#got this done originally in my sketchbook

[katfreaks-hidyhole]

Just a pair of Losers

[meerphanim]

The Ferryman's Scorpion

{ Click/Tap for better quality. }

My entry for @catmask 's and @frogcroaks ' contest, Monster Mayhem!

I chose the theme Wisteria Will-O-Wisp for flower symbolism and will-o'-the-wisp folklore. Also because of the color purple ← My favourite color 💜

Thank you for hosting this contest where I can try out monster designing and good luck to the other participants. Peace and love on planet Earth!

[allkindsoface]

jay ferin come home

[fakecats-art]

need to post more sketchbook stuff since thats literally all ive been doing recently. sick and twisted

[n00tuz]

GOGGLEZ SILLY FUN FACT!!!

I have my own lil MIND and HEART!

Heart being red and mind being blue! I love flesh and machine sillies! [they are siblings!!!] EDIT!!! CLARIFYING THESE ARE MY OWN OCS NOT A CCCC SPIN OFF <333

[lambentumbra]

its never going to stop

jules (he/him)

sort of a redraw/sequel to this ancient thing

[raynavan]

Tw horror, plese read the tags carfully

[bvannn]

Man I’ve been productive like you wouldn’t believe my guy I’ve been productive as fuckkkkkk

[milidot]

It's time for a summary of the art I did this year (including fiber arts)!!

I always love this time of year, mostly as a reflection for myself (I have ones going back to 2015 which is -- nine years ago now, that's the year I started doing digital art. I'll have to do something in honor of next year!!)

Anyways, so I didn't do much art in January. Pretty much the only thing I have from there is this pen sketch page featuring the three main video essayists I was watching a lot of on YouTube -- Abigail from Philosophy Tube, Verity from VerilyBitchie, and Lily Alexandre. All three of them are very good!! I've kinda fallen off the video essay train recently in favor of oc redesign art videos and knitting podcasts but I'm sure I'll get back to it, and to these three specifically. Oh, and I crocheted a witch hat.

In February I did a few traditional illustrations, mostly scenes with my OCs. This particular one is I think my favorite, featuring Lexa, a naga, and Sienna, an Indian-Australian librarian human woman. They're cute. I also crocheted a potted plant for my friend's birthday, and tried out tapestry crochet with a design I made up myself. The tapestry is still sitting on my shelf, idk what to do with it.

In March I started participating in the TopOC competition/art challenge (on instagram), so this was my entry for the second prompt, I believe. It's my characters Jamie (the filipina gal) and Caleb (white boy) . I'm really proud of this illustration! The lighting especially. It's probably my most polished piece all year. And also this month I finished my first ever raglan knit sweater! It's the Arendal sweater by Drops design. Free pattern.

April was a low month - I barely drew (this is a pen sketch of Caleb with the lyrics to "wrecking ball" by Mother Mother and it may be the only thing I drew that month) and I crocheted a top that was super uncomfortable, not at all my style, scratchy and horrible. I immediately took it apart. Ew.

In May we have a continuation of TopOC -- this time, Jamie and Caleb in fancy outfits at a garden party. This is a pretty fun one as well, although I was lazier on the lighting. I was also working this month on the knitting projects I finished in June.

Apropos June -- featured here is the reference sheet for my fursona, which I remade in preparation for artfight. She's an owl-leopard hybrid. In terms of knitting I made a pink tank top thing with some faux cabling, which accidentally went in the dryer so now its fit is weirdly drapey, and a big cardigan (the Reading Cardigan by Jared Flood) for my grandma. Also this month I started my Pride illustration, but because I only finished it in November, I couldn't think where to put it in this summary sheet.

In July was artfight, and I just did art for other people, so here is a pixelart couple for j.morp_art and libbywantstosleep on instagram. I'm happy with how these two came out! Not sure why I was in a pixel art phase at the time.

In August I drew some of my newest characters - Elena, a trans woman, and her daughter Bella, a five year old girl who takes her stuffed lizard everywhere. The big triangle thing is a lacy shawl I made which I'm not super happy with but like, whatever. I mostly wanted to learn how to do lacework, and I did, kind of.

September's art was just about all cringetober stuff, funnily enough. This is a snippet from a set of mini comics I did for the prompt 5+1 things, which I think was my favorite thing, although I did like many of them. So this is Sara, she's a vampire.

In October I did a tiny bit more for cringetober but gave up on the challenge I think on day 17, so here instead is my halloween illustration of Jamie and Caleb dressed as Wirt and Greg from over the garden wall. Cuties.

In November I drew pretty much nothing new (except finishing my Pride month illustration) so this is a bit from my baby cousin's birthday card. He's one year old and he is THE CUTEST. I can't decide if the picture looks like him (he's probably cuter irl).

And finally, in December, an illustration drawn on my phone with my finger in Sketchbook: Sara again, the vampire, and Lauren. I've got another post with more details about these two, but uh, they've got a complicated relationship. This is Sara showing up in the middle of the night after Lauren thought she was dead. For two years. Ooops. -- oh, and the knitting is a Portal-themed scarf I started in August and kinda hate? I made it to practice colorwork and duplicate stitching mostly. The striped parts have that optical illusion thing where at an angle they have a picture (the Aperture logo).

