#blood and laugh webcomic

[patejaminq]

Act 1 scene 2.2 'Peak of utter charity' - 4 | Blood and Laugh (webtoons.com) NEW PAGES ARE OUT!!!

[bloodandlaught666]

Mortimer being happy for once

[octomelona]

"work on ur comic"

haha what if I just draw the characters on their own instead

[alexanderwales]

My web serial, Worth the Candle, has been adapted into a webcomic. This was thanks to my agent, who I have a great fondness for, since without him I would have to spend time trying to make connections and call people and do a bunch of work that I don't know how to do and am not good at.

I was offered the chance to write the webcomic, but declined, mostly because writing Worth the Candle had taken four years and was pretty draining, and was a story that I feel like I'm done with, minus some editorial stuff, answering fan questions, and the odd bit of promotion. So my level of involvement is that I get the pages as they come in, make some comments on them, and generally just give feedback which they are free to ignore.

So let's talk about some of the adaptational changes! You can read the first three issues on Webtoon here, or the first eight issues if you're willing to pay, and the books start here, but I'll assume that you haven't read either, and there won't be substantial spoilers because I'm talking about stuff from the very beginning. Actually, I guess there will be some spoilers, but later on, and I'll mark them, mostly having to do with some foreshadowing that the webcomic does which I didn't do.

(I licensed the rights to make the webcomic to WebToon and took my money upfront, they didn't ask me to write this post, I have not actually asked the artist/writer why they made these changes, it's just me guessing and commenting, for fun. Edit: My agent has informed me that I'm mistaken, I do get a cut. So apologies for the misinformation, and hooray for me, I guess I signed the contract ages ago and just forgot the details.)

Character Design

Here's how Juniper Smith is described in the books, ch 2:

I won’t belabor my physical description. My friend Greg had once said that I looked like someone had chosen ‘default’ for every option in the character creator, which I’d tried to laugh at but cut kind of deep. I wasn’t handsome, I wasn’t ugly, none of my features were very prominent, my eyes were blue, my hair was brown, average build, average height … After Greg had made his comment at one of our D&D games, my nickname had been ‘default’ for a while, at least until I stopped pretending to find it funny, and even after that my friends would use similar lines to trash talk me, saying that I was “the most generic man alive”, “a white bread with skim milk motherfucker”, or “the human equivalent of vanilla ice cream”. Not that I was any less of an asshole to them.

This is how he looks in the comic:

I would more or less give this full marks.

In terms of other aspects of character design, Juniper is here given a black shirt with a red symbol on it rather than the stock white t-shirt he's wearing in the opening chapters of the first book, probably in the interests of adding in some visual variety. On the page, it's perfectly fine that every person in the first 50k words is wearing basically the same stock outfit. In a visual medium, I do think that you need that pop. I do think it's interesting that Juniper is wearing the same clothes in the classroom as he is on the plane, implying that when he transmigrated his clothes ... came with him? I don't know.

The other major character of the first section is Amaryllis, who is a major character in the entire work. Here's her description in the book:

Standing by a workbench, among various car parts, tools, and cans of unidentified fluids, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

I’m not really sure what protocol is here, in terms of prose. I mean, I don’t want to sound like a creep, so maybe I should stay as generic as possible and tell you about her dark red hair pulled back in a braid, the glacial blue of her eyes, how starkly alert she looked as she peered over the parts in front of her, or her grease-smeared clothes. Save for her eyes, I wasn’t really focused on any of that. My mind was consumed by tracing her curves, the shape of her chest in her blood-stained t-shirt, the fullness of her lips and the delicate way she had them parted -- and yeah, it was pretty fucked up that the splatter of blood on her shirt wasn’t worth rating much of a mention. I was consumed with staring at her and thinking how gorgeous she was, until I noticed that she was having a powerful effect on me, at which point different parts of my mind were given over to marveling at the sensation of being so attracted to a girl, and others were still focused on her.

Imagine that someone spent a few years studying your likes and dislikes, running through video of your every private moment, somehow surreptitiously hooking up EKGs to measure your physiological responses without you knowing. Then imagine that they sat down with that data and the best photo manipulation artists in the world and made the absolute perfect picture to cause your heart rate to spike, a jolt to run up your spine, butterflies in your stomach, and a cold sweat on your palms. Then imagine that they did this again, over and over in slight variations, until they had a full 4K 60fps 3D movie to show you. That was what it was like watching her.

And here she is (as she's introduced) in the comic:

Aside from the change in clothes, which in the book are the same white t-shirt and blue jeans that everyone else is wearing, Amaryllis has a scar on her face, of unknown provenance. This was probably added for visual variety, but I do find scars to be very fetching, and in one of the early versions of Worth the Candle she did have one (patterned off a woman with an extremely attractive facial scar I had met, the kind of facial scar that looked like it was applied by a Hollywood makeup artist specifically to give a touch of the exotic and mysterious, except she was a just a Midwestern mom).

And of course Amaryllis was always going to be an adaptational challenge, because the books are told through Juniper's eyes, and she's The Most Beautiful Girl in the World to him, and conventionally attractive to everyone else. Juniper tries to be normal about this. But if you're in the visual medium, you have to show both how Juniper feels and how she actually looks, and attractiveness is just so incredibly personal. My wife and I get in these kinds of discussions a lot, where she'll think someone is good-looking and I'll say "him?" or vice versa.

I think the above panel in particular is a good middle ground, a glamour shot that snaps back to the reality of their first meeting:

(The void gun she's holding there is much different from the one described in the book, not something cobbled together from spare parts and void equipment, but this is another very minor change that I would assume is meant for communicating immediately that this is a lethal weapon, and there's probably not a place for explaining how and from what it was cobbled together, which is also under-explained in the book for reasons of pacing.)

Story

I've read the first nine episodes, and overall, it's hewing very closely. There are a few bits in particular that stand out to me in how they're handled.

Spoilers for later in the series follow, I guess.

