#I'm happy with this art piece could have done better tho

[thomastheloner13]

Now sodor designs

Thomas

💙 Thomas is constantly busy working since he has he's own line to take care of.

💙Is sometimes stressed but plays it cool in front of the others expect Edward and skarloey.

💙Has a childish heart but works hard because he's a very useful humanoid engine.

💙has a scare on he's eye because he got into a brawl with diesel 10

💙Has anxiety because of the past experience but keeps it low.

💙Likes to prank everyone even tho Percy would kick he's ass for doing so

💙Very close with Percy Gordon Edward and skarloey

💙Good friends with Emily, James, duck, Oliver and Rhaneres

💙Drinks coffee but can enjoy tea at some times (mostly when he's around skarloey)

💙Sees Edward as a father figure even tho they don't have ages

💙HATES DIESEL 10 BECAUSE FIDEL 10 A BITCH FOR STEALING HE'S BEST FRIEND THAT ONE TIME

[tailsdollr]

your art is really coool! im inspired! do you have any art tips?

Thank you so much and yes I have a bit of knowledge since all the work I have done over the years. However, I understand everyone does things differently. So perhaps not all I will share will benefit you much. Especially if you already knew it BUT I will try give as many I can!

I saw that you mostly do traditional drawing, so I will keep it mainly for that. However I will mention some digital tips but will have them related to traditional in some way.

Pencil types. There are many types of pencils and most depend on darkness or light. I usually have a 0.6 and 0.9 on me. A step further is charcoal however I'm not as experienced in that. Something I often do in case of smearing is lightly dabbing my finger on the art. This can work for many tools but I think a pencil smearing can just be annoying lol. How far you press can be very important too as going to hard can leave lines into the paper that will permanently be there and affect your art in case you wanna erase. I usually go light first then dark then work around. It's okay if it's messy at first if its light as that can be a lot easier to clean.

Paper. Paper is very important to me at least due to how much it can vary. For certain tools, I'd prefer certain types of paper. Always check texture and thickness before buying. Don't just buy random sketchbooks. I've regretted many times of getting paper far too thin or way too much texture.

Texture and thickness all depend on what you'll use on it. Thicker paper can handle wet bases like water, paint, or markers. While thinner paper is much better for pencil. As the more texture the more difficult it becomes to not make a mess of extra that might smear if you're not careful.

If you have thin paper and are using markers, make sure you know when is too much for the paper. It could tear or eat a hole in it if not careful. I don't think it depends on art supplies either. I just think it depends on skill and paper. Like, I would not use Crayola markers on printer paper. But I would on card stock since it's more likely to handle it. Speaking of card stock, it can be really good for just sketching. However I don't think it takes pencil very well depending on it's texture. Since most are usually kind of glossy on top.

Thin paper can also be great if you want to transfer a drawing over. Imagine a digital sketch that you draw over. Thin paper can be used in the same way so I'd never fear messing up when you can easily get it onto something else and start over. This applies to tracing it in digital.

Speaking of tracing, I would not be afraid of using it as a learning tool. I've used references but sometimes I cannot see exactly how to draw that. So I trace and see what it looks like on its own. I don't think using something traced in your final piece is practical or good. But I think learning and guiding yourself with it is an excellent thing and I want more young artists not to be afraid of it.

Poses and certain features can be quite difficult for some. I think the best way to build up on these is to break them down. Like making the person who is doing the pose into very simple shapes.

This like all off the top of my head. If you want to ask something specific like, painting for example, feel free and go ahead! Or need further elaboration I can certainly try!

My biggest art tip of all tho, is to have fun. Draw whatever you want. Make yourself feel happy and don't let others dictate what you do.

I think cringe culture really hurt a lot of learning and growing artists. People who just inserted themselves into stories, made strange aus. They all were just having fun. I let myself not show that I loved things just for others comfort and you know what fuck them!! So what if evil teletubbies is weird?? Why are you upset that I'm having fun!

Love what you love. Draw weird and strange things and never give up on yourself when you feel disappointed.

You will get there with your art. You will if you feel love and passion for the craft.

[wisyhana]

Hi Wisy! My question might be a little strange but I'll try to put it into words the best I can, please bear with me 🙏 I usually am a very word-oriented person with few mental images and a hard time reading images, but your art speaks a lot to me! I feel like your characters are very, very expressive, and not only in a unidimensional way (if it makes sense?) Like you manage to make them tense but happy, moved or aroused. So I was wondering how you drew your expressions so on point? Is there a focus you have, like eyes or mouth or I don't know? Have you done lots of life drawing or trained with poses and photos?

Anyway I love how your characters look always so expressive and I am super curious about it!

Thank you and sorry if it all sounds weird 😅

Thank you for asking!

I understand your questions pretty well and makes me super happy you ask, I'm trying to sit and verbalize what I do more often, so this type of questions help me a ton.

There are a few motives and moments in my life that helped me to focus more on expressions and body language. At some point I stopped relying on thoughts bubbles to express a feeling or emotion. I used to draw more comics than single drawings at the time, so I always liked the storytelling part of a drawing than the simple beauty of it. I found myself relying too much on thought bubbles, so I simply stopped. That way I forced my way to focus on the 'show don't tell' part of the art pieces. I'm not so good with symbols and metaphors, so I had to get more theatrical and force the characters to be more expressive.

Then I took acting classes at school! It wasn't super serious but it helped me to do what I think helps me to get more genuine expressions. I simply try to think of the characters, their motives, their backstories and simply make them mine and think of myself playing a role. I tend to practically act a lot before drawing or I do a lot fo expressions in front of the mirror, people usually tell me I'm very histrionic with my expressions so I think is simply a part of me.

Adding to the acting classes, I do tend to think of the scenes as more of movie scenes than actual drawings, I don't think in characters I think in real people. I pay a lot of attention to details in movies and real people in general. I don't feel comfortable drawing them tho, I did draw with live models and all, but I never managed to get the realism of them. But what I want to feel real are the emotions. And real people never feel 1 single emotion at time, it's always a mix. So I try to add to it.

If I had to say in what part of the drawing I rely more to get the expressions, I'd say eyebrows, lips, hands, poses and camera angle. There are some expressions that could get a different impact depending on the perspective you're showing it. A bright smile would work better if is shown on first shot, while a more timid can work better if is a little further away, maybe moving the angle a bit to hide the expression too.

I think in the end for me drawing is like acting. There are more things to it like the energy and line of expression. But when it comes to face expressions it has to do a lot with how I'd express or how I've seen someone else expressing it.

Hope this helps!

[bratniadusza]

What a year this year has been, huh? :DD

Cheated a bit, cause I had nothing worth of showing for June&July, but hey, will try to challenge every month with at least one drawing, even low effort one C:

About the challenges tho, tried so many things and mediums this year I had no idea I could do! :DD And one of my proudest pieces for sure is the big Your Internal Haunted House infographic!

Got a chance and absolute pleasure to do fun collabs, challenges and competitions with my friends (you can even see the lovely piece I had pleasure to make with @jellybeandrawsthings in March! :>) and did some lovely paintings that maybe you'll get to see when I figure out how to get a good photo of (one piece especially, probably the best work I've ever done!)

Had many pieces of work this year I really really like and I think I'm getting more confident in my skills&abilities to draw and how I want my art to look like and how I vibe with my general artstyle, which I'm super happy about! :DD And I've been getting more and more out of my comfort zone with stuff I wanted to do and things I wanted to be a part of, which I wouldn't be able to do if not for my absolutely lovely group of friends that Icouldn't be happier to have C:

Hope you all had a lovely Year and that the next one will only get better, thanks for sticking around to see what shenanigans I'll be up to next C:

[silawastaken]

HELLO, ITS CHRIXYTY FROM AO3!!!! i decided to make a tumblr account just so i can interact with you on here :3 why? because i can. dont question me. i do strange things sometimes. (a lot of the time) but dont we all?

(i was serious when i said i would stop hovering like a ghost and start interacting. you better expect a LOT of comments from me from now on BECAUSE I JUST NEED TO SHOW MY APPRECIATION.)

ANYWAYS CHAPTER 13 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ THANK YOU FOR THIS WONDERFUL PIECE OF ART. THIS WHOLE FIC IS A MASTERPIECE AND I LOVE THE ANGST !!! (ESPECIALLY DAZAI ANGST 🤗)

like im not even joking no fic has ever made my heart pound every second i read it before...like literally nothing could be happening and my heart is pounding at 150 bpm like damn its so good you might give me a heart attack frfr.

chuuyas so dense but i can kinda get his point of view :( UGH the slow burn is just making me anticipate the moment he finds out dazai's his soulmate even more...(betting chuuya will punch dazai out of anger because he realises dazai did all those things to himself...and then he'll feel the pain from the punch and be 100% certain and will start bawling cause idk emotion overload?? i can imagine it but yea im yapping a lot haha)

OH AND HIS FRIENDS FINDING OUT ABOUT ODAS DEATH??? AHH

also it makes me happy when authors refer to the canon universe in their fics somewhere like when dazai called his friends his "little detective agency" like its a small detail but it just makes me happy.

okay im SERIOUSLY yapping way too much but i needed to get all this out somewhere. my bsf is getting sick of me talking so much grrrrr >:(

(permission to one day when this fic is finished print it all out and bind it?? so i can forever keep it as like a memento and pass it down to future generations so they too can appreciate this amazing piece of literature??)

wow i wrote a lot. if only i could write this much for my fic in such a short time during writer's block.

WAITWAITWAITWAIT. I NORMALLY TRY TO ANSWER THESE TOPIC BY TOPIC BUT BINDING. MY. FIC???? HELL YES YOU HAVE PERMISSION WHAT THE HELL??? THAT'S SO COOL??? if i ask very nicely would you make me one too..? I'd pay postage and everything 🙏🙏 i wish i had the patience to bind fics into books but it requires so much time and patience that I don't have 😭

My only thing I would want to say is that I plan on revising some of the earlier chapters where it doesn't quite flow the way the rest of the chapters do, so if I finish it before I've done that (which probably won't happen, but just in case), I would recommend waiting a little!

