volatile.

And standing at the center of it all, with that insufferably smug grin, was Mydei.

“Welcome to Amphoreus,” he announced, arms outstretched as if unveiling a masterpiece. “Not actually my domain. But, a world carved by strife, where the strong thrive and the weak learn their place.”

She blinked, unimpressed. “…It’s hot.”

Mydei’s grin faltered for a split second before he leaned in, his sharp, lion-like eyes gleaming with amusement. “You’re hot.”

She didn’t even flinch. “That’s a biological response to the temperature.”

He exhaled through his nose, both irritated and intrigued. How was she this unaffected? Soulmates were supposed to feel something—some undeniable pull, some sense of belonging. But here she was, treating him like an experiment under a microscope.

“Well,” he said, straightening up, “you’ll warm up to me eventually.”

“…Because of the heat?”

Mydei groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “No. Because I’m irresistible.”

She merely adjusted her data pad, tapping away as if he weren’t even there.

Day 1 — The “Trial Run” Begins

Mydei’s version of a “trial run” consisted of throwing her into the most ridiculous situations.

“You need to observe me in my natural environment,” he insisted, dragging her to an fighting pit filled with roaring crowds and warriors twice her size.

She stood there, arms crossed, as Mydei leapt into the arena, his fists wrapped in crimson crystal, radiating power with every blow. The crowd chanted his name, his movements fluid and precise—a deadly dance of strength and skill.

After effortlessly defeating his opponent, he turned to her, chest heaving, sweat glistening on his skin, and grinned. “Impressed yet?”

She glanced down at her data pad. “Your footwork could be optimized by shifting your center of gravity two degrees to the left. Otherwise, predictable.”

Mydei’s eye twitched. “Predictable?”

She nodded. “I could simulate the same outcome with 87% accuracy.”

He jumped out of the ring, storming toward her. “Oh yeah? How about I simulate carrying you again?”

She stepped back, unfazed. “Physical threats aren’t persuasive.”

Mydei leaned in, his grin sharp. “Not a threat. A promise.”

Day 3 — The Cracks Appear

Despite his frustration, Mydei couldn’t help but notice the small changes.

She’d stopped calling their bond “irrelevant.” She still analyzed everything, sure—but there were moments when she’d pause, her gaze lingering on him just a little too long. Like when he laughed—really laughed—after she unintentionally made a joke without realizing it.

Or the time he shielded her from an unexpected explosion during a mission, his arm wrapping around her instinctively. She didn’t push him away. She just… stared.

“Why did you do that?” she asked quietly afterward.

“Because you’re mine,” he replied without hesitation.

She didn’t argue.

Day 5 — The Breaking Point

They stood atop one of Amphoreus’s highest cliffs, the horizon bathed in shades of crimson and gold as the twin suns dipped below the jagged landscape. The wind was fierce, whipping through Mydei’s wild hair and tugging at her pristine uniform.

She was silent, staring out at the view. Mydei watched her, his heart—yes, heart—thundering in his chest.

“Do you still think fate is irrelevant?” he asked quietly.

She didn’t answer.

He stepped closer, his voice softer this time. “Tell me the truth.”

Finally, she turned to him, her expression unreadable. “I don’t know.”

It wasn’t the cold, dismissive response he expected. It was… honest. Vulnerable.

Mydei reached out, gently brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. His fingers lingered, warm against her cool skin. “You don’t have to know.” His voice was low, rough around the edges. “You just have to feel it.”

She stared at him, and for once, there was no data pad between them. No calculations. No logic. Just… them.

And then, in the quiet space between words, she whispered, “I think I do.”

Mydei didn’t grin this time. He just closed the distance, his forehead resting against hers, a rare softness in his fierce gaze.

“You’re mine,” he murmured. “No more running.”

This time, she didn’t argue.

(This idea is really nice)

[logorrhea5mip]

As you might know, the sky is due to get a new star any time now, in a few months at most.

What is happening? The recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis, by far the brightest one known, is a star* in the northern constellation Corona Borealis that, once every 80 years or so, increases in brightness from completely invisible by naked eye to among the ~100 brightest in the night sky. This increase is called a nova, from the Latin word for new, as it looks like a new star has appeared.

Where can i see it from? Basically all human inhabited latitudes, all except the far south. In the northern latitudes, however it is visible the entire night, while near and below the equator you will need to 'catch' it at the right time of night, which in August and September is just after sunset.

How will it look? Let's not get your hopes up too high. It will, at the brightest, reach a magnitude around 2 at most, so about as bright as the north star, relatively unremarkable and completely unnoticeable as unique to someone who doesn't know where to look. But still, it's the most visible sudden change to the relatively fixed pattern of the heavens any of us will live to see, so you should still go give it a look.

Where is it? Currently, the constellation is best visible about 1 or 2 hours after sunset. You will need to be relatively far away from light pollution, so at least a couple dozen stars are clearly visible. While learning the constellations, and finding the star by orienting via those is imho half the fun, you could use one of many sky map apps and websites to tell you the star's location. If it didn't happen yet, there should be nothing visible at that location. However, if there is, congrats! You just did an astronomy™ :3

It will appear in the circle next to the star labeled ε

Why is this happening? Most stars spend most of their lives in a stable, hydrogen fusing state. However, when hydrogen in their cores begins to run out, they switch to helium fusion, which makes them swell up to enormous sizes, turn red due to lower surface temperature, and are thus called red giants. After this helium runs out, the star will (in most cases) throw off the inflated outer layers, while its hot, dense core shrinks and keeps on glowing due to how hot it is, while not actually doing any fusion and not producing any new energy. Those are called white dwarfs, and because they don't fuse, aren't technically stars at all, therefore the asterisk in the first sentence of this post. The T-CrBo system is a red giant and white dwarf binary, where the red giant has grown so big, that the parts of it closest to its partner aren't gravitationally bound to it anymore. Therefore, the gas falls and accumulates on the white dwarf's surface (which otherwise has no hydrogen on its own), untill a critical point is reached where the pressure of the gas causes it to all fuse at once, resulting in a huge thermonuclear explosion bright enough to be seen from over 2500 light years. The explosion however, isn't big enough to blow the dwarf apart, and it starts accumulating new matter from its partner right away. Because of this, it with re-explodes every 8 decades, and it is due to go any day now.

@green-mountain-goose @brightgreendandelions

[thesnakeoutsider]

The Wedding | Bark and Bite 2 of 15

Hello again @scientificallywrongsoap , lil beans and random people that found this on their feed.

This is the second illustration for the wedding of our lovely murderous boys. As some of you know I have plans for other pieces that involves churches and a party. And I have space to fill so I need your help.

If any of you has an OC (original character) or a “sona” / persona that you use to appear on line, no matter the fandom. And you want to be in the background of the next pieces, means to this the ceremony and the party, please send the references to my inbox! I already have a few but I need more. I have big ass space to fill.

EDIT 19/01/25 if you are a writer and you don’t have your character or your sona in pictures or drawings you can send me a reference made with PicCrew! If you search for “full body” you can find tons of options for to build your character, a plus in this one is that this templates are made by artist so is good to go. Cuz I’m sorry but in this house we are against the use of AI for art, so please don’t send AI as reference.

The size of each one of the future illustrations (including this and the previous one) are 36 x 26 cm or 14.4 x 10.4 inches long . That is HUGE, so we all can print it when I’m finish but yea. Send those references in my way please I will be grateful for that.

But now let me explain what the hell are you looking in this work!!!

In first place we have the complete piece with dialogues. Those dialogues are based on the video that shows up the change in Subject 7-1 gear at the beginning of The Glitch arc. In that one Swagger mentions that he likes more the old mask, and John gives to him that mask.

So that’s why in this piece he has that one , and not the new one.

I also have a lot of theory of why he is not using his old gear anymore but that’s matter of a future fanfic not something for this wedding.

On second we have ✨Clothes Details ✨

As I said in the past one, I modify the traditional attires to fit them, in Thai piece we can see more of the little things that I added to Subject 7-1 clothes, the brooch is more clear and the little buttons in the sleeve are matches in color and detail. Again for the lost ones violet/ purple is his color. The pattern again I did it myself by hand and I’m still, very proud.

Swaggers has symmetrical details so this sides matches the other one.

Now THE BACKGROUND

I asked glitch for his favorite maps in Warzone, why Warzone and not zombies? Or multiplayer? Cuz Swagger comes from the Warzone universe, the same one that WZ. So it was at least for me very clear that we needed that. He give me the list. And he remembered that in Vondel map, one of his favs, it has an actual church. And the decision was made.

Vondel is the map where they will get married. Of course here it looks more clean than in the real map, but let’s pretend that the boys cleaned the house before the ceremony. This specific church is based in a real life one the link to see the real one is in the previous post. And belive me when I said that I searched and search I even ask my friends if they have a good screen shoot of the place.

None of the screenshots give me the vibe I needed. So I DID THE FUCKING CHURCH BY HAND, LINE BY LINE. BRICK TO BRICK. ALL MINE.it took me like,,, Ikd four ? Five hours? But I get it done and it looks stupidly beautiful and fit thing that I love it.

Then we add a little Easter eggs for the other boys, in one we have a pink soap with a crown with pink gems to represent Johnny and Baby Girl , in the other side we have the traditional new ghost skull mask, the other one didn’t work I’m sorry.

And we have a crown for Biblical Accurate König next to Jack mask cuz they are they. And in the wall a big explosion and the line “WZ was here” . My boy was there. I love him so much. Belive me when I said that after I finish the wedding and the centaur König I promise to itibo , the boy will be my next victim for art. I have so much of him that I want to draw.

And that’s it for now. Please send your references, I don’t bite. And I don’t judge ocs. All are welcome. Let’s party together.

The pieces with the Ocs are going to take a bit more time, for the complexity of the composition and backgrounds that I want but I hope to have them ready in two weeks. More or less and it will be a 4 imagen update. In the meantime I will work in other little pictures that the wedding photographers usually shoot. Like they’r hands , the rings, the other guests you all don’t know how much I need to draw the tree soaps in kilts *internal screaming * it’s gonna be beautiful (?)

Once an old art teacher told me that other artist can see how much you love someone, or how meaningful they are for the amount of details and work that they put in their gifts, so if we all looking at this we can tell how much I love this two and glitch of course cuz. This is nothing. Y’all need to sit down if this looks like to much, this is only THE BEGINNING

Creating stuff for glitch always make me push my limits, and here I gooooooo

[askagamedev]

Would you agree that one of the only ways Concord stood out from its competition was through its character designs?

Going just off their clothing, their color palettes are hideous.

Concord really needed better character designs. When the player experience is greatly changed by the character or role the player chooses to play, the way that character or role is played must be clearly conveyed through its visual design. I thought Concord actually played quite well - several of their developers were former Bungie developers and Concord's gameplay was very much like early Destiny PVP. The game performed well and the characters played in fairly interesting ways once you started playing. The major difficulty was figuring out how a character played from how they looked.

For example, each of these characters from Samurai Shodown 2 really conveys what kind of gameplay a player can expect at a glance. One is a mid-range character who excels at keeping opponents at the right distance. One is a very fast attacker with short range and high combo potential. One is a heavy and slow heavy hitter. Earthquake, first, is clearly the slow and heavy hitter - his size is the biggest tipoff. Huge muscles, huge belly, and an extremely large weapon that can reach. Nakoruru, second, is the fast, short range fighter. She's got a hawk, a very fast animal, with her and she's got no visible weapon. The third character, Ukyo, is the mid-range character with his sheathed sword and sword hand ready to draw. It's immediately apparent that he's ready to draw that sword in a blink of an eye on anyone in range.

Here are three Concord characters - Daw, Duchess, and Vale. Among these three, there's a healer, a sniper, and an explosives expert. Is it easy to tell who's who at a glance? I would argue that it really isn't. The first character has a long rifle and goggles which suggests a sniper, but the white clothing and stylized red crosses suggest healing as well. The second character doesn't really fit the visual profile of any of the roles - judging by the size and bulkiness of the character's clothing, I would have thought he was a front-line tank of some kind instead, but I could see maybe that character being an explosives expert if there were any actual visible explosives. The third character's visual design doesn't say much at all - she looks like an old superhero with a gun. There are no real visual cues as to which role she fills. These characters are, in order, sniper, healer, and explosives expert respectively. This lack of visual clarity severely hurts the interest of anyone thinking about picking the game up because they aren't immediately drawn to a character or role they could be interested in.

