#heck i forgot to shade clear sky

[letthe-skyfall]

I've been attempting to improve my cat anatomy and body shapes! Feedback is appreciated!

[ilovethetalkingclock]

A Not-Sew-Magical Sequel (LALALOOPSY CREEPYPASTA)

(WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS CONTENT LIKE LANGUAGE, GORE, DEATH, PARASITES, DROWNING AND DARK COMEDY. IF YOU GET SCARED BY THIS, DON'T YELL AT ME FOR IT. YOU CHOSE TO READ IT.) 

(story under the cut, based on a dream I had)

(don’t worry, it’s not a screamer, i’d never do that.)

No matter how many years passed and will pass, I liked and will still like Lalaloopsy. All the characters and concepts were and still are very interesting (though Jewel was always my least favorite) and the couple episodes I saw of both the original show and the reboot of Netflix were cute and in the case of the reboot actually very emotional. I also watched all the movies and while a majority of them were slightly flawed one way or another, that didn’t stop them from being good. Hearing the toys being discontinued and the Netflix show canceled indeed made my heart sink.

But that’s not all what I wanted to talk about. Onto Lala-Oopsies.

If you don’t recall, Lala-Oopsies was a spinoff line. As the name suggested, the characters were in mixed rainbow colors and body proportions that deviated from the usual Lalaloopsy dolls, looking like, in my own words, mutants. They came as princess/ballerina hybrids and mermaids, with the ‘Littles’ (which in the original Lalaloopsy line, were the younger sisters) as fairies. They had one movie, “Lala-Oopsies: A Sew Magical Tale”. It was like all the others, cute, a bit funny, and a simple Lalaloopsy adventure with the Lala-Oopsies.

What I never knew was that they were apparently planning on a sequel.

I was at a garage sale of sorts (i know, very cliche) when I found a blank DVD case. Here’s what it read:

“LALA-OOPSIES-SEQUEL(UNFINISHED)”

“Is this a joke?”

“Oh, that!” The owner of the sale noticed me and casually went on “I worked at MGA Entertainment… they were making a sequel to the Lala-Oopsies movie… some guy decided to make that, apparently as a joke, and he was fired as it had quite a bit of… crazy stuff. We decided to cancel it altogether as we didn’t have any other ideas... We were handed copies of it from the guy who made it before he was fired. The footage is all there. There’s a lot more stuff that happened after that, but I don’t really wanna go into full detail. If you wanna know completely, it’s worth only a dollar. Not somethin’ I’d wanna watch again.”

Out of morbid curiosity, I agreed to buy the thing.

So I went home, made sure to get my DVD player on, and opened the case. There were two discs. One that read “MOVIE” and another that just had random scribbles on it. I tried to make out if the second one actually said anything, but I couldn’t read it for shit. I got out the one that read “MOVIE”, making sure it was the film itself, and placed it in.

Hoo boy, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

There was no menu or trailers, though that was kinda expected considering it was unfinished. It just went straight to the movie.

It all looked official one way or another. Some scenes were fully animated, others were simple animatics, others were in between. But I’ll just say before we get on that it was not at all the usual Lalaloopsy fare. There was no sign of anyone’s pets at all throughout the whole movie.  There wasn’t any music, like, at all, and that just made it a bit more unsettling.

Well, most of it wasn’t. It started off like your usual Lalaloopsy movie. Bea was walking down a path and singing a song about math to herself. A rather bad one, if you ask me. So bad, I have easily forgot about it. While walking, she finds the door that leads to Lala-Oopsies Land.

As the first movie took place in mostly a story that Bea was reading, she is surprised that apparently Lala-Oopsies are true. She leaves to find her friends, the rest of the Original 8 to be exact, and tell her all about it. This exchange from the conversation is what mainly caught me off guard.

Jewel: “So you just managed to find something from a story you read once in reality? I don’t believe it one bit.”

Spot: “Jewel. This is felting BEA SPELLS-A-LOT we’re talking about. The brains? The genius? The nerd? The know-it-all? She doesn’t seem to be making it up.”

Was felt their way of saying fuck? That was not in the other Lalaloopsy stuff I knew, as it was aimed at young children. I figured that was at least one of the reasons it was never finished. I decided to keep watching to find more reasons.

The Lalaloopsies were at the door to Lala-Oopsies Land, and as she didn’t believe it before as shown by the previous exchange I wrote about, Jewel was understandably dumbfounded. “Felt me, there really is a Lala-Oopsies Land…”

So of course they all opened the door and entered. Only as it turned out Lala-Oopsies land… wasn’t exactly as the story told.

The skies were orange like the original, but were more of a sickly shade of it. The ground was grey, rotted, and corpse-like. The mushroom ‘trees’ looked much more like actual fungi, and the strawberry-milk rivers and seas looked spoiled and curdled, and I could even make out a skeleton (presumably of a drowned Oopsie) in them. Bea probably put it best.

“Well… it seems the book apparently romanticized a couple details…”

The group decided to venture in and explore anyway. I couldn’t help but bring up the fact that a couple of them coughed quite a bit when they went in. Okay, scratch that, they were coughing violently, like they just inhaled smoke.

Pillow: “Felting seamstress, this place is polluted.”

As they were walking through, some sort of large insectoid jumped right on Peanut’s face Alien-style. Now I could really see why this movie didn’t make it. Obviously, everyone was panicking at the sight and trying to get the bug off. It wasn’t until like half a minute that Bea managed to find a stick on the ground and strongly swatted the insect away from Peanut’s face, though it seemed she also hit the face from this dialogue...

Peanut: “TRY AVOIDING THE FACE YOU IDIOTIC FELTING STITCH.”

...and stabbed the insect multiple times, pink-ish blood spraying from the body, gore getting everywhere. The other seven were so disgusted that Crumbs vomited right on-screen from the sight. Organs were coming out of the creature as Bea stabbed, and as I looked close enough the organs seemed rather human-like. That was pretty weird as the insect didn’t look human at all. 

Well at least I found another reason for this movie’s rejection.

Before Bea turned the monster into an unrecognizable bloodied mush, I could make the colors of the insect to be that of the Lala-Oopsies fairy Lilac, hot pink and sky blue. Nah, I’m pretty sure it was just a coincidence. And yet…

Oh, that reminds me of another scene that happened later on.

The eight were venturing on into the islands riding on some sort of old rusted boat they found, and then suddenly some sort of sea serpent or something like that i dunno with the same color scheme as the mermaid Water Lily rose from the rotted strawberry milk oceans. Bea tried to row the boat away, but the monster attacked and even picked Jewel up and devoured her. There wasn’t any doll stuffing or anything cute like that. Jewel’s remains actually spurted crimson blood and human entrails as she was being chomped down on and eventually swallowed. Screaming as if the actress herself was getting violently disemboweled.

