#eiseryn

[eiseryn]

Would you still love me if I were a worm meme but it's a worm on a string based off my OC, Nova. Worm on a strings are so cute. 🥺 I posted this on Instagram so I thought I should post it here too. This is the only new art I've posted since I still have lots of old art to post here on tumblr though 🤡 Maybe I should just yell about my OCs in textposts instead.

[tomatoderby]

Soul colour + your name + core on Pinterest

I saw one of my mutuals michieolive on Twitter and tumblr user buckymydarlingangel do this tag so I figured I'd try this here. Tagging @eiseryn @ladiegreyart @spacecandyshop and anyone else who wants to try this!

"Your soul is cyan: a vibrant blend of dynamism, creativity, and futuristic vision."

Commentary and credits under the cut:

I feel like the colour cyan fits the aesthetic of my art better than it does me? I'm very boring lol. But a lot of the pinterest images I found were pretty inspiring!

Credit for the images (to the best of my ability):

Clouds pin from mayatrash on Pinterest

Turquoise "SHOP" sign from carlyy312 on Pinterest

Demon girl from the artist LUUV.? idk who edited it to be turquoise. a lot of people have edited this image to be different colours.

Je t'aime neon sign from Studio 128 Hair Sun and Beauty

screenshot of my soul colour by me

The edit of the girl wearing a mask and holding prop knife close to her face is from RIP RAPPER on soundcloud? I found the image on sewerparty's Pinterest and that soundcloud has the most similar looking edit, but it's not the original image

heart shaped traffic light from this post

Two people making a heart is from this post

Turquoise heart shaped lollipops from taylorsbxtch4ever on Pinterest

[massive-cockwomble]

I'm the new Drawtectives intern I guess

Tagging @mrsandman42069 @eiseryn @tofusthetics @r0tteny0te @saturnmortis and anyone else who may be interested in participating!

Doing one of these but with my mutuals after seeing this image on my dash today!!

..Y'know he may be the god of war but.. I'm not mad. No, no not at all. :)

@xxgalacticambitionsxx @hatbox-apologist @ghostingyourass79 @kittieshauntedourfantasy @emerald194 @thatonerabbit @comical-icicle

[eiseryn]

LEI'S BIRTHDAY!!!

September 17th is my OC, Lei's, birthday!!! so I had to really crunch and draw some art for her 😭😭😭 So busy nowadays.

Everyone say happy birthday to the bestest girl there is 😤😤😤 She deserves only the best (I love her so much 🥺🥺🥺) I really like how her outfit turned out! It's Chinese-inspired because she is half, after all. I really like the placement of the flowers and the vines but I will be honest that it's a CSP brush LOL. I love CSP brushes so much. The lotus hair accessories were kind of accidental, I had a flower crown originally but it didn't fit the aesthetic (they were roses). So thus these were born!

Her birthday is Sept 17 because I wanted an Autumn birthday for her and I wanted her to be a Virgo (astrological sign wise). It was either the 17th or 19th but I settled on the 17th cuz I thought it would suit her better (Vibes, I guess XD).

Since her campaign takes place in the Autumn, I imagine that at the end of her backstory, the night before she was arrested, she was enjoying drinks with Ceres and Elise! ;w; I'm guessing it's actually later in Autumn (Oct or Nov) and they just had difficulty scheduling since they're all doctors! For the sake of cuteness, I am going to headcanon Ceres is the one who set it up, since Lei set up something for Ceres' birthday (see Treasure Box of Memories bonus #1). This is extra painful cuz she was supposed to have a nice night with her friends (and then got too drunk LOL cuz she was frustrated with the project Prism put her on) AND THEN AFTER she got arrested and all the s*** happened to her 😭😭😭

Come to think of it, Vail (in that 1 phone call) stated he has a gift for her 👀👀 (implied it's a cat) There was no reason for him to get her gift (and she even said that BUT THE GUY HUNG UP BEFORE HE COULD ANSWER THE QUESTION) I am going to headcanon it's cuz it was her birthday (even though the DM/Keeper doesn't know this XD) If I'm high on delulu copium it's cuz you know 😳😳😳 maybe he's going to ask her out (sorry I'm always coping) but like why would he get her a gift? I don't understand 😔😔😔 Everyday I pray she lives so that I can find out all these things.

[eiseryn]

2023 Art Summary

I can't believe 2023 is almost over and it's been a whole year! These past few months have passed by in a blur and so I feel like I'm barely holding on 😭 I had a lot of time to draw in the beginning of last year but considerably less time now...

But overall, I'm really proud of my progress as an artist this year! I had more time to draw than usual so I honed some skills and worked on some things this year! You can tell from the first Lei and the last Lei I drew XD I learned how to use filters XD to blend the character into the background!

You can also see that I started the year with Nova (Feb-Apr) and then it became Lei in my fave pieces after LMAOOO. Seriously, the last 4 months just being Vail and Lei alternates is so funny to me XD. This year was truly the year of Lei. I suspect 2024 will also be the year of Lei with vis novel development XD

Going through the months:

January: First illustration of Lei back when the campaign first started. She was supposed to be a cold b*tch but uh... that did not happen. She turned out to be a soft and sweet girl, which also reflects in my later art of her. I still want to revisit girlboss Lei though cuz the shots she took in the campaign were like 😳😳😳

February: Pink Valentines Nova~ Nova is a blue girl but soft pink Nova hits differently. I think this art was cute and I love all the heart elements I put in! (Like in her eyes~)

March: Bubble tea Nova! This was my business card for the first art market I sold stickers at! <-- artist feat of the year? Otherwise didn't draw much art this month XD I was stressed out about my first art market. SOMEONE AT THE MARKET SAW THIS ART, ASKED IF IT WAS MY VTUBER MODEL, AND THEN TOLD ME I SHOULD BECOME A VTUBER. The best compliment I got about this art XD I will remember it forever.

April: Idol Nova… technically I drew it in May but shhh the sketch was done in April. I did this because I did some bday karaoke and this was the piece I got inspired to make after having so much fun there! Here is where I started learning how to use filters to help blend the character into the background!

May: Mermaid Merrow for Mermay! This is the only Mermay piece I did but it remains one of my top art pieces this year… just all the colours are so gorgeous in this one + the BG I'm proud of! I did not post it on tumblr cuz I started posting on tumblr in Aug... LOL. But anyways it's gorgeous and took me like 2-3 days.

June: Bad art month… it was between this and the Leticia sketch I made. I ended up with this one even though I don't like it as much as the sketch because it was at least a fully rendered piece with a background and everything... I don't like the face in it, but I worked hard on the hands! (One of my weaknesses) so there's that! Sometimes it's the little things you're proud of.

July: I really like this outfit I drew for Lei! It's the one I use for refs for her now XD I'm also particularly proud of this one cuz it's a fullbody and it's hard to draw fullbody pieces... But also I just think her outfit looks really good here! And I love how dead and tired her eyes look XD which is her mood by the time she got this outfit during the campaign.

August: It was really hard to pick for August because I had two really good pieces... (actually 3 it turns out) but I picked this one in the end because I think the artist composition was just really good. There are parts I don't like about it anymore, but the lighting was good! And I'm proud I drew all her friends in this too XD the pieces of her heart -- as this art piece is called.

September: Made a GIF of disappearing Vail! Not my first GIF I've made but I like how it turned out + I'm especially proud of the background XD It's not great but I put some effort into it. I could have worked on his pose a little more... but I don't have many good Sept pieces 😭

October: Spent too much effort on a meme. But really proud of the hand and lighting. Especially drawing the cyberpunk lighting cuz that's hard... Also yeah I think I spent close to an hour sketching the hand/ making the hand look decent XD So of course this piece is the one I choose. I also worked on making the BG look decent... and Vail's backview was hard... man... I spent a long time on this piece XD

November: Yandere Vail 😳😳😳 One of the hottest Vail pieces I've drawn and it's for a mafia AU Vail LMAO. I used a reference for this XD which is why the pose looks good.

December: Most recent piece! Had to finish the year with Lei cuz we started with Lei~ This one is a modern AU Lei so it can't quite compare to Lei's canon cyberpunk universe but still~ You can definitely see improvement in my art! Or so I'd like to think. I used a reference for the pose (kind of) and also used a picture for the BG. I'm going to do that a lot next year LMAO just take pics and use them as BGs XD Work smart not hard, right?