These are the opening lines of the webcomic. This is much stronger foreshadowing than I used, and I like it. Part of Juniper's backstory is that he's been deeply depressed and self-destructive, and he's slow to open up about this with other characters or the reader. The "it" that he couldn't go through with is, then, suicide. In the books? This comes very very late. Juniper being depressed after Arthur's death is brought up after the first major arc, halfway through what's now Book 1, and gets more explicit as the books go on, eventually getting to Juniper talking about his attempted suicide with people and grappling with it like ... almost halfway through?

I don't know what the plans for the webcomic are, but my guess is that they're setting up for much, much later on in a way that I didn't. This was always a background element, something that informed Juniper's character, not so much the suicide attempt as the feeling that came after, this understanding that yes, he did want to live, a heady, energizing kind of "I guess I don't have the way out that I thought I did" sort of thing.

So I take it as a good sign that this is the opening line. It points toward them understanding where they're going.

One of the other major adaptational changes is that they signpost Arthur's death with a memorial on his desk:

When I was getting pages, this was one of the first moments where I was like "yes, this is a good change, visual storytelling to replace my walls of text, flows and offers indirect information". I am very happy with the adaptation thus far, and stuff like this is what I love about adaptation in general, the need to grapple with the strengths and weaknesses of the medium.

Content Rating

Worth the Candle gets grim and dark in places. It at least attempts to grapple with serious things. The webcomic is rated Young Adult, and I'm not sure how they're going to handle the later stuff, but I can talk about how they're handling the stuff now, and what I think it means overall.

First, there's a lot less swearing. Worth the Candle in its entirety uses the word "fuck" ~1200 times. Granted, this is over the course of 1.6 million words, so a fuck density of one every 1.3k words, and some of those are in the verb "soulfuck" rather used descriptively, as exclamations, etc. My personal feeling is that this doesn't matter basically at all. I don't think I notice when someone isn't swearing unless they're using corny substitutions or trying to get cute with it.

Second, the violence is toned down in that YA way, where they're still showing much of the same things, just not with the same level of visceral detail. When a Marvel comic has someone thrown into a wall, they're no blood or snapping of bones or mangling of bodies, at least if it's a comic at a certain rating (I have definitely read some edgy 90s comics that do go hard on the violence). I think, overall, that this isn't my preference, which might be obvious from the way that I try to write fight scenes and such. But I'm also sort of inured to this toning down of violence, since it's omnipresent.

Third, there's the sex stuff, and ... well, it hasn't come up in the webcomic yet. I think I laid out my reasoning for why I think sex scenes should be written/included in Why to Write a Sex Scene, but the brief version is that sometimes you're showing how characters relate to each other, what they think of each other, and the sex scene shouldn't always just be something that's skipped over and left to the reader's imagination, because things happen, there are moments of communication, it can and does develop a relationship in the moment rather than after the fact. Plus a little titillation is, in my opinion, usually good.

The great thing about writing webfic is that no one can stop you from just including three solid chapters of hardcore pornography in the middle of your story. I have never done that, but I could is the point, and I would only get complaints from people who have no power over me. That same freedom doesn't exist here, and ... yeah, it makes my heart sink a little bit.

Fourth, there's some of the more mature content stuff, the topics that might not be broached. I don't know how they're handling that, so I reserve judgment, but I think my opinion is probably going to be "well, you do what you have to do", and if my version of the story is superior because there are no brakes, then I can be smugly superior about that.

Conclusion

This is already a fairly long post, and there are a few other things that I could have remarked on, but I think this is all the most interesting stuff.

Alright, just one real quick: Arthur is adaptationally more attractive, though this is also how Juniper sees Arthur and I think by the standards of webcomics, this is actually sort of necessary. Most of the flashback cast is not described until much later on, and by then you kind of know and understand them from the things they've said, if you can keep track of them. Many of the flashbacks are nearly disembodied. But if you're showing Arthur early, then the first impression he's going to make is in his appearance, and that really anchors people.

So overall, I am happy with the adaptation. There are challenges ahead, and I'm thankful that I'm not the one who needs to tackle those challenges.

[therainnight]

Me blathering about Omgaverse JaviLloyd. 

Warning: I'm no writer. English is my second language AND this is me blathering about Omgaverse JaviLloyd. 

Of course, there is no beta reader. this is me blathering

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

hear me out- omega!Lloyd.

Yeah I know he must suit for being beta but I like the chaos of Suho and others that not is baron or baroness, don’t know if Lloyd is omega.

Originally, his death isn’t only because of drinking too much but also consumed heat suppressant pills for a long time and won’t let his body have heat after the first time it happened, and because of that most people think he is beta.

Unfortunately, Kim Suho aka our beloved young master takes his body without this knowing this. He did notice the pill bottle on the bedside table but don’t think too much about it. (In his defense, “it a pill bottle with no label. Who would dare to touch it?”)

The story continues like now it in the novel or webcomic. There was once or twice, Javier noticed a new scent coming from Lloyd. VERY SUS. At first, Javier thinks that Lloyd has a secret meeting with omega to steal the weird knowledge that recently Lloyd possessed but that theory has to drop out because Javier is with Lloyd 24/7 after he picks up Lloyd from passing out on the road on a faithful day.

Lloyd knows only a few things about this second-gender thing. “The knight of blood and iron” is focused on Javier’s knighthood journey more than the second gender. He knows what beta, omega, and alpha are but just that it.

After the mining & ant incident, it the moment that Lloyd learned about his real second gender. He learned from the mouth of his family doctor. At first, the doctor praised Lloyd for his choice of choosing to stop drinking after that he praised him for stopping taking heat suppressant pills and letting his body free for once, doing what it was designed for.

“Heat? What?” Lloyd asked but the doctor didn’t notice and keep talking.

“It’s good that now you consider your health, young master. But just completely stopping consuming heat suppressants immediately is kind of dangerous. I will write a new set of pills for u to stable your system, ok?”

“Oh and please don’t take it the wrong way but now you're out of pills, I think you should consider wearing a collar for your own protection.”

“I know. Sir Asrahan is trustworthy and noble alpha but as you always said to your soldier, safety first! Hahaha” the doctor laughed softly.

