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deathbyoctopi · 1 month ago

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Xuexiao Art Shoutout ^-^

It will be soon 2 years since I asked for my first art commission ever, after months of wanting to do so, but being deathly scared by it.

What if I ask it wrong, what if I don't like it, what if I pay but then it is a scam, what if it's too expensive and I have to back away in shame, what IF these are all my fears and I didn't even know any reliable artists or had asked any mutuals for tips or recs.

What motivated me for the big step forward was me writing a gift fic for someone very dear to me, which featured a piece of art within the story itself. It seemed so fitting, to make art for it. I held my heart in courage and dared to ask an artist I had seen here, in tumblr.

This artist was @wrathyforest.

Now, I don't remember anymore why I choose them. Probably I saw some xuexiao fanart by them that I liked, or saw somewhere that they were available for commissions, but the thing is with trembling hands I wrote a long dm asking about whether they would accept to draw an art such and such. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made in this website.

For the last two years, I've had the privilege of receiving more artwork by them, all xuexiao (because my BELOVEDS!!!) and all of exceptional quality and deep understanding of the characters. This is why now I want to make a little shoutout to these works, and to the process that went into asking them, in part to show other people how engaging, fascinating and rewarding it is to commission artist.

This is (with ONE exception) my little xuexiao art collection. Have at it!

Family portrait

My first art commission ever. My heart goes with it! This is the aforementioned art for the fic To carry a bit of yesterday, written for @itellmyselfsecrets97 and which features the Yi City trio going to make a portrait of themselves.

This was also very special to me, since it was only my second xuexiao fic ever written, and the first that was a self-contained oneshot. It must have left an impact, it remains a well-loved fic to the point that a fic was written from it (The Tell-Tale Art by @fieri-sentio-et-excrucior).

I explained the artist what I needed from it, gave the full paragraph in the fic where they were described, and pointed out little details to adjust once the first draft was show to me (Forest, forgive me for being so picky with Xiao Xingchen's legs). I cried with the results.

My second commission came a few months later, with a pic for another work of art...

Defenseless

Now that I see you is an amazing fic by @10holmes with the incredibly exciting premise of a non-visually impaired Xiao Xingchen coming across Xue Yang, on the brink of death and... completely honest-to-god amnesiac.

I had followed this long project (still ongoing) for months, and had left some comments to the author, but at some point this sparse comments became a conversation, and the conversation a deep friendship... And there was a specific bit of their fic that remains one of my absolute favourite non-canon xuexiao moments.

Cue the art. In this occasion, I really wanted to make this as accurate and true to my feelings as possible, so not only did I send a detailed explanation and context (I would NOT expect the poor artist to read 30 chapters of a fic just for a commission!!), but also I made a little sketch. Me, who can't draw a smiley without botching it!

See if you can spot the difference:

You can imagine my shame and mortification to show this horrible doodle to any other human being, BUT the artist actually said this helped a lot to understand the positions, the intention, the expressions even, so it was a good call. I lost my fear of giving directions like that, and I have more-or-less tried to for all my other asks ^-^

The end result of this particular story is this and this:

My next commission was for something a bit more selfish.

Daozhang in a veil

I had in mind a story the premise of which was purely an excuse to put Xiao Xingchen in a dress, and what better than to have visual of that? The fic is called A Comedy of Yi City Errors, a light-hearted xuexiao adventure very fun to write and (I'm told) to read.

Once more, I made quite an explanation and provided a little sketch.

ANd once again, despite the terrible example, the concept that I wanted to send was received well enough and delivering again wonderful results. Look!!! <3 <3 <3

I love them so much.

Around the same time, I decided to make two gifts for what were then becoming my closest friends in this fandom (I think that must have been around some important festival or something) so I asked for these lovely pics next:

Prisoner Xiao Xingchen

Art for the fic The Prisoner of Jinlintai by @fieri-sentio-et-excrucior, which is a treasure I recommend for anyone who loves canon divergence and enemies-to-lovers done just right!

And this:

Mermaid Hunter Xue Yang

The beautiful mermaid AU Down in the Black Sea by @10holmes, which is cute beyond compare and inspired another fic I wrote in which I brought that pirate and merman couple to sneak into Versailles. Random anecdote is random.

Anyways, this last one didn't come with a sketch, but I MUST show you my rendition of Xue Yang by the cell door for the earlier fic >w< and the first sketch they did, which is unbelievably cute. See if you can tell which is which.

See? Completely undistinguishable! XD

As for the next, this is a cute little piece I commissioned to celebrate a beautiful friendship.

Under the rain

One of the first xuexiao fics I remember reading was The Taste of Rain on Skin, and once I had the opportunity to meet its author, I could not let something so special pass. Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen look so lovely in this one, so lively and happy and free...

By the way! Notice from my sketch that the artist was the one who made me realize... uhm... Xue Yang should NOT be holding Xiao Xingchen with his left hand, right?? XD So the running direction was reversed >w<

Well, what I want to show you next is something truly exceptional

Pleasure Yang

Not long ago, i was unbelievably surprised with a gift by a group of co-conspiracists I will call... Lionforest. no... Wrathyfish. Hm. It was an amazing surprise, which made me incredibly happy. Art for one of my fics!!! And a very sexy one, at that!!!!! >w<

Just, just look a it!

Look at that cheeky Xue Yang! Xiao Xingchen's fascination with that sexy ruffian!! Song Lan's discombobulated face! This is no more, no less, what I had in mind when I wrote Gentle breeze, cold frost, sweet crimson drizzle, and I could not be happier for it if I tried.

Thank you, you two ❤️❤️

And now... the last pic was spicy. The next is Wei Wuxian-approved congee.