Runner-Ups

They're all from Aug + Dec LOL… my most productive art months this year XD

Aug 2: Flash piece! I didn't post this on tumblr either... but it is my former best boy from the campaign (Former b/c Vail took his place LMAO he's too sketchy now). I used a reference for his pose so it turned out pretty good in my opinion? I also like the lighting I did for him! I forgot his earrings though... and his necklace... oops... I'll fix that for the vis novel (cope) -- I do want this to be a CG you get from the vis novel XD cuz I think it looks good XD

Aug 14: Pink Neon Nights - First Vail x Lei piece 🥺😳🥺😳 I gotta admit the hand looks hella funky for Lei BUTTTT I am in love with Vail's smile here 🥺🥺🥺 His fangs and I like how I designed his hoodie~ Plus I like the pink neon lighting from the bar they're at~

Dec 21: Nova's birthday piece~ I hadn't drawn a full illustration for her since August so this piece turned out super good. For some reason her hair became more and more grey as the years passed in the way I drew her XD She's supposed to have white hair with grey tips (oxidation???) But UHMMM I think it's hard to do highlights on white hair so I've been making her hair more and more grey as time passes XD but her hair is white, guys.

Dec 22: Lei's Happy Holidays Card - TBH I don't like how her face turned out here, BUT I like her pose and the way I did her clothing folds XD and I put effort into the BG so there's lots of other elements on this piece I like~

And of course, my most popular piece this year was worm on a string Nova.

A classic TBH. She is still so sad and gorgeous in this piece XD I made it into a sticker to put on my laptop! :)

To more years of art and art improvement! ✨ To a 2024 filled with more self-indulgent OC art ✨ Happy New Year!

[eiseryn]

Lei's outfit for the date she got promised :')

Stuff happened after she and Vail made plans for a date but in the end, she did go and try to enjoy herself for the night. I'm writing fanfiction for it LOL so that might be shown sometime soon.

I don't actually like the way I drew her face but I already spent the time rendering so it feels like a waste not to post 😭😭😭

She's wearing the same drip/techwear rain jacket she bought on day 1 of the campaign and I guess the rest of the outfit she bought right before her date XD She's probably actually wearing her combat boots but like,,, I just wanted to give her heels 😭 In her heels she's probably a little taller than Vail XD (He's "a few cm" taller than her). I really like how the green lace turned out but NGL I was going to use a lace brush and make it black lace... I don't know why I suddenly designed to do it all by hand and also make it green I suppose I am just silly like that... I do really like the design of her dress and also her sheer thigh highs though!!! Aren't they so 😳😳😳 Vail is a lucky man just saying

[eiseryn]

Modern AU Outfit Designs (Lei ft. NPC friends)

Back on my outfit design BS, but this time for outfits in the modern AU. I've written a little stuff (fanfiction???) for the modern AU which takes place in a university setting!

Throughout her university and med school days, Lei actually had long hair! So in the modern AU, I decided to draw her hair long~ Also it really hits different 🥺 She's cute with short hair too but long hair Lei feels younger and softer to me.

For the outfit, I wanted to make winter/autumn outfit designs for another series of drawings I'm actually working on (I have like 50 bajillion WIPS) and so I made these as concept art / outfit designs. I wanted to include plaid elements so for Lei, her skirt is a green plaid! She's also wearing sheer tights, which is something she really likes, and she has some sort of heat-tech thermal white turtleneck as well as a fluffy probably sherpa wool? jacket but I didn't play with the textures enough for that (whoops). She's wearing white heeled boots the same colour as her turtleneck. She likes wearing heels cuz she's not very tall (158.5cm but she says she's 160cm when people ask). She also has a diamond shaped green dangly necklace - I like drawing her with diamond shaped green gems.

And of course, I designed her friends' outfits to be matching. I really wanted to have a plaid element among all four of them, and I realize that the four of them together are red, yellow, green, blue.🥺 Like sports day colours or something.

I designed Elise first, and gave her a classic red plaid circle scarf - those were super popular a few years ago! I decided to give her some red plaid legwarmers as well to add some colour to her otherwise plain suede jacket and black jeans/leggings (not sure which one it is). Her hair ribbons are red too, but I didn't put plaid in them (too small). She has a pretty simple outfit, because I imagine she wears simple but classy clothing. The Keeper (COC DM) later described her style as dark academia though, so I think I might draw her in some stuff like that later!

Ceres was pretty hard to design TBH. I wanted to give her a long skirt because she is shy and I thought it would be cute! I gave her fleece leggings under for the warmth. I also wanted to give her an accessory which I decided to be a headband which goes super well with the bangs that cover her face (in my opinion). I made them both yellow plaid, but the long plaid skirt contrasts and matches with Lei's short plaid skirt (bestie things 🥺 - Lei totally made them buy matching outfits). She has brown leather cowboy boots because fashion~ I wanted to give her a short jacket to contrast her long skirt and this is where I struggled I ended up making it the brown of her boots and added fur trim for a more winter/warm look. She's also wearing fur ball earrings because I wanted her to have a sort of fluffy look to her.

Vail! He looks so soft anime boy here and I love that 💅 I wanted to give him a simple parka with the inner lining of it to be the blue plaid so he'd match the rest of Lei's friends with the whole plaid design. I gave him jeans with a thigh belt which COULD be a gift from someone (👀👀👀if you know what I mean). Underneath the black parka I just threw on a simple winter turtleneck sweater to contrast all the black. I imagine it's pretty warm and made of thicc wool/ knitted material. I threw on some silver dog-tag/chain necklaces to ~ accessorize ~ a little more since he wears small silver earrings (apparently).

And voila! We're at the end of my unhinged rant about fashion/ outfit design! I'm sorry that I did not try to draw hands here. It's true I draw them badly anyways but I really didn't try this time. Sowwy.

[eiseryn]

Lei's Treasure Box of Memories

Description: A collection of drabbles (short snippets) from the memories of Lei (OC). These memories are ones she treasures from the times she spent with her friends in the slums (Ceres, Elise, and Vail). There are also a few more stories included as bonus stories -- one for each of her friends, which are just more cute memories she has with her friends.

Length: approx 7k words

[CERES] 

Blooming wildflower I beg you, please tell me Why do people fight and hurt each other?

Hmmm? Was that Ceres’ voice singing softly? Lei’s ears barely picked up on the sound, but she had ears that were a little sharper than usual. 

How cute, Lei thought and smiled to herself. She was standing just outside Ceres’ ambulance, which was parked right in the alleyway of Prism’s inner slum clinic. She waited until Ceres had finished the song before walking over to the passenger side and tapping on the window with her knuckles.

Ceres jumped slightly in the driver’s seat and whipped her head toward Lei’s direction. 

“Delivery for Ceres~” Lei held up her lunch bag that she had kept cool in their lab’s fridge. It was most definitely not a good idea to store food with unfinished drugs and certain chemicals, but they tried to keep the things separated and contained the best they could. For some reason, Prism did not have a break room for their entire staff in this clinic so that they could appropriately store food for the sparse breaks they sometimes got. Although Lei had only worked for Prism before, she suspected all the corps were stingy about things like this.

Ceres visibly relaxed and then unlocked the door so that Lei could climb inside. Lei handed over the bag and sunk into the comfy seat. Actually, it wasn’t that comfy, it was just the first time in seven hours that she had been able to sit down.

“Long day so far?” Ceres asked. She held the bag in her hands without any question, which warmed Lei’s heart but also concerned her a little. Hopefully Ceres was not this trusting with other people.

Lei nodded before stretching out her neck. “Melissa had the great idea to comment on how unusually quiet today was, so of course, there was immediately a flood of people who came in with various wounds and medical needs. I even had a lab shift today but I spent my day picking shrapnel out of wounds and sewing up flesh again.” 

She closed her eyes and rested her head on the headrest of the seat. “You can go ahead and start eating, I know you probably haven’t gotten a chance to eat yet either.”

“B-but this is your lunch.” 

“Go on, Ceres. I made extra for you. I should warn you that I made them last night so they might be a little dry, but they should taste alright.”

Like a good girl, Ceres opened up the lunch container and revealed the small rice balls sitting inside. Lei wanted to make them bigger, but her hands are only so big. Ceres passed one of them to Lei, who took it and began to chew on auto-pilot. There was not one thought in Lei’s head as it was covered in the thick and heavy shroud of exhaustion. 

“D-did you hear anything when you came in?” Ceres was asking. She was holding a rice ball in her hands, but there was only one small bite taken out of it. 