From what I've gathered, one of the big issues during development with the character design was, as I suspected, design by committee. When the leadership wants things a certain way, those of us in the trenches must acquiesce. I've had situations where I've been assigned a particular task and thought it was a bad idea. I voiced my issues to the leads respectfully, I was overruled and told to do what they said, and I delivered what they asked. I know of another developer who got too close to a particular feature he worked really hard on and threw a massive tantrum when that feature was cut. That unfortunate dev was fired for his behavior. As much as those on the outside might think that we get to do whatever we want during development, individual contributors really are beholden to the decisions of our leadership.

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[bluegalaxygirl]

The Vinsmoke family meet their niece (Zosan X reader) P2

Plot: While out shopping with Zoro and Sanji your baby girl Kuina gets tired so you take her back to the sunny only to bump into the three Vinsmoke brothers.

Warning: Violence, Blood, Injuries, bad language and Making out

Reader is female and for this i gave her the ability to control Snakes that come form tattoo's on her arms, she can change the size of them but they are also connected to her emotions, Kuina is 8 months old and has Sanji's eyebrows and blonde hair but your eyes and skin tone.

Zoro X Sanji X reader, Poly relationship, established relationship.

P1

After getting your snake out Ichiji dropped your baby to avoid the attack her little body wrapped in a blanket hits the floor and her screams make your heart and mind shatter. Your snake's eyes change form round to slit feeling your pain and the overwhelming need to protect it attacks anything it can besides you and the baby. You're overwhelming emotions causing it to go out of control and soon burst out the top of the warehouse as Niji electrocutes it and Ichiji fires red light at it, the fight causes a big explosion making the snake scream in pain as it falls aside and into a nearby building. You manage to pull the red spikes out despite the pain and shakily walk over to your baby as she lay on the floor screaming her little lunges out, you can't help but cry as you drop to you knees next to her on. Blood dripping from your hands, legs and mouth but you reach out running your finger tips over Kuina's cheek leaving some of your blood behind. You want to hold her so badly but you can't pick her up in case she's hurt, you don't want her to hurt.

"You bitch" Yonji yells out running at you but you put up your other hand out and make your fingers into fangs. The tattoo snake on your arm leaps out and tried to sink its teeth into him while wrapping its growing body around him, but he manages to throw it off only for it to lunge at him shoving him through the side of the building. The two snakes team up to attack the three man pushing them further away form you while attacking anything that gets in their way. The sound of screaming people, building falling apart and your snakes hissing in a scream like sound falls on def ears, all you can hear is your crying daughter, her cheeks red and tear stained as she wriggles on the floor "Shhhh, it's ok baby... mommy's here. Oh, sweetie i'm so sorry" you cry leaning over your baby unable to control your cry's and the snakes that just left you. You kiss her forehead and listen to her scream and cry, it hurts you, it hurts more than the pain in your limbs and stomach.

You sat there for a while not knowing what to do, your baby cry's but your in too much pain to move and you dont want her to slip out of your hands due the blood. You flinch as a hand touched your shoulder, looking up you jab your nails into the person only for them to grab your hand. You glare at the girl in front of you but you soon relax a little at realizing who it is "Reiju?" you ask not believing that the Pink haired girl is actually in front of you "It's ok, i'm here to help, let me help you" her voice is so soft and it calms you down a little but you put your focus back on your crying baby "Kuina, please help her" you gulp trying to stop the tears as the pink haired girl nods and looks over your baby with a smile. You move over a little, so she can see but you watch her every move "She's beautiful, and she's ok, just a little bump, it's a good thing she's crying" she smiles stroking the baby's head and wiping away her tears "He dropped her" You whisper not convinced your baby's ok, Reiju takes your hands and starts bandaging them up "I think my blanket took most of the fall, you have a doctor on the ship right? so i'm sure she'll be fine with him" her words were so kind, you remember meeting her a few times, she helped luffy and even though she hardly said anything to you she always had this sweetness about her even when she tried to hide it around her brothers and farther.

You watched your baby start to calm down as she finishes bandaging your other hand. "Thank you" you suddenly say getting her attention "For the gift basket and card, Sanji was so happy and Kuina loves her blanket, carry's it everywhere with her" you smile your eyes locking with your baby girl, Reiju smiles back helping you sit back against a wooden create before picking your baby up and puts her in your arms. Holding your baby again felt amazing, she stopped crying as she looked at you feeling safe in her mothers arms, You felt relief seeing she was ok but you did wipe the blood you left off her cheek. Reiju checks the rest of your body soon getting to your stomach which you hiss at in pain throwing your head back into the crate while gritting your teeth "Sorry, you probably have internal bleeding, i'm going to give you an injection to stop it but your doctor will need to know.. Sorry this is going to hurt" she states taking out a needle before stabbing it into your stomach, you grunt and grit your teeth at the pain but it soon stops when she pulls it out and takes care of your legs. You look up at the broken ceiling and then around you see the damage your snakes have done, the sound outside is still going on, loud hissing and buildings breaking, you can stop them but you have to get up and tell them but a part of you doesn't want to, they were brought out to take down Sanji's three brothers, and they won't stop until they are dead or you pass out.

You bring your focus back to your baby her beautiful eyes looking up at you and when you smile down at her she smiles back with a small giggle. You turn your attention to Reiju who's bandaging your legs up the best she can, blood stains the ground around you. You feel tired and the need to pass out is almost overwhelming so you gently place a kiss on Kuina's head before laying her on the floor, you don't want to drop her if you do pass out. "Come by the sunny later" you smile leaning against the crate looking down at he pink haired girl who stops in shock before looking up at you "What?" she asks confused why would you invite her to the ship. "I want Kuina to meet her aunt properly, so please, if you can come by later" your eyes start closing as you talk, you hoped to stay awake longer but before you could hear her answer darkness took over, there was one thing you noted though, for some reason a tear feel down the pink haired girls cheek.

Zoro and Sanji run following the snakes as they get smaller and smaller until they were just normal looking snakes, they slithered into a warehouse that looked almost destroyed and up your arms again going back to normal tattoo's as you lay on the floor your arm around Kuina who was awake and playing with your fingers. "Y/N, Kuina" Sanji and Zoro yell out running to you two, Sanji looks you two over before picking up Kuina who reaches out for him. "Hay sweet heart" The cook tears up holding the baby close in his arms, relief washing over him at seeing his baby unharmed. Zoro gently rolls you over and sits you up a bit but you don't wake up, he looks you over confused your wounds are bandaged up and cuts are stitched closed, someone was just here and took care of you. "Is Kuina ok?" Zoro asks looking over at his daughter "Yea, yea, she's fine" Sanji sighs standing up as Zoro carefully picks you up in his arms and stand up. The cook walks closer and looks you over, your passed out but your not bleeding. Zoro looks around the warehouse seeing the mess and blood on the floor, it makes his blood boil, not only did they hurt Sanji in the past, but they tried to kill you and hurt his baby. "What's that?" Sanji asks snapping Zoro out of his thoughts as the cook reaches into the strap on your shoulder pulling out a piece of paper holding Kuina with one arm. The two walk out while Sanji reads getting a little teary eyed when seeing its Reiju who helped you and his baby. "Guy's what happened?" Nami yells out running towards them along with Chopper, Luffy and Franky "We need to get them back to the ship, Kuina has a head bump and Y/N has internal bleeding" Sanji runs over to the group handing Chopper the letter as Zoro runs up behind him trying not to shake you too much as he runs.

You feel sore all over and the light on your face isn't helping things but you force your eyes open a little, the light blinding making your head hurt but you soon manage to adjust and see a white ceiling "Kuina" you call out your voice sore as you try and talk "Hay love it's ok, she's here" Sanji comes into view bending over you and running a hand over your cheek, you turn your head to the side seeing Zoro holding your awake baby girl who's playing with his earring's. You reach a hand out for your baby but you can't reach so Zoro pulls up a chair with his free hand and sits in it next to the bed and leans over so you can touch your daughter. You run your fingers over her back with a small smile, your baby turns around and takes your finger in her small hand "she ok?" you ask trying to sit up, Sanji helps you sit up being careful of your stomach in the process "Yes she's fine we're worried about you" Zoro looks you over seeing you struggle but at least your awake. Once your comfy Sanji sits on the edge of the bed and holds your other hand "What did they do to you? To Kuina? and don't tell me it was nothing because your snakes have never acted like that, even on Wano, they attacked us" Sanji asks his eyes sad and full of worry, you squeeze his hand and look at the two with worry "What? They attacked you? I-i'm sorry, d-did they hurt you?" You panic a little, you never thought they would that "No baby were fine, we handled them, but they did a good job kicking their asses" Zoro laughs making Kuina smile and giggle too. "My love, please tell me what happened, why did they attack you?" Sanji leans closer wanting to know.

You sigh and rub your thumb over his hand "They said your dad wasn't happy, i wasn't targeted or anything, and he didn't ask them to go after me they just saw me and thought" You stop yourself flashes of what they did coming back, Zoro places a hand on your shoulder as you continue "They only hurt me they didn't hurt her....until i, Oh god it's my fault, i'm sorry baby" you start crying, tears streaming down your face as you lean over to kiss your baby's hand, you remember her screams and her falling to the floor "I'm sorry, i should have kept my mouth shut" you place your forehead in your baby's arm before being pulled into a hug by Sanji who shushes you as he holds you "It's not your fault love" Sanji soothes stroking your hair and kissing your forehead "Yes it is... she'd be ok if i kept my mouth shut. They talked so badly of you and once i started i couldn't stop... it's my fault" Zoro places his hand on your cheek moving closer to you "Hay don't you dare... you're a fighter, she's not hurt, you protected her" Zoro leans over showing the back of Kuina head by moving some hair out of the way. "See, not even a scratch" He whispers as the baby fusses in his arms a little, You reach up and run your fingers over her hair sighing in relief, there no bump or redness. You manage to stop crying and pull away from Sanji "You did great love" The cook leans down placing his lips on yours for a light kiss, you kiss back with a small smile before pulling away and taking Kuina form Zoro.

Your hands still hurt but you don't care, you pull her to your chest and let her play with your head as you kiss her head and hold her close. "I'm so sorry love" Sanji leans in placing a kiss on the back of Kuina's head "We didn't realize you were gone until we talked with Nami" Zoro puts a hand on the cooks shoulder trying to reassure him "This is no ones fault but those three" The swordsman was right but you both couldn't help but feel guilty in some way "And when i see them, i'm going to kill them" You let out a laugh at the swordsman's words "I'll join you" You reply as Zoro places a kiss on your cheek with a smile "Make that three" Sanji joins in squeezing your hand and placing his other hand on the swordsman's leg, Kuina pulls away form your shoulder and babbles a little making Zoro laugh stroke her head "Yea, you'll kick their asses too won't you?" You hand the baby back to Zoro who holds her up as she giggles "Your gonna get them yea?" he asks nuzzling her belly making her laugh. You smile at the two as he brings her down into his chest only for your baby girl to try and eat his earring's, he pulls her away as she gets annoyed at him and shakes his head at her. "You want to come and eat with the crew?" Zoro asks you before standing up with Kuina "I think someone's hungry" he laughs as Kuina starts trying to put his earnings back in her mouth, but he pulls his head away again. You nod as Sanji helps you to the edge of the bed where you sit for a second feeling pain shoot through you stomach "You ok?" Zoro ask watching you wince a bit in pain "Yes just sore but i can walk" you nod about to get up only for Sanji to pick you up bridle style "My queen doesn't walk" Your cook smiles down at you, holding you as you all head to the kitchen.

