#for the panel above i decided i didn't need to draw it but it sure leaves that ambiguity

[frankenfossil]

Oh! I nearly forgot, but can I ask the significance of this panel?

It comes directly after Dee explains that he can’t come and see her from the future whenever he wants. (Which is one of my favorite moments where Dee’s true eldritch horror leaks in to the story), so I assume it’s… sort of a metaphor? How Emily finds herself at the foot of something she realizes is much, much bigger than she contemplated before?

(Also, I just wanted to compliment you for this panel)

(The first time I saw it, I imagined Dee was showing her this on purpose, time traveling from sometime the same day to really show her what it would be like. An object lesson.

The second time I saw it, I started to wonder

Because Dee himself doesn’t really look aware of what is going on behind him.

And maybe, just maybe, this one moment in time has become the only moment that Dee allows himself to come back to to see Emily, the one moment where he can get lost in the crowd with every other time he came back to look. The one moment where he’s explaining why he can’t come back.

Just… Makes me sad, and I wanted to say thank you for that too, because I love these characters and the story they tell, the sweet and bitter.)

Oh!!!

(Quick test of my ability to find which chapter stuff happens in)

I love your reading of that Uluru panel!! I think I probably didn’t intend anything that deep with it; these time skip montage style chapters are pretty choppy and I’m usually trying to figure out a way to touch on all these brief scenes or moments that I don’t want to spend a whole chapter on for whatever reason, and arrange them in a way where the cuts aren’t too hideously abrupt. For visual reasons I try to contrast different locations and not put 2 dialogue heavy moments directly next to each other. Mood wise, I don’t really want to cut from something serious and angsty to something that’s a complete backflip on that. I also sometimes just feel like drawing a nice landscape and hope it achieves my aims on these fronts haha.

I think also here I was trying to move from that final sentence, “The present is more than enough”, to demonstrating them appreciating having that present together - being able to go do cool and enriching stuff, something not completely mundane but not completely fantastical either. (I mean... sightseeing within your own country is extremely normal, but going to Uluru from Melbourne... not a convenient day trip, since it’s 2000km; 25 hour solid driving, or you can fly in a few hours but I think you have to go via Sydney, so that makes it take at least twice as long I guess. Not that it's specified how long they're there for. I haven’t been myself but I’d love to one day...)

So, yeah!! More of a mechanical/compositional rationale than an intentional metaphor, but I think your reading makes complete sense and actually improves the page! (Sometimes I do intend visual metaphors... but sometimes they’re just happy accidents.)

And thanks for the compliment re the crowd of Dees!! I also love the moments I can lean into his eldritch qualities... they’re sadly few and far between but maybe that helps them be more surprising?? Definitely your first reading was what I intended, that he zigzagged back pretty quickly, probably even from within the conversation, but there is an inherent ambiguity to Dee’s time travelling where unless I take pains to spell it out, there really is no way to know when he’s come from. Even if he can be assumed to be taking every interaction chronologically, there’s no knowing how much time has passed for him between each visit. I don’t even know how to estimate how long his experience of time is, when he’s zigzagging back so densely all the time; even the number of living things on Earth any moment is an incomprehensibly mind-boggling number. That eldritch horror again!

Truth be told I hadn’t thought of him coming back to this moment and blending in with the crowd for the rest of the future ;_; but that’s so real... he could well be, the sad sack...

I had a different sillier thought from slightly misreading your question on first pass, which is that maybe he doesn’t originally know what’s going on behind him, but then later on as he’s just going about his business he goes “oh I know exactly how to punctuate that thing I said earlier!!!” and then does it as an afterthought. Oh to have the ability to add the things you wish you’d said to an earlier conversation 😂

[rivangel]

in this exposé i will

Isayama talks about his drawing in way too humble a fashion. but this is especially true when it comes to emotions and expressions - especially in aot where emotions and the nuances of character emotions are portrayed outside of dialogue.

but - especially wit - went about doing a disservice to Levi in particular when putting his character to screen. i don't think it's too controversial to say that most aot fans are anime onlys right? and it's much less controversial to remember the very bad take that throughout aot Levi is emotionless.

obviously, this is clear enough in the anime. but the manga really brings the emotional spectrum of his character to all new horizons. it's been stated by Isayama that Levi is the most emotional character in aot. and if you cross-examine scenes in the manga vs the anime, this is unmistakable.

so i want to give a few examples of where the anime - mostly wit - miss these nuances in Levi's show of emotions.

thank you to this person on twt for giving me this idea with examples!

i'll start with what i consider the greatest offender of all (from the moments on my mind for now):

right as Midnight Sun starts, Levi has just managed to get back to Wall to find that Zeke is escaping and Armin is half-dead. he failed in carrying out Erwin's order.

i mean WOW, right? in both, Levi looks exhausted yes, but in the manga he looks frantic. on the verge of tears almost.

this is going to be a trend, where the anime portrays Levi in a much more hardened and determined manner compared to, arguably, how he really is. i think that there's a balance that the manga depicts much more equally.

later, Floch is recounting how he found Erwin. he found him alive, and considered putting him out of his misery, but decided that Erwin didn't deserve mercy.

this scares the shit out of Levi - much, much more clearly in the manga. in the left 2, he looks afraid in both, but in the manga, that fright is just. so much more intense. you know how strong Levi's feelings are.

right after RtS, Levi and Hange have come to let Eren and Mikasa out of jail.

understandably, Levi is neck deep in mourning. not just Erwin, but every life that was sacrificed just so he could fail; the two veteran squads that died when Bert transformed; Moblit; and of course Hange was badly injured too.

his depression is TANGIBLE in the manga. the anime doesn't convey it as well... (if at all i would argue)

in season 3, when Kenny has given his speech about how everyone is a slave to their own vice, and he's just retorted to Levi, "what're you, a hero?!"

clearly in the manga, he's much more exasperated. his head is hanging more and he looks pleading instead of angry.

the anime didn't even include this panel.

he feels sorry for him.

the attack on Liberio. Levi is cutting Zeke from his Titan.

in the manga, it's so INTENSE. i'm sure he's experiencing the same exact feelings as he did 4 years before. this moment is supposed to be his triumph - when he completes his promise to Erwin. you can clearly see the longing and disappointment, but along with forced determination, because putting on a show of killing Zeke is torturous for him, but it's his duty.

(i posted about this earlier but) Levi has just cut Zeke out of his Titan and needs to put down a grenade in order to give the impression that Zeke is dead. then he notices Magath, but most importantly that two kids are directly below him.

in the manga, his head is more downturned as opposed to above them, which is important in the scope of getting across that Levi doesn't see them (or Marleyans for that matter) as below him.

in the manga it's clear that he finds absolutely no satisfaction out of it, which is seen in the anime version too, but like i've said, not like Isayama gets it across.

[ask-obt]

What steps do you usually have for creating each page, and how long does each one usually take you? Do you do stuff like thumbnail entire chapters in advance, etc?

