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lovelosescongrats · 2 years

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ranking mcc skins: mcc20

reject the reddit mcc players tier list, embrace the skin tier list. /hj

before we get into the madness that is me, a sapphic ranking pixels, some things!

1) this is all just my opinion. keep it to yourself if you have any shit to say.

2) all the skins that were made by fans are really great and I wish I had your level of talent and skill! please do not take this seriously at all I'm just messing around.

3) I will not give as detailed explanations for some rankings. they're cool, I liked them well enough, I just have nothing extra to say

now let's get into it:

link here to make your own tierlist. made by yours truly. please tag me if you're using it!

da vinky wishes he could

the highest tier! i want to stare at all these skins lovingly for hours.

eret. as always, she is giving me A Look. the slit, the off shoulder, the high waistline, the floor length gown. I could not pull this off but he is doing beautifully in it. (also i am bisexual)

gumi. she's giving me e-girled red riding hood and it goes surprisingly well together. (again i am bisexual)

elaina. for some reason, this reminds me a lot of jan's tulle look in s12 of drag race? it's very pleasant to look at, the brown/orange/white ensemble is a delight. (did you remember that I am bisex- *gunshots*)

5up. to this day I'm still not sure if his skin is a turnip or an onion, but nevertheless it's very adorable. the idea of stuffing a vegetable into a 90s style colorful sportswear is very funny to me, so he's way up there. also, the little axolotl is so cute? kudos to whoever made this one I am gently cradling it in my hands.

scar. frankly, it's scar and it's his first mcc, so he could literally show up in a white t-shirt and jeans but I'd still be like scar!!!! and plop him on the top. BUT he did not so I feel very justified in putting him there! the little flower (that's matching with grian's, shoutout to all the desert duo/scarian fans), that scarf, that's a dapper looking man right there.

pete. to be fair pete has an advantage because his base skin is along the same color palette as his team, so he's very easy to look at. (as you will see later on, this is extremely important for me) the waistcoat, the belt, the chain, everything fits together so well.

I was delighted. good job

seapeekay. red continues to be the best dressed team. points to whoever made the skin, I adore it.

illumina. I love gradients. where's his flower crown though?

false. falsie!!! *twirls hair and giggles* she looks so so so good. she was this close to making it to top tier for me, but unfortunately a lot of the colors in her outfits was to similar to one another and made it hard for me to see the details, so she had to stay in this tier. but the flower crown, the skirt, the jacket, its all just *chef's kiss*

cubfan. flower crown, jacket, nice.

tapl. green and pink is a color combination hard to pull off, but this entire team (minus the obvious) all looked so good! the flower as a knee patch were a good touch too. the cardigan seem very soft. a man i would trust.

shubble. ahah when girls do The Thing! (<- existing) the overalls and the bandanna is lovely and the details are amazing. both her and tubbo could have made it higher if not for those socks/leg warmer things. i don't know why some people are so obsessed with them-they're impossible to wear and essentially functionless? also realistically they make your legs look way shorter so :/ no

tubbo. see above, very cute.

scott. cute gecko pattern, looks very comfy.

the captain. gold buttons very pretty, light green collar also pretty.

ryguyrocky. why are his eyes like that.

antfrost. to quote scar, did I just see a cat go by with a track suit on? the concept is hilarious and the execution good.

gem. I adore cc!gem, c!gem, and this skin is adorable. (ahah women amirite)

hbomb. put more beefy men in crop tops 2k22.

oli. giving zombie jock, cool.

quig. open shirt, also cool.

ponk. just a color re-texture but still easy to look at. am verging close to dropping a tier though.

kara. see above

purpled. also see above.

jackmanifold. red/pink good combo, nice flower.

passing grade. star for trying

niki. it's nice, but the overall thing just ticks me the wrong way. (shoutout to her makeup on mcc day though almost made me cry cc!niki is so pretty)

puffy. that's just a dragonballz costume.

punz. see above.

martyn. I want to like it so much but I despise bow ties and it doesn't have anything else special to redeem it so :/ sorry king

ranboo. why does it look like he's in green cargo pants oh god- +1 for the suspender, -5 for the cargo shorts I hate those with a burning passion

preston. I understand they wanted to keep the most iconic part but the red and blue is clashing and throwing the whole thing off. bad on the eyes.

sam. see above, the green and blue do not mesh well together.

connor. again, just a color re-texture and there's not enough distinct shadowing to move it upwards. looking very cozy saves him from a lower tier, though.

sb737. having more of a gradient would have moved him up.

soft *meh*

it was hard to put anyone in this section. i'm sorry, guys.

purpled. dude, thats just Orange. also, you look so similar to other blonde white boy in your group that I had to check four times to make sure I didn't get you wrong, so in the meh tier you go.

philza. his original skin was already green, so there wasn't enough of a change to make me like it. sorry.

abhorred. beloathed.

unsuprisingly, it was very easy to put these four fuckers in this section. ps, the hermbi discord unanimously put these four in the shame corner. completely deserved, I'm not in the slightest bit sorry.

wilbur. for the love of god please put in some effort. where is your team spirit, white boy?

sneegsnag. no.

fruit. sir who peeled you and revealed that you are raw meat?

tommy. stop learning from wilbur's bs.

who would have won mcc20 if it was based on their skin and also up to me?

team totals:

in first place, tied three ways: 13 marks

red rabbits: the red and black is an iconic combo. i am maybe in love with 3/4 of this group.

cyan creepers: well dressed dapper boys

aqua axolotols: still winning no matter what because they are just that great

in second place, tied two ways: 10 marks

yellow yaks: incredibly well dressed

blue bats: special mention to the desaturated skins because they're bats. devil's in the details.

in third place, tied four ways: 9 marks

orange ocelots

lime llamas: blame wilbur

green geckos

purple pandas

in last, because of fruit and tommy's crimes: 5 marks

pink parrots

this took me almost the whole evening. I'm not sure if it's worth it. nevertheless, I will be doing this once more when mcc21 rolls around! stay around for that if you want to.

#kue loses #ranking mcc skins #mcc20 #mcc #mcc skins #eret #vgumiho #elainaexe #5up #goodtimeswitscar #petezahut

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chromes-corner · 2 years

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i keep asking 4 characters on the bingo thingy but i can’t help myself

so… dark cacao & caramel arrow ?

YOU ROTTED MY BRAIN SO BAD WITH THIS BOTH OF THESE ARE REALLY LONG

im doing caramel arrow first >:)

caramel arrow is fucking cool. i love her outfit so fucking much ughhhh its so pretty the black and white motif of the dc kingdom is my EVERYTHING!!!! AND HER FUCKING WEAPON???? DUAL BLADES THAT ATTACH INTO A BOW???? THATS LITERALLY WICKED I WANT ONE OF THOSE!!!! also i eat up strong female characters like theyre my last meal on earth i just adore her resolve and her loyalty and her STRENGTH shes a BOSS of the GIRL NATURE

despite me loving her so so much, i cant help but feel as though she got SHAFTED in the story relevance department. the only role she really plays in the 13-14 story is that shes the means by which gingergang infiltrates the castle. thats honestly all she really does???? and thats SO DISAPPOINTING!!!!!!!! she couldve been so much more!!!!!!!!!! not to mention how she acts when she finally finds dark cacao. instead of, i dont know, yelling at him for abandoning her and the rest of the kingdom and saying that his long-winded message of telling her to get help was fucking STUPID, she just kisses his ass and says “ok lets go fight!! i never gave up on you!!” LIKE DUDE SHOW SOME SELF-RESPECT AND SAY “HEY MY KING IM LOYAL TO YOU BUT YOURE FUCKING TERRIBLE AT THIS!!!”

THEY DIDNT EVEN LET HER GET REVENGE ON AFFOGATO LIKE GRRRR ok i get its rated like 12+ so they couldnt have her straight up murder him BUT STILL!!!!! she couldve put an arrow in that bitch’s back as he was running away. damn. caramel arrow should be allowed to murder because shes hot. but the recent bond story with her and affo is really fucking funny though so ill let this one slide.

another thing is that i wanted to badly for her to have a one-on-one with dark choco the way he and dark cacao had. like, i wanted her to have a chance to ask him why. surely he doesnt have a vendetta against her like he did with his father???? he probably wouldve spoken with her, albeit briefly, considering she was literally his apprentice or something. we couldve learned so much about dark choco before the whole sword thing went down and about dark cacao back in those times. sighhhhh the girlboss was gatekeeped :(

i really like her but once again she falls a little flat because the story doesnt give her a ton to do which sucks so hard :pensive: ily caramel arrow youre my homie forever <3

dark cacao the absolute MANWHORE second because I ACCIDENTALLY GOT CARRIED AWAY AND STARTED RANTING SO HARD IM SORRY

FULL RAMBLE UNDER THE CUT

i have very conflicting opinions about the king of not-my-problem. do I think he's hot? unabashedly. Do I think he's a terrible person? also unabashedly.

ill start with what i like. first off........ patrick seitz is a fucking phenomenal voice actor and GOD he really nails it with dark cacao. he's on my list of voices that i want to read me bedtime stories. second off, god am i a sucker for his design. the big chunky armor hits me right in my paladin soul. the color palette is so simple yet so striking, and i love how his violet-tinted grays and blacks contrast with his sons warmer tones. that's a neat little detail that really differentiates them and draws the generational line further beyond just ideals and alignment.

theres so much to fucking unpack about this man when it comes to personality and dialogue. i do NOT feel like going back and reading through that again until the emotional damage from the first time wears off, so just roll with me here. god FUCKING damn he actually got an entire arc for his personality and it STANDS OUT. pv and hb remained mostly static throughout their stories but dark cacao got the fucking special treatment and ughhhhh its so good.

i just...... excuse the pun but i adore how his soul jams theme is actually baked into his arc. with the other two ancients, it was their jams trait (light of truth and light of passion) that HELPED them finish their arcs, because they had both lost those things along the way and their journeys were about reacquiring pv's missing truth and hb's faded passion. with cacao, its his jam's trait, his own resolution was the very thing that was HINDERING him. he was so set in his ways BECAUSE he still had his strong resolution that he failed to realize that HE was the problem with his kingdom and his relationship with his son. god FUCKING damn that subversion from the norm WAS SO FUCKING REFRESHING AND I COULD GO ON ABOUT THIS FOREVER BUT I WONT!!!! THIS IS ALREADY SO LONG AND I HAVE ANOTHER THING TO GO OVER OK

okay so... theres something i really dont like about him. dark cacao is a terrible fucking king and dark choco was mostly in the right to try and make him change his ways (obviously he shouldn't have sought out a cursed sword to do so, as only bad things can come of that but still). all dark cacao could focus on was the wall. somewhere along the line he made it HIS burden alone to protect the world from the licorice sea, and because he put all his time and resources into that, others suffered because of it. his neglect is what caused the villages under the rule of his kingdom to waste away into ruin. hell, even citizens living in the CITADEL were suffering, for christs sake. resources were being depleted for this one project until there was nearly nothing left. my man may be earthbread's top emo model, but mans a FUCKING TERRIBLE KING. AND THE KICKER????????? NOT FUCKING ONCE DOES HE ACKNOWLEDGE THE DAMAGE HES DONE IN HIS NEGLECT!!!!!!!! NOT EVEN A FUCKING "HEY IM SORRY I BASICALLY ABANDONED EVERYONE BECAUSE I WAS TOO BUSY FIGHTING MY DEMONS FOR THIRTY YEARS" FUCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hes cool in odyssey tho

BTW IF YOU READ THIS FAR HERE TAKE THIS SICK FUCKING PIECE OF ART FROM THE ART BOOK AS A THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY INSANE RAMBLINGS

#chromespeaks #thinkposting #i want to do something structured with this some day probably maybe

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themetalvirus · 2 years

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i would love to hear abt how you came up with ash’s design if you’re up for it :0 i think she looks SO cool -catgirlblaze