I can still hear her agonized screams as I write this, so that’s pretty annoying. 

Pillow’s reaction perfectly described mine.

“HOLY FELTING SILK.”

My god... how the heck was a doll said to be sewn from a dress able to have human blood and guts?! Then again, it was a cartoon… a rather gory one if ya ask me.

In all honesty though, Jewel’s death was horrific yet satisfying for me. I never liked her the slightest.

During the attack, Mittens and Spot fell into the strawberry milk ocean as the boat was destroyed. It didn’t show the rest of what happened to them so I can safely assume they were either eaten or drowned. Or both.

So the ones left were Crumbs, Peanut, Dot, Pillow, and Bea.

They latched onto the boat’s remains as they headed to a large island.

The island’s inhabitants were all the princess ballerinas, both in the first movie and toy-exclusive, mutated to grotesque proportions, their hair all mussy and in tangles. Most of the princess’s faces were obscured by their hair, but the ones I was able to see were distorted in such a way I can’t really describe that well, though I’ll admit they looked pretty damn cool. Oh, their clothes were also a wreck too so yeah.

Crumbs became an idiot and decided to go up close to one (can’t remember which, i think it was Saffron?) to try and approach it friendly enough.

Saffron, like a wild animal, lunged at Crumbs and proceeded to violently rip her to shreds, and sure enough it was just as gruesome as Jewel’s death.

I remember just thinking to myself, “what the hell was this person on when making this?”

And yes, the remaining girls were horrified by that too and ran from the princesses as fast as they could.

Remember the scene I mentioned earlier with Peanut apparently getting attacked by that bug? Welp, they didn’t forget about that. Peanut immediately fell over, having a rather violent fit as she struggled for breath, her skin deteriorating as multi-colored insect larva ate their way out of her everywhere, some even lunging out like the chestbursters in Alien. (yes I know I already made that comparison before but still) They then proceeded to lunge at Pillow and devour her alive as she could only scream and the final two, Bea and Dot, could only watch.

As Pillow was honestly one of my most favorite Lalaloopsy, I just felt awful watching that.

Another princess, Anise, which I recognized full and clear with her pink and blue coloring, approached what remained of Pillow and grabbed some of the larvae, putting it in her mouth and devouring it, as her mouth was coated in a rainbow goo like that one My Little Pony episode with the zombies. 

I would say it was disgusting, but a mutant doll eating a worm was the least of my worries. 

She managed to speak words, which was strange because the princesses here were, again, mostly animalistic. Her voice was rather gravely, only vaguely sounding like the original.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING COMING TO A PLACE LIKE THIS?”

Okay, they weren’t even trying with that line.

Anise proceeded to grab Bea and beat her, but thankfully Bea was able to kick Anise right in the face, knocking her out before the grotesquely mutated princess could finish the job. Dot swiftly took Bea’s hand. Struggling to get up at first, the badly bruised Bea managed to get on her feet and run as Anise came to.

As they ran, Bea and Dot finally found the door where they came in. It tugged my heartstrings seeing the two tearfully look back, apparently reminiscing their friends, before leaving Lala-Oopsies Land for good.

It then cut to Bea in bed, very ill. She was apparently covered in radiation tumors and her hair was almost gone. Apparently the island was highly radioactive. Dot was next to her bed in tears, as Bea weakly said her final words.

“I’m sorry, Dot… sorry… for everything...”

Violently coughing blood, Bea finally kicked the bucket as Dot sobbed hysterically. The movie cut to black and ended there with, surprise-surprise, no credits whatsoever.

All I thought of was “How the hell did Bea get sick from radiation poisoning but Dot didn’t?”

So anyway I took the movie disc out and put in the one with all the scribbles.

It was a compilation of recorded clips, all of them surprisingly in the MGA Entertainment headquarters itself I presume.

One clip I remember was a Lala-Oopsies Princess Anise doll flying, chasing a random employee as said employee was in a panic. Yea it was a weird one.

Another consisted of another employee testing out a Princess Juniper doll. As they were squishing the head, (the Lala-Oopsies dolls had squishy foam heads) the doll suddenly started to bleed violently. Not gonna lie, I laughed at what the employee said.

“GOD DAMN IT GARY WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT MAKING THE DOLLS BLEED.”

Last one I remember was two employees talking to each other. One of them asked the other,

“What exactly was your motivation in making this weird-ass movie?”

The other employee just responded in a weird reverse demonic gibberish I didn’t have time to translate. The first employee’s only response was a flat “what”. Exactly my reaction too. I decided that was enough and took out that disc and put it away.

Where’s the case now?

In one of my shelves. I’m keeping it. I just think it’s pretty unique in a way.

Not like it’s cursed or anything.

The End

[castielartandcomics]

Can you give inking tips? My inking techniques SUCKS, and you'rs are incredible! (Totaly ok if you don't tell me tho)

First of all, I’M SORRY… This ask is here from probably months, and at first I didn’t have time to answer, but then I just straight up forgot about it and I’m so sorry about this! Hope I can still be helpful after so long, and sorry again!!

Thank you for considering my inking incredible, it makes me super happy! /)u(\ I grew really fond on inking, and it’ll be a pleasure for me to give you some tips!! This post might get a little long so, prepare yourself.

So, first things first!

1. Study the heck out other’s inking.

Take yourself some sweet free time and get something of your favourite authors. Inking, like drawing in general and a lot of other things, can be improved by first of all observing and studying how others do it - pretty much like when learning how to cook!So sit comfortably and get everything in front of you, and begin to really observe! I will give you a lot of examples, and they’ll be all from comics, since these are my usual inspiration because of the job I want to do. If you want to make illustrations, consider various illustrators, or covers of the comics!Just to give you a rough example of just how many inking techniques I looked up and still look at…

… these are just a little part of them. Look at how many different hands you can find, because everyone inks differently - and you don’t need to have them in physical form, you can also just look on the internet, but showing off part of my collection of comics and mangas is nice, haha-

2. Black and white VS coloured drawing

Do you want to make drawings that will stay black and white, or do you want to colour them? This is a very important question you should make to yourself, because the ink will eventually serve two different purposes.

Let me explain.

If you want to make a drawing that will remain black and white, the result will be very flat (obviously, because there will be no shades!). This means that your drawing will need to be clear, which you can obtain by making the character’s border thicker, the background thinner, and/or by making black shadows or elements on the characters to make them stand out.The most practical examples I can make you of this is from mangas:

In these panels from Dragon Ball Super, see how the characters have pure black elements while the background doesn’t? It makes them stand out a lot!

And in this from BBC’s Sherlock’s manga, despite the use of a lot of grays, the characters have black clothes (like John’s, under the jacket) or shadows on them that make them stand out against the background, that remains instead much more clean.

An inking that has to remain black and white is often more elaborate, then, because it has to make the scene as clear as possible with just the white of the paper and the black of the ink!

