#Kettledrums //

[doublemegative]

kettledrum player with a huge crush call that a simpanist

[danskjavlarna]

Source details and larger version.

If you march to the beat of a different drummer, here's a collection of vintage drums and drummers.

[pagetreader]

@retrograderesemblance said: "i'm not saying anything." the corners of his mouth quirked upward, "only this is the first time i've seen an ensign sporting kettledrums. " from Mack to Rebekah

"I'd imagine it's the first time you've ever seen any kettledrums," she replied coolly.

[lillywhitefield]

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*New and Improved*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

✧･ﾟ: *✧Lilly Whitefield's Fanfiction Masterlist✧*:･ﾟ✧

Bridgerton

Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington

Doja Cat Modern Songfic Series

Penelope Needs to Know - Explicit, Size Kink, Love Confession, 7/7, 25.6k words

Why Don't You Say So, Colin? - Mature, Masturbation, 2/2, 7.5k words

They've Been Feelin' Freaky Deaky - Explicit, One-Shot, Mirror Sex, 9.1k words

Polin Week 2023

Love Island and a Little Magic - Mature, Modern, Love Confession, 2k words

Rent is Due - Explicit, Modern, Roommates With Benefits, 1.6k words

A Pen Pal Called Pen (or, The Missing Letters) - General Audiences, Regency, Epistolary, 2k words

Never Turned You Off - Explicit, Modern, Flirting Help, Wall Sex, 2.1k words

Olive Like No Other - Teen, Modern, Olive Puns in Greece, 1.5k words

A Visit From Sir Richard - Explicit, Regency, Dildos, 3k words

when you and I collide - Teen, Modern, Intimacy, 1.2k words

Polin Month 2023, Ed Sheeran Edition

learning to speak - General Audiences, Modern, Meet-Cute, Speech Disorder, 2k words

a million more first times - General Audiences, Regency, Developing Friendship, 2.2k words

I see my future in your eyes - Explicit, Regency, Kitchen Sex, 3.4k words

this love won't ever go away - Explicit, Modern, Disney World with Children, 9k words

you will still love me the same - Explicit, Regency, Older Couple, A/B/O, 3.7k words

Polin Week 2024

it's hard to know which one of us is caving - Mature, Regency, Forced Proximity, Arguments, 3k words

linger - Mature, Regency, Lessons, Masturbation, dancing and flirting in Colin's bedroom, 2.2k words

Mr. Brightside - Teen, Fake Dating, Jealous Colin, why does everyone like Debling???, 3.6k words

i wish i was special - Teen, Epistolary, Colin's letters, sad boi hours, 2.6k words

maybe i just wanna be yours - Explicit, Height Difference, Colin goes through Pen's window to propose, 3k words

only fools rush in - Explicit, Soulmate AU, Meet-Cute, Sex under the stars, 5k words

your skin and bones - Explicit, Hopes for Season 3, Mirror Sex, Wedding Night, 2.7k words

Complete Multi-Chapter

Make Me Juno - Teen, Regency, Pregnancy, Child Birth, Family Bonding, Post Season 3, 3/3, 17.3k words

The Scents of Longing - Explicit, Regency, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Demisexual Colin, many confused feelings for our sad boi, Alpha Presentation, 6/6, 37.9k words

Knot Surprising - Explicit, Modern, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Pen asks Colin to help with her heat, it goes super well, since they're great friends and all, 6/6, 38.5k words

The Christmas Cake-Off - Explicit, Modern, Christmas Hallmark Movie, 3/3, 25k words

A Poison Tree - Explicit, Regency, Forced Marriage/Proximity, Only One Bed, Rebuilding Relationships, 19/19, 145k words

Santa Baby - Explicit, Modern, Santa Kink, Lap Sitting, Pregnancy Sex, 3/3, 22k words

It Was a Graveyard Smash - Various Ratings, Halloween One-shots, 21/21, 35k words

Bloodlust - Explicit, Regency, Vampire AU, Blood Drinking, Check Tags and A/N for CW, 4/4, 22k words

Romancing Captain Bridgerton - Explicit, Regency, Mermaid AU, 21/21, 100k words

Summer Afternoons - Explicit, Regency, Coping with Heat, Semi-Public Smut, 4/4, 16k words