OMG okokok well first off, here's the pic of her final-ish design

for context: this is ash, the anti-blaze, meant to be an "evil" version / funhouse mirror version of her from a different dimension akin to the characters hailing from moebius in the archie comics.

she actually was a lot more trouble for me to design than gold was!!! her outfit in particular went through a LOT of iterations.

the first thing i actually made was her color palette! it ended up having to be tweaked so that the blue wasn't so bright and out of place.

i wanted her fur color in particular to be the complimentary color of blaze's violet. directly complimentary colors tend to clash in a palette though, so i went with a split complimentary palette

i also realized that i probably shouldn't JUST make her cyan, so i wanted to include the original purples from blaze to retain recognizability while discarding the pinks. i LOVE blaze but the shades of pink and purple her design uses just clash so hard

then i thought about blaze's very distinctly lemon-shaped head and the fact that she seems to tie her hair back. initially i wanted ash's hair to be all down to represent that her personality is WAY more lax, but that quickly prove to be Very Ugly when combined with the lemon head, which i wanted to retain in some way. so i ended up compromising with myself, letting her keep some bangs to cover her forehead gem (as a representation of her deliberately ignoring her equivalent to the sol emeralds, theyre called the moonstones because this whole thing is pretty cheeky) and giving her pigtails to show that she is much, much less mature than blaze. pigtails evoke youth, at least to me, while the almost scene-esque bangs still reflect that she's 14 and not like 5

her outfit in particular was where i was challenged. here's some misc unfinished sketches from the iteration phase

initially i wanted to give ash an Entirely New Outfit, something youthful and silly and generally just out there. not pictured are ideas i had but didnt draw of giving her a romper or a tutu, which just felt like it leaned WAY too far into baby territory. i also considered giving her a tailcoat with the fluffy arm and leg warmers to make it clear that shes capricious, but it felt divorced from who blaze is, and this character is supposed to be a reflection of blaze. i also toyed with some princessy aesthetics/silhouettes because i find that kind of flouncy fru fru girly stuff very cute (and blaze is a tomboy so would in a way be fitting for her funhouse mirror counterpart), and i thought it might portray how recent her abandonment of the "princess" role really is. but she already HAS abandoned the princess role, so for her outfit to still be super princessy felt out of place

i also realized after some iteration that i was really missing the fur elements of blaze's outfit - they made her feel regal, but friendly. the shapes of the furred cuffs on her design evoke almost flamelike shapes. i generally just really like drawing and designing fur coats. so i started to add furry fringe to places that blaze didn't have furry fringe (the neck and hemline of her coat specifically) and that really clicked for me. i also added puffballs on the sleeves and shoes to make things feel more balanced/unified and also because i thought it was cute. the triangle shapes are both meant to contrast the boxy shape of blaze's outfit and compliment the triangular shapes on gold's shoes and hands.

i eventually arrived at this sketch, which i colored both to test out the color palette and to see if this was It. and i liked it, but a few parts still needed changing

for example, there are more (admittedly faint) decorations on the shoes that just muddy the ideas i had, and the full-length slightly off-green pants just made it look like she had miscolored mutant legs. i tried to add a bit of her actual fur color on the midriff, but having her midriff showing didnt click with me

so then i did the final iteration and its the one i liked the most tee hee. i hit the image limit but its up there at the top

other notes include me flattening out her shoes, no more high heels! they still have some semblance of a "heel" but that's to add visual interest to the thick soles of her shoes, necessary for grip while shes frolicking around and setting things on fire. her fire powers are green instead of red because of fun with opposite colors and such! the "radioactive" nature of her colors is purposeful, to evoke an unsettling otherworldly feeling when you look at her very unnatural-seeming colors AND to bring scourge to mind

her tail is put thru a hole in the back of her jacket instead of poking out from underneath for clarity of silhouette, the gem on her chest is a purely aesthetic part of a closure on her jacket, and her forehead gem is turquoise underneath her bangs

the end!!! i hope that was interesting!!!!!

#exoticbutterstxt #doodles

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beyfantasy · 4 years

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Redesigned White Tigers from my BEYBLADE AU “Beyfantasy” in 2010.

One of the things I wanted to fix in the old 2010 art were the character poses. I made sure that the remake of the old artworks were more dynamic and having better energy! While Rai, Mao, and Kiki retained most of their designs- Gao had the most changes.

Champion Rai In the old art, Rai's front fist was covering one of the cool parts of his outfit- which was the pendant/neck area. I prioritized his punch over showing off the costume detail before, so for the new pose- the first goal in mind when illustrating him was to show off that area. I also designed gauntlets for him~

Another thing that bothered me were his pants. Back then, it was a fun idea to go all out on it. For the new design- I wanted to tone it down while retaining the Lion Dance pants element. I think the remade artwork has a better balance of the elaborate flair in his pants!

I wanted to keep his silhouette and scale as similar as possible in the old design so not much of the pose has changed. The way his hair flares out and the buff of his chest area were meant to show the strength and silhouette of a lion. His legs had to be spread apart to add to the lion impression, as well as match Lei's stance. His artwork is meant to be Lei's opposite and is drawn so that they look like a pair of brothers - Light and Dark. While Lei has a more fixed "perfect" stance, Rai has a more loose and wild stance. I also made sure to improve on his expression of rage as this says a lot about his story.

His Lotus motif remains- representing perfection, and the season of summer. It also represents inward emptying and outward splendor- this can also refer to his release of feelings about Lei.

Berserker Mao Mao's design has always been one of my favorite Beyfantasy designs. Her first design was well-loved by many people too and I was happy with the color combinations. Her silhouette was meant to give the impression of a cat- hence the back part being longer like a tail. I originally intended to make her hair a little pinker towards a cool color that was closer to Magenta, but I remembered that a lot of people appreciated her "redder" hair in this design. It was also similar to her first colored manga art. While I was coloring, I realized that the redder hair blended better with the kind of pinks, blues, and golds she had in her overall outfit so I decided to scrap the "pinker" hair idea.

Looking back, one thing that bothered me in her old design were her shoes. I remember putting those shoes for "comfort" and ease of movement, with the bandages there to hold the shoes in place so they don't fly around. Considering her fighting style, the shoes might still come off when she would spin because the friction from the ground will overpower the area covered on her feet by the shoe. I decided to give her shoes that covered her entire feet with appropriate socks in place for better stability.

Her claws were drawn better since in the old one- it looked like they would chip off or lift when she would scratch. This time, she can use them to punch, claw, or defend. The armor on her gloves reaches until just below her elbow, but her sleeves and bandages conceal that.

The blue part of her outfit was cute, but I wanted to soften the edges since they looked a bit block-y. The ends now have a cute petal-y design framing the Peony embroidery. I removed the leaves on her Peony clip and had the strings form a ribbon instead with tassels on the end. Having the leaves around would be overkill, and would take away the focus on her eyes. The ribbon is a nod to her trademark in the anime. The Peony motif is kept on her - an exquisite flower symbolizing nobility and value. It is also associated with affection and female beauty. The Peony is also a flower of spring.

Lastly, I was very careful with drawing her face. It was tempting to doll her up with vibrant makeup, but I had to hold back a lot. I reduced the amount of eyeshadow she had, added a simple blush, and kept the lipstick more nude. While she is beautiful and her design is elaborate, she was still not the kind of girl who would bother way too much with vanity.

Thief Kiki I had to redeem myself from how I drew his weapon in the old art so this was my chance! I wanted to show off his transforming weapon- the three sections and the chain. While the way it is wielded in the art does not make sense at all in combat action, it does well for his character art and silhouette. I tried to incorporate a monkey-like silhouette for this remake by having him raise his arms that way.

Not much changed from the idea of his design. I did want to make him look more of a "youth on the go" so I made the yellow cardigan have a hoodie attached to it. His shoes were changed to something that occupied more of his feet. The waist sash remains in the same silhouette like a monkey tail. I did consider giving him darker/blue colors to match the "thief" theme, but it didn't work out too well. His outfit is also what he would wear in the tournament where he's revealed to be a weapons master and not just a run-off-the-mill thief. I stuck with the same color plan.

I was debating on whether or not I should make his transforming staff glow or not. Glowing weapons were more of the All Starz's theme so I decided to express its specialty by adding Chrysanthemum designs on it and giving it an unusual color. His motif Chrysanthemum, can be found on his weapon, his purple top, and on his back. This flower symbolizes a life of ease and is often given in funerals. The Chrysanthemum stands for the season of autumn. This cold flower could express the fact that Kiki had feelings for Mao, but there doesn't seem to be any hope for romantic success between them because of Lei so he tries his best to put these emotions at rest. It's ironic that his colors are more tropical/summer-like, but if you look closer there's still a coldness to some parts of his color palette.

Grappler Gao Gao is the character that had a lot of costume changes. I started off by picking the elements in his first design that I liked best- which were the colors, the waist sash, and the fur. His old design was greatly imbalanced in weight. I could not understand if I was going for a cool or warm outfit type. For the remake- I decided to go for a warmer and heavier type of outfit. I worried it looked uncomfortable since just looking at it made me feel suffocated. But I imagined him in a winter setting and thought of the “heavy weight” element I wanted so it cleansed me of doubts to go for it.

The metal weights were changed to more practical/modern looking weights. This shift to a simpler design was to balance out the changes in his more elaborate top's design. A belt was added to match his boots and top's stitches. This new iteration has a lot of leather and fabric that gives a good amount of friction.

The old artwork's pose was his default stance and I found it too lazy for a remake drawing. I wanted to express his character better by adding a lamb chop he's eating from! I did my best to make it look tasty.

The Plum Blossom motif can be seen at the bottom of his waist sash. During the winter season, the plum blossom grows flowers from seemingly dead branches- representing new life at the end of the said season. The Plum Blossom also represents courage and hope. In the Beyfantasy, Gao was a child nomad who found home in the White Tiger village and he started living a new kind of vibrant life with Rai and the others.

Those are the designer's notes on the White Tigers Beyfantasy Remake! As with the others, I rewrote some parts of their character descriptions. I am very happy with how they turned out and am also satisfied that I was able to give their backstories and profiles better clarity and color compared to before.

Thank you for reading ^-^

#BEYBLADE #BEYFANTASY #White Tigers

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stranger-who-writes-fiction · 3 years

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Aaaanyways, I wanna put on my comic-art-nerd hat and talk about panel-to-panel action in that Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow preview because yes, I have been staring at it for days, and yes, I will continue to do so until it is released next month! XD

LET’S GO:

I apologize in advance for the funky formatting, there’s an art to tumblr text posts and I...have not mastered it. XD

It’ll go image, then analysis.

Also, just to be clear: I’m not doing this so much to be like, ‘WOW THIS IS GROUNDBREAKING, STUNNING, NEVER-BEEN-DONE!’ In fact, many comics do the things I’m gonna highlight/geek out over! Rather, it’s more about, like. Appreciating the construction of the pages, panels, etc.

Okay, so! Page 1, the SPLASH PAGE

Okay, so, admittedly, I don’t have a ton to say about this opening image, largely because it is one single illustration as opposed to a series of panels. But even then! It quickly establishes that we’re not on earth--the foliage, rock formations, and GIANT WOOLY FRIEND(?) give that away. Also! Said rock formations and wooly friend’s horns frame our new character RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PAGE, letting you know that even though she is tiny, she is important. And, I will just say, I love the dust effects on the ground. The repeated semi-circle shapes evoke the feeling of rhythmic, galloping hoof beats, even without actual movement or sound. Lovely.

And now, PAGE 2!

So, I’ve highlighted panel 3, but before I get there! Panels 1 & 2 do such a nice job of giving us an idea as to the actual, physical size of these two characters, as well as the power dynamic at play. This random dude takes up the WHOLE DANG PANEL with his bulging muscles and is framed in an up-shot; in panel 2, Ruthye is not only shown from above--we’re literally looking down at her--she is also relegated to the bottom half of the panel. Additionally, it’s a great way to show the action of her turning to pull the sword from her belt, obscuring it from both our view and his, to bring out the ‘big reveal’ in the next panel.

