#i havent drawn wings in ages

[eyesofcuriosity]

🎃HELLO GHOSTS AND/OR GHOULS!🎃

You have been randomly selected for this years All Hallows Eve Wing-Ding. If you wish to partake in the seasonal fun, then please see below for the "costumes" available to you at this time. Select one and YOU'RE DONE! This promotion spans until November 1st, where all changes will henceforth be rescinded. Please tag all posts with "#Halloween Event".

Disregard if there is no desire to participate.

WeAreNotHeldResponsibleForAnyDuress,Physical,OrEmotionalyInclinedToOurProducts.SideEffectsMayInclude,ButAreNotLimitedTo;ChangesInAppetite,Stature,MoralAlignment,Vision,Heliophobia,Anthropophobia,Nausea,ExtraOrReductionOfLimbs,BloodLust,Etc.UsersDiscressionAdvised.

PLEASE CHOOSE ONE TO PARTICIPATE:

Harpie

Golem

Undead

"Oh I do like events!" she was excited but that lasted for a short while once she saw the list of costumes. It seemed harmless enough right? Reading through her mind settles on a Harpie! "This is rather peculiar hmm....hey why...? " before she could pose a question it felt if someone poked her in the forehead. For a moment she lost balance and began to stumble.

Her back and feet felt heavier. What's going on? As if she were a baby chick, she forgot to walk properly. She fell onto the ground, only to be greeted with a pair of sharp talons instead of her feat!!!

"What in the world?!? " she squeaks and flutters her wings.....WINGS? Feeling a new pair of limbs on her back she whips her head to look at a pair of brown and white large wings......

"How am I supposed to do my daily ....anything like this??!"

[wilburewormarts]

redraw/ redesigns of some old ocs (evelyn and rita!) i did as a warm up!

close ups/ side by side under the cut

(2018-2019/ 2024)

also these silly old women are in love! :]

[tumbler-dot-com-user]

wait drawing is really fun actually

[cadaverre]

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ the swords are drawn, they really are

JUNO ☆ they/them (i dont mind she/her) ☆ minor (xv) ☆ bisexual ☆ cancer sun, libra moon, sag rising ☆ intp-t ☆ aus ☆ either a celestial god or a pebble ☆ anxious mess ☆ i change my theme way too much ☆ sparkling water > regular water ☆ in love with piercings and wants all of them ☆ professional procrastinator ☆ a humanities/arts/music girl in a science/maths world ☆ dont know much abt society but i know i hate capitalism ☆ wouldnt survive a day without spotify ☆ free palestine!! ☆

LOVES ⭑.ᐟ - literature, the arts, queer culture, astronomy + astrology, witchcraft, feminism (no terfs allowed!!!!), cold drinks, miniskirts, doc martens, dark red, nail polish, mascara, lipgloss, brie (always dreaming of cheese), pinterest, spotify, my headphones, the ocean, my grandparents house, spring+winter, fiddling around on the guitar, fantasising about being a famous musician, finding new music, snow, going to concerts, psychology, web weaving, learning languages (currently learning spanish and i want to learn latin!)

BOOKS ⭑.ᐟ - osemanverse, the hunger games, books by rhiannon wilde, tim te maro's subterranean heartsick blues, all the best liars, books by octavia butler (specifically parable of the sower and parable of the talents), the last true poets of the sea, acotar, the weight of the stars, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, the picture of dorian grey, house of hollow, howls moving castle, harry potter (mainly marauders, FUCK JKR), i kissed shara wheeler, red white and royal blue, song of achilles, wings of fire, the secret history, crime and punishment

MOVIES + SHOWS ⭑.ᐟ - juno, dont look up, little women (2019), scream (i like most of them but 1996 is my fav by far), ladybird, barbie (2023), some of the mcu (thor and guardians of the galaxy <33), spiderverse (itsv is my love), gilmore girls, stranger things, loki, heartstopper, arcane, scott pilgrim takes off + scott pilgrim vs the world, mean girls (i love both hehe), dr who, percy jackson (the show, i um havent read the books), gossip girls, do revenge, my little pony, the bear, hannibal, we are lady parts, bottoms

