#hey thanks for asking about them!!

[figloom]

…….We are so back🗣️‼️

Twisted from the Mouse himself. By all means an art prodigy, Lille longs for the creatively pure years of his childhood. He’s been burned by corporate interest too many times rendering him distrustful and tired. Perhaps he might reignite his passion in NRC…

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

In Regards To Your 2024 Summary:

Holy shit it’s been another year????? The hell?????

Also! Your art style is gorgeous and that being found in 2023 and then refined throughout late 2023 and the entirety of 2024 really shows, as does your growth in panel layouts, perspective, and — as you said — experimentation. If you ever post your animation or video game art I’m looking forward to it.

As cheesy as it sounds, being able to laugh at funny comics and look at all the details of your art really made my 2024 brighter, even when things were hard. Including looking at your older art— it doesn’t need to be new to be enjoyable! I’m glad your art is well loved and it’s a privilege to have been here since the (near) beginning. I hope you take care of yourself in 2025 and beyond!

You and your art bring a lot of people a lot of joy never forget that <3

Thank you so much for keeping up with my art journey throughout these last two years! Two years!!! I am baffled at how that feels both too long and too short!

Admittedly, my art summary didn't manage to capture the fact that I did a lot of comic layouts that I'm really proud of. I also drew more backgrounds and made some very detailed works (*Dungeon Meshi spoilers for these examples*).

The growth is lot more evident when comparing my 'best' comics of 2023 to 2024:

Sometimes the growth is vertical, sometimes it is horizontal - and damn, sometimes it goes out of sight into the Z-plane. But it is always happening!

[johnnyshrine]

★ 100 // “The Holy Bible”

[fearandhatred]

the rapture

it's a holy thing, in theory, a glorious celebration, where those who believe rise to meet the lord in the air. it's a day of joy, in theory, and maybe even of vindication for those who have always believed.

but no one thinks about how it's like to see the dead rise again—bodies clawing their way out of bolted wood and six feet of packed earth, bodies decomposed and maggot-feasted, nails stained with rot and dirt. no one thinks about the violent lurch of their bodies being jolted into the air by the stomach, gravity flinging their heads back down to earth as they struggle in vain to find footing on molecules and gas. no one thinks about those who don't make it.

no one thinks about the screams.

crowley hadn't thought about any of these things. he certainly hadn't thought about the angels that would be called back to heaven along with the believers.

here they stand dead in the middle of absolute ruin, the promise of heaven the only thing left to look forward to on the wasteland of this earth. the sky has opened up like the eye of god, watching over her people for the very first time, and crowley's black wings against the beams of light only remind him that he doesn't belong up there with the rest of them. crowley wraps his arms tight around aziraphale, squeezes his torso like he can maybe keep aziraphale with him through sheer will or, laughably, demonic intervention. like love could ever be enough. like love could stay.

around them, the cacophony of wails and mockingly exaltant trumpets scorch the earth in their intensity, clashing and agonising even—especially—for them, and words make no sound. but they hold on to each other, even as they shrink into themselves against the noise of the undying. i don't want to leave you either, aziraphale doesn't say, but his hands dig into the cotton of crowley's sleeve, and crowley hears the words through his fingertips.

he feels a stronger upward resistance against his embrace now, and he clings tighter, steadfast, even as aziraphale's grip falters. but he knows he can't hold on forever. he knows that nothing ever lasts.

trembling with something unspeakable, he lifts his arms from aziraphale's torso and covers the angel's ears with his hands. he feels more than hearing aziraphale's resulting sob, and he spreads out his wings to wrap them around their bodies. a shield, a comfort, a goodbye.

it's okay, the gesture says in silence. i'll see you in another lifetime.

[moeblob]

[nekrosmos]

Tell me your silliest takes on Nikolai and Price? <3 Or any headcanons you have of either of them, really.

Silly NikPrice, I can do :3c

I think Nik is a hugger even in his sleep and sometimes Price wakes up in the middle of the night because he has to piss and can't escape those massive bear arms (and Nik would try to pull him closer even as he's sleeping) and it's a silent battle that ensues, often ending in Price giving up.

When Price is being particularly grumpy or strict for some reason, Gaz likes to act mysterious and say "I know a way to calm him down" to Soap and Ghost. He never lies, however, as all it takes is for him to send a text to Nik, and for Nik to send a picture of himself in various states of undress to Price. The face John makes when he glances at his phone, only for his ears to turn all red as he fumbles an excuse that he has to go check something in his office, is something the 141 never gets tired of.

Most of the time, Nik makes the big gestures. That man is a romantic and now that he finally has John, he's gonna make him feel like he's the most beautiful man in the world. However, sometimes Price surprises him too. The smile on Nikolai's face when John gets him with something he didn't expect is worth everything to John. The love making that follows is out of this world, too.

