#Sunny who's the more swirly patterned one

[ecto-space]

alright who the FUCK spilt all these cheetos on my bed

[emhm]

Eclipse rippled the slack of neatly folded fabric like a deck of cards. He'd allowed Sun and the clerk to convince him to add two more colors, orange and black. But there was still no real harmony to the subject matter. Slices of oranges in a graphic style, swirly koi fish with ribbons of shiny gold, Halloween fabrics with pumpkins, skulls and crows. He had floral prints and abstract blenders and even one with tiny stars on a charcoal sky. His fingers curled into the folds of the fabric like a cat protecting a favorite toy. Sun was cheerfully discussing his own cats with the clerk. Who by the tiny white hairs on her shirt; clearly had at least one of her own. She folded up Sun's last choice; a repeating pattern of bookshelves with fairy-tale names on the spines. The two stacks were equal in number and volume and tidy next to one another, the edges crisply folded. Sun's stack was mostly yellow and blue. Tropical fish and sunny skies, flowers, geometric shapes and smears. He had three different prints with cartoon cats and a single one with woodgrain to match the bookshelves. Eclipse noticed a scrap peeking out from under the stack of fat quarters the clerk had been cutting. He pulled it out delicately and held it up. A creme colored fabric with a pattern of round black berries on leafy branches with delicate plum colored flowers like tiny trumpets. The clerk looked up, "we had several bolts of botanical illustration fabric. That's the very last piece. Not the nicest plant but it looks pretty. Deadly nightshade." Eclipse held the small piece and stared at it, lost in thought. Sun smiled at him. "I think we'll take it off your hands. Now I just need two spools of black and white thread for the machine and we can go." The lady put her cutter in the pocket of her apron. "I'll get it for you." She could see that the two anamatronics needed a moment alone. The dark sun considered the tiny square of fabric on top of the larger pieces. In that moment he almost pitied it and the burst of empathy for the rumpled scrap left him reeling with the strangely intense emotion. He felt Sun's fingers nestle in between his own. "It can kill people yeah. But it's also used to make heart medication for humans and it's related to potatoes. Which are wonderful." He gave his shadow a soft look. "Are you feeling any better?" "I guess… it's calm here." Sun squeezed his hand. "We need to find you a hobby of your own." He picked up the two piles of cloth and followed the clerk to the counter. "You should be here when they're doing classes in the back." She said softly. "I've always enjoyed the ambience of everyone's different machines all clacking and humming along. People bring their own and there's always a big range from fresh-faced kids with brand new plastic things to grandmas with old metal heirlooms lovingly maintained and oiled. "I see you thinking Sun." Eclipse ventured. "I'm not taking a quilting class. Even if you wanted to lend me your machine; I don't think yours is something that should be drug around. If I wanted to do anything it, would be to make some more clothes." Sun and the clerk exchanged a knowing look. "Okay Eclipse. As you wish."

[worldcatlas]

VOY: Caretaker (Part 1)

Just like its predecessor, Deep Space Nine, Voyager opens with an expository text crawl explaining the current galactic situation. We learn about the Maquis – a plucky, non-Federation rebel group fighting the Cardassian occupation – then jump right into a heated space battle!

Fire! Raise shields! And somebody turn off that damned smoke machine!

As one would expect from a ragtag group of resourceful underdogs, the Maquis wear mismatched outfits made for trouble; we’re introduced to Chakotay and B’Elanna, both sporting rolled-up sleeves and tough leather vests.

Forearms mean business.

Tuvok is here too, although we don’t get a good look at his outfit from any of the angles in this scene. Chakotay makes up for it, however, by giving us a bit of a catwalk look at his duds: the patterned shirt is lovely, and probably meant to evoke his Native American heritage.

Actually, this may be the least problematic reference to his “heritage.”

Next, we’re taken to a sunny, verdant New Zealand penal colony, where Captain Janeway is busy picking out a boy toy. Unsurprisingly, we’re working with the same Starfleet uniforms currently in use on DS9, with a coloured section on the shoulders indicating department, and a grey turtleneck with rank pips underneath.

Get used to it – Voyager won’t be receiving wardrobe updates for about the next seven years.

Janeway finds the man she’s looking for – the boyishly handsome Nick Locarno Tom Paris – and hands him a “get out of jail free” card in the form of an invitation to join her crew. Tom considers her offer, weighing the excitement of adventure against having to give up his stylish prison coverall; the garment is concrete grey, with subtle shade differences across the chest and shoulders, not unlike a Starfleet uniform. I appreciate the asymmetry of the dark grey extending down the left sleeve, but not the right. The flap closure at the front is a little bit sexy, too, and along with the rolled-up sleeves, gives a “greasemonkey” vibe we’ll come to see a lot of from Tom.

The ankle monitor makes a nice accessory, too.

Meanwhile, Voyager is docked at Deep Space Nine, and we cut to a character we all know and love: Quark! …In the process of ripping off young Harry Kim. Although Quark’s ensemble technically belongs to another show, I still have to award it “best outfit” for the episode. The matching teal hues in the pants, shirt, and jacket is a beautiful bit of coordination, and it’s obvious the costume department has had a few seasons to perfect the character design. It’s not unusual for a Ferengi to dress so lavishly, but Harry should probably take it as a warning sign that he’s about to be ripped off. 

I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Up on the ship, Janeway has a chat with her fiancé Mark, who’s sporting a handsome wool-looking jacket in a dark mustard colour. Mark only gets about six lines and thirty seconds of screen time, so his outfit has to really pull its weight here building a character: handsome but approachable, smart but unpretentious, still shops at GAP in his 50s.

Sensible. I meant sensible.

There are no new costumes for a while as we meet the ship and crew, but we do get a few nice close-ups of Janeway’s lovely, elaborate updo – a more complicated style than the “bun of steel” she’ll wear in coming episodes.

Ignore the wig glue. It’s just… space sweat.

I suspect the stylist wanted all those extra swirlies in there because, once the action begins and our crew gets roughed up a bit, Action-Tousled Janeway looks amazing.

Slay, girl.

Harry and Tom go to sickbay, which is going to be full of patients very soon, and is also on fire. It’s hard to get a good look, but Harry puts on a cool Starfleet-issue oven mitt with metallic fabric to extinguish the fire.

Was that hole always there?

The least visible costume prop of all time.

In all the commotion, the crew realizes they’ve been zooped across the galaxy – 75,000 lightyears from home. But just when you thought we’d be stuck on a spaceship with one set of clothes for the next seventy years, we’re zooped again… to a southern country farm?! It looks exactly like Earth, and what looks like a perfectly human grandma comes out with cookies and lemonade to greet Janeway and co.

Floral fabric, ivory cameo, plate of cookies… yep, that’s a grandma.

She’s not alone, and soon the farm is full of completely “normal” “humans” having a good time, dancing and playing music. It’s literally the friendliest alien welcome party in history, but the Voyager crew are spooked. Moreover, they seem confused by the folksy straw hats and denim overalls.

Highly suspicious flannel.

With one exception: Tom Paris has quickly made friends with one of the illusory farm girls, a young woman in a cute printed dress with a belt, mary janes, and bright white ankle socks.

First contact: cottagecore edition.

However, Paris’ new friend gets a bit upset when they turn down her extremely tempting offers of a “real private” root cellar, a duck pond, and deviled eggs, and suddenly the farm folk aren’t so welcoming. The crew is zooped back to the ship – mostly. Harry Kim is missing.

Get outta here! And take your synthetic fabrics with you!

Discovering a similar absence on the Maquis ship – B’Elanna is also missing – the two crews decide to work together to track down their people.

As they discuss plans, we finally get a good look at Tuvok’s Maquis disguise: he wears a cropped, open jacket made from a textured brown-green fabric, with sleeves in a lovely deep blue. The trim between the different fabrics is subtly shiny, giving the impression of leather straps. More importantly though, he wears an orange shirt underneath that appears to be stained at the collar – is that greenish hue Vulcan blood??

What happened to you in the Maquis, Tuvok?!

The episode isn’t out of costumes for us yet, though, and it’s a hard pivot from the dirty, worn-in clothes of the Maquis – as the viewpoint switches to that of our missing crewmembers, we find them in white clothing that resembles hospital gowns, albeit with an awkward strap closure that goes all the way around the back.

You know that strap has come undone and dipped in the toilet at LEAST once.

We also get our first look at the Ocampa, who at the moment are also clad in white, gauzy outfits. Unlike the “patients,” they wear strange fruit-netting-ish infinity scarves around their neck and head.

Keeps their melon safe.

The mesh fabric looks like it might be some kind of protective gear, but no, as we explore more of the compound, we see the truth: Ocampans just don’t know how to wear a scarf.

