#gradient map my beloved it worked so well here i think

[almond-gallery]

:)

[galewindstudios]

3 Idiots and a Cadillac (and 2 Visitors)

~

Official Fullbody Refs + Height Chart Completed!! :D

[Design Blabbing Below; Beware, it gets long haha]

Amp, 38 Years Old, 6'8 (203.20cm)

I finally got the stylisation of his face down! I feel his old ref was sort of a weird outlier style-wise. Changed his upper piercings from industrials to just rectangular ones. Either works but the only other oc in this world with silver piercings is Tiff. Theirs are rectangles and I really wanted to make everyone feel like they all fit in the same world, per se. I'll still probably draw him with indstrials occasionally though :) I may or may not have... tailored his jeans a little. Phff nah, couldn't be me. 👁️👁️ Hopefully his sass has stayed relatively the same haha. I also finally draew the tuft of hair under his chest hair and made his nails/belt/lipstick/eyebags the same colour!

~

Geoff, 34 Years Old, 6'4 (193.04cm)

Geoff!! I think my fat anatomy really improved. I thickened up his legs and ankles some. Also I made his skin a smidge darker because I forgot my sun-deprived skin colour was not a good representation of a mixed-skin tone. His hair is less of a gradient now and more texture-d from one colour to the other. Also finally making the red rims of his eyes official. Also!! Also!! I snazzed out his cargo shorts! More pockets!! And a weird...lanyard...suspender thingy & black earrings as an homage to Geoff's 80's punk-ass(grunge? I... I am regrettably out of touch with fashion.). His left arm is also badly burned due to his habit of letting it rest on the open window in the sun when he drives around. Too bad it's also the arm JWD loves hugging. Lastly, I made his nails this dark colour with a pink shine to it! Just really adding a lot of pink lol

~

Jackwagon Daniels, 5'7 (170.18cm)

It's corpse man! I definitely leaned into his dead...ness more. I made him more skinny, like his skin is pulling at his muscles and bones, and added some wrinkles too! Also added some drippy-corpse-liquefying details like on his foot. And I made his tan more like a sight burn (owuch). His hair is slowly gets bigger with every redesign... and I'm here for it lmao. Also! Detail! I added! JWD's fingernails, at the base, are blue/purplish! It's due to his death and I did battle wanting to make his lips-area blue too... but ultimately decided his smile is super big so it would only add unneeded noise. His jeans are more worn at the knees from his car repairing gigs back in Louisiana. And lastly, and it's strange I've written so much for him when hardly anything was changed lol, his eye dots! They're now sort of green-ish at the bottoms!

~

Tiffany, 29 Years Old, 5'6 (167.64cm)

Them!!! I had a lot of fun adding more accessories/colours! I added nail polish that reflects their treasured umbrella on both their fingers and toes. Also changed out their boring exercise shorts for ~Swim Trunks~!!! I think the pattern would change depending on how they feel. I also added a much needed tan and sun freckles as well! I kept their hair style the same but added darker roots. They've stayed pretty true to their original design, tbh.

~

Larch, 28 Years Old, 5'5 (165.1cm)

Lastly the elusive boy who only shows up when I draw Amp! There aren't many posted comparisons of him, but just know he probably went through the most change. I fixed up his anatomy; both with how the fat on his body rests/keeping him round, and making him look short. I have a weird issue with giving short fat people I draw skinny legs, which makes zero sense now that I know what I'm doing. (Also.... stretch marks...on his flanks... my beloved.) I've yet to """""officially""""" make a map for his vitiligo and mostly just care that it's in the right spots (shoulders/neck, right side of face around eye, tits and lower rib cage, wrists, inner fingers, and belly button area)! He used to wear shorts but I revoked them for sweats because he is a fashion disaster. Socks and sandals are also his forte, and I love him for that. He drinks a lot of beer (Amp's way of trying to comfort him) so I added that and a cig as well. He sort of just idles around wherever Amp is, frowning at the ground; poor guy. He also has mirrored tunnels in his ears, and his hair got darkened and less blond! Suffice to say, I am very happy with his redesign! He feels a lot more 'him' if that makes sense!

~ Anyway! Thanks for reading if you got this far, I really appreciate the interest, if any. Here's a gold star and also a little treat as well;

*🌟🍬*

Have a lovely day, and thanks for listening to me ramble about my boys! 😌😌

[diezmil10000]

Hi hi, hope you're doing well!! Wanted to ask if you could explain how you pick colours! They're always so appealing to look at... (If you could also explain how you pick blush colours it'd be great! I never manage to pick good ones, no matter how hard I try :'))

hi anon, i'm doing fine!! it's summer right now where i live and that's healing all my problems (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠)

i have recorded the process of some of my drawings and everything is posted in my youtube channel (in twitter too), so i'll drop the link here and try my best to explain the coloring part to you. the short answer is that none of the colors you see in my drawings are similar to those i initially picked.

i try to keep my lineart loose but i pay attention to the outlines so i can quickly select the outer parts, invert the selection and fill it with the bucket tool. my base colors are all 100% opaque and i don't use any fancy brushes here.

as to how i pick colors, i never use the color picker tool, i eyeball everything. that's important for me because i tend to make all of them warmer: the greens are dark yellows, the pinks are light reds, and everything that's close to blue is very desaturated. i do this even for drawings that turn out much different later, unless i have a very specific vibe in mind from the beginning. i also never use pure whites for anything, and if something is black i make it part of the lineart.

