#but yeah a side effect of my art style is characters with dark eyes just look so 🥺 at all times

[blueskittlesart]

the way you drew link's big ole eyes in that last art is everything to me. he's so adorable. that's a baby.....

this is what eow link looks like to me

[wyrtig]

(same anon as before) No prob, I'll just post what I wanted to talk about here.

I'm trying to write a fic with KvZ as the focus and you depict him so well with your art, I kinda want to ask for your opinion on him and Genshin and their relationship (huge GnKnt shipper here) just to get a different perspective and more depth into what you think of them. I love how you portray them both and I'd appreciate hearing what you think.

Also as an amateur artist, if you could give me any art tips about drawing like you do, especially with all the symbolism and metaphors, I'd really appreciate it.

That's all, thanks, and sorry if I bothered you!

vvv

Thank you! But you give me too much credit. I’ve mostly just drawn variations of the two standing in the dark [gestures to img below]. Admittedly, I haven’t thought too deeply about their relationship beyond Klimt’s mental decline (and how that affected the people around him) and their final duel. But if it’s anything, I view them both as impulsive and emotional. I don’t really have a solid opinion on the matter of their marital status. Sorry, I just enjoy seeing guys who are doomed by the narrative be self destructive and tear their lives apart 🤷‍♂️

As for art tips— I don’t know how experienced you are, but regardless of skill level, you should have a good grasp on the fundamentals (eg: values, proportion, perspective, line quality, etc.). Once you have a handle on the basics, drawing from life, doing master copies, photo studies, etc. helps further develop and hone your skills.

I don’t have any good resources explaining things, but search around; there's plenty of free art learning resources online. I’ve heard good things about Proko on youtube. It's also good to look at artists of different styles, mediums, and eras. That way, you can learn from analysing their techniques and you can develop a style of your own.

A small word of advice— if you're still a beginner, don't get too caught up on the details and on complex techniques. Those things will come in due time (or if you want to push yourself, but I don't really recommend force. you should enjoy creating art). Beautifully rendered art with unintentional poor proportions and composition sticks out like a sore thumb (unless you don't mind, then you do you).

Explaining my creative process is tough since most of it just kind of happens, so I’m sorry if this comes out incomprehensible. For me, when it comes to symbolism, it’s basically analysing the character and what situation you want them in and honing in on specific ideas. Let’s use these pieces for example:

Kazuma has an association with snakes because his family crest represents snake eyes. Here, I’m using the snake to symbolise his hatred, which stems from his father's death. On the left, he wields it. He's seemingly calm and under control. The snake is ready to strike. To the right, his hatred spirals and nearly consumes him. It's the demon inside him 🤓

Besides the obvious of what happens in their story, some things you can draw from is how a character presents themselves, perspectives, occupation, hobbies, personal effects, cultural/religious/societal/etc. background, conflicts, era/location, etc. But other than that, symbolism can be incorporated in smaller, subtler ways, like the way someone holds a bottle, how an article of clothing is worn, and the like. Watching movies/tv, reading comics, and other media helps. Pay attention to how the director/author frames and lights things 👍

(side note: karuma is a recurring symbol in tgaac)

Not sure if anything I wrote here is of help, but yeah

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Comic-con.”

You guys wanted something fluffier and lighthearted, so I took a suggestion from a group of the Discord server, and did this with it I hope you guys like, and thank you for the suggestions.  “Where are you taking me? And why am I wearing this?”

Adam frowned at her, “Don’t be such a party pooper, I took you to watch MMA last week, and now its my turn to pick the fun activity.”

Sunny held up the glowing weapon --of facsimile of a weapon--, “What is this called again.”

“It’s an energy sword, from a really REALLY old video game.”

“And what are you supposed to be.”

Adam turned to look at her, shaking his head in disappointment, “Sometimes, I am sad for your lack of pop culture education.”

“And whose fault is it for my lack of pop culture education?”

He tapped his chin, “I suppose that is true.” 

“To be fair the pop culture you subscribe to is like two thousand years old.” She looked him up and down. He was wearing a spacesuit and a jetpack. This might have been normal for him were it not for the painstaking hours that he had spent painting the thing and applying decals.

Where the standard issue UNSC space - suit ranged anywhere from white to silver to dark blue, this one was in a gaudy combination of white with green and purple highlights with a blue decal on the front embossed with the outline of stylized white wings. Under that, he had taken the time to dye one of the old undersuits purple, and was now wearing the hood to complete ‘the affect’

“Seriously though. What are You?”

He turned to look at her grinning and patted her on the shoulder, “Just wait.”

She sighed and did as told following him out of the underground parking lot and up into the sun. She threw her hand over her face as they came up into the sun, and when she withdrew her hand, she found herself surrounded by hundreds of humans all walking towards the same destination, and all of them were dressed, strangely… she couldn’t tell which ones for sure, because humans always seemed to dress strangely, but something bout this gave her the feeling that these ones were doing it on purpose..

At her side, Adam was grinning.

Following the line of people her eyes traced up to the large, and spacious building just up ahead. The walls were made out of metal and glass paneling, and across their surface scrolling scenes from movies and comic strips flashed.

Off to her side, a man in a blue and red suit, with a big yellow S on the front went floating past, his hover boots giving him the effect as if he were flying, red cape billowing out behind him.

Someone else to their side was walking a rather large brown dog towards the building. It had a teel collar and a couple of painted on black spots, while he was wearing a  green shirt and brown pants. He looked like he really needed a haircut.

Sunny tilted her head to better read the letters on the building before her.

J. HAIL CONVENTION HALL 

They were just outside the doors when someone ran up to them. THey looked younger, maybe in their teens, dressed with an elaborately colored wig, and strange colorful clothes, “Holy Shit! Your costumes are awesome, Can I get a picture?”

“Hell yeah.” Adam motioned the kid closer, pulling Sunny down beside them so the kid could grab a picture and then turn to look at Sunny, “How did you make it look so real. You look just like the Drev from that movie.” 

She stared at him before looking down at herself.

Adam laughed, “It looks real because it IS real.”

The kid stared at them in disbelief, “No way.”

“Yeah she's a real life actual alien.”

Eyes went even wider, I...w...wow.” 

Sunny shrugged and waved one of her arms to the kid as Adam dragged her further up the line.

“Here, hold out your hand.” She did as told and he wrapped a small plastic bracelet around her wrist. The letters on the band read VIP

Walking over to the doors they were stopped by a group of people holding up their hands. One of them walked around them, and pointed at Adam’s jetpack, “YOu have a licence for that?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” 

He reached into one of the pockets on his suit and pulled it out to show them. THey looked it over and then nodded, and he grinned. Tey read off some rules before they were suddenly interrupted.

Voices behind them, and Sunny turned.

A group of people walked up, one of them was dressed like a cowboy with a yellow shirt and blue pants, with a brown hat.

Another human in a blow up dinosaur costume pointed at Adam’s uniform,

“And what does that button do.”

Adam grinned, and Sunny watched him with a fond shake of her head as he approached them, putting on some sort of character voice.

“Ill show you.” Looking around to make sure that everyone was clear, he deployed the wings of the jetpack, striped in red and white.

The group oohed and ahhed.

THe cowboy moved forward, “Oh what, these are plastic, he can’t fly.”

“They are a trillium carbonic alloy and I CAN fly.”

“No you can’t”

“Yes I can.”

“Can’t.”

“CAN.”

“Can’t Can’t Can’t.”

“I could fly around this convention center with my eyes closed.”

Sunny just stood there watching them nervously shifting back and forth. She had a feeling that they were arguing, but it also felt very scripted, though how it could be scripted, she didn’t know. They had never seen these people as far as she was concerned.

The other man moved very close, “Ok then my light beer, prove it.”

“Alright then, I will.”

He held out his hands voice growing a bit more serious as he did, “Everyone step back.”

They did as told, and the cowboy was smiling now instead of frowning.

“Adam, is this legal.” Sunny wondered.

He turned to look at her, “Yes, the convention center has its own airspace just for this. I had to sign a waver.” He turned back to the others and ignited the engin on the jetpack kicking off the ground.

His flight was far more controlled than his original flight, and he flew in a fast circle around the area, dropping in with a flip to land before them to the cheering of an amassed crowd.

He pointed at the cowboy, “CAN.”

“That wasn’t flying, that was falling with style.” The man protested though he was grinning even as he walked over to take a picture with Adam.

“Pretty sure that made my day, your costume is awesome. Is this a real spacesuit.”

“You bet it is.”

“Where did you get your hands on one.”

“Oh I have my sources. Did you make your costume?”

“Sewed it myself. The hat and boots I bought though.”

They parted ways with Adam’s new friend and stepped inside the convention center scanning their bracelets as they went in.

“Welcome, Sunny to the biggest nerd convention ever conceived of by man...ComicCon.”

She turned in a wide circle eyes wide at thousands of booths, thousands of people all talking and laughing. He grabbed her hand and dragged hr further inside, “IF your good, I’ll buy you a sword.”

“Nerds want swords?”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “Of course nerds want swords. Here, lets start over there and movie this way, through the art section first.”

Sunny did as told, following after him.

She never knew Adam being one to spend a lot of money, he had no reason too, but after the first ten minutes she figured out that he was a little bit of a spender when it came to nerdy things. Posters and drawings and other related items.

However, she was surprised to find that they did have leather workers and blacksmiths as they were called, and she did…. In fact… get herself a sword which she recognized from the lord of the rings movie he had made her watch. It was a pretty good sword all things considered as if whoever made it actually knew how to make swords.

They were coming around a corner when they almost ran into another group of people. Adam dropped one of his bags and the other reached down to pick it up. When he stood, Sunny's eyes widened. Blond hair green eyes and an eyepatch, “Sweet Costume!”

She shook herself thinking she had bumped her head or something and was seeing double, but no, when she looked closer she realised that this person couldnt have been more than fifteen or sixteen…. And dressed like Adam.

She looked over at Adam who was standing mouth open eyes wide.

“Can I get a picture!”

Sunny just nodded her head as the kid jumped over next to her and had his friend take it before running off yelling back at her about her amazing costume.

Adam turned to look at Sunny, “Did I just>”

“I think you did.”

He shook himself, “Wow.”

She nodded 

After that it started happening more and more. 

Adam was everywhere, in all stages of life. They had recreated his uniforms, his flight suits, his space suits. They brought their dogs. There were even gender bent versions of him, blond women wearing eyepatches, brown jackets and jeans making it very clear who they were .

It got even more weird when Sunny started seeing herself.

Small children in costumes made of foam.

People wearing onesies that sort of looked like her, and even one costume that had a woman on stilts for her legs, and a complex system of homemade mechanics to allow her to move around.

Adam stood there mouth open just staring at them.

Sunny laughed at the irony.

He was here as a guest, and no one knew.

If only they had any idea that the real deal was here and dressed like a space ranger from a two thousand year old cartoon.

Sunny tilted her head listening to the announcements which said there would be a “Adam Vir look alike contest going on on the other side of the convention.

She turned to look at Adam and they  both began to laugh hysterically. She grabbed his arm. We have to see this.

They wandered over just as the others were filtering in. And there were TONS of them, all dressed like Adam. One stopped next to him, spiky blond hair, clearly dyed for the occasion, wearing a flight suit and aviators.

Adam Tried to avoid eye contact with anyone as they sat down to watch, however no one recognized him, not even close.

They sat, watching the judging.

An adorable little boy with blond hair and a NASA T-shirt won for the younger age bracket.

The jumpsuit wearing kid to their right won for his teenage years.

At the end it was up between two men, one in casual wearing and one in a uniform. The one wearing the uniform had a similar lopsided grin as Adam and she would have chosen him as a dead ringer, and was almost put off when they chose the other man, who was, on the other hand, roguishly handsome.

She snorted, “He looks nothing like you.”

“But he does look like Keith Jenning who played me, so I guess people sort of conflate us as being the same person.”

“This is so unreal.”

They laughed again as they walked away sunny pointing out he probably would have lost the contest if he had tried to enter, and he laughed along with her.

THey were perusing through a booth with a bunch of old vintage movies when another announcement came over the intercom, saying that the cast of Adam’s movie was going to be speaking.”

Adam’s eyes widened, and together they made their way wanting to see what all the fuss was about. There were hundreds of people packed into the large room, and they were only able to get space just along one wall.

Up at the table, he recognized Keith Jenning, Rita. Ortiz, and Adler Handen, the voice actor for Krill and the woman who played Sunny.

Adam leaned back against the wall to watch.

Keith didn’t look anything like Adam at this moment, his hair back to brown like it usually was.

Hands raised in the crowd as questions were shot out, “What was the hardest part of playing Adam Vir?”

Keith laughed and then paused, “I think it might have been the eyepatch. I stubbed my toe like…. What was it Rita, we kept track on set.”

“About 456 times during the course of filming.” She added, and the group of them laughed.

“How accurate is the story to what actually happened?” Someone called out

Adler Handen leaned forward, “You know it was actually pretty accurate because Adam Vir was actually consulting through the whole process, though I think it is glammed up to make him look maybe a little more….”

“Poised.” Rita added, “Ellis gave him a bit of an action hero spin.”

“What is he actually like?”

Keith smiled as did Rita, “He’s hilarious, and kind, and a bit of a clutz I would say.”

Rita laughed, “That is one part of the movie that is inaccurate. I think they should have put it in, but he was like the last man to step onto Proxima B, and when he did he says he actually fell out of the shuttle and landed on his face.”

There was laughter from the crowd.

“Honestly a really modest guy all told.

“He has the personality of a golden retriever…. In a good way obviously.” Rita said

Keith had stood up from his palace at the table and was looking around the crowd for more questions, when his eyes fell on Adam and Sunny not a few rows away leaning against the wall.

The recognition was instantaneous, despite them not having seen for a long time. He pointed his eyes wide, “Adam…. Adam is that you. Sunny?”

The entire crowd turned and thousands of eyes fell on them.

Adam was stuck like a deer in the headlights hands held up.

“No way It IS YOU. Someone grab a chair and get him up here.” 

Rita stood in her seat and waved.

Now people were standing to get a good look at them as two security people motioned them up.

Adam was bright red in the face as he was pushed to come on stage. The people looked confused, but when Adam pulled off his hood, and pulled on his eyepatch the entire convention center began cheering.

“Yeah give the man a round of applause.” Keith said pulling out a chair for him to sit on while Rita did the same for Sunny.

Adam shifted awkwardly in his seat.

“Nice costume, is that from Toy story?”

Adam shrugged, ‘Yeah, or the Tv show I guess.”

Someone hurried over with another microphone as the crowd below continued to babble and point.

Keith leaned forward, “Did I mention he was a raging nerd. Did you wear the costume to hide or….”

Adam shook his head, “No, I've been coming to the convention since I was a kid.”

There was cheering in the crowd.

Hands were raised high into the air for questions, and Adam blinked a bit red in the face still.

“Is it true what they said about Proxima B?”

Adam smiled, “uh yeah I fell flat on my face, right out the door. You see the movie had a ramp, but a ot of our ships don’t have ramps, they have doors because it would kind of be…. Impractical to have a whole ramp opening up into an airlock. So instead it had a door and stairs. And I got so excited that I missed the second stair and just fell.

“How accurate is the rest of the movie?”

He shrugged, still blushing, “They did make me look a little more… heroic, than I actually am. I mean there is a little known fact among members of the UNSC that doing a warp without a warp dampener like we did on the Enterprise was…. How shall we say… extremely hard on the body. About fifty percent of the men on the bridge peed themselves and passed out.”

There was laugher from the crowd.

“Were you part of the fifty percent?”

He snorted, “ I was nineteen of COURSE I was part of the fifty percent. Captain Kelly had a bladder of Iron though.”

More laughter.

“And when it came to meeting with aliens for the first time, I was so excited that I ran after them right….. Well as it turns out, to the aliens it looked really, really bad. Like they thought I was going to eat them.” More laughter, “We are still trying to repair human/Bran relations five years later because of me.”

More questions.

“What is your funniest story, something that didn’t appear in the movie?”

Adam had to think about it for a minute, “Did  I ever tell you about the first time we met Iotins or the Celzex.”

Cheering in the crowd,.

“Ok ok, so The one thing you need to know about Iotins is that they smell good, and I don’t mean your girl’s perfume good, I mean like continental breakfast with bacon and eggs and potatoes and I don’t know what else.” Sunny smiled as she listened to the sound of the crowd’s amusement, “This is the kind of smell that turns you into one of pavlov’s Dogs. Drooling all over yourself stomach grumbling the whole nine. So when we met them for the first time, it was during a GA convention and my men hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It was so bad, I drooled all over my uniform and we scared the Iotin council half to death.”

He smiled as the crowd encouraged him into more stories.

“Then of course there is the Celzex, a very war-like race, very honor bound and very easy to offend. And yet they are about a foot tall rainbow colored, fluffy and with  adorable pig ears. These guys were designed to be cuddled, and yet, not one human has ever done it for fear of pissing them off since they have weapons that could glass our entire planet.”

He was Animated as he told his stories, and the crowd was animated with him

“Sunny, i have a question.” She lifted her head in surprise, “Is it true you grew up in a stone hut/”

She hummed deep in her chest, “Yes, where else would I have grown up.”

“So you didn’t have electricity?”

She shook her head, “No, why would we need it?”

She answered a few more questions.

And then one young man stood.

“So, I was wondering, you supported the LFIL during their protests.”

Adam shifted nervously in his seat, “I did.”

“And it’s because of you that they are in a probationary state of legality.”

“Yes.”

.”“So I was wondering, considering all that and considering your relationship with Sunny. Have you tow ever thought about dating.” Adam blanched white and you could have heard a pin drop.

Sunny glanced quickly over at adam. A part of her really wanted him to admit it to people, but another part of her-- the bigger part-- knew that doing it here in front of thousands of people would be a disaster. He opened his mouth to stammer out a question but Sunny leaned forward towards her mic.

“You misunderstand Drev courting customs. He would have to be able to beat me in a fight first.

Factions of the room muttered, and Sunny quickly moved the conversation on to more Funny stories.

Adam turned his head towards her with a look of relief.

With her head turned form the cameras she gave him a brief wink before turning back.

