#after seeing some concept art for that though I got some pretty good ideas for Doc :3

[felassan]

David Gaider on Flemeth, under a cut for length:

"I have a type. I admit it. There are certain wells I can return to repeatedly and always find something new to explore. One of them is older female characters. Mike used to rib me about it. Consider Wynne. Meredith. Genevieve. And, of course, the biggie: Flemeth. Why are they a type? I... don't know, honestly. I guess I have a feeling that older men fade, they strive to regain their youth or establish a legacy and we've seen that story a thousand times, but older women? They become free to become something new. I guess I see so many possibilities in that. I had a conception of who Flemeth was, and why, right from the very start. Her creation went hand in hand with Morrigan, as a being whose thirst for retribution hundreds of years ago attracted an entity (slight confession: I didn't know Mythal specifically, at the time, "an elven god" was enough). I also knew where Morrigan was right and very wrong about her. Misconceptions of the truth are built into DA's foundation, and they were fundamental to this mother-daughter relationship I was building. Like many seeds I'd put in the world, however, I had no idea whether I'd ever get to explore it. Knowing that she was a character of possible future importance, if not a major player in DAO, I wasn't much surprised when she was one of the first cuts the art team made in terms of getting a unique appearance. Thus the "batty old woman" players met in DAO. Not as hard a cut as the Qunari, though."

"Going into DA2, I wanted both Morrigan and Flemeth, but we could only have one. So I picked Flemeth. This was the game where she really got to come into her own. I remember the art team coming and asking if it was OK if she got a new model, as it'd be a retcon of sorts. I didn't care. I wanted it. I honestly don't remember whether Kate Mulgrew was cast before or after Claudia. After, I think? All I recall is that Cab came into my office one day and asked if Kate might be a good fit. Asked me, the dyed-in-the-wool Trekkie who had stuck with Voyager even through the admittedly lean years? The squeal I made was un-manly. Cab took that as a "yes". 😅 I didn't get to talk to Kate until DA2, however. Schedules being what they were, we had a tight window to record Flemeth... so I had to write all her scenes before almost anything else in DA2 was written, before I even had a team! Ack! It was OK, though, for the most part. I knew where I wanted to take her, and a big part of it was going to explain her transition - to set her up for the future. So I whipped up a script in, like, two days and off we went. Kate was a marvel in the booth. She adored Flemeth and you could really tell. I didn't get to meet Kate in person, however, until DAI. This came pretty late in its development, compared to when we recorded her for DA2, and we flew down to Virginia (to accommodate her schedule - she was writing her memoir at the time, I think) for a single session. It was going to be *tight*."

"I was a mess. I was finally going to meet Captain Janeway... and yes yes, I know she's also more than that. But come ON. When we sat down, I figured I'd have to talk her through the character all over again. It'd been years since that one session at the start of DA2, right? And even more since DAO. But, no. Kate remembered Flemeth perfectly. I remember sitting there as she told me how much she loved the character, how rare it was to get one with so much texture and possibility. She called out my writing - my writing! - and waxed poetic about how she viewed Flemeth's arc. I... I was floored. 🫠 Then we began recording. One issue that quickly reared its head was how Caroline had to speed through the lines if we hoped to finish. Kate was a trooper, and most takes she'd get it in one (which is rare), but I was alarmed because we weren't giving Kate time to read the VO comments on each line. I brought it up, as there were some lines (so much sarcasm) that required nuance - Kate was getting them, oddly, but I was worried. "Oh, it's fine," Kate said. "I read the comments as we go." "How could you? We're going so fast!" "I'm a speed reader." Oh. OK, then. That certainly explained it. 😁 We got to the confrontation scene with Morrigan and she nailed it. Over and over. More than once, Caroline would make a call and, before I could even interject and say "no, Kate had it right, actually" Kate would explain exactly why she did it that way and why it worked for Flemeth. I was in love. She did the "I will see her avenged!" section all in one go. I got chills. Then we got to the final scene. You know the one. With Solas. It was this beautiful moment. She took it somewhere quiet and sad... and when she got to that last line, we all felt it: Flemeth was dead. Everyone was in tears. I suppose I could talk more about the process. How she started off aligned with Morrigan's original Delirium inspiration, but I didn't pull back her loopy way of talking as much (bet you wondered). I still don't know why it was so easy to slip into her voice, but I'm grateful I got the chance. ❤️"

[source thread]

[sibillascribbles08]

Big Ol' Rottmnt Fic Rec List

Hi, I've needed to do this for a while, so here's a big bundle of fic recs from me !

I've broken it down between one shots, chaptered fics, and series. I'll try to mention what the character focus is along with a brief summary and some personal thoughts. If you need more details I encourage you to check the fics summary and tags for yourself! I will only include an author's tumblr account if it's easy for me to find haha

One Shots

Mama's Boy - ashtreelane: Technically two chapters but it feels like a one shot. Casey Jr. angst, involving him finding out that maybe you can fix kraang infections and that he failed to save his mother. I love when people really pile the grief on Junior after all the fighting is over and the fic does it so well.

Forget-Me-Nots - GibbousLunation (AKA @klunkcat ): Hi, oh my god??? Leo and Mikey centric angst, in which saving Leo from the prison dimension has an insane ripple effect. Mikey dying? Nah he's going to start getting erased from every timeline and Leo slowly watches it happen (and refuses to do nothing about it). I utterly adore how this fic handles this concept. You see almost all of it from Leo's POV, noticing the little changes but writing them off as memory failures, because of how subtle some of it is.

Fight or Flight - pickledcarrotsandradish: Leo centric, post movie, Leo keeps waiting for his family to start lecturing him about all the dumb stuff he did during the invasion, and they aren't, so it's getting to him. A very neat narrative about how self loathing can warp our perception of how others see us. A++++

The Friend Zone Sounds Pretty Good, Actually - Cryptvokeeper: Eating this, eating this. You probably already know I love aroace Leo and this fic is an INCREDIBLE exploration of that. Even as just an ace person it hit SO many notes where I was just like "Oh god... I've been there buddy". And as a bonus the dynamic between Leo and Yuichi is v sweet. Love this a lot I've read it like five times.

Pink in The Night - unnamedmystery: Incredible April/Sunita fic. Like seriously this author wrote April's crush so well I think I was starting to fall in love with Sunita. Just incredibly cute all the way through, and great April writing, adore it.

《 until then, matriarch 》 - chiangyorange: HI OH MY GOD A nice chunky oneshot about Karai, about her being a leader, and it's phenomenal. It hits and hits and does not miss, really going in depth about her emotions involving her father turning into something wicked and having to destroy him, and how it ruins all of her good memories.

The Kindness of Collision - SpoonerizedSwiftness (AKA @splickedylit ): Hi I still remember the fic and the art suddenly showing up in the tag and then I was thinking about it for the next like five weeks aslkdjf A very interesting idea that when the turtles reach the age they were in the doomed timeline before things got reset, all the memories of their other life more or less hit them like a train. All of them have to comb through that information and it's a wonderful and emotional ride.

Chaptered Fics

Hamartia - Punable (in progress): Hi this is one of my all time favorite rise fics, mainly because in a way, it helped me come to terms with my chronic pain. It's Donnie centric and smack full of angst in all the best ways. Shorthand summary, an explosion in Donnie's lab almost takes him out (or kind of DOES take him out) and the recovery is not only long and agonizing, it may only go so far, and Donnie doesn't cope well with that.

Kick It Up a Notch - Brokenpitchpipe (completed): Hi this is my other all time fav rise fic. Donnie centric separated AU in which Donnie is raised by Draxum. My love for it stems a lot from the characterization of Donnie though, and even Draxum in this case. Not to mention that in a lot of cases it matches the vibes of the show. And in spite of all the humor, there's a few really gut wrenching moments. 10/10 will re-read.

Lightning in Our Fingertips Today - DaFlangsLairde (AKA @daflangstlairde-art) (completed): Leo and Donnie centric, mostly angst, with body swapping between the twins which results in Donnie finding out that Leo's ninpo hurts him. Love love love the character writing in this, and also how the swap is written.

Under Pressure - ParvumAutomaton (completed): Not sure this is a single character focused fic, but basically April goes cave diving and is out for a while, and the turtles get worried and go looking for her. This might be personal bias but as someone who gets really into caving stories, this fic hits the spot for so many reasons. A really great emotional ride, and if you wanna see April go through it then I super recommend it.

Nothing Haunts Us (like the things we don't say) - mad_and_thick_as_theives (completed): A lot of great fics by this author btw, but this one personally stood out to me. It starts of silly and light only to sweep in with the emotional weight. Turtles are all cursed with a truth spell, basically, but I think my favorite bit is who gets out of it first (and why). V sweet.

Creation of a Philospher's Stone - IgnisCanis (completed): Whoooo boy, if you want some Draxum centric character exploration this is a great one. It really fleshes him out as a morally grey character and also does a fantastic job at writing Mikey when he finds out.

The Ol Switcheroo - radishhqueen (AKA @radishhqueen) (completed): Haha not going to lie I have a few by this author (so I'll only tag them once) but MAN. Hands down my favorite take on future leo coming to the past, and maybe I'm biased because I like when those fics actually explore Junior's character in the process buuuuut I love it. Junior's already struggling to adapt himself to the present, and after getting caught up in a foot clan spell which summons his sensei to the present too it really doesn't get any easier.

Vigilantism for Fun and Profit - radishhqueen (completed): The Cassandra Jones fic ever. Zero contest. If you're uncertain about writing Cassandra because she had so little development in the show I encourage you to read this for inspiration (I know it inspired me a lot). It does such a great deep dive into her character post show and a bit of the movie too. Honestly anytime radishh has a Cassandra fic I am clicking.

Tried to Grow Up Good - Sroloc_Elbisivni (AKA @sroloc--elbisivni )(completed): The Casey Jr. fic ever. CRAZY in love with this post movie take on him. It's messy, it's fun, it's so so real and you get a good chunk of Casey Sr. in here too. Adore it.

Hold On (Or Three Times Donatello's Soft Shell Almost Killed Him, and One Time it Saved His Life) - dunk_on_em (AKA @spockazilla )(completed): If you ever want a bit of angst involving Donnie's shell this is my go to. Every chapter has an emotional swing, even the positive ones. And shows something most people might see as a disadvantage as a good thing, actually.

Atlas, My Brother - swampcryptid (AKA @the-name-is-rizzotherat)(in progress): Get your Raph angst, specifically involving him always shielding his siblings, this time via a curse. My guy is already going through it and I think it'll get worse if a solution isn't found.

I've Got You Under My Skin - Cass_Phoenix (in progress): More Raph angst, and some Donnie, a truly chilling exploration of the possible consequences to connecting with the kraang. This fic constantly has me on the edge of my seat, and constantly stressing for Raph.

What We Leave Behind (How We Start Anew) - iam57311 (AKA @iam-57311)(in progress): Any Baronjitsu fans here? An alternate take on canon in which Draxum and Splinter co-parent the kids since they're first born (made?) Hilariously while I love the Baronjitsu content in here, I think some of my favorite parts are actually with the sisters, Big Mama, and Draxum's sister who is so so cool I love her.

Proof of Redemption - iam57311 (complete): Another one of theirs! A short and sweet lil close to canon fic about Draxum steadily gaining the trust and affection of the Hamatos, with each chapter focused on a different character. I love how they're all paced out from each other, really hits how some are much slower than others to trust Draxum hehe.