That's it for this year's summary! I don't suppose anyone cares much about my ramblings but future me probably will :) hi future me!

[spookys1fan]

Guys…. Guys I finally did it

I’ve done it, it’s here….

Are you ready? Ready for them?

I hope you are…

BECAUSE I FINISHED THE JADE WINGLETTTTTT ^^ FINALLY

Here yall go!! Ik it’s taken me such a long time, I wasn’t happy with my first pass and I had to take a break for a while and re-evaluate.

But I finally got it done!! Im so glad! ^^ I had a lot of fun doing this for yall, I hope they don’t disappoint XD

Alr, let’s get to the designs! ^^

I loveeeed doing peril, her colors can be so experimentive but I eventually settled on a darker color pallet than I originally planned. I like to think she brightens up like a light bulb when she’s angry #- -# I also think that like, after all the shit went down from the first arc she’s just in a constant state of panic. Like “OH SHIT WHAT DID I DO THIS TIME???” Like a deer in headlights XD overall i love the blue highlights, I think it brings a nice pop of color! ^^ I also gave her some slight sun motifs on her scales>>

Moon was fun to do, even if it’s not super creative. I loved giving her her braids, I like to think quibly put them in her fur in one of their little lovie-dovey spa sessions #> <# i overall gave her a bunch of moon motifs in her horns and like the chip in her ear (if you can call it that, that thing is gaping) ((sorry I made yall read the word gaping)) but anyway , I also love giving her a lil nervous expression, cuz she didn’t have a lot of interaction as a dragonet and I like to think that she’s just a socially awkward little nerd <3. I loved doing her design and giving her little yellow highlights for quibly>>

Quibly was fun to do, even if it’s didnt get his colors right at first. I went with a more yellow-greenish theme rather than a super warm color scheme bc moon<3. I overall made him more skinny and skrungly, and gave him lil hyena-esque freckles(and a lil beard #> <#). I also made his earring ginormous. Oo and I gave him a gold tooth! ^^ cuz like, vulture and yknow, guard for thorn and all>> jezzus i love him so much-

Kinkajou went through many shape language sketches, I needed her to stand out a lot, cuz yknow, rainwings are kinda hard to recognize with their constantly shifting colors, and I didn’t want to give her a permanent color scheme cuz that defeats the purpose of color changing scales. But I think I got it down! ^^ I gave her a brighter color scheme than the rest, bc rainwing and all, but now that Im looking at it she kinda looks like a clown - -* lol SHES NOT A CLOWN I SWEAR SHES JUST RLLY HAPPY!! I like it anyway.

Winter… winter is just a pretty boy :P i went through so many shape language and definition passes u have no idea. I ended up with 3+1/2 designs for just him alone - -. The colors were easy tho! I wanted to make him darker than most winter designs, just for contrast, and I liked giving him his short, upward facing neck quills, I think it makes him stand out! ^^ I also gave him some lighter blue highlight striping to kinda simulate frost <3 over all I really like his end design! ^^ I loved giving him his kind of moon shaped horns </3 :P

I honestly don’t usually have turtle be so dark of colors, but I actually think it suits him a lot better than a lighter design! ^^ I think it makes him stand out to other sea wings, who are usually brighter colors! (I also gave him a hint of a mustache > < hehe:P) hes chunky, even by seawing standards, and I love him far more for it <3 at first I want sure what to do for his colors, cuz I don’t really like just straight green, but I think giving him yellow/orange colored highlights really helped me like his design a lot better <3 his eye color really ties it together! I love his design and I like making him a lot stubbier than most seawing, I think it makes him so cute ^^! <3

I had a lot of trouble with their designs in the first place, and I’m sorry it took so long to get them to yall, I even had to do the sketching in my sketchbook and trace it into my iPad - -*. but I really think it’s worth it <3 i love them so much and I’m actually really happy with all of them.

I really hope you guys like them, I put a lot of effort into all of them and I think it really shows, even if their only head shots ^^* LOVE YALL hope yall have a great day/night/afternoon and remember to love others! ^^ luv yall 💗

[alangdorf]

A Category 5 Magolor Incident is in progress. Will post all at once when it’s over. Incomprehensible preview <3

[cherepizza]

Wow it's been more than a month. Didn't realize that. I guess I have something to show but uhh my sketchbook got under heavy rain so paper here it's a little wavy. It's a miracle it had so little damage considering what happened to my other stuff. Also nights proceed to get longer and I wasn't lucky to take better photos. Anyway..

All beacons' religions are based on mythology and existence of numerous gods and spirits inhabiting the world. The closest thing they have to monotheism is a religion formed around the existence of a transcendent all-present force (spirit) which, however, cannot perceive the world and interact with it by itself, only being able to do so by splitting itself into many different "sides". Only sides are able to maintain physical bodies and though they all come from the same source and it the end would become one again, they are treated as completely different entities. There're 8 major sides – 8 major gods, other deities are considered lesser. Aand I'll just leave it there because I'd better wait for the time I have a fine picture depicting gods to have at least something accompany a ton of sentences that would come describing them.

Many religions practices and ceremonies are performed at altars. The most simple home altar is a wooden table, low enough so that a beacon would have to kneel down to perform any ritual. The most common offering is food, other offerings include things associated with a specific god. Watered down alcohol may be poured only on certain celebrations. It's a very uncommon practice and in some households it's not allowed and has to be done secretly. After all, you want your gods to be sober to do their duty.

