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riisinaakka-draws · 4 years ago

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part 2/6

2nd part of my old Black Sails scraps and doodles from 2016–2021. Not in any particular order.

This time the drawings are short comics that were abandoned for a reason or another, mostly because I lost the interest or felt like there was too much to redraw compared to the satisfaction of finishing something else more interesting. There’s also some talk about rigid mindset and how overthinking can lead to stagnation.

Contains early silverflint moments, specks of dust, rackham's glasses are found, jealous-Billy spying, desk-Flint gets caught, "squint-squint", a quiet moment and its bird dilemma etc.

And please do not steal and repost elsewhere. But if you do get inspired, feel free to make your own interpretations!

Long-ish post under the cut!

“What are you thinking about?”

“Specks of dust.”

“Liar.”

The idea was to show how much they and their relationship had changed. This was around 2016 when the season 3 began and I was still re-learning to draw with a tablet. Another art from the same time period (and idea) is this art: The Dynamic Duet.

And for some reason I was really stuck up thinking that I’d have to first do the sketch, then the clean line art, then planes underneath, then shadows etc. and I have always struggled with that kind of approach! Mainly because I hate doing clean line work, lol. And I was a fool for trying to start with a white canvas! It’s so much harder to find values and plan things, or at least in my opinion..

“Rackham’s glasses are found”

To celebrate their new pirate alliance, they share the four lenses of Rackham’s sunglasses as they were also found at the time (because I wanted it to resurface and they could be made into jewellery you know...). This was right after the episode where Anne fights and hurts her hands (here wearing protecting mittens from Max even though she’s not trusted at the moment). Uh, this doesn’t spark joy interest me much and it’s quite stiff and would recuire a lot of redrawing faces, so - discarded!

I somewhat like the idea still (them having something to share, although it’s on Jack’s detriment). I tried to find a stylished comical easier doodlier? way to draw them and draw clean lines etc, but it just wasn’t for me. Also here too, the background is blank and too bright. Later I started to think things as scenes and draw everything at the same time instead of adding the bg later or trying to show everything (and everyone) at the same time.

Here’s also Billy in the same story:

He’s spying on them and since it’s so bright he’s wearing his diy “sunglasses” and being envious to the others. *cough* uhhh...Idk? Also people were shipping Ben Gunn (and cheese) with Billy, so that bled into this too... Charles’ spirit is riding the “big white bird” that was mentioned in Teach’ story and in this case it’s a pelican.

As you can see, I also wasn’t using the brushes that I use nowadays. A hard (or soft) round brushes with no change in opacity just aren’t for me. For example, in traditional art, I struggle with markers and copics, but really enjoy charcoals and watercolours. I prefer ragged edges, layering and thus blending things into each other (and leaving the viewer to fill in the gaps) instead of having stark or definite things. I also struggle with vector drawings, although I have decided to finally start learning to use them...somedayyyy.

Also, I wasn’t paying attention to anatomy, like, at all LMAO. I was just so happy to be able to put something on the canvas.

This is one of my first ink drawings, but I cannot find the original anymore. Again, I like the idea, but not how things look art-wise. And I was so adamant, that I have to get everything right in the traditional drawing and not fix anything later on on photoshop because then it would be cheating. And thus, I was never able to move on or finish this properly the way I liked it (idiot).

BUT! It was a good practise to just draw and test things on paper and gain confidense on drawing things in overall (as I was still getting back into art). To get over the fear of blank paper you know, and try to find my style whatever it would start to form into.

Oh, yeah, Desk Flint.

Desk Flint was a thing for a while (still is, lol). Another drawing from that time is this Slingshot Pirate (2016). And Desk Flint keeps repeating in many later works too. The point is mainly “Flint sitting behind his desk and people interrupt him and I don’t have to draw him fully”

Well, anyway... moving on.

Here’s a plan that has been stuck for years. It’s name is “Squint-squint.” Left is the sketch (with another sketch underneath because the expressions were clearer in the old one). On the right is the continued piece with colour scheme but I cropped the eyes panel and faces out (it was so ugly for some reason) but if I ever continue/finish this, it will be redrawn there in the middle.)

Left. “On that moment their eyes were literally open(ed).”

Right. “After squinting on the shore for days, they had actually forgotten how pretty the other idiot’s eyes were.”

I still like it, quite a lot, but my perfectionist ass only sees too much “boring” things to draw and get right, so it hasn’t been a priority for a long time and other works have kept me occupied and more interested in them.

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“Quiet Moment.” 2018 (a wordless comic happening after the events of Charles Town)

I’m going to explain after these pictures, but see how big the difference is when you start to look at references and plan things together (the space, “camera” movement, background etc). I also started to colour with coarser brushes:

I drew this around early 2018. A lot of improvement! Still quite a lot of negative space (empty white backgrounds), but it fits this work. A few things tell where we are (the ship’s cabin and the balcony). Changing distances and how things are cropped/framed make things more moving and focused (and less to draw, lol). Colours and brush strokes are softer, more layered and so on.

But guess why it’s still a wip!

I couldn’t decide what bird is flying over there.

Yeap! At first it was an albatross (doesn’t go to Bahamas?). Then a seagull (but which seagull? there’s so many subspecies! Is the ship at sea or at the harbour? what birds are there on the open water/ close to the shore?? oh noo...) So, yeah, wayyyy too much over-thinking.

At some point I ended up with white-tailed-tropic-bird which was a plus! because it sounds like the bosun’s whistle, but at that point I was so tangled and frustrated and still had so much to finish with this that I left it be. Also Flint’s face looks different in every frame so I would’ve had to change some parts, lol. And then I forgot it for a couple of years! And then I had learned to draw a bit differently and again saw too much things to do, so it’s quite hard to take on this again, especially when there are so many other interesting wips waiting...

But I still really like the feeling of it! And the colour scheme. So I might just limit the things I’m allowed to fix and then post it as it own someday. I mean, it’s 90% finished, but the last reach just feels like miles.

And that’s what usually happens with my wips. They reach a certain point and it suddenly becomes really hard to finish or get back into.

But every time I learn things and then use the information in another work! :D

Final note for this post (altough this has been said hundreds of times): use references and look how things go and try to see the structure and form beneath things. And think where it is happening and how the light and surroundings affects the characters and/or spaces. And maybe think what you’re trying to convey with the art, what idea? what emotions? what purpose? or like, what are you trying to learn with the piece? and so on...

Thanks for checking this out, I hope you had fun <3

#black sails doodle #long post #but not as long as the future ones heh #tag for Block Spoils doodles #<- if you want to black list these

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defeatedbyamerechild · 4 years ago

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How well can each villian draw? I'm especially curious about Maxie and Cyrus's skills. I've probably said this a lot but I love your art! I don't have an account on Tublr so I search up your blog every day! The first thing that comes up on my recently searched is always DBAMC! XD

Oooh OK! I have in fact some drawings of how each villain draws... Some drawings are from the “meet the villains” post and some are from a future project that I’m not going to talk about for now... XD I didn’t have drawings of all characters, but... I made some for the occasion too!

Anyways, here they are:

Giovanni:

Although Gio has a good visual-spacial intelligence, it’s more about a good sense of direction and capacity to understand visual information than about his artistic abilities. He is good at understanding visual input, but not good at translating the visual info on his head to an actual paper. Besides, he doesn’t make an effort. He just “decided” that he is bad at it and so he doesn’t try to do anything other than simple stick figures.

Archie:

Archie likes drawing with crayons and thick pencils, usually. He is a fan of “children media” like child games and cartoons, so his style is influenced by that. He doesn’t have a great knowledge of anatomy, but that is not important for him, since his style is simplified and cute. In terms of colors, Archie is not super consistent with his color choices. He uses the colors available at the moment and that’s good enough for him.

Maxie:

Being a perfectionist, Maxie really cares about the proportions in his drawings. He draws a structural skeleton before drawing people, so that he can have an idea of the proportions and positions involved. He has a very delicate hand so his drawings tend to be light and have thin lines. He likes coloring with watercolor and tries to keep it as close to reality as possible. He has a strong aesthetic sense and to him it’s important that the drawing looks pretty in the end. He doesn’t add lost of shading, to him, color is more important than the shadows, making his drawings a bit 2d-looking.

Cyrus:

Cyrus is also very delicate in terms of physical touch, so his drawings also tend to have light lines. However, differently from Maxie, he is not very much concerned about the final product’s aesthetic appeal. He wants it to be recognizeable and similar to reality in terms of basic shapes and shadows. Usually prefers pencils. Colors don’t matter much to him, as he considers the interactions between light and dark more important than them. However, if Cyrus is drawing just to illustrate an action, not to create a portrait, he will definitely simplify his drawings a lot, like the first example here. In that case, he will use the first pen or pencil he finds.

Ghetsis:

Ghetsis is not only very talented for arts in general, but also knowledgeable in the history of art and techniques involved. He is not a fan of cartoony styles, and prefers to use paint other than pencils or pens. Ghetsis works with masses of colors and lighting other than contours, lines and bidimensional shapes. He is also very fond of realism, and will keep working on one same piece for days, even months... That, of course, when he has the patience and will to actually make art. When he is out of patience, well... You have the first example.

Similarly to Giovanni, N is not very talented for drawing. The difference is that N is acutally trying his best. He tries to put all the shapes he can perceive in his body into paper, but doesn’t have any idea of how these shapes interact when put in a certain angle and from a certain perspective. You can notice how the hand is inverted, for example. Here, he used ballpoint pens of different colors.

Colress:

Colress also likes the cartoon-like proportions, just like Archie, but his style is not that much inspired by children’s media. He doesn’t care much about consistent propotions, as long as you can see that it’s the same person on both drawings, for example. He tends to draw all faces the same, because facial features are not that easy for him, so everyone has those same black eyes, nostrils and mouth. He will change the expressions depending on what he wants to show, though. He likes pixelated edges on his art, and usually works on the computer.

Lysandre:

Lysandre loves to experiment with different styles, usually on the computer, but sometimes by hand too. He is very fond of warm tones adn curved lines. He usually likes to make definite contours, strong and visible outlines that make the drawing pop out from the backgrount. He will sometimes break that rule too, since he loves to try different things all the time! Most of Lysandre’s drawing depict himself with all sorts of emotions. In his opinion, art doesn’t have to be true to reality, what matters most is the aesthetic result of an artwork.

Lusamine:

Lusamine will work with wathever materials she finds. On her old drawing of “herself” (Nihilego), she used thick whiteboard pens, but on her newest drawing, she used thin pens on paper. Her style is slightly inspired by Dr. Seuss in terms of propotions, but with many differences in terms of execution: instead of several lines composing the outline of her drawing, Lusamine draws with one long stroke for each shape. Her aesthetics usually include lots of curves and curls.

Guzma:

Most of the time, Guzma uses thick markers for his drawings. He is careless when drawing outlines, but his style is somewhat consistent. On “meet the villains”, Guzma traced a generic anime-style man to make his own portrait. For that, he used a thin felt-tip pen, to try to make it look more “professional”. Guzma cares more about the big picture and much less about the details.

Piers:

Piers has his own style, just like nearly everything about him. He developped a technique to make his lines look like barbed wire, and loves to use pointy shapes and spikes all over his art. The keywords for his style are “sharp edges”. Although Piers loves colorful stuff, he thinks he is “bad at colouring”, and so he prefers to keep his own art black and white. He says it’s better to have something black and white than badly painted.

Rose:

Rose’s style was inspired by comics and cartoons, specially short strip comics that work on a “gag-a-day” format. Resemblance to reality is not vital for him, so people won’t have different shapes of head or eyes in his art. He works with a kind of “formula” where every human follows the same basic structure and differences are added later on. He thinks the facial expressions are very important on his drawings, so his characters have big eyes and mouths most of the time.

Anyways...

I usually don't like to talk about drawing "well" or not when it comes to art, because it's actually pretty relative... Although, yes, sometimes there are people who can't really draw much. Giovanni is one of them, for example, and N is also not great. That aside, we have some with more skills like Ghetsis and Maxie, and some with average skills... Each one has their own style! Here are the examples of their art! ^^

Also! I'm really glad to hear that you like my art that much! I wanted to take this content other places than Tumblr, but Instagram and Twitter didn't really have the same charm, specially because of how photo albums work there. I'm still thinking about what to do, then maybe you'll be able to see the comics on another media! ^^

#dbamchalloween2020

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gurestart · 4 years ago

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Schrödinger's Elemental

In which Gaster contemplates the anatomy and physiology of a fire elemental, while Grillby is just lazy. A short Grillster fic.

AO3 link

It was after hours at Grillby's. Gaster was sitting at the bar, observing Grillby as the bartender cleaned glassware. His gaze was drawn to the elemental's glasses. He knew hidden behind all the light reflected on the glasses were Grillby's eyes.

What would it be like to catch him unawares and take off those glasses? Gaster stifled a laugh behind his hand. Would Grillby's eyes dart around unfocused, trying to see where his glasses went? Or would it reveal a dashing face with smouldering eyes, unfazed by the antics of a mischievous skeleton? Heat spread across his face and his other hand shot up to better hide his blush. He had a hypothesis to test.

