#artist week 2 electric boogaloo

[everydayspamton]

day 666 of drawing spamton every day until deltarune chapter 3 || Its Artist Week! Today's artist is @marmarmiya!

[fire-rose]

Week 2: Blood

Week 3: Corrupted, Healing

This was never meant to happen. All other resurrected followers came back fine. Completely themselves and healthy. And yet Primrose, one of the original followers to have joined the cult, returned for the first time. And when she awoke, nothing was the same.

The first to be corrupted. The first to devour her peer. The first to be locked up until the Lamb could retrieve enough crystals to dare attempt to cure her.

Now she here she stayed in the medical bay. Blood and ichor seeped from her throat and out her gaping maw. A wretched, horrid death rattle forced out anytime someone passed on by. Each time Lamb returned with crystals and flowers.

It was because of what happened to poor Primrose that Lamb swore to never again resurrect a follower. Even when she was finally cured, back to normal, Lamb kept an eye on her. Checked on her.

She is no longer completely the same. Kind once more, but things changed. And she would be the very last to be resurrected for a very, very long time.

Never again would Lamb allow for resurrections unless completely necessary.

Only funerals from there on out.

[lunee-bat]

Seeing his desperation to maintain his evil rep, i can hardly fathom Al being excited about the whole ‘having a kid with the devil and being vulnerable’ thing 💀

the new addition to the morningstar family is iconic tho

YES YOU pookie YOU see my artistic vision! Ahhh I’ve been sitting on your ask for WEEKS bc I was so flattered by your take! (And I’m HONORED you like Philomena!) And before I get too far—YOUR ART IS SO FUN and I absolutely LOVE the circus vibes of your blog with all your The Amazing Digital Circus and Helluva Boss/Fizzarolli-centric content!!

I chew on Alastor like a dog toy bc I just *adore* his fragile ego—I wanna knead it in my hands like putty and thrust it against the ground and watch the pieces shatter like glass and run across the floor. It’s the most tantalizing thing ong. He’s so dependent on what others think of him and I love it.

Lucifer’s a lot more goofy and easygoing to me (relatively—he’s a high strung hot mess nonetheless), so I think he takes Having A Baby 2: Electric Boogaloo in stride more easily than Alastor does (esp bc this is only Alastor’s first round by comparison).

(Lucifer calls her Fifi)

Mpreg chatter below in case that’s not your fancy

Alastor is SO not excited about the whole “having a kid with the devil and being vulnerable thing”—I like to think Alastor’s uncomfortable as is around Lucifer bc *how very dare* somebody be more powerful than him, but also?? Pregnancy kinda throws off his groove. Just a lil bit. (Ok actually it drives him BONKERS bc how is he supposed to convince everybody he’s The Almighty Radio Demon Who Should Be Feared By All when he’s dealing with…THIS?? It makes him feel *very* vulnerable and soft and NOT intimidating! That’s not good!) He totally tells Lucifer “VERY WELL THEN I’ll have this child with you BUT we are telling everybody in Hell YOU birthed the spawn.” Lucifer’s pretty patient with him, all things considered. Lucifer’s already had his self-confidence tested by the rattling realities of Having A Kid (I am a firm believer in the Lucifer birthed Charlie bc human sinners generally can’t give birth agenda lmaooo). I like to think Lucifer tries to offer Alastor support and advice and Alastor frustratedly declines 11 times out of 10.

[attibar]

Days 17 and 18 of Toppat weeks: your OC and others' OCs.

Decided on putting both days into one entry and give myself a break tomorrow. I don't usually draw others' OCs so if I messed up yours I apologize.

From top to bottom, left to right:

Violin and Accordion belong to @bluetorchsky

Lex Laytor and Wolf Dirklaser belong to @flamingredanon

Danny belongs to @capturedcharlesau

Pollo belongs to @00lari00

Brutus Crusher belongs to @jaytoons7

Bowie made by yours truly.

EDIT: Someone pointed out that I got one of the names mixed up. Brutus is actually named Crusher, Brutus was an OC made by a different artist 😅

EDIT 2 Electric boogaloo: Names should be fixed now.