The kitchen was lively as you sat at the table closest to the door, your baby in her high chair at end of the table, she was starting to eat solid food now, it used to just be baby food that Sanji would make but now she eats all sorts of course through the day you still give her a bottle, but she seems to prefer sold foods now. Sanji sits across form you eat and some times helping his baby eat while Zoro sits next to the cook, the food was made by Sanji while you were out but Nami and Robin were kind enough to take over, so he could sit with you and Kuina in the medical room. You were snapped out of your loving look to your boys by a knock on the kitchen door. Things suddenly go quiet around the table as everyone looks at the door. You could make out a figure through the door window lightly smiling you stand up "Babe/Love" The boys call standing up too but you walk round and place your hand on Sanji's shoulder with a bright smile "It's ok, i know who it is, don't worry" you move to the door and open it to see the pink haired sister Reiju standing there. You step aside and let her in, Sanji's eyes widen upon seeing his sister walk in as the others smile at her and wave, Zoro looks over to her with a small smile while your baby looks up at Sanji then to Reiju. "Sis?" Sanji asks stepping closer as the pink haired girl rubs her arm a little not sure how to react or what to do "Thank you" Sanji smiles hugging his sister as you move to sit back down. She tenses a little before hugging back slightly looking around the room over his shoulder.

The room goes back to normal, people laughing and eating as Sanji talks with his sister for a minute before bringing her over to the table. Her eyes land on you then to Kuina who is still looking up at her in amazement before smiling and reaching her arms out to the woman blabbering away. "You want to hold her?" you ask making her jump a bit at your question "I-urm... sure" Reiju sighs giving in to what she really wants, Sanji take the bib off Kuina and picks her up handing her to his sister who holds your baby close, Sanji helping her since his sister has no idea what she's doing. The baby giggles a little and reaches for the pink hair running her hand through it but not grabbing or pulling, "You were passing out when you asked me to come, i didn't know if it was still ok" Reiju whispers looking to you as you gave her a warm smile "I meant every word i said" you reply making Reiju finally smile, her eyes watering a little as she looks down at the baby in her arms "Are you ok sis?" Sanji asks worried about his sister, he had no idea what you two were talking about but at least it made his sister smile "I'm an auntie... she's beautiful Sanji, I hope she grows up to be just as kind and loving as you" The pink haired girl looks up at her brother with a big smile making the cook tear up and hug his sister.

With dinner over it was now only you, Zoro, Sanji, Kuina and Reiju in the kitchen, Zoro sat next to you with his arm around your shoulder as Sanji sat next to his sister who was still holding the baby girl "I'm really sorry this happened" The pink haired girl sighs looking over at her brother "I knew farther was mad but, i didn't think this would happen" Sanji places a hand on his sisters shoulder giving her a sad look "Your farther didn't plan this" you state leaning into Zoro as the girl looks up at you a little surprised, she wasn't convinced her farther had nothing to do with this but then again the three boys have acted out of impulse before and a need to impress their farther. "Bu- bu" Kuina calls out while playing with one of the wings on Reiju's costume making her giggle "Is that my name now?" she asks the baby who repeats the name "I'm guessing she's trying to say butterfly, right?" Sanji asks leaning into place a kiss on the baby's head as she smiles and pats the wing in her hands. Zoro lays his head on your shoulder watching Sanji and his baby feeling more relaxed now that its all over. A snail phone goes off Reiju jumping a little before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a very small snail phone, she hands the baby to Sanji before standing "I should go" She seems to panic a little but Sanji stands and grabs her arm "Wait, you just got here" Zoro stands too walking over to Sanji and taking the baby off him "It's farther" Reiju sighs the phone still ringing in her hand.

Sanji's eyes turn to anger "I want to talk to him" The cooks blood boils only for Zoro's hand to pull the cook away form his sister "I don't think thats a good idea" Sanji glares at the swordsman wanting to berate his farther for almost killing you and his baby, it doesn't matter if he had nothing to do with it. "Zoro's right, please don't" You stand up the pain killers wearing off but you hold back the pain trying stop another fight with the Vinsmoke family. "Fine i won't say anything but i want to hear what he has to say" Sanji steps back crossing his arms over his chest. Reiju sighs looking down at the phone before answering it "What took you so long?" You sit back down holding your stomach feeling a little sick at hearing that voice again "I'm sorry i was busy sorting ou-" Reiju try's to make up an excuse that doesn't involve any of the straw hats only to be interrupted by her farther "Yea, i heard about the mess they've caused, what happened?" He sounded angry but it was a good thing he didn't know much. Sanji bits his tongue his face going red from anger as Zoro pulls him into his chest to try and calm the cook down while holding Kuina in his other arm. Reiju sighs putting on a stoic face as she talks "The three got into a fight with a local who disrespected them, My apologies for not being there when it happened" A sigh can be heard from the snail phone "Don't lie to me"

Your heart drops as you look at the phone "I know you want to protect your brothers but lying to me isn't going to get you anywhere. Tell me what happened" His voice got louder and more angry as he talked, Reiju looks at the three of you giving a sorry look since she has no chose but to tell him what happened, she knows that her farther most likely knows the three brothers had a run in with the straw hats otherwise he wouldn't be this mad over a destroyed village. "They attacked some of the straw hats" she states hearing silence on the other end indicating that he wanted more, she sighs before continuing "Y/n and her daughter and then later Sanji and Zoro" There's another moment of silence before the man grumbles "Are they dead?" His question causes Sanji to pull away form zoro to yell only for the swordsman's hand to go round the cooks mouth holding it, so he can't talk. You slowly stand and make your way over to take Kuina while Zoro restrains a very angry and fighting Sanji. "No, there alive, all of them" Reiju answers watching as her brother struggles against Zoro and you back away holding your Kuina "Good, those boys i told them to leave it" Sanji stops fighting at hearing the mans words "That boy is no longer my son so it shouldn't affect us" You glare at the phone in the pink girls hand as it talks "Yes i was mad when i found out since it technically is a part of our blood line now but it doesn't carry our name. We'll at least have some separation, now get back here and bring your brothers, i need a word with them" The phone clicks off and you sigh in relief glad that its all over, and he didn't know that you all were in the room.

"I'm sorry" The pink haired girl sighs putting the snail phone back in her pocket "You've got nothing to be sorry for, you handled that well" You smile at her walking over to give her a pat on the shoulder which she smiles at and runs a finger over your daughters cheek. "You gonna stop?" Zoro asks Sanji his hand still around the cooks mouth and holding Sanji's back and arms to the swordsman's chest, Sanji sighs no longer struggling and nod, the green haired man lets go of the cooks who turns and rubs the back of his head "Sorry" The blonde sighs as Zoro rubs his back "I know, i hate him too" Zoro has never met Vinsmoke Judge but that doesn't mean he can't hate the man "I should go, i'm really sorry about all of this" Reiju turns to her brother who walks over and gives her a hug "Thank you sis, I'm happy for you to visit us any time, just don't bring them" Sanji pulls away earning a smile and a nod from his sister "It was a pleasure meeting you" Reiju runs a hand over Kuina's head as she starts to fall asleep in your arms. She nods to you and Zoro before leaving the kitchen and the ship. "Are you ok?" you ask placing a hand on Sanji's shoulder, he looks a mess "I-I don't know, i'm just glad you and the baby are ok" The cook pulls you into a light hug being careful of the sleepy baby in your arms and your stomach, Zoro sigh and walks over putting his arms around you and Sanji kissing the cooks cheek "Everything's ok now, plus you got to see your sister" You smile up at the cook before leaning up to place your lips on his, he gladly kisses back running a hand up and down your back. Sanji pulls away and looks at Zoro leaning over and placing a kiss on the swordsman's lips who gladly kisses back.

"There's nothing to worry about now, their safe" The swordsman pulls away to speak looking down at you and Kuina who is now fully sleep in your arms, Sanji looks down at his daughter in your arms and smiles looking over her cute face, her rosy cheeks and how her lips part as she breaths "Sanji" Zoro finally manages to get the cook's attention as you giggle a little "Lets head to bed" The swordsman pulls away form you two heading to the kitchen door and opening it for you all. You walk out followed by Sanji who keeps a hand on your waist, turning the corner you see Usopp and Franky cleaning up after fixing the side of the ship "I didn't think it was that bad" You get there attention both looking up at you and Kuina "It was mostly internal, were done now, so she can sleep" Franky whispers moving some stuff out of the way for you "night" Usopp waves as you walk past them followed by Sanji and Zoro. Once your in the room you place Kuina down in her crib and head over to your chest of draws to get changed, Sanji leans on the side of the crib watching his sleeping daughter and taking her blanket away since she shouldn't have it while asleep. Zoro watches you take your top off struggling a bit so he heads over and helps you throwing it in the washing basket and running his hand over your bandaged stomach. You look over your shoulder at him seeing his face worried and slightly angry "It's ok" You whisper turn to face him and cup his face prying his eyes away form your stomach "Everything's ok" You lean closer placing your lips on his.

Zoro steps closer placing his hand behind your head while running his tongue over your lower lip, you open your mouth for him your tongues meeting as he hums into you enjoying the kiss you both share before pulling away. He helps you get dressed being careful of your injuries and then walks you to bed and helps you in, Sanji finally pry's his eyes away from his daughter and gets changed then crawling into bed and laying his head on your shoulder kissing your neck "I love you Mi amour" The cook whispers making you smile "I love you too darling" you whisper back placing a kiss on his forehead as Zoro gets into bed on your other side and kisses your shoulder wrapping his arm around you and onto Sanji's waist "I love you too Hunk" you look over at the tired green haired man beside you who lightly kisses your lips "I love you both" The swordsman lays his head down on the pillow next to you closing his eyes to fall sleep, "I love you too Zo" Sanji smiles running a hand up the swordsman's arm thats over your hips. The three of you lay there feeling relaxed now that the day is over but also exhausted soon falling asleep.

[meatball-headache]

Hydroid Prime :D

I'm entering my Professional Hydroid Phase. Now, my toxic trait is that every Warframe has "their" weapons, and in some ways, the Warframes I like is just because I like their weapon. I have no idea how good these weapons are, I just use things I like. Hildryn has the Amprex, Oberon has the Basmu, and Hydroid started with the Boar, then graduated to the Kuva Hek. But I need something different...

Right now, he's holding the Fulmin, but that's going to change. @chiclet-go-boom says I need a water gun, but I don't know all the guns well enough to know which is like that. So, I went to the wiki, and just looked at a page of weapons! In alphabetical order, they start with arm cannons. I'm thinking Atomos. That's beam-like, stream-like, right? The first weapon is something called Bubonico, an Infested shotgun arm cannon. Hm, we'll make note of that. I'm also chasing the prime parts for Trumna Prime—as well as the normal parts of Trumna. Man, this game is complicated, and everything has its own system... how lucky we are to have a game like this, and for free no less :p

Anyway, I'm no meta slave, but, I want to make sure these weapons are at least decent, so I go to Overframe to check out where Bubonico and Trumna stand, and—oh, well, okay. As voted by the community, they're both S tier. Good! This is promising! And they'd better be, because the amount of work I'm putting into getting them both—Trumna needs a slew of mining, fishing, and collected stuff from Deimos, as the Bubonico needs 10 mutagen masses, which are a 12-hour blueprint, or you have to wait for an invasion... Well, like I say, I'm here for a long time, not a good time!

So, I did as much as I could for now, and I'm cooking the parts for Trumna, one mutagen mass, and I hit up all the invasions for a couple more. And then I thought: hey, there's probably like, a Youtube demoing the weapon, showing off builds or something? So, I went to Youtube and checked them out. I skipped to the part where I see how they shoot. First up was Trumna, and—oh damn! It's cool as fuck! An assault rifle with explosive rounds, and an alt fire that's a BIG boom! Awesome, no wonder it's popular. And then I looked at Bubonico—

To quote Memet, "Ohh, look at that massive cannon!"

It's BIG! It's the size of your whole self! This isn't a gun that you hold, this is a parasite that takes over your whole body! And, how does it shoot? Oh, it splashes, it flashes, it explodes the whole place! Not only is that effective and practical, but it also keeps with the water theme! As for its stats, it does natural toxic damage, so it's easily converted to corrosive to take advantage of Hydroid's abilities. And, if that's not enough... it regenerates its own ammo, my favorite thing!

Yeah, yeah. I'm into it. I'm all over this thing. I am champing at the bit, watching the timer on my foundry, watching the invasions for any hint of more mutagen masses... I need this thing now! ...but, we'll wait.