But, if you want to make a coloured drawing, the inking is generally kept simpler, because the colours will give the drawing the right equilibrium. A very elaborated and complex ink can get completely lost, or even ruined, when coloured - unless you want to make flat colours and want to give the ink more importance, but sometimes it gets lost in there too.

Look at this panel, for example, from PK (which I think is called Duck Avenger in foreign languages?). The comic is coloured, so the inking is left pretty simple, filling with complete black just a couple of things that are useful to the panel itself (pk’s costume, and the background behind the dust, that gives the scene a more scary look). If you take away the colouring, the drawing is very flat: because the colours make everything stand out!

Same thing for this panel of Blacksad: it’s far more elaborate, but the details are left pretty simple, even “sketchy”. It’s the colours that make everything move (handmade colours, even! This comic is fully colored in watercolours!)

Now, it’s not always the case:

In Witch Doctor, the inking is very defined and complex and yet it is also coloured, and the effect is very good! Even a bit “dirty”, which is very nice to see, seeing the horror theme of the story. As someone who has read all of it, I can tell you: sometimes it’s a bit distracting, though. It’s an incredibly complex ink, because the equilibrium between black and colours is hard to find, and sometimes it doesn’t work entirely. But when it does, the effect is incredibly cool and nice to look at!

Personally, my biggest inspiration when it comes to inking is Sky Doll:

The inking is so smooth, but manages to remain dynamic and even sketchy in certain details. And it couples with colours just PERFECTLY.And about this, actually:

3. Make your trait dynamic!

What I mean with this is that I noticed that a good inking trait isn’t the same in the entire drawing. Look up at Sky Doll’s panels, especially the first one: the details inside of the face are thinner than the border of it. To make a comparison, look at the trait that defines the border of the cheek, and then look at the sign on Lodovica’s cheek: it’s much thinner! It gives a clear impression of what is what.For another example, look at my last drawing of Sammy: try to focus on one part, like the bandages on the hand. The external trait for them, that defines where they start and where they finish, is thicker; the inside traits are thinner, and the traits inside them is even thinner.

4. Experiment. A LOT.

You won’t find your way of inking a drawing if you don’t try. Do you ink a lot digitally? Try doing it handmade. Try using only inking pens. Then try to use a brush to ink. They try to mix them! Do you feel better inking eyes with a pen, but hair with a brush? Try it! Try making a drawing with much more complex ink. Then try to make one with very simple ink! Try colouring it! Or even both, and see the difference! And digitally? Try changing brush. Then try inking the whole drawing without zooming in. Try inking it with a brush that doesn’t change size, than with one that changes size depending on how much you press! Try, try, try. A fun idea is also to make a sketch, make various copies of it, and then experimenting a lot of ways on the same drawing, and then see the comparisons! Try really everything, without fear, and without looking for extremely professional stuff: once I made a lot of drawings with a pen! Yes, a simple pen, with the ones you write with! Try that, too!And yes, at the beginning you’ll make a mess after another mess - but you’ll see, slowly you’ll start to get the hang of it, especially when you’ll understand what path is the right for you!

Just to make you an example, always with that Sammy drawing of mine: inks are completely handmade. The face traits, lines of the hair, and thinner details, are all made with inking pens; the border lines and the thicker ones are made with brush and fresh ink; the black of the vest and tie is made with marking pens that are used to write on cds; the washed-out black of the Bendy cutout is made with the same pens, but unloaded!Nothing is ever wrong, just try! And you’ll discover some neat tricks!

I hope this helped somehow!! And sorry again for making you wait so long!!If you need any other tips, I’m here ready to help! And hopefully I won’t make you wait so long again, haha- ^^’

[ariadoesntwrite]

The (he)art of Craft | e.k. x reader

Words: 2173

Boys are clueless.

I know this, but for some reason I keep forgetting.

I crossed my arms in front of myself to rest them as Elmer leaped onto his bed like a flying squirrel. "When you asked me if I wanted to 'hang out with you (and the guys)', this isn't exactly what I was envisioning."

Elmer looked over at me as he scrambled to sit up, blinking in confusion. "Why? What did you have in mind?"

In all honesty, shirtless basketball in the park.

"I don't know." I shook my head and sat on the bed beside him.

I watched Elmer boot up the server, staring at the screen with barely concealed excitement. Four users were already online.

This is not exactly my idea of a hot date. Then again, maybe it's my fault for reading into things. On the other hand, I mean really, what usually comes to mind immediately when a really cute boy asks you if you want to 'hang out'?

See, that's what I thought!

You know what, though? All things considered, it could be worse. He could've asked me to play Wii Sports Bowling with him. It's supposed to be so easy the folks in nursing homes love it, right? Well apparently ole gram-grams has more virtual athletic ability in her pinky finger than I do in my entire body.

Elmer scooted closer to me and pulled out headphones, flipping the earpieces outwards so we could share the same set.

I watched as the screen started spazzing out. "Is that..." I trailed off, pointing at the screen and not sure how to put my thoughts into words as I held my part of the headphones up to my ear.

Elmer quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, it's usual for this section. The reason it's so glitchy is because someone spawned way too many ocelot assets."

"Hey guys, Elmer has a girl ov—" Romeo started to say, but he was cut off by somebody who was way louder.

"You can never have too many ocelots!" A distinctive, high-pitched but still decidedly male voice exclaimed through the headset.

"The queen of the felines has spoken." Elmer rolled his eyes and smiled as his avatar started jerkily walking towards a large light blue and white building that touched the sky. "This is Racetrack's cat castle—"

"A cat-stle, if you will." Racetrack interrupted.

"I will not." Albert shot back.

Racetrack cleared his throat and adopted a 'tour guide' voice. "Business hours are from 9:00pm to 5:00am, or for the low low price of three diamonds you can get an all-access pass."

"Good grief." Albert muttered under his breath.

"Killing one of my sweet, adorable, cuddly babies— I mean, very loyal subjects— results in an immediate ban for life." Racetrack continued, undeterred. "Donations of precious gemstones and fish, cooked or raw, are always appreciated."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Romeo replied with a small snort.

"I'll come tour your catstle, Race!" Crutchie said cheerily.

"Finally, some proper respect around here."

I gave Elmer the side-eye. "Why isn't it pink?"

"Pink? You think I would use pink?" Racetrack asked with an air of disdain, scoffing. "Please. Pink is a strong, masculine color, fit only for the he-est of men. My graceful feminine eyes can only bear the lightest, most delicate shades of blue, as is befitting a most proper young lady such as myself."

Elmer made eye contact with me and shrugged.

"Also, pink is Romeo's color." Racetrack mumbled with a defeated tone.

Romeo let out a triumphant laugh. "Ya snooze ya lose, loser!"

Alerts in all caps popped up on the screen as three more usernames joined.