Ok next, the spicy goodies >w<

There is a certain piece of art I still am keeping in my pocket, which one day I hope to use for a spicy Xuexiao fic. At any rate, it is another masterpiece by Wrathyforest and it deserves to see the light of day, finally.

I swear, every time I look at them, they feel so alive. The details!!! The expressions! The obvious and wonderful love! The other things this picture has to offer, omfg the first time I saw it, it was PERFECT!!!

(before you ask, yes. This also has a sketch XD)

In conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed my little collection. Look at all the xuexiao art we have, and from one incredible talented artist. I am over the moon with every single one of these pieces!

Artists deserve so much love and admiration. Greet your local artist, comment on their content, even if it's just a random keysmash, I can tell you as a writer that seeing these kinds of notifications are soul-repairing.

And if you take the step forward and talk to them, (and you SHOULD!! don't be shy, it is really engaging to get in a conversation!), I can guarantee you that you will make a person's whole day.

This is me, showing appreciation for this lovely art. Share it, comment it, love it. The love and passion we all share in fandom is fragile, but it is also so, so precious.

#mdzs #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #cql #xue yang #xiao xingchen #xuexiao #mdzs art #mdzs fanart #xuexiao art #xiaoxue art

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the-way-astray · 2 months ago

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what is going on

let me take you back to half a week ago, when this first started.

it all starts with a simple notification. i click on it, thinking it's an innocent ask, or perhaps an anon wanting to pick a fight with me. i am a notorious keefe hater in this fandom, after all. let's see what the anons have to throw at me this time. if only that small, innocent, little me from four days ago had known. the notification was nothing short of a snake, hiding in the grass, waiting to strike.

it was alayda. she'd dared me to write something *horrified gasp* positive about keefe. she thought me, a notorious keefe hater, couldn't possibly have anything nice to say about my least favorite guy? well, i'd show her. i typed out a truly magnificent pro keefe essay, if i do say so myself. tumblr fought me the entire time, trying to delete half of it, but i persevered, and eventually posted it.

i had no idea what was coming for me. over the next few hours, i began to get truly heinous asks, questioning my commitment to my keefe hatred, and generally slandering my reputation. at the time, i'd thought this was as bad as it could get. but, oh. oh, no, no, no. as edaline ruewen said, "hindsight is a dangerous game". now i know that it could get worse than i could possibly even begin to imagine. and it did.

that same day, i got the ask. the one that changed everything. i responded in horrified horror, terrified terror, because i knew everything was about to change. and the next day, it appeared that other anons had followed in the first anon's footsteps. it was decided that me and keefe would be an enemies-to-lovers romance. our ship name was to be strieefe. an anon went to the official poll blog, @/do-you-ship-this-book-couple. i changed my ask box title to "KEEFE WOULD NOT LIKE ME" and got an anon about it. they started going to katie's ask box.

the debate ramped up. more people became aware. people, both anon and not, began to choose sides. i began offering badly drawn sketches to people who sided against this atrocious excuse for a ship. i should probably be making those instead of typing this out. whoopsie. i fought the anons that disagreed with me with a desperation akin to a rat caught in a trap, but my thrashing appeared to only attract more unhinged anons.

i then got my first anon that made a genuine attempt to explain why this horrible ship could theoretically work. they were wrong, of course, but i appreciate the effort. as i've explained countless times, the real relationship me and keefe would have if he were real would be one-sided hatred. i would hate him with a passion that can't be adequately described by the english language, and he'd be entirely unaware of my existence.

then! a miracle! an anon sent an ask to quil about strieefe, and i can only assume they wanted quil to analyze why we'd be good together. but quil, i never should've doubted quil. the response was a fantastically constructed analysis on why i was right about how i'd have one-sided rage toward keefe. but my delight dimmed significantly when i saw that fin, someone whom i'd previously trusted, had thrown his support behind this awful ship and even drawn fanart of me and keefe. i swiftly demoted him from the spot he had previously shared with max: "favorite fintanposter".

the anons got more unhinged. i began to be shipped with non-keefe main cast characters, sometimes monogamously, sometimes not. i bravely faced the assault, tearing the anons' arguments to shreds with my logical explanations as to why i would not be a good fit for any of them. this led to me posting a poll at the insistence of one anon, which is still open.

just as the waters were looking significantly less treacherous, just as it seemed i may make it to shore without drowning, a new development occurred. i got an ask from alayda, who as you may remember, is the one that started all this. this is entirely her fault. i'd expected maybe a heartfelt apology, perhaps a plea for forgiveness. but no. her ask was but an ominous warning, one i could not make sense of. i pondered the meaning as i stared at it. and then. horror upon horrors, it appeared in my inbox. i read through it in horrified horror, and my rickety little boat was once more swept out to sea.

it was a fanfic. a terribly written, horribly wattpad-ified, y/n-ish fanfic. i tore it to shreds thoroughly, taking pleasure as the scraps of the work of the one who had brought all this sorrow upon me fell in loose tatters all around me. i dusted off my hands and left it at that.

but it continued. even as i type this out, there is a part two to that horrific fanfic sitting in my inbox, which alayda is pestering me to post. there's also a part one to another anon fanfic, which is written relatively well, which arguably makes it even worse than alayda's. then there's yet another poem written about me and keefe by emelin, which also sits in my inbox, gathering dust as i attempt to piece the broken shards of my sanity back together.

all this to say, join the correct side of this debate. we have badly drawn sketches and braincells. be on the right side of history.

