#I usually post more things there and more regular updates and stuff

[sjokofelix]

man idk why people think tumblr is really gonna shut down now. yes tumblr is a hellsite and it sucks, there are threats like this every 5 months.

regardless though, if tumblr does in fact, shut down. you can find me on (I kid you not) pinterest. <- link to my page

[btsmosphere]

Supercharged | JJK

Chapter 7: Spark to Life

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🗲summary: It starts with a blow to the chest that changes your life. When your city’s most celebrated hero pays a visit, it turns out the noble Bolt has no trouble tossing lives aside. Lives that won't be missed. Lives like yours. Seven mysterious and powerful men give you another chance – one that starts to feel more like a curse the moment you meet golden boy Jungkook. The boy who wants you as far from his brothers as he can get you. Is it you he hates, or the blue lightning that now runs through your veins? And could it be his golden light that illuminates your heart when darkness threatens? 🗲this chapter: “We don't have time to argue” “No, we don't”

🗲pairing: jungkook x female reader 🗲word count: 5.3k 🗲genre: angst, action, eventual fluff, enemies to lovers, slow burn, superheroes/villains au, found family 🗲rating: pg15 🗲warnings: violence with superpowers, swearing, weapons, dangerous driving

a/n: exciting notice! (maybe lol) the next chapter is pretty short, but it really was the best place to break up my chapters - so, as a result I will be posting it in the middle of this week! that's right, this coming week will bring two whole supercharged updates! first on Wednesday, and again on the regular Sunday😊see you then!!

For some days, the occasional crackling voices from that speaker accompanied your life when the boys were away.

Of course, you relished the time they did spend at home. Even though they were busy training in most of their free time, and out late on missions, they would come and chat with you while they made breakfast, or came to rest and watch some tv.

To them, it probably appeared that nothing was different between you and Jungkook. Whenever they were home, he took the chance to train with them. You knew he missed them now they were out so much without him. Anyone would have noticed as much, given the way he hovered around the receiver, always staying up after you slipped quietly to bed.

But once the house emptied, the smiling Jimin, raucous laughter of Hope or the fond smiles of Yoongi would be replaced by the stony silence of Jungkook.

Somehow, you were growing used to it.

Either that, or you would be firing comments between each other, no longer sure if it counted as fighting or having a conversation. Anything to fill up the silence.

You trained more too, your powers’ strength returning slowly even in the course of a week. And since that night, a sort of ritual had begun at dinner. Of course, you would have chosen anyone else’s company over Jungkook’s, but you had to make do. You would cook something simple, ordering him to chop up ingredients at the very least while he complained (“if you’re just going to criticise me, do it yourself!”). To this, you would remind him that he wanted to eat the food, did he not?

If anything, it was a cathartic vengeance for the power he held in the training rooms.

But anytime the receiver blared into life, the two of you would fall quickly into silence, drinking in every word, even the shortest exchange, of the boys which were out who-knows-where.

Tonight was one of those times. The two of you were sitting across from each other as always, beginning to eat.

The radio sparking to life cut off your conversation. Jungkook put his chopsticks down completely, turning his attention towards it. It was Jimin’s voice.

“Did anyone else see that?”

“I did. Hold on, I’ll go check it out,” Hobi replied.

Then an order from Namjoon.

“Yoongi, go with him.”

You continued staring at the small device even while no more exchanges could be heard. That wasn’t the usual stuff they talked about. Normally, it was just routine things, checking up on each other and confirming what they had planned.

But it was probably nothing. It was presumably quite a feat that they hadn’t come across any sort of difficulty in all the missions so far, and this would prove to be a false alarm or easily dealt with. You had seen what the boys were capable of, after all – just Hobi and Yoongi by themselves could be lethal.

That didn’t stop you from hanging on expectantly, though.

At last, the silence was broken. But not by what you had hoped.

“Guys? What can you see?”

Namjoon’s question was met with no reply. You couldn’t tear your eyes from the small radio, breath captive in your lungs.

Then, a jarring noise leapt like lightning from the speaker, making both you and Jungkook flinch. High-pitched, grating feedback, it faded almost instantly, but the scar it had torn in the previously peaceful kitchen remained.

Frozen to your seat, your food was well and truly forgotten as you heard Jin chime in next.

“Guys, get out of there.”

Namjoon’s trust in his right-hand man was evident, no hint of question in his voice as he reverted orders.

“Code two, hide the target and evacuate-”

“Yeah, we might have a problem with that,” Jimin cut him off.

A loud boom was audible, despite the limits of the small receiver that reduced it to white noise. Once again, it cut off.

It was then you realised Jungkook was on his feet. He snatched the radio from its spot on the counter.

“Stay here,” he said, back already retreating.

A second later, you were dashing after him. Reaching his side, you both shoved shoes on.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Jungkook glared at you with absolute incredulity, frown etched in his face. He didn’t even leave time to stare you down, however, already pushing past you and all but running down the front stairs.

You followed just as fast.

“I’m coming with you. They’re in trouble.”

“Which is exactly why I’m telling you to stay here,” he spat over his shoulder.

His foot tapped restlessly as the large front door slid open. The moment he had enough space to pass through, he was marching into the expansive garage, with you hot on his heels.

“I can help,” you argued.

Jungkook wove between the cars and stopped by a motorcycle. Turning to you, his face was set, frame livid and glare fierce while he dug harshly in his pocket for the keys.

“We don’t have time to argue.”

His tone was firm, clearly infuriated.

Just then, another concerning explosion crackled through the radio, standing your hair on end.

Stepping forwards, you swung your leg over the back of the motorbike and stared challengingly up at him.

“No. We don’t.”

The sound he let out bordered on a growl, but the next moment he had situated himself on the front of the bike, and a roaring filled the air as it shuddered into life beneath you. Left with virtually no time to react as he pulled away, you were forced to cling to the man in front of you.

With your arms thrown around him, you felt him stiffen under your touch. But then he was urging the bike forwards, and not a second later wind collided with your face as you shot from the base and into the night. The rapidly increasing speed left you to shelter your face in the back of his neck.

The cacophony in your ears and the rush of air that tugged your hair behind you should have alerted you that Jungkook was disregarding basically all existing traffic laws.

But you couldn’t care less.

With the blur of city lights whizzing past you, all you could think of was the speed with which you could reach the boys. The streets were fairly empty, but cars were dotted here and there. Probably cut some up, judging by the blaring horns at one intersection.

Thundering onto a wider street streaked with neon, your eyes fell on a billboard. As you sped towards it, the picture cut to purple fire and rubble, a live news banner scrolling along the bottom.

Then it was gone again, Jungkook guiding the bike around the corner and through more city streets.

The images set your head spinning, all the more restless on the back of the bike the longer you were helpless to do anything but wait for Jungkook to get you there. How was he going to find them? You hadn’t even been told where they were going. They hadn’t bothered you with mission details ever since you and Jungkook had been stood down-

“Almost there!” Jungkook’s yell was barely audible over the wind.

“Wait, how can you-”

“They’re protecting something called the Razer. Their plan B was to stash this weapon in some underground parking lot. You head down there, I’ll help fight them off. Looks like they were ambushed.”

“How do you know all this?” you finally made yourself heard.

“I snuck into Namjoon’s office, okay? I saw the plans,” he called back. “When we get there… you might have to fry this thing. It can’t fall into their hands, better that we destroy it altogether.”

You had no time to muster a reply before the bike was swinging around a corner and skidding to a halt.

At the end of this street, the sky was lit up. Purple fire blazed, just like on the billboard, but this time it was real, licking into the sky from the wreckage of a building on the corner. Other beams of light flashed, shocks of red and luminous white smattering the fronts of the buildings.

You got no more than a glimpse of a few figures silhouetted against this backdrop before Jungkook pulled you down to shelter behind the bike.

A hand on your shoulder keeping you in place, he peered over the top of the bike before returning his gaze to you.

“The building that’s been destroyed, the Razer should be in there. You should be able to make a way through the rubble. You’ll know when you see it. Do you remember training the other day?”

Trying to take in his instructions, you nodded.

“Use as much force as you can to overload it, like we practised. Should fry the weapon’s circuits.”

“Okay,” you muttered, taking a glance over the bike again. The street was littered with people, but no one seemed to have noticed your arrival.

“Y/N, they don’t know about you,” Jungkook’s voice recaptured your attention. “I’ll join the fight. It’ll distract them and buy you some time, hopefully give the others a chance to turn the tide as well. Don’t use your powers until you have to.”

He stood then, preparing to move around the bike and head into the fray.

His step faltered before he could go further.

When he turned back, a ray of gold flickered in his eyes.

“And Y/N… be careful. This weapon… if it strikes you, it can strip you of your power.”

Your eyes were locked for a long moment, his words sending a bolt of cold fear straight to your heart.

He took a breath, but said nothing more. An instant later, he was gone, the intensity of his eyes now no more than a mirage, quickly vanishing in your memory.

There was no time to agonise over it. Nor was there time to reconcile the implications of this fight, your first mission – your priorities turned to the weapon that was now in the open far from safe hands.

A flash of gold split through the night, sparks reflected in the bike’s mirrors.

Sucking in a lungful of air, you shuffled around the front wheel, slowly leaning out. Another blinding burst of gold showed you the outline of Jungkook, golden light firing him into the air. Sparks flew as he collided, wrestling, with someone halfway up a building.

The next moment, their figures plummeted to the ground.

Jungkook was the one who stood up again, the other staying motionless.

However, you weren’t here to watch. There was no time to stick around here. By now, others had noticed the newcomer to the fight; figures advancing your way down the street prompted you to get moving.

Ducking slightly, you picked your moment and sprinted the short distance from the bike to the edge of the street, flattening yourself against brick before checking no one had seen you.

All that greeted you were warring lights and the blur of fighting, backlit by the ever-raging fire.

Confident in being unnoticed, you sparked to life again, taking off on light feet in the opposite direction to the fighting. You raced around the corner to the neighbouring road, which was totally devoid of Bolt’s minions.

Judging by the short glimpses you had garnered so far, you guessed the group that had ambushed your friends were decked out with Bolt’s stolen goods – and were out for more. But you had no real idea how many of them had powers or not.

Or, come to think of it, how many of them there were at all.

All that mattered, though, was that there weren’t enough to have found you yet. You had run the length of the street, slowing as you reached the corner where the ruined parking lot stood.

Pressing your back against the wall, you edged around to peer at the damage. The fire was brighter here, making you squint. A few shapes darted in and out of view on the other side of the flames, but this side was still deserted.

This had to be it. Somewhere among this destruction was the weapon which had caused so much trouble.

Sheltered from view by V’s vibrant flames, you approached as close as you dared until you stood right in front of the rubble. You clambered over a few smaller chunks of concrete before you decided to begin.

With one more look around for security, you breathed deeply and raised your hands, palms only a hair away from a large block that used to form part of a wall, but now lay at your feet.

Biting your tongue, you finally let your powers out.

Remembering Jungkook’s words, you focussed on broadening the scope of your power, letting as much flow from your fingertips as possible. Blue bloomed in front of your eyes. A second later, the boulder began to glow the same hue.

Gritting your teeth, you propelled even more of your power downwards. For a moment, the rock resisted, only growing brighter blue. Then all at once, it gave way with a splintering sound that was swallowed up by the roaring of the fire.

With the sudden caving, you stumbled forwards, supressing your powers hurriedly to hide any light that would give you away. Just before you could trip into the gap revealed by the destruction of the rubble, you caught yourself with a hand on the ruptured concrete edge.

The fire did little to light up the dark space that now gaped below you.

Crouching, you peered carefully around. After a moment, your eyes had adjusted enough to reveal a concrete staircase, shrouded in the debris from the collapsed wall.

You shifted closer until you could lower yourself over the edge. Holding onto the remains of the wall, you dropped down onto the stairway.