Also, I switched up my build on Hydroid. Previously I sacrificed strength for range and duration, as was the style at the time. But with his new Plunder move, it's beneficial to have some strength. So I switched things up, and I'm seeing immediate results... where previously the buff stopped at 80% damage, now I'm seeing up to 380%, and the armor buff went from 300 to like 1,400 :D And since he's more actively casting now, rather than just putting down tentacles once a minute and letting it ride, I've got a big energy pool, with which I absolutely spam 1, and with these damage bonuses, I'm actually seeing a really solid amount of damage from it... Oh! I'm having so much fun!

As for other weapons, I was using the Pyrana Prime to level it up and quite liked it; I checked the tier list and the community agrees, so I'll keep it. And I think Nami Skyla Prime is the right melee weapon for him, he's got it in all his demo reels and stuff. I'm not completely sold on that, though, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for another pirate cutlass, or maybe just make a good zaw. But, man oh man, I can't wait until the Bubonico is ready, that thing looks awesome. I mean, look, here it is, I'll try it on:

Giant infested mutated parasite that goes up your whole arm and half your back, also the gun area is huge? Man, this thing rules so much. I want it. I want it now. I want it yesterday. I can't wait.

eeeeeeeeee :D

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Splatoon 3 Version 7.2 patch notes breakdown

The patch notes for version 7.2, which is going live tomorrow, dropped earlier today, and this is a fairly beefy patch balance-wise, so let's take a look together, shall we?

First of all, the patch includes the renovated Undertow Spillway, but we won't know how it's been changed until it goes live, so let's jump right into the main weapons:

Sploosh's bullets have had their hitbox size increase, and while they don't specify by how much this should in theory make Sploosh's damage more consistent.

Splattershot Pro and H-3 now do 3 more damage, which doesn't change much about them directly but if you've been even lightly chipped by anything they're now gonna 2-shot you and that can be pretty scary. Watch out!

Nova is now 8% more accurate when its feet are on the ground, which means it might actually hit what it's aiming at every once in a while!

Luna Blaster's explosion ink is now 20% bigger, which means it paints more and can trap people in its paint more reliably, though I can't see that changing much with how fast it fires.

S-Blast's long-range mode will now do 50+ damage more reliably. Note that this is not a splash radius buff, it just makes it deal damage more reliably within the radius it already has.

Painbrush now paints more when rolling and starts recovering ink faster after rolling. This seems like a very meh buff to me, but it does speed up the weapon a bit, and it definitively needs that.

And the final main weapon change of the patch, Dapples now move faster when walking and shooting. It's a bit quicker on its feet now, and that only makes sense for the lightest dualies, doesn't it?

Now, moving on Specials:

Big Bubbler receives a chunky durability buff on its weak spot. This thing's gonna take a lot of effort to take down now.

Splattercolor Screen now does 10 more damage. This makes it combo with a couple of more damage sources, but did you know that you can squid roll through a Screen to take no damage from it? Now you know.

Triple Splashdown is getting a buff and a nerf. You now spend about ten frames less time in the air, but the splash radius was reduced to compensate. My gut feeling is that this is an overall buff, as it makes it less risky to use, but we'll have to see how things pan out.

And finally, and this is actually a big deal, when you Super Jump to a teammate using Kraken Royale you'll no longer jump to their location, but instead to the place where they activated their Kraken. This is huge because it deals a massive blow to the popular Clam Blitz cheese strats that the special had become known for where you use it to swim up to the basket and let your team jump super clams to it with no effort required. It was a huge sore spot in the mode for a lot of people, and this change pretty much kills the entire strategy. Very nice!

And with there being no Sub Weapon changes, let's move onto the final section, the points for Special changes:

Neo Splash and N-Zap '89 are the winners of this patch's "random shooter buff" lottery, and I expect the '89 to be incredibly common and incredibly annoying in turf wars after this. Carbon Roller becomes the first weapon in Splatoon 3 to hit 160p, and considering how poorly it paints that's only fair. Splat Charger and Dapples get 10p taken off their special charge as well, and in the case of the latter it's a buff that works pretty well with its mobility buff from earlier. In the nerfs department they hit a bunch of the most popular meta weapons with 10 extra points for Special, with Squeezer becoming the second ever weapon to get 220p after Sloshing Machine (and unlike it, squeezer kind of deserves it).

Overall, I think this is a good patch. The biggest pain points for competitive play going into this patch was Trizooka spam and the utter dominance of Snipewriter, and this patch does address both of them, albeit indirectly. Trizooka still probably needs a nerf, and nintendo remain as hesitant as ever to address any problem directly, but it's still a step in the right direction.

[blackboxtheater]

crying because when I voted earlier I made it 50-50 ;-;

That aside, hope you're having a good day!

Anyway, my prompt is: Pirate AU. Not very original, I know, but my mind has been semi-fixating on them for a few weeks now. Also, you don't need to do this if it makes it too difficult, but I feel like people usually mix Pirate with Royal or Mermaid, so as a challenge, try not doing using the Pirate & Royal/Mermaid dynamic. I hope you have fun!

Make sure to go vote for Mumpearl in the Mumbo Jumbo ship bracket!!

But its PROMPT TIME BABY.

You: Don't make it a royal mermaids for fucks sake

The opening line: So the royal mermaid…..

(jkjkjk. I mean that is the opening bit but its sea goddess Lizzie who is the royal mermaid, I promise Mumbo and Pearl are very much pirates. This might actually be the closest I've ever come to writing a prompt as described and it didn't immediately take a hard left turn into some chaotic direction.)

Also I hadn’t done an established relationship piece in a while so, you got that thrown in there as well

🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️

The SS Llamada landed on the sand of Mezalea island with a groan, the boards of the ship creaking with impact as a large blue hand placed it down.

"You idiots are so lucky I found you! What do you think would have happened to you if I didn't happen to need some kelp today? Oh I know, you'd be dead! Drowned at the bottom of the ocean and nothing but dinner for my fish!" Lizzie shouted, her voice becoming quieter and quieter as she transformed from the giant sea goddess into to her human form. But that didn't make her furious expression as she stalked across the beach any less intimidating. Just because her lungs got smaller in human form didn’t change the size of her fury at the captains of the badly damaged ship.

"And that's why we are so grateful you saved us!" Mumbo called out, his head poking out from the still smolder hole in the side of the ship. Or, more specifically, the half of the hole that was still burning from the explosion inside the hull. The half that had originally blown up under the water was now creating a river of sea water across the sand as all the liquid the ship had taken on started to make its way back to the ocean.

"I should have let you die out there for you own stupidity! Teach you two a lesson!" Lizzie kept shouting.

"Joel! Do you see what these idiots did?" she continued, turning towards the scruffy pirate who was picking his way down the beach from the odd, mismatched collection of buildings along the edge of the jungle that made up Pirate's Landing.

"I can see why you didn't put them in the harbor now," Joel offered once he paused next to Lizzie in the sand.

They had an entire dock for ships in need of repairs here at Pirate's Landing. Which was separate but adjacent to the dock for ships that were working find but needed a place to lay low and hide for a while, as pirate ships were often in need of doing. But by the looks of the obliterated hull, the SS Llamada wasn't just unseaworthy, it looked half shipwrecked even before Lizzie had wrapped her hands around it to carry it all the way back to safety.

"It's a good excuse to build that dry dock you keep talking about," Pearl called out as she jumped down from the deck to land in the soft sand.

"I can start digging it out, Mumbo can work on the drainage and refilling system, it's perfect we-"

"A dry dock? You're talking about building a dry dock? You would be dead if it wasn't for me!" Lizzie screeched, and Joel wasn't in the mood to challenge that patently correct statement from the looks of the ship before him.

"And that’s why we are grateful, right Pearl?" Mumbo prompted, elbowing Pearl.

"Yes!" Pearl squeaked, straighten up and looking at Lizzie. "We are very grateful. We once again owe our lives to our valiant protector and queen of the sea!"

Lizzie just glared at her as Pearl smiled too broadly for someone who was about to meet a watery grave less than an hour before. But Pearl couldn't be a pirate captain without accepting the inherit risks of life on the water, which included the knowledge that the ocean might claim her soul any day. She also couldn't be married to Mumbo without accepting the risk that his inventions might literally backfire and also kill them any day now. But that was worth the risk too in her opinion.

"You owe me so many drinks," Lizzie finally said, poking a finger into Pearl's chest and swiveling around to head back up the beach towards Pirate's Landing.

"And you don't technically owe me anything, but I'd love the story behind this one," Joel said, eyeing the gaping hole in the boat.

"Come on, Imp and Skizz just broke open a new batch of rum," Joel continued, motioning for the them to follow Lizzie up into town.

"In the new redesign, maybe we should put my workshop above the water line," Mumbo suggested to Pearl as they trailed behind Joel and Lizzie.

It was a malfunction in a new canon design that had blown the side of their ship open this time. Proof of concept that it packed the punch Mumbo intended, it just unfortunately did that damage to their ship rather than their opponents.

The SS Llamada was feared throughout the Mojang Seas as being one of the deadliest ships. Other ships could sometimes outrun it and often outmaneuver it, but in a gunfight, no other ship stood a chance. And neither did most beasts of the sea. But having the best firepower required developing and testing new weapons constantly. Sometimes, that meant misfires onboard.

And sometimes, that meant giant holes in the side of the ship next to Mumbo's lab.

"Redesign? We won't need to redesign the ship. Surely we can-" Pearl started, before a crash from behind them made them both turn back to see a portion of the top deck caved into the body of the ship.

Pearl sighed as the ship settled once again against the sand.

"Okay, we can talk about a redesign."

🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️

Inside the Hermit's Cove bar, Skizz, their defacto bartender, poured them all a round of rum punch as he expressed his deepest sympathy to Pearl and Mumbo that their ship was ruined, and his extreme gratitude to Lizzie for using her powers as the Goddess of the Ocean and Protector of Pirates to carry the ship to safety.

Cub, captain of The Skulk, gave Mumbo a pointed look about how this was a good reminder why experimenting with explosives was best done on dry land.

Joel, self-declared King of the Pirates and Lizzie-declared Prince Consort of the Ocean, said they should absolutely never admit to anyone else that they accidentally blew up their own ship.

Cleo, captain of The Standing Armorman, found the entire thing hilarious.

"I told you he was trouble when you picked him up. But no. You wanted to keep the scrawny kid around, and now he's gone and blown up your boat," Cleo said, whipping the tears of laughter from their eyes with the hand not currently clutching a tankard of Skizz's questionable rum punch. 

"I was never scrawny!" Mumbo shot back.

"You'd never been on a boat a day in your life! All land lubbers might as well be scrawny until they get their sea legs under 'em," Cleo scoffed.

And Cleo was right, Mumbo had never been on a boat the day Pearl had seen him nervously hovering around the edges of a bar on the mainland. A notorious pirate bar on the wrong side of the docks where you were either drinking your way through your cut of recently stolen treasure, or looking for a job on a ship that could get you that kind of gold one day soon. Mumbo, with a neatly groomed mustache and shoes that would not stand up to the regular slosh of salt water across a deck, had stood out among the rum soaked crew.

Pearl hadn’t exactly been rum-soaked at that moment, but she had been working towards it for a while by the time she spotted him.

He had looked good. Or maybe he had just looked different. After 5 and a half months aboard The Standing Armorman with the same small crew, different had been enough for Pearl that night.

"He's definitely not a pirate," Cleo had shrugged as Pearl keep glancing across the bar at him. "So if you're gonna make a terrible choice for the night, at least you'll never have to see him again. Don't shit where you eat."

And that was all the push Pearl had needed to leave the table full of the rest of the raucous crew and approach him.

"Hey sailor, looking for-" Pearl hadn't even gotten through her half-baked pick-up line when the man cut her off.

"Me? Oh, I'm not a sailor. I'm looking for one though. Well a 'sailor' you know," he had laughed, a nervous edge to the sound that matched the way his hands and eyes couldn't quite stay still.

"They say this is the bar for 'sailors'. Is that…? Are you…?"