MUSIC ⭑.ᐟ - boygenius + solos, taylor swift, glaive, brakence, paramore, ricky jamaraz, melanie martinez, lana del rey, ashnikko, girl in red, billie eilish, doja cat, big thief, adrianne lenker, ethel cain, mitski, remi wolf, cigarettes after sex, ericdoa, tv girl, clairo, the neighbourhood, bon iver, deftones, maneskin, courtney barnett, poppy, the smiths, american football, susannah joffe, renee rapp, mcr, the front bottoms, pierce the veil, gracie abrams, feeble little horse, esha tewari, radiohead, chappell roan, charli xcx

ALBUMS ⭑.ᐟ - the record, 1989 tv, around the fur, riot, three cheers for sweet revenge, all we know is falling, hypochondriac, girl with fish, doa, things with wings, punk2, songs, masterpiece, guts, lust for life, dykttatuob, punisher, stranger in the alps, i care so much that i dont care at all, collide with the sky, manic, badlands, folklore, trafoamp, k-12, crybaby, portals, this is why, ttpd + the anthology, hit me hard and soft, the bends, brat, the secret of us, home video

TALK TO ME ⭑.ᐟ - asks and dms are open for chatting/venting/whatever, i might take a while to respond ☆ i rarely follow people without an intro post/descriptive bio (with name, age group and pronouns especially) ☆ discord is astraeasparrow ☆ i dont currently have any trigger warnings tagged but just send me an ask/dm if you want me to tag something specific!! ☆dni: people who are: rude, racist, homophobic, transphobic, zionist, terfs, sexist, ableist, antisemitic

TAGS ⭑.ᐟ

#juno.txt -> ramblings, original posts

#asks -> asks ive answered

#ask bait -> send me asks!

#tag games -> tag games ive participated in

#beautiful mutuals -> interactions with my beautiful mutuals !

#spotify -> my music obsession

#junocore -> posts that are so incredibly mecore

#🩻 -> posts abt/for my fav

(im working on a better taglist with my moots tags)

SOCIALS ⭑.ᐟ pinterest ☆spotify ☆ carrd ☆ pronoun page ☆ letterboxd ☆ stats.fm

SIDEBLOGS ⭑.ᐟ @likeasugarcubeinateacup (notes app poetry) -- @sirenliight (short poetry + aesthetics) -- a close friends blog (you can ask for the url, i might say no) (im not that active on them though)

NOTES/UPDATES ⭑.ᐟ

☆ prev urls — astraeasparrow -> gu1lty-as-sin -> glcive

☆ last updated: july 10th 2024

☆ dividers by @plutism

thats all!! stay hydrated and have a wonderful day/night everyone <3

[trickstarbrave]

i havent drawn her yet but fine. i made a new nerevarine

artemisia septim, bastard princess of uriel conceived around the time just before jagar tharn ended up imprisoning uriel in a pocked dimension of oblivion (events of arena). uriel didn't really want her, but given she wasn't born to a random maid, he agreed to raise her but she's pretty much locked up in her wing of the imperial palace with only a nanny and tutors. she never knew her mother, just that she was a noblewoman who agreed to stay silent if he took responsibility.

after jagar tharn was defeated uriel vii focused more efforts on legitimate heirs and clearing out any potential spies. her nanny is killed on suspicion of being a spy who aided jagar tharn along with several of her maids. artemisia is only 11-12. she begins to hate him.

because she's an elf she's still young by the events of morrowind, at least as far as elves age. it makes her feel even more alienated in the imperial palace. she only ever speaks to her siblings and father in formal settings, otherwise they rarely acknowledge her. she studies magic but she knows uriel vii is a very. paranoid person for a good chunk of her life following his imprisonment. time breaking after the warp in the west probably did not help anyone. elves as i write them age normally until around the 20's after which it DRAMATICALLY slows down, but everyone expects her to be a fully mature woman who's nearly 40 (maybe she's younger idk i might set her story a few years before the official game. or maybe later. we'll see) bc theyre all imperials. she's like. baby to most elves though.

she's sent on a diplomatic mission to morrowind for politics. she's just excited to fucking leave the imperial city and GO SOMEWHERE. she finds the palace stiffing and filled with horrible memories. she wants to see something new, and she always read about morrowind. to her its a dream come true to finally get to see it in person and she's so excited she can hardly sleep.