One-Shots

my honey bee, come and get this pollen - Explicit, Regency, Breeding Kink, Pregnancy, Colin's turned on by the baby race, 4.2k words

Forgiveness - Explicit, Regency, Spanking, Lady Whistledown Cloak Shenanigans, 4.2k words

Falling for You - Explicit, Regency, Amnesia, Valentine's Day, Love Confessions, 11.2k words

Love in Bloom - Explicit, Regency, Sex Pollen, 5.2k words

you are impossible - Mature, Regency, Love Confession, 2k words

Switch It Up - Explicit, Modern, BDSM, Restraints, Latex, 1.9k words

Kissing the Kettledrums - Mature, Regency, Masturbation, 1.4k words

Baby, It's Cold Outside - Explicit, Regency, Pregnancy Sex, 4.5k words

All's Fair in Love and Pall Mall - Explicit, Regency, Sexual Frustration, 7k words

Works-in-Progress

To Build a Hell in Heaven's Despite - Mature (for now), Regency, Murder Couple AU, Colin and Pen kill for each other but neither know about the other (yet), 3/12, 17.8k words

Twelve Years, One Night - Teen, Modern, Rom-Com (based on Six Days, Seven Nights), 4/?, 11.9k words

Made of Honor: A Polin Love Story - Mature, Modern, Rom-Com (based on Made of Honor), 1/?, 1.8k words

Other Fics

Lord Fife (plz read this fic I swear it's actually so good and gay)

In His Wildest Fantasies - Explicit, Regency, Fife/Ben but also one-sided Fife/Colin and one-sided Cressida/Pen and also Colin/Pen in the background and ends with marriage of convenience for Cressida/Fife, M/M smut, 5.6k words

Queen Charlotte

Agatha Danbury/Lord Ledger

Come With Me - Explicit, no PIV but it's hot I promise, 4.3k words

Call the Midwife

Bernadette | Shelagh Turner/Patrick Turner

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Explicit, Couch Sex, 3k words

may God hold you in the hollow of his hand - Teen, Grief, Loss of a Parent, 4k words

When I Fall In Love, It Will Be Completely - Mature, First Date, 4k words

Talking - Explicit, Married Life, 2.5k words

[nalyra-dreaming]

I have a question because I don't remember what actually happened in the books, just what impression it left on me. But I keep seeing people talking about Armand and Lestat like it was this grand passionate MUTUAL love affair and I always saw it as pretty one-sided on Armand's side. Lestat came to love him eventually, but to me it was never passionate or romantic. More like the way you have love for someone who has been around most of your big life moments so that history creates connection and love. More of a platonic, familial type of thing. But then I just saw someone describe them as "feral for each other" and I'm confused. Am I remembering wrong? Or are people creating headcanons?

Wellllllllll.... It depends a bit on how you want to see it I guess.

I do think that Lestat is mightily attracted to Armand. And Armand to him. And in the "Cinderella scene" (I'll post it below), there is a lot of talk about love and desire.

But it also becomes clear through the scene that Armand is spell-binding Lestat, in order to (force-) feed on him. And thereby blows it - ultimately forever.

And against the far wall, a backdrop of satin and filigree, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, like something imagined, Armand. Armand. If there had been a summons, I never heard it. If there was a greeting, I didn't sense it now. He was merely looking at me, a radiant creature in jewels and scalloped lace. And it was Cinderella revealed at the ball, this vision, Sleeping Beauty opening her eyes under a mesh of cobwebs and wiping them all away with one sweep of her warm hand. The sheer pitch of incarnate beauty made me gasp. Yes, perfect mortal raiment, and yet he seemed all the more supernatural, his face too dazzling, his dark eyes fathomless and just for a split second glinting as if they were windows to the fires of hell. And when his voice came it was low and almost teasing, forcing me to concentrate to hear it: All night you've been searching for me, he said, and here I am, waiting for you. I have been waiting for you all along. I think I sensed even then, as I stood unable to look away, that never in my years of wandering this earth would I ever have such a rich revelation of the true horror that we are. Heartbreakingly innocent he seemed in the midst of the crowd.