then i always color my lineart!! there's no trick to that, the layer is in normal mode and i just paint it with a darker color than what's below it. i usually add the shadows and highlights at this stage of the drawing too. you're going to kill me for this but shade with gray set in color burn or linear burn (never multiply). i just don't want to think about color variety at this stage because it makes things more difficult for later. sometimes i add textures and some basic color correction here (curves, color balance, layers set in overlay, etc.) but i mostly leave that for the next part.

as to how i choose blush colors, i usually pick the base color and move it towards the saturated end of the color wheel, and a bit more pink. sometimes i add a multiply layer and airbrush hot red over the base colors at low opacity. coloring the lineart with hot colors surrounding the blush areas helps a lot too :)

i also almost always duplicate the lineart, blur it and set it in linear burn (i paint this layer in a light gray). this adds a lot of depth to the drawing, especially if later combined with the bloom effect.

the key to why the colors in my art pop so much is that i don't enjoy drawing as much as i enjoy postprocessing pictures 😂🤣😅👌✌️👍 once i'm satisfied with the "base" colors i merge everything except the background, open a new canvas and go crazy with filters and textures. that's why i use ibispaint X even if i do the lineart elsewhere (krita), and even if it works a bit wonky with big canvases.

i do something different for each drawing here, so first i'm going to explain my reasoning so that you understand my process: i used to have a problem of using very strong colors that overshadowed my beloved lineart into which i had put a lot of effort, so my goal nowadays is to make everything look less contrasted without losing the visual impact of saturated colors. that way the lineart remains a strong point and not just a way to separate one color from another.

what i usually do is duplicate the new merged layer, set it to exclusion mode, add a gradient map and play with the opacity. then i duplicate that and do the same thing with another gradient or another blending mode. i tend to add like 3-6 layers of bullshit over my drawings, including textures and other filters like "bloom" or "sharpen". i understand everything that's going on there but i don't think too deeply about it, i just pick whatever looks best.

for the final touches i always pull up the saturation and contrast (since a lot of it gets lost in the process), and i usually have to manually change some colors (ibispaint X has a filter to do that) or tweak the curves. then i add chromatic aberration, noise set to overlay and little polka dots set to linear dodge.

here are some comparisons of the before and after of recent drawings. the 1st one is very subtle, but you can clearly see how much warmth and depth it gains it gets after all the postprocessing. the 2nd one is so different that i understand why you're curious about how i pick colors. i don't think i can replicate that look just from picking nice colors, there's a lot more going on!! the 3rd one personally feels like it had potential lost (i liked the yellow highlights), but the colors were too strong and all over the place, so the finished result looks more intimate and calm and i like it a lot more.

thank you for the interest anon, i'm very happy that you like the way i color things and i hope i have explained myself. good luck with your own journey!!

[2goth2moth]

Any sort of smut with a naga or feral mothman like creature please and thank you

Anon, you said "naga" and my lil scaly heart got so happy. I have no idea if this is even remotely in the realm of what you were looking for, but I just couldn't shake the idea of a human prince with a harem full of monsters. I hope you enjoy!

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The Prince's Favour (M!Naga x M!Reader, NSFW)

For reference: Enéas is a Brazilian rainbow boa. I was 100% going to have a blowjob scene in this but rainbow boas have backwards hooked teeth (think fishhooks) that are designed to not let things back out, and having that near your dick sounds like a very bad time.

Word count: 3514

Includes: Power dynamics (prince x concubine), non-human genitalia, rough sex, double penetration, a little bit of crying

Being the youngest prince in a kingdom with a still-living king could be overwhelmingly boring. Matters of state were passed to your parents and eldest sister, matters of security to your next oldest sibling, infrastructure and agriculture to the next oldest, twin brothers. Your bloodline was long and vital, which was very good for the kingdom’s longevity. It was not so good for keeping you occupied. Your role, as well as your youngest sister’s, ended up being almost completely performative, with official duties being limited to keeping up a royal education and looking pretty beside your family during public appearances. The whole arrangement left you with a lot of free time to eat and draw and lounge about.

And have sex.

It was normal for royalty to have lovers or harems, if they wanted to and their spouses were okay with it. You yourself had several lovers, all of whom you enjoyed and cared about deeply. One of whom was currently lounging invitingly on your bed as you did your best to capture his likeness in paint.

“Enéas, beloved, can you hold still for me?”

The naga groaned, the muscular coils of his body shifting slightly as he did. “I’ve been sitting for hours now. When you called me, I didn’t think it would be for this.”

“Ten minutes, then we can do something else. I swear.”

The look that he shot you was long-suffering, but he settled back into the purposefully relaxed position you had directed him into earlier after taking a sip from the goblet beside him.The whole thing was mostly an act. You had been summoning him to your chambers to sit for this painting on a regular basis for the past month, and no matter where the sessions ended (often with you wrapped firmly in his powerful body), you never put on any airs about what those first few hours would entail.