I don't know how big your page buffer is, but you seem to get pages done at a really impressive rate, especially considering every page is clean and colored, so I'd love to know how you manage it :)

// this is a long ask, so buckle up!

all of my pages start with an outline, which is then fleshed out into a script- over time I've found that having an entire chapter done before starting any other step cuts out unnecessary fat that comes with editing. if there's one thing I learned from preboot OBT, trying to figure out what exactly happens on a page as you're drawing it can lead to a lot of heartbreak if you decide to change it (a lot of preboot OBT's chapter 4 was subject to this- I have a million drafts of rune and fienne in the market because I didn't know what I wanted them to do there). my scripting program is actually the beta version of a program one of my classmates in college made, and if it ever goes public I'd be happy to pop a link since I believe they want to make it open source eventually. on average my scripts are about 5000-6000 words long, and are written (casually) like film scripts since that's the format I was trained on as a film student.

my outlines are a bit sloppy because it's just like a stream of consciousness flowing out while I try getting ideas slapped down as quickly as possible. I try not to worry too much about details unless I have a clear vision in mind because I think writing the plot out in one go flows the most smoothly.

and then from there, I expand that outline into a script.

after the script is completed, and assuming I have enough buffer, I thumbnail the entire next chapter- or at least as much as I can stand in one go. I'll usually either be working on rendering the previous chapter during this step, or I'll have the previous chapter completed so I can devote my attention to it. either way, I try and give myself room to do a variety of tasks depending on my mood. thumbnails are easy to work on while on-the-go for example, but they require a lot of thought to put together. coloring can be tedious, but it's great to do while multitasking of on lunch at one of my jobs.

part of the thumbnailing process for me includes putting down text bubbles. surprisingly, this is a very tedious task, so I try to get it all done in one go so I don't have to agonize over it. and this is where my process gets a bit convoluted, so bear with me.

to do this, I take a look at my script and break all the dialogue into different text bubbles. I've gotten to the point where I think I do pretty well naturally finding breaks in pages, and I just go in chronological order putting text down. for this step I have page templates prepped, which show the safety margins that I need to follow to prevent text from getting stuck in the binding when printing into books. I make sure all the text is safe, and then move onto the next step.

after that, I copy the page with text bubbles, and then shrink it really small into thumbnail size. on a layer above this screenshot I trace the text bubbles, and then treat those bubbles as "dead zones" to draw around while working on the thumbnails. this might be an unnecessary step if you have a good grasp on how much text takes up a panel, but I am historically awful at judging that so knowing the exact text bubble size when thumbnailing helps prevent my bubbles from getting in the way after the art is already rendered. then, rinse and repeat for the rest of the chapter!

some chapters I'm quicker at thumbing than others- on the low end we've got chapter 5, which I wrapped up in 2 months (I did roughly 1 thumb per day)

and then chapter 6 which I dragged my feet on a little bit, at around 6 months

(and chapter 7, which is twice the length of a normal chapter for me, took 4 months!)

after that is sketching, the part I dread most when working on a chapter. it's the part that requires the most thinking on my part, and I did away with sketching completely for most of chapter 3- but I've been trying to make my lines thinner lately, and until I build up the confidence to work without sketches, I'm afraid I'm stuck with them. I try to do 1-2 sketches per day, but some days I just don't do them if I'm not feeling up to it.

(I'm actually avoiding sketching while I work on this ask)

while most of OBT is done in CSP, the one thing I don't do there is lines- for that I use Autodesk Sketchbook. sketchbook has a pretty incredible predictive stroke tool that adjusts your strokes after you make them. it takes a bit of time to get used to, but with it I can draw much faster than any other program or with any other stabilization tool. I gave CSP an honest shot with lining by trying to use it for 6 months, but sketchbook was just too powerful so I live the multiprogram life. I try my best to keep all my lines closed during this process because it'll make coloring WAY easier. like I think coloring used to take me an hour, now it takes me 20 minutes tops.

then I flip off the visibility on all layers except the lineart layer, save as a PNG (saving a working file as well if I'm feeling spicy), and then import to CSP! where the most fun part begins.

to start, to do that colored lineart thing where the lines on my characters are darker on the outside than the inside, I start by coloring characters their inside color first (using the "lock transparent pixels" layer option). for comics this is reduced to a simple "warm palette" color and "cool palette" color, which are brown and blue respectively. it's subtle, but you can see it in action with rune and eilwyn here.

then I use the magic wand tool, my best friend. I select the negative space around the characters, invert it, and then with the dark color selected in my palette (for me it's a dark brown approaching black) and the transparent pixels still locked, I use the "outline selection" option to outline the characters. I usually outline them by 6 px, but it'll depend on what looks best.

then for coloring, with the characters still selected, I use the "shrink selection" option to shrink it by 1 pixel. this helps prevent aliasing when I use the fill bucket to fill characters in with a base color! after that I pick them out by character and manually add their main color by hand, so they look something like this.

and here's the part where I impart upon ye, dear reader, with the forbidden knowledge I learned while doing the Monster House Marathon this month. see, I really like doing these daily events because they push me to my limit. a page a day is the most comfortable fast pace I can work on the comic, but it can still be a bit of a strain to get a page done before my bedtime, so I'm much more willing to learn shortcuts in order to get a nice juicy 6 hours of sleep instead of 4.

if you do a closed lineart method like me for most of your character's markings, the "Set Reference Layer" tool is going to become your new best friend. using this, I set the lineart layer as the reference layer (and only the lineart layer), move over to my coloring layer, grab my fill bucket tool, and then I can just start literally filling in characters within seconds. some characters have unclosed markings that I'll have to do by hand, but this is extremely quick and I love it so much.

finally I add a multiply layer where I do some light shading. this step used to be full cel shading, though over time I've found that my art reads a little more clearly without it. and shading also used to be miserable because it was another 30 minutes to an hour of rendering that kept me from completing a page, so it sometimes got a little miserable.

and finally, I add backgrounds and lighting effects. I have a pretty decent library of pre-rendered backgrounds I've made that I can just plop in a scene, but sometimes for new or one-time locations I'll make a new one by hand.

and that's a completed page! it's a bit hard to calculate how long a singular page takes start to finish since I try doing everything before the lineart in batch style, but I'd say it all roughly evens out to 2-4 hours. breaking it down, it looks something like:

Thumbnail - 10-20 minutes Sketch - 30 minutes - 1 hour Lineart - 30 minutes - 1 hour Coloring - 10-20 minutes Rendering - 10-20 minutes Background - 20 minutes - 1 hour

so pages are pretty quick for me to make! this helps me build a pretty sizeable buffer, I think my previous record was somewhere around 40 pages? maybe 70 if I included dielle's wish. though I will admit during this Monster House Marathon, I actually ran out of buffer on day 7, and I'd been laying the tracks in front of the train until, uh, checks watch, the 27th! as of writing this I finished the buffer through the MHM, so I can rest easy. this ask probably won't queue until after the MHM has ended so this probably sounds a little comedic. the main reason I was able to manage these daily updates without a buffer was because of an art high I was experiencing this month, which is also why I did a marathon in the first place.

though usually, I really am an advocate for buffers. having a buffer of at least 3 months means I can hop around with different processes as my interest in them flips around. my brain usually likes to focus on one task at a time, and a lot of it, so having that freedom is great for me. and sometimes, I just wanna take a month off to play a new game or hyperfixate on stardew valley once again! it all comes down to practice and developing a workflow and schedule that works for you.