So close…

[mp3-kel]

did nothing most of the day (on accident) but i had a good sub 4 lunch. and then i looked at tumblr 4 2 long and felt not good so i walked my dog and i saw this girl who called me her friend once. she is from the neighborhood.

and all the cats were around my house, mr meowgy (the one who came in my house that one time) and karl (i named her karl bc she has a swirly pattern on her fur like karl jacobs' hoodie. but everyone else calls her butterscotch ((not as cool))).

but um i let my awesome best ever dog maggie in the house but i stayed outside and i went up 2 the girl cus i was like this is just like the hit rpg game omori kind of like when me and sunny would do stuff in faraway park idk. idk. but i put on the able sisters and put my headphones around my neck soi could hear it faintly.

and i went up 2 her and i was like what are you doing and she had been listening 2 music in a car like and she said she was freestyling. and she said how do you not bite your nails (because my nails are long) and i said oh i dont know. i used 2 bite them i just stopped one day i guess. i dont remember how everything flowed together but we talked about alot like

school. she does virtual school but shes gonna be going 2 a new school where they put all the "bad" kids. thats what she said with the quotations and everything. i told her alot my schools were private christian schools. and apparently she went 2 one of the same schools i did and i talked about my old friend icsis. who likes goats and twenty one pilots. and she told me icsis dated her brother once

also she has autism like i do. bc she said she failed 8th grade and i was like oh well i had gifted kid burnout. turns out i probably have autism 😎 and i asked 'could you tell i have autism' and she said no but i thought u were anti social. and i said 'oh its just because i became more of an introvert after quarentine.' maybe thats right but i think i liked 2 draw by myself alot b4 quarantine. i think

and i was trying 2 tell her about what i do on a daily basis. i wasnt able 2 finish talking about this because it got 2 late. and my mom said come inside and i said okay mom

other stuff thats happened today is i talked 2 my partner and we talked about how we love each other very much ^U^ HE MAKES ME SO HAPPY 4REAL!!!!

and i talked 2 my qpp and we got married (not like legally but we can call each other wife or something im not sure what labels 2 use) !!!!YIPPEEE!!!! they also make me so happy 4REAL !!!!!!! :DDDD

HAPPY DAY!

[imaginary-mochi]

General Fluffy HC: Luffy and Zoro with their S/O!

Hi there, @ohnoluffy! (˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)

Thank you so much for you request, you are my first ever!!! (งˆ▽ˆ)ง These are kinda long, lol. These are some of my general HC for these two lovable pirates, it was so much fun.

Luffy

It's not an understatement that he LOVES food. He's gonna drag them to his side to any meal. "C'mon! We are having a feast!" (For the fifth time on the week)

Luffy is NOT fond of sharing, however he will fight for other people's food and then hand it over to his s/o, making sure no one takes away anything that he's given to them.

He's a tamable soul once he's decided that his s/o is now one of his biggest and most important treasures in the world. I'm implying that if they ask him to behave, HE WILL.

It's the most adorable thing ever when they ask him to bathe and he just pouts and clings to them, like a cute little sloth in a tree. His s/o just gives him the silent stare and watch him go to the shower, all "puppy-eyed". (It's good, considering he spends a lot of time with them and Luffy's bathing habits are terrible)

Important and loved people in Luffy's life can count that they will always have him to cheer them up in moments of fragility, specially with his s/o.

Sometimes he just doesn't understand the reason behind it and may come off well, rude and insensitive with his words but his actions make up for it.

He could cuddle for hours in the Sunny's mane, just silently giving them his company in this quiet and calm space.

From time to time, he would take his s/o attention to the coulds to find shapes of animals, friends or even monsters, tell one or two embarassing stories from the crew members or convince them to go fishing and catch dinner, so he could cook it for them. (Sanji is having a stroke, somewhere in the ship)

It was rare for Luffy to find peace in his life, but he truly acknowledged it when he lost Ace. After training with Rayleigh, he realized that meditation, quietness and peace of mind are valuable assets, and he likes to practice it with their s/o.

Everyone is just surprised that his s/o became his safe space. He goes to them when small little things that irritate him happen, just seeking comfort. (When he got upset that Nami did not buy the weird ass stuff he wanted, when he had a terrible cold but wouldn't let their hand go from the hammock he was resting in, or those nights were he goes back to the past, to Saobody, to Marineford... ) Yep. They became the balance in his agitated life. And he needed it.

Makes the stupidest faces and impressions, he loves being the reason for their s/o to smile or laugh. He doesn't care what kind of situation is, if it is appropiate, how embrassing is ir or if it is really, bad timing....HIS GONNA MAKE THEM LAUGH ANYWAYS.

His impression of his s/o is:

- "Oi oi, look at this! Guess who is it!" [Procedes to talk into an INCREDIBLY silly voice by strangling his neck] "I am the prettiest person in the ship"

- "Hard to say. There's a lot of pretty people in here."

-"It's you! Don't be an idiot! Who else can it be?!"

He does not call them pet names. He dumb af and started called them "meat" or "Sanji's meat roll" because he thinks they are precious words by their own, so they are good for someone equally precious.

Number 1 on the Strawhat list of "who shows more PDA". He's just clingy and will hug, carry and kiss his s/o at every chance he gets. He would crave their presence and tender touch. But from you, he's all over with little nose kisses.

Low-key jealous lmao.

- "WHO ARE YOU? NO, you CAN'T have them. Get your own. I know that you want them! You will have to defeat me then!"

- "Luffy I just... I just petted this dog and it followed me..."

Zoro

You know someone own his heart when he teaches them how to "have great comebacks for a ugly swirly brows man"... Sometimes his s/o can't help themselves from letting a fight start between these two for their amusement. Together with Usopp, they have a secret scoreboard were they keep tabs of won arguments and the best comeback lines. (Point system goes from "lame" to "Damn I'm calling the sun and ask him to retire cuz that shit BURNED")

If his s/o is allowed to TOUCH and HEAR about his swords, they are in a WHOLE other level. Zoro opening his nerd side for swords to someone is incredibly rare and really cute.

He does not necessary have a thing for swords because of their power stance, sharpness or being cursed or not. He, however, has an extensive fixation on forgin techniques and artistry involved on their crafting.

He goes on and on, about patterns on sheaths, seals, meanings, inscriptions, popular or ancient ways blacksmiths used to leave a signature on their work... His s/o stares at them after hours of his talking and explaining. He suddenly stops and blushes realizing what he's been doing and for how long.

But he blushes even more when they say stuff like: "Look the pattern on that one, kinda reminds me of that one you told me about, or is it the one on the left that resembles it more?"

Zoro is a simple man, if you remember those little special things he's told you he's done riding on clouds the rest of the day lmao.

Honestly if his s/o just so happens to be a nerd for history, legends or myths for swords OR it's some sort of illustrator/artist he's gonna straight up ask them to spend the rest of their life together.

Has a dedicated, exclusive 1-1 time for their s/o needs, away from all those rutinary things. He's not the one to take them out. Cuz you know... [[[ Orientation ]]] But it's all about wandering around and landing some place where his s/o interest peaked.

He's all about their s/o's hobbies, depending of what it is, He would ask stuff from time to time to keep track of the convo. Zoro is a passive input, more hearing than talking, but he's not afraid to ask things he doesn't know about. Sometimes he can ask some pretty weird shit and makes their s/o crack of laughter.

He's actually pretty good remembering what kind of things their s/o like, or things they don't say outloud they like. He just connects the dots and that's it.

BOM, surprise gift.

BOM, a kiss on the forehead accompanied by: "I think you would like this".

BOM. S/O is deceased.

Zoro is the fourth most confident Strawhat on PDA with his s/o around other people. He's not clingy, cheesy or trying to show them off as his only. He still doesn't give a damn what other people think, but he's more subtle, yet constant.

Loves to pat their s/o head, hair and mess it up, lots of tender (or rushed) forehead kisses. Pulls them always by his side, walks with them locking their arms. He will carry them from the bedroom to the deck only to continue napping... Carry them pretty much everywhere with that strenght lol, hello s/o sentient dumbbell. But still, every touch of his calloused hands tells them that they matter, so much to him.

Ocasionally and absent-mindedly will throw around "Love" as petname. But nothing more, he's not trying to become a "second ero-cook".

[lemonsandstrawberries]

How to Lose and Win / **

fandom: Stony (Steve x Tony), MCU

summary: Some mornings are meant to be spent on cuddling and kissing, but somehow not this morning. But if the end they both enjoyed it, why be bothered?

length: 1 349

warnings: brushes on the topic of sex and arousal, but very subtle, non explicit

a/n: inspired by this prompt I wrote for @ticklishwallflower, who I can’t tag, because tumblr is a butt, as a thank you for helping me with my tumblr issues, because I am old and out of the tumblr loop :D this fic is also based on my (very deeply established) headcanon that Tony has an outie belly button, which is his weakest tickle spot, but also doubles as an erogenous zone. I feel like I got myself distracted like ten times while writing this fic, but I hope you will enjoy it! likes, reblogs and comments are needed and appreciated!

——————–

How to Lose and Win / **

"Oh my g-gosh, fahahack… Ahaha!"

"What? Is this bad for you? But I am barely touching you. It is just my fingertips slooowly tracing your skin-"

"S-stop tahahalking!"

Steve listened, smiling from ear to ear. Being quiet was a small price for such a beautiful morning and he was glad to pay it. Tony, on the other hand, couldn't stop giggling and squirming, even if he tried his best to control his reactions.

It wasn't a secret that Steve was a morning bird, while Tony was a night owl. Their sleep schedules didn't match and often collided with each other, resulting in quickly eaten breakfasts and rushed mornings, where affection was still present but too scarce and cut short for their mutual satisfaction. Sunday mornings where a whole different story, when they both woke up at a similar hour, could have a lazy, decadent breakfast in their shared bed and stay in as long as they pleased. Which was happening exactly at this moment.

Steve lay on his side, his head propped on one hand for additional comfort, while the other hand kept drawing light and swirly patterns over Tony's warm skin. Down the sides, between the ribs, along the curve of the belly. Tony, initially keeping his hands casually placed on the sides of his head, currently had them both thrown over his face, hands holding to the opposite elbows, trying to stay still. Lips stretched into a smile, breathed out giggling and a quivering body, covers pulled up just enough to hide the groin but still showing some dark trail of hair. It was easily one of Steve's favourite sights in the whole world.

"Ah- ah- ahahaha!"