Speaking of! Panel 3! Our establishing shot! We’re introduced to the full interior of this tavern. We see where everything is placed--walls, furniture, and perhaps most importantly, the various patrons!

Establishing shots are so important to have in visual media because they help us, the reader/viewer, to orient all of the various components within a sequence or scene.

It’s also helpful for the artists because then they can better maintain things like screen direction and continuity.

If we don’t have a shot like this, then subsequent action can become confusing to the point of distraction.

YOU WOULD BE SURPRISED how often this is neglected or forgotten in comics! Scenes will change abruptly and it’s like, ‘wait, wait, where are we?’

ADDITIONALLY, the establishing shot not only gives us basic spatial information, it ~sets the mood~ XD Setting! Atmosphere! Genre! It’s all here.

I mentioned this in my prior post, that the art gives off some intense fantasy vibes, what with the organic shapes, rough textures, and color palette.

Folks who’ve read advanced copies have described the book as a fantasy/western; that extends even to the series title design! The designer revealed that the western look of the text is deliberate.

So A+ to the art team for NAILING IT!

Okay, on to page 3!

Not a ton of notes on this one, but that’s only because the prior page has done such a solid job of laying out the space, as well as the relationship between these two characters WITH JUST WITH THE ART. (Okay, okay, the words help too. XD) Once more, we see this big brute tower over Ruthye, panel- to-panel; he’s always ‘large and in charge’ regardless of the angle. Even in that final panel! Ruthye is the largest element because she’s closer to us, but the guy is still positioned ‘above’ her, literally talking down to Ruthye from over his shoulder.

(And HMMMM. That unassuming stranger in the back there, underneath the lanterns that seem to act as an arrow pointing right at her...could she be...important?)

(Her tiny size would seem to imply that she isn’t...AND YET...)

PAGE 4!

MMMM them FRAMES within FRAMES!

Okay, but before I get into that, I do wanna briefly mention panel size and shape.

All of these pages (save for 1 and 7, which are full-page illustrations) pretty much stick to a very traditional panel structure. Each panel is completely enclosed, and there is zero variety in terms of shape. It’s all rectangles.

BUT. The size and orientation change--take, for instance, that ‘skinny’ horizontal panel up top, the way it perfectly suits the ‘shape’ of the elements/action being shown. It’s a close on Kara’s wrist/hand, reaching out for the sword in the guy’s belt.

I mention this because often, writers don’t dictate stuff like panel layout in a script. They will give the artist the number of panels, and what needs to be included in each one, but the actual, overall organization of the page? Totally up to the artist.

So! Really knowing what you want to highlight and convey is key, because you can use the panels’ size/shape/relation to other panels to ENHANCE those images, like that sword grabbing up top!

AND! Another thing I love about that panel in particular is the way that Kara’s hand and the sword make a tiny frame for Ruthye! Who is, again, VERY TINY!

I keep mentioning the size thing because it’s a nice bit of economical visual storytelling; the child character is going to be smaller than the adult characters anyway, but by calling attention to it repeatedly, we as the viewer are constantly reminded that this kid is small! She needs help! She needs to be protected! Which is like, the whole premise of the inciting incident. XD Good stuff!

(Also more dot eyes in comics that aren’t humor comics, please.)

There’s another frame down in panel 3 as well! Evely uses this device several times throughout this sequence; it’s such a great use of the multiple swords in the scene, AND shows that she can really pack all of the characters in there without cutting any of them off/obscuring them behind various objects.

And like, NO TANGENTS, which takes some serious skillz.

ESPECIALLY when you consider all that beautiful linework. LOOK AT THEM INKS.

...In particular, look at them inks in panel 5! The shading on the booth is done in such a manner that the ‘grain’ of the ink defines the perspective. We’re looking down at Kara, from above. This is a helpful little bit of orientation, as there’s not a ton of room around Kara to have any other perspective lines to help sell the angle.

ALSO, NOTE THE POSITION OF MR. BRUTE IN PANEL 4, AND THEN KARA’S EYELINE IN PANEL 5. It will be important in...

PAGE 5!

Allow me to explain:

In panel four on page 4, we see the guy reach for his sword, his body language revealing that he’s intent on moving towards Kara.

In panel 5 on the same page, we get that lovely down shot of Kara looking right up at us, the viewer. But also, the implication is that she’s ACTUALLY looking at Tough Guy, because in the next page, we see that he’s positioned himself right above her to swing that sword down!

(My apologies for the poor attempts at drawn annotations.)

There’s no action lines cluttering up the beautiful art; Not-Conan’s hair, rather, acts as the action line/guiding ‘arc’ so that we can better follow the movement.

Kara, likewise, doesn’t have any action lines on her, but her posture and hair act as visual cues to tell us that she slides over in the booth, out of the way of the sword.

In particular, the way her right shoulder/arm draws closer to her body, and the way her left hand comes up to offset the way she’s now positioned, really sells the ‘slide’.

More beautiful indicators of movement in panel 2; the hair, the action line on the sword, the torn fabric of Kara’s shirt.

Panel 3 brings more FRAMES WITHIN FRAMES! And, actually, as I’m looking at it? I think it could be argued that we actually have a FRAME within a FRAME within a FRAME!

First frame: Panel border, natch.

Second frame: Goofus’ sword, arm, and face frame Kara.

Third frame: Kara’s arm and sword work with Goofus’ head again to frame tiny Krypto.

LAYERS.

And now, a note about colors!

I said before that I love the palette at play. The earthy tones give the entire setting an organic feel--this is not a high-tech locale! We’re dealing with natural materials here.

BUT THEN THOSE BLUES!

Not only do we get that nice split complementary thing happening with the yellow, but it also signals the blue of Kara’s costume, a little hint of which is revealed in the final page.

And, like. It’s night time. XD

(I just gotta say, love the cold blue outside the window next to Kara’s table, contrasted with the warm yellow of the interior. Even though this is a bar, there’s still that element of like. Coziness.)

Also! Even though the overall palette is heavy on the yellows, Kara’s hair is more saturated and leans towards a warmer yellow, while the rest of the yellows in the scene are cooler. Thus! We have CONTRAST! Our eyes are drawn right to her.

And I know--I KNOW--that SG comics twitter already hates King because Kara’s DRINKING and personally I want more of the story/context before I pass any judgement but I must admit, the shapes? In panel 5? With Kara drinking in the foreground?

I kinda love it.

Also mmmm-MMMM, more of them SOFT BLUES.

Okay. PAGE 6!

Now THIS PAGE is what inspired this whole endeavor.

Because, okay. If I’ve not made it clear by now: I read a lot of comics.

And I generally enjoy all of the comics I read!

But, what I’ve found lately, is that if I don’t enjoy a comic, it’s because I, as a reader, find myself confused by the art.

Confused as in, the art is hard to follow.

That can be because the color design/ink work doesn’t have enough contrast, or the composition is muddled, but most frequently?

It’s poor panel-to-panel action.

When there’s no flow/connection between what’s happening in one panel vs. another, suddenly it’s on you, as the reader, to do a lot more of the work as you go through the scene. And sometimes! We don’t even have enough visual information to DO that work!

So when I read this, I was like, ‘ah, thank you, an easy flow of action for my brain to appreciate.’ XD

AND SO. Panel 1! Same stuff we’ve been seeing! The ink work, hair, clothing details, etc. all work to show us which direction each character is moving. Kara’s arm and jacket all point to her slamming that mug in the dude’s face; dude’s sword serves as a GIANT ARROW illustrating the path of his stab.

Not much to say on panels 2 and 3 other than: FACIAL EXPRESSIONS! And also, HAIR!!!

PANEL FOOOOUR!!!!

Love. This. Panel.

Again, I really love that there are no action lines slapped on top of this gorgeous art, all of the movement is conveyed in the inks, body language, clothes, and so on.

Like. There’s a conscious decision, here, to not have Kara’s hair obscuring the dude’s torso, and that’s good! Because his belt/uhh...kilt? Skirt? Is showing us the speed and direction of his jab; if Kara’s hair were in the way, it would break up the flow.

BUT THEN HOW TO SHOW THAT KARA’S DIPPING FORWARD???

Note the ties on her cuff, and the inks on her jacket!

There’s nothing special happening with Krypto, BTW. I just circled him because he’s a Good Boy who deserves to be noticed.

Panel 5, more of the same, the inks telling us how these characters are moving through space. ALSO, the length of the lines conveys speed without needing to add something distracting/obscure the art with a ‘blur’ effect.

Final panel! I. LOVE. THIS.

Particularly the movement in Kara’s hair, just. Beautiful shape language.

But in addition! You’ve got that LOVELY line of action in Kara’s spine as she flips him over, the sword likewise curved in the direction of the throw.

And of course, the dude is crumpling in the appropriate direction, bent in the middle as he collides with the table to--quite literally--complete the circle.

Also, just. The characterization here, is PHENOMENAL.

People (read: irate fans on twitter) have expressed concern (read: complained) about Kara having a sword. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that Kara’s basically a murderer now, because she’s using a weapon.

Never mind the fact that in an episode of JLU, Supergirl used both a sword AND a gun to defend herself while in Skartaris because she had no powers.

Except we see here that Kara DOESN’T USE THE SWORD to take the guy out, she uses his own force against him. She only uses the swords in the FINAL PAGE in a type of ‘yield’ fashion.

(This particular ‘fight’ sequence reminded me of Brainy’s fighting style in the show so of course that added to my overall enjoyment.)

Like, Kara’s got no powers here, she very well could have used the sword to defend herself, and would...kinda be justified.

But she didn’t!

Like. Even drunk and therefore out of it, Kara 1.) Steps in to help that kid and 2.) doesn’t use superpowered lethal force on the guy. (I mean, she can’t use her super powers anyway, what with the red sun, but you get the idea.)

And like, the flourish there, of the arms, the way the jacket swirls around her, like a gymnast sticking the landing, GAAAAAHHHH I just love it. It’s great.

Okay, FINAL PAGE, #7:

I mean. What more can I say? EVELY AND LOPES, MAN.

Just some top notch art.

(Also get it guys, it’s a LITERAL shirt rip! XD)

(And look! There’s that tiny bit of blue!)

But anyways, if you’ve made it this far, I applaud you, and thank you for indulging my desire to just. Geek out over one of my favorite comic artists drawing one of my favorite comic characters.

And just to like, reiterate, I’m not suggesting that this comic is THE BEST EVER or that it’s going to redefine the medium, or anything. XD Everything I’ve mentioned here is...pretty basic storytelling mechanics. Watch any movie, and you’ll see all this same stuff at work.

RATHER, this whole post is more about...admiring two artists who clearly know what they’re doing.

And they’re doing it so well! :D

TL;DR: I’m so excited that the Supergirl book has Evely and Lopes, guys. So. Excited.

#stranger speaks #long post #supergirl: woman of tomorrow #art analysis #comic art analysis #edit: whoops forgot content warning tags #cw: alcohol #cw: blood

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ephemerlskies · 4 years

Text

the beauty of after | pjm

⇢ pairing: jimin x f reader

[other members - taehyung]

⇢ genre: drabble, fluff, widower!jimin, angst (barely), artist!taehyung, the FLUFFIEST piece i've written so far, jimin is an old man

⇢ word count: 3.5k

⇢ warnings: themes of grief/loss, major character death (oc), mentions of death

⇢ summary: on your seventieth wedding anniversary, jimin celebrates in solitude by describing your face to an artist. it surfaces more fondness than grief to reminisce in the memory of his late partner.

♪ playlist: serendipity - bts • i'll never love again - lady gaga • lover - taylor swift • love of my life - queen • my everything - ariana grande ♪

[important] a/n: i am so so sorry to everyone for constantly reposting this, but my tags haven't been working. hopefully this is the last time i have to repost this!! also HAPPY PRIDE!