They didn’t exactly get to see the rest of the convention as they were waylaid by people wanting autographs and to talk to him. He of course was good natured and answered all their questions with a smile and gave pictures with enthusiasm.

She smiled

He was kind like that.

Thought some worries gnawed at the back of her mind.

People were beginning to suspect, and that could be a big problem for Adam.

[brandywine-tomatoes]

Joel Aron Fan Club Meeting - Dissecting the Lighting of 'Rescue on Ryloth'

Main Masterlist

Star Wars Masterlist

Get ready for a semi-cohesive rant disguised as a dissection on the lighting of Rescue on Ryloth, mainly just me fangirling over the man, the myth, the legend, Joel Aron.

If you don't know, Aron was the CG VFX and lighting supervisor for The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch, and holds the position of cinematography, lighting, and VFX director of Lucas Films.

He was also one of the frequent cryptic tweeters when TBB episodes were airing.

~ ~

Intro

So I went back to Rescue on Ryloth earlier today to find frames for the background of my laptop. I have to go through the episode second by second to get the right frames and I fell into a rabbit hole of examining individual shots could you tell I have adhd.

~ ~

NUMBER 1

We all know this scene as the one Hera calls for the help of TBB Leia Organa style.

First off, I absolutely love how Hera's projection isn't just all shadows, the light from whatever screen Chopper probably has out is reflecting on her face. The contrast between her left side verses her right is gorgeous and so effective in telling us she's somewhere dark, perhaps in hiding, which contributes to the storytelling as well.

As well, the minimal (but strong) light showing on her right lekku is much warmer than the cool lighting of the screen reflecting on her face, which also tells us she's somewhere dark but with access to natural light. Perhaps a cave?

Something not related to lighting, but this whole scene was beautifully framed. The natural leading lines of the ship console unconsciously guide our eyes to Hera, the subject of the scene. This is one of the main things my art teachers love to yell at my grade for: why don't you have any leading lines to draw attention to the subject?! It's free real estate! The design of the cockpit makes so much sense from a visual and storytelling standpoint which I appreciate a lot.

I go to an art high school, so we have enhanced programs that you have to audition for. I have a visual arts major (like uni majors and minors) that I auditioned for, so I get the highest level of arts education my school has to offer, unlike a visual arts minor or the general arts courses of the Canadian curriculum, so when I'm talking about my art teachers yelling at us about things, they fuckin yell cause they know we know better.

~ ~

NUMBER 2

A theme you'll start to see in this rant is that I'm a huge fuckin fan of harsh contrast. Dark darks, light lights, that kinda thing (Spoons, if you see this, 😎. If you know, you know). I incorporate it into my own art to make it more effective in the vibe I'm trying to convey.

Joel Aron's style is hard, hard contrast and accentuating natural outlines, he even confirmed that in an interview when talking about season 7 of TCW, and he's incredible at executing this! The small sections of light reaching Hera are making her character stand out even more against the background and grounds her even more in the space. Harsh black outlines usually used to make something stand out don't appear naturally, so finding other ways to naturally outline or highlight a character against the environment is a must, and Aron is so fuckin good at this, his style contributing tremendously to it as well.

Plus the light is much warmer than the shadows which I appreciate a lot. Natural sunlight is always going to come off in warm tones on any surface, so thank god this guy knows colours and basic lighting 🤣

~ ~

NUMBER 3

Again, just more amazing contrast and separating a subject from the surrounding environment using light.

As well, the 2 bottom images really resemble Crosshair in the second last episode when he's being all edgy and saying "Don't make the same mistake twice, don't become my enemy" and like- bruh, this man is fuckin typing up non-existent loose ends through the fucking lighting of all things doing better then the writers, but that's none of my business >kermit sipping tea meme<.

He also said somewhere that it was definitely his intention of lighting Crosshair much darker than the rest of the Batch to show his alignment with the Empire or some shit, so I don't know what he's doing here, but as a dark Omega fan, I approve 👀👀

~ ~

NUMBER 4

Even more beautiful contrast. Something my photography teacher also drilled into our heads is the triangle rule (at least that's what she called it), which is actually called rembrandt lighting. When you photograph portraits, you usually want a small triangle on the opposite side of the main light source to balance out the shadows or some shit.

But Aron didn't do that here. Remember, his style is much more dramatic and heightened. He used split lighting here, where half the subject's face is completely shadows and the other completely light, a demonstration of the stylistic choices he made for this show.

~ ~

NUMBER 5 (you made it to the end! Gold star to you bestie)

More cool and warm highlights being used, the warm coming from within the ship which is also positioned towards her friends and the planning of rescuing her parents which I find kinda cute and the cool light from space outside the windshield?, both beautifully outlining her face and kind of showing what she's fighting for: her family (warm light) and the freedom of space and the galaxy (cool light), but I'm totally reading into this, so take it with a grain of salt 🤣, he probably didn't mean anything by that.

~ ~

END

So yeah, that's my rant on the lighting of Rescue on Ryloth.

Hey, you know what's a good idea, if you want me to dissect a specific scene or episode of any series/movie in Star Wars based on an art student's perspective and 'expertise', just ask! I love talking about Star Wars and art techniques, plus I'd get to use my schooling for something useful.

There'll definitely be more of these as I go through the episodes to find more backgrounds, but if you ask for a certain episode, I'll definitely get to that ep. first!

[popculturebuffet]

Blacksad: Somewhere In the Shadows Review

Hello you beautiful people! I have a WEIRD relationship with Noir. It’s weird because i’ve never really dived into the films of type, though I really should, But as a kid I absolutely LOVED the tracer bullet arcs in Calvin and Hobbes, where everyone’s favorite hyperactive and imaginative six year old would plant himself as the hero in a noir pastiche.. ironically like myself Bill Watterson was also not a huge noir buff and just relied on Cliches but hey, it worked. 

Still love these. So from fourth grade on it imprinted a lifelong love of a good bit of detective noir. Not enough to you know, get me to read any traditional noir books or watch any noir tv shows or detective procedurals but I still love a good mystery from time to time and some of my favorite comics such as Howard the Duck by Chip Zdarksy and Peter David’s second run on x-factor run on the genre while having fun with it’s cliches. 

I also love anthropormphic animal stories. Dunno why, I just do, so once I found out about Blacksad, a comic that combines disney quality art from a former disney animator with gripping, adult noir that rips your heart out... I couldn’t resisit trying it. Telling the tale of John Blacksad, a cynical private detective and the cases he steps into via gorgeous, straight out of a disney storyboard art, the series is by  Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist), the latter a former Disney artist who worked on several Disney films, meeting in the 90′s while working on licensed works and hitting it off, leading to this series.  That’s.. really all I could find about the making of the series in English. The only other fact is the series is designed for first release in France, which has a huge comics market, hence the various volumes being called “Albums”, with them later being released in Spain and then english, currently in the latter through Dark Horse Comics, who last year collected the current 5 albums and some side stories into one big volume. And with Dark Horse having infrequent sales including Blacksad on comixology it’s easy enough to pick up all 5 volumes in one complete package on digital for 9 bucks, as it is right now. Seriously I’m not trying to shill for Comixology or Dark Horse, I just love these comics and suggest picking them up. The creators DO intend on new volumes... it’s just both have been busy with other work so they’ve been stuck in development hell since 2013. However given there have always been, if much smaller, the biggest being 5 years, gaps between the Albums, I don’t think the series is dead quite yet and with Dark Horse fully backing it, taking the series from only two volumes getting translated to both translating the first four AND translating the fifth within a year of it’s release, we’ll undoubtly get the next one quickly. The series has also spawned a game, Under the Skin, which i’ll probably also cover some day as i’m dying to play it, but i’m waiting for a sale because it’s around 30 bucks and I can wait. It’s also been nominated for an Eisner three times to no suprise and has had fans in Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Tim Sale and Will freaking Eisner. Yes the GUY the awards were named after liked the series.  So yeah, I love this series and highly support it, but the thought of covering it hadn’t occrued to me.. in part because I already had three comic retrsopectives going, my looks at The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scott Pilgrim and New X-Men, and simply because I just hadn’t thought of it till Kevin, frequent patron and comissioner of the blog whose paid for tons of reivews, suggested covering the second Album, Arctic Nation, which has our hero searching for a missing little girl he feels has been taken by the titular white supramacist movement.. and if your wondering “Wait how the fuck does that work their animals”, John is black coded due to his black fur, while the white suprmacists are all Arctic Animals.. a touch I really like as I’d honestly never thought of that as a metaphor but it fits like a glove, especially given that most white furred arctic mamals are pretty agressive looking. So yeah I’ll be covering that one next month for Black History Month, among many other things, but I felt I wanted to cover the series in order and since again, it’s only the second of five and I had a free space on the schedule. So without further adew, join me somewhere in the shadows and under the cut as we enter the world of one John Blacksad. 

We open as you’d expect for a Noir with a heady narration and a murder. John was brought in by Smirnov, the chief of police and an old aquantice who serves as his Commissioner Gordon. Since the victim is John’s ex, he was brought in to see if he knows anything and as you’d expect warned not to look into it further, as John dosen’t buy this was a simple robbery. His response is exactly what you’d expect. 

I mean.. what did you expect? You called him out of bed to see his former lovers corpse, KNOWING he’s one hell of detective, dosen’t give up on things easy, and would probably be curious. For him to say “Cool gonna go smoke some reefer and take in a looney tunes short at the theater, call me when you find the murderer?” Also  this series takes place in the 50s. Because of course it does. 

So John goes back to his office to brood, reflecting that the office feels like the remains of an ancient civlization because “It seems to be all that remains of the civlized person I used to be”. Hell of a line. 

We then get his backstory with the victim, Natalia. She’s a famous actress, who John first as a younger man when hired to investgate some death threats she’d received with a boquet of flowers. John shows off just how good he is at his job in just a few panels. 

IT not only shows in just a few panels just how ferocious our hero can be when needed and how good he is at his job, easily having tracked down the man responsible and scared him shitless without breaking as sweat, but how fucking gorgeous the art is. I meant it when I brought up the old disney comparison, as Steranko even mentioned in his introduction to the collection of the first three volumes how it looks like animation cels on the page. IT’s utterly breathtaking and ONLY gets even more lush and beautiful as the series goes on and perfectly fits the noir stylings with it’s realisim, making it’s animal characters feel utterly human and real while still keeping their animal traits in perfect detail. 

John impressed her, and as we see in the next page under his narration they not only had really steamy passionate sex, and why yes we do see them naked even if the bits are covered it’s still very much nsfw and we saw Natalia’s naked corpse earlier, so that ship had already sailed anyway, with Natalia taking him on both as her lover and her on staff detective and the two were much in love.. until the fame apparenlty got to her judging from the visuals, and the realtionship fell apart. 

Before we move on i’d like to talk about the narration which CAN be a bit overwrought here or there and is a bit overused.. but does have it’s mometns of being utterly effective as with above, contrasting John’s statments about a sucessful job and being hired on.. with the beginnings of his and Natalia’s relationship and their passionate lovemaking. IT’s not BAD and it works for the setting, but it can be distracting, but thankfully the series levels this out as we go and they learned from it so no harm done. Just the kinda thing that happens early in a series life when the creators are getting a handle on things, so no harm done. 

But naturally John isn’t going to take the love of his life, responsible for the happiest days of said life, being brutally murdered lying down and is going to find the bastard who did this. So he goes to an old friend, Jake Ositombe, a championship boxer and Nat’s former bodyguard who he recommended to her. Given we see him knock the shit out of his opponent without the slightest effort, yeah good call. Also yes we share the same name and no it’s not weird to type about another Jake, adventure time sorta.. knocked that out of me. Jake dosen’t know much since she fired him a long time ago as one of her lovers hired private security, and the last one he knew of was a guy by the name of Leon.  John, naturally, easily finds the guy’s apartment, Leon Kronkski, a screenwriter.. but also rules him out as the guy lived in a humble apartment and clearly didn’t have the cash to hire his own hired goons. 

He does find a clue, a matchbook for some place called the Cypher Club.. and another when the man’s sweet  mouse landlady shows up, who John charms by pretending to be Leon’s friend and flashing a big smile, finding out a msyterious man with “big bulging eyes”, took him. This scene also to me is great in subtly showing off John’s skill. While the previous flashback showed how badass he is, shoving a gun down the throat of a stalking wannabe murderer with pure rage in his eyes.. here we see a lighter approach, how despite his serious and dour nature.. he easily slips into being cheery and looking like an average joe off the street. He bluffs the landlady not because the plot says so.. but because like any PI he’s just that good at slipping into whatever roll he needs to get the info he needs. He can be his dour self or a charming happy go lucky guy without missing a beat. 

So with that he goes to the studio leon worked for where his boss.. is a walrus j jonah jameson?

But yeah J. Jonah Walruson wants pictures of spider-man.. moving pictures.. but he can’t film them with his star dead and his screenwriter indefintiely gone, with the same bulging eyed man having told JJ he’d be gone indefintely. Nothing suspicious about that!

So naturally John’s next plan is to find the guy.. who is already after him as you’d expect with both a knife to slash at our hero with and the fog covering him so he can hit and run. But unluckily for him .. well i’ll let john say it...

John  headbutts the myserious snake, who only managed to get his coat before and tries to interogate him.. but gets a quick jab to the gut and the guy gets away. 

We soon meet our big bag, who has a big speech about insects and things being usefufl.. and once they stop being useful.. they become dead and collectable, telling the snake man to back off John.. and sending his right hand man to go take care of the Snake who apparently took something from the office. Realizing his numbers up the Snake Man goes to a lizard bar, picks up a package from a friend and runs out the back, knowing he’s being followed.. and we get some hints there’s also racial tension between lizards and mammials here as the bartender, said friend, has the entire bar circle around the guy preventing him from following our mysterious bulging eyed man. 

Meanwhile John goes to the Cipher Club, a wretched hive of scum and villiany. Given Nat was a glamorous movie star, it’s very clear she was here to hide from something or someone, and the bartnender, a wild pig. 

No not you sweetie. The wild pig tells John leon was indeed here and a local rat, in both senses of the word, offers to take John to him.. though understandably John is supscious of the guy he just met in a seedy bar taking him anywhere except to get some heroin. Did Heroin exist yet? Questions for later. But he’s got a case so he follows. Though suprisingly the guy DOES actually come through and it’s not ENTIRELY a trap: he takes john to a tomb for Noel Krinsok.. an anagram for Leon’s name. Unsuprisingly he’s dead. And also unsuprisingly, two hired goons

Show up. As I said not ENTIRELY a trap but it’s obvious given the rat split moments before that our mysterious big bad knew where john would be headed next, and thus while giving him a clue, also set him up to get his head knocked in. And while John is badass.. these guys are a bear and a rhino,  both stronger, bigger, and with suprise on their size, as well as a tombstone to knock john’s head into. They easily beat him senseless and hope he got the message, though john gives a defiant fuck you before being punched out for it. He returns home, feeling like he’s aged 20 years “But no one respects the elderly anymore”, PFFT, and heads home to his rathole, not literally this time, apartment to lay on his cot and think as he gets some rest. 

And while the trail for Leon is cold. our mysterious murderer accidently tipped his hand: only someone with a LOT of money and influence could make a man disappear like this, and it tracks with what we’ve seen so far. The guy has multiple henchman and despite being a big star with plenty of clout, Natalia had to hide in a dive bar just to get away from him and even THEN clearly wasn’t so lucky given she and her new lover both wound up dead.  But Blacksad has bigger problems.. he wakes up in a jail cell.

Turns out Smirnkov had him arrested.. but for his own protection as the case is getting too hot and while he was late on that front given John’s face is hamburger, it’s clear from his tone and demeanor that while he may of been harsh with John earlier.. the two are old friends, and the Chief is simply worried about him winding up dead, and John takes you know being thrown in prison in stride. Which while not a bad scene it is a BIT suspect that a black coded character was thrown in jail for nothing and it’s treated very lightly and as a simple protection between friends, though given they wouldn’t think of coding john like that till next volume, I brush it off as accidental implications in hindsight. 

Smirnkov though also called John here.. because he needs his help. Since Natalia’s Murder Case is pointing very high up, so his superiors have ordered him to bury the case and as he puts it “the bastards know where to squeeze”. And given in volume 3 we learn Smirnov has a wife and children, it’s very obvious where they squoze and to the volume’s credit while we don’t know that yet it’s VERY clear from Smirnov’s body language they went after some form of family. So while he has to give it up.. John does not. So he brought him to jail to offer a proposal: John goes after this son of a bitch and nails him to the wall.. and Smirnov will FULLY protect John no matter what he has to do.  Now naturally given the rightful reckoning for police that’s been going on for almost a year, this SHOULDN’T play well. You have an officer outright telling an outside party that he and his boys will cover up his crimes. But.. honestly even in that framework.. it still works. That’s because.. the system has failed here. The higher up and more corrupt cops put pressure on the honest and hardworking family man Smirnov to stop a legitimate investigation into a horrible murderer.. because the guy is rich. And even now we’ve seen time and time again how rich assholes effortlessly escape the consequences of their action: How our own president who actively asked other nations to interfere in our election escaped his first impeachment trial, but hopefully not the second, aquitted. How Jeffery Epstien took YEARS to bring down with his years of ellicit parties involving innocent women and children he fucking enslaved. How Bill Cosby got away with all kinds of sexual assault for decades. The rich are often literally above the law in this country, so having a down on his luck detective, who retroactively himself is a minority, go after him with the full support of an actually GOOD police officer who genuinely believes in these people being held accountable but is held back by his family’s safety.. it works. John isn’t able to skirt consequences BECAUSE of a corrupt system.. but because the system’s so broken and slanted in the rich’s favor, that the ONLY option an honest officer like Smirnov has is to go outside it. And when asked WHY he’s doing all of this, Smirnov merley replies

... I got chills, their multiplyin. So John plans to find the bulge eyed snake after a hot shower.. only for the guy to hold a gun to John’s head, having been waiting for him and wave the murder weapon, in a baggie around, the item he had retrieved, feeling John’s trying to replace him as number two. However before he can do anything our snake  pal is shot full of holes by the rat from before, who John dispatches with his own gun. 