No Crime* Only Brooches - OllieTheScribe (AKA @olliethescribe) (in progress): Well I have to get THE HypnoWarren fic in here. Such a fun take on these characters, I love love love the backstory they built up for Warren too, plus the dynamic between these two and the turtles after (eventually) become friends haha.

Minor Interference - bambiraptorx (AKA @bambiraptorx) (in progress): What can I say? This fic is delightful. Between the hilarity of the turtles going with Draxum just to mess with him, the lore additions for yokai and the Hidden City, HoH Donnie, and their slowly building dynamic, always eager for a new chapter with this one.

Series

A Butterfly with a Mechanical Wing - Amethyst_Goldenwind (AKA @amethystgoldenwind ): Donnie centric series about being a non-verbal autistic. I'm always fond of non-verbal/mute explorations of characters, and so far I really like how, because his family has grown up with it, all of it is very normal for them. The various forms of communication are delightful. Excited to see further entries.

Analogous Hues - alwerakoo (AKA @alwerakoo): It's a separated AU with similar titling themes as my own, needed to check it out. The titles are just about all they have in common though! This AU focuses a lot on the turtles (Raph and Leo with Splinter and Donnie and Mikey with Draxum). I love how this explores not only the dynamics of the two groups and how different they are, but also the dynamics between each of the siblings, also how some magic sibling connections can influence that. Not to mention the different home life in more ways than one. If you're into separated AUs that really dig into the turtles dynamics try this one out !

[rxzennia]

rare critters

– tales of the voracity pathstrider

✎𓂃 a healthy dose of curiosity (ft. dr ratio) yall if i have to write another report i think i might kms sorry im 3 days late lol i was busy making concept art 

when dr ratio somehow acquired a few rare critters from herta space station, he thought of one person:

aventurine.

if he’s so bad at looking after himself, maybe he could take care of something else instead. and these cat cakes are pretty tame and adorable… seems just right for him.

ratio sent a text to let aventurine know he’s coming to drop off some souvenirs

said souvenirs being these critters

ratio has one on top of his head and two in one arm as he rings the bell

it’s sometime in the afternoon, and you’re not around

(you’re attending a meeting on aventurine’s behalf so he can have a longer lunch break)

(you do that pretty often, actually. that’s why your boss can have entire afternoons or evenings to himself)

nothing would’ve prepared ratio for what he sees when aventurine opens the door

one, no, two? no, three?? faceless serpents slithering around his feet

and one really huge one around his neck???

their maws, aeons, their maws. as stunned as ratio is, he’s also scared shitless

they remind him of a certain aeon and he isn’t sure if he liked the implications

though, that aeon has long since disappeared…

the very moment the serpents sniffed something in the air, they’re all right up in ratio’s face

the trash cakes are definitely scared shitless

they’re quivering and whimpering

ratio is trying so hard to hide his unease

“since when did you have pets, gambler?”

“oh, they’re my assistant’s – don’t bite, please.”

and these dangerous, dangerous noodles listened???

they backed off obediently while still scenting the air again and again

at least they’re not one hair away from ratio anymore?

wait, more importantly…

“you’re living with your assistant?” ratio can’t help but ask. “and… they brought their pets over?”

technically, the slithery creatures around the house aren’t your pets, they’re literally parts of you, but does aventurine want to get into the details? not particularly.

“doctor, it’d be heartless of me to tell them to leave their pets,” aventurine chuckled, “it’s a long story. are these…?”

“i thought pets would do you some good. seems like your assistant has the same idea.” ratio passes the three cakes over to him. “here – from the space station.”

aventurine tells the especially thick leviathan on his neck to get off so he could hold the trash cakes

more like patting its body a few times until it got the signal and slid off of him

the cakes like him!

once he’s passed the sniff test, the cakes are all over him

they do remind him of someone, with those yellow eyes and grey… trash can(?) like body…

he holds them carefully, because unlike your creatures, he needs to hold onto these little guys

else they’d fall

invites ratio in while he’s at it, and he sits down to properly examine them

ratio watches aventurine for a moment, until your serpents catch his attention

oh, he’s so unnerved by them, but also…

he’s so curious! his scholarly senses are telling him to seize the opportunity!

are they really the same creatures as the ones depicted in the scriptures for oroboros?

how did aventurine get his hands on them? or rather, how did you get your hands on them?

and why are they so, so… docile, if they are really what he thinks they are?

what have you done!? how did you get them to be your pets?

his academic interest in you might have just skyrocketed

he engages in a staring contest with a creature with no eyes

somehow, somehow he just knows it’s a staring contest

he’s debating between approaching or not

they look like they would snap his neck before he could even react

“don’t try it, doctor,” aventurine warns, reading ratio’s actions from a mile away, “they’ll probably bite.”

“huh…” ratio makes a sound of pure wonder as he stands still, staring at the few noodles slithering over each other and scenting the air around him. “how did you tame them, then?”

“i didn’t.” aventurine shrugs as he plays with the new critters in his arms. “just sit tight, my assistant should be back soon.”

does that mean you’re the one deciding who gets to touch your serpents and who doesn't???

meanwhile aventurine has taken to the cakes from the space station

they’re so delicate and adorable, with their huge eyes and how stretchy they are

such a contrast to your huge serpents

your serpents are curious about them too, it seems

they keep trying to slither up aventurine’s legs

he has to keep pushing them down, all the while their maws opened and closed

trying to get a feel for the taste of these critters

not trying to outright eat them, just trying to get a taste

ratio is itching to just… grab one of your noodles

he can’t

how devastating

just then, the door opens with a click

“i’m home, aven.” you enter and practically throws your shoes off. 

the sudden need to retain some semblance of formality in your home feels foreign to you now, but you’ve sensed someone else’s presence. it can��t be helped, even if the name aven feels odd on your tongue.

weird, aventurine usually runs out the moment he hears you

when you made your way to the living room, you see him and… some random guy?

said random guy looks like he’s into greek mythology?

is he like zeus or something

no, more like male athena or something

“oh, welcome back!” aventurine perks up as he lifts one of the cakes and shows it to you like a proud parent. “look at these little guys!”

your eyes never quite look away from the stranger, but you also dazedly take the critter into your arms. “this is…”

you immediately catch ratio’s eye – the way you carry yourself, the way the ends of your scarf seem to move on their own, and the way the few serpents find their way up your neck without so much as trying to touch the cake in your hands (even though they’ve been trying to taste it when it was in aventurine’s arms).

“veritas ratio.” he stands up before aventurine could introduce him and offers you a handshake. “you might know me as dr ratio of the intelligentsia guild.”

you stare at him without much of a reaction

his hand stays outstretched as he watches you expectantly

after a few seconds, you give his hand a firm shake and introduce yourself

you do know him, actually, you’ve read a few of his works

you quite liked his takes on philosophy and natural theology

he’s very insightful for a mortal

“can i help you?” you ask, because you don’t think ratio would bother talking to you if he hadn't been curious about something.

“your pets are most fascinating,” he gets straight to the point, “may i examine them?”

???

your pets?

the serpents? 

you look to aventurine, who just turns away like he didn’t tell ratio those are your pets

you pinch the bridge of your nose and exhales exasperatedly

then again, perhaps calling them your pets is the best course of action right now

because the other option is spilling the beans about yourself

yeah

so… nice save, aventurine

you set down the critter in your arms on a nearby table and turn to face the doctor

“here.” you pick up one of your leviathans and guide it over to ratio. “they might do… things around you, but they won’t hurt you.”

ratio tries not to flinch when the heavy leviathan slither up his arm and coil around his neck loosely, but he winces and backs away slightly anyway. “how are you so certain?” he watches the creature with so much wonder as it scents him, then lifts its head so he can stare at it properly. or the other way around; so it can stare at him properly. who knows.

a healthy dose of cynicism is always good

it’s not like you don’t understand where he’s coming from

you shrug, because you really have no better answer without outing yourself

“i have them trained.” you say, but at this point you’re just pulling shit out of your ass

aventurine immediately covers his mouth to hide a snort

you shoot him a quick glare

you run a hand along its smooth body to show ratio that yes, he can touch them

its maw opens a little wider and drools a little onto the carpet

ratio carefully puts his hand on top of its head

it turns its head on contact and nudges against his hand

trying to scent the thing touching it (aka ratio’s hand)

but it doesn’t do anything other than what appears to be purely harmless scenting

could this possibly be the subject of his next paper?

“don’t think about it, doctor.” you cut him off the moment you see the telltale glint of academic interest in his eyes. 

“i must disagree; they are of leviathan descent, are they not?” ratio asks, now caressing the big noodle with both hands and handling it with less hesitation than before, “this is of utmost significance; they might shed some light on the mystery of oroboros the voracity.”

you narrow your eyes at ratio

he doesn’t even try to prod around the subject, he just hits you in the face with it

as expected of such an erudite scholar, but still

(aventurine is watching the interaction with much interest while he plays with the cats)

(it’s like he’s enjoying the show)

(the remaining free serpents of yours has coiled up by his feet and fallen asleep)

(since they’ve realized aventurine doesn’t want them near the cakes)

you don’t want to bring too much attention to yourself, or your serpents

you don’t want things about oroboros to spread, either

in fact, you’re quite thankful to the enigmata and the ipc for heavily censoring them 

“with all due respect, i refuse.” you do not allow any room for disagreement. “you are prepared to uncover the truth. is the rest of the cosmos ready?”

that’s not all of your argument, but the one you determine would be enough to keep ratio from conducting and publishing research about leviathans for now. oh, right – you’re not against ratio’s curiosity. you simply don’t want that curiosity to spread far and wide.

ratio frowns, not expecting such a swift rejection from you, but you do have a point. he’s a little blinded by his excitement.

your rejection sounds a little personal, if aventurine may say so himself

to ratio, it is very much just you being overprotective of your pets

as all pet owners do

to be fair, it’s hard to say. ratio is a sharp man

you stare at him, and he stares at you

the leviathan hanging on his neck tilts its head in confusion

if ratio is anything, he’s persistent

especially when it comes to knowledge

he opens his mouth to try to convince you again

you beat him to it and raise a hand to stop him from talking. “you can examine them for as long as you do not make publications.”

ratio is taken aback, his brows furrowing as you give him permission for further interaction with these descendants of ancient leviathans. this is your first meeting, so why –

in fact, aventurine is wondering the same thing

like, why are you getting along with the doctor so well when you’ve only met today

he’s not jealous or anything, he just has a huge question mark on your reactions

you’re usually very, very guarded against people who ask questions

especially about your scarf

but then ratio did see your serpents slithering around

perhaps you see no way of weaselling your way out of this?

anyway

if we’re being honest, ratio also has a huge question mark on your reactions

“i am a fan of your philosophical works,” you say, guiding your serpent back around you, “hence i am willing to satisfy your curiosity… provided you agree to my terms. think of it as an invitation.”

ratio takes a moment to mull over your words. to think that someone under the ipc has read multiple of his works, and has enjoyed them… is that why you are willing to compromise? but, well… you give him a feeling of a learned person. perhaps he will enjoy debating you.