[michaelsoft-binbows]

creating avery

Quite a while ago, probably over a year before posting this, I asked a friend of mine, to create a fursona for me. We had briefly discussed this beforehand, realizing that we were both furries but never knew for the longest time. The creative process for (at the time) him was rather straightforward, with little creative input from me besides the colors and species. This was fine by me because I trusted him as an artist, and at the time, I was ecstatic with the result.

I would pick the base species, a few bigger details and the colors, with the rest going to my friend to make. Picking dragon to me was an obvious choice, I've loved dragons since forever, and I always tended to play as scalie type characters in games. Then colour scheme was more to not stand out too much, if you love your oc's/fursona's to have blinding neon hair, more power to you! But I just couldn't. With the end result being finished after a couple of weeks of occasional work, the dragon, who would much later be known as Avery was initially brought forward. I loved some of the design elements, especially at the time, the digitigrade legs, the yellow highlights, the larger paws, and the two tone colors were all things I really liked, and the hair pretty closely mirrored myself IRL, so I felt like I could really embody this character.

Unfortunately I am no longer on speaking terms with the original artist for Avery, it was a lot of my anger and emotion that made me lash out to them, and I ended up pushing away a good chunk of the friends I had left. I don't regret it, I needed to get away for my mental health, but I do miss them all a lot. I wonder what they'd think of me now lol, I've changed quite a bit.

addendum - we are talking again after a long time, what funny timing the universe has addendum 2 electric boogaloo - i probably should have included his twitter acc in the original post, but the artists page is https://twitter.com/NeptunicFrog

Anyway, another time, I'll talk about Avery's newer design, that I feel embodies the kind of person (or dragon :p) I am aspiring to be, so I have a long road ahead before I get there. To anyone who reads, however few, thanks for your time. stay safe <3

[soysaurus]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

i'm quite annoyed. the first time i tried to do this, my laptop decided to update randomly in the middle and i lost everything. i was just about to post, and i was talking quite a bit, i'm not gonna lie. anyway, here we go, take two: electric boogaloo.

stop signs before impact — dabihawks, psycho-pass au

my friend, valya, and i wrote this together. i love this fic, i won't lie. i think the concept is amazing, and i love how i explore touya's declining mental state with every chapter. i love his family and everything he can't quite say. i love his delusions and paranoia, and i love the gruesome detail i get to go into with each crime scene. this is so self-indulgent, and i'm thriving. thanks @valya-azucena for inviting me to collaborate with you.

amongst the stars, we fall — sskk, college au

i was cleaning my bookshelf (read: finally moving all my overflow books from the floor to um. my radiator cover?? bc its been weeks and they've just been...on the floor), and i saw my printed version of this! i miss it a lot. it was one of my first bsd fics, and i loved it. i wrote it in like 2 days at the end of a gift exchange bc i hated what i had thus far, so just restarted. and this was born. i was so stressed LOL love songs — tachigin, music artist au

this isn't published yet, hence no link. but it's been living rent-free in my brain for over a year now, and i'm obsessed. i feel so much with this fic. if i think too hard about the charas, i genuinely start crying. damn, maybe the counsellor was right. i do need therapy... back when we were younger — dabihawks, monster au

also unpublished, also something that i hold very dearly. someone in ctabb was looking for monster au fic recs, but like monster movie-esque. they're the reason i watched cloverfield and it's now one of my favourite films of all time. they're the reason this fic even exists, and one day i will finish it. i'll post this random 50k one shot like i sometimes do, and then i'll read it when i want to cry.

do you want to bleed across the cosmos? — dabihawks, cosmic horror

i love gore and horror, can you tell? this fic marries that and my space hyperfixation. it's creepy, confusing, and dark. honestly, it's exactly what you expect an english and film student to write. and that is five of my favourite fics, not in any particular order but here nonetheless. i've been tired lately, and life has kind of sucked but also it's kinda better. it's weird, lol.