Tony's whole stomach jumped and sunk in at the prolonged, slow brushing along his side. It wasn't a single fingertip anymore, but the whole length of fingers pressing down, slightly pushing on his skin and making it cave, before springing up. Tony's skin was soft, very soft, and he was in the perfect between muscled and chubby, having defined chest and arms and legs, while his middle and hips and ass were appropriately bouncy and meaty. Steve just loved that and adored every part of his boyfriend, but his slightly round tummy had a special place in his heart.

"G-gahaha!"

It just took a little clawing of blunt nails at the top of brunet's stomach and Tony kicked his legs rapidly under the covers, causing Steve's heart to grow. Tony was too cute for words and Steve didn't need any, not when he had his fingers and -

"No raspberries!" Tony shrieked in protest, feeling Steve rolling on his lower half and seeing soldier's face leaning in closer to his belly. Steve made a little disappointed puppy sound, just to be playful and follow along. He had no intentions on blowing raspberries on his boyfriend's skin, knowing first hand how sensitive Tony was to that form of tickling and aware of the consequences. Raspberries were good for those kinds of mornings when he wanted to get Tony quickly out of the bed, making him shrill and laugh, and escape away in panic of the raspberry repeating. Steve could think of a better use of his mouth.

"Mhm," Tony hummed approvingly, feeling a kiss pressed near his belly button. That felt nice and the kissing continued, slow and with an opened mouth, lightly nipping on his skin and Tony's toes curled from delight building up. More kisses and a tongue pressed flat to his skin, tasting him and licking long stripes along his stomach.

"Mh- hihihi!"

That was Steve's favorite sound. That high pitched, funny giggling, ringing in his ears. His lips found the small outie belly button and he kept gently pecking the nub, more in a teasing way than proper tickling, enjoying the pouring out laughter. It would be good and could lead to something extremely pleasurable, but Tony seemed somehow more sensitive this morning and started to crack quicker than usual.

"I cahahaan't anyhhmohohore!" Tony called, when the kisses on his outie continued, lighting up all of his nerves with the shimmering, tickling sensation. "Steheheve, stohp!"

Steve heard that many times and almost never listened. He didn't listen this time either, and pulled his well-practiced move, using the very tip of the tongue to lightly touch and wiggle at the top of the protruding nub, knowing how crazy it drove his boyfriend.

"HIHIHIHI!" Tony dug his heels into the mattress, his back arching up and all composure lost. He curled up and wrapped hands into Steve's hair, trying to push the soldier away. "Enoughahahaha!"

The morning was definitely not going in the direction Steve had hoped for. Seemed that Tony was during one of his more ticklish days, when the touch that was measured to be ticklish and arousing, ended more as a ticklish one. Well, the mood was gone and seeing that Tony already ruined his plan, Steve decided to make the most of this situation anyway.

"HAH!" Tony's eyes flung wide open, and a panicked, clear laugh burst out of his throat. "HAHAAHAHA!" Tony howled when a loud and wet and long raspberry was aimed right on his poor belly button. The attack continued and Tony could only laugh and toss, trying to push the stubborn super soldier off of him.

"STOP! AHAHAHA! STEHEHVE!" Tony tried to wiggle away, but Steve had a hold strong on his waist and kept his mouth firmly pressed to his stomach. "Ohkahahahay! You cahahahn tahahahalk again!"

Seemed that it was what Steve was waiting for. With a bright smile, he lifted his head up, while Tony went limp and fell back into the covers, lying flat.

"Fuhahahhaack…" Tony complained weakly, his skin still tingling and head rolled back. He felt Steve moving up his body, but he was too exhausted to react, even when the super soldier lay down, putting his hands too high on his ribs and too close to Tony's armpits for him to feel comfortable and safe.

"That was fun, right?" Steve asked in a sunny voice.

With some effort, Tony lifted his head up, and the look he sent his boyfriend could be only described as glaring holes through someone. "You ruined my fun," Tony huffed out, meaning the light, teasing tickling changing into something unbearable.

"You ruined my fun first," Steve remarked playfully, meaning the interrupted make out time with his favorite belly and ignoring the brief pout running over Tony's face. Not his fault that Steve's technique failed today. "But if that is any consolation to you, I fixed it and had a ton of fun," Steve replied his smile back on.

It wasn't and Tony's forehead creased. "I am glad you had fun because this was the last fun you will be having for a while."

And the smile was gone, replaced by shock and disbelief. Finally. Tony felt a little triumphant over that.

"Oh yeah?" Steve sneered, moving himself up, almost nose to nose with his boyfriend, their bodies lining together. Tony was almost certain that Steve did that to slightly tower over him, their bellies pressed together and belly buttons on the same level and Tony could feel his outie fitting into Steve's innie, and God, that already made him feel unfairly hot and bothered.

"Oh yeah," Tony confirmed in a strong hiss through clenched teeth, pushing the aroused feeling aside. Threatening with the no sex card was a cheap move, but Tony needed a win after what his asshole boyfriend put him through.

"Hmph. Then I guess it can't get any worse."

"What are- NO!" Tony shrieked, when Steve nuzzled into his neck, blowing raspberries after raspberries. The hands he had suspected of mischief from the very beginning, went in motion too, clawing at his underarms and Tony was quickly lost in laughter. "AAHAHAHAHA!"

In the end, Steve only stopped only after getting a promise out of Tony to lift the sex ban, so technically, he lost twice, but somehow losing like that didn't feel like losing at all and what followed could be definitely called a win for both of them.

[anthonyscribbles]

Feelings Suck

This one is one I'm actively working on, and finished chapter 1 like 20 minutes ago! I'm really happy with how this came out. However, this was not edited and there may be some mistakes. Just politely point them out and I'll fix 'em! With that said, here we go!!

    I gasp raggedly for breath as I’m pulled from the toilet, my hair and face drenched with the disgusting water. I hear a dark cackle from Logan as he dunks me once more. God, why does it always end up like this?

    Chapter 1: Hunter

    I sigh softly as I unlock my locker, head down like always. My name is Hunter, and I’m a junior at Sunnyside High School. Not a very fitting name, considering it’s a shithole. Excuse my language. But seriously, this place isn’t “sunny” at all. The kids bully each other 24/7, the teachers couldn’t care less whether we passed or flunked, the extracurriculars are practically nonexistent- Need I say more? I’m… kind of a nerd, so I care a lot about school. I want a place to hang out and learn, not be constantly harassed by kids my own age. If I wanted that, I would just live in the internet. But I can’t complain too much, I guess. I meet some pretty nice people, sometimes…

    There’s these two, and I’m kind of torn between them. First there’s Jenny Anderson, the cutest girl in the entire school. She’s sweet- always puts other people before herself- and really smart. She’s like the only kid in our school with straight A’s. She has amazingly soft, caramel brown hair and these wonderful, shining blue eyes that hold childlike innocence. She’s breathtaking. I think I’m in love with her, honestly. And I’m not invisible to her! We’ve actually been friends since my freshman year. She’s the same age as me, but her birthday is one month before mine.

    Then there’s Nathan “Nate” Stevens. He’s… how do I describe this? I guess I could say he’s… unique. He’s not weak by any definition- he’s actually really strong. He works out a lot, since he’s on the basketball team. He’s really tall, too; I think he’s in the six foot range. Way taller than me, at least. He’s really funny, always makes a joke that everyone can laugh it. He’s kind of a people pleaser, by some standards. He’s sweet, too, like Jenny. But he’s a bit more brash than Jenny is-- but not in a bad way! He’s just kind of loud and out there, y’know? He’s just a lot more outgoing. And that’s really what I like about him…

    See, I’m still figuring things out… about me. I don’t know if I like girls or guys or both, because I always find a guy or a girl that’s really attractive to me! It’s just really confusing. I think I like Jenny more than Nate, but then Nate finds something he’s really passionate about and I fall for him all over again. When he talks about something he’s really into, his green eyes sparkle like emeralds and he gets this dorky grin that he can’t wipe off for hours. It’s beyond adorable. Jenny and him are practically complete opposites, yet I find myself falling for both of them equally. Which means I guess I don’t really have a type? I don’t know.

    But high school isn’t just crushes and confusion, sadly. It’d be a lot easier to deal with if that was the case. Unfortunately, it’s not. There’s this one guy who’s a complete asshole- His name is Logan. He’s got this shitty ass black hair that he keeps spiked up with the nastiest smelling hair gel ever. He gets any girl he wants, but he only goes for the slutty ones that he can get a quick fuck with then he tosses them aside. It makes my skin crawl and my organs want to shrivel up just thinking about him. Eugh. Anyway, he’s a complete jackass on top of his crappy personality. He’s constantly pushing me around because he’s four months older than me, and like a foot taller than me. He thinks he can pick on me because I’m small and don’t fight back! Which… maybe isn’t entirely untrue… But still! He likes to keep this screwed up schedule: Mondays are beatings, Tuesdays are swirlies, Wednesdays are lunch money, and Thursdays are sweets. He gives me Fridays off because he’s “so generous.” Gag me.

    Back to the story now, huh? I was on my way to my first class of the day, English II, when I run into Jenny. She grins up at my happily, hugging her thick book to her chest and practically bouncing. “Oh, hi, Hunter! Great morning, isn’t it?”

    “Ah, it’s a morning.” I laugh awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck. “So, what’s got you so perky, huh?” Jenny’s not exactly not a morning person, but she’s usually only this happy when she has good news.

    “Oh, nothing much…” She smiles deviously before shoving her Chemistry test in my face. I’m a bit taken back by it before I grab the paper and read the grade next to it. A+.

    “Oh, wow! Congrats, Jenny!” I grin as well as I hand her the paper back. She squeals excitedly and hugs me tightly. This must have been really important to her.