ANYWAY. making an entire tumblr acc just to interact with me here? ...that's dedication man🫡 I already said it but I appreciate EVERY comment i get so i will be waiting with baited breath after every chapter!!

Glad you're loving the angst tho, I'm having a lot of the time throwing dazai and chuuya into a washing machine full of stones every chapter. great character building.

The reveals are gonna be so fun I can't wait to write them honestly. I'm so excited!!! Still got ages to go tho, so strap in it's gonna be a while.

I ALSO LOOOOVE REFERENCING THE CANON WHILE WRITING. THE NYE FLASHBACK WHERE DAZAI THINKS ABOUT HIS CONVERSATION WHERE THEY WANT TO BE DETECTIVES. OMG. I WAS SO PROUD OF THAT. AND THE 'soulmate detective agency'.

Do not feel bad about writing a lot cause I loved reading this and responding and once again YOU HAVE FULL PERMISSION TO BIND IT ONCE IT'S DONE.

[sidebloggo3akaventroom]

Some of the worst years of my life. 2017 to 2019-20. Around this time I decided art class sucked it wasn't worth the stress of people watching me. Then I chose to go for an apprenticeship to please people who did not care that all I wanted to do was help. I was a disappointment and a success. I was driving myself into the ground trying to find a way out while digging deeper. Getting some escapism where and when I could tiring myself out even more by skipping out on sleep to do so. Even tho I had to be at work at like 8am after a four hour sleep. I quit that job when covid came I lost my apprenticeship on purpose bc it sucked and wasn't worth the stress. My brother had done shit that I won't forgive him for. I watched my nan die in 2019. My family was falling to pieces and I was trying so hard to keep it together. My brother got arrested and bailed and forgiven. I won't forget. I have let it go but forgiving is hard and I have a hard time forgetting things but letting it go is so easy. bc it isn't worth the hate that would destroy me if I held on to it and I miss my brother sometimes the one I used to know that I see sometimes. So I just let it go. There was always good mixed with the bad. You can't have niceness without some ugly truths littered here and there. Even flowers can bloom in a cemetery. ...yikes that's probably why I get attached to questionable characters. They remind me of home. I had to stop when I was doing my apprenticeship for a bit and ask myself if that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And decided fuck no I'm not going to die doing something I hate for people who don't appreciate me or my efforts. Yeah that's it. Thanks for reading but you probably shouldn't have and I should have really cut this off but I couldn't. That's the trimmed version you don't need to know anything else. I'm sorry for well ig burdening you with that. But I'm sure it'll be forgotten. Hopefully. Doesn't matter anymore. I'm better now. Happier. More confident in things I do aside from well the whole talking about sensitive shit. Live on happiness and let go of shit that hurt you.

[wooahaes]

Glad to hear you are feeling better! My tutor said that not many people used pop up for their project so part of me took that as a challenge haha (also pop is so cool, there are so many intricate pieces out there!). My dissertation was "the power of music", but I'd deliberately made it vague because I didn't know what to focus on lol. I'm sort of looking at "does music make you smarter". The Mozart effect gets referenced at lot, but it only affects spacial reasoning not intelligence -🍧

There does seem to be a link between studying music and good grades, but it could also just be the students personality not the effect of music. An article i read suggested that when people ask "does music make you smarter" they imply "smarter at something else" which I thought was really interesting. It's definitely interesting to read up on. I think that music does make you smarter, but smarter at music lol. I'm always happy to share about my projects, it's nice when people are interested -🍧

My thoughts on uts. Firstly, it is such a comforting series. Idk how you do it, but every part leaves me feeling warm! I absolutely loved the whole book plot in wonwoo's part. Every part makes me so soft for the 95s, but you keep breaking my heart over cheol haha. I hope I don't sound impatient, but I'm v excited for his part. I can't wait for him to finally get his happy ending? I actually love uts (and all your other fics) so much. I hope you stay well! 🍧

hiii lovely, sorry for not getting to this sooner! i hope your project has been going well (and i hope you figured out pop up if you went with it! i love seeing the intricate pop up art <3). but ooo the power of music sounds like such a cool topic!! i get making it vague through, since i think its good when to stay vague when you're still narrowing down what you really wanna look into.

i can believe there's a link between studying music + good grades, but i do wonder if it's only a certain kind of studying music? like most people default to classical, but i legit listened to whatever i felt like when i did schoolwork/studied because not having lyrics made it harder for me to focus weirdly enough. the "smarter at something else" part is def interesting tho! plus it makes sense with the whole studying music being linked to studying something else. pls feel free to share whatever you like with me! i love hearing about other ppls pursuits, especially in academics <3

aaa tysm!! that means so much to hear, especially with some parts not being the most positive haha (kwan hao wonu) but i'm glad they still have that comforting/warm energy. im glad you enjoyed the book plot in wonwoo's part! i wanted to have some kind of connection to the teasers while stepping firmly away for wonwoo's to be more about him and the reader since reader getting the same ending as him would pretty much have meant they're destined. plus the shifting details is meant to stay in the same vein of 'weird shit happens' lol (also it was just fun to play around with writing something like a storybook).

hehe i'm glad abt the 95z tho! cheol might be the leader of the entire group, but i like making it clear that hannie and shua both also are an important factor in keeping everyone comfy/happy/cared for <3 also whoopsss (over cheol) <3 (its ok i break my own heart with cheol)

im glad ur excited though! trust me, i'm excited for it too. i have a lot planned for it and i honestly kinda think it might be longer than all the other parts once i'm fully done with it? but i'm absolutely satisfied with the plans i have, just gotta write the other parts to get to him <3

i hope you stay well as well! stay hydrated n rest well, mwah <3

[honeymilkk00]

Haikyuu Boys: You Flinch

Pt 2

@silver-argent​ :  Hii! I super looooove the way you wrote Haikyuu Boys: You flinch, perfect amount of angst to fluff! Are you taking requests? If you are, will you please do a Sakusa and Kenma? the you flinch. It's okay if you don't tho! I'll still look forward to your works!❤❤

tysm for the encouraging words!! my requests are open and im more than happy to do Sakusa and Kenma jewbjkew. i hope you enjoy. i'm literally so tired and just wanted to finally get this out <3

characters:

-sakusa

-kenma

___________________________

Sakusa

Dating Sakusa was the last thing you ever thought would happen to you. He filled your days and nights with such love and passion. You had broken through his stoic and cold shell and had seen him for who he truly was deep inside- a loving partner through and through.

Of course, old habits die hard. Since he had spent years of his life being a reserved person, only putting up with his family and teammates, he still was very hesitant when it came to affection. Sometimes all he wanted to do was to be alone with his thoughts and nothing else. It hurt to see him like that, knowing that no matter what, you couldn’t help him, but you understood and gave him the time he needed.

Five months into yours and his relationship had lead to a few disputes, but nothing too serious. He was a prideful, headstrong man which lead to you having to bite your tongue during arguments and keep your snarky words to yourself, refusing to let them slip off the tip of your tongue. If they did, the argument would escalate. 

You loved Sakusa for everything he was, bad parts and good, but sometimes he was too much. 

And, that’s how you were here, biting your lip harshly as you stare at him, refusing to let your anger get the best of you. 

Sakusa had been coming home quite late due to volleyball practise, but it got to the stage where you were scared that he was doing to overwork himself and injure himself. Instead of letting it slide, you confronted him about it and suggested that he should take some time to let his body heal from the strenuous training regimen that he was doing. It seemed that Sakusa wasn’t in the best of moods and had snapped at you, shooting abhorrent words towards you as if you were nothing but a pile of shit, accusing you of restricting him from reaching his full potential and trying to turn him away from volleyball because you were too clingy for his liking. 

“Fucking hell (Y/N), you’re so fucking clingy! Just because you’re an attention whore and want me to worship you doesn’t mean you can try and take me away from what I love doing. You’re so fucking obsessive it’s driving me crazy!” Sakusa bellowed and clenched his hands together, his nails digging into his hands. 

Taking a deep breath to keep yourself as calm as possible, you spoke in a soft tone, “Omi, I’m not trying to keep you from anything. I just think you should rest your body before you overwork yourself and become ill or injure yourself. I know you want to improve but that can happen gradually over time. I doesn’t need to happen all at once.” You murmured and gently placed a hand on his, trying to reassure him.

Letting out a deep, angered growl, Sakusa pulled away from your grip harshly and pushed your hand away, “don’t fucking touch me! You’re fucking disgusting! All you do is hold me down and try and control my life, you obsessive pest!” He hollered out.

His words ripped open your chest and stabbed you in the heart repeatedly. You felt like you were choking on your own heartbeat. It hurt knowing that your lover found you disgusting. A strong feeling of rage surged through your veins. “How fucking dare you, Sakusa! I’ve done nothing but tried to help you and all you do is treat me like shit. Every time we argue I have to bite my tongue because I know that if I retaliate, you’ll just get even more angry. I can’t express how I feel to you anymore and I feel as if I don’t matter in this relationship. If you want to overwork yourself and injure yourself then fine, go ahead, but don’t blame me for saying I told you so after it’s happened!”

His eyes narrowing at your words, Sakusa swiftly turned to glare at you and raised his fist, poking your chest aggressively, “Fine, I will then because I’m not letting you control me anym-” He paused mid sentence, his eyes widening when he noticed you flinching when he raised his hand. Slowly, he lowered his hand and dropped them at his sides. Your shaking figure made his heart clench painfully tight. “(Y/N) I-”

“I can’t do this anymore, Sakusa.” You voice whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear. Tears rolled down your cheeks and you sniffled quietly. “I can’t handle this pain anymore. I can’t handle feeling like I’m walking on egg shells with you. I can’t handle being afraid of how you’ll react when I speak about how I feel. I just can’t do this anymore.” You voice got quieter and quieter the more you spoke. Looking up at Sakusa, you swallowed thickly. “I can’t do us anymore.” 

Sakusa was frozen, watching you carefully. It was deathly silent. The only sound he could hear was the sound of his heartbeat beating rapidly. 

“I’ll pick up my things tomorrow. I’m going to stay at Atsumu’s for the night.” You whispered and turned away, heading towards the front door. 