[snfbabydrop]

i was tagged by @negativepeanuthoarder :) <3

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

oh girl i'm gon be tagging a lot of people alright bear with me here

unfinished snf week fics

Day 6: Fake Dating [i like my name in your mouth]

Bonus day: it's complicated

ghosted wips

Post-story - Anti-fireborn [Inferno]

Pre-story - Warden

Pre-story - Group chase Dream for first time

Post-story - Proposal

Post-story - Sapnap nearly dies from trio mission

Pre-story - snf proposal

Pre-story - QNF FIC WOOO

High School Sweethearts (dnn high school au) wip 3

Big Fun

misc

drunz evil and in bed and sexy

DreamNotNap 2: Electric Boogaloo (meet me in the woods)

alright i can't tag 12 people bc i am shy sorry :') but here's 5 (sorry if you've been tagged already! and don't feel pressured to do it if you don't want to!) (tagging artist friends too) @teddybeardream @wishitweresummer @vadergf @dralbum @midnight-stormm

[c-40]

A-T-4 027 Chaka Khan - I Feel For You

Following on from yesterday the best example I can think of of African-American recording artists going all in on the electrofunk/hip hop sound in 1984 is Chaka Khan's hit I Feel For You. The track features a rap from Melle Mel, it's considered the first rap/soul crossover a alliance that would become a hit making formula from the late 1980s until today. The harmonica parts on the track are performed by the one and only Stevie Wonder, also the vocal samples 'Say Yeah' and 'Just A One More Time' are from Little Stevie's hit record Fingertips. I Feel For You is written by Prince and had already been recorded by The Pointer Sisters in 1982 and by Prince himself for his eponymous second album

Now the names you might not know, the arrangement is credited to Arif Mardin and Reggie Griffin. Arif Mardin had produced all Chaka Khan's solo records, he's a legend, in the early 1970s he'd been co-producing Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway, throughout the 1970s he produced major artists like the Bee Gees, Average White Band, and Carly Simon. Reggie Griffin on the other hand was a new jack. I can see him getting the gig because he'd produced West Street Mob's Breakdance Electric Boogie for Sugar Hill and would be producing Grandmaster Melle Mel's solo single Jesse. Multi-instrumentalist Reggie Griffin formed the group Manchild with Anthony "A.J." Johnson in the mid 1970s then produced a few electrofunk/hip hop records with George Kerr (including Thug Rock and Mirda Rock) before working with Sugar Hill. Another name worth mentioning is David Frank of The System who did most the synth bass with Reggie Griffin playing the live bass fills. We think armies of people are involved in making a hit record today, it's not new

I Feel For You goes to number 1 on the UKs singles chart. The video for I Feel For You would have been on Top Of The Pops. The set for the video is an imaginary basket ball court or some other outside fenced space like in West Side Story, a DJ is stood behind two turntables (but there are no speakers), there's graffiti (which looks hung like art in a gallery) some dancers are locking - two of the dancers are Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp from the films Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Shabba Doo was a member of Toni Basil's The Lockers dance troupe. Toni Basil left in the mid 1970s but co-founder Don "Campbellock" Campbell was still at the helm, I wonder if the other dancers were from the same troupe? The female dancers are dressed in high fashion and as I said the graf in the space looks hung like art in a gallery or museum, at the time the NY art world was embracing graffiti and DJs and Bboys would perform at exhibition openings

As a ten-year-old I loved this record. That week when Top Of The Pops is on I'm stretched out across the carpet head lifted by my hands and my nose almost touching the television as usual, Chaka Khan's I Feel For You is number 1 and my ears are wide open and eyes are fully dilated watching the video. Behind me on the sofa my dad begins muttering This isn't Music, or This isn't Proper Music, or This isn't Real Music, this prompted the first argument about music I had with my dad. My dad likes The Stylistics, the Four Tops and Trojan Tighten Up and Club Reggae comps. I was only 10-years-old and my dad has all the sensitivity of a Brummie screwdriver but what I now know he was trying to say was he finds the synths and over the top studio production a little soulless when compared to the productions of Thom Bell from just before and around the time I was born 10-years earlier

I didn't care it might not have sounded like Proper Music to my dad but I loved it so from that point electrofunk/hip hop became my music not my parents music

The video version

The remixed version it's a masterclass in editing

[ayyponine]

weekend 2 electric boogaloo

not a long weekend but still, ever since moving out of my moms house and into the city centre im like i need to GO OUT and DO STUFF. i gotta LIVE