“Thanks for doing this for me.” The young artist had already begun mixing paints on his palette, eyeing the canvas before him to scale the size of his portrait.

Jimin was gentle with the way his eyes traveled along Taehyung’s face which was free from the age wrinkles that Jimin had grown used to seeing. He nodded as to say your welcome, a jaded but genuine smile reaching his lips to the ends of his face.

It was difficult to gauge which one was more nervous from how Taehyung had nearly knocked over his easel various times within the stretch of setting up his supplies and the lack of stillness that fraught Jimin’s hands which were trying, and failing, to fold politely in his lap.

“This is for an art project? For school?” Jimin asked, deciding that half-empty questions fit better in the air than the awkward silence funded by the lack of proper acquaintance. Not to say he wasn’t indeed curious about this whole ordeal.

“Yeah. My professor wanted us to have someone describe their significant other to us and we have to draw them based on the description! I hope I do your partner justice.” Jimin’s heart grew warmer when the enthusiasm from Taehyung’s voice made his intentions clear. He was an aspiring artist simply using his craft to procure something emotional and raw.

Jimin was the fortunate soul Taehyung had stumbled upon during his walk home. A single, elderly man sitting on a park bench, an appropriate setting for someone Jimin’s age, had aroused some curiosity in the younger man to strike up a conversation.

The slightly hung head, the pair of kind eyes trailing the various passersby, and the astounding hint of melancholy had colored Jimin in an entirely different light than anyone Taehyung had ever met.

Whatever his story was, Taehyung made it a goal to depict it with every bit of honesty and emotion he could engender from his paintbrush.

“I think it would be hard to make anything of ___ look bad." Jimin assured, feeling his shoulders fall away from his ears and his hands finally rest atop his lap.

“___? Is that her name?” Taehyung repeated it internally a few more times in an attempt to imagine what you looked like before Jimin started on his description.

He looked over to the older man, picturing an older woman sitting beside him on that park bench. His mind meandered to what kinds of things you two would talk about, or if you two were the type to construct a haven in sweet silence. Maybe Jimin would say something that would make you laugh and you would join in on the repartee with ease.

What made you laugh? How many times have you been on a plane? Did you like the color yellow? What was your favorite genre of music? What made you cry?

The questions began to bundle like a colorful bouquet of diverse flowers, waiting to be delivered into the hands of a loved one.

“Yes. Beautiful right?” Jimin’s smile faded a bit, the only evidence of it expressed through a slight curve sitting at the ends of his mouth and the crow’s feet incising his skin much more prominently than the rest of his wrinkles.

“Very beautiful.” Taehyung decided to arm himself with one of his finer brushes. He could already feel the unwavering desire to capture the most intricate of details partly for a good grade in this class but partly for the sake of keeping true to his word.

He wanted to do you and Jimin justice. To make this nothing but ornately accurate.

“How would you describe her facial structure?” The artist positioned his arm with his brush in hand, ready to dispatch the ink amassing at the tip of the synthetic hairs to the white, empty canvas.

“Soft. Perfect to fit into my hands.” Jimin stared down to the mentioned body parts, reminiscing the countless times he would scoop your face between his palms for no reason at all other than to revere your beauty. “Round cheeks. Smooth and warm skin.”

Taehyung couldn’t resist how the pang in his heart reflexively surfaced a fond smile in reaction to Jimin’s endearing description. He peeked away from the canvas before making any initial marks and gathered the loving gaze Jimin had been directing towards his matured hands cupped around the empty space that should have been your face. Then, he knew exactly which set of emotions he should embed into this portrait.

“What about her eyes, what do they look like?” Taehyung asked to acquire another image of how he should paint you, while already outlining the basic curves of a head that would quote unquote fit perfectly in Jimin's hands.

“They were kind. They always had this sparkle in it. A real sparkle, like she trapped the moonlight in her eyes.” Suddenly, Jimin's lungs were not merely occupied with air, but with an oxygenated memorial of your eyes which made his inhalations feel weighted. “They were bright and always looked at me with trust and care. Even when they had tears in them, you could have mistaken those for diamonds.”

The image was stark in his own eyes, and if he closed them then he could have been transported back seventy years to when your wedding vows were announced to the world. How your eyes looked at him and glimmered an overwhelming beauty that nearly evaporated the over-rehearsed words from his memory. Before you could roll those moonlit pupils at his fall to silence, he hastily declared the oaths that bound his heart to yours forever as if he couldn’t stand a second longer keeping those promises in.

“Were?” Taehyung articulated thoughtfully as he could with clear indication to question the past tense manner of Jimin’s narrative.

“Yeah. She has passed.” It was still difficult to feel those words ordered as such verbalized by his tongue. They tasted bitter and stale, as if they had been waiting somewhere inside to be recognized.

He wasn't aware of how his hand was now placed against his chest until he felt the heavy throbs of his tired organ. Through this, it might be that he was searching for your heartbeat that he could once identify through the his own.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Sir.” Taehyung’s hand almost fell away from the canvas, until reality restored his maneuvers and continued the lining of your face.

His focus was oscillating from the mostly white canvas, save for the thin strokes of black, to the man uncoated from his reserve through the smile that deepened the indentations of his face.

“Jimin. Call me Jimin.” He said, breaking whatever ice that froze the two of them in discomfort. That nervousness had melted away with the minutes until they both felt warm and comfortable.

“Okay, Jimin, could you describe anything else about her? It doesn’t have to be physical. This is more about emotion.” Taehyung’s brush had been hard at work, dutifully printing every hint of love that Jimin relayed and materializing it onto the portrait.

“Her smile was warm. The biggest one you would ever see. I swear, everyone she met noticed it. It was genuine. It was the smile of someone who never had mal intent and always ready to share her happiness to all those around her. Seeing it every day, it reminded me that, with her, I was always home.”

From the day he met you, eye contact was a difficult task to compass since your smile had always demanded his full attention. Each time you flashed your grin, he felt as if it was purposeful, the extension of your joy onto him. The way you made him feel every bit of bliss you felt because you were the type to believe everyone, especially Jimin, deserved to feel happy.

And each time he was endowed witness to your smile, it articulated his goal in life quite clearly: molding his actions into a kindle for your smile and doing everything in his humble power to cherish those angelic beams of joy.

“Whenever she would smile, your day would get a little bit better. And I was lucky enough to spend most of my life with her, so my days always got better. She always smiled. Like she knew how much it meant to me.”

“Sounds like ___ was very happy.” Taehyung said during the interval of giving shape to your lips. What remained on the canvas was the widest smile Taehyung could craft, knowing it was not nearly as big as the one Jimin described.

“She was. She was sad too, and angry. You did not want to see her angry, let me tell you.” A chuckle had fallen from his mouth as he postured the memory of your scowl to the forefront of his recollection. How you would equip this number when Jimin would do something particularly dumb, or when your kids were being scolded for reasons that didn’t seem as important now.

There was nothing that compared to how you could emote with your entire face in a poise that suggested your feelings willed your every movement. How you would scrunch your nose and your eyebrows would reach the middle of the space between them; the frown of your lips would pull your entire face lower. He would take your anger seriously at the time, but in retrospect, he would give anything to see that disgruntled expression again.

And he would simply smile, and perhaps snap a photo for a keepsake.

“I hope she was happy most of all. That’s all that matters, Taehyung. Make the ones you love happy. I hope I did that well enough.” Jimin began to question if he made you happy. One day, when he joined your parted soul, he would find that out for himself.

He knew beyond doubt that you had accomplished sparking joy into people's lives simply by being you.

“I will. That’s good advice, Jimin.” Taehyung made himself present in his wonders about you, despite how he was absent from your life.

From the way Jimin described you, he fully understood that Jimin wasn't speaking from the functions of a brain. The portion of his mind that conducted speech could have been rejected entirely. These words, the thoughtful description, the sentiment flowing from his voice were sourced straight from the heart.

One that felt incomplete without its other half.

“Do you miss her?” He had to inject a bit of courage in this question in the hopes it wouldn’t be overstepping any boundaries. Though, Jimin was ever so gentle with the way he moved through life and met Taehyung's requests with kindness so far.

“Very much.” A stout crack fissured through Jimin’s voice and prompted him to swallow down the sob ruminating in his throat. “I miss her more than anything in the world. More than the flowers miss the spring and wait for winter to pass so they may bloom again. These days, I’m just waiting for spring.”

Jimin had intertwined his hands together, pretending it could fill the hollow space of his palms just as well as your hands would. He knew though, this was an emptiness that would always remain unfulfilled the minute your heart stopped beating with his.

“It will come. Soon enough. She’s waiting for you too, I’m sure.” And your flower will bloom. Taehyung created the contours of your eyes and paid a sizable amount of attention to depicting that highly emphasized sparkle.

What would a painting of you be without those acclaimed glints of moonlight floating in your irises? It wouldn’t be a painting of you at all.

“Do you have a special someone in your life right now?” Jimin took over the role of the questioner and placed Taehyung in the position of the questionee. It was enough for now to repair his composure.

“Not at the moment, no.” The majority of his focus was fixed on the painting but spared just enough to answer Jimin’s inquiry.

“Well, whenever you find them, I hope you appreciate the small things. I never knew how much the small things mattered until ___ was gone. Like how she notoriously had every barista put extra cinnamon on her coffee drinks. When I would forget to add it, she would pretend to be mad at me. She'd roll her eyes and tell me I’m ‘losing it’ or she would say something dramatic like ‘what has this world come to, Park Jimin?’” His pause filtered the room with a peaceful property.

Jimin utilized the silence to ponder the moments he once hadn’t given as much as a second thought to. The same moments that would entrap him in a catatonic gaze on rainy days or during cold, lonely nights.

“She would still drink the whole thing, though. She was kind in that way. Never really letting those things go unappreciated.” His eyes fell to the floor, though he was not seeing the weathered carpet spread across the substructure. He saw none other than your eyes.

The moonlight he had the privilege of viewing up close and personal, and uncrowned the orbiting rock in the sky of its esteemed title.

“Now every time I see cinnamon, I think of her. Of her peculiar love of it and even though she loved cinnamon so much, she’d love the effort I put in even more. She always loved me generously.” There had been friction within Jimin’s throat that made it warm and swollen ever since he started talking about you. His words dislodged through labored projections, but his voice overtly strewn hints of sorrowful longing in each statement.

“She sounds very loving. I can’t imagine how lucky it was that you met her.” Though his eyes were trained on pressing the delicate illustrations of your face onto the canvas, his ears were employed in listening intently to Jimin.

He had no idea who you were, however, he was sure he too would have fallen in love. Of course, anyone would have done so through the perception of someone who had devoted his entire heart and life to loving you.

“How long were you two together?” He asked to obtain an addition to his bouquet of knowledge about you.

“We were married for seventy years but we dated for three years before that.” Jimin’s eyes were not alone anymore.

They loaded quite a collection of tears, barely keeping at the bay of his eyes, and the vision of your face when he proposed that the two of you should seal your love through something as trivial as a diamond ring.

It was irrational, not only the fact that pricey luxuries such as rings were well beyond his budget. Jimin knew that embellishing a silver band on your finger would not be enough to earn a lasting relationship or settle your commitment to him. A piece of jewelry could not entail the immense love harbored in his chest. The proposal wasn’t the end of a happy story, rather the beginning of a lifetime to learn and unlearn the elements of loving you.

Even the bumps in the road, knocking him or you away from each other, were never enough to conclusively sever the connection. Dedication and work knotted your heartstrings together. The biggest bump, your death, was the final blow that nearly disentangled them.

Nearly. But when Jimin said ‘until death do us part’ he never realized that vow held some false hope. Of course, he wouldn’t let you go, or rather he couldn’t let you go, even after you passed away. It wasn’t that easy when his heart synchronized with yours the moment he fell in love with you and he already decided to become someone who was worthy of loving you.