It was seriously dark down here. To continue, you had to summon a small ball of light. Blue hovered above your palm, helping you pick through the dust and bricks that littered the ground from the building’s collapse.

On the plus side, it was utterly empty. You were clearly the first one to break through to this part, so you pushed ahead, following the stairs down as per Jungkook’s instructions. The plan had been to hide it underground.

Further on, you found the base of the staircase drowned in another pile of rubble. A larger slab encroached, looming from where it had been dislodged from the ceiling, lowering the height of the space. You didn’t dare try to move that one, however, almost certain that it was keeping a larger amount of debris from filling this corridor entirely.

Ducking quickly under that, you shot through a couple of smaller pieces before you could see a way through.

Not wanting to shift more stone than you had to, you wriggled through the gap you had created. The other side was lit with a wavering yellow light, making the stairs’ shadow flicker. A few more steps led down before you finally found the end to the enclosed space.

A blank corridor led to a door which hung off its hinges. Pausing when you reached it, a bigger, equally blank space opened out in front of you.

Though a small part of the ceiling had caved in the opposite corner, a pile of rubble collected there, the intact state of the walls told you that you were finally below ground level. The space was wide, but heavy with the oppressive air of industrial parking towers, walls strewn with graffiti. Artificial lights flickered in the corner of your vision.

The lights quivered even more as a loud boom ricocheted through the space.

That confirmed you were heading in the right direction, at least. Taking off running, you skidded through the next doorway and were instantly greeted with chaos.

Purple flickered and danced along the opposite wall – although you weren’t sure there was a real wall there at all. In front of this barrier of his own making, V was silhouetted.

Before submerging yourself in the waves of heat the large fire was throwing off, you took a breath. You couldn’t make out any enemies in the gaps between the flames, the light too dim and distorted by the blaze, but V shot another burst of flame as you watched. Your eyes were too dazzled to see if it had hit someone.

“V!” you called, hurrying to his side.

He turned with a jolt, arms still raised. Stopping in your tracks at his abrupt movement, you watched his eyes cloud with recognition.

Slowly, he lowered his palms.

“…How?”

You filled in the blanks of his low, startled question easily. How did you get here?

“No one followed me, I promise,” you stepped closer, “we heard you on the radio. We need to destroy that weapon.”

Nodding, V shifted his eyes furtively around before they landed on the only intact door in the place.

“There- mmph!”

V raised an arm to point, but was suddenly thrown in that direction himself.

“V!” you cried, crouching to his side, but your eyes were scanning the flame.

Hissing, V rolled over, clutching at his side which had been struck with… something. It wasn’t the same thing that had hurt him last time, but you knew the weapons Bolt was using were anything but friendly.

“Go… destroy...” he urged you, though the following groan of pain made you hesitate.

Gulping, you looked helplessly between V, who was struggling back to his feet, and the doorway he had shown you. Just as he stumbled upright, both of your attention was snatched by a figure breaking through the flames.

They had an arm over their face, grimacing at the heat, but they lifted their weapon blindly anyway.

You dived to the floor, scurrying away from the round of bullets strewn about the space.

Before either of you could retaliate, a shot of gold pierced the purple veil, sending the attacker flying. As the shots ceased, you caught sight of a silhouette you recognised darting behind the column of fire.

“Go!” V shouted again.

Meeting his eyes, you steeled yourself with a breath. While you wanted to stay and help against those enemies trying to break through the fire to get to V, with Jungkook to contend with on the other side as well, they were surrounded.

Now it was up to you.

You had found yourself with your back against the very door you needed to go through. Spinning, you wrenched it open to be met with another descending staircase. The lights had gone out totally here, but there was no time to waste.

Plunging into the darkness with nothing but your own light to guide you, you felt the temperature drop. Your skin was clammy, sweat from the heat above now clinging icily to your face, but you weren’t hanging about.

Feet finally finding flat ground, you looked around urgently until you caught sight of a shape ahead.

It was a large box, black so it nearly blended in with the darkness. Scrabbling to get to the weapon within, you easily blasted aside the simple metal fastenings.

On opening it, bright light startled your eyes once more. A clear sphere filled with what looked like bolts of lightning formed the centre of the device. The surrounding parts containing it were white, clearly a prototype, and resembled a gun.

Already feeling your powers bubbling up, you didn’t hesitate to place your hands on the spherical centre. A tingle flew up your spine.

Refusing to let fear get to you now, even with the knowledge of what this thing could do, you continued to push until your powers spilled from your fingertips. Blue lightning skittered over the glass surface, caging the still writhing light within.

Glowing brighter and brighter as you expelled more power, you began to feel something. Like the time in training when Jungkook had connected your powers and you had felt his golden electricity – except this, this was cold.

The glass shattered between your hands, noise and light smothering your senses as you were thrown backwards.

Your back met concrete, your own gasps heavy in your ears.

The cold was still there.

Blinking rapidly, you grappled to hold onto your powers, keep them flowing. Squinting into the brightness surrounding you, you found a brilliant white light had sprung from the weapon’s casing, seemingly latched onto your own powers.

Fear jolted through you. The light, whatever its power, was pushing back, trying to devour your own.

You had been trained for this. But – and you would never repeat this – you longed for Jungkook in that moment. The safety of the training room, and the usual guarantee of coming out alive, had all fallen away.

It was just you. Alone.

But there was a fight raging above you, all for this thing. You had to do this: for Yoongi and Hobi who could be anywhere right now. Hurt, bleeding? For Jin and Namjoon, wanting to come out on top. Jimin, fighting for V who was penned into the parking lot defending you.

And for Jungkook.

You had been trained for this.

Adrenaline buzzing in your veins, you pushed yourself up from the floor, power swelling in your chest. Letting it out completely, it charged through your veins until it was spitting sparks in the air, jaws gnashing against the blazing white that threatened to devour it.

One foot forwards.

The white lightning squirmed, as if trying to shake you off. You never relented. Blue advanced steadily from your hands until it was all that could be seen.

Breaking point. You kept up the pressure, feeling the last bit of resistance from the weapon-

Crack.

Upstairs, the fire V had lit was buffeted as if hit by a powerful gust of wind. Disturbed anew, blocks shifted in the rubble, pebbles raining to earth. The opponent Jungkook had been fighting was swept clean from their feet, his golden light harmlessly striking the wall behind the spot where they had just stood.

But as the enemy was forced to the floor, Jungkook’s attention was already elsewhere. Struggling to stay standing through the shockwave, he staggered back a few paces before he could turn towards the fire. The way you had gone.

The ground seemed to settle again, the blast leaving silence in its wake.

The first sound was his feet pounding on the floor. Striding right over the fighters lying on the ground, uncaring whether they were dead or alive, skirting around the fire they had been attempting to cross seconds ago.

None of Bolt’s pathetic followers attempted to stop Jungkook. They couldn’t deny the meaning of that explosion – the thing they were after was destroyed.

Normally, he might stay, try to stop them fleeing. As it was, he didn’t stand between them and their retreat, instead sprinting towards the source of the commotion.

V had kept his guard up, still eyeing the fire for movement with dark eyes. He caught Jungkook’s eyes as the younger stopped in front of him, eyes wide and panicked.

V turned.

Following his gaze, Jungkook found a doorway. Behind the open door was consuming darkness, still and silent.

You were in there.

His feet were moving again, steps turning to strides as he picked up speed, only to nearly trip over himself as he got closer.

You rushed up the stairway, catching yourself on the doorframe. Leaning against it, you panted for breath, but an exhilarated smile never left your features.

As your breathing calmed, you looked around into the car park. Eyes meeting Jungkook’s, you straightened up a little.

His mouth hung slightly agape. He had expected you to crawl from there bleeding, if the shockwave had been anything to go by. And for him to be the one that sent you down there-

“I did it!” you exclaimed.

Blinking rapidly, he clocked how long he must have been staring in shock.

Nodding, he hurriedly shuffled around in pretence of checking the area like V.

“Good. I almost didn’t think you were going to be any help.”

You had no time to decipher his comment before V cast a sharp gaze over the two of you. His usual silence had taken hold again, but Jungkook seemed to understand him.

“We need to move.”

Striding away purposefully, V left you two to scramble after him. Jungkook threw one more skittish glance at you, but quickly turned his eyes away to march after V.

The fire’s heat grew in intensity as you neared, smothering. V waved a hand and a gap opened up, the glaring purple giving way to pure darkness beyond. Hurrying through, you panted gratefully in the cool night air. Even among the rush of your battle downstairs, you felt a bit wobbly from the strain.

Leaving the fire blazing behind you without a care, your trio scaled the wreckage, this side of the building being the main victim of the destruction. The landslide of rubble sloped upwards, your path weaving between motionless figures, slumped in gaps between the debris.

V bent down to scoop up a gun, lifting it easily from a fallen opponent. Their hand fell uselessly back onto the rock.

Jungkook did the same, only he flung the weapons he collected back into the fire behind you. It spat as it guzzled them, but the sound grew fainter as you finally reached the street and hurried away over flat ground.

As the three of you sprinted through the night, the full extent of the battle was spread before you. Scattered around the burning building were pieces of wreckage, but you were sure they couldn’t have been flung that far if it wasn’t for human intervention in the destruction.

You were forced to leap over a large channel where the road had cracked, somehow.

Eerily still after the furore that had been raging only moments ago, your group’s footsteps rang loudly in your ears. Which is why the crunch that echoed through the wasteland stopped you in your tracks.

Whizzing around, you were instantly alert, feeling your powers stir.

But the air left your lungs, relieved by the blur of pink that was coming towards you.

Jimin tossed a mangled car to one side like it was nothing, only focussed on V. They collided, Jimin burying his head in V’s shoulder and desperately clutching him close.

It was only after pulling away that he registered your presence. His eyes flicked between you and Jungkook, a million questions forming in his eyes.

But he left them unsaid.

He started running again, hand clutched in V’s and leading him around the corner. Following, you drew further from the fiery glare in your wake. The shadows grew thicker, your path taking you off that road and further into the city maze.

Wailing met your ears, sirens announcing the likely arrival of authorities at the site of the fight – all too late to stop anything.

Though you were out of sight, you were only a few streets away. Enough to make you feel terribly exposed to the building clamour of sirens. A glance over your shoulder showed the distinct red and blue of emergency vehicles painting the dark sky.

Then you caught sight of something – someone – stepping forwards from the shadows.

Someone with silvery hair and eyes that glowed bright white.

You hadn’t really seen Yoongi use his powers. His eyes were truly striking, but he did little more than breathe and suddenly the world was plunged back into darkness. The colours disappeared from the sky, even the streetlights dying.

“Yoongi!” Jimin exclaimed, changing course to rush towards him, “you’re okay! What happened-?”

“We’re fine,” Yoongi spoke calmly, dazzling eyes scanning the road behind you, “just couldn’t get back- speaking of, where are we getting to now?”

As if summoned, a figure dropped from the now dark streetlamp. No one else could make a landing like that look so easy.

Yellow faded from Hope’s eyes as he faced you, grin splitting his face.

“Namjoon got to Jin alright, they’re on their way. Just saw them.”

Only the crunch of tyres gave away the car that swung around the corner. The headlights had been cut, whether by Yoongi or by Jin, driving, as a precaution. It blended with the shadows, sliding through them to stop smoothly in front of your group, assembled on the pavement.

It wasn’t until a door swung open and Namjoon stood from it that you remembered the fact you weren’t meant to be there.

This far, the adrenaline of the action had driven it from your mind. But the look Namjoon threw at you and Jungkook made reality come crashing back around you. Would he be angry? He was the one who had stood you down after all.

He breathed in evenly, gaze raking painstakingly over you…

“Get in.”

That was all he said, ducking back inside the car without another word.