[littlebosslady7]

read The Home We Built. Can you describe Grey Hunt manor more?

Sure. That story is here. I know this probably or rather most definitely isn't architecturally sensical or sound, but to be fair, it changes depending on what fits in the story.

The outside is painted in gray of course, archery range off to the side. The front door, just a single door, blue. We enter through the foyer. Sometimes the walls are plain white or a pale yellow in my mind. There's a chandelier with a wood frame and elven crystals that appear branch like.

The living room has various paintings of snowdrops and blue roses done by both Percy and Keyleth. There's racks on the wall for Vex, Wolfe, and Leona to hang their bows, arrows, quivers, and whatnots. It's never used by Vex or the kids. LOL. They have a family portrait comissioned by a young artist named Genevive above the fireplace.

The kitchen has arched, rounded windows that allow for a lot of natural light. They have a massive kitchen island, the best quality stove, and a new fangled tall ice box. The door to that looks more like wood paneling. They have a nook with a round table by the window. Arrowheads, nicks on the island, and a few old food stains when the kids didn't want to eat their vegetables give the kitchen some character.

The hallway has each of the kids rooms'. Vesper's room is a lot of pinks and lavenders. She has huge parchment posters of her favorite musical artists of a pink troll, a purple tiefling, and a blue orc in a newsboy cap. All either old timey typewriter or calligraphy font.

The twins, they share. They argue about wanting to their own rooms on occasion, but to honest neither can sleep without Wolfe's snoring or the quiet little hoots, mid-slumber wing flaps from Leona's snow owl. They do have a deep purple curtain divider for privacy. Their walls are a rich coffee mocha color. Their parents decided that so there would be no arguments. Wolfe's side has a couple fencing trophies. Books on werewolves. Crude, for a 13-14 yr old wolf drawings under his bed. He has a few crude pamphlets/comic strips he stole from Uncle Scanlan. Men, women, NB individuals posing a bit too sexy. He thinks he can hide it well, but Vex and Percy catch on it and find it when they're with their tutors. Leona has archery trophies and a couple medals on their nightstand. They have books on fey and a series about a fairy/changeling royal romace on their shelves. Their floor is covered in multi-colored bowties, arrow parts, and dusty glasses cleaner clothes. Wolfe's is even worse. The boy leaves leftover food breakfast in bowls by his alarm clock.

Danny has mint green walls, a warm mural of a cherry tree and a friendly raven in it designed by Auntie Kiki. He has a toy box filled with various animal plushes and wooden airships/carriages. He has what starts out as the size of a doggy bed for Charlie, but eventually the cub needs let's say a sturdy twin bed. Percy and Vex ocassionally take away his lock picking kit he got from Auntie Pike, but a 4 year old boy and his trusty bear have ways.

Gwen has white walls with the mural of the two moons Catha and Ruidus. She has lots of fun baby books, rattles that change color, teething rings shaped like various animals -- bears, bees, lizard bee ect. She has blocks in the Infernal alphabet and bracelets, hats, and old clothes from Aunt Zee and Uncle Kash's twin girls. Her crib has little bite marks, especially when her fangs popped out. Her mobile has the stars.

Percy and Vex's master bedroom has their massive king sized bed, but honestly it's a bit more lumpy on Percy's side cuz Vex likes to spoon with both her legs tangled around him and her ear pressed to his left pec. They have Percy's short swords above their bed, which Vex isn't always fond of. Though they have come in handy. But it's a better, tamer visual of what they used to have before kids. A painting done by Percy in silhouette of Vex naked. Percy just saves that for his sketchbook now. They have a bed for Trinket that the kids will sometimes use. Lots of long cushions and sleeping bags tucked away in the closet for the kids. Their walls are cream colored. They have a little purple love seat, blue throw pillows, and a little table/tea cart for any warm drink.

Master closet is self explanatory. His and hers side. Massive dresser in the center with a few locked drawers for sexier things/hidden weapons.

Balcony on Vex's side of the room cuz she likes nature.

Second level has Percy and Vex's home office/study/quiet space. The walls are lined with tall shelves of books about various creatures, magical fauna surrounding the Parchwood. There's a secret short door for Trinket. Percy has his telescope in there. Vex has a few maps from her scouting. They have 2 separate desk where they go over the kids' schoolwork and expenses for the castle.

Percy's workshop covered in gears, tools, ect. He has a bunch of the kid's drawings, a small vase of seasonal flowers from Keyleth, letters piled from Pike and Scanlan, a long assembly desk, a literal drawing board, and there's a dropdown couch/sofa bed tucked away in a tall metal cabinet.

Pantry is self explanatory. They do have canned doughs from Pike, healthy cereals, fresh herbs, and veg. They also occasionally store a few gifts they hate in there.

Laundry room self explanatory, though they do have huge basins with enchanted washboards.

Vex and Percy have a spare room on the lower level, where they spar. They fence for fun, or honestly they do calming breathing exercises. Can't let those battle senses dull in times in peace.

Their bathroom not as spacious as the castle, but decent copper tub, chamber pot with a beaded cord to flush their waste.

The backyard has a swingset, sandbox, and a moderately sized airship (play house). A few of the kitchen staff live in a small, but easily livable bungalow between the lake and farm.

Lastly, they have secret doors that connect to various rooms.

[the-little-ewok]

A Little Help

A little help

Poe Dameron X F! Reader

Rating : T

Wordcount : 2900 (ish)

Warnings : None. Just fluff

Summary : Request from Tegan with prompt: “Wait, you think I'm cute?”

Poe brings BB-8 to you every week insisting something is wrong but you can never find anything, His droid is always in perfect condition. But BB-8 has decided his master needs a little help with you…

A/N : Sorry this took a little time to write! I do hope its worth the wait.

GIF banner by the lovely Salome-C

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"It's happened again!" 

Of course it did. You could almost time the commanders visits down to the day now. Always around a week after the last time you've seen him, for far longer than you've been able to keep track. As long as Poe Dameron is on base, you can guarantee that at some point you'll hear him running into your room, asking for your help. 

Putting down the datapad you’ve been working on, you turn to face him, holding the droid safely in his arms, the look of panic in his face softening your annoyance.

"Poe, I've already done everything I can. You really need to get it checked over by someone a bit more experienced. I'm not really a mechanic," you sigh softly as he puts the droid down in front of you on the table, wondering how he manages to carry it and yet still look like it hardly bothers him at all. The only indication it's even slightly heavy is the slight flush of his cheeks. 