“Hmmm?” Lei was chewing through her riceball, so she had to swallow before replying. She considered lying briefly, but she wanted to be honest with the ones she cared about. “Oh, you have a lovely singing voice, Ceres.”

Ceres’ cheeks immediately flushed a bright red, which was accentuated because of her pale skin. “Y-you w-weren’t supposed to h-hear that!” 

“Aw, that’s too bad. With a voice like that, you could give the singers at Wondergo a run for their money~”

“D-don’t tease me…”

“I’m being honest.” And Lei really was. But seeing Ceres’ uncomfortable expression, she changed the subject.

“Are you free this weekend, Ceres?”

“F-free? Technically I have Saturday off, if there are no emergencies…” 

“Meet me in the shopping district then. We’re going shopping.” 

Ceres looked confused. 

“Shopping is always more fun with someone else! I used to go with someone… But I can’t anymore.”

“W-well..” 

“Please? Keep me company?” Lei didn’t like to beg. After all, she had learned that her mother absolutely hated any sort of fuss or weakness from Lei. But Lei felt comfortable enough around Ceres to show a side of vulnerability.

“O-okay, fine.” 

Lei’s phone sounded with a notification and she saw it was one of the coworkers she actually spoke to, Leon. He informed her that they were about to get busy again and she had five minutes to come back. 

“Tsk. Probably more of today’s bad luck rolling over.” With a heavy sigh, she gobbled down the rest of her riceball and then nabbed another for the short walk back. “I need to go back to work. Enjoy the rest for me, Ceres.” 

“B-but-.” 

“You can return the container to me when we meet up~” And then with a slam of the ambulance door, Lei was gone.

She and Leon took turns scolding Melissa for the rest of their shifts. 

“Ceres, your shoes are so worn-out and dirty!” Lei exclaimed upon seeing Ceres that Saturday. Ceres was wearing her usual attire of a loose fitting shirt and pants under the Prism-issued doctor’s coat. But for some reason, her sneakers were especially well-used. Lei was surprised she hadn’t noticed before. 

Ceres looked sheepishly toward the ground. 

“Have you not had the time to replace them?” 

“Mmm… y-yeah… s-something like that.” Ceres responded.

Lei shook her head. “Well, at least now we have our first order of business outlined.” 

And then she promptly dragged Ceres into the nearest shoe store.

“What about these?” Lei pointed at a pair of heeled combat boots. “I notice you never wear anything other than running shoes.”

“They look nice…b-but…”

“But?”

Ceres looked at the shoes for a long time before shaking her head. “I don’t think they would suit me very well.”

“I disagree. You’re pretty, so you would look good in anything.”

Lei thought about it for a little longer. “But you’re right, heels aren’t good for someone who’s always driving. Something with a flatter sole would be better…. like this one!”

She pointed at an equally nice pair in almost the same shade as before. Lei noted they were very similar to a pair she herself owned, although hers were black with green laces. Likely these ones had a miniscule change so that the corp could now sell them as “new and improved”. 

Ceres stared at the shoes for some time before shaking her head again. 

“Oh come on, you can at least try them on, just to see. Please? For me?” Lei started rummaging through the boxes. “What’s your shoe size?”

“It’s six…”

There was luckily a box near the top of the pile, otherwise Lei was uncertain if her weak arm muscles would be able to pry one from the bottom. 

“Here.” She opened the box, took the shoes out, and put them in front of Ceres’ feet.

With a bit more coaxing, she finally got Ceres to agree to try them on.

“How do they feel?” Lei asked. 

“Weird…” Ceres was standing in them like she was a newly born lamb. Her legs shook when she tried to walk around.

“Well there is a bit of a height to them that might feel that way if you’re not used to them. These types of shoes are best after being broken in for a bit.” 

Ceres shook her head. “I don’t think I would be able to wear them…” 

They only walked out of that store with Ceres’ new running shoes.

Ceres was the same in the clothing store they visited.

“What do you think about this dress?” Lei held up a flowy emerald-coloured dress to her body and swished it about. 

“It looks nice!”

Lei pouted. “You’ve said that for every piece of clothing I’ve shown you. I wish you’d be a little more honest. It’s hard enough to find clothing flattering for someone plain like me.”

“B-but I think you’re pretty….”

Lei simply shook her head and returned the dress to the rack.

“Well that’s enough for me. What about you, Ceres? What types of clothing do you like?”

“E-eh…” Ceres remained silent for what felt like a long time. “W-well… pretty dresses are nice and techwear is cool… but I don’t think I could wear them.”

“Why not?” Lei suspected she knew the answer, even if she had asked.

“Because I don’t suit them…”

Lei imagined what types of clothing would look nice on Ceres. A dress in white would look good on her and so would pastel purple to contrast her eyes, Lei thought. Then she imagined Ceres in techwear. It was a little more difficult, because Ceres had a sort of soft image in Lei’s mind, but anything was possible in the realm of fashion. As Gigi used to tell her, it was all about the confidence in rocking an outfit. 

“That’s a lie. You would definitely be able to pull off either style.” Lei finally said. 

Once again, Ceres shook her head.

With a sigh, Lei sifted through the racks in Ceres’ size. She held up a pretty dress with sunflower patterns to Ceres and nodded in approval. She also spotted a very long, baggy high-necked jacket with white accents that she could see Cere shyly hiding in. Additionally, it even had big pockets and sleeves that went past her hands. She could see Ceres wearing leggings or shorts with it, and it would look good with the running shoes Ceres always wore too. 

Meanwhile, Ceres stared at Lei in confusion throughout the entire process. 

Hmm… perhaps I could get something for her birthday, Lei thought. The little gears in her head began to turn. 

“By the way, Ceres, what do you do in your free time?” Lei asked Ceres while they were in line for the bubble tea stall. Lei realized that if she didn’t ask, Ceres would never really talk about herself. 

Ceres had an expression Lei couldn’t quite read, so she continued speaking. 

“For example, I like to take very long, scented soaks until I’m pruny and wrinkled. And on my days off, I like to go grocery shopping to cook and check out new restaurants or bars. I used to dance when I was younger but that was a long, long time ago… I still keep up with my daily stretches though! What about you?”

“I-I used to like walking alone at nights in my neighbourhood…” Although Ceres’ voice was already soft by default, she sounded extra hesitant and quiet when she was saying this. 

“You don’t do that anymore, right?” Lei furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

Ceres shook her head rapidly. “N-no, of course not!” 

“Good,” Lei sighed in relief. “It’s not safe to do that here.” 

“I know…” Ceres mumbled something that Lei couldn’t catch. This is what Lei assumed she heard, but she could not be entirely sure. 

“Hmmm, what was that?” Lei tried to ask to be sure. 

“It’s nothing.” 

Lei didn’t have any more time to ask because then it was their turn to order.

“Ceres what are you ordering?”

“A matcha milk tea with pearls, please.”

“Oh, good choice~ That’s my usual order, too. But I’ll have the taro milk tea with red beans this time.” 

The tired-looking bubble tea barista nodded and went off to make their drinks after they paid. Unfortunately, he was the only one at the stall so he had to work extra hard taking orders and making the drinks. Lei wondered how many hours his shifts were but something told her it might be better if she didn’t know.

“Do you always order matcha?” Lei asked Ceres. 

“Yes, usually…” 

"Have you ever had taro milk tea with red beans?"

Ceres shook her head. "Not that I remember."

 Their drinks were ready, so Lei took her drink from the counter, stabbed it with practiced ease of ordering boba too much and tipped the straw to Ceres. "It's good to try something different here and there. Here, have a sip."

Ceres bent her head down to take the tiniest sip Lei had ever witnessed. 

“How is it?”

“I-It’s good!”

With such a small sip, Lei wasn’t sure if Ceres had more than a drop of liquid, which also meant that no red beans had been eaten. But she wouldn’t push it. 

Lei pointed back to the street they had just left. “Let’s go back to that clothing store from before. I liked the lingerie they had on display.”

Later, when Lei was heading home, she would realize that Ceres only mentioned a hobby that she did Uptown/Downtown. Ceres did not mention any of her current hobbies.

She must be too busy for them now. Lei justified. Or maybe she can’t do the things she likes anymore. 

 After all, the same was true of her. Lei used to enjoy spending time in parks and gardens during her youth as well. She really liked plants and the flowers they could grow with actual sunlight. But well, there was no way that she could do that now. But even with her justification, there was a sense of unease that weighed heavily on her.

