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auranova26 · 1 year ago

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Mei-Ling Design Notes and Inspiration 1/2

Unlike her younger twin, Mei-Ling actually went through a large degree of changes compared to both versions of her design in the main timeline. Honestly, went through a large degree of some research and thought to get to the current design that I now have for Mei-Ling. I hope you find some of these notes interesting and fun to read.

I say two designs, but technically Mei-Ling has like 3 designs: Vampire Hunter, the Darkstalkers OVA, and Vampire Savior. Really sad the only full body look of her VHunter design is literally her sprite. The illustration of her Hunter design from one of the covers of a Street Fighter vs. Darkstalkers comic by Udon is quite the beautiful pin up shot, but makes the mistake of giving her the bracelets she has as part of VSAV design. Oops.

Her design is honestly not that different in the OVA compared to her VHunter design. Only big differences are the color of her clothes under her robes, her pants being a different color, the main color of her robe being a defined orange color, and how her hat is both taller and is both orange and yellow. Actually, sounds like a lot really, but design of the clothes themselves are not that different.

Her VSAV design is a general overhaul of the Hunter design. I can only imagine the reason that was done is because they had to animate her for the 'Detached Souls' Dark Force and it might have been a major pain in the ass to animate her robe and sleeves. It isn't bad, but I hate the hat and prefer her robe being open rather than closed. It is genuinely surprising that despite being a non-playable character, the team gave her a different design. A nice consolation.

OH RIGHT, I need to talk about what my thought process was. Sorry, just needed to note all the interesting design things regarding her different designs. So, I generally have stuck with the design she had in VHunter as I just prefer it more compared to her VSAV design. I might have given a jab to the artist who made that pin up of her for that Udon comic. Let me retract that cause I did basically the same thing when I first started drawing her back in 2020. Tweaked the colors here and there to my liking and made her sleeves not as large, but generally the same idea.

Later on, added a little detail on her clothes that I saw an artist by the name of Murai do with her interpretation. This won't be the last I will bring up this artist, hoo boi.

At one point, I changed the sash around Mei-Ling's waste to be an Obi Sash as to make things easier for me.

Around mid 2021, when I was getting more serious about my Cryas Darkstalkers mythos and even further with my love and obsession with the Shao sisters, I went about the process of giving them a makeover, truly trying to give them distinct enough designs. While Hsien-Ko was not too different as her core design was basically near perfect, there was a lot of room for change for Mei-Ling. I mean hell, she had different official designs anyway, what is stopping me from going ham. I mean hecc, look at this concept sketch when they were considering her design change from VHunter to VSAV. Quite a bit of thought. However, I wanted to go further.

Since I wanted to flesh out the sisters, I went about thinking about their potential heritage, the time period they were alive in during the Qing Dynasty, women's fashion at the time for the potential social status they could have been in at the time, the occupation they were training for, and the fact that…well they are Chinese. Since Mei-Ling gives the vibe of being very into her culture and wanting to maintain it, I wanted her clothing to both show off her heritage and her role as a Xianshushi Mystic. Hsien-Ko is said to be more 'modern' in her mannerisms compared to her older twin, so why not have Mei-Ling be more traditional. The first thing to get us on track is to start at the beginning. Mei-Ling and Hsien-Ko were born in 1730 in China during the Qing Dynasty period. In my research and with corroboration with a friend of mine, I decided that the Shao sisters would be a mix of Han and Manchu, two ethnic groups that were the most prevalent at the time period. Their mother was Manchu while their father was Han. However, since their father was killed before they were born, they were more influenced in the ways of the Manchu people as they grew up. The Shao family in themselves are not among the imperial courts or the elite. However, because they have provided a great service over the centuries, they are given more leniency and not treated like the common folk. Plus, with eventually being trained to become Xiānshù warriors as their mother saw great potential in them, that helped to influence them as well.

To start with, let us begin with the robe. So, to my understanding in the main timeline Mei-Ling was generally based on the idea of Daoist priest attire. Doing some searches, jiangshi films did feature such priest like characters with that general idea, even with the color. However, I wanted to do a bit more looking. In my search, the open robe design that her VHunter and my design go with is something referred to a beizi (褙子).

Some parts of Daoism do have their priest having an open robe design, but also the beizi in general was a form of wear that the Chinese people did wear.

It was around during the time of the Qing Dynasty and according to Wikipedia, it was something that was dominant among the Han women of the time. A nice way to acknowledge her Han roots. Yellow doesn't seem to be really a thing with actual Daoist priests' attire, but it just fits Mei-Ling so well, I stuck with that color. While the beizi is prominent with having long sleeves, I decided to trim it down enough to where it ends past her elbow, kinda like her VSAV robe's sleeve length. Ey, giving some credit to that design. As for the trimming, this card I came across showed it in a neat way where it is actually not just flat but has some dimension to it. I liked that and went with it, along with the idea of the trimming being orange.

The hat is loosely based on a hat known as a guānjīn, shown on the far left of this image.

The main timeline version was certainly not one to one about it. But honestly, I like the stylized, simpler idea, so I used that as a base. I took a lot of observations and notes from the way the OVA hat is drawn. However, I just prefer the hat to be one color, so I stuck with yellow. I liked the yin-yang symbol as well, so kept that too.

Another minor detail about Mei-Ling's beizi are these almost padded looking pieces of cloth that follow her trapezius to around the middle of her shoulder. Honestly, I just made them up. These concept sketches I made show me coming up with the idea as I was thinking of her design. It just looks cool and neat.

On to the garment underneath.

With the Shao sisters also being Manchu, this is where some of the influence kicks in. The Manchu wore a set of clothing known as 旗裝 (qízhuāng). The specific kind that the sisters wear falls under something known as Bianfu (便服). Mei-Ling's bianfu is stylized to be a robe that is the length of a magua.

The sleeves are loose and long enough to reach her wrists. The main part of the robe is rich red color while having trimmings and a collar of a lavender color. Contrasts nicely against her beizi.

You may be curious what is going on with the cloth around her waist. Honestly, it was only put there mostly to help solve an issue I had with Mei-Ling's design: the bagua mirror. So, in this shot from the OVA, it is held up by a set of straps.

Ok, fair enough. But the issue is that nothing from the front suggest that those straps even exist. The mirror may as well just be magnetically attached to her a la video game style. In my concept phase, I was wondering what to do. One thing I did notice that was really cool was from the story 'Monsters and the Secret of Immortality'.

Granted, the design of Mei-Ling in that story is wildly different from any incarnation of Mei-Ling, but it presented a neat idea: her mirror was holstered at her waist. Not only that, but it did also look a lot more like a bagua mirror in its design. The mirror's design in this story set the base for how I design the mirror, though I only have two rows rather than the typical three. However, she is wearing attire that doesn't really fit with either her Han or Manchu roots, so I needed to come up with something more fitting to her culture. In my research, I did stumble on something that fascinated me.

What you see is not the original image that inspired me, but still illustrates the idea. Cloth at the waist held in place by a ribbon. I honestly don't know if that idea of garment has a name, but it struck a chord: Have the mirror hang around her waist.

Unlike any official design of Mei-Ling and to differentiate herself from Hsien-Ko, I decided to switch from the baggy trousers to a more straight cut pair. Looks nice and smooth and still goes along with the kind of trousers they wore in that time era. The color I chose just honestly meshed well with her bianfu, plus is warm compared the cool colors of the trim of her bianfu.

While the wristbands she has for her VSAV design are cool looking, something about them just doesn't mesh well with what Mei-Ling is supposed to be. While yes, she is a weapon master (and likely taught Hsien-Ko all she knew about weapons), she is presented more as the mystic of the duo. They look rough and tough. Honestly, would look better on Hsien-Ko in all honestly since she is in the thick of battle. However, I still wanted her to have something at her wrist. I chose to go with a simple orange jewel bead wristband. Simple and elegant for her.

So, if the mirror was moved to hanging around her waist, is there nothing at her back? For a while, there wasn't anything. But eventually, the idea of putting some kind of design back there did come to mind. Eventually, I landed on this design.

Her ref sheet goes into to detail about it, but to put it simply dragons have a big thing with their family considering their mother upon using the Art of Unusual Transformation turned into one. According to what I found via searching Japanese sources, primarily the Japanese Wikipedia entry for Hsien-Ko, there is mention of their mother transforming into a golden dragon. That is very cool since the OVA and a few anthology stories show this.

Mei-Ling's official hairstyle is best described as a bob cut. I went with the OVA as a general base, but slowly overtime adjusted it.

On both sides of her hair and near her hairline, there are these basically fangs. Despite her being more human in appearance, I thought it was still a nice idea to subtlety add some mildly wild elements to her since she is non-human. A bit crazier are these two pincer locks of hair. Honestly, I just took what was already part of her official design and exaggerated it into something cool. For some asymmetry, one is larger than the other. As for the general shape of her hair, I did fan it out more for volume as to make her hair different from her human form.

Mei-Ling's general body shape. Honestly, besides making her distinct from Hsien-Ko as they are both fraternal twins, I just wanted to really make her unbelievably beautiful. In a way, considering hardly anyone gives her the time of day because she is non playable, I just like the idea that she is actually very voluptuous and gorgeous. So that is why she has the general proportions she has. I wouldn't say she is skinny or the typical anime proportions: She is just fit, well endowed, and curvy. Among the Cryas DS cast, the only character that is around her breast and butt size is Felicia. As for why she also has tone to some parts of her body, the fact is she was conceptualized with that as you can see with this concept sketch of her official design. Mei-Ling has just about everything going for her in terms of looks.

Whenever she has appeared in games or media, Mei-Ling has had a multitude of different eye colors. I personally just stuck with green, like the OVA did. Green just looks nice on her, really makes her face mesmerizing. Specifically, I wanted the shades of her eyes to be more of like jade.

For now, will need to end things here for the first part of this design blog as I have used the permitted 30 images for a blog and the last bits require more images to explain things. So be sure to head to part 2, the final part right here:

#cryas darkstalkers #darkstalkers #auranova26 #mei ling #shao #chinese #jiangshi #mystic #mei-ling #design notes #i love her too much #that is why there is so much info and pictures #beautiful woman

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schmafs · 1 year ago

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howdy! back at it with some more character design process stuff :) you can read about it in depth under the read more

Lani is interesting and different in that she isn't from the same area as the other characters. The technology in her homeland is also far more modern than that of the other characters, which means I had to take a different approach when designing her as opposed to the others.

While Lani is a character I've had since high school, I've never been happy with her design, so I took this as an opportunity to double check her facial proportions and shapes. There were a few things that I knew I wanted to keep in her design: her angular, square-ish face shape, the mole beneath her left eye, and her freckles. Her face shape and freckles are important because they link her to a trait that a certain race in the story traditionally have. Freckles also represent being blessed by the gods in my story, which is very important for Lani as a character. Her square jaw also serves as a way to show that she's grounded and not that soft of a person. This is contradicted a bit by the shape of her nose, which is rounded, implying that she's got some friendliness to her beneath her cold, aloof exterior.

I played around a little bit with the general volume and length of her hair. In the past, I'd waffled between having it cut off above or below her shoulders, but it's always been kept in the same general style. I tried to edge it a little towards the unkempt side of things and tweaked her eyebrows to also be a little bit messy since she's on the run from a cult (not to mention she doesn't care much about appearances to begin with–she's practical, not fashionable). During this stage, I also realized that it was important to figure out what emotions she's comfortable expressing, something that I'll go into more detail on later in this post.

Lastly, I wanted to keep her proportions similar to how I've always envisioned them! She's got long legs and is generally spindly. Her thinness implies that she may not have solid access to food and other such things. I also made her posture a tiny bit hunched and made her pigeon-toed.

The real challenge came with her outfit. She lives in a rainy, somewhat modern city that's comparable to Chicago, and her jacket has always been a very crucial part of her design and backstory so I didn't want to get rid of it. Her initial design (which you can see on the far left) was a bit bland, however, and had no interesting tidbits. To remedy this, I experimented with clothing that went hand in hand with her job: being a small-time florist. This meant experimenting with things like an apron and pouches for her to store tools. Ultimately, I had her wear her apron over her jacket.