of course. uriel sent her to morrowind because he knew the political tensions there were too high to send one of his legitimate heirs. he's hoping she doesn't die but also he needs an ambassador and wants to make a good impression. if she is attacked and killed though he intends to use it to put morrowind more heavily under his thumb. he also, given he has some prophetic abilities, has a good feeling about sending her there.

she's super excited at first even though things are. tense. they were told uriel had a dunmer daughter but she doesn't look like a dunmer at all. even being half. they've seen half-imperial half-dunmer children and she doesn't look like a dunmer even remotely. she has pointed ears but her skin has a golden hue and her hair is stark white and her eyes are red. she explains she was born with a condition that lead to only patches of grey skin that faded as she got older but that her mother was definitely a dunmer. they question if she actually had an affair with an altmer and not the emperor behind her back but in a way she can still hear, but dismiss it as the empire playing tricks on them to make them look stupid. she isn't half dunmer. the emperor must think theyre stupid and is passing off his altmer born bastard as a dark elf like they can't tell she doesn't have grey skin. (nerevar was rly coming through on this one. azura had to much fun in the create a sim i think)

however some sixth house members strike. orvas dren tipped them off that a septim would be coming for a diplomacy meeting and their plan was to kidnap her, hold her hostage, make her a dreamer, and then send her back to the imperial palace with plenty of ash statues.

caius ends up rescuing her and taking her back to hide in his house. she's freaking out bc what the fuck there's a freaky ass cult in morrowind?????????? were they gonna kill her?????? did the emperor know????????? and now she's stranded in the country until caius can figure out a way to smuggle her out without someone knowing but he suspects there might be sixth house infiltrators in nobility who would catch them. they can't risk him just plopping her in a boat while they also hide in wait there and caius in good conscious can't let her die when uriel tasked him with protecting her by any means. so instead he gives her a slight haircut, some commoner clothing, and tells her they're gonna give her a fake identity

she's like. "great im stuck in a fucking skooma den on this fucked up island and theres ash storms here and weird cultists and im miserable and i almost died and--"

"here's 200 gold, buy some other gear, say you're a half altmer mage coming here to study, join the mages guild and try not to get yourself killed. i have a few contacts in the guild i told to keep an eye out for you and keep you safe. do NOT do anything reckless. do you understand."

artemisia realizing that she gets to join the mages guild and do whatever she wants now:

[adventureforwardhcs]

i am an "arrolin with dragon wings" TRUTHER. why? it's just silly. also he deserves to go fly and have some fun

YOURE SO RIGHT ANONNN i havent drawn af2 in ages so if all my arrolin art wasnt old and bad id show some bc i feel like i always draw them w wings...

[ljs98art]

Love sketching hinata in the buffalo wild wings after watching the new haikyuu movie. Havent drawn my favorite boys (haikyuu) in ages but turns out its muscle memory i needed no reference 😭

[bellusastra]

MY DARLING LINEN YAYAYAYAYA I HAVENT DRAWN JER IN AGES AND FORGOT HER OTHER ARMS

I love drawing the lower wings but I always end up erasing it because of her damn legs covering it WAAAAA

old drawing of her below

[zelphin124]

I hope nobody else sent this yet- But here, for you~

1. who's your favorite oc?

2. who was your first oc?

3. how many ocs do you have?

4. have you kept all of your

ocs since the beginning?

5. are any of your ocs based

off of a show/book you like?

if so, who?

6. what is the species of the

majority of your ocs?

7. are any of your ocs an

original species? if so,

what's the species and who?

8. if you can, draw (oc name)!

9. write a few sentences as

(oc name)!

10. are any of your ocs part

of a story? if so, what is it

about and who's in it?

11. do you have any twin ocs?

12. are any of your ocs

siblings?

13. what is the gender of the

majority of your ocs?

14. make up a new oc right now

based on (concept/show/color/

etc.)!

15. would you ever give up any

of your ocs?

16. who is your oldest oc

(age-wise)?

17. have you ever roleplayed

as your ocs?

18. how many of your ocs were

adopted from someone else?

19. who is your least favorite

oc?

20. which oc do you think has

changed the most since you

made them?