As always, nothing could be read through his words. Sobered, you looked at the boys around you, waiting for them to pile into the car before you joined them.

Inside, you kept silent. Jimin and Tae were squished together in the back, Hope apparently cheerful beside them. By contrast, in the middle, Yoongi was staring intently out at the passing streets. His irises still glowed white, reflected in the darkened glass of the window. No trace of emergency lights, searchlights or even regular city lights found its way remotely near you.

This left you shoulder to shoulder with Jungkook, a frosty silence stretching between you.

With Yoongi doing his job so well, Jin guided the car silently back home. Namjoon’s calculating eyes scanned the lot of you through the rear mirror occasionally.

All you could do was try valiantly to ignore the firm press of Jungkook’s arm against yours. But it was impossible to drive him from your mind; in a way, this was familiar. His rigid frame, determinedly staring ahead. Anywhere but you.

Then why did it make you feel so small now?

You were well used to this kind of treatment from him, reciprocating it more often than not. So it was totally unfair how he could occupy your thoughts so relentlessly. All you had done was follow his orders. Rushed into battle together, yes. But you reminded yourself that he never wanted you there anyway. You were still just a hindrance to him.

Setting your jaw, you turned your gaze stoically out the window. A lone streetlight travelled past – you must be almost home if Yoongi felt it safe enough to let the light back in.

You had lost them well enough in the dark maze of the centre, and now you could throw them off your trail.

Through the reflections, you eyed the car packed with all of you. It felt right, with everyone there. Dimmed by the window glass, you saw Jimin’s arm slung around V’s shoulder, small smiles on everyone’s faces as he exchanged low jokes with Hobi.

Jin and Namjoon guided you home at the head of the vehicle. Namjoon’s glances were caring instead of cold, checking up on his fellow fighters.

This could have been different. Nerves remained about his decision, what your actions tonight would make him think. But you could rest knowing you had stepped in to help your new family, part of the reason you were all safely in this car now.

These events only bolstered what had been growing within you. These boys were your team.

Every single one.

Thank you for reading!! Good news for those of you dying to hear what Namjoon will do now, remember the next chapter is going up on Wednesday 29th💜until then, let me know your thoughts down below🥰

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Summary: You join TF141 after something happened on your last deployment. They take you in and while it takes some time, you find yourself warming up to them, and them to you. Perhaps especially to the Captain.

A/N: Yes, this is the last chapter, no, it is not the end of G and Price. It is the end of the regular updates. When I write fic, it's a break from my usual writing for my job. So, I can't do both. I'll definitely be posting more stuff though! :) I hope you all have enjoyed!

Warnings: Slight SA mentions if you squint, crass language.

Word Count: 3.2k

Feral Masterlist

It’s such a joy walking around London with Price on my arm as he shows me his favorite places. Each new place lets me see a new side of him, lets me peel back another layer that he doesn’t let everyone see. Not to mention he’s wearing a blue sweater that matches his eyes and I quickly decide that he should wear more sweaters. Especially when it begins to snow while we’re walking through a park and he gently pulls me into his arms with my back pressed against his chest. He’s so warm and fucking cuddly and all I can imagine for a few moments is curling into his lap in front of a crackling fire.

“This is a good look for you.” I say softly as I turn to face him, his arms still around me and my hands curled against his chest to light pat the sweater.

He smiles, raising a brow. “Yeah?”

“Mmhmm. Want to get you a little beanie to match.” I reach up and let my fingers scrape over his beard affectionately while he stares down at me with sparkling eyes.

He hums and leans down to press his lips gently to mine, his arms tightening around me. “I’ll keep that in mind. Think I have a beanie somewhere in my flat.”

I smile against his lips and let myself feel stupidly giddy for a little bit. “You’ll have to wear it for me sometime.”

He chuckles and pulls back, letting my hands fall back down against his chest. “I’ve had women ask me to wear a lot of things, but a beanie is new.”

Curiosity pulls my brows up. “You’re going to have to tell me what you’ve dressed up as now.” He sighs, but there’s a smile on his face as I lean into him to get an answer.

“Ah…well, there’s the uniform, obviously.”

“Obviously.” I repeat, smirking at his playfully scolding look.

“I’ve had requests for a policeman, fireman, real serviceman based, apparently.”

“Can’t say the roles don’t suit you.” I tease and enjoy the slight pink tint to his cheeks as we start walking again and he keeps my arm tucked into the crook of his elbow.

He shrugs a shoulder. “There are definitely worse things.” He states with a shake of his head and I have a sneaking suspicion that he hasn’t told me all the things he’s been asked. But I’ll wait for another day to find out. “What about you?” He asks gently, his voice soft as the snowfall around us in case I don’t want to answer.

I look away, pressing my lips together while I feel my cheeks get a little hot. “I’ve done the usual. Lifeguard, nurse, cat woman, but the most requested has to be Princess Leia and the gold bikini.” My eyes wander back to Price and I can’t help grinning when I catch him nodding. “That something you’ve requested, John?” He clears his throat and his gaze drops to the ground for a few moments.

“I…might not be exempt.” He admits and I can’t hold back a giggle as I lightly squeeze his arm.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I say and feel his eyes on me as we keep walking through the gathering snow on the ground. Intimacy like that might be far off, but it’s nice to be able to talk about it so openly without feeling pressure or fear. It’s just fun.

*     *     *

The next day, I take him for breakfast in a favorite diner of mine. We meet there and there’s a wide grin on my face when I see him come in wearing another sweater and a beanie. I slide out of my booth to greet him while he holds his arms out to his sides slightly for appraisal. “I approve. You look very…cozy.” I tell him and give him a fond kiss to his cheek when he’s close enough.

“So do you.” His fingers lightly pull my jacket a little tighter around me and straightens my scarf.

“Think you might’ve realized by now that I run a little cold.” I say with a little tilt of my head and he nods, his eyes looking me over as if he didn’t just see me yesterday. He lets me guide him into the booth, giving me a cute little smile as I sit next to him instead of across from him. An older waitress named Dana comes by immediately.

“Hey, darlin’. What’ll it be for you and your fella?” She asks with her usual charm.

“Coffee for now, thank you.” I nod to her and she gives me a wink, looking Price over curiously before she walks away.

Price rests an elbow on the table and turns towards me slightly. “Come here often?”

I relax back into my seat with a quiet sigh, looking over the little diner and the people milling around it. “This is the place I come to after a hard mission. When I need to remind myself of the good things, when I need to remember what it’s like to not be a soldier.” A soft smile pulls at my lips at the sight of a small family across the diner; two parents trying to feed their toddler and laughing as he smears the food over his face.

“I understand.” John says quietly beside me and I feel his arm slide on top of the booth behind me, letting me settle a bit more into his side. “The park is that place for me. I’ve spent hours sitting on a bench watching people pass by, getting used to the sights and smells of civilian life. Sometimes it takes a few days to decompress.”

My shoulders lax as I shift closer and rest my hand on his knee. “After the worst of it, I spent a week here. I only went home to sleep and even then, only a few hours before I was back here. All I could do was try to be around people and try to remember what life was supposed to be.” I sigh, shifting a bit in place before I feel John’s gentle touch on my arm, his fingers lightly skimming up and down. My head rests back against his shoulder while my thumb draws little circles on his knee. “That’s when the people here really got to know me. Like Dana. Her kindness and tendency to gossip kept me sane.”

“Didn’t take you for a gossip, sugar.” John teases and I smile, turning my head to look at him.

“Hm, I’m not a perpetrator, but I’ll listen.” He chuckles and I love being able to feel the rumble in his chest.

“Thank you for sharing with me.” He says a touch quieter and my hand reaches up to lightly scratch his beard.

“Gladly.” I bathe in his steady attention and the only thing that drags us away is the clink of cups and plates on the table. We both look over as Dana sets our requested coffees in front of us along with three plates of food.

“Coffee, your usual, something for your man, and some extra protein for the both of you. Fill up.” She looks at me pointedly and I give her an easy smile.

“Thank you, Dana.” I say with humor tainting my every word before I gesture to John. “This is John Price.” He offers his hand to her immediately and she takes it, holding on tight with her penetrating gaze trained on him.

“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” John says sweetly and Dana raises a brow, then smiles before pulling back and putting a hand on her hip.

“About time you brought a man around, sweetie. And he seems like a good one.” She nods to me while my head ducks, my cheeks hot as she walks away.

Price taps lightly on my arm. “I like her.” He says and I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Mm, well, the feeling is clearly mutual.” My head shakes, but I can’t help but smiling in return as he chuckles. “Hope you don’t mind her just bringing food. It’s happened every time I’ve come here.” Our eyes meet again and the only thing I find in his is amusement and affection.

“Don’t mind a bit. Glad you’ve had someone looking out for you before.” He keeps an arm around me as he looks over the piles of food Dana gave us and I watch him for a moment, taking in the insinuation that he and the boys are here to look after me now.

I lean in and press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Good. Now, Dana will expect us to eat all of this, so I hope you’re prepared.” I slide silverware toward him and look away from his fond expression before I melt in my seat.

*     *     *

It feels stupid that I’m fucking nervous.

I’ve hung around the boys like this before, watched the game and laughed as they argued, but never in someone’s home. And this is the first time we’re all together after the dynamic with Price has changed. I just hope I haven’t…messed anything up somehow.

That’s why I’m standing in front of his door after knocking, my knuckles white from how tightly I’m clinging to the bag over my shoulder. Muffled voices come through the door before it swings open to reveal a grinning Gaz. “Don’t have to knock on days like this, G. Get in here.” He pulls me in and divests me of my bag, setting it on the counter before turning back to me with a grin. My nerves vanish.

“Why are you the one dragging people in when you don’t even live here?” I ask with a small laugh, leaning into him to give him a brief hug. He seems surprised, but quickly embraces me in return.

“Don’t trust Price to step away from the kitchen to answer the door. Barely trust him in the kitchen at all.” He mutters as he leans into me conspiratorially while we glance to John stirring a large pot on the stove.

“But you certainly fucking eat my food.” He returns, glancing over at us while I try to hide my soft smile. He’s in jeans and a navy Henley with the sleeves rolled up. He looks very domestic like this and it suits him. “Welcome, G.”

“Captain.” I greet him before breaking eye contact as I pull my dip from the bag. Gaz instantly peeks over my shoulder and I swat his hand off the bowl. “Dessert is for after you all have stuffed your faces with everything else. Besides, it needs to chill.” He pouts and reaches for it again before I rebuff him with a bump to his hip.

“Come on, G. Let me try it.”

“No.” I slide it into Price’s fridge and shoo Gaz back with a smirk, pressing my back against the doors to keep him from going after it. “Whatever happened to complaining I was bringing a dessert dip in the first place, huh?”

Gaz huffs. “I said I’d try it after that.”

“And I’ll let you. When we’re halfway through the game.” I give him a pointed look so he knows I mean it and the corner of my mouth twitches when I hear Price chuckle. There’s a knock at the door and my head tilts for Gaz to go get it. His eyes roll and he walks away with slumped shoulders. My head shakes as I slide over to Price and he immediately stretches out an arm to make space for me to fold myself into him.

“I like this.” I tug slightly on his shirt, my hand resting on his sternum as I peek into the pot he’s stirring. Chili, by the looks of it. “Looks good on you.”

He stoops and quickly presses a kiss to the corner of my mouth. “Yeah? Well, I like this.” He holds me a little tighter and I let myself grin up at him. “Gonna be hard not reaching for you today.”

“Want to just send the boys home and snuggle on the couch?” I tease, pulling away as I hear the others coming in.

Price chuckles and sighs as I move out of reach. “Don’t tempt me.” He keeps his voice low and I smirk as I pull out the other things I brought while Gaz leads the others inside. It’s easy having everyone together again and I’m glad there’s no strain despite being out of work and having no goal. The new goal is to relax and have fun and we actually do.