With regard to the jacket, I realized that a way to make it look interesting would be to add patches onto it. I came up with a few different ideas for patches, each of them having roots in some other common elements in my character designs. The patches she's wearing specifically refer to two other incredibly important characters. It was also important for me to note that it was incredibly unlikely that she would add patches onto her jacket herself since she'd be worried about ruining it, not to mention it was her missing older sibling's jacket. Therefore, it was that missing sibling who put the patches on and those patches are things that are in their taste, not necessarily Lani's. I also gave her a hood, something that most corduroy jackets don't have, which means she clipped it on herself!

The final parts of her design are her pants and boots. I attempted to make the pants look a little ill-fitting by making them baggier than I ordinarily would. Her boots are rainboots, which work far better for her environment than the hiking boots she originally had.

Next, I began sketching possible alternate outfits for her. She travels quite a bit in the story and as I said before, she comes from a very different place than the rest of the cast. This meant that I had to take into account how her fashion sense would change or stay the same when confronted with another culture and environment entirely while making sure that I kept the design feeling like her. Aitaran, the place where the story takes place for the most part, is a country that has a lot of roots in wild west culture and 1800s Spanish and French culture (which is particularly prevalent in richer areas). I wanted her design to utilize some of the fashion motifs that I already had going with other characters.

It's important to note that this particular outfit is one that was gifted to her by a rich person. Therefore, I leaned into making it look a bit closer to being on the fancy side of things and not as wild west-y. I initially wanted to include her jacket in her design but was ultimately unable to make it work with the rest of the ensemble because of how different it is from Aitaranian fashion. I decided that the best course of action would be to instead reference as much of a certain other character as I could in her design, which I believe turned out nicely. You can see the final product later in this post!

The other outfit I needed to solidify for her is the one that she wears while traveling. This was one of the more fun ones to design because it let me experiment with a very specific style of gardening attire that I found during my research. I was able to tweak this attire (it was originally an apron) into being more like a shirt, which works far better for traveling. I also wanted to give her a cloak of some kind since I think they're fun! I researched Spanish traveling cloaks for this.

Her dress ended up utilizing a far more saturated color palette which is important because of how many traits in this outfit are a callback to a particular character (Yunvei). The point being underlined by the colors is it's not quite her in some ways, but it also kind of is. This palette is almost the exact inverse Yunvei's. There are a few other patterns in this outfit that invoke him, particularly the triangles repeated on various parts of it and the ferns (which are representative of Chisa, his patron god). Her sleeves are a longer version of the shirt that Yunvei wears and the band tied around her waist is something that royalty typically wears in-universe. The band is also meant to evoke the general idea of a similar thing some gauchos (who are similar to cowboys) wear. The colors in this outfit are also strikingly similar to Priscille's in terms of shade and they wear their neckerchief the exact same way.

Her traveling outfit utilizes a very similar color palette to her "default" outfit, meaning she's feeling a bit more at home and herself. I had a lot of fun experimenting with where to put colors in this outfit and I think the final product wound up fun while maintaining her general vibes! Her boots are a type of riding boot and are commonly used as travel wear in this universe. More importantly, she still has aspects of her design that reference Yunvei. You can see it in the sheer amount of triangles built into her outfit as a whole along with some of her fashion choices (ie: this character would wear a similar cloak/poncho and also a bandanna around his neck).

And now we circle back to her "default" design. First, I'll dig into her expression sheet! As you can see, some of the expressions are a little more extreme than others. This is because she's not quite in touch with her feelings and is fairly closed off emotionally. She's comfortable with expressing anger and generalized displeasure around other people but struggles a bit more with things like smiling comfortably.

Again, her patches are things that her sibling picked out and aren't necessarily to her taste. Her harmonica is another thing she got from her sibling before they disappeared. In previous iterations, it was the kind of harmonica that has some metal on it, but I decided it made more sense for it to be wooden given who it was that made it. It's a pretty old relic, so its paint and engravings are messed up from years of wear, making it difficult to tell what it originally had on it. Her garden shears are primarily for her job but could serve as a weapon in a pinch. They're something she got from her maternal figure who unfortunately passed away. Lastly, you can see her hood in more detail! It's made from a few different pieces of a shirt of some kind stitched together.

Overall, I think her design made some big strides during this process! My hope is to keep making more character sheets and hopefully I'll have another one up within the next month/month and a half, so stay tuned for that :) and more importantly, stay tuned for when I start dropping this comic hopefully next month!

#lani #wthi #original #design notes

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bonny-kookoo · 4 years ago

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Under Your Skin (JJK x Reader) | 🔞

Pairing: Tattoo Artist!Goth/Punk!Jeon Jungkook x Secretary!Shy!Reader

Genre: Tattoo artist!AU, Badboy x Sweetgirl AU, Idk what else

Tags/Warnings: Ultimate goodboy Kook, He looks grr but is actually sweet, shy reader, smol reader, Kookers is WHIPPED, Also a tease, Dom!Jungkook because how could I not, Sub!Reader, Babygirl!Reader, Its not heavy on the whole ddlg-stuff but yeah they be having some vibes y'know, don't come @ me don't I'm not forcing you to read it lol, anyways moving on, because smut, yes I mean it's my content, and yall nasty admit it, slight hair pulling, manhandling also only a little, oral (f & m receiving), praising, mentions of emotional and physical insecurities, but Kook be supportive so we good, back to the nasty, body worship yes pls, biting, fingering, because why not, protected sex because we keep it clean in this household, light-hearted sex, kook being a romantic goof, yeah I think thats it?

Summary: Jungkook looks like absolute trouble; like one wrong look could set him off, and turn him into an absolute murderer. But oh well, ever heard the phrase 'Never judge a book by its cover'?

A/N: you might have noticed me only putting one emoji up top. I have decided to from now on only mark my adult fics with emojis (which is basically almost every single one lets be real). Also; stop reading my fucking fics if any of the tagged/warned things make you uncomfortable. I'm tired of everyone clowning in my inbox telling me how disgusting ddlg/smut content is. You can't even tell me you 'read it by accident' because that's why I'm always putting the cut underneath my fics =) so pls go finish preschool and then we can maybe shake hands. Maybe not. Covid and all. Yeah.

On the outside, Jeon Jungkook seems like absolute trouble.

He's working at a tattoo and piercing studio, dresses in all black, clattering chains and heavy boots always alerting everyone around of his presence. His long black hair is never truly tamed, his nails painted black, and his face expressionless most of the time. He's a talented artist and well trained piercer, always visiting conventions to keep up with the newest trends, styles, and equipment there is. He takes his job seriously- and is proud of it, knowing that he had proven his family wrong by now. They had been worried about him; especially his mother had scolded him that he shouldn't throw his time away trying to make it in a world of art many had already failed. But last year, he had finally invited them over to his rather nice apartment, showing them that he was living a good life, with nothing to really worry about.

Jungkook had made it.

Well, not quite.

Because as of currently, Jungkook had a new mission, a new goal.

"Ah, Jungkook!" You say, eyes sparkling as you smile at him when he enters the shop he works at. You had recently started to work there as well, since Taehyung was absolute shit at keeping files in order and track of schedules. You hadn't applied for the job specifically, that's at least what his coworker had told him- he had known you prior already, and was aware that you had wanted a change these days.

And Jungkook had been painfully crushing on you ever since you started.

"Your schedule for the week is already here- I uhm.. didn't put it on your desk cause, I didn't want to intrude your space and all.." You say, giving him a small black booklet where you always noted down his appointments. He appreciated it a lot- knowing how much of a hassle it could be to move dates back and forth just to somehow make it fit. You always made sure that he had enough time in between multiple daily pieces in case something took longer or less so you could make sure to be able to move things accordingly. You didn't want him to get overworked, you had said. He had smiled.

"Thanks- and you can go inside, no problem." He says, and you nod. "I know you don't make a mess, like someone else here." He says, hinting at Namjoon, who was known to be quite clumsy- yet a mastermind when it came to designing pieces he struggled with. Jungkook stayed at your front desk for a bit, making you tilt your head a bit, as you tried not to stare. He always took so much care of himself, you would have had to be blind not to see how attractive he actually was. But then again, you didn't get your hopes up- after all, he was nice to almost everyone around. "You've never been in there, right?" He asks, and you shake your head. You haven't been in his space at all- too scared to invade his privacy and making him upset in the process. "I mean- you got time right now? I can show you around." He casually tells you, and you look at your computer screen in front of you. Everything had been filed for today- so you probably had a bit of time to spare.

"Sure." You said, taking your phone and standing up from your chair, making sure to lock the pc so no one would accidentally make a mess out of your tabs. Or worse; close them. God knows all hell would break loose.

Jungkook had to really force himself not to let out any noise as you walked next to him.

You were so tiny next to him.

He wasn't that tall to be honest- with Namjoon and Taehyung both taller than him, he knew he was average at best. And for the longest time, he'd had a thing for tall girls, all elegant and confident. He still liked their aesthetic, yes- but now that he spotted you, he could really see the appeal of having a shorter significant other.

You were so cute.

You carefully stepped inside when Jungkook lifted the curtain that was used instead of a door, surprised to see how.. organized everything was. A little.. off- some things seemed to be randomly put somewhere, but in general, it seemed like everything had their proper spot. "I like to have it like this." He comments, and you nod your head to that, finally spotting his tattoo-gun. It was made out of purple steel- polished, and changing its hue depending on how you looked at it. It was absolutely beautiful, even though you had a rather limited understanding of these things. "Was a present from Taehyung last year." Jungkook says, sitting down on his chair. "I never asked- are you inked at all?" He asks, leaning backwards as you stand there a little awkwardly. "You can sit down somewhere, don't be so tense." He chuckles, and you look around, before you sit on the stretcher across from him. You shake your head, and Jungkook isn't surprised. Your pink converse sway back and forth as you sit on the stretcher, legs too short to reach the floor anymore as you rest your hands underneath your thighs; hem of your dress revealing more of them than he can usually see.

"I don't have any tattoos yet, but I've been talking to Namjoon about it." You said, and Jungkooks saliva tastes a little bitter at that. He doesn't want to pout or give away that it's bugging him at all that you're not talking to him about it- but he fails miserably. "Namjoon actually said I should talk to you about it, since the style I want fits you best." You say, and he can't hide his smile, bunny teeth on full display as he leans forward a bit.

"You'd let me tattoo you?" He asks, and you shrug, before nodding. "What do you have in Mind?" He instantly asks, not even bothering to hide his excitement.

If only you knew that it's because of you; and not just because he's gonna be the first to ink you.

You've both agreed on a design you want, and Jungkook can't deny that he thinks it's absolutely perfect on you.

"Are you scared?" Jungkook asks you as he prepares everything, his sweater's sleeves rolled up, revealing his own body art to you, as well as some bracelets; one that you recognize as the wooden-bead bracelet you had gifted him last year for his birthday. It was weird to see him wear it.

"I.. no. Just nervous." You say. "I'm worried I might cry and make a fool out of myself." You say with a laugh, and Jungkook chuckles, placing a reassuring and warm hand on your upper arm.

"It's fine. I've seen grown man cry like kids on this stretcher before." He casually says. "Don't worry; I won't think any less of you just because of some tears." He says with a smile, and you nod, turning your head to look at his room's walls instead; covered in drawings, sketches, and pictures of finished works he was most proud of. "Do you want anything to hold onto?" He asks, as he starts to shave the skin of your thigh to make sure he can work as best as possible. He's so into his work, so concentrated on doing everything perfect, that he doesn't even take much into account that you're laying in only your panties and oversized sweater; skirt neatly placed on a chair in the corner of the room, to get it out of the way.

"It's fine" You mumble, although you really want to. So instead you curl your fingers around the fabric of your sweater- something that doesn't go unnoticed by Jungkook, who decides not to comment on it for now. He simply throws the one-time razor away as well as the tissues used to clean your skin, before he carefully places the tracing paper onto where he seems fit.

"I think it would look great right here." He says lowly, carefully removing the paper to reveal the lines he's gonna trace with his gun in a few minutes. "You wanna look at it again?" He asks, and you shake your head. "Alright." He says, before he gets up and walks out his room; only to return with your small squishy and round unicorn plush that's usually sitting on your desk. "To hold onto." He winks, and you chuckle at that.

Jungkook really pays attention.

"So, Taehyung has told me you're a bit younger than me." Jungkook says to start casual chit-chat, trying to help your nervousness as his tattoo-gun starts to buzz to live. "Only a Year if I remember correctly." He says, and you nod.