"Grillby!" he called out, grabbing the elemental's attention. He signed as he spoke, “Come here for a second.”

Grillby placed the glass on the counter and walked over. The moment he was in range, Gaster reached out and deftly plucked the glasses from the elemental's face, leaving Grillby no time to react at all. And the skeleton saw...

Fire. Bright orange fire curling down into a vague jawline and neck. Flames flickering over where a face should be, but no eyes or mouth or any facial features in sight. Until two horizontal slits of light, slightly brighter than the surrounding flames, shimmered into existence at the middle. It gradually thickened and blinked, forming a pair of shining white eyes that burnt curiously at the silent skeleton.

"Were your eyes closed the entire time?" Gaster exclaimed.

Grillby's eyes crinkled in confusion. "...No? They just were not there when you took my glasses off."

Gaster paused. Then he gaped, hands signing incredulously, "You didn’t have eyes?"

The elemental sighed, though there was a hint of fondness in his exasperation. "No, Gaster. I just sometimes get lazy about showing my eyes when I have glasses on. Others can hardly see my eyes past the glass anyway when there is so much light reflecting around it." He winked. "I’m a being of fire and magic. Just because you cannot see my eyes doesn't mean I am not looking at you."

"Oh," Gaster hummed contemplatively. Interesting. He had assumed Grillby's eyes would always be visible because whenever the glasses were off, he would see those two white slits blinking back at him. The only times Gaster thought he had observed their absence were when the elemental was asleep, the white slits disappearing as if covered by eyelids.

Wait. Grillby's words played through his mind again. I am looking at you when you do not notice. "O-oh," he stammered, no hands covering his blush this time.

Grillby crackled a laugh and plucked the glasses out of Gaster's boneless (hah) fingers, putting them back on. As always there were no discernible nose or ears for the glasses to perch on. They just sat nicely where they were supposed to be. Magic.

His eyes were covered again, but Gaster knew the elemental was smiling because he had parted his lips slightly to let the bright white light of his mouth stand out against the orange flames. Or perhaps... he had formed a mouth just to smile? He thought back to his observations of Grillby's face.

There were times when he could not see the white light of Grillby's mouth or a moving jawline when he spoke, so it was safe to assume the elemental’s mouth was not always visible when speaking. Which lead to the question of whether he actually needed a mouth to speak, or was his voice magically projected just as his sight was?

Yet Gaster had definitely seen Grillby's mouth move in sync with vocalisations before, usually when he was smiling or grimacing or laughing or just generally expressing emotions with his mouth while he talked. So did Grillby only manifest his mouth for certain expressions, or was it simply tucked behind a pair of invisible lips, waiting to be revealed at the right moment?

And what about his lips? Were they always there or were they created on demand? Gaster knew those lips existed somehow. They were a perfect pair of lips: soft, warm, inviting... and very distracting every time he had the opportunity to affirm their existence.

Yet right now he was hard-pressed to actually spot those lips among the flickering oranges and reds of a head-shaped flame. Thus, there was no indication if his mouth was actually in there, right now, as long as his lips were closed. Schrödinger's mouth... Perhaps he should open the box to confirm its contents existed—

"...Gaster."

The sound of his name shook him out of his thoughts. He realised he had been staring at Grillby's invisible-perhaps-hypothetical mouth for the entire time his mind went off on a tangent and was instantly mortified.

"Sorry about that," he laughed nervously, eye lights darting to and away from the glasses that may or may not had white slits behind them. "Got carried away thinking about—"��your lips, and how I would like open them "—quantum mechanics."

Oh dear, that was the very opposite of smooth. He snapped his jaw shut and slapped his hands flat on the counter to stop digging himself into a hole.

If Grillby had visible eyebrows, they would surely be frowning now. All he revealed instead was a confused blue flicker of his flames. "My face made you think of... quantum mechanics?"

The skeleton shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know how my mind spun so far away."

Grillby was silent for a moment. Then, slowly and purposefully like the cat that swallowed the canary, he leaned forward and rested his arms on the bar counter, close enough that Gaster could feel the soft warmth of the elemental's flaming head against his cheekbones. The white line of his open mouth curved into a smirk. "I'd like to hear what was on your mind."

Being so close, Gaster could see past the reflections in Grillby's glasses to spot his eyes crinkling in amusement, and something else... deeper. Captivated by some unknown force, Gaster leaned forward as well.

"I was just thinking about how I’m not sure if there is always a mouth behind those lips of yours, especially when," he lowered his voice in what he hoped was a sultry tone—as sultry as he could in an accent as strange as his font, "I can barely see your lips."

"Well, having a mouth would mean there is a cavity in my head." Grillby winked again. "Let's just say I am quite adept at controlling the placement and temperature of my flames. As for my lips..." He was so close now that he only needed to whisper, "If you have trouble seeing them, perhaps you would like to check through other means if they are here or not?"

Grinning, Gaster whispered back, "I would very much like to."

And the box was opened.

A/N: This fic is probably a bit silly. I was thinking about how in anime and manga, there is a trope of taking off glasses in a seductive or comical manner. Like how a character would tip their glasses down to woo someone with their eyes, or their glasses get knocked off to reveal eyes squinting so hard they become two pairs of?? lips?? Anyway I thought it would be funnier if there were no eyes behind the glasses, just a blank face of fire. Then it got me thinking if Grillby as a being of fire actually needed facial features to sense the world, or did he just manifest them to let others understand his expressions, because not everyone can read the colour of his flames. Thus this silly fic and its probably inappropriate use of the Schrödinger's cat metaphor was spawned.

#undertale #grillster #grillby #gaster #undertale fanfic #established relationship #awkward flirting #using quantum mechanic metaphor #cos that's how gaster rolls #grillby is much better at it #the flirting part not the quantum mechanics

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youarejesting · 4 years ago

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BTS365 Prompts.Week 41

[Full Masterlist] [Prompt Masterlist] [Tag yourself here]

Please tag me in your work if you use my prompts. I want to see your work. Ever your Jester. Tell me your birthday and I will tag you on your special day!

═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════

Oct 8st - 14th

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Kim Seokjin - curious

Jin never thought he would ever get dirty, that he would ever go somewhere so foreign to him. But here he was in the ridiculous yellow suit and hat provided to him by the staff and producers. The others looked cool in their outfits and colours and he just looked like a banana. The others teased him and he tried to force the redness from his face, neck and ears.

They started the safari, walking around when something dropped on his shoulder. Seokjin froze and the monkey crawled around his body sniffing and looking for the snacks Seokjin had in his pockets to feed said monkeys when they reached the enclosure.

“That’s our monkey George he loves the colour yellow, we named him after curious George”

“That’s who you look like!” The boys all cheered, making Jin’s ears turn red once more.

Min Yoongi - party

Yoongi didn’t like parties, he didn’t like the volume, the capacity he didn’t like dressing up and dancing and yet he was always trying to please his friends and go to the parties anyway. Today he couldn’t take it, he thought about somewhere to hide and thought perhaps a room, but people would wonder why he is sitting around and he would have to awkwardly explain himself.

He could hide in a closet but people would most likely think the room is empty and then if they found him they would think he was waiting to peep on others. He looked around a room about to leave when he heard a giggle from out the window. Ducking his head out he didn’t see anyone but he heard another giggle this time from above. He turned his head up to see two feet dangling off the edge of the roof.

Climbing over the edge he saw you lying there looking at your phone and giggling. “Hey are you okay?”

“Yeah, just uh… escaping,” You smiled “I don’t like parties, too loud and awkward”

Jung Hoseok - old

“Harabeoji” A small voice shouted and footsteps patted across the front porch, where you and your husband were sitting softly on an outdoor bench swing. “Harabeoji look what I drew at school today?”

“What did you draw my son?”

“I drew our family, look mum dad and then there is you and Halmeoni?” You looked over at the picture and laughed.

“What are these lines?” Hoseok asked, pointing at the picture.

“Wrinkles because you are old?” Your grandson laughed

“It’s okay my love, you may be old. But I still love you?” You chuckled “We have been together for sixty years now, and you are still my hope”

Kim Namjoon - farmers

He knew nothing about farms but his grandfather gave one to him in his will, he could inherit all the money as long as he lasted one whole year living on the farm. He thought it would be easy. He was wrong.

What started as a dream holiday became a nightmare in moments, no electricity, no hot water, no internet. But this little farm has something the city didn’t. It had you.

Park Jimin - lace

The fans were going off thanking you, the head stylist for Jimin's latest outfit. You smiled, they thought you were doing it for them, the fans when really you also wanted to see them wear these things. But you couldn’t just start putting them in risky outfits all the time or they would suspect so you saved them for special occasions.

You were planning the next outfit sketching it out and sighed the boys in crop tops and some in skirts. It was a fantasy come true. You knew you couldn’t, but you set about making the outfits anyway.

A week later the boys were going to a gala and you grabbed the bags with their names on it and handed the items to them. Each one got changed and stepped out for you to help them with their suits before heading off to the hair makeup artists.

“Ah Noona, I think you gave me the wrong outfit”

Jimin stepped out blushing, he was in a lace crop top and a skirt and you felt heat in your face. It was so hot Jimin shouted “Noona your bleeding”

Kim Taehyung - skeptic

Taehyung was your business partner, and the two of you were pretty famous on youtube. You were a ghost hunting duo called the ‘Spooky times’. Where the two of you would travel around the world to some of the most haunted locations and try to find evidence of ghosts and other paranormal creatures.

“Hey rollerghosters welcome back to another BOO-tiful location, today we are at the LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans which is one of the most famous haunted locations. And we are going to find ourselves a ghost” Taehyung smiled into the camera and you laughed from the corner of the screen you were dressed especially cute today.

Everyone within the fan base knew you were not afraid of anything, you would also encourage Taehyung when he found something. Talking up every whisper and creak that it could in fact be a ghost. Taehyung wasn’t scared either, finding everything rather amusing and wanting to speak to a spirit was his ultimate goal.

The cameraman Hoseok and the Sound guy Yoongi were two of the jumpiest in the group. The two crew members were fan favourites, Jhope was known for his extreme reactions, once or twice throwing the camera and running out of the building. Yoongi was rarely ever seen but often heard his slow drawl when he complained about having to take eight flights of stairs in an old hotel because someone had been complaining about walking in the attic.

There were many compilations of the cast and crew on youtube . Some of your favorites include Yoongi, trying to fist fight ghosts and Hoseok’s collection of funny noises. Of course you and your co-star had your fair share, most were shipping videos but there were one or two of Taehyung being adorable, funny or sexy and some of you staring and talking to ghosts.

The fans believed you could see them, and they weren’t wrong. What they didn’t know was that you were a high ranked demon, old and powerful. As you stepped into haunted buildings you could see other ghosts and entities within and glared down any who got too close to your friends.

This had resulted in a few clips of you talking to nothing, but you just made the same excuse that you were documenting your surroundings and noting the architecture of the building. They would never know.

Jeon Jungkook - intergalactic

You were the only humans on the ship among a few species of aliens, well aliens from your perspective you assumed as to them you were the aliens. You were sitting next to an Alzothian named Daa, he was bigger and had more advanced optical nerves. All round the Alzothians had amazing eyesight, it had freaked you out at first as they could see, xray, infrared, ultraviolet light and more things that you hadn’t the science to comprehend.

“You are blue eart’ling, what ‘as caused you to feel the emotion you ‘oomans call sad” The deep voice spoke the vocal cords and lung capacity of the Alzothian were minimal. It meant the H sound was tiresome so they skipped it when they could, preferring to speak further back in their throats to prevent the unnecessary exhaling.

“I am just feeling lonely,” You sighed, “I get like this sometimes, when I miss human contact, do not worry”

“You are not alone, I am ‘ere” Daa gestured to himself and you gave a short laugh. “And your eart’ling friend mister goo as you call ‘im, is on the ship to, I will call your ‘ooman companion”

“Hey, what is going on?” Jungkook appeared with another Alzothian; this one was Crolyt who was learning about human anatomy and biology and the bodies limits.

“The female Eart’ling is feeling the emotion sad and needs ‘ooman contact.” Daa spoke

“Do you need a hug?” Jungkook asked you and you blushed but nodded wrapping your hands around his waist and pressing your face against his chest. Jungkook hugged back his arms around your shoulders gently rubbing your back.

“Success you are no longer blue” Daa smiled

“Daa we should leave from what I ‘ave gathered this seems to be the beginnings of their mating ritual” Your cheeks went bright red and when you looked up you saw Jungkook’s ears also crimson kissed by embarrasment.

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ageofevermore · 4 years ago

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1-96

(1) Do You Sleep With Your Closet Doors Open Or Closed?

it’s a dual sliding door, so usually one sides open. but preferably, both doors are closed.

(2) Do You Have Freckles?

sometimes in the summer, not often though.

(3) Can You Whistle?

yes!