“very well, that is good enough.” he nods, even if he still feels just a little bit disappointed, he’s anticipating a good back-and-forth with you already. “in that case…”

“i will let you know when i am free.” you sit down next to aventurine and let the critters on his lap crawl over to you and knead your thigh with their little paws. “and, doctor?”

it’s apparent to you that ratio has the same thought as you did when you decided to let your serpents drop their disguises at home. you glance towards aventurine next to you, then back at the doctor.

“thanks for the critters.”

[surplekit]

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪. Quiet observations. ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪.

Synopsis: You befriend the quiet, nerdy boy in your class and it leads to something more.

Pairing: Izuku Midoriya x black fem!reader

Genre: fluff at the begining, smut towards the end

a/n: Thank you to this anon for this ask. Not only did you give me a great idea, but you gave me a new crush 😻 I hope this is up to your standards and I apologize if it’s not what you were looking for 🙏🏾

Izuku Midoriya.

That quiet, green haired, freckle-faced boy that was in a few of your classes. He usually kept to himself, sitting in the back of the class scribbling down notes or little doodles in his notebook. He’s not very known around, and those that are familiar with him aren’t necessarily fond of his presence.

The boys often made fun of him and his obsession with heroes. And of course, he was incredibly awkward with the girls, leading them to steer clear of Izuku. But he didn’t care, he continued to keep to himself, doing what he loved. That’s what you like about him. He doesn’t let himself be affected by snappy comments.

Him being in most of your classes allowed you to subconsciously pick up on some of his mannerisms. He may not seem like it to most, but he’s actually quite smart, a few rankings above you in your class.

Regardless of everyone else’s opinion on the boy, he interested you, and you wanted to see what he was about for yourself.

“Hey, Izuku! What are you drawing?” You ask him enthusiastically, reaching out. He flinches at the sound of your voice and quickly retracts the book towards his chest, shielding whatever he had written.

“Ah.. uhm.. just some notes, scribbles, nothing important really!” He spits out, not revealing anything.

“But I saw some really cool concepts, were they costumes?” Your compliment seems to mitigate the embarrassment he felt, and he fell into a more comfortable state after realizing you weren’t going to make fun of him.

“..yeah. It’s kinda stupid though.”

“I don’t think so. Can I see?” Izuku hesitates, but eventually opens up, holding the book open for you. He turns away, a light shade of pink blushing across his cheeks.

“Wow.. you drew this..? That’s so cool!” You’re genuinely interested in his art, although you’re not as hero obsessed as he is.

“Really..? You think so?” He says quietly, smiling gently.

“This drawing is so good! I didn’t know you were so talented Izuku.” You exclaim, pointing to the drawing of All Might on the page.

“You like All Might too?! He’s so cool! I wish I was as amazing and strong as him. And don’t even get me started on his quirk! The-“

Ring Ring

The bell indicating the end of the class period rang, interrupting Izuku’s rambling.

“Oh sorry.. got a little carried away didn’t I!” Izuku nervously laughs, rubbing the back of his head.

“Don’t even worry about it. I would love to learn how to draw like you. By the way, my name’s Y/N.” You start to pack up for the day, taking the chance to introduce yourself.

“Y/n..” He says, as if he’s testing out how your name rolls off the tip of his tongue.

“Mhm! Alright, see you tomorrow!” You grab your bag and turn, walking out of the classroom.

See you tomorrow? You wanted to see him tommorow? Nobody has ever wanted to speak to him, but for you, a girl.. to want to see him a second time?

“Y-yeah.. s-see you tommorow, Y/N.” The shy boy says, his voice slightly echoing in the empty classroom.

On his way home, his mind is filled with thoughts of you. Izuku never noticed how pretty you are, with your coiled hair slicked back and held in a cute pink clip. Your eyes are pretty, a deep shade of brown. Kinda like mocha. You were kind too. Not just kind, but kind to him. And you’re smart, funny..

Damn.

He’s full on blushing now. What have you done to him? He’s never been too fond of girls but the way you showed interest in his hobby.. he thinks he’s fallen in love.

It’s the morning of the next day, and you’re walking into the building with a group of your friends when you see Izuku off to the side. He’s walking alone, and you feel the urge to go up and talk to him.

“Kk guys, see you later!” You yell, running off before your friends can protest.

“Hey! Izuku!” You call out, alerting lots of others around.

“Y-Y/N? What are you doing being so loud?!” He whisper shouts. “Do you want people to know you’re talking to me!?”

“Wait what?” You pull back a little bit, confused almost.

“Go to your friends, I don’t want to ruin your reputation.. or something.” He walks off with his head hung.

“Izuku, I really don’t care about that. Besides, I want to talk to you so what’re they gonna do about it?” You assure him, picking up your pace to match his.

He stops in his tracks, and he feels heat slowly rushing to his cheeks. His palms started to sweat and he could feel his heart rate rapidly increasing. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so nervous around one person in his life, other than All Might. There’s no way you actually wanted to talk to him.

“Hey.. you good?” You question, concerned. It was evident he was uncomfortable.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine, just a little hot, that’s all.”

“Izuku I’m pretty sure we have first period, wanna walk together?” He nods, still wondering why you’re acting this way towards him. Walking through the halls, you get some stares, and some even whisper amongst themselves. You notice it and he notices it, but you ignore them.

The two of you walk into the classroom and greet your teacher, Mr. Aizawa, and attendance is taken. Izuke places his stuff down at an empty seat and you pull up a desk right up next to his. Again, he could feel his heart start to beat a little faster, being in such close proximity with you. Once everyone has sat down, the teacher begins lecturing.

“This shit is so boring, like bro just pass out the work.” You whisper to Izuku, enticing a quiet chuckle from him. The sound of his laugher makes you grin and you struggled to hold back your own giggles.

“Y/N and Izuku.” Mr. Aizawa sighs exhaustedly, already tired of your shenanigans. “Do you have something you’d like to tell the class?”

“N-no, sir. I’m sorry.” You manage to choke out, stifling giggles in between each word.

Mr. Aizawa moves on and soon enough, the work is actually passed out. Izuku gets right to it, but you find that you’re having trouble with the work today. Usually, you were able to fly through each worksheet and have extra time to fool around at the end. You place the pencil down and bring your hands up to your forehead, frustrated.

“Do you need help Y/N? Izuku looks over at you, offering help. Your mocha eyes meet with his deep green ones, and he freezes up. You stare for a moment, admiring his face. He was actually adorable, something you’ve never noticed before. Your breathing hitches, and you can feel your cheeks heating up.

“Yeah.. I don’t know why I’m having so much trouble on this. I feel stupid.” You complain, leaning back in your chair.

“Don’t say that. You’re really smart, Y/N. You just made a little mistake here, and then you can solve it from there.” Izuku refutes your statement, and effortless explains the problem to you like its second nature. His intelligence is incredibly attractive, and so was he, to you at least.

The two of you finish up the worksheet with some free time left at the end. He pulls out his notebooks per usual, this time allowing you to see it aswell. You pick up on some new doodles that weren’t there yesterday, and it amazes you how accurate some of his drawings are.

“Seriously Izuku, you need to teach me how to draw like that.” You say in awe, and he blushes lightly at your comment.

“I’ll teach you anytime.”

The class period ends soon after, and you realize that you don’t have any more classes with Izuku today.

“Damn. Don’t think I’ll see you again today.”

“Seems like it. See you tommorow..?” He asks.

“Or… today. I’d love to hang out with you, outside of school of course.” You’re feeling bold in the moment, but the second the words leave your mouth the nervousness settles in.

“..Me too! I mean, I would like to hang out with you too.” He rephrases, not wanting to come off as too eager.

“Let me see your phone really quick.” Izuku grabs his phone from his pocket, and hands it to you.

After a moment, you hand it back, quickly walking off to your next period class. To his suprise, he sees that you added your number into his phone and named your contact “Y/N!!”

He fumbles with his phone before placing it back into his pocket. All the way to his next class, he’s fidgeting with his hands, nervous. The only girl he’s ever had on his phone was his mother. What is he supposed to do? Should he text you? Or wait for you to text first? He tries to focus on his schoolwork, and it seems he’s calmed down until he feels a slight vibration in his pocket.

“Are you free after school?” The message read.

“Yeah. Wanna come over to mine?” His finger hesitated, hovering over the screen, but he sent the message.

“Kk! I’ll find you after school, we can walk together!” He hearts your text, staring at it for a little longer than he should’ve.

After that, the classes seem to fly by at 2x speed. All he could think about was you, in his house. In his bedroom. Good thing he cleaned it yesterday.

The last bell rings, and you shoot Izuku a text.

“Wya?”

“First floor, I’ll wait by the door for you.”

You catch yourself smiling especially hard and struggle to control your facial expressions. From any other point of view you probably looked crazy, flying down the stairs.

As he promised, he was waiting by the door. The two of you walked out together making your way towards Izuku’s house. All throughout the trip, you guys cracked jokes and learned more about each other. Thankfully, it wasn’t awkward at all.

Before walking in, you reapply your lipgloss and check your appearance in the camera of your phone. He smiles at you, shaking his head slightly.

“Y/N, what are you doing?”

“I have to look my best! I want your mom to like me!” He laughs, pulling his key out of the lock and pushing the door open.

“She’s not actually home. She went on a trip but I asked her first if it was okay for you to come over.”

You’re relieved, but for some reason also disappointed..? You place your bag down next to the door along with your shoes. Izuku offers you a snack or drink but you politely decline. You’re a little too nervous you don’t think you can stomach anything right now.

“D-do you want to go to my room.. or we can stay here?” He asks, fidgeting with his hands.

You suggest going to his room and he leads you up there, allowing you to enter first.

“Whoa..” his room is filled with countless posters of All Might and limited edition figurines.

“Sorry, I’ve had them since I was a kid. I hope you don’t find it weird.”

“No, I’m just wondering how you managed to get not one, but all 7 limited edition figures.” You walk around, inspecting each one. He smiled so big at your admiration. He thought for sure you’d make fun of him.

He reached into his backpack, pulled his notebook out, then made his way towards his bed. Of course, you trailed him, flopping onto his bed and laying on your stomach.

“So I like to start with shapes when I draw. Like this.” He sketches a circle.

“And like this.” Then a trapezoid-like shape for the body.

“Izuku I already can’t do that!” You say, and he laughs. The sound of his laughter is so enticing and it makes you laugh. His smile is adorable too.

“I promise it’s really simple!” You watch him sketch in awe, smiling at the thought of him being comfy enough to show you his interests. Your eyes, gravitate to his face, rather than the paper. Subconsciously, you begin counting the freckles on his face.

“Then I-“ all of a sudden, his green eyes meet yours. His cheeks quickly grow pink but you can’t seem to pull away from his gaze. Izuku begins stuttering, and he averts eye contact.

“W-what are you doing.. Y/N?” He manages to spit out.

“Uhm..8?” He furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head in confusion at your response.

“That’s how many freckles you have!” You tell him, laying your head on your folded arms.

“Oh. They kinda look weird a little, don’t you think?” He sighs, almost embarrassed to acknowledge them.

“What?! Izuku I think your freckles are the cutest thing ever. They make you look ador-“ You try, but you can’t take back what you’ve already started to say.

“..able” you kick your legs back and forth, refraining from burying your face into his sheets. No way you just said that.. to his face.

“..cute?” He manage to choke out, in a timid tone, hesitating to say the word. You reach out to play with his green hair, fondling each lock that falls gently over his forehead. You could feel you heart race, threatening to burst out of your chest.