"Yeah.." You say, and can't hide your dissapoinment flooding your voice. Jungkook, until now, only had relationships with girls older than him. He's even said before that he just likes having someone older than him around- which made you even more nervous around him.

"You sound upset about that." He chuckles, and gently holds onto your thigh as you jump a bit when he first presses the tip of the gun down. "Sorry. I'll be gentle." He lowly tells you, and you swallow.

Not the time Y/N, not the time.

"Uhm.." You say, fingers digging into the squishy plush in your hands. "I.. there's someone I like, but he.. only likes older girls, so.." You say, and Jungkook glances at you. You're already interested in someone? He continues to trace the lines, wiping afterwards to get the excess ink and blood off. "But I mean, then again I don't think I have a chance with him anyways." You chuckle, and Jungkook can't help but shake his head. Even if you're interested in someone else, he shouldn't let you have thoughts like that.

"Highly doubt that." He says. "If he doesn't see you, he's blind." He tells you, and you giggle, glad that he's able to make you feel a bit better about everything. "I'm serious." He says, and you nod at that, watching his inked arm flex every now and then as he draws with absolute concentration; black facemask hiding half of his face. You can see the way his eyebrows furrow, eyes fixated on his work as he moves with absolute routine. "Do I know the guy?" He casually asks, before he dips the tip of his gun in the tiny pot of ink again.

You don't know what to say.

He looks at you for a second, and decides not to dig. "You don't have to tell me. Sorry if I seemed nosy; didn't mean to." He apologizes, and you shake your head to let him know its fine. It's quiet for a moment afterwards, only the buzzing of his gun and your occasional whine of pain. "Sorry; it'll hurt a bit more now since I'm getting close to your inner thigh- that's always a little more sensitive." He comments, and you really hope he doesn't pay much attention to your panties.

When you can see his eyes stick to them for a second, you really want to just disappear.

He doesn't comment on it though. What is he suppsosed to say? He really doesn't want to make you uncomfortable, and considering that you already have a crush on someone else, he doesn't want to get himself in too deep as well. He simply works away, finally finishing the thin and delicate outlines of your piece- the first step, before he will see you again for color and shading. He finally connects the last line, and doesn't think twice about what he says next.

"Good girl."

It takes a second that feels way too long for the both of you to register the words, and Jungkook quickly occupies himself with turning off his gun and cleaning up your skin and his workspace to get the awkwardness out of his room. You try to instantly stand up, but his palm holds onto your leg- silently ordering you to stay put, which you do. He rubs something over the piece, before he gently lifts your leg to wrap it. "I'll give you a bottle of lotion for it. Leave that bandage on for.. I'd say until tomorrow morning at least. Afterwards, apply the lotion everyday to help it heal properly." He lectures you with a gentle voice, before letting you sit up.

"Thanks." You say, grinning eagerly at the now hidden artwork on your leg. Jungkook chuckles.

"We're not done yet, but I'll take it." He says. "I uh.." He starts, as you jump off the stretcher and go to take on your skirt. "uhm, you up for some fast food?" He asks, a bit hurried, before he can chicken out again. And he hates himself for a moment, because you had literally told him just half an hour before that you already had interest in someone else. But maybe you were too innocent to get his innuendo, maybe you wouldn't get that he was asking you on a date-

"Like a date?" You ask, and he really wants to hit himself.

"I mean, if you want it to be?" He says, swallowing as he averts his gaze, a sight very weird. His hand runs through his hair, chain around his neck and piercings on his ears clattering against each other and making sounds as he moves, his combat boots nervously tapping the floor a little. "It doesn't have to be.. I know you're already-"

"I'd love to." You say however, now fully dressed again, as you grin with your bright sparkling eyes.

And Jungkook feels like he's won the lottery.

It's your third time laying on Jungkooks' stretcher like this- waiting for him to work on your art, finishing it today. But the energy is different.

Things are different between you two in general.

After some casual movie dates and rounds of overwatch, Jungkook had admitted to you that he had a crush. It was rushed, while he was driving, so he didn't have to look at you and instantly get hit by your reaction. But then, you had told him that you felt the same- and the two of you agreed to let things process from then on. Whatever would happen; you would let happen.

And Jungkook was starting to flirt with you.

It was a little weird to get close to him like that. While everyone seeing you two was a little taken aback- with your dresses and skirts, and colorful and almost childish personality, he seemed like the absolute opposite- quiet, all dark and dangerous while carrying your milkshake so you could put your phone away into your purse.

"Alright doll, let's finish this." He said with newfound enthusiasm, winking at you as you laughed at his demeanor.

"You seemed more excited than me!" You say, and he chuckles. "You're really desperate to have me gone?" You say in a playfully upset tone, and he simply huffs out a breath, before cockily looking at you for a second.

"That's not true." He says. "I'd just rather have you laid out somewhere else than in my studio, that's all." He casually says, and you shut your mouth at that, cheeks red as he laughs at your cute display of embarrassment. He routinely prepares your skin, before he starts his gun. "Too much?" He asks, and you know he's not talking about the pressure of his ink filled gun on your skin.

"No-" You start, and he now seriously speaks to you, voice a bit muffled through his facemask.

"Please tell me if I ever make you uncomfortable." He says. "You're not upsetting me if you tell me I'm going to far." He says, and you nod, knowing that he now needs a proper answer. Jungkook is way more attentive and romantic than people may think he is. He's a gentleman pulled out of a dictionary- careful and gentle with you, and always keen on getting to know you for you, and not for the person you like to portray yourself as. He wants to know what you like, what you don't like, what you dream of, and what you hate about yourself.

"Don't worry- I will." You say, watching him work on your skin. "Jungkook?" You ask, and he hums a reply to let you know he's listening. "Is it okay if I sleep?" You ask, and he chuckles.

"Didn't I tell you not to stay up for too long before I left yesterday?" He teasingly retorts back to you, and you pout at him- with no hard feelings behind it. He had left last night after eating with you for dinner at your place; and he did indeed tell you to go to sleep a little earlier since he knew you would have an early shift today, opening up the store. "I'm really tempted to say no." He says, eyes now on your skin again as he dips the tip of his gun in a pot of color. "You know, as punishment for not listening." He mumbles, and you almost don't catch it.

Almost.

"Jungkook?" Taehyung stands in his doorway, finally finding him sitting at his desk. "Oh?" He says in a surprised tone, spotting your sleeping figure on his coworkers lap- head resting against the inside of his shoulder, with your arms around his middle.

"Yeah?" Jungkook asks, not at all shy or fazed by the fact that Taehyung is looking at you. "What is it?" He asks again, as Taehyung smiles, giving the younger man his small booklet that you usually give him every morning.

"Nothing left for today." He said. "Just wanted to tell you good work and send you home." The older one explains, zipping up his own jacket. "Guess she'll be coming with you?" He asks teasingly, but Jungkook doesn't bite the bait at all.

"Yeah. Don't burn the house down while we're gone, you two. " He says, slipping the booklet into his pocket before he pats your back. "Come on doll, let's go home." He tells you, waking you up at least enough to put on your shoes and lead you out the store to his car.

He buckles your seatbelt as the engine comes alive, radio playing its tune softly in the background as he drives you home. "You awake doll?" He asks, and you nod your head, turning towards him with barely open eyes. "You haven't had anything proper to eat today, so I'll make us some ramen at my place, ok?" He asks, and you nod, before your eyebrows scrunch up. "What is it?" He chuckles, and you now grow more awake.

"Wait- but if we eat at yours then you're gonna have to drive me home late." You say, and he shrugs. "Noo, Kook, what if you crash the car because you're sleepy?" You tell him with a whine, genuinely concerned for him, as he has the audacity to laugh. "Kookie, it's not funny I swear to god-!" You say, and he apologizes.

"I mean." He starts, casually dropping what he had wanted to ask you for a couple of weeks now. "You could always just stay over." He tells you, and you look at him, meeting his gaze at the red light he stops at, his head turned towards you for a moment until the lights turn green again.

"We.. would have to stop at mine so I could get some stuff though.." You mumble, and Jungkook looks at you with newfound enthusiasm, setting his turning lights to enter a different road.

It's in a parking lot that you first unintentionally confront him with your biggest insecurities and flaws.

You've tripped over a stray stone you didn't see laying on the ground, leading you to fall onto your hands and scraping your knees open. Just like any normal human being, you dust yourself off, instantly hoping that Jungkook inside the shop hadn't seen you fail at something so basic as walking. You had carried some of the items you two had bought into the car while also returning the shopping cart while he had payed- and by the look on his face, he had definitely seen you.

He wasn't laughing, or hiding his grin, or anything alike. He looked concerned, taking his card back from the cashier before walking out the store, jogging towards you, who sat in the open trunk, ready to get laughed at. Even though somewhere deep in your mind you didn't think he would, past experiences had led to you now having that fear, no matter with whom. "Are you okay?" Jungkook asks, looking at you as he squats down to take a look at your bleeding knees. He reaches into one of the shopping bags, taking out a water bottle and a pack of tissues, before he wets it, one hand holding your leg by the backside of your knee, while the other carefully cleans the small wound. "You gotta be careful Baby." He chuckles a little- nothing like the laughter you had expected.

"I'm fine." You say, not looking up at him.

"It's okay to cry, you know?" He says, and you stay quiet, trying not to breathe too much as you desperately hold them back. "I won't laugh." He promises, deciding not to look at you as to give you a bit more space.

"People will stare though.." You quietly murmur towards him, and he finishes his job, before he goes to throw the now used tissue away in a nearby trashcan. When he returns, he's taking his jacket off, the item way too large on your form as he throws it over you, pulling the hood up as you look at him for the first time since your little accident, eyes sparkling with unshed tears when he pulls the sides of the hood towards him a little. "There." He says, a reassuring smile on his face. "Now no one can see you but me." He tells you. "And I will never, ever, laugh at you." He promises, and pulls your head against his chest, as you start to let go.

He really hates to see you cry- but he's glad that you're letting him in enough to let him see you this way.

Jungkook is frustrated.

He tries not to really show it, because he doesn't want to blow up in your face like that, but then again, you're kind of the reason he feels the way he does. Because even though he thought you both had a genuine connection, you're yet to let him touch you.

And not just hugging and holding hands.

It's not that he's impatient- its because he knows you, at one point, wanted him that way as well. But something happened, something he didn't notice, that made you take ten steps backwards from him. You seemed to be retreating, giving up, and he has no idea what he had done to make you react that way.

As far as he knows, he had done everything right.

But then he sees them; the messages sent back and forth between you and Hana, a returning customer at the shop- well known to flirt with everyone around here. Jungkook himself had actually considered hooking up with her once a year back, simply to make her shut up, but then again, he wasn't into one-night-stands. And she had never truly been his type anyways.

'Ah yeah, just re-schedule that then, I don't mind at all! Just make sure we have enough time together, since we haven't had time to catch up on things recently, if you know what I mean.' She had sent, a week ago; exactly the timeframe you had started to distance yourself. He knew he shouldn't look into it, but then again- this was his business too. He had the right to know.

'Sure? I can give you an appointment at around 4 PM then, so you'll be the last one. Would that be okay with you? Again, sorry for re-scheduling on such short notice.' You had written, and Jungkook can't decide if you had been oblivious to her implication (which was bullshit), or if you were simply too polite to call her out. But it's the next messages that make him fume.

'Again, no troubles. As I said, I only care that its Jungkookie, I don't really trust anyone else with my body that way ;). 4 PM is perfect, you guys still close at around 6 PM right? He's got skilled hands, I'm sure we don't need much more time, if you know what I mean.' she has the audacity to write.

But its your answer that makes him fume.

'Good to know.'

"Jungkook?" You say, looking at the screen, as you suddenly dash forwards, trying to shut the screen off- as if that would make any difference. But he catches your wrist with ease, holding it in his palm as he looks at you.

"Do you think I'm sleeping with her?" He asks, and you try to escape his grasp; and he lets you, staying at your workspace however as he keeps you locked in place with his gaze. "Y/N." He urges, making you look away from him.

"It's none of my business." You say, shrugging. "I.. No, it's-" You start, but he cuts you off.

"No, finish that sentence. 'No' what?" He says, and you've never heard him talk like that.

"I just.. didn't think you'd.. do that." You meekly say, murmuring it as he tilts your head gently upwards to look at him; his face now more relaxed as he softly smiles.