SAT: early morning market sampling/grocery run ft. empty park - biked to rommelmarket and bought a bunch of stuff also had my first pack of fries in???? years probably - visit to local library which is a converted 17th c monastery hence this typa floors - chamber carillon/percussion/vocals/various other instrument performance at a different oldass church conversion - too good to go panos dinner and some rest - visiting artists' ateliers 1. at a place where i might fuck around & join a figure drawing session some time next month 2. on a converted house boat studio where i chatted w the people fr ages and had a great time actually

SUN: work :/ highly spirited colleague came back frm week long holiday though plus our numbers were superb i was so so tired though oh my god. and evening was tv time w my mom <3

MON: more too good to go as a little treat bc that stuff is wild! plus wanted to enjoy shopping so went fr some dresses at a really fancy boutique but could only manage one before feeling massively ugly so i didn't want to try anymore. mostly stuck to lookin at books (ilu petite passport, chiltern classics w florals and gilded sides and p much anything luster publishing puts out thx). wanted to visit an exhibit in the crypt of this basilica but that section's apparently closed on monday rip. finally bought pillows for my living room. might catch up on bridgerton next and chill out until warm dinner, late shower, and then it's back into the work week babes

[probablyacerpgideas]

we finished Storm King’s Thunder, so it’s new character time, and this is Foxfire! i haven’t really figured much out beyond the fact they’re a celestial warlock lol

[everydayspamton]

day 663 of drawing spamton every day until deltarune chapter 3 || Its Artist Week! Today's artist sadly did not leave any credit...

[fire-rose]

Decided to start a bonus. That’ll hopefully be finished by tomorrow instead of tonight. This time purposefully combining prompts, and with the focus being on a follower I had on a previous run, who is canon to my own lil story for Lamb.

Primrose was my first intro to what can happen when you resurrect a follower.

[dontneedadispenser]

Dontneedadispenser is officially announcing Valentines Week (2!!! Electric Boogaloo!!). The dates for TF2 Valentines Week 2022 are Feb 7th-13th, 2022 so you can celebrate the holiday right up to the day! The hashtag will be #dnadvalentines2022. All types of creations are welcome (Art/Fanfiction/SFM/etc). It will be held on both tumblr and twitter!

This will be a SFW prompt week dedicated to celebrating all types of love (romantic, platonic, familial, etc!). OCs and self inserts are welcome, as always. If it’s TF2 then it counts! Please see below the cut for more details and a written list of all the prompts. (Links to all the supporting artists under the cut as well). 

The prompts are as follows: 

Monday (Feb 7th) : Pining / Hold / Proposal Tuesday (Feb 8th) : Formal / Clothes Swap / Blind Date Wednesday (Feb 9th) : Hobbies / Work Together / Pen Pals Thursday (Feb 10th) : Revenge / Payback / Amends Friday (Feb 11th) : Alternate Universes / Tropes / Modern Saturday (Feb 12th) : Shelter / Home / Domestic Sunday (Feb 13th) : FREE DAY / Valentine’s Day Bonus prompts (usable as bonus or to substitute for a day you don’t like the prompts for): Photograph, Camping, Drinks, Sick, Music.  There are also Optional Palette Challenges. (See the prompt list poster). Artists are not required to utilize the palettes but they are provided for some extra inspiration and challenge. You can use them for any day. 

You are not required to participate in every day! You can do a couple days, one day, etc. You also can post late art to the event (be it on a different day or after the week ends). I’ll be sure to follow the tag. If I miss your post and it’s been a few days, please tag me @dontneedadispenser on the post or DM it to me directly on the blog. 

Canon x Canon, Self-Insert x Canon, TF2 OC x TF2 OC, TF2 OC x Canon are all appropriate for the event and will be shared (with exceptions being for problematic ships. This means incestuous ships / underage ships etc). We will also accept familial or platonic art of friends or family type relationships such as Engie & Pyro friends or Zhanna & Heavy as siblings. 

If you have any questions about the event, please just shoot an ask or a message to dontneedadispenser or reach out in the Dontneedadiscord TF2 Community. 

CREDITS FOR SPOT ART!