#i didn't talk about everything so for more details go through the tag #keefe would not like me and i don't like him #that's where i've been posting all this nonsense to #kotlc #kotlc keefe #keefe sencen #asks #friendlyneihborhoodpercussionist

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erika111111 · 13 days ago

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The Quary and queer-baiting

It's a pretty known issue within The Quarry fanbase that this game basically set us up with two gay couples for them to just... not happen. In fact, it's almost as if the game rubs it in the players' faces that they don't, won't, and can't happen, besides the first half of the game setting them up rather clearly. It feels like the writers completely abandoned the idea halfway through, or for some reason just wanted to draw players in with the concept of queer relationships/characters just to rip it away in the end.

Disclaimer: This topic has been in my rough drafts for like, nearly two years at this point. I updated and added some stuff, but forgive me if I missed any crucial details.

So in the beginning, a lot of people wind up shipping both Ryan x Dylan (Rylan) and Emma x Abigail (Blygbank). Let's start with Blygbank since it's the shorter of the two.

So we do establish that Emma had a boyfriend, but the keyword is "had." To be fair, Jacob and Kaitlyn talk about it for the entire first section and that's the whole reason this game even happens, since Jacob wants another shot with Emma. So this straight couple is obviously very prominent. But, throughout the entire game, from multiple characters (Emma herself, Kaitlyn, Dylan, Ryan), it's repeatedly stated that Emma wants to move on from Jacob. Then we're introduced to Abigail, who's first scene is of her drawing a sketch of Emma. It's established that Emma and Abi are good friends. Maybe Emma and Abi will start a relationship? But, then we're introduced to Abi's crush on Nick. So I guess that idea just got blown out of the water...

To be fair, Emma's lack of interest in Jacob and Abi sketching Emma all happens very quickly within the first chapter. Perhaps it's the players' fault for jumping to that conclusion so quickly... but still.

What's more disappointing is that Abi and Nick are basically useless after chapter 6. There is actually yet another opportunity to develop some Blygbank relationship, but once again, it goes nowhere. Nick is bit and infected and starts acting absolutely horrible toward Abi, which very noticeably turns Abi off from him. Then Nick disappears for the rest of the game. But given Abi survives, she'll have another opportunity to have some alone time with Emma. Yet nothing of actual importance is discussed here. Not Emma kissing Nick. Not how Nick treated Abi. Not where Abi and Emma's relationship stands. Not where Emma and Jacob's relationship stands. We do get a moment where Emma reveals some of her true colors and she says that she needs Abi and she's been great to her, but once again, this goes nowhere. I guess we could see this as romantic, but Abi kind of seems just tired of and annoyed with Emma at this point and doesn't comment much about any of it. Basically there's just no conclusion. We have literally no idea where their relationship stands, romantically or otherwise. It's a huge missed opportunity.

While you can't get both of these scenes in the same playthrough, they do also push the Blygbank agenda. If you can get the "Nobody's Fool" route where Emma and Jacob reunite and Jacob tells her the truth, Emma will be completely and entirely done with Jacob. No more joking, no more mixed signals, she's just done. Which is kind of where the entire game was leading to from the beginning anyway, but this route gives it to us loud and clear. This accompanied with Abi and Nick going south again leaves us with a Blygbank option, but obviously, we get none of it. I know there's not much time left in the game by the time any of these scenes happen; maybe this is something else that could've been developed if we got any post-credits scenes, police interviews, I don't know. Again, maybe I'm reaching way too far with this one, but I think there's pretty good reason to ship Blygbank and assume maybe that's the direction they planned on going in. But I digress...

Onto part two, we have Rylan. And... Ryka? I have no idea what the ship name for Ryan x Kaitlyn is and I don't know if shippers for this couple even exist, so I'll just call them Ryka. And they're not a queer couple, but it's necessary to talk about the two at the same time.

I'll be honest, during my first several playthoughs/watchthroughs of The Quarry, I had no idea Kaitlyn was interested in Ryan. They do not do a good job of establishing that at all, and you can very easily miss every single opportunity for it to be brought up until chapter freaking nine. So honestly, Kaitlyn is pretty much a non-factor here. Dylan's crush on Ryan is very vocal and obvious, and the two are paired up very often throughout the game. Even if Kaitlyn's crush on Ryan was more well-known, Dylan is still the more obvious one between the two because, again, Dylan and Ryan are always paired up together.

Ryan is rather... uninterested in everything and everyone. But between everyone, he seems closest to Dylan. Of course, this can depend on how you play as both characters. You can make them argue A LOT, and Ryan won't always say the "I'm a bit closer to Dylan, I guess" line, but regardless, there's some scenes with them being close that will always happen. The most prominent scene between them is when they're walking to the radio hut and Dylan actually opens up to Ryan about who he is and what he likes to do. Ryan will have unwavering, non-negotiable interest in Dylan as a person here. Sure, they CAN kiss at the firepit, but Ryan can also choose to kiss Kaitlyn. They can joke around about the Bizarre Yet Bonafide podcast name, or they can't. They can agree over the gun, or they can argue instead. Ryan can cheer Dylan on or rush him. They can grab the phones and go or Dylan can annoy Ryan so much, he'll yell at him. Point being, there's a lot of options you can take with their relationship. You can make them close or you can make them bicker. Regardless, Dylan will remain interested. And regardless, they will have this intimate moment together on the way to the radio hut. Point being again, it's veryyyy obvious this a queer relationship in the making. Justice Smith is even a queer actor, and Miles Robbins is a very vocal supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.

Then Laura comes and fucks the whole thing up. And I love Laura, mind you, but for some reason the writers decided to take this whole ship and spin it on its head when Laura arrives.