A small, almost whine-like noise left Kiyoomi’s mouth. He reached out and clasped your hand gently, tears forming in the corner’s of his eyes. “Please.” He begged quietly.

Looking back at the man you loved, your heart shattered into small pieces when you noticed his dampened eyes. Never had you seen him cry before. “What is it?” You asked quietly, biting the inside of your cheek.

Sakusa pulled you in tightly for a hug and pressed his lips against your cheek gently. “Please don’t leave. Please please please… I’m so so sorry (Y/N).. I didn’t mean anything I said. I love you and I’m grateful for everything you do for me. I’ve just had a really bad day. Please I love you. Please don’t leave. You’re my baby... “ He pleaded softly and held you tightly, as if afraid that you’d disappear if he let go. 

Letting out a sigh, you caved in. You were still mad at him but at the end of the day, you loved Kiyoomi more than anything else. You would give up everything for his happiness. “Kiyoomi...” You whispered softly and then turned around so you were face to face with him. Gently cupping his cheeks, you sighed, “I love you so so much Kiyoomi... But you can’t say stuff like that to me even if you’ve had a bad day. You really really hurt me even though I was just trying to look out for you.” You explained and frowned softly, kissing his tears that resided in the corner of his eyes. 

Pressing his lips softly against your hands that rested on his face, he let out a shaky breath that he didn’t realise he was holding, “I know... I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I promise I’ll do better..” He whispered gently and pressed his nose into your hair lovingly. “I love you so much...”

Leaning in closer to Sakusa, you inhaled his scent, “I love you too, Omi..”

He never wanted to see you flinch like that again.

________________________

Kenma

Kenma was an erudite genius when it came to the art of strategy. His deep understanding of the game and the unspoken pledge to win is what drove him forward and kept him reaching, grasping, clutching for new strategic idea that would leave his opponents breathless.

For days, maybe even weeks, on end, Kenma would be researching, training, and repeating the process until he felt confident in his methodology that would be used in a game. Thus, led to a breakdown. After weeks of undereating, lack of sleep, training beyond his physical capabilities, and his mental strain thinking of ways to defeat the opposing team, Kenma was at his wits’ end. 

As his partner, you immediately noticed the changes in his personality. Of course, concern was your initial reaction and you were somewhat frightened of irritating him more, but you knew you had to confront him about his lack of self care. Seeing him train during lunch and falling asleep in lessons led you to realise how hard he was working himself. 

So, after school you managed to pull him to one side before he proceeded to train at the club. A frown was present on your lips and you took a deep breath. Looking at him now hurt a lot: his eyebags had considerably increased since the last time you saw him; you could now see physically where he had lost weight from undereating for weeks; his eyes seemed a lot duller; his body slouched over slightly, as if it was begging for a break. It was agony to see your partner slowly harm his body and mind like this.

"Kenma, just know I love you so much and I understand that volleyball means a lot to you right now since it's your final year with your team as you know it with Kuroo as captain, but look at yourself. You're not taking care of yourself at all. You aren't helping you or your teammates by undereating and not sleeeping." You murmured gently, taking Kenma's hands in your own. You knew that you had to be careful and not push your boyfriend, but you couldn't let it continue.

Kenma simply frowned at your words and pulled his hand away from yours, "(Y/N), I don't need your lecturing. I'm perfectly fine taking care of myself. I don't need you." He hissed out and turned his back on you, proceeding to head to practise. He had no time to waste on pointless conversations.

(Y/N) grinded their teeth together, their heart aching slightly at the harsh words, "I'm not lecturing you, Kenma! I'm doing what a s/o should do and I'm looking out for you! Please just take a small break before you overdo it!" You hallooed, as if that would make the words sink in.

Vexed, Kenma turned around with a deep scowl on his face, "Why don't you just back off, (Y/N)!? I don't care about you right now, all I care about is me and my teammates winning this game!" He shrieked, which caused you to trip back and swallow thickly.

A small whimper escape your lips and tears formed in the corners of your eyes as you flinched. You were normally fine with Kenma's salty attitude, but he never usually shouted at you. Taking a shaky breath, you looked at your boyfriend dead in the eyes, "fine! Do what you want to do! Since you don't care about me I won't bother anymore! Don't you fucking dare come running to me when you overwork yourself and can't handle it anymore!" You retorted and turned away.

Kenma's eyes widened slightly at your words as he watched you turn away. "Wait...." He whispered out, his hand reaching towards yours. Lightly, he grasped your wrist and sighed, pulling you close and burying his head in your shoulder. "'M sorry... I'm just so stressed..." Tears brimmed his eyes and he sniffled softly. "I didn't mean it..."

Letting out a soft sigh, your shoulders relaxed and you pulled your lover in for a cuddle. "I know you didn't mean it baby... But remember your health comes first, volleyball after." You whispered and gently stroked his hair. He simply nodded in response and hugged you tighter.

Maybe you both could work things out. You just need to learn to communicate more.

[shiftingparadise]

ooh do u think u can do a modern aspiring classical(?) musicians eren & reader enemies to lovers, childhood lover, mutual pining but unknown to ea/o type story? (absolutely no rush tho😊) been competing against ea/o since kids, eren has a crush on reader & thinks teasing/picking at them is flirting💀 but also kinda sad cuz he knew he sorta already messed up his chances w reader from how he's "treated" them by accidentally one-upping them as kids most the time, so he keeps them close by teasing/bickering often just for any interaction. he does have a soft spot for reader but they get weirded out/confused(?) by his softness at times when eren's genuinely being nice instead of the usual teasing. maybe eren could get caught by reader playing his own lil rendition he made of all of reader's fav pieces into one that he was planning to keep to himself but know that u heard, u ask to play the whole thing & savor moment of u two alone unaware of how intimate the situation is, then confession✨ sry i always make up artistic/musical/ballet scenarios of person getting caught or oblivious to someone admiring their art😭🥺

Hi, I'm sorry you had to wait so long! I hope you like what I've done with it!:) Enjoy reading! 🤍✨

I really loved your request btw, it pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit (so I'm really sorry if it's not that good) but I love being pushed out of my comfort zone, so thank you!

Word count 4.200

You’ve known Eren since you were kids. You ended up in the same music class after school, both playing the piano. For some reason, there was a fierce rivalry between the two of you. You both wanted to outdo the other, to make sure everyone knew who was better. To be honest, you didn’t know when it started exactly, but you could remember everything as if it happened yesterday. 

--- 

‘No, I’m way better than you! My mom got me a teacher ever since I was 5’, you looked at the brunette who was sitting next to you in your music class, ‘Watch and learn’, you could see a smug look appearing on his face. 

You and Eren had been in the same music class for over a year now. You both were on top of the class, and now it was time to decide who got the first solo. 

‘Miss Lucy, can I try?’, Eren quickly raised his hand, waving it in the air, ‘Of course Eren’, you could see the teacher kindly smiling at him. You narrowed your eyes, wishing Eren would make some kind of mistake. ‘Watch closely Y/N’, Eren cracked his fingers, smiling at you, ‘This is how it’s done’. You could see the brunette walking towards the piano, the smug smile never left his face. 

In the next following minutes, Eren played the complete solo with not a single mistake. You wanted that part more than anything, and you knew he knew that. He just wanted to outdo you, to be better than you. 

‘Wow, that was amazing Eren!’, Miss Lucy started clapping, smiling at your rival, ‘I can’t believe you’re only 10 when I hear you play. Your rhythm, the feeling you put behind it… It’s amazing!’, ‘That’s because you teach us so well Miss Lucy’, Eren smiled at his teacher before glancing at you, making sure you were hearing the conversation between the two. ‘Tch, kiss-ass���, you whispered under your breath while rolling your eyes. ‘Okay, so that’s it for today’s class, make sure to practice as much as you can! I’ll announce who gets the solo next week, oh, and don’t worry if you don’t get it! There’ll be plenty of chances in the future’, you could see her waving at everyone. 

You quickly grabbed your music sheets and put them in your backpack. 

‘Hm, I wonder who’ll get the solo’, you could see Eren standing in front of you, ‘Leave me alone Eren’, you stood up from your chair, brushing your shoulder against him. ‘What? Aren’t you happy for me?’, Eren’s hand grabbed your shoulder, ‘Don’t touch me!’, you turned around to him, ‘You knew how badly I wanted that solo’. ‘So?’, the brunette folded his arms, ‘I can’t help it that you’re not as good as me!’. 

‘Eren, Y/N, be nice to each other’, you could hear your mother’s voice, ‘Eren, is that true? Did you do that?’, you could see Eren’s mother looking sternly at him. ‘I-I did not!’, ‘Yes you did!’, you balled your hands, hoping your mother would intervene. ‘Don’t worry Y/N, you’ll get it next time’, your mother smiled before kindly placing her hand on the back of your head, ‘But mom! He doesn’t even care about the solo!’, you fiercely protested, but your mother raised her hand, as to say that she didn’t want to hear it. 

You looked over your shoulder at Eren. You could see his mom was angry with him, probably because he was screaming at her, like he always did. 

--- 

Another year passed, and it was once again time for the teacher to pick someone for the solo.

‘Hey’, ‘What?’, you sighed while entering the classroom, ‘Are you going to try and get the solo this year?’, ‘I’m not trying, I will get it this year’, you turned around to Eren, ‘I won’t let you take it from me!’, you narrowed your eyes. ‘Tch’, Eren started to laugh, ‘You can try all you want loser, I’m sure Miss Lucy will be over the moon once she hears me play’. You could feel Eren’s shoulder brushing yours, pushing you. You closed your eyes, trying your best not to throw your backpack against his head. 

‘So, who wants to try?’, Miss Lucy smiled while letting her gaze wander over her students, ‘I do! I do!’, you quickly raised your hand, hoping you got to go first, ‘Okay, go on Y/N, show us what you got’, Miss Lucy opened her arm towards the piano. ‘Yeah’, Eren smirked next to you, ‘Show us what you got loser’, ‘Shut up Eren’, you gritted through your teeth while grabbing your music sheets from your backpack. 

You felt nervous while walking to the piano. Not because you were afraid you were going to mess up but for some reason, you wanted to impress Eren. You wanted him to be jealous of your skills, no, you wanted him to admire you. 