She took a nice, long bath with the calming scent of lavender when she got home. 

[ELISE] 

It was one of her days off, which meant that Lei had to go grocery shopping. Apparently, slummers didn’t usually do any cooking, but Lei liked to. It made her feel healthier and more accomplished with her life. 

She could have taken the train, but she thought she was due for some exercise, so she decided to walk to the shopping  district and take the train on the way back. She would later find that this would be unfortunately a bad decision. Or perhaps not, considering the person she’d get to talk to. 

There were some men shouting on the street as she was walking in the residential district so she looked for a chance to cross to the opposite street. But before she could, one of them came running toward her, knocking into her with his burly frame. 

There was a brief sensation of falling before Lei found herself on the ground with broken glass digging into her palms. She didn’t wear gloves outside of work but looking at her bloodied and cut-up hands, she thought that might be something she should consider for the future. 

“Fuck.” Lei tried not to swear often, so when the words slipped out of her mouth it always indicated something bad. 

Well, at least she didn’t have any groceries in her hands that she dropped. At least.

Do I really have to go into the clinic on my day off for this? Lei dreaded. But then, she remembered that there was another clinic perhaps a 15 minute walk from here. So she got back up on her feet, thanking herself for choosing to wear pants today, and continued her walk.

Elise was at the front desk. It was strange that her clinic had very few workers, especially when it seemed that she got a decent amount of patients. Lei had to wait in line for a while before it was her turn. 

“Sorry for the wait.” Elise said when she finally returned to the front desk.

“It’s no trouble at all. I understand.” Lei was able to relate as a fellow doctor. That’s when Elise finally looked up at her. 

“You look familiar… but I don’t think you were a patient. Have we met before?” Elise furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Yes, I’m Dr. Lani. I work at the Prism clinic. There was a patient you took in for us a few weeks ago and I was responsible for that transfer.”

“Oh, yes, I remember now.”

“Yes, thank you for all the work you did in saving that patient, Dr. El-”

“Just Elise is fine.” 

“O-oh, alright.” Lei thought Elise should be treated with respect for all the good work she did, but she supposed it was more respectful to address someone by their chosen name. “Well then, thank you Elise.”

“No need to thank me, I’m a doctor. It’s my job to save lives.”

“Hmmm… you’re right about that.” Lei couldn’t help but smile. She was glad that there were still doctors out there who valued saving lives. 

“Now what can I do for you today?” 

Lei showed Elise her hands. “I would treat it myself, but unfortunately I’m physically unable to.” 

Elise didn’t ask any questions, just simply nodded her head and began the careful work of picking out glass out of the cuts. Lei didn’t envy her. She found it a pain to meticulously pick anything out of flesh wounds. 

But Elise was very efficient with her work. Much more efficient than Lei was. Lei hoped that was because of Elise’s natural talent and not because she was used to it. Lei knew it was probably a combination of the two, though. 

“How much do I owe you?” Lei pulled out her credit chip, with a bit of difficulty since her hands were freshly bandaged and stung from the antiseptic.  

Elise shook her head and smiled. “I don’t take fees from fellow doctors.”

Lei frowned. “I couldn’t possibly not pay for the treatment you just did.”

“It’s my code of honour not to take payment from doctors. Besides, you need your hands to do your work.”

“That’s true… I have to go in for work the day after tomorrow.” Lei sighed. “Well, I don’t want to leave this favour unpaid. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I am a synthesis specialist, but I can do patient care at the basic level.”

Elise simply smiled.

“I’m being serious, Elise.” Lei frowned at Elise and tried to give her best “serious” face. Unfortunately Lei was not very threatening. 

“Hmm… Well, there’s nothing now, but I’ll never refuse a gift~”

“Oh?” Lei tilted her head. “What type of gifts do you like?” 

“That’s up to you.” Elise said simply.

“Elise, that’s not being very helpful right now.” Lei frowned once again. 

She started headed toward the door. “If there’s nothing else, I have to check on my other patients.” 

Lei sighed and got off the examination table. “Of course, thank you again. I’ll… come back with a gift at another time.”

“I’ll look forward to that then~”

Lei bought Elise some very high quality compression socks. Very good for long shifts standing on their feet, which she imagined both of them did as doctors. She didn’t know Elise’s size, but since they were both a similar height, she was able to estimate. 

Thank you for your hard work in saving lives and taking care of people. But do make sure to take care of yourself as well. Lei 

Ceres gave her a note from Elise a few days later.

Thank you for your gift,  I appreciate the gesture. You take care of yourself too. But feel free to come back if you have any injuries. Elise

Lei smiled. 

It's nice, she thought, to have someone else take care of me for a change...

[VAIL]

Lei didn’t know where those feelings started. As a doctor, it was important for her to remain impartial to all her patients to ensure everyone got equal treatment, but at some point in time, she started to look forward to seeing a particular one with pretty blue hair. 

This is wrong, Lei told herself. I’m the worst and my license should be revoked. 

But she simply tried to ignore her thoughts and forget them. What no one knows won’t hurt anyone… right? 

She did her best. Like she always did.

She justified that it was due to a simple psychological phenomenon: Mere exposure effect. He came so often, once or twice a week, that it just became a constant in her life. 

Fortunately, he did not always appear injured. What did concern her, though, were the things that he would frequently purchase when he was in the clinic. 

“It’s concerning,” Lei told him once, “how often you buy sedatives.” 

“Don’t worry about it. Most of them aren’t for me.” He replied simply.

When people say not to worry is when I worry the most, Lei thought. But she bit her tongue. Not because she didn’t care, but because it wasn’t her place to ask. But she would wonder, she always would. 

Why do you need so many to use them on someone else? And even if you say they’re mostly not for you, that implies that you are using some of them. You must be aware that they’re highly addictive, right? Do you… have trouble sleeping? 

“Alright,” she would say instead. “Each dose will induce sleep from anywhere between four to eleven hours. And they are 10k per dose.” 

She followed her clinic’s protocol like the obedient little dog she was. Why did this world value money more than human lives? 

Unfortunately, she didn’t think she would ever find the answer to that. 

“There’s a new bar that opened.” He told her once when he was getting treatment, again. 

“Oh?” Lei liked checking out new places. “What’s it called?”

“Feline Fine.” 

“That’s a cute name.” 

“It’s a cat-themed bar.” 

“You like cats?”

Vail nodded. 

“Me too.” Lei couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks for letting me know about it then. Maybe I’ll check it out on my day off tomorrow.” 

“5PM?”

“Is that when they open? I guess I could go at that time.” 

“See you there.”

Before Lei’s tired brain could fully comprehend their conversation, his treatment was finished and he was out the door with his weekly purchase of drugs. 

When she was finally lying in bed that night, she finally processed the information. Wait… did he? No… I’m overthinking it. 

Despite her better judgment, she went to check out that new bar at five o’ clock the next day. She wore one of her favourite dresses with sheer tights and had spent a little more time on her makeup than usual. Just a little, though. 

The bar was located in the upper slums near the edge of the shopping district and Lei was not surprised to see that it actually opened at 3PM and stayed open until early in the morning. The logo was written in lowercase neon pink cursive letters and there was a stamp of a paw print. Overall it gave off a very cute and soft vibe. 

There was a large glass window that allowed for people to see inside. Peering into the bar, Lei noticed that it was very busy, likely since it had newly opened. What stood out the most to her was that the servers were all dressed in butler or maid clothing and wearing cat ears and tails. Additionally, there were multiple robotic cats with different synthetic fur colours prowling about, much resembling Cillin, the one she owned. She wondered if they also vacuumed the place when customers weren’t there. 

Well, I guess I should go in.

And then she proceeded to struggle with the heavy glass doors with her weak doctor arms for a bit of time before finally pushing them open wide enough for her to step inside. She glanced around to see if anyone had seen, but luckily the people nearby were clearly wasted already. 

Shuffling past the people blocking the door, she scanned the main room and quickly found the one she was looking for sitting by the bar. Fortunately, there was a seat beside him, which she bee-lined for.

“Hello there~” 

He looked up at her with his usual calm expression that gave nothing away. “Hey, Doc.” 

“What drink do you have there?” Lei sat down and pointed to the clear dark amber liquid in the glass in front of him. There was no ice in the glass. 

“Rockyroad. It’s my favourite.”

Rockyroad? Lei had to really think before she remembered it was an alcohol that was known to induce sleepiness after drinking large amounts of it. 