@holistichiatus

@sodafrog13

@closedcaskett

@dailypyrodoodle

@r2mich2 / @oreganojscudworth

[dramarising-replacement]

Icon Stereotypes 2 Electric Boogaloo

I'm not the original person who did the avatar icon stereotype stuff but figured I'd add in mine because it seems like fun.

Guardian: Either a veteran player with fifty different how-to guides in the forums, or a new player with no experience beyond "ooh pretty dragons."

Mirror: Does nothing but post in the forums for three days straight and then goes radio silent for two weeks. Rinse and repeat.

Fae: Really shy and doesn't post much but really nice when you start talking to them. OR they're loud, post more than anyone else, and kind of a nightmare to talk to -- I swear most scammers or lowballers are those with fae icons.

Tundra: Introverted, lurks the forums and discords but hardly posts, but when you look at their lair half of it is incredibly well written lore with lots of art and the other half is joke dragons with purble-esque humor.

Imperial: Not a G1 collector but has that stereotypical G1 lair aesthetic where all of their dragons are triple gem gened and are dressed in flowerfalls, silks and UMAs. 

Coatl: 50% chance they're an artist or accent maker. Almost always have a really consistent lair with one aesthetic but all of their dragons have individual lore and outfits.

Wildclaw: G1 collector, their icon is their most expensive dragon. It has a metric ton of lore and art. This person is on every single FR artist's pinglist and they only ever buy art of this one dragon. You didn't even know they had other dragons in their lair until you looked.

Skydancer: Dominates the dragon share forum. Either they have a single-aesthetic lair or every single one of their dragons are XYZ and completely different from each other. Changes their icon often.

Pearlcatcher: Seems like these are always the people who write a lot. May run a lore shop but they definitely have lore for ALL of their dragons. Makes headcanons for dragons they haven't even bought yet. Has unlocked all of their lair slots but has only filled maybe a fifth of it. Wishes there were more lair tabs. They write all of their BBCode themselves and/or run an open-use thread for their bio codes OR they have never touched coding in their life but somehow have beautiful bio layouts anyways.

Spiral: Dragon capitalists, usually G1 flavored. Half of their forum posts are in item and dragon sales. If they buy a dragon off the AH there's a 50% chance it's a new project or they bought it to flip. Could fist fight the marketplace and win because they have ten times the gene scrolls that it stocks. If you see this person post in an auction it's already over.

Snapper: Usually casual players. Does a little bit of everything; runs a fodder operation, plays the fairegrounds and coli, breeds cute dragons. Most of the time they're not a G1 lair but if they are they have a whole tab of unfinished projects that they bought a year ago and still haven't gened. Always has at least one joke dragon.

Ridgeback: Goes absolutely ham in the coli and has a whole tab dedicated to all of their level 25s. Has a team for every venue with the most optimal elements. Always does all of their dailies. Times themselves to see how fast they can max out their daily treasure cap playing Glimmer and Gloom. Most likely users to play FR on a gaming rig with RGB lights while drinking an energy drink and playing glitch hop playlists in the background.

Bogsneak: Used to be a casual player but went completely wild after Baldwin was released. Has a maxed out cauldron and makes all of their money by melting down materials. Always has a 30 minute timer running on their phone. Never hoardsells. Has a maxed out hibernal den but not a maxed out main lair. Most likely user to have a hoard of a particular item.

Nocturne: Most likely to have fandragons and OC dragons. Has at least one tab dedicated to a fandom. Decks their dragons out in so much apparel that you're not even sure there's a dragon under there. Always gem-broke.

Ancient breeds: Mostly just casual players; 99% of the time runs a hatchery with twenty different pairs. But if it's a dark colored ancient with a UMA it's absolutely a G1 collector with a huge, impressive lair. Just don't look at their hibernal den because it houses half of their lair count in projects, each one takes three months to gene because they all have expensive scries (but also because they keep immediately geneing their impulse buys).

Not all of these are going to be super accurate because it's just from my perspective but maybe I've got some right. 

