#i fear my designs for them will be very different from everyone else’s lol

[cryptiidcrowe]

EP 48 BOYS ‼️

i’ve been avoiding looking at anyone else’s designs for these guys until i get the images in my head down so HERE THEY ARE!!

(individuals & notes under the cut)

Barnabas: big bear of a man. absolute mane of a beard/hair, flushed skin like he’s constantly drunk, age spots. gotta be honest he was so easy for me lol

Friar Dorian Horbrooke: shitty little twink!!! this guys is complimenting your outfit to your face and then dragging you within an inch of your life behind your back. my first draft of him made him look too shitty and then i remembered how dainty john described him so here we are. i had a lot of fun trying to incorporate wing shapes (ie angel) into his design—how many can you spot 👀

Langward: he fucking SUCKED to figure out but i got there. he’s just an edgy emo boy in my mind so i knew he needed hair dramatically covering his face. and give him an updo ig idk he’s a doctor don’t ask me

Gerard: twink #2!! he sounds perpetually tired and done w everyone’s shit so i tried to capture that in his expression. also gave him one of those little glasses that just perch on your nose bc that’s the energy he has to me

Evrard: i’m so sorry but he’s just blue Elias Bouchard. i tried so hard to make him look distinct from Elias but the vibes were too strong

[v0idhaert]

scott smajor with number 7 for your spotify asks?

omg anon sorry it took me so long to get to this, but here: Scott smajor with number 7, Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance!

textless and bgless under cut, as well as really long ramble caption vvvvvvv

I hope this is alright! If nothing else, I’m so so proud of drawing hair braiding, that took. So. Long. lol, anyway yeah I also really like how Scott’s hair came out, and I’ve never made a third life Jimmy design before so I came up with this on the fly and I really like how it looks. But yeah, I saw which song it was and thought of them immediately, Scott was so distraught at Jimmy’s death in third life, (prepare for ramble that is mildly unintelligible if you are not really geeky about MCR lore lol. The main stuff you need to understand is that mcr has four albums, I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, The Black Parade, and Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys, and all of them have a lot of lore) like they are so demolition lovers coded, especially because of the whole back from the dead thing where Jimmy is alive and well in later seasons but Scott is still grieving him and the memory thing with winners remembering which means Scott remembers third life and Jimmy doesn’t, reminds me of like (from my understanding of the story, which is different from other peoples because MCR lore is very vague) the inner turmoil of the lover from the three cheers lore who went to hell, and his lover is in heaven and on one hand he wants to reunite but on the other he knows his lover doesn’t even know he’s alive (-ish. Not sure how much his situation qualifies as “living”) and feels guilty, thinking that she probably won’t even want to see him again, because he’s killed so many people and he doesn’t want to ruin her paradise (I mean she misses him too and wants to see him again but he doesn’t know that, and also he rightly recognizes that he is an actual sociopath. I’m not saying c!Scott is crazy (well, as not-crazy as you can be in life series death games. Everyone is at least a little bit off their rocker. Woah, parentheses within parentheses, what is this!?), but I am saying the guy demolition lover absolutely is. I am also saying that c!Scott has self worth issues. At least in my headcannons. I also have a similar headcannon for Joel. Maybe that’s why they hate each other, their mad that they can’t sacrifice themselves for each other and then decided a murderous rivalry was the only option/j ) but yeah so the torturing themselves over a lover who is both dead for them and also at the same time alive and well but unreachable and in a better place than them and wanting to be with them but holding back for fear of hurting them which ends up hurting them anyway (which is also a theme in the black parade, so ig you could also kinda compare Scott to The Patient, but patient always felt more Joel or Pearl coded to me. Also yes I know I already made a post about smalletho demo lovers au, but idk I can have both smalletho and flower husbands demo lovers I just like projecting my interests onto,,,,also my interests ig lol) is something Scott and the sinner demolition lover have in common. Also this song makes me cry. So much. Could barely even draw this through the tears lol/silly, and I’m exaggerating but less than you’d think. Unfortunately I am a crier. I also cry at Summertime from danger days, pretty much all of three cheers but especially I never told you what I do for a living, demolition lovers from bullets (btw for non MCR fans these are album and song names. Also the demo lover’s story starts in bullets with the song titled for them, and then is continued in three cheers for sweet revenge) as well as I don’t love you, wttbp, the end, mama, and famous last words from black parade. And those are just the MCR songs, not counting all the other sad songs from other bands. I am a CRIER lol. But yeah, thank you sm for the ask anon I really enjoyed drawing this!

[justafellr]

Now let's talk about the tense and shaky lil frazzle of energy, Anxiety

Anxiety is Anxiety, not much change in their character. Very overzealous, hyperactive, impulsive, overly anticipatory and very unstable. They eagerly consider and prepare for every possible outcome. They wish for the best possible outcome while also considering the ways things could go wrong. They contradict themselves often and is constantly jumping from one problem to another in an attempt to fix it in hopes of things will go smoothly. They are restless and always feel like they need to do something or be productive. They represent my constant worries for others and my desire to be more productive Anxiety is very much different from Fear in many aspects. While Fear only freaks out when there's a visible or potential threat and calms down once it's gone, Anxiety always thinks there's a threat even if the visible threat is gone. They always feel as if something is wrong and constantly tries to figure it out and subdue it. As a result, they rarely get sleep and is often the hawk of the group Despite their constant worries, Anxiety ultimately is doing all of this to ensure a good, stable future for themselves and everyone else Anxiety didn't go through much change design wise as well. The design philosophy is still the same, just made a few tweaks here and there. Their look is very much inspired by 1, 3 and 5. Made the mouth smaller, the eyes bigger, and the sweater slightly over sized. Wanted them to feel very loose, wild, very small dog like in behavior and looks, specifically a chihuahua lol. I love the idea that although they bare similarities to Fear with their big worried expressions there are some keen differences. With Fear, they are mostly dull in their colors until provoked and flashes a bright pale, representing the fleeting and spontaneous nature of the emotion. Anxiety however, has no dull or cooler parts in their design. It's all a bright, oppressive and intense orange with no signs of rest or complacency, representing the longevity and intensity of the feeling compared to Fear

[anewp0tat0]

yea no I lied, I couldn't leave before doing this cause obviously I'm obsessed. obviously.

here's what I could research about the staff highlighted to be working on Black Butler season 4 in the time and patience that I had right now.

Kenjiro Okada: Director

I did some casual gathering on the good ol Wik. I don't recognize a lot or any of the previous works that he has been a part of, but it is a plenty some, so feel free to take a look for yourself. for a better idea, I took a glance at him through IMBD as well. I gotta be honest, not to cause any concern but just to be blunt, it's not the best look. when briefly checking out the works that he's done, a good some of them only make it up to 6 stars. only a few actually make it up to 8. but of course this could be due to a couple different factors, such as the source materials being not well known, or just not that great to begin with. after all he works mainly with adaptation. this could be his big break idk maybe :>

further on that, here's something I borrowed from Wiki.

honestly, this could be a potential concern as well. we all know that an unfortunate part of the fandom, especially over in japan, is into things the rest of us would rather not see in anime. I don't know why else yana would continue to add fan-service time and time again(I'd rather not think of her personal preferences). so if this person is really interested in pandering to the fanbase, it may lead to some scenes being uncomfortable... as usual. but, I shouldn't focus on the negative, all in all this looks like it will be a good thing! all we want from an anime adaptation is for it to be faithful to the manga, and especially after season 1 and 2, I think this assurance is much needed. besides, this could be an indication that he will be working closely with Yana, and projects that do so have succeeded *points to campania*. I'm optimistic, and I sure hope that we're in good hands.

Hiroyuki Yoshino: Head Writer

so unless I'm looking at a different Hiroyuki Yoshino it looks like this guy is a voice actor and singer first... interesting. as far as I can see it, he hasn't voice acted anyone in Black Butler.

oh no yea completely different guy, my bad! very different. the Real Hiroyuki Yoshino(screenwriter) was the screenwriter for Book of the Atlantic! sorry. we're all good here, perfect in fact.

unless he decides to substitute someone else for the double charles :] I still remember that. I don't remember if they're in this arc and personally I wanna keep it that way.

more info.

Yumi Shimizu: Character design

I'm not really jumping out of my seat to research this one, no offense to the designer, but I don't think we'll be seeing much character design other than Yana's. as for the artistic style of the anime, we already saw the teaser, and I think we're happy(I am really trilled that they released the announcement at the same time as the teaser, the announcement alone would not have had the same huge impact. plus it reduces the fear of cancelation ;] not putting that out there).

more info.

Ryo Kawasaki: Music

this is someone I really wanted to look into cause the music will matter a lot to me.

I found it, here's the soundtrack for the upcoming season 4.

with a background of jazz and band(popularizes to fusion genre apparently), this guy doesn't appear to fit with previous Black Butler soundtrack history. but I think that this is an indication that the mood and music of this season may be different of the rest due to it now being a sports show lol. and I think that's good! if done right I think the tone change will be hilarious, or, if everyone hates it, it's easily distinguishable from the rest.

I think this will be fun. here's more. also he looks awesome. impressive guy. man I'm praying for a killer new opening GOD.

I still wonder who the composer for the more classical score that I saw in the teaser is, if not him. it was nice :>

and finally:

CloverWorks

they're doing Spy X Family, did The Promised Neverland, Shadow House, many more that even I know of, we're good!

their page

a lot of y'all are very savvy at research, so if anyone wants to add on or contradict, go ahead! have a very, lovely day, everyone.