(4) Last Song You Listened To.

well for some reason there’s a guy on my TV singing God Bless The USA

(5) What Is Your Favourite Colour?

purple

(6) Relationship Status.

single because my favorite omegle guy won’t answer me

(7) What Is The Temperature Right Now?

48F / 9C

(8) Did You Wake Up Cranky?

i woke up wishing i was still asleep

(9) How Many Followers?

835

(10) Zodiac Sign.

Sun: Capricorn, Rising: Aries, Moon: Aquarius

(11) What Is Your Eye Colour?

brown / hazel

(12) Take A Vitamin Daily?

(13) Do You Sing In The Shower?

obviously, i’m not completely insane

(14) What Books Are You Reading?

whatever fucking book my english class assigned...

(15) Grab The Book Nearest To You, Turn To Page 64, Give Me Line 14.

i literally only have a text book by me and opening it is triggering

(16) Favourite Anime?

i don’t watch anime

(17) Last Person You Cried In Front Of?

my mom...about greys anatomy...but still my mom about christmas and my birthday. i cry alot, but i like REALLY cried about those two topics

(18) Do You Collect Anything?

chapstick, trauma, candles

(19) What Did You Have For Lunch?

it’s only 10am and i haven’t even thought about breakfast

(20) Do You Dance In The Car?

yes, and then my mom yells at me because i do nothing “subtly” and the entire car shakes

(21) Favourite Animal?

white siberian tigers, snow leopards, dolphins, and now elephants

(22) Do You Watch The Olympics?

unfortunately. i love gymnastics, but like, i’m not trying to watch men in toboggans and swim caps

(23) What Time Do You Usually Go To Bed?

anywhere between 12pm and 3am

(24) Are You Wearing Makeup Right Now?

no, i never wear makeup because it makes me look more ugly

(25) Do You Prefer To Swim In A Pool Or The Ocean?

ocean

(26) Favourite Tumblr Blog?

besides my friends i don’t really have a favorite blog, i stick to my circle and don’t venture very far

(27) Bottled Water Or Tap Water?

bottled.

(28) What Makes You Happy?

i couldn’t tell you...

(29) Post A Gif Of What You’re Currently Feeling Right Now.

(30) Do You Study Better With Or Without Music?

without, but i always start with it on. it never lasts more then two songs.

(31) Dogs Or Cats?

dogs

(32) If You Were A Crayon What Colour Would You Be?

a shade of purple from the crayola 200 pack

(33) PlayStation Or Xbox.

wii

(34) Would You Swim In The Lake Or Ocean?

ocean

(35) Do You Believe In Magic?

hell mothering fucking year i do baby, lets take that train to hogwarts

(36) What Colour Shirt Are You Wearing?

its a friends pj crop, so black and white stripped with the central perks logo

(37) Can You Curl Your Tongue?

yup

(38) Do You Save Money Or Spend It?

save money

(39) Is There Anything Pink Within 10 Feet Of You?

my cup

(40) Do You Have Any Obsessions Right Now?

stranger things ig

(41) Have You Ever Caught A Butterfly?

no, those assholes scare me, but i’ve grown + released them

(42) Are You Easily Influenced By Other People?

um chile, i would follow my best friend off a cliff with no hesitation

(43) Do You Have Strange Dreams?

all the fucking time

(44) Do You Like Going On Airplanes?

ITS MY FAVORITE FORM OF TRAVEL

(45) Name One Movie That Made You Cry.

the hannah montana movie

(46) Peanuts Or Sunflower Seeds?

peanuts

(47) If I Handed You A Concert Ticket Right Now, Who Would You Want The Performer To Be?

one direction

(48) Are You A Picky Eater?

yes

(49) Are You A Heavy Sleeper?

yes, but it takes me forever to fall asleep

(50) Do You Fear Thunder / Lightning?

yea, depends on the day and the level of scardy bitch i feel like being

(51) Do You Like To Read / Write?

i love both

(52) Do You Like Your Music Loud?

hell yeah, let me feel the beat in my kidneys

(53) Would You Rather Carve Pumpkins Or Wrap Presents?

carve pumpkins

(54) Put Your Music On Shuffle, What Is The First Song That Came Up?

no tears left to cry by ag

(55) What Season Are You In Right Now? (Weather)

fall

(56) What Are You Craving Right Now?

a churro + peppermint mocha frap

(57) Post A Screenshot Of Your Tumblr Feed.

(58) What Is Your Gender?

female (she/her)

(59) Coffee Or Tea?

iced coffee / sweet tea

(60) Do You Have Any Homework Right Now? If So, What Is It About?

yeah, i have environmental homework and US I homework and Algebra II homework

(61) What Is Your Sexuality?

bruh, idk

(62) Do You Make Your Bed In The Morning?

no, that shit’s never made

(63) Favourite Pokemon?

jigglypuff

(64) Favourite Social Media?

pintrest

(65) What’s Your Opinion On Instagram Stories?

they’re okay

(66) Do You Get Homesick?

no. i don’t miss thins very easily, i’m away from home for a week and i have no doubt that i could spend the rest of my life without going back.

(67) Are You A Virgin?

yes sir

(68) What Shampoo And Conditioner Are You Using Right Now?

idk, some really thick and heavy in hydration set

(69) If You Were Far From Home And Needed To Sleep For The Night, Would You Choose To Rent A Crappy Motel Room For $60 Or Sleep In Your Car For Free?

sleep in my car, though both options scare me

(70) Are Both Of Your Blood Parents Still In Your Life?

i have a strained relationship with my bio dad, but unfortunately i still have to associate myself with him a few times a year

(71) Whats The Next Movie You Want To See In Theaters?

black widow or spiderman 3, but i’m willing to see anything just take me back!

(72) Do You Miss Your Ex?

i’ve never had an ex, but i do wish krystian would stop ignoring me. stupid scotland boys

(73) What Is Your Favourite Quote Right Now?

“friends dont lie”

(74) What Eye Colour Do You Find Sexiest?

green / brown

(75) Did You Like Swinging As A Child? Do You Still Get Excited When You See A Swing Set?

i loved swinging, but a few years ago it started making me dizzy so i don’t swing very often anymore. but tire swings especially are my shit

(76) What Was The Last Thing You Ate?

chicken flavored ramen

(77) What Games Do You Have On Your Phone?

yes

(78) Would You Give A Homeless Person CPR If They Were Dying? Why Or Why Not?

yeah...because they’re dying and if i have the skills to save them...why wouldn’t i?

(79) Been On The Computer For 5 Hours Straight?

honey, i do full virtual high school. we stan a pandemic (we don’t)

(80) Stalked Someone On A Social Network?

social media stalker is my middle name. not anymore though, i haven’t been asked to find a boy in a while

(81) Do You Like Meeting New People?

no. i hate it. anxiety city man.

(82) Do You Wear Rings? If You Do, Take A Picture Of Them.

i don’t wear rings, but i really want to.

(83) Do You Sleep With Your Bedroom Door Open Or Closed?

closed

(84) What Are Three Things You Did Today?

woke up, watched stranger things, made ramen

(85) What Do You Wear To Bed?

whatever i fall asleep in.

(86) List All Of Your Different Beauty Products You Have Right Now.

are beauty and skincare the same? because i don’t own much makeup.

(87) Are You A Day Or Night Person?

i used to be a night person. but this pandemic has hit hard with depression and i’ve become a stay in bed all day person

(88) List All Of Your Video Games On Your Phone, Console Etc.

2048 balls, among us, ball sort puzzle, bubble shooter, bubble sort, color roll 3D, drag n merge, fit and squeeze, hole.io, mario kart, match 3D, nonogram.com, paint the cube, roof rails, solitare, spit, stacky dash, stair run, timber run...

(89) Tell Me About A Dream That You Had And When It Happened.

After my moms fiance died, I had a dream that he was able to come see my fifth grade play (he died just before it happened) and when we were walking out he got into the white car from fast and furious (we watched the movies together) and said he would see me again soon, then he drove off...like talk about weird

(90) Favourite Soda Drink?

rootbeer

(91) What Sounds Are Your Favourite?

i like a good clicking sound

(92) Do You Wear Jeans Or Sweats More?

sweats everyday all day

(93) How Do You Look Right Now?

like a fucking wreck

(94) Name Something That Relaxes You.

netflix

(95) What Tattoo Do You Want?

i want a bunch of little symbols, and i think it would be cute if i got a T for my mom, but i can’t tell her that because she might think i’m going soft and exploit my show of affection (jfc why am i like this lmao)

(96) Favourite YouTuber?

colleen ballinger

#soapy tag #pink tag #ask game

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snavian · 5 years ago

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mags I miss hearing abt yr ocs.. tell me about uhh Fern,Supernova and Smog :0 also are yr ocs connected to a story of some sort? (I forgot if they had a story or not it's been a while aggh--

Thank you so much for asking about them!! I love speaking about my ocs so much,, :D! And yeah they all exist within the same universe with their own stories, and I’m gonna write a story called The Sunny Side of Hell with some of them at some point!

here’s some stuff about Fern, Supernova and Smog!Fern

- Fern is a shapeshifter living in the Forest (a huge sentient forest known by humans as a place where no one comes back from, filled with all kinds of horrors and things that can never be understood by humans). Her default form is currently a bipedal rusty coloured leopard and like with all other shapeshifters, every form of hers has the same rusty colours.

- She tries her best to be as positive as she can, even when she doesn’t completely feel it, hence her spamming hearts and smileys. Her heart is in the right place but she doesn’t realize that a single smiley face by itself is terrifying.

- That being said, Fern isn’t stupid! She can often tell when people are lying and picks her decisions carefully, and isn’t afraid to stand up for what she thinks is right.

- She works as a blacksmith and a jewelry maker, although lately she’s been focusing more on the jewelry since her mother already works as a blacksmith too.

- She’s probably one of the only characters I have that has more than 2 brain cells so she just,, watches the mayhem and wonders how on earth they manage to get into so much trouble in such a short amount of time.

- Fern is a trans woman and a lesbian! She also has depression.

- Some of the things she enjoys are piano and lolita dresses. Her work is also something she finds a lot of fun in since she likes creating things.

- Fern and Smog have been friends since early childhood and know more about each other than anyone else, however in the present their relationship is more awkward than anything else because of their past (although they’ve been friends they also have shared trauma, and dated at one point before breaking up) and differing goals/morals which make it hard for them to keep talking easily.

- At some point along in the future Fern becomes a private detective!

Supernova

- Supernova is a “demon” kid living with another kid, Camellia, in his house in a demon dimension. He’s more human-like on the scale of demon appearances, as he’s generally got the same anatomy as a human teenager would, however he has a tail, feathered wings, horns, sharp scales under his eyes and a sort of snout rather than a human nose. He’s also got unnatural colours, with his skin being a greyish blue, and his hair/feathers being pink.

- He’s one of three friends in a friend group, the other two being a demon called Camellia and a shapeshifter called Biscuit. They’re all in their teens (Biscuit is 13, Camellia is 14, Supernova is 16) and they’re very much your sort of protagonist group of three kids, without being actual protagonists. They’ve all got their own problems but they’re super close and can do anything together!

- Supernova really enjoys comics, video games and making music, as well as stars and looking after his three demon dogs, Thebe, Orthosie and Mneme.

- Before Camellia started living with him he ate pretty much exclusively cereal and the only thing that stopped him was her buying things that weren’t cereal.

- Supernova is a gnc trans man (hasn’t transitioned yet though because he’s 16 and has no parental figures) and pan! He’s also autistic and has depression.

- Out of the three of them, Nova is the best “behaved”. As in, he’s not a gremlin like Biscuit and Camellia are. He’s generally polite and friendly, and also absolutely refuses to swear at all.

- After it was mentioned in a conversation with the gang and Smog, Nova has started to question what he is and where he came from. He hadn’t thought about it much, simply assuming he was just a demon, however someone pointed out that he has feathered wings, which demons can’t have. However, angels can’t have horns either, so this has left him completely unsure of who or what he is.

Smog

- Smog is a half demon, half triangle-head (demon on her mother’s side) from the Forest, like Fern. Her appearance takes more after her triangle-head father, with her head and upper body being indistinguishable from a regular triangle-head other than the mouth she can make appear at will (triangle-heads don’t have mouths) and long claws, however her legs are digitigrade and shadowy black like her magic, and she has a tail made of the same magic with a distinctive devil-like tail tip. Her skin is a dark indigo with brighter blue spiraling stripes on certain areas of her body.

- Smog is known best as a trouble maker, always looking for a thrill with no regard for her own safety or the safety of others. However, depending on if someone is an enemy or a friend, very different parts of Smog’s nature come to light, either a snarky, brutish asshole who can quickly become violent with enough motivation, or a loyal, gentle demon who wouldn’t think twice about putting her life on the line to protect the people she loves.

- She likes to collect things in her free time, especially shiny or colourful objects, hence the mention of her collecting seashells. However, Smog also has very bad aquaphobia and astraphobia and the smell of sea salt reminds her of the ocean, so once she collects them she never looks at them again.

- When she’s not causing mischief Smog enjoys exploring for new places in the Forest, carving wood figures and drinking.