Now he was that man. Someone who matched the degree of kindness you always provided him. The man who would disregard any prior engagements if you called and needed him, rest assured you would do the same for him. The man who proudly held your hand, knowing the world envied him. The same man that was cultivated through growing beside someone that cared for every part of him, down to her last breath.

In that way, death was never a contender to part him from you.

“Wow.” Taehyung was not sure of how else to elaborate how genuinely impressed he was. “What's the secret? How did you manage to stay together for seventy years? I mean, people these days get divorces like it’s a quit button you can press when you get tired of playing the game.”

Jimin, despite the teary glaze over his eyes, pulled a laugh from his throat. Without warning, he fell into the trench of all the long-forgotten fights bred from pettiness or misunderstanding. Many of them were over financial or familial issues. And with the lens of a seventy-year perspective, Jimin traded shallow grudges for an important realization that certain things remain standing after the dust settles.

“We would fight. A lot, actually. Even in those perfect relationships, people always fight. But I remember now, if it were a fight over money or anything else that was expendable, there wasn’t a question in my mind of which to choose. Between the world and ___, I always choose her. I always choose love. It’s more important than anything because when you truly love someone, you want to understand them. You want to work through problems instead of leaving them to pile up and collect dust.”

Jimin’s eyes now settled on Taehyung, who had already been staring at Jimin, then continued with all the sincerity he could deploy.

“Taehyung, always choose them. Choose love. I know I did and I have no regrets. I know if I chose to stay angry at her, I would be wrestling to forgive myself.”

Taehyung’s face muscles felt tired, his smile’s permanence hadn’t allowed for them to rest.

“Anger, annoyance, frustration, jealousy? Those all fade away. In a week or a month, you’ll stop being angry at some point, but you will never stop being in love. So choose love. It’s a permanent fixture in your heart.”

Taehyung set his brush down, and the picture resting on the easel was completed and then some. He didn’t mind. Taehyung truly enjoyed the sentiments Jimin kindly shared with him, as it would have been far duller to paint in silence.

Not to mention, he discovered a love story that went untold by movies and fairytales. It was a true love story. Something so real, Taehyung fell in love just by capturing Jimin’s tale and translating it into visual art.

Because this image of you was what Jimin saw when he pictured you. The picture of you shrouded in abundance by the highest grade of love.

“I’m finished, would you like to see?” Taehyung lifted the canvas from its resting spot, turning it slowly since Jimin’s nod was geared with apprehension.

Jimin’s heart nearly bore a hole through his chest, and it would fall out to where you were resting. He was afraid of facing you, or any rendition of your face, since it would be the first time in two months that his eyes beheld anything resembling his late wife.

When the canvas turned, so did the final page of the story. The story Jimin had been purposefully writing with long-winded prose and repetitive words to stall the commencement of it. He wasn’t ready to let go, that is until his eyes beheld the painting which etched fruition of something that felt further from him than you.

Closure.

“It’s beautiful.” Jimin’s tears were disobediently running down his cheeks. “It looks exactly like her. My love. My ___.”

It was not simply a painting garnished under the guise of an academic assignment, but an ode to the grand love Jimin had carried in his heart for seventy years and counting.

“I’ll be sure to send it to you after it’s graded.” Taehyung declared in a decided manner, now fighting back tears of his own, though it was a losing battle since he already felt the empathetic stains wetting his face.

“Thank you.” Jimin whispered soft enough that Taehyung barely caught it, but loud enough that his gratitude glazed the painting with its finishing touch: acceptance.

Now it was time to let go.

“___.” He said once more.

Jimin realized what could emerge even after your physical existence had run dry. That, even though you were no longer alive, there was a ceaseless supply of lessons Jimin still learned from loving you. He learned he could guiltlessly reflect over the years and memories. Resonating the most with him were the ones he spent choosing something more powerful and decisive and resilient above all else. Choosing love.

It colored his world into something vibrant and enchanting. There was still an unquantifiable amount of love pouring from his chest without a hint of diminishing. It was a force that stretched its reign beyond graves and long, lonely years of mourning. This love was alive, and breathing joy into Jimin’s life. It would continue breathing joy into Taehyung’s life as well as the painting, marred with your semblance.

He also realized you can never fully fall out of love. Just as pain never departs, and one simply learns to live with it, to become stronger and versed in the realm of sorrow, one never falls out of love, you simply learn to live without them; you learn to trudge on without the deity that derived something as powerful as love through the biggest smiles, the glistening eyes, the heaps of cinnamon, the unremitting kindness, and the perpetual act of choosing love.

And that the beauty of loving you was no more breathtaking than the beauty of after you.

#bangtanarmynet #btswriterscorner #btsgoldnet #bts fanfic #bts writing #bts fluff #bts drabble #jimin x reader #jimin drabble #jimin fanfic #jimin fluff #jimin angst #the beauty of after #rubycoast

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xmxisxforxmaybe · 4 years

Text

Decryption_Error: “Mr. Robot”

Summary: Once Mr. Robot realizes Elliot is not going to give his relationship up, he warily turns to someone else for help. Meanwhile, Y/N’s faith in Elliot holds strong, especially now that she believes he is seeing a psychiatrist.

Decryption_Error: All Chapters

Word Count: 4700

--Narrator--

Mr. Robot’s hair ruffled in the breeze, the silvery strands near his ears fluttering as he squinted into the sun.

“This is the life, isn’t it, kiddo? The perfect excuse not to think about Evil Corp. About what they did to your dad. To Angela’s mom.”

Elliot tried not to stare too obviously at what he knew to be an empty space beside his girlfriend.

“Yes … it is a real sweet escape,” Mr. Robot said in a chipper voice, a grin spreading across his face as he stretched his arms out across the rail of the sailboat.

Elliot closed his eyes, squeezing them shut as he willed his mind to reset, to stop with the visual aid that sometimes accompanied the voice he had always known, a voice he had come to love and to fear.

When Elliot first met Y/N, it was just Mr. Robot inside of his head, chattering out cautions about getting too close when he sensed that Elliot actually liked her.

But something had happened during the incident in the server room that had scared him. It was like someone else destroyed those towers; it was an out-of-body experience that seemed to be fueled by an inexplicable rage. Yeah, what those assholes did was shitty, but Elliot had been dealing with shitty people his entire life and had never flown off the handle like that, at least from what he could remember.

What bothered him even more was that several aspects of his life now felt less grounded in reality and more like a vivid daydream. Going to therapy, talking to Darlene about DDoS attacks, reading over the Washington County court transcript and thinking about what Evil Corp did to his father—all of it felt like it was filtered through a foggy lens, one that he couldn’t get to come clean, no matter how hard he scrubbed.

Elliot’s psychiatrist assured him everything he felt was normal; she said a feeling of “fogginess” was often a side effect of the medication she had prescribed for his anxiety. It was important to stick to his medication, especially if he wanted to protect the good things in his life.

Like his relationship.

When he was with his girlfriend, Elliot knew everything was real. For the first time in his adult life, he let himself be loved, so why Mr. Robot was being so cruel was something he couldn’t figure out. The deeper Elliot became enmeshed in Y/N’s world, the more his old friend spoke up, even taking over at times to leave him diatribes on his computer, like writings in a journal. Mr. Robot ranted about the unequal distribution of wealth, about people like his girlfriend and her family, about Evil Corp, and he would fill pages of a document that Elliot would read with unease before deleting.

“She is a looker though,” Mr. Robot praised, drawing Elliot’s attention outward.

“Not in your wildest dreams did you imagine landing a fox like her. Well, maybe in your wildest dreams,” he said with a smirk.

“Shut up.”

“Hey!” Mr. Robot said, turning his sharp eyes to Elliot. “It all came true. You get to crawl between those thighs any—"

“I said shut up,” Elliot growled, leaning forward. “You don’t get to talk about her.”

“Everything okay, El?” Y/N asked, smiling softly at him in a way that always made him feel safe.

“Just a little warmer out than I thought it would be,” Elliot lied. He hated lying, but it was the only way to protect her from him.

“I figured. I brought a t-shirt for you—it’s in my blue and white bag below deck.”

“Thanks,” Elliot said, standing and offering her a slight smile as Mr. Robot stood and stretched, clearly intending to follow him.

Elliot heard his footsteps thud down the short stairs, and he wasted no time whirling around and stabbing at Mr. Robot’s chest.

“Why do you want to ruin this for me? Why?” Elliot asked, a desperate ache in his voice.

“Ruin what? Playtime with the rich and famous?”

“She,” Elliot said pointing above deck, “loves me,” he finished by pointing at his own chest.

Mr. Robot laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners and his glasses winking as they reflected the light streaming out from the short stairwell.

“Please just go away,” Elliot begged, meaning far more than just go away now; why wouldn’t he just go away?

Elliot had thought he finally lost his mind when Mr. Robot reappeared a few weeks ago. Sure, he had always been there--in. his. mind—but Mr. Robot, in the metaphorical flesh, hadn’t been around since he’d turned 15. Elliot always figured he’d just gotten too old for an imaginary friend, so Mr. Robot retreated into the recesses of his mind.

When Elliot went home from his girlfriend’s one night a few weeks ago with a headache and several lost hours and saw Mr. Robot sitting outside on his apartment’s cement stairs, he thought maybe he really was schizophrenic.

Mr. Robot laughed at him, assuring Elliot that he had way too much control over his life to be an unmedicated schizophrenic. This issue, though, was that Mr. Robot had an itch to scratch.

Revenge on Evil Corp was always Mr. Robot’s gig, always his go-to way to refocus Elliot when he needed it, but Elliot always believed it was a fantasy—a very vivid daydream in which he and Mr. Robot teamed up to take down the company that had stolen the life of his best friend and father, Edward Alderson.

Elliot and Mr. Robot stood face to face, two sets of eyes, one pleading, the other dismissing.

“I’ve been here for just about your whole life, kiddo. What makes you think I’m gonna just fade to black now?”

“Because I don’t need you anymore,” Elliot said softly as he tried to appeal to that kind side of Mr. Robot he remembered from his childhood, the side who made him laugh, thought up silly games with him, the one who never let him feel too lonely.

As Elliot got older, he realized memories of an imaginary friend weren’t enough to quiet that ache of loneliness. He needed to connect with people, new and old. Because of his girlfriend, Elliot reconnected with Darlene, and she was once again a constant in his life. Spending time with a real family, one who welcomed both of them into their lives, one who made Elliot feel like he was finally getting the family he had always wanted.

“I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

“You’ve got me,” Mr. Robot said, his voice quiet as he put his hands on the sides of Elliot’s face.

Elliot almost fell for it; he almost fell into that safe space Mr. Robot had created for him, but he was only recently realizing that it was actually a trap. It was like being stuck in quicksand—the harder Elliot fought for full control, the deeper he sank into the sand and the harder Mr. Robot squeezed to protect him.

Elliot was 27 years old; he didn’t want to be protected anymore.

“You’re not enough!” he said through gritted teeth as he pushed Mr. Robot away and watched him stumble into the decorative life preserver. “I want to let her in … all the way in.”

Mr. Robot rubbed at the spot on his chest where Elliot’s hand had pushed. It felt like acid, like if he looked down, he’d see his flesh sizzling away.

Mr. Robot was wounded, and Elliot had no idea that with those words, he sealed his fate. In that moment, Mr. Robot knew Elliot would go through with his declaration. He would let his girlfriend in. She would pull all of those hidden things out of Elliot, and he would remember. There was no way Mr. Robot could let Elliot remember; he wasn’t ready…neither of them were ready.

Even though he was not a fan of the one who mostly slept in Elliot’s mind, the one who only woke up for moments of time to lash out, full of rage, Mr. Robot was going to need his help. After all of this time keeping Elliot safe, Mr. Robot wasn’t about to fail because of some rich bitch from the Upper West Side.

“Playtime is over. You’ve gotten your practice with these other hacks, but now it’s time to go after Evil Corp … after one more hack, that is.”