"But you fixed him last time?" Poe interrupts your admiration of him, drawing your attention back to the droid now happily beeping and rolling across your table. 

"I didn't do anything but replace a few almost burnt out fuses. None of them would have caused any problems. You know that as well as I do." His face falls as you talk, making you pause in your words. Maker, you can’t stand to see that forlorn look. "But I suppose I can take another look. Maybe run some diagnostics again if you want?"

"Yeah? You don't mind?" Poe breathes, relief evident in his tone. "I've looked him over myself, but there must be something I'm missing. I just don't know how to help. Everyone else is busy. And you know it's…not really important."

You understood the love the pilot had for the little droid, but above all else the resistance came first, which meant he'd been bringing the droid to you to look over, even with your limited experience, because everyone else was caught up preparing for missions. His ability to care, to love even the smallest of things, has always been the most attractive trait of the pilot, which is really in part why you didn't mind him coming to you either. But despite the fact you enjoyed his company, you always wished it was under better circumstances. 

"Ok, lemme help you take another look and we'll try and figure it out together," you reassure him, trying to quell your thumping heart as he suddenly wraps his arms around you to give you a grateful hug.

“You’re the best,” he breathes, letting you go so you can grab your datapad.

He stands by quietly watchful as you re-run the diagnostics on his droid. He doesn't interrupt you, but he hovers far too close, watching your every movement, his hands twitching to help catch the droid every time you move it to unscrew panels or to check the inner workings.  

You almost wish you could find something to explain BB's behaviour, so you could at least fix it and quiet the pilot's worries. But as you finish up your diagnostics and checks, everything comes back exactly the same. His droid was, as always, in perfect condition.

"I don't know what to tell you, Poe. There's nothing wrong with BB that I can find," you shrug, re-checking the diagnostics again. 

"You're absolutely sure? Can you check again?"

You sigh, opening your mouth to explain that running everything again wouldn't change anything, but you pause as he gives you a pleading look. Stars, he needed to stop doing that, and you absolutely needed to stop giving in to him. Steeling yourself, you shake your head at him.

"Poe, I've checked it twice already. I promise there is nothing wrong with -” Your words cut out as the droid gives a series of beeps and a tilt of his head, before spinning around at top speed, beeping and whirring, causing the pilot to hold out his hands to ensure it doesn't fall off the table. Once the droid stops, Poe gives you a worried look. 

"This! This is what keeps happening! Just once a week and then I bring him here, and he’s fine. And then it happens again. There must be something." He runs his hands carefully over the droid, soothing it as one might a child, as you frown at them both, a thought slowly forming in the back of your mind. It starts quiet at first before it grows louder and the more you think about it, the more you start to believe it. 

Putting down your datapad you gently tug Poe’s sleeve to get his attention. 

"Can I have a word? Away from your droid. I think I know what this might be." When he nods, you walk over to the other side of the room, waiting for him as he follows you quietly. He all but drags his feet, shoving his hands deep in his pockets, looking like the world crashed into his shoulders before you’ve even spoken. 

"It's bad news, isn't it? You don't have to pretend it's not. If we know, we can figure out how to fix it. I mean, nothing can be unfixable, right?" His worried look breaks your heart, especially when he bites his lip and glances up to look between you and his droid. 

"Poe, I promise you there is nothing wrong with your droid. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen one that's better cared for." You take a breath, considering how to phrase your next wording in the most polite way possible. "Do you think maybe…BB is just doing it for attention?" 

To anyone else they might have scoffed at you, told you droids are programs, and they don't have the ability to act out, but Poe looks over at his droid, a frown etched in his brow. BB gives a curious whir in your direction, rolling to the edge of the table to get closer to you both. 

"Why would he do that?" He frowns, turning back to you.

"You've been on a lot of missions lately. Maybe BB's just feeling a little left out of your attention? I think everyone misses you a bit when you're gone." You are sure you can't be the only person that misses his presence, so it's technically not a lie, though you couldn't say for sure. 

"I haven't been gone that often without him. I mean… I guess lately things have been a bit more chaotic. I suppose I have been a bit distracted," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck with a sigh. "So, nothing’s wrong?"

"Nothing I can find. I mean, you really should get someone else to check him over in case I'm wrong, though. Droids aren't my special field." He already knows that, but both of you also already know that unless it's resistance critical, there are still no resources to really help him, even with the respect everyone held for the commander. 

Poe lets out a sigh of relief, the tension easing from his shoulders at your reassurance.  

"No, I think you're right. It makes sense. I haven't been a very good friend lately." 

Your heart gives a sudden painful ache, and you have to stop yourself from throwing your arms around him to hug him. 

"I don't think it's that. You're doing the best you can, and nobody has been a better friend to that droid than you." You settle for patting his arm comfortingly, still biting back the urge to wrap yourself around him, and squeeze him tight for even thinking that about himself. 

"I'm sorry. I feel like we've wasted your time," he apologises. 

"Not at all. I don't mind. But I will get my own back," you wink, before raising your voice loud enough to echo across the room. "So yeah I'll just take it apart, wipe its memory, rebuild it and should be fine then," you shrug loudly with a smile at Poe.

BB-8 gives an alarmed set of beeps, rolling as far away from you as possible to the other end of the table. With a laugh as he walks back, Poe picks him up and sets him carefully on the floor, where he rolls behind his master's legs, peeking out at you. 

"She's not serious, buddy," the pilot reassures softly, "but you gotta stop this now. I know I haven't been able to take you with me lately but -"

BB-8's beeps cut him off mid sentence making the pilot spin on his heel to frown at the droid.

He kneels down to get eye level as you walk back over to them, convinced you must have misheard or mistranslated something. 

"Say that again, buddy?" Poe asks softly. 

Curious to hear a clear answer as well, you crouch down, close enough that his leg is pressed against yours while he kneels beside you. Silently, you curse yourself for misjudging the distance that would be between you when you got down here. You really should move but now, you feel stuck, feeling like it would be as awkward to suddenly move as it would be to stay.

The pilot smells good. Really fucking good. Like starched washing, engine oil and soap. And he's hot, like the warmth a cooling X-Wing engine gives off when you stand too close, just warm enough to be comfortable but borderline that you might overheat if you stay too long…

Swallowing, you try to ignore the flare of prickling heat that creeps up the back of your neck at his closeness. If the lack of distance bothers Poe at all, he makes no indication of it. 

He frowns at the droid as BB-8 repeats his earlier statement, reaching out a hand to rest on its side as he speaks, "Buddy, what do you mean you have to keep coming here until I do it? Until I do what?" 

BB beeps back at him, making your eyes go wide and Poe stiffen next to you. 

"You… you little…we are going to have a serious talk about this." He scolds, pointing a finger at the droid, who gives a series of beeps back in defence. 