“..yeah. And smart, and you have a good sense of humor. And you’re a really good artist.”

“Y/N I’m still stuck on the ‘cute’ part.. if I’m cute then what are you?” Your eyes shift towards his and you could see the genuineness in his expression.

His face was so close to yours you could feel his breath brushing against your cheek. His eyes were slightly lidded, his mouth slightly open. You batted your eyelashes at him, waiting in anticipation. All of a sudden, he felt the blood rush to his face.

And to his crotch.

He’s never felt like this before, nor has he been in such close contact with anyone. You’re so kind, so gentle with him, and you caused that dull ache in between his legs.

You moved in closer, eyes searching his face, inspecting his lips.

“Can I.. kiss you?” You ask.

He nods, and you cup the side of his face with your hand, pulling him in closer. You carefully place your lips on his and caress his cheek. Izuku gasped and closed his eyes, unsure of where to put his hands to prevent making you uncomfortable. You take note of this, and guide his hand onto your waist. He borderline moans, the dull ache becoming a throbbing pain.

You pull away for a second to let the boy breathe, but pull him back in just as quickly. You refrain from using tongue, not wanting to scare him as he seems inexperienced. In the heat of it, you accidently brush your hand over his crotch.

“mm..HNGH” he cried out, folding over into you. You quickly pull back, worried.

“Izuku..? Are you okay?!”

“..’m s-sorry.. I don’t know why.. it’s l-like that.” He’s out of breath, panting, his eyes full of need and desire.

“Oh.. Izuku. It’s because you’re.. aroused? You know?” He looks at you like a deer in headlights, a look of concern written all over his face.

“Do you want me to help you?” You offer.

“O-okay..” The boy lets you take control, following your movements. You roll the heel of your hand against his dick and unsurprisingly, he was hard.

“A-ah..!” His eyes widen and he looks to you for safety. You assure him that he’s okay, and he seems to relax slightly.

You hook your finger onto the waistband of his sweats, gently pulling them down. You do the same with his boxers, releasing his leaking cock. He shivers at the feeling of your hand touching his tip that was overflowing with precum. He’s not huge, but he’s a little bigger than you expected.

“W-what are you doing.. Y/N!?” He whimpers in between each word, gripping onto your shoulder.

“Have you never touched yourself..?” He stares at you, breathing heavily. He feels like his chest is going to explode with the way his heart is beating.

You knew he was inexperienced but you didn’t think he’d never even masterbated. Damn he was really innocent.

You start with soft, gently strokes up and down his dick. Simultaneously, you pepper his freckled-face with kisses, leaving it coated in your signature lipgloss. You trail your nail over his jawline, pulling whimpers and whines from him.

“Y-Y/N… Y/N stop!” He cried. You halted your movements, asking if he’s okay.

“F-feels.. like something’s g-gonna.. gonna come out..” He whimpers, that rising heat in his stomach cooling down.

“Ngh.. but it.. feels s’ g-good. What.. what are you d-doing.. to me..” You pet his cheek and he leans deeply into your touch. His bright eyes have glossed over, tears threatening to falls down his face.

“You were about to orgasm, or cum, Izuku. It’ll make you feel really good. Do you want me to keep going..?”

“P-please.. Y/N.”

Again, you start with slow strokes. Every few, you stop at his pink tip to roll your thumb over the slit. He writhes in pleasure, whimpering, and begging. Begging and begging you for.. he’s not even sure what.

You place your hand on his chest which is rapidly rising and falling. You can’t help but notice the way his eyelids flutter with each stroke of your hand.

“Ngh.. hah..” he whines, like music to your ears.

“C-cum..! G’na cum.. soon..!” He screams out, his grip on your shoulder tightening. You suck at his pale neck, also littered by freckles, and your other hand fondles his heavy balls, causing him to gasp. He was so overwhelmed with the new feeling all he could do was buck his hips up into your hand.

“Y/N! ‘m cum..cumming! ngh..!” He freezes up, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. All of a sudden, you felt the liquid shoot out from his dick.

“so.. s-so sorry.. jus’ w-won’t stop.. a-ah!” He continued to chant apologies like a mantra. The cum dripped down your hand, staining your shirt and the sheets. You tried to help him ride out his high but he just couldn’t.

“P-please.. p-please no more. c-can’t.” Izuku twitched at any sensation he felt on body, he was just so incredibly sensitive.

As he relaxed, what happened starts to really settle in.

“Oh my god, I got it.. a-all over you. I’m so sorry!” He attempts to clean his mess up with his sleeve but just smears it all over.

“S-shit. I just made it worse. Let me go get you a rag o-or som-“ his cheeks and the tips of his ears dust a deep shade of red.

“Izuku, it’s okay. Just relax for a minute. You must be tired, no?” You can tell he’s ashamed, so you try to mitigate his embarrassment.

“Yeah.. I feel like I could fall asleep. T-thank you, Y/N.” He crawls back into the bed, curling up in your arms, falling asleep in a matter of minutes.

[erinwantstowrite]

Could you tell me what you like about Stephanie and Cass as characters? I haven't read any of the comics so everything I know about the characters has come from fanfiction and every time they are in a fic they always feel so one dimensional and it really bothers me. Stephanie is always just talking about waffles or pulling pranks with glitter or being super nosey. And all Cass ever does is sneak around and pat people on the head and the only dialogue she ever has is something that feels like the author is infantilizing her. So many people like them and I know there is more to them as characters I just rarely find a fic they are included in where they feel as fleshed out as Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, etc.

OH BUDDDYYYYYYY i was in the same boat for a while. i genuinely had no idea that they were far more involved in bat stuff than what they were in fics. they're so often overlooked (so is Duke) and it makes me crazy because they have SUCH amazing character concepts!!! they're still on my to-read list so i'm not an expert and this is just what i've gathered from my pre-requisite research, but!!!

stephanie is the daughter of one of Gotham's villains, the Cluemaster. she became the Spoiler because she wanted to be his opposite, wanted to be better than him. he was an abusive asshole, both physically and mentally, and Stephani even hates her blonde hair because it's the same color as her father's. she has a close relationship with her mother, who is still alive. Stephanie is incredibly intelligent and she deserved so much better when she took up the Robin mantle when Tim's father made him put it down. at some point in the comics, she got pregnant as a teen (not Tim's, but they were dating when they figured it out?? i think? she didn't cheat on him). she wanted to be a mom so badly and she loved her baby so much. the panels where she was dreaming of playing with her baby make me feel ill because she deserves the world. she had to give the baby up for adoption because she was so scared her father would find the baby and hurt/kill them, and she didn't let herself see the baby after they were born because she knew she'd want to keep them if she held them. she didn't even know if it was a born or girl. I'm pretty sure Bruce was the one who found the baby a good home somewhere where Stephanie's father can't find them. at some point, she "died" but it was really something she had to fake? for some reason? and she trained with a doctor i think (was it Leslie?) for a WHILE. Tim had no idea that this was faked and it kind of fucked him up but this ain't about him right now. she did actually die at some point and i'm pretty sure Cass was there with her, though i am hazy on if she was revived right away or later on

and Cass. god,,,, she was also a victim of her father, David Cain. her mother is Lady Shiva, who you might have seen mentioned in Tim fics. both are highly trained assassins and considered the best of the best. David raised Cass to not understand any spoken language, so she could not speak it for a very long time. the only language that she did know was the art of body language, and she had the ability to see things that so many other people can't. that's how she's able to pick up on most everything, so she was still incredibly intelligent. one day her father made her kill someone, her first ever kill, and what she saw in the man's dying body was so agonizing that it forever changed her. she was so horrified by what she had done that she refused to kill. (in my opinion, this makes her the best candidate for taking up Batman's position but the writers are cowards.) she either ran away or was sent away by her father? (this is where it starts getting hazy for me because i still have comics to read). i don't know what happened in between for sure, but she did end up learning how to speak and understand words, and i think it's a popular headcanon that it can sometimes overwhelm her so she sticks to one words or sign language for communication, but she CAN speak now. she considers Barbara to be like her mother, as Babs was the one who mentored her and took care of her. she's a very loving person and i think her friendship with Stephanie is sweet. even if you don't ship them, they're soulmates of some kind

that's about as much as i know but i'm still learning!! if any steph or cass fans want to add on to this, feel free to infodump here and mayhaps leave your comic recommendations? :3

[oceaneyesinla]

Umemiya just lends himself so beautifully to my style of making characters all soft and squishy.

Umemiya x F!Reader

Divider by @/cafekitsune

You've got open access to every part of Furin High, thanks to being best friends with the leader. You wander the corridors uninterrupted, greeting everyone you pass with a wave and a smile. At this point, you're an honorary member of Bofurin; spending one too many nights patching up the various injuries they all sustain while protecting the town and giving them a scolding every time.

There's only one place you can't seem to get anywhere near, and that's the little plastic greenhouse at the very end of the rooftop, past all of Ume's planters full of vegetables. You're up on the rooftop all the time; helping Ume with his plants, hoping your heart eyes aren't too obvious as you watch him ramble about the ideal fertilizer mix for his tomatoes. You hang out with the others up there too - gossiping with Tsubaki while you paint each other's nails, or convincing the boys to spar with you. It's a little cruel, but it's so funny when one of them underestimates you, or tries to go easy on you because you're a girl - only to get their ass handed to them.

That one little greenhouse, though, is locked down tighter than a bank vault. The boys have got a sixth sense for when you might be straying even a little too close for their liking. Some of them are more ... subtle in their distraction techniques than others. Kiryu and Suo especially have perfected the art of luring you away - engaging you in conversation so artfully that it's only an hour later that you realise you got a little too close to the greenhouse.

Sakura and Sugishita have never been within a mile of the concept of subtlety, but their efforts are so earnest you allow them to tug you away with muttered excuses of needing you elsewhere.

It seems to be some mutual agreement between every single member of Furin, and you have to admire their single-minded determination. You're not even mad; you figure Ume will tell you what's in there at some point. It's probably some kind of special turnip, or a new variety of lettuce that he's heard is particularly good for barbeques.

*************

Ume <3 16:43: Meet me on the rooftop at 20:00 Ume <3 16:43: I'll walk you home after, don't worry

It's adorable that he still feels the need to clarify that, as if he ever does anything different. It's a routine, one you cherish. You hang out at the school or at Cafe Pothos, or at a local restaurant, then once you're done, he walks you back to your house; waiting patiently at the end of the path until you shut the front door behind you.

If you spend an hour and a half trying to decide on an outfit, that's between you and your mirror. You decide on something comfortable but cute; after all, you have no idea what Ume's planning. Some little part of you is hoping for something romantic, but you try to push it down - you've been friends with Ume for years, and he's never once treated you as anything other than a trusted friend.

The rooftop door pushes open with a familiar creak, and you stifle a laugh when Ume flinches, turning to you with wide eyes as if he wasn't waiting for someone to open the door.

You're surprised when his eyes trail over your outfit, and even more surprised when a pretty red flush paints across his cheeks. He looks more flustered than you've ever seen him, and for his sake, you choose not to mention it.

"Why did you want to meet me, Ume?"

He steps closer, seemingly recovered from his little fright even though that blush remains on his cheeks. He leans in and you hold your breath as his lips brush against the skin of your cheek. His smile as he pulls away is nothing short of gorgeous, and you can feel heat rising in your face as you stare up at him.