- Smog is usually the one that Fern has to stop from continuing whatever shenanigans she’s getting into. Fern is 98% of Smog’s impulse control.

- Smog is bi and although she doesn’t have anything specific, she definitely has trauma and trust issues.

- She has a very bad relationship with both of her parents, more so her mother than her father, but either way she hates thinking about them too much when she doesn’t have to.

- She’s kind of a smart dumbass. She knows how to play her cards but she’d also eat anything and everything she feels like, even if it’s some beetle on a tree.

- Smog is also the kind of person who finds it hard to outright say how she feels yet wouldn’t think twice about putting her life on the line to protect someone she cares about.

#ask #h0rrorsmile #magwrites #oc: fern #oc: supernova #oc: smog

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artificialqueens · 5 years ago

Text

nobody knows where we might end up, chapter four (branjie) - holtzmanns

(read on ao3) | (tumblr)

“Dr. Cain told Dr. Miller who told Dr. Edwards who told me that she saw you two practically ready to bite each other’s heads off in the hallway a few days ago.” Dr. O’Hara ends her statement with a bite of her salad, eyes expectant.

“Jesus, what is this, the hospital from Grey’s Anatomy? Do y’all ever actually work or just gossip here?” So maybe she’s feeling a little grumpy about it. Also because she’s not sure which time it is that Dr. O’Hara is talking about.

AN: Thank you so much for the sweet responses to this story! I love it so, so much. In this chapter, we have soft baby gays in the past, and a bit of hospital gossip in the present. Writ is the most wonderful friend and beta ever.

(then)

“Has anyone told you that you’re nuts? ‘Cause you’re nuts.”

Vanessa’s staring at Brooke’s review for the midterm, and holy shit. The colour coordination. The diagrams. It’s as if she’s going to be graded on artistic ability.

Brooke snorts at her dumbstruck face. “Honestly, it helps me to consolidate all the information, making it all pretty and organized. It’s helpful. My notes aren’t as extensive as yours, though.”

Brooke reaches out to grab Vanessa’s midterm review, a haphazard collection of handwritten notes that she’s meticulously copied again and again. Vanessa’s found a strategy that works for her, especially when it comes to information heavy subjects - rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.

Though it does make her notes look a bit chaotic. And unreadable to anyone who isn’t familiar with her handwriting.

But hey, it works for her.

“Organized chaos, is what mine is.” Her wrist aches with a phantom pain as she thumbs through the pages, remembering the strain as she wrote line after line.

Vanessa leans over the table, looks over at the diagram that Brooke is drawing of the renal system. Her coloured pencils are spread out beside her, because of course Brooke has coloured pencils to make her diagrams even more pretty.

Vanessa picks up the yellow coloured pencil, a smile playing on her lips. “Don’t forget this one when you have to colour in the pee.”

Brooke wrinkles her nose. “Ugh, when you say it like that-”

Vanessa snickers. “Nephrology is wack. I’m glad we’re both in agreement about that.”

“It is cool, though.” Vanessa can see the gears in Brooke’s brain start to turn as she traces a finger over the diagrams that she’s drawn on the page. “Like the fact that sodium is so involved? And the amount that our body retains water is totally dependent on balancing concentration levels in a substance, which is something we learned in what, grade ten? I love it.”

“You’re cute when you’re all excited over pee.” Vanessa can’t help but cackle when Brooke groans at her statement.

“I’m not excited over pee- ”

“Yes you are. Pee lover.”

“Hush.” Brooke lifts up her notes to lightly smack Vanessa’s shoulder with them, making her squeal and lean back in her chair. The action nearly makes Vanessa fall off, and when she catches herself on the edge of the table, the two of them are laughing hard enough that Vanessa’s sure that a librarian is going to come to shush them at any second.

They get back to work after Brooke goes to the bathroom (‘don’t get too excited about going pee in there’), finishing up their respective midterm reviews and quizzing each other. Vanessa checks her watch, sighs as the time for her 6 pm lecture ticks closer and closer.

“I gotta go.” Vanessa doesn’t want to. Switching to a different lecture so that she can spend more time with Brooke would be silly, right?

She tells herself that for now.

“Have fun in class. I’ll study nephrology all by my lonesome.” Brooke fake pouts up at her, and Vanessa rolls her eyes good naturedly.

“You say that as if you’re not going to have the time of your life.”

Brooke sticks her tongue out, a gesture that Vanessa returns right back at her. She pauses when she’s packed up all of her things, letting the words rush out before she loses the nerve to say them.

“Hey, if you’re still studying in the evening and don’t have dinner plans, wanna come over later? I was planning on making something in our suite kitchen. We can keep quizzing each other while making food, if you want.”

Because, yep, that’s the only reason she’s asking Brooke to hang out even more today. To study while they cook.

She’s so transparent that she can see through herself sometimes.

Brooke blinks up at her before grinning, and she’s back to her shyness from when they first started talking. “Yeah. Sure, that would be fun. We’ll be even more prepared for the midterm then.

Yep. Prepared for the midterm.

Vanessa will take it, though. Because really, school is the priority, right?

She grins at Brooke. “Perfect. I’ll text you when class is done?”

“Sounds good.” Brooke waves her phone around in her hand. “I’ll be waiting.”

“I bet you will. Now go back to learning about pee so you can quiz me about it later.”

Vanessa skips down the hallway as Brooke groans, smiling to herself. The two hours of lecture she has to get through before their dinner better fly by.

“Silky. Silky. What have I done?”

“You’ve inv-“

“I’ve invited her over to make dinner together, Silky!” Vanessa practically yelps it, vibrating with nervous energy as she dances around their suite’s kitchen, pulling ingredients that she had bought earlier in the day from the communal fridge and cupboards.

“Do you think she even likes stir fry? I just bought the stuff in the morning ‘cause it’s easy. I didn’t think I was gonna invite her for dinner. ” Vanessa punctuates the last four words with raps on the counter.

Silky munches away on her own dinner at the table, watching her as if she’s a nature documentary. “Who doesn’t like stir fry? It’s easy as shit and always tastes good.”

“What if she has some sort of weird stir fry trauma? Had food poisoning with it and now hates it more than anything in the world?“

There’s a rap on their door, then, and Vanessa looks at Silky in panic.

“Well, now you get to find out. I’m taking my dinner to our room.” With that, Silky takes her plate, shutting the door behind her.

She can do this. It’s only another studying session, this time with food involved. She opens the door to the suite, finds a wide eyed Brooke behind it.

“Hey, I brought two bite brownies for dessert? I wasn’t sure if you liked chocolate or not, but two bite brownies are always good, and they were in the campus store, and-”

Vanessa can’t help but melt as Brooke cuts herself off, drawing in a breath. Did she really have anything to worry about?

“Sorry.” Brooke looks at her sheepishly, taking a step into the suite when Vanessa holds the door open more to let her in.

“For what?” Vanessa grins at her. “You like stir fry?”

They work together as a team, chopping the vegetables and making the noodles like a well oiled machine while tossing questions from the nephrology unit back and forth at one another.

“True or false,” Brooke starts as she drains the noodles, “Renin secretion is influenced by potassium.”

“False.” Vanessa points the spatula at Brooke. “Sodium influences it. Low sodium means that more is released. ”

“Perfect.” Brooke grins at her, bringing the noodles over so that Vanessa can pour the stir fry mix on top. “You’ve been killing all these questions.”

“So have you. I feel pretty good about this unit.” Vanessa sticks her hand out for a high five, one that Brooke returns. “What do you say we take a studying break and eat?”

They curl up on the couch, and Vanessa barely has a chance to bring a bite to her lips before Brooke exclaims loud enough to be heard by the rest of the floor. “Vanessa, this is so good!”

“Yeah?” Her answer is muffled by her bite but she’s thrilled nonetheless, feeling like she wants to get up and dance around. It’s a feeling that only increases when Brooke nods.

“Yeah. I’m definitely gonna need seconds. Maybe thirds? Kind of want to sneak all this back to my room with me. Who knows?”

Vanessa grins. “No need for that, B. You can always come back and we can make it again.”

Brooke points her fork at her. “I’m going to take you up on it.”

“Why else do you think I offered?” She knows that her grin in Brooke’s direction is stupidly happy, solely for the fact that Brooke is reflecting the same facial expression back at her.

Vanessa likes her. A lot. More than just in class, more than when they just study together.

Not that it’s a big deal.

Brooke nudges her side with her elbow. “We spend so much time talking about school and class-”

“-and currently pee, thanks to the nephrology unit-”

Brooke snorts. “-and currently pee. As I was saying, we barely have the chance to talk about anything else, it’s so rare. So, I want to know you more. Tell me something.”

“Like what? That’s an open ended question.” What does Brooke even want to know?

Brooke shrugs. “I don’t know. Tell me more about your family, maybe?”

Vanessa leans forward in her spot, taking a sip of her drink before she speaks. “Okay. Well, it’s me and my mom and my older brother. And my abuela. We make a nice little unit.” She loves her family, really does. Misses them like crazy while she’s at school, especially her mom's cooking, which she appreciates now more than ever after having being made to cook for herself.

“That sounds nice. Are you all close?” Brooke leans her cheek on her hand, listening intently, and her focus makes Vanessa flush under her gaze a bit.

“Yeah. Real close. My mom’s always been supportive, y’know? Through everything. Gotten a couple of ass whoopings along the way, but they’ve always been deserved. I was a demon child.” Vanessa thinks back to herself as a kid, giving her mom more stress than she deserved at the time, acting out.

“But we’re closer now. Which is nice.” Vanessa shrugs, smiling a little. She needs to call her mom soon, catch up with her. “Being away at school makes us appreciate each other more.”

Brooke smiles back. “She sounds like a lovely mom.”

“She is.” Vanessa nudges her. “What about you, what’s your family like?”

Brooke shrugs. “They’re okay. I like being away at school, if that tells you anything.”

Vanessa raises an eyebrow. “That bad, huh?”

Brooke shifts in her chair, trying to explain. “No, not bad, per se. Just…stressful? Wound up?”

“That’s not easy, though.” Vanessa’s glad that her mom isn’t like that. She wants to do the best she can, make her happy, but her mom never acts as if she’s anything but proud of her.

“No. It isn’t.” Brooke fiddles with the couch cushion beside her. “They’re just always expecting perfection on my end, y’know? And I’m trying to give it to them. I want to. I should be able to.”

Now that makes a lot of sense. It explains Brooke’s need to do the absolute best, her panic that sets in when she feels like she hasn’t studied enough. The way Brooke calms down during their study sessions when she starts to understand things better.

“You can’t, though. No one can. No one’s perfect.” Vanessa has to resist an urge to grab Brooke’s hand, rub her thumb in little circles over her palm. “You can only do the best you can.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Brooke doesn’t look too convinced.

“If everyone was perfect, we’d all be boring as shit. Nothing fun to make us all different. We wouldn’t have anything to still work towards, either.” Vanessa pulls her feet up on the couch, scooching closer to Brooke. “You work your ass off and it already shows. I’m sure they can see that.”

Brooke bites her lip. “I hope so.”

“If not, I see it. Everyone else here sees it. You’re amazing.” The words tumble from Vanessa’s mouth before she can stop them, making her want to clap a hand over her mouth.

Way to make her feelings known. She’s probably gonna scare Brooke off.

She wants to take the words back, apologize for overstepping, but Brooke’s smile is soft on her face. “You’re the amazing one, helping me study and feeding me and being more than amazing company.”

“I’m glad I sat beside you during our first class. Not that I had a choice.” Vanessa thinks back to their first lecture, where she had come in late and it had been plenty embarrassing.

“All I remember from that class is how much your leg was shaking for most of it.” Brooke looks at her with a grin. “Thank goodness you don’t do that all the time.”

“I was nervous! It was the first class! Plus, I was sitting beside you and you looked really intimidating.” It’s true. Brooke looked mean at first glance.

Brooke looks at her in surprise. “Really?”

Vanessa scoffs. “Please. As if you didn’t know that already. You were glaring at me the whole time.”

“Oh god. I’m so sorry.” Brooke’s cheeks are pink. “In my defense…I was nervous too?”

Vanessa snorts. “Sure, whatever. It’s all good. Your tune changed real fast as soon as I opened my mouth to talk to you, anyway.”

“How so?”

“You got all shy on me.”

Now Brooke is the one to look indignant, eyebrows raised to contradict her statement. “I did not.”

Vanessa snickers. “Yes you did. All stuttering on your words and shit.” As if Brooke doesn’t make her stumble on her own words, too.

“That is completely false and you know it.”

Vanessa is about to retort, words on her tongue about how she’s nothing but truthful, but then Brooke is tickling her sides, making her squirm on the couch.

“Playing dirty!” Vanessa sticks her hands out to tickle Brooke back, give her a taste of her own medicine, but Brooke doesn’t even flinch under her touch.

“Wait.” Vanessa pauses, narrowing her eyes. “You’re not ticklish?”

“Nope.” Brooke pops the ‘p’ at the end of the word, with a grin at Vanessa that is way too smug.