Before we get into the Laura segment, let me point a few more things out. I personally thought that Ryan was maybe oblivious to Dylan and Kaitlyn's feelings, didn't really know which one he liked more, or most prominently, maybe he was asexual. When Emma tells him to kiss either Dylan or Kaitlyn, he asks if he can kiss both. I thought that was kind of an odd thing to say unless he either liked both or just didn't care. Also, he can ask Laura, "You're doing all of this for a boy?" He really seems like he doesn't understand this kind of love or investment in another person romantically. Upon discovering that line, I pretty much accepted Ryan as asexual.

But then he's not asexual. And he's not oblivious to Dylan and Kaitlyn's feelings. And he's not interested in either of them. According to Justice Smith himself, when Laura asks Ryan who he likes more and he answers with "Maybe neither," it means that Ryan has a crush on Laura. And I truly don't get this, for several reasons. For starters, yes, Laura is doing all of this for a boy--her boyfriend, Max. She literally has a boyfriend already. And Ryan already had a thing going with Dylan. So why, seven whole chapters through this entire game, giving us LauraMax and Rylan, do they suddenly pair together Lyan? It's just a creative decision I will never understand. Maybe if Laura and Max had broken up, but still. She's not reintroduced until chapter 7 so we've already had six chapters of Rylan still. Maybe they could have made it more obvious from the beginning that Ryan wasn't interested in Dylan or Kaitlyn, but they just didn't do that. They particularly paired Ryan and Dylan up all the time and made them close. So, I call queer-baiting.

Of course, Lyan never goes anywhere. The only ending you can get that involves any kind of romance is actually Laura and Max reuniting. Laura and Ryan's romance happens in basically two seconds and there's barely any romance to even speak of. Laura does flirt with him a lot, but I believe that's due to the werewolf curse, as she stops that kind of behavior after her curse is lifted. They do seem to be close friends by then, she just doesn't flirt anymore or make weird comments. And really neither does Ryan. Sure, you don't always get the "maybe neither" line and you can choose less flirty options sometimes, but then they have a whole ass The Lovers card. So it's extremely obvious what the developers were going for. I just don't understand why suddenly go for this couple eight chapters through after already establishing a gay couple with Ryan himself and Dylan.

The only other thing we get on this matter is Dylan and Kaitlyn discussing Ryan's relationship with Laura on their way to the scrapyard. The most positive outcome for Rylan here is when Dylan says he and Ryan got close and Kaitlyn tells him "There's always next year." So it does give a bit of hope to this ship, leaving it open-ended despite the sudden occurrence of Lyan. Of course, you might not always get these lines, and Dylan and Kaitlyn can both agree "screw Ryan" and move on. So... I don't fucking know. It's like they purposefully set players up to support this clearly laid out queer ship of Rylan to then make it all insanely confusing and open-ended and piss people off. I think they really fumbled the bag with this one, and it's why I have a hard time shipping Ryan with literally anyone. It's all just a confusing mess.

I'd definitely say that the whole Supermassive Games chain of video games definitely got less queer-baity and more queer accepting over time. Just a few months later, The Devil in Me is released and they give us a Lesbian ship with Jamie and Erin. Also, with the Until Dawn remake, they cranked up the Jemily and Climbing Class. Not by much, mind you, but regardless, they acknowledged the popularity of these queer couples in the fanbase and added some crumbs for the players. It makes me wonder if they'll ever delve on Blygbank or Rylan in the future. I'm doubting The Quarry will ever get a remaster/remake with added content like Until Dawn, but who knows, I guess. As I said, both ships are pretty much left open-ended. But for now, I think The Quarry has a serious problem with queer-baiting, or maybe they just had no idea how to handle writing queer characters. I really don't know.

Lastly, none of this was supposed to be negative or attacking any single one of the ships mentioned in this post. I don't know how anything I said could be interpreted that way, but you never know. This post was just supposed to be informative. I hear a lot of people criticizing the queer-baiting within this game, as they should, and I decided to make an informative post covering all of the points and how I believe they screwed up the opportunities to put in these queer couples and somewhat alienate their queer audience.

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ren-054 · 8 days ago

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Infodump about my Kitsune Clans Backstory (including Natsu)

I’ve been thinking on it and I realized, if I ever wanted to artistically present my view on the kitsune lore, I’d have to either write a whole novel or make a game because I absolutely do not have the time or energy to plan out the reveal of all the info I have

Like I still have ideas for some pieces I’ll want to make, but I’m a yapper first and foremost and I wanted to just put my ideas on the table for future reference

Notes on the screenshots: I should correct the “why would you go to war” line with “if your leaders were mutually super competent”

I would never say that the kitsune never knew what they were doing, but when push came to shove, they all fell short of their duties unfortunately and couldn’t maintain peace

It was a long running tension between all the clans that came to a head with part of the Summer clan being the instigator, but the Winter clan, under Fuyu’s command, technically declaring the war out of vengeance and to exercise their power in the face of being horribly disrespected by their neighboring clan

Leading up to this instigating event, the Autumn clan was in the (possibly unprecedented/emergency) process of exchanging leadership and were not in the position to be doing risky diplomatic decisions while Aki was still adjusting

While with the Spring clan, I genuinely view Haru as a passive individual (at least during the time before the wars) who really didn’t have the experience or wisdom to use his authority with purpose. He prided himself on maintaining peace within his clan and his clan alone. It may have also been within the interests of his advisors or the Spring clan’s culture in general

As for Fuyu, he’s an old man who holds a sense of self righteousness and dignity about him at all times, at least from what I’ve seen in game. He’s a man of pride, to a fault. I’d assume Fuyu would’ve felt off-put by Natsu’s more forgiving and lax leadership style due to their closeness in age—only a difference of about 200 or so years.