Yet I saw crypts when I looked at him, and I heard the beat of the kettledrums. I saw torchlit fields where I had never been, heard vague incantations, felt the heat of raging fires on my face. And they didn't come out of him, these visions. Rather I drew them out on my own. Yet never had Nicolas, mortal or immortal, been so alluring. Never had Gabrielle held me so in thrall. Dear God, this is love. This is desire. And all my past amours have been but the shadow of this. And it seemed in a murmuring pulse of thought he gave me to know that I had been very foolish to think it would not be so. Who can love us, you and I, as we can love each other, he whispered and it seemed his lips actually moved. Others looked at him. I saw them drifting with a ludicrous slowness; I saw their eyes pass over him, I saw the light fall on him at a rich new angle as he lowered his head. I was moving towards him. It seemed he raised his right hand and beckoned and then he didn't, and he had turned and I saw the figure of a young boy ahead of me, with narrow waist and straight shoulders and high firm calves under silk stockings, a boy who turned as he opened a door and beckoned again. A mad thought came to me. I was moving after him, and it seemed that none of the other things had happened. There was no crypt under les Innocents, and he had not been that ancient fearful fiend. We were somehow safe. We were the sum of our desires and this was saving us, and the vast untasted horror of my own immortality did not lie before me, and we were navigating calm seas with familiar beacons, and it was time to be in each other's arms. A dark room surrounded us, private, cold. The noise of the ball was far away. He was heated with the blood he'd drunk and I could hear the strong force of his heart.

He drew me closer to him, and beyond the high windows there flashed the passing lights of the carriages, with dim incessant sounds that spoke of safety and comfort, and all the things that Paris was. I had never died. The world was beginning again. I put out my arms and felt his heart against me, and calling out to my Nicolas, I tried to warn him, to tell him we were all of us doomed. Our life was slipping inch by inch from us, and seeing the apple trees in the orchard, drenched in green sunlight, I felt I would go mad. "No, no, my dearest one, " he was whispering, "nothing but peace and sweetness and your arms in mine. "

"You know it was the damnedest luck! " I whispered suddenly. "I am an unwilling devil. I cry like some vagrant child. I want to go home. " Yes, yes, his lips tasted like blood, but it was not human blood. It was that elixir that Magnus had given me, and I felt myself recoil. I could get away this time. I had another chance. The wheel had turned full round. I was crying out that I wouldn't drink; I wouldn't, and then I felt the two hot shafts driven hard through my neck and down to my soul. I couldn't move. It was coming as it had come that night, the rapture, a thousandfold what it was when I held mortals in my arms. And I knew what he was doing! He was feeding upon me! He was draining me. And going down on my knees, I felt myself held by him, the blood pouring out of me with a monstrous volition I couldn't stop.

"Devil! " I tried to scream. I forced the word up and up until it broke from my lips and the paralysis broke from my limbs. "Devil! " I roared again and I caught him in his swoon and hurled him backwards to the floor.

Now, Lestat fights Armand off after this, but I think this is what a lot of the passion stems from - and also the reason why it will never come to pass.

Because Lestat does desire Armand. But Armand forced him, just after Magnus forced him. And that ended it, before it could really start, until time changed it into a more gentle love.

[strayflowersstarsandlove]

𝑻𝒐 𝑫𝒊𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒓 - hyunjin x reader x felix au fanfic

DISCLAIMER: the following dark, explicit, mature content includes mentions and depictions of emotionally intense themes such as !!TW!! grief, sex, loss, mental illness and addiction. If you're particularly sensitive to any of the mentioned above and more, please refrain from continuing on.

This is a work of fiction, Hyunjin, Felix and any other characters are meant to serve as name holders for fictional and entirely constructed personae that are not meant to reflect any real or factual personality trait or event that might occur.

PROLOGUE

0 - I love the way you're screaming my name

Little half moon shaped imprints scatter like a constellation on your reddened hips, your thighs don't even ache anymore, muscles almost fully numb with how much they're used to the strain. He shakes his head briefly to the side, white blond wisps sticky wet with sweat, they barely flop, barely blow away from his slick face, he sinks his nails into your flesh, sinks himself into you so deep your eyes roll to the back of your head.

There's a little orchestral concert happening in your lower abdomen, a crescendo of violins gritting and tilting and kettledrums beating to the same low drum that grows louder and louder, pressure building up faster and faster. Deep, throaty growls rolling off Felix's mouth guiding the thunder that's about to explode, your own breathy moans echoing along as if you alone were the entire choir.