"That's good that you think that way." He tells you. "Because I don't do that at all." He says. "She likes to start drama all the time- was probably bitter I turned her down so much. You know what?" He suddenly says, turning towards the screen as he clicks to change the account, opening his own Inbox as he starts to write an E-Mail.

'Appointment is cancelled, be glad I'm not suing you for defamation. JK.'

"Jungkook-" You say, trying to get him not to send it- but it's already gone. "Why would you do that? Just because I misunderstood?" You whine, and he chuckles, shutting down the system as he looks at the clock, signaling that it's closing time.

"No." He says. "But because I don't want her around anyways, and this gives me a proper reason." He tells you, ruffling your hair as he looks at you. "You coming?" He asks, and you nod, taking your bag and coat before following him out the shop.

In the car, you finally speak up. "Jungkook?" You ask, and he hums out a reply. "Do you.. think I'm attractive?" You ask, and he clears his throat at the unexpected question.

"I- what?" He asks, unsure what you mean.

"Just.. Namjoon said, that he thinks you.. see me as a friend only? Because I'm nothing like the girls you dated before.. If I misunderstood something here then Oh my god-" You start to ramble, and Jungkook laughs suddenly.

"You think I'm not into you?" He asks, and you shrug. "Of course I want to fuck you doll." He casually comments, and you can't help but feel your cheeks redden. "Wait- did you really think I didn't?" He asks, face showing genuine horror as he looks over at you.

"I mean.. you never really initiated anything so I thought.." You started, and he groans out.

Thank god you're staying the night.

"Looks so pretty, does it?" He hums out, palm running over the tattoo on your thigh, delicate lines and well-placed shadings complimenting the colors perfectly. "You know why I love it most?" He starts, hand suddenly gripping the flesh for a moment, before he pulls you closer on his lap by the small of your back. "Because that's mine." He says, before he leans in, placing an open mouthed kiss against your pulse. "The ink that's under your skin, the design, the idea-" He mumbles against your skin. "And the body it's drawn on." You whine at his tone, dark and low, as he urges you back and forth on his clothed thigh- your panties suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Isn't it like that, baby?" He asks, and you nod, furiously, and he chuckles. "Hm, you seem out of breath baby.." He grins at you, like a predator.

"Jungkook.." You whine, not knowing what you're asking for.

He wordlessly moves, helping you lay down on his bed before he crawls over you, his lips instantly attached to the skin of your neck, hands helping you out of your dress wordlessly, as he can't help but let his gaze linger on your body for a moment. "I can't believe that-" He says, pulling off your overknee socks. "-you'd ever think of yourself anything less than perfect." He says, placing a gentle kiss to the colorful image now forever placed under your skin by his skilled hands. He continues to display his affection over your skin, wandering over your stomach up to your chest, where he playfully bites just above your breast. He struggles with the front of your bra for a second, unsure how to open the undergarment without breaking it, as you help a little; letting them spring free. But only for a moment.

Because in the next, he's got them in his hands, palms gently moving over them, feeling their softness as he groans. "You're so sweet." he comments, as he finally kisses your lips, smile interrupting him every now and then. "So soft." Another kiss. "So delicate." Another one. "And all mine, yeah?" He asks, and you nod, smiling as he grins back, the expression making him look so young and carefree you can't help but wonder how anyone could ever think he's a bad man.

He's anything but.

He's so careful touching you, so delicate in moving his palms over your skin, as if its the most divine thing he's ever felt. He's still smiling, as if in a trance, while he can't stop kissing you. Your hands move into his hair- way softer than you thought it would be, and he groans into your mouth at the feeling of your fingers running over his scalp.

There's no urgency in anything he does.

He slowly moves again, hands opening your legs for him as he sits back on his heels, playfully pulling you closer by the backs of your knees, making you giggle. "You sound so sweet baby." He tells you, innocently, as if he's not currently placing his hand onto your center, ring finger collecting your already leaking wetness before he spreads it, moving his thumb over your most sensitive bundle of nerves while his ring finger enters you slowly. You whine at the feeling, not enough to get you as riled up as you'd like to be. Also; this is the first time you're genuinely experiencing foreplay. You don't know what to do- and Jungkook seems to pick up on that. "You good?" He asks, and you nod.

"I.." You say, breathless as he tilts his head, smile still present on his lips. "What should I do?" You ask, as his eyes widen.

"You?" He wonders, before he stops for a moment. "Don't tell me- this is your first time?" He asks, now genuinely worried he might've gone too fast.

"No.." You admit. "But uhm.. no one's ever, like.. you know, what you're doing.." You say, and that's when it clicks for him.

What kind of guys did you date before him that never gave you any attention like this? He's upset by it, but also weirdly cheered on by that simple fact; it gives him even more reason to make sure you'll get the most out of it. "Ah, I see.." He humms out, letting another finger stretch your entrance for him. "..well, I'm not like that." He explains, before he moves, face now close to your center- and you're unsure what he's going to do. "Trust me." He says, mumbles out, before his tongue places itself flat onto your clit, licking painfully slow as you move your hands over your mouth, trying to keep your noises in. "nuh-uh baby." He scolds, free hand pulling yours away. "Let me hear you." He demands, before he places his mouth back where it was.

Your mind is completely blank at this moment, the only thing you can really concentrate on being Jungkook, working you up so quickly you feel dizzy. It's new, and it's a little weird- but it's more than anything you've ever experienced before. And it brings you towards your end so suddenly you suddenly gasp out, back arching off the mattress as you grab at the sheets below, one hand grasping for Jungkooks, who lets you ride out your high to its fullest. "So pretty." He comments after wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, smiling at your blissed out state.

"Kook-" You say, moving as you sit up, less shy now that your brain is still clouded by pleasure.

"Ah- you don't have to." He tells you, but you shake your head, and he lets you. He slips out of his clothes, finally bare, and you would've taken time to look at all the different pieces of art decorating his body- if it wasn't for his cock, red and ready in front of you. Usually, you would've let your insecurities and doubts get the best of you. But this was Jungkook. And you wanted to really believe that nothing you would do could ever be judged by him. So there was no hesitation as your hands reached out for him, gently moving, before you took him in, your lips wrapping themselves around his tip, before you moved downwards, fitting as much as you comfortably could. Meanwhile, Jungkook himself was steadying himself with one hand on the mattress, while the other was buried into your hair, his own head thrown back as he closed his eyes.

Of course he had fantasized about this every now and then; but he had never thought you'd actually be comfortable doing it. And even if- nothing he could've imagined would've ever compared to the real deal happening. There was something absolutely mindblowing about the way that you handled him, your sweet and pretty presence looking so divine doing such a sinful act with him. He had to pull you off by your hair, gently, because any more, and he would've been a goner. "G-Good god baby." He chuckles, pushing you a bit so you were on your back again, reaching for his bedside table to search for a condom. "I swear to god if I- HAH!" He tells you in victory, hands making quick work of opening the foil package and wrapping the safety over his length. "I swear I would've run out butt naked to buy one if I wouldn't have found this." He says with a grin, making you laugh.

"That's weird." You comment, and he chuckles, entering you slowly as to not hurt you, his breathing labored as he still kept the lighthearted energy going.

"You think?" He asks, and you nod, giggling as your eyes close, the feeling of him filling you up too good to keep them open. "Hm no." He said breathlessly. "Would've probably put on some pants maybe." He says, before he starts thrusting. "Doesn't matter if it means I'd get to fuck you." He says, and you giggle again.

"Kook!" You scold him, and he still continues to thrust into you, exhaling forcefully as he kisses your neck.

"What?" He whines high pitched as if to imitate you.

"Be serious!" You tell him, but can't help your own smile either.

"Oh, why though?" He says. "We're making love, not war baby." He whispers into your ear, and you still laugh at it.

"I can't believe you!" You complain playfully, moaning out when he suddenly thrusts with more force, obscene noises now interrupting you two as he picks up his pace, clenching his jaw.

"And-" He starts. "I can't believe how fucking good you feel." He presses out, hand now reaching between the two of you as he brings you towards an earth-shattering orgasm, making you mewl as you can feel yourself bursting. "Good girl!" He praises, watching as you squirt all over him, his own orgasm hitting him soon after as he grunts out, finally slowing down until he stills completely, his mouth attached to your neck to place gentle kisses and teasing bites near your pulse point.

"I love you." He mumbles out, and your eyes sting.

Because yeah, you love him- you absolutely do, but hearing it from him, hearing it in such an honest and warm-hearted tone, having this final proof of his own feelings towards you, makes you emotional. "Baby, why're you crying?" He chuckles out of breath, wiping your tears as you smile, and finally look at him with glossy eyes.

"Cause I love you too." You say. "So much."

And he can't help but grin at you.

You really are the sweetest thing.

You watch as Hana walks out of Taehyungs studio, arm wrapped up in clear foil as she walks towards your counter, pulling out her purse. "Taehyung agreed on 345." She says, until Taehyung yells another number out of his studio, making her eyes roll. She wasn't supposed to come back- but Taehyung had agreed to finish her piece at least. "Alright, here you go." She says, watching as you counted the money. "Does Jungkook work today?" She asks, and you nod. "I'm just gonna go say hi then. You can finish the receipt yeah?" She says overly sweet, and you're about to tell her that Jungkook doesn't want anyone entering without his permission, but he's already walking out his studio, black sweater and silver necklaces on full display as he walks towards you. "Jungkookie!" Hana exclaims, but her face drops almost chomically as she watches Jungkook walk up behind you, placing a kiss on your bare shoulder as he looks over it onto your screen.

"Oh, looks like I'm done for the day. You need anything Hana?" He asks innocently, one hand on your desk while the other rests on your chair behind your back.

"I- just wanted to apologize for uhm.. the emails. I didn't know you'd read them." She says, and you slowly close all programs, while Jungkooks humms out something.

"Yeah, I figured." He says, before he shakes his head. "As I said, I'm letting it go. No hard feelings." He says, shrugging, before he walks towards his studio again, stopping in his tracks for a second. "Ah, baby, can you text Jin-Hyung and ask him if we can come now? I'm actually starving I swear." He says, and you nod with red cheeks, pulling out your phone.

"Huh." Comes from Hana, as she takes the receipt from you. "I honestly.. would've never thought." She mumbles, before she simply leaves, without any more words.

Yeah. You would've honestly never thought either.

(c)Bonny-Kookoo. Please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi.com/bonnykookoo. Thank you for reading.

#bts imagine #bts #bts fanfic #jungkook imagine #bts fic #bts smut #bts jungkook #jeon jungkook #jungkook #bts reactions

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ygo-is-gayer-than-i-remember · 3 years ago

Text

Yugioctober Day 11: Fashion

(Prompt list) (Read it here on Ao3!)

Summary: Shizuka designs Yugi, Atem, and Kaiba’s Met Gala looks.

I was inspired by @kaibacorpstocksplit and their art of Kaiba’s Met Gala look, so I decided to try my hand at writing about the flareship gang and their Gala outfits! Special thanks to @suyas-archive for helping my fashion-blind ass figure out designs and how colors work kalsfslfjsdlk

When Shizuka entered high school, she picked up the hobby of designing clothes and outfits and found herself to be really good at it. Of course, she could always be better, and she wanted to be. Trying to find a mentor was how she learned that Mai was something of a designer herself. They had become fast friends ever since the first Battle City, so when Mai heard about Shizuka’s new passion, she was more than happy to take the young girl under her wing. The two had been training together ever since, even entering local competitions and gaining a small following online.

About a month after Shizuka had graduated, Pegasus announced that he would be hosting an event he called the Industrial Illusions Duel Monsters Gala. To everyone else, it became known as the Duelist’s Ball. Supposedly, it was to become a yearly event where all the big-name duelists from around the world would gather, mingle, and show off fashion based on their favorite duel monsters, all in the spirit of community and sportsmanship.

Katsuya was thrilled to have been invited to the Duelist’s Ball and immediately sought out Shizuka to make his Red-Eyes-Black-Dragon-themed outfit. She had already seen the intricacy of some of the pieces others were planning on wearing from the designers she followed, so she was eager to give it a try. Unfortunately, her brother rejected a lot of her more flashy ideas, wanting instead to be lame and boring with a simple black suit and red satin tailcoat. She was happy with how it turned out, grateful she got to at least do some flame designs on the coattails and sleeves, but it wasn’t nearly the kind of extravagant look she had been hoping to make.