So the Snake starts to expire.. but feels a kinship with John “We are nothing right cat? Spent so much time waiting for the right chance and when it happens it all falls to pieces”. The Snake explains his roll in things: He was one of the private security our big bad hired to guard Natalia. But being supscious he also hired the rat to follow her around, and thus found out about her affair, brutally torturing and murdering Leon and shooting Natalia in the head. And we finally get a name as our snake friend tragically expires. 

The snake’s death and tragic dying moments are something I forgot about.. but damn if their not really good writing, taking a character who before was seemingly just a murderous goon.. and comparing him to our hero. Another working class joe, and one who just caught up with the wrong asshole at the wrong time. He easily could’ve been john in another life and vice vers and it’s a good parallel. 

So John’s nightmares finally have  name and he naturally goes to confront the guy since he has an almost literal get out of jail free card. Turns out Smirnov is the richest man in town, and has his own big tower. Huh.. sounds familiar, and John simply sneaks his way up and once Statoc’s guards from before hear him rustling about.. sneaks up on them and clocks both one at at time with a fire extinqusher. 

Statoc warmly welcomes our hero inside, and has the fucking lizard balls, as he’s some sort of lizard himself, to offer John a JOB

I mean he’s clearly lost a lot of his goons and most of them were incompetent. He fails to realize that John can’t be bought, is here for vengeance and has no intention of selling his soul to some rich asshole who killed someone he loved for the creepiest and most asinine reasons imaginable. He says john’s Concisence is why he can’t pull the trigger and that he lacks “cold blood”.. before we cut to the next page, where John’s shot the fucker in the head and left a gaping hole where his lack of a brain was. 

And again what makes this work is the aftermath: John is clearly shaken, having ONLY been able to pull the trigger beause of Statoc’s smug grin and clearly not taking the sight of Statoc’s dead body bleeding out well. And while Smirnov keeps his word, covers for him despite the two guards clearly providing an iron clad argument against john and knoiwng thier blatantly covering this up.. he’s not happy about it. 

This is WHY the narrtive still works. Statoc stacked the law against the bad guys. .but despite this being a necessary evil.. it’s still an evil and subverting teh law at this rightly leaves him not in a great place mentally. John himself isn’t even if he plays it off as otherwise, as we get our final bit of narration and one hell of a closing line. 

Final Thoughts:

Somewhere in the Shadows is a bit rough around the edges, leaning a bit too heavily into the noir pastiche and Blacksad being a harboiled detective, something the next volume would ease up on. That being said.. it’s still a masterpiece, with gorgeous art and masterful pacing. While it’s the shortest of the stories, like those after it the pacing is sublime and never feels like it has any down moments or stuff that could’ve been cut, and the mystery keeps you on edge the whole time. Having forgot a lot of the details since last read I was on the edge of my seat the entire story and loving every second of it. Somewhere in the Shadows is the perfect starter for the series, introducing an important charcter in Smirnov and the noir nature and giving us a case personal to John so we can see who he was before, what he is now.. and what he WILL be for the rest of the series. The moment that MADE him into an even harder man than the one we follows here.. when he took a life in cold blood. A masterful story, seriously check it and the other volumes out, on comixology, in stores, great stuff. Next time we look into john and as I said, he’s taking down some racists and we also meet his sidekick weekly for the first time. As for me tommorow I dive back into my Tom Luictor retrospective but hit pause on our boy for a bit to take care of some of the larger plot.   Until the next rainbow, it’s been a pleasure. 

[whichpercydoyouthink]

My fave anime movie: Tekkon Kinkreet (Black and White)

So, today let me tell you about this beautiful, beautiful movie that I absolutely love. No, it’s not beautiful in typical anime movie fashion with gorgeous graphics and a soft, quietly touching story but I’m begging you, give it a chance. From the art style alone, it’s clearly different from anything else you might have seen and I’m hoping y’all will see it my way.

First up, the synopsis: In Treasure Town, an industrial jungle free for orphan brothers Black and White known as "the Cats" to run amok in, we have various players in the play for power over the city. There are the ophans, wild and well-attuned to the craziness and dangers of the town. There’s the local yakuza fresh from prison and as slimy as rats. There’s the police, keeping an eye on the yakuza and generally exhausted from having their hands full trying to keep the peace. And then, there’s the new arrivals, the mysterious curly eyebrowed creep and his three alien thugs. My town, my town, my town. As tensions rise and the old dynamics between those of the city are explored, Black and White must struggle to stay together and survive in a town that’s leaving quickly them behind as everyone learns the price of power and true darkness.

IDK if that is able to convey just how hella cool this movie but it is in fact hella cool. I’m not going to waste time telling you how good or how bad it is. Instead, I’m just going to tell you what I loved about it and anyone who reads this can judge for themselves from there. So. What did I love?

First up is the most obvious: the visual aspect of the film. At first, I wasn’t a fan and found it bizarre to watch but the art style was something I quickly got used to as it ended up working really well with the tone and the storyline of the movie. Everything was simplistic yet colourful, with unusual proportions and an amazingly complex environment. I fell in love with it, okay? It was unlike anything I had seen before and that set it apart from everything else in my mind. The effect it had on the expression of the character’s emotions, the flow of their movements, and the world it painted was interesting to say the least. The fact that the fighting scenes allowed us to see so many cool parts of the town was great too, with each nook and cranny providing more detail to Treasure Town from bustling streets to industrial monstrosities, slums to that gorgeous clock tower. It was at once a place familiar in that it seemed pieced together from so many cities and something had never seen before.

I loved the characters, too. Black and White were so interesting for me as main characters, especially with their relationship and their way of interacting with their world. They just have this really strong bond and despite being children, they essentially rule Treasure Town. I loved their dynamic, with how whimsical White was with his hats and his imagination and Black just accepted and loved him anyway, even though he could get annoyed or was stressed. What’s interesting as well is the contrast established between them from the beginning through their names, establishing the ying-yang visual, that isn’t exactly what it seems at first. Black is the older brother and for White, represents a protective power and anchor to reality where White is young, pure and whimsical, remaining largely untouched by the darkness of the world as Black looks after him and is, for all intents and purposes, the ‘good’ to Black’s ‘bad’. However, both brothers are equally as mischievous and live their lives above the law, fighting to survive and defying adults. What I love the most is the complexity of their relationship and how, in the end, it’s actually White who is the strength and protector out of the two as Black succumbs to darkness, balancing them out. It was just really nice to have such a loving sibling relationship as the focus of a movie, as well as the sort of psychological battle that occurred that was beautiful when paired with the movie’s freaking awesome art style.

Another thing I loved was the fine line between supernatural and metaphorical in the film. It’s kind of up to you what you want to believe. Are the purple thugs actually aliens or merely appear like that as a metaphor for the intrusion of the unfamiliar into the familiar, of change to a world they thought they knew, completely changing everything they thought they knew about the way the world worked? Then there’s also Black and White’s almost superhuman abilities as they soar above the town and let White’s imagination carry them on, White’s seemingly prophetic gift, their connection that allows them to be deeply linked so that when Black is in trouble White knows, the manifestation of Black’s darkness as some super evil.

There are also small details in Tekkon Kinkreet: the recurring eye motif that was kind of creepy, the apple seed, Black’s t-shirts, White’s watches, the vision of the sea as a kind of utopia or metaphor for freedom beyond the corruption and cruelty of Treasure Town. All of it made the movie as a whole so interesting and rich in things to pick up, to see, to experience.

The setting itself is whimsical but also, underneath it all, brutally realistic. In the backdrop of the plot, we see the desperate side of Treasure Town, suffering from imposed development and decisions from those in power that leave the locals behind in favour of tourists and newcomers, destroying the essence of the place in the process. We see this unwinnable fight and the inevitability of change when greed is strong and the sad reality that is created for local businesses, forcing those that actually live there to look to move away. Maybe that’s just my brain wired from my geography lessons and focusing too much on that side of things, but I thought the contrast between reality and whimsical was interesting.

It really is a great movie. It may have a childish look to it, but it is definitely not for kids, with lots of violent scenes and a few of nudity, showing the sadder and darker side of society. So, yeah. Give it a try and I’m sure you’ll see why it’s so great.

[this-idiots-left-eye]

In Plain Sight

Cover art by Stlyrica on instagram!! I’ll put a link to it in a reblog!!

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Summary: When Break hides Gilbert's favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it. But why is it so special to Gil?

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt "Ornaments" in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did in 2017--(it was going to be part of a group of Christmas fics we all wrote for different fandoms. Some of the people in that group hadn't read PH, so that's why this fic has some explanations for who the characters are). Then I posted it for Pandora Hearts Month 2018 for the Golden Trio Prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I would really appreciate it if you could reblog and/or leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

*

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs��such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?”

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, crossing her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,�� Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy...”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[hawkland]

Dear Smut4Smut creator

Letter for the 2021 Smut 4 Smut exchange

My AO3 profile: sidewinder

Thank you for writing or creating art for me! I know I’ll be thrilled with whatever you come up with for any of my requests. (And if I babble on or have more prompts for one ship than another, don’t take that as any kind of preference. Some I just am more specific in the kinds of smutty scenarios I’m requesting/wanting at this time, but I love them all the same.)

Please consider the requested tags all the “prompt” you need if so inspired, if none of my suggested scenarios and ideas inspire you. Also, of course, feel free to combine them or use only one as you see fit! 

General Likes

Non-penetrative sex (especially in first-time scenarios). I love extended kissing scenes, frottage, mutual hand jobs, characters so turned on and overwhelmed that they come from barely being touched/before they can get all their clothes off, etc.

Romantic smut more than really kinky smut (though a bit of light bondage/restraint can be fun!)

That said, I have a definite weakness for wing!kink and tentacles... where appropriate :) 

Generally stoic/repressed/strong characters breaking down and needing comfort/hugs/acceptance of their vulnerabilities

Inverted relationship power dynamics - in the sense of a seemingly older and/or more powerful character actually being less experienced in sex/romantic relationships, or having more doubts & insecurities, and needing the younger/less powerful character to take the lead or reassure them.

In art - I really love all styles of fan art and just seeing how different artists interpret my favorite characters. Seriously, and that’s not just a cop-out because I’m crappy at coming up with art-specific prompts.

General Do No Wants

A/B/O dynamics, mating heats

animal abuse/death

anything related to pregnancy/childbirth

formalized BDSM relationships

non-canon gender identities and/or sexual orientations except gay/bi/pan for requested ships/characters 

scat/watersports

unrequested alternative-universe scenarios such as high school/genderswap/coffee shop/etc (however, canon-divergent AUs completely fine!)

Supernatural-Castiel/Dean Winchester

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants: Bad ending/unhappy-ever-after, Sam-bashing, any suggestions of Wincest

I confess I am a very new Destiel-shipper/SPN fan, having only gotten into the show late last year (post-finale.) So while I know there are mountains of stories already written about this ship, sometimes it’s nigh impossible to dig through it all to find stories that scratch the specific fic cravings I have. Hence all the prompts/ideas for them here, some of which I’m sure have been done to death already...but please humor me :)

Long Prolonged Make-Outs

Kissing All Over

Frottage

First Time Sex is Non-Penetrative 

First Time with Partner of the Same Gender

Experience - Experienced/Inexperienced

Experience - Experienced Partner Lets Inexperienced One Explore Them

Playful Sex

Morning After (Incredible Sex the night before)

I love everything about newly-human!Cas in season 9 (and Cas’s hedonistic tendencies in general). I have to imagine that, as a human, he just feels things with an intensity that angels just don’t feel, as if with human lifetimes so condensed, their senses are intensified to make up for it in a way that would be overwhelming for a hugely powerful/nearly immortal creature like an angel.

So give me any story about Cas’ exploring and fully embracing the sensual pleasures of sex (with Dean). I love Season 9 canon-divergence fics where Dean lets him stay in the bunker. Perhaps after his first taste of sex with April, Cas wants to add to his experiences by having sex with a male-bodied human/someone he deeply cares about (ie, DEAN). Dean may still be struggling with his own internalized homo/bi-phobia but it’s hard for him to resist Cas with his insatiable curiosity about how the human body works, having no filters/no taboos and just wanting to taste/touch/experience until he/they both are completely overwhelmed.

Wings as Erogenous Zones

Wing Kink

I love wings and true-form Cas as well. In fact I’m totally okay with canon-compliant, post-finale fic in Heaven if it means Dean can finally see/experience Cas’s true form (or at least glimpses/parts of it) without dying (because, you know, already dead and all that.) Otherwise, I’m always up for AUs where Dean can sense/feel/see Cas’s wings (if Cas wants him to) and they are an incredible erogenous zone for the angel. Maybe even his most powerful one.

Touching All Over

Touch-starved character overwhelmed from seemingly innocent touches

Touch-starved

Awkward First Times

Trauma Recovery

thank god you're/we're alive sex

Tender Sex with Lots of Eye Contact & Barely Repressed Feelings

Tender Sex

Shame in Sexual Desires

Room-Wrecking Sex

Reunion Sex

Characters mutually pining finally get together and have amazing sex

Desperate Sex

Sex gets paused to deal with PTSD then maybe returned to 

I’ll take all the Cas-is-back, ignore-the-finale fics that are possible. Give me touch-starved Cas after his rescue from The Empty. (Dean can be fully into immediately satisfying his needs or, for angst, still struggling with/unsure of his feelings/sexuality.) It’s tender and healing, or maybe it’s explosive with all those years of pent-up desire and needs. You tell me, I love it all!

Sex While Washing Off The Blood of Their Enemies

Sex While Covered In The Blood of Their Enemies

sex under the stars

Outdoor Sex

Car Sex - on the hood of a car

Car Sex - in the back seat

Hotel Sex

tender making out in a car

sex after a long car ride

For these tags, I’m thinking canon-divergent future-fic where Dean is getting older (maybe Cas is too, if he’s lost his grace), yet they still go out on hunts together on occasion to relive the “glory days”. (Sam’s happily settled down and out of the hunting life with Eileen). They enjoy post-hunt sex in the outdoors or in/on the car, or seedy motel, reveling in the adrenaline of the kill, reaffirming their need and love for each other. Yum.

Supernatural - Endverse Castiel/Dean Winchester/Endverse Dean Winchester 

Desperate Sex

Threesome - M/M/M

Threesome - Character/Crush/Another Version of Crush

Turned On By Violence

One last fuck before you die

Drugs - Drug Use

Time Travel - Sleeping with older/younger version of someone you know in your own timeline

Time Travel - Sleeping with older/younger self

Pairing-Specific DNWs: None here. Go as dark as you want, since it’s Endverse.

Um, yeah. Pretty much what the tags suggest. Dean knows its freaky as hell but maybe he catches his future self and Cas having sex and they invite him in. Maybe he sees it as a chance to be with Cas (even this very different Cas) like he can’t in his own time. Castiel is totally messed up over seeing the man he had fallen in love with (and fallen from grace for) as he had been, back then, and can’t contain himself now that he’s gone so deep into carnal/hedonistic pleasures.

The Orville - Gordon Malloy/Ed Mercer

thank god you're/we're alive sex

"We Lived" Kiss Reveals Feelings

Stranded - On Another Planet/World With No Way Home

Huddling For Warmth Leads To Sex

on the run together

Desperate Sex

One last fuck before you die

Fandom-specific Do Not Want: No Kelly-bashing.

I’d love something set in the alternative universe/timeline of “The Road Not Taken”, where the Kaylons have won, leaving Gordon and Ed on the run together.  Just, any kind of desperate situation where they know they could die at any moment, so they might as well seek whatever comfort, love and tenderness they can find being with each other.

Laughter During Sex

Awkward First Times

Friends to Lovers

First Time Sex is Non-Penetrative

Frottage

Something Made Them Do It

Drugs - Experimental Substance Has Weird Sexual Side Effects

Casual Sex while Secretly Pining

Laughter During Sex

Something fun and silly (and sexy), please, using any of these tags! The show just screams out for tropey “something made them do it” scenarios, be it due to aliens, alien food or drink, whatever. Otherwise I’d love a story where they realize they do have more serious feelings for each other than their (up til then) casual relationship has allowed.

The Good Place - Michael/Eleanor Shellstrop

Tentacles - Tentacle Sex

Tentacles

Xeno - Nonhuman Partner is Ashamed of Their Body

Experience - Experienced/Inexperienced

Awkward First Times 

Laughter During Sex

romantic sex

Tentacles - Gentle and Tender Tentacle Sex with Lots of Caresses and Cuddles

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants: No Chidi-bashing (but also, no Chidi/Eleanor endgame references/suggestions).

The ship/canon where I will eternally want tentacle smut! Michael seems so ashamed of his fire-squid demon form. I want him to find out that Eleanor actually finds it kind of a turn-on and would love to find a way she could...experience it. Since we know Michael can create simulations/realities (like he does in “The Trolley Problem”), maybe he can create one where Eleanor can see/experience a version of himself that won’t, you know, destroy the entire neighborhood or burn her to a crisp?

Otherwise I’m good with any kind of first-time scenario in one of Michael’s “reboots” (or later on when they’ve figured things out and are in Michael’s Neighborhood Improvement Experiment). Awkward Michael figuring out his human body’s reactions to Eleanor, them having fun and romantic sex, would definitely make my heart happy.

[antihero-writings]

In Plain Sight

Cover art by Stlyrica on instagram!! I’ll put a link to it in the replies!!

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Summary: When Break hides Gilbert's favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it. But why is it so special to Gil?

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt "Ornaments" in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did in 2017--(it was going to be part of a group of Christmas fics we all wrote for different fandoms. Some of the people in that group hadn't read PH, so that's why this fic has some explanations for who the characters are). Then I posted it for Pandora Hearts Month 2018 for the Golden Trio Prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I would really appreciate it if you could reblog and/or leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

*

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?”

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, crossing her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy...”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[sharpen-jadescythe]

Some notes about Sharpy’s facial features

I meander for a while about drawing facial features, my novice sketching process, and the best drawn male eyes I’ve ever seen.

For fun, and because he is so adorable (sigh, I can’t trick anyone into thinking I’m not a girl gamer for five seconds--not that I want to but it’s pretty funny that I couldn’t for the life of me do it, oh well), I wanted to point out some things about this sketch (and a few Sharpen sketches I’ve done so far). I’m sure that others do this as well... To make Sharpen more unique and seem like an individual, I’ve placed some tell-tale features in every art of him that I do.