21. who is your newest oc?

22. have you ever cosplayed

your own ocs? if so, who?

23. which oc do you think has

affected you the most as youve

grown with them?

24. have you gotten cosplayers

of your ocs? if so, of whom?

25. do you have any ocs that

you havent drawn/written as/

talked about in a long time?

if so, who?

Aww! Thank you skele-things! I appreciate it! And no one has asked me this yet (:

DISCLAIMER: I have many many many many many many OC's... especially outside the Undertale fandom. BUT- I'll try to center around Undertale as those are known best! Questions below!

I mean, I love all my boys equally what do you mean- Winter Sans. Outside of UTMV? Garrison, a character in my novel.

For the UTMV - Iro!Sans. My girl has been with me for... six months now.

Too many. UTMV-wise, eight 6. I have six, for now.

For the UTMV yeah! I've kept all of them!

I got inspiration for SeasonTale based off one Game of Thrones clip I saw with a dragon, a man, and a woman, and the bad sanses. It was literally only one scene, and it sparked a story!

Heh, Sanses... Outside of UTMV? I love writing elves, creatures I make myself, or humans! Humans are so interesting when they're powerless in a powerful world.

Unless you count a girl Sans original... nope! As for my other books, I've made a TON of fantasy species! The main character in my novel, The Fergen, is a Fergen! Which is an elf with dragon wings and can breathe fire! Lmk if you wanna hear more.

aaaaaa sadly I am not confident in my art enough to draw my characters... I will learn someday, I hope!

Winter: "Must you cause yourself pain to get revenge? It isn't worth it! This is only hurting you!"

Oh yeah! SeasonTale and IroTale have very complex and intricate stories that I am in process of writing! You can find more info on their masterposts!

Oh, good question! Although some come close, nope!

Yep! Winter Sans and Summer Sans are brothers! That's why Summer's eyes can sometimes be seen as snowflakes!

Male. I make a lot of females outside the UTMV though; it's been really interesting to learn about how the male mind works when writing them!

Crap ya didn't give me any concept to go off of! Haha! I am a creative dumpster, if you give me some concepts, I can definitely spit out some ideas!

Yes, I have given a ton up outside the UTMV, so I am sure it could happen with my Sanses, unfortunately. But I don't plan to anytime soon (:

If Cocoa!Sans doesn't count, as I made it with a community, then probably Iro!Gaster, who is timeless. W!Gaster is like... 250 years old too.

Oh yeah! All the time! It's how I flush out some of the lore! Usually, it's on discord.

I was about to say none but then I remembered Reformed!Error, haha! So I guess 1?

Like I said I love all my boys equally- there's Chester from my novel... as for my UTMV? Hmmm... Maybe F!Gaster (Fall!Gaster). He's very cowardly and I don't like his character, but it serves a purpose.

Definitely Iro!Sans. She went from a maintenance Undye to who she is today. She's developed a LOT.

I created all my Season Sanses together... probably Solstice!Asgore. He's a new edition to the story!

Nope! I don't have the money to cosplay ;'/

Iro!Sans probably, mainly because of how her villainhood is from her brokenness, and honestly... she just needs a big hug. I relate to some of her brokenness and needing a hug so she's always been a character that in every scene I write with her, it hits deep.

Nope! None that I know of! If you have please let me see!

Probably Cocoa!Sans! I don't get to talk about my jolly old pal and his cafe a lot! He's super sweet and loves serving coffee from CoffeeTale, and his cafe is a universal hotspot! I've heard there's a lot of similarities between him and Ccino, though I've never read Ccino!Sans' story before.

WOW! What good questions! Thank you for allowing me to answer them!

Always feel free to ask whatever questions you have! (: Have a splendid day!