Poe turns to you at the same time you turn to him and fuck, he's far too close. The shock of it makes you wobble on your heels, and you're lucky his reflexes are what they are, as his hand shoots out to grab your arm and prevent you falling backwards. He holds you until you're steady, while you hope he can't feel your fluttering pulse through your clothes. His hand on your arm seems to burn through your shirt, sending heat flushing across your skin, before he lets you go, and a strange coldness engulfs you at the lack of touch.

Getting a handle on yourself, you swallow, bringing your attention back to the droid's answers. 

"Did…did your droid just say that he's bringing you here to ask me out?"

"I am so sorry." The pilot apologises sincerely, but there's something in his eyes that you could almost take as thinly veiled amusement. You're not sure how sorry he actually is for his droid’s interference, but maybe he's sorry you found out.

"Do you always get your droid to pick up girls for you?"

"I swear I didn't put him up to this!" Poe protests the moment the words leave your mouth, a blush creeping over his cheeks and lighting up the tips of his ears with red. 

You raise an eyebrow at him, amused at his sudden defence. 

"So you're telling me you think your droid did this all by itself just to get you to talk to a girl?" 

"Yes!" 

"And you're telling me it's seriously been bringing you here every week, so you can ask me out? And you had no idea?"

"Yes!" He confirms, his cheeks growing redder with each passing moment. You aren't sure if he's embarrassed at your teasing, at the thought that you think he put his droid up to it, or the fact his droid decided he needed a little help with getting dates. 

You snort with laughter at the whole situation. 

"Stop laughing about it," Poe laughs, "I swear I did not encourage this in any way! I had nothing to do with this!" 

"Okay," you laugh at his protests, "If you say so, Poe! You've both wasted a lot of my time, you know? You're lucky you're cute, or I might be annoyed."

Oh no. Oh no, you did not just let that slip out. You can feel your own embarrassment prickling at the back of your neck as Poe's eyes light up.  

"Wait, you think I'm cute?" His grin this time is not his usual flyboy flirtation cockiness, but a genuine lopsided goofy smile that's all teeth. Stars, it's the most adorable smile he's ever given you, and you could swear your heart skips more than one beat at the sight. 

"Yeah, well, you both are. You know, together. Just a droid and its dad." You give off what is supposed to be an offhand laugh, and even you can hear the unsure way it comes across from your embarrassment. "Anyway, we were discussing you two."

You try desperately to change the subject back to the droid as BB-8 whirs and beeps happily around you, teasing his master. 

"He was too shy to ask me himself? Now you must have a fried chip I've missed!" You giggle before you glance over at the pilot, who quickly turns his gaze from you back to his droid, his cheeks still flushed pink. "You're not shy."

"I don't think shy is the right word. I just…you're busy, and I'm sure you have better things to do. I was being considerate. There hasn't been a good time to ask. And you might have said no and broken my heart." He gives you a playful wink, and you can't help the smile that curls over your lips in return, as much as you try to suppress it. 

"Well your droid went to all this effort, I think it would be rude not to ask now," you tease him softly. Poe raises his eyebrows before he gets to his feet, holding out his hands in order to help you up. Placing your hands in his, you allow him to pull you to your feet, trying not to allow your breath to stutter at the contact. His fingers are calloused but soft, his grip firm but gentle. And even when you are on your feet, he still doesn't let go of your hands.  

"So, would you consider letting me take you to dinner?" Poe finally asks, the back of his thumb gently caressing the back of your hand. "Maybe tonight?"

"Well, I have a lot of work to catch up on from the last few weeks because I spent a lot of time checking someone's bratty droid," you give BB-8 a pointed look and the droid beeps back at you, letting you know it has zero regrets about that.

"Which was in no way my fault or doing. I am also an entirely innocent party in this and should not be blamed." Poe reminds you with a grin before he lets go of your hands. You suddenly feel lost without the contact, as though without him grounding you here, you could simply float away. "But if you don't want -" 

"I didn't say that," you cut him off with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure I can clear some time for dinner with you tonight." 

"Great!" He gives a cough, curbing his enthusiasm with a quick embarrassed smile. "I mean, that's great. So, 7?"

You nod in confirmation, not trusting your own voice to not come out as a squeal of excitement, and Poe beams at you. 

Leaning over, he presses a quick kiss to your cheek, making heat flare up the back of your neck and across your cheeks. 

"See you tonight then," he grins, walking backwards towards the door, keeping his eyes on you as you bite your lip with a smile. You see it coming seconds before it happens, not giving you enough time to warn him. He turns around to look where he's going and smacks straight into the door frame with a thud.

He groans, stumbling back a little, his hand flying to press against his forehead. 

"Are you-" you start, taking a step towards him, but Poe shakes his head, straightening his jacket. 

"You didn't see that," he laughs at himself, turning around to give you a grin, his cheeks bright red with embarrassment. There is a clear mark forming quickly on his head where he met the frame, and you can't help but giggle.

"I mean even if I didn't see it…still sort of heard it," you laugh as he rubs his head. "Seriously, are you ok?"

"Yeah, don't worry. No getting out of our date. I'll be alright by tonight… and I promise I’ll be more co-ordinated" he winks with a soft laugh. "Right, let me try this again."

When he leaves this time, he turns to watch where he's going, carefully navigating his way around the door frame as his droid beeps at him. You hear his answer floating back down the corridor. 

"You shush, You've caused more than enough trouble." Another series of distant beeps followed by Poe's outraged answer echoing across the halls, "I am not being ungrateful for your help!”

----

Taglist reblog to follow

[your-local-grubdog]

Fragile Things Chapter 10: Universal Communicator

More of fragile things! You can read the Ao3 version of the chapter here.

Also return of the art drawings, yaaaay!

Louie was in the ship's cargo hold alongside Olimar, doing an extra sweep over the treasures they had found. The ship automatically cataloged them all for them, but it made the captain feel better to do a double check by hand just in case. It hasn't been needed thus far but… whatever made Olimar feel better. 

The stubborn old bastard wasn't okay. He could say he was a million times, but Louie knew better. He's seen the captain break down into tears three times over pikmin deaths and he knew there were more times he didn't see. Olimar made it a habit to try and hide when upset, after all. And yet he was reluctant to use the one thing that brought him comfort… Louie knew he had been a little too hard on him last night. He knew all too well that forgetting ideas engraved into you by your parents was no easy feat. 

That thought made him stop in his tracks, a memory resurfacing. "Dad threw Che- the mouse plush away." Olimar had told him. Ever since he heard that, Louie had a sneaking suspicion that maybe he and Olimar were more alike than he originally thought. In one of the worst ways, too. He had nothing to confirm it, of course, but it was making too much sense the more time that passed.

"Hey, champ, what 'cha looking at?" Olimar walked over.

… it may even explain why Olimar was so eager to take on the role of father himself. Or maybe he just missed his kid. "Uh, just the treasure." He decided to answer. He wasn't looking for a repeat of last night. 

"Oh! That one. 'Ya know, buddy, there's so many odd treasures here. It makes you wonder where they came from, or what they even are." 