Before Lloyd could ask doctors more about this “heat” and pills. Baron and baroness break into the room and hug him while telling how they were glad that Lloyd is awake and safe. After a joyful family drop-down. Baron tells Lloyd that he knows about Lloyd's decision to stop taking heat suppressants. The baron presents Lloyd with a collar with the Frontera symbol on it. He said that ask for a mage to cast a spell cast on it to become invisible when the user wears it.

“I know how much you hate people knowing about it but please, think as to help ease your father and mother’s mind.”

Lloyd was confused but agreed to what the baron and baroness begged him for. Good for Lloyd, He wasn’t alone. Javier was also confused.

Nowadays, young master Lloyd has this- bewitching scent coming right off him. At first is very dilute, if it is not because of his sharp sense and of the time they spend together. He won’t notice it but now it becomes more clear and stronger. It smells like chocolate mostly but also another sweet scent that makes a sweet tooth like Javier crave for some.

On one relaxed night, The one that Lloyd can have a routine like normal people. He finished his bath, ready to put Javier into dreamland but Javier have some business before joining him in his bedroom. Lloyd rolls around on the queen-size bed. Lloyd can’t help but feel uneasy and annoyed with how his bed is.

Everyone would have some moments like this. When you feel like the bed is not right and they fix the bed until you feel comfortable again.

So Lloyd spend time waiting for Javier to fix his bed until he felt satisfied. He fluffs 4 pillows that he has. He keeps arranging it but is still unsatisfied.

‘Tomorrow was my day off!! I will have a good quality night's sleep today!!!’

Before he knows he collects the many pillows and blankets as much as he can. While Lloyd arranges his bed like a madman he notices Javier’s pink pillow on the chair near his bed. He picks the pink pillow up. Look around it. Before hugging it to test the quality of the pillow. Turn out it is perfect!

Lloyd replaced the pink pillow with his own pillow while thinking Javier won’t mind him borrowing this pillow just for one day.

-knock- -knock-

“Master Lloyd. It’s me”

“Ah! Come in.”

Javier didn’t prepare his heart for what he witnessed after he opened the door. The usually normal bed is now full of pillows and blankets. Anyone can see that each item has gone through a lot of calculations to determine where to put it.

‘I- it looks like a nes-‘ before Javier can end his thoughts suddenly Lloyd pops out.

“Ha ha! Lo and behold! This is my fortress!”

“....Young master, what are you doing?”

“...make my bed? ANYWAY! come join me! it's very comfy, you know~? Want to sleep with this big brother tonight~?”

“..with all the respect, sir. I have to refuse- wait. Is that my pillow?” 

"oh-AH. Yes. I will borrow it today! "

"You have a ton of pillow, Sir. Why you must borrow mine? please give it to me"

"What-? Did I just hear SIR KNIGHT ASRAHAN say he can't sleep without his pink pillow? don't worry. I won't tell a soul."

"--!"

Javier moves closer to the bed with a fortress(?) make of pillows. To be honest, the nest- no- the bed looks very comfy and neat but he can't let himself go along with what this trash human planned.

Thank you for reading! :3

[i-like-forcefem]

https://www.tumblr.com/i-like-forcefem/761630659485810688/1-insert-a-girl-as-a-headmate-into-a-cis-man-2?source=share

I just want you to know that this literally happened to me. Or at least, something close to it. I'm Felicia, of the Nova Collective, and I was the first member of our system, but I went dormant, before we even knew we were plural, and then Rain (a fictive of the titular character of a webcomic) took over for a long while. Our history is pretty complicated, but I came back to our body having been on estrogen for months and already having grown boobs. Now, looking back, I definitely was not cis in the first place, but I did get a girl headmate who took over as host, resulting in me getting forcefemmed.

However, I am here to tell you that this method can have unintended consequences. The dormancy impacted my memory in weird ways and now it's really easy for me to end up temporarily forgetting what happened after I went dormant for a bit. So sometimes I just forget that I'm a girl, and then instead of just reminding me in a normal way, Luna (another headmate of mine, a vampire who feeds via fucking with the hormones in people's blood to feminize them) always decides to try and fluster me as much as possible

So uhh, this approach does need caution because like, it's a bad thing that my memories are weird and I'm stuck in a loop of forgetting and being forcefemmed over and over again at the mercy of my Mistress, right? I'm constantly being told that I'm a good girl whether or not I understand it, I'm often deliberately hypnotized into these states of forgetfulness so it feels like I just suddenly went from seeming like a totally cis boy, immediately into suddenly being in a body that's been on estrogen for YEARS, and we don't even have any masculine clothes anymore, and my headmates are laughing and drawing attention to how big our boobs have gotten to make sure I really feel the difference, and that's all very cruel and wrong, right? That's gotta be why I keep getting so flustered and blushy and horny when this is done to me. It's uhh, unethical, or something. Luna is now laughing at me for not even being able to properly deny that I like it. And now she's demanding that I type out that "I'm a very good girl, deep down inside I've always been soft and cute and feminine" and put it in the ask and I can't bring myself to disobey Her.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know the potential dangers of that particular style of forcefem. Safety first, or something

[dissvicious]

Triple threat

Heya everyone I hope you're having a wonderful day (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ 💕

I have a few hours to kill at the airport so let's enjoy a little bonus post to my fanfiction Never leave me again (check my pinned post 📌) which I could call: Buggy's offsprings appreciation post ♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

Flash forward to years after the fanfiction timeline: Buggy's triplets are now 12 and they all have inherited traits from their father - which make your parenting journey an highway to hell sometimes. Let's meet them ~

BLAZE

First born of your little clown litter

No braincell - only chaos

He has destruction in his blood.

Very adventurous! Never reluctant to go on a mission.

...Even if you never ask him to come, tho.

Randomly put fires to things, most times by accident.

Golden retriever energy, but a crazy one

He shares his father's laugh

SKYE

Natural born leader, she wants to become captain herself later.

Most cautious of the three. She has destructive impulse like her brothers, she just makes sure the twins get caught and not her.

Has a passion for sea creatures, dream of having one as a pet

Growing with Buggy and the twins she ironically became self conscious about her nose, wishing to have a natural red round nose like her father & brothers.