[acheronist]

how did you start learning tattooing? what made you want to try it?

ohh... hm. Well. Okay to be so honest and short and easy with you I was really depressed and having my quarter life crisis and so I picked it up as a way to try and get myself back on track with like. being alive + doing something semi-meaningful with my life lol

here's the longer detail stuff that I fear is a bit too tenderhearted to just have out in the open

💌

near the end of last year (november-ish) I was yapping with a friend of mine from art school who ended up getting into tattooing after we had graduated, and explaining that i didn't like how publishing illustration was treating me and i felt like i was spinning my wheels and going nowhere. so she really encouraged me to give tattooing a shot? because I needed to do something different and she thought my art style could be really well suited for tattooing... and ofc i've been tangentially aware of tattoo culture but i was always kind of too scared that I wasn't like........ GOOD OR COOL ENOUGH? FOR IT? it seemed very intense and like there wasn't going to be room for me yknow. but anyways after talking with my friend i started doing a lot of research about like.. the history of tattoo culture and how techniques developed over the centuries and what are the popular styles now and what modern health/safety expectations of tat artists are now etc. just kind of taking it all in. following a lot of artists on social media etc and talking to my friend about what her apprenticeship entailed... but I bought myself a shitty cheap tattoo kit online in december and spent most of december-february just trying to teach myself how to handle a rotary pen machine and get a feel for it? and basically spent all of my time either playing around with my machine and fake practice skins or drawing or researching about tattoo history. and then in february/march I redid my whole portfolio with some neo trad designs + my other illust work and started visiting some local shops and basically just begging for 15 minutes to talk to someone in the industry and figure out if I was hopeless or not lmaooo. I went to about five shops and got soundly rejected / turned down from all of them, so I was really taking it as a sign that I should give up? but then the last shop I was going to try was like. idk it felt different and way more optimistic than everywhere else I'd tried at.... the artists on break at the time all took a chance to look thru my portfolio and talk to me, the shop owner is an angel, and so we went from "can I just ask for your professional opinion on if I suck at this or not" to getting introduced to everyone as they were working like "this is isabel she's gonna be our new apprentice!😊" which was!!!!!! CRAZY.

and so it took about two weeks after that before one of the more experienced artists in the shop was like 🙄 Fine I will teach another fucking apprentice I guess. Whatever. and I was like oh no he hates me. (turns out there's some shop lore about how awful the last apprentice was and everyone was kind of waiting to see if I'd turn out the same way) so I've just been working really hard ever since to prove I'm serious and now I'm everyone's favorite little idiot in my shop eheheh

but yeah! so I've been apprenticing officially in my shop since the end of march!!! just learning and trying to be helpful for my artists and trying to take it on the chin that I'm brand new and still learning and have a long way to go yet without getting miserable about it... but I feel very optimistic and way better now than I did in december, and everyone in my shop is soooo so kind and encouraging of my progress it really does feel like... Oh there is hope for me after all!

but yeah anyways. I just wanted to have an archive of my work as I progress and improve? so now everyone who follows my stupid ass blog has to bear witness to me being slightly bad at tattooing for months yet xoxoxo

[walking-fnaf-encyclopedia]

That's so real- our fictives tend to influence that stuff for me too, like my danganronpa AU having influences from my Junko and Makoto (villain and hero of danganronpa) headmates, but I think Sophie (from The Walten Files which is what TWF is) is the only one who's rlly made an AU of her own.

In my swap AU, basically, the order and circumstances surrounding each death are switched, and the killer is... kind of different as well. My current thought process is that William murdered Sammy- he hadn't intended to kill him, but he more or less beat him until he died from a traumatic injury- but he didn't kill any of the other kids. Instead, Henry, desperate to bring his son back, killed all the missing children. Elizabeth was still killed by Baby, but this incident was caused by the well meaning but unaware older brother Cassidy (crying child) leaving her alone in just the wrong moment and panicking and protecting himself instead of her. He later gets springlocked in Spring Bonnie. Spring Bonnie and Fredbear were actually from a totally different sister location. Michael was kind of an. extra murder on top of everything else just to take everything away from William but idk who he'd possess. Puppet maybe? Its weird creepy design feels up his alley.

The band in this AU is fronted by Baby. Freddy is a more or less scrapped character barely used for shows if at all, and as such, Susie is stuck in the back most of the time. Chica, Bonnie and Foxy make up the rest of the band, and Gabriel takes over Chica where Jeremy is Foxy and Fritz is Bonnie.)

All of this.. disaster leaves Charlie alive, and Charlie was actually childhood friends with several of those kids, including Elizabeth. She has genuinely no idea what happened to all of her friends, and has carried that with her, hoping that one day she might be able to track down Elizabeth and figure out if she's actually still alive. Which she is not, and Baby, angry at Charlie for her father's actions, really.. rubs this in. On the other hand, Cassidy is being manipulated with his own fear into being on Henry's side.

This is one of my less developed AUs (my two main aus have a RIDICULOUS amount of lore) but here it is :D

ohhhh the walten files. ive never seen it shortened to that and havent watched anything related to it in a while so i didnt pick up on it lol

ohhh william killing sammy and then henry killing everyone else - thats good, love that!!

CASSIDY CRYING CHILD CASSIDY CRYING CHILD (<-has a cassidy crying child fictive)

the puppet being possessed by a character thats so drastly different from the original puppet is fascinating! and mike as a murdered has me curious 👀

poor susie, but baby getting to be the face of the band is cute! does her design - or the others’ designs - change to make them mesh better with each other? shed look kinda out of place with the og’s, hell even with the toys.

charlie being alive, and seemingly taking a similar role to og mike is neat!! and cassidy being manipulated UGH i love casskdy crying child it feels very. underexplored?? i feel like i never see it. i love evan crying child and his bestie cassidy but you can pry lonely cassidy crying child who blames their dad for their death more than they do michael out of my cold dead hands

LOVE this au!!! thanks for sharing!!! if there are any yall want to talk about in detail - or any of my aus you want to ask about in detail - go ahead! sorry that this answer took longer, lol

also HAPPY FNAF MOVIE BIRTHDAY!!!! hope you guys get to go see it if you want!!!

[macchiatosdumptruck]

Now I have to ask how you would envision various Karate Kid/Cobra Kai characters as being part of the Lantern Corps? I’m vaguely aware that there are different colors besides green and that they draw from different emotions, so I’m curious on how you would sort everyone.

Oooooooh, this is a fun one!

Okay, so, last time I checked there were 9 different corps colors.

(comic book time is both very slow and very fast though. and given the nature of the beast publishers rely on shocking crossovers and events and retcons for sales, so another one may have popped up since I last closely followed the corps at all in about 2013?)

A quick rundown is this. Most lanterns make constructs but certain colors also have other abilities.

Green is powered by willpower. They are weak to yellow energy depending on the writer.

Yellow the sinestro corps and is powered by and creates fear.

Star sapphires (violet) are powered by love. They are immune to orange lantern energy.

Blue is powered by hope. They boost green and are immune to red.

Red is powered by rage. It also gives them the cool ability to spit fire/blood. They are neutralized by blue.

Orange is avarice. (Greed.) Weak to star sapphires.

Indigo is compassion. They channel other lanterns' powers with their constructs.

Black is death. Or nothingness.

White is life. They can make constructs from any color energy.

Of course there's more to it than that, and they all have their nuances. But that's the basics.

Now, placing the tkk characters in this setting is interesting because people can use their emotions to power the rings in different ways. They can also switch from one color to another. So there's overlap.

That's what makes fan lantern designations so subjective.

Daniel = green. Daniel started as a little spitfire. He still is. But He's also compassionate. He's been through a lot, and his ups and downs. His heartbreaks and his fears. But above all else he always picks himself back up again.

Miyagi= indigo. He has will and rage and hope and everything else, but most importantly he has learned to balance it all. He is at one with himself and others. I think compassion has a large part to do with his philosophy.

Mike= yellow. His entire motivation in the third movie is to scare Daniel and force him into competing. Remember this exchange from the AVT?

" I'm scared Mr. Miyagi alright!"

"Daniel - san. It ok to lose to opponent. Must not lose to fear. "

I could see him turning to blue after his redemption. How his wife saved him. What with what he says about taking a piece of wood and turn it into something a family can sit around.

Terry = I'm torn between yellow and green? Also a bit of orange tbh. We all know how he loves to surround himself with nice things. Fear is a big part of Terry's machinations but seems to be more of a means to an end?

At the same time when I think of the singleminded focus he brings to everything he does speaks of intense will power to me.

If there was a cor for obsession that would definitely be him. Lol.

Kreese= I could definitely see yellow at times, but I think ultimately it would have to be red. I mean, "Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy" IS his catchphrase. He wasn't always like that, but no one is born angry.

Johnny = ??????? He started out so angry, but then realized the error of his ways at the end and apologized. But then he went back and became bitter for decades again. Lol. Then he slowly starts to come out of it again. (At least until S4) lol. I think maybe green because it's the most versatile? But it also doesn't seem to fit quite right for some reason.

Chosen= I'm seeing him as green in the movie, but in an asshole-ish way. Everything he does in the movie is to make his uncle proud. That's definitely a show of will in my book. He would probably lose his ring at some point. At some point during his long redemption he may go blue. But I think he would circle back around to green?

Kumiko= not to cop out but I imagine sapphire.

I'm not sure about anyone else, because the more I think about it the more cases I can make for them all to be in more than one corps.

THAT BEING SAID. I am now imagining Daniel in a star sapphire costume.

[coles-scythe]

Edit: WHAT HAPPENED TO MY POST FORMATTING??? WHERED MY READMORE GO?????

Edit 2: Fixed the formatting, this app is so broken ;-;

I posted the first two to personal bc they were part of a batch but they also feature my design of Nanako from my P4–5 AU of my self ship AU.

Lore stuff under the cut because this is one of my more developed AUs despite it not being canon to my main AU at all lmao.

Quickie recap of the premise to my AU bc I don't remember if I ever posted it to this blog. Basically when Maruki is researching cognitive pscience pre-P5, he gets access to the Shadow Ops' files of the multiple incidents in Inaba (P4 + Arena/Ultimax) and learns about Jay basically being displaced from their own timeline to This Side via Nyarly, causing him to add multiverse theory to his cognitive pscience studies. P5's story happens, as does P5R's 3rd semester, but in this scenario Maruki is able to win against the Phantom Thieves, merge the worlds + take control over the world as its new god of control (Rip Yaldy lmao), and seal the Phantom Thieves away until he can figure out how to convert them to the new world despite their renewed wills making them immune to Maruki's distortions. In the meantime, to say thanks to Jay for indirectly helping him bring his idea of happiness to the world, he distorts the world again to allow Jay to fulfill their wish to have been born in this timeline, meet Adachi and the rest of the Investigstion Team (IT) sooner, yada yada a bunch of other sappy stuff. To make an even longer story short, Jay and all of the people they have a very strong connection with (Adachi, Dojima, the IT, and surprise guest: my familial OC F/O Skylar) are turned back into highschoolers and all attend Shujin, where Maruki can watch over them (out of fear that they might react like the Phantom Thieves did if they ever find out the truth.) Because of these distortions, pretty much everyone from P4 and P3 had their entire lives changed and are living in completely different scenarios. Philemon tasks Jay and Narukami with returning their friends' memories to them, slapping some sense into Maruki, and restoring the world to the state it should be in.

