#i may redesign him a bit actually but i just want this one to be done lmao. i like the face but i know he should be stronger built

[spicedwatermel0n]

Young adult designs

Finally redesigned them!!! I wasn't really comfortable with keeping my late teen designs and young adult designs looking mostly the same aside from a few minor details so this is to fix that!! I've said I was gonna do this for a while lmfao... Anyways this look will span from 21 to 30 in which they undergo changes that I may not post rn? Adult and early teens are both sort of untouched designs. I have the looks in mind, but they're not really heavy on plot so... They haven't been drawn out. But I will post middle aged designs!! Now for obligatory "what are they like"

Nigel: looks pretty dead beat. He lost his arm in a mission for the KND some time ago. He's difficult to find, as he doesn't really... Live anywhere. If you need him, just wish for him. He'll probably arrive... Or not, because he's not a mind reader. He's starting to get into minor conflicts with the police. No one knows anything more about him, and that's probably his goal.

Hoagie: went cold turkey on EVERYTHING when he got his apartment. He's too busy fooling around with Wally or working to do anything bad to himself... He works a pretty rough 7-5 at a store where he does whatever they ask him to. Stock shelves, mop the floors, deal with customers... But it keeps a roof over his head, so he does it. He tends to wear a basic company uniform to work, that he absolutely DESPISES. Once he's home, he usually gets into something feminine. His job sometimes requires him to work extra hours or stay a bit longer to finish something. He holds internal anger for it, because he just wants to get home and smother Wally with love, but he does it because he DOES get paid for overtime. That's the least he could ask for, really.

Kuki: working a 9-5. She plans on getting to college to become a lawyer at some point. No one knows what exactly her job is. It's not her fault, she just doesn't care for it enough to remember. She got top surgery at 22 after working her ass off for the money she'd need. Don't tell anyone, but Hoagie helped a little. Also, she has her own apartment, too. It's really fancy and decked out, but she lives alone. She likes it that way. After years of living with her parents, she needs alone time all the time, unless she actively decides to invite someone over.

Wally: also went cold turkey on everything when he moved into the apartment. He's taking college classes at UVA to become a pediatrician. It's not quite Harvard, but it's damn near close. He's actually pretty dedicated to it. ADHD medication is the sole reason he can be so dedicated. He tends to wear somewhat feminine attire, as he's learning to understand that he doesn't have to conform to how society believes the genders should dress, and isn't any less of a boy just because he wants to wear feminine clothing.

Abby: going to an unknown college for her therapist degree. She doesn't tell anyone because she worries they may show up there to bother her, or something along those lines. She's often very busy studying, and if she isn't, she's doing volunteer work. She lives with her parents still. Chronically tired, just like, a little bit more than before. She has stopped caring about what she wears and just puts on whatever the hell works. She visits Kuki whenever she needs socialization or love.

Additional piece: the layout of Hoagie and Wally's apartment. This was for my own reference but I'd figure I'd post it

[gigamuffinsofie]

autism to autism communication

[klaunee]

Edit 2/12/2024: I wanted to add a disclaimer to my redesigns! I really appreciate all of the likes and comments that these have garnered, but I just want to add that these aren't intended to be "improvements" or "fixes" of the original designs in any way and were done as a character design exercise for my own entertainment. Looking back on them there's a lot I'd like to change about them and I'd never claim to be anything more than an amateur/hobbyist character design messing around with these character concepts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another redesign for fun, this time of Adam. Elaboration below.

(edit: This redesign was made before the show aired, and after seeing Adam's canon design in action I think his design fits his character well and is actually one of my favorite in the series! This redesign was just done as an exercise.)

More of him here!

The most confusing thing to me about the Exorcist's designs is how un-angelic they look. While working on this redesign I had the thought that maybe they're supposed to be fallen angels and thus it'd make sense for them to have a more demonic appearance, but this isn't confirmed. I think the design will grow on me, but I wanted my redesign of Adam to have a "holier" looking design to contrast with the rest of the cast.

I definitely wanted to remove the horns, but I thought they gave him an interesting silhouette, so I tried to think of a compromise. Eventually I remembered the existence of these really interesting helmets worn by medieval Teutonic knights.

With this helmet it makes it look like he has both horns and wings on his head and gives him an interesting silhouette. The helmet would be fully emotable like his current one.

Edit: I further modified the helmet so it almost forms a full circle and the halo is placed in the center so it resembles a giant eye.

The rest of his outfit is similarly inspired by both a crusader's uniform and a priest's cassock. The emblem on his uniform is based on the canon symbol he has and the Eye of Providence.

Unmasked, I wanted to stick with the whole "rockstar" thing and give him a wild look that suggests he might not be as holy as he presents himself to be, opening the door for a nuanced interpretation of the angels like the show seems to intend.

His blue palette makes him a nice visual foil for the rest of the cast, especially Lucifer.

In terms of physique he has a stocky build with broad arms. I imagine him as on the taller side.

Thank you for reading!

I'm not 100% on this design, I feel like it should be a bit more stylized, so I may redo it eventually.

The rest of my redesigns are here.

[downwiththemutantnjnjaturtles]

Hi! Love your posts. Can you write crush headcanons for each of the turtles, like how they develop it, how they may act around them, and maybe ask them out? Thank you! Hope you have a great day!

TMNT crush headcanons:

Leonardo:

• Leo developes slow but meaningful crushes! He's very careful, and guarded of his feelings similar to Raph, but in his own way. His crush starts with feeling inspired by his person of interest, someone who makes him want to better himself in any way by either observing their passions, talents, and skills, or who encourages his limits to discover his own.