Golden sunlight shone through gauzy curtains and spilled onto Enéas’ skin, setting the scales ablaze. The round black marks that lay over red scales the colour of baked clay were already beautiful, but under the sun’s rays he was cast in a rainbow sheen, every scale shimmering like an oil slick. The creamy scales of his underbelly flowed from his face all the way down, flashing like pale moonlight between his darker coils. Naga rarely wore clothing, they had no real need to, but Enéas had certainly developed a taste for finery during his time in the palace. Fine, sheer cotton, dyed snowy white and rich yellow, draped around him like woven light, held in place by gold clasps. Cuffs set with precious stones circled on his wrists and biceps, and a beautiful metal collar engraved with intricate patterns lay flat against his throat.

“You’re staring, little prince.”

The rasping taunt broke you out of your stupor, and you realized that your eyes had been locked on him, paintbrush unmoving on your canvas. You finished the stroke you had started with a careful flick. Stepping back a little, you surveyed what you had done so far. The hours spent on the portrait had been worth it, and even though it wasn’t done, you could stand to be finished for the day.

“I was distracted,” you said. “You were distracting me.”

A cheeky grin split Enéas’s face. It was hard-edged and full of sharp, hooked teeth, stretching far past what it would have on a human face, but managed to be as lovely and charming as it was frightening. “I have no idea what you mean. I was only sitting here, just like you asked me to.”

“Sitting there in a very distracting way.” You wiped your hands on the sturdy apron you wore before untying it and discarding it messily to the side. “We’re done for today, you can relax now.”

“Finally.” He stretched his arms above his head and groaned loudly before flopping back and letting his eyes close. The movement sent his whole body rippling in the sunlight, and the sight made your mouth go dry.

You strode towards the bed, closing the distance quickly to sit beside Enéas on your plush bedspread. He didn’t even open his eyes when the mattress dipped under your weight. With a feather-light touch, you traced the features of his face with a thumb. The transition from red to white around what would be a hairline was first, the gradient of the small scales dipping low on his forehead and contouring under his eye sockets, the way it pulled back on his temples. The flat bridge of his nose, his sharp jaw, the mouth stretching almost the entire way along the hollows of his cheeks. He just barely leaned into every touch, doing a very good job of pretending like he didn’t care about you sitting next to him and touching him like he was something precious. Each one of his breaths fanned upwards, over your face, and it smelled like the sweet lime cordial he drank moments before.

Your thumb continued its path around his face until it caught on the center on his bottom lip. One of his eyes drifted open, pupil an inky slit on yellow-green sclera, and he parted his lips just enough for his long, forked tongue to flicker out. It wound around the digit, brushing against your knuckles and the sensitive skin between your fingers. Cold spit cooled even further on your skin as Enéas licked over your hand. In a single swift movement he dipped his head forward to take your thumb fully in his mouth. You froze. His lips tightened around it and he sucked, tongue still working you over. You could feel your cock start to fill and you pressed in and down, putting the slightest amount of pressure on the floor of Enéas’ mouth. A low, raspy moan rumbled through him, eyes fluttering closed and back arching prettily.

Putting more pressure on his mouth, you hooked your thumb behind the bone of his lower jaw and forced it down, exposing hooked teeth and making his tongue loll. “Get me ready, beloved, and be thorough.” You leaned down to press a sweet kiss to the edge of his scaly jaw. “I want both of them today.”

Enéas’s eyes snapped open. His pupils were blown wide in excitement and arousal, and he flickered his tongue out over your skin again before pulling you down next to him with firm hands. Those same hands didn’t hesitate to begin roaming over your body, making quick work of the fastenings keeping your tunic and trousers closed before pulling his own scant clothing off.

“It would be my pleasure, Your Highness,” he said. The sound was already breathless, and sounded so beautiful that it hurt.

He stripped you of your clothing with an impossible combination of speed and reverence, each touch against your skin burning with affection. Pushing you fully onto your back, he slithered around you, smooth scales dragging against your increasingly bare skin until you lay cradled in his strong coils. A heavy tail coaxed your legs apart as large hands began mapping a path down your body. They skimmed over your throat and chest, pausing to tease each of your nipples to full hardness, and drifted lower, caressing your waist and stomach, scratching soft patterns onto your hips and buttocks, before landing on your thighs. His cool, clever mouth soon followed. A sloppy, open-mouthed kiss landed above your pulse, then the base of your neck, trailing cold saliva over your shoulders and down your breastbone. You moaned quietly, unbidden, and your back arched up off the bed, eyes fluttering closed. Your world narrowed to sensation: the chill on your skin, the plush mattress underneath you, the smooth rasp of scales around you. Enéas’ hands lovingly massaging your thighs.

Your eyes shot open with a gasp when you felt his mouth close around one of your nipples. You could feel his smile against your skin as he suckled on the hardened nub. A little jolt went through you as those wicked teeth grazed over the delicate skin, your cock twitching where it now lay fully erect on your belly. One of his hands wandered up to play with the flushed head, dipping into the pre-cum pooling under it before raising his hand and licking his fingers clean.

Gripping his chin, you dragged his face up to meet yours. “I believe I told you to prepare me, Enéas.” The way you said his name managed to land somewhere between sweetly teasing and bitterly displeased. “We may be lovers, but I am still a prince. This may have been my mistake, though, maybe I wasn’t clear enough for you.” You pulled him up further, tucking your mouth beside his ear so that you could whisper directly to him. “Prepare me, my love, and do it nice and thorough. After you’re done, you will fuck me, with both cocks, until I can’t speak or until you fill me with your cum. Whichever comes later. Am I understood?”