Curl in left eyebrow

“Elvis” curl at his hairline, helps make him seem playful and even himbo-ish, since that’s his personality

And I can’t explain it but the imperfect hair makes him seem more approachable, like any one of us

Tiny scar on his top lip on the left side. I haven’t decided headcanon for that scar yet; it’s just something that I really wanted to do. I think my pencil slipped once and I was like ‘Yaaaas, don’t change that!’

Square-ish forehead. You see the lines there as he turns his head

Some musculature over the eyes

Extremely careful little dots in specific places to indicate more musculature on face. Getting annoyed and erasing the dot and putting it back a milimeter further out is like... WHY do I do it? But I keep doing it, I want them

Lightly defined, high cheekbones (Trixany’s are so strong, I had to really train myself out of giving him super stand-out ones)

Boxier eyes... they do not at all resemble the original inspiration for these eyes when I started sketching him, but I maintained a little of the ‘mystery’ of unusual eyes and strong lashes on a guy (see more below)

Eyes set wide apart

Together, the larger, wide-set eyes give him a kind of baby face? That happened on its own, it wasn’t planned. Sometimes I can see the lil’ Gerber baby in there

A little divot at the top lining of his ears

What else... Well, Tumblr is here to let us indulge in our art and our creativity. I guess I just wanted to say I like how small details like these work together, almost as a unique fingerprint, to keep your character, especially their face, looking like... well, themselves.

Just curious--anyone out there want me to draw Sharpen in a specific setting? I’m getting better at it; I think I can take on a request, though I’m kind of intimidated. I don’t think I’ll do commissions at any point in time. But a prompt for sketching practice? Hell yeah.

These art pieces take me a really long time to do, but the way. I’ll outline something then get kind of exhausted or this uneasy feeling? Like I’m not sure if I really want this, or if it’s right? If it does feel right, then I’ll come back weeks later when I have free time, and at that point, sit for hours sketching and filling in everything else.

Then I get mad when all the little nuances I put on paper get lost when you scan... anyway.

Hope you guys are enjoying it!

Image source: Basilisk Wiki

Okay so I almost forgot--these are the prettiest, coolest eyes I’ve ever seen on a male character, ever. EVER. Obviously, I didn’t re-create these all the way (and not really at all) for Sharpen, but I did go with a boxier style, rather than completely round almond eyes. Gennosuke’s eyes were actually central to the plot of Basilisk, I found out later. Here’s another great pic of Gennosuke--now this wallpaper is badass. I remember I had this one for a long time; it was too, too perfect.

Now that’s the power of detail. Yes, there’s a sword and it shines and it’s at the heart of the picture. But the only thing you need, the only thing that matters in this entire artwork are actually those eyes. Blue and white coloring throughout, but then wow, those golden eyes. And the gold isn’t what does it really, it’s the powerful dark lashes that encircle them more like calligraphy, the eyebrows that unite with those... less human, more wild. The man is practically a tiger. That’s the kind of ferocity you’re hit with, the kind of wonder you’re filled with here.

Image source: hip wallpaper website

Someone also clearly sat down and thought about how breathtaking it is when you’re right across the table from a guy with eyelashes longer than yours and then you feel that stab of jealousy, along with admiration. Sounds odd, but I think some folks out there know exactly what I mean...

It’s that split second before the instant crush happens. I try to make Sharpy’s eyes do that penetrating ‘instant crush’ thing whenever I draw him. Less because it’s sexy, more because it’s... personal? This is hard to explain. But it feels like he’s having a conversation with you and it’s okay that you’re there with him. He expects you to respond and participate; he thinks he’s your friend. I believe I draw Trixany’s eyes the same way if she’s not posed doing something over-the-top. If she’s just relaxing and sharing herself with you, then it’s a friendly, loving gaze.

The gym t-shirt sketch is the first time I didn’t make Sharpy ‘penetrate the camera’ as they say. It was hard not to redraw it so that he was... decided he was looking in the mirror or something instead.

When I look at Sharpen’s sketch at the very top of this post, I keep wanting him to stop looking elsewhere and look right at me. Right at the viewer. What a cool effect that is. What is that? I don’t know if it’s the context of the other drawings or what. Well, it’s not some magical work of art, only something curious I noticed.

Okay, I could ramble forever. I like art and I like to write so that’s a super-intense combination. I’d love for other artists on here to talk about their process, actually write it out and blather on creatively like I just did. It’s fun. And you learn about somebody’s personality too.

Yes, it’s definitely nice to talk about sketching and the special rainbow of things that go into it sometimes.

Tah!

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: DokiDoki May 19

I was kind of disappointed in how my review for the TokyoTreat went yesterday, I mean, even though it annoyed me through various means I wouldn’t not recommend the box still.

Meanwhile, I was very excited for this one. I’ve realized that after doing two really big box reviews, I come to really appreciate the much smaller ones, DokiDoki and YumeTwins. In turn I feel like that makes me do a little better... maybe.

This months theme: Sweet Dreams

“Drift off into dreamland with May’s crate. This month’s theme, Sweet Dreams is all about getting you ready to settle down and get cozy for a good night’s rest. Oyasuminisai is the common saying in Japan to wish someone a good night, so this month Doki Doki Crate is wishing you sweet dreams and a good night!“

This month, the booklet features a fun illustration featuring Tomomi with the girl mascots of Japan Crate and KiraKira Crate having a slumber party. I love how they have cute crossovers between their brands like this x3 it’s a fun touch- did you know Tomomi’s boyfriend is the mascot from Umai Crate?

I also like how even though they quit making the comics, they’re still making original art now and then.

Suteki Crate

This month the Suteki Crate (special crate all subscribers have a chance to win, in case you’re new here) focused on the theme and stuck to the characters featured in this box. It makes me want to nap just looking at everything~

(and I just woke up like an hour ago...)

But I will point out that they have offered a Kirby Otamatone before. Probably a year back or so, I remember seeing it. Also, the adorable Sleepy My Melody plush goes great with the photo contest prize, a sleepy Kuromi plush~

My Melody Mesh Case

Our first item would come in handy when staying out of the house for the day, it’s a mesh pack/bag/case, which can hold many toiletries; hair brushes and accessories, toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc. It features an adorable pale pink zipper to match the adorable patterned band around the bottom, which is covered in My Melody with some small forest friends doing various activities (and lots of adorable English phrases).

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

You know, I wasn’t ever into mesh containers like this, I always thought they looked kind of gaudy and they just didn’t appeal to me; but now that I’m older and I’m actually looking at one, it isn’t that bad. This would have come in handy when I was younger, I used to visit my grandma and spend the night/weekend a lot and my suitcase was always a pain dealing with. This could have lightened the load a little, or at least organized it better.

Also, it’s pretty big, I was able to fit in a lot of items and it didn’t feel too heavy or bad carrying. I did notice something though, the inside of the bottom section is sort of... thin cloth-ish, that kind of has me concerned that it might not be a good idea to get it wet, compared to the outside, which feels like it could handle that. Oh, I also noticed two holes in the mesh from the tag being cut, but I feel like it doesn’t really hinder anything.

San-X Towel

Also for bathroom/washing preparedness prior to bed or in the morning, we have a cute mini-towel featuring Sumikko Gurashi or Rilakkuma. As you can see, the Sumikko Gurashi group are out enjoying what looks like an autumn excursion :3 perfect timing considering it’s going on that season now. 

And yes, it’s on one of my cats. He wouldn’t leave me alone while I was trying to get pictures, so I tried making him comfortable enough to go back to sleep.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Well, besides being cute, I’m always impressed when we get towels like this because I don’t usually seen any around here. We have slightly bigger hand towels/rags, but nothing like this. It feels soft and nice, so I feel like this would be ideal for washing your face, drying off the hair, wrapping around the shoulders, using as a hand towel; it’s also the perfect size for wrapping up adorable pets~

(also, I noticed that when held up to the light you can see noticeable tag holes again. Not a huge deal though.)

Pajya Shark Plushie

Of course when you go to bed, you need a cuddly companion by your side to ensure sweet dreams or to help chase away the bad nightmares~

This month, we have an adorably colorful, pastel shark. The name Pajya is inspired by the fact that this was made with common Japanese Sleepwear in mind, which is usually in various soft tones and made from fluffy, soft material. 

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I love fluffy-soft things~ and I also happen to have a fondness for sharks; it’s a weird combination when you think about it, but I love it! He is very soft and sweet looking, and he isn’t threatening or have any teeth, so he’s a good buddy for all types and ages x3 I admit, the sewing could be a little better, but it’s not bad.

(This box has made me super-sleepy~  As of now I’ve only been up an hour and a half >3< But it’s probably because I stayed up until 4am, and I’ve been hungry and didn’t eat yet...)

Kirby Eye Mask

As we prepare for bed, our next item is an adorable eye mask :D featuring Kirby or Waddle Dee. I have a few eye masks and I enjoy using them sometimes (they especially come in handy if you have a headache or just need to relax, unless they squeeze your head too much...) but I don’t use them too frequently.

The mask has a sleek feel and is thin and made from shiny material. It has a really stretchy light pink strap, and the inner-side is cloth, featuring a dark blue star pattern. It also has a small black nose flap...? I’m not entirely sure how that works or what its for, none of my others have one, but I assume it’s just for a little additional comfort or to help support the mask.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s very cute, and I love the concept of bringing in Kirby for this sort of theme. In preparation for the review I was very excited to use this, and it feels very comfortable. Sometimes when I use eye masks I end up pulling them off after a while because they’re kind of uncomfortable or start squeezing, and I admit that this one felt like that after a while- but at the same time it wasn’t nearly to the same extent and didn’t bother me as much. The thin material makes it feel sort of breathable as well, which is nice when my poor nose is stuffed up and I can hardly breath as it is.

I can’t help but relax when I wear an eye mask, so I can’t imagine a more suitable item for this theme~

Kirby Night Light

Our last item is an adorable partner to the Kirby eye mask; a light! Again, this is another great and perfect bed item, especially if you’re someone you might feel a anxious in the dark or need a back-up light. It would also just be cute for a little desk light or something.

This requires 3 AA batteries (not included) and it is available in 2 styles; this parasol blue one I got, and a pink one covered in black and white old style manga or pop art Kirby. We all know how much I love pink, but I also really like the rain, and have a lot of fun playing with the parasol ability/item in Kirby games, so I think I’m actually really happy I got this one.

And of course I wouldn’t leave you guys hanging. I did get it working:

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The light is warm yellow (you know, the lights that seem kind of dim when you compare them to white lights? and yes I know it looks white in the pic, I had to brighten the image to make it see-able clearly) but still very bright; it ended up surprising me. I found it to be really soothing~

I also like the practicality behind this, if you didn’t want to use it as a night light you could use it as a backup flashlight (cause if you’re like us you have a bunch and they either die and you don’t replace batteries, or you lose them), or just to help create a mood- like telling spooky stories during a slumber party. 

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 5 out of 5. I have no complaints, I love these items :3 They’re very sweet and cute, and seeing them (and doing this review) makes me want to lay down to snuggle up with some of them~

Theme: 5 out of 5. I’m really happy to finally have a theme like this, I wish we’d get more bedtime items or themes. I feel like this is also suitable for all times of the year, and everything definitely went together to create a near-seamless box. I say near because some could argue well the bathroom items don’t count: but many people have a routine prior to bed, and some enjoy taking bathes before bed, so in a way yeah, they do count. Suteki Crate and the prize were also spot-on.  

Total Rank: 10 out of 10 Cuties. I know to some people they might argue that a bedtime theme isn’t very exciting but everyone could use a little unwinding, especially at bed. I wasn’t feeling tired when I began writing this but I’m probably going to go back to bed when I finish. I didn’t have anything going on today and I fully plan to take advantage of that. As much as I liked our prior box, I love this one even more! Keep it up Doki Doki~

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Kirby Nightlight - I love how it resembles an actual lamp x3 and I adore the pattern/print on both of the options. The glow made me feel relaxed- the only way it could be better would be if it had an actual rain effect or color change feature like my oil mister~

2. Pajya Shark - It’s colorful and sweet, it’s perfect for bed or just in a sugary sweet pastel setting. Very soft and cuddly. 

3. Kirby Eye Mask - I kind of find face-themed eye masks to be kind of corny, but when it comes to Kirby it’s very cute! It felt really nice against the skin and I can’t wait to use it again (probably after this review).

4. Towel - It’s very cute, I can’t say the color scheme does all that much for me but I love how it’s fall/autumn themed and goes with the upcoming season. The cats really like it too.

5. My Melody Mesh Case - I think it’s sweet and soft on the eyes, but I know I won’t get much use out of it. I could use it now to do some organization of my items in the bathroom (or some others, which I’ll probably do) though, so it’s really practical.

[katie-dub]

The Princess of White Chapel (6/12)

Dr Killian Jones is having a terrible day. He’s got a mission, he’s got a time machine, he’s got … drunk. What could possibly go wrong?

AO3 | Tumblr

Rated M for alcohol use, violence, minor character death, frank discussions of depression and grief

The delightful @princesse-swan made my gorgeous header and I’m so happy that you all get to see her next piece of art for this fic today too!

The indescribably awesome @distant-rose and @ultraluckycatnd were my betas.

I blame @wellhellotragic for parts of this chapter. ;)

Killian waited just long enough to see Gold’s men arrive and give him the address of his new lab. “The Gherkin? I thought that was all offices?” he asked, raising his brows. The lackey merely shrugged, as if nothing his boss did surprised him. “What Gold wants, Gold gets. Everything will be ready for you in the morning.”

Knowing he was free to go, he stalked out of the lab. He needed fresh air to clear his head, but the atmosphere remained as stale and heavy as his guilty conscience. But still if he didn't move, he would buckle under the tension he was feeling.

He walked aimlessly, anxiously noting how quiet the city streets were. The lack of other people felt ominous when usually they were teeming with life.

He quickened his step, drawn forward by the horrible fear that Emma might already be in danger. That would be just Gold’s style - to have her watched and strike when Killian wasn't looking. “I was disappointed to see that you’re drinking again.” The words filled his mind, darkened his already grim mood and he felt - or imagined - a prickle on the back of his neck, indicating that he was being watched.

He was startled by vibrations in his pocket and laughed at himself as he realised that it was merely his phone ringing. Bloody hell, he thought, you need to calm down. What would Will think if he saw you jumping with fright at your own phone?

He pulled it out, smiling to see it was Belle. Although the smile quickly turned to a wince as he remembered their last conversation, when he had cancelled on her. He hoped she was in a forgiving mood.

“Hello?”

“Hi Killian, crazy week, huh?”

He chuckled nervously. “You're telling me.”

“A few of us are going to that new place in Hackney, Aesop’s Tables, tonight for a few drinks to escape all the madness. You in?”

“Aesop's Tables? Sounds like some bloody awful hipster place with quirky drinks with dumb names like Tequila Mockingbird. Why can't we just go to The Culpeper?” He knew he was whining, but he was hot, agitated, and just not in the mood.

Belle just laughed at him. “Because we always go there. Live a little, old man. Remember, you should never judge a book by its cover.”

“Back in my day, drinks had proper names,” he muttered under his breath, only partly to play along with Belle’s joke.

“Oh really? So you've forgotten that night with all the Screaming Orgasms?”

“As if I could ever forget having a Screaming Orgasm with you, love.”

“The way Will tells it, he was the one you swore your undying love to.”

“But alas, my ungrateful cousin only has eyes for you. More’s the pity.” Belle laughed, probably to hide the blush that rose up every time he mentioned Will’s feelings. Despite the gloom he was feeling, it felt good to do something as normal as tease his friend.

“I'm not sure that's true at all,” Belle deflected and Killian smirked, unsurprised by her denial. He felt like he'd aged several centuries waiting for Will and Belle to get together. “But seriously,” she continued, “are you in?”

“Yeah that sounds…” he trailed off, remembering Emma and Lily. “I'm not sure if I can. I've got guests.”

“Guests?” Belle asked with a hint of mischief in her voice. “You mean you have other friends?”

He thought of Lily scowling at him. “I don't know if I'd call them friends.”

“Lovers?” she teased. “You don't mean to tell me that Will was right when he said you had a girl over? He'll have a field day if he hears that you've got more than one -”

“No!” he yelped, and cleared his throat, embarrassed. “No, it's nothing like that. Just some colleagues.” He had a burst of inspiration. “Their flat burnt down last night so I offered them shelter. In fact, they lost everything. I don't suppose you would mind lending them an outfit or two, just until they can buy their own?”

“Oh God, how awful! Of course, but, um, are you sure my clothes would fit them?”

Killian's face fell as he thought of Belle's petite stature. “Oh, I guess not actually.”

“I can ask Ruby?”

As far as he could remember, Belle's roommate was closer in height to the two girls - far closer than Belle at least. “If you could?”

“Sure, I'll let you know.”

He wasn't sure if going out with Emma and Lily would be a good idea, but he should at least get them some clothes. His mind filled with the image of how Emma had looked in his shirt, and, maybe nothing else, when he had left his flat earlier. He swallowed hard; she definitely wore it well -

No. Milah. He tried to picture his Milah, to let her memory fill his thoughts.

He couldn't do it.

Her image had faded, the exact sound of her voice was gone, the way she felt in his arms had disappeared. He felt desperate, searching for clearer memories, but each was as faded as the last. A copy of a copy of a copy, distorted and unclear.

This felt like the ultimate betrayal. Fancying another woman was forgivable, it didn't mean anything. Killian was sure that Milah herself would be pointing out how beautiful Emma was. But forgetting her? Maybe not who she was, or the facts and figures of their relationship. Maybe not his love for her, but everything else that made her real, made her alive? This felt like truly letting her die.

For the first time, he had confronted the hard truth that he was blindly clinging onto something that was long since gone.

It had happened so gradually that he hadn’t even noticed.

The one image he’d been able to recall clearly for the longest time was her lifeless body, he had violently rejected the horrible memory, he needed it not to be true. Fuck, he was going to change the past, so there was no need to look at that terrible sight in his mind’s eye again and again.