You didn’t understand back then, you didn’t understand it because you were only 11, but now you know why you felt like that. 

‘I’ll show him’, you thought to yourself while sitting down on the piano chair. 

‘Good luck Y/N’, Miss Lucy sat down on her chair behind you. You took a deep breath while closing your eyes for a second, ‘Come on Y/N, you can do this’, you whispered to yourself before gently placing your hands on the keys of the piano. 

You started playing. You could feel every emotion of the song, it felt as if you were breathing it, as if you were the one who wrote it.

‘Amazing!’, you could hear Miss Lucy clapping from behind you, but you didn’t look at her, no, you let your gaze wander towards Eren. You could see him sitting with his eyes wide open, mouth slightly parted. When he noticed you were staring at him, he quickly folded his arms, looking towards the ground with frowned eyebrows. You couldn’t help but smirk, you knew he didn’t expect you to play this good. ‘So, do you want to try too Eren? After all, you two are at the top of the class’, Lucy smiled at him. 

You stood up from the piano chair, walking towards your seat. 

‘Good luck ‘Ren’, you whispered to him with a smug face, ‘Shut up loser’. 

‘Huh?’, you frowned your brows, looking confused at the brunette. For some reason, he made more mistakes than he’d ever done. Didn’t he practice? No, you knew him. You knew he’d been practicing, after all, he wanted nothing more than to outdo you. 

‘Okay everyone, that’s it for today’, Miss Lucy handed everyone new music sheets, ‘Practice this for next time. Oh, and I think it’s clear Y/N will get the solo’, she kindly smiled at you, ‘You’ve done a great job Y/N!’. 

Normally you would’ve jumped with joy, but not this time. You knew Eren had made those mistakes on purpose, you knew if he gave it his all he would’ve got the solo. Eren just had that ‘something’ when he sat behind the piano. It seemed as if he became fused with the instrument, as if he became one with it. Eren had that raw talent, the kind of talent you were just born with. You could practice all you want, but you would never be that talented.

‘Eren’, you quickly ran after him, grabbing his shoulder before he walked out of the door, ‘What loser?’, Eren rolled his eyes. ‘Why did you make those mistakes on purpose?’, you looked at his feet, not wanting him to mistake your words for gratitude. ‘I-i… I did not! W-why would you-‘, ‘Huh?’, you tilted your head. Eren normally never stuttered, and he certainly never blushed when you talked to him. ‘I didn’t make those on purpose!’, Eren smacked your hand from his shoulder, ‘Leave me alone loser’. You could see Eren quickly running towards his mom’s car, leaving you standing there. You never felt so confused in your entire life. 

 --- 

Years passed, and you were now almost 17. Over the years, nothing changed, not really anyway. Eren was still the same cocky boy who teased and made fun of you. The rivalry between you two was as strong as ever; but over the years, you grew to like him. Even though he teased you, even though he made your life difficult at times … You liked him. When he sat down behind the piano and the persona he created fell apart, when he let the music speak, when he became one with that piano… He intrigued you. Sure, Eren was handsome, but that’s not why you developed feelings for him. You fell in love because you knew that underneath his tough and mean exterior, there was more to him. There was this talented, complicated, kind boy. You knew that because (even if it only happened 1 or 2 times) he showed it to you. He showed you that he could be kind and caring.

‘Hey loser’, ‘What Eren’, you sighed while closing your locker, ‘Nothing, I was just wondering if you’d sign up for the Talent Show’. ‘Why would I? I’m sure you’re going to steal the show again, like you always do’, you rolled your eyes. ‘W-wait’, Eren widened his eyes, ‘Aren’t you going to sign up?’, you shook your head in response, looking up into his green eyes. You could see Eren was confused, ‘What’s wrong pretty boy? I thought you would like –‘, ‘It isn’t fun when I don’t get to compete with you’, Eren narrowed his eyes, looking away from you. ‘Well, Amy’s participating, she plays the violin pretty well. There’s your competition’, you gently pushed him away, walking towards your class. ‘W-wait’, you could feel his hand on your wrist. You immediately froze when you felt his fingers resting on your skin, causing goosebumps to appear on your entire arm. ‘You need to participate Y/N, otherwise, it isn’t fun’, you could see the brunette blushing while scratching the back of his neck. You couldn’t help but smile, ‘Fine, but don’t cry when I steal your thunder pretty boy’, you smirked at him before walking towards your class, ‘Don’t worry, you’re only a loser Y/N, always have been, and you always will be one’, Eren smirked from behind you. ‘Fuck you Ren’, you sighed without looking back at him, holding your middle finger up in the air. 

--- 

Another year passed, and you were now studying for your finals. You and Eren both applied for the same college. It’s not like you planned it, but you wanted to major in classical music, and when you heard Eren wanted the same thing, well… You kind of asked him where he wanted to go and based your decision on his. 

‘H-huh?’, you widened your eyes when you could see a note sticking on your locker: 

‘Good luck Y/N, even though I hate you, I don’t want you to fail – Ren’.

‘This can’t be from him’, you carefully took the note from your locker, inspecting every inch of it. ‘What?’, you could hear his voice coming from behind you, ‘It’s mine’, he chuckled while holding his hand behind his back. ‘Really?’, you raised an eyebrow, ‘I’m a loser, failing is what I do’, you shrugged your shoulders. ‘Shut up loser’, Eren was gently massaging the back of his neck, looking at his feet, ‘H-here’, he took his hand from behind his back ‘H-huh? A-are those for me?’, you pointed towards the flowers he was holding. ‘Of course dumbass’, Eren pushed the flowers on your chest, waiting for you to hold them, ‘Even though I hate you, I still want you to go to the same college as me… And not because I like you! Like I said… You’re a loser b-but.. Well, you’re my only competition so… Good look with your finals’, Eren gritted through his teeth. You could see that his cheeks were burning red. To be honest, you didn’t know what to say or what to do, you felt confused. ‘What? Do you want them or not?’, Eren widened his eyes, still pressing the flowers on your chest, ‘O-of course’, you quickly shook yourself out of the trance you were in, grabbing the flowers from the brunette, ‘T-thanks Ren’, you whispered while looking at the ground. ‘Don’t thank me, I’m only doing this for myself. I need you to pass, otherwise, I won’t have a reason to give everything I got’, ‘Yeah yeah, don’t ruin it Ren’, you smiled before walking away from him. You didn’t want him to see the smile on your face, to see how happy he made you. 

--- 

‘I don’t know Armin’, Eren sighed to the blonde whom he shared his dorm with, ‘I’m sure I’ve ruined every chance I got with Y/N’. Eren was laying down on his bed, looking at the ceiling. ‘Don’t say that’, the blonde boy responded, ‘She probably feels the same, I’ve seen the way she looks at you’. ‘No, I’ve always teased her, taking things away from her. I’ve been calling her a loser and dumbass my entire life… She hates me’, Eren placed both of his hand on his face, hating the way he acted towards you, ‘You should see her behind that piano Armin… She’s so fucking beautiful, so smart, so kind… I don’t know why I’ve always treated her like that’. ‘You know her better than anyone, right?’, Armin sat up straight, worried about his depressed roommate, ‘Probably’, Eren turned his head while looking through his fingers at the blonde. ‘Why don’t you write a composition of all of her favorite songs? You can play it for her when you’re done, or you can record it and give it to he-‘, ‘No, are you crazy? I would look like a fool!’, Eren sat up straight, frowning at his roommate. ‘Eren, believe me’, Armin smiled at Eren, ‘Girls really like things like that’, ‘Whatever Armin’, Eren stood up, ‘I’m getting coffee, want anything?’. 

At first, Eren hated Armin’s idea, but the longer he thought about it, the more sense it made. I mean, it would show you how much he cared about you, how much attention he paid to the things you said, or even didn’t say. It would show you how much you meant to him. So for the next month or so, Eren worked on a piece for you, but somehow it felt like he couldn’t play the piano anymore. Nothing was good enough for you. The piece had to be perfect, he didn’t want to miss a single beat, a single note, he needed it to be perfect, like you. 

--- 

‘Hey loser’, you could feel Eren’s hand on your shoulder, ‘Want to hang out after Music History?’, ‘No’, you said coldly, ‘W-why not?’, Eren tilted his head. ‘Because I’m going on a date’, you looked at him with a sparkle in your eyes. 

Eren could feel his heart aching, his stomach turning. 

‘A-a date?’, Eren chuckled, ‘You? I wonder who would want to go out with a loser like you’, ‘Eren really? We’re almost 20 years old… How long are you going to bully me’, you sighed while lowering your eyes, ‘I know we’ve been doing this since we were kids but… You’re the only one who really knows me… Please just… Just leave me alone if you can’t say anything nice’, you turned your back towards him, not waiting for a response. 

You were tired of his bullying, you were tired of being insecure, of loving someone who didn’t love you back. 

‘Hey Y/N!’, Eren could see a boy calling out your name, ‘Ready for our date tonight?’. ‘N-no way’, Eren widened his eyes, balling his fists, ‘What the hell is Jean doing with her? Out of all the boys, she picks that jerk, the one who sleeps with every girl on campus’. ‘Of course, Jean, can’t wait’, Eren could see you smiling at him, wanting nothing more than for you to look at him as you did at Jean. 

---

‘No, I’m not going to play it for her now’, Eren sighed to Armin, ‘She’s happy with fucking Jean’, ‘Maybe if you-‘, ‘No Armin, shit’, Eren grunted out, ‘I’m never going to play it for her, it’s obvious she doesn’t like me. She told me to keep away from her if I…’, Eren paused, he could hear his voice breaking. ‘I’m going for a walk’, Eren sighed while walking out of the room he and Armin shared. ‘Eren wait –‘, but Eren already slammed the door behind him. 

--- 

A couple of months passed, and you and Jean were dating. Honestly, it felt like it was going great. You were happy with Jean. 

‘Y/N, have you heard?’, you could hear Sasha running towards you, ‘What?’, you smiled at your friend. ‘Well…’, she was nervously scratching her shoulder, ‘J-jean… H-he.. Here, look’, Sasha held out her phone, ‘I thought you should know...’. 