Apparently, Katsuya had been so thrilled with the suit that he showed it off to all of his friends, and a few days later, Shizuka got a call from Mokuba Kaiba. She certainly hadn’t been expecting that considering she and Mokuba had never spoken one on one at length before. He seemed friendly enough, much different from his stoic older brother, and was unsurprised to learn that the older Kaiba, along with Yugi and Atem, had all been invited to the Duelist’s Ball. (Mokuba had volunteered to hold down the fort while the three of them were away.) What she was surprised to learn was that the three of them wanted her to design their outfits as well. She accepted the offer in a heartbeat.

After their initial meeting where ideas were pitched and measurements were taken, Shizuka knew this was exactly the challenge she had been wanting. Each of their styles was unique, allowing her to really think outside the box and experiment with different designs. Sometimes she had to nudge them in one direction or the other to make everything come together. With Kaiba, she wanted him to try going for a little more. With Atem, she needed him to go for a lot less. Still, after several hours, she came away with sketches, notes, a Kaiba Corp. credit card, and the number of Kaiba’s personal tailor so she had every resource available to use.

The first thing she did was call Mai. She knew she would need an extra set of hands already, and Mai had connections to jewelry makers who could help with the requested accessories. Mai was over before Shizuka could even hang up the phone.

Day and night, the two of them worked on the garments, occasionally calling in one duelist or another to get some clarification or try on certain elements. Sometimes, in the early stages, they would have to drag Katsuya in by the ear to act as a live mannequin when the rest were in use so they could make generic cuts, pins, or markings. They had also been very careful not to let anyone but the outfit’s recipient see their completed work, wanting it to be a surprise for everyone.

Now, after months of hard labor, it was finally time to reveal the finished products.

All of their friends had gathered in the little studio she and Mai had rented out (on Kaiba’s dime, thank the gods), sitting on fold-out chairs in front of a makeshift stage and whispering excitedly to one another. Even the Ishtars were there taking time out of their archaeological work with the museum to come. Shizuka couldn’t remember ever feeling so many emotions at once. She felt simultaneously like she wanted to hug everyone in sight and like she was about to throw up.

“Hey, hon, relax.” She turned to see Mai put a hand on her shoulder and smile. “We worked our asses off on these things and they turned out amazing. They’re going to love them, I promise.”

Shizuka let out a sigh. “Yeah, yeah you’re right.” She grinned back at her mentor. “It’s going to be great!”

Mai patted her on the back and pushed her gently forward. “Knock ‘em dead!”

A hush fell over the crowd as Shizuka stepped up onto the stage. The lights from overhead were nearly blinding. She cleared her throat.

“Welcome everyone! As you know, the Duelist’s Ball is coming up soon and Yugi, Atem, and Kaiba charged me with designing their red carpet looks. Firstly, I want to thank Mai for her hard work on this project and for being a huge inspiration to me and helping me get to this point.”

Mai took a bow at the round of applause given to her by Shizuka and the audience.

“Tonight, we want to present to you the fruits of our labor! You all get an exclusive look at the wardrobe of three top duelists before they’re presented formally at the Duelist’s Ball!”

This was met with whoops and more applause, especially from Katsuya.

Raising her voice and moving aside, Shizuka announced, “So, without further ado, may I present: Seto Kaiba as Blue-Eyes White Dragon!”

Kaiba entered from the back and stepped up on stage.

Over the shocked silence, Shizuka heard her brother yell, “Holy shit!”

Kaiba’s suit was divided into two sides, the left side midnight blue and speckled like the night sky, the right side, overlaying the first, a vivid white, tied together by silver buttons and loose, thin chains. The white side had a single lapel wrapping around behind his neck to make a high collar that showed off its baby blue lining. The dark side mimicked his usual turtleneck, covering to just below his chin and present on both arms since the white side didn’t have any sleeves of its own. His left arm had three spikes, the same color as the rest of the fabric, sticking up from his bicep and a black and silver brace covering his forearm. In contrast, the fabric on his right arm was overlaid with gleaming white steel, strips of blue glowing from between the breaks in each panel.

His pants were made of the same starry material, the boot on his left black and the boot on his right white. Both had the same neon blue highlights as the metal on his arm with the addition of similar steel plates on his right knee and thigh. From below the white belt keeping the metal on his leg in place, an open skirt pooled around him, the transparent fabric a sky blue filter over everything it covered.

Mokuba was grinning from ear to ear as he rushed up on stage to get a closer look at his big brother. He circled around and around, taking in every detail.

“You look incredible, Seto!”

Kaiba gave a triumphant “hmph” and stepped down off the platform with Mokuba trailing behind him. He had been smiling a little this whole time, something Shizuka took to mean she had done at least a decent job.

She glided back to center stage. “Give him a hand, folks!” Applause bounced off the walls of the studio. “Alright, next up, we have your favorite King of Games! Give it up for Yugi Muto as Gandora, the Dragon of Destruction!”

Yugi was barely out of the door before people were cheering.

Yugi’s shirt was based on an old European military jacket, wide rows of fabric crossing the center part and held in place by buttons on either side. The black cloth was hemmed with silver, and the smooth red buttons gleamed like gemstones. The points of red continued along his sleeves and down the outside of his pant legs until they cut off at his ankle, hanging slightly over his black and white wing-tip dress shoes.

Over all of this, a black satin cloak was draped over his shoulders and flowed down just past his knees with his arms slipped through strategically placed slits. A geometric pattern of various diamonds and triangles was embroidered in silver thread, the occasional large shape housing another red accent.

Shizuka glanced over at Mokuba. She had gotten a little extra help from him since this particular outfit had a very special feature. He gave her a nod, and she passed the nod onto Yugi.

Yugi nodded back at her and pressed a button on the cuff of his right sleeve. All at once, every piece of red decor lit up. The audience oohed, ahhed, and clapped as he twirled around to show off all the lights before stepping down and switching places with Shizuka.

“One more round of applause for Yugi! And a special thank you to Mokuba for helping out with the lights!” The applause was given, and Shizuka smiled at the way Yugi and Kaiba stood hand in hand, admiring each other’s outfits. “This last one was probably the most difficult to figure out. Our model wanted not one, not two, but three monsters incorporated into his look, but we think it turned out to be fit for a king!” A few chuckles in response. “So, last, but most definitely not least, please welcome Pharaoh Atem as the three Egyptian Gods!”

Atem, the eternal personification of “too much,” came strutting out of the back like the god-king he was. Shizuka could swear she heard jaws hit the floor.

Atem’s bare chest was clearly visible through the window of his scarlet shirt, shoulders decorated with swooping lines of gold and collar reaching straight up towards his jaw. A black leather corset with a golden lily etched on the front hugged his waist, and a loose shawl of thin gold silk rested in the crooks of his elbows.

Below that, a shimmering skirt wrapped around his hips and fell down and back into a train, the same scarlet as his shirt melting into vivid crimson the further it trailed. The fabric shone in the light and flowed like water under a gold chain overskirt decorated with large red gems and smaller blue gems. It gave the skirt a kind of scaled appearance reminiscent of Osiris’s draconian form.

Through the long slit in the front of the skirts, his over-the-top thigh-high heeled boots wrestled for everyone’s attention. The toe, heel, and laces were pure gold, but other than that, every inch of them was bedazzled with reds, blues, blacks, and more golds. The boots had been a specific request from Atem that Shizuka had to rework several times in order for them to look palatable and cohesive with the rest of the outfit, but somehow, in some way, she had managed to pull it off.

To tie it all together, he wore a golden headdress that crowned his hairline, curled back to his temples, and arched into a pointed halo, resembling sunbeams in front of his multicolored hair. His natural blonde highlights looked like gold thread behind the intricate designs of the headdress. Rubies and lapis lazulis sat nestled in the centers of hand-crafted flowers and rings of metallic leaves.

Yugi and Kaiba walked slowly back on stage, taken aback by Atem’s glittering apparel. Shizuka felt a surge of pride in her chest seeing the three of them all up there together gawking at each other. She watched them exchange astounded praises, flirtatious remarks, and several kisses while those in attendance eagerly discussed the showcase. Shizuka couldn’t actually hear what any of them were saying, but the smiles on their faces spoke for themselves.

“Congrats Shizuka!” Katsuya’s grin was the only thing she noticed before she was stumbling from him throwing an arm over her shoulder. “Ya really knocked it outta the park!”

She beamed back at him when she got her footing. “Thanks, Katsuya! We worked really hard and I’m honestly super happy with how they turned out.”

“Yeah, uh, speakin’a which...d’ya think ya could make me one’a those?”

“You should’ve thought of that when you shot down all my ideas!” Shizuka shoved him away with a laugh and a playful glare.

“How was I s’posed to know it’d turn out like that?!”

“Hey, Shizuka?”

She turned around to see her three models standing behind her, all smiling. Yugi stepped forward to give her a hug she gladly accepted.

“I know I’ve said it a lot,” he said, “but seriously, thank you. These are incredible.”

“Thank you for giving me the chance to make them,” she replied. She stepped back to give Atem a hug, followed by a handshake from Kaiba. “You guys better tell me what people think when you show up at the Duelist’s Ball.”

Atem bowed his head in a nod. “Trust me, we will.”

Shizuka watched them turn to go change back into their regular clothes, then glanced at her drafting table in the corner where all the remaining sketches of the designs were pinned haphazardly. The products of those sketches were going to be broadcast all over the world for everyone to see in just over a week, and when people asked, her friends would say she was responsible. Her smile grew. She had a feeling that a lot of doors were about to open for her.

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mccall-me-maurice · 3 years ago

Text

A new list of headcanons for the updated AU

Lotf headcanons

Jack:

Jack is Ralph’s academic rival and also head of the debate team. He spends the weekends at his father’s business, learning how to run the company. On the Saturday nights, he goes to an underground club in a fight ring thing. Nobody knows he does it, even though Ralph also spends time there.

Jack is dyslexic and has minor and manageable OCD, denying using extra help for his dyslexia in classes.

Comes from a wealthy family with 6 siblings, his father divorcing his mother and marrying his step-mother who he pushes away because he’s angsty and shes “not his real mother.”

Loves 80s music so much, he’s a nerd for it.

Sings in the shower/bathroom like into a hairbrush in front of the mirror in his little towel like a nerd but he’s actually really good at singing.

Wears his uniform extremely sharply and very crisp like why so much effort.

He has hearing loss due to an accident in his childhood and he’s fluent in ASL, but doesn’t wear his hearing aids almost ever.

Ralph:

Ralph is fluent in violin, he’s actually really good at playing, he was also an ocean lifeguard and saved Jack’s life when he got caught in a current.

He wears thick framed glasses to read and has really swoopy handwriting thats illegible because it’s like messy calligraphy.

Ralph dives as a hobby and is so good at it, like scary good at diving perfectly.

He has beauty marks on his face that he lets people trace sometimes, ink usually adorning his cheeks.

Very French, extremely French. Fluent in the language.

Draws on his hands with different coloured pens and the designs are always so intricate like a mandala colouring book.

Also draws on the cuffs of his jeans and the rubber edge of his sneakers all the time.

Blushes very easily, will go red in a matter of seconds flat either when he’s flustered, embarrassed or angry.

Brothers with Robert.

Simon:

Spends all of his out of school time in his mother’s flower shop and can recite the meaning of most flowers if you ask him. His fingers are all bandaged up because of how much he cuts himself with knives when he’s removing stems or clippers.

He has epilepsy and faints frequently.

Is a fan of older musicals, like Grease, Dirty Dancing and Hairspray and makes the choir watch them with him.

Rarely spends time indoors, Simon is usually out biking around the neighbourhood or walking around with his friends from school.

Will paint rocks and gift them to people when he thinks they’re upset. Also does face painting at the school carnivals, because he never minds being alone in a booth when there is nobody there.

Speaks softly and is usually ignored in favour of people with louder opinions, but he’s usually right.

Roger:

His biological family died in a house accident, the only thing surviving being him and his cat Nastya, who he loves more than anything. Because of his parents death, he taught himself the rest of the Russian language, which they were already teaching him along with English. However, his heritage is East Asian and Russian.

He pierced his lip by himself, and even though it turned out fine, he got his ears done professionally.