Her axe is made out of wood - for now, to her great dispair.

Have her father's ego and taste for the grandiose.

RORY

The one of the twins who actually have braincells.

Very crafty and imaginative.

Love to invent, craft and test other Buggy's bombs.

For the moment they are pretty inoffensive : smoke bombs and laughing gas bombs mostly.

He crafted Blaze's gauntlets with rusty pieces of armor he found in the big top's hold.

Inherited his father's grumpiness and shitty temper.

~

As I said some post ago I have the plan to make a little webcomic with them. I have so much fun drawing them ! Hope you like the doodles & stay tuned, next part of the fanfiction is written and I'll post it when I'll have some times. ~(˘▾˘~)

[eruden-writes]

Scent Match - Part 3

(Note: Started with an anon asking for the phrase prompt, “Oh. Oh.”)

Summary: When Amber Dyer decided to attend a Creator Con, she never expected to run into Of Wolf and Blood lycan hearthrob, Augustine Prime.

But, there he was, stooping over her table, asking to buy the unflattering drawing of his character. Valuing integrity over taking money from a celebrity and running (though she was sorely tempted,) Amber finishes the sketch and delivers it to Augustine.

However, he continues to doggedly pursue her and entwine their lives.

All because of her scent.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

First Part | Previous Part Masterlist

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The VIP lounge was simultaneously underwhelming and overwhelming. While the environment was remarkably drab - reminding Amber of a sad office party with business-grade navy carpet and neutral grey walls - being in the midst of celebrities brought her anxiety to a heart pounding ten. She was just thankful to have Addie by her side, helping to field questions

She just had to focus on calling the actors by their actual identities, rather than their character's names.

"So, did you think you'd get the Augustine Prime's attention with this drawing?" From across the coffee table, Tarias - Theo Delaney - leaned forward in his chair. A smile spread over his features, his eyes alight with amusement. On the table was the aforementioned drawing.

Amber glanced down at the piece, ignoring how Augustine - from his spot on the floor - watched her so... closely.

For the most part, Augustine simply basked in Amber's presence. He was thankful she agreed to venture into the VIP area. At the time of his request, he hadn't realized he'd be able to inconspicuously take in her scent for an extended time. Augustine had merely wanted her to stay near him.

Now, not only was he committing her scent to memory, but Amber's mannerisms. The way her gaze bounced from one companion to the next, trying valiantly to give them all her attention. She even turned slightly toward whoever spoke, making them aware she was listening. Augustine found his eyes often wondering. Taking in her straight back, but slumped shoulders and the way her hands shifted, her feet fidgeted.

He wanted to skim his hand down her back, release her tension. Or bring her hands to his lips, brush light kisses over her knuckles to still her nerves.

"I didn't know it was him talking to me at first. I was focused on my drawing." As Amber admitted that, Laira - Delilah Moonsbayne, Amber reminded herself - barked out a laugh from her armchair next to Theo. The actress made a flippant comment on Augustine's lack of presence, but Amber didn't acknowledge it.

With her heart still pounding, Amber simply smiled weakly at the woman and let her momentum continue to propel her words, "If l had known he was lurking about, I might not have chosen Montos for vent art."

At her words, Augustine's ears twitched with concern, but Theo beat him in asking, "What were you frustrated about?"

Theo Delaney's intense look of concern brought a soft, awkward laugh to Amber's lips and a lick of heat over her cheeks. It felt odd explaining her everyday gripes to a celebrity.

Thankfully, Addie took over talking duties as she threw an arm over Amber's shoulders. "Despite how talented Amber is, their work - particularly their webcomic - hasn't gotten the attention it deserves."

"I'm not the best at marketing, so it's really just my fault." Amber winced and gave another weak laugh, trying not to sound too self-deprecating.

At her knee, where Augustine had opted to sit on the floor, the actor suddenly snapped his fingers. He smiled up at her, craning his neck as he excitedly asked, "Weren't there books at your table? Hell's Bells or something?"

"Hell's Promise," Amber corrected with a nod. Honestly, she was surprised he'd seen anything other than her little drawing of Montos, given how focused on it he had been. She was lucky he even remembered the commission, let alone invited her into the private realm of celebrities.

He seemed to perk up more, wolfish ears turned toward her in full attention. Something in Amber shivered under his undivided interest. Augustine leaned closer to her, subtly taking in her scent as he prodded further, "Do you have a copy with you?"

Also on the floor, Dsidere - Camry Vainglow - leaned over Augustine. Interest sparked in their wide green eyes as they waved their hand, like a kid hoping to be called on in class. "Yeah! I wanna read it, too!"

Before Amber could break the news that no, she didn't have any of her comics on her, Addie tapped her shoulder repeatedly. "I have some!"

Surprise flicked over Amber's features, turning to her friend. The other woman was riffling around her messenger bag excitedly looking for something. "You do?"

"Yeah, I figured if Augustine actually had come around, I should grab some merch." Triumphantly, Addie withdrew a small stack of Hell's Promise. As she leaned over to hand them to the celebrities, she shot Amber a wink. " You never know! He might become a fan and post about it online, which would be a boon, right?"

"Very smart!" Camry nodded sagely as they and Augustine accepted a book each. Amber tried to hide her surprise and delight as Theo and Delilah also took copies. Along with the books, Addie handed out some stickers, pins, and additional copies of Amber's business card.

Trying to shove off her own excitement - it wasn't even guaranteed they'd even read her comic - Amber opted to give further information. "You can also find the comic online at the website on the back of the book. Online is obviously more up-to-date than hard copies."

Flipping through the pages, Delilah tilted her head to the images before asking, "So what's the story about?"

"Hell's Promise is about a world where witches get their familiars assigned to them and our protagonist gets a hellhound. Which is, like, completely unheard of in this universe." Once again, Addie took the verbal reins, leaning over Amber as she spoke to Delillah with pure excitement. "So the witch starts poking about and unravels a long forgotten prophecy which may or may not involve saving the world."