Fuyu had a much more pragmatic and cold method of leading which didn’t make him the most popular authority figure in his community, to be honest, whereas Natsu was loved dearly by many his clan members, almost cultivating a family-like dynamic. Fuyu objectively knew why his relationship with his people was so different from Natsu’s, but still it nevertheless stung.

Fuyu ended up being too prideful to realize that Natsu needed direct (and probably less accusatory) confrontation about the issues Fuyu was noticing before they got out of hand like they did. I feel like his lack of understanding and slight jealousy over Natsu’s comparatively gentler nature festered into a resentment that Fuyu wished to watch be “corrected” through Natsu’s own error.

This ultimately led to The Incident, and Fuyu, mad at himself (subconsciously) and Natsu, had no other choice but to take action

————-*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･* —————

Ahhh god that’s so much text _:(´ཀ`」 ∠):

This isn’t even talking about Natsu’s time post-escape OR his recovery but fpfpakdjs

If you made it to the bottom of my post, thank you here’s some Natsu concept sketches as a reward :3

#long post #text post #blush blush natsu #blush blush oc #kitsune bundle #I refuse to put this on main tags PFPFPFPF #my ocs #art post

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topnotchquark · 1 year ago

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Okay fine I wrote my first bit of Bezz x Cele boarding school au! It's like 900 words and more world building/slow burn oriented than anything else. Please read and leave comments/asks (it's my first time writing any fiction and I did it at 3am on my phone so pls forgive me)

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Cele tries to slip out quitely from the doors but the old hinges creak. He stops for a moment to breathe the air that's steadily been cooling for the past week. He hears someone coming down the stairs, and feels a vague relief when it's just Luca.

"Where are you off to?" Cele asks.

"Going for a run"

"Is bezz in the room?"

"yep, he's awake"

Cele nods but Luca doesn't really wait for the response. Cele watches him skip down the stairs and go off in the dimly lit direction of the gymnasium and he slowly climbs the stairs up, limbs heavy.

The upperclassmen get to live in rooms, a little bit of privacy afforded after doing their times in the lord of flies~esque environment that is the dormitory. Cele finds himself opening the door to Bezz and Luca's room without thinking where he's going.

The lights are off except for the desk lamp, Bezz with his back to the door is scribbling something furiously. His arm is shaking just fast enough to make his curls look animated. Cele peers over his shoulder and finds him sketching some sort of a figure in his notebook.

"What's up" bezz asks without stopping.

Cele lies down on Bezz's bed wordlessly and stares out of the window situated above the headboard. Bezz turns around in his chair and pokes his dull pencil into the soft upper part of cele's arm.

"Ow" Cele protests without enthusiasm.

"You didn't tell me what's up"

"Can't sleep"

"Are you hungry?"

"Nuh-uh"

Bezz turns back around to his godforsaken sketch and for a minute Cele stares out the window at the poplar tree thicket sway gently in the wind, the scratch of the pencil a meditative hum in the background.

"Bezz"

"Hm"

"Do you have some water in the room?"

"Uh... No"

"Can you get me some?"

Bezz nods, picks up a bottle from Luca's desk and steps out.

Cele came to the school on a sports scholarship, a few months shy of his 10th birthday. His mum fretted about the many things that could go horribly wrong but Cele did just fine. No sudden complaints of nightmares or any drastic change in behaviour or mystery illnesses that usually cropped up in children who were simply too homesick. Cele never fully blended into the obsessive competitive environment of the team, but nobody could really fault his skill and everyone eventually warned up to him enough to realise he just needed some space and to follow his own instincts.

Bezz had been his first friend at the school despite being his older teammate. Cele had heard stories of how much boys loved torturing each other and his parents had made him promise to tell them if anyone ever hurt him and that they would protect him, but he imprinted on Bezz like a baby duck and since everyone liked Bezz they left his strange, pensive friend alone.

When he gets back to the room, Bezz is rubbing his eyes. He hands the bottle to Cele, who sits up to drink. Cele tips the bottle just a bit too far and water spills down his neck and soaks the collar of his t shirt, Bezz instinctively reaches his hand out and swipes it on Cele's exposed, tipped back neck. It's an innocent gesture, he just meant to wipe away the water, but Cele feels it with an intensity that moves down to the pit of his stomach.

Cele ignores the feeling, squashing it the best he can, and lies back down. Bezz tells him to scoot and he does, shuffling his hips awkwardly till he's at the edge. Bezz lies down next to him on his stomach, and the lengths of their bodies are joined together on the bed meant for one person.

Cele breathes and his lungs are filled with that mix of generic deodrant, sweat, and distinct day 2 of shampoo hair that he has come to associate with the boy he's known since he came here.

They speak about nothing in particular, Cele on his back looking up at the face positioned above him, Bezz's big hair blocking out the lamp light, giving him the illusion of a halo.

Cele is in the middle of ranting to Bezz about the argument he had with his Botany teacher when Bezz gently touches the side of Cele's face. It's not forceful but it's sudden enough to make Cele feel pinned down.

"How did this happen?" Bezz asks while peering at the spot behind Cele's ear.

"Some sort of bug. Haven't been able to identify which one yet but the bite was itchy." At first the itch felt good to scratch, the pleasure just enough to keep you going, till the pleasure tips a bit too far and Cele was left with ripped skins and red splotches.

Bezz gently touches the area with the dull tips of his fingers, delicately pushing away the curls that grow behind his ears. Cele feels ill. It's like his heart muscles are taut and somehow spreading heat through him like poison. Cele turns his face back to stare at Bezz's face, his brown eyes have a warmth that is nothing new, but it unsettles him all the same.

There is that delicate, knife edge moment where he feels like his heartbeat will drive him deaf inside his head as he stares at bezz's imploring eyes.