“Don’t drink too much, it’s not good for your liver.” Lei couldn’t help but say. 

“Don’t worry about me.”

Too late, I already worry about you, she thought, but she bit her tongue. After all, it wasn’t her place to say something like that. And, a doctor’s advice is only good when the patient is willing to abide by it.

“Enjoy in moderation, then.” She said, and turned her attention to the woman behind the bar. The bartender was dressed in a nice suit like the butlers and also donned a pair of cat ears. Lei noticed that some masculine-looking people were in maid outfits and some feminine-looking people were in suits. 

“Bartender, one meow-jito please.” 

“Right on it, ma’am.” The bartender said, and immediately began to mix the drink. 

While Lei waited for her drink, one of the robotic cats padded her way on the bar counter, nimbly stepping past all the patrons’ drinks. To Lei’s delight, it was a fluffy colourpoint just like her Cillin. She stroked its synthetic fur when it sat in front of her and wondered if it was the same model. 

“So… you like cats?” Lei turned her attention back to Vail when the bartender slid her the mojito. 

Vail nodded. “One of my dreams is to get a real cat.” 

“Really? Me too!” Lei spoke more excitedly than she had all week. “Not a lot of slummers think about things like having pets, since they’re so expensive and all… What made you want to get a cat?”

“They’re cute.” His attitude about it seemed like he was brushing off her question, but she justified it was just his personality.

“Hmm… can’t argue with that.” Lei smiled into her drink.

It was nice to talk about mundane things like this, especially when the majority of her conversations with other people involved technical work-related jargon or depressing information about patients. Something about Vail’s demeanor was pleasant and comforting. It was like he didn’t have a worry in the world, and it made her think that perhaps, she didn’t need to worry either. 

On her second drink, a paw-loma, she felt tipsy enough to try her hand at more conversation. 

“How did you find out about this bar?” She tried to maintain eye contact with him, which was a bit difficult since he seemed to always be looking at something else. 

“I passed by it while they were still renovating during a run.”

“That’s right… you’re a runner.”

Lei wouldn’t usually have asked more. She did not want to stick her head where it didn’t belong, and usually the less you knew about these things, the better. But she had some alcohol in her blood now and she was curious about this guy she only saw in the clinic.

“What other interesting things have you seen on your runs?” 

He returned his gaze to his drink. “All sorts of things.”

“Such as?” She tried to prod.

“Hmm… well I can’t tell you too much, but I once worked with this runner who made up nicknames for everyone including herself. And she kept using really complicated nonsense words. Like she said that we runners were “fighting against the eternal darkness that envelops this land as one of the few chosen arbiters of the night”.” 

“I think I’ve learned about that sort of condition before. What was it called? Chuunibyou syndrome? It has something to do with having delusions. I’ve never actually met someone with it, so it’s interesting that you did.” But to be fair, Lei had scraped through her psychology courses so she wasn’t completely certain with this information. 

“I don’t know about that.” Vail murmured, but Lei’s ears were able to pick it up. 

She decided to change the subject. “What nickname did she give you?”

“Something like “Keeper of the Forbidden Hand”?” 

“Hmmm… I wonder how she decided on that name for you?”

“Who knows? Maybe she was going off on a whim.” 

Lei wondered what Vail's real name was. She had heard that runners went by pseudonyms. But even if she asked, he probably wouldn't tell her. It was probably safer that way for the both of them. She would be curious though. If nothing else, she hoped that he wouldn't call her Doc outside the clinic. That was her title and occupation, not her name. 

“What was her own nickname?” She asked instead. 

Vail had to think about it for a bit before he answered. "Keeper of Secrets?”

“Hmmm… what an interesting individual.”  

“Yeah, and there was this other time I worked with a runner who pointed at a bomb and asked, ‘what’s this bomb-looking thing?’” 

Lei couldn’t help but chuckle. “It seems like you run into a lot of… “interesting” runners. This one that you’re talking about now seems to lack critical thinking skills in particular. But you all pulled through, right?” 

“Yeah, we managed.” 

Perhaps it was the atmosphere of the bar, or the alcohol in her blood, or even Vail’s company, but time passed more quickly than Lei imagined. 

Vail checked his phone and began to stand up. “Looks like I’ve got somewhere else to be.”

Lei stood up to leave with him. “I should go too. I think I’ve had enough to drink tonight.” 

In her heeled boots, she realized that she could see the top of his head when they were both standing. This gave her an odd sense of satisfaction. 

She also realized she was a bit drunker than she thought because she had a fierce urge to reach out and smooth out the messy locks of his hair. She kept her hands busy by putting on her rain jacket. 

“Thanks for being my drinking buddy today.” Lei said as they walked out of the bar together. “It was nice to chat with you.” 

“Let’s go out for drinks again sometime. Here’s my number.” 

Well, ethics be damned, Lei thought. She was not going to turn down an opportunity to spend time with someone who actually wanted to spend more time with her. Whatever the reason may be. 

“I’ll look forward to that, then.” She smiled at him, and to her surprise, he actually smiled back. 

BONUS 1: Thank you for being born

Hmm… Lei looked at the clothes and shoes she was in the process of wrapping. She should probably give up and fold them neatly into a bag because wrapping them this way was not working. 

Ceres’ birthday on April 1st was approaching and she had been planning and working on preparations for almost a month now. 

Gifts? Check. Cake… cake? Oh no, she hadn’t ordered that yet. She then realized that she had never directly asked Ceres what her favourite cake flavour was. She would have to do that quickly. 

LEI (03/26, 11:15PM): Out of curiousity, what type of cake is your favourite? 

CERES (03/26, 11:26PM): Fruit cakes! Well… I guess mousse cakes now, since they’re easier to get here. 

CERES (03/26, 11:27PM): Why?

LEI (03/26, 11:30PM): Just doing some market research. Thank you~

Lei hoped that Ceres would not suspect a thing. Even if she was being rather suspicious about her preparations. 

They were both working the day of Ceres’ birthday. Well, Lei had a night shift that lasted until the morning and Ceres was technically always working.

So after her nap, Lei picked up the matcha and vanilla mousse cake she’d ordered and then texted Ceres.

LEI (04/01, 8:04PM): Help! I have an emergency! Can you come to my place? 

CERES (04/01 8:06PM): On my way!

It wasn’t even five minutes later when Lei heard frantic knocking at her door. Ceres had definitely sped here. 

“Lei? What’s wrong? Open the door!” Ceres’ usually soft voice was panicked and shrill. 

Oops. Perhaps Lei had taken the surprise element a little too far. 

Lei crept to the door quietly while holding the plated cake carefully. She flung the door open, to see Ceres’ golden eyes wide and concerned.

“Surprise? Happy Birthday!” Lei sheepishly smiled. 

“Y-you… you gave me such a f-fright!” Ceres gasped. 

“Sorry…” Lei had enough conscience to feel guilty. “But I couldn’t think of another way to get you here without being obvious about it… Sorry.”

Taking Ceres’ hand, Lei led Ceres into her apartment and had her sit at the table with a glass of water to calm down first. Then she fetched a knife from the kitchen and cut the cake, making sure to give Ceres a big piece.

“How long were you planning this?” Ceres asked, when she was handed her giant piece of cake with a fork.

“It’s been about a month now! But I’ve been thinking about it ever since I asked you when your birthday was.” 

“That’s a long time…”

Lei had to swallow her bite of cake before she answered. “Not really… I wanted to invite Elise too, but unfortunately she was working… like always.” 

Lei cleared her throat and changed the subject. “What did you usually do on your birthday back in Uptown/Downtown?” 

“O-oh, um, t-the usual things… j-just cake with my family.”

Now that she was thinking about it, did Lei eat cake with her family? She might have in her very early childhood, and in later years her eldest brother would buy some for her, when he remembered. She also remembered that during her brothers’ birthdays they would eat noodles for long life. She only remembered eating noodles on her birthdays some of the years she lived in her family’s house. 

Lei wasn’t hungry anymore, so she got up from the table and went to the connected living room, where a large gift bag was sitting on the coffee table. She passed the bag directly to Ceres. “Here’s your gift, Ceres.”

Ceres placed her fork down and gently lifted up the tissue paper. The first item she pulled out was a flowy long dress the colour of lavender. It had slightly darker floral designs printed on the fabric. 