It felt as if your heart was shattered into a million pieces. Sasha was showing you a video of your boyfriend, he was kissing some girl at a party, and his hands were moving across her body, feeling every inch of it. 

‘Y/N?’, Sasha whispered to you, noticing the tears in your eyes, ‘I-I’m so sorry… I just… I didn’t want you to hear it from anyone else.. You know, since I’m your best friend. I thought-‘, ‘No it’s fine Sasha’, you forced a smile on your face, ‘I have class, I’ll see you tonight, okay?’, you blurted out, trying to hold back your tears. ‘Y/N, wait!’, you could hear her calling out for you, but you didn’t turn around, you wanted to be left alone. 

You almost ran towards your room, hoping your roommate wouldn’t be there. You really needed to be alone right now. 

‘Y/N?’, you could hear Eren’s voice while opening your door, ‘What’s wrong? I can see you’re going to cry’. ‘N-nothing’s wrong’, you tried to keep your hands steady, wanting nothing more than to open the door of your room, but for some reason, you couldn’t find the right key. ‘Shit’, you grunted when you dropped the keys, quickly picking them up. ‘Here’, you could hear Eren’s soft voice, 

You noticed he wanted to pick up the keys at the same time as you did, causing you to bump your head against his.  

 ‘S-shit I’m sorry’, you grunted out while placing your hand against your forehead, ‘N-no I’m sorry’, Eren quickly helped you up, ‘Y/N what’s wrong? I can see something’s wrong’, his green eyes were looking worried into yours. ‘I-it’s nothing, I just saw a video of Jean kissing another girl’, you pressed your lips together, trying to ignore the singing sensation in your eyes. 

‘Stay calm Eren, don’t say or do anything stupid, even though you want nothing more than to punch Jean. Try to stay calm’, Eren thought to himself, trying to ignore the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins. 

‘Jean’s a low-life Y/N, don’t worry about a guy like him’, Eren replied coldly. ‘Really Eren?’, you sighed with tears in your eyes, ‘That’s all you got to say?’, ‘What do you want me to say Y/N? You’re the one who dated someone like him! You’re the one who decided to date the guy who’s fucked every girl on campus’. 

You widened your eyes, trying to grasp what Eren just said. 

‘So it’s my fault? That’s what you’re saying, right?’, ‘Well, it’s not my fault’, Eren replied, his voice was shaking. ‘I can’t believe I expected you to be nice for once’, you chuckled while shaking your head towards the ground, ‘You know what Eren? Fuck you, I don’t want to see you again. You’re nothing to me’, you could feel your hands shaking. ‘Y/N-‘, Eren widened his eyes, hating himself for not having any control over his emotions. ‘No, I’m serious Eren, stay away from me. You’ve never said anything nice to me, not once. I’ve known you for almost 10 years!’, you pushed him before quickly opening the door to your dorm, ‘Next time you see me, don’t bother to say anything to me. I don’t want to hear your ‘Hey Loser’ or I swear to God’, you looked at your shaking hands, closing your eyes before entering your dorm, hoping he got the message. 

--- 

You couldn’t sleep that night, so you decided to go to the music room. You knew it would be empty now, and you could really use some distraction. After all, playing the piano was always a coping mechanism for you. You could let out all of your emotions, all of your anger, sadness, frustration… 

‘W-wait’, you smiled when you heard someone playing Nuvole Bianche from Ludovico Einaudi, your favorite musician, ‘W-who’s playing the piano right now? It’s 4 in the morning’, you frowned while walking towards the classroom. 

‘W-what? That’s Moonlight Sonata from Beethoven’, you stopped walking, wondering which song would play after the next transition. 

Whoever was playing didn’t just play the original versions of the songs, no, they made it their own. You couldn’t help but notice it would be how Eren would play them. They were edgier, less ‘fragile’. Eren always did that to songs. 

‘No way’, you smiled when you heard your favorite song after the Moonlight Sonate, ‘T-that’s Gymnopédie No.1’, you started running towards the room. You needed to know who was playing. 

‘N-no’, you whispered to yourself when you could see the familiar face behind the piano. You were right, it was Eren. But why was he playing all of your favorite songs? It’s not like he knew that they were your favorite, right? You never told him anything like that… You decided to wait for him to stop playing, you wanted to hear more. Your heart was racing at the sight of him. He looked so perfect, so sweet, so kind… The way he touched the keys of the piano during Gymnopédie… As if he was grazing the keys, as if he was caressing them. It hypnotized you. 

‘Shit’, you whispered when you dropped your phone to the ground.  You quickly stood up from one of the chairs, embarrassed when you could see him looking at you. He must think you were some kind of stalker, fearing he was even going to bully you even more. ‘Y-Y/N?’, Eren quickly stood up from the piano, ‘P-please don’t stop’, you whispered, 'I-it was beautiful'. 'W-why are you here?', his voice sounded different from usual, maybe because he was tired. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt, but y-you were playing my favorite songs’, you looked at the ground, ‘I’m sorry Ren, goodnight’, you walked towards the door. ‘I knew they were your favorites’, Eren’s voice was now shaking, ‘T-that’s why I played them’. ‘H-huh?’, you looked over your shoulder at him, you could see his eyes were hanging low, letting them wander across the keys. ‘I knew they were your favorites because… because I know you’, Eren walked towards you while scratching the back of his head. ‘I know you know me’, you whispered while turning back around, ‘But I never told you they were my favorites’. ‘N-no but… You always carried a copy of them with you… and I noticed you were always practicing them, trying to make them your own’, Eren softly grabbed your wrist, ‘I know that you struggle with the sharp notes in Gymnopédie, just like I know you struggle with the flats in the songs of Debussy’. ‘W-wait’, you turned around at him, trying to keep your voice steady, ‘H-how do you know?’. ‘I watch you play… At night, when you can’t sleep’, you could see he felt embarrassed. 

Unable to speak, you just looked at him, wondering why he would do something like that. 

‘I know it sounds wrong, but I can’t keep my eyes off you Y/N… I like you, I’ve always liked you. The only reason I called you names and teased you was because I like you and I…’, you could see him doubting for a second, ‘I love you Y/N, ever since we were kids. I don’t know why I acted the way I did, probably because I wanted to keep you close without you noticing that I liked you, but-‘. 

You didn’t let him finish. He told you all you needed to know. Eren cared about you, just like you cared about him. You swung your arms around him, pressing your lips against his. 

‘I told you… You’re the loser’, you whispered in between kisses, ‘W-what?’, Eren looked confused at you. ‘You confessed first’, you smirked at him, ‘So you’re the loser’. ‘I can’t believe you’re making a competition out of this’, Eren chuckled while pulling you closer again, ‘Fine, you win. I don’t mind if that means you’re mine’. 

[richarlisonny]

MISS GORGGG!!! HII HIII HIIIIII!!!!! You remind me of cherries!!! And milk shakes... And succulents and banana bread and like those plates of italian biscuits.... And of rose quartz and opal!!!!! Oooo and of villages at night that are under a bunch of fog and you drive through them?? Oh and of the alps!!!! If you could have an endless supply of any drink, which one would it be?? Hope ur weekend is going well!!!! Mwah ly!!

HI SHAM MY MOST BELOVED!!!!!! this is so so sweet PLEASE 💖💖💖💖

i actually have a GIANT rose quartz heart that i got myself for my birthday during the covid lockdown and i'm wearing another piece of it on a necklace rn so i'm so so happy that i remind u of it!!!! the love stone and i am sending some of that love to U!!!! (here is the big one w my dissertation research books lmao)

i think if i could have an endless supply of any drink it would 100% be coke zero bc it tastes SO much better than diet coke but it also will not rot my teeth bc there's no sugar in it lmao. i love carbonation....... even tho it bloats me so bad sometimes there is nothing like it.

i'm having a very chill weekend bc i've been working my ass off recently on my dissertation but i'm NEARLY DONE this is the final push and my due date is july 1st........ i have about 4500~ words left to write and some corrections. i'm gonna go get some coffee and a huge vegan pastry and get back to the grind today. how has your weekend been???? i saw you went to an art gallery recently!!! it's been so long since i've been at one but i love them soooo much. 💖💖💖💖

[palimpsessed]

So @captain-aralias​ did one of these and invited other writers to do the same. And I wasn't really going to because it feels a bit late now and also I've done quite a few other year in review posts for 2020. But then I got to thinking that it would be really nice to have one of these for each year to look back on and compare, which convinced me. So, here we go!

If you’re a writer, I’d also encourage you to steal this. Tag me on your post so I can see your thoughts! 🥰

List of Complete Fics for 2020 1. At the Top of a Tower, With You- General, 900 words 2. Use Your Words- Teen, 16k 3. A Man of Letters, or Five Times Baz Retreats and the One Time He Doesn’t- Teen, 54k 4. To the Manor Borne- Teen, 43k

Total: 4 fics, 113k words

Every one of these fics was written for an event, which, realistically, is the only reason they got finished. I have so many ideas I'm working on all at once, and I came into fandom with a focus on making art, so to actually find the motivation to sit down and write/finish/post a fic was entirely deadline based. And it's a technique I'm sure I will also employ in 2021.

Best/Worst Title?

Well, I've mentioned a few times before that I usually have a title before I have much in the way of a fic concept. I don't really dislike any of the my titles, because they all did exactly what I needed them to do, which was help me focus on what I wanted to accomplish in the fic. Comparatively speaking, though, I can answer this.

Best: Use Your Words - succinct, idiomatic, a book quote/motif that also has the potential to be a spell, does what it says on the tin, is probably what all of us are constantly yelling at Baz and Simon to do throughout the books and the fic itself

(Honorable mention to A Man of Letters because that title forms a perfect heart shape when viewed on mobile on AO3. ❤️)

Worst: At the Top of a Tower, With You - this is also a quote and it fits the fic perfectly, but it is a bit of a mouthful and it has a comma in the middle of it, which, while I love commas, feels a bit off-putting in terms of a title - also, it's always kind of bothered me that it's a Baz WS quote used for a CO-era Lucy POV

Best/worst summary?

Again, I don't really dislike any of my summaries.

Best:

To the Manor Borne: The gang decides to spend Christmas together at Pitch Manor. Romance, hijinks, and holiday cheer ensue.