“Unfair!”

Brooke giggles at her dramatics and it spurs Vanessa on further, flopping herself lower onto the couch.

“Unbelievable. Not even ticklish.”

“But you are. And it’s a fact that I will absolutely use to my advantage.” Brooke looks too happy, too thrilled about the turn of events.

Vanessa fixes her with a look. She wouldn’t. “Don’t you dare.”

“Don’t I dare what?”

“You know exactly what-” Vanessa shrieks because Brooke tickles her again, climbing on top of her as they’re both giggling.

“Mercy, mercy.” Vanessa holds a hand up and Brooke acquiesces, stopping. It’s then that Vanessa notices that Brooke is still on top of her, close enough that she can smell her shampoo, feel her hair that’s falling in front of her face and brushing against her arms.

Woah.

Brooke evidently notices at the same time, her eyes widening. She’s about to say something, maneuvering her arm so that she doesn’t fall off of Vanessa when-

“Sup, bitches?”

Vanessa groans, dropping her head against the back of the couch. Typical.

“Hi?” Brooke climbs off of Vanessa at lightning speed, straightening herself out in the couch beside her.

Silky fixes them both with a knowing grin. “Don’t mind me, grabbing a snack.”

Vanessa sighs as Brooke is back on her side of the couch, introducing herself to Silky as she fixes herself a sandwich.

Moment gone.

(now)

Vanessa pulls off her gloves, gown, and mask, tossing them into the waste disposal before washing her hands. She grins as Dr. Michaels comes up behind her, smile of approval clear on the woman’s face.

“Nice job, Dr. Mateo. Off to a great start.”

Her first surgery at her new job? Successfully completed. Sure, it had been a simple ablation procedure, but Vanessa feels great.

She’s been hired here as the cardiothoracic head for a reason. She’s gonna show everyone that the chief made the right decision.

“Thanks. You were great to work with in there. That ablation was smooth.”

“You’re damn right about that.” Dr. Michaels holds out a fist, and Vanessa bumps it right back.

Dr. Michaels pulls off her scrub cap, holding the door open for Vanessa to go through. “Lunch?”

“Absolutely.”

They grab a table in the cafeteria, joined by Dr. O’Hara and another doctor that she’s never met who looks like she should still be doing her undergrad degree. Vanessa sticks out a hand to introduce herself.

The woman shakes it. “Dr. St. Clair. Cardiothoracic resident.”

Vanessa’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “You’re a resident? I swear I thought you were-”

“An intern?” Dr. St. Clair laughs, shaking her head. “Yeah. I get that a lot. Looking young as a doctor isn’t the most helpful in getting patients to respect you.”

“So,” Dr. O’Hara’s voice is conspiratorial as she takes out her lunch, “what’s the gossip on you and Dr. Hytes?”

Vanessa nearly chokes on her sandwich. “What do you mean?” It’s interspersed with coughs, prompting Dr. Michaels to pat her on the back.

She and Dr. Hytes have fallen into a routine of sorts for their joint consult on the upcoming surgery. Vanessa feels like she’s defending her fucking thesis from the way that Dr. Hytes continues to question her abilities concerning the procedure. It’s absolutely infuriating, and lead to many shouting matches in the conference rooms.

The Brooke she remembers from undergrad would never have been like this. Disrespecting her at every turn, acting like a fucking bitch. Acting like she’s better than everyone else. But Vanessa knows her, and Dr. Hytes is not. Vanessa has never wanted to put her in her place more.

But she’s also just started. She doesn’t want to look unprofessional and get fired before she can make any leeway as an attending surgeon.

Besides, if she gets fired, it means that Dr. Hytes wins.

“You didn’t answer the question.” Dr. Michaels and Dr. O’Hara look like a buddy cop duo, resting their elbows on the table, while Dr. St. Clair watches attentively.

“She just rubs me the wrong way, that’s all.” No way is Vanessa going to bring their history - ancient history, at that - up to her coworkers. No one else’s business.

Dr. Michaels shoots a conspiratorial look at Dr. O’Hara. “Seems like a lot of emotion for just rubbing someone the wrong way.”

Vanessa shrugs. “Maybe I’m just an emotional person.” It’s not a lie, not really.

“Not only from you,” Dr. O’Hara lowers her voice, “From her, too.”

“Yeah?” Vanessa raises an eyebrow.

“Mhm.” Dr. O’Hara nods at her. “I’ve seen that woman have maybe five emotions max while working here. She’s usually unflappable. Since you’ve gotten here, though? The woman is pissed.”

Vanessa can’t help the satisfied smile that settles on her face. “Good.”

Let Dr. Hytes be pissed. Especially since she’s been causing Vanessa so much grief. It’s what she deserves to feel.

“See!” Dr. O’Hara points at her. “There’s something you’re not telling us, and I know it. We’re gonna find out.”

Vanessa snorts, taking another bite of her sandwich. “Good luck with that.”

“Dr. West, you wanted to see me?”

“Come in.” Dr. West’s voice is warm when Vanessa knocks on her office door, though it does little to assuage the way her heart feels like it’s sinking in her chest.

She doesn’t know why the chief of surgery has called her in for a meeting, though has a sneaking suspicion it’s about a certain neurosurgeon attending. Maybe Dr. West has had it and wants to get rid of her - Vanessa wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Hytes has complained about her. The bitch.

“I wanted to touch base with you about your first few weeks here, see that everything is going away.” Dr. West is smiling at her, and doesn’t look too mad - perhaps a good sign?

“It’s been great so far. Everyone is incredibly welcoming.” Not a lie, for the most part - not that she’s going to bring up Dr. Hytes, not when her and Dr. West seem like they’re friendly with each other.

“That’s good to hear.” Dr. West is looking at Vanessa with an expression she can’t quite decipher, and it makes her want to squirm in her seat. She can’t tell how much the chief actually knows.

Vanessa’s pretty sure that Dr. West hadn’t been in the attending locker room in the morning. when Dr. Hytes had interrupted her conversation with Dr. Miller about ICU stay lengths at her previous hospital, muttering that it seemed to be counterproductive for patient health. So maybe Vanessa had to give Dr. Hytes a piece of her mind - so what if such arguments are becoming a daily occurrence? As long as they’re not disrupting patient care, Vanessa’s going to fight back every time.

Vanessa’s not one to take things lying down. She doesn’t care if the other doctors in this hospital are. Dr. Hytes doesn’t scare her. Sure, the way her eyes narrow in her direction and the way she stares down at her make her heart feel like it’s beating a little faster sometimes - but it’s just adrenaline.

“So.” Dr. West leans forward in her seat, opening up her clipboard. “A change I implemented here a few years back when I became chief was more opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. More work with doctors outside our immediate disciplines - to build more connections between everyone despite all of our differences and interests.”

“Okay.” Vanessa nods, not sure where Dr. West is going.

“I understand that you already have a joint surgery coming up with Dr. Hytes soon.” Dr. West looks up from her clipboard, holding Vanessa’s gaze for a little too long.

She tries her best to keep her face neutral. “That’s right.”

“How has the preparation for the case been going so far?”

Vanessa channels her best poker face. “It’s been alright, thank you. Dr. Hytes is incredibly smart.” Not a lie.

“I’m glad you think so.” Dr. West goes back to her notes, pushing her glasses up on her nose with her index finger. “One initiative I’ve started with new surgery hires is having them shadow surgeries in a few other disciplines. Have the opportunity to see how others do things, ask questions about unfamiliar procedures, participate in interdisciplinary information sharing.”

“I see.”

“I know you’ve been here for a few weeks and seem to be settling in well. Would this still be something that you’d be interested in?”

From the way that Dr. West is looking at her, she’s not sure if she has a choice in her answer. “It would be pretty educational to shadow in some other disciplines. Haven’t done that since I was a resident.”

Vanessa isn’t lying, per se. It would be pretty cool. It’s just that she already as an idea of who Dr. West wants her to shadow for neuro already-

“I think it would be a great idea for you to shadow Dr. Hytes for one of her procedures, especially before your joint one in a few weeks. You can get to know her a bit more. We can start with that.”

Fuck.

“The surgery is to remove an arteriovenous malformation. Do you happen to know what that is, or do you need a refresher?” Dr. Hytes sneers it at her as she braids her hair back (still as blonde, still as long as it used to be) and Vanessa wants to smack the smug look off of her face.

“I’ve taken neuro, Dr. Hytes, my memory isn’t that shit.” Vanessa scoffs. Of course Dr. Hytes is on her high horse already.

Vanessa is not looking forward to shadowing her in the least. She doesn’t care how she operates, she doesn’t give a shit over how people fawn over her. Hell, if it weren’t for their joint surgery coming up, she probably would have found a way to decline Dr. West.

But at the same time…she needs intel. Needs to know what to expect before they have to step into an operating room as colleagues, so that it doesn’t blow up in their faces.

Doesn’t mean she has to be happy about it.

“If you say so. Keep out of my way in there. This is my surgery, and I’d like to keep it running as smooth as the rest of the ones I do.” Vanessa rolls her eyes at Dr. Hytes’ words. So damn cocky.

“I want to be here as little as you do. As if I’d want to be up in your face during this. Chill.” She pulls on her scrub cap, one with little dogs all over it that she couldn’t resist buying as a resident. It remains her favourite.

“Whatever. Just don’t get in my way.” The words are cold as Dr. Hytes pulls on her own scrub cap, and Vanessa has to suppress a groan because of course .

Dr. Hytes’ scrub cap has little cats all over it. Typical.

“Fine.” So what if Vanessa’s a bit haughty when she says it? “As long as you don’t get in mine.”

The growl that emanates from Dr. Hytes in response is enough to make her smirk more than she should.

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #lesbian au #hospital au #holtzmanns #nobody knows where we might end up

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merritidings · 5 years ago

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Character Questionnaire: Merrinyn Delorsath

BASICS -

1. Height?

5′5″. (She is of average height. At least in her former settlement.)

2. Eye colour?

Black. (It’s actually dark blue.)

3. Do they need glasses?

No. (That doesn’t stop her from wearing one whenever she feels like it.)

4. Scars and birthmark?

None. (It’s hard to get scars when you’re always far from the action, drowning in books. She did get a paper cut a few days after leaving her old settlement, settling for the surface to learn more about this part of the world, though that amounted to nothing more than a few minutes of annoyance.)

5. Tattoos and piercings?

None.

6. Right or left handed?

Right-handed. (For a time in her youth, she instead she was ambidextrous. That was until she figured out the word she was looking for was “amphibious”.)

7. Any disabilities? Physical or mental.

None. (She can’t pronounce the letter “R” if it’s in the last syllable of a word, as in “wafer” or “paper”, ending up either mispronouncing it as the letter “W” instead, as in “wafew” or “papew”, or accidentally speaking in a British accent. Don’t tell her I told you this. She’s very sensitive about her rhotacism.)

8. Do they have any allergies?

None. (...though she once almost died after eating crab. That was most likely due to improper cleaning of the food. It never happened again. Strange.)

9. Favourite colour?

Seafoam Green. Or blue. (She also likes pink.)

10. Typical outfits?

Whichever works, really. I prefer clothing that would not impede my mobility over clothing that’s all for show. (She used to wear simple sleeveless, collarless, pants-less garments made of coral, see below, until she moved to the surface-world where a kind old lady gave her common clothes for free because she looked “cold” and “very naked”. Still, she tends to rip out the sleeves and collars and even pant-legs of her clothes whenever she feels like it, usually when she’s near the water and there’s no tedious socializing to be had.)

11. Do they wear any makeup?

No. (She does, but only rarely and mostly during “special” occasions.)

12. What weapon do they use, if any?

Between my magic and my staff, I can be quite the formidable fighter. (She isn’t. She has also been thinking of acquiring a trident recently. Three pointed tips are better than one blunt head.)

PERSONALITY -

13. Are they more optimistic or pessimistic?

Neither. I dwell in between optimism and pessimism. Nothing is ever absolutely positive or negative. There is also the middle, and there I thrive. (Technically, she’s more optimistic, considering she’s always optimistic that each day holds new things for her to learn. She does get pretty pessimistic when things don’t go her way, though, especially if she becomes obsessed with learning about something and her progress somehow gets impeded.)

14. Are they introverted or extroverted?

Neither. I am an ambivert. (Mostly true, though she leans more towards being an introvert, as she spends more time being an introvert, with all her research and reading; however, she doesn’t get drained as much when she has to be an extrovert, though she tends to avoid opportunities where she has to be one.)

15. What are their pet peeves?

When someone interrupts my research on anatomy by slaying the creature I am to observe. *very audible sigh* Brutes... (She also can’t stand people who can’t wait in line, even though she herself hates lines.)

16. What bad habits do they have?

Someone once said I’m terrible with making friends, though to be fair, I’m here to study and learn, not to make friends. (She spends way too much time with her books and research and not enough time connecting with real people. It’s uncertain whether this is because she’s such an obsessive sage or it’s just a triton thing.)