Not very affectionate and will push people away, distancing himself because he doesn’t like the idea of anyone being close to him and get under his skin.

Dyed the back part of his hair on a whim and just liked it enough to keep it as a style.

Spends nights at Simon’s place instead of his own, finding more comfort in Simon’s house.

Sam:

Comes from a German family, but knows German, Italian and English.

He hates birthdays because he doesn’t understand why they are so important.

Hates social interactions and actively avoids them with a passion. He gets extremely nervous and just leaves abruptly when he gets too overwhelmed.

Younger than Eric by 6 minutes, which he routinely gets teased for.

Into super cheesy romantic movies because he loves the idea of a happy ending despite not having one himself.

Messes with his hair when he’s anxious, so it’s constantly messy and mussed.

Mega nail biter when he’s nervous.

Cousins with Jack.

Maurice:

Heavily touch reliant and when his friends don’t show him physical affection, he assumes the worst and gets very upset.

Heavily Italian, like so fucking Italian. His family hardly speaks English and he learned most of his from school.

Very passionate about science despite most people thinking he’s an idiot. He has some of the highest marks in his class.

Messes with things when he’s talking or uses hand gestures. Like if there’s a pen, he’s clicking it because it helps him concentrate.

Maurice has like a billion flannels and hoodies he just cycles through and it looks like he doesn’t change but no, it’s just that he owns a gazillion grey hoodies

His older sister when to an Ivy League school, so he owns a lot of stuff from it that he wears like sweaters or ball caps.

Eric:

Very sarcastic. his entire sense of humour is him bathing in his own sarcasm. It’s actually pretty well timed and kind of funny how he’s able to deadpan his jokes.

Very easily picks up on languages. He’s fluent or close to fluent in German, English, Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese and partly fluent in Korean.

Really enjoys computer science and plans on doing it for a living. He stays up late at night to work and sleeps until like midday.

Doesn’t acknowledge other people’s emotions very often because he doesn’t realise when he’s gone too far, but still feels bad for others when they’re hurt.

Jack’s favourite cousin because they’re cynical buddies. Jack is overly protective of him even though Eric is perfectly capable.

Robert:

Brothers with Ralph and is very protective over him. Has absolutely slandered choir members before for hating on Ralph.

Shares a dad with Ralph but has a different mom, who he visits over the summer and sometimes during the holidays. That’s where he gets his Spanish roots from, which is a language he’s fluent in. He has 7 siblings on that side of his family.

Adores burnt popcorn and burnt anything. If he can burn it, he will.

Works as a mechanic in his free time and built the car he shares with Ralph.

Sci-Fi nerd, specifically Star Wars. He loves the movies and watches them like every day.

Extremely talented artist, Robert sketches anytime he has a pencil and paper.

Peter:

Was bullied in the past but doesn’t let the words bother him anymore. It mostly stopped around high school.

Works with his auntie in the sweet shop and brings his friends food for them to taste test.

Used to be a boy scout, so he can tie any knot you want him to, it’s really a gift.

Gets very cold very easily, especially his fingertips. He usually has a pair of gloves on him for when it gets really bad.

A Mathlete for most of his time in high school, obviously is extremely intelligent.

Double knots his shoelaces so they’re extra secure.

Bill:

Swedish, and really enjoys his own culture. He will spend HOURS rambling about it and how much he loves it.

Watches Avatar the Last Airbender and has the biggest crushes on Sokka and Zuko.

Also is a sucker for people who wear glasses, he really loves them.

Works at the library despite not liking books, he finds comfort in shelving them and the order they go in.

Puts little umbrellas in every single drink he has, it doesn’t matter what it is.

Writes notes to himself on sticky notes because his memory is horrible.

Sets at least 5 alarms because 1 will not wake him up by itself.

Harold:

Can speak limited Spanish due to his schooling.

Likes singing, but never really got into it like some choir members because he has stage fright.

Powerful speaker when he wants to be, but is usually too nervous to say anything.

Has no idea how to tie a tie, so he lets other people do it for him.

Sometimes take sarcastic comments seriously and ends up confused.

A really good actor and loves the performing arts.

Has extremely clear skin, he never gets any blemishes.

Wilfred:

Dyed his hair because his naturally brown hair reminds him too much of his father, who he hates.

Has 4 tattoos in total, the 4 card suits on his cheek, a half sleeve of roses, a bow and olive branch on his inner forearm, and the solar system on his outer forearm.

Very flirtatious to people he doesn’t really like but gets nervous around those he does.

Hold grudges really well.

Has shockingly neat handwriting.

Has a pretty horrible home life but he never talks about it to anyone because he doesn’t want to be perceived as weak or incapable.

Colours with only crayons.

Percival:

Cries easily, as he’s very emotionally driven and is typically teased for being a crybaby or told to “toughen up.”

Absolutely has the worst sleep schedule ever, he gets 3 hours and calls it a win.

Can’t sleep without a nightlight on in his room.

Enjoys writing things down in this notebook instead of on his phone because he likes the feeling of physically using pen and paper.

Sends letters to people all the time instead of messaging.

Good at sewing, he makes his own Halloween costume every year by himself.

Hates horror movies because he’s spooked easily.

Max:

Lived through a house fire when he was younger, so he has burn scars all over his arms.

Is afraid of cooking due to the fire and will go without eating if he has to touch the stove to make food.

Laid back most of the time, but can reach a snapping point in which the emotion is amplified. (like sadness or anger)

Loves swimming, it doesn’t matter where he does it, he just loves to swim.

Is very time sensitive and has to get places early or directly on time or else he gets anxious.

A very fast reader, typically long books take him 2-3 days to get through.

Johnny:

Worries a lot, he usually sees the worst in every single situation.

Is a trans male (Ftm) and was accepted by his entire family when he came out.

Owns a St. Bernard named Dolly who is the sweetest dog ever.

Spends a lot of time outdoors, he still plays as if he is a child.

Also enjoys the snow a lot because he’s fond of building snowmen with the kids on his street.

Has very sensitive skin and eczema, which he doesn’t like to talk about or show anyone because it makes him feel insecure.

Oddly good at playing guitar, he just picks up on chords with ease.

Walter:

Good at playing the drums and annoys his entire family with it.

Uses a skateboard as his main method of transportation around places.

On the basketball team, as his older brother taught him to play when they were both younger.

Hates roller skating despite being very good at most things on wheels. He can never find his balance.

Shockingly good at Math, especially statistics and calculus. He’s in all advanced math courses.

Has a very weird snake addiction and he desperately wants to buy one.

Henry:

Aromantic Asexual who is best friends with Harold and Wilfred.

Mainly makes snippy remarks because his humour falls into the sarcasm umbrella.

Adores comic books and superheroes, specifically Marvel ones because he’s a fan of Dare Devil.

Plays baseball in his free time but hasn’t joined a team, he just plays with the boys in his neighbourhood.

Addicted to the High School Musical movies.

Good at painting people’s nails and will do it for them if they ask.

Has really fluffy hair that he lets people touch and play with.

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bus-noises · 4 years ago

Text

I’ve fallen in love with TF2, not for the gameplay but for the characters. I love reading the comics, seeing fanart, all that jazz. Finally, I decided to create my own fanart with my own spin on it. I drew this in IbisPaintX with my finger.

Speed paint: https://youtu.be/QG2khzbKazw

Each of the mercs has their symbol on their face, except it has been turned into patterning. They also each have at least one accessory so that they’re easier to distinguish. I wanted all the mercs to be bipedal carnivores, since those would be easiest to position to hold weaponry and be the most likely to be “bloodthirsty mercenaries”. I fully intend to draw the side characters (Saxton Hale, Ms. Pauling, the Administrator, etc.) and make more art of the dino-mercs. You may draw these designs, but credit MUST be given to me, preferably in the form of a link to my account. Do note this is an older piece of art and that in the future Heavy and Engineer will be different colors “canonically” (although I will design swapped colors for all of them in case I ever need to use them) to allow Heavy and Medic/Engineer and Pyro friendships and Scout/Spy rivalry. I will probably use these as blank slates for my own headcanons.

Heavy

Heavy is an allosaurus. I chose an allosaurus since it was big and tough, but it’s arms were long enough that if I twisted them right he could hold Sasha in drawings. Originally, I had planned to do full body references of the dino mercs. I sketched out Heavy, before deciding I hated the body, but loved the face. So, instead of full body references, I went with what you see here. Since his symbol is a fist, I gave him rounded stripes along his crest to look somewhat like the fingers in the fist.

Medic

Medic is a troodon. I went with a troodon due to the fact that they are believed to be one of, if not the smartest dinosaur (from the Mesozoic at least, we all know there’s plenty of intelligent birds today). While not pictured, Archimedes is a dodo, because dodos are actually relatives to pigeons, and doves are also relatives to pigeons. Also I like the trope of “haha dumb thing is smart”. Medics symbol is a medical cross, so I gave him a rectangular cross-like shape on his snout.

Demo

Demoman is a ceratosaurus. There’s actually no real reason for this, I had just asked my friends for help choosing species for certain characters and one suggested ceratosaurus. It played into my favor though, as it allowed me to make it where his eyepatch went around the horns. Demo’s symbol is a bomb, so I gave him a large circular shape on his snout, followed by smaller circles around the horn, looking slightly like a fuse. (Yes, I know, “wrong type of bomb!!” I tried my best ok)

Engie

Engineer is a Utahraptor. This is because of the trope of dromaeosaurids being intelligent (which they are, just not as smart as Jurassic Park makes them). Another thing that made me choose it is because it is believed Utahraptors lived in desert-like conditions, and Texas is basically a giant desert as far as I know. Engineers symbol is a wrench. I found it difficult to do, but eventually I decided to go with reversed semi-circles, like the claw part of a wrench. (I don’t know the word for it)

Sniper

Sniper is an australovenator. There’s really no reason for this other than the fact they come from Australia. Yes, I know sniper is actually from New Zealand. Snipers symbol is a gun’s crosshair, so I gave him stripes going outwards from the tip of his muzzle. I went a bit crazy on the patterning though if I’m honest.

Pyro

While it’s hard to tell under his mask (which was a pain in the ass and still looks stupid) he is a baryonyx. This is because baryonyx lived near water, and I thought it would be funny to make the pyromaniac a water dwelling dinosaur. Only after I finished was I reminded pyroraptor exists. I decided to change him to be a pyroraptor in the future. Since the symbols are on their heads, I decided to make it seem as if pyro painted flames on his mask in his free time.

Soldier

Soldier is the only exception to the carnivore rule. Instead, he is a pachycephalosaurus. I’m sure it’s obvious why I chose that, but in case it isn’t it’s because of their hard, thick skulls. Not only does it look like a helmet, thick headed is an insult that usually means a person is stupid. (In my opinion it’s funny that he still wears a helmet despite the fact his head is basically already one) Soldiers symbol is a rocket. I wasn’t sure how to do this, so I went with a long, scar-like stripe to symbolize the length of the rocket.

Spy

Spy is a coelophysis. This is another one I needed my friends help on. In my opinion it fits since coelophysis were believed to be sneaky in order to catch their prey of lizards, bugs, and other small things they could get their claws on. Since spy’s symbol is a knife, I gave him sharp, jagged stripes on his snout.

Scout

Scout is a velociraptor, due to the trope of them being fast little gremlins. Originally I had planned to make him a gallimimus or some other ornithomimid, but those are often portrayed as cowardly, and I didn’t want to do that. Besides, they also had no teeth, so I couldn’t give him a cocky grin. I struggled with scouts symbol for a while, trying my best to draw a wing/feather-like pattern. I eventually settled on the pattern seen in the drawing, as it looked enough like a wing-tip to me.

Yeah that’s kinda it uh thanks for reading all this

#scout #tf2 solly #tf2 demo #tf2 sniper #tf2 pyro #tf2 #tf2 scout #team fortress 2 #tf2 heavy #tf2 demoman #dinosaurs

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itsmeevie01 · 4 years ago

Text

A Moment in Time- Ch 13

MASTERPOST

has it been...a week? wow.

BUT I have planned a bit of the next few chapters. YAY!

I'm also failing bio but whatever. it's fine. everything is fine. (it's really not but I won't acknowledge it.)

anyways, no warnings for this ch, just Mari and Tim time!