Nik loooooooves to find ways to sneakily touch Price when he really shouldn't be doing that. Maybe they're sitting around a table negotiating important intel with shady people from Nik's side when Price suddenly feels Nik's boots against his crotch and sees him smirks at him from across the table. Asshole. Or maybe the two are undercover in a van, eying an area at night for someone they need to crab, Price's eyes glued to his binoculars when Nik's hand suddenly sneaks past his belt and boxers and starts teasing him. Even worse, the person they were waiting to retrieve finally shows up and Price has to grab a guy while almost fully hard and unsatisfied. Thanks, Nik.

Sometimes they like to slow dance together. Just the two of them, in Price's house or his quarters, whatever. They put some quiet music and just start doing it naturally. It's gentle, it's quiet, it's just them and they can finally have a moment to breath and enjoy each other's embrace. John never feels more at peace than when in Nik's arms, and Nik is happy to oblige, big hands stroking through Price's hair and staring into his blue eyes. Sometimes one of them ends up saying a very, very bad joke, and they start laughing, almost uncontrollably, more out of exhaustion than anything, and they end up falling on a nearby couch or bed and they laugh and laugh together like nothing else in this world matters but them.

Nik watching Price struggle to order food in Russian while they're in a russian speaking country. He could help him, but it's just so damn adorable to watch him fumble through his words and see John's panicked glance turn back to him when he failed to order coffee for the third time in a row. John's revenge is to speak in slang he damn well knows Nik won't understand for the rest of the day.

Every time John is cold in bed, snuggling close to Nik, it reminds him of that time when they were way, way younger and got sent off somewhere in Eastern Europe in the middle of winter, and the two had to bunker down in a shitty hotel, in a shitty bedroom that (gasp) had only one shitty bed and whose heater was broken. It had been a little bit awkward at the time, and Nik had offered to sleep on the floor, which John had refused, offering it in return, only for Nik to also shut him down. Eventually, the two had climbed into bed, backs turned to one another, until John began to shiver uncontrollably, the thin blanket not helping with the freezing temperatures. Quietly, Nik had turned around and gently wrapped his arms around John. None of them said anything, no words were exchanged, and Price quickly stopped shivering. There were no mention of this happening the day after, or the day after, not until years later when the two began their relationship and Nik admitted it had been extremely difficult to stop himself from kissing the back of Price's neck that night, or let his hands wander. Price admitted the same, and the two had laughed it off. There had been plenty of opportunities to do just that since then.

[imeriayapping]

(After casey visit to ranch)

[sifs-left-eye]

Been rotating a self insert esque isekai story where the universe pulls someone from our world into isat to be the “help” that loop asked for post-game after complicated circumstances surrounding that persons death. Except they have no idea what’s going on bc that mf never communicates and are just fumbling around the entire time. Emotional support universe assigned random weirdo stranger who keeps talking about Netflix and TV’s.

[m0e-ru]

manager manager can you draw naoto about to cross a road

happy 1 year to naoto about to cross a road 👍

[relaxxattack]

every time someone calls moirallegience just an alien qpr i wilt a lil like YEAH thats more or less the CLOSEST human thing but its also Literally Not That. like a qpr is fundanmentally not romantic and thats not even going into moirails whole Actual Purpose of calming ppl down. its just. aughhhhh pisses me off i see the confusion but, as aformentioned, aughhhhh

OH MY GOD THIS HAS BEEN BOTHERING ME TOO.... but i don't want to get petty at the people in my notes always saying "moirails are QPRs!" because in some ways that is the closest human thing so it's hard to be mad...

i think there's definitely some overlap in some ways. but NOT because moirallegiance and qprs are the same at all really, but INSTEAD because both relationships can be outside of popular human norms.

you know... like any relationship.

like the only reason the two really have overlap is because they are both committed emotional partnerships that aren't required to involve sex? that should be true for all romance, even if it's not the norm right now.

they're both just romances* that are unconventional to human norms, which makes people view them as the same thing when they're not.

i think the REAL issue here is that humans insist on using human words to understand things that are just, fundamentally, alien. can't we just appreciate alien romance for being... alien romance?

no, moirallegiance is not platonic, it's romantic. it's just romantic in a way you don't understand, is all. that doesn't invalidate that romance.

*in generalization, most QPRs are not romantic, because they are made up of aroaces who are life partners in a non-romantic way. however i want to disagree with you that none of them are romantic, because that is up to the partners in question.

[theangrypomeranian]

BB Positivity Time! <3 What would be an ideal episode plot focusing on your favorite character? What about your favorite ship? Finally, your favorite familial/platonic relationship? Feel free to be as brief or or as detailed as you like!