He'd looked so serious and hopeful that Pearl's teasing retort that she could be whatever he wanted for the evening never made it past her lips.

"Well you're in the right bar for that mate," she had replied instead.

"So why are you looking for us?" she had asked, and that had sent her night in a very different direction than what she intended when she walked across the bar to meet him.

She'd been looking for a quick hook-up for her night on shore, but instead she had somehow stumbled across a blacksmith's apprentice looking to run away on a pirate ship that would let him experiment with designing new canons. Stuff too dangerous and volatile for his little town and the old man who he was training under, but he was sure would work if he could just try.

"Can you also fix our swords?" Pearl had asked.

"Yes! And I can repair armor! It's not pretty but it works. I'm better at the-"

"That's fine. Come with me," Pearl had said, dragging him across the bar and out towards their ship docked just a short stretch down the shore.

She had snuck him past the lone guard left to keep their ship safe by claiming he was her company from the night. And the next morning a hungover Cleo had been too lazy to fight with Pearl about kicking him off before they set sail again.

A year later when Mumbo's newly designed cannons secured the crew of The Standing Armorman the victory in a particularly bountiful raid, Cleo had given Pearl and Mumbo a big enough cut of the treasure to get a ship of their own. 

🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️

"Just like old times," Mumbo chuckled as Pearl staggered against him along the uneven streets of Pirate's Landing.

"You, me, a brand new ship," she laughed, hopping down from where she had been poorly attempting to balance along the curb to step in front of him. She stared up at him under the dim street lights with the same easy, rum-hazy smile that she had worn each night the first time they had stayed here on the island.

"Coming home each night from Hermit's Cove to that amazing house you made," he continued as Pearl looped her arms around his neck, causing them to sway in the humid night air.

The tradewinds picked up the ends of her hair, sending it fluttering against the back of Mumbo's hands as he wrapped his arms around her waist to steady her.

"Appreciating that fantastic air conditioning you made," she added, pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose.

"Not sure it would still be working after this long," Mumbo mumbled against her skin as he dropped a line of kisses along her jaw.

"Only one way to find out."

Pearl detangled herself from Mumbo just enough to thread their fingers together and lead them through the last few blocks of Pirate's Landing until they reached the bungalow she had built them at the edge of town years ago when they stayed in Pirate's Landing to design the SS Llamada the first time.

🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️

"If my eyes don't deceive me, there's a Llamada on the beach, which means my favorite ship captain must be- Ahhhhhh!"

Gem called out, bursting through the door of Pearl and Mumbo's bedroom only to be greeted with far more skin than she wanted to see.

If Gem's shouting hadn't already woken Mumbo and Pearl up, the bang of the door as Gem slammed it shut would have been enough all on its own.

"Gross! You two are gross! Put your clothes on!" Gem called from the other side of the door between gagging noises.

"You came into our house and barged into our bedroom!" Pearl called back, sitting up to look around their bedroom and check if her clothes were anywhere to be found. She liked to think that if Gem had seen her and Mumbo's clothes strewn across the floor in the hallway she would have thought twice about opening their bedroom door. But Gem had barged into their bedroom unannounced and far too early for Pearl to consider it a reasonable hour, so maybe Pearl couldn't give her that much credit.

"Every time we stay here, I am reminded of how much I like the privacy of our ship," Mumbo said, voice still groggy with sleep as he sat up in bed behind Pearl and rested his forehead against her shoulder.

"I think we just need less nosey neighbors," Pearl said, reaching up to run a hand through Mumbo's bedhead.

"Asking a group of pirates to respect the privacy of locked doors is probably a lost cause," Mumbo chuckled, his breath ghosting down across Pearl's back as he laughed.

An observation proved exactly correct by Gem's shouted agreement from the other side of the closed bedroom door.

🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️

Bonus tidbits that didn’t fit the story but I wanted to share:

No matter how much training Pearl did with Mumbo, he'd never gotten much better with a sword. But when they raided a ship filled to the brim with crates of flintlock pistols, Mumbo had shown himself to be a half decent shot. Which was enough to keep him alive and out of the range of opponents swords on the rare occasion their ship was boarded, so Pearl called it a win and gave up on the hours of sword fighting practice. Plus, by that time they had figured out more entertaining ways to spend time alone together.

Also, Gem's ship is called the Celestial Kraken.

[traumaboyexo]

So I really loved @ciozio's happiness au, which is why I decided to completely ruin it by making and adding this fella.

SIFGRIN: HAPPINESS AU DIVERGENCE

You might have seen him around in ISATCord, I call him Sifgrin. This is basically a Happy au divergence where I add this awful terrible new character.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR FULL GAME AHEAD

SUMMARY OF SIFGRIN

Originally, he was just meant to be a bastardized version of Hapfrin. At his core, he still is, I just added more to him.

He acts as a sort of enabler to Hapfrin's shenanigans (there's an Au that does this better but bear with me). He really is as awful as he looks, smile, size, etc, like a massive troll or ogre. He refers to Hapfrin as "Boss", or "Big Boss", basically telling him that he's just here to help, knowing stuff like the lost island, the stars, loops etc.

Unfortunately, he doesn't actually know about Loop's existence, and Loop doesn't know about his either, that is until mentioned.

He has a rest spot near the nap spawn, but it's mainly just some huge rocks put together as seats.

He has the same looking cloak and hat as Siffrin, but his coin is badly bent out of shape and his dagger is too blunt to cut anything. He deals in deadly explosives now as result.

While he often speaks in lame simple terms, the truth is he's incredibly clever.

ORIGIN

Sifgrin is effectively a Hapfrin from an alternative Happiness timeline. However, he never had a Loop, neither did he ever wish to become one. Rather, he kept looping, over and over, learning and trying and getting more powerful. He kept trying to make everyone smile and refused to drop his, even once. As the universe cracks and rots, so does himself. His face begins to contort, growing awful wrinkles from smiling so much. His maniacal laughter episodes for longer and longer, outstretching his jaw. And as he got more powerful, his body grew to accommodate the changes.

Eventually, the universe began to burn away from so much looping, time and space cracking at the very seams.

Until it was nothing but the abyss. With one last dying breath, the universe gave Sifgrin a passageway into another world, seeing as it could no longer fulfill his original wish.

(Artwork needs to be change, make him bigger)

Anyways silly divergence au did you know 1 out of 12 people like him the one is me the 11 is everyone else, pending further number changes. Will need to add more details and stuff it's a work in progress and stuff

[evegwood]

how do you atually write a script for a comic fhhhdhdhdh like do you write it the same as a movie script idk how to start

My basic system is using bulletpoints inside a table. Each table cell is a page, which is handy for planning page spreads, and each bulletpoint is a panel. This script also divvies up the scenes by colour so I can block out how long each scene is:

Because I'm the sole artist, I don't include any information that is obvious to me; that means expressions, poses, or individual panel sizes don't usually make it into the script. If there's something really dramatic and important I'll include it, but otherwise I tend to work out character poses when I'm thumbnailing or pencilling. I'm already kind of laying out the page in my mind when I'm writing so when I go back to actually draw it I'm like yeah I know exactly what face Vic is pulling here.

I do also have @spiremint on board now as colourist but because I don't really think in colour I don't have any notes for that in the script. Instead, I make notes on the inked/pencilled version of the page when I'm sending it to Spire for the colour script. Those notes will say stuff like the mood I'm going for, the weather, what happens in the scene so he can give me some cool alternate background colours. Spire never sees the script, it really is just for me when I'm pencilling/lettering, and then I discard it and work from what I have in front of me. It's a stepping stone tool, not a strict guideline of what the page should look like.

That's how I write a script, but you can write your script literally however you want! If it's just for you to read, you only need to include as much information as you find important. For some people that's everything because they either can't envision the scene without a description or because they want to make sure they don't miss anything important out, and for some people it's the most barebones thing imaginable. If it works for you, just do it!! You don't need to write a script like you would for a movie unless you really want to, or it's for someone else to see. Do you want to see the entirety of my script for the Chapter 5 lasertag scene?

Now here's a more helpful answer. I always start with an outline of what exactly needs to happen on each page so I don't need to work too hard figuring out how many panels should pass before I need a page break. Example:

You will probably want to think about three main things when putting your script together: dialogue, environment, and character. Each panel is an individual moment in time. That means you shouldn't have too many things happening in a single panel, and one panel should generally only have one dialogue moment, one environment note, and one character action. Someone can't jump up in alarm and then look relieved all in one panel, because that's two character actions (and would also be pretty difficult to draw but shh). A character shouldn't (can, but shouldn't) say they want to leave, then change their mind and ask for another drink all in one panel, because that's two dialogue moments. For environment notes, you really shouldn't have an explosion and the hidden treasure revealed all in one panel, because that's two environment notes. You don't need to stretch everything out into its own panel, but make sure you watch for too many things of the same category happening in one panel.

That's a lot of info, but I hope it helps!

--

I'm doing a little Q&A right now to celebrate the launch of the Inhibit: Book Two Kickstarter! If you have a question about Inhibit, comics in general, or anything else, shoot me an ask 🔥

[animasolaoriginal]

I n n o c e n c e L o s t 🟪 8

Her first kiss still lingers on her mind as Nebbia and Ben continue their adventure, eating peaches and going shopping, and she realizes that she finally knows what she wants from life: him.

lonely cowboy/outlaw ✖️ prostitute who's so much more than that

Chapter 1▫️2▫️3▫️4▫️5▫️6▫️7▫️8▫️9▫️10▫️11▫️12▫️13 ...

GENERAL TAGS: NSFW! Explicit! Size difference, age gap, slow burn romance. Cowboys, outlaws, prostitutes. Historical inaccuracy. Horses, guns, violence.

WORDS: 5.7k 🟪 READ ON AO3

Chapter 7 🟪 Chapter 9

Chapter 8: The Connection

There are two conflicting things inside Nebbia's head.

One is just: kiss. How he kissed her, that he wants to kiss her, his lips, his mouth, his tongue, the scratch and tickle of his beard. The breathless, warm sensation. Kiss.

The other is: father. And there's the conflict, because she doesn't know what to think about that. Doesn't know how a father should be. She still recognizes the problem: fathers shouldn't kiss their daughters. Right? Not like that! But then she also doubts he actually is her father. Just because they share a dimple? Is that enough?

But their connection is there, that tension between them, how easy it is to be around him, how safe she feels. Is that how a father should feel like, or is it just Ben? In his protective, caring way, the gentle giant, holding her so cautiously while also handling her like a doll, picking her up, carrying her around, moving her how he wants to. Is it just their size and age difference?

She doesn't need a parent, never has, never will. She needs him for something else. To be there, hold her, kiss her, do more things to her... Things a father shouldn't do.

But then: does it matter if he is or isn't? She told him it didn't, and honestly: they'll never know. There's no proof, just that little dimple. She's noticed it on his face before, only on the right cheek, just like hers, but she's never drawn the same conclusion he had. So he knew her mother, loved her mother, about twenty years ago, give or take some months (nine?), but is that enough as well?

If anything, it is just strange to think that he did those things to her mother that she wants him to do to her. Though, to be fair, at the end of the day, Keira was just another woman in his life (and she bets he's had many), just another body he can press his against.

The concept of mother and father is something she will never fully understand. Madam Claire hasn't been a mother figure, none of the other girls or women in the brothel have been, and Ben is not a father figure, despite his age and size and demeanor. He is just Ben. And she refuses to think of him as anything else. It won't change her feelings for him anyway.

Feelings. That's the warmth in her stomach when he touches her, the shivers on her spine when he leans closer and whispers into her ear, the little throb between her legs when he looks at her, with those dark but warm eyes, when she looks back into his rough, handsome face, searching for that little smile that so rarely grazes his features, that makes her heart flutter.

Right now, her heart is close to exploding. She feels like a rabbit cornered by a wolf – if the wolf had warm hands and strong arms, holding her protectively against himself. She inhales deeply but quickly, rough little gasps, more air in than out, trying to calm herself after whatever happened just now. (Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.)

Ben is warm beneath her, against her, around her. Her fingers stroke his thick dark hair (much darker than hers), messing it up even more. She slowly relaxes into the embrace, coming down from the unusually intense moment (just a kiss...). She's done so many other things with her mouth before, but this has felt special, like an explosion of some kind, on her lips, on her tongue, on every inch of skin that he has touched.