He’d struggled so hard against that memory that he didn’t even notice how the others had slowly faded from him, dissolving into nothing as he lost the touch of her hand, her soft sighs of happiness, the way her curls had fallen into her eyes as she leant forward.

He had to fight back the urge to give up and wait for death himself.

He hadn't even realised that he was still moving forward, stuck in his dreadful realisation as he was. So it was hardly surprising that he failed to notice the way a confused tourist struggling with a comically large map vanished into thin air just moments after he had passed them by.

 When he walked into his flat after seemingly hours lost in his dark mood, Emma was curled up on the sofa reading his copy of Neverwhere and Lily was nowhere to be found. Had it really been just days since he was meant to lead a book club discussion on the novel? And now his life was like something penned by Gaiman himself.

“Oh hi,” said Emma, smiling up at him.

The scene was painfully domestic. In another world, another life where he wasn't so damaged and she hadn't stepped out of a fairytale, this could be their life. The thought cut through the gloom that had surrounded him and pierced his heart, bringing him nothing but pain. His anguish must have been plain to see because Emma's smile quickly turned to a frown of concern.

“I hope you don't mind me borrowing this,” she said hesitantly, nodding towards the book. “Er - things got a little dull after Lily stormed out.”

“It's fine.” He tried to smile, but he couldn't shake his grim mood. It must have showed, for she placed the book down on the coffee table and uncurled her legs. As she moved, his shirt rode up, exposing a near indecent amount of skin. A bolt of desire shot through him, quickly followed by a wave of disgust. Not minutes ago, he had been despairing over Milah and now he was ogling a woman under his protection. His jaw clenched and Emma, who had been in the act of standing up, awkwardly slumped back down on the sofa, crumpling inwards. He hated that she looked that way because of him, but it was for the best. She deserved better than his worthless attention.

“So, Lily stormed off?” he asked, scratching behind his ear, feeling uncomfortable that his bad mood had filled the room with tension.

“Yeah.” Emma rolled her eyes. “She's just being Lily. She's my oldest friend but she can kind of be a -” “hot-headed monster?”

Now Killian was the one earning the eye roll.

“Yeah. I mean, things do tend to go up in smoke when Lily’s around.”

“Unfortunate side effect of incinerating everything in sight, I find.”

Emma snorted. “Well, unfortunately she tends to have that effect whatever form she's in. Used to cause so much trouble for me, back when we were…” Emma startled a little, as though she'd been about to share more of herself than she was entirely comfortable with. “When we were young. Don't worry about Lily; she'll be fine.”

“I'm not worried about Lily. It’s how everyone else will fare with a bloody dragon on the loose!”

“Oh. That.”

Killian looked at her incredulously. “Yes, that!”

“Lily is my oldest friend! I'm used to her being a dragon!” Emma replied defensively. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary to me. It's just Lily. Besides, there are a lot of dragons in my realm. They aren't all bad when you get to know them.” Sensing that she had missed the point, or perhaps reacting to the way Killian's jaw had dropped in disbelief, she quickly continued. “She knows better than to take dragon form. Honestly. She wants to get out of this realm alive.”

Her words reminded Killian of the threats Gold had made. “With a dragon about, it would be so easy for a tragic accident to occur.” He didn't want to test the man, he'd seen first hand how that ended. If Lily became a dragon again - he shuddered to think what might happen.

“You better hope so, or we'll all be in trouble,” he muttered darkly.

Emma cocked her head to the side, looking at him quizzically. He didn’t want to think about Gold’s threats. It led straight from there to everything that happened with Milah, and he would find himself lost in that same dark mood that had eased ever so slightly since he’d been talking to Emma.

He took a deep breath and dodged her questions before she could give voice to them. “Would you like to join me and my friends for drinks tonight?”

A look of mild alarm crossed Emma’s face, and she looked down at the shirt she was wearing. “I - um - well, I only have this - my clothes are kind of -”

“Incinerated?” Emma nodded ruefully. “Relax, I’ve asked my friend Belle to bring over some clothes for you to borrow. They may not be a perfect fit, but they’ll be better than my shirt.”

Relief radiated from Emma and she looked touched. “That’s so kind of you - and of her. I don’t know how to thank you.”

Killian felt uncomfortable at once; his hand crept up to scratch behind his ear without his being consciously aware of it. “Oh, don’t mention it. Belle’s great like that, you’ll see. She’ll be coming out for drinks. And here too, of course,” he continued, gesturing to the flat with his hands, “when she brings the clothes over. So there’ll be her and Will. Will’s an idiot but he’s family. You can ignore most of what he says - unless he compliments me, in which case, it’s all true. I don’t know who else will be there, but there will be alcohol - most likely overpriced, but that happens -”

“Killian,” Emma said firmly, standing up and taking him by the hands, effectively stopping his rambling.

“Hmm?” he said absently, looking down at the casual way she held his prosthetic, as though it were a flesh and blood hand. He wasn’t used to this; most people tended to either trip over themselves to avoid noticing his disability or shamelessly gawked at it. He realised that Emma wasn’t speaking yet and looked up at her.

“I’d love to get a drink with you and your friends.” She smiled warmly and he couldn’t help but return it.

“Great.” He stepped back from her, dropping his hands to his sides. He consciously resisted the urge to scratch his ear yet again, lest she think he had fleas or some kind of skin complaint. “I hope you don’t mind, but I told them you were a colleague of mine.”

“Oh?”

“Well I couldn’t exactly tell the truth, could I? I work at King’s College London in the Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology research group. Just say you’re interested in cosmological inflation and particle astrophysics.”

Emma’s eyes widened with alarm. “What?”

“Cosmological inflation and particle astrophysics,” he repeated with a laugh. “Don’t worry, the guys all get that same look in your eyes as you have when I discuss my work. They won’t ask questions, I promise.”

“Right. I guess I can manage that.”

“Oh, and your flat burnt down.”

“Unlucky me.”

“I had to explain why you needed clothes.”

“Of course.”

“And well, it is true that your clothes got roasted.”

“True.”

“And that’s why you’re staying with me.”

“You couldn’t have them thinking you had a new girlfriend. Your wife probably wouldn’t like that.”

Killian was bewildered by this. “My - my wife?”

“Yes.” Emma looked confused and looked down at his prosthetic. “You wear a ring. Where is she?” She looked horror struck as if a terrible thought had occurred to her. “She doesn’t mind my staying here, does she?”

Emma’s question was a knife to his heart. “She’s gone,” he whispered, dropping his eyes and turning away from her stricken and sympathetic gaze.

They were settled in the fancy restaurant when Milah caught Killian completely by surprise. She leaned across the table and took him by the hands.

“Killian, you know how much I love you, don’t you?”

“Aye, love,” he beamed, barely able to contain how happy hearing those words made him, even after three years together.

“If it weren’t for you, I’d still be with that… that beast -” Milah faltered and Killian squeezed her hands reassuringly.

“Hey, hey, you’re away from him now. You’ve got me and I’ll never let him hurt you again.”

“You really mean that, don’t you, Killian?” Her eyes were glistening and full of wonder as she gazed at him.

“Of course I do. Milah, you’re my everything and you deserve every good thing in life.  There is nothing that I wouldn’t do to protect you and I will fight for you until my dying breath.”

“I still can’t believe that you knocked out my husband’s crony in the bar that night,” she reminisced with a chuckle.

“Hey!” he shot back, full of mock indignation. “Are you saying that you don’t find me as fearsome as they come?”

“Well, let’s just say astrophysicists aren’t exactly known for their fighting skills. You are just the exception that proves the rule.”

Killian puffed up his chest, allowing himself a momentary swagger, before softening at Milah’s smiles. “What’s brought about this trip down memory lane, my love?”

“I served Gold with divorce papers.”

Killian’s eyes widened in shock. Milah was blushing ever so slightly and there was a small smile playing at the corner of her lips.

“Milah, I’m delighted to hear it. But, is that really wise?”

“Well, you see, I kind of had to. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” Milah pulled her hands out of Killian’s and pushed back from the table, instantly dropping to one knee beside it. “Killian Jones, my knight in shining armour, my partner in crime,” her voice softened, “my love. Will you marry me?”

Killian’s mouth dropped open in shock before he came to his senses and laughed with joy. He shook his head slightly before dropping down onto one knee beside her.

“Milah, you wonderful woman! You stole my line!” He pulled the ring out of his pocket and presented it to her. He hadn’t really expected that they would be able to actually get married, but he wanted her to know that he would marry her if he could. He wanted her to wear a token of his love for her - of his promise to her; that he would love her always. He knew his ring was no match to anything her ex could have bought, and yet she looked at it like it was the most precious ring she had ever seen. “Of course I’ll marry you, my Milah. Now, will you wear my ring?”

“Yes! Of course I will.” She paused and her eyes twinkled with delight. “As long as you wear mine.” She produced a ring from her own pocket. It was a simple band, much like a wedding ring, but Killian was delighted that Milah already wanted him to show that he was hers to the world.

They took turns sliding the rings onto each other’s fingers and then kissed passionately, not caring who might be watching, just caught up in their love. He was dimly aware of the sound of applause around them and a champagne cork popping, but he paid it no mind.

Killian squeezed his eyes shut, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. He may have finally begun to accept that Milah was gone, but that didn’t mean her ghost wouldn’t continue to haunt him.

He fiddled with the ring Milah gave him that night. He'd never expected that he'd really get to marry her, and he was right. For the night that Milah had proposed had been her last, the best and worst night of his life. It took a conscious effort to keep himself from reliving the trauma. Maybe he should've explained to Emma that her assumption was wrong, but it was unimportant. After all, he had been married to her memory all this time, and what had it brought him? Nothing but wasted years and endless torment.

But who was he without his grief? It had become a vital part of him, his constant companion; driving him ever onward in his mission, demanding revenge for Milah. He didn't know how to exist without it. He wondered if Milah would even recognise him as the man she loved if they were to meet again.

He felt a light touch on his left shoulder. He looked up to see Emma awkwardly patting him. She gave him a half smile. “I'm sorry. That’s, that's really awful.”

He thought back to the way he had instantly put on his mask when Belle had called. Killian Jones, who was wedded to his work since he tragically lost his love. No. That wasn't fair to his friend. He could be happy with her. It wasn't an act, but his grief was always bubbling below the surface and no one had ever seen it.

Until now.

Here was this stranger, this odd, undignified princess from another realm, and she saw right through him. Perhaps she wasn't the best at giving comfort, but she could see that it was needed. It made him wonder what had happened to her that she could so easily see the pain that he normally kept buried deep inside. She made him want to open up, knowing that she would offer solace that he would gratefully accept.

They stared at each other for a moment that lasted a lifetime. So much was said in so few words. They recognised each other and their shared pain. It was intense.

He swallowed hard, unsure how to feel. He placed his hand over hers and gave a quick squeeze before dropping his hand. He hoped that it was enough to convey his sincere gratitude. Somehow, he knew it was. “Yeah. It really is.”

His words broke the spell around them. She stepped away from him, clearing her throat. Neither one would mention it, silently agreeing that it wasn't the time.

***

They were watching the TV in comfortable silence when Killian's doorbell rang. He got up and buzzed Belle into the building, unlocking and opening his door, then leaning against the frame to await his friend.

When Belle had called to say that Ruby was more than happy to lend some clothes, Killian had smoothly lied saying that Lily had decided to stay with family instead, finding his one bedroom flat too cramped for three people. He could tell that Belle was instantly intrigued by this, politely but pointedly inquiring after Emma's own family. “None to speak of,” he'd said. “She’s a fellow orphan.”

He knew that this almost certainly was not true, for orphaned princesses usually became queens, but it felt true. She had a look in her eyes that he recognised, the one that said love had been all too rare in her life. Besides, if it avoided any uncomfortable questions, it was a lie worth telling.

But he could tell that Belle’s curiosity had not been sated, so he could not help but feel some trepidation over how this meeting - indeed, his whole evening - would go.

She appeared minutes later with Ruby in tow. He raised his brows at Belle as he moved forward to hug her and she grimaced apologetically. “Sorry,” she whispered in his ear as they embraced.

“So where is she? Your colleague that has you offering up my wardrobe?” Ruby asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief, before leaning in to give him a quick hug.

He pointedly ignored her salacious implications. “Lovely to see you too, Ruby. How’s your grandma?”

“She sends her love and told me to pinch your ass. I hope you don't mind if I leave that to this colleague of yours? I wouldn't want her to get jealous,” she said with a wink.

“If Emma wants you to pinch her ass, you shouldn't let me stop you. In fact, I would actively encourage it. Don't be afraid to, you know, really get into it.”

Ruby laughed while Belle rolled her eyes.

“Are we going to stand in the doorway all day, or do we get to meet Emma?” Belle asked.

“Come in, fair maidens, and welcome to my humble abode.” Killian held the door open, gesturing inside. Ruby hurried forward eagerly, while Belle shook her head at Killian's ostentatious antics and followed her inside.

When he entered the living room, Ruby had her arms around Emma who was not returning the hug, but instead was awkwardly tugging down the hem of his shirt.

He almost laughed at the silent plea for help Emma was sending him over Ruby's shoulder. But, instead he swooped in to her aid.

“Come on now, Ruby. I was only joking when I suggested that Emma might enjoy being groped by you.” Emma's eyes filled with alarm. “Take your hands off her and let me introduce you properly.”

Ruby stepped back and punched him on the shoulder - ever so slightly too hard to be entirely good natured. He thought he heard her mutter “dick” under her breath, but when he looked at her, she was smiling widely, the picture of innocence.

“So Emma, you've met Ruby Lucas, who's been kind enough to bring some clothes over for you. This is Belle French, who is one of my dearest friends.” He gestured to each lady in turn as he spoke. “Ladies, this is Emma Swan. She’s part of my research group at King's College.”

“Please don't talk about your research,” Ruby said not unkindly, “I already feel dumb sometimes living with Belle - and particle physics makes her head spin.”

“I promise I won't,” Emma replied with a smile, with only Killian realising how relieved she was by Ruby's request.

“I've got a whole bunch of outfits for you to try, Emma. Killian, can we use your room to get dressed?” Ruby was already ushering Emma towards his room before he had answered.

“Sure thing, Ruby,” he called, as she closed his door behind her.

With Ruby and Emma in the other room, Belle took the opportunity to pounce on Killian with rapid fire questions. “OK, talk fast. Why is Emma wearing your shirt? Where is she sleeping? What's really going on here?”

“Her only clothes are in the wash. My bed, I'm on the couch. Nothing, Belle, I swear. Can't a man be friends with a woman without any funny business involved?”

Belle narrowed her eyes at him. “I'm not buying it, Jones. You fancy her.”

“A gentleman never tells.” He was aiming for mysterious, hoping she would drop the subject without him having to be rude, but Belle let out a little gasp and looked delighted.

“You do! This is wonderful!”

“It's really not like that.”

“Why not?” She was frowning at him and he saw the moment that realisation hit. Her eyes widened and filled with something that looked far too close to pity for his liking. She dropped her voice into a soft, soothing tone. “If this is about Milah, you don't have to worry. You've mourned her long enough.” He was right, she was pitying him. His mouth hardened into a thin line, struggling to conceal his anger. He had never liked the way his friends pushed him towards women when he was still intent on rescuing Milah. He wasn't sure he liked it any better now that he knew that he couldn't. “I know you must feel angry at yourself, like feeling this way is a betrayal, but she would want you to be happy.”

Milah doesn't want anything! he wanted to yell at her. She can't because that bloody bastard Gold killed her, and I let him.

Because that was his real betrayal, his failure to save her life. And it was a mistake that he could never undo. She could never forgive him and he would never forget it.

He took a deep breath and tried to push back his rage. Belle didn't know how he was feeling and she could never have guessed how doomed a relationship between him and Emma really was. “I know you mean well, but drop it. It’s not going to happen.”

Belle opened her mouth to speak, but Ruby burst into the room.

“Presenting the gorgeous Emma Swan!”

Emma stumbled after her and gave a little wave. “I told her not to do that,” she mumbled.

Some part of Killian's brain wondered, yet again, about how not regal she was. A princess who is uncomfortable with being announced into a room? What happened to her? But that part was drowned out by the rest, which was stuck on admiring Emma in modern clothes.

She was wearing a simple silk blouse in Ruby's trademark vibrant red. The cut flattered her figure, highlighting her curves without clinging. The front of the shirt was tucked into a pair of skinny black jeans that emphasised her long legs. She had on a pair of black ankle boots - in an unusually low heel for Ruby, which was probably a blessing for the ungainly Swan. She looked incredible, and he found himself momentarily speechless.

He shook his head, as if trying to shake some sense into himself. “Swan, you look stunning.”

“Yeah you do!” encouraged Ruby.

She blushed. “Um, thanks.”

“Platonic my ass,” Belle whispered in his ear.

He tried not to blush himself. “Right, well, shall I get dressed and then we can go and enjoy some overpriced ant and grasshopper cocktails?”

***

This was fun. He was having fun. It was as amazing as it was unexpected.

Once her initial prickly phase had eased a little, Emma got along incredibly well with his friends. Ruby took an instant liking to her, as did Belle. She immediately put Will in his place, which earned her a laugh from him, not to mention Regina's respect - which was usually hard to come by. She talked animatedly with Robin about archery, although there had been an awkward moment when she clearly didn't understand what he meant by calling himself an Olympian. (“Gold medalist, darling,” Regina said proudly, while he grinned.) Killian hoped he had successfully covered for her by proclaiming “come on Swan, you'll give us scientists a bad name! We're not so nerdy that we don't know what the worldwide sporting competition the Olympics is!” “Oh Olympian,” she played along, “I didn't hear you before.”

Emma was a hit. The cocktails, while undoubtedly overpriced, were modestly so by London standards and were absolutely delicious. Killian felt truly happy for the first time in a decade.

All was going well until he looked around and noticed how empty the bar was.

“Shame that no one's here. Guess that means this place won't last long.”

“Where have you been, mate?” asked Will. “People have been vanishing all over. It's got people scared that they'll be next.”

“Next for what? The dragon's been vanquished… Hasn't it?”