Enéas smiled, pupils completely dilated, and dipped his head down to kiss you. It was salty and bitter from your pre-cum, with the barest hint of the lime cordial underneath. “As you wish, my prince.”

He sat back and lowered himself so that he was lying on his front between your legs. The coil of his body that had been pressing one of your legs open dug in harder, pulling your thigh even further out, and he threw your other leg over his shoulder to get better access between your cheeks. His big hands dug in and pulled them apart, exposing your tight hole to the air of the room. He breathed over it, pressing wet, biting kisses onto the supple flesh of your ass before slipping his tongue out and running it all the way from your hole to your balls. The long, slender fork in the muscle wrapped around you, almost delicately, spreading cold saliva over your balls and the base of your shaft. The chill was a brief shock against your skin that sent sparks zipping through you, making you drop your head back onto the mattress and forcing your breaths out in stuttering pants.

Enéas continued alternating between licking at your rim, just barely breaching the ring of muscle with the tips of his tongue, and suckling gently at your sac, each motion drawing desperate little noises out of you. It felt wonderful, but it was nowhere near enough. Somewhere in your mind you had a brief argument with yourself about whether it would be worth it to abandon all semblance of power and control that you had in order to grind your hips back on his face. On one hand, you were royalty, even splayed naked on your bed, and you liked to hold onto that for as long as you could. On the other, the feeling of his cool scales and wet, fluttering tongue was very rapidly driving that particular thing down your list of concerns.

All of that was wiped from your mind when you felt the blunt tip of one of Enéas’ fingers, slicked with oil from a vial he must have hidden somewhere on him when he started moving. It circled your hole slowly, deliberately, pressing just inside every so often, coaxing the muscle to loosen with practiced care. You wanted to squirm, to tense up under the teasing touches, but you forced yourself to breathe through it and relax as much as possible. This earned you a raspy noise of approval and a kiss to your sensitive inner thigh from your naga lover.

Seconds later, it also earned you one of his gloriously thick fingers carefully worked all the way inside you. Your back curved off the bed, a quiet moan spilling from your lips. He pumped it in and out a few times, just starting to open you up enough for him to continue. As soon as you relaxed, unconscious fists unclenching from the bedspread, a second finger, thick and wet with oil, joined the first. He twisted the two about inside you. Each motion dragged the subtle ridges of his scales along your inner walls, and when he crooked his knuckles deep inside you, you arched up with a breathless moan.

“Ohhhh, fuck.”

Enéas’ head emerged from between your legs, and he smirked at you as he began scissoring his fingers, stretching your rim, brushing up against the spot of blinding pleasure on every thrust. “Well, Your Royal Highness? Am I pleasing you now?”

“You would be pleasing me more if you got on with it,” you snarked at him. He grinned back at you, the tremor in your voice and the way that your whole body had begun quivering betrayed your pleasure too much for him to ever believe that you were honestly upset.

“As my prince wishes.”

He raised himself so that he was braced overtop of you, and he rubbed the head of his upper dick over your entrance. You hadn’t even noticed him teasing his cocks erect and out of the slit that usually kept them hidden, but it wouldn’t surprise you if that was what he had been doing with his other hand while prepping you. A sweet kiss to the corner of your mouth was the only warning you got before he pushed into you with near-maddening gentleness. His cocks were more slender than the average human’s, but they were longer, and were covered with nubby barbs of flexible cartilage that caught deliciously inside you whenever he pulled back. He started rocking his hips into yours, getting deeper and deeper with each stroke, dick not close to filling you up but the barbs stimulating you plenty all on their own. You moaned slightly each time he drew back, cock leaking even more pre-cum between your bodies. Waiting until he was fully seated inside you, body flush against your ass, he began gently massaging your hole, the muscle already stretched tight around him. He moved his fingers in sync with his shallow thrusts, slowly but surely opening your hole enough for him to slip his second cock inside.

You were moaning even more loudly now, shuddering noises of pleasure leaving your lips every time Enéas fucked into you or pressed in on your entrance. His finger disappeared from your skin briefly after a particularly rough thrust left you panting and teary-eyed. You whined at the loss, wriggling further back on his dick. Another rough drive of his hips sent your back arching painfully, mouth dropping open as his index finger slipped into you alongside his shaft.

“Nngg, ah-- fuck, so-oo good,” you mewled.

Enéas started fucking into you with even more ferocity, making your whole body move every single time his hips slammed into your ass. Your cock slapped up onto your stomach with an obscenely wet sound, and left wet smears of clear fluid on your skin each time it hit you. The sounds coming out of you were starting to sound desperate, morphing from regular moans of pleasure to pitiful little whimpers and gasps. You were so overwhelmed by the way that his cock reached so deep inside you and caught so gloriously coming back out that you didn’t even notice a second fingertip tease your rim. You didn’t notice it until the smoothly scaled digit thrust into you alongside his first one. The feeling of it, the stretch of your rim definitely painful now, ripped a shattered cry from you.

Your whole body was tensed up, chest heaving with panting breaths. “Oh shit. Enéas, I’m going to…”

The hand he had been using to hold himself above you darted downwards and locked in a tight ring around the base of your steadily leaking cock. The crescendo quickly building in the pit of your stomach was stopped in its tracks, and you wailed at the blocking of your orgasm. Enéas smirked wickedly at you before lowering his mouth to graze lightly over one of your nipples.