I try settle in the chair off to the side while the boys take the couch, but this immediately starts an argument. “G, sit here. Want you to try my dip.” Gaz beckons while Soap frowns.

“Not gonna want yours when she tries mine.” He flick’s Gaz’s ear before Gaz elbows him in the stomach.

“It’s not going to matter if you both get into a brawl and knock the table over.” Simon scolds and tugs both men back by their belts to sit on the couch, sighing heavily as they continue jabbing at each other with grins on their faces. I shake my head and walk back into the kitchen as John spoons chili into bowls.

“The kids are rowdy today.” I comment and grin when he chuckles.

“And this is when they’re on their best behavior.” He returns in the same low tone while I watch him add different toppings to each bowl. Seems like he already knows what each person likes.

I raise a brow. “This is good behavior?”

Price nods with a secret smile. “This effort is for you. Usually they come in with prepackaged everything and one person makes something homemade. This time, they all insisted on making something.” Surprise flits through me as I look over at the boys, softening at the thought that they went through the trouble of making things for me.

“Does that include you?” I peek up at him and try to hide my smirk as he swallows and shrugs a shoulder.

“A little.” He admits and I sway into him while the boys are distracted by getting the tv to the right channel.

“I appreciate that.” It’s actually fucking adorable, but I don’t think those words would be as appreciated. John simply slides a bowl of chili towards me and watches all the little things I add to it, his gaze turning all soft and sweet in the way that makes me melt.

“You may not appreciate it so much when they’re all pushing food on you.” He nudges another bowl towards me. “That’s Simon’s. Good luck.” He winks at me before heading over and I follow with a shake of my head.

I instantly have their attention as I walk over and hand Simon his bowl. “Tell us where you’d like to sit and we’ll move.” He says while Price retreats to the lone chair off to the side with a barely hidden smirk on his face.

“I’ll just sit on the floor—” I blink as each man immediately objects, but Johnny is the one who gets up and gently tugs on my arm to sit me down in his place.

“My mam would have my fuckin’ ears if I let a lady sit on the floor.” He mutters, sitting in the floor beside the arm of the couch while I fold my legs under me to give him space.

“I’ve literally slept in the dirt along with all of you. Sitting on the floor isn’t a big deal.” I remind them, amused and a bit confused at their reactions.

Gaz clicks his tongue. “Not the same. You’re not in uniform.”

“Oh, so I’m a lady when I’m not in uniform?” I tease, happily stirring my chili and holding the warm bowl close in my lap.

Simon reaches over and flicks my ear. “Clearly not.” I show him my middle finger and he smirks. “Just let us try and treat you nice every once and a while, alright? It’s good for us.”

I relax into the couch and relent, nodding. “Nice to see you all can act like gentlemen once and a while anyway.” That’s answered with scoffs and I look at Price who still has that little smirk on his face. Though it’s a little softer than before. The dip argument is eventually settled when I let them make me a plate and they pile it high. All are actually good, though apparently Simon underestimated the amount of spice he added and none of the men can handle it. Which makes it all the more hilarious when I eat a quarter of the bowl while Soap tries to keep up and ends up almost crying.

Honestly, watching them is more fun than watching the game. They groan in unison when there’s a bad play, they shout when the ref makes a bad call, and I can’t help but cheer along with them when their team makes a goal. Gaz eagerly reminds me of my dessert the second halftime hits and I retrieve it, putting it in the middle of the table. It’s basically chocolate whipped cream and I serve it with graham crackers and strawberries. I make Price a small plate and hand it to him in his chair while I wait beside him for the others to try it.

Gaz makes sure he’s first and he dips a strawberry, then shoves the whole thing into his mouth. His eyes go wide and my hand squeezes Price’s shoulder. “Holy shit, that’s good.” My hand laxes even as I swat Price for his silent laugh.

“You’re a good cook. You had nothing to worry about.” He assures me and risks sliding his hand over mine while the others are distracted. Soap and Ghost try it out and they have the same reaction. Half the bowl is gone before I know it, although I have to threaten to take it away when Gaz tries to hog it. I’m too pleased to even tease them about liking it so much.

By the end of the game, Simon is the one who has claimed the bowl and is idly licking the bottom while Soap tries fruitlessly to shove him off the couch. Everyone eventually filters out after helping clean up and I smile when John immediately reaches for me the second that we’re alone. “That was fun.” I murmur against his shoulder as he pulls me down onto the couch next to him and tucks me against his side.

“Mm. Glad we didn’t exhaust you.” He says sounding pretty tired himself.

I smirk and heave a contented breath. “Didn’t say that.” He smiles and I feel the warmth of his hand as he slides it up and down my back.

“You need to leave?” He peeks down at me and I shake my head.

“I can stay a little while longer. If you’ll have me.”

“I’ll happily keep you, sugar.” His other hand slides over my knee to rest in the crease above my calf and I risk letting my legs stretch out a bit. Price makes a deep sound in his chest and pulls me closer so my legs are draped over his lap. His eyes shut as he rests his head back on the couch and I watch him with a little smile before my eyes slowly shut as well. We fall asleep like that and I can’t help thinking that if more of my days are like this one, and like they have been with this team, I think my life would be a happy one. Finally.

Taglist (thank you all for reading and wanting to be tagged, I'll keep tagging you in new stuff with Price and G unless you say otherwise!)

@under-the-dirt @jj-ara33 @sorchateas @cherry-blosom-tree

@thriving-n-jiving @jinxxangel13 @emsstuff1 @missmidnight-writes @thereeallink @younggirlgenius @1wh4re1nova

[silly-lil-scribbles]

Introduction post!!

freeeeee

status: skewl XP

lyrics that fit the current vibe: anything you say can and will be held against you, so only say my name and i will be held against you

current chance of a response if you dm me*: 2%

* does not apply to mousie cuz its my emotional support friend

- My name is Finn! You can also call me scribbles, soup, or really any dumb nickname will do. it/he <3

woah look at that.. its me.. on another website!! slight flash warning for spacehey btw ^^

if you havent read this in a while, i would suggest reading again cuz i update it a lot <3

- faggy but in the most aroace way possible

- as far as gender, boy-ish

- I MADE A JAIL ACCOUNT SO IF IM JAILED I MIGHT BE OVER THERE ‼️ @soup-has-been-imprisoned-noooooo

- I POST ABOUT BUGS A LOT! if you dont wanna see that …. sorry? i always tag if op didnt but just proceed with caution yk

- I post about the magnus archives/protocol and my chem frequently, though I also just reblog a ton of random shit. may be nsfw. Also I forget to tag for spoilers a lot so just know that there are magpod spoilers in general on my blog.

- Music artists I like: mcr, mother mother, lemon demon, will wood, dazey and the scouts, cavetown, fob, nova twins, that handsome devil, noahfinnce, qbomb, gum disease, sparkbird, mischief brew, poppy, be your own pet, pierce the veil, specimen, faetooth, the mechs, rabbitology, scene queen, she/her/hers, femtanyl, leathermouth, baby queen, pansy division, the spook school, egg, the crane wives, of monsters and men, and slutever

overall i just really enjoy punk and emo and dark cabaret

- Shows/Podcasts/Other Media that I like! DANGER DAYSS, Malevolent, The Magnus Archives, Stranger Things, Welcome to Nightvale (though I haven’t finished it yet), the Osemanverse, Nimona, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, ATLA, LOK, It, Hilda, Camp Here and There, Radio Rental, warrior cats, the silt verses, dead end: paranormal park, the saw franchise,,,, big fan of horror movies in general so id love suggestions, also there’s probably more but my memory is shit

- my blog is super messy so all of my art is under the tag #scribbles draws a thing and my original text posts (not the short personal ones typically, just the one i actually want people to see) are under #scribbles says shit.

- my body hates me very much (in other words im physically disabled)

- surprise, my brain also hates me very much! And yes also undiagnosed!

- tone tags are appreciated <3

- i post a lot! if you left an anon ask please check my #scribbles asks tag if you cant find it, sorry ‘bout that

boundaries n stuff:

- not ok with sexual or romantic comments

- platonic flirting is ok if we’re moots

- feelings on sex fluctuate a lot but im usually pretty indifferent, same for romance but usually averse

continued:

- i have a tmagp fic i just starting writing! If you wanna know more, posts related to that are under #electric desires have unraveled all my wires :(

- I have 4 cats and a dog, also a gecko

- i have a queerplatonic partner!! hes awesome and swaggy and writes so much. so. much writing. wow. not saying wow in a bad way im just genuinely impressed. chou if ur reading this i love you <3

- SURPRISE i have another queerplatonic partner too!!!! its super fun and cool and pathetic /vpos. my favorite excitable soggy cardboard box ilysm <3 (if ur a regular around here im sure ur familiar lol)

- i love them both so much holy shit guys aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

- coyotekin therian !!

- i love bugs!!!!!!!!!!! please show me bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!

- My favorite colors are hot pink, cyan, neon green, and red

- I love interacting with mutuals and getting asks! plspls send me random shit in asks im begging

- I’m creating a cartoon called Catlantis (still in progress)

- I have a love hate relationship with writing but i do it anyways so oh well

- Frogs.

other tags i use a lot are:

#soup poorly draws gay people out of obligation; my series of promised dyhard drawings.

#soup gets pathetic about friendship; me when im a sappy bitch about my friends or partners

#objectives list; save file for when i say im gonna do something so i dont forget about it

#catlantis save; hoarding info for catlantis

#insomnia induced rambles; i cant sleep and im making it your problem

#our lady of sorrows; not the song, my mcr inspired goddess i made up for my dnd character to worship

#scribbles asks; asks

#info save; good to know

#scribbles liveblogging tmagp; exactly what it sounds like

#art save; resources for doing art

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[lynxgriffin]

Small Update

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a little bit of a heads up here that there's probably going to be a slowdown in art for a couple of weeks. I know I've got a giant backlog of both regular doodles and Eldritchrune asks in my inbox, but right now my day job's a bit more intense than usual, and I've also got some real rough family stuff that I'm going through. I'm also still working on the next longer Eldritchrune comic (the Kris sacrifice scene), but since it's a long one I'm not yet halfway through it.

I'll keep answering questions in the inbox, and there will still be FPFN on Friday nights, but there will probably be a lot less art streams and art posting until I can get through this real life stuff and catch up with the huge backlog. I'm hoping in about two weeks or so it'll be back to normal in terms of art.

Thanks always for following, liking things and sending comments...have a happy Alphys for your patience!!

[loomingcastle]

I LOVE HIM EVEN MORE?!

Ahahhahahh im gonna go crazy.

Anyways, I used to have his backstory on here (if you were here before I decided to delete it and saw it, then oh well lol) but I do have my origin comic. And well, one of my posts spoiling it all didn’t make sense? At least to me. To be honest I had it up before the comic :]

I’ll be posting stuff like interests later or something lol

He’s basically like Geno, but if Geno failed earlier.

What happened?

REMOVED INFORMATION

How does he do in the multiverse?

Well he prefers staying out of any big dramas. He likes to just hang out by himself in any AU he comes across. Of course he isn’t opposed to interactions!

He’s a very good listener! Just don’t expect him to be chatty, and don’t expect him to speak clearly.. (blame it on part of his mouth starting to melt)

He’s curious about many things as he forgot lots of stuff, and tries to learn as much as he can. (Which is why he is such a good listener)

He remembers he has an AU, but for some reason, he doesn’t want to go back. He forgot why, but there’s a strange feeling in his soul whenever he thinks about it.

Updated/added info

He’s a positive guy, sometimes doesn’t get what’s considered bad or good.

He does tend to melt whenever he’s on low energy or his emotions get out of hand, in which his body can’t handle keeping together. Usually he just completely melts when that does happen.

Attacks?