From the bottom of my heart, I want an episode where Zeke works in the restaurant with the Belchers. I want Bob trusting him in the grill while he has to run out to help Teddy with something (that can be the B plot). I want Louise trying to pull him into shenanigans but him being like "no I was trusted here I gotta do this." I want Linda comforting him after he messes up some orders from stress and giving him a big ol hug. I want Tina seeing how reliable he is and warming up to him even more. Then I want Bob coming back and being impressed with his skills and telling him good job, which makes my boy tear up and smile so big. And if it ended with him and Tina complimenting each other and maybe JUST MAYBE her blushing, I could pass away peacefully. I am begging the writers for another episode with my boy just being with the family, that is all I want. 😭😭

[artofapeach]

Hi friend! Hope doing this in asks is okay, I saw your post about needing some Thoughts on Funger characters for your comic so I wanted to help out :3 I'm sure you already know about all my feelings on Pav and Karin so instead I'll yap about Marina and Daan if that's cool! I just find it interesting how their views on religion contrast each other (with Marina being an occultist and Daan's past with Sylvian) and as Daan goes on about how he dislikes it (in the church I believe) he says the line 'If your happiness relies on the shoulders of others, then you're screwed', in which Marina goes quiet afterwards. And while it could mean nothing, to me that gives me the impression that she took it personally. Maybe she's a people pleaser and she felt called out? Who knows! Also adding to Daan's dislike of the Gods/Sylvian, when they're at Sylvian's Square and Abella tries to bring up how suggestive the fountain looks, he gets very short with her ('Yes. We get your point'). Usually he has something sarcastic or witty to say, so to be that blunt to someone as nice as Abella tells me that he was VERY uncomfortable and eager to leave. Idk, I just thought that stuck out to me. Meanwhile while Marina is at the square she's just like 'oh yeah fun fact there used to be a brothel here lol' completely unbothered, what a queen haha

HI SAM THANKS FOR REACHING OUT :D

Okay okay okay but Daan and Marina (and O’saa, but this ain’t about him) are my religious trauma family fr fr!!!!

I’m so invested in how they both grew up in super religious households and how they deal with the effects of that differently. Because while Daan is very obviously negative when it comes to religion, especially sexually religion (for obvious reasons), Marina is cheerful but insults it at the same time, almost like a coping mechanism?

Plus, Marina is especially interesting because she’s literally in school studying magic and religion. She probably feels trapped, like who would she without the church and Alll-mer? And and and when looking at a photo of her dad, she mentions how the lineage has to end, but she doesn’t make any comments about what she’ll do instead.

I think that could also tie in with what you said in Daan mentioning “If you’re happiness relies on the shoulders of others”—I wonder if she’s thinking of the idea of letting go of religion even then 🤔

SEGUE-WAY INTO DAAN

Daan cutting Abella off coldly at the statue is actually not the only time he does it! He also does it at the mall, with all the people hanging on the ceiling!

Levi mentions that it seems like the people there are enjoying it (which Daan agrees to), suggesting that the whole thing might be a sexual religious act.

When they go back down and Daan and Abella are there, we get this dialogue:

Those two instances just feel…so similar to me. It’s also interesting that they’re both triggered by Abella djndjfnjsjdnf

Also, while looking for the above pic, I also came across dialogue where he mentioned he’s done enough camping for a lifetime because of his parents, which I admittedly didn’t think about. Religious trauma even ruined camping for him :(

Daan’s the opposite of Marina—instead of leaning into it and making fun (like most of the Termina contestants tbh), he avoids anything relating to the Bunnymasks as much as possible.

It does make me wonder if he could help Marina let go of her past and find something new to strive for—he was able to do it with the kindness of the von Dutches so maybe he can do the same for Marina!—but that’s just me being obsessed with found family at that point 😆

[moldy-flowers]

ITS BUBBA!! I DIDNT WANT TO SEND A MESSAGS BUT!!! Heh…do u have more OC refs?? Id love to draw them again (if that’s okay) if not do you have a character/s i could draw for ya?!? Or really js anything!

p.s. here are some vale drawings that’re too unfinished. Thank you for ur support and interest in her!! I hope im able to return the favour one day! <333

BUBBA BUBBA HI HI HI HI HI HI HIIIII!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the late response but u have no idea what a bitch it was to find and pull all of this crap together!!

I don't actually too often draw my Ocs, I actually write about them more and sneak them into fanfics that'll never see the light of day. But I have a few diagrams I made so I could picture them in my head when writing them! They're normally not rlly completed (that's why the drawings of Chinatsu and Kikuko were so lackluster,,, and there was no way I was gonna show Yuko that girl looked like she was mauled by a raccoon) and all my Ocs revolve in some way around Sasuke bc the brainrot is strong with this one.