Anything that lets me use the word hijinks is always good! - it's short and sweet - it does a fair job of setting up the premise for the fic and giving highlights, without giving anything away

Worst: A Man of Letters

I'm not going to include this one because it's so long, I had to cut down the version I posted on tumblr to fit in the AO3 field, which is really why I rank it below my others - it effectively sets up the world of Simon and Baz in Regency England prior to where the story starts, but it is prohibitively long - and it's set up, not summary, so it also loses points for not doing what it purports to do - I could have said exactly what this fic was in one sentence: "Simon and Baz meet at several Regency-appropriate venues over the course of a London season and reflect on their acquaintance in letters", but instead I did the full book jacket version because it was more interesting to me.

Best/Worst First Line?

Oh, this is interesting. I can honestly say that I have no idea where this will go. Going to pull up my docs and find out! Okay, since I only have four fics to consider, and I'm feeling split, I'm going to do two for each. I feel good about my words, but I will say that half of my first lines actually provide information, and the other half are incomplete thoughts. Those were stylistic decisions I made, but when taken alone, it does somewhat limit the effectivness of a sentence when it can't stand without the rest of the paragraph. Perhaps that decision will lure readers in for more?

Best:

In the end, we wind up at Pitch Manor. (To the Manor Borne)

I know that you won't be surprised when I tell you that I do not like writing letters. (A Man of Letters)

Kind of interesting that these both contain key words from the titles 🤔

Worst:

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this. (Use Your Words)

I love how the title seems to be answering Baz's question when the two are put together like this 😂

Strange that it should end here, where it all started. (At the Top of a Tower, With You)

The title also seems to complete the first line in this one, too. I'm learning about my writing as this goes on, so that's cool!

Best/Worst Last Line?

Hmm. Okay, again, no idea. Also, a little leery of including last lines for anyone who hasn't read the fics they're from yet. (Tho I guess it's unlikely those people would be reading this😆) But let's see what we've got.

Use Your Words and A Man of Letters have very similar final lines, and both are somewhat spoilery.

Best: The ending of A Man of Letters felt risky to me, in the way that it is formatted and changes tone from the rest of the story. It was something that happened as I wrote it and I loved it. I had no idea if readers would like it, if they would feel like it worked as an ending, but I felt strongly enough about it to let the entire fic hinge on that and I think it really paid off. So, without giving you the actual last line, which is only one word, I'm going to say that one is my best ending.

Worst:

To the Manor Borne: "Carry on, Simon."

It's not bad, it's just not mine.

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I did not set out to write any fics in 2020. I was supposed to be taking a break from writing. I've been an aspiring novelist for half my life now, and have been going through major ups and downs with my writing. I decided I needed to re-evaluate and figure out if writing was something that was even going to be able to make me happy anymore. The answer is: YES! Just…not original fiction. At the moment. I'm happiest when I can write for the sake of writing and not have to DO something with that writing. Which is why discovering fan fiction was AMAZING!!!! 🥰🥰🥰

To actually answer the question, yes, I wrote more than I thought I would. I also wrote exactly as much as I thought I would, simply because these were all things I signed up for (with the exception of my Countdown fic, but I committed to it as if it were something that required a sign up).

I have a lot more ideas for 2021, but I don't know how many of them will come to fruition. I'm not putting pressure on myself to have to do anything beyond what I sign up for again, because it did work out so well for me starting off.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I mean, the pairing and the fandom were in no way a surprise. 😆 They're my only ones, so those were both a given. The genre is also not surprising.

What's your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest?

A Man of Letters, without any hesitation. I adore it so much. It's the kind of fic I know I will unabashedly sit down to read over and over, even if I'm the one who wrote it. I had one reader to please and it was ME. By far, my most self-indulgent fic.

Okay, NOW your most popular story?

That depends on the metric.

To the Manor Borne leads in Comments (107), Kudos (153), and Hits (1992), and Use Your Words leads in Bookmarks (26).

But since To the Manor Borne is top in 3 out of 4 metrics, I'll say that one.

Story most upderappreciated by the universe?

I mean, the least popular by a wide margin is At the Top of a Tower, With You, but I don't know if I'd call it underappreciated. It's short, it's angsty, it's got a very unusual style, it's Lucy POV, it's the first fic I wrote and posted. I didn't really go into it with high performance expectations. I'm proud of it, I just didn't expect it to be popular. It would be nice if more people read it, but I'm not broken up over it.

Story that could have been better?

I'm not even going to touch this one. Everything can always be improved upon, but if I go down that route, nothing will ever be done. This is one of the things I have come to appreciate about traditional art versus digital. With traditional, there is only so much you can do before something is permanent and you have to live with it. It's an exercise in letting go and acceptance. Digital is flashier and more flexible, but I could (and have) spend months on a single piece and never feel satisfied, never stop tweaking. I think that's also the reason I started to hate my novels.

Sexiest story?

Based purely on overall vibes, I find the understated tension of the Regency the most appealing, so I'm going to say A Man of Letters. I didn't actually stray into sex territory in any of my fics (though Simon and Baz have had sex by the time To the Manor Borne starts, and refer to it, and probably do it "offscreen"), but A Man of Letters is the one that feels sexiest to me. Lots of thirsting!Baz and feral!Simon and sensual hand touching (how risqué!) - and YEARNING. That, to me, is the sexiest vibe of all. So. Much. Yearning.

Saddest story?

At the Top of a Tower, With You - for this one, I tagged "angst without plot" and I stand by that. It's Lucy losing her connection to Simon at the end of CO and trying to find a way to reconcile herself to leaving him alone again. I gave it as much of a hopeful bent as I could, with the refrain of Baz's spoken "love" to cling to, but it's very sad.

Most fun?

To the Manor Borne - All of my fics have their fair share of angst, but this one also has some good, silly, holiday fluff thrown in. Since I wrote it for the Countdown, each chapter was based on a different prompt, which led to this one going in all sorts of directions no single fic probably ever should. Plus, it has the most Shepard, and Shepard always makes things more fun.

Story with the single sweetest moment?

Oh my god. I don't know. No, never mind. I do. It's To the Manor Borne, but it's split between the two gift giving scenes, the Constellations and Secret Santa/Gift Giving prompts. These were private moments between Simon and Baz, sharing themselves with each other, being vulnerable, and communicating. It's the gifts they give each other, yes, but it's more so the reasons they chose those gifts, and how they show part of themselves and share their love for each other, through those gifts, that had me in tears writing those two scenes. I'm super proud of them.

Hardest story to write?

Use Your Words - it was written for an exchange and that made it really hard to write it knowing there was this pressure of making my gift-ee happy with the fic. I'm proud of it, and they really liked it, but the anxiety was too much for me.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

A Man of Letters - if there is a fic better suited to me as a writer, I haven't met it. I started writing after reading Pride and Prejudice in high school, so I started out writing Regency and I spent years and years and years of my life obsessed. When I transferred into college, an administrator I had never met before heard my name during orientation and said, "Oh, you're the Austen scholar." (It is a small, private college, and I was a transfer, so the pool of students was even smaller. But still. Many years later, I'm clearly not over it.) I also did my senior thesis on an epistolary novel (Frances Burney’s Evelina), and my English Lit emphasis was for that time period. So, I felt like I had been preparing for this fic my entire adult life. 😂

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

I don't think so. I tend to let my writing be dictated by the characters, so I'm always following their lead. Sometimes they'll do or say something that surprises me and takes me down a route I didn't necessarily foresee, but I don't think there was ever a point where one of them did something that made me rethink who they are as a character.

Most overdue story?

I will say A Man of Letters, since that one felt like a culmination of my seventeen-year-old self's wildest writing dreams. But I should probably say the Scooby Doo AU I still haven't managed to finish, because that one has been a WIP since I joined the fandom. Oops. (I'm hoping when I look over this in a year, I can feel smug that it's finally done.)

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Writing at all was a risk for me! And writing fan fic for the very first time! Writing an entire fic told only through letters. And then ending it in a completely different style from the rest of the fic. Doing a multi-chaptered fic for the Countdown, using a different prompt for each chapter, and publishing a chapter every single day for thirty days (with the exception of two days that had art). Signing up for fandom events in the first place!

What I learned from taking risks in my writing is the same thing I learned when I took risks in my art this year. I have a much better appreciation for what I've done when I push myself, I feel better about the end product, and I like it longer. I think it's really good for me to challenge myself creatively.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most?

Oh boy. Um. Therapy! Both Use Your Words and To the Manor Borne had their big HEA moments built around sending Simon and Baz to therapy. I don't think that's likely to change for future fics, either. I feel like therapy as the theme for 2020 seems very fitting. (Also, I think I keep sending the boys to therapy because I'm trying to get myself there…)

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Just to write what I want to write, have fun, not put any pressure on myself, and to take risks in my writing and my art because it will help me to grow.

[bookwyrminspiration]

wait is it quil appreciation hours? ok ok wait

you're such a cool person to have on this platform, and you're so nice and not at all scary, and your writing is just so wonderful, in your character analysises and in your fic

seriously- you answer asks in such a nice way and you're really cool about it, even when people send like literal essays into your inbox, and you write like full paragraphs of things whenever people send you art, which is insane and wonderful and i can't believe it /pos

being a newer member in this fandom can be a little bit scary at times because there are so many really big blogs and a lot of them have been around for a while so that's kind of intimidating, but your blog is really nice and welcoming and really cool!

and your analyisises are super well written and thought out, even when people send you like random headcanons or jokes or whatever, they're all super interesting to read through

and the wings au! i have no words to express how much i love the wings au- it's a full kotlc book but with better characters and WINGS and so many interesting little tidbits, it's wonderful

anyways i'm bad at english and adjectives but i love your blog so much

i--quil appreciation hours. you've named it now. apparently it is?? so many people have sent so many nice asks over the past few days and I'm just sitting here like :0 (i mean this in a fun way! i'm just flummoxed as to how I keep getting so many compliments!)