"Hello guys" Luca bursts into the room, frantic post run energy intact in his body.

Bezz turns away and Cele breathes after what feels like an eternity.

#sorry I am trying to get the characterisation right I know its not excellent rn but I'm trying #open to thoughts and criticism!#my cele characterisation revolves a lot around the place and him having grown up with bezz but turns out I am a bulky writer #I just want them to kiss your honour #I was supposed to be in bed at 11 but I am yaoi posting at this godforsaken hour #anyway if you enjoy it let me know and please leave questions if you would like to #bezz x cele #bezz/cele #cele/bezz #bezz #cele #marco bezzechi #celestino vietti #vr46 academy #bezz x cele boarding school au #rpf #motogp rpf

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bryce-bucher · 1 year ago

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.50 Caliber 3D Platformer Post #5

(Flashing Lights Warning near the bottom of the post)

UI UI UI UI UI:

I've been working on UI mostly the past couple of weeks. It has been, as usual, both very cool & fun but also hell and evil. To be more specific, I really like designing the visual aspect of UI, but implementing it is always so horribly tedious and boring that it is really hard for me to focus on doing it. Without fail, I always end up getting UI done very slowly because of this. I am really happy with what I've got so far though, and it has brought me one step closer to getting to the point where I can just start hashing out levels.

Making the Health UI:

The health UI was something I was extremely excited about implementing, so I eagerly decided to decide that it was time to make it. Let me step u through the process 4 fun.

For me, it always starts with sketching out something crudely in pen. I've had this sketch done for months now, so it was p cool to see it finally come to life in game.

Next I hopped into blender and began trying to make some kind of cool y2k-era greebled out shape, but making detailed machinery (or details in general) is not my strongsuit, so I ended up with this kinda neat smooth shape that I wasn't entirely happy with. It looked cool, but I really wanted to challenge myself to make something closer to the windows media player skins I was inspired by.

More Specifically, I referenced this Half-Life 2 windows media player skin heavily, and started with a ring that I could build little pieces and wires off of. I hope u can forgive me if I maybe made it too similar lol, but I tried to get creative and put my own spin on it. I think the shapes on the top left are the most similar to my reference, and those are not-so-coincidentally the first bits that I modeled. This is my first time modeling something in this style, and I suspect that I'll get better at it if & when I do it again.

Finally, I slapped some materials on, made a texture for one of the faces I had sketched out, and rendered out a few frames of it gently(ish) flashing. I then went into affinity photo and made little speedometer components to slot into the small circle in the top right and programmed some functionality to it. The plan is to have the face represent the player's current health, so I am going to need to make a few more and then animate it rotating into a different face. But yeah, I am super happy with it, and I think it is lookin p sick!

Other Stuff What I Made:

Other than the health UI, I also added in functionality and UI for completing a level and selecting a level.

I was very much inspired by killer7 for the sequence that plays when you shoot your target, and I am addicted to intense flashing lights, so I included a lot of that. There are already accessibility options to turn that off, so if it's something that could harm u or if you just hate it (coward????!!!11) you can disable them. I've always found intense effects like that very cathartic, so I'm probably gonna include similar visuals in a few different things I make. That being said, I do also always want to make the alternative visuals (when the accessibility options are enabled) to also be cool af and get the point across. The level select screen was also really fun to make, I basically just slapped together some textures of warn-out paper into a little files situation and placed that on top of an abstract background that I made in jwildfire.

Conclusion:

I have honestly really loved working on this so far, but there has been a lot of anxiety about money in my life lately, so I really do hope to get this out in a reasonable time. I feel like I say that a lot about this game, but it is because it's always on my mind unfortunately. I don't want to make it sound like I am making this game entirely for money or w/e though, it is definitely a labor of love. Anyways, I hope to get to a point where I can get some environment art done soon, and I cannot wait to show off whatever this game is gonna look like. Have a nice day every1!

#screenshotsaturday #indiegamedev #gamedev #indiedev #game development #indiegames #y2k #y2k aesthetic #3d platformer #3dplatformer #sniper rifle #windows media player #50 caliber 3d platformer #50 cal

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themichigami · 7 months ago

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Tiny preview section of a larger project. Forgive me Larroca for I have sinned. My idiot brain decided to taunt me and be like "Hey, remember that one cover art you really REALLY liked and can't find anymore except as tiny jpegs in horrible resolution, or the comic in your own collection? Yeaaah, wouldn't that look awesome poster-sized on your wall? It would, wouldn't it? and you ARE an artist, aren't you, you USED TO do this stuff pretty good... bet you could make that poster yourself, if you wanted to, you washed up old babushka." And so, nine sheets of paper taped together and too many hours staring at a gridded reference picture and insulting myself and whatever remains of my drawing ability, the initial resize sketch exists. it is utter garbage compared to the original, and I am tired. The cat helped a few times so there are extra lines to clean up, and it is missing lots of bits, and screw the details this is not the detail pass this is the "oh god please don't be crosseyed and look like a potato" pass of getting proportions and things in generally the right places so cleanup and actual drawing can be done later. also, gatdamn those face cards yo. Just resizing the cards is gonna take me like two more days to finish, because face cards, and I had to be extra dumb and add the missing parts and a few extra cards to where the original image was cropped for the cover image.

#gambit #remy lebeau #xmen #pencil #sketch #michearts #salvador larocca

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muttkep · 2 months ago

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Murder Drones OCs: the Platinum 12 Crew

The series may be over, but I'm still riding that Murder Drones high. So, I figured I'd show some Oc concepts I've been working on for a while. Big shout out to @jazzstarrlight and their My Immortal and Happy Family Timeline series, you are seriously an inspiration!