My main Ocs are all meant to be mentors to Sasuke. I made them all canon compliant, so they all die in the og story but in the plot of the main fic I'm plotting like only the elders and police force were murdered (everyone say thank you Sakura!) So Sasuke still has the opportunity to learn about his clan and their techniques. This is also a thinly veiled excuse to create lore for the Uchiha (for Sasuke)

Once again excuse the lackluster art I swear im better than this!!

This is Kotone!! (IK IT SAYS NATSU IN THE LEFT ONE BUT ILL GET BACK TO THAT IN A MOMENTTT) She's my victim I use to practice pixel art! She's seen the absolute worst sides of me (My Danagonranpa and Mha phase...) omg her design has changed SO MUCH over the years its not even funny. Her name used to be Asuna, then it was Suna, then it was Yuri and then we arive to now. It may as well just be four different characters cause the designs aren't remotely related but eh.

Shes the receptionist at the Uchiha police force and she got her skull absolutely crashed in!!! Horrible concussion- actually ruined her. She cannot handle more than two people talking or she'll disassociate, which was actually an issue she had before but the trauma of watching her friends die and then getting trapped under rubble for 6 days straight with no food,,, uh it fucked with her a little ill be real w/ u.

Despite being a bit ditsy now shes actually very intelligent. She teaches Sasuke how to Integrate Genjutsu training into everyday life (the little Genjutsu creatures she made are what kept her entertained and remotely sane under the rubble) she always casts these little spirals around her, it annoys most people in the clan but Sasuke thinks its fun (and Kotone loves him for it) they also help her manipulate people since they're very very vaguely hypnotic.

She also plays the Flute. But she's not the one who teaches Sasuke about that!!!!

ABOUT THE NATSU THING!!!

THATS ACTUALLY TECHNICALLY HER PREVIOUS INCARNATION, AND MADARAS OLDER SISTER (OK ik that in canon Madara and Izuna only have brothers but leaves me alone i don't care!!! I swear this is like the only thing I changed from canon.)

SO THE REASON THE OUTFITS LOOK DIFFERENT IN THE TWO ARTS IS BC. THEYRE TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE. Anyways Natsu died saving Izuna from getting kidnapped. Thats how he got his sharingan 👍 (I SWEAR ILL TALK ABOUT THE REINCARNATION IN A MOMENTTT)

Here are her old designs and oh my god this was so annoying to find and it turned out to just be embarrassing so jsbsns here it is 😔

The ginger one was her first version, Asuna. And the one with buns is Suna, she came with me thru my danagonranpa phase. Which tbh wasn't actually a phase i just moved her over to danagonranpa to be friends with my friends oc. Shes was the ultimate florist. Her eyes are actually green but she thought green was an ugly colour and injected her eyes with ink. And somehow. She's not blind?

Also!!! Kotones eyes are still green. Her father is only half Uchiha and she got her green eyes from her grandmother. But she's embarrassed about it so she hides it behind her hair.

Heres her with her accessories, and hair I guess, off.

AND THEN THERES RIHITO!!! She's a much more recent Oc!

(Blegh you can tell how much I rushed both of theseee)

Shes the head priest, her main place of worship is Susano's shrine, but she also actively prays at Tsukoyomi's and The nine-tails shrine (just to make sure when he inevitably breaks out of the 5-year-old he'll have just a little mercy on them!)

Alsoo it says she communes with the dead in her chart there, not dead humans, dead Uchiha (thanks to her) are reincarnated into different body's, so she wouldnt really be able to meet them. And if she did then she'd perform a ritual on the spirit to allow it to pass on to a new body. She just likes to hang with the dead rats and birds sometimes.

She teaches Sasuke about the clans culture and God's, she also gets him interested in blacksmithing and poisons. Exclusively because her knife is very pretty and also very dangerous.

THAT REMINDS ME!!! Not pictured but the shirt-dress she's wearing has built in gloves. Not a germaphobe but in her line of work touching anything with her skin is usually very very disrespectful or very very unsafe.

Shes also got dogteeth and plays the harp expertly. These facts don't affect the story whatsoever.

Theres a third character, Isuzu, she teaches Sasuke how to play the Ocarina. But uhh... she hasnt got a design yet. She has black hair. Uh. She mainly plays the flute. She doesn't have legs. Or well, she has one thigh. Sne lost one and a half legs in the massacre. It was her fault, really. She was trying to protect her sickly and dying father from being murdered. Pftt what a loser! I know she has that typical high collar Uchiha shirt. But uh I don't know about the rest of her outfit. But I think it would be cool if she had earrings that were vials with poison in them.