Nanako is one of the people affected by Maruki's distortions. In my AU, Dojima becomes a member of the IT and thusly is also affected and turned back into a teenager alongside everyone else in the party. Because I'm not completely insane, Dojima and Chisato will not have Nanako while he's like 17/18 during the AU's story. Chisato is still Nanako's mother, but marries Shinya Oda's father instead of Dojima. Her mom still dies while Nanako is young, but Oda remarries to Shinya's canon birthmom. Due to her new circumstances, instead of being under the Justice Arcana, she is now under of the Tower Arcana. Her Social Link/Confidant still deals with her independence, but has a bigger focus on her want to be a good sister and set a good example for Shinya to follow.

As for the design itself, she's a bit more rebellious than canon Nanako and tends to be a bit of a rule breaker, especially when Shinya isn't around. She's got a very strained relationship with her parents, especially her stepmother, and is pretty attention starved as a result. So she acts out to get some kind of attention. I tried to make her design reflect this. She's in her last year of middle school, so she obviously wears her school uniform. But she breaks dress code by not wearing the right jacket, incorrectly wearing the shirt, and adds an extra t-shirt to the outfit. I styled the jacket, bow, socks, and shoes to resemble her clothes in canon. I also made her wear her hair differently. A lopsided short ponytail felt like it look both cute and give the impression of being a young child's attempt to dress more like a delinquent lol. Plus it has a sporty vibe, somewhat inspired by Nanako's model in the P5 beta leak using a lacrosse stick as a weapon. I didn't want her new rebellious nature to be outright in front of your face, plus she still needs to be somewhat presentable/socially acceptable to be that good example for Shinya, so I kept it pretty tame.

[a-lonely-dunedain]

for the OC fruits n' veggies interview~

tossdir: red apple, carrot, mango

ethedis: cucumber, eggplant

margim: onion, broccoli, hot pepper

celeair: peach, leafy green, strawberry

oooh that's a lot of good ones! sorry it took me a bit tho lol

Tossdir!

🍎 [RED APPLE] Who does your OC value above all else?

Would it be cheating to say Meneldir? Everyone already knows that! So let’s say post Sarch Vorn… hmmm, that’s a tough one, he’s very close to a lot of people. 

There’s his older cousin and last living family member/sort-of almost father figure Bragadir, who stepped in to help raise Tossdir after both of his parents died tragically and Babyranger-Meneldir was still unequipped to care for his kid brother. Bregs says he’s not the best at it, but he’s Trying His Best and cares SO much about lil Toss ;-;

Then there’s Galasebdir and Gorwen, who provided much needed support after he lost everything in Sarch Vorn, and did everything in their power to help him feel welcome among the rangers again after his long absence. The ones who so adamantly tried to show Tossdir that he wasn’t alone during one of the most painful times in his life, and were probably the first rangers he befriended and truly felt like he belonged with after being away for so long.

And then of course there’s his best friends and traveling companions, Etheids and Corunir! The ones who would go to hell and back with him, the ones who always have his back in and out of combat! Ethedis always being there with encouraging words and an infectious smile, Corunir who seems to have a much deeper understanding of what he’s been through than most others.

If I had to pick one to say he values the most though, I would say Bregadir but it’s Close. All of these people are very very important to him, but he has known Bregadir for the longest.

🥕 [CARROT] How tough is your OC against certain situations? How weak are they against others?

In tests of physical fortitude Tossdir is incredibly tough, he can take beating after beating and get right back up to fight afterwards (even when he really should stay down so he doesn't die oops)

However when it comes to tests of mental fortitude, (like the Nazgul’s dread/black breath, the Grey Fear’s bodysnatching, and whatever the heck is going on with Saruman) he’s… well I wouldn’t call him weak by any means, but he’s really ill equipped to fight against these things. I think that most powers of The Enemy are generally more potent against people who are experiencing a lot of grief or don’t have much hope, and unfortunately for Tossdir that puts him at a pretty severe disadvantage, and he can’t hold out as long as other Dunedain might be able to.

🥭 [MANGO] What colours best represent them and why? Does this differ from their favourites?

I generally associate Tossdir with red, browns, and green (in that order). The meaning behind red is pretty clear I think, it’s a color that’s strongly associated with Meneldir and is most prominent on Tossdir’s scarf that originally belonged to him. I also think red is Tossdir’s favorite color as well, it looks good on him and matches his hair.

As for the browns and greens, I just think they offered a nice contrast to all the reds and they’re also very ranger-y colors in my mind (and strikingly absent from Meneldir’s design, save for the pale grey-green in his eyes)

Ethedis!

🥒 [CUCUMBER] How innocent are they (unaware to the bad happenings around them)?

Around the start of the epic line? Very! She’s been Elrond’s apprentice in Rivendell for a very long time before this, and the trip to Ered Luin was really her First Big Outing and real exposure to the danger of the world. Before that she was kinda sheltered. That’s not to say Elrond didn’t try to prepare her for the dangers outside of Rivendell, but hearing about something is a lot different from seeing it firsthand y’know? 

Like she knows things are dangerous out here, but it takes a little bit for it to really sink in for her. I think she gets a very rude awakening when she can’t save Amdir. Up until that point she had at least been able to save people, like the sick dwarves in Ered Luin and Prince Avorthal. There was very real danger but everyone was more or less ok in the end, unlike here in Breeland, where Ethedis’ first ranger friend Amdir dies horribly and she really can’t save anyone. Not Amdir, not the other rangers, no one.

it really got to her, and she promised herself that she wouldn't let something like this happen to her new ranger friend Tossdir

[EGGPLANT] How are they used by others? How easily are they tricked into this?

Y’know surprisingly she’s not used by people all that much. Despite the fact that I write her as very friendly and trusting, I don’t often put her in situations where people take advantage of that. I think that’s just because it’s something I personally wouldn’t like to see happen to her I guess. I mean there’s the Sara Oakheart thing of course, but besides that she generally has someone (usually Coruinr) watching out for her, so her trusting nature usually isn’t taken advantage of (even though by all accounts it probably should be)

Margim!

🧅 [ONION] What is surefire to make your OC cry? Who knows of this information?

It’s very hard to make her cry. She’s an expert at burying her emotions when she starts to get upset, by necessity rather than choice. Anytime a topic that really strikes a nerve is brought up, she just gets stone faced and shows no outward reaction; save for being even quieter than usual.

The only time she can cry is when she really, truly, lets her guard down. So far Celeair is the only person she’s ever been able to cry in front of. As for a surefire way to get her to cry, I would say if you somehow managed to get her talking about her childhood. She remembers very little of it, but she knows enough for it to be incredibly traumatic. I don’t really want to go into too much detail about that, but suffice to say, it was pretty bad.

🥦 [BROCCOLI] What do they hate about humanity/their species?

Margim doesn't consider herself to be a Black-Numenorean, but thanks to her appearance she’ll never be able to escape having an association with them. Yellow eyes and blackened blood are kinda hard to look past after all, especially if you know what those traits mean. There’s a lot of reasons to hate Black-Numenoreans, but I don’t feel like most of them apply here just because Margim would never call herself one. 

The title of Black-Numenorean is given to those who choose to serve Sauron after all, and Margim never willingly did so, but unfortunately she still got stuck with the marks denoting her as one who has. And those marks are what she hates the most, a constant, inescapable, reminder of where she came from and the evil that is tied to it.

🌶️ [HOT PEPPER] Who would your OC declare their sworn enemy if they could meet them?

UNGRAKOR 100%. BITING KILLING MAIMING 

Even though Margim will likely never know that he’s actually her biological father, she would hate his guts anyway. He’s the Captain of the Pit, the one who oversees Udun and is both directly and indirectly responsible for all the horrible shit that goes on there, she has every reason to hate him! 

I mean don’t get me wrong, she’s terrified of him, he’s got a reputation and she’s well aware of the things he’s capable of, but I think that fear could turn into bloodlust reaaaal quick if she got pushed in the right direction.

Celeair!

🍑 [PEACH] How do they show their kindness? How kind are they truly?

*slaps top of Celeair (gently)* THIS BAD BOY CAN FIT SO MUCH KINDNESS IN THAT MASSIVE HEART OF HIS.

I think his kindness most often manifests as just gentleness. Not just when he’s tending to someone’s injuries, but also how he’ll always be ready to offer his shoulder to cry on and softly speak words of comfort and encouragement. His kindness is quiet and soft like a warm blanket, always there when you need it.

He’s also the kind of guy who will gift people random trinkets that make him think of them. Margim offhandedly mentions that dandelions are her favorite flower? Well guess he’s always going to stop and pick her some whenever he comes across a patch of them! You say blue is your favorite color? Well now he wants you to have this neat blue feather from one of his bird friends! he just likes to give people little things he finds, a lil reminder that he's thinking of them :>

🥬 [LEAFY GREEN] How mundane are they? Do they like it that way?

He’s just a simple guy who wants to heal people and talk to trees. Sure, maybe he could learn to blast fire out of his hands or call down lightning upon his foes, but why would he? At the end of the day he’s a pacifist who wants nothing more than to ease the hurts of those around him and cuddle with his cool wife. Truly, the kind of guy we should all aspire to be. He is quite content to be out here living the cottagecore dream

🍓 [STRAWBERRY] How do they feel about 'cute' things?

He absolutely loves them! Small and large woodland creatures? Flowers and tiny mushrooms? That half-stifled laugh Margim does when he makes a bad joke? They’re all adorable to him and he loves them SO much!