Louie couldn't say he was annoyed with how instantly Olimar took to this new role. He grumbled, sure, but… he didn't dislike it. He never had much of a father figure before - it seemed his biological dad just slowly faded from existence - so maybe he'd allow it. "Well, uh, this looks like a hunk of plastic to me."

At that Olimar huffed. "Oh, where's that creativity you have in the kitchen? You know what it looks like to me - a computer screen! Oh! I bet whoever made this used it as a communications device!"

Louie just stared at him, face unreadable, for a few moments. "... it's… all plastic. It looks like a cheap child's ring but big."

"What? No! No, it's far too big for anything like that. I mean look at it - do you realize how big the finger alone must be? And then the hand attached to it, and the body attached to that hand?" The captain shuddered. "The universe couldn't possibly support life that big! The thought alone terrifies me - and you think it belonged to a child?!?"

… you stupid, stubborn bastard. Louie groaned internally. Great gods above and below, Olimar was far more stubborn than he had realized. Okay, maybe the biologist (assuming he was even trained, Louie could have sworn Olimar mentioned being a hobbyist) was right about it being too big to be a ring. But the captain was waaaaaaaay off the mark for this hunk of junk. "Where's the wires then?" Louie asked flatly.

"I - well - it's clearly broken!"

"... uh-huh."

"Listen - buddy -" oh that wasn't a tone Louie heard before. What did it mean? "Just sit tight and I'll find those wires, 'kay?"

"Twenty pokos you won't."

"Oh it's ON." And with that, the captain marched towards the treasure to investigate it. 

Louie wasn't sure if he was annoyed with the captain now or if he wanted to burst out laughing. So Olimar was just stubborn, period, and didn't like being in the wrong. That sounded both useful for entertainment and black mail, but inconvenient for literally anything else. 

"I - know there's wires here somewhere - where's the panel on this thing???"

"There's no wires." Louie teased, earning a playful growl for it. Well, at least Olimar seemed happier today even if he was being difficult in the process. 

"... you're right!" Oh? Was he admitting that he's wrong- "It must be a wireless communicator! With fancy wireless charging tech like the Koppaites use!" Oh, nevermind then. 

"Uh huh." Louie crossed his arms, voice flat.  

"And again, it is broken. Who knows how long it was down there."

"Is this really the only answer you'll accept?"

"I only accept the right answers."

"... yeah… uh-huh." Louie rolled his eyes and yawned. "Whatever you say, pops."

"Oh don't roll your eyes at me! This could be the discovery of a lifetime! Figuring out how these ancient people lived! I wish I had more archeology skills to piece these mysteries together though…"  

Man, so do I. Louie thought, unamused. Would love to know what these things really are. But I guess he's my only source for now… "So who do you think left all of these?"

"Well… some ancient civilization for sure. Their technology is so different yet so similar to ours. We both have light bulbs, but they figured out an entirely different mechanism for producing light then we did. They were far bigger than us, but how much bigger…? No offense, but I genuinely hope you're wrong about that being a ring because it does really terrify me." He laughed nervously. 

Louie looked over to the treasure. It was almost as big as they were! "... yeah, that's fair."  

"And whatever could have happened to make them vanish? We've seen nothing that points to a history yet - er, well again I'm no archaeologist at least." He let out a nervous chuckle. "But all their stuff is still strewn about, even buried deep underground. We've seen their rusted underground tunnels and remains of a bathhouse… or just a shower…" Olimar shook his head. "N-No, too big to be a shower, that was a tiled building not a tiled room." He sighed. "I just wish these were not being sold, you know? I know the company needs to get out of debt but I'm worried about how much we're taking."

Louie sighed and patted his shoulder. "I… think it's okay. We're exploring not even a fraction of this planet's surface. There's bound to be more ruins, and much of this looks mass produced. Just… this one time, we can take things, and I'll think it'll be okay."

Olimar smiled a little and patted his shoulder in return. "Thanks kid."

"No problem dad. Let's finish cataloging so that I can eat."

"Yeah, alright." Olimar responded with a light chuff. "I need food too."

Louie stood up then helped Olimar up on his feet. But as Louie looked over the many trinkets they gathered today he couldn't help but wonder if this extinct species really was that big. It made sense, but was horrifying in a way. They'd be mere inscects to them.

… just this once, he'd let the captain pretend the treasure was something it wasn't.

[walkingnorth]

Does it matter to you as the creator whether or not I buy Always Human as hardback or paperback? Like, would you or your future work benefit more from one or the other? Also, as a seperate question, I believe I sent you an ask a long time ago asking if AH would ever be available physically, and you replied that you didn't really have interest in converting it from its digital format. What changed that decision? Thank you!

Hello! Thank you so much for asking, you are very kind :)If you have the ability to buy the hardcover that’s more helpful to me, but if the paperback suits you better please don’t feel obliged to order the hardcover :)Additionally, preorders are very very good - my understanding is that when a book gets lots of preorders bookstores are more likely to stock it, which means more sales in the long run etc :)So if you have the opportunity to preorder any book you love (not just my book, any book!) please consider it.Also, please consider ordering from an indie bookstore if you can :) Physical bookstores are wonderful, and in this time of coronavirus small businesses especially need support. If you live in the US you can support indie bookstores without leaving your home~ https://www.indiebound.org/ As for why the decision changed….Soooooo I’ve said in the past (multiple times) that Always Human would almost certainly never be printed (ha!)There were two main reasons for this:Reason 1)Always Human was drawn for digital viewing. It was hard for me to imagine reflowing the panels for print and I knew it would involve a lot of work. As speech bubbles moved I’d have to draw in the empty patches that had been previously hidden under speech bubbles. I might need to do more drawing to make the panels fit well on a page. I’d also have to re-draw some of the chapters that I somehow lost the high resolution files for ( ; - ; )Lots of work!Reason 2)Self-publishing a book is a lot of work, even if the book was drawn for print to begin with. I’d need money, so I’d have to organise crowd funding. I’d need to find a good, trustworthy printer. I’d need to create print-ready files with the right colour formats and bleed and whatever else printing involves. And since I don’t have the skills to do any of these things, I’d either have to try to learn these skills (and hope not to mess up) or I’d have to hire someone who knows what they’re doing. And then once the book had been printed I’d have to ship it out to people who helped crowdfund it, which takes both money and time.All in all, printing Always Human seemed like it would be a very big, expensive, time-consuming project, that I didn’t really have the skills for. I wasn’t sure if printing Always Human was possible for me. I decided I’d rather spend my time creating something new.What changed is that I got an offer from Little Bee to print Always Human with them :DAll of Reason no 2? With a publisher involved, this is no longer my responsibility. A publisher has the skills to print the book. I don’t have to hire anyone, or do my best to learn these skills while worrying about doing a bad job. I can just trust them to do it! And then bookstores ship out the book, I don’t need to worry about this either :)There was still a lot of re-drawing to do! This was pretty time consuming. But the lovely people at Little Bee helped a lot with reflowing the panels for print. They’d send me suggested panel layouts and I’d send back suggestions and they’d send back suggestions, and now we’ve got a book that looks like it was drawn for print to begin with :)One other thing that changed is waifu2x (which is a weird thing to type with my own two hands but here we are.)I’m not sure how long this has been available but I only discovered it about a year ago and it is a life saver (thank you weebs for my life.)I mentioned above that I lost the full-resolution files for some of the chapters, and using waifu2x I could resize the panels without having to completely re-draw everything (I only needed to redraw the parts under speech bubbles.) That was nice :)