His bone attacks are a bit.. unique. There are rare times when the bones are fully formed, all the other times they are half melted. If he doesn’t have the energy, they don’t even form a shape at all. They are just a strange goo that does less damage and will easily fall off.

When half melted bone attacks do hit, the shape melts and covers the area where the bone hit in goo. If it can’t be taken off, it will do slow damage over time.

He focuses on blue and regular attacks, not quite remembering how to create orange attacks.

His favorite combination to use is blue attacks with half melted bones. He can’t do color attacks with fully formed bone attacks.

Fun facts :D

He can’t remember why, but he hates being near knives. Or anything sharp, for the matter.

He is a sweet tooth. He does still like ketchup but through experimentation, he found out that ketchup and sweets don’t quite go together…

He likes the different Papyruses he comes across, but he keeps getting the thoughts of his own Papyrus. Eventually he stopped approaching other Papyruses because of it. He doesn’t like the feelings and thoughts he couldn’t seem to explain in words he knew.

(More information will be added over time)

Find his origin comic here

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Glugreng

My apologies for posting a bit later than usual -- I was on the road most of the day for eclipse-viewing purposes, so it's already nighttime as I start this. (Update: and also Firefox crashed multiple time over the process of writing this post.) Anyway, we've got another vaguely-described bird, but one that I think has some interesting details.

If anyone isn't sure what this post is about, you can find an explanation at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. If you want to see the entry from which the artists are working, here is the link:

And in general you can see all of this stuff as it posts at the tag "maniculum bestiaryposting", assuming Tumblr's search function wants to show it to you.

Art below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) continues to post very impressively-rendered beasts. Here, since the only physical detail we have about this bird is "white", they've decided to take inspiration from the fact that it is kept by royal households. Medieval nobility did keep birds, usually for falconry, so here we have a raptorial design. And look, it's caught a fish! Good work, bird.

@pomrania (link to post here) observes that cataract-curing excrement is probably pretty valuable and worth collecting, so here we see a bowl with a dollar sign placed under the bird's perch. Honestly my favorite part of this is the very intense, extremely-close-up eye contact depicted in the middle there. Something about the bird needing (or just choosing) to get really up in one's personal space in order to do the curative "looking in the face" thing is charming to me.

@kaerran (link to post here) also went in the direction of "what kind of bird would be hanging around royal households" and landed on peafowl. There are a couple really clever design decisions here: it intentionally has very visible eyes so it's extra clear whether it's looking at you, and the "burning off the sickness" thing is represented as the feathers from its train being shed. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) went in an interesting artistic direction, I think: since the entry was very clear that the Glugreng is "white all over", she rendered it entirely in thick white paint -- I think the texture is quite cool. Also I love the crown-collar-thing; SweetlyFez notes that she's only seen that in heraldry, and I think that is the only place it really appears. (I've seen at least one piece of marginalia that had an animal wearing a crown as a collar, but I'm like 80% sure that's someone's heraldic device being put in the illustrations for whatever reason.)

@cheapsweets (link to post here) jumpscared me a bit with this one. More very intense eye contact, but this time directed at the viewer. They also made the connection royalty -> falconry, and drew a bird of prey. For more details on their thought process, please see the linked post. I like the very intense eye contact conceptually, but also I keep scrolling down so it stops Looking At Me.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has again drawn something that makes me smile -- the art style is of course amazing, and the straight-on view of the pelican just looks so charmingly goofy. They note that pelicans have "so much convenient space to store all your pesky illnesses," and now all I can think of is a medical version of that "Put Baby In Pelican Mouth" post. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@strixcattus (link to post here) was inspired by the bestiary's decision to state that the bird is "white all over" and "has no black parts" in the same sentence. Weirdly specific, right? So they decided to explore in their post why this repetition might be necessary -- regular readers of these posts may recall that Strixcattus writes modern-naturalist-style reinterpretations of these animals. I'm not going to tell you what they came up with. Go read the linked post. Do it.

In fact, you should read all the linked posts, and consider following any or all of the wonderful artists who choose to participate in this weird little exercise.

All right, Aberdeen Bestiary time. A couple people said in their entry that they think they know what this one is, and I am excited to learn what their guesses were.

Now, since this artist tends to draw raptors in a very standardized way -- this just looks like their eagle but all white -- it's probably not possible to recognize the bird in question from this illustration. However, of course, there's a much larger problem in the way of recognizing this species:

This entry is the caladrius, which does not exist. It's another one of those mythical critters that didn't really catch on in the modern era -- or a strange misunderstanding of a real animal, like the salamander was, but honestly those aren't so much distinct categories as far as I'm concerned.

On the other hand, if you have similar Internet Experiences to me, you might have recognized it just now -- as soon as I saw the Aberdeen Bestiary illustration, I had a moment of "hang on, is that..."

The above is from the 2015 article "Two Medieval Monks Invent Bestiaries" on The Toast. You can check it out here:

(The author is now Daniel M. Lavery, but the byline on the linked article still says "Daniel Mallory Ortberg", probably because The Toast has been defunct for several years so nobody is updating these things.)

Anyway, the "bedbird" is indeed the caladrius. I was able to find the image from the Two Monks article by looking through the gallery attached to the "caladrius" entry on bestiary.ca (which has 94 examples, so it's clearly reasonably widespread). The bedbird comes from British Library MS Sloane 3544. And... I'm going to leave it up to y'all whether you think this should end with the "i've connected the two dots" gif or that quotation about the mystery no one thought was a mystery. It's late, goodnight.

[nipuni]

im sure you get this question all the time but how do you go about procuring those amazing outfits? do you thrift, get things tailored, make items yourself? do you buy things as you go or do you search for specific items one at the time? it's just that id love to have a style like yours (but masc haha) and i always wonder how you do it because i wouldn't know where to get clothes such as you wear anywhere, let alone for a price i can afford. and also, now im here, thank you for your amazing art, it always brightens my day when you post <3

Hello! 🥰 I collect pieces from different places that I feel fit the aesthetic I created for myself, kind of like character design, and I stick to certain silhouettes and color palettes that I already know I will feel comfortable in.

In my case I go for structured pieces instead of flowy draping ones, plain colors over patterns unless it's straight lines, earth and jewel tones on the warmer and muted side, medium height heels, gold over silver, etc. All of this makes for safe purchases for me no matter the store or outfit

Most of my clothes I buy from the historical reproduction shops I list under my posts ( I made a list some time ago here and also in the tags of each post as well as in my Instagram )

Some of these shops are on the more expensive side but offer custom tailoring which is ideal and a must for me because I'm built weird 😅 so I try to get my staple pieces there and plan the whole outfit around it before purchasing.

Then you can get the basic pieces to complete the looks from regular stores! stuff like plain shirts and trousers I usually get from places like Zara

I also thrift at curated stores which makes it easier to find interesting pieces (Edwardian revival from the 70's, capes, belts, handkerchiefs, scarves, bags and hats are some of the things I go for) I don't go with an outfit plan in mind for this, I just look around every once in a while and see what I can find and what I can do with it since it's usually very cheap too. I've also found that thrifting for masc clothes is way easier (at least where I live?) for some reason. I go antique shopping for accessories too, hats and pins from the 20's!!

Then the more specific and inexpensive stuff to tie the outfits together I get from aliexpress, (like the clock bags) and for blouses I also shop at lolita stores online sometimes

When it comes to planning outfits I just play dress up in front of the mirror like you see in the videos I make, I pull out a bunch of stuff from my closet and start matching. it helps me see what I'm missing or what colors would work best or which cut or fit creates an interesting look. It also helps you see and remember everything you have so when you are shopping or dressing up to go out you have this mental library and know whether something new will fit in with your wardrobe or not.

I also got a sewing machine some time ago and I'm teaching myself to sew! So far I've only fixed mine and my husband's clothes to make them fit but I'd love to move on to making my own clothes eventually!

I think that cultivating a personal style makes shopping for clothes easier and allows you to invest in pieces you know you will keep without fear of them going out of style and you don't feel the pressure to update your whole wardrobe every year. it's also super fun and has helped me build confidence and feel a lot more at peace with my appearance. I hope any of this helps you 😭 I rambled a lot I'll stop now!! Thank you so much for the kind words!! ❤️❤️❤️

[n7punk]

She-ra (2018) Official Merch

I've made a loooong post about She-ra merch and its weirdness, but I wanted to summarize it in the most comprehensive list of official merch for the 2018 Netflix reboot that I could assemble. I'm sure I've missed some stuff, though, so I'll update this if I find anything. Thanks to everyone who contributed, especially Clare and Tippen.

I did deep dives (with pictures and details) on con exclusive and promotion exclusive merch. Basic info on those is included below the read more of this post.

Everything with [L] at the end of its bulletpoint - or an * inside one - has a photo in the long post. I provided links to official photos/listings when possible, but most of them are defunct.

Pins/Accessories/Clothing (active):

A bunch of jewelry (necklaces, rings, earrings) and enamel pins from Han Cholo (+ one iron-on patch). I've seen resellers claim the chibi pins were exclusive to a convention, but they're up on the website. The long post* has pictures of these if they ever go down, and the actual convention-exclusive ones can be found in the con post.

Amazon print-on-demand clothing (+ tote bags and pop sockets) with a lot of different designs that are hidden on the site but still purchasable, see this post for details, and here's the direct link. Once you find a design you like, you can search its name in the regular search bar (for instance, there's a shirt design called "Power Stripes Catra," for that one you have to search just "Stripes Catra") to see all the kinds of items it comes on, usually a variety of tops/outerwear, maybe a tote, and sometimes pop sockets.

Bioworld also had licensed merch, but some designs are hidden on their store page, so the link shows everything available but includes both the reboot and the 80s original. As of writing, they have one lunchbox, two adult t-shirts, one adult crop top, and two youth shirts for the reboot.

Media (active):

A DVD of just the first three seasons (there's a box sleeve version that includes stickers and it's never clear in listings if this is the only version and they just don't show the sleeve or if they're two separate things). This is still for sale at multiple retailers, but there's no way we're ever getting a full boxset.

There were a couple of books: the Rebel Princess Guide, the Legend of the Fire Princess graphic novel, and then some small "novels." These are still available at multiple retailers, but the novels weren't made by the crew and at least some of these contradict basic facts from season one, so they're less canon than many fanfics despite being licensed.

Everything from this point on is out of production and only available via resale.

Toys/Figures (defunct):

Eight fashion dolls. The line had Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Catra, and She-ra (season one version), Battle Armor She-ra (2-pack with a model of Swift Wind featuring their Battle of Bright Moon looks), and a deluxe She-ra & Shadow Weaver 2-pack (SDCC 2019 exclusive). These dolls were supposed to be Target exclusive, but the rollout was botched and now they're collectors' items. There were also four cancelled dolls that were supposed to be part of the line.

Two Super7 action figures in a Catra & Adora 2-pack with limited articulation. They're rare collector's items too, though this time it's just because they were a limited run. [L]

A plastic toy Sword of Protection and shield sized for children. The sword lit up and said "For the honor of Grayskull!" when you lifted it. The gem was semi-transparent and had a picture of She-ra under it. This was a Target and Amazon exclusive (Mattel & Target are always holding hands 🤝). [L]

Clothes/Dress-up/Accessories (defunct):

Four licensed She-ra costumes (season one version) of varying quality: a Target-exclusive one in limited sizes, one from Disguise in a wider range of sizes, one from Party City (as well as a wig and Sword of Protection prop licensed under Classic Media) for children, and one from Rubie's Costume Company (with a season one Catra costume to match, as well as separate accessory packs and wigs for both characters) that was also available at Party City. [L]

Her Universe used their Netflix license to make three shirts, two jackets, an earring set, and a wallet. Photos in the long post* if these links go down (they are discontinued, after all). Bioworld (remember them?) are actually the producers of the earrings with their name rather than Her Universe's branding being found on the backing card.