[the ask game]

[unghiundressed]

FMP Production Reflection

Wow my final major project and final film at Middlesex University! How crazy to be here at a point where I feel as though I’ve learnt so much in terms of technique and understanding of practice, but simultaneously, I’m existing in my own blissful ignorance surrounding the animated world. This project has really been something. I don’t know why I expected this to be a breeze XD but I’d say it was more like a GAIL FORCE WIND with possible hurricane warnings. Last year I suppose I was in a better situation making my 2nd year film I was excited because I didn’t know what stop motion was really about and I was intrigued. This year I knew what to do, but I felt a lot of the time I was withdrawing from doing it with fears of it not being that outstanding final piece of work I’m supposed to create or even not as experimental as I could be with the resources I have around me. To some extent it felt very safe designing my sets and characters because I knew exactly what I was doing. Maybe that took some of the fun out of it? I think the hardest part of the production phase of my FMP was staying motivated to complete the project. Many cold, hard days in that dark messy room and the funny thing about making an animated film alone is that you have no one else to tell you to work or to keep going. All that time and effort in the dark and emptiness alone is all your willpower and self-motivation to make something because you want to… or because you need to. Why? Because of all the people around you that helped you make this vision in your head reality. See when I no longer wanted to get out of bed and go to this dark room and spend my whole day from 9am to midnight focusing on this project I’d think to myself ‘But what about everyone who’s helped me get to this point?’ That includes my tutors who gave me guidance and support, the talented voice actors like David Holt who’s voice I am gratefully using or even my mum who makes sure at midnight, when I do eventually get home, I’m warm and fed.  So, I haven’t given up yet! I’m making the animation and honestly, I’m proud af of where I am right now. Because I’m also tired af. My favourite part of the process has been the set building and puppet-making. Seeing them in my mind and then physically constructing them and putting every little detail onto them has made this experience so rewarding. Setting up my equipment was difficult because there was so much stuff in the space and spatially my organisation was appalling (something I will absolutely mitigate in the future) but I got it done and my experience of the different equipment from working at the kithub made this so much easier. Filming the actual animation was the hardest part because I was constantly distracted by the amazing people around me and events going on and social media, but I really got on with it and tried to manage this by having my schedule and shot list up on the wall which helped me to stay focused and track my progress as I went along. I think if I were able to redo this experience of production, I would re-arrange my schedule as honestly animation always takes so much longer than we think and by being so rigid with my timings I often felt guilty when I hadn’t met deadlines or goals at a certain point, but this is actually normal and it okay to not be on track all the time. The most important thing is that I’m producing quality pieces of work that I’m proud of and that I’m enjoying what I do. After all, what’s the point of any of this if I don’t enjoy myself. I would also prioritise my mental health and taking breaks more. I think at some points sitting alone working in my room exacerbated the already emotionally crushing events I had experienced earlier in the year and potentially I would’ve been able to get out of my own head more and work more efficiently if I’d taken the correct steps to manage all of the stuff zooming around my mind first lol. But even with these considerations I did have a really good time honestly and I would absolutely do it all over again. Bringing ideas to life is the most satisfying creative pursuit.

[lesbian-magicsings]

1. who are you sourced from? do you have any other sources? aus, other media, and the such?

C!magic, like 3 other au based magics, a!aimsey, Jane prentiss, Melanie king, Agnes Montague

2. do you go by different names and pronouns? feel free to list them!

I use ae/vi/they/he and I use magic, Agnes, moon or flower :3

3. how connected are you to your source? if you have multiple, go rank them!

Ooooh okay that’s hard

C!magic; 6.5/10

A!aimsey; 4.5/10

Jane prentiss; 3.5-7.5/10 depending on the day

Melanie king; 5/10

Agnes Montague; fucking 8/10 send help

4. what is your favorite memory from your source? can be mundane, funny, anything else. you can also list multiple!

Probably just picnics in the maze with ash!! I enjoyed those a lot!!!

5. sexuality or gender wise, what did the other outsiders identify as? anything that heavily deviates from canon?

Oh lord I’m pretty sure most of them were gay. If not all of them. Im pretty sure most of the clearing girls were lesbian minus Graecie who I believe was bisexual :3 Nothing major I don’t think other than like. The au’s I’m sourced from 😭😭

6. anything out of character that you remember? something that feels completely unlike you or that particular person, compared to their canon counterpart.

Loool Owen used to be terrible at navigating and completely get himself lost in the maze. Me also being a bekyakisser post rope incident also is probably out of character but yk what I’m built different

7. the most stupid memory you have? one that's silly or embarrassing.

Falling off of shit. I did that a lot tbh I am not the most physically stable I think I fell of the parkour course more times than you could count 😭😭

8. if you know, what disabilities did you or anyone have?

I know I had autism in that maze. I still do lol. Owen reoccuring had leg problems and used a cane about half of the time I also had a dissociative disorder in that maze istg

9. any small quirks you or the others had? something unimportant that stuck out in your head.

Ayngel tilts her head like a cat when you ask her questions, krow has sharp sharp canines, and it bites. Soup taps her fingers and shoes on any surface she can find, bek could doze off anywhere without any trouble so the others would draw stuff on her, Graecie had flowers braided into her very very messy hair and shed tons.

10. was anyone's design different from their canon counterpart? it can be small, or it can be big!

Ayngel had hugeeee wings and they were very fluffy!! Graecie had brown hair brown eyes and freckles too! Oh ash has freckles in like all my sources I keep forgetting that’s not canon? Her eyes are also a vibrant green z:3

11. was anyone in a romantic or queerplatonic relationship? were there complicated feelings and/or crushes? talk about them!

I fear in at least one of my sources Owen and apo were gay. Anyway i think Graecie and Ayngel dated in one source of mine, they had a whole lesbian pining thing. I also have multiple crushes/weird relationships of my own but we are not going into that for my sake actually!

12. who was your favorite in the clearing? why?

Graecie! Would ash count? She was always my favourite lmao.. I quite liked all the clearing 2 members too!

13. in contrast to the past question, who was your least favorite? why?

… reallly depends. It was bek at some point I think, and Owen and apo.. I think I mostly didn’t mind everyone though

14. if you're from c2, ramble about what you remember of your friends!

Iiii mostly remember Mae to be honest,,, she was very very blonde and had curls and light light freckles you could barely see, she also had a very soothing singing voice! She tended to garden and help me a lot of the time! Her hands always seemed to be dirty and she’d smear them on me so I’d have to change or shower.

15. what do you remember of the maze? were you good with navigation and survival? do you think you can survive in it now?

I could not survive it now (disabled core) but I do have a weird amount of knowledge of the clearing 2 maze in outsiders maps!

16. did you ever try red's alcohol? how was it? would you have it again?

No I did not unless you count the suspicious lemonade </3 being under 18 will do that to you lmao

17. is there something you vividly remember in the clearing or in the maze, that you keep forgetting wasn't actually canon?

More flowers actually, there’s a surprising lack of them on the actual outsiders map! Also I actually swear we had more picnic rugs around

18. how did you shower?

How do you think (Dunking myself fully in the piss pond)

19. if you died, do you regret dying? were there things you wanted to do before then? were you satisfied?

I did not die! I win!

20. lastly, any thoughts on your source? complicated feelings you want to get off your chest? do you appreciate it or not?

She’s such a bitch she’s so me I love her I hate her I want to smack the hell out of her I want to hug her.. I need to throttle her tbh! I have a love hate relationship w c!magic chat if you can’t tell! I appreciate her though thanks for uhm? Making me yearn for basements?

some questions for outsiders smp kins, introjects, and irls!

if you aren't one, you're still free to answer in the context of canon scenes! just skip ones that don't apply.

1. who are you sourced from? do you have any other sources? aus, other media, and the such?

2. do you go by different names and pronouns? feel free to list them!

3. how connected are you to your source? if you have multiple, go rank them!

4. what is your favorite memory from your source? can be mundane, funny, anything else. you can also list multiple!

5. sexuality or gender wise, what did the other outsiders identify as? anything that heavily deviates from canon?

6. anything out of character that you remember? something that feels completely unlike you or that particular person, compared to their canon counterpart.

7. the most stupid memory you have? one that's silly or embarrassing.

8. if you know, what disabilities did you or anyone have?

9. any small quirks you or the others had? something unimportant that stuck out in your head.

10. was anyone's design different from their canon counterpart? it can be small, or it can be big!

11. was anyone in a romantic or queerplatonic relationship? were there complicated feelings and/or crushes? talk about them!

12. who was your favorite in the clearing? why?

13. in contrast to the past question, who was your least favorite? why?

14. if you're from c2, ramble about what you remember of your friends!

15. what do you remember of the maze? were you good with navigation and survival? do you think you can survive in it now?

16. did you ever try red's alcohol? how was it? would you have it again?

17. is there something you vividly remember in the clearing or in the maze, that you keep forgetting wasn't actually canon?

18. how did you shower?

19. if you died, do you regret dying? were there things you wanted to do before then? were you satisfied?

20. lastly, any thoughts on your source? complicated feelings you want to get off your chest? do you appreciate it or not?

[dreamkidddream]

I absolutely loved the doll! mc one with the brothers and diavolo. Could I ask for the same idea with the rest of the undateables and luke? If it isn't too much though. Thank you very much, don't forget to take care of yourself and stay hydrated!

I’m glad you enjoyed the first part!! I hope you’re staying safe through this pandemic and that you’re drinking plenty of water. I’m so happy that people liked the Doll!MC scenario so much (it even became one of my top posts and I was NEVER expecting that to happen 😳 click here to read it with the Bros and Diavolo). I got an UR card for Barbatos today and immediately thought back to this scenario cause I was just imagining the different situations with Doll!MC. Hope you enjoy!

Also, Luke’s part is strictly platonic, just FYI!

The Undateables (Minus Diavolo) with Doll!MC

Barbatos

Let me just say, you make this man’s day so much better

Your presence is just so calming for him. You could just be standing there (which is heavily enforced in the kitchen), not doing anything, and he would still be fully relaxed

Definitely loves you being in the kitchen with him, and will find ways to invite you so that you guys can spend time together

“MC, the young master has a tea party planned for this afternoon, and I’m afraid I may need your assistance to help prepare.”

“But Barb, I thought you didn’t want me touching anything-”

“I don’t want you touching anything that can cause you harm. I can easily handle the labor, but I do have a task for you...”

Cue to you sitting perfectly still and taste testing his sweets

“Barb, are you sure that I’m helping you like this? I don’t want to be useless to you!”

“Nonsense, MC. This is perfect. I needed someone with an exceptional palette, and you’re just the right person for me.”

Just you and him, and his sweet creations. What more could he ask for?

Maybe being in a relationship with you, but he is very sure that it’s going to be happening in the near future...and he didn’t even have to use his powers to know that

He stares at you a lot. He can’t help it, he loves to just admire you!

Barbatos is the type of guy where he doesn’t have to rely on words to express his love. His love language is acts of service: packing you lunch and extra sweets every week, giving you recipes that he wouldn’t even share with Luke, and gifting you mini accessories that you can wear with your outfits!

He gave you this adorable three-legged crow holding a cupcake hairpin and you’ve been wearing it ever since

He tries to hide his blush everytime he sees you and now he has to work even harder because of the pin lmao

HAVING YOUR OWN TEA PARTIES WEEKLY

You both have a designated day and time where you don’t plan anything in order to have your own tea parties

No Diavolo, no noisy demon brothers, no other exchange students (sorry Luke). Just you and him, enjoying each other’s company and him basking in your glow

If someone did try to harm you, he would already know of it and properly disposes of the problem. Lord Diavolo can’t afford to have any issues interfering with the exchange program, and he can’t afford to have anything happen to you so...no harm no foul, right?