Yeah, I dont know much about her yet. I haven't gotten to writing that part of the story yet... if anyone wants to help with her design I welcome you.

AND NOW WE MOVE ONTO KIKUKO!!!! Our perfect little lady. She's a nurse and is decently main to the plot,,,

This was just a very speedy drawing I did cos I wanted to redesign her outfit.

Anyway she teaches Sasuke that actually healing people is very cool and actually epic. Which Sakura backs up, but based on past experiences Sakura is not. Trustworthy. So he needs family to confirm what she says.

There's not actually too much to Kikuko bc her whole character isn't centered around her clans culture, and she actually fights against Fugaku in favour of Konoha (She only does that bc she's co-dependant w her gf and doesnt want to leave her but shhhh)

Uh she's actually pretty far removed from her clans culture (Thanks a lot for that Chinatsu,,,) but she's still very religious. Her main God she prays to is Amaterasu.

(NOT RELATED BUT MIKOTO PRAYS TO SUSANO AND FUGAKU TO TSUKOYOMI)

Im sure there are more details I'm missing but I'm not about to read through the whole plot of Take 2 just to find some more Uchiha lore I've already accidentally taken a nap while writing this. But JANSJSJAKAN I hope this is what you were looking for!!!!! I was originally a bit anxious about dropping these guys out to the public but it was actually such a joy to share them ty ajsnsjakka

[spookythesillyfella]

Hhhiii… hi hello… hiiii…hello…

I’ve noticed this inbox is open. May I please get sum fun HV!Sketchbook facts. Pls. Is that possible pls pls. (In a normal cool way)

I offer a sacrifice

woah !!!! kitty meowz !!!!! theyre so "bleehh :33" theyre so cutezy !!!!! i wanna take a bite outta them . chew it . spit it out . chew it again and then swallow it !!!!!! grabbing them and chucking them accrozz the wall az hard az i can expeditiouzly !!!!!

but worry not . dear jumz – u need not offer a sacrifice ; im happy enough to yap about the skrunkly boy already !!!

★ originally . i bazed a lot of hiz character on Emu Otori [from project sekai] and Rana [vocaloid] ; while a couple of thoze azpectz remain unchanged . i will say that itz the main reazon that . for a while . i seemed to associate paper with the color pink – theze dayz . however . paper iz more inclined to the color red

★ Sketch haz a dizlike of large bodiez of water [lakez . seaz . oceanz nd allat jazz] ; even simply being near one of them – feet planted firmly juzt before the water – she getz a sinking feeling in her stomach

★ Sketch getz incredibly focuzed when making art ; they can be so keen on finishing a piece that paper forgetz to do stuff like eat / drink / sleep / etcetera – uzually . they alzo have a difficulty tracking time [but luckily Tony iz there to offer hiz expertize]

★ speaking of art . whenever Sketch managez to overwork himzelf to the point of collapzing . she tendz to fall azleep at her desk – the paint that haz splurged onto the surface staining their face and hair az well ; while Tony iz the one who uzually findz paper like thiz [and promptly carriez him over to bed before cleaning up the mess left behind] . Electracey haz alzo walked in on thiz dizplay [their solution iz to juzt put a blanket over paperz shoulderz and bring over a glazz of water for when he wakez up]

★ Sketch likez to work a lot with the windowz open . ezpecially after it rainz – paper alwayz sayz that "the fresh air really doez provide better inzpiration"

★ Sketch and Colin have a sort of [mock]rival relationship ; itz incredibly childish – where they hold petty grudgez . ignore one another . and are juzt generally a nuizance – but itz moztly juzt how they exprezz their own appreciation towardz one another ; therez never any real hard feelingz

★ Sketchbook iz mozt commonly referred to by everyone az "Sketch" . although Tony iz the only one to call her "Sketchy"

★ Sketchz faverite flowerz are dandelionz

thaaatz about it !!! i hope theze factz were good enough to satizfy ur cravingz for the little meow meow !!! cuz i perzonally feel a little lezz inclined to comp on hiz arm !!! haha !!!

[softquietsteadylove]

tomb raider. Please. Smut. I beg of you.

Gilgamesh woke at the sound of his door being opened. It was the middle of the night, late for even Karun to be 'checking on him', or Druig to be looking for the best spot in the mansion to relay a signal or some bullshit.

Gil had gotten used to a lot of that while he had stayed with them.

It was only going to be while Thena was still in a cast, at first. He had been with her in the hospital after transport, and he got the impression that she had silently - maybe even reluctantly - appreciated him being there with her. And so when she insisted she could be treated from the comfort and privacy of her estate, he had just...gone with her then, too.