Elliot’s mouth dropped open, fear prickling across his skin with alarming speed.

He shook his head back and forth as he said, “No. NO.”

“Y/N’s dad lied to his own fucking daughter—all of Wall Street knew about the Washington Township plant and they all did their part to cover it up. His connection is the one we need to finally infiltrate Evil Corp’s servers.”

This again.

Elliot and Mr. Robot had been at odds since the first time Mr. Robot had this conversation with him. Elliot’s face was twisted into a panic now, his chest closing in on itself as he warred within, wanting nothing more than just a single chance at normal. He couldn’t figure out why Mr. Robot couldn’t give him this one chance.

“I won’t do it,” Elliot mumbled.

“Won’t do what? Change your shirt?” Elliot’s girlfriend asked with a slight tilt of her head, her lips curled into a teasing smile.

Elliot’s mouth went a little dry as he balked, horrified he’d just been caught talking to Mr. Robot, who was now nowhere to be seen.

Y/N walked slowly toward Elliot, her palms up in a gesture of openness as if she were approaching a trapped cat who knew it needed help but would rather scratch and run than stay still on the chance it would become a victim.

“You don’t have to change if you don’t want to. It’s no big,” she finished, sounding too much like his sister.

Everything in my life is a fucking big, Elliot scoffed internally.

“I—I forgot which bag was yours.”

Sighing in mock exasperation, Y/N crossed the room and picked up the blue and white striped bag that had been sitting in plain sight on the bench.

“Grey or black? You’ve sort of gone back to dressing in a neutral palette, so no wild colors,” his girlfriend offered with that same smile she had given him above deck, the one that made Elliot feel safe.

“Guess I’ll get a little wild and go with the grey.”

“Mmm—grey makes your eyes even more discernable in their color,” she said, pulling the t-shirt out of her bag and tossing it to Elliot.

“Hey,” Elliot said softly, catching her wrist before she could climb back up the steps, “I love you.”

“Don’t I know it,” she answered with a wink.

I really hope you do, Elliot thought as he watched her go topside, determined to chase his happiness and even more determined to protect the person he loved from whatever it was inside of him that wanted to push her away.

--Y/N--

Sailing with Charlie and my parents seemed to put Elliot at a mild ease, though I did find myself longing for the days when I could clearly read him. As least now I could begin to understand what happened when he became closed off; something within was fighting him for control.

I wondered how much he understood.

I wondered why he never looked up the symptoms.

I wondered what would happen when he finally found out why he lost time.

When Elliot emerged from below deck, I patted the seat next to me. He sat down and seemed to decide for a moment if he wanted to be affectionate. He hesitantly laid his arm out behind me on the railing, and I leaned into him, encouraging the gesture.

I admired the profile of his face and the way his skin seemed to drink up the sun. A few hours on the boat, and he looked healthier than he had for the last month. I leaned in to press a kiss to his jaw, which made him blush and look at my parents as if they were going to scold us.

They were paying no attention, so Elliot leaned close to my ear and whispered a quiet thank you.

“For what?”

“This,” he said as he glanced around the boat. “Them,” he added as he looked at my parents and at Charlie.

And after a moment’s pause, he said, “Us.”

“Can I tell you something I really want to tell you but am afraid might totally freak you out?”

Elliot pulled his lower lip in, his jaw clenching.

“You can say no,” I added hastily.

He released his lip and muttered, “Say it.”

“If, if we consider Memorial Day weekend the start of our relationship, in exactly 4 weeks and 6 days, we will have been together for an entire year.

Please don’t freak out,” I added as I watched him.

“Isn’t … that a good thing?”

“Yes!” I grinned, “I think so at least. I mean—did you ever imagine we’d get to this point?”

“No.”

“You never imagined it? I thought that was kind of a rhetorical question, but alright.”

“What I imagined is how badly I’d screw it all up before it could ever get to that point,” Elliot clarified in a quiet voice.

“Well, you can be less than a picnic,” I stated with a smile, “but so can I.”

“You’re perf—”

“Oh no. No. No. You don’t get to say that. Don’t you remember our argument about subjectivity and words like ‘normal’ and ‘perfect’?” I teased.

“Fine,” Elliot said, a grin spreading across his face. “You’re my version of perfect.”

I laughed as I replied, “Thank you.”

“Did--did you actually just take a compliment without deflecting?” Elliot asked, his face twisted up in mock scrutiny.

“Mayyybe.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?”

“I love it when you call me yours,” I murmured, moving my face close to his, wanting nothing more than to kiss him for hours while the sun blazed and the boat rocked through the water.

Elliot closed the gap and pressed his lips to mine, and despite the simplicity of the kiss, the intimacy made my breath catch.

“Charles,” I heard my mom croon. “Look.”

“Motheeer,” I groaned as I turned to scowl at her, catching both of my parents looking at Elliot and I like we were more precious than gold.

Elliot snickered, and I shot him a look of surprise, expecting him to be mortified. Instead, he gave my shoulder a squeeze and said, “She actually just took a compliment for once. Didn’t even try to counter it.”

“Nice to know she’s finally becoming civil! She’s always been shamefully ill-mannered,” Mom said with an airy laugh. “Elliot, dear, did I ever tell you about the summer she was banned from every party from Tribeca to Midtown?”

My dad laughed as my mouth fell open.

“Mom—that’s really not a story Elliot wants to hear.”

“Oh, I think Elliot wants to hear the story,” Elliot grinned wickedly.

“Let’s see,” my mom began. “She had just gotten her driver’s license—"

“Sis!” Charlie shouted at me, “Haul in the jib sheet!”

“Oh, thank god,” I mumbled as I gave Elliot’s thigh a pat before I jumped up to help, hoping to avoid being a bystander to my own humiliation.

After I set the sail, I settled in beside my brother at the helm.

“Feel free to jerk the wheel. Maybe our mother will fall into the bay.”

Char did jerk the wheel, but it resulted in me nearly falling on my ass as he laughed and grabbed my arm to keep me upright.

Elliot and my parents looked back at us, picture-perfect wide smiles on all three of their faces as the sun warmed us, reminding us of the promised sweetness of summer. But what really filled me with happiness was the fact that Elliot looked like he belonged to us, like he belonged in our family.

* * * * *

At least twice a week Elliot saw his psychiatrist, but after the first session, Elliot told me he needed space—not break up space, just a day or two kind of space after his sessions.

I readily accepted the distance and reminded him, probably an annoying amount, that he could tell me anything and I wouldn’t judge him. He said his psychiatrist told him it was important to take time to process and to only share what he was discovering about himself slowly. I, of course, agreed and backed off, keeping my questions to a minimum and not prying if he only gave short answers.

His doctor had also prescribed an anti-anxiety medication, which did open up a partial conversation because Elliot knew I took something for anxiety, too. We compared brands and dosages, but he seemed more interested in learning about my anxieties than talking about his own.

I actually felt a lot more at ease since one of the biggest sources of my anxiety, the hacks, had seemed to stop. CIStech was currently in the process of upgrading Precision Machining’s servers, so everyone was busy with data backups, image backups, replacing memory, installing new cards, and closely monitoring the log files to quickly catch any errors.

I was determined to ensure it went flawlessly, mostly to heal my pride after the cyberattacks.

Even though Elliot and I were both busy at work and didn’t see each other much during the week, we still spent every Friday night through Monday morning together, usually at my place.

Since we had gone sailing last weekend, I figured it would be nice to do something lowkey—just the two of us.

It was around 5:00 pm when I locked up my office and headed down to CIStech’s wing. I said hello to a few employees on their way out, and as I made my way to Elliot’s desk, my smile faltered.

He was deep in conversation with Angela.

My first instinct was to stop and turn around, like I was an intruder. Then, I realized that she was the one at my company, talking to my boyfriend.

Employee, I corrected, attempting to convince myself that jealousy was not at all what I felt.

Angela’s employer, All Safe, was a young company, but they were still competition. Their CEO, Gideon Goddard, was an impressive businessman who finally achieved recognition when he took on cybersecurity for E Corp. Surely Elliot found that repugnant, so surely Angela wasn’t sent here to try to steal him away.

“It’s an impressive setup, El,” I heard Angela say and a little pull of unease settled in my stomach at hearing someone other than myself or Darlene call him that.

Her back was to me, but Elliot noticed my approach and stiffened. At the change in his body language, Angela turned and didn’t bother to hide her surprise at seeing me.

“Hey, Y/N. Coming to make sure your staff isn’t working overtime?”

“That would be Tim’s job, not mine. I’m just here for this guy,” I said as I gently slid my hand over Elliot’s shoulder.

Surprising me, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side; I smiled at him before returning my focus to Angela.

“What brings you here? Surely not trying to steal away our best white hat?”

Angela chuckled, “Wouldn’t dream of it. I had a late lunch with Sarah, one of your account execs--we went to law school together. So I figured I’d just pop in and say hi to Elliot.”

“You went to Fordham, too?”

“No—Hofstra.”

“Hmm. I must be getting my execs mixed up. I’ve always preferred the tech aspect of this business rather than the sales.”

“I’m more of a people person. Computers … intimidate me,” Angela said.

“Quite the opposite of El, huh?”

Angela looked at me for a minute, clearly considering her next response; she and I both knew it would tell me all I needed to know about whether she accepted me as good for Elliot.

“You know what they say about opposites,” Angela said with a smirk. “He needed someone to draw him out of his shell when we were growing up.”

No, she did not approve of me, but despite what my mother believed, I was well-mannered.

I gave her my most charming smile and replied, “I’m glad Elliot had such a good friend growing up. Genuine friendship is a rare and powerful thing.”

Angela’s large blue eyes slid over my face.

“It is. Listen, Elliot. I’m gonna run. It was great seeing you,” she said as she stepped forward and gave him a hug, hanging on until he slowly returned her embrace.

As soon as his hands settled on her back, she pulled away, gave me a wave, and left the office as Elliot and I both watched her walk away.

“Did I … just witness a white-collar catfight?”

I slowly turned my attention to Elliot, only to find him smirking at me. It was the most arrogant expression I had ever seen on his face.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re jealous.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You are … aren’t you?”

“Darlene says it’s good for you if you aren’t always right,” I said walking toward the exit as Elliot hurriedly shuffled into his backpack and doubled his strides to catch me before the elevator.

“So jealous,” he mumbled, and without looking over, I knew he was still smirking.

Slowly, I turned to him with narrowed eyes.

“You think you’re such a genius.”

“Did I or did I not have to hear all about the ‘gorgeousness’ of some pretentious dick named Alexander Strömberg as you and my sister discussed whether he was worth fucking around with or not?”

“You pay attention to that kind of stuff?”

“Of course I do,” Elliot said as the elevator opened up.

We tabled our discussion as we navigated the busy lobby, but as soon as we were on the sidewalk in front of Precision Machining, I asked, “Did you hack him?”

“Of course I did.”

“Elliot!”

“Well …” he trailed off, probably wondering how he lost the upperhand on this conversation.

“I knew Angela didn’t go to Fordham. I was just being a bitch.”

Elliot stopped in the middle of the street, stunned, but I kept walking, a smile hidden on my face.

“You hacked her!” he exclaimed, jogging to catch me yet again.

“Just a little.”

Elliot laughed and leaned into me, pushing me off of the crowded sidewalk and into a little nook that led to a small patch of green the city only called a park so it could honor the very wealthy person it was named after.

His hands moved to my face as he pulled me in to kiss me, his teeth nipping at my lips.

“You are fucking jealous,” he said, grinning into my mouth.

“Shut up,” I said as I slid my hands from his chest to around the back of his head. I brushed my fingers across his short hair as he kissed me again.

--Narrator--

“What are you doing now?”

“Finishing up the track on the 23 IP addresses. None of them used a VPN except two, so once we get them to install the keylogger, we own them.”

“All 23 gonna be dumb enough?”