Please continue to do what you’re doing MC. Stare at him with your bright, doe eyes and give him that lively smile everytime. It makes his day go by much easier, especially since he knows that you’ll still be there, waiting for him with your own desserts and that smile reserved just for him

Simeon

Was convinced that you were an angel

Lowkey still convinced that you’re an angel

Really, you just look so...angelic

Wasn’t upset when you revealed that you were in fact human; he was happy because this meant that he could show you around the Celestial Realm!

Speaking of Celestial Realm, be prepared for Simeon to be your very own personal tour guide everytime. This could be your 50th time up there and he’ll still try to point new things out

“And over here is-”

“Michael’s favorite resting place, since the lilies always seem to bloom whenever he’s around,” you giggled. “I remember Simeon, you tell me this everytime we visit!”

He’s a tad embarrassed

“Forgive me, MC. It seems that I get so elated over the fact that you’re here with me, I tend to repeat some things over.”

“That’s okay! I still have fun with you everytime!”

Oh MC, you’re too adorable!

Which causes him to worry over you. While he knows that the brothers and Diavolo (along with Barbatos) wouldn’t dare cause you any distress, the same couldn’t be said for the other demons lurking around, both in and out of RAD

But not to fear, Simeon your friendly guardian angel is here!

I am so sorry for the rhyme lmao

He may not have been personally assigned to you, but that doesn’t mean he can just let anything happen to you! He’s only doing his heavenly duties in protecting you! He’s also being a good friend by watching over you too, his little lamb

He wouldn’t attack anyone, but if he made a complaint or a very serious concern to the right person (Lucifer or Diavolo), consider the problem handled

You have your own tea time as well, and Luke would join you sometimes. But, every now and then, Luke would have to finish some homework or study, or Barbatos would miraculously call for him at the castle, or if it was just too late and Luke just had to go to sleep, then it would just be you two. Sitting by the fireplace, discussing matters ranging from RAD to your life in the human world, drinking tea that you would take turns preparing

Not to mention the downright dainty little cakes you would bring. One time you brought him angel cakes and he found so lighthearted and precious that he requested you bring them everytime, just for him

May or may not base a character in his new story around you

Simeon wants to shield you from the horrors that are surrounding you both. You’re so pure, he just wants you safe. From the way that you would dress to the way that your eyes would just look so amazed and innocent at him, he just knows that he needs to watch over you, always. The brothers do get a little wary when they see how much time you do spend at Purgatory Hall, but they know that Simeon couldn’t possibly have feelings for you, and you were always so giddy after leaving there, they couldn’t bring themselves to say anything

And Simeon knew that he was starting to feel more than he should. He couldn’t profess his love for you now in risk of falling, but he can wait until you get your wings. Just imagining you in your cute little Ceslestial Realm outfit (which he hopes still mimicked your current style) with your very own beaming halo was enough to keep him waiting and to make sure that you stayed on the right path

He deemed that you were worth the wait

Luke

BFFs! BFFs!

When he first saw you he could just cry

Someone innocent like you got sent down here with these monsters?! He had to keep you safe!!!

Simeon thought you were angel and then realized that you were not; Luke thought you were an angel and refused to believe that you weren’t

You didn’t have it in you to burst his bubble so soon, so you just let him run with it until Simon broke the news

It was like telling a kid that Santa Claus wasn’t real; you can only imagine how Luke took the revelation

Not well from what Solomon told you. Simeon kept saying he just needs some time to process things, and you just felt so awful about the whole thing

Which lead to you bringing him so much sweets that it made Beel jealous and very upset

But we all know how Beel can be around food, so it wasn’t a huge surprise. He chased you around all day and you had to use your pact to get him to stop!

And you promised to make him double the sweets in he forgave you so all is well

Luke was still obviously sad, but he wasn’t going to stay sad forever. Especially not after you brought this many sweets just for him!

Lucifer was not a happy demon when Simeon arrived at the HoL’s doorstep with you groaning and clutching your stomach. And Solomon took so many pictures of Luke while he passed out from his sugar high that he dedicated a whole album in his phone to it

Favorite activity to do together: Baking! (Obviously)

Trading recipes, shopping for ingredients together, baking things for each other to try (where really it was just to have double the desserts)

When you two are in the kitchen together, no one else is allowed (except for Simeon, but only if he’s looking and not touching). It’s now MC and Luke time, everybody else is gonna have to wait!

Luke only wants you to do the the activities that he sees as harmless: which is everything that doesn’t include sharp items and anything else that can hurt you

“MC get away from that! That can seriously hurt you! Let me get it for you instead!

“Luke, honey, it’s just an oven it’s not my first time using one-”

Too late, he already took it out of your hands into his own, mitts already on

Speaking of oven mitts

You guys have matching aprons and mitts!!

Barbatos may be a little bit jealous, but he likes the bond that you two have. And he knows that Luke won’t be a romantic rival so he’s alright lol

Luke is your deemed protector/bodyguard, and he proudly wears the title since no one bothers you because of him (or so he thinks). Everyone makes fun of him calling him a chihuahua, but jokes on him, when Luke complains, he complains

Won’t take long for Simeon or even one of the brothers to pick up on his whines complaints if he thinks someone is bothering you

Luke believes that while he’s small, he can protect you and try to keep you free from danger. He may be young, but he sees himself as the older brother out of you both (even though it’s really you being the older sibling and him being the baby). Always looking out for you especially since you’re too fragile to be left alone!

You’re one of the only people that genuinely likes him and don’t make fun of him. You’re dear to him MC, please don’t ever change!

Also, he definitely talks to Michael about you all the time so excitedly and sends him sweets that you both made together. Michael is a proud dad at this point

Solomon

Knew you wasn’t a doll but loved to tease you about being one anyway

Was there a spell that can really turn you into a doll? You wouldn’t mind if he tried it out on you, right MC?

Don’t tempt him please because he WILL do it

“Tell me, MC. Hypothetically speaking, if I were to purchase-”

“No Solomon, you can’t shrink me down to fit me into a dollhouse, no matter how nice it sounds. Besides, I can’t bake in a dollhouse, the oven wouldn’t work!”

“I can fix that.”

You’re very amusing to him for some reason. Was it because of how doll-like you are? The fairytale way that you dressed? How you were still human and was able to live with seven of the most powerful demons and not die? Maybe it’s the way that you still radiated such positivity despite being in literal Hell?

Honestly all of the above

TEACHING HIM HOW TO COOK/BAKE

Poor Solomon doesn’t realize that his cooking isn’t...the best

And you took the best approach in helping him atleast cook something that looks edible

You didn’t say his cooking was disgusting like some people (literally everyone else), so he took that you giving him lessons was a date of sorts

He wasn’t complaining. Your time spent in the kitchen was scenes straight of a romcom (no matter how cheesy it sounds); his arms wrapped around your waist and dotting icing on your pretty nose

May or may not have licked some icing off of you at one point, will definitely do it again

Solomon is a very confident man, borderline arrogant (Oh who am I kidding he IS arrogant). So yes, while people may see you as an easy target, he’s here to remind them that you’re not. And that if they want to try, chances are they won’t be walking away in one piece

He’s powerful, too powerful in fact. He may not be the strongest physically, but if even the entire student council recognizes his knowledge and what he’s capable of, no one should be dumb enough to test him (keyword: try)

But he wouldn’t mind showing off if it’s for you

You’re one of the only beings to ever peak Solomon’s interest genuinely. Yes, he loved to tease and bug you whenever he pleased, but you also made him want to come around you more and more. He was drawn to you, and that doesn’t happen a lot with him (at least without ulterior motives)

*coughcough* making pacts *coughcough*

You were the only thing that made Solomon feel weak, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Don’t get him wrong, he’s still The Greatest Sorcerer, but he couldn’t help but feel himself get weak in the knees when you gazed at him with so much sincerity. He loves it and loves you

Once your back in the human world, he’s going to be so selfish with you. I mean, he already kinda was now, but this time there won’t be any interruptions or distractions around to take your attention

Us humans have to stick together, and what better way to stick together than to be together, wouldn’t you say MC?

[thefuchsianeko]

never posted these here i guess. well

a while ago something compelled me to do edits with my redesign of Alastor (I WOULD link back to my original post with the redesigns, but it’s old and ugly so...)

got really into it I think

too lazy to write it all out again so I’m just gonna copy-paste what I wrote about them from Instagram... so under the cut will be the original screenshots, as well as some design notes and stuff

I sketched a couple of other characters but I mostly did Alastor... also those are the only ones I actually finished lol. I'm most interested in his redesign than the others.

tl;dr -- I tried simplifying his design while also making it more period-accurate (he died in the '20s apparently), as well as giving him details and a colour design that I think would help him stand out amongst the other characters (tho I did nothing else to edit these but if I was in charge of design a lot of colours in the environment would be changed to help characters stand out from the bg). I also kept some of his deer-traits (the ear-tufts and antlers specifically) bc idk i like deer whatever. (also if these edits are inconsistent idc if the pilot won't be consistent then neither will i)

I don't think it's a secret that I kinda don't like Hazbin Hotel that much... I mean I'm interested in seeing where it goes but the pilot itself very flawed. ANYWAY hehehh... I fucking hate Alastor's design but at this point I kinda love hating him (for reasons unintended by the creators). His design is ANNOYING AS SHIT and he comes off as try-hard so I can't take him seriously. Some design notes... So he supposedly died in the '20s but like, his outfit looks like it'd be from a lot earlier? Annoys the shit outta me but anyway I just gave him a simple suit (after skimming one of my books about '20s and '30s fashion I saw a lot of that) along with some coattails for a cooler silhouette. Almost gave him a regular tie too but I kinda like the upside-down cross thing he has goin' on (a symbol often mistakenly attributed to satanism but whatever looks neat). Cleaned up his hair, kept the ear-tuft-things for the deer-look but also I kinda like how the ears blend into the hair (here it should be assumed they're ears at least). Made his antlers bigger so you can uh ACTUALLY SEE THEM. Muted his colour scheme to help go with the '20s theme and make him stand out against allllll the fkin red, and gave him flat teeth instead of sharp teeth. I think it’d be cool if everyone else in Hell had sharp teeth except this fuckin’ guy… it’d stand out. Didn’t change his radio-staff much but I’d probably make it look more like a mic from the ‘20s. Also I changed his nose bc I want more variety and I hate his goddamn button-nose like wtf.