[orange-imagines]

Turtles

PLATONIC

All

The turtles get ahold of a cloaking broach

Reader stays with the turtles for two weeks

Reader is a famous ex-thief

Reader has paranoia 

Reader is sick

Baking competition at the Lair

Raph

Reader is Raph’s anxious best friend who has a temper

Leo 

None yet

Mikey

None yet

Donnie

Donnie and the reader are best friends who act like frenemies 

Reader has severe anxiety with a habit of bottling it up

Artistic reader wants to befriend Donnie

Reader is low-energy and feels drawn to Donnie

Mud Dogs

PLATONIC

All

Reader dressed up in uncomfortably fancy attire

Reader plays the guitar and drums 

Mud Dogs unintentionally break into the reader’s house

Reader goes missing after a heist gone wrong

Reader with first aid experience and medical knowledge 

Reader with first aid experience and medical knowledge (Drabble) 

Mud Dogs are the reader’s older brother figures

Reader seems cute and sweet but is secretly badass

Mud Dogs and the reader try on each others’ clothes

Non-criminal reader breaks the Mud Dogs out of jail

Reader and the Mud Dogs have a karaoke night

Reader is sick

Leonard

Being best friends with Leonard 

Danny

Being best friends with Danny 

Mickey

Being best friends with Mickey 

ROMANTIC

All

Crush is best friends with the turtles 

Crush is best friends with the turtles (part 2 - electric boogaloo)

Splinter is their crush’s father figure

Reader confesses after returning home from being captured

Crush wins an award for being the Hidden City’s best solo artist

Mud Dogs’ love languages

Cuddling with the Mud Dogs 

Favorite kissing spots

Leonard

Leonard in a relationship 

Slow burn mutual pining 

Danny

Danny and the reader have to share a bed (Drabble)

Mickey

Reader catches Mickey in the midst of a robbery

[snusbandxknifewife]