[gammagoop]

theres many reblogs of this i wanted to respond to so i will be posting screenshots and my thoughts

yeah… this is a gripe i have with many art styles in general (not just hermitcraft) because giving every character a tiny nose feels extremely eurocentric beauty standards.

you can figure out how to draw larger noses in a way that works with your style. i believe in you. (directed at people who do this)

a lot of people said they were bothered by a lack of body variation in some way or another and, while i do fully agree, that is also like. a legitimate problem. fatphobia and anti-aging and societal beauty standards etc. so not exactly what i meant with this post :p i do think that while it is pretty off-putting to see specific hermits drawn skinny (stress, impulse, cub, etc), if someone’s lineup has a good range of body types but they just drew a couple with a body type i usually dont imagine them with— thats pretty much fine. i more just want a broad range of variation, i don’t particularly need any one hermit to be drawn with any one body type all the time.

but anyways yes i completely agree with the pix statement in this one. people forget that he loved mischief— he just does mischief more analytically.

this is an interesting one because ive never really heard anyone talk about this :o i havent been aware of it personally, anyway. my cleo design is more just ‘person with scars and injuries’ rather than ‘sewn together’ but i think that was just because i wanted to give her vivisection scars

neither design really bothers me but i respect your opinion o7

i think the head-wings are a bird-winged character design thing in general, not just with mcyt. but yeah it is strange and i dont really know why people do it shrug

im gonna be honest i agree with this a lot. i dont mind the bird thing on paper but having it be so ingrained into fanon makes it so bland …. my grian is just human. bless. i also think its very funny for him to just be human. i like some bird grians from specific artists but yeah the majority of fanon grian isnt my favorite thing in the whole world. i dont like the height thing either :[ i do think he’s one of the shorter hermits but to me he’s like 5’5 at the least.

there’s some kind of association between mischief and being young so any prankster automatically gets drawn looking younger and any older prankster has their whimsy forgotten…. literally 1984 dystopia society

these people just agree with each other and i think thats beautiful. pearl is a creature… pearl is like if the night sky could bite you

TRUE!!!! omg ive been thinking about this so much lately. and ive been working on designing different mobility aids for scar because its something that people put such minimal thought into and that sucks! ive been drawing him with crutches usually but i think he would have to use leg braces along with those. i dont know if scar has ever said anything about how people represent his disability in fanart and i also dont know exactly how it affects him (and of course it is his right to be private about that) so i can only really speculate— but also balance that speculation with functionality. like, he would need different aids for different situations. you cant really sword fight while using crutches and you cant really scale a mountain in a wheelchair. but i digress. use your design brains guys i know you can do it 💪

thats all goodnight hermitnation

does anyone else have mcyt design pet peeves…. like things that arent in any way morally questionable or unreasonable but that bother you more than anything

for me its when people draw joel (smallishbeans) with no facial hair…. even the three lines on his chin is better than nothing !! i completely understand why people do this because he doesnt have facial hair in his youtube icon or normal minecraft skin but. its my little pet peeve. it doesnt feel right to me

leave yours in the reblogs if you want ☝️

[synchlora]

[ID: a watercolor drawing of the origins smp character sneeg snag. He is a small humanoid with moth antennae and polyphemus moth wings. He is drawn in shades of blue with a dark blue cloak around his shoulders. He is weilding a fork and has a mischievous grin on his face. /end ID]

snip snop

[sssamsondraws]

one (1) rat wizard

[petrolfumes]

got those st. james infirmary blues

[comatosesoldier]

illeiterumveniet replied to your post: //Should I draw:  Cloud Impaled Cloud with wings...

[Yes.]

//Theres an au ive been wanting to develop on angeal where like, Jenova is a seraph and the First trio just keep growing wings so you’re gonna get me to draw that

[tallykale]

my little passione [design notes and thoughts under the cut]

this is just a very persistent brain worm that got into my head today and wouldnt leave until i drew a bunch of ponies and thought a little too extensively about the reasoning behind these design choices so you get to hear about it now!

giorno was originally an earth pony (connection to the earth and growing things and all that) but the stand arrow (or whatever equestrian artefact is the equivalent, i havent decided on that) just fast tracks him to alicornhood

he looks a lot like dio when he gets his horn and wings

mista is only a unicorn because he needs to hold his gun somehow

the sex pistols are six parasprites that he adopted. everyone else fucking hates them and wishes they were dead. i know parasprites reproduce uncontrollably but just dont worry about that

narancia is scootaloo the sequel in that hes small for his age and had slightly underdeveloped wings from malnourishment so he couldnt fly when he first joined the gang. abbacchio (the other pegasus in the group) took him under his wing (literally lol) and taught him how to fly and train his muscles so they have a very special bond because of that

i havent drawn them yet but fugo is a unicorn and bruno is an earth pony

height order is narancia, giorno pre-alicorning, bruno, mista, giorno post-alicorning, fugo, abbacchio

i think the whole plot of part 5 still happens (maybe minus stands) but theyre just in equestria. killing people. dont worry about it

narancias cutie mark is an orange behind a cloud to represent his Sunny Outlook and Love of Oranges

giornos is his ladybug and wings

trish has music notes. for music.