Oh also, his story's kinda different; in my rewrite Alastor has become a kind of a recluse for years after finishing his last big radio-show (the one that Vaggie exposition-dumps to Angel Dust in the pilot) because he’s having trouble trying to figure out what his next show will be (basically he has art-block lol). He wants it to top (or at least equal) the quality of his last show. When he hears about Charlie’s project from her news interview, her passion and belief in the hotel ignites new inspiration in him (plus the idea of the hotel is insane to him and whether it succeeds or not it’d make a great show). He goes to the hotel in the hope to make a deal so he can cover the story as it unravels. Also he doesn't show off his power that much, if anything it's all only sprinkled in and/or hinted to. He can be pretty friendly but people feel uneasy around him bc 1) he just has that kind of aura and 2) people try not to make him upset in fear of being ripped apart.

Idk if any of this doesn't make sense you can ask about it and I'll try to explain better.... maybe idk i hate words

btw don't be surprised if I make more stuff for this later on bc I kinda love him and have been thinking about a rewrite of the pilot (this is all for fun, of course. If you like the show that's great and I can see how others would like it, there's just details about it that bug me specifically).

[babytaes]

†hê Ðêmðñ (the beauty of sin)

𝖘𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖞: You're a guardian angel who's never been tasked with protecting anyone. Since you've been here since Creation, sitting around in heaven hasn't brought you any rewards. You were looking forward to the day when you'd be assigned a human to look after. When that day finally arrives, things take an unexpected turn when you are assigned to Heeseung, a demon from the underworld.

𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌: heeseung x female reader

𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖗𝖊: angst, suggestive/smut

𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙: 4k

𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘: profanity, smut scenes, bad boy heeseung (lol), 

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖘: click me before reading!

➳ part of the drunk & dazed series

☆ ҉ ◢▅◣

Sin is a spiritual virus that invades the whole being. It makes you morally and spiritually weak. It’s a deadly disease that infects every part of you: your body, your mind, your emotions, and your motives—absolutely everything. Nobody has the strength on their own to overcome its power.

Nobody should ever commit sin, never giving in to their worldly and sinful impulses. It's unjust and wrong. However, what is it about sin that makes it so fascinating and enjoyable?

It gave you joy to see it in his smile or the way his hands caressed your body. What a lovely thing sin is!

Even though some sins are innocent and enjoyable, sometimes regulations are supposed to be broken. Everyone, after all, is a sinner.

“WHAT!?,?” You began to sweat as you worriedly communicated your concerns to your overseer, “You must be mistaken, High Lord.”

“I understand the protocol; angels are supposed to serve as "guardian angels" to beautiful or broken souls on Earth. You know we're expected to look after them and keep an eye on them to make sure they stay on track. With all due respect, ma'am, I don't believe I'm qualified for this position; at the very least, someone of level 10 would be ideal.”

Her cream-colored wings swept her off her feet as she chuckled and waved for you to follow her. You sighed as you flutter up and away with her, trailing behind her, feeling a twitch in yours.

As you eventually caught up to her, dodging angels left and right, you apologized to random angels in your path, uncomfortably smiled at the people you bumped into with your wings.

You retracted your wings closer to you and walked uneasily beside your overseer as you carefully stepped down on the golden road.

Before you could say anything, she quietly took your hand in hers and gently kissed it, assuring you that everything would be alright. As you approached the center of the commotion, you bit your lower lip and remained silent.

Looking around at the community, it warmed your heart to see so many people, young and old, out here. Some you've known since the beginning of time, while others were born only last week. Everyone had gathered to witness the masterpiece that would emerge in an instant.

“You know Y/N I have complete faith in you that this first expedition will be a breeze,” you smiled, looking up at her with excitement and a tinge of fear in your eyes. “We wouldn't have suggested you for the job unless we knew who you really are, and you've earned it.” Don't worry, you were expecting this; now have a look.”

With her finger pointing to the stage forward, you were treated to yet another spectacular show. They're known as the "Grand Turning" in Heaven. This is where a new or seasoned angel has completed his or her training with a human or demon and earned their proper place in the community.

It could be a badge, a ribbon, or something more unique, such as the opportunity to talk with the all-powerful, our God.

Despite the fact that you were assigned to him, you were determined to get those jobs because they were the only way for you to ever get that honor. You weren't going to allow Mr. Unperfect take away that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Nobody could and will ever be able to make you fail this assignment; you were meticulously prepped. You were taught the correct and only way to do things, and now was your opportunity to shine. You were not going to be a Lucifer, cast from Heaven

“I'll do it,” you said to your supervisor, a smile on your face and confidence in your eyes. She turned to face you and hugged you passionately, rubbing your wings with a motherly devotion.

“I knew you could do it; now it's time to get you ready.”

---

When people have a near-death experience, they always remark that life flashes before their eyes. Unfortunately for angels, it's the contrary; when we're approached with a high-alert danger or warning, it's more of a gentle whisper in our ears. Normally more attentive while traveling to Earth.

The best place to be humans say.. What is with these fickle minded words?

You take a deep breath and turn to face your overseer, who is polishing her wings to ensure that they are kept in order. When having wings, a routine is taught from the beginning to keep them in a good up do. Nobody wants to look simple when you can look stunning.

She took your hand in hers and walked toward the end of the route, issuing some documents to the Pearl City Gate guards. You noticed the circular orb while glancing around.

"How can some humans believe in the world being flat, we literally have an air-like view. To me, it's definitely round.” She chuckled as she pinched your cheeks and turned your puzzled face to her.

“When you get down to earth, you'll see a lot of that, people with a lot of opinions. But what did you learn in your training?”

Standing up and smoothing your wings, you calmly shouted out the words as if they were written on the back of your palm.

“Although humans are the destroyers of their own precious planet, everyone's opinion matters, regardless of race, gender, or identity.”

“Well, not all,” you began scratching your head, “I've seen some harsh individuals in our study books, God should strike them down-“

“Um no ma'am, let us put it aside for the time being and focus on what needs to be done.” She started going over a list of laws and regulations for your descent to Earth. As you gave her a thumbs up, you were attentively listening and mentally bookmarking everything in their designated area.

I believe I have a good understanding of everything, and I think I am prepared.” She offered you a short hug before letting you go, showing her affection for you. You were going to miss her, despite the fact that it was a mutually-surface relationship.

“Last but not least, this ordeal will be different in that people will be able to see you. But if you have to use your wings, the lad is the only one who can see you. When you arrive, he will be waiting for you. My child, best of luck and may God bless you.”

You let go of her and moved toward the road's edge, gripping your bag as you turned to face her and waved farewell as you stepped over the brink.

“Wait a minute, what if-“

When you felt a push from behind, you tumbled off the ledge and spun around in the sky, where you saw a smiling face as you glanced up. They didn't tell you that you'd have to be pushed. As you plunged to Earth, you closed your eyes, terrified. Oh, how nice.

Screaming, you descended into the atmosphere, your narrowed eyes seeing glimpses of land here and there. Not letting up you let your wings cover your whole body as you plopped down onto soft green grass.

You peered out from your wings, gasping for air, and glanced up.

“Oh, Heavens”

His physique was slender, active, and well-groomed, with a trace of bad boy behavior in his scent. The first thing that struck your eye were the rips in his jeans. How could a man-made mistake seem to be so appealing? As you raised your eyes, you noticed tattoos splattered across his arms and up to his neck. His black velvet-like wings fluttering in the breeze, he raised his palm to his hair and stroked through the old curls, deconstructing the pattern they had once formed.

“Did you just pull a Lucifer or was this all planned?” he coughed as he put out his hand to you, taking a good look at you.

Stuttering in your words you quickly got up and patted yourself off and finally looked him in the eyes, noticing his dark eyes.

“Well, that wasn't supposed to happen, I hoped to fly down here and appear more Angel-like, but I think my overseer had other ideas.”

He said, "Ah," with a bored expression on his face.

“My name is Heeseung, and if you don't mind, I assume you don't.” I guess my name is well-known in Heaven. You're probably the fifth Angel who has appeared in the last year to “assist me.” What a load of bullshit; you can't hide what's already there, you know.”

He made a pouty look as he smirked closer to you before covering his hand with his mouth and saying, “oh forgive me, I suppose I have a potty mouth.”

Panicking at this new light, you smiled and coughed loudly and suddenly, “Before you say anything else, I'd want to inform you that I'm not like those angels we don't talk about. I have a holy standard that I adhere to.

He rushed to your face, rolling his eyes at your innocence, and murmured to you, "well see about that little Ms. Purity."

As you moved back and shook your head, spurring out prayers, you tugged the strings of your bag close to you, seeming irritated. Looking up, you noticed him hovering in mid-air with his arms crossed, waiting for you.

“Whether you're coming or not, I'm in the mood for a cup of coffee. Allow me to go fetch you one so that this whole ordeal between us may be over soon and we can both return to our respective worlds.”

You instantly snap open your wings and shot up into the sky, scoffing at his rudeness, and dash by him, racing to the left.

“It's this way, dummy,” he cackled as he immediately shot out. Embarrassed and annoyed, you flipped over to his side and flew alongside him, praying to the Lord for peace as your rage subsided.

“Lord, so help me”

---

 “So, what's on the agenda, Ms. Purity? There are a lot of things I'd want to do with you. You know, if you just ditch this whole act, we might be able to have some fun. He winked at you as he sipped his drink while peering across the table.

You shook your head and chuckled, gagging at his remark, "You must get all the girls, you appear really, what's the word, competent" I'm astonished since I assumed everyone down under was inept.”

He smirked and crossed his legs as he lay startled in his chair, cocking his head to the side. It's not that you were trying to be mean; it's just what you were taught. There are no hard feelings.

“Well, as much as I'd like to keep this delightful little date going, I have a commitment to fulfill. You know, duty calls.” You quickly got up and hurried after him, confused as to where he was going, as he shot up in the air and chuckled, waving farewell to you.

“Wait, Heeseung, you can't just go away like that. We need to figure out how I'm going to find you. You're being impolite by getting up and leaving.” You made yourself look insane since you didn't realize no one could see him. You wouldn't want to be labeled as one of these Earthlings.