Photo Fic 2: Electric Boogaloo

Ok so this is the sequel to the first fic I ever posted on this account. (If you wanna read that one first, click on the photo fic tag at the bottom.) I think it’s cute as hell and I’m soft about it so 🥺 Jude and Cardan wanting to take pictures together makes me 🥺🥺🥺

~~~~~~~~~

In the year after Cardan and Jude took their very first photos in a photobooth, photography became a bit of a fascination in Faerie. Jude didn’t intend for it to happen, but what royalty does tends to become the fad in the kingdom.

It started when they’d bought a Polaroid and began to take pictures of one another, eventually amassing so many that they’d dedicated an entire hall to photos of them. It was both of their favorite place in the entire palace, where they both went to see the other smile and drown in happy memories.

Then a servant had left a door open and a visiting dignitary had seen inside. After that, word quickly spread around the kingdom of the King and Queen’s portrait hall: the place where they’d managed to capture pieces of real life. Jude and Cardan had sighed and agreed to throw the doors open, allowing people to tour the wonder.

(Of course they’d continued to take dumb photos and risqué ones too, but they were much better at hiding those. Jude was insistent that only the dramatic or kickass photos get sent to the hall.)

They’d graduated to a better camera and they’d started to send requests for Vivi to print them. As the photos got bigger and more detailed, the people of Elfhame grew more impressed. All over the kingdom, tinkerers and witches and everyone in between began trying to craft devices that would capture photos in ways the mortal devices couldn’t. It had become a fierce competition, one that amused both Jude and Cardan.

Now, on Cardan’s birthday, the entire kingdom was watching with bated breath. The Living Council had announced a competition to find the best camera creation and, in addition to all the gifts people were bringing for the king, the great hall was full of photographs. The king would be choosing the most realistic picture, and he’d also be awarding the most beautiful one.

Jude sat on her throne, her red empire waist dress floating down to her feet and glittering in the light. She’d worn it at Cardan’s insistence; since he’d announced that their subjects would undoubtedly be taking pictures of them and he wanted his wife to shine just as much as her.

Beside her, Cardan smiled and greeted the family of a soldier from the Court of Termites. Bomb took their gift and stacked it on a table to the side of the royal dais. The picture they brought with them is a gorgeous rendering of a hill overlooking a lake at sunset. It appears to be painted, the work of an extremely diligent artist who had undoubtedly spent days getting everything right.

The photos people came with weren’t all actual photographs, most were art pieces, but it made Jude smile. She couldn’t help but feel proud at the fact that she’d inspired her kingdom to try something they’d never really focused on before. At least she knew she wouldn’t have to keep going to the mortal world to get pictures with her husband. She’d be able to stay in Faerie, safe in what she was familiar with, and she’d still be able to capture important moments in her life.

Still, she’d had to go to the mortal world to get the gift she wanted for Cardan. She’d done that a few times in the past year—her husband’s favorite had been the pinup shoot she’d done about five months prior—and he had a habit of rotating the framed pictures of her he kept on his desk.

She knew she’d have to stop eventually, so she took all her chances while she still had them. She was glad that the timing of this one has worked out.

Time passed and she played the dutiful queen and adoring wife, dancing with Cardan and eating to her heart’s content, greeting her subjects and accepting gifts that didn’t come with any strings attached.

Cardan watched her over the top of his chalice, grinning at how effortlessly she swayed across the floor. With her head held high and her shoulders back, she commanded the whole room without a word. His wife was gorgeous, she was his everything.

Eventually their people became antsy, looking around at the pictures hanging all around the hall and wondering who would be announced the winner. Members of the Living Council were interviewing everyone who’d put in an entry to find out how they made their picture as Cardan led Jude to look at each piece. They’d make the decision on the most beautiful picture alone, and they’d take the Living Council’s input on the best camera entry.

Jude’s favorite was definitely the picture someone had turned in of a revel from a few weeks back. It had been outside, everyone barefoot and dancing until the sun had long come up. The picture showed a dance floor lined with faeries in all manner of dress, watching on as she and Cardan danced. Her dress that night had been a spring green piece with a dangerously low back and skirts that danced around her ankles. Her husband, shown smiling as he swung her around, had a ruffled shirt open low on his pale stomach and breeches of forest green.

Cardan’s favorite was a picture put in by a guard, one that showed his wife dressed in fighting gear as she practiced out in the gardens; her hair sticking to her skin and her face fierce as she lunged towards her sparring partner. He always adored little reminders of how deadly his wife was, loved to see glimpses of the creature that he’d managed to tame, the one who’d tamed him in turn.

They retreated to their thrones to deliberate as Cardan opened gifts. The whole hall went silent, watching the king’s reaction to each parcel. While gifts had to be freely given, everyone knew that those who gave the best gifts would be looked upon favorably.

Jude watched the room for threats as her heart began to race. She knew that the last gift Cardan would open would be the one from her. She’d made sure that Bomb arranged everything that way.

She’d worked her ass off to keep her gift a secret from him. Cardan had been a pain in the neck for WEEKS, trying to catch her in a slip up. She had to engineer a diplomatic mission for him to go on just so she could sneak away to the mortal world and she’d threatened a few lives to keep it from him. Thankfully, it would all be over in a few hours.

Cardan opened all manner of magical gifts: cloaks meant to make the wearer invisible, doublets of impenetrable spider silk, jewelry that helped you understand and speak other languages. Everything he was given was gorgeous and unbelievably expensive.