Hot Topic made a few shirts (like, three. I don't have the primary link for the third design). [L]

Misc (defunct):

Zaks Design-A-Tumbler, a plastic see-through drink tumbler with a sticker sheet provided so you can place the character graphics inside as desired. Features the key character art seen on most other merch for the Best Friend Squad as well as the sword, the moonstone, Swift Wind for the horse girls, and some random sparkles and hearts to fill space. It was available via Amazon and Walmart.

Comcanroll made a Sword of Protection keychain, also defunct. [L]

Beneath the cut are con exclusives and promotional items that were not for sale (at all, or at least by themselves) but that you can still probably hunt down online. Also... still available apps.

I can't believe this is real but there are two apps. She-Ra Stickers is available on iOS and Android and is exactly what you expect: "stickers" (pngs) to send in texting conversations. She-ra Gems of Etheria (also still available on iOS and Android) is a match 3+ game. It doesn't have micro transactions or ads (since, you know, the whole thing is an ad) so it's actually better than most things on the app store.

@tippenfunkaport also made a post about "digital merch" (backgrounds, printed papercrafts, etc) that Dreamworks posted online.

Promotion Exclusives:

I made a separate post for promo-exclusive merch. Things marked with an [L] still have photos in the long post, but photos are better gathered for all of these things in the promo-exclusive post, so please look at that one if any of these interest you.

Lootcrate/Lootwear made a pair of socks, a notebook, and a tumbler all featuring the season one She-ra silhouette. These were only available as part of their subscription service and not for individual sale. [L]

A Sonic kids meal tie-in that featured: magnets of the characters, funko-esque She-ra and Hordak figures, Swift Wind & Imp "straw buddies," and a small inflatable toy Sword of Protection. [L]

The following is promotional material that was never available to the general public:

A statuette of She-ra sent out to family bloggers to promote season four. Very limited due to the tiny production and being fragile. [L]

An equally rare metal lunchbox was sent out exclusively to influencers to promote season one.

Media press kits included a number of items that made it to the public as con-exclusives (see below for more details): collectors cards, buttons, and a foam tiara.

Stickers plugging the Dreamworks Careers' socials were also produced, likely for recruitment. [L]

Gray zip-up hoodies with a small sword on the front (pocket area placement) and a larger logo on the back were made for the crew and never available outside of Dreamworks.

A shirt featuring a graphic of She-ra riding Swift Wind with the She-ra logo in the corner - distribution & source currently unknown. Looks similar but is distinct from an existing Amazon POD design. Best guess is it was given out at an event (con, reviewer promo, employee event, etc), but I'm putting it here since I have no clue where it was from.

Con exclusives (defunct):

I made a separate post for con-exclusive promo items. Some of these still have photos in the long post, but photos and details about which cons they were available at and such are gathered in the con-exclusive post.

Button pin sets (4 sets, 4 buttons each) were at comic cons. These were possibly also available on Amazon for a time but I can't find confirmation on that beyond a backing card logo that could just mean the backing card itself was produced by Amazon. They aren't for sale now either way.

A foam She-ra crown and flat plastic/foam Sword of Protection, handed out at multiple cons.

She-ra socks designed after her uniform (including a cape on the back) seem to have been given out at cons. Photos are only in the long post* because they aren't good and I ran out of room.

There's a number of official poster designs that were handed out (mostly as mini posters) at cons, but most listings online are reprints.

Collector's cards were handed out at cons, probably SDCC.

Temporary tattoos, stickers, bookmarks, and coloring sheets were handed out at Power-Con (years unknown) and possibly other locations, likely those that sold the Scholastic books. [L]

A plastic shopping bag, made to be a disposable advertisement, exclusive to Anime Expo 2019. This one also don't have a photo in the con exclusive post because it's just one of the poster designs already in there, but there is a (wrinkly) photo in the long post*.

[sutekh94]

Hoooh boy do I have some thoughts about Cohost shutting down.

I've been working on this post for a few days, letting thoughts simmer enough to be presentable enough, so… here goes something!

Yeah, I'm sad about that. Not surprised that it happened, but still sad. Cohost had a good philosophy behind it, wanting to build a social media platform without much of the usual trappings, and I appreciate all the work its creators, Anti-Software Software Club, put in to make that philosophy real. And it was real, if only for a couple of years. I'm so glad my art found an audience there, even getting a few lovely comments. I feel bad for everyone who set up shop there who now has to scramble towards other platforms to host their stuff on. I can understand why some people decided they were finished with social media after the site announced they were gonna shut down at the end of 2024.

I really wish Cohost succeeded as a social media platform.

And I will miss it.

All that said… (here come the controversial takes)

I don't hold much sympathy for its staff and ASSC. It really felt like they had no business sense nor did they want to have any business sense. That showed especially in how unprofessional some of their financial updates - and lack thereof on occasion - were. Casually saying "oops I forgot to do the update for X month" despite further funding for the site hinging on regular posting of said updates, acting all "we're your friends!!!" at times, and so on. Then there were things like the eggbux debacle, ASSC thinking they were gonna turn Cohost into a Patreon competitor without having the knowledge or resources to do that, Stripe policies aside. I'm aware that was one of ASSC's original goals for the platform, but still. I gotta factor in some of the monumental moderation fails the platform's had, including the Nazi incident. Their policies regarding generative "AI" - seriously, not blanket banning generative "AI" was asking for trouble. Oh, and an aura of negativity and toxic positivity that pervaded the place partially because of that inadequate moderation, and partially because that's what Cohost's culture was like to an extent. Still, my Discord server has more moderators than Cohost ever had - three, myself included, compared to one. That's comparing a platform with about 130 users (I'd say 12-15 of them are active and posting on the server) as of the time I'm writing this against a platform with over 25,000 users at the time of the shutdown announcement.

This might seem harsh considering Cohost's staff were known users and public faces there. I don't know any of them personally. I don't wanna pretend like I do. But I also don't wanna pretend like ASSC could do no wrong and Cohost was some heavenly paradise. One of the most popular posts on the site in its final months, at least regarding the number of comments and responses to it, was "Cohost So White", a lengthy timeline detailing some of the most notable moderation fails and racist incidents that've occurred on the site over its history. Much of that negativity I mentioned earlier stemmed from how bigoted and racist chunks of the userbase could be - and the times that was left unchecked until staff was bullied into removing offending posts and banning the people behind them. Remember the Nazi incident I mentioned earlier?

In short, a Nazi made a Cohost account to stalk and harass a Jewish person there. The Jewish person tried reporting the account, posting evidence of the Nazi's behavior off-site, and Cohost staff… did nothing about it initially because "they've done nothing wrong on Cohost so far" or words to that effect, causing the Jewish person (among others) to almost leave Cohost. Staff was then bullied into banning the Nazi and afterwards said things like "we're bound to screw up on moderation decisions every now and again". There's more to the Nazi incident than that, but I don't want this post to be entirely about that. Still, I get it. Moderation is tricky. People make mistakes. But that was an egregious moderation failure that should never have happened.

Disregarding all that, Cohost had this feeling of a group of friends creating a social media platform for themselves, their friends, and friends of friends, but it never grew out of that hobbyist mindset. Cohost felt like a very anti-social place more often than not. Discoverability was always spotty. Tag shotgunning was common especially for artists like me wanting to have as much reach as possible. The only major attempt to make discoverability better IMO, tag synonyms, came in too late to be relevant. Needed and welcomed, but still. Same for certain changes to moderation policies - the "missing stair" policy and so on, even if I feared they could've been weaponized against fair and civil criticism of the platform.

This is a personal thing, but I never gelled with the site's culture. I was mainly there to post my art; the site being NSFW/18+ friendly was a huge reason why I joined, and to its credit, Cohost never lost that particular quality throughout its existence. I didn't interact with people much there, and venturing outside of my carefully-curated feeds, both main and bookmarked, could feel as draining as doomscrolling on Twitter. Almost like Twitter's negativity sort of migrated over to Cohost and became integrated into Cohost's culture. Again, I'm not saying the entire platform was like that, just that the negativity sometimes drowned out all the shitposts and CSS crimes and whatnot.

Don't get me wrong. Cohost shutting down is a loss for the Internet as a whole for reasons I explained up top. I'll always appreciate it for what it tried to do and all the good it managed to do over the time it existed. I don't wanna walk away feeling like I'm blindly bashing on it with a sledgehammer or, worse, celebrating its downfall with a bag of popcorn in hand. It's just… Things could've and should've been so much better. There were more than enough misgivings on ASSC's behalf that didn't help matters. That's really why I'm sad yet not surprised about Cohost shutting down. Cohost deserved better. Much better.

The reason why I've been so critical about Cohost is… I give a shit. It's clear I'm passionate enough about Cohost to say what I said here. I genuinely wanted things to be better there. If I truly didn't care, this post wouldn't exist, and it's possible I never would've given Cohost a chance in the first place. Regardless, the fact that so, so, SO many people are sad about it shutting down speaks volumes. I enjoyed my time there despite all its faults, but that doesn't mean I could act as if those faults didn't exist. My personal experiences with Cohost weren't everyone's personal experiences.

I'm aware that places like Pillowfort have some of the same problems Cohost had, namely an uncertain financial and long-term future. It's why Pillowfort and other small platforms need support now more than ever, and I'm glad to see that some of Cohost's userbase has migrated over to Pillowfort. Unless you're gonna bail on social media entirely after Cohost shuts down (again, I don't blame you for wanting to do that at this point), you're best off diversifying where you post, especially if you're an artist and/or a writer. If you can spare the money, you should send a few bucks towards these smaller platforms to help keep them afloat. At any moment, that smaller platform you've made a home on can just… shut down one day, planned or not.

[did-i-do-this-write]

Village Map

In my original post I leaned heavy into the metaphor and I saw more than one person in the tags mention that they didn't understand how to participate. So here is a plain language guide in how to navigate and use the different locations for the event!

The Coffee Shop

If you're in the coffee shop, it just means you're looking to strike up a conversation! Make a post to announce what kind of interaction you're looking for! Could be asks, DMs, specific topics or open discussions through reblogs. You can pose a question or just welcome people to start conversations with you. Maybe you're looking to join a discord or make new friends. Just let us know!

The Library

If you're here, you're looking for information and inspiration. Post about what books you're reading or what inspires you. If you need advice or help with research, put out a call to your fellow writers. If you don't need help, just announce what you're working on and give us updates!

The Gym

If you're here, it means you're really working hard on your WIP. Maybe you're doing a run of 15 minute sprints, or taking on a huge word count like writing 1k+ in one sitting. Make a post about what challenge you're taking on and keep us updated so we can cheer you on and join you in the grind!

The Bakery

If you're here, it means you're working on your WIP more casually. You're taking your time, sticking with a regular routine, or writing short ficlets and drabbles. Post about your regular updates and progress, and share snippets and teasers as you see fit!

The Arcade

If you're here, you're just looking to play writeblr games. Make a post announcing you're ready to play and choose your game! You can start your own tags, reblog a bunch of ask games, answer old tags you haven't had a chance to look at, whatever games you want! Don't forget to reply and send something back to anyone who plays with you!

The Spa

If you're here, you're taking a break from writing for a bit. Make a post sharing as much detail as you want, update us on what self care activities you're doing and/or usually do. If you're burnt out, feel free to ask for advice on how to handle it!

The Archive

If you're here, you're looking through your own ideas for inspiration. You're reviewing outlines, re-reading old drafts, looking through old scraps of handwritten notes that aren't even accurate anymore. Post about what you're looking through and how it's helping (or not helping lol).

The Garden

If you're here, you're thinking about your WIP without working on the draft. You’re daydreaming and plotting, creating aesthetics and playlists, keeping your WIP in your mind without writing. Post about your ideas and share your aesthetics, playlists, and extras!