One other note - when I got the offer from Little Bee it was very exciting because I was familiar with Little Bee, I knew them as the publisher of Prince & Knight (which did the rounds on tumblr a while back). It’s a very cute, wholesome gay fairy tale picture book, and I trust the folks who published that book to do a good job with Always Human :)Also the editor I’m working with (Rachel, who is wonderful!) had experience both with book and comic publishing, so when she said that she was confident Always Human could be reflowed for print, I thought it made sense to believe her, even though I couldn’t quite imagine it myself. Turned out she was right! The team at Little Bee has been amazing and done such a wonderful job, I’m so happy ; - ;

[mind-reader1]

Queen of Hearts (Ch. 27)

Drake x MC (Emma Barnes)

TRR AU: What would happen if Emma loved Drake but had to marry Liam?

Catch up here

Warnings: violence

Note: WE’RE FINALLY GETTING TO THE GOOD STUFF. So I wrote out Emma’s death, for real this time, then I realized I couldn’t do any of the other stuff I had planned for the story so she got a reprieve this time. 

Word Count: 2,429

Summary: Olivia, Drake and Emma have been captured, will Liam come to save them or will he take a different route? 

Chapter 27: The Emperor’s New Clothes - Panic at the Disco!

I'm taking back the crown I'm all dressed up and naked I see what's mine and take it (Finders keepers, losers weepers) Oh yeah The crown So close I can taste it I see what's mine and take it (Finders keepers, losers weepers) Oh yeah

Sycophants on velvet sofas Lavish mansions, vintage wine I am so much more than royal Snatch your chain and mace your eyes If it feels good, tastes good It must be mine Heroes always get remembered But you know legends never die

Emma didn't know how much time had passed, but as the bag was lifted off her head, she took in her surroundings. She was in an old dungeon, Drake and Olivia tied up on either side of her, Anton standing over them with a smirk on his face.

“Emma. Lovely to see you again.”

“I swear if he hurt you Walker!”

“I'm okay Drake.” Her hands were tied behind her, her legs also tied to a chair, she pulled against them to no avail. She could feel the panic bubbling up in her chest, she was taken back to that night in the vault, the vision of Drake at her funeral, there was no one coming to get her now.

“What a nice little reunion. Me, my former client, her lover? Husband? Whatever you are, and my fiery wife.” Olivia spit at him from her chair.

“Call me your wife again and I'll show you what a real ball and chain feels like. I'm not some pawn in your game.”

“You'll cooperate or die here with the queen and her play toy!”

“You can't do this Justin. You can't seriously think the people will accept you if you kill Cordonia's new queen.” A lazy smile curled onto his lips.

“You always were a great client, perfect with the spin and drawing everyone one. It won't save you now though.” Before Emma could say anything else, an assassin with an all too familiar mask walked in. He was the one who had tried to kill Emma, shot Drake, he exchanged a few words with Anton.

“You're the bastard who shot me!”

“And tried to kill me!” Emma was furious, she struggled against her bonds again. This man had caused her and Drake so much pain, even if it was all Anton's idea, she wanted to kill him. They taunted Drake, the man revealing his face to him, talking about his father and what a legend he was.

“Wanted to be like dear old dad. Take a bullet for your girl, be the hero.”

“Hey Gerard Butler wannabe! Leave Drake out of this! Your problem is with the crown, that's me now!” His eyes flared with anger as he stomped towards Emma, grabbing her cheeks in his hand and squeezing, pulling her face towards him.

“Maybe I'll kill you first, make your boy toy watch?”

“Walker!” She could hear Drake struggling against his bonds.

“Get your hands off her! I swear to God I'm going to kill you!” He ignored Drake and continued to lean in close to Emma.

“That's going to be the last thing you ever do!” Finally, he rolled his eyes and released Emma from his iron grip walking towards Drake.

“I'd suggest you shut up if you want to see your girl alive for the little bit of time you both have left.”

“I think it's you that should be worried about time because I'm going to kill you. Won't be difficult, you're clearly a poor shot since you only got my shoulder.” that was it. The man cocked his fist back and slammed it into Drake's face, Emma swore she heard a crack and felt it reverberate through her chest.

“Drake!” She screamed but it was no use, he was out cold, slumped in his chair, the only thing holding him up were his restraints.

“That's enough!” Anton stepped up again.

“We finish what we started at the Homecoming Ball. Liam knows you're all being held captive and he'll come alone if he wants to see you alive.” he droned on and on about his plan, how he was destined to fulfill the Nevrakis legacy and how he would rule with Olivia by his side because that was what her parents wanted. Emma tried to focus but her thoughts kept drifting back to Drake, wondering if he was okay. Anton finally left, and Emma struggled to keep her breathing under control as the reality of the situation set in. Drake began to groan beside her as he regained consciousness, Emma cried.

“Drake are you okay?”

“I'm fine Walker. He didn't hurt you, did he?” Emma shook her head and Olivia filled him in on Anton's plan.

“We're fine Walker, don't cry. Liam is going to come for us.” She shook her head again.

“No, he's not Drake, the only reason he'll come for us is Olivia.” He frowned and so did Olivia.

“What?” Olivia asked.

“Don't say that Walker, he loves you. He'll come for you.” Emma shook her head crying.

“Think about it Drake. We die as martyrs. He mourns publicly and gets to pick a new wife, Olivia. He loves her, and she loves him back, the public would love her too. She helps him get over our deaths. We're out of the way, Liam gets everything he wants.” Emma had stopped crying, in that moment you could hear a pin drop as her words sank in.

“Emma as much he hates me, and might be mad at you, he wouldn't let us die.” Drake tried to reassure her but there was no conviction in his voice, she made such a strong case.

“Well no one's going to die today if I have anything to say about it so quit your whining and help me. I'm no one's damsel in distress.” Olivia huffed.

“You have a knife, don't you? You've been holding out on us this whole time.” Olivia smiled wickedly.

“Of course. They didn't find my backup-backup knife, I've been trying to get to it.”  She wiggled against the restraints, her face showing her determination.

“I can't reach it though, you need to get it.” they scooted their chairs together carefully until Emma could teach Olivia's hands.

“Where is it?”

“Just above where my wrists were tied.” Emma fidgeted behind her until she found the knife and began cutting the ropes.

“So why did Drake call you Walker? And Anton called him your husband, so what am I missing?” Emma sighed and continued to slice the ropes till Olivia was free.