“O-oh… thank you…”

The next item was the baggy techwear jacket Lei had seen on that shopping trip with Ceres. The material was waterproof so Lei thought it would make a good rain jacket. And finally, the last item was a comfy pair of soft white leather boots with no heels. 

“I remember our conversation about clothes that you liked but wouldn’t ever wear. So I bought them for you. You won’t refuse if they’re gifts from me, right?” Lei smiled at Ceres.

Ceres looked hesitant, but she had a soft smile on her face, too. “W-well… I suppose if they’re gifts…”

“Wear them sometimes, alright? These are good items to add to your wardrobe!” 

“I’ll… think about it.”

“Or! I have a better idea. You can try them on now!”

“E-eh?” 

“It’s good luck! To try on new clothes on your birthday!” Lei wasn’t actually sure, but it was probably a superstition somewhere in the world, right? 

Before Ceres could protest, Lei pushed her into the bedroom and closed the door on her. 

“T-there are a lot of clothes in your closet…”

Oops. Lei didn’t usually close her closet because it was too full of clothing items to properly close half the time. So to the closed door she said, “Well, it’s one of my hobbies~ Feel free to try anything on if you want to! They might be slightly big on you, but that’s fine.” 

Lei clapped when Ceres emerged wearing all three items at once. She actually didn’t expect Ceres to try them on all at the same time, but for some reason she was able to pull it off.

The advantage of being pretty is that you can pull anything off, Lei thought. But she wasn’t jealous toward Ceres. She was instead proud to be Ceres’ friend. 

“I don’t think these suit me very well…” 

“I disagree! Give me a little twirl!” Lei made a twirling gesture with her hand excitedly. 

Ceres tried to. But unused to the feel of her shoes, she tripped on her own feet. Luckily Lei was there to steady her in time before she actually fell. 

“S-see? They don’t suit me…” Ceres was covering her face with her hands. 

Lei shook her head and gently patted Ceres’ head. “You’re simply not used to it yet. But thank you for trying them on. It’s fun to play dress up with someone again…”

Lei thought for a bit of time before she finally could think of the words she wanted to say. “Thank you for going on with my antics too. I’m sorry if it was too much this time.” 

“It’s because I trust you, Lei.” 

“Me too, Ceres.” Lei smiled. “Thank you for being born.” 

BONUS 2: Take care of yourself

“You know, Ceres, everytime I visit Elise’s clinic, she’s always working. Does she not have any days off?” 

“Did you know Elise once collapsed from overwork?”

Lei whipped her head around to stare directly at Ceres. “She collapsed?” 

Ceres nodded. “After that, she hired a few more workers. I still think she’s there too much, though…” 

Lei didn’t have to ask why Elise would do such a thing because she knew exactly why. Elise was just the self-sacrificial type, noble and kind, risking herself to save someone else’s life. 

On her next day off, Lei went to visit Elise with some gifts. 

“Oh hello, did you get injured again?” Elise asked, surprised when Lei walked in. 

Lei shook her head. “I don’t have any injuries today.” 

“Then what brings you to my clinic?” 

Lei put down the bag of skincare products. “For you, Elise. They’re great products for mature women like us.” 

Was that too direct? Too harsh? It didn’t really convey how Lei felt, but putting her feelings into words was always difficult. She wasn’t really able to do so in her youth and she never developed the skill to do so. Or at least, not smoothly. 

“You need to take care of yourself better.” Lei had to really wrack her brain for the words, but she firmly believed these were important words that she needed to say. 

Because… if you don’t… the slums will be down the best doctor they have. And I’ll be down one of the people I care about. These were things Lei couldn’t bear to say aloud. Things that she was afraid to admit. 

“Did you come all this way to tell me that?” 

Lei could only nod. 

“This means a lot to me. It really does. Sentiments like this are hard to come across in the slums.”

Lei could definitely see that, especially witnessing the sort of suffering people had to do here just to get by for another day. 

“But you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself just fine.” Elise gave Lei a reassuring smile. The kind of practiced, doctor’s smile that Lei had also learned to make.

“Elise, do you really think that’s going to work on me?” Lei frowned at Elise. “I know that look. I can make it myself.” 

Elise simply turned away to sort some files behind the reception desk. 

Lei sighed. “When’s your next day off? I'll give you the spa day you deserve.” 

“I don’t get days off often.” 

Lei shook her head. “Oh, I’ll bet-”

“But I’ll save one for you.” 

“Coming from you? Now that’s truly an honour.” Lei couldn’t help but smile. 

“I should see my other patients now. Don’t come back as a patient.”

“I’ll do my best~” 

BONUS 3: A place where you are safe to dream

“Technology is too hard to keep up with nowadays.” Vail was saying.

They were drinking together again, but this time in a different bar. Feline Fine was still Lei’s favourite, but it was nice to have a change of pace here and there.

“Vail, you’re young, though! I’d imagine the youth would be keeping up with things like that. You can complain when you’re old like me.” She tried to keep her tone light and teasing but there was some truth to her words. 

“I’m not that young. And you don’t look that old.” He said this rather quickly and firmly.

“Oh my, thank you! It’s just my baby face, but that’s still very flattering~ But you would be surprised. I went through a lot of post-secondary education to become a doctor, not to mention my residential period…” She cleared her throat to break up the rant she almost had gotten into. “That’s not important, back to the technology you can’t keep up with?” 

“Cities are apparently making tunnels connected to each other for the rich and wealthy to travel across. And along the road there are holograms of A.I. waifus and husbandos that follow you the whole way. And they also deliver food and items for you while you travel.” 

“That sounds like an excessive waste to me.” 

They both drank. 

“I remember VR technology was really popular with my classmates back in high school. Many of my classmates would get scolded by their parents for spending too much time playing around and not studying. But I never understood the hype.” Lei turned her head and stared at the liquid in her round glass. “Afterall, you eventually have to return to harsh reality, like waking up after a nice dream.” 

She played around the rim of the glass with her finger. “I much prefer what’s real.”

Vail nodded, but he said, “But dreams are nice.” 

“You have dreams?” Lei wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. It was just the sort of abstract someone as relaxed as Vail might think about. He had just the sort of dreamy mood about him. 

“Of course I do. Who doesn’t?” 

Lei wondered what her own dreams were. The idea of dreams was intangible and seemed so far away from her reality. Was someone like her allowed to dream of better things for herself? Even if she had any dreams… would she be able to fulfill any of them? 

“What… type of dreams?” Lei’s voice was getting softer and slower. She probably had one too many to drink this time. Her eyelids were getting heavy and she rested her head on the bar counter. 

Lei wasn’t sure if Vail was thinking or if it was just her drunkenness skewing her perception, but it felt like a long time before he answered.

“Sometimes… I wonder about what it’s like outside of the slums… or even just outside the city.” 

“Hmmm…” Lei closed her eyes, drifting. “Well, I’ve lived “outside the slums” but is it really better? There, it’s all about climbing the cutthroat corporate ladder and trying not to fall off or get backstabbed. But, there are… definitely some things that are better, though. It’s cleaner, for one, and people aren’t dying on the streets. They have gardens and you can feel the sunlight on your skin. Slummers don’t get enough vitamin D…” 

Did she miss Uptown/Downtown? She certainly didn’t miss her blood relatives, but… she did miss the gardens and the sunshine. She missed being able to walk around safely without always being ready to draw her handgun. She even missed the higher-grade lab equipment they had access to. Maybe, she missed seeing Gigi and shopping with her. Elise and Ceres might have experienced life in the Middle district, but now she wished Vail could experience it too. It was a luxury to be able to live there, she understood that now. 

“Can’t tell you about other cities though. I’d imagine…” She yawned. “I’d imagine that they’re probably the same as this one. Only the most elite thrive and the majority of the people suffer and struggle to survive.” 

“But it’s nice to imagine something better.” His voice was definitely quieter now. 

“Yeah… that would be nice. If some other place has it better than us.” 

She could hear Vail’s voice saying something to her but she couldn’t process what the words were. She was already drifting away to her sleep, in a place where she was allowed to dream. 

AUTHOR'S NOTES

The lyrics Ceres is singing in the beginning are the translated lyrics to the beginning of the song "Euterpe" by EGOIST. It has flower motifs in it, just like Lei has flower motifs 👀

Apparently Lei's shifts at the Prism clinic are 10 hours long and they have no scheduled breaks (need to find time for their own breaks). Capitalism sure is evil.