"Interesting," singsonged Camry as they flopped onto the floor, stomach to the carpet and Hell's Promise splayed open for reading.

"I like to think so," Amber said, just before her phone went off. She blinked, momentarily rerouting her thoughts before realizing it was her own device. Digging it out of her pocket, the phone continued chiming as more notifications rolled in. Confused, she stared at it, trying to understand what was going on.

"Wow, someone is popular." Addie leaned closer, peeking curiously at the device vibrating in Amber's hand. "What's going on?"

"I honestly don't know." Amber's eyebrows furrowed, realizing it wasn't just one app going off. It was all of her social media. If it had just been her texts, it could have been an emergency involving her friends or even the few family that still spoke to her. However, it was as if someone lit a fire in all of her apps.

Why was she suddenly getting so many notifications? Had something she posted riled up people to the point of hunting her down online presence down across multiple platforms? She couldn't even think what she had last posted that would be met with any level of vitriol, specific or general. That didn't mean much, though.

When she realized the reason for the attention, her heart jumped while her stomach plummeted.

She was tagged across multiple platforms by @TheAugPrime. The post, in question, was a selfie of Augustine - taken mere minutes ago - holding up her comic and flashing an attractive grin to his camera. The caption read "Check out this comic by @AmbDyArt! Just got a copy and can't put it down." Following his statement, he even linked to the places Hell's Promise was hosted on.

Startled, her eyes wheeled to Augustine. Embarrassment and dismay, among other indescribable feelings, spiked a fire up her spine. "That's not even true. You haven't even read it!"

"It's not a lie, either. I haven't put it down, since Miss Kline handed it to me." He winked with a grin, waggling the still-held comic in the air. Immense pride puffed out his chest over that little workaround.

Beside Amber, Addie gave a giggle-snort. "He has a point."

"B-but he hasn't read it yet." Amber briefly turned to her friend, shock and betrayal faintly coloring her voice before she turned back to Augustine. "What if you don't like it?"

He gave a lackadaisical shrug, but his smile never faltered. Even as an inkling of uncertainty colored the far parts of his thoughts, a part of Augustine couldn't help but enjoy her reaction. It was unbearably adorable. While he hadn't read the comic yet, he had flipped through it and could feel Amber's care put into the art. "I'm sure I will. You made it."

"You don't know that though!" She wanted to grab him and shake him. How could he just give her a free recommendation so easily? What if he read her comic and found it to be utter trash? Hell, what if his fans read it and deemed it garbage? Further "what ifs" spun around her head with every notification buzz her phone shuddered with.

Something in her expression must have finally struck Augustine. His ears drooped a little, confusion and hurt softening his features.

Oh, he had fucked up. Something in his chest sank, staring up at Amber's flustered horror. Before he could think of something to say or apologize, Delilah had reached over to Amber, patting her on the shoulder. "Sweetie, don't try to make sense of him. He does shit like this all the time."

"Would you like me to delete my post?" He held up his phone, thumbs poised over the screen as if it would just be a matter of thumb taps to erase the posts. Causing her strife had been the furthest thought from his mind. Augustine knew what his celebrity endorsement could do for a small brand, though. He had just wanted to help her.

"I... I don't know." Conflict swarmed Amber's thoughts. It just felt like a lie, but wasn't that marketing? He hadn't actually lied, hadn't given an actual review. Just posted a photo of himself with the book. That alone had her own social media suddenly aflame.

Even if he deleted his posts, there were bound to be screenshots already circulating. Some of those emails pouring into her inbox might be from news outlets, as well. She didn't even want to think about the rumor aspect in what he had just done.

Staring helplessly at her phone, she watched as notifications rolled in from ExaGram, Bumblr, Cheepter, and more. With a shake of her head, she sighed and set her phone to Do Not Disturb mode before tossing it back into her bag. She'd deal with the mountain of notifications later.

"You should've asked before posting that." From beside Augustine, Camry nudged his side. He glanced down to his co-star, still sprawled on the floor with the comic book open. "Some people don't like their timelines blowing up, all because of your mug."

Again, Augustine realized he should have known better. He often forgot. Even when he barely started his acting career, his family's notoriety and wealth - and predisposition to conventional attractiveness - meant he'd always had a following. With drooping ears, he sighed and cast an apologetic look to Amber. "Sorry, Miss Dyer."

"It's fine! You were just trying to be nice." Augustine's puppy dog eyes worked on someone, at least, as Addie wrapped an arm around Amber's shoulders. She gave a laugh, giving her friend a little shake as she pointedly said, "Right, Amber?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm just..." Amber sighed once more, pressing her hands to her warm cheeks. Her cool palms helped to ease the fires of anxiety still churning inside her. She suddenly felt foolish for her reaction. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she centered herself before allowing her hands to drop and looking at Augustine once more. "I'm not used to so much attention on my socials."

Augustine rose to his knees from his crosslegged position, edging closer to Amber again. She tensed, seeing his hands rise briefly to touch her knee. Some sense made him drop his hands, but earnestness still glittered in his eyes. "Let me make it up to you by treating you to dinner."

"Weren't you going to ask her out anyway?" Delilah grinned as Augustine shot her a dirty look. The fact she sat in an armchair and he knelt on the floor razed at his pride, but he ignored it. Just because he planned to eventually ask Amber out to eat didn't mean his colleague had to throw him under the bus like that!

Blessedly, Amber's friend ignored Delilah's interjection. She was all excitement as she bounced a little on the couch. "Food sounds great! We were just talking about what to get for dinner before you caught us!"

Watching Augustine's features shift from somber to excited made Amber feel a little bad for how she had reacted to his post. With that feeling, another wave of frustration swept through her. She'd been acting ingracious to him and the other OWaB cast. After all, just because they were celebrities didn't mean they weren't persons, with flaws and feelings and understanding. Other than talent and luck and connections, they were no different from her. Mostly.

With that thought in mind, Amber turned to the others and smiled, determined to extend the olive branch of friendliness. "Are the rest of you going to join us?"

No one caught the momentary fall of Augustine's expression when Amber posited her question. Nor did they see his further gloom as his castmates chimed affirmatives. It was only a blink of disappointment, before he schooled his expression back into a smile.