    “I’m so happy, Hunter!! Thank you, thank you for tutoring me!” She pulls away, her face tinted a light shade of pink as she brushes a strand of brunette hair behind her ear. “Oh, um… sorry.” She smiles up at me bashfully, to which I just chuckle.

    “Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re happy, it’s understandable. Say, uh… how about I treat you to dinner to congratulate you properly, hm? I just got paid a couple days ago, so it wouldn’t be breaking the bank or anything.” I offer, albeit awkwardly. I’ve never been good at talking to people, let alone attractive people. Also, I may have not mentioned this but I work as a cashier at our local gas station. Nothing fancy, but I get paid for it, so can’t complain.

    Jenny’s eyes sparkle like diamonds as she gazes up at me, searching my face for any sign of a joke. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

    “Sure, why not?” I laugh softly, smiling at her. “You’re my friend, I’m more than happy to treat you once in a while. Especially when you get good news, you know?”

    Jenny’s face resembles a child who just got told they could have any sort of candy they want. She hugs me so tight, I thought my ribs were sure to pop. “Thank you so much! You’re so awesome, awesome, awesome!”

    I laugh, ruffling her hair. “Nah, it’s nothing. Hey, have you seen Nate today? He was supposed to help me with some stuff.”

    Jenny tilts her head, “Huh? Uh… no, I haven’t. Weird, eh? He’s usually in the gym or something, practicing his basketball stuff. Check there?”

    I nod, “Yeah, okay. I’ll text you later about dinner, alright?” Jenny nods and smiles, hugging me one more time before bouncing off towards her class.

    I head towards the gym like she suggested and, sure enough, I saw him there, practicing… whatever it was basketball players practiced. I smile, leaning against the doorframe and just silently watching him for a few minutes. God, he’s so cute…

    “Hunter!” He smiles when finally noticing me. I clam up, blushing fiercely at being caught staring.

    “Oh, uh, Nate! I didn’t even.. Y’know, see you there. Clearly. I was just staring at… the wall! You know, such a beautiful pattern and… architectural sturdiness…” Fuck, I suck at this.

    Nate just laughs, nodding, “Yeah, it’s a cool wall, dude. So, do you always come to the gym to stare at walls?” He dribbles-- is that the word? Did I use that right?-- the ball a couple times, patiently waiting for my answer.

    “No! I was, maybe, looking for you?” I sigh, smiling abashedly. “Sorry, I’m really bad at lying… Yeah, I was staring at you… I was wondering where you were, since you weren’t where we agreed to meet up.” Nate stops dribbling, staring at me like I just told him my first born was killed.

    “Oh… shit, dude, I’m really sorry. God, I’m such a scatterbrain… I totally forgot you asked me to meet you by the lockers.” He sighed, tossing the ball into the… ball… thing, and turning to look at me. “You’re… not mad or anything, right?”

    I laugh a bit and smile goofily, “Of course not, man. Honest mistake, don’t beat yourself up over it.” I twiddle my thumbs a bit, sighing. “I really don’t wanna go home…”

    Nate smiles a bit, “Well, you can come home with me? You know my parents love you to death.” I grin, remembering how Nate’s parents treat me. They act like I’m a God or something, hah. It’s really sweet, to be honest.

    “Yeah, sure. I don’t have to tell my parents, they, uh… won’t care…” I sigh softly. I made myself sad, dammit. Nate smiles sympathetically, rubbing my back.

    “Don’t worry, dude. Things will get better, I promise.” God, I love him. I laugh and nod, knowing somehow… he’s right. Things will definitely get better.

This is chapter 1 of I don't know XD But I really like it and hope you guys like it, too!

[kentonramsey]

House Of Sunny: The Brand Making Our Wardrobe Happy

Over the past year you’ll have noticed, amongst the neutral tones and minimalist silhouettes of the never-ending ’90s revival, zingy pops of colour have appeared here and there on your Instagram feed. An egg yolk yellow cutaway dress; a Kermit green quilted jacket; perhaps a duck egg blue sweater vest. You have one brand to thank for this mood-boosting playful colour palette: House of Sunny. The Hackney-based label, founded by Sunny Williams, has been going strong since 2011, but our need for joyful, serotonin-boosting hues has sent the indie label stratospheric this year.

Unlike many other small businesses, House of Sunny wasn’t negatively impacted by the pandemic. With no physical shop fronts (though its South Molton Street pop-up shop last year made waves) and small-batch collections dropping throughout the year in ‘volumes,’ if anything the brand gained more traction in 2020.

Just ask Kaia, Bella, and Kendall – just a handful of the mega models the brand counts as dedicated fans. It’s not just popping colours that’s built House of Sunny a loyal following, though. From Dalmatian-effect jeans to psychedelic swirly midi dresses and scenic sunset cardigans, it’s the prints and patterns the brand creates that has given the often too-serious fashion scene a much-needed injection of fun.

So where does Sunny get his inspiration? “Right now it’s from three things: retro Pam Grier, Disney illustrations and ’00s graffiti! It comes from everything I see and feel, from movies, art culture, friends and family.” Beyond the Supers 2.0, who else is in the House of Sunny family? Imani, Jessie Bush and Stephanie Broek were early adopters, repping the brand from the early volume drops where items are no so rare they’re being sold for ten times the price on resale platforms. “I really liked the Zig Zag jumper from Vol.3,” Sunny says. “All of them were sewn by me and I recently saw one for sale on Depop for £1000…I really wish I could get one back.”

The brand has kept a steady hand on its sustainability practises from day one, by creating two seasonal collections a year, setting a slower pace to research, course and invent new sustainable fabrics and manufacturing methods, while its pre-order system means nothing is wasted. Priced from around £40 to £250, beyond its cult and kitsch aesthetic, the House of Sunny’s success can be attributed in some part to hitting the sweet spot of affordability, much like contemporary counterparts Rixo, Reformation, GANNI and With Jéan. Though the brand’s size offering is currently very limited to UK 6-14, its cult Hockney dress is available up to size 16 and it’s expanding the knitwear range soon.

So, with 2020 firmly behind us, what’s the head of our wardrobe’s most spirited brand looking ahead to? “The latest collection is inspired by escapism, dreaming of remote islands, the beauty of a perfect wave, retro beachwear and holiday nostalgia.” It looks like brighter days ahead with House of Sunny.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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House Of Sunny: The Brand Making Our Wardrobe Happy published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

[shroudwayman]

149. What's the last adventure you went on?

[MUN/PLAYER/BLOGGER/TRASH OVERSEER TIME] 

OKAY so my last adventure was a Valentine’s Day gift for @nathanielgraves​ (you, you asker) and I, and thus I am ABSOLUTELY GONNA GUSH ABOUT IT. It’s pretty long and swirly, so I dropped everything below the cut but there’s also a TL;DR at the bottom for those who wanna cut to the good stuff. ♥

On Feb 13th, [Nate/Certo] and I went to a metal concert, because who doesn’t like metal concerts for lovey holidays?? We’d had to reschedule Gin Mills for it, and Certo even took an extra day off work with their PTO to enjoy the weekend. I’d bought these tickets back in November, basically as a ‘Something fun to look forward to just for us’ cause I’d gotten injured and subsequently got let go from work because I couldn’t… do my job anymore. A well-earned pick-me-up!

So, the reason this was so huge for me in particular is I’ve never been to a metal concert before. And additionally, short of a couple of tiny bands in smaller venues and coffee shops, I had never been to a larger scale concert before in my liiiife. 

The band we went to go see was Sabaton, and when Certo first introduced me to them a couple years ago now, it was with a live, Swedish semi-official recording of ‘Carolus Rex.’ So I was already familiar with their live sound, and of course Carolux Rex turned into a power anthem for me for awhile, and I fell in love. 

Sabaton, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is a Swedish power metal band based out of Falun, Sweden. Power metal is… if you took all of the musical power of melodic and symphonic metal, combined with lyrics you can still understand, in a gruff throaty tone, with historically relevant lyrics, and a broad fucking grin. 

With them being from overseas, being able to go to their North American tour was a big deal for me. I pitched for a VIP table early in case I was still injured when the date came around (I was, I’ll get to that) and we set aside extra funds to be able to afford Seattle-priced food and tour swag. (I then forgot my bank card at home when Certo went to retrieve the car from the overpriced parking garage, and my pre-paid card did not have enough for more than one piece of swag CURSES UPON MY LUCK.) 

We left early from home, had a totally great sunny drive up to Seattle, with plenty of time to find parking nearby for my hobbly ass, and still even made it with some to spare before the doors pre-opened to those for early entry dining. We met a group from Canada in line who had been going to Sabaton’s shows for almost 5 years, and had seen them something like 13 times. So, us as newbies to this show, we absolutely littered them with questions and they told us behind the scenes bits and shared pictures and stories from previous concerts and meet & greets. Sweetest set of parents and their son. I could tell a whole bunch of stories about them alone, but for sake of length, I’ll skip it. Suffice to say, the self appointed Drunk Tour Mom was two drinks in when she declared that even with the table we had reserved, if I could manage through it, I should absolutely try to be at the stage bar for a front-row experience of Sabaton for my first time. I was wary of this, seeing as I’ve got some mobility, but ultimately I’m still pretty crippled on my cane. 

Of course, I was a beer and halfway through a Tennessee mule Certo and I were sharing when I decided this suggestion was a great idea, knee injury be damned! I’d stand as long as I could, suffer the press of the crowd, and do my best to not let my knee affect my concert experience. (I did avoid the mosh pit and crowd surfing this go-round, but lemme tell you if I wasn’t injured…) 

The security guy we had on the other side of the railing was the start to my brilliant experience, tbh. Not only did he sneak me a couple sour gummy bears from his pocket, but he also let us see the night’s schedule on his phone so we knew who was going on when, and gave Certo and I a pair of free earplugs, which normally they’d sell at a venue for $5-10 each. Like this dude was awesome. 