Warning: apologies in advance for any noticeable errors in the art, I went traditional with these so the coloring may reveal parts of my sketch process. Plus, I'm still figuring out my scanner. And forgive my horrible handwriting.

Some Background:

These characters came from the Plat-Binary System. Specifically, the exo planet Platinum 12, known for its high concentration of platinum ores and resources. The colony on this planet was, unlike most, a drone friendly community. Humans and drones lived as equals with each other, respected and treated like fellow sentient beings. While there was no cross-marriage/dating between the two groups, they took care of and supported each other, Humans with maintenance and drones with non-human friendly tasks. The planet itself was a rather harsh place for organics, so most lived in a nearby Space Colony: the S.S. Theodosia and coordinated with groups on the planet that did the mining operations.

However, when the events of Episode 5 happened, the Colony tried to help with controlling the situation while preserving human/drone lives. This would result in working with the Cabin Fever scientist in working on a cure with the help of [REDACTED] While they did make progress, the cure code from Copper 9 became corrupted as it was being transferred out. At the same time, the System was attacked, resulting in the colony's destruction. Sending the surviving crew fleeing across the universe in search of safety. Now, I envisioned these characters to possibly make it to Tungsten 13 in the MI comic, and possibly establish the drone refuge, but that's up to Jazper and the Oracle Axolotl to decide, I won't impose.

Sera: The Leader of the Platinum 12 Survivors

While it is true that the Absolute Solver is responsible for the creation of the Disassembly Drones, I was curious what one that could control and use the Solver would be like. I also had a thought while making this. If the Solver is an Eldrich being that forms in mutated AI, then is it possible for it to mutate into different strands? Much like the virus it was originally seen as in the beginning? So I decided that she could use a different form of the Solver, hence the ability to not only use it, but the resulting bio-organic parts:

While a kind and motherly type of leader, Sera wasn't always what she is now. After the destruction of the planet Platinum 12 in the Plat-Binary System, along with the adjoining space colony, she suffered with some heavy trauma and PTSD. Driving her to the point of madness sometimes. Especially due to her memories of [REDACTED]. Many files of her past will remain REDACTED for now, at least till later in her story. One other note: her singing voice has a haunting beauty to it. Almost as if she were human..............

(EDIT: I forgot to mention this, but her style is very much a vampire hunter's esthetic. Specifically, D from the Vampire Hunter D series. If you've seen it, you'll know. If not, I highly recommend it. Especially the movie Bloodlust for the art alone!!)

Emi: The Team Mechanic and Technician

If N was a Golden Retriever, Emi here is a Mini Aussie Shepard. Full of energy and even a little insane at times. While originally loyal to CYN/Absolute Solver, she and Jak were sent into the Plat-Binary System to carry out their orders. They managed to invade the Platinum 12 space colony and react havoc among the human and drone population before being saved and stopped by [REDACTED]. After being injected with the same strand of Solver as Sera, her optics changed color as the two strands mixed. The resulting mix freed her from CYN's control, and she was free to become who she wanted to be. Dying and gaining her buns in her hair, she grew to love parts of human culture. After Platinum 12's destruction, she followed Sera and the rest of the crew as they fled across the universe to escape the following destruction. While somewhat clumsy and airheaded, they're a mechanical genius, able to repair and build almost anything. Also, the first of the group to have a canonical voice.

Jak: The Right-Hand/Tactics Expert

Jak was originally one of the top soldiers in CYN's army. Almost on par with J. He led Emi to the Plat-Binary System to destroy what remained of humanity after the fall of Earth. They first attacked the planet Platinum 12, then found a way onto the colony above it. As they attacked the colony, they were stopped by [REDACTED] and captured for study and observation. After hacking both he and Emi's systems in an effort to override CYN/Absolute Solver's control as admin, they were injected with a new strand of the Solver code. The resulting mix led to their freedom, allowing them to become who they wish. While Jak was apprehensive about joining the colony in the beginning, he soon grew to care about those who helped him. When the Solver reached the Platinum 12 colony, he swore allegiance to the colony and attempted to defend/fight back the attack, however [REDACTED] stopped him. Knocking him and the crew offline and placed in an escape pod, sent out into space before the colony was fully destroyed. Having failed his home, he swore himself to Sera and became her new loyal Right-Hand man. Helping the surviving crew as they look for a new home. The new base would be an overgrown chapel they find on another Exo planet, be it Tungsten 13 or otherwise.

HEX: The Hacker/Recon Companion

This little guy was found on another planet in the Plat-Binary System while the crew was fleeing. Sera was exploring another hidden Cabin Fever facility working with Copper 9 in an attempt to find parts of the patch code to unscramble/fix it, when one of her hunger induced episodes of madness started. While trying to get herself together, the knocked over some boxes of scrap, which landed on the little roach. Feeling guilty about that, Sera used her Solver to fix them up, like Uzi did in episode 4, but unlike the roach that left, they stuck around. Offering their help in finding any trace of the patch code. However, the hunger was growing worse. After all, her Solver is still a strand of Solver, and as a result, Sera began to crave oil from living drones. It eventually got to the point that she ended up attacking and eating not only drones, but humans on the planet. Resulting in her Solver-triggered metamorphosis. Hex sensed what was happening, and went to alert Jak and Emi. They managed to snap Sera out of her state, and they welcomed Hex into their little group. Hex tends to nestle into pockets of the crew's coats or under Sera's hat.