Tim’s hotel room was nice. He really couldn’t complain, but there was something that made the back of his neck prickle. It hadn’t been only at the hotel either, but it was where he had felt it most acutely. There was someone at the hotel watching him.

When he had arrived in Paris the night before, Tim had been shocked at the tense atmosphere. The last time he had visited six months earlier, there hadn’t been this feeling of everyone holding their breath. Now, Tim was tense simply because everyone around him was. He wasn’t sure if it was the feeling of being watched or if it was the way everyone was holding their breath, but Tim’s nerves were frying very quickly.

He was supposed to meet Marinette for coffee in the next hour, and Tim was more than ready to see a face that he wasn’t paying to like him. As he slumped into a chair, the teen debated texting Marinette to ask for somewhere slightly more private to stave off his paranoia. As the clock ticked down, Tim gritted his teeth, caught up in his head. A ding from his phone brought him back to the present. With a glance down Tim jolted.

Tim+Marinette

Marinette- Hey! Just a reminder that we are meeting at that café I gave you the address to. I’ll be there in about 15 minutes, so I’ll see you soon!

Tim- Thanks, Marinette! I’m looking forward to seeing you!

Marinette- Me too 😊

Tim studied his phone before he yelped. It was a five-minute walk to the café, and he still hadn’t changed from his suit from earlier. The teen groaned and shook his head at his forgetfulness.

Marinette was surprisingly nervous when she sat down at the café she had told Tim about. Her hand was shaking, and she had no idea why. In front of her was a plate with a muffin and a coffee cup that had been made the way the staff knew she liked. The truth was this is where she camped out when her room was closing in on her. That meant that the people who worked there knew Marinette well enough to respect her privacy, while also holding a conversation when she had the time.

With a shaking hand, Marinette set her sketchbook on the tables and opened it to the last sketch she had been working on. As she cleaned up the lines and made notes about what specifications she wanted Marinette started to fall into the mental spiral that could trap her for days.

Had she picked the right clothes?

Why was she worried about what she wore?

Would Plagg behave? He was known for causing trouble for her.

Would Tim be nice in person, or would he be like most of the corporate douches that she worked with at Agreste?

Would Hawkmoth attack while they were together?

What if the media caught sight of them? Oh, she should have picked a more private place to meet!

A sharp prick on her thigh had Marinette yipping quietly, but the look Plagg gave her told the teen that he knew what was going through her head.

The Kwamii snuck up to her shoulder and his in her hair. “careful, Red. There are people here but not too many, this kid seems like he has a good head on his shoulders. We can trust him on that. You won’t get a better read on him until you spend time with him in person, so don’t start the spiral just yet. Plus, you know that some of the stress from this week is getting to you. Training three Miracle holders is stressful in the best of times. You are doing it in combat times without the full team the guardians used to use.” the duo could feel the tension leave Marinette’s shoulders at the small god’s words.

The teen whispered “thanks Plagg” as she focused back on the design in front of her.

Tim walked into the café and glanced around as he ordered.

There were only a few patrons there. in one corner was a red-headed boy who was obviously absorbed in his schoolwork. Near the middle was a girl who was typing on her computer with the manic speed of someone who had a paper due in the next day. In the far corner was a dark-haired girl who was working in some kind of notebook. And a few tables away from the register was a duo. A blonde girl whose hair was held in the kind of ponytail that made Tim cringe in sympathy, and a boy with dark hair that looked completely uncomfortable. Hopefully, Tim wasn’t witnessing a date gone wrong.

as he accepted his food, the teen headed for the girl in the back corner. He knew that Marinette had dark hair and that if she was anything like Jason, she would choose the place that would give her the best view of the space. Tim cleared his throat as he approached, breaking her out of focus on what Tim now realized was a sketchbook. “Marinette?”

“Tim! Hi! Come sit with me.” The girl’s enthusiasm made Tim smile, and he easily settled into the chair across from her.

The first few moments were awkward, but soon, Tim and Marinette were laughing and talking together happily. At one point, Tim got Marinette to really laugh. As she was pulling herself together, Tim tilted his head back. A smile danced over his features while he stretched his neck. as he leaned back, Tim noticed the blond girl narrowing her eyes at him, before glaring when she realized that she had been caught. She flipped her hair and whirled back around to face the boy that was laughing at her. Marinette snorted at the flush on the girl's face and rolled her eyes.

“that’s my friend, Chloé, she doesn’t think that I know that she is here with our friend. She’s just a big snoop.” Tim huffed a laugh and shrugged.

“Well, as long as it's just your friend spying on us, we should be fine. Are you interested in perhaps taking a walk?” Marinette giggled before standing. Tim joined her and offered her his hand. She sent him a smile and wiggled her fingers at him, before collecting her stuff and skipping off.

As she turned to smile at him, Tim called out a “hey! Wait up!” before hurrying after her.

After he had caught up with her, Marinette shot Tim a smile and led him off down the streets. He laughed and followed. The ease the girl used to navigate the streets had Tim marveling. The sound of her giggles had him smiling as he followed. Soon, they arrived at a small townhouse on the outskirts of the city. She glanced over her shoulder and inclined her head. Once they were both in the foyer, she guided him through to the sitting room.

“sorry about the…adventure. I know that you had more questions, and there were a few people in the café that I don’t trust.” Tim blinked, before nodding.

“I…ok? How did you know that I had questions? And as much as I liked exploring the city, where are we?” Marinette blushed slightly.

“we-ah. Well, we are at my Nona’s house. She lets me use it when she isn’t here to get some space. And…well…I know that your emails were full of questions, and I realized that anyone who wasn’t Parisian would have questions. And. Well. I saw a girl I don’t get along with in there and I wanted an excuse to get away from her?” Tim studied her for a moment, before bursting out laughing.

“Marinette, that would have been a perfectly fine reason, even without any reasonable justification. But” here, Tim worked to reign in his laughter, “the trip through the labyrinth of Paris, and the who thing…thank you.” A look of confusion crossed the girl’s face. “ever since I’ve landed, I’ve had the feeling that there was something watching me. Not only that, but everyone I’ve met has been holding their breath. I know that there is something going on, but I haven’t asked because I’m afraid of setting someone off. Do you know what’s going on in Paris? And why…why do I feel better here in your Nona’s home than in my hotel or the café?”

Marinette tensed as Tim talked. When he finished, she hesitated before voicing her concern. “Tim…did you say that you don’t feel like you’re being watched anymore?”

“yes?”

“oh my god. Tim! That’s…oh no. No. no. no! Tim…that means that Hawkmoth had decided that you would make a good Akuma. This house is out of the city proper, so he can’t get us here. Oh, this is so bad!”

“Marinette, hey. Stop. Look at me.” The girl, who had started to pace, paused. She glanced over at the older teen, her blue eyes wide in panic. Tim reached out and took her hands in his and gripped them tightly. Once her eyes were focused on him, and not the wall behind him, Tim spoke quietly. “Marinette are you with me?” she nodded. “is the reason that you reacted like that because of panic?” another nod. “talk me through why.” Her eyes went wide, and she looked at him in shock before taking a shaking breath and turning away.

“you could have been akumatized. You could have been akumatized and would have been with me and I would be to blame. Then you would-or still can- turn Jason and Nona against me. Then I could be exiled from Paris, or-“ Tim had squeezed her hands that he still somehow held during her spiral. Marinette spun around to face the older boy in shock.

“Marinette, how would me being akumatized become your fault? If we are going to lay blame on anyone, it would be Hawkmoth. He is the one who is going around possessing people with evil purple butterflies.” She studied him, shocked, before breathing out a sigh of relief.

“I am so sorry, Tim. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. That was so rude.” Tim shook his head in response as she collapsed onto one of the couches.

“you have nothing to apologize for. I have a feeling that after the time you spent in Gotham, living under a supervillain for four years has been stressful. Maybe during your time in Gotham, if you don’t have the sight of my face by then,” here the younger girl giggled, relief evident in her face at the proposal for other plans, “maybe I can take you around Gotham and give you the time to explore without a psychopath with mind-reading abilities hanging over your head.”

A small smile danced over Marinette’s lips. “I would love that Tim, thank you.”

Later that evening, Marinette sighed in frustration.

Her homework was just one more thing she had to worry about. Beyond that, she really wanted to spend time with Tim. With Hawkmoth watching him, she wasn’t sure how long her friend would last in the city of love.

Another sigh broke its way free from Marinette’s throat, and the girl pushed aside the pile of schoolwork in favor of looking over her sketchbook. There, on the open page, was Tim’s face staring back up at her. She wasn’t sure what prompted her to draw him, but in this case, she was chalking up to her hand having a mind of its own. Looking down at the picture, she felt anger overtake her. Marinette had already given up so much, and yet here she was.

If this ridiculousness from Hawkmoth didn’t stop, the teen knew she would have to sacrifice her friendship with Tim as well, If only to protect him. the seed of anger seemed to burn brighter, and the girl clenched her jaw, trying to remind herself that no, this was not worth an Akumatization.

She looked up, trying to drain her eyes of the tears that had gathered without her permission, and caught sight of a purple butterfly. With trembling hands, the teen pulled out a glass jar that she had been experimenting with. One muttered spell later, the Akuma was sitting inside of the jar, and the glass had clouded over. With an angry shake of the Jar, the girl pulled out her phone and sent one text. They were ending this, tonight.

As Marinette prepared to meet her team, an assuredness settled over her. She knew that they had the ability to take down Adrien’s father. Apate just had to give the signal. And Marinette Dupain Cheng would be damned if she let an emotional terrorist ruin one more day of her life.

It was time to take Gabriel Agreste down.

sooooooo........... who liked Alya, Chloé, and Adrien date crashing. one was unintentional, but the other two totally knew something was happening bc Mari did tell ANYBODY about Tim or meeting him.

side note, yes, I consider this the first date. they don't...yet.

ahhhhhhhhh Hawkmoth is going down. Angry Mari because her friend is being threatened? you bet! no, Chloé is NOT going to be happy.

if anyone has a good suggestion for a Gotham villain who is not the Joker or Riddler PLEASE let me know. I am PLOTTING. yes, my next stop is Google. no, no one is going to be happy.

TAGLIST

@moonlitceleste @redscarlet95 @ultimatetornshipper @mochegato @liquid-luck-00 @maskedpainter @trippingovermyfeet @nathleigh @m0chick0furan @susiej1118 @t1dwarrior-of-earth @sassakitty @remy-289 @solangelo252 @corporeal-terrestrial @woe-is-me0 @toodaloo-kangaroo @sizzling-fairy-oil

#a moment in time fic #maribat #ml x dc #timari #sibling!jasonette #my writing #ahhhhhhhhhhh #its coming together #arch 1 is almost doen #and arch 2 is halfway there

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facets-and-rainbows · 4 years ago

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Blue Exorcist 10th anniversary book Q&A session

The 10th anniversary book has a section where Katoh answers 100 questions submitted by fans on Twitter, so here they are translated/paraphrased! May contain manga spoilers up to the recent flashback arc, so be warned.

(Note that I’m playing it very fast and loose here because there are A HUNDRED OF THEM, so not exact wordings, but it should capture the gist. Lemme know if there are any you want elaborated on)

1. Katoh likes the feel of traditional drawing more than digital but is impressed with how far digital has come

2. Meph THOROUGHLY ABUSES spacetime to watch all his shows and ensure that he gets all the merch he wants

3. Did the girls take all of Yukio’s school uniform buttons in middle school? Yes, they did (apparently it’s like A Thing for girls to ask for a button from their crush at middle school graduation, based on some sad movie from the 60s where a guy who got drafted as a kamikaze pilot gave a girl one of his uniform buttons to remember him by)

4. Rin's tail is about a meter long

5. There are tons of servants working at Mephisto's mansion. Belial is in charge of them

6. Katoh borrows from all sorts of neat real locations when making settings

7. Katoh identifies with pretty much all the characters the most! Except Lucifer.

8. Demon designs she's proud of include the impure king and hachirou, pretty much anything that was the main one in an arc

9. Katoh lists a bunch of her favorite musical artists/music she’s listening to recently: King Gnu, Official Hige Dandism, Kenshi Yonezu, BAD HOP, Sakanaction, Keyakizaka 46, Hypnosis Mic, Aimer, B’Z, Queen Bee.