“It's not important right now. What's important is getting out of here.” Olivia looked between the two.

“I'm not cutting you loose until someone tells me.” Drake gave Emma an apologetic look.

“We eloped before the wedding. She was my wife first and foremost. Happy? Now cut us loose.” Olivia's eyes flashed with amusement.

“I'm sure Liam was thrilled.” Olivia quipped.

“He doesn't know. Please don't tell him.” Emma begged. Olivia's face was unreadable.

“As long as you let Liam be free.” Drake was confused but Emma knew what she meant and nodded, frankly she didn't care who Liam slept with, besides she thought Liam and Olivia would make a nice pair. It wasn't the time to worry about that though, they needed to get out of there. As soon as Drake was free though, she launched herself at him, Olivia looking for secret passageways or some other way out.

“Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?” Drake grabbed either side of her face and looked Emma over, she only had a few rope burns from struggling against her bonds.

“I'm fine Drake, but you.” She reached up to run her hand along the large bruise forming where Claudius had hit him. Drake flinched, and Emma pulled her hand away.

“I'm sorry, this is my fault. I started egging him on and he took it out on you.” Drake silenced her with a kiss and she fell into it, wrapping her arms around him.

“I'm okay Walker. Let's get out of here.”

“Yes. Please let's get out of here.” Olivia rolled her eyes revealing an old panel that they thought would be their ticket out of there. They were able to find the passage, coming across Gladys as they tried to navigate the old Nevrakis stronghold. Emma decided to trust her, and she led them down to an armory and explained her side of the story to Emma and offered to lure at least some of the guards away. It wasn't much help, but they needed all they could get. As they paced through the halls they heard voices approaching, Drake was ready to swing but Emma stopped him before Hana and Maxwell rounded the corner. They pulled each other into a hug, relief flooding through all of them.

“If you're here then where's Liam?” Olivia snapped. Hana and Maxwell exchanged worried glances.

“He's probably meeting with Anton right now.” Olivia rushed past them and stopped in a doorway, they could see Anton and Liam in the ruins of an old grand entrance. Liam was unarmed and angry, demanding that his friends be released. Anton's thug stepped up and punched Liam in the gut making him double over, he planned to kill him. Emma tried to run in, as much as mad as she was at Liam, he had come for all of them and she didn't want him to die. Liam revealed a dagger in his coat and charged Anton, the others saw their chance and created a distraction with rocks before jumping into the fight. Chaos ensued as all of Emma's friends were in the middle of fighting guards, Claudius had Olivia pinned against the stairs as they wrestled, Drake was cornered by a guard, she rushed to his aid, taking out the guard, Drake grinning appreciatively.

“This isn't exactly how I pictured this night going. I was thinking more rose petals, maybe some candles would be involved.” They moved until they were back to back, fighting off guards.

“Me too Drake. Watching you fight with a sword is still pretty hot though.” As the last guard near them fell, Emma looked up only to find Anton pointing a gun at her.

“Get away from her!” Drake hissed slashing at Anton's arm forcing him to drop the gun. Furious, Anton unsheathed his sword and turned on Drake.

“You want to fight? It'll be your funeral!” He lunged at Drake and Emma couldn't believe what she was seeing, she wasn't going to give Anton another chance.

“NO!” With all her force, she swung her weapon at Anton, drawing blood, shocking him.

“Guards! Cover me!” He began to flee. Olivia rushed after him, the guards circling Drake and Emma once again.

“Why can't we ever find a peaceful moment together?”

“Because that's not our lives. Every moment is so worth it though.” She could hear the grin in his voice.

“You're right. Let's show them how it's done Mr. Walker.” The first guard lunged, and Drake easily sliced him down, the others hesitating as Liam offered mercy for standing down. One by one the guards laid their weapons down, Claudius rising from a pile of ashes.

“You'll never stop Anton!” Liam moved to take him out, but Drake beat him to it.

“This is for trying to shoot Barnes!” He clocked him right in the face. Claudius stumbled back but kept coming.

“This is for actually shooting me and talking about my dad!” Drake kicked him in the groin, making him fall to his knees.

“I told you that if you touched her, I'd kill you. This is for laying a finger on her!” Drake swung his sword down towards his neck and everyone looked away flinching but heard no sound. The sword laid against his neck, he had stopped. Instead Drake kicked him in the face, knocking him out. Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I'll let the crown deal with you.” Drake threw his sword down breathing heavy. Emma ran to him, thinking it was over.

“Olivia!” Liam rushed up the stairs, they turned to find Anton, bearing her down sword in hand.

“Stand down or die sweetheart!” he said menacingly. Olivia rushed him, knocking his sword away.

“Yes, stand down. I was trained by the fiercest warriors Lythikos had to offer, my parents.” She charged him with the dagger, but Anton caught it and turned it on her, plunging it into her side.

“You seem to have forgotten darling. So was I!” Olivia gasped and fell to the ground, gripping the dagger protruding from her side.

“Liv!” Liam stumbled on the stairs trying to get to her, she tried to stand but fell back down wincing as Anton loomed over her.

“If you can breathe you can stand!” Olivia met Emma's gaze and nodded.

“And if you can stand you can fight!” she pulled the dagger out of her side and managed to catch Anton in the chest before stumbling into Liam's arms unable to support herself.

“Liam, I'm bleeding a lot.” She pulled her hand away, bright red. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.

“You're going to be okay. You're a Nevrakis, you're the toughest woman I know.”

“You won't be okay though, this is the end of the line for you.” Anton leveled his sword at Emma and Drake who had rushed up to help. They were pinned against the bannister and it was a long fall. This was it, just as Emma had predicted, Liam had saved Olivia and now she and Drake would pay the price. He glanced back himself and gave her a look, he had an idea, it clicked with Emma as he reached out and squeezed her hand. Maybe it wasn't the end for them after all. Anton lunged, Drake and Emma stepped out of the way at the last moment and shoved him over the railing. He flailed on his way down, Maxwell rushing over to tie him up. It was finally over. Liam carried Olivia down the stairs, Drake and Emma holding each other before joining their friends at the bottom. Moments later, a loud commotion came from the front doors, the Kingsguard led by Mara and Bastien rushing in only to find that once again they were too late.

“What took you so long!” Olivia gasped, clutching her side again, Liam still holding her.

“Your Majesty, I'm glad you're alright.”

“Yes, don't worry about me Bastien. Liv needs medical attention now!” Liam barked. Mara began tending to her wounds, Bastien surveyed the area. He insisted on getting Emma and Liam back to the reception, everyone was waiting to see if they were okay. The moment everyone returned to the palace, cheers erupted, and Emma's friends were greeted by their families, worried but relieved they were safe, Cooper rushing up to Emma. Once the excitement died down, Maxwell pulled Emma and their friends out onto the dance floor, it had become a celebration of their victory and less about the wedding which Emma loved.

Next Time: Well I decided not to kill them. Are they all finally catching a break, or will Drake and Emma’s secret be revealed ruining everything? 

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