He hoists your legs higher up around his neck, angling his pelvis in a straight angle, right to your core, a mighty final push that has your hands flying to his arms, clamping his wrists so tight his pale purple veins bulge underneath your fingertips, he hisses, wether it's from the pain or the pleasure you don't know, dark eyes looking wilder and wilder by the second, pupils dilating to the impossible until he's gritting his teeth, rutting against your hips.

The concert is about to end on a grand finale, your hips buckle, he groans and thrust his throbbing length in for the final time, he has you spasming and thrashing in no time, "ah ah aaahh hy-aah AHH HYU-FUCK AHH".

The roaring applause never comes, but the blinding, white hot wave of pleasure washes over you nonetheless, your whole body ablaze, his warm load coating your insides, ecstasy pouring down on you from the inside out.

Felix breaths erratically, trying to fill up his exhausted lungs, he huffs and puffs, looking at your fucked out state with a frown on his face. You're not even looking at him, you never do. He spent himself three times already, but you won't even look at him after he gave you three mind blowing orgasm in a row.

To be honest he doesn't even need you to look at him, you could keep your eyes shut while you kiss him, he wouldn't mind. But you don't. You help him off of you and you clean up and then quickly turn to the side, your back facing him. He hates it but doesn't say anything, he collects the towels and his discarded clothes and silently makes his way to the shower.

You don't mull over it anymore. You know it's coming either way. Your eyes twitch a little, irises moving sideways in fast motion until their inner vision focuses on his hounched figure once again: "three orgasms in a row, our boy Felix is treating you well, so well... You could have a been a little nicer to him today", he teases, a mischievous smile gracing his lips.

Rolling your eyes, you plop down next to him, composed but tired, your limbs slowly regaining feel: "stop that, you make it sound like I'm a mean fucking person, and I'm not", Hyunjin drapes an arm around your shoulders and pulls you to him, eyes narrowing into two slits as he stares at you, "you were almost calling him Hyunjin again, It's the second time you slipped this week already".

He smells exactly the same everytime, chrysanthemums and grass, blackberry and soil, his breath warm, his voice soft and low, his lips impossibly plump, naturally red and tender as they brush on your temple, "you should be flattered", you mutter, melting quietly on his side.

"I am. I know I shouldn't for poor Felix's sake, but I am. I love it when you go batshit insane over some good pounding, I just wish it was still me making you cry out like that".

He sighs against your forehead, the phantom of a kiss depositing on your scalp,"I am so selfish,so greedy, my love".

Chapter 1

[dddevilsadvocate]

2. and now I’m covered in you

Leviathan x gn!AFAB!reader

a/n: 2nd chapter before I go to bed. I have to spend the next few days panic-studying for exams and driving back and forth from a rehearsal for a musical an hour away so forgive me if chapter 3 takes a while to come out lol

THIS IS VERY NSFW MINORS GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE

CW: self-indulgent smut (unprotected vaginal sex, dry humping, fingering), loss of virginity

he nods. his exhale is warm against your face. when your lips reach his, you graze your teeth over his bottom lip, earning yourself a whimper followed by a strangled moan. the urge to go faster - harder - strikes you like lightning at the noise. he always did make the most delicious noises. but you keep your gently suggestive pace, giving his lip another nibble before weaving your fingers through his hair.

your hips are situated just above his. the bulge had been underneath you for a while, offering sparks of friction whenever he squirmed under your touch but mostly going ignored. as you kiss him, it presses against you, begging to be noticed. begging to be taken care of. Levi doesn’t dare move first; when you rock your hips, just once, his breath hitches again. he moans something into your lips. an invitation to keep going. a plea to keep going.

instead, you move your focus from his mouth to his jaw, drawing out a whine. you bring one hand to his chest, letting the other fall back to his cheek. his heart beats like a kettledrum under your fingertips. he nuzzles into your palm and purses his lips against the fleshy base of your thumb. you feel his hand leave your waist, only to feel it immediately around your wrist. he’s gentle, but desperate. he’s holding into you like he’s worried you’ll pull away.

warmth swells within you as he presses another kiss to your thumb’s heel. you grin against his neck, running your thumb over his cheekbone.