Master Mind rolled his eyes, “They’re people, aren’t they?”

“You’ve got to hurry—you’re not strong enough to keep Elliot locked up in his therapy session for long.”

“He’s safe there. He thinks he’s getting treated for his social anxiety. He’ll never know any different.”

“We haven’t done anything this extreme before,” Mr. Robot said, his normally controlled speech punctuated with concern.

Master Mind turned his head to aim his comment in Mr. Robot’s direction, “Maybe we should have. He clearly doesn’t understand what’s at stake. Maybe he’s the one who isn’t strong enough to pull off the job?”

“Is that why you fucked his girlfriend?”

Master Mind turned back to Elliot’s computer, “You saw that?”

Mr. Robot moved beside Master Mind and leaned forward, staring at him like he was an idiot.

“I see everything. It’s my job to see everything. And I don’t like that you took advantage of him when he was weak.”

“IP address list is done. When Elliot gets back, all he has to do is embed the malware link in an iframe.”

“That doesn’t solve the problem of Little Miss Fairytale.”

Master Mind’s fingers flexed over the keyboard.

“Do you … like her?”

“Elliot loves her.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Don’t tell me you think you have feelings for her,” Mr. Robot said with a laugh that sounded more like a snarl of warning. “That’s not your domain, pal.”

“She’s … one of them,” Master Mind said slowly, testing out his newfound independence to share his thoughts. Normally, Mr. Robot kept him so quiet that he often wasn’t aware of what Elliot was doing.

Months could go by and life hardly changed for Master Mind, which was probably why he felt more alone than the others; he was really only good at constructing the worlds Mr. Robot sometimes needed to occupy Elliot. And no, Master Mind never refused to help protect Elliot; in fact, he wished he could do more to help him, to make the world a safer place for all of them.

And thanks to Mr. Robot’s overreliance on Master Mind’s hacking skills, he had more time to think now, and he was beginning to realize just what needed to be done to create the kind of world that would be good enough for Elliot.

“After we hack her dad, she’s gonna know. She’ll leave him,” Master Mind decided.

“She hasn’t left him yet.”

“He hasn’t crossed a line he can’t come back from yet.”

“Once we hack the 23 jurors, we should have enough information to get Angela to restart the lawsuit. If we’ve got her working toward our goal, too, all we’ll need is Darlene to start the ring. She’s the one who has the connections.”

“She has the people skills.”

“Something Elliot still can’t quite master.”

Master Mind looked Mr. Robot full in the face, his eyes scanning him for any hint of deception.

“Is all of this necessary? He’s going to hate you if you succeed.”

“He’s not going to remember.”

“How many times are you going to reset him?”

“As many times as I need to protect him from the truth.”

“The truth of what?”

“That’s not your domain either, kiddo,” Mr. Robot said in the voice he normally used to say nice things to Elliot. Master Mind liked that voice and a part of him longed to stay, to keep talking to someone, even if it was Mr. Robot.

“Elliot is gonna fight you.”

“I think he’s gonna put up a hell of a fight, but if we can get Angela back in his life and get rid of his girlfriend, we can get him to focus on what matters—revenge.”

“Revenge,” Master Mind repeated slowly, tasting the way the word moved through his mouth, heavy and important.

Master Mind shook his head, his eyes blinking slowly.

When Elliot realized he was sitting in front of his computer, his brow furrowed. He knew he’d just left the therapist’s office not more than a few minutes ago.

“It’s just me, kiddo,” Mr. Robot said. “I needed to finish what I was working on.”

“I don’t even want to see it,” Elliot said exiting out of every window.

“Suit yourself. But you’ve got work to do.”

“You promised,” Elliot said. “You promised that if I helped you hack the jurors, we could give what we found to Angela and then you’d be done. You said you’d go away and let me live my life.”

“If that’s what you still want when I’m done, yes. I’ll go away and you can try out the whole domestic bliss thing. No contingencies.”

Elliot looked hard at Mr. Robot and a part of him knew he was lying, but it didn’t matter. Elliot was stuck. He had no choice but to take the risk.

At least Mr. Robot was letting him go to therapy, and he was starting to feel a better.

All he had to do was let him scratch a few more itches.

Tags: @sherlollydramoine @rami-malek-trash @teamwolf2411 @limabein @txmel @alottanothing @ouatlovr @backoftheroomandnotbelonging @moon-stars-soul @free-rami @ramimedley @hopplessdreamer @sweet-charmie @polarcrystall @hah0106 @clumsybookworm18 @diasimar @ramisgirl512 @aboutthatmelancholystorm

#Elliot Alderson #elliot alderson x reader #female reader #rami malek #rami malek character #mr robot #mr robot fanfiction #mr. robot #mr. robot fanfiction #Elliot x reader

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wandloreinamerica · 4 years

Text

THE WANDS OF FANTASTIC BEASTS Part 2

This is a follow up to my review of the wands fo Fantastis Beasts.

Bunty’s wand

This totally wooden wand features a beautifully carved pine cone pommel and a short handle covered with gracefully carved foliage. The shaft is thinner but the simple design serves to keep the focus on the carved areas.

I love the carved areas and think the designer did a fantastic job overall. This is a beautiful wand and if it belonged to a character in the original series, I would be praising it for how it remains traditional (all wood) but plays with proportions (thin shaft with a large pommel) while not making that the focus (carvings are the main focus). That being said it fits disturbingly well in this collection of plain shafts and richly decorated handles.

Corvus Lestrange Sr’s Wand

This wand features a hexagonal handle seemingly made from gold. The handle is covered with beautiful, almost Arabic filigree and seems to have an antiqued finished. The handle tapers from a slightly flared band at the pommel down to two narrow bands that still preserve the hexagon shape at the shaft. The pommel proper is slightly recessed from the band, and is made of a shallow dome covered in the same filigree work in a small, smooth ball at the very tip. The shaft is a rich, dark, brown wood with a gentle tape or to a square tip.

This wand is really very beautiful. The colors work well together and I like how both Leta and her father have this intricate filigree work on both of their wands. But when viewed as part of this released collection, it still runs into my main criticism of a sumptuous inorganic handle grafted to a plane shaft.

Auror Wand

This all wooden wand features an exaggerated ball shaped pommel. About half of the pommel is covered with a smooth black wrap that descends to spiral around the handle. The rest of the wood is somewhat textured and a warmer orangish color, with a fairly strong grain pattern.

This wand is more in line with the wands from the original series. The all wood construction is very refreshing; the color palette is reminiscent of Halloween but is not cartoony. I actually really like how the almost oversized pommel looks and I will admit it has inspired me to try similar designs myself.

(Note: I have not been able to find a officially licensed prop version of this wand. I have seen multiple line art pictures from official books and several replicas the preserve the basic idea. That being said there have been small variations in color between them, so I’m not entirely sure if this picture is 100% accurate to what was used in the movie.)

Overall Thoughts

With regards to the officially released wands, my opinion has not shifted much. What these three wands do is expand the color pallet, and they do feature more wood in their construction. As more time has gone by and more images of non-released wands have come to light, it seems that there are more wands that fall in line with designs from the original series i.e. Credence and Grimmson’s. This does make me wonder if the props designers kept more from the original series, but we are not seeing that in the released designs for some reason. If more wands are released I will re-evaluate my opinions, but as of now, my original critique is largely unchanged.

Sources

https://www.noblecollection.com/Item--i-PRP-FB-8055

https://www.noblecollection.com/Item--i-PRP-FB-8063

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/fantastic-beasts-auror-wand-1871265498

#harry potter #wand review #fantastic beasts and where to find them #wand #wands

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papiermachecat · 4 years

Text

Here’s a lengthy ramble about the Culture Hustle watercolor set, with lots of pics/comparison swatches...all for you, Culture Hustle anon (but I love doing this kind of thing so thank you!)

I’m going to go in color spectrum order--they’re divided up according to my arbitrary swatch-placing, not necessarily in the order of the palette. First up: yellows!

All of these are very good IMO--very pigmented, and Happy & Sensei are fairly transparent, too--yellows are not typically the most transparent pigments. These more than hold their own next to Mission Gold, Sennelier, Paul Rubens, and Rembrandt (the brands are abbreviated in the color names). Sensei in particular is beautiful and glowy, and if they sold it by the tube I would buy it.

Red-oranges/Reds: almost all of these are fantastic. Artstar has some weird texture thing going on that made me think it might be a cadmium red, but it’s more transparent than cadmium colors usually are. I get really hung up on texture so I’m not a fan of that one, but Vincent, Raygun, 15 Minutes & Crush are all excellent! 15 minutes looks like a cadmium orange/red, but it’s much more transparent (and has a nice even texture). So far so good....but coming up we take a little detour into Not-so-hotville.

Okay so the purples are really, really pretty. HOWEVER. I am highly suspicious that they contain fluroescence, because there is no watercolor pigment I’ve ever seen that creates purples that vibrant. They might be mixes using their Pink color and a blue...anyway that wouldn’t matter much except that fluorescence is not lightfast (fades with exposure to UV light). I’m conducting a little lightfastness test on my windowsill and will report back--if they are lightfast, I’ll be ecstatic!

Dropout....why. It is incredibly pale--that is the most pigment I could get out of it--which isn’t always a bad thing, but it also has a weird patchy texture reminiscent of the Sakura Koi watercolors (which I loathe). Lapis Lazuli by Daniel Smith is also incredibly pale and a purply-blue (and VERY expensive, made from the genuine stone), so that might be what they were going for--but the genuine Lapis Lazuli has a pretty, soft granulating texture. I don’t own it so I cant compare, I’m just going off swatches I’ve seen.

Bowie & Pink suffer from the same unpleasant texture, but it at least have some color. I am curious about Pink for the same reasons as those bright purples--if it’s lightfast, it’s a very unique color and would be fun to mix with.

Jealous & Runaway save this bunch--they’re really excellent transparent reds, with strong pigmentation and smooth textures.

I’m almost certain Dive & Always are cobalt blue & ultramarine, respectively--unfortunately, they’re rather lackluster versions of those pigments. Both of those are granulating pigments, which accounts for the texture of the swatches, but some companies make less (or more) granulating versions--White Nights granulate significantly, but they’re also much stronger than the Culture Hustle colors.

Alchemy is a pretty color--a deep green-leaning indigo. Zoltar is likely Prussian Blue (which again throws the lightfast question into play, as Prussian Blue is a fugitive pigment, which makes me sad because it’s beautiful and useful :().

King Zulu & 1980 are gorgeous! I have no idea what pigments they are...King Zulu looks like it might be a phthalo blue with white, but it’s vibrant and still mostly transparent, so I’m not sure. 1980 has me totally stumped--it’s so bright, like a cobalt turquoise/teal, but not as green, and perfectly transparent and non-granulating (where cobalt teals are opaque and granulate). I LOVE it, and again, if they sold this by the tube, I’d buy it for sure.

Envy is a typical convenience yellow-green, but a very nice one. Venom is another convenience green, but not quite as nice as Envy. Emerald City I’m almost certain is just Monster plus white (my little swatch next to it is Mission Gold Bamboo Green/PG36 plus white). Monster looks to be a PG36 (a phthalo green, though the less commonly-used one) with possibly a touch of yellow in it--it’s a nice strong color. Loser is almost a phthalo green/PG7 (the typical phthalo green) but looks to have some blue in it. And Swamp is a nice murky deep green, similar to my beloved Sennelier Forest Green but less blue and more earthy. Grudge is a BEAUTIFUL sap green--I suspect it’s made with PY150/Nickel Azo Yellow, because it has that glowy look to it. The texture is lovely. Another one I would buy separately.

Now we’re into the earth tones. They’re...meh. Why on earth they included only 5 earth tones and chose to make two of them nearly identical yellow ochres I do not understand--and they’re not even particularly nice yellow ochres, as they’re quite opaque and heavy. Akhenaten is a nice enough color--almost definitely a PR101, which can produce a wide range of orange-to-red browns. It’s opaque, but that’s characteristic of this type of color (look at my beloved, beautiful M. Graham Terra Rosa over there in all her opaque glory!). The texture of Akhenaten is not as perfectly velvety as Terra Rosa (nothing is), but it’s still nice.