“Patience, little prince,” he chided, “Just hold on a little longer, and you can cum on both of my cocks.”

Each word he spoke was punctuated by him driving his barbed shaft into you and scissoring his fingers wider and wider. Somewhere in the haze of your almost-climax he had stuck a third finger into your hole, and all of them were now stretching you out as far as you could go. His big arms wrapped around your back and he aggressively hoisted you upwards, forcing you to wrap your legs around his body. He slipped his fingers out of you, and almost immediately his lower cock replaced it. The shaft was thicker, the head a little more bulbous, and it filled you up so wonderfully next to his other one. Once he was fully seated, he went still to let you get used to the intense stretch inside of you. You tried to wriggle about in his arm to get him even deeper inside of you, but he used both arms to grip you tight to his body, keeping you still. That mouth of his kept lovingly licking over your chest, going slack to let saliva leak out over his lips and onto your skin.

With a firm grip on your hips and an almost painful amount of care, Enéas lifted you up until only the heads of his dicks remained inside of you. Realizing what he was about to do, you stopped writhing in his grasp, relaxing as much as the position allowed. He hissed a thanks into the thin skin above your breastbone. A slight shift of his weight so that all of his coils lay firmly beneath him, and he lowered you almost all the way down onto him. He pressed sweet kisses to the base of your sternum, then each of your nipples, then to the side of your throat. Settling his face into the warm crook of your neck, he began to raise and lower your along his shafts, using your body to fuck himself to completion.

This new position made his cocks reach impossibly deeper inside of you, spines rubbing against that sweet spot with each stroke. You dropped your head forward against Enéas’ shoulder, moaning loudly. With his previous fierce grip on your tortured cock gone, you felt your orgasm begin to build again. Clear pre-cum dripped out of your slick head and smeared between your bodies. He kept bouncing you on him, breath coming out ragged against your neck as he chased after his own climax.

“Holy shit-- that’s so good…”

Your mouth hung open as heat bubbled up in your gut. You tried to warn Enéas again, but all that came out was a strangled gasp of his name before you were cumming between your bodies with a cry. His sharp mouth curved into a grin pressed into the skin of your shoulder as you went boneless in his arms. He kept driving your body down onto himself mercilessly, paying no mind to your limp form. Your eyes filled with tears and drool leaked from your slackened jaw as you were driven to complete overstimulation from him using your body.

“Mmmmhh-hngg....AH!” You moaned desperately, squirming in his arms, trying to get away from the feeling of his cocks inside you that was quickly starting to get painful. Your hole was fluttering erratically around him, and the grip that Enéas had on your hips stuttered, betraying how close he was.

“My prince, I’m…” he managed to grunt out before he pulled you all the way onto his cocks and came inside of you, clutching your body close to his.

His twin dicks twitched against your sensitive walls as thick white cum spilled inside of you. You wailed at the sensation, your own spent cock trying fruitlessly to twitch erect again. Enéas held you against him for several minutes, catching his breath, before he carefully lifted you off of him and laid you down on the now-soiled sheets. The spines on his shafts caught on your puffy rim as he pulled out, making you wince. Your belly was still sticky from your own orgasm, and gobs of Enéas’s cum leaked from your hole, making you feel even filthier. You were completely and utterly fucked-out and content as you lay there in a warm stupor. Cold lips kissed away tears that you hadn’t noticed had fallen, and a hand rubbed comforting circles into the back of your neck. He shifted his body to wrap around you in heavy coils that felt safe and warm, despite his cold blood. You stayed there, cradled against his familiar body, being covered in soft kisses and soothing caresses, until the shaky aftershocks of both of your climaxes dissipated. Once they had, you curled onto your side so that you could nuzzle your face into his scaly neck,

“So?” Enéas whispered into your ear, peppering the side of your face with affectionate pecks. “Did I please you, my prince?”

“Mmm,” you hummed, nibbling on his jaw slightly. “You absolutely did, beloved.”

[itbeajen]

Omorfos Kosmo | Haikyuu x Reader

Chapter 1 - Savior

"Lullaby!" a feminine voice called out, shocking Hinata as the wolves and the giant bear froze in spot. A few "zzz's" above their heads marking their sleeping status and you grabbed Hinata. If it wasn't for your voice, he'd have known nothing of his savior's gender. But you were a female, although your attire did nothing to indicate that. However, from the weapons adorned on you, your character appeared to be built to be a support character. On your back was one of the rarest musical instruments he's only ever heard of and read of in the forums. She must be a high level player too. He's suddenly sent flying into the clearing, and he sees you suddenly equip a large bow that was the length of your entire body. And his eyes widen again, "No way." The signature royal blue bow was something he had only seen very few people with due to the difficulty of the boss and the frequency in which you were allowed to run said boss. As soon as he saw you whip out said bow, the attack you responded with shocked him once more. "Arrow Rain!" you called out. You pushed Hinata into a safe clearing before dashing into the throng of monsters. The sound of the arrows zipped through the air as they crashed down onto the monsters in the field. Hinata looked up, and his eyes widened and swirled. NO WAY! THAT ATTACK WAS AN INSTANT CAST? BUT I DIDN'T EVEN SEE THE CIRCLE ON THE FLOOR THAT INDICATES WHERE SHE AIMED IT. THAT AOE THOUGH!? EVERYTHING JUST WENT WOOSH AND BAM AND. WOAH- Once again Hinata's thoughts are cut off as he hears the whimpers of pain and cries of despair from the field monsters and bosses. Hinata hears the familiar sound of exp points being gained and he dutifully checks his profile, to see that despite not doing much more than blocking and dodging, he had gained a good 2%. "Th-" He's about to thank you, but you turned around, your colored orbs filled with confusion. "What were you doing all the way out here and away from town?" You twirled your bow once before neatly sliding it into place on your back. "I...I logged in here," he admitted softly. Your eyes widened. Here? Of all places? You can't log out at boss spawn areas though. That's considered camping!