“sweet boy…” your voice is barely a whisper. the compliment fans his flaming blush; he presses his face further in your palm, muttering something under his breath about how you can’t just call him sweet out of the blue like that. gently, you suck on the corner of his jaw, feeling him gasp against your hand. previous escapades had revealed Levi’s jaw as his ultimate weakness - and now, your greatest tool. every time you delicately nip at the skin below his earlobe, he whimpers.

you know he’s trying hard to keep his hips in place. you feel it in the way he grips your waist. you sense it in the way he squirms underneath you. you hear it in his high-pitched little noises. he wants you to move so bad… and so, you do. while you nibble at the soft skin around his throat, you start your hips on a rhythm: slow, almost cruelly so, but steady. Levi squeaks. the hand near his face flies back to your hips, holding you down against him. as close as he can get you. your name spills from his lips in a husky moan, a tone you had never heard from him before.

the pace you’ve set is unfair, and you know this. he craves the friction you’re dropping crumbs of. for a moment, there is silence - all you hear is his breathing as it grows more and more rapid. his head falls back against the pillow and his jaw locks, teeth gritting tightly to keep the lust at bay. a battle is raging in his head, but he fights valiantly. he moans again; the sound vibrates deep in his chest, setting your senses on fire. he sounds so desperate. so needy. so beautiful. every noise he makes stokes the bonfire in your stomach, and you’re going to fill the room with them.

relenting, you move faster. a moan hitches in Levi’s throat. as gently as you can, you tug at his earlobe with your teeth, earning yourself a shaky little whimper. your attempt to trail kisses back down to his neck is cut short when his hand cups your cheek and his head turns. his lips are upon yours in an instant. he has never kissed you like this before - like he needs you to survive. where did he get the courage? not a damn clue, but it is the most arousing thing he’s ever done. you reward him with a groan, sweet like honey against his lips.

his other hand leaves your waist to tenderly graze the side of your neck. thumb ghosting over your cheek, tongue tracing across your lips. he touches you like you’re poisonous, but he kisses you like you’re the antidote. you take it as a compliment that he feels safe enough with you to even try taking charge. for a moment, you revel in the kiss, letting the movement of your hips stall. Levi doesn’t last long without the friction. he whimpers as he pulls away, his bottom lip gently held between your teeth. you let it go and rest your forehead against his as he catches his breath.

he tries to say something, but the sentence won’t form. he swallows and tries again, the blush on his cheeks somehow even redder. “wh-why’d you stop?” 

you hook your fingers inside his collar and run your knuckles over his clavicle. “I thought, maybe… this could come off first.” you tug the fabric away from his neck. your tone was meant to be gentle, but it comes out more like a purr. half-lidded amber eyes widen as the suggestion - the realisation sinks in. he stares at you, completely speechless, jaw dropped against his chest. you simply raise your eyebrows.

“y-you want… you ac-actually want to see me… that way?” as Levi trips over his own tongue, you brush his hair off his forehead. he gulps. his blush rages so much you’re almost surprised your fingertips don’t blister.

“I do, yes.” you tilt your head. “very much so. would it help if I went first?”

slowly, his jaw shuts. the indigo of his irises glistens as his eyes dart between yours. you can practically hear him urging himself to be brave. to say yes, it would help, he would love nothing more than to see you that way too. his thumb runs over your cheek as he gathers the courage to respond. when his lips finally part and his chest rises with an inhale, you swat his hands from your face and fling your shirt over your head and onto the floor in one swift movement.

that’s it. that was the final blow to his composure. he has no confidence left to stand on. you have destroyed it. he squeals, throwing his head to the side and burying his face in the pillows. protests spill from his lips. you can’t just do that with no warning! he didn’t have enough time to prepare! you gotta give him at LEAST 30 days! that’s not fair! you’re so mean and cruel and beautiful and perfect and he’s such a stupid piece of otaku garbage!

you can’t help the chuckle that rumbles low in your throat as you lean forward. his eyes squeeze shut upon your approach, and he squeals again when you smother his exposed cheek in kisses. his hands fly down to obscure his tomato-hued face from the world. his torso shakes below you with every rapid breath.

“Levi~” you coo, wrapping your fingers around his wrist. “let me see you, sweetheart. it’s okay.” he makes a noise of distress from behind his palms.