Last but not least! For a company that makes a pigment called Blackest Black, I was expecting more from a color called Void. It’s actually pretty wimpy, comparable to an Ivory Black. Dirtbag is MUCH more intense, but a little warmer than a true black--Spinel Grey, next to it, is actually the strongest black I own despite the name, and Dirtbag is every bit as dark. Look how the Sharpie line totally disappears.

Stump is a nice deep brown/burnt umber color. It’s fine. And then.....Butt Nugget :////. Another nice (if unremarkable) brown, lighter and warmer than Stump.

(Also there’s a white but I didn’t photograph it. It’s run-of-the-mill, not super opaque.)

IN SUMMATION: I think this palette has plenty of really nice colors to work with. For ME it’s not as versatile as I would like because of the packaging--the pans aren’t removable, and they don’t sell refills, so if I get attached to any of these colors and use them up, the only way to replace is to rebuy the entire palette (as far as I know--maybe I missed it?). The color selection is odd to me--so many convenience greens?? I would get rid of a few greens and one of those yellow ochres and replace them with either more earth colors (there’s no burnt sienna-type color which is a palette staple) or some more fun mixes--whihc brings me to my next point: I want pigment info!! I believe almost all of these are two-pigment mixes to make the colors a little more unique, but it’s good to know what you’re working with when you’re trying to mix colors.

All that said, this is a significant step up from the cheaper sets on the market, and has enough great colors in it that it’s worth considering, especially if you aren’t obsessive about collecting and cataloguing colors like I am and you just want to paint like a normal person :).

#art stuff #culture hustle

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jcmorrigan · 4 years

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Can you explain a little about each of your OCs fashion taste and maybe add a pic of the epitome of their style? I want to see which one is most like my own fashion preferences (if I wasn't too lazy to dress up lol)

All right, what I’m going to do is the rapid-fire. I’m gonna tell you names and what they dress like, since you were interested in finding out who matched, and then you (or anyone else) can ask further asks about anyone who looks interesting one at a time and I will GUSH

Venley (protag hero): Wears deep blues (but not navy). Likes swishy skirts, flowing sleeves, and layering. So much layering, especially leggings under short skirts.

Sophira (hero): Has a style I like to call The Worst(TM). Wears non-complementary colors. Patchwork sweaters and miniskirts. Loves rainbow tie-dye. Will not take fashion advice from Axeline and this is going to be the death of Axeline

Axeline (hero): Mostly sticks to red palettes with long coats and corset lacing but will try anything once.

Siademina (hero): Likes to pair cute blouses with bouncy short skirts. Tends to wear warmer colors or pastels.

Zefiraduc (hero): Purple and glitzy. She wants to be a famous pop star and dresses like one.

Arain (hero): Blacks and reds. If the outfit can allow her to blend pants with something skirt-ish, like a side panel, it’s an extra bonus. Always wears the fantasy equivalent of a baseball cap to go with it (and has emo bangs AND a huge ponytail).

Ailuen (hero): Mostly dresses in comfy things, tees and jeans, but when she wants to go all-out, she will pick a pink prom dress with ruffles and sparkles. A nice compromise is if she puts a fancy pink blouse over the jeans. During the planned arc where she becomes a Lawful Evil for a while, wears a white military uniform.

Alivain (deuteragonist villain): Mostly likes red, but occasionally blue or purple. Is a villain and dresses like a villain. Outfits are very bright and flamboyant. I’m toying with an “evil circus” aesthetic for the entire team and have written down some of him acting as the ringmaster, so go ahead and add a red ringmaster’s uniform to his most-worn. I also want him to have gloves with little claws built in at one point. Capes. And he wears high heels because he likes to feel tall and glamorous.

Versafina (villain): All black all the time. Lots of leather. Prefers pants vastly over skirts because she’s a dancer/martial artist who needs the mobility; also she just doesn’t like the femme aesthetic so much. Though she does enjoy wearing the highest of high heels specifically because training in them makes her more balanced and agile, and if she takes them off, you are dead where you stand.

Phantasia (villain): White cocktail dresses. Swanky and glamorous. Usually more pencil-skirt style or form-fitting than anything that has ruffle. Slits that show off the leg are a fave style of hers. High heels for her too.

Zangary (villain): I’m not entirely happy with his design, but for now, I have him in kinda generic dark clothes with an ostentatious long lavender jacket and a black wide-brimmed hat.

Dweixyn (villain): Pink minidresses/blouses and skirts. Has a favorite trench coat that has pink lining on the inside and is darker on the outside. Always wears sunglasses, even indoors and at night, for the aesthetic and no other reason. High heels for her too.

Belador/Belladore (villain): They’re kind of a rave-themed villain so I imagine lots of mesh tops and glow sticks.

Yridel (villain): I’m not entirely sure what her style is, but it needs to show off her cybernetic limbs. That is a must.

Sherida (villain): A form-fitting red bodysuit with a black motorcycle helmet that prevents you from seeing her face. Heavy-soled boots. Steal aesthetics from Vanitas Kingdomhearts? Me? Nooooo

Lirian (villain): “Sun” palettes, with pinks and yellows and reds. But also blue sweaters and skirts (dull in hue). I toy with one of her quirks being wearing ballet shoes everywhere she goes but I’m not sure if that’s silly.

Rachneira (villain): Wears lots of black. Not just a Goth but THAT Hot Topic Goth.

Tomagi (villain): Pink sundresses, particularly with gold lining.

Calpurniko (villain): Jumpsuits, overalls, beiges and dull colors, white tees, anything she can get dirty and not cry over.

Diamandian (villain): White lace. He is cis male but comfortable enough with his masculinity that he adores ruffles and lace hems. Has a matching white parasol and a white top hat.

Maraya (villain): Victorian-esque dress...blue?...and a big ol’ black cloak that hides her appearance. Her design is still kinda under construction because I started out going one direction and then made a hard left on her character

Anastasios (villain): Tunics and breeches. Greens and browns.

Kaxhalen (villain): He is an alien warlord so I’m trying to design a silver extraterrestrial battlesuit but not sure how to make it look unique

Osmend Osmodias (villain): Shiny golden suits. Fedora that’s pulled down to cover his eyes.

Orianelle (villain): black leather that shows a lot of skin. Tanks and shorts that bare midriff. Tall black boots with heavy soles.

Siersyrei (villain): Navy blue and that’s about all I know for now, though there are reasons I’d like her to have a skirt with shorts underneath.

Clancette (B-team hero): When in civvies, wears a lot of pink “kawaii” clothing. Jackets over tanks. Lots of pins with the fantasy equivalent of Sanrio characters. Rainbow stockings. As a Magical Girl, is associated with the color pink and element of wind; her outfit has a short and wide ruffly skirt and any way a breeze can be implemented into the design is welcome.

Xar/chelyna (B-team hero): When in civvies, he wears button-down shirts and blue pants. As a Magical Girl, she is associated with blue and water, so skirts that are long and wavy and any ocean motifs. Also enjoys a blue top hat.

Loveleigh (B-team hero): Both civvies and Magical Girl clothing are red/fire-associated. Likes slinky skirts and low-cut blouses.

Fernamele (B-team hero): Both civvies and Magical Girl clothing are yellow/lightning-associated. Another pop star wannabe who dresses in glitz and glitter, with swishy short skirts.

Zelladane (B-team hero): Civvies are sweatshirts, jeans, and heavy rubber boots with a lot of dirt built on them from her gardening. Magical Girl clothing is green/plant-associated, but with pink accents. Any piece that’s green with pink flower decorations on it automatically makes me think of her.

Aoliaoma (B-team hero): Undecided on civvies, but her big character quirk is that she seems perpetually sleepy, so I could see her just forgetting to change out of her full-length pajamas that are probably black satin. As a Magical Girl, her association is black/the void, and she has a short dress meant to look like that of a traditional witch, with a pointed witch’s hat on top.

Ravenille (antihero): Denim jackets and pants. Lots of denim. Silver face piercings and LOTS of them.

Arisia (antihero): I specifically see her in a blue tank top, a brown skirt/shorts and chain mail overlays. Anything with chain mail makes me think of her. Also, tall heeled boots. She might also wear a mask made of chain mail that covers the lower half of her face.

Lunisia (antihero): Pink. Skirts with leggings beneath. Quirky shoes, like black patent-leather with buckles.

Rhodelton (antihero): The ugliest yellow jacket you can imagine over a T-shirt and jeans.

Phaeley (minor character, could be moved to antihero squad): Black tanks and long skirts. Slightly Goth but not that much. Always wears a black newsboy hat.

Sylvisa (minor character, could be moved to antihero squad): Almost exactly Versafina’s style except more masculine. I should probably refine his.

Dashorra (minor character): Anything that’s split right down the middle as black/white is fair game.

Victorique (minor character): Shiny silver dresses with long skirts.

Isisa (minor character): White toga and gold hair ornamentation.

Phil (minor character): Is literally a sentient pile of green slime and never wears clothes, but if he did, it’d be business suits with tacky striped ties.

Tristabelle (minor character): I usually picture her in a dark blue low-cut dress with a loose, flowing skirt, but I feel like it needs refinement.

Madwyn (minor character): I usually picture her in a form-fitting black cocktail dress, but I also feel like this could be more special.

Diceanne (minor character): I usually picture her in a pink bodysuit with gold accents that lacks sleeves or legs, so I kind of want to do something with this and the concept of tackling the issue of revealing clothing and sexism and how much choice is had in the matter so I guess her final outfit will come to me once I’ve got the arc in mind

Beccatrice (minor character): I usually picture her in a white toga, but unless she and Isisa are part of the same order or class or something, I should probably make hers different.

Sharamantha (minor character): Brightly-colored overalls (pink, green, purple) over white tees. Sneakers.

Eudarmence (minor character): Shiny gold gowns. Any shiny gold gown. Also likes shiny gold hair ornamentation. Has to be the shiniest thing in the room.

Ilyènne (minor character): Either yellow dresses with loose skirts or this specific pink blouse with a huge ostentatious ribbon on the chest that I got in my mind’s eye once.

Riaudne (plot-device character): Pink-and-silver dresses. She’s royalty, but I want to play with her culture not being Eurocentric, so I want to shake up this design somehow but I’m not yet sure how

Aelistene (plot-device character): Brightly colored minidresses (mint green or deep purple), likes hair ornaments.

Magnus (Lawful Evil villain): All white all the time. Looks very regal - jackets, waistcoats. Very masculine as well.

Janiel and Tjeron are both mooks of the Lawful Evil faction and will eventually renounce their ways, but I have literally never pictured them in anything other than military uniforms that I originally designed as black but now have changed to white for symbolic deconstruction reasons

The following characters are still under construction to where I’m not sure of their fashion style at all: Valencindri (villain sidekick), Dr. Hope Lessness (villain), Mercy Lessness (villain sidekick), Lainnhartt (villain), Soligeo (villain sidekick), Khairic Kajé (antihero), Aerokai (antihero), Tredwulfall (antihero), Burqueley (antihero), Liodax (minor character), Ririko (minor character), Ayali (minor character, possibly antihero), Lilianet (minor character), Spectra (minor character), Prettiza and Kyista (minor characters who have to wear the same outfit), Rewnoki (minor character), Delena (minor character), Jaydrey (minor character), Mejame (minor character), Shananadel (minor character), Veline (Lawful Evil), Keiandra (Lawful Evil), or Oquian (Lawful Evil).

I hope this has helped you figure out whose style you match and also see how many freaking characters I have designed and I don’t intend to stop until I have enough to fill a huge fantasy world but then I’ll probably keep going anyway because my mind is apparently hooked on designing now

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