She moves her head and presses her forehead against his neck, taking another deep breath, inhaling him, while her hands smooth down the back of his head, until she puts them on his shoulders and leans back, meeting his gaze, shifting on his lap. His dark eyes are intense, black on one side, a deep glowing amber on the other where the sun hits his face. A soft smile (that smile!) curls his lips, and she can't help it, she smiles back, it's contagious.

His eyes shift to her cheek, but she ignores the sight on his, doesn't need to see that dimple. It doesn't matter. Instead she moves her hands up and puts her palms on his cheeks, rubbing over his beard. He watches her, patient and calm. She is tempted to move back in, kiss him again, kiss him for the rest of her life (if only she could live off just his kisses, what a wonderful world that would be!), but her own body betrays her as a loud rumble breaks through the quiet moment of just them, the birds and the hum of the forest around them. And Thunder snorting just a few feet away from where they're sitting on the small porch.

Ben smirks at her. “Hungry?” While she blushes, looking away with a groan, he moves one of his hands to her stomach, gently spreading his long fingers on it, giving it a soft press. “I'd say you could use some food, huh? Skinny little thing that you are.”

She huffs, wanting to pout, but his hand on her stomach feels too nice, so warm and comforting. Looking down at it, she puts her own hand on his, scoffing a laugh at how small hers is in comparison. She feels his warm breath on her forehead before he leans in and presses his lips to it.

“Come on, let's see what can we're opening today. I think I'm in the mood for some peaches,” he says with a chuckle, shifting beneath her. More than reluctantly, she grabs his shoulders and gets off his lap, then steps back and holds out her hands for him to grab.

“Need help, old man?” she teases with a smirk.

He throws her a dark glare, but the corner of his lips curls up into a smirk of his own. He grabs her hand, but instead of letting her pull him up, he pulls her back in, and suddenly his hands are on her waist as he flings her over his shoulder. She yelps in surprise, clawing at his back as her world is turned upside down. He gets to his feet, hurling her up with him, one hand on her rear, the other hooked around the back of her knee.

“Ben!” she screeches, her hair falling over her head, a sense of vertigo gripping her empty insides as she kicks her feet playfully.

He only laughs, a deep vibration through his body, and carries her back into the cabin.

The sun has moved far into the sky, casting barely any shadows as they sit on the small porch of the cabin and share a can of peaches. The air is thick, it's going to be another hot day it seems, and she realizes it must be peak summer. The few times she was allowed to leave the brothel to do laundry in the backyard, she hasn't noticed as much.

Now, sitting in the bright sunshine, wearing Ben's clothes, the cut-off jeans tied high around her waist, the black undershirt that's thin but still sticking to her sweat-slick body, and the shirt she's already discarded of and using as a blanket to sit on, are not ideal for this weather (though they are useful at night when the temperatures drop immensely). She wiggles her toes, glad to have at least a little bit of skin exposed.

“We'll ride into town today and get you some more clothes, okay? Some boots too,” Ben mutters past a bite of slippery peach before handing her the can.

She nods, fishing another piece of fruit out of the small container, her fingers wet and slick, and she barely manages to get the bite into her mouth. “Is it safe, though?” she asks, swallowing, wiping at her sticky mouth.

He huffs a grunt of confirmation. “We managed to put quite the distance in, should be safe enough. No one's behind us anyway, guess we slipped away before they could decide what to do.”

“Hmm,” she makes, eyeing the almost empty can. “Last piece, do you want it?” she asks, holding it on her palm.

“Nah, you eat it, you need it to get bigger,” he teases with a wink.

Nebbia scoffs. “But I'm already full, you're probably still hungry, hm? I bet that giant body of yours needs it more,” she teases right back.

He watches her for a moment, a strange glint in his dark eyes. Slowly he leans in, closes his long fingers around her hand and holds it still while he grabs the last piece of peach between the forefinger and thumb of his other hand. “Open up, missy,” he grunts, smirking at her.

She tilts her head, unable to keep the grin down. When he leans even closer, she opens her mouth, tongue out, flat and wide, and waits with her heart beating faster. He puts his fingers to her mouth, the sweet, slippery fruit touching her tongue, and she tastes it and him, feels the warmth of his fingers against her lips – and she can't help but close them around his fingertips. It's almost an instinct.

His gaze darkens, his jaw clenches, and while she gives his fingers the slightest hint of a suck, pulling them slightly deeper, he groans, removes his fingers and replaces them with his mouth as he captures hers for a deep, searing kiss that causes her to gasp in surprise. His hand grips the back of her neck as he pulls her towards him, quickly slipping his tongue between her lips, licking around the inside of her mouth, and she tastes the peach on her tongue and him, more of him, and before she knows it, he leans back again, swallowing audibly.

She realizes he's stolen the fruit right out of her mouth. A deep blush creeps up her cheeks as she watches him lick his lips, giving her a wide smile. “Guess you were right, I was still hungry after all,” he says and winks at her. He grabs the can from her hand and drinks the last bit of liquid in it, then puts it to the ground and stands up.

As he walks past her to prepare for their departure, his hand ruffles her hair while she looks after him with her lips still parted. That man...

“Show me your hand,” he requests after he drops the bags next to her a few minutes later, crouching down with a stern look on his face. She frowns, shifts on her knees and extends her hand, having already forgotten about the cut she's gotten from climbing through a broken window in the middle of the night. It feels so long ago, it's only been half a day.

He takes her small hand into his larger one, turns her palm up, moves his thumb gently over the bandage. It sticks to the wound, and the fabric has darkened a little. She watches him remove it carefully, trying not to wince, and he keeps his eyes on her when she can't control her reactions. Her heart races, and it's not the slight pain of the cut, but the intimate gesture that makes her stomach churn.

She's still trying to make sense of all these emotions whirling through her, the conflicting ones as much as the overwhelming ones, the ones that make her yearn for more. He's just tending to her wound, cleaning it with cautious dabs of a cloth soaked in alcohol, then wraps a new strip of bandage around her palm, his long fingers working with confidence and ease, while she has to force herself not to shiver whenever there's skin to skin contact.

There's a faint taste of copper on her tongue when she realizes she's bitten her lip hard enough to draw blood. Being done with her hand, Ben looks at her, then raises his own to wipe his thumb over her bottom lip, his dark eyes wandering over her mouth before they move higher. She meets his gaze, her heart fluttering, stomach tense and warm, and that obnoxious throb somewhere lower makes it hard to breathe.

“We should go,” he then says, quiet, a low hum in the air between them.

She swallows, nods, licks her lips – and his thumb by accident because she's too focused on his face than to notice his hand still holding her chin. A smirk plays around the corner of his mouth, and before she knows it, he's leaned in and gives her a short but sweet little press of his lips to hers, not even a proper kiss, just a brushing, and it's enough to make her cheeks warm up even more.

“Come on,” his voice wafts to her ears, and he stands up and grabs her elbow to pull her onto her feet.

She's back on top of the giant horse, sitting sideways in Ben's lap, gripping the horn of the saddle tightly, his arms around her as he guides Thunder through the thicket of the forest. The vertigo of being so high up is still there, but as it's midday, and when they finally leave the forest, she can at least focus on the horizon, vehemently trying to ignore the ground so far below her.

He's asked her to put her long hair up into a messy bun, and he's secured it with one of those black bandanas that are tied around one of the saddle's straps. Conveniently placed should he ever need to hide his face while on the back of the large animal. With everything happening she has barely had time to think about the Wanted posters he's shown her. About his past.

Robbery. Theft. Murder. Being an outlaw, wanted by the law. Just like her mother.

She turns her head slightly and looks up at him. He looks different in the daytime. Messy dark hair shimmering black and brown and auburn in the sunlight, locks moving with every up and down of the horse, his brown eyes are glowing, warm and inviting, his skin weathered and tan, the darkness of his beard not as full as at night, almost a little patchy, sprinkled with the hint of lighter hairs in between, trimmed but also a little messy in spots, thicker above his lip and around his chin. Rough looking, but she knows by now that she likes the tickle of it on her sensitive skin.

“Do I have something on my face?” he suddenly asks, lips (oh the shape of his lips) curling up into a smile, stretching his beard over his cheeks, exposing the dimple.

“Uh,” she stammers, clearing her throat, feeling a deep warmth creeping up her neck. “Yeah, a lot of hair, actually,” she tells him and sticks her tongue out playfully.

His laugh resonates through his body, moving into hers. He tightens his arm around her waist and pulls her closer, holding her securely in his embrace while he leans down a little, and before she can pull her tongue back fully, he's captured her mouth, giving her tongue a gentle suck, then kisses her softly (a sudden explosion behind her eyelids, sweet tingles on her skin, a somewhat familiar heat rushing into her stomach) before he leans back up again, licking his lips.

“Cheeky little thing,” he rumbles, and she blushes even more, giggling quietly. His eyes focus back ahead as Thunder trots along a path through a wide field, the forest long behind them. But she doesn't really pay attention to her surroundings, she's still looking at Ben. “Anything else I can help you with?” he whispers without looking at her.

She coughs slightly and looks away. “Is it really safe?” she then asks quietly, turning back, trying to see their destination in the distance. “Going to town?”

“It is,” he says confidently. “Nobody knows us there. Don't worry.”

“Are you sure?”

“I doubt anyone will recognize you looking like this,” he replies, shifting the reins into the hand around her waist to raise the other to pat the messy bun on top of her head. “And to be fair, I look like every other man of the West, or the wild. And,” he adds, leaning a little closer, his rough cheek scraping against her soft skin, “we're just going shopping, sweetheart, nothing to be worried about. Most shop keepers are very discreet...”

“And you're not gonna rob them?” she asks bluntly, turning her head back to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

He laughs, nosing her cheek before leaning back. “No promises,” he says with a wink.

“Ben!” she calls out in a mixture of shock and playful indignation.

“No robberies today,” he sighs, his hand moving down to grip her nape gently. “If you insist...”

His touch sends shivers through her body. For a moment he leaves his hand there, long fingers curling around her neck, teasing at her throat. She swallows hard against them. Eventually he slides it down along her spine, leaving goosebumps in its wake, then it's back, resting on her thighs as he passes the reins into that hand again.

She's gotten quite used to Thunder's constant bumping motions, the up and down, the swaying. Somehow the giant horse moves rather smoothly over the flat terrain, his heavy hooves seemingly barely hitting the ground. What she's not gotten used to yet (or ever will) is how Ben's subtle touches make her feel now. They seem even more exhilarating, sending more shudders down her limbs, warming her from within, fueling the throbbing between her legs.

Now the combination of the horse's movements and Ben's touches is really not ideal. She inhales sharply and tries to focus on what lies ahead. Shopping.

The town is small, smaller than the one she's lived in her whole life (not that she's seen much of it, though), it's just a dirt road and a couple of old wooden buildings on one side and a vast open field on the other. A saloon, hotel, general store, a stable at the end. Not many people around, only two other horses parked outside the bar.

She's relieved. Ben guides Thunder towards the front of the general store and swiftly hoists himself off his back with a wide swing of his leg and a heavy thud when his boots land in the dirt. Without much hesitation, he grabs her waist and lifts her off as well, his touch strong and reassuring, but too short for her liking.

While Ben grabs the reins and wraps them around a pole near the steps leading to the porch up to the store, Nebbia readjusts the tight belt around her unusually high-waisted jeans (she still feels particularly small in his pants, the legs are too wide, the cut off edges fringing and tickling her feet, the form just doesn't fit, and frankly the rough fabric chafes a little between her legs with how high he's pulled them up). She's rolled up the sleeves of both the undershirt and the warmer plaid shirt, but it's not helping in the scorching heat of the sun.

So going shopping actually sounds pretty good right about now.

Ben holds out his hand to her, and she puts her smaller one onto his palm and smiles a little shyly, before he leads her into the general store. A little bell above the door announces them when they enter the rather dark room. Shelves line the walls, filled with various boxes and cans and other containers, and she wonders if she'll get clothes here after all.