Karun had set him up in a room in the east wing. The house was so damn big it was more like a castle. He checked up on Gil regularly, but Gil got the sense it was actually because Karun was deeply protective of Thena, and keeping his eyes on their first guest in what he had implied to be decades helped him feel better.

Druig was seen less often, usually scurrying from point A to point B while working and perfecting said work. He would spare Gil the odd good morning (no earlier than 4pm), or maybe even a nod of his head while pilfering the main kitchen for things his guest house lacked.

Thena was finally up and around, and recovering well. The stitches in her leg had dissolved and she no longer needed crutches or even a cane. Really, there was little reason for him to still be there.

But none of them mentioned it. He had brought it up once or twice, mostly out of fear that he might overstay his welcome and come off as rude and imposing. Thena and Karun and Druig had their own ecosystem, here.

But Thena had quietly yet definitively said that he was welcome--no expiration date. That was the end of the discussion. It sounded a bit open ended, but Gil got the sense from the other two men there that it was practically asking him to stay, as far as Thena was concerned.

So he did.

He blinked, trying to orient himself in the dark of the room. It was a hell of a room; big, fancy bed, old wood, canopy and everything. Thena's room was just as fit for a princess as he had always imagined.

He had been in there a few times now, checking on her, bringing her food. Even just keeping her company while she was bedridden, and explosively cranky because of it. Karun and Druig had avoided it, but Gil didn't mind it, all things considered. It felt like the Thena he knew from working, more than the tired and vaguely depressed Thena who was defeated from having to stay off her leg for nearly two months straight.

"Thena?" he blinked, trying to see in the dark. There was a little blueish moonlight creeping in from the beautiful windows, but they had heavy curtains to help keep the sunlight from invading as early as dawn, given the room orientation.

She padded over to him. He had learned that she was as silent as a cat walking around. She was light on her feet while working, sure, but her in bare feet?--he would be better off trying to track a ghost.

Gil reached for the night stand lamp but her land laid over his to keep him from it. She pushed forward, keeping him towards the center of the bed, even perching herself on the luxurious white sheets and duvet.

Her never saw her with her hair down. It was beautiful.

"You okay?" he asked, but still didn't receive an answer.

She had been...different. For the last two weeks of his stay, she had been watching him, quietly, almost patiently, like she was waiting for a certain tell. They still sparred verbally, as they were wont to do, but sometimes after Thena would get all quiet and then just...look at him.

Like now.

"Thena-!" Gil blinked as she leaned over, pressing her lips to his. Her amazing, amazing lips. His hands moved a little too automatically, finding the sleek bend of her waist and the sharp line of her jaw.

"Hm." It was such a small sound, but god did it make him want to hear more. He reached for more, greedily pulled her closer to him. Her hands spread out on his chest, which he had forgotten was completely bare.

"Mm, Thena," he tried to gather his self-control and pull away. She didn't make it easy. He frowned, "are you--this is-"

She leaned forward, kissing him again. "Karun is asleep."

That was her argument?--that her lurking father figure wouldn't be interrupting them?

Gil moaned (totally against his will). Her pale skin absolutely glowed from what light existed in the room. She was wearing a light, silk white robe. It loosened as she leaned against him and he caught sight of even more skin. He moaned louder.

She was completely naked under it.

Thena climbed on top of him, decisive and direct as she always was. She kissed him in a way that made it impossible for him to stop. Well, it made her impossible to resist. His hands slid up her waist, over her slim rib cage and back. She alternated between straddling his hips between her knees and rising up to press their chests together.

He grunted as he felt her breasts crush against him.

Thena ran her hand over his shoulder and up his neck, scraping until she could run her fingers through his hair. "Gil."

He practically whimpered. She was making this really, really difficult to resist. And his body was way, way ahead of him.

She pressed her hips down against his, teasing the firmness in his sweatpants like the mink she was. Her lithe limbs slithered around over him, teasing him mercilessly with sensation.

He growled in the back of his throat. He was way beyond salvation, way beyond willpower. He just wanted more of her. He reached down, tracing over her buttocks to her thighs so he could hoist her higher and closer.

"Ow!"

He froze, horror flooding through him. "I-I-I'm so sorry, are you-"

She giggled (she-demon). She pressed her lips to his neck, whispering right in his hot flushed ear, "sorry, just kidding."

He huffed through his nose. Okay, that was enough. He was not going to let her have her way with him again--not this time. He grasped her delectable flesh anew, rolling her over and under him, into the center of the bed he had been occupying.

Thena looked up at him, her hair splayed out, robe open, teasing him with the perfect crevice of exposure. Pale and glowing, firm and soft, lithe and plump, she was sculpted by Aphrodite herself.

Gil laid over her, kissing her more firmly. She responded with the same vigour. If this was how she wanted to play it, then fine. If she wanted him to kiss her, he would kiss her. If she wanted him to touch her, he would touch her.