Elmer nudged me with his shoulder to get my attention. I tried and failed not to blush. "And to our left, we have Henry's trailer park. In Minecraft, imagination is the only limit, and Henry decided to build a trailer park. Why, I have no idea."

"Because heck you, that's why!" Henry said, but there was no bite in his tone.

"Watch your ****ing language on my good Christian Minecraft server!" Crutchie yelled.

The random conversations going on between others in the background went silent.

"oh no." Crutchie said really quietly, but we could all hear it due to the aforementioned radio silence.

Jojo started muttering The Lord's Prayer to himself.

Somebody let out a very loud snort.

"Gross!" Albert shrieked. "Say it, don't spray it!"

"Kiss my butt!" Racetrack shot back.

There was some fuzzy noise, like somebody dropped their headset on the ground and they were wrestling with each other now.

Jack sighed. "Hey, if y'all are gonna hate-boink, can you please mute your channels please and thank you!"

"Shut up!" Racetrack and Albert shouted at the same time.

Jack cackled like a maniac to himself.

"Okay, you know what?" Albert asked, clearly annoyed. "Keep it up, but I'm gonna tell Katherine all about your little problem with–"

Elmer gasped and pulled his earpiece away from his head. He quickly crossed himself before returning to listening in on the conversation.

"No!" Jack protested as Albert proceeded to spill some very personal information. "You wouldn't!"

"—Don't test me." Albert finished.

"I did not need to know that." Jojo said, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Ditto." Henry murmured in agreement.

A notification popped up on the screen alerting everybody that Buttons was online and had joined the server, bringing the total up to eight. "Hey, guys! Know what?" He asked, innocently.

"That the unflappable Jack Kelly apparently has a raging butt rash." Romeo answered matter-of-factory.

Buttons seemed at a loss for words. "...Oh." he said, finally.

"I'm dealing with it, okay?" Jack asked, annoyed. "I have cream and I'm taking oatmeal baths—"

"TMI, bro." Albert interrupted.

"You started it!" Jack exclaimed, exasperatedly.

"Your mom started it!" Albert retorted. The height of maturity, that one.

"My mom is dead!"

"Oh yeah? So's mine, you ain't special!" Albert said breezily.

A chorus of 'So is mine' rang through the airspace.

"Okay, well that's depressing." Buttons commented. "Who wants to duel?"

"Ooh, pick me! I'm always a ho for dying!" Racetrack yelled enthusiastically.

"Race, are you okay?" Crutchie asked, concerned.

There was no response for a few seconds, and then I heard the sound of somebody facepalming.

"Race, you're an idiot." Albert said flatly.

"Oh, wait a second."

Elmer adjusted his grip on the headset. "What'd he do?"

Albert sighed. "He shot finger guns at the screen."

"Woooowww." Jojo said, totally done.

"You're just jealous." Race clicked his tongue.

Jojo scoffed. "Why would I be jealous of an evil leprechaun? Oh wait, no, that's Albert."

"Hey!"

I elbowed Elmer. "Are they always like this?"

Elmer nodded. "Constantly."

"Uh, guys? Anyone else's game bugging out?" Jack asked. "Oh wait never mind, I just wandered a little too close to the crazy cat lady's cottage."

Racetrack huffed. "Heck you, butt rash boy."

Jojo let out a mock offended gasp. "Such language!"

"Frick you, HoHo."

Jojo gasped again. "Frick you!"

"That's gay." Racetrack said, snickering.

"You're gay!" Jojo replied.

"So what if I am?! Gay means happy, and I'm the happiest person I know! So there!" Racetrack punctuated his sentence with a somewhat audible 'blep'.

Elmer fake-coughed and raised his voice loud enough to cover Jojo and Racetrack's 'argument'. “To our right is Mush's giant flower garden." He did a slow pan of the colorful, pixelated blooms.

I leaned forward to examine them. It was quite impressive, if only from the sheer numbers of mass collection.

"Dare you to steal one, Elmer." Romeo piped up.

Elmer shook his head vehemently. "Heck no, unlike most of you, I actually value my life."

"Lives having value?" Albert scoffed.

"In this economy?" Racetrack finished for him.

"Now we're coming up on Romeo's super tacky building." Elmer leaned back against the wall as a large, misshapen, pink, vaguely-heart-shaped structure came into view.

"Look, I had a plan originally, but math and grids are hard." Romeo explained.

Racetrack let out a derisive scoff. "Grids are literally the easiest thing, you wannabe fashion icon."

Romeo blew a raspberry.

"Your mom is literally the easiest thing." Albert commented.

I could practically hear Racetrack's smirk from here. "You know, what I'm gathering from all the 'your mom' jokes is, you just really wanna be my daddy."

Somebody started making vey exaggerated gagging noises.

"Uh, pass." Albert muttered under his breath.

"You coughing up a hairball over there or something, Jojo?" Henry asked.

Jojo ceased his gagging. "No, I'm good."

"I bet Race has rabies." Buttons quipped.

"Don't be ridiculous, Race doesn't have rabies!" Crutchie protested. "I had him tested and everything."

"Interesting." I murmured under my breath.

"This is my house!" Elmer announced with a large grin, completely oblivious. "It's one of those tiny houses!"

"That's a very pretentious way of saying 'dirt hut starter home'." Crutchie teased.

"Wow, that's so funny I forgot to laugh." Elmer shot back. "No, it's like one of those minimalist houses that used to be all the rage, but in Minecraft! See?" He gestured at the small building on the screen, eyes sparkling.

I smiled back, his energy practically contagious. "It's very cute." Just like its builder, is what I did not say to him.

"And fully functional!" Elmer opened the door and started pointing out various features. "In the floor is a crafting table and a bed, to the side we have a furnace and a double-wide chest—"

"Your mom has a double-wide chest!" Racetrack exclaimed gleefully before erupting into laughter.

Elmer snapped his mouth shut with an unamused look on his face.

"Dang you Race, I was about to say that." Albert said, almost whining.

Elmer let out a sigh and moved his avatar to the back of the house. "And here's a small vegetable garden."

"Po Tay Toes!" Albert exclaimed, immediately perking back up.

"Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew!" Jack added. The first thing he's said in a while, now that I think about it.

"You Irish people scare me." Racetrack commented.

"You're part Irish." Albert said flatly.

"Yeah, and?" Racetrack asked defensively. "I scare myself!"

"That makes two of us." Albert muttered under his breath.

I stole a glance towards Elmer, who was engrossed in harvesting his virtual vegetables. I can't say I understand how or why people invest so much time in this kind of stuff, but at least it makes him happy.

It'd be nice if I could do that.

I don't know what I'm doing, but if I don't ask then I'll spend years replaying this day over and over in my head at 2:00a.m. in the morning overanalyzing every single little detail. Here goes nothing.