The first two bands I’ll admit I hadn’t heard of before, so I was both wary but excited to see them. Cyhra opened the show, who turned out to have a small set, but have a brilliant sound and be really great. Then Kreator came on. Kreator, who was definitely not what I was expecting (and may not have listened to them on my own,) puts on a HELL of a show after 38 years of being around and had amazing energy on stage! Admittedly, their stage lights were blinding and my eyes hurt after, but I think that’s my only real complaint. I managed to stay at the bar through both setups, Cyhra and Kreator’s sets, and at the end of Kreator’s set I realized my knee was numb and that I absolutely needed to sit and get off it.  

Retreating through the crowd after securing our spot on the rail with one of our new Canadian friends (who were standing with us, because Drunk Tour Mom absolutely wanted to see me experience my first Sabaton concert) I limped through the thick crowd to our table. We had 15, maybe 20 minutes for me to sit before they went on. Metal crowds, by the way? Some of the sweetest people ever. Most moved right out of our way as we scooted through, and those who didn’t immediately made a hole for us after I raised my cane. We got to the table, I ordered a hard cider and massaged the hell out of my leg for the 18 minutes before we felt the mood in the theatre change. Something had happened, and then I realized one of Sabaton’s songs was on the interlude music overhead. This, apparently, was the prelude to the actual intro song, but those with experience in the theatre knew it and I slammed my cider, got up and hobbled my ass right back to the bar. (I relinquished part of my bar experience to let another couple and a tiny person between us and our Canadian friends, they were thrilled.)

Sabaton? Sabaton. Was. AMAZING. The energy, the sound, the experience of them live was literally something I could not have made up with my experiences at the time. Any expectations I’d had were totally blown out of the water. I got to make cheers and interact with the guitarist we were in front of ON STAGE. We got to sing along at the top of our lungs and pump our fists and JUMP. Okay, I admittedly may have been hopping on one leg for most of it but it was close enough. 

They played three of my favourites, INCLUDING a couple of old songs which, you guessed it, included CAROLUS REX. I was absolutely floored. While it would’ve been a complete dream come true for them to have done it in Swedish, they did the English version BUT THAT WAS TOTALLY FINE BECAUSE THEY DID THE SONG ANYWAY AND HADN’T IN SOME TIME ON TOUR. They also performed Swedish Pagans and Resist & Bite, and of their discography, those songs are my absolute top three. (I should mention, Resist & Bite also pairs well with Panzer Battalion & Ghost Division, and they PERFORMED THOSE, TOO. It was like a fucking smorgasbord of my go-to Sabaton songs throughout their albums and they did most of them.)

Throughout the concert, the guitarists tossed picks during the performance which I missed. I couldn’t jump well, and even at almost six feet tall, most of the swag was aimed at the middle of the bar or well into the crowd. So while I was absolutely not going to begrudge not getting stage gifts, I of course was going to try my damnedest! After their set, and they had done the final song and the bow given, the last of the stage swag was thrown. Picks, drumsticks, drum covers, copies of the set list, the whole nine yards. And as luck would have it, the guitarist I’d stood in front of all night (Chris,) sang along with, smiled and cheered at and sang along with, tossed a pick AT me. Right the hell at me. I caught it. I could’ve fainted right then, but GODS I held fast and clung to it with what I can only imagine was the most ridiculously excited smile ever. 

After the crowd milled away and retreated from the venue, Certo ran to go retrieve the car from the parking garage at a very close 11:45. This was important because the garage we’d chosen closed at midnight and implemented a $40 fee after to pick up vehicles. Because it was a concert night, and Sabaton didn’t even go on til after 10, we were prepared to pay it… but really didn’t want to.  I grabbed a shirt  from the tour items booth (a NA tour shirt, even though I really wanted a Carolus Rex tour t-shirt they’d rebooted but had to skip due to realizing I’d left my bank card in my other wallet at home, 90 miles away. I thanked the lady who’d stayed open so I could skip the crowd with my cane, grabbed my shirt, and retreated outside to wait for Certo and the car. 

This, of course, is when I realized it was cold as fuck and raining. Now… I have… Okay tires. One’s got a partial leak, but it’s slow and I’ve got a pump, and they definitely could use some more tread, but it’s served me well so far and it’s on my list of Things to get done once I’m employable again. As we drove home, the roads were freshly rained on after dry weather and covered in fucking hydroplaning nightmares. Then it began to snow through the rain as we trailed further south. Since my car accident due to icy conditions a few years ago, I have lingering high non-functioning anxiety when it comes to severe weather patterns, but Certo is an absolute CHAMPION and got us home safely, powering through the hydroplaning with no small amount of reassuring to me. (While I failed to act totally cool to reassure them, and played games on their phone to distract my nervous whining.) 

Needless to say, from start to finish, it’s been a hell of an adventure, but one that was absolutely worth it. We’d even made it in the corner of their End of Concert picture they take on stage, which was an unexpected joy. To top off what was already possibly one of the best nights I’ve had in awhile, (nay, perhaps my life!)  is after I made a comment on the band’s Facebook page about my first time and how excellent the show was? The page replied back. I don’t care that it could be a social media admin and that the odds it was one of the band was small. I was head over heels over the MOON about it, and it was by far an unreal adventure I’ll never forget.  

A snapshot of what I referenced above: 

(The tiny red circle is where we are, small but important to the experience!)

(The guitar pick thrown by ChrisRörland, one of Sabaton’s guitarist.) 

TL;DR: First metal concert to see Sabaton, catching a guitarist’s pick after standing at the front of the stage all night with a knee injury, hydroplaning sleet on the way home with nearly bald tires, and having the band’s social media page reply to my post directly.  ♥

[seventeendeer]

-slides up to ask meme bar- hey can i get a fuckennnnuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the entirety of team dark please if it's not too much trouble otherwise you will have to pick who because I sure can't

-slams hands on desk- THIS IS WHY I MARRIED YOU

2-4 songs that are probably on their iPod

Rouge - Blow by Ke$ha, Cake by Melanie Martinez, and Summertime Sadness by Lana del Rey

Shadow - Straight To Video by Mindless Self Indulgence, The City by Hollywood Undead, Awake and Alive by Skillet

Omega - Artillery by Infected Mushroom, Kill Everybody by Skrillex, Sprawling Idiot Effigy by Nero’s Day At Disneyland

the one place they sometimes end up falling asleep — where they’re not supposed to

Rouge has a bad habit of going to sleep under ceilings at G.U.N., especially during boring meetings. Omega sometimes shuts down in the middle of boring meetings on purpose in order to make a statement, specifically regarding the lack of action, and how few things are around that he’s allowed to blow up. Rouge and Omega also frequently come home to find Shadow in an awkward position on the couch, he never means to nap but he ends up doing it anyway.

the game they’d destroy everyone else at

Omega naturally destroys everyone at rhythm-based games because of his perfect robot coordination and quick pattern-finding abilities. Shadow has a weird knack for old sidescroller games. Rouge is really good at all kinds of puzzle games, her brain is wired for problem-solving.

the emoticon they’d use most often

Rouge uses entirely too many emoticons in general, but the kissy lips and hearts are her favorites. Shadow never uses emoticons, but once in a while, he’ll send Rouge a text that’s just e_e if he feels like she’s about to drag the team into something they won’t be able to get out of as easily as she might think. Omega sends a lot of explosion emojis with some 100′s and claps in between in case anyone was in doubt about his stance on explosions.

what they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep

Rouge and Shadow both get really mopey and slightly pathetic, and their ability to request physical affection goes way up as a result. whenever they’ve been on missions for slightly too long, they can often be found in a corner somewhere leaning on each other, or one of them falling asleep half curled up on the other’s lap. Omega doesn’t get tired, being a robot and all, but he gets really fighty when low on chaos drives. more so than normal. he can’t really follow up on all the threats he makes to various people, animals and household objects, but the sentiment is there for sure.

their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights. or mornings. or whenever.

Rouge likes coffee, Shadow is more of a chamomile tea kind of person. Rouge will occasionally pour hot water on Omega in order to help him stay temperate in the cold.

how they like to comfort/care for themselves when they’re in a slump

Shadow and Omega have never heard of the concept of self-care even once, but luckily for them, Rouge is extremely good at it and will drag them into taking care of themselves in various ways. Rouge herself likes to stay at home and practice different types of makeup and use skin care products and eat overly expensive food and feel glamorous at home on her own couch. Shadow sometimes gets in on the makeup shenanigans and actually finds it really fun in his own quiet, awkward way. He also likes to just sit around by himself a lot and watch mindless tv and drink tea. Omega has, over time, been convinced, primarily by Rouge, to go outside sometimes without any real purpose and just kind of look around at the world. He’s still relatively new to being alive compared to organic people, and though he doesn’t exactly hold most things in high regard unless they’re 1. Shadow or 2. Rouge, he’s slowly learning to appreciate the world outside his ongoing revenge mission. Bit by bit, he’s learning to let more thoughts in than just “haaaate.”

what they wanted to be when they grew up

Rouge always wanted to be a jewel thief, encouraged by her slightly criminal but very loving and supportive mother. Shadow was taught since his creation that he was supposed to be humanity’s heroic guardian, and until his memories were altered, that’s exactly what he wanted to be. Omega naturally went into the mission he was created for with the same amount of enthusiasm as Eggman’s other robots, not knowing that if all went according to plan, completing his mission would mean staying in stasis forever.

their favorite kind of weather

Rouge loves slightly cloudy nights where she can move around undetected in the dark. Shadow likes the cool seasons the most, especially those cold, frosty sunny days that happen right before the first snow of the year falls. Omega prefers dry days with medium temperatures, because both heat, cold and large amounts of rain can mess with his systems.

thoughts on their singing voice (decent? terrible? soprano? alto?)