Everything except for one thing.

Cardan was just about to grab the parchment from Randalin that announced the best camera so they could make their announcements when Jude stopped him.

“Cardan, you’ve got one more gift,” she gently announced and his brows furrowed. One, Jude was hardly ever gentle and two, he had opened everything he’d been given.

Bomb walked up and handed Jude a box, one made of lush purple velvet and wrapped up in a bow of the cleanest white satin.

“What on Earth?” Cardan tilted his head to the side as he accepted the gift, his long fingers wrapping all the way around it as he tried to weigh it to guess what was inside.

“Consider it my entry into the photo contest,” she grinned, only confusing him more.

He pulled the bow off and the entire crowd watched closely. Some were intrigued, others were angry—nobody had been told the queen would be submitting a photo—and others were just being quiet to avoid the ire of the royal family.

When Cardan took the top off the box, he found a picture frame upside down and he snorted. It was just like Jude to prolong the drama.

Jude grabbed fistfuls of her fluffy tulle skirt and bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to make it bleed. She knew that she’d have to explain what it was and that was making her nervous enough to shake.

She’d debated for hours if she should give him his birthday gift in private or if she should do it at his party. Eventually, at the insistence of Vivi and Heather, she’d taken the plunge and decided on a public announcement. She knew everyone would find out eventually.

“It’s.....a photo?”

Jude snorted at Cardan’s evident confusion as he looked at the black and white fuzzy picture, no larger than his hand. She’d put it in a pretty white frame, one that she would eventually write a name on.

“You’re right, my love,” she agreed. “It’s a photo from the mortal world. You see, mortals have figured out how to take pictures for medical purposes. They can use special devices to see inside the body.”

He looked to her, delicately clutching the frame in one hand. She fought the urge to laugh at how he still hadn’t put two and two together. Out in the crowd, faeries were tittering amongst themselves, trying to figure out what their queen has given their king.

“Is this a photograph of you?” He turned back to the picture, gripping it in both hands again and turning it like a different angle would make it make more sense.

“Sort of,” she shook her hand in a so-so gesture. “I’d say I’m the background of the photo. You should be focusing here.”

She walked over and pointed, her nail with its unchipped purple paint tapping against the glass over a strangely shaped white blob. Cardan naturally leaned closer to her, as he always did when she got near, one of his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her close as he tilted his head and squinted his eyes.

Silence stretched out for a few more seconds before Jude, near giddy with mirth, stepped away from her husband.

“Maybe it’ll help if you know where the photo was taken,” she offers as she grabs the frame from his hands. Cardan, his mind still swimming with possibilities, allowed her.

Then, as his wife turned the photo to face him and drew it back so the frame was flush against her lower abdomen, his jaw dropped.

If she was the background, and the photo was taken inside the body—

“Jude, gods above, how long have you known?” Cardan’s eyes welled up with tears and he fell to his knees, his hands coming up to cup his wife’s hips and his thumbs running over where the frame covered her stomach.

Just that quickly, her throat closed up from emotion and all she could do was nod. Cardan grabbed the frame from her and tucked it against his heart as he pressed his face into her skirts, trying to kiss her stomach and hide his crying all at the same time.

Some faeries had put the clues together and were watching with gaping mouths, unsure of what to do as their king hugged their queen.

Then, Jude pulled Cardan to his feet and she turned to the crowd. “The gift I present to my king and husband is the first photograph of our child, which grows inside me as we speak.”

And, just like that, the entire hall erupted with celebration. Most of their subjects had grown to love their new king and queen and, even if that weren’t the case, a pregnancy was always cause for celebration among the fertility-challenged fae. A royal baby, especially so early on in both the king and queen’s rule and their marriage, was unheard of.

Randalin—who looked a bit annoyed at not being informed of the royal pregnancy before the court was—led the partygoers in a toast, one that Cardan happily joined in. Beside the beaming king, Jude raised her glass of water in solidarity; no wine for her for a few more months.

“How long?” Cardan asked her, near giddy with excitement.

“The doctor said twelve weeks,” she whispered back, wrapping her arm around her husband’s hips as they raised their glasses again. “I’ve suspected for a month or so. I should’ve known sooner, but my first missed period was during that last uprising attempt, so I was a bit distracted.”

Cardan held out the photo and Jude pointed out the body parts that were already forming. When she told him that she’d be going back, that he’d be able to come with her and hear their baby’s heartbeat while it was still inside her, he nearly began to bawl again.

“When do we announce the winners?” Jude asked, thinking back to that gorgeous picture of them dancing.

“I can’t think of anything more beautiful than this.” He held up the photo of their baby and Jude blushed, elbowing his side and telling him to be serious.

Cardan told her that he was being serious and she bit her lip, looking down at the photo she’d already stared at so much.

The party would grow into a week-long celebration of the new heir; a practice run for the celebrations that would rock Elfhame when the child was born. Eventually, both the faeries who made the two pictures Jude and Cardan had enjoyed the most were made aware that their works were hanging in the royal picture hall and another faerie who’d made the best camera was given a job by the Living Council and they became the first official royal photographer.

Elfhame would grow to love photography, all because of a mortal queen who wanted a picture with her husband.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hnnnnng pregnancy announcements are so cute lol

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