“I'll be right with you!” calls a voice from somewhere in the back, and she realizes there must be more rooms. “Take a look at the catalog while you wait!”

Her confusion grows, but Ben leads her towards the counter and pulls a thick book towards himself, flips casually through the pages while squeezing her hand a little. She watches him, watches his long fingers moving the printed pages, how the veins and tendons on the back of his hand move under his tan skin. She's slightly distracted by the sight, imagining his hands elsewhere, and when he suddenly steps around her and places those hands on her shoulders, she gasps softly, turning her head to look up at him.

“Pick something,” he whispers softly, nodding towards the book in front of her.

She blinks, then looks back, noticing a section full of drawings of women in various clothes. Dresses, skirts, blouses, even pants and belts, shirts and vests. She flips through the pages, so many options, coats, jackets, shoes, even underwear. Bloomers, long and short and very short, chemises and nightgowns, corsets, various pieces of very revealing lingerie. She blushes at the drawings, biting her lip.

As if she hasn't worn most of those things herself before, has seen real women wearing them. It does feel like a very long time ago, even though it's been barely two days now, or less? It feels more, at least it's been a couple of very long nights, that she can say.

The clerk joins them on the other side of the counter and together they decide on quite the collection for her. She's highly embarrassed to discuss her clothing choices with two grown men, and is even more embarrassed when she realizes that Ben has to pay for all of this. But he doesn't hesitate one bit at the large sum at the end. He only smiles, his hand on her waist as they wait for the shop keeper to gather their purchases.

(“I can give you a better life,” he's said the night they have met. But considering how he lives, tucked away in the forest in a dilapidated house surrounded by tents and wagons, she's forgotten how wealthy he may be.)

“Does the young miss want to slip into an outfit right away?” the other man calls from the back, startling her slightly. She looks up at Ben, and he only nods, giving her a gentle nudge, but she grabs his wrist and shakes her head, pressing her lips together, the idea to be alone in a room with a strange man sending cold shivers down her spine, the bad kind.

He frowns, but then nods, his features darkening slightly. “Of course, forgive me, I'll come with you,” he says softly, grabs her hand and leads her into the backroom where the clerk stands in front of a wall of various garments and dresses and other clothing items organized on racks. There's a partition screen in one corner, some more boxes and shelves in the other.

“Well, what's it going to be?” the clerk asks with a friendly smile, and Nebbia feels almost bad that she's assumed he might harm her in any way. She looks at the clothes he's laid out for her, chewing on the inside of her cheek. Ben steps beside her then.

“Something comfortable should do, we have a long ride ahead of us,” he says, his voice low and particularly booming in the small room.

The other man nods and grabs the riding skirt they picked out, and one of the blouses, both in earthy tones, the skirt in a deep brown, the blouse in a soft beige with white stripes. She takes the clothes from him with a shy smile and turns towards the privacy screen, when she feels Ben's finger hooking around the back of her belt.

“This too,” he whispers, holding out a pair of medium long bloomers. Her eyes widen, but she grabs it quickly, then slips behind the screen, her cheeks bright red. She has no idea why she is so embarrassed, that man has seen her naked multiple times now, probably also knows how sore her bum is from riding in too big jeans for a night and a day. It's just strange to her that a man would care about her like this.

She quickly strips off the borrowed clothes and puts on the new ones. There's a floor length mirror leaning against the wall, and once she's done buttoning the blouse that feels so nice on her skin, she takes a cautious look. The riding skirt sits snug on her waist, accentuating the swell of her hips and following an almost A-shape downwards, and despite being called a skirt it's actually a two-legged pants-contraption, looking like a skirt. Should be useful for riding like a man, she thinks.

The blouse is quite form fitting, the fabric soft and cool on her skin, hugging the curves of her small breasts, the dip of her waist and the shape of her spine. The sleeves are rolled up but can be pulled down as well, for now she leaves them up, exposing her pale forearms. Watching herself, she tugs at the black bandana and frees the long waves of her hair, trying to smooth it with slightly shaking hands. But it's messy and quite unruly (maybe she should ask Ben for a brush or a comb), so she decides to braid it into a sloppy side braid instead, fixing the ends together with the bandana.

“Are you done?” she hears Ben's deep voice.

“Yes,” she replies and steps out from behind the partition screen. His dark eyes are on her immediately, wandering up and down, and she's still blushing.

He steps closer, one large hand finding her waist. “Beautiful,” he whispers, giving her a soft smile, before he blinks and looks down. “You need shoes.”

He turns back to the clerk watching them from the other side of the room, and while she still fights her rapidly beating heart, the men discuss shoe choices, and then Ben returns with a pair of black ankle boots and a pair of white frilly socks.

She gasps softly when he kneels down in front of her and grabs her ankle, she can barely put her hands on his shoulders for support. He lifts her foot slightly, one, then the other, and puts the socks on (long warm fingers sliding along her skin, squeezing her ankle), then the shoes, and when he's done, he straightens up again and nods at her, seemingly content with how she looks.

The shoes give her a few inches more to her height, but she still has to look up at the tall man who keeps smiling at her. A strange sight, but not unwelcome. Yet it does remind her of the dimple on his right cheek, much more visible now, and what it represents, supposedly.

“I have to say, I enjoy dressing you up,” he whispers with a wink, and she blushes yet another shade of red, if that is even possible. He grabs her hand and gently pulls her along, then accepts the large bag of clothes the clerk holds out for him.

“Wait!” she suddenly says, remembering something. He frowns at her, even more so when she slips out of his grip and quickly walks back to behind the screen. “Your clothes,” she says, grabbing the jeans, undershirt and plaid button-up from where she has discarded them. Fishing the switchblade he'd given her out of the pants pocket, she looks at it, then bends down quickly to secure it inside her sock, feeling it press against her ankle, like a reminder (to hopefully never having to use it).

“Oh, you don't need them anymore,” he tells her, then looks towards the shop keeper. “Can we leave those here?”

“No!” she says a little too loud, causing both men to stare at her. “I... I'd like to keep them...” They smell like you, she wants to add, but doesn't.

Ben watches her for a moment, then sighs and holds the open bag towards her. She smiles happily and puts his old clothes to the new clothes he's bought for her (another skirt, a sundress, more blouses, bloomers and a chemise). Then she grabs his arm and smiles up at him. His eyes are on her cheek before he meets hers.

It takes him a moment to move on, to break eye contact (weave through the unspoken words between them), but then he pulls her along, thanks the clerk and leaves the store with her.

Outside in the sun, the giant black horse snorts in greeting. “Look, Thunder, how generous Ben was,” she tells the animal and pats his large neck, then grabs a few sugar cubes from the pouch hanging off the horn and feeds them to him, while her eyes wander to the tall man who attaches the bag of clothes to the saddle, looking up at her words. She smiles at him. “Thank you,” she then adds quietly. “That really was generous, and maybe a little too much... but I'm grateful...”

He walks towards her, raising one hand to brush the back of his finger against her cheek. “Anytime, sweetheart,” he whispers, then leans down, his lips so close to hers, but then he drifts off and presses them to her other cheek. She hums, both in delight and disappointment.

Straightening back up, he watches her for a moment. “So, how do you wanna sit now, with your new attire?” he asks, cocking his head to the side as he leans casually against Thunder's big body.

“Is it really going to be a long ride?” she whispers softly, stepping closer to him, tilting her chin up to look at him.

“We'll ride the rest of the day, yes,” he replies, watching her closely.

“Then the... lady way, I guess, it is more comfortable,” she says, mindlessly playing with the stirrup strap in front of her while her eyes wander over his face. “Unless it's not for you?”

“Any way is fine with me, you barely weigh anything,” he muses with a smirk, one of his hands moving to her waist until he pokes her side, making her squirm and giggle.

She grabs his wrist, pouting up at him breathlessly. He only laughs, then properly grabs her waist and hoists her into the air effortlessly. She can't help the little shriek escaping her. Luckily the town is still pretty empty, though she suddenly notices a shadow in the window behind Ben. The owner of the general store is watching them, and she wonders why. But then she sits on Thunder's saddle, sideways like requested, and focuses back on the tall man now climbing up behind her.

He always makes it look so easy to get up the giant animal. Once he settles in the saddle, both boots in the stirrups, he grabs her again and adjusts her position, nudging her between his thighs with her legs dangling off to one side. His hand rests heavy on her knees, holding them comfortably, while the other snakes around her back and grabs the reins.

Thunder starts moving with a gentle nudge of Ben's spurs and a click of his tongue, slowly walking past the rest of the buildings. When they pass the saloon, the swinging doors fly open and a group of men emerges, laughing and arguing, loud voices in the quiet afternoon. Ben completely ignores them, but Nebbia throws them a curious gaze.

They're all wearing cowboy hats and boots, jeans and chaps, gun holsters, some even have two, crossed over their hips. She's seen the type before, most without their pants on (or at least their dicks out), and suddenly realizes something.

“Hey, why aren't you wearing a hat?” she asks quietly, looking back towards the other men.

He doesn't reply right away, causing her to look at him instead. She catches the clenching of his jaw, but when he notices her stare, he smirks at her. “Do I have to? Am I only a real cowboy with a hat on?”

“Well, I always assumed that's part of the outfit,” she laughs.

“Outfit?” Ben chuckles and shakes his head with an amused glint in his brown eyes. “Never tell a cowboy you think he's wearing an outfit. Being a cowboy is so much more, it's a job, it's a lifestyle, not just an outfit. And you know, I don't even think I am one.”

Outlaw. Thief. Murderer. The words come to her instantly, and she's ashamed they do. He's more than those words too.

“I'm just a man trying to find his place in the world,” he muses, squeezing her knee.

She watches him in silence for a moment, biting her lip. “So am I, I guess,” she whispers, and his eyes move down to hers. “Not a man, though, obviously,” she adds with an awkward little laugh. “But –”

His voice is a deep rumble when he asks: “Have you ever thought about what you'd like to do, where you'd like to be, if... well, if you weren't born in that brothel?” Destined to service men? she adds in her mind.

“No,” she replies without much thought. “I never thought I'd actually leave that place, to be honest...”

He tightens his arm around her slightly as he spurs Thunder on to walk faster. The horse falls into a steady trot, making them bounce a little on his back. She grabs Ben's arm for support. “Well, you're free now,” he tells her with a warm gaze. “Start thinking about it.”

A shy smile makes her lips twitch. “I will,” she whispers after a moment, nodding pensively. She turns her head back to look ahead, scooting closer to him, leaning against his chest. He holds her there, shifting the reins to his other hand to wrap his arm around her completely.

There is only one answer to his question in her mind right now: with him. Wherever he goes. Whatever he does. She wants to be with him.

Chapter 7 🟪 Chapter 9

End notes: Kinda turned Ben into a sugar daddy in this chapter, huh? Oh well, not the worst thing that could have happened.

Remember the cut Nebbia got from climbing out of the window in chapter 6 or the switchblade he gave her? Yeah, me neither while I wrote this. Oops. But never mind that, I tried to work it in between scenes, hope it works somehow.

By the way, the whole eating out of cans and flipping through a catalog to buy stuff is blatantly stolen from Red Dead Redemption 2, as are many other things, but we'll not dwell on that, okay? It's my prime source of Wild West research.

Thank you for reading! Next chapter on Friday!

AO3 -- MASTERLIST -- INSPIRATION POSTS

[2nd-drop-me-safely-in-this-hell]

ladytrish pre-dmc 1 meeting au?

"A Premature Meeting"

Characters

Lady (Devil May Cry)

Trish (Devil May Cry)

Relationships

Lady x Trish

Premise

A sinister plot unfolds to lure the son of Sparda to his doom... But you know that story. This time around, however, a key player visits an old ally of Dante's just before events go into motion.

Content Warnings:

Firearms (Magically Resisted)

Explosives

Dismemberment (Magically Healed)

Canon Divergence

Author's Note:

This is actually a really good idea, thank you anon. I may actually write a follow-up to this, no promises though.

Lady flopped onto her couch, clutching Kalina Ann in her arms. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her riding suit, but all discomfort and soreness was outweighed by sheer exhaustion.