Living creatures sacrifices are also practiced, but sacrificing other beacons is forbidden (at least on the territory of the forementioned "all comes from one spirit" believers). Animals cannot be sacrificed on wooden altars and it's quite rare for a beacon to a have a stone one at home, so cooking and eating a designated animal or specific parts of it (obviously offering a piece to the gods in the process) on a celebration is usually enough.

An interesting religious thing are these sticks made from wood or bone, always coming in number of 8. If their owner didn't make them themselves, they may have some standard decorations and phrases pre-carved but most part of their sides would always remain empty for the owner to fill. Each stick is devoted to one of the major gods and contains an encarved list of things which a beacon wants to ask for from the deity. An altar is not needed when you have sticks but you should still make an offering if possible.

The sticks also serve as some sort of passport as encarvings may contain information about beacon's place of birth, place of work, profession, number of children and other things like the kind of crop their village grows even if the owner has nothing to do with farming but wants the crop to be protected anyway.

All stick sets are personal and follow their owner to the grave. However, taking copies is not frowned upon. Keeping the original set for yourself and leaving a copy with the deseased is also fine but the ritual of changing sets should be performed by close relatives who wish to keep the original sticks as a memory. Otherwise it might be considered disrespectful.

[ranticore]

Is there any "canceled" settings that never got out? Or just some canned ideas like OG modified people(?) thera

I have loadssss of canned ideas which couldn't work in the setting I envisioned:

the first story idea for Siren i had was going to be about an unmodified human (employed by modern atom corp) crashlanding there, and the three explorers (huarvaa, qedivar, and terwy) would volunteer to help them travel to the precursor settlement to find parts to fix their space ship. But along the way they would all make the discovery that they were all humans all along (obviously with the unmodified human believing they were being helped by three aliens). So there'd be points in the story where they'd be like "huh what a weird coincidence that [some similarity they share]" finally turning into "wait so your people made us to be slaves on this planet??" and the unmodified human having to absorb the rammys. Reason I didn't go with it: didn't like the focus on an unmodified human, I felt it a disservice to the sirenians' intelligence to imagine that they couldn't figure out all that shit on their own.

That one jumps to mind as this was originally a Siren blog and I do still work away at it here haha.

For outright cancelled settings and stories, kiiinda ISOK, i don't really make new things about it anymore and it never grabbed my attention enough, I'll draw my faves but don't feel like developing stories or characters there right now

Twist the manticore came from a very recently fully cancelled story about curses which you can find in the #manticore tag on my big art blog. Basically a concept of a really fucked up city built on a mine of the substance which allows people to visualise magic spells and particularly curses. The story was about a curse broker who would be hired to cast curses not necessarily of his own design, but he'd be the one pulling the trigger because it's like this nightmare gig economy where you need an endless supply of new people to cast curses because each casting takes a cumulative toll on the body. Anyway I fell away from it because it was hard to write a very actively suicidal pov and I never figured out the ending so it felt aimless. Sometimes when I have no ending in mind I can just go on and on throwing new scenarios at the characters to see them react but I wasn't feeling it here. But I liked the manticore and sphinx designs

Obviously all of my 21st century Inver writing is gone noncanon now which is great. The future now is entirely uncertain yippee!!!

I've also had one billion story ideas which are up on the shelf kind of waiting. A big one you might know from my werewolf sketchbook is the glam underground werewolf subculture stuff which I came up with while watching dog shows lol but essentially warring werewolf packs decided to cut down the body count by doing head to head dance battles instead based on the beauty and aesthetics of their werewolf forms, it was a little inspired by drag balls but it's something I'm not very familiar with so if I were to go at it seriously I would need to do a lot of work. The story would be about a guy who got bitten and had to find his way to one of these spaces where because of his lovely werewolf form he gets poached by a pack and ends up competing with them, until he stumbles across the dead body of the current best in show competitor, rival to his new pack, and is accused of murdering him. He is charged with proving his innocence, but also finding out who the hell bit him because it seems like it may have been done on purpose to create a scapegoat for this murder. Anyway yea full murder mystery and the werewolves had show names which were as extravagant and striking as u can imagine*, essentially leaving their straightsonas at the door once a month to queen out among the only people who understand them. The only setting I could possibly imagine for it was vegas lol but in a more homophobic era (the underground lycanthropy scene being analogous to gay culture ofc).

Another story I wanna work on eventually is a revamp of the radio dragons, I realised ultimately that I was still trying to 'fix' pern with it when presenting a rebuttal to the ethical problems with dragon rider stories ends up really boring ("the dragons are in charge and they pick their riders when the riders are teens and there's an element of choice etc etc" boring). Ultimately I should just be completely inverting the dynamic and leaving it unchanged so that the issues are made blinding rather than fixed - in this case, the dragons are in charge, but they are picking their riders from birth. Newborn human baby instantly hooked up to an adult or at least older adolescent dragon and treated like a particularly smart parrot for most/all of their lives. And the story told entirely from dragon pov of course (dragon would do anything for their beloved rider!! even maybe let them vote?)