“d-d-don’t baby me!” he whines. “th-this is s-super high level stuff! I DON’T KNOW THE SHORTCUTS!”

you laugh again, loudly this time, and press a kiss to the back of his hand. all his Levi-isms hadn’t taken long to memorise, and you know what he really means is he’s afraid of disrespecting you. he’s afraid of doing something wrong and making you feel like you’re an object for his pleasure rather than most important friend he’s ever had. the thought haunts him. he’d rather remain a virgin than ever put your trust in him at risk. in any other circumstance, your heart would flutter. right now, it just makes your body ache for his.

“I can teach you one.” your tone is velvet. you tug gently at his wrist. “but you have to look at me.”

his fingers crack open, exposing a single, sunset-hued eye. you offer him a grin and tug again. he tenses for a second, but then he obeys; you lift his hand from his face and place it against yours.

(read the next part here)

[lionofchaeronea]

Written to the IG prompt "doomsday". If this is too depressing, I apologize. It turned out as something of a primal scream, born of my frustration with the world at present.

Text:

There'll be no trumpet on that day,

Nor any breaking of the clay

When humankind has passed away.

No thunder from a rolling cloud,

No seraphim who cry aloud

The sudden downfall of the proud.

The mountains will refuse to fall.

The dead, indifferent to the call,

Will sleep, nor slither from their pall.

Only a fatal lethargy

Settling unhurriedly

On all the works of land and sea;

A blind and deaf and stumbling Fate

That merely seeks to demonstrate

The overweening power of hate;

Raw indifference, in sum,

Thumping like a kettledrum.

That is how the end will come.

[creepycrag]

guys i swear i'm not evil. i don't know why you would- *my theme starts playing, with kettledrums and dissonant tritones as prominent motifs* Haha ok ummmmm

[kinzvestigation]

Did you know that the Academy Cello, Academy Kettledrum, Academy Tuba, and Academy Xylophone play Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16? This is what it sounds like when all of them are played together.

[harrisonarchive]

Photos by Mike Salisbury.

“In the little kitchen filled with color Polaroids pasted to the wall there were snapshots of George and the many musicians who had been through the Park. There were beers and endless cigarettes, and next door a room with walls lined with guitars, hundreds of them, from the Beatle days, some tie-dyed, many familiar. Double glass doors led into the stained-glass Victorian studio itself, jam-packed with all manner of instruments, weird harmoniums and shiny metal xylophones and vast kettledrums. Downstairs our stunning women, Tania and Liv, both dark and beautiful and American, would hang out together or prepare sumptuous vegetarian curry dinners.” - Eric Idle, The Greedy Bastard Diary (2003)

“It’s hard to think of leaving the privacy and quiet of the happy life I have here [at Friar Park].” - George Harrison, Billboard, June 19, 1999

“George and I were together for 27 years, and we worked together, and… everything we did was sort of a family project. […] I think the answer [to finding one’s own path] is in nature, I think the answer is in silence, and not being afraid of nothingness, not being afraid of the abyss, the void, the silence. I think that’s where man can be saved from where we are now. I really do. I think you need to go sit somewhere in silence and be overwhelmed by nature. That seems to be a way to reset our lives.” - Olivia Harrison, Cultura Pop, October 2017 (x)

[dhampirbf]

“Yet I saw crypts when I looked at him, and I heard the beat of the kettledrums. I saw torchlit fields where I had never been, heard vague incantations, felt the heat of raging fires on my face. And they didn’t come out of him, these visions. Rather I drew them out on my own.” - The Vampire Lestat

[iciatheguardess]

Having a second identity is such an interested experience.

Because...

You find yourself accepted. And loved. You find friends. And laughter.

You find so many people who know you as this persona you've made.

And then...

It doesn't quite feel right.

It feels like a lie.

I feel like a lie.

I've been Ice Anon for a while. Ice Anon is.. caring. Loving. Quiet and timid, but not exactly shy in a way. The 'cold touch, warm heart' stereotype. She's, well, me.

But... I'm not her.

I know who I am though. I know who's been hiding.

And it's not her.

I can't keep this secret forever. I'm slowly finding myself wanting more and more to shed this disguise, to tell the stories that beat around my head like bees in a kettledrum. My thoughts are loud, on the tip of my tongue.

But with characters like Caine... how safe truly is it to do so?