"You look beautiful." His boyish grin remains in place as he takes your hand, giving it a little squeeze as he leads you, "I've got something I want to show you."

You can practically see his tail wagging as you walk across the rooftop, and you already know where he's taking you. You can't help but tease him, "I finally get to see what's in the mystery greenhouse, huh?"

The look he shoots you is adorable; like a kid caught with their hand in a cookie jar, and you can't stop the giggle that escapes you, "Everyone here has been keeping me away from that thing for weeks, Hajime. I thought Sugishita-kun was going to carry me away from it."

Ume lets out a laugh of his own, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, "I guess they figured out what I was planning."

You tug on his hand, soft smile slipping onto your face as you meet his eye and speak in a low voice, not wanting to disturb the atmosphere building between you, "Come on. I want to see."

When you stand in front of the greenhouse, small but well-constructed, he gestures for you to push aside the plastic flap over the door. You do so, and what greets you has tears welling in your eyes.

Your favourite flower. You remember lamenting to Ume, once, about the difficulty in cultivating the delicate yet beautiful plant, and the love you had for its rich colour and pretty leaves. Now it was right in front of you, and your best friend grew it just for you.

He's shuffling by your side when you turn to him, looking more nervous than he has all night, and your voice is a little rough when you speak, "You grew my favourite flower."

"I did."

"This must have taken so much effort."

"It was worth it to see you smile." His smile is stunning and lovesick and you can see your own heart eyes reflected right back at you and suddenly, you're struck with the realisation that maybe you haven't been pining alone all this time.

His hand comes up to cradle your cheek and in a whisper, he asks, "Can I kiss you?"

Your voice fails you, so you nod instead, letting your eyes flutter closed as he leans in, pressing his lips to yours. They're a little chapped, but you don't care. His other hand moves to rest on your waist, and yours cling to the fabric of his shirt. The kiss is short, but you still feel breathless when you pull apart; awestruck and overflowing with love.

He's staring down at you like you hung every star in the sky, and he looks just as giddy as you feel. He leans down to kiss your forehead, hands resting securely on your waist, "Does this mean you'll be my girlfriend?"

"Yeah, I'll be your girlfriend, Hajime."

His laughter is relieved as he rests his forehead against yours, "It would have been awkward if you said no after all that."

"You really put in all that effort just for me?" Your voice is soft, meant only for the space between the two of you.

"There's no just if it's you." You're not sure he even realises the impact his words are having; speaking as casually as he ever does as if he's not speaking love into the world with every word, "Plus, I've been trying to think of a way to ask you out for months. I wanted it to be perfect."

This man - you know you'll find new ways to fall in love with him every day, "It is perfect. I love you, Hajime."

Your murmured confession makes his breath hitch, and when you meet his eyes, they're sparkling like the stars in the night sky enveloping you both. He meets your proclamation with one of his own, hushed and adoring. He leans in to kiss you again, and you know that this is love.

[starmieknight]

Stars Align

Headhunters Pt. 1

17 Again AU: After a disastrous first day with the twins, Stan swears to do better as an uncle. But fate loves playing tricks on him and the magic 8-ball in the attic is more than it seems.

Now on top of having a pair of twelve year olds around the house while he tries to finish the portal and bring his brother home, Stan has to deal with being back in his seventeen year old body! Summer has never been weirder in Gravity Falls.

AO3 link

Concept Art

Legend of the Gobblewonker (Art)

Prologue, The Legend of the Gobblewonker (previous), Headhunters Pt. 1, Headhunters Pt. 2, Headhunters Pt. 3, The Hand That Rocks the Mabel Pt. 1, The Hand That Rocks the Mabel Pt. 2, The Inconveniencing, Dipper Vs. Manliness

It was only with mild surprise that Stan woke up young again. 

Gravity Falls weirdness wass unreliable on any given day.  The state he was in didn't seem to be going away anytime soon. 

So Stan grits his teeth and heads downstairs to make breakfast anyway. This is still fine. He was still fine. 

He can't afford to keep the Shack closed another day, so he improvises his usual look a bit. The jacket stays even if it's a bit big on him and the shoulders aren't as filled out as they normally are. But he doesn't have to shove himself into the girdle and counts that as a win. Beneath the jacket he dons a plain white T-shirt and a pair of old jeans from the back of the closet. 

They might have been Ford's at one time, though they seem kinda small...

Mabel calls his outfit 'hipster-business casual' when she sees him and he has no idea what that means.

Wendy is off work that day, leaving him without a teen-speak translator.

Absent-mindedly, Stan wonders if she'd caught sight of him yesterday at the lake. 

Hopefully, she hadn't and the weirdness will be gone in the morning. 

In all, the day turns out pretty uneventful ― aside from a few tourists giving him extra tips after tours. 

They thought it was adorable that he was so interested in the 'family business' and laughed when he claimed he was well into his fifties. 

Not with that baby face, they'd say.

Fine ― if they wanted to throw more money at him, he wouldn't complain. 

Before long, the day is done and Stan eagerly shucks the blazer and his jeans in favor of boxers and a T-shirt.  

He avoids the mirror, memories of Glass Shard Beach plaguing his every step. 

He swears he can hear his mother on the other side of the wall, schmoozing some schmuck over the phone. Sees his father glaring at him from the corner of his eye. 

Feels the phantom hands of his brothers on the stairs, Shermie's large and powerful on his shoulder while Ford tugs at his sleeve more hesitantly.

Stan shudders and leans against the hallway wall, squeezing his eyes shut against the memories. 

He breathes deep and carries on, planning on joining the twins downstairs when the scent of dust and wax catches his attention.  

A long-forgotten door beckons to him from down the hall, filled with waxy faces of celebrities and fictional characters.

Huh, he'd forgotten all about these guys.

Outside, he can hear Soos and the kids coming and can't resist the set-up for a good prank.

Having to hide in a dark, dusty room for a chance at a jump scare is worth it.

Stan cackles at the twins' screams before bundling them up in a bear hug.

"It's just me!" he crows joyfully. "Your Grunkle Stan!"

They scream once more out of reflex before settling down.

"Grunkle Stan, what is this place?" Mabel asked, flopping over his arm to stare upside down at the displays. 

Dipper wriggles in his grasp, in danger of being dropped, before Stan sets them back on their feet.

"Behold ― the Gravity Falls Wax Museum!" Stan declares, proudly spreading his arms and spinning on his heel. A born showman even as a young man. "It was one of my most popular attractions... before I forgot all about it." 

More like got creeped out by the things and hid them away so he didn't have to look at them anymore. 

Like Ford's old room.  

The loss of wax Abraham Lincoln makes him pout and whine, but Mabel is quick to offer a solution.

It's amazing to watch the kid work through the night, but when she refuses to stop and sleep, Stan puts his foot down.

He manages to get some food in her and gets her to take a nap, but the girl is too much like Ford to stay down for long. She'll be up soon and Stan will have his hands full.

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

The next morning was... interesting.

This time, when Stan woke up as a teenager, he didn't question it and went about his business. Mabel was still passed out on the couch in the living room, fingers sticky with wax and glitter as she took a small break from her work. Stan puts her pancakes in the microwave and eats a quiet breakfast with Dipper, both of them too out of it to form proper conversation.

Stan didn't know if it was a side-effect of being a teenager again, but it was incredibly difficult to wake up before noon. His mind felt like it was running on empty until the sun reached its peak in the sky. On the other hand, it was easier to stay up at night. It'd work out in his favor when he got his hands on Dipper's journal. Whenever he could swing that.

The kid had it hidden well and never left it laying around in the Shack.

Stan could feel that the answers to getting his brother back were closer than ever and the set-back of keeping it secret at the same time was almost too frustrating to bear.

He huffed to himself and slumped down onto the couch outside, half dressed in his usual attire. The summer morning was turning out to be a hot one and he was already sweaty enough. The jacket stayed off, draped over the arm of the couch and in-reach in case a tour bus suddenly appeared. 

A rustling around the side of the porch had him tensing instinctively, too many years on the streets and in nasty situations to let him relax for long. Even using his twin's identity didn't keep him safe from everyone after him. And with this face, it’d be even harder to keep convincing people he was the real Stanford Pines.

Stan slipped his hand into his jeans pocket, fingers sliding into his brass knuckles. Even in this body, they fit like a glove, the only consistent part of his life from the past 40 years. The knuckles had come with him from New Jersey, the one thing he'd ever chanced lifting out of his old man's shop.

The thought of Filbrick finding out that Stan stole from him was still a chilling one.

Stan positioned himself to watch the side of the porch as casually as he could, muscles lax in preparation to move whatever direction he needed to.

It probably wasn't the kids ― they were naturally noisy. So was Soos. The only other person who'd be hanging around the Shack was...

"Who are you?"

Wendy.

The girl really was cool as ice, merely raising a curious brow as Stan explained his plight.

"That's some freaky shit, man." She said finally, dropping onto the couch beside him instead of heading inside. The slacker. "But you've still got your memories, right? You're not just, like, mini-Stan Pines from 1940 or whatever?"

Stan pinned her with an irritated look. "How old do you think I am? You kids have no idea how age works."

"So?"

"And stop swearing! The kids are around here somewhere."

"They'll hear worse in high school."

"Yeah, but I ain't gonna have them go home talkin' like that and have their parents come up here to murder me."

"Would they even recognize you like that?"

Stan grew quiet, his brow furrowing as he stared into the treeline.

No, they wouldn't.

The last time he'd seen his nephew as himself and not using Ford's name had been back in 1972. Back when he really was seventeen.

Alex had been a baby back then, wailing in his grandmother's arms as Filbrick threw Stan into the street. He'd never known an uncle aside from Ford.

Or, at least, the man he thought was Ford. Alex had visited once when the Shack was still the Murder Hut. They'd spent the month fishing and riding the backroads through town, Stan teaching the kid how to drive and use bad pickup lines on girls.

It'd been the highlight of his thirties. He'd hoped it would be the same when the twins came down to visit.

It was turning out to just be weird.

"I'm sorry, man." Wendy said suddenly, drawing Stan out of his memories about a freckle faced kid with too many freckles to count.

"It's fine, kid." He sighed, rising to his feet and sliding on his jacket. "Go on and get to work. We've got customers to rip off."

Wendy hummed in agreement, her eyes sharp beneath their lazy lids. She held her tongue, though, and he was grateful for that much.

Mabel was missing from the couch when they came in, a nest of blankets the only indication that she'd ever been there.

"Kids?" He called, moving into the parlor. "Where'd you― GAH!!"

By some miracle, Stanford was standing in front of him. The twins and Soos crowded him, only that familiar face visible over the kids’ heads and grinning at him.

Which was weird.

Even when Ford smiled, he never looked like that. And he certainly wouldn't smile at Stanley.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel cheered, dripping glitter onto the hardwood. "What do you think of my masterpiece? I thought about recreating this new, young you ― but that would have been pretty confusing for the customers. Like a waxy twin!"

A waxy twin.

That's all it was.

Ford was still trapped on the other side of the portal, likely hurt and resenting Stan.

"Grunkle Stan? Are you... alright?"

Dipper crouched down next to him, brow furrowed in concern. 

Stan sucked in a deep breath, vaguely acknowledging that he'd stopped breathing at the sight of what he'd thought was his brother. It wasn't Ford. Just a wax figure.