You beckoned him down, mentally terrified, “Please can you just come down for a damn second.” Your jaw dropped as you hurriedly covered your mouth. Heeseung's jaw dropped when he appeared in front of you, stunned.

“Gasp, I'm hearing a term I'm sure they don't say in Heaven. Hmm, I suppose the Earth changes people.” He went closer to your ear, his warm arm bouncing on your skin as he giggled, his lips inches away from yours.

“I've already entered my phone number into your phone; you do understand what a phone is, right?” Doesn't matter,  I have to get somewhere, and you can locate me later. Okay, I'll see you later.” He swept up in the air and rushed over to the bridge as he vanished into the horizon, rushing out in a haste once more.

You sat back in the coffee chair, wiped your brow, and focused mentally and spiritually, pleading with the Lord for help and forgiveness. You had a feeling this mission was going to be a disaster.

Whining, you threw your hands in the air and sat face down on the table, groaning as you realized this trek. It's no surprise that these honors are well-deserved; it takes a lot of effort.

You cautiously lifted your head and faced the barista after hearing a soft tap on your table. She smiled at you as she set down a piece of paper. You scowled as you inspected the weird set of paper.

“What a jerk, he didn't just leave me to pay for both drinks.” With a shake of your head, you reached inside your bag and drew out a wallet. Your overseer informed you that many people like flaunting and spending their money, so she provided some for you just in case.

As you cleaned up, you began to mentally map out your route through town, mentally picturing the locations and navigating your way home. As you walked over to the cashier, you handed her some money and thanked her before heading out the door.

At the very least, you landed in a fantastic location. It was in the heart of South Korea, and the city was called Seoul, a wonderful metropolis to be sure. You were taught to master specific languages for specific tasks, so communicating wasn't a problem. Despite the fact that you were new in a strange place, you were determined to make the most of it. The first step was to return home and examine the situation.

How to manage Lee Heeseung. 

Arriving at your small abode was an adventure in itself; it didn't take long for you to connect your GPS and get going. It was actually fairly pleasant and provided a change of scenery to enjoy. It's not quite Heaven, but it's still lovely. When you finally arrive at your destination, you look up to see a little, charming apartment in front of you.

They really went all out for you, and it's very much in your style. You'd felt right at home as soon as you stepped inside, as it was more modern and sophisticated.

To be honest, you had no idea what you were doing, but it felt good to have your own little place to do anything you wanted. You could get used to this, no wonder why humans never leave their house. Who would want to leave when you have everything here. Food, entertainment, and a BALCONY!!

As you finished exploring the apartment and basked in its magnificence, you laughed to yourself as you made your way to the couch, sinking into its coziness as sleep took over your mind and body.

*Crunch, thud, bang*

As you lurched forward, you flew up your wings in defense mode, trying to understand what you'd heard.

“Who's there? I have a weapon, and I'm not afraid to use it.”

When you hear a familiar giggle, you look up and see the attractive intruder. Walking over to you and snatching the pillow from your grasp he took your hand and pulled you over to the island where he had prepared some food.

As you took it all in, you smelt familiar scents and smiled, completely forgetting about it until you were reminded again.

“Wait, what are you doing in my apartment, and how did you get in?”

He began to remove some pots and pans from the stove while he placed some food on a platter, saying, "I have my methods."

“I'm not sure what you eat up there in Heaven, but I'm guessing it's all healthy and nutritious food.” You laughed and shook your hand in disbelief while shaking your head.

“I don’t think out of all places we would be eating so strictly. It's basically whatever you can get your hands on.. It's guaranteed to be better food than what you'll find in Hell.”

Pulling the dish away from him, you began to pick at the fries, popping one into your mouth and savoring the flavor, “not bad.”

He bowed in front of you, wiped the sweets from his brow, and returned to sit next to you, grabbing a dish and feeding himself some. As the night progressed, you told him the rundown for the next three months.

“So, despite the fact that you're definitely one of the worst jerks I've ever encountered. For this to function, we'll need to create certain ground rules.” Aiming a finger between you and him. “I'm not sure whether you've ever had to do anything for anyone else in your life, but it's all about serving people around here, and that's why I accepted this assignment. Even if you don't want to help yourself, I want to help you.”

As Heeseung shuffled around in his chair, avoiding eye contact with you, the atmosphere became tense.

“Harsh, but keep going.”

Smiling you continued as you tried to wrap your head around this complex creature.

“I understand that we are supposed to protect and guide you to do good, but it appears that we have progressed far beyond that, and we need to start at the source of your problem, which is most likely your heart or mind. What's going on in both?

As his words danced across your lips, he smirked and drew you closer to him.

“Now there's a secret.” 

Smirking as your face felt warm, you cocked your head to the side and touched his shoulder before getting up and setting your dish in the sink, cleaning up as piercing eyes stabbed your back.

“I understand what you're thinking, and I've got it all under control.”

He approached you and said, "If you say so," as he put his head against your ear.

2 months later 

Everything was certainly out of hand, and he was to blame. Your strategy not only failed, but it was only a matter of time until your overseer found out. And you didn’t want to end up like the last guy tossed from Heaven.

It wasn't all that bad, but who were you kidding, it was a disaster. It wasn't a major shift; rather, it was a series of modest changes. Things like accidentally cursing or hanging out with him at ungodly hours. You convinced yourself that everything was OK.

He drew you into your room and sat you down while hovering over you, gently caressing your body and kissing you.

You smiled and drew him closer to you, wrapping your legs around his waist and bringing him down on you, closing the distance between you.

Heeseung has been on a mission to damage your "innocent demeanor" for the past two weeks. He intended to show you that it was all a charade and that no one is actually perfect. Despite not knowing what he was going to do, you were up for the challenge. That core part of you didn't take long to succumb to his immoral impulses.

What was the problem as long as you were both happy?

“Heeseung,” you say as he draws you closer to him and unclasps your bra with his free hand. As you slowly rise to assist him, you toss the material to the ground and reach for his sweatpants.

“Someone a little needy, but we are not doing that today. Today is all about pampering my lovely angel. Is it all right?”

Nodding your head, you keep an eye on him as he goes between your legs, halting at the bottom as he eyes your breast and grasps softly as your body adjusts.

“Hurry up,” you grumble as you stare at his sinister grin. As you moan, he places gentle lips along your folds, leaning down to your core. As you twitch under his touch, his finger makes a fast dive between your folds, inciting dampness.

As you whine from the pressure, your eyes flutter shut as he switches his finger out with his tongue, softly licking up your surface.

“mm, close,” you exclaim, your lips wide open as he notices your clit, tongue flicking lustfully against it. As he presses harder on your sensitive region, he laughs as you break apart under his power.

“Oh God, right there.” 

“Please don't involve Him in this.” He hits a place as your high comes crashing down on you, chuckling at your reaction. Heeseung is holding you down and watching you quiver wildly as you release juice, which causes him to swallow it before wiping his mouth. As you fall onto his body, overwhelmed and still sensitive to the sensation, he pulls you up.

He lays your exhausted body next to his and wipes any excess arousal from his mouth before kissing your lips.

You both lay in a comfortable stillness for the remainder of the night, your breathing slowly returning to normal as you sign into his arms.

“Perhaps you're right; we're all just horny, messed-up creatures; I mean, even though what we're doing is completely wrong, it was fun to break the rules. My entire life has been focused on doing the right thing and being this upstanding angel. It's fun to deviate from the norm.” As Heeseung witnessed you erupt in rage, you became agitated.

“You’re cute when you’re mad, also I told you.” You both chuckled as you pushed him to the side before coming to a halt in the middle of your conversation, looking concerned at him.

“However, I leave tomorrow and I don't think I'll be ready to see you off, and this was not in my plan.”

“Shhh, I figured it out; just stick to my plan and we'll both come out on top.”

You sat closer to him, nodding your head and clasping your hand in his as you allowed sleep to take over your body.

As you may know, angels and humans have quite distinct punishments; some humans are never punished for their wrongdoings, whereas angels' actions are usually discovered one way or another.

And you were terrified that they would find out. The person who fell from the edge was not the same person who was returning back and everyone was going to know it. Just not right now, you had to maintain your composure as you approached your overseer.

As you were greeted with the overseer and some guards, you held Heeseung by his chains and whispered something into his ear.

“I see you were having a good time?” You shook your head and looked down, worried. You looked up at her with sad eyes.

“Yes, High Lord, I am aware of my error and what needs to be done in order to be purified once more. I accept complete responsibility for this assignment, but I crack him first, and we have all the secrets we need.”

As he observed you return to the opposite side with the overseer, Heeseung's gaze shifted up in fright. Fearing for his life, he flailed his wings in an attempt to flee.

“What the hell, Y/N, I thought we were on the same team.” How could you betray me in such a way?” You walked over to his trembling body and pushed him down so you were above him, laughing loudly. You patted his shoulder as you cackled.

“And they said angels could be trustworthy. I know what I'm worth, and it has nothing to do with you. Heseeung, please accept my apologies. Get him out of here.” The guards grabbed his chains and dragged him to a chamber across the room from you.

As she began to compliment you on your efforts, the supervisor wrapped her arm around your shoulder.

“I'm proud of you, Y/N, even though you used some terrible techniques. I knew you'd be able to pull it off.”

You grinned joyously and thanked her for her faith in you as you looked up at her face. You cast another peek at Heeseung as she stepped forward, and he winked at you. Smirking before he disappeared into the room you chuckled at his behavior.

Everything was going swimmingly, and no one had a clue. I suppose taking over Heaven would be a simple task; if you can blow up the inside, everything will fall apart on its own.

"How could you hide this from all of us?" "Oh God, you underestimated me."

The Beauty of Sin.

☆ ҉ ◢▅◣

➳ Navigate to the Maze

[lumilasi]

A character designed together with my friend/mostly by my friend @mad-hatter-rici, though unlike Chiyuri who I consider “joint-custody” character, she fully belongs to her! I just wanted to post her ref after finishing it, given she’s part of my Telepaths story. Also I’ll have access to it then even when I’m not on my laptop, in case I want to draw her traditionally for example. 

Her bio below (also based on what my friend told me)

Name: Rouna

Nicknames: Oneechama (Youko)

Age: Unknown, somewhere around 200

Height: 184 cm

A Chimera with a mission to extract revenge on those who betrayed her clan & find a way to potentially resurrect them

Role: Member of Amalia’s sect

Family: Niece Youko, sister Shika

Love interest: She has a “friends with benefits” type of thing going on with Angus Jaeger, a doctor/Reverence Demon working under Amalia’s GF Belladonna

Friends: She’s fairly polite and cordial with everyone she works with, but doesn’t particularly consider anyone a close friend.