The Lab

If you're here, you're working more on characters and worldbuilding, not so much plot. You're making character sheets and maps and building governments and backstories. Post about your characters and world, share your maps and designs, and help us get to know them!

Things to Remember

If you're comfortable with it, you can always tag me in posts for the village! I'll keep everything on my blog for others to see.

Your post doesn't have to be fancy or detailed! It can be as simple as announcing which area you're in and how well (or not well) it's going.

You can be in multiple places at once or throughout the day! The village is just a fun visual and metaphor, but it doesn't have to limit you. You might drift from the Archive (reviewing old stuff) to the Bakery (drafting new stuff) to the Garden (daydreaming for next time) in under an hour! Keep us updated on your journey!

If you guys have any questions, just reach out! If my ask box is open, shoot me an ask. If it's closed, feel free to reblog or reply to this post or shoot me a DM! I'm always taking recommendations for locations and ways to make the village better!

The main purpose of the event is just to build and circulate the writeblr community. However you want to share your ideas and engage with others is all part of the village!

Happy writing, everyone!

[melverie]

- OBEY ME NIGHTBRINGER GUIDE -

I think I've pretty much covered everything important now, but I'll probably still edit this entire thing from time to time. I'm linking this post back to itself so those of you that'd rather reblog can check for updates every once in a while (last updated: September 25th 2023)

-> guide for Obey Me Shall We Date? -> intimacy raising guide

Things discussed on here currently include:

card building

leveling vs Devil's Tree

skill level & Joker

Ravens

Ruri☆Tunes

Azuki-tan Wallet & Magical Score

other

- CARD BUILDING -

basically, most of the stuff from the first game still applies

the smartest thing you can do is to actually focus on building the UR+ demon cards you get card pieces for in hard lessons and/or both memory and demon UR cards that are in the main summoning pool, since you'll always be able to raise those cards' skill level without having to use jokers, meaning you'll also have an easier time to max out the entire Devil's Tree completely

if possible, build at least one UR(+) demon card of each sin, I'd recommend two minimum tho

if you don't have any UR(+) demon cards for a specific sin, use SSRs

for early game, you can also use SR cards if you don't have anything better, but make sure to swap them out as soon as possible

get your UR(+) demon cards to level 70 minimum and your SSR ones to 60 minimum

check your cards secondary sin. For example the following card is a UR wrath card with lust as its secondary sin, meaning for lust stages, it'll act like an SSR card

the above also holds true for memory cards

only build SSR or UR(+) memory cards; but again, for early game SR and even R memory cards are perfectly fine

get your memory cards to level 50 minimum and try having at least one memory card per sin

focus on your demon cards first and your memory cards second

unlike in the original, it doesn't matter much which characters you choose since sin-specific glow sticks don't exist in nightbringer. That being said, you should still level cards of multiple characters since you can only use one demon card of a specific character in battle

if you want to use them, prioritzie giving your Jokers to event cards instead of the ones from the regular summoning pool

max out you card's Devil's Tree asap. You don't need to get the last 'sin up's if you don't want to (though I'd definitely recommend getting them), but make sure to get the very last 'rank up'!

to unlock Max Level Caps, your cards need to have Skill Level 3 or higher

- LEVELING VS DEVIL'S TREE -

DISCLAIMER: I'm probably not 100% correct on this but from how I understand it, this is the main difference between the two:

Leveling raises a card's strenght for ALL sins, which is more helpful for using that card in stages boosting a different sin than its own and is generally more useful in the long-run

Maxing out a card's Devil's Tree does also help in raising the card's strenght for all sins, but since it focuses mainly on the main and secondary sins, it's more useful for stages that correspond with their sin

Whichever one you decide to focus on first is up to you. Personally, I'd go with leveling tho

- SKILL LEVEL & JOKER -

generally speaking, I'd advise you to focus on the cards you can get card pieces for in hard lessons, as well as the ones in Chapter A and M. Since you can get them anytime, you can raise their skill level more easily than that of an event card

Devil's Trees of certain UR(+) and SSR cards can give you Jokers, with UR(+) Devil's Trees giving you either one UR or one SSR Joker per tree (afaik) and SSR Devil's Trees only giving you one SSR Joker per tree (again, afaik), though they usually require skill level 3 or higher just to unlock that reward. If you happen to have a card that's already at that skill level and has a Joker as an unlockable reward more power to ya, but otherwise it just kind of defeats the purpose

Pop Quiz rewards include a total of 5 UR Jokers, as well as 5 SSR ones. Out of them, f2p players will most likely only really get 1 UR and 2 SSR ones as long as they play every stage daily

The ranking prizes also include SSR and UR Jokers. Realistically speaking however, f2p players will unfortunately never place high enough to receive them unless they have done nothing but safe resources for several months

your To Do List also gives you SSR Jokers for reaching 100% in a certain amount of Devil's Trees. It might also give you UR and even UR+ Jokers later down the line, though I haven't done those yet so no guarantee. You can 100% the Devil's Tree of N cards if you want to go after those, but tbh I think there are better ways to spend your resources

this one's for VIP members only, but apparently the VIP-exclusive job has a chance of dropping two SSR Jokers per shift

lastly, you can get the ones from Akuzon once you have enough Ravens

- RAVENS -

there are five main ways to get Ravens (as far as I know, at least): daily surprise guest gifts, :D jobs, Devil's Trees, events & summoning. Let's go through them one by one

DAILY SURPRISE GUEST GIFTS You'll be able to get up to 2 Ravens a day from your surprise guests, which, yes, isn't a lot (it'd take you about 3.5 years to have enough Ravens to raise the skill level of one UR+ card just once), but you should definitely get them every day regardless since they're super easy to get

:D JOBS After finishing a shift at the Clock Tower, there's a chance you'll get 2 Ravens as a reward (up to 4 if you have two characters working). Item drop rates actually increase if you choose a prefered character, so make sure you always have a shift with two prefered workers running to maximize your chances

DEVIL'S TREES Some cards actually have Ravens as an unlockable reward in their Devil's Tree. UR(+) and SSR cards give you 10 Ravens for 20k Grimm though they usually require skill level 2 and up. Meanwhile, SR, R and N cards give 2 Ravens for 6k and do not need a higher skill level Whether you want to use your Grimm and materials just for unlocking Ravens is up to you, though I'd advise against it

EVENTS For Pop Quiz events, you'll be able to receive 10 Ravens per part, meaning 50 in total. However, most f2p players will probably only get up to 20 Ravens as long as they clear all stages every day during the given time frame. Celestial Blessings can give you up to 63 Ravens, though how many you actually end up getting is entirely down to luck and your resources Either way, events are definitely useful for getting more Ravens, but they definitely shouldn't be your only method of getting them

SUMMONING If you pull a card that already has its skill level maxed out, the game gives you a Raven instead. The best way to go about this would be to summon a bunch in Chapter G since you only need Grimm there. It definitely is an incredibly hefty investment considering the number of cards in that pool, but totally worth it in the long run and most likely also the best way to farm for Ravens. I'd definitely start working on it as soon as possible, even if that means sidelining building your cards a little. You can also use the Azuki-tan Wallets to get more Grimm quicker and speed things up

- RURI☆TUNES -

not 100% sure on this but fever time seems to run slightly faster. If you have trouble with the faster speed, you might consider not collecting the fever tokens in the first place. However, you'll also lose the combo by not collecting them. This has been a PSA

if you prefer, you can hit the little edit button right next to the skip/start button(s) and switch the controls to up/down. The advantage of up/down is that you can hit the actual items as they hit the line

personally I have it set to left/right with my fingers positioned as seen in the pic below, since it helps keep in mind which side does what + sometimes during a song my thumbs wander to the middle of the screen, meaning I'd mess up with up/right controls. It all comes down to personal preference, of course, but maybe tapping like that'll work best for you, too

you can also dim the background and turn of the extra stuff that pops up once in a while if you find it too distracting

notes you have to hold actually end automatically and give you a 'perfect' if you keep your finger on the screen. Here's a video to demonstrate

if you have trouble with hitting the screen at the right time, mash the screen on both sides as seen here. You just need to pay attention to long notes and obstacles

something that helps me every once in a while is turning the sound of entirely. I also sometimes just put on an entirely different song. It certainly won't help everyone but it might be worth a try

you can still win battles even if your estimated rank is D. It depends a bit on how well you do in the rhythm game, so it's best to compare the estimate with your actual result and decide based on that. If you usually finish with a perfect combo and almost all hits as perfect, than it should look something like this

if for whatever reason you want to restart a battle but don't want to lose your AP or items, you can fully close the game and start it back up again. If you used items you'll still be using them if you restart this way. Just make sure that you close the game before the loading symbol shows up, otherwise it'll save your result. The game starts loading shortly after the stage's boss disappears. If you did everything correctly, this screen should pop up after you tap the start button:

if you're stuck because your cards are too weak, use the Flower Staffs. It's probably best to save them for later seasons tho, but I also used them to get to lesson 10 on day 1, so do what makes you happy

save your resources; don’t use the Blossom Flower Staff if you can win with a Bud one

buy the defeat flash sales if you need more Flower Staffs. It's also the cheapest option for getting more Blossom Flower Staffs. As long as you do your daily missions you'll be able to buy it almost every day. Keep in mind that you actually need to get a D-Rank for this flash sale to pop up! Depleting your health bar does not work!

- AZUKI-TAN WALLET & MAGICAL SCORE -

keep in mind that you can use both items when sweeping. You just need to hit the little 'Support' button before sweeping

the Azuki-tan Wallet is a GODSEND. Use it if you need Grimm; it'll give you about 15k per win in an S-Rank stage

the Magical Score is also a godsend. Only use it on lessons in hard mode that give you UR+ card pieces though! It'll give you 3 card pieces per sweep, making farming for new UR+ cards so much easier. You'll need 9 Magical Scores to get the card, 17 if you want to raise it to skill level 2 and a total of 54 if you want to bring it to skill level 5

keep in mind that you can use both items when sweeping. You just need to hit the little 'Support' button before sweeping

the Azuki-tan Wallet is a GODSEND. Use it if you need Grimm; it'll give you about 15k per win in an S-Rank stage

the Magical Score is also a godsend. Only use it on lessons in hard mode that give you UR+ card pieces though! It'll give you 1 to 3 card pieces per sweep, making farming for new UR+ cards so much easier

- OTHER -

skip battles instead of sweeping. You'll level your cards and have a chance to meet with Surprise Guests. Every 50 times you use a character in battle or every 50 time you meet with a (specific) character, you'll get 50 AP, which let's you skip more battles and meet more Surprise Guests, which gives you more AP, which let's you skip more battles and meet more Surprise Guests, which gives you more AP, which le--

Surprise Guest interactions seem to be the same as in the old game, except for Satan's for some reason? Anyway, here's all his interactions: - B to S-Rank - high five -> hair rub -> chest tap chest tap -> chest tap -> face tap - C-Rank and lower - arm tap -> arm tap -> chest tap - home screen - "I want to talk to you" chest rub -> face rub -> hair rub "*yawn* Time really flew by as..." chest rub -> hair rub -> hair rub "Did a cat come through here?" face tap -> face rub -> chest tap

send out friend requests! You can get up to 50 AP a day from friends, so always make sure that your friend list is full My main account's ID is 2342023493 if you'd like to send me a friend request! As long as my friend list isn't full, I'll accept! Just a fair warning though, I regularly check if the people in my friend list are still playing actively

Feel free to add more or ask questions in the comments or in asks (or shoot me a dm if you prefer)! Also if there's anything else about the game you'd like me to mention in this guide, let me know!

Also please tell me if any of the links shouldn't work

Best of luck to all of you!

[sherryrowen]

Update on Hoston (OC)!!