There'd be time to talk to Amber alone, he reminded himself. He was just happy for the continued time together.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Next Part | Masterlist

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

If you like my content, please consider supporting me on: 

*:･ﾟ✧ Patreon or  Ko-Fi *:･ﾟ✧

I also love, love, love comments, tags, and reblogs! Seeing readers' reactions motivates me.

[thedarkone121]

////

Rachel, ever so slowly, raised her head up so she could stare Doctor Jekyll in the eye. The saturated brown eyes met hers and at once, the strained smile fell away. Something close to fear had entered his eyes.

Good, he understood that this was no laughing matter. 

“I am taking her to the tailor shop,” she began, her words slow and clear so that the idiot doctor could understand her. “And I am going to make sure she’s getting dressed properly . If I need the money to buy her new dresses, you’re the one that’s going to be paying them. You hear me, Doctor?!” 

“Yes ma’am!” Jekyll squealed as he shrunk back. Rachel didn’t realize she was almost nose-to-nose with him. Now, on a normal day, Rachel wouldn’t dare get all up in her boss’s face like that. But the outrageous fury she felt coursing through her blood was enough to override the repercussions. 

“Wha’s a tail-er?” Anne-Marie’s confused voice piercing the air managed to break Rachel out of her rage.

Right, there was work to be done.

////

New chapter is up guys! And boy, was it a long one. 28 pages on the Google Docs...

[smoke-and-silver]

How did you come up with your Ifrit / Bernadette content? I would love to hear 😁

It's so flattering that people are interested in them, thank you so much!

I actually didn't plan for Ifrit to make more than one appearance. Initially I wanted to do some little slice of life scenes around the ministry, and I just picked a random ghoul for that introduction scene with a nun first meeting a demon.

When I started drawing Bernadette it was out of a desire to draw an older character than I usually would. I'm 24 and having that first "oh god am I getting old" panic so I started drawing an older woman as a comfort, then she took on her own character as I drew more. :3

For the little comics I wanted something playful, like those early 2000s cheesy goth webcomics where the blood is all played off for laughs--like the repeated joke of Bernadette killing her ex husband. I get a lot of inspo from campy domestic horror flics like Serial Mom (1994).

--and then, I thought it would be sweet for an older lady to get some love, and Ifrit was already there from that first comic, and I kept growing more attached to him too, and the content just got sappier from there. :P

[patejaminq]

Mortimer (he/any) is agender and gay

[bloodandlaught666]

Mortimer's and Vincent's designs for their 40+ age

[penwrythe]

I have thoughts around the discussion of mature writing for adult media.

My project World of Relics is for adults, so it's good to see how this discussion goes since I really don't want to struggle writing WOR as an adult webcomic (Rise of Relics) and anthology (The Mundane Realm) series. I think the reason why Hazbin and TADC feels immature that they have the nostalgia of edgy kids and teens media with occasional mature themes being the inspiration, but not really fully embracing those themes from an adult's point of view. It would explain in part why they feel immature for something that suppose to be for adults.

Note: this is an underdeveloped thought, still processing it so critique is welcomed and good thank you.

This is not to say you cannot take inspiration from kids/teens media, this is more to say how does it effect how you perceive/write/create adult media. Is adult media "shocking fact that the characters are stuck somewhere unusual", "randoms s*e*x joke the 5th time in an episode", and "it's mature because shocking thing you don't see in kids media"?

Or is adult media about recognizing both the mundane and extremes of adulthood, with no escapism from certain extremes, understanding the moments of joy, pain, sorrow, etc has more to them than brief moments but instead history and context behind all of that in an adult's life.

Taking a moment to review what I been viewing and reading so that I can understand how to write World of Relics:

--Animated Series--

JJBA - Stone Ocean*

Arcane*

Primal*

Carol and the End of the World*

Blue Eye Samurai*

Blood of Zeus*

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon*

ONE

--Books (both YA and Adult/New Adult)--

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter*

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin*

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Legendborn Series by Tracy Deonn (YA, but still handles mature themes well)

Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey*

The asterisk is for media I'm not just reading for enjoyment but learning how to handle the form of storytelling it presents. Without making this post too long, I feel gravitated to these media not for ~what shocking situation the character is in~ but the familiarity of their experiences to mine or to other people's life experiences they faced. Some more extreme than others (especially Blue Eye Samurai, Blood of Zeus, The Rage of Dragons, and The Fifth Season), the extremes of trauma, strife, hardship, discrimination, and destruction in these stories have an weight to them beyond the shock of violence or death, or the existential crisis. Like, there's no cry laughing, but there is quiet moments of grief and pain, the yearning of better days, desires of vengeance and justice. There's a substance to them that feels more thought out than what I feel from TADC Hazbin.

Note 2: I'm sorry if I'm being harsh, I love TADC. Yes, there's only two episodes out right now, but like I want more than what it presents.

Note 3: Yeah, I'm comparing apples to grand pianos, but I believe there's no harm in asking for more. I believe adult indie animation can do better, for now we have stepping stones that will help build the foundation for the next generation of adult animation. ~looking at Lackadaisy here since I'm a reader of their comic, that will most certainly be the next step if you know how it goes.

In addition to this, I will admit with my project WOR, I have concerns it might not be taken seriously as adult media, not because shocking edginess (there's a sprinkling of that here and there), but ...my characters are mostly talking object people set in a fantasy world. I have decided on certain things about them: despite them having human souls, sexuality is nearly vestigial in their species so all attraction is romantically driven -they are an asexually reproducing species, and almost all cursing/swearing will sound mostly mundane to us humans -no one says M*therf*cker but will using Blazing Hell, Broken Blades, Rusted Hell, Dirty Rags, etc (similar swears to how The Fifth Season does swearing in relation to earth and fire, WOR handles swearing to the material makeup of Objectkind - as well how biases of Hardy objects have of Fragile objects), and other things.