“It hasn't been seen since Trafalgar Square, but no one knows what happened there. And it's not just dragons - all sorts of strange things have been appearing.”

Killian thought of the incident with the fairies earlier that day. Bloody hell.

“What kind of things?” asked Emma.

“All sorts. The zebras at the zoo all turned to hippogriffs that kind of thing.” Emma and Killian shared a dark look at Will’s reply. “Haven't you seen the video? It's brilliant. Here, let me find it.” Will pulled out his phone and fiddled about before handing it to Emma.

She snorted with laughter and held it up so that Killian could see a picture of himself with awful 90’s-style blonde frosted tips. He growled and dived towards the phone but alcohol had slowed his reactions ever so slightly and Will was able to quickly snatch it out of Emma’s hand before he could reach it.

“Oh sorry mate, don’t know how that picture ended up on the screen.”

He sat back in his seat, and scowled at Will. “I’m disowning you - in fact, you’re dead to me now.”

Will just blew him a kiss. “You know you love me.”

Killian shook his head, watching Will closely and held out his hand for the phone pointedly when he looked up. Will passed it over with an exaggerated sigh. “So untrusting Killian, you want to work on that.”

Killian merely raised his eyebrows in reply and looked down. When he saw that there really was a video on the screen he tilted it towards Emma. She leaned in close and Killian, slightly tipsy after several Catcher in the Whisky and Ryes, felt his heart rate pick up slightly. He was so distracted by the pleasant tingle of her breath against his cheek that it took him a moment to remember that he was meant to press play.

The video started off normally - zebras in their enclosure, generally standing around. But then, with no warning, they were hippogriffs. Strange creatures with the body of a horse and the head and wings of an eagle. He played it again and again, looking for some clue as to what had happened; for why this strange incident had occurred, but none came.

He looked at Emma, wanting her opinion on it. She was chewing her lip with worry. It was strangely adorable. She seemed to sense his gaze and looked over to him. He'd meant to ask her what she thought of the video, but was struck by how close she was. All he had to do was lean in slightly and their lips would touch. She must have noticed the same, for the air seemed to buzz with delicious anticipation, and her eyes flicked down to his mouth.

“It's fucking mental, isn't it?” Will interrupted, grabbing back his phone. The pair startled and shuffled away from each other, the moment lost. “But look at this!” He showed them a tweet with a frantic looking London Zoo employee reading a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. “Let's hope JK Rowling really knew her stuff, hey?”

Killian laughed, albeit nervously, while Emma looked confused.

“What about the people?” she asked anxiously, reaching out for Killian's hand for comfort. It felt so natural to take her hand and lace their fingers together that he didn't even notice he was doing it.

“Oh yeah,” jumped in Ruby. “There’s loads of stories on twitter of people who have gone missing. That singer I love, Rapunzel? She's gone. It's madness.”

At that point, Belle distracted him by mouthing “platonic?” at him and looking down to their joined hands with an arched brow. He just shrugged, just drunk enough to not care what she thought. Especially when Emma’s hand felt so right in his.

The intrusion of the fairytale world was the only dark cloud on their happy night. The easy affection that had sprung up between him and Emma continued all night. There were flirty touches, salacious glances, and innuendos from Killian that would've made anyone else roll their eyes, but Emma grinned and gave back as good as she got. It felt good to just relax and flirt for once.

Even the oppressive heat wave was less overwhelming in the early hours of the morning, and the air felt fresher when they finally staggered out into the night.

They made it home, stumbling a little - or, in Emma's case, a lot. (Not that Killian minded when it meant that she allowed him to wrap his arm around her waist “for support”.) She made Killian giggle like an overgrown school girl when she started chatting to the tiny dragon statue on the High Street. He gently pulled her away from it as she asked, “your cousin's here too you know? How did you get to this realm?” She called out a “goodbye” over her shoulder and solemnly insisted that she knew him, “we go way back!”

They managed to make themselves each a cup of tea before collapsing close together on the sofa.

“Thank you for tonight. It was nice to feel normal again.”

“Again?” Killian couldn't help but ask, longing to understand the enigma that was Emma Swan.

It was the wrong thing to say, and he felt the change in her instantly. Her smile dropped just a touch and she shrank away from him almost imperceptibly, although it felt to him like a great chasm had opened between them.

He wanted to get back on even footing, so he adopted the flirty tone he'd used throughout the night. “Perhaps a little gratitude is in order?” He punctuated the question with a cheeky tap on his lips. He ran his tongue along his teeth suggestively, but scratched behind his ear, suddenly nervous of how much he wanted her to kiss him.

“Please. You couldn't handle it,” Emma deferred, although she leaned in closer, eyes darting down to follow the movement of his tongue.

“Oh I assure you, I can handle it.” His tongue clicked as he stressed the T. He had to consciously stop himself from moving further into her personal space, to let her decide how this latest round of flirtation would end.

She stared at him, and he barely had time to register the fact that she had decided to give into their attraction before she grabbed him and kissed him.

The kiss was fierce and passionate and everything he could have hoped for. His heart beat faster as he wrapped his prosthetic about her waist and pulled gently, desperately wanting her closer to him. She followed his lead willingly, climbing into his lap and letting him hold her close to him. He tangled the fingers of his other hand into her hair, encouraging her to give him more and she obliged, kissing him until he was lost for breath, lost for words, and he'd entirely lost his senses.

He had no idea how long they'd been kissing - seconds or minutes or an entire lifetime - when she pulled herself away with an obvious effort. She hadn't even let go of him, forehead still leaning against his. He could feel her ragged breaths against his lips.

“That was -” he breathed, eyes still closed. He didn't know how to finish. Hot? Definitely, but that hardly felt like a good enough word to express what it meant. Confusing and possibly even a mistake? Certainly, she had a kingdom and responsibilities to return to in another world. Life-changing and eye-opening? Oh, absolutely.

From the second her lips touched his, he knew what he'd only suspected before: for the first time in far too long, he'd met someone who could help him move on from Milah. And any relationship between them was impossible; doomed from the start.

He sure knew how to pick them.

“Yeah,” Emma agreed, but to what? All of the above? He opened his eyes and looked at her struggling to move away from him. Perhaps he wasn't the only one overcome by the kiss.

“I should,” she paused, and pushed back from him. The movement must have made it clear to her just how much he wanted her, for she groaned and he bit his lip to keep from doing the same. Her eyes flew open and he could see the fear in them. She climbed off his lap, looking guilty. “I should go to bed. Busy night. I'm tired,” she blurted out, then fled to the safety of his room, slamming the door behind her.

He made no move to stop her. She needed to go, and honestly, he didn't know what he could say. How could he persuade her to give this a chance when he knew it couldn't last?

And yet when he lay back on the sofa, heart pounding, breathing heavily and still very much ready and wanting, he couldn't help but wish he'd tried. That kiss had opened up his heart to her and despite all the reasons not to chase her, he had very much wanted to.

[dreadlock-detective]

How hard is it to choose colours for your (and my favourite) art style?

Eheh, well I canonly speak for myself, not for whoever you’re flattering by callingyour favorite, so I’ll stick to that! ;)

I suppose theliteral answer is “Usually not too hard?” but that’s boring solets see what I can ramble about color choice and such! Also I’ll put some links to James Gurney’s stuff because he is amazing and I cannot recommend his books enough!

(This’ll be in 3 sections - Color schemes, Contrast and leading the eye, and picking colors for shadows~ from longest to shortest too)

Part 1: COLOR SCHEMES

So I used to bereally bad at this until I got really into pixel art where I learneda few important lessons. First, the entire color palette workingtogether is what’s most important, not any single color, and second,colors work together in surprising ways COMPLETELY dependent on what’s around them!

For example, this isthe color palette for the Commedore 64 from back in the day. All whopping 16 colors the system could possibly display:

Individually thosecolors look pretty muddy, muted, and dull. But when you put them alltogether in an image they actually work pretty well together, because none of them completely break from the others. Usingmy own stuff as an example, I used the C64 palette to challengemyself with remaking a very colorful, very saturated screenshot from the Nintendo 64game Mischief Makers (because I love that game and both systems have“64” in the name so why not~)

So I turned this: (Nintendo 64 version, with waaay more colors available)

Into this:

Now, there’s clearly a BIG difference in the colors used, but I feel like everything still looks fine on its own. The muddy colors look a lot more harmonious when seen in an image than individually, with the brighter colors, such as the gems, even popping quite a bit.

For that second point I mentioned about colors working differently based on the colors around them, look at the character’s green hair, the green gem, and the green on the top of the blocks. They are all the exact same color. The green gem and hair, though, are shaded with a deeper, more saturated green and contrasted with a bright white, making it appear more saturated than the exact same green on the platforms, because the platforms’ green is surrounded by duller colors.

So it’s important to keep in mind that not only is each color important in the context of the whole, but also that what’s immediately around a color will massively impact how they appear, even when they are the exact same!

Important things to consider when picking colors is how close/far they are to each other in hue (the color itself, represented by the outer wheel in the image below), the saturation (how much gray is in the color, which effects how vibrant it is, which is the left->right in the box) and value (how much black is in the color, which is the top->bottom in the box).

Essentially the further away two colors are from the each other in any of these 3 directions the more they will stand out from each other. I’m not much of a teacher for color theory in general, so the best advice I can give is just to practice and to check out limited palettes other people have made and see how they handle it. In general, though, I try to keep most of the colors relatively close to each other in saturation and warm/cool colors, and then use one accent color that stands out in small amounts to make certain bits pop~

Links time!

Gurney’s post/video on Color Gamut, or manually limiting colors and how surrounding colors alters our perception of them (check out what appears as yellow in the cool colored image as opposed to the warm)

Gurney’s post on color in context and how many colors still register as bright yellow

Fun little tidbit about old cartoons made with limited palettes

Part 2: Contrast, and leading the eye!

Okay, so these other two might be a bit shorter. Basically, when you’re picking colors you want some to stand out and some to fall back. If everything is competing for attention it can be really hard to look at and the eye doesn’t know what’s important! One of the main things to look out for with this is contrast, as the eye is easily drawn to areas that are different than their surroundings.

Let me use two designs I’d had for my character Caelia - the left is her old color scheme and outfit and the right the new one:

Now, aside from minor differences in saturation, they’re actually pretty similar, but the one on the right I think works a lot better. In both of them the yellow acts as a strong accent color that can pull the eye, but on the old design on the left it pulls your eye in two directions - towards the headband and the coat trim, neither of which are actually important. Almost the entire rest of the design lacks that yellow so your eyes are actually drawn -away- from the character’s face and body. Imagine the coat being blown behind her as she’s doing an action pose and, yeah, the accent color doesn’t actually help anything.

The new design, I think, fixes that. Even though it remains an accent color the yellow now appears throughout the design. Her hair is now a lighter shade of yellow which is distinguished from the yellow on the clothing while also framing her face. Her torso now has a yellow accent on it so it draws the eye and, combined with the hair, has a strong distinction between her upper half (which is more yellow) and her lower half (which is mostly red). And finally what was the coat now wraps around her with an additional little strip on a waist sash. Now the yellow trim can easily allow the eye to figure out how her legs are positioned by how they wrap around them, instead of just hanging behind them.

It’s also important to point out that the hair is less saturated along with being lighter than the rest of the yellow - it both looks a bit more natural, blends with her skin color more, and also doesn’t compete with the high saturation in the clothing.

None of this is to say the left one is necessarily a bad design or conveys information poorly, just that the right one is a more unified design that is easier to understand at a glance. It’s something to keep in mind, but not a hard rule or anything. But remember that if EVERYTHING tries to stand out you’ll just end up with a mess.

LINKS!

Gurney on leading the eye with contrast and why what everything I just said might be bunk but might not be and also I think what I said applies better to simplified, cartoon forms as opposed to realism, since lines and blocks of color read differently than natural forms and lighting.

Spokewheeling - a composition technique that can be applied to character design as well.

Shapewhelding - another composition technique to think about, and can be important to AVOID at times (happens a lot in pixel art - dont want things melding together accidentally)

Gurney on why all of that might be bunk for general art composition anyway but might not be, but again I believe is still important for more stylized art

Part 3: SHADOWS!

Okay, so it’s nearing 1am as I write this and I’ll be honest I have the absolute least technical knowledge on this part, so I’ll tell you how I go about it but I STRONGLY suggest reading Gurney’s information on it (Again, seriously, I love his books, and “Color and Light” in particular is amazing and contains many of these posts and more)

When it comes to shading I have a pretty quick and dirty way to figure out what to do:

in case the text isn’t legible:

Choose a color for all shadows to move towards (usually a purple or blue)

Grab the base color for the thing I’m adding shadow to

Shift the color towards the direction of the shadow color I chose, and then make it darker and more saturated

And I do the exact opposite for highlights - I move away from the shadow color and then make it lighter and less saturated

Usually, anyway. And this method works best on the kind of color wheel I have there, but it can be adapted to most anything. And how far you move towards the shadow color and how dark/saturated you make the shadows will change the mood of the piece a lot. The colors in the screenshots are for a pretty light colored, low contrast piece.

I would go on more about it but I don’t actually have solid reasoning behind it other than it tends to look alright and I don’t want to spread incorrect thinking. Just… for the love of all that is colorful, DONT just shift the color towards black or white. It looks muddy and gross. Please. I beg you~

ON THE PLUS SIDE, Here’s a slew of awesome links!

Gurney and Chromatic Shadows Part 1!

Chromatic Shadows Part 2!

Relative color on skin tones!

Complementary shadows!

Induced colors! (or how our eyes can make highlights appear as different colors)

And I cant stress enough how great Gurney’s Color and Light book is for this stuff. I just can’t explain much ‘cuz I’m bad at actually studying this stuff well enough to talk about it!

Anyway, that about does it for my waaay longer than I thought and hella reply to a single sentence question! Hope that helped you, or SOMEONE at least! It was fun to ramble on about regardless~ (oh geeze yeah maybe rambling after midnight was a bad plan? Hopefuly this actually makes sense lol. If anyone needs any clarification just let me know!)

Cheers! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[the-redhead-who-writes]

His True Colours

“We finally get Jack’s green hair back! ...But what do we lose in return?”

Readers beware, you’re in for a scare! ...I’m only kidding. This is just a story idea I’ve been messing with! ‘Cause let’s face it: if Jack ever does dye his hair again, you know he’s gonna make a big deal out of it. So dorks, here’s a late-night spook/theory for you to enjoy!

Links: AO3

It’s been a few weeks since Jack returned from his “How Did We Get Here?” tour, the shows having gone down a smashing success. Those in attendance raved about the theatrics from the natural born showman, with everything from the audience interaction to the special effects working to create an unforgettable performance.

The fans that couldn’t make it to the shows contributed to the hype online, taking to social media and creating a tidal wave of incredible stories, edits, and art. The pieces ranged with everything from fluff to angst, starring Jack and all of the beloved Egos.

Jackieboyman fist bumping Spider-Man; Schneeplestein leering menacingly at the viewer, wielding a needle that definitely wasn’t regulation length; Chase with a variety of flower crowns. The works radiated with the passion and love the community held for both Jack and his characters.

And then, there was Anti.

Cryptic zalgo text littered every fans feed. The familiar lines of "D͏i͞d ̷yo͞u ̵miss̢ me̢?̧” and "You͘ s͢t̢o͝p͟ped pay̕in̛g̢ a͟tt͝eńtio͝ǹ!̡" were eerie reminders of the virus’s ever-lingering presence. The fandom was itching with pent-up fervour, as though Anti had somehow wormed his way under their very skin.

Poems, theories, art; he had it all. 

The only difference was something that the untrained eye might not notice.

It was now old news that Jack had dyed his once-green hair back to its natural brown shade after years of the trademark look. And yes, the fans were sad to see it go. Each Ego sported one of Jack’s varying shades of green. It had been around for the creation of Anti, Schneep, Marvin... everyone!

The community moved on though, deciding that even if Jack had his brown hair back, the Egos could still keep their signature shades.

Except for Anti.

After all, Anti was a virus who depended on Jack’s body to survive. He didn’t have his own, so he should share Jack’s traits, right? It might not have made perfect sense, but the community seemed to accept the general idea, as was evident with nearly every piece of Anti art mirroring Jack’s brown hair, with the rest of the Egos staying the same.

No harm done, it was just the fandom taking creative license.

Cut to another morning upload, where Jack has just posted a brand new “SepticArt” video, the theme being art related to the tour or that period of time while he was away.

He’s as upbeat as usual, excitedly chattering away about all of his favourite moments while pouring over dozens of brilliant submissions.

A few minutes into the video, Jack pulls up an edit of Anti on stage at one of his past shows. He makes a remark about its complexity, and how well done it is, before noting the caption at the bottom:

“A little Anti takeover from Jack’s show in Texas! Forgive the blurry edges, kinda new to this style. And tbh, I’m still not used to brown-haired Anti. Looks good, but I miss our green Glitch Boy. Wonder if we’ll get to see him again haha.“

Jack laughs, reflexively running a hand through the front of his messy hair that’s not tucked into his beanie.

“Yeah, I got that question a lot while I was on tour. And I’m not sure; I mean, never say never, but I’m pretty happy with my natural hair. It’s less of a pain in the ass to take care of, that’s for sure.”

His hand lingers in his fringe for just a second more before he thanks the artist and carries on.

This time it’s a Marvin picture; the Magician is skillfully shuffling a deck of playing cards, grinning. His neon green bangs hang messily over his signature cat mask.

Jack points out his love of the bold line use, though he pauses at the hair. His eyes narrow ever so slightly, but his smile is still as bright as ever.

Then there’s a sketch of Chase, who’s excitedly comparing a befuddled JJ to the box art of the Monopoly Man while they try to play said board game.

Jack chuckles, hand going to rub his throat absentmindedly.

A watercolour of Anti from the back, his dark hair a stark contrast silhouetted against the bright green background of a not-so-friendly looking Sam whose teeth glint with moisture.

Jack grips his mouse a bit tighter.

Schneeplestein happily writing a postcard on some tropical beach, lab coat and all, dark green roots visible under his hat.

Jack cracks his neck.

As the video carries on, there’s a distinct tension in the YouTuber: his body twitches imperceptibly; his hands clenching into fists before quickly loosening; he can’t stop touching his throat.