I smiled teasingly and nudged Elmer with my elbow, gently. “So, do you invite all the girls out to watch you play Minecraft or am I just special?"

"Say what now?" Elmer looked over at me suddenly, blinking as if he was coming out of a trance as his eyes re-adjusted to the real world.

Uh-oh.

"This is a date?"

"This isn't a date?" We both asked in unison.

There was an awkward silence for about ten seconds, which was then broken by the sound of loud crunching over the headset.

"Henry!" About five or six voices exclaimed.

"What?" Henry asked defensively. "This is entertaining, thus, snacks are a must! Can y'all blame me?"

"Elmer," Racetrack sighed, "when you ask a girl to quote, 'hang out', unquote, that's code for a date. Just like Netflix and Chill is—"

"Stop! Don't ruin his innocence!" Buttons interrupted.

"I'm just saying, he's not gonna get very far if he doesn't know—"

Elmer pulled the headset down and placed it on the bed between us, hitting mute at the same time. "Look, this didn't go the way I planned, 'cause I was gonna ask you out for real, but then I panicked, so no wonder you've been getting mixed signals, but..."

He stared down at the floor and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Can we just finish out today platonic and like, start fresh tomorrow? And I promise, if it's what you want, I will ask you on a real, proper date then."

I grinned and turned back to face the screen so I wasn't staring at him and making him even more uncomfortable. "Sounds good to me."

"Cool." Elmer returned the grin and did two thumbs up at me, shoulders scrunched up, then picked the headset back up and held it up to his ear.

I leaned in to unmute it and was greeted with a cacophony of all the boys arguing with each other over what exactly was happening on our end.

I hesitantly reached over to place my arm around Elmer's shoulders. "Do you mind if... is this okay?"

Elmer beamed from ear to ear and leaned into my touch. "Yeah."

"What's going on?" Romeo asked loudly, effectively putting a damper on the moment. "I need visuals!"

[evaceratops]

tag games

there are like 10000 of these in my drafts so i’m going to do them all at once in one big post, organized by who tagged me

tagged by @leopoldjamesfitz

name: eva

gender: female

height: 5′0″

sexuality: ace as heck

what image do you have as a wallpaper? fire emblem awakening cutscene screenshot

where do you see yourself in 10 years? livin the dream as a researcher at the monterey bay aquarium

if you could be anywhere right now, where? yosemite national park, or monterey

what was your coolest halloween costume? ... is it weird that i legitimately can’t think of one

last kiss: uhhh i’m assuming this is in a romantic context, so never

have you ever been stood up? this would require having been planning to go on a date in the first place, so no

what’s your favorite 90′s show? is kim possible from the 90s

favorite pair of shoes: there’s these black and gray tennis shoes that i really like

favorite fruit: cherries

stupidest thing you’ve ever done: download fire emblem heroes i legitimately forgot about chem lab once and missed the entire thing and didn’t realize until a week later

favorite book: .. you come into my house and ask me to choose One, you absolute fool,, just to spite you my answer is all 35+ books of the warriors series

colors i’m currently wearing: black, brown, denim

last band shirt i bought: 5 seconds of summer, like 2 years ago

last band i went to see live: the oh hellos!

last song i listened to: masterpiece theater III by marianas trench

lipstick or chapstick: definitely chapstick, i’ve always hated makeup

last movie i watched: pacific rim uprising

last 3 shows i watched: i think i watched a few episodes of total drama island and pretty little liars with my sister recently, and the third... probably voltron?

3 characters i identify with: arc trooper echo from star wars, ricken from fire emblem awakening, pidge from voltron

books i’m currently reading: the song of roland for my medieval history course, aaaand i’m in between the first and second books of my reread of the dawn of the clans arc of warriors

what’s your favorite song(s) to sing/hum? probably willow tree march by the paper kites

what’s your favorite flower/tree/plant? italian cypress,, and most other evergreen trees tbh

favorite colors? navy and pretty much any shade of blue/grayish-blue, dark red, gold

what do you always doodle? it varies depending on what i feel like that day but yesterday it was cats and dinosaurs

how do you take your coffee/tea? i can’t have caffeine so i don’t drink coffee at all and i rarely drink tea, but with tea i’ll use like 3 entire packets of sugar and nothing else

favorite candle scent? pine, or the ocean

sunrise or sunset? is this referring to the warriors books with those titles or the actual times of day sunset

what perfume do you wear? none

what’s your go-to dance move when you’re alone? ... i don’t even know

favorite quote? shrug emoji,, i just don’t think about this stuff i guess

favorite self care routine(s)? taking a long bath/shower and then going to bed early or reading a book i like

what color are your eyes? grayish-blue

what’s your favorite eye color on others? i’ve always thought brownish-green looks pretty cool

favorite season? why? fall/winter because i like cold weather and rainstorms

cheek, neck, or nose kisses? cheek kisses but also why aren’t forehead kisses on here

what does your happy place look like? anywhere in the sierras or along the coast of california

favorite breed of dog? i’ve always thought huskies are really pretty even though being around big dogs makes me a little nervous (i am 110% a cat person)

do you ever want to be married? if so, what colors would you pick for your wedding theme? no

cursive or print? print

favorite weather? THUNDERSTORMS.

Rules: Choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions.

i choose: heck, let’s go with the 3 i’ve been most into recently!

star wars | fire emblem | warriors

the first character you loved: 

anakin skywalker. i still remember being indignant when ahsoka talked back to him in the tcw movie | either lissa or frederick | probably dovewing (i borrowed the fourth apprentice from a friend and read that first before going back and reading the rest of the series)

the character you never expected to love so much:

probably ezra bridger, tbh! i started watching rebels purely for ahsoka and rex and did not expect to get so attached to the ghost crew literally within the first 5 minutes of spark of rebellion | TAKUMI | ... god, it’s so hard to remember these things, the first time i read these books was so many years ago... squirrelflight, maybe?

the character you relate to the most:

echo! i used to read encyclopedias for fun as a kid so i understand his love of the reg manual | probably sumia? i don’t quite have self-esteem issues like she does but i do tend to downplay my strengths and kinda write myself off. plus we both love reading and even tend to prefer the same genres (mostly fantasy and fiction) | leafpool because i too spend a good deal of my time pretending everything is fine even if it’s not and trying to fix my mistakes,

the character you’d slap:

wat tambor | fernand | clear sky. i’ve had enough of that dude

three favorite characters (in order of preference):

anakin, kanan, rey | gaius, takumi, lissa | JAYFEATHER, lionblaze, bramblestar (if i’m being totally honest jayfeather alone is favorite characters #1 through 10 for this series i love him SO MUCH no one else even comes close)

a character you liked at first but don’t anymore:

... i don’t really care for ventress? i don’t dislike her, but i don’t seem to like her as much as everyone else does. i thought she was cool the first time i watched tcw all the way through, but now... | cherche, maybe? i don’t think i’ve ever really disliked a fire emblem character - at least not one from any of the games i’ve played - but i’m not as interested in cherche as i used to be | sorry, dovewing

a character you did not like at first but now do:

ahsoka, believe it or not. i don’t remember caring about her too much when tcw was first airing, but i really like her now | camilla | as usual i never really disliked hollyleaf but i like her more now than i did the first time i read the books

three OTPs:

anidala, kanera, ultimate rarepair™ arcmaiden | the Original Rarepair™ ricken/lissa, chrom/sumia, gaius/robin | bramblestar/squirrelflight, lionblaze/cinderheart, hollyleaf/fallen leaves (honorable mention for bluestar/oakheart bc i do love me those classic and tragic Forbidden Relationships but hollyleaf falling in love with a literal ghost is just too good of a concept and is therefore slightly higher in the rankings)

tagged by @minhoruns

rules: bold your aspirations!