Rouge has a great singing voice with a lot of power behind it, but she can’t go very high or very low. Shadow’s voice has more versatility, but isn’t that remarkable aside from the fact that he’s good at hitting the right notes. Omega could probably actually create his own dubstep tracks with his voice box and it would sound awesome.

how/what they like to draw or doodle

Rouge naturally doodles little gemstones in different cuts in the margins of her G.U.N. reports. Shadow and Omega don’t doodle much, but when they do, it’s mostly just scribbles with no real rhyme or reason. Shadow’s tend to be swirly and elegant, Omega’s are a lot of hard lines and randomly underlining words, sometimes hiding secret meanings.

[alexbrockart]

Gargoyle Process

This painting started from a sketch in 2015 that I didn't touch for a bout a year, then came back to after ruminating on it on and off over that lapse. It's loosely centered around this legend of the walled city of Agartha, and the guarding demons and djinn that would keep the unworthy from entering. 

Here I sketched out the environment surrounding the figure and arranged the composition a bit. I wanted the environment to have a sort of Mediterranean feel to it, almost classical ancient Greek/Roman with a little hint of tropical. I ended up changing the perspective quite a bit because I wanted to paint in a lot of texture in the landscape of the background, and also wanted to drive home a feeling of the figure standing on a really high wall far above the ground below. So I raised the horizon line almost to the top of the canvas and redid a lot of the figure to fit in with a more top down perspective.

Here you can see the new perspective and wings, and my attempt at dumping colors all over the place that I felt gave off the feeling I wanted for the piece, which was a sort of bright and sunny warm day in the afternoon, soon approaching the golden hour.

Here's some images that I felt captured the mood and lighting I wanted to portray

Let the render fest begin! As I was painting the torso my power supply for my computer started crapping out and it was pretty terrifying to paint for fear of losing work. I had finished just about the entire torso and arms when it crashed when I tried to save it, and had to do it over, about 5 hours of work. The second version definitely came out better though. I threw in a crazy weird mandala-lever-table-mechanism I thought would be interesting but ended up chucking it for the sake of time and it threw off the composition a bit. It's inspired by this talk I listened to about the physicist Wolfgang Pauli and his therapy sessions with C. G. Jung. From what I remember, through deep trance or in a dream, Pauli saw this mandala that represented perfect rationality and other dimensions or concepts like increments of time integrated into each other. The idea was to sort of have the Gargoyle in control of one of the levers, hinting that your perception of reality may be manipulated or something along those lines. I mostly wanted an excuse to make a shiny 3D object and render it so that I could have perfect shiny reflection in the painting. I got my jollies in that regard with the mace that I replaced this mandala with. 

Here's the talk and a picture of the mandala: 

Here's some of the references for the skin and torso. In the old master painting with the man pointing toward the sky I really liked the way their skin looked really pale in some parts and very tan or oily/dirty in others and tried to replicate that effect on the figure with a sort of red-grayish green and a more yellow green. I imagine there being less callous spots that would be lighter and more "juicy" like when the skin is stretched it'll lighten up in those areas, kind of like when some plastic bends it gets lighter in those spots that are really stretched out. It's sort of an effect or look that produces a sensation that I wanted to portray and think looks cool and not much more. 

Here's about where I had gotten before I lost my file to the dark lords of psd corruption. Lots of rendering and minute fiddling, pulling and pushing forms and moving around muscles underneath the skin. Reference is a lifesaver when it comes to anatomy, or anything really, but especially anatomy because of how complex it is and how easy it is for people (who all have bodies) to recognize when something is off. I remember this is where I really felt like I was going somewhere with the painting and it had some potential. 

Got the rest of the human parts nailed down. I almost went fully Egyptian with his undergarments but decided against it. I found out the name for this type of clothing though, "shendyt" if you ever need to know that. Lots of challenging but enjoyable intricacies worked out here. If I could give a tip on picking color it would be to learn how to really feel it out. If you try to do this with only your intellect and calculate every aspect of surface color and lighting and reflection you mostly end up getting in your own way (not that this isn't important). If you can grab a color that feels ok and run with it you're better off than being indecisive and worrying that the color isn't perfectly accurate.  Make a choice and observe the result. What happens when you lay that color next to the others, how does it feel deep down in your gut and heart. What does it need more of? It's like tasting pudding, when you put it on your tongue and smack it around in your mouth how does it taste? What would make it taste more like the most perfect pudding you can imagine? You also have to have good taste to make things that taste good. 

Focused heavily on the wings and tree here. I took a big leap with the dappled lighting and just went for it. I knew it would be really hard to make it look realistic and it kind of became abstracted, but I learned a lot. After having finished it I've seen multiple images that would have been much better reference for the dappled lighting than what I used, but such is life. In place of accurate lighting effects I had fun making cool shapes and swirlies. I tried to create an effect similar to some sort of vectoring of light blobs where their outer edge sort of merges with the nearby blobs, similar to when you squint your eyes and look at lights out of focus. On the upper/outer edges of the wings I tried to pull of the effect of something being in shadow on a sunny day and heavily reflecting the blue of the sky. Since that surface isn't being blown out by sunlight you can really see other ambient light sources reflecting on it. 

I darkened the shindyt loin cloth by plopping a multiply layer over it and touching it up a bit. I though the lightness of the previous color was attracting a little too much attention and contrast. But when I look at it now I almost like it better.

I also tried to get down some of the awesome patterning on eucalyptus trees that I see here around town. They're some of the coolest looking trees in my opinion and really wanted to capture that dramatic contrast of values and colors they have on them along with the smooth swirly lumps. This tree was extremely difficult and I redid it at least once. I still don't think I pulled off the look I was going for with it but I like it in it's own right. 

Here's the bottom before and after the redo. I really wanted to pull off a section of surface that's lit evenly but has two different values/surface materials and have it look cohesive. This was a pain but I'm starting to come around to the idea of doing stuff over even if it's really close to what you want or it feels like too much work. It almost always comes out better.

I also had a friend help out and do a paintover to try and tie up the values which explains the darkened corner on the ground. Much more moody and dramatic. He also taught me this technique to strategically adjust the levels with brush strokes using a mask.

Create a levels adjustment layer. Depending on how you want to adjust the levels (lights, darks or midtones) move the sliders around to a spot you like, and this is the awesome part is it doesn't have to affect the whole image, so you can pick an area you want to change the levels of, adjust accordingly, and target that spot. To do this click on the blank white square (red X) and paint bucket it fully black, then go back to the levels adjustments (click on the layer name or graph square) and start painting or lassoing in white in the spot that you wanted changed. This helps a TON.

More progress! I started experiment with texture in the background by making some brushes and messing with them. I was really inspired by the way Craig Mullins can pull off seemingly intricate detail with abstract shapes and textures and wanted to try something similar. Maybe next time lol. I was also inspired by Dean Cornwell and looking at his work for the texture on the ground, trying to make nice big juicy blobs of paint that almost look like clumps of mud or stones. I also really had fun with trying to make a compelling pattern that was still in perspective. For the background I was looking at the Walter Everett painting above a lot, trying to get a beautiful harmony of really light values and colors, having forms be defined with only hue and not much value change at all. It's really hard to pull off. 

I went nuts on the background. I replaced the original idea of a golden glittering canyon with a more earthy and gradient filled landscape. I also tweaked the values much brighter, which I think I darkened back down later. I was heavily inspired by Whit Brachna and had at least one of his paintings open the entire time I was working on the background. 

These are some of my all time favorite paintings. Just look at them, gotdang. 

3D mace! Mostly inspired by spiky black metal aesthetic. I made a very rough (but that's really all I needed) model of the mace in Cinema 4D. The most tedious part was obviously all the spikes. There's probably a way you could pull them out of the sphere in 2 seconds but I'm not versed enough to avoid tediously scooting each individual spike one at a time. I then took it into ZBrush and just scrubbed it over with a cool texture brush that gave it a bunch of amazing details that you can't even see in the painting. I tried to set up a scenario in C4D that was as close to the painting as I could muster to get the lighting right. I copied a bunch of disc tubes to try and replicate leaves and branches. Since the figures hand, and most of his upper body was cast in shadow I tried to strategically place some "leaves" over the top half of the mace. 

I messed with a bunch of different surface materials and render settings and ended up going with the shiniest one, heh. 

Here it is before and after being painted on, very minute adjustments. 

I'd say the rest is pretty straightforward and can't really think of any extraordinary advice except maybe doing more quick studies of your weak spots. I'm realizing I could get a lot of benefit from doing a higher quantity of less elaborate stuff to really improve more. 

  I really hoped this helped and if there's anything you'd like me to elaborate on or that you felt was left out please don't hesitate to ask!

Here's some meaty juice for you. I made a 2000px tall resolution gif of all the process images which is included in the .zip, containing over 30 of the aforementioned 2000px res process pics, some full resolution (8000px) crops of the final image, and a few other random in progress shots. And finally here's the full resolution (8000px) final .jpg, the final .psd file (2000px), and my brush presets. Enjoy!

I'm not sure how to export your presets as new brushes and you may already need the .abr file for the presets to work, so if you have any tips on that let me know. Most of the brushes I use are straight from other sets or slightly tweaked and saved as a preset. 

Anyway, I think this will conclude this massive post. I truly hope it's helpful, or at the very least mildly interesting. Thanks for reading!