"Hmm, maybe they did send us to all different locations," you mutter. You shake your head and offer him a hand. Hinata gratefully takes it and your eyes scan over his equipment. Orange and black? Hmm, what a strange color scheme. I feel as though I've seen it before. Your eyes close and your lips tug into a frown as you try to remember where this color scheme was from and your eyes lit up, "Ooh, are you by any chance a part of Kei's guild?!"

"Kei?" Hinata tilted his head in confusion.

"Ah, my bad, he goes by Yue on here right?" you corrected yourself. Hinata's eyes widened and he asked, "You know Tsukishima?!"

You flinched and stepped back from the outburst. You awkwardly nodded and you swipe your left hand across Hinata's head and his name suddenly appeared, hovering above his character, or well, him. You bring one finger to click on his name, revealing his guild and game ID. Your mouth opens and you smile, "Ah, Karasuno. I see. So that's the guild's name. I never paid enough attention to it... and I normally played with names off." The last part is a whisper, not quite meant for Hinata to hear, but not as though it really mattered. Hinata observed his savior a bit more now that they were out of danger. Your outfit was indeed all boss equipment. Hinata had only ever seen bits and pieces of the Fafnir set and the Tyrant gear, but this was the first time seeing the whole thing in all its glory.

The Fafnir outfit was primarily a royal blue, with trims of gold and gradients of blue to green decorating the entire attire. Sitting atop your petite frame was a beret, with a perfectly placed feather that was pinned down by a black diamond shaped gem against the beret. The feather curls around the gem protectively, and stops right atop your ear. Your hair pools down your back, slightly wavy, but not too much, just enough to look as though it was a river flowing down your back. It drapes over the double layered, majestic snow white Tyrant cape. With your arms to the side, the first layer stops in a wavy pattern with ebbing purple hues and a gold trim just at your finger tips, while the rest pools down to your feet, almost to gracing the floor. Your fingers were clad in a fingerless glove of the same design as the cape, and your shoes fashioned the same way too. The royal blue cowl that adorned your torso was tied off neatly at the chest in a small ribbon with a simple deep blue to teal gradient tunic underneath. The bottom wear was a simple, yet fashionable, pair of royal blue shorts adorned with gold striped blue gradient leggings. The royal blue bow that was once equipped on your back was conveniently stashed in your inventory, which happened to be a solid black bag with shining white trimming that was firmly wrapped around your waist and put off to the side.

You replaced your weapon with your beloved mandolin, and strapped it across your back. A soft smile took over your face and with a friendly hand offered, you basically chirped, "The name's [L/N], that's my game ID at least!"

ID: [L/N] Main: Bard (?) Level: 72 - Exp 98/100% Guild: None Fun Fact: One of the most well-known mercenaries in game and on the game forums. Can use both bows and crossbows.

"But you should probably head back to town and hit the training grounds again. Lots of people have no idea what's going on and are trying to figure out how the game mechanics work." Your voice was filled with amusement and Hinata asked, "Uhm! I-"

he paused, what if you laughed at him? Your head tilted slightly to the side, waiting for him to continue. In the meanwhile you pulled up your equipment list, instantly unequipping your combat gear in fear of losing durability. You nodded at him, gesturing for him to continue, "[L/N]-san, do you think you could show me the way back to town?"

"Eh?" Your voice came out in pure surprise and Hinata blushed slightly, "I actually don't know my way back from here... I've never manually came to this map, I've only ever used the boss warping system."

"Ah, I see," you nodded and Hinata watches you as your arms and fingers swipe through the menus in the air. Obviously he can't see exactly what it is you're doing, but the fluid movements showed nothing more than mastery of the game and suddenly there is a shimmer of light as a silver thunder dragon appears on the map beside you. Sparks and jolts of lightning and electricity sear the earth around it. Hinata falls backward, stumbling over his own feet in surprise, and onto his butt as he slightly panicked over the dragon.

"Ah! Sorry, I should have warned you. This is my pet dragon," you fondly coo'ed its name, and the dragon nuzzled its head against your cheek gently and you patted its back, indicating it to lower enough for them to get on. "He won't bite, come on."

Your hand was offered to him and a brilliant smile blossoms on your face and he gulps.

It's okay. It's a pet dragon. It's her pet dragon. She won't feed me to him right after saving me... right?

The dragon snorted and huffed, steam invading Hinata's senses. He shook his head, and used his hand to blow the steam away. The dragon's crystal blue eyes looked at him with child-like wonder. Although it was already thrice the size of both of them combined, it was still considered a baby dragon. Which only meant one thing, it'll only get larger. The idea of it caused Hinata to feel slightly scared and you turned around, clearly concerned.