Screw it.. I think I'm ready.

I need to be careful though. I'm probably safe now that I'm away from there but...

I'm not ready to let my guard down fully. Not now. Not yet.

- Ice Anon Icia

[Oh my god I've wanted to do this for ages. Pls send questions if you'd like, I'm excited to show you what I have planned for her!

Also, here is who's included in who Icia features (and who she sees as a friend currently):

@thecomicallytragicgangle

@theoneandonlyhammeranon

@askobjects (Leafy & Fiery)

@pyxelthesilly

(BTW, none of yall have to take any part in her lore if you don't want to, I'm just tagging you bc your characters are here)

Anyways, hope you liked this :) I'll try and do an actual intro for her soon]

[threewaysdivided]

Gelnek Goes to a Gala

More Dan Jones & Dragons art! This time their glorious Double Leader, Gelnek (played by the inimitable JoCat) all fancied up in his best Goblin party-attire.

More Flower Crowns Gala Outfits: Morenthal | Hobson

Design talk under the cut:

Unlike with Morenthal’s outfit (which was mostly drawn from Dan and Gamb’s official stream design) I thought it would be a fun challenge to take the chaos of JoCat’s Gala outfit brief for Gelnek (a large fluffy fur coat and stacked tower of Cowboy, Pork-pie and Trilby hats) and try to render out something fashion-adjacent.

Figure-wise, I wanted to push the broadness of Gelnek’s build and body-shape, since Jo introduced him as being atypically bulked-up for a Goblin (to the point that he sometimes gets almost-mistaken for an odd-looking Dwarf) and charging Hobson down like small green boar during their first training spar.  I thought it would be fun to lean into him being a stocky bundle of muscle compared to how Goblins are typically drawn. 

For the coat, I liked the idea of taking men’s fashion-furs and giving him a long-cut trench-style coat with a big fur ruff around the collar.  Really fluff the guy up with an impressive “beast-coat” that makes him look even bulkier.

Gelnek’s under-coat situation wasn’t described, so I went with a close-fit black two-piece since I figured that could help emphasise his actual silhouette without being too visually busy, and might make some fun strong shapes if I wanted to draw him in more dynamic situations later.  I also gave him a few sash-belts with some of his hunt-trophies pinned on (the Voidcrystal Snail-eye, a Wyvern Tooth from their fight on the Javelin and Trilby’s gifted Dragon-Scale button), just to keep the under-outfit from getting too conventional.

Hat wise, there’s not much that can be done to rein in the “putting a hat on a hat” effect of the Trilby on Porkpie on Cowboy tower, so I just tidied them up a little with some nice complementary colours and bands that coordinated with the rest of the ensemble.  The Cowboy brim and long coat combo ended up giving him some strong gunslinger energy, which is kinda fun for a traveling war-bard.

For his hair, I wanted to neaten up his big mess of fluffy curls for the formal setting, without going the same slicked-back conventional-imperial-common route that Hobson and Morenthal were already sporting.  Since Gelnek’s birth-tribe come from a swampy region and places a lot of cultural importance on headwear, I thought it might be fitting to do him up with some neat protective braids.

Gelnek’s shoe situation was an interesting one since canonically he doesn’t wear them.  I didn’t want to deprive him of his quest for the perfect shoe, but also figured he would need something to avoid the standard “no shoes, no service” rule at formal events, so I ended up pulling inspiration from Across the Spiderverse and giving him some Pavitr Prabakar-style foot-wraps with a bit of fancy gold trim to match the sash and middle hat.

I also decided to rep’ his drum-shield, seeing as Gelnek ended up being allowed to bring it into the venue.  It’s barely visible in the final drawing but a good quarter of his thumbnail page was notes on how do drum-shield work?  In my head I see it as something like a kettledrum set inside a convex round-shield/Dhal that lets him beat the drumhead while keeping the shield between him and danger.  I also like the idea of him being able to play the shield part like a handpan.

Bonus look at his sketch layers because this man's hats and physicality fought me harder than he fights drakes:

[tempestbee]

But if Dada dies here, it will some day appear on another planet with rattles and kettledrums, pot covers and simultaneous poems, and remind the old God that there are still people who are very well aware of the complete idiocy of the world.

-Richard Huelsenbeck

Dada is nothing, nothing, nothing.