mista has a gun (and six dots for the sex pistols)

feel free to ask if you want to see more of this. if you dont want to see more then too bad because i will keep drawing it

[emybain]

Settling In

this is the first time ive ever written a sequel to an ask fic so i hope yall are happy. this is a sequel to I’m Nova. Nova Artino if you havent read that. 

ao3

Simon watched the children play in the backyard from the kitchen window. At the stove, Hugh was making dinner. The kids were taking turns pushing one another on the swing set, Adrian letting Nova have longer turns before she insisted on switching. The sentiment brought a smile to Simon’s face. 

It had been a couple weeks since Simon found the girl, only eight years old, in the hands of the Anarchists. After spending a few days in the hospital wing at headquarters, Simon and his husband decided it was best to take her home with them. That way, she would be safe from the hungry eyes of the media. It was frustrating getting her to bed every night, as she refused to set a foot in the guest room until she was alone, but Hugh and Simon were afraid of her running away and wanted to keep an eye on her. At least Adrian loved the idea, having already grown fond of the girl in the short time they had known one another. Their friendship was ironic, in a sad way, but Simon didn’t like to think about it. Georgia had died two years ago, yet her death was still a knife to the side. 

“What are we going to do about her?” Simon turned from the window to Hugh, who was pushing around sausage in a pan. 

“Hm?” Hugh shifted his body so he faced Simon a bit more.

“What are we going to do about Nova?” He pushed his glasses up and crossed his arms. 

The look Simon got was almost comical. “Aren’t we going to keep her? She has nowhere else to go.”

Simon released a soft sigh. “You know we can’t do that, Hugh. Taking on Adrian was one thing. We’re his godparents and we’re financially stable to handle one prodigy child. But two?” He shook his head. 

Hugh turned the stove off. “She’s a prodigy? How did you find that out?”

There was a screech from outside, and they both peered out to see Nova stand up from the bottom of the slide, covered in mud and a grin on her face. Adrian stood at the top, laughing. 

“Why else would the Anarchists be hiding her?” Simon lowered his voice, although they were the only two in the house. “Ace killed her family because David came to us. Why didn’t he kill her, too?” 

Hugh removed his apron and began getting out bowls and silverware. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about that. But, Love,” he paused, closing the cabinets, “where is she going to go? I mean, don’t you feel as responsible for her as with Adrian?” 

A pang hit Simon’s chest. Hugh had a point; they had failed to protect the Artinos the same night Georgia died. It was only right for them to make sure she stayed safe. They owed that much to David and his wife. 

“I know.” Simon looked down at the checkered tile. “But will she trust us? Wouldn’t she be better off with a non-Renegade family? You’ve seen the looks she gives us. How she refuses to sleep at night if we’re in the room with her. There’s no telling what kind of bullshit the Anarchists have been feeding her. What’s to say she won’t run away or try to murder us in our sleep in the future?”

Hugh narrowed his eyes at him. “Your paranoia is showing again.” He walked forward and kissed Simon lightly. Simon closed his eyes, welcoming his husband’s hold. “We’ll figure it out,” Hugh said once he pulled away. “In the meantime,” he turned toward the cracked open window, “Kids, dinner!”

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” Simon murmured under his breath as the children entered the kitchen, sweaty and caked in mud from head to toe. 

 ___________

 Nova waited for Adrian in his bedroom, spending her time looking at his collection of comic books on his bookshelves. She missed her home a lot, but at least Adrian was nice. He understood what it was like to be uprooted, at least that’s what Nova could figure out based on their conversations. Still, what would Uncle Ace think about her being with the enemy? They let her family die instead of coming to save them. Surely, Ace was coming up with a rescue plan. At eight years old, there wasn’t much she could do to fight back anyway . Leroy refused for Ingrid to start training her until she was at least ten, so she had useless skills. There was her power, but she was still working on making it stronger. And down in the subway tunnels, it wasn’t like she could practice on the other Anarchists. Before she was kidnapped, Nova had plans to be just like her uncle, to be a powerful prodigy that defends all prodigies from discrimination and annihilates any offenders of equality. 