17. Do they have any phobias?

I fear nothing. Fear only exists when one does not understand something. I seek to understand everything. I do not fear. (Insects, especially flying insects, specifically cockroaches. She thinks they’re gross and they always have the high ground when it comes to the element of surprise. She’d probably like them if they were larger, though, since she’d at least be able to keep them from entering her orifices without permission. Oh, and falling from great heights. She hates that.)

18. How do they display affection?

I don’t. Affection is unnecessary. As long as you are useful and efficient, you are. (She really doesn’t. At least, she doesn’t know how to. Even her compliments are awkward and strange.)

19. How competitive are they?

Competition is good as motivation for personal growth, but only when it motivates a competitor towards personal growth. (She isn’t as competitive as others are, though it’s mostly because she’s a triton and tritons don’t really consider surface dwellers as competition. At least, that’s what she believes.)

20. If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be?

No response. (It differs on a daily basis, more like it adds up, but she doesn’t take to it like changing herself because she doesn’t like herself. It’s actually more of changing something here and then something there to unleash the full potential of her existence. Like having eyes that see better in the deepest dark or gills that can allow her to safely breathe in any environment. It’s alteration in the spirit of evolution, not alteration because of emotions.)

21. Do they have any obscure hobbies or routines?

Is collecting forks an obscure hobby? (It is.)

BACKSTORY -

22. What are the names and ages of their close family members? Parents, siblings, etc.

My father’s name is Mernes and my mother’s name is Erryn. I have one older brother, Jharvas, and no other siblings.

23. Is their family alive and are they still in contact with them?

Yes, they are all alive and well. My father and my mother live together back home while my brother has also set out to, according to him, find himself. I’m certain he’s simply pursuing the vampire woman again. Men have never been quite as smart as us. (Her brother is indeed with a female vampire but he’s not pursuing her. They’re working together, trying to make a life with each other.)

24. Where are they from? City, nation?

I’m from the sea, the depths of which no surface dweller may survive. (Her settlement is within the oceans east of Hegaehend, far east. They call it the City of Sh'lafijn, though others simply refer to as Marai.)

25. Did they have a childhood best friend?

I had childhood friends, though I don’t think it wise to select from them a singular best. (She does. Her name was Dhorimyn. They’ve lost contact over the years. The last she’s heard of her, Dhorimyn had left their settlement for parts unknown.)

26. Have they had any pets?

I had a pet shark named Kadita. (They’re dead now.)

27. Did they grow up rich or poor? What were their living conditions like?

We used to move a lot when I was but a young girl. It took my parents a while to settle down in a place of our own. We were neither rich nor poor. We were in the middle.

28. What is their educational background?

I went through formal schooling, learned from the greatest mentors of my settlement, and grew into a fine sage. I learned more on my own than I did with anyone. (She’s not kidding. Her curiosity actually led to her amassing more knowledge about things outside of their settlement than the “greatest mentors” of their settlement, which were the only 10 triton scholars of their settlement.)

29. As a child, what did they want to be when they grew up?

I always wanted to be a scholar, and now, here I am. (At one point, she also wanted to be a kraken. She thought having more limbs would be efficient. She was three.)

30. What advice would they give to their younger self?

If I ever, for some strange reason, meet my younger self, I would simply tell her to continue swimming towards her current path. She will become me, and I am the best she can ever be. (We’ll agree to disagree.)

31. Growing up, were they ever bullied or were they the bully?

I was never bullied. I never bullied anyone. I just didn’t have the time. All my focus were on my studies and my research. (She was bullied. For being too absorbed in her studies. She was often referred to as the “teacher’s suckerfish” by the other children. To this day, she still thinks it was a compliment because “a suckerfish assists its host by feeding off of its parasites.” She wasn’t wrong.)

32. Who do they look up to/who is their role model?

No response. (She currently doesn’t look up to anyone, especially since she’s out of the sea and she takes to surface dwellers as subjects to study, not mentors to put on a pedestal. She used to look up to an older mentor from her settlement but he died after trying to “befriend” a female shark as a male shark, so that was that. It’s a long story, and it’s not what you think.)

PRESENT -

33. Do they currently have a place of residence?

I rented a small place for me and my...friends in Arx, at the Whale Water Port. It’s close to the water, plenty of fish, and has access to several libraries and universities. It’s the best place for me here on the surface. (Remember the kind old lady who gave her free clothes because she looked “very naked”? That became her landlady. It’s a good place for someone living “alone”.)

34. What is their most treasured possession?

My most treasured possession? I suppose the letter from my late colleague could fill this role. For now. At least until I find the answer to his question, and I will. Eventually. (She’s not as into possessions as most people are, so having a treasured...item isn’t on her radar. That should change once she gets a particular trident, though, and maybe a particular cloak and a particular decanter to boot. Maybe.)

35. What is their drink of choice?

I don’t drink that much, but I seemed to have developed a taste for the drink called Bilgewater. It reminds me so much of home. (Bilgewater is of course the bluish-brown, sometimes jet black, concoction that's made by soaking the inner organs of various sea creatures soaking in a fermented brine and then running them through a sieve to remove the bones and viscera. It's usually on most tavern's menu for at least 5 copper pieces, or you can ask your friendly neighborhood fisher to brew you one for the same price. The only real side effect of this drink it that the lingering taste of rotten, brackish seafood remains on the palette for a few hours.)

36. Which king/queen are they loyal to, if any?

None have sought me out yet, so I’m loyal to none. That should change if any reach out and we find ourselves agreeing in our principles. (So long as she get to do her research, she’s not very picky on a monarch to side with, but only if completely necessary. She’d rather not get drawn to unnecessary conflict if they can avoid them.)

37. Have they ever killed anyone?

No response. (In every attempt at progress, there will always be a casualty or two. Maybe even three. It is rarely intentional, however.)

38. What was their last promise and did they keep it?

I promised my brother I’d stay with our parents, keep them safe... (She could not keep that promise.)

LOVE -

39. What was their first kiss like, if they’ve had one?

It was...wet. And pretty sloppy. The things we do to satiate our curiosity, right? (Of course it was wet. She was underwater. It was mostly sloppy because it was their first kiss, and her “research” partner was understandably nervous, especially since she secretly liked Merrinyn. They never spoke of it again, mostly because Merrinyn concluded that it was not a fruitful experiment and Dhorimyn decided to keep her secret her own.)

40. Are they in a relationship/have a love interest?

Love is an unnecessary distraction that I cannot currently afford. (She is too busy with her research to consider a relationship, any kind of relationship, at the moment.)

41. Have they ever been in love?

Like I said, an unnecessary distraction. (She has not, though she believes she has.)

42. Have they ever had their heart broken?

No response. (Numerous times: When her pet shark Kadita passed away, when her older brother Jharvas left them in pursuit of a vampire, when she slowly lost contact with Dhorimyn, and when her favorite mentor died to sharks while in the form of a shark.)

SPIRITUALITY - 43. Do they follow a god, if so who?

I don’t follow gods. I don’t have faith in them as much as others do. I only have faith in myself, in what I can see, and in what I can prove. (That said, she does appear to admire both Habbakuk and Melora, especially the latter whose stories and lore she views as quite inspiring.)

44. What do they think happens to them after death?

I cease to exist and my body decays to join nature and the sea. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.

45. What is their spirit animal?

A kraken. Definitely a kraken. (She’s more like a dolphin, but okay.)

#romtask #character development

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becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys · 10 years ago

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In which I whinge about art for a bit

So recently, the Husband and I got X-Men: Primer, which features in its X-Team line-up Storm, Psylocke, Rogue, Kitty, Jubilee and Rachel Grey. It is an excellent comic and you should all read it. It is by Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel. Go go go. Read.

Anyway. I am a long-standing fan of Olivier Coipel, because his artwork is beautiful; people have realistic anatomy that is sexy rather than sexualised, there's actual variation in body shape, he knows how to direct and therefore storytell, and he's not afraid of drawing expressions on his female characters. Steff read the comic first, and when he gave it to me, he happily told me how, even though he knows Jubilee is meant to be Chinese American, he's never actually noticed it before; until this comic, the artwork has never made it clear.

Now, if you know the above characters, you know that that's a team featuring six women, only two of whom are white westerners (physically; oh, the Nineties, how unkind you were to Psylocke): Kitty is Ashkenazi Jewish, Psylocke is outwardly Japanese, Jubilee is Chinese American, and Storm is Kenyan. That's feasibly five different sets of phenotypes to be portrayed. And, you know, Coipel does do a good job. They all have different-looking faces beyond just hair/eye/skin colour, certainly have different body types; they look like individuals.

And, actually, Steff is right. They don't all look like creepy white women in black or yellowface.

But it's not particularly pronounced when you look at either east Asian woman, actually, and I think I have spotted a thing why, Tumblrs, so now I shall whinge.

Firstly, there is a legit problem among comic artists of them drawing the same white features over and over again, which really emphasises the disturbing fucking 'ideal' of white-beauty-is-right-beauty. But actually, I'm not sure it is white beauty here. I think it's a mash-up of white and east Asian.

Exhibit A, Greg Land. Here is his One Woman's Face over and over again:

Yes, yes, I know, he's obviously appalling, but he is a good illustrator of this problem therefore so shut up, who's writing this anyway? Now. Look at all four of these, and let's split them into the following categories: nose, mouth, jaw, eyes.

Nose: always small and dainty. Both white and east Asian phenotypes can come in the nasally-dainty mold, of course, but look at the differences between the top close-up shots and the distance shots. In the close-ups, look, Phoenix and Emma both have straight, raised nasal bridges, which is characteristically white, especially among Celtic populations. Here is the very Welsh Catherine Zeta Jones:

This is a very Welsh nose right here. Now, In the bottom three distance shots, Rogue, Orgasm Lady and Storm have small, upturned noses with flat nasal bridges, which is characteristically Asian. Here is Zhang Ziyi:

And, in fact, even in the top ones, we're actually only given the illusion of nasal bridges. If you look, it's all implied by the colourist, not by the pencils.

And this is very much not limited to Greg Land (none of the things I'm pointing out here are, in fact.) Many artists these days actively will not draw a full nose on a woman's face; just nostrils, and then they clock off and go to the pub or something. Most odd.

Mouth: full lips, always rosebud shaped, but NOT SO FULL THEY LOOK BLACK OH DEAR ME NO CAN'T HAVE THAT yeah yeah suck my inner ball, the lot of you. Generally modelled on white phenotypes, although such mouth shapes obviously do happen in all; in fact, it's more evident in that photo of Zhang ZIyi than Catherine Zeta Jones, look.

Jaw: slimly pointed and delicate, coupled with broad, raised cheekbones. Stereotypically both white and east Asian.

Every time. I have never, in recent years, seen a woman in a comic with a square jaw, or with a square, rectangular or round face. Oval/heart-shaped or go home, fuckers. Usually heart-shaped.

Eyes: Ha, yes, the big one. The phenotype for east Asian people that everyone has most commonly heard of is the epicanthal fold, a layer of skin around the upper eye that gives it the distinctive almond shape; naturally, of course, there are plenty of other racial groups that can and do have an epicanthal fold, but you try telling that to a dyed-in-the-wool fetishiser.

But, white beauty standards fucking idolise the concept of the almond-shaped eye. Many white folks go to great lengths to create the effect - the big modern example of the last century from the 50s onwards being winged eyeliner (which does look fabulous, don't get me wrong; I'm not criticising it as a make-up technique.) This means, though, that comic artists try to draw every woman on the page with almond-shaped eyes, regardless of who they are or what ethnicity/race they are. Look at Storm, Rogue and Emma in those above pictures. See what I mean? They draw in their own eyeliner.

But here's the thing, Tumblrs, the thing what I have spotted and am complaining about. Two Things are colliding here, you see. The first Thing:

These white-Asian features are being used on every woman.

The second Thing:

Artists live in fear of putting too many lines on a woman's face because then she might look imperfect and so ugly.

And what this means is, they're dispensing with vitally important lines that ought to be clearly delineating ethnic phenotypes. Given all the white women above, why don't they have nasal bridges? That would be a nice easy distinguishing marker between white and Asian characters, no?

And that brings me nicely to the big criticism of drawing eyes. Almost no comic artists in the industry at the minute seem to be willing to draw in the line above the eye denoting the crease between eyeball and eye socket. This, here, let me show you, this:

Look, look, this is an eye, right? Look at it, being an eye. See how there is a second line, a semi-circular curve, above the upper lash line DO YOU SEE THAT BIT OF THAT HUMAN'S ANATOMY LOOK I'LL DRAW IT ON IN RED FOR YOU ARTISTS:

DRAW THAT FUCKING LINE IN.

You will only ever see that in the extreme close-up shots of some artists. Once again, it's left to the colourists to imply. And if they just drew the bastards in, like that you can have people with almond-shaped eyes who nonetheless very obviously do not have epicanthal folds.