AIR: I have small hands • I love the night sky • I watch small animals and birds when I pass them by • I drink herbal tea • I wake to see dawn • The smell of dust is comforting • I’m valued for being wise • I prefer books to music • I meditate • I find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE: I don’t have straight hair • I like to wear ripped jeans and overalls • I play an organized sport • I love dogs • I am not afraid of adventure • I love to talk to strangers • I always try new foods • I enjoy road trips • Summer is my favorite season • My radio is always playing

WATER: I wear bracelets on my wrists • I love the bustle of the city • I have more than one set of piercings • I read poetry • I love the sound of a thunderstorm • I want to travel the world • I sleep past noon most days • I love dimly lit diners and fluorescent signs • I rewatch kids’ shows out of nostalgia • I see emotions in colors and words

EARTH: I wear glasses • I enjoy doing the laundry • I am a vegetarian or vegan • I have an excellent sense of time • My humor is very cheerful • I am a valued advisor to my friends • I believe in true love • I love the chill of mountain air • I’m always listening to music • I am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER: I go without makeup in my daily life • I make my own artwork • I keep on track of my tasks and time • I always know true north • I see beauty in everything • I can always smell flowers • I smile at everyone I pass by • I always fear history repeating itself • I have recovered from a mental disorder • I can love unconditionally

rules: spell your url out with song titles

exeunt - the oh hellos viva la vida - coldplay anna sun - walk the moon caves - haux earth - sleeping at last red hands - walk off the earth all the right moves - onerepublic the royal we - silversun pickups ophelia - the lumineers pompeii - bastille stay frosty royal milk tea - fall out boy

tagged by @autisticpadme

rules: list the top ten songs you’ve been listening to lately

masterpiece theater III (by marianas trench), willow tree march (by the paper kites), 3. wake up (by arcade fire), valley - reprise (by the oh hellos), you of the light (from the fire emblem: fates soundtrack), the royal we (by silversun pickups), the last of the real ones (by fall out boy), alight (storm) (from the fire emblem: fates soundtrack), where is your rider (by the oh hellos), enishi (from the fire emblem: fates soundtrack)

[graglithans-library]

Welcome to Paris, Fur-ance Ch 4:  Language Barriers, Friendship, and... Akumas!?

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the late upload on this chapter. Thanksgiving distracted me. So this chapter, and the next will be up sometime today! Please enjoy.

Ladybug swung overhead as she scanned the streets, growling in frustration as she still couldn’t find the tanuki from earlier. “Where did she go? She couldn’t have gotten that far, right?” Sighing, she landed on a roof and pulled up her communicator. She immediately called Chat and tapped her foot as it rang.

‘Cat got your tongue? Leave a message!’ Ladybug let out a frustrated groan until her communicator went off, showing a call from Chat. With a sigh of relief, she flipped open the bug-phone and saw Chat smiling at her. “Evening, My Lady. Sorry for not answering right away. Baton was stuck.”

“That’s alright, Chat” Sighing, she rubbed her head and frowned. “I haven’t been able to find the girl from earlier or see the Akuma running around. We may need to head home and wait until they show themselves again.”

“That... might cause some problems. I did find someone over here, but they were not a tanuki.”  Wincing, Chat grimaced as the background shifted.

The change wasn’t unnoticed by his partner. ‘Looks like he was lying down for a moment. I wonder why?’ Ladybug furrowed her brow, concern flashing in her eyes. “What do you mean?”

Chat popped his back and rolled his neck. “There was a werewolf just standing on top of the Eiffel Tower. I did try to confront him, but he knocked me down without even trying!” He got a pop out of his shoulder and sighed before glancing at his ring. “What’s weird is that even though he could have easily done it, he didn’t even ask for the Miraculous.”

“He didn’t?” Ladybug blinked in surprise, a hand subconsciously moving towards her earrings before she stopped herself. Putting a hand on her chin in thought, she let out a small hum. “Then again, the tanuki didn’t either. Though she also couldn’t speak French, which could be part of it as well.”

Chat shook his head with a small frown. “Well, this guy could. The moment I even mentioned the tanuki, he got really aggressive, demanding to know where she was.”

Ladybug nodded a bit as she looked back to Chat. “It’s likely they know each other then. I can’t say what kind of relationship they have, though. Either way, there’s no way a werewolf or a tanuki girl could stay hidden in Paris for long. We’ll just have to be patient and wait to see if they show up anywhere.”

Chat gave a quick nod along with his two-finger salute. “If that’s the case, I’m going to go and see if I can’t find a way to explain away the sprain. Take care, My Lady!”

“You too, and good luck, Chat.” Closing the communicator, Ladybug looked around to make sure she was still alone before dropping her transformation with a long, drawn-out sigh. As Marinette slumped against the brick wall of the building, Tikki flew up to her face. “Today just keeps getting better and better.”

The kwami gave her a worried smile as she nuzzled into Marinette’s cheek. “It’s alright, Marinette. Whatever is going on, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Looking up at the sky overhead, Marinette felt her worries start to build. “I hope so, Tikki.” Closing her eyes in thought, Marinette walked out of the alley and turned to head back to school, knowing they would be freaking out over her sudden disappearance.

Only to walk straight into someone running down the street. The two fell backward from the impact, and Marinette winced as her tailbone hit the concrete. Marinette groaned as she sat back up, rubbing her backside. She gasped for a moment and looked inside her purse, checking to find Tikki hiding and giving her a small nod. She sighed as whoever she’d run into scrambled back to their feet and offered a hand. “G-Gomen’nasai! Anata ni aimasendeshita.”

Marinette’s eyes widened as she froze for a moment. ‘Wait a second! That’ s-!’ Looking up in surprise, she found herself staring at a girl with an asymmetrical bob cut. Moreover, she had the exact outfit the tanuki from earlier was wearing. The two just stared at each other before Marinette’s brain finally sent something to her mouth. “Uh...”