[preoccupiedpens]

Dream Hunters Chapter 1: A Boy Named Daisuke

DAISUKE HAS ALWAYS BEEN DIFFERENT.

           Despite being an elf, his ears are way shorter. Instead of greenish irises, he has got a pair of dark brown eyes. Elves usually have swirly patterns on their pale skin, like crawling roots, that glows brightly when using their power to create and manipulate plants. But Daisuke, his is closer to light brown and lacks the swirly patterns that glows even though he also have the plant power. He looked like any other baby elf when he was an infant, but these uniqueness slowly appeared as he grow, and became more apparent now that he is 11 years old.

           Thanks to his unique appearance, there has never been a single day that Daisuke did not got bullied by his peers. It happens inside and out of the Yora Academy, the school he attends to for the future Seekers and Elven Corps. He may have short pointy ears and plant powers, but he still somewhat resembled another race, a race that the elves truly despise --- the humans.

           Elves and humans have a long history --- a bitter history that is. The elves, being one of the oldest sentient creatures that appeared in the whole Laniagaea, has witnessed the ever evolving humans. They have seen humanity grow and survive the harsh world by relying only on instincts, until humanity became highly intelligent. At one point, the humans and elves, together with the dwarves and orcs, became allies during the First War against the beings known as Ishvaras. They have ultimately won the war at a steep cost, but soon followed the inevitable: the War for Power. They fought among themselves, with humans and elves clashing with one another more often. As time goes on, the elves grew weaker due to an unforeseen event. Almost losing their immortality. Any elves outside their domain, Maria Island, were caught and enslaved. Such exotic creatures are waste for human nobles to kill. They are highly discriminated by the humans all over the world. And their sacred treasures, stolen by the treasure hunters.

           Maybe Daisuke’s unique appearance was because he was never been born in the first place, most elves would have thought. His appearance is already strange enough for them, but things got a little bit more complicated for them when they were told by the Elven Council on how Daisuke appeared on the island.

 It was a bright sunny day eleven years ago. Sequovas, one of the councils of Maria Island, and his wife Pinelia, were simply enjoying the sunlight near the North River, like having a picnic, when they saw a pinkish floating thing on the river. The North River has a part where it becomes too shallow and rocky. That is the farthest the pinkish floating thing got washed to.

           Pinelia went to fetch it. She soon realized that it was a particularly huge fruit. “Sequovas! Look at this!”

           Sequovas went running and was astounded.

           “This is the sacred fruit from the Sacred Tree, isn’t it?” Pinelia was holding the fruit, showing it to Sequovas. It was shaped like an elongated acorn, or peach; it is round-shaped at one end becoming pointier at the other. It was quite heavy, she thought.

           “I have never seen it up close, but yes, this is the sacred fruit.” Sequovas confirmed while still having a shock look on his face.

           They decided to return to the village immediately. For Pinelia’s convenience, Sequovas offered to carry the fruit. They thought that the Elven Council should know that the sacred fruit has finally fallen from the Sacred Tree after a hundred years. However, the fruit never reached the village. As soon as the sacred fruit was held by Sequovas, it started to glow, so bright that it was blinding. The couple shut their eyes because of the brightness, with Sequovas still carrying the fruit. After a few moments, they heard a cry. Sequovas and Pinelia slowly opened their eyes and what they saw was an absolute mystery to them. Sequovas was now holding a baby boy wrapped around the skin of the sacred fruit.

           They went back as fast as they could to reach the village. Sequovas was carefully carrying the baby as they were running towards the Council House.

           The Council House serves as the head office of the councils and the village’s main building for the Seekers and Elven Corps. It is just below the Sacred Tree, an enormous tree at the center of the island, and in front of the Shrine of Maria. The councils are the leaders of the Yoran elves. They are the ones that decides on the laws that will be implemented on Maria Island where the Yora village is located.

           Pinelia explained to the councils on what took place earlier. Sequovas showed them the baby and what remains of the sacred fruit. True to their words, the sacred fruit was gone from the Sacred Tree when they went outside and tried to look for it, and they could feel a faint mystical energy from the remains of the fruit similar to that of the Sacred Tree. There were no signs that the fruit could have been stolen as well, which is amusing, considering it has only been a week since the last attempt of treasure hunters to enter the island. It was even a miracle that the fruit and the baby survived the drop and managed to get washed away to the North River.

           “We have no choice then,” said Mahogry, one of the eldest council and is considered to be the wisest. “The boy has to stay on the island as per our law. Sequovas, will you take care of him?”

           Sequovas gazed at his wife, still out of words.

           “I agree,” Said Grumple, one of the two female councils. “If this boy came from the Sacred Tree, then the more that we must take care of him. He must be a gift.”

           “How about the others, are there any objections?” Asked Mahogry to the other councils.

           Three other councils, Ananais, Orchilles, and Volcadon, had no objections. They only wished for the boy to grow well. However, one member voiced out his doubt.

           “This boy, I do not have a good feeling about him,” said Durant to the councils. “I only sense trouble coming from this kid.”

           The other councils know that there is no disrespect to Durant’s words. He is, after all, the most respected elven warrior in Yora, only next to the legendary maiden warrior named Maria. The other councils can also sense this faint power Durant is speaking of that is coming from the boy, a power that is familiar, yet something different.

           Sequovas finally spoke, “I understand, Durant. That is why we will make sure that this boy will be raised properly.” he assured the councils.

           And with that, the meeting was adjourned and the baby was taken by Pinelia to their home. The councils took care on how to address to the public the appearance of the baby.

           Pinelia was so glad on the decision of the council. It’s been nearly twenty years since Sequovas and Pinelia were married and still could not have a child of their own. They have been trying, but they could just not conceive. That is why Pinelia was so pleased, and they treated the boy as if it is their own child. Eventually, Pinelia and Sequovas agreed to name the boy Daisuke.

 Daisuke grew up fine since then. He grew up smart and healthy. But thanks to being bullied pretty much every day, he decided to stay at home or frequently visit the shrine of Maria.

           “Back home so soon again?” Pinelia greeted Daisuke as he got home from the academy.

           “Umm, there’s really nothing much to do after school anyway, mom.” Daisuke answered as he tried to go straight to his room.

           “Hold it right there, young man.” Pinelia caught Daisuke. “You are going outside and play. That’s what kids do.”

           “But I am not like them.”

           “Yes you are. You are every inch an elf just like everybody else.”

           “They’re calling me names. And that I am a monster.”

           “That’s silly. How can a cute boy be a monster?”

           Daisuke laughed and resigned to her mother. He knew how persuasive Pinelia can be. He decided to go out after changing clothes. Luckily, he just know a place to go. South of the Council House is the shrine of Maria. This is his favorite spot to spend his time whenever his parents would force him to play outside. Pinelia would always tell him stories about how she and Sequovas found him (although he never believes it), take him to the shrine to show gratitude to the Sacred Tree, and tell him stories about the most beautiful elf that existed, the maiden warrior Maria, the Champion of the Yoran Elves. Daisuke was amazed that such person could have existed; a beautiful war maiden that fought and sacrificed her own life to protect her people. He was told that a wooden statue was made to honor her, but it was stolen by human treasure hunters who believes that the statue was the key on finding the lost Golden Seed, a magical seed that could grant immortality to anyone or anything.

           On his way, a group of elven kids saw him and decided to make fun of him. They were his classmates back at the Yora Academy.

           “Hey guys look! It’s the freak!” said a chubby elf laughingly.

           “You don’t belong here, short-ears!” said another elf with coffee beans on her braided hair.

           Other elves were just laughing, spectating on the kids as they bully Daisuke. Other left as they do not want to be in trouble.

Daisuke tried to just ignore them and go on his way, but another elven kid bumped him. He fell down to the ground and was stepped on his chest.

           Daisuke grunted. “What do you want, Capsian?”

           “You really should know your place, Daisuke.” said the elf named Capsian.

           Capsian raised his right arm. It suddenly glowed, then a plant sprouted. The plant continued to grow until it formed some kind of blade with red peppers on it. Cayenne peppers, Daisuke thought.

           “That’s enough!” the words came from an adult elf.

           The elven kids quickly scattered, while the spectating elves went on their way. The adult elf that stopped Capsian and his gang helped Daisuke to get up.

           “Thank you…uhh” Daisuke stared at the adult elf.

           “The name’s Rango.”

           “Thank you, Sir Rango.” Daisuke was now shaking off the dirt in his cloth.

           “So, you must be that elf. The talk of the town.” Rango said intriguingly. “Where are you heading kid?”

           Daisuke and Rango went to the shrine together. That day was the most peaceful day Daisuke has ever experienced outside his home. He only got bullied once. Now that’s a record.

           He would then just sit on the floor of the shrine all day, looking at the old portrait of Maria. He wished he could have met the elven champion. That’s when he thought that maybe if he became a Seeker, he will be able to find the stolen statue and bring it back to this shrine.

           “Umm, I have never seen you before, Sir Rango.” Daisuke uttered.

           Rango sat down with Daisuke. “That actually makes sense. It’s my first time seeing you as well. You see, I’m a Seeker and just came back.”

           Daisuke looked at Rango with amazement.

           Daisuke was taught by his father that in order to leave the island, an elf has to become a Seeker. To protect the elven race, the elves may not leave the island unless they pass the Seeker Trials. And when they do pass the trials, they are given the mission to search for the stolen treasures of Maria Island. Other missions include returning to the island with foreign objects and possibly making a diplomatic relationship with other countries. Despite most countries being inhabited by humans, the world has improved since then albeit just a little. They even now have human allies on mainland Aria Continent.

           “That’s so cool! So you must have been all around the world!”