I have more but that's off the top of my head

[just-another-personal-side-blog]

Session 0 - Damian Priest x Tattoo Artist

Part 1 of 6

Rating: T

Beta Reader: @jstarr86

“Trust me Dam, she’s the best at what she does. It doesn’t hurt that I’d trust her with my life. You’ve been going on about finally getting that back piece, there’s no one better.” Rhea practically herded him towards what looked like an absolute hole in the wall, his nerves judged it based on first appearance.

“Most of my art was done by her, I’ve been meaning to introduce Dom as well. You got first dibs of course.” She paused at the door giving him a single raised brow, “You do trust me, don’t you Damian?”

Cornered he let out a sigh, it doesn’t hurt to at least take a look to appease her. 

“Fine, after you.” 

A bell above the door could just barely be heard over the heavy rock that beat like a pulse within the confines of the lobby. Framed detailed tattoo sketches hung upon the walls, behind the front desk were a collection of awards and licenses to prove this place was legit. Folders full of premade basic bitch designs sat on the coffee table by comfortable leather chairs, Rhea pressed a button at the front. No sound could be heard but in a span of seconds a young woman came out from the back.

“How can I- Oh! Shit! Rhea! Hey girl! Why didn’t you give me a heads up that you were coming?” Priest looked up from one of the framed pieces he was admiring. Apparently the new arrival hadn’t noticed him from the angle he was standing, not something he was used to given his size. He took a moment to admire the person before him…

Purple faux hawk with an under-fade, full tattoo sleeves on both arms, legs, and back, several piercings both visible and one not, brilliant blue eyes with some intense metallic goth eye makeup and a stunning smile. A pair of fake leather leggings with lace ups on the outside of the legs, a fishnet crop top under a Beetlejuice tank top, tying it all together was a basic durable black dog collar and a pair of Demonia knee length boots.Unlike the blonde Barbie she was finishing up, Rhea’s friend wasn’t stick skinny. She was probably a good size 9 or 10, there was some plump flesh but it appeared to have some sturdy muscle underneath. A full pair of breasts accentuated beautifully with the fishnet, and hips perfect to dig fingers into.

“I brought a friend that I thought you might like meeting, he’s been talking about wanting a new big tat for awhile now. So I told him there's only one person I’d trust with that.” After a moment the girl turned to look at him, there was immediate recognition as well as shock across her features. It was brief and fleeting before putting up a friendly facade.

It took Rhea slapping on the bicep to smack Damian back present, realizing he’d been staring at the artist long after the gal she’d been working on had left happily. Meaning he had given her an intense resting bitch for a good minute now. Incredibly embarrassed Priest offered a hand which she accepted with an impressive firm hand shake.

“You can call me Minnie, only people I like get to use that.” Rhea playful shoulder checked her with a warm smile,

“It’s short for Minerva, her parents were from Athens originally”

“So your namesake is a Goddess of War, seems fitting.” Bright sky blue eyes flicked up from the sketchbook she’d grabbed to start jotting ideas from him. And without pause blossomed like a Sunflower, taking note of the dimple on her right cheek. 

“Best make sure you never get on my bad side, Rhea has some great stories of me chasing off her exes prior to Wrestling. I’m only five years older than her, not to mention like 5 inches shorter even without those elevator shoes she stomps around in.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed that at all. Both of you still don’t have me beat.”

“Well you clearly discovered immortality in high school, because you haven't aged a bit.”

Rhea perched herself on the spare stool in the room, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she watched the two getting comfortable with their back and forth.

“What she neglected to mention is the three times she chased them off with a metal bat wrapped in barbed wire and nails welded to it.”

“Jokes on you, I still sleep with that bat beside my bed. Safety first and all that fun stuff. Safer than a machete, I’d rather not accidentally stab myself in my sleep.”

“That’s why we’re best friends.” The Aussie grins before giving Minnie a cheeky wink.

“Why do I feel like I got led into a trap?” She wrinkled her nose at Damian before opening the sketchbook before her.

“You have nothing to worry about Butterscotch, I take my art very seriously. Now let’s start discussing what you’re looking to get and where. I’ll let you know now, that while I’m sure you’re likely VERY blessed… I don’t do anything where I gotta see dick or vag.”

Priest momentarily choked on his saliva while Rhea guffawed in glee. A quick side eye glare at her smothered the sound to a quiet chuckle. Something about her felt like she was messing with the poor Puerto Rican man, akin to a cat staring directly at their owner while pushing a glass of water off the counter playfully.

“You’ve already got plenty of gorgeous pieces on that flawless flesh. What are you thinking of doing?”

No hesitation he pulled his t-shirt up and over while turning to show the empty expanse of his back. Her breath caught audibly, eyes briefly went wide glancing at Ripley wildly. The female wrestler grinned like the Cheshire Cat, watching each interaction with fascination. Plans coming to fruition.

The tattooer bit down hard on the inside of her cheek to focus on what he was actually saying. Once locked in, Minnie began to sketch up fluidly upon paper, at one point he was leaning over her shoulder admiring the work of a talented creative. Bringing his vision to life on the crisp white paper, each description rumbled like incoming thunder located in the man’s voice box. Thank god for hyperfocus cuz lord only knows this was gonna be a genuine challenge for her self-control. All she wanted to do was trace those tattoos on him with her tongue. She had to shake her head to focus back in again, hands working on autopilot, taking in his words with each glide of charcoal across parchment. 