I’ve been working lately on my boy and made a couple of ref sheets for myself for the future. I’ll hit two birds with one stone here and give a little bit of background on who he is and what he does, so keep reading if you’re curious about him!

Here are the reference sheets (they’re still WIPs but I still wanted to share them anyway)

About the reference sheets:

Why I made two references sheets? Well the first one I made was in my regular art style; when I was almost done with the Lineart, I realized that I should have drawn him in a different art style in order for his backstory to make more sense (I’ll explain more in moment), I don’t see why I shouldn’t post it though, since there are some details in this ref sheet that aren’t seen in the other one, like his Mettaton-like arms, and his exposed voice box (more on that later).

The second reference sheet (which is his Official design and art style), is in a “cartoon” art style (which isn’t what I usually do btw), there are two reasons why I decided to go with this style, first: is backstory, you see, he is supposed to come from an AU that is based on cartoons and cartoon-logic, so it just makes sense that he would be cartoonist-looking. The second reason is that it makes him easier for me to draw him (since I have plans on drawing him quite a lot for a certain future project).

About Hoston:

He is a version of Spamton that escaped the Dark world by sending himself to the nearest unsuspecting “computer” that was the most likely to open his spam email, and it just so happened to be Mettaton. Spamton and Mettaton ended up sharing a body for the meantime while Alphys was building Spamton his own body, during that time Spamton learned a lot from Mettaton which made him reevaluate his life, to the point were he admired Mettaton, considered him a mentor, and even mentioned wanting to be a Show host like him, to which Mettaton laughed thinking he was joking.

About his body: he specifically requested Alphys for his face to have a long nose. Before he was transferred to his body he was sent to Alphys’ computer so she could help him fix his um… [spam moments](?), she was able to fix it to a certain extent, he still gets them from time to time especially and specifically when he gets “emotional”, example: when he gets really excited or very angry. When he was finally transferred to his new body and heard his voice, he HATED it, because, to him, it didn’t sounded like his old voice back in the Dark World; so he asked Alphys to change it multiple times, and some times when he thought he had found a voice that he liked after some time he’d end up hating that voice too; he does eventually finds one that he likes but Alphys decided to leave his neck without a cover plate, exposing his voice box, in case he changed his mind and came back for another voice box, that way she could change it faster; because of this he always covers his neck with a huge neckerchief, so in the case of him getting in a battle, the opponent doesn’t take away his voice, since that’s the most important thing to him.

So, things happen, and he eventually changes his name to Hoston and becomes the host of a show (I know, a terrible name, I did mention in my Meet the Artist that I was bad with names).

“What is his show?” You might ask? Well it’s the “Hoston Show”! (Again, I’m bad at names). What is his show about? Well, that we’ll see.

Does he have any powers or special abilities? He does! Because he comes from an AU with cartoon logic, he’s got any cartoon related powers you could think of, he’s got hammerspace, he can create things (like a stage for example) out of nothing, and he’s even got the delayed fall (though idk if he’d consider that an ability), he’s got more stuff but I can’t recall anything else rn, just think of the “Looney Tunes” and ‘Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner”, those pretty much the sums of what he can do.

Despite what you might think he doesn’t do much fighting and uses his abilities for the purposes that benefit his show, though if he’d feel threatened, he with no doubt will defend himself, but that usually depends entirely on if he puts himself in a vulnerable position, which rarely happens.

That’s all for now, here, as a bonus have some Hoston Doodles!

(I kinda feel a little dumb saying this but:) Hoston belongs to me.

[niennanir]

I have had one heck of a year. I know I've always been pretty transparent about the nonsense of my life because I've always assumed it's good for younger people in particular to know that people who look like functioning adults aren't actually sailing though life unimpeded, but honestly this year has been too much to get into. There's been house stuff and work stuff and family stuff and then more house and work stuff and 2 hurricanes in 2 weeks. I am beat.

I am fine

Fine isn't that hard to achieve, it's not a deceleration that everything is spiffy. It just means I'm managing. Sometimes all you can manage is managing.

Milton is headed to my region. I have been riding out hurricanes for 40 years now, I know when they are super dangerous and I know when they are a joke and this one seems to be right in the middle of that, unless things change. So my safety is not in jeopardy. My good humor and internet connection are another story entirely.

I might not make my regular Sunday posting this week on Return of the Demon King. I do not know if I will have power or if I will be able to get to the library. I was at the library the day after Irma and 2 days after Ian and I didn't even lose power for Charlie. Those were all worse storms than this one should be.

Operative word in that sentence is 'should'.

So I am prepped for the worst and pretty much demanding a heck of a lot better than that. I will update either Sunday as usual or whenever I have access to internet. Everything's backed up. For now I'm going to watch comedies and wait for the storm. See you all on the other side.

[chamoemileclown]

How do you art, and where do you art?

hi my name is moe! i've doing digital 2d art since about 2017 and here's a big post about the how and where of it!

the program i use for my 2d art is firealpaca! the version i use is free to download with the exception of a popup ad that shows up when you start up the program! it's a great, very consistent, program that has updated a lot and improved since i started and i don't think i can vouch for it more. everything i include in this post applies to firealpaca specifically though you can probably do similar things in other programs im a college student on a budget and im very comfortable working with this program.

the three main brushes i use i got off firealpaca's brush marketplace! they're all free crayon brushes the first one hard one being the one i use for lineart, the second sort brush i use for sketching, and the third hard one i use for coloring. i think this might be the reason why i get some stuff about people associating my art with childhood/ children's illustrations, im a big fan of using texture where i can and these help to add a lot of visual interest.

seawatt jumpscare

you may see that my finish pieces don't have a lot of flat colors if you zoom all the way in. that's because i use a lot of noise to make the colors look less flat. it sort of reminds me of construction paper, gives a little bit of a fuzziness to it.

i have it set to color at usually around 50. i turn it down sometimes if im working on something smaller. my canvas sizes usually are about 1500 x 1500 just to keep a more consistent square shape across most of my drawings.

another thing i do to make my art pop is i duplicate my lineart layer, use protect alpha to color the duplicated layer another color that's usually brigther than the original layer, put some gaussian blur on it and add multiply or add to the blending on that layer.

with versus without the added layer! i have this set to add on 31% opacity and ill add more or less if i want the effect to be more or less subtle. it's not very noticable but i think it helps a lot with line clarity and can make something almost glow if you wanted that effect.

here's another example with a multiply layer (i turned up the opacity to give a better example) subtle and it fights a lot with tumblr image degradation but it makes me happy.

i also make a lot of use of halftoning as you can see in the examples above. I usually only use it to make shadows darker and highlights stand out but they're also really good at filling up dead space like backgrounds to make them more visually appealing

with versus without halftoning! in firealpace you achieve this by using a 8-bit layer (one highlighted) once you add the layer hit the gear icon by the layer and use that to modify the halftoning to your choosing

i usually have mine with a density of 40 but you can tweak it to your choosing. you can also change the blending type on these types of layers i usually just use multiply/ add and occasionally overlay. mess around with the opacity! make it more or less subtle! have fun!

halftoning is tricky to use in firealpaca however due to the way it works. usually i apply it with my soft crayon brush since it hangs around 35% opacity. you can get a more dense halftoning using more or less opacity on your brush and can go back and forth over the halftoning to layer more on. you can also layer two different layers of halftoning to create interesting effects

two different halftoning layers laid on top of each other ^

more opacity + two different halftoning layers laid on top of each other ^

when you go to combine all your layers however because 8bit layers when combined with regular layers lose their halftoning properties. my way around this when combining everything is going layer > merge all when going to finish up and convert everything to png.

that, for the most part is all the technical stuff. i wish i could tell you how i knew what colors to pick but for me i usually pick some variation of green and just go with it. i usually pick the lineart color with my background colors in my mind and go from there until i get bored. complimentary colors such as blue/ orange and red/ green are usually good picks.

did you notice the background/ lineart is green in this picture? that's because the red cancels it out. i sneak it in there sometimes C:

that's pretty much the how of it all, as for the where, usually my bed

that's all

[midnight1nk]

So, this week's remaster...

[Spoilers below cut]

Aha! I've expected as much, they usually release a regular episode or a Remaster. It's been a while since they've done one of these, I honestly thought we were going to get one during the Puzzle Park arc, which of course didn't happen.

Let's see, the OG "Return to Freddy's Spaghettria" episode was...

9 YEARS AGO?!?!?

...time isn't real, guys. I feel old old. Makes sense though, the OG has 44 million views, being one of the most popular videos on the channel. It's a no-brainer. also it was spooky month *does the dance* a few days ago.

Anyway, since it's a remaster, this post is going to be a lot shorter than usual.

(the following is my reaction:)

ah, of course, the updated graphics

and Mario going from his polygonal 64 model to his current one

but also peach's castle.... ahem, let's keep going

"no more saying cuss words guys" oh right, susan is watching over us

[*sigh*] i miss my wife, tails. i miss her a lot, I'll be back

gotta make the reference I'm sorry

go off Mario, show those dance moves

also can I just say, I love how expressive Mario is now. It's one of the things I love about the show

WIZARD ROCK IS BACK!!!! it's been so long

man, i'm old

omg the barney song (listen, I was a PBS Kid and I've indeed watched barney when I was a child soooo I still find it wild to hear that song again.)

"do you like popsicles?" oh hey a spongebob... oh...

....i'm overthinking this i'm overthinking this i'm overthinking this

uh, moving on!

and mario using mr. yeast to barricade the door... [*IGBP flashbacks*]

Welcome, everyone, to "Let's Remind Ink of the Show's Past Arcs and Current Mysteries" :)

"remember the locket :)" "YEAH I KNOW I KNOW"

that camera work tho

cocomelon... WHY AM I GETTING FLASHBACKS

pizza :D

[*claps in terror*]

well, that's new from the OG.... okay, look, I know this purple thing is from something else and not related to anything at all i get that BUT I just got reminded of meme rehab

happy halloween to me specifically ig, thanks Team

DAMN his coin count lowered from 24 coins in the OG to just 14 coins in the remaster

WII SPORTS, I love all the references to it in this episode

"who wants a muffin?" "no" "but I wanna die :D" /ref

the mickey mouse audio.... LEAVE ME ALONE *flachback* AAAH *flashback* AAAAAAHHHHH

SMG4 HIIII :D good to see blue Mario every now and then

and some voice acting wow

RAVE PARTY

hold up, i gonna pull out the crafting table for this one

mario can and will teleport behind you when he wants to

pizza :D

also congrats to ArrowDustt for your art being featured in the credits 🎉

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

Another pleasant episode. It's really fun to see how much the Team has improved over the years while still being the show. It is a remaster so it's pretty much the same storyline, but the animation and editing and voice acting and so much more. Go show some appreciation for the Team!!

As much as I'm here for the loreeeeeeeee, I wouldn't mind if the rest of the year is just filled with silly episodes. it's the silly meme show after all... but Team, was it really necessary to remind me that these characters had trauma from previous episodes? well, guess what? it's day of the dead for me so your plan failed aha!!! /silly

Yeah, I do look too much into stuff sprinkled in the background or the episode in general, it's kinda my thing. Don't mind me overanalyzing the bingo numbers from the last episode. Anyway, it was nice of Ben (the thumbnail artist) to show some of the behind-the-scenes.

Stretchy boi :) Love when the Team does these kinds of things. By the way, if anyone was curious, the WOTFI website is still up. Interesting....

Well, my dear fellows, that's all for now. Curious to know what the next remaster will be, and as always, looking forward to what shenanigans the SMG4 Crew will be up to next week. Hmm, maybe I'll post another episode concept (angst or fluff, no in-between >:] hehehe). Take care, and I'll see you all next time!!! pizza :D

...

BUT ALSO GOOP!FOUR— *green screen explosion*