I have a lot of fun being on this platform, so I'm glad you like having me here! i hope to continue being nice for the rest of time--your compliment means so much to me. you're all equally as kind and interesting to be around and interact with, so it's delightful to know its reciprocated!

and you're complimenting my writing! ah!! thank you! literature and writing is a big part of my life and how I express myself sometimes, so it's very rewarding (and sometimes nerve-wracking) to be able to share it with all of you and just vibe together. just so many thoughts in my brain all the time and I can make them make the most sense when I type them out and oftentimes it feels like I haven't fully explained myself--especially when it comes to the character analysis--and yet you all are so supportive and encouraging anyways. it's just really cool to be part of this whole community <33

I try to be nice when I answer asks and just generally be encouraging of other people's ideas!! and I try to reciprocate and give everyone the time they deserve, because I want to explore all the avenues of their idea! I probably average between 15-30 minutes on each ask, but it really just depends on how distracted I get in the process and whether or not I need to reference a book or anything (fun fact! there are currently three keeper books just laying in my bed). and people sending literal essays just means there's more to talk about! and they've given me a lot of different perspectives to approach their thoughts from! I can't help but laugh a little about your comment on my paragraphs of art comments when i literally just did that before answering this one. but yes!! I know just how much long, in depth comments on art (including writing/edits/gifs/other medias) can mean to an artist, so i try to spread that and make sure when I'm complimenting someone, I'm genuinely complimenting the specifics of what they've done. i can be general and just say it looks cool or I like it (which is also fine! there's not one right way to comment and all comments are appreciated!), but I just prefer to let them know that I noticed some of the details and I understand the time that was put into their work. people's creations are so cool and I want to encourage them to keep creating as long as it makes them happy <33

I honestly don't remember my new tumblr days, but I do know that in the kotlc fandom it can feel like there are these big, established blogs and everyone just flocks to them and there's all these relations and connections going on that you just feel like you're missing out on. things like casually using other's names and referencing other things can make you feel really out of the loop--I've been here for years and it still happens to me! so I love that my blog feels welcoming. I try to be! don't fully know what I'm doing but i'm trying! it often involves a lot of exclamation marks. i should probably tone it back on those, it's getting excessive

oof you've just reminded me that I need to update my masterpost on character analyses--but thank you! I have a lot of fun writing them and just thinking them all through and they're one of the first things that really stood out as a specifically me thing in the fandom, so it's always exciting to hear people enjoy them as much as I do. (this isn't to say I invented character analysis or that I'm the only one whose ever done them, I just have no memory of anyone else really focusing in on that aspect within the fandom until I did it, but I could be wrong about that!) all the random headcanons i get give me the opportunity to apply a lot of what i've analyzed in these characters already, taking it from pulling them apart to trying to put together the pieces in a way that's consistent with how I understand them, so i love to go more in-depth on those. and they give me more of a chance to ask questions back to you all!!

and then the wings au! I say it all the time but I genuinely surprises me a lot when people just mention they've read it and i just go :0! my wings au?! my writing? that's the one you like?? and you're right! it does actually qualify as novel length, so it could be another book! except I just wanted to add wings and more drama and monsters, and I wanted to ignore the romantic drama for a while. there's so many elements of the characters that I feel get pushed to the side in favor of exploring the romance in canon, which just isn't personally for me. i really just went "i can fix them" and rewrote them just slightly to the left. but I think it's a lot of fun! and i'm very glad you're enjoying it, because there's still a lot to get through! it's not ending anytime soon! luckily for me tho, we've still got another year before the next book is released and completely changes how I could need to structure my worldbuilding. i'll probably finish it before then...no promises tho!

i'm thrilled you like my blog!! I have so many posts and just so many things I love to talk about so I'm ecstatic you'd want to listen! I'm just as verbose irl as I am online--my partner can attest to that. nearly every time we see each other I just talk at them for hours! english and adjectives can be very complicated, even with experience, but I love you so much (/p) and am very glad you're here!!

[tartagliaxx]

hii lei! hows it going? yesterday i took your advice and just went to sleep so i could work better today and you were right! i ended up being more productive and could stay up longer also i know its hypocritical of me but make sure you also get some sleep ^^

also i played eula's story quest and i wasn't expecting her to be so expressive?!? I won't say much incase you haven't played it yet but there were scenes where she was smiling and laughing i thought she would be like diluc and just keep the same face i wasn't expecting to see kaeya and he wasn't but still i'm down bad enough to hope for it i heard he appeared in lantern rite and i've never been the same a thought thats been feeding me is his relationship with amber i feel like they could have a nice sibling dynamic especially because both have family issues that they could help each other work towards and man i just want them to be happy i'm not even the biggest amber fan but this piece of art changed me-🍰

that’s very good! it’s very important to be well-rested bc no matter how hard you try to finish your work when you’re tired, the odds are you wouldn’t finish it or you will finish it but it’s not satisfactory. if so, then why bother? i sleep around 2am nowadays and wake up at like 9am which idk if thats good? i mean its a solid 7hrs which is longer than what i used to get when i had classes.

i havent done eula’s quest yet so i cant comment on that vv much. altho, it’s a relief to know they didnt just copy pasted diluc and made him a cryo female. given her lofty past, it’s nice that she’s still somehow optimistic and happy? its a good look on her. emphasizes her natural beauty <3

oh did you not get to play the lantern rite? given how almost everyone broke down in every kaeya cutscene, i think its safe to say that we’ll be seeing more of him in the future so dw.

right haha.. kaeya and amber yes aha *starts sweating in genshin webtoon* in a happy universe where all is well, i deffo see kaeya being the mischievous older brother while amber’s the little sister who’s just tired of his shit and is repeatedly fixing the wreckage he leaves in his wake. that fanart tho,, vv cute 13/10

[deniigi]

I wasnt sure if you were open to answering general writing questions so thank you for the advice! I'm writing mostly for personal satisfaction so far, but I also really care about comments and stuff so I'm afraid that if I post the fic and it gets little to no attention it'll discourage me into abandoning it, which is something that's happened before. That's my main barrier so far.

 2/3 Also, the stories plot has changed a lot since I started, and I'm afraid that if I post it and then get an idea, i can't go back and change it like I would if it were still all a draft     

3/3 My school's closed for the corona virus outbreak so I'm trying to use all my newfound free time to get stuff done on the fic lol. (Sorry if I'm bothering you)     

Oh, you’re not bothering me, hon. Ask away! I might disappear for a bit to work on stuff, but I’m around in these UK hours lol

So just starting with the 2nd issue there first: almost every single one of my fics’ plots have changed as they’ve gone up. That’s actually a good thing.

Have you ever heard about artists who suddenly switch from drawing in pencil to drawing in pen?

I’m one of those folks. But after switching, I can’t imagine going back?

It’s a whole new world. It’s really frustrating at first because you can’t erase anything, so you literally have to live with your mistakes, but as time goes on, you get used to the imperfections and you kind of start to like and appreciate them.

So example: a really nasty commenter on Inimitable asked me why the fuck I had Peter and Ned spending all this time coding a bunch of bugs individually when they could have just made one code and uploaded it into all 5 bugs in no time.

And at the time I was like, ‘why the fuck can’t you suspend your disbelief? I’m not a computer science expert, Jesus. Calm down.’ And I was really worked up about that for ages, but in the end, I thought, ‘well, actually, no. I’m not a CS expert, and while I could go back and change that scene, it was actually really helpful for a number of other things in that story. So maybe it wasn’t accurate, but in terms of the story I was telling, it has its place now, so I will embrace that as a flaw of the piece and I will move forward knowing that the art is not perfect and I am allowed to be happy with it despite that.’

So maybe posting the piece and pushing through the urges to change it is actually a good thing for right now. Maybe holding yourself to one idea and holding yourself accountable by posting the piece would actually be a really helpful exercise for you to grow as a writer?

If it gives you hella anxiety, the good news is that you are absolutely allowed to say ‘fuck that’ and edit the hell out of it if it you’re obsessing over it and can’t sleep. But I am an advocate for the idea that being a little uncomfortable and out of your element is sometimes really good for people in terms of personal growth.

And now the first issue: yeah, it can be really tough when you don’t get the reception that you were hoping for--especially when a fic you worked really hard on and know is important for any number of reasons doesn’t get the reception it deserves (because lets be real, they do deserve them. I shall always be bitter that not as many people like/engage with my Sam Chung fics as the rest of the Inimitable series, but I tell myself that a lot of that comes from people not knowing who he is and people just not seeing themselves in his character (in addition to the latent racism that a great deal of us walk around with))

I don’t have a lot of advice for coping with that because it is still something I struggle with myself.  But I like to think that finishing the work for the sake of personal closure, despite everything working against me, is a useful and important process. (Lol see my entire academic career of people telling me not to do a PhD, tho. I am a creature who thrives and prospers off of spite and righteous fury).

So yeah, I get it, anon. But I think trying and not succeeding is much better than not having tried at all. And if you’re disappointed, that’s okay. Think about all the people who aren’t brave enough to do what you’re trying to.

You’ve at least taken a couple of steps away from that crowd.