And now that I've noticed this it's as annoying as shit to me. Like, additionally to that, any artist worth their salt should have made a detailed study of faces and be able to draw someone anyway who can look, say, Chinese, and yet not have an epicanthal fold (since, you know, HUMAN BEINGS IN NOT-ALL-LOOKING-THE-SAME SHOCK); but apparently comic artists these days have not done this, or at the very least are far too happy to clock off after a set of nostrils. Instead, we get strange white-Asian mash-up identikit faces that mean, when we finally get a rare Asian character in a comic, half of the time you can't actually tell, because all of the phenotypes that once would have clued a reader in have been used up on white characters, and so now are coded as white.

After noticing this last night I went back through my sketchbook and discovered that I've fallen right into the trap of doing this, too. It's like trying to unlearn brokeback and automatic sex poses. I'm having to unlearn never putting in any lines.

Anyway, whinge over.

#artz #drawing process #comics #long post is long but i don't even care #tedious personal details

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imogenburchellfmp · 4 years ago

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character designs

Wolf protagonist character design inspired by Aardman animation character style, particularly inspired by the character Gromit (references used below top four pictures) (Hand drawn)

I decided to make some character designs that where inspired by Aardman’s character style as they make characters specifically used for stop motion models so I thought their designs would be good to look at due to practicality. I didn’t resemble the character style exactly, I mostly focused on particular features that I liked from the style and that I thought would potentially make the designs good for animation and tried to incorporate those into various character designs that I could potentially use to convert into animation models. The features I particularly focused on were the large bead eyes that a lot of the designs have, the relatively big flat feet and thick legs and the large noses which also seem to be made of a harder material that quite a few of Aardman’s characters have. Not all of Aardman’s designs have these features as I’ve found there is quite a bit of variation in their style but I have seen quite a few that do. (All of the picture references I used including pictures of the real animals that the designs are based on come from Google images. I used the Aardman model pictures to help me with style and the pictures of the real animals to help me with the anatomy/getting the design to resemble the actual animal it’s meant to be.)

This is the first design sheet I did.(For now they are just the initial outlined sketches. Since my main aim is to make models to animate with I don’t think I’ll colour them all. I might just colour the designs I decide to use in order to save time as getting the models made and animated is more important to the project as my end goal is to animate rather than create detailed character concepts.) I started with trying to make a design for a wolf character that I could use as the protagonist in my animation. (There is also a sheep design on this sheet but I’ll go over that design in a different post.) As far as I’m aware Aardman doesn’t have any wolf characters but they do have Gromit who is a dog which is a pretty close alternative. So I used Gromit in particular as a reference for this design. Gromit has quite thick legs and large, flat feet which I suspect help quite a bit with supporting the models weight so I tried incorporating this into my own character with a few of my own alterations. Gromit only has three toes when he is on all fours which works fine for making the feet look like paws but I still find them rather odd looking because of this. A lot of animals and in particular wolves/dogs have four digits on their feet/paws so I decided to give my designs paws four digits as it’s more accurate to the actual animal and as a result I prefer how it looks. It also allows them to function more effectively as hand like appendages. Gromit as well as being quadrupedal is also capable of switching to being bipedal which is demonstrated in the second to last picture. Being bipedal this allows Gromit to use his front paws like hands but he seems to grow an extra digit to use as a thumb when this happens. This is also partly motivated me to give the design a fourth digit so if the model similarly stood up to use its paws like hands it wouldn’t just seem to grow another digit out of nowhere. I would like my character to similarly be able to switch between being on all fours and upright as I mentioned in a previous post that being able to stand upright would allow more complex and human like movements such as being able to hold things and pick them up. Despite being an animal the more human like they are the more relatable the character will be and considering I want to make an animation about internal interaction which I feel is a topic strongly related to people due to their more complex brains I feel that making the main character more human like is important. It’s also a way of creating differentiation between the main character and the physical manifestations by giving them different body types. I also gave the design the big bead eyes that Gromit and a lot of Aardman characters they have. I like this feature of Aardman characters as again I went over in a previous post they might be pretty good alternatives to animating with soft clay eyes as they won’t get damaged and are easier to move but also because I do like how they look. Due to being a different material to the rest of the model they really stand out which I think helps to make the characters more expressive and they also look a lot more like actual eyes than I think soft clay would due to being made of a more solid material and having slightly reflective properties. Also due to the eyes being rather unusual looking due to the way they stick out of the head and I personally haven’t seen this type of eye being used overly often it makes the design look more unique. I also quite like how similarly Gromit also has a nose that isn’t made out of clay and that it’s very prominent, I like it for pretty much the same reasons I like the eyes. So I made sure to incorporate a large sticking out nose into my design as well.

I think this wolf character design came out reasonably well. I re-drew quite a lot of pencil outlines(for example I tried adding a line for a mouth but it ended up looking rather creepy so I decided to remove it and give the character no mouth like Gromit. I’m not sure I’ll add mouths generally though, at least not complicated one’s as lip syncing seems really difficult.) so the sheet is a bit messy as well as some of the fine liner outlines due to the table I was drawing on but I think you get the general idea. The bipedal version of the wolf does look rather odd partly because of the angel I ended up drawing the head at but I think the design overall does look quite odd/weird due to the stylised nature of it which I could see being a turn off. The particularly large legs and feet seem to especially contribute to this as actuate wolf proportions are rather thin legs but again as I’ve previously mentioned this could help with stability. It does add a degree of uniqueness as well as it’s a mix of the Aardman style and my own drawing style which I just seem to naturally deviate to. (My style being quite cartoony/not realistic.) This wolf design which is the first design I drew did ended up being the only protagonist character I did in this style. I wanted to draw a wolf character first as I am somewhat biased towards them which I went over in the post where I went over my reasoning for picking them. I did look over my list of potential candidates for the protagonist character so I could draw an alternate animal. I was considering doing a highland cow as I like how they look. But one of their main characteristics is being very fluffy which is something I would like to incorporate into that kind of character. But if I was to use clay having an animal covered in a fur texture would make it very difficult to animate without damaging the fur texture as you have to press the clay with your fingers in order to move it. So because of this I decided against using a highland cow. My other options were a coyote which from the pictures on Google Images that I looked at are very similar in appearance to wolves so I didn’t really see a point in creating a new design for it, a sheep which I already wanted to use as a candid date for the “angel” character and an elephant. I decided not to use an elephant as I thought it would be a bit complicated to do/a wolf design would be simpler and as a result easier to animate. Also I’m not sure how you could make an elephants front feet into more dexterous/hand like appendages without it looking really weird. I could use its trunk but I really wanted the character to have something more like hands so the character was more human like.

I do want to try a different/alternative character style in order to broaden my options/explore alternatives but since I think the main character is going to be a wolf/coyote I should try making a mock up model of this design to see if it works well for animating purposes. Although as I just mentioned I think I need to look at and make other character styles and animation styles and methods first.

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theclaravoyant · 7 years ago

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She... plays softball. Plays for the other team, as it were.

a Skimmons Coffee Shop AU, ft. happily platonic FitzSimmons, and ever-helpful gayngel & captain shipper Bobbi Morse

taking a leaf from the wonderful @the-nerdy-stjarna’s book to re-release an old fic with a new banner for @aosadvent2017 prompt “food”. I love Coffee Shop AUs, I have one for every occasion, but this one seemed especially fitting as I wrote the fic itself for last year’s @skimmonssecretsanta.

Rated G/T. ~3600wd. the original fic post is here, you can read it on AO3 here, or below. Enjoy!

Swinging my way, Baby?

It was a Tuesday afternoon, when it had first happened.

A Tuesday, around 3:30 in the afternoon. When recounting later, she was unable to consistently say what month, let alone what date, because it had begun just like every other Tuesday, and had continued much the same, save for a moment of lightning in the middle.

Jemma Simmons, aspiring PhD, was meeting up with Fitz for Chem study, just like every other Tuesday afternoon. She wasn’t running late, because she never did, but surprisingly, Fitz was already there, and talking to another girl. A girl whose face Jemma had memorised from across the classroom, but had never seen up close like this before. A girl whose name she probably knew, but couldn’t pick out of a lineup, for all the face was familiar to her. A girl with sharp black eyes, a quick smile, and a tank top bearing shoulders that made Jemma’s knees quake.

With considerably less smoothness and dignity than she might have liked, Jemma feigned indifference to Fitz’ visitor. She took her usual seat at the large library table and began separating out her books and notes with precision. Still, she couldn’t help peeking every now and then, up at where Fitz and his friend were talking. Her hair was short, about shoulder length, and flared about her face, bouncing as she spoke or animatedly responded. Her bag was slung over one shoulder, and one of Jemma’s covert glances caught her hitching the bag up, causing the muscles of her shoulder to ripple. Jemma’s face flushed at that, and she buried her nose in her books until Fitz and the girl parted ways and he came to sit down.

“Sorry I’m late,” he greeted, scooting his chair in and scrabbling to pull his notes and books out of his bag to catch up with Jemma.

“It’s no problem.” It was a nice view. Jemma bit her lip, and instead tried, with a casualness that was on second thoughts, too forced to have been worth the pretence, asked, “who was that?”

“Who?” Fitz glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, Daisy. Yeah. Daisy Johnson, you know, she’s in Computing with me. She was just after some help with a Physics assignment.”

“Oh. So. She’s not – I mean…You don’t…like her?”

Fitz laughed.

“I used to have a crush on her, actually,” he explained, amused by the memory. “We almost went to the middle-school dance together. ‘Cept turns out she, you know, plays softball.”

“Softball! Of course!” Just in time, she stopped herself from commenting on how those arms would be wasted on anything else. But still, Fitz shook his head.

“No, I mean – well, yes, she does play softball. And football, actually. But I mean she, you know. Plays softball. Plays for the other team, as it were.“

“Oh. Right. Right. Yes. I’m with you now. I follow. I – yes.”

Smooth, Jemma. She stuck her nose into the nearest book and hoped she wasn’t sweating as profusely as it was starting to feel like she was.

And then it happened. The bolt of lightning. The realisation that she might, in all honesty, have an iota of a chance. It was like flicking a switch, turning a fleeting fantasy into a blooming, consuming desire in the blink of an eye. Situational affection? A mind-boggling if temporary crush? Or cupid’s arrow through her heart, turning everything Daisy into diamonds in an effort to lure Jemma into a love story for the ages? Not knowing was half the fun of it. And more than half the terror.

“Why do you ask?” Fitz wondered after a moment. “Do you like her?”

Jemma fidgeted in her seat.

“I was just thinking about trying out myself,” she said, as smooth a derailment as she could hope for under the circumstances. “For softball, I mean.”

Fitz snorted. “I’d like to see that.”

Jemma slapped her pen onto the desk.

“I totally could!”

“I’m sure you could! I just don’t think it’s your style. Hideous uniforms, pointless running around in circles, lots of sweating and effort for no discernable reason –“

“Except fitness! And – and fun! And teamwork! And competition, you know I love competition –“

Soon enough the argument shifted away from Daisy, and even from softball, and onto the two of them challenging each other’s sporting abilities and willingness to suffer hard work and dirt. Jemma’s crush didn’t fade though. It only took a back seat. For a few hours, she even had herself convinced that she should indeed pick up a bat and try out.

Eventually, of course – and for which Jemma was eternally grateful - the heady optimism of inspiration faded and she realised that she had neither the skill, nor the money, nor even the desire to try out for softball, or any other kind of sport really. She would never be able to maintain it, if nothing else. Plus, her running around getting sweaty and failing at everything was, to say the least, not nearly as alluring as she would like to come across. Instead, after a few days of denial and indecision, she picked herself up and sought out Carter’s, the café where most of the campus’s sports and arts – and queer – communities were reputed to hang out. Being a hard science student who spent most of her time across campus these days, Jemma had not been to Carter’s for some time. It was not as she remembered it, and as she walked in, a combination of nerves, surprise and marvel took her breath away.

Only a few steps through the door, Jemma’s purposeful stride faded into a slow turn, like a young woman in a film arriving in The Big City. She stared so wide and for so long she felt like a freshman. She probably looked like one too, but she couldn’t help it. The place was decked out like a 1950s milkshake bar or diner, right down to the stools at the lunch bar, juke box in the corner, and musk-candy colour scheme of pink and green. Not to mention, the pillbox hats and matching collared uniforms that the feminist in Jemma was a little ashamed to admit, made her heart flutter. It felt like she had stepped back in time, or at least into one of those handcrafted, overly perfect horror-movie villages in Florida where nothing was ever as it seemed.

A chill ran down her spine at the sudden expectation that something might jump out at her. Nothing did, but she was unceremoniously dropped out of her timeless bubble and into a world where she should, by all accounts, order something or sit down. One look at the tall, muscled blonde behind the counter, making fiercely cheerful eye contact with her latest customer and smiling that familiar smile, told Jemma she was not up for that yet. So she sat, simply grabbing for the nearest empty table and pulling out her notebook and anatomy textbook. She’d come in here to eat – or at least, that’s what she had been planning to tell anyone who asked – but there was always work to be done.

Soon enough, in fact, she was so absorbed in her readings that she didn’t even notice the true reason for her presence there slip in through the door.

Daisy Johnson.