If she wanted him to fuck her, he was going to make her see the sun and moon and stars.

Thena moaned into his mouth, their tongues fighting one another, because even joined at the hips, they couldn't harmonise completely. She dragged his sweatpants off of him, he pulled the robe away, not caring what happened to the expensive material once it was off of her hot flushed skin.

Gil bent to her neck, latching on hard. He kissed, he licked, he dragged his teeth over the skin there, just enough that she could feel the impact he was making on her. One of her legs dragged up to hook around his hips, the other avoided him. He would avoid it, too.

Thena gasped as he put a firm hand on her waist, holding what little existed there to make sure she was aware just how much he wanted this--how much she had wound him up. If she wanted to rattle his cage, mission accomplished.

"Fuck," he cursed as he pushed into her slowly. He was a wound up, hungry animal, but he would never be able to live with hurting her. If anything, he had declined job after job after job the last two months to make sure quite the opposite happened.

Thena's groan joined his as he docked his hips against hers. She melded around him as if they were made for each other--as if they had always had this option and just held back for some reason he couldn't yet think of.

He kissed her openly, greedily, and she responded with her own greed. He parted from her only when he needed to breathe, or when he leaned up on his elbow to get leverage. He started moving.

"Gil!" she panted for breath, moving her hips with his. God, she responded to him like they were made to make love. Her hands moved from lying limply on the pillows by her head to grabbing onto him. "Fuck."

He grunted as he moved. She felt so good, she looked so good, everything about her, he drank up and hoped he would never forget this feeling. The bed creaked faintly but he didn't give a shit who heard them. He kissed her neck again, dragging his tongue down until he discovered the joy of her breasts.

Thena made a new sound as he took a nipple between his teeth. Again, not too hard, but enough that she would know it was him, even come tomorrow.

He pressed his face into her cleavage. She sounded really cute right now, but if he said that, not only would neither of them finish, she might kill him.

"Gil," Thena moaned again, a little higher, a little louder.

"Fuck, Thena," he moaned, and he meant it deep in his bones. She was incredible, like nothing else he'd ever felt before. "I want you to come."

Her whole body shuddered, as if no one had ever said those words to her. He wanted her writhing in pleasure, like the living, breathing goddess she was. This woman who filled his veins with fury at times; he wanted her veins flushed with ecstasy.

Every time she laughed, he wanted her mouth on his. Every time she made a crude little joke, he wanted to steal it off her lips with his own tongue. Every time she would sway her hips at him or give him an up-and-down with those eyes of hers, it made him want her.

She made another inhumanly beautiful sound as he picked up speed. He slid one hand up the bed, locking her fingers with his and sliding them both under the pillows until her arm was as far as it could go. The other he used to keep a hold of her, between holding her waist within his palm to sliding over her breast and then to cradling the back of her head, her hair weaving between his fingers like sunbeams.

"Gil, that's it, right there," she whimpered, in such a criminally charming way it was more seductive than anything she could have worn - or not worn - tonight. Her fingers squeezed against his.

"Beautiful thing," he growled directly into her ear. She shuddered around him again. His hips took on a mind of their own, driving them both to the inevitable conclusion. "You were made to be worshiped."

Thena let out a string of noises, sounds he never thought he would hear her silken voice make. Each and every one of them was divine, like music to his ears. For all she had come in here intending to take from him, she had given him a hell of a lot more as soon as her lips touched his.

Gil grunted far less melodically, moaning against her skin as he followed her, coming properly for the first time in a long, long time. Longer than she would ever know, as far as he was concerned.

She hummed as his climax mingled with hers. The bed absorbed their mess, her legs splayed out around his. Her breasts moved with each breath she dragged in, although the contented smile on her face assured him that she was at least somewhere where he was.

He hadn't felt like this...maybe ever. He also panted for breath, his skin hot to the touch and shining with a thin layer of sweat. His muscles ached faintly with a wonderful strain. He hissed as he slipped out of her, as did she. "Thena?"

He let himself collapse next to her. He closed his eyes, letting himself stay in this moment of wonder for just one second more. And as soon as his eyes were shut, he felt her delicate little form move. His arm tightened around her. "Excuse me."

She didn't answer him. He could have guessed she would slither off as soon as they were done feasting on one another. She tried to pull away again and he cleared his throat. He heard her huff a little and he smiled in the dark; that was his Thena. "Do you want me to leave you a google review, is that it?"

He chuckled, although he didn't really have the breath to spare. But he could hear her breath still coming in hot little puffs, too. He grasped her forearm, dragging himself up for just the briefest of moments.

Thena let him pull her into one last, drawn out, agonising kiss. They moaned against one another again, with both the pleasure and the curse of tomorrow morning looming ahead.