"Hey, you're not... prone to motion sickness right?" you asked, the concern lacing your tone was enough for Hinata to nod weakly and he mumbled, "I was never good with this stuff."

You almost sighed and then you shook your head. With another swipe or two, a potion appears in your hand, and a pair of extra goggles in another and you hand both over to Hinata. "Take that, it'll help."

"But..." This is a game.

Your eyes soften in understanding and you mumbled, "I know, it's supposed to be a game, but..." your voice trails off, and the last part was nothing more than a whisper, "It's different now."

A few minutes into taking off, Hinata had never felt so much joy and excitement in his life. It was almost everything he ever dreamed of when it came to flying. His eyes sparkled with wonder as he watched the harmless avian type monsters fly past them. Although he did fear for his life when there was a flock of Ash Moths aiming for them. The red exclamation mark indicating their aggro all went towards Hinata for some reason or another, and the boy was about to freak out until you gently patted your trusty dragon's side, and called out, "Drihtan, blast 'em!"

The electricity that the was produced from one single flap of the dragon's wings surprised Hinata as the Ash Moths were all fried and Hinata gaped, "WOAH. DID THIS LITTLE GUY DO THAT?!"

Drihtan, the thunder dragon, roared in response. A hint of a smile on its face as it glanced back for praise. You gently rubbed behind its ears and cooed, "Aren't you a good boy? You make me so proud."

"That was awesome!" Hinata cheered. His eyes glittered with excitement and you laughed, "Pretty neat huh? Drihtan's the only pet I have that doesn't have a duration."

"Whaaa? HOW?!" Hinata asked, clearly intrigued. You explained how you obtained him, all the existing Thunder Dragons on the server that belong to a character are all for beta testers only. And you gently rubbed the dragon's neck and you answered, "And I only know one other person that has one though. If you weren't able to tame it within the first week that the game was launched, I heard you couldn't keep it. Isn't that right, cutie?"

Drihtan roared in answer, shaking its head in amusement and you giggled, "Ah! It's so much cooler being able to actually interact with this adorable baby then it was through the computer screen!" You scratched its neck lovingly and you turned to Hinata, "So, what kind of build do you have?"

"Ah! I'm a warrior!" He responded brightly with a grin. You shook your head, "I already knew that part. What's your build?"

"Well, Kenma always says I have an unconventional build," Hinata's voice trailed off and you hear him awkwardly laugh as he his hold on the saddle tightens and he continues, "But I tank. Kind of. It's a bit more like aggro diversion than tanking, but... it works! My guild mates like it at least."

You nod sagely, "I see, I see. Then that's all that really matters. That you're able to use your build to your advantage and to benefit others. That's great!"

"What about you [L/N]-san?" Hinata asked. You hummed, "I'm primarily support. I started off with a violin bow before I switched to my main instrument." You gently pat the head of your mandolin that was slung over your shoulder and Hinata admired the deadly weapon-like instrument. Unlike a typical mandolin, the body of the mandolin was decorated with an intricate pattern of thorns that appeared to stem from where the tailpiece was. The tailpiece appeared to be an eye of some sort, it was certainly ominous looking, and the deep red thorns started there and encompassed the body of the mandolin. Unlike the rest of your attire, the body of the mandolin was black, with the metallic thorn design a deep blood red, as though it's been stained by the life of the monsters it has encountered. The strings looked as though they were liquid silver, with the way they shimmered in the light. And Hinata asked, "How did you get your instrument? I've never seen it before."

"A friend of mine crafted it for me. He's pretty cool, a bit rambunctious and eccentric, but definitely cool. His ID is Guess," you explained and you laughed, "Although I had to fund him to rank his carpentry skill," you shook your head fondly, "I always knew creator skills were hard, but who would've thought it was that expensive to rank them up."

"Hm, never heard of him," Hinata admitted, and then he continued, "But it is really cool looking, your instrument. What's it called?"

"Devil's Crescendo," you smiled and Hinata scrunched his face in shock, "D-Devil's Cr-Crescendo?! It sounds so scary!"

"Yeah, you need to be a Grandmaster Bard in order to even equip it," you laughed, "Thank god I finished mastering my entire music tab before the game turned into this, I don't think I could have sat there for hours on end playing the same songs over and over again."

"You did that?" Hinata asked in awe, and you nodded, "Well, I kind of taped my playing button down..." Your lips were pulled ito a pout. Hinata chuckled, "You're so interesting [L/N]!"

"I can say the same to you Hinata," you laughed, and then glanced back at him, "I guess I'll have to be extra careful to make sure you don't get hurt or anything on the way back to the guild hall."

"We're not going to fly the entire way?" Hinata asked. You shook your head and patted Drihtan's side, "Even this cutie-pie gets tired, we're gonna land in a bit. Plus, there's a certain friend of mine that also needs a lift to town."

Hinata nodded, and he opened his mouth to speak, but the strong gusts of winds coming from Drihtan's wings flapping as they descended made him shut his mouth. The last thing he wanted was for something to fly in. Hinata musters enough courage to look down as they begin to descend and his face bursts into surprise and he shouts out, "Tsukishima?!"

The crowd-control mage immediately scowled and he muttered, "When she said extra luggage, she really did mean extra luggage. Tch." His golden orbs narrowed at the sight of the short warrior clinging tightly onto Drihtan's saddle and you waved cheerfully at him.