10. Awww the rabbit manga that characters are often reading isn't just Robo to Usakichi, it's an even older one that she drew as a little kid

11. She likes industrial style interior designs

12. Rin and Yukio alternated who got the top bunk growing up, because they couldn't agree on it lol

13. Katoh cares a whole lot about panel layouts and speech bubble positions, might even be her favorite part of the process (it shows!)

4. Katoh does NOT have a mashou, lol

15. Rin has probably been practicing in secret so he can learn to carry stuff with his tail

16. Izumo probably got into shojo manga around 1st grade, her mom had some around the house

17. Specialty dishes: Rin - lots of stuff but especially nabe Yuri - stuff you can throw together quickly Shiro - stuff he learned from Yuri and/or cookbooks, alongside teaching Rin Yukio - Does. Not. Cook.

18. Can't pick a favorite place she's been on research, but there's no place like Japan

19. Kinzou's band isn't currently meeting because demons, but he's probably still thinking of new songs

20. Hardest characters to draw: anyone with detailed flowing hair. Hardest to write for: Lightning and Gedouin. She had to go read books about serial killers specifically for material for Gedouin, lol

21. Suguro actually gets a dorm room to himself, though allegedly Yukio is technically assigned as his roommate, lol. Didn't end up that way what with Yukio being a teacher and also Rin’s whole...situation

22. Shiemi makes some of her own hair accessories! Cute

23. Katoh doesn't mind if you include stuff with fan letters but check with the editor first

24. Time for making each chapter: Planning/storyboarding: 1-5 days. Sketching: 3-5 days. Drawing/inking: the rest. Just...the rest of the time

25. Neither Suguro nor Izumo have dated before and neither is currently dating. But that's probably just because things were hectic for them! It could happen

26. Yukio breaks 5 or 6 pairs of glasses a year, someone get this kid a strap or something

27. How many spare glasses does Yukio have? Check the fanbook lol it's in there (dang it Katoh)

28. The demon she wants us to pay the most attention to is Lucifer. Because plot.

29. What's under the Order's big meeting table? It's a BOTTOMLESS PIT and if you fall in it you DIE that's what makes it COOL (laughs)

30. What are the job requirements for the angelic legion? Literally just Arthur liking you and inviting you to join

31. She WANTS to do more character profiles but just hasn't gotten to it

32. Rin's tail feels like a cat tail, texture wise

33. The "red Assiah fire" is literally just actual fire nothing special

34. Rin's current hair color is light blue fading to white at the ends

35. Thoughts on Rin's growth: she likes that he stays positive in awful situations and she also thinks it's very main character of him to face the past instead of avoiding it

36. Mephisto didn't purposely surround Rin with stuffed animals when he woke up after going crispy. Mephisto's bed is just Like That

37. Kurikara was based on a cool sword she found in a sword book, but that one was technically just a ceremonial sword. The symbol on it us a Sanskrit letter kaan (sp?) associated with Fudou Myouou

38. Kuro can communicate with normal cats and hangs out with them often

39. Sometimes Shiemi's skirt is extra fancy around the hem what's up with that? Apparently it's an optional accessory that comes with the skirts help I haven't noticed this and don't know any fashion terms in any language

40. When coloring, Katoh always tries to have an overall theme in mind ("emphasis on blue" etc) so it comes together in the end

41. Yes the twins are genetically related to Shiro because of Goro (she says they're like his nephews but I say GENETICALLY at least they'd be indistinguishable from his children)

42. Strongest mom of all the strong moms around here? Yuri! Did you SEE her give birth??

43. Are you careful about your own health Katoh-sensei? Not particularly! Her mom has had to bring her food at work sometimes! Don't do this at home kids

44. At the dating events Shura goes to, does she drink cocktails in moderation? Yeah, she probably downplays her normal drinking habits at these things. But normally she's down for just about any kind of drink

45. Lucifer just really likes oysters okay

46. How many pages of manga does Katoh draw in a day? If she's being good about self-care: three. Maximum number ever: TEN

47. Mephisto is one of those folks who can eat like a garbage compactor and never gain weight. Possibly because his body resists that sort of change the same way it resists aging etc

48. First food Rin cooked: fish burger type patty. Yukio's favorite things Rin cooks: fish simmered in soy sauce, yellowtail with daikon radish. It's fish all the way down

49: Did Rin ever get more monthly allowance from Mephisto? It doubled! He gets TWO 2000 yen bills now (rip) [T/N: That's uh, that's USD $37.26 a month or 33.10 euro]

50. Why isn't Rin more popular with the girls? He gets nervous talking to them, plus he's too oblivious to notice even if he DID have some fans

51. Why change Suguro's hair? She gets bored with keeping everything the same, and she wanted a visual representation that he was getting serious and going into kind of a training arc

52. Things Katoh pays extra attention to when drawing: trying to capture the feel of whatever she's drawing (like "that looks warm and soft" or "I bet that guy stinks" cough Lightning cough)

53: Does Rin take after Yuri more? (He's got her eyes!) Katoh tried to draw Yuri so she looks like both twins. Personality, too - Yukio has her smarts and Rin has her optimism

54: Do you ever wanna be like Mephisto? Well she'd like to be able to get away with just ANYTHING EVER, but no, let's not be like Mephisto

55. Konekomaru not only carries around a cat toy in case he meets any cats, he MAKES cat toys to carry around based on what he thinks the cats would like

56. How'd you come up with Shima? Go read the fan book!

57. Do the kids have Twitter/Instagram accounts? Rin - probably not. Konekomaru might be on some social media. Paku and Izumo are totally on instagram

58. Is there something Rin makes that you wish you could try? All of it! That's the whole idea! He's good at cooking!

59. Will we ever have a (G-rated) reveal of what ALL of Mamushi and her family's tattoos look like? Maybe! She'll think about it

60. Does Arthur have a repertoire of different hairstyles? Not really, he just puts some of it up on the top. Heck he might even have people to do that for him

61. If you wrote a shojo manga what would it be about? She'd have to do a lot of research before even coming up with a story, since there are so many style differences between the genres aside from just the subject

62. The other two of Mephisto's top 3 favorite foods: Cup ramen and....f-fried bubblegum?? Is that a THING???

63. Where do you start when drawing a character? Usually the outline of their face but if it's a complex pose/composition she'll start with whatever's in the foreground (like hands)

64. If Katoh could have a familiar, what demon would she choose? Mephisto. As the all-powerful author, she might actually be able to command him as a familiar!

66. If you swapped Yukio and Rin's relationship around what would change? not much, you'd pretty much have Rin going to the Illuminati and Yukio going to the past

67. Top 3 foods/souvenirs to try in Kyushu? Well she doesn't know what’s good CURRENTLY but when she was there she always used to like burdock tempura udon, hakata torimon (a kind of manju with white bean paste inside), and Chikae style cod roe. today I learned Katoh went to high school in Kyushu

68. Katoh listens to music a lot while she's storyboarding, then when she and the assistants are all drawing and inking they put various videos/movies and stuff on in the background

69. For all his hitting on girls, is Shima actually popular with the ladies at all? He's got enough girls in his life that he probably COULD find a girlfriend if he really wanted, but the double agent thing tends to get in the way. He still wouldn't be as popular as Yukio though (side thought/translator’s note: Shima would be proud of being number 69.)

70. Katoh has the ending planned out in a big-picture way, but there are still a few details here and there that she's fretting over

71. It's cute when the boys put their ties over their shoulders when they're working on something! Where'd that come from? She just figured a tie might get in the way and that seemed like a realistic way to get it out of the way

72. Looks like Yukio is getting some facial hair! What about Rin? They're both about the age for it, but maybe Rin can't grow a beard yet. Maybe a little peach fuzz here and there

73. Katoh's favorite blue exorcist merch? There were some exorcist licenses a while back, and the exorcist pins. Basically it's really cool that these little accessories she drew ACTUALLY EXIST NOW, LIKE YOU CAN HOLD THEM IN YOUR HANDS

74. Okay realtalk how long do we have left, I don't want the series to end yet? We're solidly in the second half by now but it's not, like, ABOUT to end yet

75. Katoh would be a Knight meister, based on what characters she likes to play in games and such

76. How many people in the whole exorcism cram school? More than you think! She doesn't give a number but apparently licensed exorcists also attend classes for new meisters, etc, so there's a wide age range attending

77. How's Arthur feel about, like, studying Taming on the way to becoming Paladin? He's at least mostly accepted that you have to use demons to fight demons effectively

78. Konekomaru started wearing glasses in his first year of middle school, so like 7th grade (more recent than I thought!) He has one spare pair, in contrast to Yukio lol

79. Katoh's current obsessions? Ghost/scary stories! She's even been going to live readings of them recently

80. Media Katoh consumes for inspiration? A wide range of foreign teen drama, horror/suspense, shojo manga, light novels, anime, etc. Special focus on things where two boys are in conflict or there are brothers involved

81. If they weren't exorcists what jobs would they have? Rin - chef. Yukio - doctor. Shiemi - uh, florist?

82. Inspiration for the design of True Cross Town? Katoh and her assistants gathered up a bunch of references, picked out stuff they felt matched the tone, and mashed them all up together

83. Did you use any references etc for the school/exorcist uniforms? She says she probably should have but she just kind of made them up before publication

84. Favorite part of drawing? For color pages, picking out a color scheme. For black and white, drawing in all the little details (though she doesn't always get time to lately)

85. Once again confirms the demon kings' weird hair is a representation of their horns. ADDS THAT PEOPLE WHO CAN'T SEE DEMONS CAN'T SEE THE WEIRD HAIR

86. Now that Yukio's at the Illuminati, where's he gonna get his Jump SQ and spare glasses? Well he probably never planned to stay for long, but hey it's a big ship and they might have an optometrist and/or newsstand there

87. Do you base the demon characters on any references etc? Not really, she just gets a general idea of popular demon designs and then makes up her own in her own style

88. Merchandise Katoh personally wants to have made: stuff that an adult could just use in their day to day life. Also, it's not gonna happen, but if her favorite figure brand made AoEx figures she could die happy

89. If Beelzebub's host body was a beautiful woman, how would Shima react? Would the womanizing win out over the bug phobia? Katoh replies that Shima would probably just faint from being near a girl that pretty, before the bugs even got involved

90. Will the twins ever get to smile and eat dinner together again?? We'll just have to wait and see!

91. What do you check at a "scenario check"? what's a scenario check man I dunno They check for people being out of character or the setting feeling off. They had a lot of these checks for the anime, but they also do them for the drama CD, games, and all that other stuff where multiple authors are involved

92. Why does Shura use baldy as an insult for people who are clearly not bald? She feels like they have some kind of metaphorical, mental kind of "baldness" and she's calling them out on it. Whatever that means

93. After Blue Exorcist ends, what do you want to draw next? She has SO MANY IDEAS, SO MANY

94. Did Katoh make up the Shinto chants that, for example, Izumo used against Gedouin? They're assembled from bits of actual Shinto prayers according to what feels right in the scene

95. Yukio reads the Jump SQ, right, and, just hear me out here, he likes gag manga, right? Does this mean he reads Salaryman Yukio? It's something he would read, but let's say that in the AoEx universe there's just a very similar manga that he finds oddly relatable

96. What do Yukio and Shima do in their free time on the Dominus Liminus? oh my god you guys this ship has so many amenities. Yukio probably spends time reading in the library, which they totally have. There's also, like, a gym, and a movie theater, and a THEATER theater, all of which are free. Shima probably hangs out at the pool (!) and goes to the movies, and hits on illuminati girls, lol

97. Easiest character to draw? The ones with boring simple hair, lol. Lightning gets an honorable mention for ALSO not having eyes in most shots, but Rin wins--he was specifically designed to be easy for Katoh to draw because that's what you want in your main character

98. How do demons understand gender? They just possess whatever feels like the best match to how they feel in Gehenna, whether that's a man, or a woman, or a rat, or whatever

99. Where do you start when you're coming up with a story? She starts with character design and how the characters relate to each other. Currently she's just continuing an existing story, so she works on splitting up the overall plot into episodes and fleshing it out with scenes and information about characters

100. When do you feel most happy? She honestly feels like she lives a very happy life overall. Mentions noticing a lot of little things, like how nice her cats' heads smell when she cuddles them or taking a nice cold refreshing drink of water. There's happiness in everything. aww.

#blue exorcist #interview #Ao no Exorcist #translation

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