Her hands fell upon a comic different from the others. This one was just on plain printer paper and appeared to be homemade. She flipped through it, admiring the designs. They were a bit amateur, but good nonetheless. It was incomplete, clear from the half drawn characters on one of the pages. 

The door creaked and she whipped around, only to be met with a slightly startled Adrian. He had fresh pajamas on and held a towel in his hands. 

“Did you make this?” Nova held the comic up, unfazed. “It’s really good. I didn’t know you were an artist.”

Adrian pushed the towel into a basket and came forward, gently snatching the comic out of her hands. Nova noticed how his cheeks lit up. “It’s just something I’ve been working on,” he explained, shrugging and putting it back on the shelf. “Just a story.”

“Can I read it?” 

“No!” Adrian’s eyes widened. “I mean, it’s not done yet, is all. I wouldn’t want you seeing something unfinished.” 

She shot him a weird look and opened her mouth to respond, but Hugh poked his head in.

“Bed time, kids.” He stepped in all the way and started ushering Adrian to his bed. Nova watched as the man sat on the edge of his son’s bed and waited for him to get situated before tucking him in. She averted her eyes when Hugh bent over to plant a kiss on Adrian’s head, while Adrian protested and swatted him away. She quitted the room quietly and made her way down the hall to where they made her sleep, even though she never slept anymore. Not since she was six. Images of Mom and Papà flitted through her head, and she longed to be back in their arms in the safety of their apartment. It hadn’t been much, but it was home. Sometimes, especially recently, Nova thought about running away to the apartment and holing herself inside, but she knew the place would bring back too many bad memories. 

The bedroom was dark and cold when she entered. The upstairs of the house gave her the creeps. Adrian was convinced it was haunted, and said so the first night she came home with them. She had laughed at him then, but night after night of wandering around the room and hallways led to her slowly believing him. It wouldn’t surprise her; Ace was responsible for the murders of the mayor and his family. Any ghosts surely didn’t want Nova there. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time she wasn’t wanted. 

There was a soft knock on the door, and it opened a bit after Nova refused to respond, She didn’t even acknowledge Hugh as she started pulling back the covers, already in the set of pajamas they gave her. 

Nova enjoyed Adrian’s company. She had never had friends her age, or friends at all really, if she didn’t count her family. The Anarchists...weren’t exactly friends either. She knew that they only watched her because Ace ordered them to. Adrian was like her, though. He was nine, but she had a birthday coming up in less than eight months so they were practically the same age. She knew she should hate him for his parents and affiliations, but it wasn’t his fault. That was all he knew. She could tell he was a good person, not like his Renegade parents. Being around them was different than being with Adrian. 

“How are you liking the Everhart-Westwood residence, Nova?” His voice was cheerful. Nova didn’t care. 

She shrugged, playing with the covers. 

Hugh sighed. “Listen, Nova, there are things that you should know about your family, okay?” She glanced at him. He sat on the edge of the bed like he did with Adrian and reached over to pat her shin. “But...I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little older to fully understand. Just know that...that your father would want you here instead of in the subway tunnels, okay? He was a good man and a good friend, unlike his brother who was narcissistic and hotheaded.” Nova deflated, and had to bite back arguing over what he believed was best for her. He was just saying these things to get her to open up and to turn against the Anarchists and her uncle. He didn’t care about her. If he did, her family would still be alive. 

But still…”You knew Papà?”

Hugh smiled, though it was sad. “Yes. And there hasn’t been a day that has passed that I haven’t felt guilt for failing him. For failing you. But that’s a story for another day.”  He paused and stood then, shaking his head. “Do you want to be tucked in? Adrian won’t admit it, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it since we adopted him.”

Nova shook her head, wanting to ask more questions but knowing they would lead to nowhere. 

Hugh left and closed the door behind him softly, leaving her to a dark room and racing thoughts.