A newcomer to Jack’s channel might write this off as excitement, his energy getting the better of him. The more experienced members of his community, however, begin to feel nervous.

Still, Jack is as taken with his community’s artistic endeavours as always. The smile on his face proves that.

It’s wide, teeth bared for all to see.

The video is almost finished, with Jack coming to the last piece. He once again thanks everyone who participated, saying how he would be nothing without them.

The theorists release a breath. 

Everything was fine; just their typical overactive imaginations. Nothing to worry about.

With an eager grin, Jack pulls up the final entry. 

It’s a stunning digital drawing of a bathroom mirror taken from the YouTuber’s perspective as he stares at his reflection, clutching a porcelain sink.

It smirks back, smile unnaturally wide. He eyes Jack with a blackened gaze, eagerly assessing him for even a hint of weakness. Blood from several crude, deep cuts in his throat drips down into his shirt collar. The knife responsible lays in the sink, crimson coating the blade.

From the angle, you’d swear it was Anti looking back at himself, sickly pleased with his deranged handiwork. The tell is the gauges and Jack’s lack thereof; the man you’re seeing the perspective from is without them.

Jack stares at the drawing, his gaze transfixed. For a split-second, you think to refresh the video, believing it to have lagged. The music Robin added into the background is gone, and the webcam footage seems frozen...

And then he’s throwing his head back, laughing as he grips his sides.

“That’s a helluva drawing! God, do you see the detail?! Anti looks badass!”

He’s positively giddy, scanning every inch of the artwork with rapt enthusiasm. He begins to say something about the shading as he brings the picture out of fullscreen view. Then his laughter cuts off abruptly, smile tightening. He scrolls down to highlight the artist’s note:

“Those 20 hours were all worth it! Here’s my entry for Jack’s #SepticArt event; I call it “Two-Way Mirror”! I’m really happy with how it turned out, though I was a little worried about how I’d draw the differences for Anti’s reflection. With his brown hair, how can you even tell the two of them apart? 😆 Anyway, hope you guys like it!”

His expression becomes flat. He stares with an unwavering intensity that leaves goosebumps on your skin.

“...The same...?”

Jack mutters the phrase so quietly, it’s almost indecipherable.

“You really think... we’re the same?”

A hollow chuckle spews from his lips, and then it grows into a laugh; high-pitched and cold. In a blur, he slams his fist down onto his desk, and even off-screen, you can hear his keyboarding shattering. His lips are pulled back into a hideous snarl, a grotesque mask of fury.

“I’m nothing like him. N̞͔̤̤̺͖ͅOT̼̱̪̬̹͉H̗͝I̶̲̰̘̠̹N͉͚̖̤̳̻G͓͈̩̣͎̝͞.

The man’s eyes widen fearfully, seemingly at the sound of his own voice. His rage gives way to panic as he falls forward in his seat, clutching his head with a pained groan.

Jack’s body shudders, racked by waves of tremors as his knuckles strain white, nails digging into the arms of his chair. The camera feed is breaking apart, glitching between frames of Jack clawing at his forearms, his neck. His breathing is erratic, mumbles falling from his mouth - desperate, rambling pleas.

Then he’s still.

Too still.

Jack lets out a heavy breath, relieved - no, satisfied - before sitting up slowly. His beanie has been knocked off, his usual fluffy hair on full display.

All eyes are immediately on his neck and - oh... it’s untouched. For a moment, the viewers feel a spike of relief, hearts slamming into their throats. But then Jack opens his eyes, and their blood runs cold.

Black. Darker than any art or edit could even attempt to capture.

He sits back, almost lounging in Jack’s gaming chair, as he takes a deep breath in. Cracking his knuckles, he rolls his neck in a series of jerky moves before closing his eyes again. And in one smooth motion, he runs his hand through the front of Jack’s hair.

His fingers pass through the strands, adjusting the colour as it melts in. The brown lightens to blonde, then grows brighter. The green hue radiates with an unnatural sheen.

Stopping at the fringe, he lowers his hand to reveal the change; familiar, yet not. Wrong.

Anti opens his eyes, a wickedly pleased smirk playing across his lips as he leans toward the camera.

“Are͏ ya͝ ̡f́uck͞i̛n̛’ ̛ha͠p͞py͏ now̶?͝”

He giggles with twisted glee, hair falling into his eyes as he tips his head forward. Then he stops, and looks up through his bangs, glaring into the camera with a ferocity that dares anyone watching to defy him.

“Ỳou͡’̴ve͠ ͠had̷ yǫur ͢fun, bu̧t̢ d͡on’t fuc̕ki͞n̸’͟ ͝f̷orģet w̢ḩo ͠I ̷a͘m͢, w̢ḩat ͠I ̷a͘m͢. A̧n̸d thąt͠’s n̛oţ h̢im.͘”

The camera is shoved to the floor. The lens cracks, spider-webbing across the screen before it cuts to black. Echoing laughter grows distant as Anti walks away.

There is no second upload that day.

[toonstarterz]

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #132

The Disneyland shenanigans are officially over, and Tomoko goes back to her unchanging school days.

...nah.

One of the more introspective punchlines of the series was when Tomoko thought things would go back to normal after the Kyoto trip, only to realize how much her life has changed because of it. It stands to reason that the Disneyland trip would have the same life-changing effect on her, so in this case, that punchline becomes moot. Change, however gradual, is inevitable now, and this chapter highlights just how much Tomoko has changed in terms of her maturity.   

Chapter 132: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Get A Kouhai

Normal is never static. What was normal yesterday is not normal today. And what they thought was abnormal has since then become normal. Such is the life of Miss Tomoko Kuroki. 

Would’ya look at that. A hint of Minami’s development has finally been realized. With her “friends” Katou and Okada hanging with Nemoto, Minami has grown enough self-awareness to see that she doesn’t have the sort of friendship with them that she’s been trying to force. Could this be the start of Minami’s growing inferiority complex? 

Fourth wheel, but yeah.

I think this is the first time Mako and Yuri have directly acknowledged Tomoko’s hobbies. Sure, they likely got the impression during that time Tomoko recommended books to them during the snow day, but they’ve always been more reactive than proactive. While they probably don’t know the more otaku-ish media Tomoko consumes, seeing Mako reciprocate that gesture, and in a positive approach no less, is so heartwarmingly nonjudgmental. 

Minami is not actually as condescending as she sounds in this translation. While she does acknowledge that her relationship with Yuri and Tomoko is inconsequential, she actually appears to give some serious thought to bettering her relationship with them. As it stands, getting shot down at Disneyland seems to have opened Minami’s mind a bit to the idea of letting down her bully-shield to let in the companionship she so desperately craves.

My personal favorite aspect of Tomoko’s character is how she’s so media literate. Not just in stories themselves, but the practices that go into them and how they influence society and vice versa. But what keeps Tomoko from being a strawman character is how her responses are framed. Her instinct, when offered a shoujo manga, is not to thank Mako (but I’m sure she did), but to criticize the genre. When reading is involved, Tomoko is relentlessly brutal.  

There’s so much you could say about how Tomoko pretties herself up when inserting herself as a shoujo manga heroine. All I can say is that, all things considered, Tomoko has infinitesimal levels of self-importance. 

I could overreach here and say that the bully in the second panel looks interestingly similar to Katou...but I’ll leave it at that. 

As a realist, it makes sense that Tomoko would be disdainful of the absurdly optimistic nature of shoujo manga. For reasons I’ll expand upon later, I believe that Tomoko may actually be expressing a degree of protectiveness for all her criticism.

I grinned like a moron at this.

As we come to realize, Yuri is generally very restrained in her behavior towards her friends, reactions and all. Whether she hesitantly agrees with Tomoko or subtly disapproves of her actions, Yuri almost never throws in all her cards. But this may be the first time Yuri has ever sided with Tomoko on something 110% of the way. It warms my heart, even if Yuri ends up “corrupted” this way. 

Many others have already noticed this, but Tomoko’s assessment of shoujo manga appears to reflect the growing relationship Minami has with them, perhaps even foreshadowing where it might lead. It’s worth noting that Minami is more resigned than the dialogue suggests. She partly sees the impossibility of befriending them as a weakness of herself, leading her to take the last resort of seeing her old group. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily be as disappointed as Tomoko if Minami did befriend them. With Nico Tanigawa’s ability to avoid obvious cliches, I think they could pull it off.

Aside: I’ve always been fascinated by how simultaneously mature yet childish shounen manga often is. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing. To put it briefly, when done correctly, it can influence young teens to take a healthy approach to life’s dark realities. 

Bless these friends and how supportive they are of Tomoko’s loner habits.

To this, I’d like to call forth the trope named, “Generic Cuteness”. In the case of shojo manga, the “plain” girl is still drawn beautifully, because... 

a. then the reader can self-insert as being more pretty than they really are, and b. the most basic of human anatomy, i.e. “plain”, is still universally appealing due to a lack of glaring deformities, which manga art styles tend to replicate.

As I said before, Tomoko’s first-hand experience with unrealistic hopes has made her empathetic to those who’ve been in her shoes. She knows how the influence of media can set up naive youngsters down a path of disappointment, so her rejection of such manga could be her own passive way of strengthening up today’s youth. Wow, I sound old.      

It’s pretty sad how self-deprecating Tomoko is about her own looks, especially since making friends seems to have subtlely prettied her up. To reference another trope, the “Hollywood Homely”, the casting of which is no doubt politics in play, never fails to make me roll my eyes.

Is that manga a parody of Wolf Girl and Black Prince? You couldn’t pick a better shoujo series for Tomoko to poke fun at.

The Return of Imae’s-Sister!

...or not.

Creeper in the background: “..disgusting.”

Already, we can see that Hirasawa is not as oblivious as her resemblance to shoujo manga heroines would lead one to believe. Her response to Tomoko’s questions tells us that she’s well-aware that hanging with a lot of guys makes her look like the type who “gets around”. The impression would look even worse if they knew she already has a boyfriend. 

I do question why being surrounded by guys is viewed as potentially negative whereas nobody seems to bat an eye when it happened to a girl like Futaki. I won’t go into too much detail since the latter isn’t in this chapter, but it may have something to do with Futaki being untraditionally pretty, and thus easier to root for.      

This is one of those lines that could mean something entirely different depending on who says it. It’s easy for a girl to sound arrogant and smug for such “unfairness”, but Hirasawa’s sincere expression makes her sound sympathetic, at least I hope so.

Admittedly, the idea that someone can have a personality that “makes you want to bully them” is an idea I have difficulty wrapping my head around. It’s that implicitly sadistic reasoning that doesn’t jive with people who are strictly against bullying. The only way I can kind of see it is how some people are easy to tease because of how prudish they can be. 

I do understand the idea of humble-bragging in that it's in the same vein as people loudly sighing to elicit concern. It’s ultimately a cry for attention, but it doesn’t seem to be Hirasawa’s intention. Of course, since Tomoko has only seen her at her “scummiest”, it makes sense that Tomoko wouldn’t exactly see her in a positive light. 

Nah, if we’re being cynical, you’d be into shoujo manga because you’ve never been in their shoes.

It’s kind of a shame that despite having actual friends who like her for who she is, Tomoko still carries that pessimistic mentality about her public image. While she’s certainly not as self-conscious as she used to be, she hasn’t gone to the point where she can believe people could have a positive first impression of her.

Indeed, you could say that Tomoko only managed to sustain the friendships she’s made because they each have benefited her in some way. Conscious effort has never been the girl’s strong suit. 

I love how when Tomoko starts putting reality in the context of shoujo manga, her mind goes into disarray when trying to translate the multi-faceted ways of the real world into neatly summed up cliches. Goes to so that fiction should never, ever be a guidebook for reality. 

“Disgusting, disgusting.”

AWWWWWW...so she did give Yoshida a charm.

AWWWWWW...and Yoshida returned the favor with a gift of her own.

When, oh when will Tomoko finally admit that Yoshida is her friend?

One of the things I appreciate about Yoshida’s character is that they don’t ever invalidate the delinquent part of her when they emphasize her cute side. None of that “tough-girl-who’s-not-really-tough” shit happens here. Yoshida is a violent, temperamental delinquent who just happens to have an innocent heart. That thuggish side is always going be a genuine part of her personality, but it also makes her kindness much more meaningful since it requires a lot of effort on Tomoko’s part to reach it, which she ultimately succeeded in doing.

Is “Pudding-head” supposed to be a diss at Yoshida’s hairstyle? Not bad.

It isn’t always evident, but I do appreciate the fact that despite thinking Hirasawa is a potential slut, Tomoko still takes it upon herself to defend her, how little it may be. Her response is a little condescending, but then again, Tomoko tends to mildly abuse the little bit of authority that comes her way, so it makes sense character-wise.  

"DISGUSTING, DISGUSTING, DISGUSTING!”

I told myself I wasn’t going to go too deep into the semantics of this manga anymore, but...Yuri being so dismissive of non-friends by referring to them as “some” is so gloriously in-character of her.

I never thought I could say this someday but...yes.

Yes, she does.

Don’t take it personally, Hijirisawa. Yuri is not a malicious girl by any means, but unless one has managed to cut through her hard introverted exterior, Yuri just regards anybody else with massive disinterest. It’s really nothing new at this point, but viewing it from another character’s POV does highlight how Yuri’s apathy can be just as hurtful as it is endearing.  

Hmm, if what Hirasawa saying is true, then it’s safe to assume that her old friends weren’t directly bullying her and just began to ignore her out of spite. To put it rather darkly, I don’t believe Hirasawa would care so much about making female friends if they were bullying her to the point of misery. In short, it bothers her, but not debilitatingly so, which is why Tomoko has difficulty empathizing with her. 

I never get tired of Nemo’s Closed-Eyes-Angry-Smile Expression. 

And here we get the first glimpse into the Friendish Conflict between Yuri and Nemoto. From what it looks like, Nemo is going to routinely try to bait Yuri into responding in such a way that suggests a stronger friendship than they currently have. Of course, Yuri ain’t having none of that, opting to be her usual honest self and refusing to give Nemo any ammunition to trap her. As someone who finds Nemo to be more interesting when someone pushes the limits of her unmoving smile, I’m very curious to see how their dynamic will unfold. 

Uh...what? Nemoto knows her? Um...okay. 

Triggered.

I love how Nemo’s anger manifested in her usual smile wasn’t something that Tomoko alone picked up on. Apparently, it’s just as unnerving to everyone else is it is for her. At least Hirasawa didn’t have to face the devil’s spawn that is Nemo’s dull eyes of horror.

Despite how Nemo said she would start being more upfront with people, it appears that there are still times when Nemo will keep things to herself. That being, anything that would put her in a state of weakness. If she were to just come out and say that she’s bothered by how Tomoko forgot her at the entrance exam, that would mean presenting vulnerabilities that Tomoko or anyone else could use against her. For Hina Nemoto, her aggressiveness is a tool to mask her own inner turmoil. 

Hirasawa walks a very fine line with how she’s being presented here, and I believe that’s intentional. Thus far, she’s been continuously getting the short end of the stick, and a lesser manga could’ve have done this as a way to say, “it’s her own fault”. But even as she considered this, the manga doesn’t perpetuate that at all. Instead, Hirasawa is a victim of circumstance. She keeps meeting specific people in specific situations that aren’t really helpful. One of Watamote’s core themes has always been that popularity is not a good judge of character. Nice people and bad people can both be popular, and even if the rest of the cast sees her as the latter, Hirasawa is most definitely in the former. 

At least she doesn’t have the stereotypical shoujo heroine obliviousness. 

I swear, “Not that I care,” is going to be this series’ tsundere phrase.

Damn, Yuri’s insecurity levels shot through the roof. It would appear that eating lunch together is one of those small, friendship things that Yuri’s holds precious. As one of Yuri’s genuine faults, it’s definitely one that only gets improved with time. She can let Mako go off with Minami because her friendship with Mako is secure enough, but you’ve seen how frustrated Yuri got witnessing Tomoko getting all buddy-buddy with Nemo. It only makes sense that’s she be more threatened by it, even if it’s not really justified.

I feel bad I got more invested in the background conversation even though Hirasawa takes up half the panel...

A+ for effort, Tomoko.

This series has dramatic irony down pat, and by far, my favorite joke that uses this is when someone unfamiliar with Tomoko views her as this kind, pure-hearted girl when she so clearly is not. It works well because of the amount of truth it reveals. People like Tomoko tend to overcompensate their kindness when trying to avoid a situation, which is how Mako thought she was a kind person back in the toilet confrontation chapter.

This joke puts a twist on that because here, Tomoko is looking to gain something. But because she’s too straightforward to be manipulative, she simply speaks the truth, even when her inner monologue betrays her nastier intentions.  

C- for motivations. Classic Tomoko. 

Quite the turnaround, huh? The girl who would slut-shame the not-actually-sluts is now interested in their sexual escapades. I’ve mentioned it before, but I do appreciate how Tomoko no longer caring so much about how people perceive her has made her a lot more boldfaced. She doesn’t even care so much about her social standing dropping from the ire of first-years. It’s still scummy, as only Tomoko can, but at least she’s only scum where it’s already a garbage heap. 

Total annihilation in 3...2...1.

“DISGUSTING.”

As you might expect, this was a rather liberal translation that wasn’t nearly as aggressive in the original. In typical shoujo rival fashion, Ucchi said something along the lines of, “Don’t get carried away.” It can be assumed that the reader is aware of the cliche, which helps dilute the harshness and makes it a tad more comical. Of course, it’s the kind of thing that only works with Ucchi, who is pretty much a walking, yet three-dimensional punchline. You can’t help but feel bad for Hirasawa here, but at least her bully is a sexually-frustrated Emoji Girl who is too foolhardy to be truly threatening. Hardcore bullying has never been this manga’s style, and I’m sure it’ll never be.  

Can we have a Battle of the Kouhais now? Akari VS Hirasawa. 

Side note, I just started my first full-time job last week which, along with some lifestyle changes, will inevitably cause delays in my reviews. But as always, don’t worry about this series falling off the face of the Earth. I’ll be sticking with this manga to the very last chapter. Count on it.  