And the twins were looking at him strangely now. Time to redirect.

"Can a teenager have a heart attack?" He asked seriously before pasting on a cheesy grin. "Because that hunk is making my heart do flips!"

The twins laughed, the tension breaking as Soos helped Stan back up. It was strange how easily the handyman could lift him now, like he weighed nothing more than a sack of potatoes. And he handled him so gently. Like a child!

Stan remembered when Soos was the child, all chubby cheeks and wide eyes as he followed him around the Shack. Like a little baby duck.

He'd been a pretty cute kid, honestly. 

Ugh. Being young again was turning him into a sap. 

He needed to change the subject and Wax Stan had just given him the perfect idea.

"Kids," he grinned eagerly as he drew them near. Mabel had a light shining in her eye, apparently on the same wavelength as him. Dipper looked more skeptical. "The Wax Museum is back in business!”

[chweverni]

HOW I THINK _ bonedo 'n their love languages ! (pt.2)

pairing; ot6!bonedo x fem!reader synopsis; how would your adorable boyfriend(s) express their love for you? word count; 614 author's note; pt.2 is here!! wooo what are yall's thoughts on a taesan fic involving love potions? i got the idea a while back but idk if the commitment is there lmfaoo

read pt.1 here !

-

KIM DONG HYUN - physical touch/gift giving & receiving !

ESFJs are.. interesting. when they're in love, every little thing their partners do, affect the way they judge their relationship. here, leehan would definitely be the one who's into physical affection a lot. for him, a day without your hugs and kisses, or cuddles right after waking up, is enough for him to jump into conclusions that maybe your day was bad, or that you had a nightmare. he'd do everything, in his favors to make your day better. leaving you in bed, with a forehead kiss, and going out of his way to bring you breakfast in bed is something i definitely think he'll do a lot! the type to be totally into pda because he desperately needs people to know that he has the most prettiest, cutest, sexiest, smartest and loving girlfriend on this entire planet!

think of gifts such as flowers, hand-made cards, CDs or cassettes, rings, things he made in art classes such as little pots, drawings, tickets to concerts or amusement parks, because he loves to spoil his babe a lot and would swim across oceans just to get you the things you like. and this would totally go both ways, too. you would exchange gifts whenever there's a special day you both would like to cherish together.

he'll probably get you hot water bags, chocolates, snacks and warm blankets when you're on your period and would check up on you frequently to make sure you're doing fine. he would give back rubs whenever you're having cramps, while you sleep helplessly on your bed.

"i made you this during pottery classes.. see the flowers here? they're real! i glazed them afterwards.", he'll say proudly, with his adorable eye smile.

you'd kiss him immediately right there and then, which he would return in a heartbeat.

KIM WOONHAK - quality time/physical affection !

another ENFP, who has an unhealthy obsession of being with and around you 24/7 because he just loves you a lot, he can't help it okay? for him, one second without you feels like eternity. you two spend every second together, being literally attached at the hip. the type to send you messages like, "i wish you lived next to me, so that whenever i wake up, i could just stick some notes in my window, wishing you good morning, hoping you'd see them.", knowing that you'd have to literally run out of your house to reach school on time if that happened. he's the one who yaps a lot in the relationship, while all you can do is either listen with full interest, or feed into his interests by asking him more. and if you do both, he'll probably be planning a future with you, far away from the main lands, because he wants you to himself.

the type to give you surprise hugs whenever you're fully focused on something, like reading a book, to see you flinch. he'll probably be into the concept of cheek touching, as a form of greeting you. be prepared for random kisses on your cheek, nose, forehead, lips, hands and knuckles through out the day, because poor baby just cannot get enough! think of teddy bear hugs, and him resting his chin on your shoulder.

he's totally the type to fall asleep in the bus/train ride home after school, leaning to your body or shoulder, while one of your earbuds is still playing faint music, to help him sleep.

"can you come over, baby? pretty please? i promise this is the last time i'm asking you this! i miss you.", even though it probably will continue to happen every single day.

-

that's it! i hope i did them justice as usual <3

thanks for checking in on my blog, love you, bye!

all creds to chweverni only on tumblr !

[papermonkeyism]

I think I'm finally starting to recover, after a few years of artistic dry season.

The plague was a big hit, then losing my job and finally my social life collapsing once my IRL DnD group basically disbanded pretty much destroyed what creative juiced I had always lived on up to that point, and it's been HARD to just not having any desire to be creative or do anything.

But now that I have a job again, and have had it for long enough my bank account is stable, and having been adopted into a new DnD group that's active both in-game (weekly game sessions!) and outside of it (we actually talk and communicate generally as well! It's mostly online, but it's still more than I've had in years), I have started to feel more like myself again. That, and the brain meds. I can't overstate how big it is that my default doesn't have to be brain fog anymore.

Like, I'm doing evening doodles again? I'm actually having fun thinking up creatures and characters and plots again? I stopped carrying my sketchbook and pencil case with me everywhere I went during my dry stint of nothing, but now I actually feel like I'm missing it when I don't have it on me at times, like during coffee shop visits.

And I kinda... want to MAKE a thing again.

(Just thinking out loud again, pay no mind.)

I miss having a Project.

Jumping back into making fully plotted out comic feels a bit too much at this stage, though, so I probably won't dedicate myself wholely to something of that scale.

I don't know what exactly will be the final shape of Arcanth's eventual thing, but I'm currently enjoying myself in the fiddly worldbuilding stage. (And just so you know, in the slight off chance that I might maybe pick Wurr back up again some day, I probably won't tell you about it. After all this time and all the messages I've gotten, I don't trust you guys with that one anymore. Even if I would eventually get back to posting it online, it won't happen untill I have a full year's worth of buffer and that would still be a loooooooong way from now even IF I got back to it full time, and I still have that day job besides anyway.)

But what if...

I think an art book or a zine or something might be more achievable at this point.

I feel like the dinosaur project thingy needs some more fiddling with its eventual format (I know I already have enough concept doodles to fill a zine on its own, but I crave an excuse to go ham with watercolors and make full illustrations), but it's one option I still want to make eventually.

And I kinda want to do a slight redesign for the Singing People. (I bought a skull replica a while ago that had narrower snout than how I had drawn them. And I know it doesn't matter that much, and I can always invoke artistic licence and "they aren't necessarily supposed to be any specific real life dinosaur species, it could always go with the 'undiscovered' route if I feel like it and the Troodon/Stenonychosaurus material is super fragmentary anyway", but I'm pretty sure it would bother me anyway if I didn't at least try it out and see how it looked.)

Though I think I got an idea about what to do with Entica!

Those of you who've been here a while know that one started out as my pandemic project. The world had just shut down along with my job warehouse, things were still new and uncertain, and I suddenly had so much free time and not much to sink my creative juices into, and I wanted something low pressure to do.

So I dug up an old setting from my teenage years two decades ago, gave it a facelift, threw out my teenage baggage and just ran wild. No planning, no plot, just art.

The "no planning" part did get back to bite me when the morbs eventually hit and I finally ran out of the creative juices, but that's still a lot of very good material, right there, ready to use.

But I just thought of a new framing device that would work with the already existing material AND give the character more of a goal and agency to make plotting more fun! And I think I like it.

Instead of a random scribe with no background from a place I didn't bother designing who just wants to see the world, Didor now works for a library that has sent her on a mission [to document something and/or take a message to *place*]. She still wants to see the world, but now she has a background, goal and a motive to do so!

And instead of just hanging around at Maaro's cart while Maaro does her own unrelated thing, Maaro is actively helping in her goal! While also doing her job.

I feel that having Didor be on a field work mission would give it more structure while not having to technically retcon anything already existing, and gives more solid excuse to do things than "random encounter number 82" would. Also potential reasons for further adventures ("While you're already out there, could you maybe also do X on the way?")

Also I want to insert nawani in it earlier. I didn't even have them as part of the setting untill psrt way through, and I want to show them off more.

Maybe a travel journal, perhaps?

[yxnswife]

I don't think we talk enough about Cage Con as a concept bc holy shit?? The potential??

(this kinda got away from me so more under the cut)

Like, imagine CC after the Kombat movies. Cosplay, art, merch, panels, the whole shebang. Johnny begs Kenshi to go with him ("Just once, Ken, please") and Kenshi finally relents because what the hell, why not? He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious anyway. Johnny even manages to convince him to dress up (though is it really dressing up if they're your normal clothes?). They show up bright and early, and the beginning of the con is what you'd expect. Lots of setup, talking to panelists and journalists, etc etc, but then people start showing up. Lots of people. Half of them are dressed like Johnny’s characters (duh) some even as Johnny himself, but then comes the explosion of Kombat "characters" . There are a few Kung Laos with Raidens trailing behind them, a few Liu Kangs and even Barakas.

Then come the Kenshis. Kenshi can't see them, but Johnny excitedly points one out every time he sees one, nudging Kenshi's shoulder and describing their outfits.

"Ken look, that one's pretty accurate!"

"Oh, looks like they're going for the Wu Shi Academy vibe."

"Kenshi! There's an us who swapped outfits. They look pretty good. Wait, that's actually a great idea..."

As Johnny and Kenshi are walking around, taking pictures and stopping to talk to fans, one hesitantly comes up to Kenshi and asks for a picture. Kenshi is beyond confused, because this isn't really his thing and Johnny Cage is right there, but agrees. He asks them where to look and the whole thing goes by pretty fast. They thank him for the photo and rush off to what sounds like their friends, gushing about how they got a photo with their favorite character.

This happens a couple more times. People come up to Johnny and Kenshi, asking for photos. The day goes by and Kenshi has never taken so many photos in his life. Many a Johnny had come up to him, but there were also a few also dressed as Kenshi.

They leave the con with arms stuffed full with prints and plushes and other assorted merchandise, tired and ready to pass out the moment they get home. Despite that though, Kenshi leaves with a small smile on his face. Overall, not so bad an experience.

[darqx]

Some BP/HH/General asks

That mood when you want to share all the things but also want to keep it under wraps for the actual thing haha! Thanks very much anon!

As for your questions, I can't actually be specific cos there's no definitive number I have in mind for either. Basically there are a number of sectors (you can consider them their equivalent of countries - they have less than what we do though), and a number of species of demon of which I've designed about seven of. The ones I've shown before are these guys (and do you think I could find this pic again? No, I had to recreate it cos for the life of me I couldn't remember what ask I'd previously stuck it in lol):

One day when i have enough species and stuff out there I want to make a proper field guide \o/

Thank you very much for the interest! ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ I would actually love to for BP, but before I jump the gun there I have to get the comic out first lol. That being said I have made mini-games before featuring the HH versions and some other characs alas they are all lost at the moment to the sands of Flash becoming obsolete 😩

Me and Gato do still collab sometimes (and send each other Xmas presents)! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I have been working on one off and on for a while actually! Hopefully I'll have some pages to post next year or so*, I've been doing a bit of thumbnailing recently :D

*that is the plan but i also don't know where people find the time to do anything with a full time job lol.

Hullo! Glad you are enjoying the snippets of BP I've got here and there :D Here is an older ref on Izm back when i first got the idea (at that time i didn't really plan to do anything with it, it was just an AU. Now it's my main project haha. Anyway the ref is a little bit out of date in that regard.)