           “Hahaha! Sorry, but I have only been in Aria. That’s where my assignment was.”

           “I like to become a Seeker too one day.”

           “Really? And where will you go if you become a Seeker?

           Daisuke’s eyes gazed upon the portrait of Maria. “I’m gonna look for the wooden statue of Maria and bring it back here.”

           Rango was a little bit surprised on how Daisuke spoke those words. He felt Daisuke’s sincerity and determination. “Hmmm. Well I’m sure you’ll be a great Seeker one day.”

           The two of them spent time together at the shrine. Rango told Daisuke his adventures in Aria continent, how he ment different races, fought enemies, learned different cultures, tasted exotic foods. Daisuke cannot help but to be amazed on what the world has to offer.

It could have been just another day at the shrine for Daisuke. For a change though, someone was accompanying him. But alas, a group of treasure hunters just had to invade the island and try to steal what treasure remains on the village.

 The treasure hunters that attacked the island are known as the Fishbone Hunters, a notorious treasure hunters that operates on the lands and seas of Aria Continent. They are led by a man known as Captain Sharksfin. Nobody knows his real name. He is only known as Sharksfin because of the unique sword he uses that is made up of sharks’ fins.

           Sharksfin was once a pirate. But his crew was annihilated by the United Alliance, an alliance of countries that are against treasure hunters. After losing most of his crew, he resorted in kidnapping men and children, and turned them to treasure hunters. The youngest of his crew was a little boy named Cobalt. He was recently kidnapped by Sharksfin on a certain slum country of Aria continent. Cobalt was afraid, and does not like fighting. And so he was trained to be part of Sharksfin’s elite group. He was taught to move fast and avoid any confrontation that could stop him from his task.

           “Gyahahahaha!! More! More! Bombard those elves more!” Sharksfin ordered from his ship.

           He has got three ships which once a part of his six-ship fleet. Now down to three, he simply couldn’t afford to lose them, so he always attack from the distance with the cannons. The cannons were strong enough to reach the village and destroy houses. The councils ordered a mass evacuation near the Sacred Tree.

Daisuke stayed inside the shrine as instructed to him by Rango, who went to the warrior elves and help them get organized. Durant led them to the hills that separates beach and the village. There they waited for the treasure hunters.

           Back at the main ship of the Fishbone hunters, Sharksfin started to order a guy with a weird face.

“Oy! Squidface! Get those kids ready!”

           “Aye sire!” Squidface went down the ship to see five kids, one of them was Cobalt. He showed them a map which resembled the village of Yora. “This is where the sacred treasures are. Take what you can and come back fast. Avoid the elves at all cost. Sharksfin will deal with them.”

           As soon as Sharksfin saw the elves on the hills of the island near the beach, Sharksfin decided to start his ground assault. “Time for us to get some elves, boys!”

           His crew cheered. Smaller boats went to the shores of the island. As they landed, the elves immediately attacked. The elves used their plant powers against the hunters. Those who have never seen the elves in action were easily defeated. But those who have already seen the elven power managed to fight on par, like Sharksfin.

           Durant and Sharksfin clashed. “You will not take anything from our land!”

           Using his power, he produced a tree branch from his arms, and at the end grew a large durian fruit. He swung his durian fruit like a mace against Sharksfin who was parrying his attack using a unique sword.

           “We’ll see about that!” Sharksfin equipped his sharks’ fins blade and engaged Durant.

           While the fighting was happening on the beach, Squidface and the five children have already managed to sneak into the village without being noticed. They did not waste any time and went straight to shrine of Maria. Since the elven warriors thought that it was only a frontal assault, most of them went to the beach.

           Aside from Durant, Ananais and Sequovas also went to fight. The remaining elves were evacuated to the Sacred Tree. The village was still being hit by the cannonballs from the ships of Sharksfin and only a handful of elves could use their power to shield the village from the bombardment.

           “Finally, were here.” said one of the young hunters.

           “Calix, wait. Someone’s there.” Another kid said.

           Daisuke was still inside the shrine. He was crying, scared from the explosions caused by the cannons.

           “Gehehehehe, well look at that. Take him as well. He could be sold for a bag of lania.” Squidface ordered.

           Calix approached Daisuke. “You’re coming with me.”

           “No!” Daisuke resisted and bit Calix’s arm. Calix swatted him and he fell down.  

           Calix went to him, kicked and punched him. Daisuke’s face is now bleeding and blue. Cobalt, the youngest member of the group, tried to stop Calix.

           “P-please! That’s enough. He could no longer resist.”

Calix kicked Cobalt as well. “Stay out of my way, twerp!” He then proceed to tie Daisuke and drag him back to Sharksfin. Still conscious though, Daisuke can see that the man called Squidface was taking down the portrait of Maria. He tried to say some words, but he could not due to the pain and grogginess.

           But when the portrait was taken down completely and was instead destroyed by Squidface for being useless to them, anger built up on Daisuke. He mustered his strength and screamed. “NOOOOOOO!!”

           Everything happened so quickly. Calix and the other kids were suddenly blown away by an unknown force released by Daisuke. Squidface managed to stand his ground and saw Daisuke, freed from his entanglement. He was horrified when he saw that the bruised face of Daisuke was quickly restoring. Daisuke’s eyes started to glow bright green. His skin is turning ash gray and covered with black hexagonal patterns. Squidface does not know what was happening.

           Trees started to grow inside and out of the shrine. The roof of the shrine eventually got torn off because of those trees. Variety of bushed and shrubs grew on the shrine’s wall. There’s no way out for Squidface and his crew now. He tried to attack Daisuke, hoping that the growing plants would stop if Daisukeis killed. As he sheathed his sword though, Daisuke’s gaze turned to him. He tried to charge Daisuke, but vines wrapped all around his right leg. Daisuke extended his arms towards Squidface. He made a grasping gesture with his hand and the vines constricted, crushing Squidface’s right leg.

           “Kyaaaaaaah!” he howled in pain after every bone in his right leg was crushed.

            After breaking Squidface’s leg with constricting vines, Daisuke turned to the other kids. A small tree grew from Daisuke’s right arm until it became a massive wooden arm. Out of fear, the kids could not do anything but scream as Daisuke beat them with his wooden arm.

            Daisuke then looked around. He saw the kid named Cobalt, trembling in fear. As he approach Cobalt, Cobalt lost consciousness.

 The force that Daisuke released was made of mana, a mystical energy that is present in all living organisms. Daisuke had no control on the mana that he released, which is why it was felt all over the island, and maybe even out of it. It was felt by everyone on the island, enough to stop the clash at the beach and induce fear to the civilians. Without hesitation, Sharksfin and his crew retreated, knowing that that level of mana is not worth any treasure and rather leave in one piece. The elven warriors immediately went back to the village. Durant and Sequovas ordered the elven warriors to keep the citizens safe from whatever the source of the abnormally strong mana. Rango, on the other hand, was stunned when he felt the mana coming from the shrine.

           They were all surprised when they reached the area near the shrine. It is as if a forest has emerged. It was no mistaking it, Sequovas and Durant thought. Even Rango has an idea on what’s happening.

           “Everyone, calmly go to the evacuation area. Take everyone to the South Harbor and leave the island.” Durant ordered.

           Many veteran elves protested. They do not want to leave the councils behind to fight whatever the source of the strong mana that is constantly being released. However, Sequovas urged them to leave, for the safety of majority.

As soon as most of the elves left for the harbor, Grumple, Orchilles, Volcadon, and Mahogry met with the other councils.

           “The day we all feared has arrived,” said Durant. “We stop it right here, right now. Do you object, Sequovas?”

           “What has to be done, has to be done. I have no objection to that.” Sequovas answered.

           Trees that were blocking the entrance of the shrine suddenly exploded, filling the area with dust and smoke. A creature slowly walked out. When the councils saw the silhouette, they released their own mana and used their powers.

           Sequovas created six floating green orbs, the famous sequoia bombs. Durant used his power to produce a sphere of mana all over him, which resembles a translucent durian fruit. Grumple summoned a golem resembling a tree with apple fruits all over it. Ananais’ arms turned into a cannon-like thing made of pineapple crowns with a glowing golden pineapple as ammunition. Orchilles summoned several gigantic orchids that looked like serpents. Volcadon surrounded himself with floating avocado seeds. Mahogry had a bamboo spear with emerald tip, and a wing-like thing sprouted on his back, which looks like mahogany seeds.

           As the smoke from the explosion subsided, they saw Daisuke, carrying a boy. He fell down to his knee and dropped the boy. Nonetheless, Durant tried to attack, but Sequovas used his power to block Durant’s path. He threw the green orbs in front of Durant and it exploded. From the explosion, giant sequoia trees grew.

           “SEQUOVAS!!” Durant screamed.

           “What are you doing, Sequovas?” Mahogry asked.

           “I believe there is no longer a threat.” Sequovas calmly answered. He canceled his power and went to Durant. “I apologize. I will accept any punishment, but let my son live for now.”

           The other councils canceled their powers as well. Some of them went to the harbor to meet with the people. Ananais and Grumple stayed behind with Sequovas and Durant.

           “You are all out of your mind!” said Durant said, then left.

           Sequovas went to Daisuke, who is now unconscious. He does not know who was the kid Daisuke was carrying (which turned out to be Cobalt) or why he was even carrying him. The other two councils does not know who the kid was as well. But seeing that Daisuke was carrying him, they decided to tend to the kid’s wounds. There was no sign that Daisuke was beaten up however. There was also no sign of the hexagonal pattern that appeared on his skin, which already reverted to brown from ash gray.

           Daisuke and Cobalt were then taken to the medical center where they rested for three more days