[aestheoo]

I fucking adore your drawings. I'm just !!!!! wow like aaaahhhh they're so good??? Reminds me of those old master's sketches I used to stare at as a kid. If it's okay to ask did you study drawing or was it all self-taught? What's your drawing process? Any website or other social media links I could probably follow for your art? I'm sorry if the questions sound intrusive but I'm gone, I've fallen in love with your work. I want to know more x

yo, i went and checked out your stuff and youre like whole ass artist fam, and u out here sayin my sketches remind you of the masters eye 

like whaaaat

for real, i love all your stuff, its so expressive, and i love expressive art!! im just out here winging everything like ive done my entire life

the only art class ive ever taken was in middle school so… id say i was all self taught lmao. i dont even really remember those classes and my middle school was transphobic and biphobic bc they scheduled art as my first class of the day so i missed it all the time 😔

my drawing process is usually, yo i should draw sumn and… then i do. for my personal art, i dont know, most of the time i dont put a lot of thought into my drawings. i usually have an idea going in but once i start drawing i just let it go where ever it goes even if thats somewhere completely different than my original idea. i dont like to put a lot of concrete thought into, bc i like art to be interpretive. if my art speaks happiness to one person, and anguish to another, they are both correct in my eyes. sure i have an emotion myself drawing it, but i 100% believe in individual interpretation regardless that i am the artist. and because my belief in open interpretation, i dont try to peg down exactly what im feeling or going for, i just harness it in its celestial form and go with the flow. I also go into every drawing accepting that i may 'ruin' it. It keeps me from holding back if i go into it okay with losing it.

this works really well for my personal art, but it can make fanart more challenging. im not necessarily good at coming up with concepts for them, bc my personal art, that normally i spend more time doing, arent very concrete. probably why i do sketches much more often than finished pieces.

the actual physical drawing process…. i really am just out here winging it most of the time 😔✊. the most i do honestly is use a grid occasionally. which is a common technique for drawing realism. but when i do it, i dont really measure or do anything super precise, i just scribble one out to help me form a better vision of what ever form im drawing and give me some rough guidelines for proportions. i dont even add a grid to my references, i just sort of visualize it in my head to the best of my ability. I also twnd to prefer dark pencils. I use mechanical pencils all the time, but i also tend to draw a lot with at least a 3b pencil. Im a strong believer in contrast and not being afraid to go dark. I try to incorporate that into my art. but other than that… i cant honestly think of any other steps i do 😬

for real tho, bless you for liking my art 🙇‍♂️, bc i think you are a stupendous artist and it genuinely floors me when really good artists like anything ive created aaaa

you can also find me on instagram and twitter

my twitter is aestheo_ but really i only repost the same stuff i post on here onto there

my druck and andi mack fanart insta is also aestheo_, my instagram again is mostly just the same as on here, but usually i post it there first, also i post like process stuff in my stories sometimes, and maybe a sketch or two that i dont post on here, its like my dumping ground lol

my personal art instagram is bigth0tenergy even tho i havent posted any new art in like ages 😞

[katphantom69]

New Artist in town.

Ghost Writer was outraged. Who dared come to HIS library and vandalize its precious white walls. Vydalia played soft violin notes to try and calm GW down. She was fine. GW ignored her and grumbled looking at the left outside wall of his lair. The the once pristine white marble like wall was now painted black, with a touch of grey to lighten it up. There was a hint of color , a bit of purple he believed, in the form of the cover of a book. The art was not finished so GW really couldn't make out what it was supposed to be, nevertheless he was furious. He floated up and down inspecting the wall carefully. Who ever had done this was very talented indeed , for they left no mess or trace of their presence and the lines in their work were very sharp and clean , like those of an artist that has no doubt in their work. A very confident artist. GW scowled... Randy!

Randy Writer, GWs brother, was sitting on a stool in front of a large canvas humming softly to himself as he painted. He was recreating a wonderful forest scene he had photographed on a trip to Scotland. He was just about to add the last touch of lime green when suddenly the doors to his lair burst up loudly. Camile, his lair, let out a loud harsh strum of ukulele like noise sounding annoyed at having her doors treated so harshly. Randy put his brush down and jumped off his stool grumbling "What in the name of the ghost zone is going o- AHH!" he yelled surprised as he was punched in the face hard making him fall back into the ground. He rubbed his cheek and looked up confused and startled. GW looked down at him growling "HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH A VILE THING TO MY LAIR RANDY!! THIS TIME YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR!!!" he said ready to punch him once more. Randy huffed and got up blocking his brothers hit "What on earth are you talking about??!!! What the hell has gotten into you Andrew!? I've done nothing wrong to your lair!!" Randy said as he grabbed his brothers arms to avoid getting hit. GW hissed "Don't lie to me!!! Someone drew on one of Vidalias walls and the only artist with that level of quality art work I know in the ghost zone is you!!!" He said struggling to get out of his brothers grasp. Randy chuckled and shook his head "Altho I love being flattered, I must admit once more that I have NOTHING to do with this. I haven't left my lair in days since I'm working on a new piece " he said pointing to the canvas. "You know I don't like leaving artwork undone and will not stopped till I'm finished, I've been working on this for 5 days now so there is no way I could have done something to your lair, right Camile" he said looking up at his lair smiling. Camile let out a happy ukulele tune with a clash of cymbals agreeing. GW calmed down enough for RW to let him go. He fixed his glasses and mumbled "I um... apologise for my rudeness... and the um....the punch " he said sheepishly. Randy rolled his eyes "Whatever, what hurts more is that you believe some amateur vandalism could be the work of an artist as talented and perfect as moi" he said puffing his chest out proudly. GW huffs "Here's the thing tho... the art is GOOD , no not good its GREAT , who ever did it has no doubt in their work for there are no signs of pencil or previous sketch before the paint. Who ever did it has the confidence to just straight on paint without hesitation and has some of the most cleanest lines I've ever seen!" GW finished and soon noticed the twitching in his brothers left eye. Randy growled "What your saying is... there is someone out there... with better art... than ME???!!" he said eyes flashing from blue to dark red. "IMPOSSIBLE! I am the Ghost Artist for a reason. You warp reality with your words and I teleport people to a whole new reality with my paintings! There simply CAN NOT be anyone out there with art better than mine! I REFUSE to accept it!!!" He seethe. GW blinked surprised at his sudden out burst but smirked "...Do you wanna see it?" He taunted. The flash of red in Randys eyes was all the answer he needed.

Randy looked at the wall in awe and disbelief. His brother had been telling the truth and he was afraid to say it out loud. The art was good, no GREAT. Even he had to lay down a sketch before panting such a large thing but this artist, they had cut straight to the chase and just laid on the paint. Altho it wasn't just brush painting, in fact the only brush painting involved in this was the details to make them pop out. The rest was all spray painted very well giving the painting a messy but neat looking finish. GW smirked looking over at his brother "So what do you think of this "amateur" work of art" he teased crossing his arms. Randy huffed "Well its not mine that's for sure... I do not like spray painting, takes away the pleasure of being in control like one is with a brush, altho, this person seems to have mastered it well enough to do this... I must admit... I am impressed " he mumbled looking at the details "This person doesn't like using brushes, its all spray painted, except for the details, they used a very fine brush to really make them pop" he said as he looked at it more "But its not finished... which meansss..." he said looking over at his brother. GW nods huffing "Means they'll come back to finish the job" he said as he looked at the art work. "We must stay on the look out for them!" He concluded looking up at his brother. Randy groans in protest "We??!! What do you mean we its your lair!!" He said huffing. GW crosses his arms growling "Cuz I need your help to catch them duh!!!" He said flicking his brothers forehead "Besides" he smirked amused "Aren't you at least a little bit curious to find out who this new ... Ghost Artist.... might be?~" he teased watching as Randys face turned red in frustration. Randy scowled "The only ghost artist in the ghost zone is ME! YOU GOT THAT ?!" He said jabbing his brothers shoulder with his finger. "Let's just hide and wait till they come back." He huffed as he went inside the library. GW chuckles and follows. Both ghosts observe the wall from an upstairs window hidden behind the curtain.

It was almost night time when suddenly GW felt Randy jab his side. "Hey!" Randy whispered loudly "Don't fall asleep now look!" He said pulling him up twords the window. GW rubbed his eyes yawning a bit and grumbled looking out. He blinked and looked down at the wall. There, standing a bit apart from the wall looking at it studyingly, was a young boy. He looked to be around 13 or 14 years old. The brothers observed the boy study his painting for a bit before picking up a can of paint. GW huffed and looked at his brother "This is our cue" he whispered "You to the left and I'll take the right, we'll surround him and take him by surprise. " he said as he floated down and phased out on the right. Randy followed and soon both brothers quietly sneaked up on the boy. Distracted with the sound of the spray can, the boy didn't realize that the brothers were near till it was too late. GW hissed loudly and grabbed the kid by his hoodie lifting him up a bit. Randy swiftly took the can away so it couldn't be used as a weapon. GW snarled at the boy. "AND WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GHOST ZONE DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING BRAT!!?" he said angerly, his eyes glowing a radioactive toxic green . The boys own crimson red eyes grew wide in shock and his ears flattened in fear. He gulped looking away and squirming in GWs hold. Randy came over to help his brother hold him still. "Ahh ah ah! You better calm down ya rascal... don't want to get into more trouble now do you?" He warned threatenedly. The boy sighed and stopped squirming. Both brothers took him inside the library and plopped him down on a chair while they sat on a couch across from him. Now in the light both brothers could see the little rascal better. The boys skin was a dark blue color. Pointed ears flattened down on impressive flaming black hair held down in a pony tail. GW was worried about his books catching on fire now. The boys crimson red eyes looked scared and guilty. He was wearing a big red hoodie, a choker with a small flame pendant on it. He had black torn shorts and heeled black boots with spikes to match his spiked bracelets. GW could swear that he'd seen this kid some where before. Randy thought the kid looked like a delinquent. He huffed "Well? Aren't you going to say anything? Aren't you going to apologize to my brother for vandalizing his lair??!! " he said grumbling. GW chuckles "Let me do the complaining brother... its my lair after all" he said looking at the boy "First things first... whats your name brat?" He asked huffing. The boy looked at the ground and swishes his legs nervously not saying a word. He bit his bottom lip glancing up at the brothers for a bit before looking down again. GW sighed "Well? We don't have all night you know?!" He said getting impatient. Randy rolled his eyes "Let's just hand him over to Walker and let him do some prison time... that outta teach him!" He said still mad that this runt was just as good of artist as he was. GW thought a bit "That's not a bad idea... Walker wouldn't mind another prisoner " he said. The boys eyes went wide again and he shook his head whimpering. He looked up at them with a pleading look in his eyes but didn't say anything. GW huffs "Yeah getting scared now aren't you? Ill ask again... what is your name?" He said firmly. The boy tugged at his sweater a bit and then signed something with his hands. GW raised a brow "What?" He questioned. The boy signed again shyly. Randy blinks "Is that sign language?" He asked his brother. GW nods "It is... but I can't make out what hes saying " he said. The boy sighs and takes out a pencil from his hoodie pocket. He looked at the brothers and made writing motions with the pencil. Randy tilts his head "He's name is Pencil?" He asked. GW groaned and facepalmed "No you idiot, he needs something to write on" he said looking for some paper. Randy huffs and got some spare sheets of paper and handed them to the kid grumbling.