I used to have a "field guide" which was also made quite a while ago, unfortunately the death of Flash kinda killed it. Here's a screenshot of some relevant info from it though.

That's an interesting one as it's questionable how sentient souls are after removal 🤔 In my mind its only form is the smoke light, it can "see" to some degree and MIGHT be able to talk (but in a very no one can hear them sort of way, a la i have no mouth and i must scream. So i guess it can think "aloud"). The more time passes the less sentience it has.

It could try, though it wouldn't really get anywhere if it's in Rire's collection. He might just eat it lol.

.D: Good with kids, will be fine in all aspects.

Izm: The fun dad however needs a partner that knows what they're doing to ensure the child safety during shenanigans.

Marcus and Zeke: Also would be good parents though might be more helicopter out of protectiveness/worry when first starting out.

Ren: Geek parent very good for homework help. Some Asian parent tendencies eg "ah see, i told you not to do that right? Now you see what happened."

They are similar to our known society for this! So basically, there are some good families out there (eg Zeke - who is a demon - is from a pretty average loving family), and there are some bad families out there who only care about power or having an heir or whatever.

HH Rire is a human. I differentiate between him and Demon Rire because they are two different characters...even though they are also technically the same character lol. You can consider them as alternate universe iterations of a base "Rire" concept.

I actually half jested this in an old comic lol

I am sorry to inform you that a HH webcomic doesn't actually exist 😅 I did a lot of art, animations and one shots (such as the HHJ comics) with them, but nothing actually planned or serialised or anything. Whatever's currently on my DA or here is basically what exists.

Bringing this image back cos it's relevant lol.

You spelled it correct there though! XD

[phantombre]

Uh...

...Rema?

Remember in the birthday post when I said that I had some more sketches?

Well I have more sketches:

Some other guys that I don't have posted designs yet but I really like.

Your Contrarian to me is very cowboy coded. I know he's the Bard, but... I don't know... He got yeehaw energy. (For the record, I do not think this is a bad thing. In fact, Cowboy Contra is a really interesting idea actually...) Also, I can only hope that my take on Contra has even a fraction of the smug that yours has.

World record for Living Being with the Most Sass obviously goes to Oppy. Your version, especially.

Paranoid is just the most adorable guy... Just look at him! Ahh!

I like to think that Cold can flare out his cloak like a peacock as he floats about. (As if his aura isn't intimidating enough.) Very spooky. :)

And I thought this was all...

...but it ain't...

As I was sketching, I had this idea:

My Hero was already pretty tall, but it'd be funny if he was still somewhat dwarfed by your Bard. (Also, the eye. Holy shit, I didn't know he even had eyes 'til I saw your redesigns. So unnerving. It's perfect.)

And wow! I still wasn't done. The hell is wrong with me?

I remember seeing the Guts Trio comic (which I adore, btw). I really like this panel:

...and this is all I can think about:

It's that scene from the animated version of the Little Mermaid with the pipe and the- ahhh! It's so good!

Poor Skeptic, though. He seems really roughed up trying to hang with Stubborn and Hunted...

Actually, you know what? I can't have this. He deserves better...

God, I haven't done a digital painting since my Long Quiet... Feels good. Need to do more...

Anyway, there he is! The reason this took me so long to post. Loosely based on that scene in your fic. Had to give him the utmost respect. He is a classy Detective, after all.

Okay... Just two more, I promise...

Part of this one was actually supposed to be part of the original gift:

Yep! I originally had the Narrators, but I couldn't finish it in time (also was trying to look for any references to your designs). I ended up recycling it for this comic idea.

But oh? What's this?

But of course! Your helmless Smitten is absolutely gorgeous! The most beautiful man!

Writing his dialogue, however, was the hardest thing for me. (Not even sure if I did it justice here...)

It was at this point that I completely ran out of steam (not permanently, but man, my brain hurts). I had a concept for a part two to the Smitten comic, but I am drained. I guess I can give the dialogue for it...

My Narry: Good Lord, he talks endlessly...

Rema's Narry: Yes, perhaps the most annoying of the bunch.

My Narry: Glad we don't have one-

?????: Oh, on the contrary, villains!

Rema's Narry: you can't be serious...

My Narry: WHAT THE SHI-

Gee, wonder who mystery dude is...

Anyway, this post is way too long. I am so sorry. My brain autopilots too much.

These are all additional birthday gifts for @remaking-machine. I hope you enjoy. Your art is very inspirational. I had a fun time.

Time to eep

[feathernotes]

Hello! My name is Krispy, and I’m the co-creator of the webcomic Ghost Junk Sickness (along with @spacerocketbunny​) It's story time!

GJS is a webcomic published by Hiveworks and features two bounty hunters with an unstable dynamic who are pushed to pursue the deadly bounty dubbed the Ghost The current iteration of GJS is about 9 years old (and wrapping up next year!) It’s been an incredible journey full of ups and downs. We’ve learned SO MUCH creating this comic, and I wanted to share some of it’s origins with you all in hopes of inspiring more folks to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy- and make that comic!

The origin of Ghost Junk Sickness came from our love for Magic Knight Rayearth and Final Fantasy 7. Vahn, the protagonist of GJS, was basically a mash up of Hikaru and Cloud from those two series. The very first version of this story has unfortunately been destroyed, and this map is the only piece I have left of that world. Character art still exists though, and it was pretty funny to see how obvious we were with our inspirations at the time.

The original attempt at the story was called Crew, and my sister Space and I worked on it in 2002-2004. We sort of got lost in our own ideas after that, and weren’t as focus on making the comic (now lost). A few years later, I decided to try my hand at it and it looked like this:

This was all done on low quality paper, whichever I could find at the time and some pencil crayons. This attempt was over 600 pages long and had a pretty random story plot, much like the first version. I could not tell you what it was about haha 😅

My second attempt (then called Divine Ace) I wanted to look more 'traditional manga' and kept with just inks and tried my darndest to tone on the computer (it never worked out). This one lasted over 400 pages, and was more allinged with my liking to edgy action anime and games at the time. It was also Trigger's first appearance!

After experimenting and eventually wanting to change- I started to work with Space again, and we collaborated in full on our first fancomic for TF2 called "Be Efficient, Be Polite." It was a good lesson on how we could coordinate our shared skill sets and plan out who did what as far as the whole process of comics go.

All of these comics (save for the very first lost version) were hosted on DA the day we got our hands on a scanner. It was our first taste on being 'webcomic creators' back in the day, and it was very fun! We didn't much care for readers, only the process of completion at the time, so a page done was always a victory worthy to be celebrated (and back then, we had more time to make pages!)

And so, as the years went by and we decided to move on from our fandom roots, Space and I went back to the Crew/Divine Ace project and redesigned and overhauled the entirety of it. (You can see the full evolution here) We wanted to re-asses what the story, comic, and characters meant to us, and how we could convey some pretty important ideas and concepts to our potential readers. From that, Ghost Junk Sickness was born, and began pre-production in 2013.

Years after, we find ourselves reflecting on how much we've learned from the process of going ahead and diving in head first. There were certainly many iterations and years it took to get where we are today, but realising that it all began that day Space and I decided to scribble some pretty mediocire comics in our homework books and papers. Because that is the beauty of comics- The many skill sets, the hats, and challenges that come along with creating them. And how much we've become better at so many things along the way. So if you read this and feel nervous about diving head first into your first comic, I'm here to re-assure you that things will feel tough, but exciting. Things will feel really hard but amazing when you're getting your story out in front of you with such an incredible medium. Webcomics will always be my favourite because of how accessible it is to any skill set. And know in your heart of hearts that there ARE people out that that LOVE to see growth, they love to see the progression of your journey. So get out there and start creating that comic that's occupied your brain for so long, and start breathing that life into your OCs and your world. The only way is up with webcomics, and the only way to start is just by creating now.

[hey-heigo]

oh yeah i saw your reblog of togami fun fact and i think i followed you because you chew on him so well. do you have posts of your thoughts on togami's backstory? (you can answer privately btw)

i straight up don't remember if i've ever posted in length about my byakuya backstory headcanons (if i ever did they'd be catalogued under '#my thoughts' probably, that's the tag i use for my fandom posts) but! just for you i will list a few that i have off of the top of my head

i liked the concept of the togami novel and ended up perceiving the heir struggle as like. not a necessarily organized competition (what with heir prospectives trying to assassinate each other or otherwise blackmail, threaten, or force each other out of the running) but more a survival challenge with occasional tests of cleverness, strength, etc. and byakuya managed to win by manipulation and sheer force of will, and doing things that might be considered 'underhanded' or 'shameful' (see: polaris p polanski) -> testament to ambition

byakuya says something cringe in thh like 'im perfect in every way. wits, ability, and body' which always pissed me off but as a result i ended up seeing him as like. above average in athletics, maybe good agility and reaction time? and capable of self-defense, but definitely nowhere near professional levels, and not in a way that's obvious from looking at him

re: physical ability and 'perfection', i don't think he's an 'ultimate' anything aside from 'ultimate progeny'. like he's not the ultimate stock-broker or the ultimate viola-player, but he can do both things pretty well. more of a jack-of-all-trades master-of-none kind of talent. maybe that eats at him a little, the fact that he won't ever be truly outstanding in one single field until he becomes togami head

also re: physical ability, he gets his blue eyes from his mother's side, so he's more sensitive to light. but his mild near-sightedness and need for corrective lenses is from his father's side. he doesn't know this though, so he blames his mother's genetic for all of it

he was planning to get lasik after becoming head of the family but. well. lol

he's half-french. his mother is french. i dont think ive ever posted about mamagami but ive definitely made mention of her in my fic, though at this point she's more of an oc than anything since there's like, no canon info about her at all. but she's a french sculptor who did not want a child and does not want any relation to the togami family other than having them as like. art clients. a cool lady very dedicated to her profession and could have been the ultimate sculptor, but kind of a emotionally neglectful mother ngl

there probably is some more canon info on papagami , aka kijo togami's character but i haven't really bothered looking for it. instead i made him into a sad little man who kind of hates his role as togami head and would've preferred a more mundane life (like as an architect - i actually did make a post about this somewhere), but he won his generation's heir competition because he felt like he had to, not because he necessarily wanted to. for reasons yet unsaid

byakuya spent the first part of his vulnerable youth being emotionally neglected at his mother's villa/art studio in france (hence the bilingualism hinted in the canon). when he left to join the heir competition after one too many assassination attempts he got one of his mom's business partners and former exes (a guy named 'polanski') to shelter him

byakuya's impressions of his parents: his mom sucks (fair i suppose) and his dad lacks real ambition and isn't suited to his role. or at least, he could be surpassed very easily. byakuya plans to make himself the greatest heir ever seen because of his shit parent combo

byakuya's known pennyworth the butler since birth. i have this idea that each togami kid gets just one togami family servant to help shape them into their roles. pennyworth happens to be the oldest of the roster but also the most experienced, and is kind of a shifty old man (i.e: very cunning and more loyal to the family than the child he's been assigned to, though that changes as byakuya gets older)

byakuya's also probably a girl and bisexual but he''s trying to take over the world through his shitty family's conglomerate and then survive a murder game apocalypse so she doesn't really care about that rn

[nrwynter]

I haven't done one of these in forever! I think the last one I did was... four years ago? I thought it would be fun to make one again with my improved art skills and show the work that was put into this piece.