When he finished describing it she looked back up at him with a friendly smile,

“How big are you thinking of making it? So I know what to prepare for, as well as how many sessions to schedule in advance.” He tilted his head in thought momentarily before answering,

“Ideally I’d like it to cover a majority of my back.” She nodded in agreement,

“Alright, I’ve got the sketch started. I'll email you three different versions and you let me know what you like and what you don’t. And if there's aspects you like in one and want to add it to another one, just let me know. This is your tattoo on your skin, I want you to love it decades from now. How’s that sound?”  Damian was genuinely impressed with her professionalism, even as he controls the strong desire to flirt with her. This was a time to behave, she was Rhea’s best friend, and thus not someone to attempt to make any moves towards. 

“That sounds great to me, thanks.” Her smile was so sweet it could have made him diabetic just looking at it. 

“Great. Oh and Rhea, let me know when you want to come in and do those matching ghost tattoos with Dom.” 

“No rush, he’s busy planning his wedding right now so it’s gonna be a bit.”

“Sounds good to me. Now unfortunately I do have another client coming in twenty minutes so I gotta start prepping.” She pulled a business card from her bra, handing it over to Damian,

“My email and personal number is on there in case you think of something you want to add to the tat.Sound good?” Minnie gave a bashful little smile, and it made something deep in his chest want to say something incredibly forward. Rhea snagged him by the elbow, grinning like a cat that caught the canary. 

A nod of thanks was all he got out before being ushered back out, quicker than able to verbalize his appreciation. Ripley called back loudly,

“Thanks love! I’ll make sure he remembers to check his email regularly.” As if he didn’t already do that for work contacts to begin with. Once back in the car Priest gave his companion a look of utter suspicion, he could tell that she had ulterior motives. Nothing vicious or cruel, but she’d tried to set him up on a couple dates in the past, none that worked out. He’s focused on work, most women didn’t appreciate not being number one in his life. It’s been a string of disappointments, to where he bluntly asked Rhea to stop playing cupid. 

“This better not be an attempt at matchmaking again-” She cut him off with a sigh,

“I’ve long accepted that the ball is in your court from now on. I really truly just wanted you to go to an artist I’d trust my life with. She’s a good one, professional, talented, she spent twenty years as an apprentice before taking on her own clients. To top it off, she’s loyal, fun, and could use more genuine friends other than me. Can you blame me for that?” Her tone of voice was honest, after how much time they’d spent together, he could easily tell when she was bullshitting. Damian nodded to her as a show of acceptance to what she was saying. Her attention locked on the drive back to her place, Buddy was gonna get some sparring practice in with the other man. 

His gaze trailed a spot in the distance, trying to keep that woman out of his thoughts… failing miserably. She had such a lovely face, and all the art on display was impressive to be sure. The name Minerva fit her perfectly, especially with how protective she was of the Australian wrestler. It was endearing how she was barely 5’3 and was ready to take on the world to keep her 5’7 well-muscled friend safe. He hadn’t noticed the small smile that spread across his features, but Ripley sure took note of it. Keeping her features stoic while internally she was so pleased with herself. 

She pulled into the driveway where her man was waiting, he waved as they got out of the car. Buddy smiled at them, 

“I’m guessing it went well? Minnie is great at what she does. Rhea doesn’t like to share her with people, so it’s a hell of a compliment she brought you.” She gave him a quick kiss before heading into the house calling back,

“Play nice boys don’t forget the Terror Twins have some matches coming up.”

Damian shook his head w a huff before following the ginger towards their personal gym. Somehow he still had a sneaking suspicion that Rhea was playing a long game now instead of all the quick fruitless dates in the past… The image of Minerva slid by again, and for once… he might be okay with that.

Tagged:

@superlove167 @midnightlycan @mooshroomii420 @hotwheels1108 @misslackey @gigisview @abadbitchblogs @sexyblacksimper @sweetmoonlove0214 @daithideolishmer118 @tomandbuckyfan1 @terrortwinunicorn @iy-16-18 @sluttysierraaa @jstarr86 @zombiedixon89 @horsekoala @fearlesschimera @eringobragh420 @elainneoneill570 @gretavanhockey @moonwolfdemonprincess21 @sad-dreamer93 @agustd202204 @nubian-queen22 @kaitlinlovetwister @bosslady3168 @gabberzzz1998 @mol2311

[bellysoupset]

Invitation

Angelina had been in Welton for a week now, ever since dropping off Sophia at the bus station after leaving Boston. Or rather, been dropped off... How did she explain that Sophia had been the one catching a ride with her, but done all the driving?

Whatever, she didn't particularly like the girl anyway. Jonah had vouched for her, saying she was the sister of one of his close friends and Leo had pinched in saying Angie would be fine, but none of them had warned her that Sophia was a handful, except for Luke.

"And that's why Jonah's in my shit list and you aren't," Angie explained, sketching away on her pad. Luke was sitting across from her, going through a poke bowl. How he managed to get such huge bites while using hashi, Angie wasn't sure.

Luke snorted at that, chuckling and choking on the rice, taking a big gulp of his Gatorade bottle, "it was that bad, uh?"

Angie didn't want to talk shit, that wasn't nice, so she only shrugged, "it wasn't any fun," she said diplomatically, then gestured to Luke, "new pose."