Gil laid back down on the mattress, letting Thena make her escape without so much as looking at him, nor bothering to retrieve her robe from the far side of the room. He chuckled; of course the divine specimen she was didn't need it to sneak back to her own room. If the moon wanted to feast on her beautiful body like he did then she wouldn't stop it.

He let out a heavy breath, looking up at the canopy of the bed again. Breakfast was certainly going to be interesting, if she was willing to speak with him ever again after this.

[destiel-wings]

watching Angel (the series), I feel like is really interesting, specifically in s3 cause I think in some ways it was good but they did Cordelia SO dirty. I feel like there were some aspects where I was like yeah that was totally written by a man e.g. when Angel gives her a necklace after being away cause of Buffy’s death and she’s like it brings out my boobs 🙄.

I feel like there are some scenes that are kinda ironic considering how Joss treated Charisma like when Cordelia was doing that commercial? Like was that a dig at Joss? But also that’s 90s early 2000s writing as well.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I don't know if you're watching the show for the first time or not, so I won't give you direct spoilers, but what they did to Cordelia gets so much worse in season 4.

There is one storyline specifically that happens that season that we as a fandom collectively pretend never happened.

And I actually like season 4 (i love the way that it's built, the plot twists, the epic tones of the main villain coming, the way that some characters develop and the main theme/metaphor that relates to the big bad of the season), but what they did to Cordelia will always be one of the greatest faults of the show. And now that all the rumors about Joss are out, we know why that happened too. 😔 That's when Charisma was pregnant and Joss threatened to fire her. And he did.

I mean, I can see the casual misogyny you're mentioning in the first three seasons as partly being due to the 90s/early 2000s writing (definitely a factor), and partly as a sad realistic depiction of what real actresses in the business like Cordelia (or generally women everywhere) had to endure at the time, when they couldn't even speak up. And i think there's a distinction to be made here, because there's two types of misogyny (or any other problematic behavior) that can be shown in media.

The scene where Cordelia is posing in a bikini and the photographer is a complete jerk for example is a harsh depiction of what society used to be (and still is), and so, in my opinion deserves to be in the show, because stuff like that is a slap in the face that should outrage us. Shows nowadays are excessively tiptoeing around real life issues. And i don't think it's helping anyone. I think we should be able to see stuff like that in fiction so we can say "this is horrible. It shouldn't happen in real life," and hopefully we can learn from it and get better as a society. In this sense, it's useful misogyny, because it exists to outrage the viewer and sensitize them to the issue. And there's tons of other examples of this in the show (I'm thinking about Lilah's storyline for example).

And then there's the pointless misogyny. Lines like "it brings out my boobs!" or other examples that i can't think of right now that won't really teach you anything if not make you cringe thinking "a woman would never say something like that", or "this is a disservice to the character for no valid reason" (like what they did to Cordy in season 4). That type of misogyny outrages us, but for different reasons, because it's gratuitous and completely unnecessary, and should be rightfully cut out.

Unfortunately the show does both. It is the product of its time, and that needs to be taken into consideration. In the end, I think the good it did outweighs the bad, and it managed to tell stories that are still strong and powerful today because it never shied away from speaking about human weakness and visceral struggles in a way that's raw. And people can relate to that (generally speaking).

And you're right, it is ironic, Joss became a feminist icon for creating Buffy, a show where strong (and yet human, flawed, imperfect) characters always stole the scene (with a few male characters exceptions)-- and then he created Angel. A different show, more adult, darker, with some noir touches, and a male lead. And I think, the vibe being so different and more focused on a male lead like Angel (who represents an anti-hero version of the knight in shining armor, which is, per se, an anti-feminist trope) the slope was slippery and so some misogyny slipped through. I'm not saying that misogyny was inherent to the basis of this show but... it kinda was. One could even say that Angel is the anti-Buffy (literally, one show being about a frisky young female lead who is a hero pledged to rid the world from evil vampires, and the other one being about a brooding 200+ year old male lead that is a former(?) evil vampire always ready to save a damsel in distress). The cool thing though, is the show itself is aware of that, and brings it out at text level (for example with Spike mocking Angel for it, in one of the very first episodes of season 1). So what I'm saying is... it's complicated. It's a show that uses its female characters to cater to its male characters' arcs sometimes. But it's also a show that gives us great female characters. Strong, powerful, intelligent, human, unapologetic. There's the good and the bad.

Back to Joss Whedon, personally, I can see him putting a lot of his own personal struggles into the show. Like, the theme of Angel season 5 is literally about the heroes trying not to get corrupted by the power, and that's kind of what Joss did. Guess he wasn't as good and righteous as most of his characters in the end.