Gigi Legris is her friend from uni/med school and they were pretty close when they both lived in Downtown. They bonded over their mutual interest in fashion and likely used to shop together a lot. Lei lost contact with Gigi after she moved to the slums, but she doesn't know that Gigi tried to contact her after... Gigi is pretty girlboss and she works out and is very strong! Furthermore, she probably got a promotion to work Uptown as a researcher later on...

Lei probably did ballet for a few years in her youth but showing no significant talent, her mother probably pulled her out of it. She probably quite enjoyed, though! Also I wanted more ugly duckling --> swan vibes for her.

Lei actually doesn't curse that much and only curses when things are bad BUT IN THE CAMPAIGN THINGS GO BAD A LOT SO SHE CURSES A LOT LOL

AGAIN I MUST MAKE A DISCLAIMER, BAD IDEA ETHICS-WISE THAT SHE BECAME FRIENDS WITH HER (Former?) PATIENT

Did you notice Vail's potentially smooth move? Read it over again if you missed it I worked hard on that

At the moment, it is uncertain if Vail has troubles sleeping so that is why he buys sedatives. This is one of my theories though and would make sense why he likes drinking an alcohol that induces sleepiness after drinking a lot of it (SHE CAN FIX HIM!!! <- cope)

Apparently Elise is 38 years old. She is a mature woman. (Lei is 32 for reference and Ceres is 30). Also for Vail he's allegedly 27 (ish)

At the end of the BONUS (3) She does end up falling asleep and Vail takes her home 😳😳😳 If I post it you'll see what happens after (it's spicy but not LOL)

[eiseryn]

While it's still summer...

I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of August 😭😭😭 The summer passed by in a flash and now what waits ahead in Autumn for me makes me really anxious. I drew this a little earlier in August but like I tried to have a bit of a queue ready ;w; The keyword is try haha once I get busy I won't really have time for anything.

Yeah even though I have lots of anxiety for what lies ahead, I really like how this polaroid-style piece looks very soft and uplifting :') There's just something about soft fluffy white clouds in a blue sunny summer sky that sparks joy and brings hope!

"Happiness is a temporary and nonpermanent state" is something my friend told me which really stuck out to me. Because the reverse of "sadness is also a temporary state" is also true :') So even if you feel sad now, it too, will pass, and there will be things that you can look forward to. The sun will still rise tomorrow, and life will continue on.

And, I guess, there's still the next summer that will come that we can look forward too :)

[eiseryn]

I'm a healer, but... meme but with my OC Lei. Cuz yeah, this is her throughout the campaign XD I don't know if she's killed 3 or 4 people but she's also rolled like 3 crits on handgun alone my girl does not miss 💀

I hope she hits hard when we fight the second final boss too. 🙏

I kind of don't like how this piece turned out anymore but I worked really hard to draw it so I wanted to share it anyways ;w; (Like I seriously tried with those hands for once)

[eiseryn]

Arknights AU Sketches (Lei ft. NPC friends)

Today I am introducing Lei's NPC friends but it's kinda funny that I'm introducing them as sketches for an Arknights AU. It is what it is.

Let's start with Elise! In the original cyberpunk setting Lei's from, Elise is an older female doctor who worked for the most prestigious med corp but quit and opened up a clinic in the slums instead. She's obviously a very talented doctor and Lei looks up to her a lot, as Elise appears to be the epitome of an ideal doctor, in Lei's perspective. Someone who actually views saving lives as being the most important - a rarity in this capitalistic dystopian setting. TLDR: Elise is Lei's doctor senpai.

Elise in the Arknights AU is obviously a medic (the operator class). I'm not sure about her archetype/subclass but she's definitely one that actually does healing and a lot of it. They don't do that anymore XD. She is a six star (highest rarity) because she is really good at her job AKA doctoring around. With input from the Keeper (COC's version of the GM/DM), she's a liberi (bird people) specifically, an eagle. I thought this was extra fitting since Lei is a liberi (swan) as well, which makes them more parallel to each other.

Elise's introduction/onboard quote is: "Elise Amaya, a doctor of the medical department. You're worried about me? Don't be. I can take care of myself. Please come by if you have any injuries yourself."

According to Ceres (another one of Lei's friends), Elise has collapsed from overwork. Elise is just the self sacrificial type who would risk her life to save someone else's. Perhaps... this is due to guilt? So in her quote, I imagine the Arknights Doctor has heard about this too and showed concern for Elise, who brushed it off with the "I can take care of myself". This is how she brushed off Lei in the campaign when Lei showed concern for Elise. Elise... please :')

The next one is going to be Ceres! Who is Lei's bestie in the slums. Lei met her very soon after she moved to Prism's clinic in the slums. Although Ceres has her whole medical degree (apparently a neurosurgeon, according to Lei's coworkers), Ceres' job is to drive Prism's ambulance. Personality wise, Ceres is very shy, gentle, and soft-spoken. She's 2 years younger than Lei, so Lei dotes on her Ceres like the younger sister that Lei's never had. Ceres is also small and fragile-looking, so I imagine Lei has a fierce protective instinct over Ceres. They hang out a lot during what breaks they can steal on their long shifts and even spend time outside of work. Their relationship is so cute. 🥺🥺🥺 I love me girl friendships.

In the Arknights AU, Ceres is either a supporter/specialist class and let's pretend there's a subclass that involves driving/car XD because Ceres is not a fighter. That's also why I made her a 4 star, because she is definitely physically weak and doesn't seem to have any fighting skills. She probably is not there doing damage but I imagine if you put her on field when Lei and Elise are also on the field she gives big buffs to them or something XD. Moral support, you know. I wanted Ceres to be a soft prey animal but I ultimately settled for a deer because she is a dear. (I'm joking). In actuality, I describe her eyes as doe-like before and because of her docile, gentle personality, I thought a deer was very suitable for her!

Ceres' onboard quote is: "Oh, he-hello. I'm Ceres... I'm an ambulance driver. Have you seen Lei or Elise? I'm looking for them."

Sometimes Ceres stutters when she speaks! I think generally she does this more when she's nervous. (Or lying???) She's looking for her friends, Lei and Elise in this, because in the campaign currently she's also waiting for Lei and Elise to come back (crying in the club noises). 🥺 She's so cute I constantly want to give her headpats and hugs.

The last of Lei's NPC friends is her former (?) patient, Vail. (DISCLAIMER: ETHICALLY, THIS IS BAD). He is a runner and his info broker's name is Martial (whom we do a little job for in the campaign~) Anyways, he's kind of suspicious because he used to visit the clinic once or twice a week, sometimes injured, sometimes not, and purchase sedatives and brain stimulants. When Lei expressed concern for him, he replied. "Don't worry, most of them aren't for me". (bro, that's sus. But he's cute so it's okay 💅<- this is a joke but he is a cutie). Apparently he hasn't been in the Prism clinic for like 3 months now but he and Lei meet up for drinks sometimes, and they last met 3 weeks prior to the campaign. I wrote about this event :3 and made it mildly spicy :3 but welp we'll see if I post it.

In the Arknights AU, I originally wanted him to be a ranged guard (Lord class, my fave!!!) but there weren't any vanguards XD so I decided to make him a vanguard! He doesn't seem very high DPS based on what we've seen of him in combat -- which was one time and I don't think we saw him do any fighting. We got there when he had already 1v4ed and taken down 2 robot dogs though! (😳😳😳). He was using the same handgun as Lei, which I've drawn badly here LOL. Subclass wise, I imagine he's an agent for the range :3 I made him a catboy because he likes cats and also he's really catboy coded like there is no other way to describe him. He just feels like a catboy to me.

Vail's onboard quote is: "Hey Doctor, got any sedatives on you? Ask the medical department? Nah, that'll worry my usual Doc."

Hahah I sure wonder who his "usual Doc" is. Hmmmm who could it be? As I mentioned above, he purchases sedatives a lot. Here he is asking the Arknights doctor for some. What he's using them for is still a mystery to me at this point in time 😔

Another thing to note is that in Arknights, there's a deadly disease called oripathy and those Infected with it are heavily shunned by society. Anyways lots of operators (the character/ units) in Arknights are Infected people who are working to pay for their treatment (and also there are lots of doctors who are working on treatment). Unfortunately, Vail is infected😔

And finally, my girl, Lei!