Not the most elegant response, but it was very Marinette.

The girl blinked a bit before she facepalmed and grumbled under her breath. “Ā matte, Anata wa osoraku nihongo ga hanasemasen.”

Still, sitting on her butt, Marinette’s mind was racing. ‘This girl has to be the tanuki from earlier, I’m sure of it!’ Her face contorted a bit in thought as she eyed the lack of brown fur on the girl’s limbs. ‘So why does she look like an average person now? Were the amok’s effects temporary?’

If any more things went and threw a wrench in Marinette’s train of thought, she was sure the whole thing would derail and combust.

“Kagemori Michiru!”

Jumping a bit and looking back to the girl’s face, Marinette realized she was acting like a weirdo again. “Huh?”

The girl just smiled as she pulled Marinette to her feet before putting a hand on her chest. “Kagemori Michiru!”  

Marinette just stared at her in confusion before realization struck her. “Oh!” Offering a hand, she couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

After a quick handshake, Michiru rubbed her chin in thought. “Mari, netto?” Michiru mulled over the name for a moment, before her eyes snapped open and she gasped. “Ā! Wasureta!” Quickly darting around Marinette, she ran off down the street while waving behind her. “Sayōnara, Mari netto! Hajimemashite!”

“Wait! I-!” Marinette cried out, but the girl was gone from sight before she could take a step. Sighing, she put a hand to her head and started back towards the school. ‘Maybe I should ask Kagami for help on this one.’ Marinette immediately shook her head at the thought and frowned. ‘No, bad Marinette! Don’t assume your Japanese friend speaks Japanese. That’s rude.’ Still, she looked over her shoulder at where the girl had run off and hummed. “Kagemori Michiru, huh? At least I have a name for her now.” ‘The language barrier here is starting to get in the way, though. I should figure out a way around that for the next time we meet.'

________________________________________________________________

“Nazuna!” Michiru jogged down the road looking around as she put her hands to her mouth. “Nazuna!” Going around a corner, Michiru grumbled. 'Where is she? Paris can’t be that big... Can it?’

Before she could ponder that thought any farther, however, someone stepped out of an alley, and Michiru ended up running into them. She fell back with a squawk and rubbed her backside before looking up and seeing a girl with pigtails doing the same. The girl let out a small gasp as she checked her purse, and Michiru hastily stood up, offering a hand. “Sorry! I didn’t see you.”

The girl seemed to freeze before she turned to look at Michiru. They both stared at each other before she finally said something. “Euh?”

Michiru just blinked a few times before she facepalmed. “Oh wait, you probably can’t speak Japanese.” ‘Seriously Michiru, good going. You forgot the French speak French.’

Looking back down at whoever this girl was, Michiru could see that they seemed lost in their thoughts, and were looking at her in surprise. ‘Is my fashion sense that bad? No. they’re probably supposed to be in school or something... wow, how long has it been since I’ve taken any classes? I should probably do that once we’re back in Anima City.'

Clearing her throat, Michiru put a thumb to her chest and smirked. “Kagemori Michiru!”

The girl jolted and looked at her in surprise. “Hein?”

Going to assume that was a huh and move from there. Fighting back a chuckle, Michiru pulled her to her feet and put a hand on her chest. “Kagemori, Michiru!”

There was a moment of staring before the message registered with the girl. “Oh!” A blush rushed across the girl’s face as she offered a hand. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

The handshake wasn’t very long, and Michiru found herself mulling over the name. “Mari, nette?” ‘Kinda like Marie, but I don’t see this girl hustling me any time soon.’ Closing her eyes, Michiru let her thoughts wander. ‘Maybe I should ask Nazuna about it?’  

Nazuna...

...

...

‘OH CRAP I FORGOT ABOUT NAZUNA!’

Her eyes snapped open, and Michiru gasped. “AH! I forgot!” Bolting past Marinette, Michiru waved behind her. “Goodbye, Marinette! Nice to meet you!”

The girl said something, but Michiru had already turned the corner and was charging down another street. She stopped next to a light pole and hummed, looking around. “Now, where the heck is Nazun-” An explosion ripped through the city, it’s shockwave sending Michiru flying through the air and flailing her non-flying human arms. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?”

The poor girl landed straight into a garbage can, with only her legs sticking out. With a minute of struggling, she pulled herself out and looked around with a twitching eye. “What is wrong with this place? First crazy people in spandex, now random explosions? I thought this was the city of love!”

Another boom behind her sent a wave of dust past her, and she hesitantly turned around.

She wished she hadn’t.

This... wasn’t like the other guy in the Nirvasyl Syndrome suit. This person couldn’t be more than sixteen years old, but their skin had turned a strange shade of blue. They were wearing a billowing cloak only a few shades lighter than their skin, and it covered their whole body except for their arms. On their eyes, were a pair of goggles that kept dilating randomly as they looked around.

‘I have so many questions.’

“Où es-tu Marinette? Ce n'est pas très agréable de se cacher de ses amis!” the person shouted, twisting around to look down the streets. “Votre pauvre mère est si inquiète. Alors laissez-moi au moins l'aider à savoir où était sa fille pendant tout ce temps!”

‘Wait a second.’ Michiru paused as she hid behind the garbage can she’d been stuck in. ‘Isn’t Marinette the girl I just met? Could this guy be after her!? Peeking around the can to see if the weird person was looking at her, she quickly bolted for an alleyway. I gotta find her and warn her!’

Before Michiru could get to the alley, a blue ball shot past her and landed on the wall of one of the buildings, before blowing up and filling the gap with... safety foam!? “Wah!” Michiru ran smack into the blue foam, bouncing off and onto her back. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH PARIS!?”

The person was stalking towards her and was waving a finger at her. “Vous ... vous ressemblez à ce truc qui s'est présenté à l'école.”

Michiru sat up as she turned around, scooting back as much as she could, and raised both hands with an uneasy smile. “Um...I don’t speak French?”

Whipping their arm to the side, Michiru got a good look at the attire that the person was hiding under their cloak. A skin-tight suit was lined with several more of the blue spheres, and on their hip was what looked like a launcher for them. “Vous êtes donc cette chose d’avant!”

Fear paralyzed Michiru as she stared down the end of the launcher now pointed at her face. This was it. This was how she was going to die. Not in some lovely, peaceful cottage in the countryside. Not on some crazy mission with Shirou. No, she was going to be suffocated by safety foam in Paris, France, by a crazy person.

Until she heard someone shouting. “MICHIRU!”

Before the person, whoever they were, could look to see who had shouted, a large, pink, and fuzzy Gorilla-fist slammed into them, sending the assailant flying into a building down the road.

Panting heavily, Nazuna shifted her arms back down to normal before rushing over to Michiru and grabbing her by the head. “Are you alright?”

Michiru stared at her for a moment before tearing up and latching onto her friend with a bone-crushing hug. “Nazuna! I’m so happy you’re okay!”