Rival(s): She also has a friendly, playful rivalry with Angus, given they’re both pretty much among the most intelligent people in the group, the two mad scientists with plenty of knowledge about poisons due to their powers.

Powers:

She is very skilled in necromancy, specifically resurrecting beastly creatures she’s killed as zombie servants. She does know other spells and curses too.

Rouna can excrete poison from her nails, lips, and her snake tail’s bite. She can also exhale this poison in gaseous form.

Rouna is very agile fighter, and good with different sort of blades; she’s also fairly stealthy given her background as an assassin.

She can use her tail to see behind her and sense danger

Weaknesses:

She is naturally weak to light magic, which can render her spells useless, and even damage her zombie warriors. As a Chimera, her blood is her major power source, so if she loses too much of it she’ll become powerless, even if physically she’d still be perfectly fine. (so basically no, it is not just case of anemia, anyone with blood would suffer from losing too much of it lol)

Personality:

Rouna is very calm and collected person most of the time, not showing her emotions openly. This often makes her seem distant and cold to others, although she does remain polite and cordial with everyone, sometimes even teasing them lightheartedly. She is very protective over her niece, and would do anything for her sake. She can be a bit touchy about the subject of her sister, Shika, not liking her being mentioned randomly. 

While Rouna isn’t searching for a relationship, too focused on her own goals, she doesn’t mind satisfying her physical needs with someone she finds attractive/intriguing enough. This works with Angus, given he’s not expecting it to be a relationship either, as he in turn is more focused on his own research.

While Rouna seems mostly fearless, she is probably the most cautious/fearful towards their Master, Hanzoku, having a far better understanding of what he is and what he is capable of than anyone else. She also sometimes ends up in his cross-hairs, with her experiments not always matching with his twisted-but-existing moral code. (she doesn’t show her fear openly of course, but it is there)

BG Story

Rouna was one of the 12 children of their village’s chief. One of her sisters, Shika was banished from the village due to being against their father’s experiments on their other siblings (giving them a lot of blood and different beings to devour, as Chimera’s abilities base on the blood they drink), which had led to the deaths of 5 of them already. 

The village had a pact with other nearby human/other spirit & mythical folk ones to protect their secret home from threats, but the Chimeras end up being betrayed due to bias and fear towards their kind, the clan getting wiped out apart from Rouna and his niece, Youko. (and the banished Shika) 

Rouna spends the next years providing for her niece as an assassin, until a woman named Amalia Marek approaches her, offering her a chance to take revenge on the traitors, and perhaps find a way to resurrect her clan. Rouna agrees to it, mainly to have a safe place for Youko to live in.

Fun Facts:

Rouna is a good cook, and often aids their actual chefs despite not being part of the sect (Taiga’s) who are usually responsible for day-to-day things such as meals.

To relax, she likes to polish her weapons and is often seen doing it sunken in thought, typically spooking most onlookers.

Despite being her aunt, Youko prefers referring to her as a big sister.

She’s really good at yoga and can do even the most difficult of poses.

While she seems very in control of her emotion usually, her tail tends to give away what she’s feeling if its more intense (such as fear and anger)

While Youko’s friendship with the corrupted Moth spirit Chouma is a bit peculiar to her, she does not mind it given he doesn’t seem like a threat to her niece. She also isn’t bothered by the fact Angus also has a bit of a physical thing going on with him. (It’s different in nature from theirs, though)

While he seems pretty cold and uncaring outside his sister, Angus tends to be among the first to defend Rouna, whenever she ends up on Hanzoku’s bad side. Not out of any sort of emotional attachment however, but simply because he finds punishing her over her antics a waste of time, given they don’t typically hindrance the group’s goals. (Also Youko’s crying is tiring)

She keeps getting called “scary” by Yoruga, another moth spirit within the group. Rouna can tell however, that peculiarly this one is not actually scared of her at all, despite not even being corrupted. 

[addictedtostorytelling]

Okay, I finished The West Wing!

Physically I’m going about my life but emotionally I’m staring at a wall thinking about what I want out of television as a medium.

If you had to put your finger on the “secret sauce” that makes tww so good, what would you say it is? (other than being Generally Excellent lol) What makes a show where the stakes are so high feel so, for lack of a better word, cozy?

hi, @clintbeifong!

congratulations on completing the show!

welcome to the “so i've finished tww and now everything else is just details” club—free membership for the rest of your life.

in response to your question, i think that a lot of what makes tww so, so good is just the quality of the production all around: 

tptb assembled one of the most prodigiously talented and hard-working ensemble casts of all time, all of whom had chemistry with each other in scads; 

they were from the beginning possessed of a clear vision of what the show was about and adhered to their central thesis all the way through (“never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed people can change the world”); 

everyone involved in the production from the showrunners to the directors to the writers to the actors to the crew wholeheartedly “bought in” to the project and its ethos and applied the same kind of dedication to their work as did the characters whose stories they were telling;

they tackled big topics—hope! freedom! loyalty! love! liberty! honesty! legacy!—both regularly and fearlessly and never shied away from depicting heartfelt emotion, even at times when other productions might have done so for fear of being maudlin; 

they created a story world the was as immersive as was required of their subject matter, with beautiful set designs and detailed prop-work, avoiding anything that could cause the audience to cease to suspend their disbelief or to become conscious of the limitations of the television medium;

they remained highly aware of the mythological underpinnings of what they were doing throughout;  

etc.

but to me, even more than all of these other elements, the main thing that makes tww excellent is the writing.

even great actors can’t make bad writing sing. even shows with central theses are shit if the theses are poorly executed. no amount of technical wizardry or spectacle can ever make up for shoddy narrative work.

in the end, it always has to come down to the writing.

to the storytelling.

and the thing about the writing on tww is that while it did a lot of complex, nuanced, frankly impressive things and did them extraordinarily well, the foundations of its greatness lay, very simply, in how good it was at the fundamentals. 

if you'll allow me a metaphor, learning to write well is like learning to juggle: you start off just cycling one ball between your hands, then two, then three, practicing the motions so that you make the height on your throws consistent, so that your eyes learn how to track the arc of each ball, so that you develop muscle memory on how and when to move your hands, so that you memorize the feel of the action (up, over, under, up, over, under, etc., etc.).

these initial efforts are not at all flashy and don't impress anyone watching you, but getting these fundamentals down is key.

eventually, you can add more balls.

maybe switch out the balls for clubs or other objects.

if you get really good, work up to chainsaws.

start balancing on a tightrope and playing the kazoo while you're at it.

make it a death-defying, mind-blowing, highly-complicated, highly-staked act.

but the thing is, you can only get to that point if the fundamentals are sound.

you have to have the basics down pat. you have to always keep that same steady juggling rhythm in play, following the cycle, no matter what else you may be doing simultaneously; no matter how complicated everything else gets.

of course, different writing teachers will stress different fundamentals, and especially because different types of writing have different kinds of fundamentals, depending on their aims.

but in fiction, regardless of genre, it always comes back to two things: character and conflict.

who is this person, and why can’t they have what they want?

in our juggling metaphor, that’s the cyclical motion, the fundamental act of moving the balls between your two hands: you let the audience know who someone is, what they want, and why they want it, and then you prevent them from getting what they want and show how they respond.

everything else—learning how to pace the story, mastering economy of information, developing your writerly voice, writing compelling and incisive dialogue, teasing out major themes, etc.—is the additional stuff, the steps beyond that first novice level, where you’re adding more balls and choreography, and, certainly, it’s crucial to the act, as well.

just also totally predicated on the fact of the juggling.

on that basic motion.

the tricks of writing itself—knowing how to throw in a plot twist or employ a nonlinear narrative technique, effectively using foreshadowing and callbacks, establishing complex metaphors, etc.—are chainsaws and tightropes, and they’re great if you can incorporate them seamlessly (and safely!) in a way that enhances the act.

they’ll make the audience ooh and aah.

but just the juggling itself, that’s still all based in character and conflict, conflict and character, over and over and over again, up, over, under, ad infinitum.

that’s the fundamental stuff of it.                 

it’s like vladimir nabokov says: “the writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.”

that’s the thing that if you learn how to do it both consistently and well, it will make everything else in the story eventually fall into place.

so back to your question:

the writers on tww were master jugglers.

they were amazing at dialogue. crafted tight, well-paced, stimulating narrative arcs, sometimes over the course of several seasons. could allude and overlay and imbue with the best of them.

but their greatest credit was that they were good character writers.

and characterization is the foundation of great storytelling.

it’s what make a story—even if it takes place in a milieu that is completely unfamiliar to the audience otherwise—feel like home.

that work of getting the characters “in” starts immediately on tww and continues throughout the entire rest of the show.

just look at the tww pilot episode, where each character’s introductory scene establishes them as part of the administration and shows something of what they want/what motivates them. we’re then immediately introduced to problems: josh’s gaffe with the christian commentators, sam sleeping with laurie, the president’s bicycle accident, the pr fiasco of it all. we’re given “ins” with everyone, creating a momentum right from the get-go.

of course, tww is unique in terms of its stakes—these people’s actions truly can change the world, for good and ill—and the fact that everything is so “big time” does certainly help to create a sense of urgency.

there’s also something to be said for how precisely the characters themselves are drawn and how three-dimensional they feel even just to start out with; that’s a place where you can see the experience and intelligence of the writers shining through.

it goes without saying that on a show where two of the main characters are themselves supposed to be generationally talented writers, the writers writing them have to be on their fucking games.

but at the end of the day, for me, it always comes back to the basic up, over, under of it all.

i never imagined that i would get so invested in a show about the nuts and bolts of the upper echelons of the american political system, but i did get invested in it because there was this group of characters that i cared about deeply, and what they wanted mattered to me, and i was desperate to see if they could overcome their problems and how they did so if they did (and even what happened when they failed).

the beautiful acting performances that brought the writing to life were important to my enjoyment of tww, as well, as were the themes of the show itself, the production values, the mythos, etc. i loved the fact that it could take on topical/current issues and make them timeless, almost epic. i loved the smaller technical aspects of the writing, too (e.g., the razor-sharp dialogue, the patient arc-building, the genius character beats, etc.). that stuff all served to improve upon an already stellar baseline.

but really it was just that they did the most basic things well.

that’s what makes it compelling.

that’s what makes it cozy.

at least to me, anyway.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.