He moved on the bench, switching each leg was folded and tousling his hair, tugging on his shirt so it wasn't as neatly tucked into his social pants and had more give. It was so weird to see Luke in a suit during the middle of the day, Angie thought. She could count in one hand the amount of times she had seen him this dressed up, even though he wasn't wearing a tie, and now it was his new normal.

"Hello? Earth to Angie?"

"Sorry!" She blushed, turning her sketchbook to Luke could see the previous 5 minutes sketch she had done of him and then started on the new pose, while Luke praised her drawing skills in a proud brother tone.

He finished up his lunch while she continued to draw, walking to the park's garbage bin to throw away his empty plastic bowl and swishing his drink around his mouth as he jogged back to her, "oh there you are!" Luke's tone went up a note and Angelina moved on the bench so she could look behind her.

Jonah was jogging to them, holding a black bag in one of his hands, his car keys in the other, "sorry, sorry, sorry- I got held up at the hospital- Hi, darling, I'm sorry I'm late," he interrupted himself, eyes pausing on her and Angie jumped up to hug him.

"It's fine," she reassured Jon, squeezing him, "Luke and I were chatting."

"She's put you on her shit list," Lucas tattled, sounding smug and giving Jon a quick side hug, "because Sophia was a bitch."

"What? Was she mean to you?" Jonah's voice picked up and Luke, sitting down on the bench, opened an amused smile, while Angie raised her hands, gesturing to placate her brother.

"She was fine," she lied, because really Sophia was a bitch, "we just didn't get along, that's all-"

"If she was mean to you, you have to tell me," Jon said strongly, "I'll talk with Vince-"

"That's gonna go down well," Luke said, sarcastically, "hey Vin, you know your sister whom you adore, she was a bitch to my baby sister and I think you should do something about it."

"I'm not a baby," Angie pouted, while Jonah pinched his nose bridge.

"I knew that was a mistake, I should've gone pick you up, you should be staying with us-"

"Oh my god," she let out an exasperated sigh, glaring from Jonah to Luke, "I'm fine! It was an awkward drive, I didn't die and I don't want to stay with you and Leo, I like my hotel. And you-" she pointed at Lucas, who was chuckling, "stop egging him on!" she turned back to her brother, "and stop worrying so much."

"Fine," he relented through gritted teeth and Angie let out a sigh, sitting back down on the bench and starting to collect her drawing materials.

Their original plans had been to meet up at the park and have lunch together, but when Jonah had been late, Luke and her had eaten ahead and decided they could share dessert instead.

"Tell me about college," Jonah asked, as they fell into step, Angie in the middle of the two men, "how was the orientation week?"

She didn't need anymore incentive, starting to blab away about the university. The student's residence was in front of the Arts building, so she'd never be late for classes and yes, she'd have to share with a roommate, how exciting was that?

"Very exciting," Luke said, while Jonah held the cafe's door for them, "when do your classes start?"

"Next month," Angelina sighed, defeated by how far away it seemed. She had never been more excited for anything in her life, "my mom has plenty of time for a third or maybe fourth hissy fit."

At this, Jon let out a scoff, as they walked to the second floor of the cafe and he sat down in front of her, "I bet Audrey isn't happy," he grumbled, eyes scanning the menu. Luke winced at Jonah's acidic tone, clearly trying to play the peacemaker.

"She'll come around, Ange," Lucas promised, slinging an arm around the back of her chair, "have you finished packing? How's the moving gonna go?"

Angie hesitated for a second, eyes darting to Jonah's face. She could feel the uneasiness rolling off of him, but she hoped it was just annoyance over the mention of her mother. He had never been in good terms with her, Angie knew this, but today he sounded different. Tense.

"I'm almost finished," she clicked around on the tablet to select her order, "I visited the dorm and its a lot smaller than I'm used to, so I'm actually struggling with downsizing what I packed, not the opposite."

"You can always store some stuff at my place," Jonah offered, overeager, and Luke nodded along.

"Mine as well, we got more room than we need," he frowned as Jonah didn't make a move for the tablet, "aren't you gonna order dessert?"

"Not hungry..." He twisted his hands nervously and Angie raised her eyebrows, studying her brother closely. He was definitely pale, as his dark skin was lacking any warmth, and clearly nervous judging by all the fidgeting...

"Are you feeling sick?" Angie frowned, trying to pin point what was it. It was so weird to not know him well enough to tell if this was him feeling sick or just nervous or hungry maybe...?

"No," Jon waved her off, "no, of course not, I-" he cleared his throat, Adam's apple bobbing up and down and causing Luke to snort.

"Try harder, Jon-"

"Shut up," Jonah glared at him, rubbing his face in a frustrated manner, "I'm not sick, I'm just-" he planted the black bag he had been carrying on top of the table and slid it towards her, causing Angie to raise her eyebrows in a puzzled manner.

"What is this?" She asked, perking up on her seat to spy inside the bag, while Luke did the same next to her.

"Open it," Jonah's voice was tense, clipped, and he tugged on the collar of his sweater, like he was suffocating.

Angie raised herself up on her seat, so she could dig through the bag's contents. There was a black velvet box inside of it, as well as two black envelopes in the middle of the silk paper. Luke let out a whistle as she fished the items out and opened the black box.