Nazuna returned the hug with a laugh. “I’m glad you’re okay too.”

That’s when another girl ran up to the duo and looked apprehensive at the rubble in the distance. “We need to go.” She pulled Michiru up to her feet and flinched when the building she sent the person flying into exploded.

The blue person stepped free from the rubble, goggles broken and a red eye glaring at the trio. “Vous êtes plus nombreux!?” The person growled before raising their launcher again. “Peu importe. Il faudra plus que quelques gamins pour m'empêcher de retrouver Marinette!”

The new girl’s eyes widened as the three of them started running. A few quick turns down some alleyways, and the three were panting as they hid in the shadows. All the while, the screaming of the person could be heard from a ways off.

Michiru took a moment as one to sigh as she slumped against the building. “That was close.”

Nazuna nodded as she rested her hands on her knees. “Yeah.” Getting up, she let out a long breath before smiling. “But I’m just glad we found you.”

The new girl nodded as she had a small smile, though it looked a bit strained. “I’m happy to have been of assistance in finding your friend.”

“Speaking of!” Michiru stood up and narrowed her eyes, circling the new girl. “Who are you? Last time Nazuna tried to make friends on her own, she started a cult.”

The girl raised an eyebrow at Nazuna, tilting her head. “A cult?”

“H-HEY!” Nazuna blushed straight through her fur and punched Michiru in the arm. “I was desperate, and Boris tricked me!”

Laughing a bit, the girl drew their attention, and her smile was a little more genuine. “I see.” Turning to Michiru, the girl bowed slightly. “I am Tsurugi Kagami. It is a pleasure to meet you, Kagemori-san. Nazuna told me some stories about you as we looked for your whereabouts.” Kagami looked at her with a raised eyebrow before smirking a bit. “Though, she also said you would likely be furrier when we found you.”

“Wha-?” Michiru let out an offended gasp and put a hand to her chest. “You thought I would be so irresponsible as to run around with my tail out?” With a turn of her head, she pointedly stared at the edge of the roof and away from Nazuna. “This isn’t Anima City. I’m reasonable enough not to do anything silly.”

Nazuna just raised an eyebrow as she shifted back to human form. “Really?”

Blushing, Michiru pouted. “It was one time, and it was to keep Nina from drowning!”

“Not to change the subject,” Kagami interrupted with a frown, “but what the Akuma said earlier has me worried.” Michiru tilted her head in confusion, and Kagami pointed over her shoulder. “The person from earlier. I’ll explain in more detail later, but it sounded like they were after Marinette.”

Michiru paused before raising both hands to the side of her head and mimicking a grabbing motion. “Black hair, pigtails, and really blue eyes?”

Kagami looked surprised before nodding. “How did you know?”

Michiru smiled as she dropped her arms and grinned. “I ran into her accidentally earlier.” Rubbing the back of her head, she let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Though uh... I’m pretty sure she couldn’t understand a word I said.”

Nazuna rolled her eyes and sighed. “We’re in Paris, Michiru. Does it really surprise you that she didn’t?”

Kagami had worry and fear dancing in her eyes. “Was she alright?”

“I mean, I did accidentally run into her, but other than that, she seemed okay.” Michiru shrugged before frowning in thought. “Though, shouldn’t both of you be in school or something? There’s no way she was older than me.”

“I was given the day off, at the request of my mother,” Kagami stated before looking thoughtful. “However, Marinette most definitely should be in classes. If you ran into her here, that is unusual for her.”

Michiru blushed a bit and twiddled her fingers. “If uh, hypothetically, someone unusual were to show up in the middle of the courtyard, would that make her run and hide?”

Kagami frowned. “I take it that is where you first arrived?”

At Michiru’s nod, Nazuna sighed. “Michiru, what did you do?”

“All I did was wake up!” Michiru threw her arms up and pouted. “It’s not my fault that weird guy in a catsuit called me a demon!”

“Catsuit?” Kagami grimaced and shook her head. “If Chat Noir was there, then it is likely that they all think you were an Akuma. That, and when an Akuma shows up, Marinette is usually the first to run and hide, and she likely fled the school entirely.”

Nazuna hummed a bit as she looked up in thought. “If that’s the case, then could the Akuma be someone who was concerned for her?”

Michiru winced a bit as another shout came from the distance. “I don’t think that concern is the right word.”

________________________________________________________________

Marinette had been running down the streets back towards the school when her phone went off. She didn’t stop running as she pulled it out, but soon stopped and stared in shock at the Akuma Alert on her phone. “But... but we haven’t even caught the last Akuma yet! Is Hawkmoth really strong enough to send out a second already?”

Tikki nudged her chosen one from her place in Marinette’s purse and shook her head. “I think it’s more likely that he recalled the last one to throw us off, but either way, we should hurry! The longer we wait, the more damage the Akuma will cause.”

“Right.” Taking a turn into an alley, Marinette made sure nobody was watching before she sighed. “Tikki? Spots on!”

Ladybug opened the Akuma App again on her communicator and hummed. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.” A surprising amount of information was already being shared regarding the Akuma. The information which Ladybug took as a blessing in disguise. “Looks like there were enough people around when the Akuma took control to know why they were targeted.”

“Akuma Name: Friend Finder. Wow Hawkmoth, so original. Goal: Searching for-” She paled and did a double-take, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng!?” ‘Why would they be looking for me!?’ Scrolling down, she frowned. “Alright... concerned in regards to where she keeps disappearing during attacks. Understandable, I’ll admit.” ‘It doesn’t help that I can’t tell anyone about this.’ She closed the communicator and sighed. ‘Kinda wishing I hadn’t convinced Alya and Max to remove the name of the person afflicted. I’d have an idea of who I’m saving, but even that’s not worth exposing someone’s private problems like that.’

Zipping to the roofs and over Paris, Ladybug searched for signs of the Akuma. However, she had that niggling feeling of dread poking at the back of her mind again. “Something just isn’t right here. But what?”

A moment later, she was almost knocked out of the air by a tan blur. A quick toss of her yo-yo helped her flip to a landing on the street, rolling for a moment before launching herself back into the air. Looking to where the blur had been headed, she was met face to face with a blue wolf.

Who was about to tackle her back out of the air.

Seeing no way to dodge, she braced herself for the impact, and the two landed on the rooftop of a nearby building. Ladybug herself was surprised to find that she wasn’t being pinned to the roof, and instead held like a sack of potatoes under the wolf’s arm.

Wait... arm? Wolf?

Ladybug’s surprise was cut short when she was unceremoniously dropped onto the roof with a small ‘oomph’ as a result. The wolf then waited for her to stand up before crossing his arms. “I have some questions for you, and I’m not leaving without answers.”

Ladybug groaned internally as she straightened up. ‘At least this one speaks French.’