[devolympian]

I’ve been working on chapter 4 of my novel for awhile now but I’m not sure if I like it. I was thinking about restarting but would like to hear other peoples opinions first. Please give this a read and tell me your honest thoughts about the characters dialogue and how the chapter feels to you.

Once our houses were in view I pushed down on the breaks and slowly brought us to a stop right next to the curb of Skyes place.

“Attention passengers” I said, while cupping my hand over my mouth for a good muffled effect, “we have arrived at our destination. If you lost luggage on the way or were harmed during travel it was your own fault.”

“You know” Skye stated as she took her helmet off, “when a light turns yellow it does not mean that you should go faster.”

“It does if you’re racing.”

“And who were you racing?”

Exactly on que Clairabell pulls up behind us in her cute, pink, corvette. Skyes new little buddy raindrop wasn’t too far behind.

“What the hell guys” Clair demanded as she stepped out, “why did you go so fast?”

“Cause you gotta go fast.”

Rolling her eyes, but still smiling, Skye shoved her helmet on my head and slid off my bike. It squeezes my head, like a lot, but I leave it on cause it makes me look funny.

Raindrop follows Skye as she walks through her chain linked gate and I offer my hand to Clair.

“Ma lady, shall I escort you to this fine establishment?”

“Only if you wipe the sweat off first” She tells me with a smirk that flashes her long and sharp canines.

“Motorcycle. They make your hands wet.”

“You should put that on a shirt.”

“I actually did, like as soon as I got that thing. The money from that is gonna put Fiona through college and is currently fueling my addiction to carbonated drinks.”

“Wait, soda’s addictive?”

“Probably.”

“Hey” Skye calls out to us, “you guys coming?”

I smile at her and then grab Clairs hand with my moist, sweety, icky fingers and rush towards Skye.

“Ew” she groans, “Zee, I told you to wipe them off.”

“Yep, you sure did.”

“Babe, I love you, but I will break your fingers.”

“Fair Enough.”

“How does your hand get like that any way” Skye asked me as she eyes my hand as it interlocks with Clairs?

“My gloves did it. They get super warm and just wreck my hands.”

Skye and Clair both look at with confused and befuddled expressions. And, yes, confused and befuddled do mean the exact same thing.

“Oh” Skye finally responds, “is that all?”

“Well what did you think the answer was?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s you” Clair adds, “we just sort of assumed it would be something, a little out there.”

I give both of them a hurt look and let go of Clairabells hand before placing mine onto my chest with a loud gasp. Stepping away I reach into my pocket with my other hand and pull out a small cube with a bright red carving on it.

“You mean” I say, while still holding the heartbroken look onto my face, “something like this?”

I promptly smash the flame rune on top of my head and light my hair on fire.

“I! Am! Ghost rider!”

“Pretty much, yeah” Skye bluntly tells me.

“Oh dang, I need to work on my shtick.”

“Or you could stop lighting yourself on fire” Clair suggested.

Skye then promptly grabbed the hose on her front porch and turned the knob at the tip causing the water to trickle out.

“Undine.”

With the spell word out of her mouth, the hose instantly blasted me in the face, putting out my awesome new hair style.

“ . . .Honestly, you probably should just start keeping water on you at all times. You know I’m just going to light myself on fire again.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t” a very familiar voice states from behind the girls, “it’s getting harder to replace the clothes you burn up.”

I look over the girls shoulders as they turn to greet the woman behind them.

“In all honesty, that could be avoided if you just bought me like fire fighter gear or something.”

As usual for when she’s gardening, her wheat colored hair was tied up into a ponytail and her brown tank top and tan cargo shorts were caked in dirt. In her glove covered hands was a pot which housed a red flower covered in purple polka dots. 

“Hello Kore” Clair nervously blurts out as she tries to look not freaked out.

“Hi Zees mom” Skye happily says as she waves.

“Hi Skye” Eema says, intentionally ignoring Clair, “how’s the night going for you kids?”

“I got a worm,” I happily told her.

“I saw. It was on the news. Do not bring it into the house.”

“I make no promises.” I then promptly turn to head into Skyes home, “we’re gonna play vidyer games now. Real pew pew stuff.” 

Eema rolls her eyes in response before setting the plant she was carrying onto the ground.

“Oh,” she states jumping back up before calling to us, “Skye, your mom needs your help outback.”

“Huh” Skye stutters out, before getting a look that says she knows what Eema is talking about, “right, sorry.”

With that, Clair and I watched Skye rush to the side of her house, her long curly mess of blonde hair trailing behind her.

“I’ll see you guys inside” she yells to us before disappearing into her backyard.

Her new little familiar, the water pegasus Rain drop, decided to ignore where it’s master had gone and instead began helping itself to the water from the still turned on hose.

“Is it safe for that thing to drink from there” Clair questioned as the horse gorged itself on hose water? “Aw no worries” I answered, “there’s only like a 75% chance it’ll get lead poisoning. Now, to the mind numbing rpg!”

“Send your sister home when you’re done,” Eema told me as I opened the door.

“Will do.” 

Stepping into Skyes home Clair and I were greeted by the sight of three eight year olds riding around on a giant black cat. Her name’s Sheba and she’s a good kitty.

“Hi Zee” one of the kids happily yelled at me.

“Hello young travelers” I responded with my best old english accent, “art though off on a grand adventure to slay the wicked monsters that plague this kingdom.”

“No” the boy sitting behind the first child answered, “we’re just riding our kittie.”

“Stop being a dork” the girl on the very back demanded of me.

Now, if you will allow, I am going to describe these three little gremlins to you fine readers in hopes you will have a clear visual picture of what they look like.

The two upfront were basically little Skyes, but with dark brown hair instead of blonde and one was biologically male. These are her little baby brother and sister, Nina and lucky little Luke. And, if you looked hard enough, you could see a few freckles decorating their dark skin.

The smaller girl on the back had straight red hair with her bangs cut flat so you could perfectly see her lightning blue eyes. This was my adorably pressase little sister Fiona Green, who adored and worshiped her super cool and talented big brother like the god he is.

“Move” Fiona yelled, “Sheba wants outside!”

I responded to my loving sister's request by sitting down and petting the panther on her head.

“Who’s a good girl” I ask the cat as she purrs from head scritches, “Sheba is, yes she is.”

“No” Nina objected, “he’s stealing the cat.”

“Counter attack” Luke yelled.

The three small children jumped off the giant cats back and leaped at me with all their combined power.

Naturally, they knocked me to the ground with ease.

“We got him” they all cheered.

However.

“Bwahahaha” I laughed as I rose from the ground, the children clinging to me, “did thee truly think that would be enough to slay thy! For I have no weakness!”

“Got ya” Clair cheered as she wrapped around me from behind.

“Ahh, my one weakness!” 

Turning around, and making sure the kids and Clair were safe from getting hurt, I fell onto the heavily cushioned couch with all four of them giggling.

“What’s going on out there” a man's voice called from the kitchen nearby.

I sit up slightly on the couch, with Clair and the kids still holding onto me, and see a tall man step into the frame of the kitchen entrance. He had deep dark skin, curly brown hair which bordered on black and thick glasses that covered his blue eyes. 

This is Skyes dad, Stanley Right. He is also a writing teacher and will straight up give you homework if you spell anything wrong.

Silver Lining, I is a rally good at the spolling of words now and gramericals.

“Oh” he said, taking note of Clair and I, “hey guys, what’s up.”

“Daddy” Nina yelled, leaping off of me and over the couch, “ Zee’s trying to steal Sheba.”

“I stopped him,” Luke stated, proudly standing on the back of the couch. I had to hold his shirt collar to make sure he didn’t fall to the floor. 

“Did not, I did!”

“No” Fiona added in, as she stood on my stomach, “he’s my brother, so I did!”

“I’m sure you all did a great job keeping Sheba safe,” Stan assured the kids as he petted the cats head, “now please stop playing on the couch and come eat, dinner’s ready.”

“Ok” they all said at once.

Luke and Fiona both leaped off the couch, with Fiona making sure she dug her feet into my gut so she could jump high enough. She honestly should be in football with how hard she kicks. Also, I should probably see a doctor.

I won’t but I should.

“Are you guys hungry” Stan asked us as we started sitting up, “it’s meatball night?”

“Oh I can’t” Clair said, “I ate too much already.”

“I’ll take some balls in my mouth” I happily told Skyes dad, “you got rice with it?”

“Mashed potatoes” he told me, “but we used rice to make the meat balls.”

“Ooh, nice.”

I followed Stan into the kitchen while Clair chilled out on the couch and started messing around on her phone.

In the kitchen, the kids sat at an oval shaped table with plates in front of them that were filled with fluffy garlic butter mashed potatoes, two large meatballs with bits of rice in them, all of which were slightly covered with pork and mushroom gravy.

All three, thinking they were being sneaky, shared with Sheba who was begging at their feet.

“Here ya go” Stan said as he finished making a similar plate and held it out to me.

Naturally, most likely sensing that there was food with her food sense, Skye opened the nearby sliding backdoor and stepped into the kitchen. Her sweater and skirt had dirt sprinkled all over them and her glasses looked way more smudged then normal.

Close behind her was a slightly taller woman  who honestly could have passed as Skyes twin sister if it weren’t for the fact that she was of a much lighter skin tone. 

She had her ankle length blond hair tied in a tight bun and wore red gardening shorts with a tight white tank top which Skye has repeatedly begged her not to wear in public because of the tingly feeling it gave people when they saw her in it. 

Apparently Skye didn’t like the fact that her mom, whose name is Trina, was the current crush of half the people in the neighborhood. A fact which I personally found hilariously. 

“Skye” Nina yelled as she turned in her chair to greet her big sister. “Look!”

The little girl promptly reached into her pocket and held out a small, slightly yellow, tooth.

“Is that your tooth” Skye asked, a slightly worried look on her face.

You might think that’s a dumb question, but those twins tryed to set up a tooth ponzy scheme by tricking other kids into giving them their teeth. They made about 40 bucks before their mom put a stop to it.

“It is” Trina assured her, “but the way she got it out is a bit-”

“I punched her in the face,” Luke proudly stated.

“He did,” Fiona stated, “there was a lot of blood.”

“It took us five trys,” Nina happily added, clearly unbothered by the fact that her brother repeatedly bashed her face in.

“We’re going to get it traded in tomorrow” Trina sighed, “and until then neither of you are going on the computer. Are we clear.”

“Yes mommy” the twins said in unison, clearly not wanting to upset their mother anymore then they already had.

“I was uninvolved,” Fiona argued, “I’m not being punished too right?”

“You were there,” Nina stated.

“Yeah,” Luke added, “that makes you an accomplish, an accompouly, an accompert. . . you’re guilty!”

“Ok” Skye said, as she tried her best to understand the logic of seven year olds, “why did Luke even punch- are those meatballs?” 

“Yep” Stan said as he walked a plate over to his wife, “here you go hun. Fresh warm balls.”

“Ew” Skye stated, “dad, don’t make jokes like that.”

“Thank you Stanny” Trina stated as she gave her husband a quick kiss, “I just adore your BALLS!”

“Mom!”

“Oh baby,” Stan told his wife, clearly picking up on the fact that they were tormenting their eighteen year old daughter, “these BALLS are all for you!”

“Please stop!”

“Oh come on” Trina stated as she sat down with her other two children and Fiona, “I need to praise your dad's BALLS, he has great BALLS!”

The three kids, and myself, promptly burst into uncontrollable laughter at the repeated shouting of the word balls.

“Okay, gross, ew, gross” Skye stated as she walked over to me, “can I please just eat.”

“You can still eat” I asked as she got her plate ready?

“I’m a growing girl.”

She finished stacking a few meatballs on top of her giant pile of mashed potatoes before opening the fridge and handing me a can of soda.

“Oh” she stated, two more sodas balanced in her filled arms, “can we eat in my room? We wanted to play games.”

“Sure” Stan said, “just bring your plates down when you're done.”

“Okay, thanks guys.”

“Don’t stay up too late,” Trina yelled as we exited the kitchen.

“Yo” I said to Clair as she reclined on Skyes couch, her phone in hand, “we heading up.”

“Dibs on the red controller” she said as she leaped off the couch and followed after Skye.

Jokes on her, I wanted the pink controller anyway. It has pretty flowers and sparkles on it.

The upstairs of Skyes house was made up of a short hallway with a closet at the end of it, one master bedroom on the left side and Skyes room and a bathroom on the right. The twins made their room in the garage which honestly was a pretty cool deal with how much their parents renovated it for them.

Other than which side they were on, the best way to tell which room was Skyes was by the pokemon stickers and cut out anime characters taped onto the door and the sign she hung on the door knob that said “welcome to the dungeon”. I have the same sign hung on the door to my basement if anyone was wondering.

With a quick turn of the knob, Clair and I were greeted by the scent of rosemary and lavender which filled a room decorated with a string of lights hung across the sealing, anime posters on the wall, and a few cute stuffed animals resting on the shelves a neatly made twin sized bed. 

Over on the right side of the room were two large book shelves filled with books, manga, and comics which we have spent years repeatedly reading together. It also had a few toys and figurines strewn about it that added a bit of flare. 

I make a mental note to stock up my personal collection of action figures and anime toys because they are awesome and everyone should have them decorating their living areas.

A little to the right of the book shelves was a tall entertainment stand with a TV set on top of it and two game systems hooked up on the bottom. Several games sat next to the consoles, just begging us to play them.

Skye walked in first and switched off the string of lights so she could use a more simple overhead light.

“What do you guys want to play” she asked before setting down her food and the two drinks, “oh, here Clair.” 

She handed Clair one of the drinks as we sat on the two of the three cushions set directly in front of the TV.

“Thank you gorgeous” Clair said with a smile.

She opened it and took a quick sip before leaning forward to check out which video game would catch her eye.

Skye, meanwhile, started stripping off her dirt covered clothes while I enjoyed a nice helping of balls and white stuff in my mouth.

“How about soul calibur?”

“Naw” I said through bites, “you two will just get pissed off at me.”

“That’s because you constantly spam the same gosh darn move,” Skye said as she slipped her tank top off, “how about Isac?”

“That’s one player,” Calir said.

“Blondie” I asked, “why don’t you have a bra on?”

“None of them are fitting” she grumbled, “they shrunk in the wash or something.”

“Yeah you keep telling yourself that.”

After slipping her stockings and shoes off Skye tossed her dirty clothes into a small laundry basket at the end of her bed and headed to the restroom she had between her bookshelf and TV, a fact which I find weird as hell because no room, other than ones you vacation too like hotels, needs a bathroom in it. That is an unnecessary luxury and I stand by it no matter what you say.

“Here” Clair practically screamed.

She happily sat up and showed me the game she had chosen for us.

Quest, original edition. A fun little JRPG from way back in the old times of the 1970’s that got relaunched last year. The game is basically your run of the mill save the princess story from an evil lord while playing as either a mage, warrior, or rogue with two friends.

Combat is fun, original japanese diolage is translated in stupid english, and you can murder an old man for a magic pumpkin. What’s not to love?

Granted the original version is a little dated, what with it’s casual display of several racial stereotypes, rampant sexism, and dated social political views on several races that aren’t human.

But it also had an awesome mini game where you fight in a giant robot so I guess you need to take the good with the bad.

“Sounds good” I tell her before yelling at Skye, “blondie, we found a game.” 

“Kay” she yelled back, “just let me get my contacts in and jammies on.”

“Dude, why do you keep your clothes in the bathroom closet?”

“Why don’t you?”

Fair enough.

Before Skye could leave her, completely unnecessary, bathroom Clair was already turning on one of the consoles and putting the game in.

With calming harp music playing the, name of the game, spelt with sparkling golden letters, slowly materialized against a brick red backdrop. The words “press any button” flashed at the bottom of the screen.

“Here you go” Clair said, handing me my favorite controller as she held hers firmly in her other hand.

Taking my pretty pink controller I readly tap a random button.

“New game” I ask the girls when our options show up.

“Yes” they both yell.

An epic trumpet sound erupts from the TV as soon as I hit the new game option before the screen goes to a deep black and the word loading flashes on the lower right.

Skye stepped out to join us and was now dressed in a white tank top and dark blue bike shorts. Her curly mess of blond hair was undone and fell to the floor of her room and her green eyes were no longer covered by her glasses.

“Why hello girl who desperately needs a haircut” I teased as Skye took her seat, food and drink in hand, “glad you could join us on our epic quest to slaughter the innocent demons caught in their king's political scandal.”

“It’s still kind of weird that they took out the human characters people were mad about but left the demons as is” Skye said as she took her controller, “also, I will never cut this mess. I have been growing it for way too long to turn back now.”

“Game’s starting” Clair informed us.

Starting at the bottom of the screen, bright yellow words began to slowly slide up.

“Why hello young travelers,” an old man's voice said as the words appeared, “I welcome thee to thine-”

“Skip” I state before repeatedly tapping the X button and skipping through the dialog.

“Alex” Skye exclaimed, clearly annoyed that I was trying to get to the game as soon as possible.

“Dude, this intro is like five minutes long and we’ve seen it like a hundred times now.”

“Yeah but it’s still a fun story. The introduction’s the best part.”

“And thus” the old man continued, “the king spread his seed throughout the line, hoping to father an heir who would raise-”

“Okay skip it.”

“Was that in the Japanese version” Clair asked as she switched from sitting on the pillow to laying on her stomach.

“No” I informed them, “the original had his son banging all the prostitutes and abandoning all his bastard children.”

“Oh wow that’s so much better.”

“Now tell me heroes,” the old man finished, “whom are you?”

On the screen appeared a cute young girl with braided white hair and dressed in a red robe standing between a large man in golden armor and a person in a dark brown cloak, whose gender is still being argued about to this very day.

“Dibs on the warrior” Skye yelled before instantly clicking on the hulking monster in armor.

“Cute girl” Clair screamed as she selected the red mage. 

“And I will screw with everyone” I proudly state right before selecting the best character, the rogue who can steal from any npc, set traps, and gives Skye and Clair a headache because setting the traps right in front of them is really fun. 

Which I did the moment the game started and inflicted both of their characters with poison.

“. . .Why do we let him be the thief again?”

“Cause neither of us want to be the thief.”

Mwahahaha.