But, I knew, after awhile of reading and watching, what kind of story I wanted and how it appears to other people. If you like, person reading this very long post, I welcome you to read the following:

// Mild Spoilers for Rise of Relics and a little for the Mundane Realm

Note 4: The characters in Rise of Relics were gods turned to their relics after their realm was destroyed by the Inversion Event. So, if you are familiar with my story, its all baleful polymorph, almost everyone gets turned. If you are uncomfortable with that trope (due to certain past depictions in media), I suggest not reading anything World of Relics please. ~also, I'm Black soooooo, its alright! Everyone's dead lol. I equalized it!

Note 5: Also in the old draft of Chp 3 sample (its updated rn, just look at the Worldofrelics tag), Nicodemus is a crystal ball, Nikey is a trident. The flashback was before the Inversion Event. Just want to put this there in case confusion.

Do these examples of my WOR project:

Feel mature?

Feel as though, despite maybe a shocking thing or too, there's more to what's presented?

What of the characters? How do you feel about them in the situation? What about the implications of the situation they are in?

Does the voice (narration of Altostratus or how the characters in RFR Chp 3 speak and behave) feel like they are adult characters, or characters in general regardless of age, exist in a mature adult setting?

How do you empathize with them in their situation? Do you expect them to just react constantly to the events in the story in one type of way? Or do you expect as they develop over time, they adapt, struggle, and grow beyond just where they started?

If you imagine these characters in real life, would they be like what the story presents them as (in both examples, characters are above the age of 18 - from 32 to thousands of years old (read late 60s -early 100s in human years in relation to this question)?

Does it feel like at any point this could appeal to children (not because talking objects, but other reasons)? How do I improve upon that to appeal to Adults (by not adding swearing or se*xual stuff, but mature themes without making light of whatever topic I'm trying to handle)?

Giant Robot Monster Hot or Dear god, this old girl Flammin went through so much I hope they are happy with their trident wife? (they won't be, lol, oh they won't be)

Do you interpret Nikey as an angsty teen/20s or someone in their early 30s just trying to make sense of the world that died around her? (Okay, not obvious in chp 3, but give me your thoughts anyway)

Sexy Tumblr Old Man or This old man was a criminal and may have hurt people deeply and wrestling with that fact, knowing that one day he will face someone who was hurt by his actions? (still writing out Gwenny's lore, just hinting at this point tho)

Okay, I ran my fingers on this too long lmao. But yeag, tell me what you think. May the discourse begin.

[quasiquack666]

I haven't used Tumblr in years so I keep forgetting that it's a great place to share the shitstorms in my head. And I have many shitstorms

Anyways, I've been working on thoughts for a Beautiful Monsters (Jex Lane) x Eleceed (Webcomic) crossover. Although it's pretty much Eleceed characters in the BeMo lore

Side tangent, but wow if Eleceed had even half the worldbuilding of BeMo, it would be such a phenomenal webcomic

Note for Eleceed fans who read this: Do not pick up BeMo unless you're willing to wait for the series continuation LMAO. Blood Prince has been pending for six years (since 2018), this is your warning in case this post gets you interested in the books

Kayden: Vampire Lord — Kayden would definitely be a vampire lord for this crossover. Probably has like three blood pouches. As for his age, I'm thinking at least around Prescott's age, 3000+ years — For his vampire lord ability, I think wings suits him. On the other hand, I could take an argument for him having an ability similar to Karlene (Hound Mistress) where he turns into a bunch of shadow cats. In this case, the cats would be these massive creepy things with long fangs and are basically intangible unless Kayden makes them tangible (for example, during the moment he strikes). Extremely hard to deal with and kill — Kayden is well-known as a particularly brutal lord who is constantly looking for fights. Incubi/Hunters do not want to cross paths with him, but even other Vampires and allied Shifters likely stay away — He lived a solitary lifestyle in an underground cavern before finding Jiwoo — Kayden's sire is long dead, likely killed during the Sanguine Dominar attacks, or during the last Demon Incursion — He and Kartein are ex-lovers separated by the vampire-incubus war. They're both old enough to have caught the tail end of the peace between the two species, when neither species fought. But soon after the Sanguine Dominar came along, then the war started, and the rest is history. They secretly still find each other hot but it's been hard to reconnect with the war still going on

Jiwoo: Vampire — In this crossover, Jiwoo was born a human. Yujeong remains human, but after some incident, Jiwoo nearly dies and Kayden saves his 'life' by turning him into a vampire. Jiwoo took care of injured Kayden, so this is Kayden's repayment — As Kayden's sired child, Jiwoo is fairly powerful for his age even with one blood pouch. Once he turns into a lord, maybe he can become one with the shadows and sneak around. Or perhaps he gains wings and is the fastest flier — Kayden is extremely protective of his sired child, as any sire is. Jiwoo is sweet and bright for a vampire, and still longs to see the sunrises. Kayden wishes to get him a dayring so he can walk in the sun again, but due to their rarity it's not going to be easy

Kartein: Incubus — Kartein's species was the first I thought of! He's definitely incubus, an old one past his third transformation. Kartein is around Kayden's age at 3000+ — He has the ability to scan and is able to push his soavik power into other incubi to feed them (as a reference to his healing in Eleceed) — Kartein is also a warrior incubus, in reference to his combat abilities in Eleceed. He's a pretty average size there, about seven feet tall. His horns and wings are white at the roots and yellow at the ends, with the slightest hint of light blue at the very tips — Also I hate that all descriptions of Malarath fit Kartein as well. I considered making them related in this crossover, but that's so evil to Kartein (but maybe I should just for laughs). If I did though, I'd make him a cousin or something. Because making him Malarath's son/grandson is way too evil — "He was tall and thin with high, arrogant cheekbones. He had smooth, golden hair that fell long past his shoulders. His eyes were the palest blue [he] had ever seen". Do you see what I mean? That could literally be describing Kartein or Malarath and you would never know the difference

Pluton: Wolf Shifter — Of course, Pluton has to be the wolf shifter. Which, in fact, is different from a werewolf in BeMo lore — Pluton is also quite old for a shifter and managed to survive into modern day despite the shifter wipeout — Not that much is revealed on shifters in the BeMo lore yet, so I can't say a lot here