Carter’s had been a staple of Daisy’s college life. Situated between the gym and the theatre, it was where some of the most interesting people gathered, and where many of the girls on her team – both literally, and euphemistically – worked and hung out. Being near the theatre as it was, and relatively near the food and design schools, Carter’s tended to go through renovations a lot. Its latest incarnation resembled a 1950s diner and aside from its renewal of her love for Back to the Future, Daisy didn’t care for it all that much. She was hoping for something more outrageous next, like a Wild West saloon, or some kind of situation in which everybody wore rollerblades. But for now, at least the food was good and the milkshakes – and the uniforms, of course – were widely celebrated.

“Lookin’ good, Bobbi,” Daisy greeted, as she dropped into the stool nearest the cash register. Barbara was today’s resident supervisor’s intensely loathed full name, and in the spirit of the vintage theme under which she currently worked, she had easily heard it more times in the past three months than in the three years before that. Even so, Daisy had to bite her lip to stop herself bringing it up for a laugh. Bobbi glared, and Daisy beamed innocently and ducked her head below the counter for a moment, trying to reach simultaneously for her purse, and for the pastries under the cover beside the register.

Bobbi rolled her eyes good-naturedly, and lifted the cover for Daisy’s blindly reaching hand.

“Pink or sprinkles?” Bobbi asked.

“Surprise me.”

Bobbi handed Daisy a pink one with rainbow sprinkles, just as Daisy’s head reappeared over the counter. Her eyes widened at Bobbi’s selection and she took a large bite, humming in satisfaction through the mouthful of donut.

“Ah, you know just how I like it.”

Bobbi eyed her with an exaggerated expression of disgust as Daisy fished out coins from her purse, the donut now dangling from her mouth where she had sunk her teeth into it in order to free up her hands.

“Not if you like it like that, I don’t,” Bobbi remarked.

“Shut up.”

Daisy took the donut out of her mouth and added a coffee to her order, but as she did so, looked over her shoulder. It had just now clicked in her brain that she had recognised somebody when she’d come in. Somebody who didn’t usually come here, and who fit in a little too well, with her A-line skirt and pastel colours, and the way she kept twirling her fingers in her stray lock of hair.

“Oh my god.”

Daisy swung back around to the counter and ducked, wishing she had a menu or something to cover her face, though that hardly would have been less conspicuous. Blushing furiously, Daisy tried to recover by taking a sip of her coffee, and burnt her tongue instead. She cursed herself as Bobbi asked, inevitably,

“Who’s that?”

“A girl. Just a girl. No biggie.” Coffee, coffee. Ouch! Damn it.

“No biggie because she barely reaches my elbow?” Bobbi speculated. “Or no biggie in the lesser known, ‘if I hide behind this menu and she never sees me I’ll never have to confront my feelings,’ sense of ‘no biggie.’”

Daisy sighed.

“Ah, I really hope you become a fully fledged bartender one day,” she said, resignation in her tone. “Your talents are wasted here.”

Bobbi pouted, and reached for a towel just so that she could brush it across the counter and lean on it dramatically.

“So this girl, huh?” she inquired.

Daisy sighed again. Feelings confrontation time. “Her name is Jemma, she’s in my Physics class.“

“You take Physics?”

“Yes. What did you think I was taking?”

“The Science of Harry Potter?” Bobbi suggested. Daisy glared.

“Don’t even joke about that. I would kill.”

Bobbi smiled, and prompted: “So, Physics.”

“So Physics. Anyway. She’s there and she’s pretty and, well, I thought that was the end of the story…“

“Buuuuut…“

“Iiiiiiif you’d let me finish….but see, I’d thought she was with Fitz. I’d just assumed. Only, I mentioned something about it - y’know, them – to him today and I’m pretty sure he’ll still be laughing at graduation. They’re just friends! So totally friends! Kinda weirdly close friends, but still!”

“So why the long face?”

“I got my hopes up for a bit. But then I remembered. Jemma’s had certified boyfriends. Milton, Will. So I’m back where I started. At least I was. Til just now. And she’s here. I mean…do you think she knows? About this place?”

Daisy raked her hands through her hair, anxious, only to find Bobbi smirking, a mischievous glint of victory in her eyes.

“Oh, sweetie, she knows,” Bobbi assured Daisy. “And as for that ‘certified boyfriends’ thing…she’s had certified girlfriends too.”

Daisy’s eyes narrowed.

“Me!” Bobbi confirmed, with a flourish. “She’s a bit of a Bambi but don’t be fooled. That girl can go.”

“So what happened with you two?” Daisy wondered. Bobbi shrugged, her expression softening.

“We were both high achievers,” she explained, “and both in the same field. Competing for attention, grants, grades… Neither of us wanted to compromise and well, too much competition stops being fun. It put a strain on us and luckily, we stepped out before we snapped. No hard feelings. Some that suck, of course, but we don’t hate each other, so that’s a plus.”

“Hmph.” Daisy’s shoulders slumped, and she resumed picking at her donut, pensive and somewhat put out.

“Hmph?” Bobbi repeated, curious.

“Well, Jemma’s still a high achiever. She probably wouldn’t have time for me anyway. It’s just going to collapse, it’s not – Never mind, I’ll just get over it.”

Bobbi shook her head, made a note on a cup, and passed it to the coffee girl without taking her eyes off Daisy for more than a moment.

“There’s only one way to know for sure,” she insisted. Daisy moped, but Bobbi slapped down an apricot danish in a napkin and drew her attention.

“Ask. The girl. Out,” Bobbi commanded. “Bring her something, make her laugh, get a conversation going. Come on, Daisy, I don’t have to coach you.”

“I don’t even know what she likes!” Daisy whined, though her defenses were falling left right and centre. “I could get her an Americano, that’s what I have- but then, what does that say about what I think about her? Or me? Cheap, basic, unoriginal. Great. But then if I get her something else, something fancier, she might not like it, or she could be allergic. Or tea? Maybe she likes tea. I mean she’s English, they must like tea right? No, that’s ridiculous. Not all English people like tea. So what then?”

Daisy met Bobbi’s eyes, desperate.

“As the ex, it is my duty to let you work all this out on your own, young Padawan,” Bobbi informed her sagely. But before Daisy could give up, Bobbi received her secret order from the coffee girl and pushed it across the counter to Daisy, alongside the apricot danish. Bobbi met her confused glance with a wink, and added: “As your best friend, it’s my duty to wingman you to the best of my ability. It’s a fine line.”

“You’re fantastic. I love you.”

“Ah, save it for Bambi!” Bobbi shooed Daisy away from the counter and Daisy went, gleefully, singing in her head, over to Jemma’s table. She had a moment to take in the dusky pinks and browns of Jemma’s outfit, and the way the light seemed to fall softer on her, and then Jemma looked up.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “can I help you?”

And just like that, the moment was gone, evaporated by the sudden grip of panic.

Jemma looked up, and she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. Here was Daisy, so close her eyes were sparkling, and with an absent smile on her face like she didn’t have to think about it. And with an apricot danish in one hand, and what appeared to be a chai latte – though the label was partially covered – in the other. Jemma’s stomach rumbled. It was like a vision from the gods.

“I – I’m sorry,” she stammered, snapping herself out of her distraction. “Ah, can I help you?”

“Um. Yes. Maybe.” Don’t look at Bobbi, don’t look at Bobbi. It had been far too long since she’d had a proper date, especially with someone like Jemma. And even though Bobbi had promised, Daisy still wasn’t sure…

“I was wondering…”

Make her laugh.

“Did you swallow a magnet?”

Jemma blinked. “What?”

“Did you swallow a magnet?” Daisy repeated, her mouth bone-dry all of a sudden. “Because…you’re attractive.”

Jemma snorted. “That’s terrible.”

“I know,” Daisy groaned.

“No, I love it!”

“Really? Because I’ve got plenty more.” Daisy cleared her throat and leaned into the cheese, listing off pick-up lines in a variety of voices as she slid into the seat next to Jemma’s. “’Baby, I’ve got my ion you.’ ‘What’s your sine?’ ‘Are you full of berillium, gold and titanium? Because you are B-E-A-U-Ti-ful.’”

Jemma snorted again and curled up, giggling.

“Ten points for delivery,” she awarded.

“Oh! Speaking of delivery, these are for you.” Daisy pushed the gifts across the table, and Jemma bet into the danish with relish.

“Thank you, my favourite!”

“I had help,” Daisy confessed with a smirk. “A little birdie told me.” Jemma raised an eyebrow over Daisy’s shoulder at Bobbi, who shrugged innocently and went about wiping down and rearranging the counter.

“Well, are you having anything? I don’t have my little birdie on me today, but I’d be happy to return the favour.”

“Not a favour,” Daisy insisted. “A gift. A…hm, a –“

“A date?” Jemma grinned broadly. “With me? Really?”

“Wait, did you not get that?” Daisy frowned.

“No,” Jemma replied sarcastically, “the string of pick-up lines was completely lost on me. Yes, of course I got it! I just thought it was sweet how you got all flustered. I’ve been too intimidated to speak to you all year.”

“Intimidated?” Daisy laughed. “Why?”

“Because…” Jemma blushed. “You’ve swallowed a magnet.”

“Aw! That’s terrible!” Daisy crooned, flattered, as if the word terrible was sweet.

“I know!” Jemma moaned, but she couldn’t help smiling. “I couldn’t even remember your name until the other day, I’ve just been sitting in class pining all year!”

“You should’ve asked Fitz to hook us up! Does he know? About you?”

“Yes! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I guess it still feels a little weird to talk to people about it. It’s strange being bi, I feel like I’m faking it half the time. Plus, I mean, I didn’t even know that you were – that you could even be interested until he told me. Oh, I hope you don’t mind about that, by the way.”

Daisy shrugged. “I’ve already told him I’m cool with it. I’m pretty out.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Obviously not out enough, though, if you didn’t pick up on it. I should start wearing rainbow flags to school…or plaid, at least. I could rock some plaid, don’t you think?”

“You already play softball!”

“I do roller-derby too, actually,” Daisy added. Jemma’s eyes widened.

“I have always wanted to try that!”

“It’s a load of fun. You will get the crap beaten out of you though.”

Jemma’s eyes lit up immediately.

“Any gruesome injury stories?”

“Ew! We’re eating!”

“Well, I’m eating,” Jemma corrected. “And I’m a bio student. I’m used to it.”

“You fascinate me,” Daisy said, more sincere than she had been expecting. Belatedly, she realised Jemma was right and that she still did not have her food with her. She glanced over her shoulder at it, and saw the coffee and donut and her bag still by the counter.

“Um. I’ll be right back.“

Bobbi met her eyes pointedly, and pushed the coffee and donut across the counter with a salacious sparkle.

“I’ll bring you guys a lunch menu later.”

“Shut up,” Daisy scoffed, blushing.

She returned to Jemma’s table, to find Jemma eagerly awaiting her arrival.

“We don’t have to talk about gory injuries if you don’t want to,” Jemma clarified. “I can be a bit gross. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I have some killer stories! I just like to keep my blood and bones separate from my icing and sprinkles.”

“Fair enough. We’ll just have to find something different to talk about, then.”

Jemma pulled her anatomy notebook toward her and Daisy frowned, confused. Shouldn’t they be heading away from blood and bones? But as she watched, Jemma turned to a blank page, tore off a corner and started writing on it. A phone number.

“Just in case you wanted to tell me those stories some other time,” she explained as she slid it over to Daisy.

“Can’t wait!”

“But for now, blood-free, hm?” Jemma mused. “Well, okay, let’s start at the beginning.”

She held out her hand for a shake.

“Jemma Simmons. Biochemistry.”

“Daisy Johnson. Counterterrorism.”

From there, they launched into a lively conversation, swinging from favourite foods and seasons of the year to mockeries of dating advertisements, anecdotes, relatives and ancestors, life goals and hobbies and home and everything in between. They had lunch, and then Jemma walked Daisy to class, and grinned at nothing and rocked on her heels and shivered with delight after Daisy went inside. Daisy had given Jemma her number too, and Jemma rolled and flipped the paper between her fingers gleefully. It had been a long time since she’d had a date with someone special, lost track of time, kept them on her mind. It had been a long time since she’d felt this sort of chemistry with anyone, or had it reciprocated so enthusiastically or with a warmth and vibrancy that reminded her this is real.

Jemma ambled toward home without a rush, floating on the high of her blissfully, unexpectedly successful day. She sat on the train, barely but contentedly containing the urge to introduce herself to everyone that walked on with, “hi, I’m Jemma Simmons, I have a girlfriend. She’s amazing.” Then, as they pulled away from the station at last, her phone buzzed. A message from Daisy.

Remind me to show you a proper bat grip tomorrow. McLean Field, 9am.

Jemma smiled so wide she had to bite her lip to contain it, and proceeded to spend most of the rest of the trip home entering their next date, with care and flourish, into her diary.

#skimmons #bioquake #aospositivitynet #aosfemslash #buskidsnet #aosficnet2 #aosadvent2017 #prompt: food #clara's fic tag

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