As described before, she is a liberi! Specifically a black swan because I feel like she has ugly duckling -> swan vibes. She doesn't have many feathery parts to her outfit because she tries to keep her outfit neat and clean as a doctor/medical expert. She's also a medic like Elise, but she's probably more of an incantation medic who is a subclass that both heals and does damage. Just like her, in the campaign :D I drew her holding a healing gun that you can put like uhh healing chemicals into. And probably deadly chemicals too :') - or sedatives :3

Lei's onboard quote: "My name is Lei Lani. I'm a doctor who specializes in pharmaceutical research and synthesis. Let's work together and save more lives, Doctor."

Here she has a pretty cut and dry introduction quote. Nothing fancy, but it suits her. I imagine her other voicelines will talk about her friends more.

In Arknights, Olivia Silence gives people her feathers as gifts. So I kind of stole that idea for Lei, where she is also giving her friends her feathers, but she fashioned them into little charms with little gemstones. I imagine she spent lots of time putting the together for her friends and she wants them to serve as good luck charms where she prays for their safety and happiness.

The locations for where those charms are also pretty important! For Lei, she wears it as a necklace which hangs close to her heart because her giving out these charms is like her handing out pieces of her heart to her friends. For Elise, it hangs off her medical symbol because Lei looks up to her as a fellow doctor and I guess they're both working hard to save lives. For Ceres, it hangs off her antlers, close to her head because Lei always thinks of Ceres first. For Vail it uh.... well let's just say it's the most appropriate place to hang it without getting in the way of his movement. XD

I do plan on making actual E1 art of her one day ;w; and also I plan for her to have a 6 star alter who is a sniper (maybe caster?) cuz uh she sure has done lots uh one shot one kill type of thing.

EXTRA SPICY BONUS UNDER THE READMORE (It's not that spicy)

What's going on here? 😳😳😳 Some tail action??? Scandalous!

I mean, it can be cute and wholesome if you want it to be cute and wholesome.

[eiseryn]

Starting with Nova (my main OC) I drew back in December of 2022! (I checked and I think I completed this around December 21, which I've decided is her birthday~)

She was my DND character for the last DND campaign I did and I'm pretty sure her origins are from 2021. This is obviously an AU/ I intended it to be a sort of magazine style image and she's posing as the queen of my heart (hence the crown). In her native universe, she is a wolf girl (Lupine?) beast master ranger who hails from the North. She has a backstory I'm not going to to get into today but her father was an astrologist and she therefore has a lot of starry themes. Her primal companion is an arctic wolf named Polaris and her main weapon is the bow and arrow. I'm really proud of how this piece turned out 🥺

[eiseryn]

Whenever Lei tries to to talk to Vail, he's like ✌ Gotta go see ya (and then we never see him again). LIKE SIR PLS I JUST WANT TO HAVE ONE (1) CONVERSATION THAT YOU DON'T CUT OFF SHORT!!! (convos with him are short like his height 🤪🤪🤪)

I had to make this meme with Mr. Doesn't Show Up cuz this man always disappears or never shows up in the campaign and he also never answers his phone LOL. I'm totally not salty about that. Definitely. Not.🤪🤪🤪 This is lucky an easy GIF to make but I used Firealpaca to make it XD I had to cut down the file size it was originally bigger. I really like how it turned out though 🥺🥺🥺 I spent too long on the wonky BG. I'm going to need to learn how to draw cyberpunk BGs for the vis novel man...

Pray that Lei lives so she gets to communicate with Vail after the bossfight 🙏🙏🙏

[eiseryn]

Pieces of Her Heart

Lei has three people who are the most important to her: Her three friends, Ceres, Elise, and Vail. She doesn't believe in unconditional love, not knowing that she unconditionally loves her friends. So unknowingly, she has given them all pieces of her heart. So throughout the campaign, it has been difficult for her as the events of the campaign has made her doubt and distrust her friends. But I believe that at the end, if she lives, she'll continue to view them as her friends. After all, her friends are why she's risking her life to go on a suicide mission which hopefully will succeed and thus save the city (I hope?)

There's a lot of symbolism in this piece! Details I'm particularly proud of include the greyscale stripes as the wallpaper/background, which resemble prison bars. Are her feelings toward her friends Furthermore, the circular "spotlight" that shines in the image and focusses on Lei might also resemble what you see through a rifle/gun scope (cuz uh she's almost been killed a few times). The intricate parts of the mirror portraits are from a tool on CSP! But ofc did the shading myself. Vail and Ceres are smiling softly because they haven't done "betrayals" as Elise did. So Elise's portrait, which is facing away from Lei (because SPOILER: she sedated Lei in the neck when Lei turned away from her LOL) and cracked (showing the fractured trust). This is why Elise's expression in her portrait is also rather sad and downcast.

Vail and Ceres are smiling in their portraits because Lei has decided to trust her after the events that caused her to mistrust them are partially resolved (It's complicated). In these portraits, since they are supposed to represent the pieces of Lei's heart, she imagines them in their best state and she loves to see her friends smiling. She wants to protect their smiles, Ceres', especially, because Ceres is a light in this dark, dark world, that Lei desperately wants to make sure doesn't get extinguished. As for Vail? His talk about dreams makes Lei feel like she might also be allowed to dream and hope for better things for herself, even in such a harsh and unforgiving world.

She loves her friends so much 🥺🥺🥺 I love her so much.

And if we want to talk about Lei herself, her expression is a quite empty (because of all the things she's had to experience) and the light is again, gone from her eyes... She's a very quiet crier (because she's been scolded for making too much noise from her mother) so she's used to having tears stream down her face, silently... If only someone could comfort her 🥺🥺🥺

BONUS: The image without all the dramatic lighting. I had to render it to this point, after all.

[eiseryn]

Neon Pink Nights

Lei and her runner friend (?) Vail drinking together. Apparently they get drinks sometimes (👀👀👀) and so I wanted to draw them getting drinks at a cat-themed bar named "Feline Fine" (One day I will release the writing for these scenes cuz I already wrote them, might as well share). In this cat-themed bar, the servers all wear cat ears/tail with butler/maid outfits and there are robotic cats that prowl around. Lei herself owns a little robotic cat named "Cillin" (short for Penicillin). Organic pets in this world are super expensive to own and take care of, but Lei wants to be able to afford and own her own cat one day.

Speaking of Vail, he seems to be a bit of a dreamer who talks about his dreams - specifically what it's like outside the slums, or outside the city. The Chinese character on his sleeve is the traditional character for "dream". He's also mentioned having a dream of owning a real cat as well. (Hahah since they're expensive what if they owned a cat together 👀👀👀😳😳😳 You know, definitely just to save money. Definitely. )

I'm really proud of the lighting 😭😭😭 I wanted everything to be dyed in soft neon pink lighting because ~ cyberpunk ~ setting but also just because soft vibes. My favourite part is actually the little robotic kitty in the corner LOL. I had so much fun sketching it out. Other details I'm proud of include Vail's little fangs 🥺 I am on the catboy Vail train no one can stop me now! Also his outfit design LOL all the little V's on the side and centre are V for Vail~ ALSO his hair is sooo pretty but like you can't see much of it here XD He has blue gradient hair and I'm like 😳 p-pwetty.

I posted this on Instagram so I thought I should also post it here. This one, like the worm Nova, is new art XD I still have a lot of old art to share though!

I love Lei so much 🥺🥺🥺 I haven't been able to play her in a while (because of scheduling issues) but I just really want her to live and be happy. And the way she'll be happy is if her friends are safe and happy 😭😭😭 Always praying and hoping 🙏🙏🙏

Cuz I drew it, here the sketch of the outfit Lei is wearing. It's super rough but I really like how it turned out + I love the flowery embroidery I designed (that you can't see in the original pic cuz she's sitting down). Also look at that thigh shine tho 👀 It's hard to tell but she also has dark red lipstick + eyeliner/eyeshadow (I'm bad at makeup its one or the other).

[eiseryn]

"Sing with me! Let our voices soar to the stars~"

Idol Nova! I'm so proud of this piece it took me soooo long. I drew this back in May and the original sketch is actually on pencil. My best pieces tend to be the ones I sketch on paper, take a picture of, and then import into my drawing program... hand-eye coordination is hard without a screen tablet.

I was inspired by Oshi no Ko and also karaoke! I have two versions because I couldn't decide on the pupil style I wanted (Starry eyes are how I originally drew Nova but I like the solid white people because it looks more wolf like to me 😭😭😭 so I'm like why not both LOL. I think around here is when I learned a secret filter hack to make pieces have better lighting too! :)

I hand-drew the stage lights + round light things... there's so many layers in this.