It was a dainty silver necklace, with seven compass roses dangling on it. The central one was hanging lower and was bigger, with a tiny diamond on its center, while the other six, three on each side, were plain silver. Angie stared at it, eyebrows raised and heart fluttering, "oh my God... Jon?!" she looked up and her brother shuffled uncomfortably, gesturing for the black envelopes.

Luke turned them around, opening a large smile, "oh hey, this one is for me," he fished out one, pushing the other to Angie and she promptly opened the letter.

Inside of it there was a rectangular, thick letter made out of some soft textured slightly grey paper. Angie's heart leaped up as she read the words "Leo Wagner and Jonah Isaac Banks invite you-"

"Oh MY GOD, it's the wedding invitation!?" Angie dropped the paper back on the table, so she could leap around it and throw her arms around Jonah, "It's so so beautiful!"

"Ange-" Jon's voice came out muffled, his whole face pressed to her neck as she squeezed him into a tight hug and jumped up and down like an excited puppy.

"It's gorgeous!" She continued to praise, all but beaming as her eyes went back to the abandoned paper, only to pull back suddenly as Jonah planted a hand on her shoulder and pushed her away so he could muffle a thick, sick burp in his fist.

"Jon...?" She frowned, moving her arms so she was no longer strangling him, but rather one hand was resting on his back, "are you alright?"

"Sorry, I-" he nodded, clamming his mouth shut as he worked through the nausea, "I'm fine... So you accept?" he looked up, hopeful and unsure, and Angelina's frown deepened even more.

"I accept what..." A sob caused her to look at Luke, "Oh my, Luke...." His whole face had gone pink and had now both elbows planted on the table, hands pressed over his eyes.

She abandoned Jonah in order to go back to Lucas' side and hug him from behind, unable to stop a chuckle as she rubbed his back, "aw, don't cry, Luke..." Angie grinned, pressing a kiss on the top of his head since he was still sitting down.

He squeezed her hand that was resting on his shoulder, rubbing his eyes and holding up the invite, "you're- you're serious...?" His voice came out choked up and Angie frowned, confused, as Jonah nodded vigorously, looking just as nervous and nauseous as before...

She zeroed in the invitation Luke was holding and only then realized the final words "to be Jonah Isaac Banks' best man-"

Angie's eyes widened and she retrieved her own abandoned invite, realizing it was asking her to be her brother's bridesmaid, it wasn't just an early showing of how the stationery was going to look.

"Yeah, of course I'm serious, Luke..." Jonah said in a small voice, just as Luke got up and circled the table, pulling him into a tight hug, hoisting Jon to his feet so he wasn't sitting down.

Angie's smile stretched from ear to ear as she heard Luke mumble a quiet, "I love you," pressed against her brother's shirt and Jonah hug him back just as tight.

He pulled back, or tried to, after a couple seconds, but Luke was trapping him into a steel grip and Jon let out a frustrated groan, "okay, let me go, Atwood-"

"C'mere," Luke opened his arms, for Angelina, and she didn't need any more incentive, promptly wrapping them both in a hug, getting sandwiched between them. Over her head, she heard Jonah let out a huff.

"You two are embarrassing me."

"Shush," Angie giggled, cheeks burning as she was sure all the restaurant patrons were now looking at them.

"How come I didn't get a necklace?" Luke whined, still squeezing Jonah and keeping him put.

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

@fantasybookgeek09 this was such a fun prompt, thank you!! I've never written a modern au before so I hope it came out okay!

“Since we only have five days left until the holidays, I’m going to go easy on you guys this week. You’ll be doing some fun group work— but it still counts towards your final grade, so don’t slack off.”

Rayla slumped in her chair, not quite sure if it was out of relief or disappointment. She was thrilled not to be getting a third essay to work on over the Christmas “break”, but group projects could be… unpredictable. 

“I’ll be assigning you into pairs—" the typical wave of groans erupted from the student body— “to write and illustrate a short original story based on the themes we’ve been discussing in class. You can divide up the work however you see fit, but you have to contribute at least something to the writing and the art.”

Okay. Rayla could work with that. The short story she’d done in her freshman year had won an award, and she was certain her recent work was even better. And as for the art? Well, she could do some stylized swirls or something. Crossing her fingers under her desk, she prayed to be paired with someone better at drawing than she was. 

“…Ram, you’ll be working with Andromeda, and Rayla, you’ll be working with Callum.”

Rayla bit her tongue to keep from groaning out loud. She just had to make that wish, hadn’t she? 

Callum was a good artist, but that was about all he was good at. She’d been sitting two desks down from him all semester, and not a single class had gone by where he hadn’t been doodling instead of listening. She might as well kiss her grade goodbye. 

The bell rang, the more fortunate students around Rayla gathering into pairs to discuss their plans and get their project rubrics on the way out. But Callum just stowed his sketchbook in his bag, picked up his pens, dropped his pens, and scrambled to stow them, avoiding Rayla’s eyes all the while. She didn’t move, crossing her arms and staring him down. He wasn’t getting off that easily. 

Finally, he looked up at her. Or, slightly to the left of her. Rayla would take it.

“I want to figure out the plot of my— our story before we start working on it tomorrow. Are you free this afternoon?”