Wooin: Witch — He's the apprentice witch to Delein (who is also a witch). He has a lot of control over his magic despite his young age

Iseul: Wolf Shifter — A wolf like Pluton. Very cute, for a wolf

Jisuk: Vampire — Jiwoo's first vampire friend. Jisuk is a fair bit older than Jiwoo though, closer to 100 years old — He challenges Jiwoo and helps make him strong enough to defend himself in this new world

Jiyoung: Vampire Lord — Jisuk's older sired sister (they share a sire). She's a relatively young but powerful lord, maybe 400-500 years old or so — She's a typical lord with wings as her lord ability — Perhaps she is an ex-Hunter, which makes her particularly effective against the incubi-hunter side

Subin: ??? — Frankly, I am unsure for Subin. The lore for BeMo is somewhat lacking on the vampire side, so it's hard to think of other species that the vampires get along with (so she could be friends with Jiwoo). It's pretty much just other vamps, shifters, witches, and gargoyles. And she ain't no gargoyle for sure LOL. Then who knows when Blood Prince is coming out, so I might just leave her undetermined for now — Then again, I could make her a succubus so their group could represent some peace between different species. In this case, she would be about Jisuk's age. Her horns and wings would be black at the root, grey in the middle, and ice blue at the tips

Gestella: Vampire Lord — A lord older than Kayden and super powerful (maybe 3500+). Her lord ability is the ability to turn into smoke and choke out her enemies, poison the smoke, or generally harm with that

Inhyuk: Human — A human who serves Jiyoung's household willingly. He's old for a human and had his life extended by Jiyoung's sire, and now Jiyoung herself. He's maybe about 800+ years old

Jurion: Incubus — Heir to the Patrick household, also a warrior incubus, between seven and eight feet tall. His horns and wings are deep blue at the roots and fade to bright green at the tips — He's very much a simp for Jiyoung even though he knows it's wrong due to the war. Even so, he's yearned for her for at least a century (he's a little older than Jiyoung, maybe 600-700 years old)

[starsfic]

Prompt: Spicynoodles with Red helping and working through MK’s pregnancy hormones

Anon: Red Son recording his relationship progress with Xiaotian starting with him not realizing he has a crush on him to him holding his child to close to him as he nuzzles them and Xiaotian

“Baba’s crying.”

That was one of the last things you wanted to hear when you walked into your home. Red blinked at his daughter. Huiying stared back, her little monkey tail swishing back and forth as she held her DBK plushie. “Why is Baba crying?” he decided to ask.

“I dunno.” Very helpful. She gave a little shrug at his unimpressed stare. “He was cleaning up the office and said he found something of yours.”

Red raised a brow. “Something of mine?” That…didn’t really explain anything. As far as he knew, he didn’t really have anything that would make Noodle Boy cry. Maybe some awkward attempts at first courting gifts, but nothing else. “Okay, then. I’ll go see if he’s alright.”

Huiying nodded. “Okay, Bama.”

The office upstairs was split down the middle. On one side was Red, where he took business calls and questions about his patents. On the other was Xiaotian’s side, where he took and answered emails about commissions or the JTTW webcomic that had been his main source of income for the past few months. It was also their storage closet, which would explain the cleaning.

But not the crying.

“Noodle Boy?” he called, knocking on the doorway. “I’ve got your snacks!” Pregnancy gave Xiaotian the munchies. A sniffle was his answer. Sitting on the floor, his Noodle Boy stared up at him with watery eyes. “What’s wrong?” Red said, raising a brow. “Are you hurt?” Xiaotian shook his head. “...is it hormones?”

Xiaotian managed some twist of a nod and a shake. “You…you love me.” he whimpered.

That sounded weird. “I would hope so, considering we’re about to have two children together.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Xiaotian wheezed, a fresh stream of tears rolling down his cheeks. “You…” He gestured at the box he was holding. “You love me…”

What was he looking at? Red sat next to him, setting the bag of snacks aside, before peeking into the box. The moment he saw what was in the box, his blood ran cold. Old-fashioned audio logs sat there, with a player on top. The date on the log was the most recent one, recorded three years ago.

“You weren’t ever supposed to see these.” Red moved to grab the box and yank it out of reach, but Xiaotian grabbed it first. “C’mon, Noodle Boy, they’re embarrassing…”

“If you don’t think Xiaojiao doesn’t have pictures and videos of me mooning over you,” Xiaotian wiped at his face, a laugh escaping him. “Then you’re wrong.” Red opened his mouth and then paused. That was a fair point.

“Baba? Bama?” The two turned to see Huiying in the doorway. “Is Baba okay?”

Xiaotian held out his arms and their daughter was already moving into his arms. “Baba’s okay, sweetie.” He kissed her brow. “Bama and I were just talking about doing something special for the baby.”

“Really?”

Shit. Red couldn’t say no. Not with those faces staring at him. He nodded. “Yes.” He said, grabbing at the box. Yep, his recording equipment was packed up in here. “Just give me a moment...”

Soon enough, the recorder was ready.

“Huiying, can you say today’s date?”

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

There was this comic, called sinfest perhaps you heard of it, that I used to follow, not because it was good, it was full of transmisogyny and the author raging about woke culture and sex work as well as antisemitism, but because it was so stupid and incompetent that it was fun to mock it. But started this year it just went all out on the antisemitism, basically every strip was full blown blood libel and conspiracy theory about Jewish controlling the world and murdering people. Even using the Palestinian genocide as proof that he is right. It's not even horrible in a "so stupid is funny" way anymore, it's just horrible.

Oh yeah, I have a friend who was a fan of it when it was actually good, and we used to trade reddit parody comics laughing at how stupid it was. It was horribly bigoted, but it was horribly bigoted in a way that was fun to mock ("the woke police" who use dildos instead of guns but are still supposed to be threatening, the alien invasion where the aliens don't actually do anything). Then the war in Gaza kicked in and suddenly all those aspects vanished in favor of elders of Zion the webcomic and like.....there's nothing to mock there, it's just horrifying.