ID: Yue Main: Mage Level: 70 - EXP 98.9/100% Guild: Karasuno Fun fact: Dislikes inefficient party runs.

The tall blonde wanted to shake his head at the unnecessary trouble Hinata gave you. He adjusted his glasses, the wings on the temple tips shifting slightly as they adjusted to the slight movement change. Hovering behind the male's head was a silver crescent moon, that had the ends of the crescent facing upwards.

Donning an intricate white and gold pattern, Tsukishima's outfit was more elegant than Hinata's. His typical color scheme was white and gold with sky blue, still rejecting the guild colors that Hinata is so proudly advertising. The outerlayer consisted of an intricate coat, where the sleeves and fabric leading to the tailcoat were white as it seeped into a gold hue. White wing like designs were seen on the gold hues, further emphasizing the precious metal. The coat had a sky blue collar though, that also continued down his back until it covered the tail coat. His shoulder blade area was braced with an intricate golden design that had two sheer white feathered wings attached to them. Whether these were functional or not, only time could tell. Inside, he wore a high-collared white tunic. Unlike the sleeves, the design on the tunic was the reverse, in which the feather-like designs were gold and the base color was white. Over his chest area there was silver, gold-trimmed piece of armor that wrapped around his torso, protecting him from any possible impacts. Black pants are worn underneath, but are unnoticeable due to the outrageously long length of the top he wore. The sunset colored boots he wore reached mid-thigh, and if weren't for the fact that game logic still applied, he swears he would've switched them out for something else.

"Yahoo~ Kei!" you called out. Drihtan landed successfully next to the blonde and nuzzled his side in greeting. Tsukishima's features slightly softened as he patted the gentle thunder dragon's head and he turned to you, "Extra luggage huh?"

"Oh come on, it's your guild mate, don't be such a grumpy head," you teased and you asked, "Did you check?"

"Yeah, it seems they completely deleted our alternative characters," he muttered and he pulled up his inventory, clicking on another remote bank coupon. And his monotonous voice droned on, "Whatever equipment and items we had on them were transferred into our bank... Bank space expanded to 196 spots now, that's an additional 96 slots. And the character that accumulated the most play time on is our main character."

He adjusted his glasses and he muttered, "I confirmed it just now with Akaashi-san."

"Ah, so I guess I can give you my spare equips now," you drawled and Tsukishima's eyes flashed with excitement and you laughed, "Oh Kei, you're so simple."

"Tch," he casually flicked your forehead, or tried to at least. The growl from your pet dragon's throat warned him of the possible consequences, and he settled for scowling at you instead. Throughout the entirety of the short banter between you and the blonde, Hinata merely watched with confusion and he asked, "How do you two know each other anyways?"

Tsukishima didn't answer, instead choosing to pet your dragon. You snicker at the annoyance on the orange-haired boy's face and you explain, "We got partnered together in a raid."

"Eh? You did? But Tsukishima's more of a crowd-control kind of player and-" Hinata's eyes widened when he saw the twinkle in your eyes, "Your music." Upon receiving a nod, you whipped out the mandolin. Hinata's eyes widened as he noticed the darkness that was literally oozing out of the blade that rested against your hip, but you disregarded it as though it was something that was always present there and strummed it lightly before commanding the magical properties of it, "Lullaby!"

There were thuds as the nearby creatures, regardless of their disposition towards the trio, fell to the floor. Fast asleep. Hinata's eyes widened and he stated, "And Tsukishima wipes them out when they're knocked out..."

"What else do you think I do? Stare at them?" Tsukishima responded with irritation laced in his tone. He was still peeved that you had found the hyperactive warrior and even saved him. You noticed his irritation and you shook your head, "You know, Kei, you really shouldn't be so mean."

"Whatever [L/N], how do you plan on getting us back to town?"

"Tch, if someone here had learned how to use Magic Door..."

"I don't specialize in those kinds of skills."

"Right, cause the only support you give are for fellow mages. Sigh, when will you ever be useful to me Kei-ah?" you dramatically sighed and his eye twitched in irritation. However, he knew he couldn't win against you, and he sighed, "Whatever."

You smiled and said, "It'll be fun, walking to town again like the good old days."

Your fingertips hover in the air and you gently tap both Tsukishima's and Hinata's ID, scrolling past the add friend and trade and guild request button to find the 'Add to Party' function. You waited for the familiar tune that announced the addition of another member and you smiled brightly as you saw them join.

Your fingers fall back down and rest on the neck of your beloved instrument. Your fingertips gently glide over the strings before gently plucking a tune. As soon as you felt the familiar rush of adrenaline and thrill you announced, "March Song!" As though it was muscle memory for you, despite your first time playing it since you entered this strange new world, you felt the energy envelop you and your party members, boosting their speed and jump. A warm light appears from the scroll of the instrument, as you can visibly see musical notes in the air as you played your tune. You swing the instrument back around onto your back, the black and red clashing strongly against royal blue and white.

"Let's get going then, shall we?" you said as you climbed onto Drihtan's back, urging the dragon to trudge onward. The baby dragon let out a trill and shook its head fondly before getting off the earth and moving onward. Tsukishima sighed, "Always going at your own pace aren't you?"

Hinata shrugged as he went to jogged lightly to catch up with the long strides of Tsukishima and the even longer strides of the baby dragon.

"Well, I prefer this than having to drink that nasty potion again just so we can fly."