The final piece was one of three idea prompts I submitted for the zine. I was already sketching out thumbnails while I was waiting for approval, but I did draw for one of the rejected prompts as well. (Unfortunately I don't have access to them at this time but I'll add at a later date).

Once the weapon prompt was approved, I got started on a rough sketch. (The sketches were drawn cleaner than what I would normally do to make sure it was readable haha). The toughest part of the piece was its composition. Scattering the weapons was hard because I needed to make sure everything looked balanced and focus was placed on the master sword.

What ended up working for me was I managed to grab as many weapon models from the game as I could find, threw them into Blender, and arranged them until it looked good. A bonus of doing this was having good references for both the piece and the individual weapons themselves (which came in handy when I had to draw some of the detailing). The models were also size accurate so that helped a ton too. I did have to upscale the smaller weapons so they'd be more visible on the cover.

Some of the weapon placement was deliberate, others were put there to fill in space or for another reason. The majority of the characters wielded some variation of a sword so I sprinkled in different weapons and other things to break up the repetition. That includes stuff like the Fierce Deity Mask and Toon Zelda's helmet. The more sillier weapons like Tingle's balloon and King Daphnes' sail were placed in the back so they wouldn't clash too much with the other weapons.

I'll talk about some of the more of the symbolic stuff further down the post.

I also drew an alternative version of this piece with Link being in the center instead of the master sword.

Fun fact: at one point I did consider including Ganon since he's technically playable, but realized he doesn't have a weapon. This would have meant I would also had to include the big Cucco from the cucco mode so neither were ever conceptualized.

I intentionally left the art's tone ambiguous just in case the mod team had something in mind. I did picture it having a dawn color scheme though, and the mods wanted the cover to have a peaceful/hopeful vibe so that worked out. I did however add some sunset choices in my color concepts for more options. The four I made also had sepia versions to fit with the aesthetics of the game.

8 was the one the mods chose. However, I did end up slightly adding 6's colors into it to make the sky pop. This ended up being the finalized color concept.

(It looks a little fuzzy because I ended up layering 8 and 6 on top of each other and I didn't position them correctly fghj).

When I do illustrations I start with the background first so I can use its colors for the foreground and midground. I normally don't draw clouds this big and up close so I had to be pretty delicate with how I rendered it. I'm glad I only had to do one side and just duplicate it to the other. Also I made the oranges in the sky and clouds subdued.

After the background was done, I tried rendering the ground and it was a disaster. This was early on in the rendering phase, but what was meant to be dirt started to look like sand. I tried to see if adding textures would help but it made the problem worse. I ended up taking a break from the ground and moved on to the weapons.

Next was the most grueling part of the piece: linearting. I am not kidding when I say doing the lineart took three whole days. I was also juggling with my other illustration I was working on for the zine so the timeline ended up stretching to a week. I'm a detail-oriented person and stuff like this isn't usually that bad for me but this one was pretty rough. The sweat and tears paid off, I think!

After lineart was done, I went back to render the ground again. It was becoming more polished and included more small rock formations, but the dirt-looking-like-sand bit wasn't improved. I opted to add grass instead since that would be easier to render. That was probably the right call because I think that helped with the desired tone for the cover.

I flipped-flopped between working on the grass and the weapons. This screenshot was when I had added the shading, textures, and some highlights. Oh, and I slightly tweaked the sky a bit.

With the grass and rendering done comes my favorite part: color editing. Started throwing overlays, soft lights, what have you on everything and used color balance to level out the colors. Also added light reflection on the ground for some of the weapons.

Something was missing from the illustration and I had no idea what it was. A friend had suggested particle effects and that did the trick! Everything was set and done and I submitted my illustration. When I saw the cover with the title for the first time, I noticed that the illustration was made a bit brighter than what I originally had (likely so the title stuck out better). I actually really liked that change and edited my own copy of my illustration accordingly.

With that said, now I want to talk about some of the more subtle details in this piece. You guys probably noticed these already, but I want to talk about them anyway! I mentioned deliberate weapon placements some ways up so let me go over that first.

Ghirahim's sword, Zelda's rapier, and the master sword are placed in sort of a triangular way meant to represent the triforce (although I think I messed up on the distance between them). I originally wanted Ganondorf's swords being in Ghirahim's spot but I was worried about contrast issues with the swords' darker color scheme and battling attention away from the master sword. I think the idea still works considering Ghirahim is Demise's sword (and Demise is like the Ganondorf of that game). Though Ganondorf's current placement can be viewed as him being a looming threat, for Hyrule Warriors and other Zelda titles.

I have Lana's tome and Cia's scepter close together to symbolize them being two sides of the same coin. Toon Link and Toon Zelda's were placed on opposite sides of the piece but slightly facing each other. Toon Link's and Tetra's are also diagonal from each other, both also representing a type of connection to each other. It's a similar deal with both forms of Midna's weapons as well as Yuga and Ravio. Speaking of Ravio, his weapon is the only one partially buried, sort of peaking over at the master sword to reflect his cowardice natureand being Link's Lorule opposite (at least the Link from a Linked Between Worlds). A similar idea with Fi is that she is somewhat of a silhouette behind the master sword to reflect her growth in Skyward Sword. (I know technically Fi is represented twice here, but her "weapon" in Hyrule Warriors is a different blade so that's why).

Like I said before not all weapons have symbolic placements like this, but a number of them do.

One more weapon detail I wanted to point out is on the master sword. I had this planned from the very beginning but I intentionally draped Link's scarf over the master sword so that the triforce of courage on the blade is the only one visible. I also intentionally highlighted the engraving to make it more prominent.

In the background, the sky is shaped in a way to resemble the Hyrulean royal crest. With the gap in between the clouds looking like the wings, the Master sword acting as the body, and the three visible stars as the triforce (but I messed that up slightly). Only thing I didn't include was the feet of the crest. It's not an exact 1-to-1, but here's an outline for a better visual:

On the topic of stars, there are 29 in total to represent all 29 characters. The brightest star above the master sword is meant to represent Link, but the other 28 are scattered around. Some are more visible than others so it may be hard to spot them all, but they're there.

Saving this last detail because it doesn't really have anything to do with Zelda and more to do with my art. I have always wanted to do this with my work for a while but haven't implemented it until now so I wanted to bring it attention.

From now on, all of my illustrations will have a hidden little angler fish blended into the scenery. I got the inspiration from Adventure Time's snail that appears in almost every episode incorporated somewhere and thought I could do something similar with my art. I'll show you guys where I placed this one, but you'll have to find the next ones on your own.

Not the clearest, but I promise in the future it'll be better drawn (and in case you're wondering, yes there are also little anglerfish in the other zine illustration too!). I just thought this would be a fun way people can interact with my art (and also act as an additional signature).

And that's it! If you have read all of my rambles, thank you!

[kairiscorner]

OMGG HII THIS IS MY FIRST TIME DOING A REQUEST I’M SO EXCITEDD

my idea isn’t good I’m sorry, it’s just so cliche

soo I had this idea where Miles 1610 and the reader are assigned as partners in some homework from the school (all of it can be in between itsv and atsv) and they just act like, you know, awkward teenagers. Reader is shy (and the fact that they have a little crush on Miles doesn’t really help the situation) but then the reader needed to take out some books of their backpack and Miles sees that they have an sketchbook and he’s “Oh you like to draw?” And reader is like “it’s probably the only thing I like to do😭” and then just have a cute conversation

sorry all the grammar mistakes, thanks for reading😭😭😭

OH HELLO ANON !! AWW, THAT'S SO SWEET ⁉️ you sound like such a dear, i'd love to do your req !! i hope you like this !!

(reblogs are greatly appreciated, it helps get my content out there! if you guys like what you see, please reblog it too <:D)

shared hobbies. – miles 1610 x artist!reader

"morales, and..." your teacher was dictating the names of the partners assigned for a joint art project, and they turned their gaze to you, speaking out your name, finalizing the partnership between you and... him, miles morales. this would've been amazing news to you, because you were extremely familiar with this kid, mainly because of how cute his artworks were and how emotionally impactful his graffiti was.

you felt a shiver travel up your spine and caused you to sit up straight and look up from your sketchbook for the first time in a while. as the teacher dismissed everyone to find their partner to talk about their project, you froze the second you heard his sweet, languid voice and saw his big, pretty chestnut eyes looking into yours. "hey, partner." he told you with a grin as you smiled widely like a dork and nodded, extending your hand out to him for a handshake, initially, but then reverting to a high five, then choosing to just give him a fist bump when he held his palm out for a high five.

'why are you so indecisive?!'

"u-um, yeah, yeah, i..." you stuttered, moving your arms and hands away from your sketchbook–exposing your doodles, sketches, drawings, and concepts out into the world–after taking out several books to find the references you both needed for the project. it fluttered open when it hit the ground, and it remained on a page of a sketch you weren't very proud of. miles' eyes drifted from your face to your sketchbook, and his smile only got wider when he noted how creative you were. he looked away, though, when you realized he was staring; you were soon shielding your works that you promised would never see the light of day by anybody else, grabbing it and closing it shut immediately. miles chuckled and looked back at your now wide open eyes. "they look really pretty, sorry i stared, that was rude, um... i didn't realize you liked art, too." he said with an awkward yet excited laugh that made you laugh, too, out of embarrassment and intrigue.

"yeah, i, um... i don't really use just one technique, i... i use all kinds of materials, art styles, ah, it... might be easier if i just show you. th-this is all i do, really," you blurt out as you shyly flip through some pages of your sketchbook, all your designs and ideas just poured out onto every page; with nothing but pure soulful, emotional, and loving interest for the world, people, and life itself out on every once blank spot on the pages of your sketchbook. "i... can't really see myself doing anything but just picturing out like, how the world would look like in a different lens, how people would like to me, how the sky, sea, land and–" and then you realized, you were rambling.

miles listened to you eagerly as his eyes and heart took in every wonderful bit of the art you made; the unconventional aspects of your self-expression just made him even more interested in you, and grateful that, with the way things turned out, he might be able to get to know you more as not just your partner, class or schoolmate–but as a new friend; a friend that you... happen to like as more than just a friend.

"listen, you are so creative, it's inspiring me right now to think of some doodle and graffiti concepts that've been simmering in my head for a while–whaddya say to maybe having a drawing session with me at my dorm and just think of how to do this project with something more eye-catching, y'know? sorry, my dorm mate ganke might be there, though, but we can chill, too, if you want!" he offered with a smile as you blurted out in the heat of the moment: "i'd love to!" "w-well, that's sone enthusiasm... great! i-i'll see you around... 6?" he stuttered out all flustered, not expecting you to say yes, let alone immediately.

you nodded and smiled gently at him, causing him to smile back at you and stammer a lot more. 'wow, they're... really pretty when they're smiling, how come i just noticed this now?" he thought to himself as you got a little self-conscious from his involuntary staring and smiling at you, hiding from behind your sketchbook with wide eyes that stared back at him. miles realized he was staring and apologized, but you apologized for your staring, and you both got into this back and forth apology game that ended up with zero progress being done on your project, and a hundred and ten percent of progress on getting to know each other. it was gonna be the start of something, something really, really lovely between you two.

tags !! @ii01vq @luvstarrstruck @maxoloqy @k4tsu3 @solecitoszn @toneystank-3000 @popeheywardssecretgf @lovefrominaya @onginlove @meowmoraless