Fenrir: The Loyal Sentinel

The second critter to join the crew, Fen was found when the Crew came to a different planet near the end of the System. They were part of a squad that hunted down rouge drones, much like the group sent after Lexi in the My Immortal comic. However, one day, they were caught in a rockslide while chasing a drone. Suffering a crushed leg and pinned by rubble, their human handler considered them a lost cause and left with the rest of the pack, believing they would soon die. That's when Sera and the Crew find them. At first, Fen (known as Unit-F3N at the time) acted aggressively, flashing and snapping at any of the drones that got too close. Jak was more than willing to put them down for good, But Sera stopped him. She approached slowly and carefully, before using a rag to cover Fen's eyes and sedate him so she could fix them. Fen was confused and perplexed during the whole rescue to the point of being docile. Sera used her Solver to help fix their leg while Emi provided schematics and pointed out steps, watching the amount of sedation used. After the fixes were complete, the Crew backed off and released Fen, who stared at them from their safe spot for a while before running off into the wilds of the planet.

They would meet again sometime later, when the Crew gets swarmed by Sentinels while trying to find more supplies and parts of the patch code. They were battered and almost destroyed, especially Sera after using the Solver too much to the point of near corruption. Jak and Emi managed to regroup and tried to help Sera while cornered, only to be saved in turn by Fenrir who had returned to take vengeance after being left behind. After the fight and fleeing, the Crew repaired Fenrir once again. Feeding them scraps from meals and tending to wounds. Sera was still getting use to how Disassemblers slept, and mostly slept on the ground to keep watch. The first night with Fenrir, they cuddled up to Sera, allowing her to use them as a pillow while they kept watch for her. Ever since that day, Fenrir was made a part of the Crew and joined them on their search for a new home. His armor was upgraded/painted by Emi and was named by Jak after finding a book of old Norse Mythology. They primarily stick close to Sera and has the strongest bond with her. The Crew also had him whistle trained, using unique whistles crafted by Sera from a rare ore in the System that is no longer found. Each whistle has a unique sound, and Fenrir can identify which drone calls for him based on each whistle's sound. They continue to serve as a form of security in their new home once found, patrolling the grounds of the chapel and calling out at the first sign of danger.

Ok, that was a long one. And I still have so much more story to tell, especially the REDACTED parts, but that'll have to wait another time. Tell me what you guys think and I'll consider expanding the story.

#murder drones #murder drones fanart #my immortal #murder drones ocs #traditional art

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valictini · 2 years ago

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(Kind of a follow up to my silly little comic since I had WAY too many thoughts and I couldn't fit them in because I wanted it to stay light hearted)

My personal take on komahina is that they both absolutely end up falling in love at some point, but Nagito would never allow Hajime to date him.

(Warning, it’s kinda long)

Not only would he feel like Hajime is too good for him, that Hajime would be wasting his precious time on trash, but it would also make Nagito too happy, and Nagito has a bad tendency to link his happiness with his ultimate luck. It would make him think that the joy of dating Hajime would cause catastrophes, so the best, most hopeful thing he can do is avoid dating altogether. In his head, he’s doing the reasonable thing ! He's shielding everyone from his bad luck ! But he would still love him so he would absolutely tell Hajime how much he means to him and hang out and even flirt with him…. so long as he doesn’t reciprocate. Which would probably upset Hajime at first, thinking he’s being played with.

It would require serious mental wrestling to convince Nagito that it’d be ok for him to date anyone, let alone the Ultimate Ultimate. You’d need to convince him that his happiness isn’t always tied to his luck. Dare I say, you’d have to make it so that him being treated with respect and even affection isn’t an exception anymore, just a normal part of life, thus not something he'd feel overly lucky to have. (That one would be more of a collective, long term effort though)

It’s a very arduous task, especially with how unconvinced Nagito probably would be. ESPECIALLY especially if you take into account the fact that you’re on a goddam timer because of his illness.

There is a possibility that Nagito feels more of an equal to the others post game though, since they were all bad guys and thus, all much closer to his own perceived level of trash (not a particularly good way to think, but it's a start nonetheless) I can see everyone working on themselves and their guilt and learn to forgive themselves for the horrible things they all did, and Nagito on the side being like “you all are doing such a good job!” Without realising that he could apply this to his own existence… though he would probably think it can’t apply to him. In his head, he'll forever be trash.

At the end of the day, I think the quickest way for them to make this happen is for Hajime to bring up his talents and basically tell Nagito that his luck is nothing compared to his own luck, and therefore can’t hurt anyone with it. Althought it's probably the most convincing argument in Nagito's eyes, one might wonder if it's really the best solution for these two, especially for Hajime who most likely has his own bagage to unpack regarding his talents. Like, first of all, is Nagito in love with him or the hope his existence apparently brings to the world? Or maybe even Izuru? There's just.... So much to take into account man

Tl;dr komahina is a really cool concept and they totally fall in love but the real challenge is HOW they end up dating because i can't see Nagito allowing that to happen so easily. To me it would either take an extraordinary amount of hard work AND/OR use Hajime's talent flex. But then is that really a good solution when Hajime probably has a complicated relationship with his talents?

Not saying that it's impossible but yeah. It's so hard to pinpoint how ! And I still feel like I'm missing some parameters !

(Not bashing on anyone else’s interpretations btw, just sharing my own, these two have invaded my brain as you can probably tell)

If you’ve read through all this, congrats, here’s a random sketch I drew while figuring out how to draw the comic lmao

#komahina #hinakoma #hajime hinata #nagito komaeda #goodbye despair #danganronpa #danganronpa 2 #ive had so many thoughts about them since i finished that comic the other day #like #I had so many different dialogues that weren’t fitting with the fun vibes #but GOD do i think they'd be a mess #and the worse thing about all this?#I’m probably going to change my mind #again and again #because these two are so confusing #also #just as a warning I try to take the dr3 anime as a general idea of what is going on #but I’m not too reliant on it either

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