Her respite was cut short by a loud crash from the far wall. At once, Lady jumped behind the couch and took cover, peeking over to see her own motorcycle lying in the middle of her apartment, leaving a trail of glass and other rubble in its wake.

"What the hell?!" Lady roared.

As if to answer her question, the culprit made herself known. Landing behind the motorcycle was a tall, blonde woman, dressed in black leather boots, with skin-tight pants and a corset to match. Her hair was done up in a pony tail, and her eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses.

The woman looked fit, but there was no human explanation for throwing a motor vehicle into a second story window, then leaping in after it. Lady slung Kalina Ann onto her back, and placed a hand on her pistol - the human-sized demons tended to be too fast for Kalina Ann.

The mysterious woman turned, and met Lady's eyes. "Hm... One red eye, one green... Scar across the bridge of her nose... You're the one, alright."

"Tell me why you're here. Now." Lady drew her pistol. "Or else."

The intruder smiled. "Well well... You are a ferocious one, aren't y-"

Lady fired her pistol, hitting her right between the eyes. Even as the bullet crumpled and bounced off, leaving only a bruise, Lady's target grunted. "...That was rude." She hissed through gritted teeth.

Lady scoffed. "I don't know what's considered polite in the Underworld, but up here? Throwing motorcycles into people's windows doesn't exactly say 'I come in peace'."

The stranger chuckled. "I'll remember that next time."

"I won't ask you again." Lady cocked her pistol.

The woman smiled "I just need to know where I can find your friend, Dante."

Dante? Lady thought to herself. This woman knows him... Could she be another family member? Her hair isn't white, but she has his tan, and maybe his nose too...

"Who's asking?" Lady barked.

The demon glared. "No one's 'asking'. You're going to tell me. What's up to you is how much I'm going to hurt you first."

"Wrong answer." Lady fired her pistol again.

This time, the stranger dodged, and in an instant, she tossed the couch aside. "Right back at you." She then seized Lady by the throat, and lifted her off of her feet. "Surely you know by now that your only choice is to cooperate?"

"Think again." Lady retorted. "Look down."

The demon looked down to find that her right foot was planted on top of some sort of metal disk. "What's this?" She inquired.

"That's a landmine. Calibrated to fuck up demons like you." Lady answered.

The demon grinned smugly. "You've never faced a demon like me. I like my chances."

"But do you like mine? If you step off now, we'll both be caught in the blast. And I can't tell you anything if I'm dead." It was Lady's turn to look smug.

The woman's eyebrows raised, and her head cocked to the side. "Well played." At once, she tossed Lady over her shoulder.

She landed right beside her motorcycle, her leathers thankfully shielding her from the broken glass. Lady quickly got to her feet, and pushed the motorcycle upright.

"Oh, no you d-" The demon was cut off by a loud gang, and covered by a puff of smoke.

If this were a regular job, Lady would have stopped to make sure the demon was finished. Instead she climbed onto her motorcycle, and rode out of what used to be her window, landing in the street below and tearing away.

Who the hell was that?! Lady thought to herself. I better get myself to Dante's office. To warn him, and to get some answers.

* * *

"Agh, fuck me..." Trish came to, and looked down at herself to assess the damage. Her right leg was reduced to crystalized ichor. Nothing that wouldn't regenerate, and not nearly as painful as anything Mundus would bestow if he had witnessed this failure, but it was still a surprise.

As the stump began to extend into a complete leg again, she laid back down, and laughed to herself. Looks like I underestimated you, hunter. I hope this isn't the last we see of each other.

[txfeline720]

Title: Chair cushion

Rating: G

Summary: In which Skyfire teaches Sideswipe a lesson.

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

Skyfire stared at his reflection in the mirror with wide optics. His processor had stalled momentarily, trying to understand what exactly he was looking at.

Instead of the normal white paintjob with a dash of red and blue he normally sees when he wakes up from recharge, Bumblebee yellow with small black and white squares running up his sides has taken its place. On his front, written in bold letters, was "Taxi Bot."

It was those painted words that brought the answer to the mystery of who the culprit was. Someone red. Someone who loved pushing the buttons on anyone they deemed worthy of it. Someone who was about to learn why you don't light bombs that have fuses that stretch for miles on end. Because it's those bombs that cause the biggest explosions in the most unexpected of ways.

Thunder rumbled inside Skyfire's head as he muttered one word in a voice colder than the ice that had imprisoned him for millions of years.

"Sideswipe."

----

"Dang it, Skyfire, put me down!"

The said cherry goblin was squirming with all his might, trying to break free from the iron grip of the shuttle. To say Sideswipe was shocked when Skyfire stormed into the rec room while he was having his energon and being snatched up before he could do anything would be an understatement. The shock soon switched to determination to get out of the embrace and get back to his energon.

Skyfire was not having it. "I could tolerate somewhat being called a taxibot, Sideswipe. But painting me like one is one step too far," he said, staring down at the Lambo sternly.

"It was just a prank for Primus's sake," Sideswipe exclaimed. "Besides, you're not the only one to have that happen too. Just lighten up already." He tried biting into Skyfire's hands to make him let go, but to no avail.

"That's enough." The Shuttle changed his grip so Sideswipe wouldn't try biting again. "I believe a little punishment is in order for this." He scanned the room and spotted a large chair made for larger frames. With Sideswipe still in his grip, he walked over to it.

"You're going to sit right here until I'm ready to move as well."

That got Sideswipe to stop squirming and look up at Skyfire defiantly. "Oh yea? What's stopping me from getting up? And what do you mean when you're ready?

The shuttle brought the Lambo to eye level so he could see the smirk blooming on his faceplate. And what is that glint in Skyfire's optics? "Because I never said you'd be sitting by yourself."

Faster than Sideswipe could comprehend, he was quickly dumped into the chair, and the last thing he saw was a shuttle-sized aft coming down at him before the world went white.

----

"Hey, Prime."

Optimus looked up from the report he was writing to see Bumblebee standing outside his office. "What is it?" It didn't escape his notice that the minibot was trying and failing not to grin.

Bumblebee took a moment to compose himself. "I think you're needed in the rec room right now."

Optimus gave a weary sigh at that. "If it has to do with Sideswipe, Prowl is capable of taking care of it," he said, getting back to his writing.

"Actually, it also has to do with Skyfire as well," Bumblebee clarified.

That got Optimus's attention, and he looked back up at the minibot. "How?" As far as he remembered, Skyfire never gave anyone trouble.

Bumblebee merely waved for Optimus to follow. "I think you need to see this for yourself."

Abandoning the datapad for now, the two of them walked to the rec room to see what the problem was. They heard it before getting there.

"Get off of me, you slagging shuttle!"

They walked in, and Optimus had to reset his optics when he saw it.

Skyfire was sitting in a large chair, reading from a datapad. A cube of energon was standing on one of the arm rests. Normally, something like that would not be worth paying attention to. It was the red mech having a fit underneath said Shuttle that was making it worth it.

"Skyfire, I mean it. You're crushing me; get off!" Sideswipe tried once again to beg for deliverance from this crushing punishment.

A hum of acknowledgement was all the Lambo would get from Skyfire. More pressure was put on him when the shuttle shifted a bit to get more comfortable. Skyfire took a second to check his internal chromometer. "Ten more minutes, and then you can get up, Sideswipe. I hope I won't have to do this again. I don't really like punishing anyone, even you, believe it or not," he admitted with a small smile, moving a free hand underneath him to give a pat to the squished mech. "Even if you do get on my nerves."

Optimus and Bumblebee continued staring at the whole thing in silence. Bumblebee looked up at his leader and broke it. "So, are you going to do anything about this, Prime?"

Optimus kept staring at Skyfire, who took a break from reading for a sip of energon, and at Sideswipe, who had not yet resigned to being a chair cushion for ten more minutes.

"No."

Without another word, he turned around and walked in the direction of his office, leaving behind a confused Bumblebee. Sideswipe made his bed, and he will say good night, sleep in it tightly, and won't let the scraplets bite. Though by this time he'll take the scraplets over being sat on any day, thank you.

[teecupangel]

Did tumblr eat my ask? Or is it just taking awhile? I’ll ask again just in case , and u can ignore it if it wasn’t. Time travel Des gets turned into an animal au, but this time he’s a slugcat from rain world, they’re cute, generally good at parkour, and can have different abilities (artificer can make explosives, spearmaster can make spears from its tail,etc.) so Des could have one of the canon abilities, or he could have a unique one. (Or one from a mod lol)

Noooo, your ask wasn’t eaten by Tumblr nor did I ignore it. I’m still answering asks and reblogs from July 26 (which has your ask as well and that was why I was able to answer this now) TTATT

I’m sorry for the delay. TTATT

Anyway, on to the ask.

For those unfamiliar, the Slugcats are the playable characters in the game Rain World.

And look at how adorable they are:

Honestly, I was debating on just keeping him purely Survivor because Survivor is white.

But let’s shake it up a bit.

Desmond’s slugcat ‘type’ changes depending on various conditions:

He’s primarily the white Survivor (base stats) when he’s alone or doing his own thing. This is how his ancestors first saw Desmond and how he’s usually described later in history as a symbol of the Brotherhood.

He turns gold (yeah, not yellow) as the Monk when he’s safe with one of his ancestors, usually curled around the neck and hidden by both the hood and the robes itself. He’s quite warm in this state and tends to purr a lot. He tends to not be that combat-oriented in this state.

He turns red as the Hunter when he’s… well… hunting mostly. Looking for and stalking preys would usually turn him red. Ratonhnhaké:ton is the ancestor who sees this a lot.

He turns into the plump Gourmand when he has eaten quite a lot. This happens a lot with the Auditores because they just love to feed him. He’s slower but he can use his larger body to slam against things and other people. More often than not, he just rolls into a ball and tries for strikes.

Artificer (magenta?) and Spearmaster (purple) are the states that usually appears before Altaïr.

Spearmaster appears when Altaïr has no more throwing knives and he would use the spear that appears on Desmond’s tail instead. Because of this Altaïr actually changed to Desmond’s spears instead (since they’re about the same size of his throwing knife) and Desmond usually helps and flicking his tail turns the spear into a projectile weapon whenever they’re forced into open combat.

Artificer first appeared when Altaïr started working on the hidden gun and his explosive capabilities are usually used for control demolitions. Artificer is more or less just studied when he was with Altaïr. It’s Ezio who turns Desmond into a walking timebomb of distraction and demolition. The requirement to making Desmond an artificer seems to be that he had to smell gunpowder. He turns into an Artificer once he sneezes.

Rivulet (water) is the easiest state to change to. Get Desmond wet and he’d turn into a Rivulet. As long as he’s wet, he’ll stay a Rivulet but… once he’s dry, he’ll return to being a Survivor unless there’s another state requirement being fulfilled (like being wrapped in a warm blanket to dry off while in his ancestor’s arms would turn him into a Monk instead).

Saint’s (green) requirement is a bit of a mystery though but the most possible explanation is that Desmond turns into a saint when he needs to freerun and thinks he needs to use the Saint’s long tongue to grapple and swing from ceilings, walls, tree branches, etc. Saint’s the most frail of his states and Desmond tries to change his states as soon as possible whenever he turns green.

… I feel like whenever one of his ancestors die, Desmond gets a slugpup (maybe it just… splits from him? Or it slithers out of the ancestor’s body?) and follows Desmond around. The slugpup doesn’t shift states but usually tries to help Desmond whenever it can. Desmond’s pretty sure they’re reincarnated slugpup of his ancestors… or maybe he just wants to believe that. Slugpups are very affectionate towards Desmond and Desmond treats them more like his kids than minions.

Desmond names his Slugpups on the ancestor they ‘come from’. Slugpup!Altaïr has the Dominance trait which means he will pick up things he thinks he can use and use them. This is usually not weapon and more like utility items like smoke bombs and even just food he would give to Desmond once he starts to feel sluggish. He also likes to stay with the other slugpups and Desmond isn’t sure if he’s acting as their leader or their big brother… maybe both? Slugpup!Ezio is more on the Energy side and he tends to grab shiny things that are usually expensive af. Slugpup!Ratonhnhaké:ton is an Aggression type and prefers to have a weapon. Mostly, he would have a spear or one of the Assassins’ throwing knives.