Callum nodded, a single, sharp jerk of his chin. “You could come over to my house?”

Well, that was easier than anticipated. Rayla had expected to cut through three excuses at least before he realized he couldn’t worm his way out of it. “Sounds like a plan.”

…

Another infuriating thing about Callum was that Rayla hadn’t needed to ask for his address, or even for directions to his house. Everyone knew where he lived, because it was an enormous mansion roughly the size of seven of Rayla’s houses put together, pretentiously seated on the hill over Katolis, visible from anywhere in town. And it only got more ostentatious up close. 

Pulling into the driveway— and circling around the fountain in the middle of it— Runaan let out a low whistle. “If they ask you to stay for dinner, make sure you smuggle out some of the cutlery. It could probably keep us in food for a year.”

Rayla laughed. “There isn’t enough money in the world to get me to stay for dinner. Nice try, though.”

Runaan smirked in return, clapping Rayla’s shoulder as she slid out of the car.

Rayla was fully expecting a butler to answer the door, so it came as a shock when it swung open to reveal Callum’s ten-year-old brother bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

“Hi, Rayla!”

“Hey, Ezran. How’ve you been?”

“Good!”

She smiled, relaxing slightly as Ezran waved her into the house with a flourish. They’d been on speaking terms ever since Rayla had pelted some kids with snowballs for teasing Ezran about talking to birds, and he was a sweet kid. A bit strange, but then, so was Rayla, in her own way. 

“Rayla! You made it!”

Rayla followed Callum’s voice to find him standing at the top of a real, actual marble staircase, framed by railings of golden filigree. Maybe she should try to make off with some cutlery.

“It was pretty hard to miss,” she said drily.

Callum flushed, but Ezran just laughed. 

Recovering, Callum managed to lead Rayla into a “living room” roughly the size of Katolis High’s gymnasium. At least it gave them plenty of room to spread out.

“All right,” Rayla said, pulling out the planning sheet they’d been given. “I already plotted out the storyline, so I just need you to tell me which sentence you want to write and what you want me to do for the illustrations.”

“Which sentence I want to write?”

Rayla glanced up at him, surprised by the offense in his tone. “Well, yeah. I want this to be good. I have a grade-point average to keep up, and—"

“And you think I’m a bad writer?”

“Writing well requires practice, Callum, and I’ve never seen you so much as take notes. You’ve always got your nose in that sketchbook. You’ve got it with you now!”

To prove her point, she snatched it up from the cushions between them. Callum yelped, reaching out for it.

“This thing must have hundreds of pages, and I’d bet you’ve done half of them in class.”

“Don’t!” 

Callum lunged for it, Rayla pulled back, and the sketchbook clattered to the floor to reveal…

Drawing after drawing of her.

Rayla froze. Callum buried his face in his hands.

“So you must think I’m pretty creepy.”

Rayla wasn’t sure what to think. She reached out and picked up the sketchbook again, and this time, Callum didn’t stop her. 

The sketches were… incredible. They looked like her— all the things she liked about herself, and all her imperfections. He’d captured the way she tugged at her braid when she was nervous, the way she tilted back in her chair when she was bored. She could tell when many of the sketches were done by her expression alone: focused eyes the day before their first exam, a wrinkled nose the day Soren had come into their classroom to dribble a basketball around the desks for no apparent reason, a drawn mouth the day her parents had been deployed. 

“Why?” Rayla asked quietly, tearing her gaze from the drawings to meet Callum’s eyes.

His face was red as fire, but his voice was steady. “I’ve always liked people-watching. You can learn so much about them by how they dress, how they sit, what their expressions are. There are whole stories there, if you look for them. Ever since you stood up for Ezran, I… I’ve wanted to know what your story is. You’re so smart, and confident in a way I don’t understand at all, and you’re… good. I wanted to know what makes you that way. But… I didn’t think you’d tell me.”

Blood was rushing to Rayla’s cheeks now, her throat clogging with an unexpected shame. All this time, Callum had been looking at her. Had really seen her, in a way no one else at school seemed to. And she’d taken a few glances at him, built him a false image, and never thought to question it. 

Rayla forced herself to look back up at him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For… seeing the best in me, I guess? For wanting to get to know me, even though I’ve been such a jerk. I’m sorry I said you weren’t a storyteller.”

Callum laughed. “You were right, actually. I really am a bad writer. I mean— except for poetry, I think? But no one’s ever read those, so who knows?”

“I didn’t say writer, I said storyteller.”

Callum’s eyes widened, and then he smiled. It was the first true grin Rayla had ever seen him make, and it transformed his whole face, making dimples appear in his cheeks and his green eyes gleam. Rayla’s breath hitched in her chest. 

“So… does this mean I can write more than a sentence?” he asked.

“You know what? I’d bet we can fit some poetry in here for you to write. But first, I want your opinion on the plot. You might have some ideas I didn’t think of.”

“Oh— wow. Thank you.”

Callum reached for their planning sheet, but Rayla placed her hand over his. The contact sent a jolt through her fingers, and she quickly withdrew them.

“Before that, though, I think it’s past time I asked about you.”

“About me?”

Another spike of shame shot through Rayla at the confusion in his voice, but she smiled through it, settling close enough to him on the couch for their shoulders to touch.

“Why don’t you tell me a story?”