• He's thoughtful but very subtle about his affections towards someone, he doesn't exactly want them to know

• Observant, attentive, and a classic romantic is how he is—that last part, in his fantasies, at least. He dreams about being able to provide everything his crush could want or need, even though he can't always do so due to how they live

• Leo asks his crush out after a series of escalating gestures of love so it doesn't really catch them off guard. Asks them to meet him alone to talk because he has something important to say, and then makes the confession.

• "I know you have to know what I'm going to say, you're nervous, I can tell...I probably shouldn't have been so cryptic when I asked you to meet me in the dojo by yourself." He softens his posture a bit, to seem less tense. He'd lit several dozen candles scattered all over the room, partially for himself while he meditated to calm his mind a little, mostly to create an atmosphere. "You've become a close friend of mine despite everything, you know you're always welcome in our home, right? And you can come whenever." There's an awkward pause—he doesn't know how to continue with what he's saying. "Ah, anyways—I was saying...I enjoy your company, I would be honored to show you some stuff I know, in exchange for some of your time. Only if you'd like." God, he hoped that you would.

Michelangelo:

• Mikey couldn't hide his growing feelings, even if he wanted to. And it didn't take much for him to fall fast and hard for his crush; the attention he got was addictive and he wanted to give it back tenfold! He always wanted to feel wanted and accepted by others, so even though he couldn't have that from the rest of the human world, the fact that he had that from you was more than enough for him. He was grateful.

• He's his crush's biggest fan!! If there were merch, he'd wear it proudly even if it embarrassed you

• Creative and artistic; he painted and redesigned one of his old longboards just for you. It had some of his old pop-art on it, graffiti style, random sketches and doodles, and every sticker he could find. He tried to remember everything you liked to put it on the things he gave you, whether it were poster collages he made for his wall art or putting love onto the bottom of a skateboard. Big gift giver, so expect to get a LOT of stuff from him—even sentimental items he's nostalgic over, even if you feel bad to receive those things from him. He has a lot to give. 😌

• Mikey confesses by accident one day when he doesn't even mean to—he's playing around with you as usual and gets talkative when he's feeling excited, so it just slips out. Mid-play.

• "Ha-hah! That's what I'm taking about, I love you, Y/N!" There's a pause where it has to compute for a second. "Wait, did I just say that out loud?" He's serious for a moment—he can't believe he actually said that. But the next beat, he's back to smiling at you, laughing, maybe trying to deflect the hint of embarrassment he felt (which was rare for Mikey). "Yeah, I did say that out loud, I guess. Whoops...oh—now, tag, you're it!"

Donatello:

• Despite his brains and his intellectual nature, Donnie is an emotional person and actually falls in love almost immediately when he encounters that perfect person. He gets stars in his eyes and runs his own compatibility tests through his mind as he learns more about them, and annoyingly, they're stuck on his mind even when he's trying to work on his experiments and projects.

• Helpful, playful, a little stingy with your time lol—when he wants to spend time with his crush, he wants his brothers away because they take the limelight without thinking sometimes. Always offering to help you with homework or if you need anything fixed around the house, he's volunteering for that. Broken cabinet? Fixed. Wifi isn't working? No problem. Pipes under your sink leaking? He's been fixing up the Lair for years!

• Donnie is not shy. Let's say that rn. He's 👏 confident 👏. He's a little bit of a showoff competing with his brothers to snatch your attention, even if it's just games.

• He asks you if you'll have him on a date one night on your way out of the sewers. He'd been looking for the prime time to hit you with the question and was a little nervous to do it with his peers around, so he dropped the question when you went to leave for the night. "I know you're leaving—and this will only take a minute! But I had something to ask you." He lets you get curious. He holds up the keys to his prized possession, the Shellraiser, that he dreamed about driving you around in. "Ever gone on a joyride through New York in a souped-up garbage truck? No?...do you, maybe, want to do it with me? As a friend thing? Or maybe as more than just...friends?"

Raphael:

• Raph was completely UNready to admit he was getting soft for you. Or ready to commit to feeling the uncomfortable—but tantalizing—feelings you gave him. In honesty, for a good long while, Raph didn't let you know in the slightest he was getting his heart stolen over the course of the months he knew you.

• Very much puts off his crush with his prickly demeanor. But underneath that tough exterior, he's secretly taking every chance he can get to try to impress you in the ways he knows how; if there's any heavy lifting to be done, you bet he's volunteering himself out for that before anyone else can.

• Acts too good for sappy things until the moment his crush is being vulnerable—it disarms him, he's a protector at heart. He wants to be your shield from everything bad in the world, which is a lot.

• Raph plays the long game with his crush hinting over and over again he's in love, with no luck at times. It frustrates him but it's a challenge. He won't be outright and say it; everything he does is subtle, but the second your back is turned, he's making it known he's got your attention just to pull one over on his brothers (in good humor!)

• Makes his crush work with him to get the confession out, low-key. He makes you guess until you finally start to piece everything together. He will not be saying it with his words, but he'll definitely show it.

• "Y/N. C'mere," he says. "What're you still doing here this late, dummy? Already said it's not safe to walk home alone." Silence. "Agh, I did it again. Ignore my crap. But I mean it, stop goin' home alone, you know I told you I'd come too. And if I ain't available then I'm making Mikey go. Hear me? Stop acting like it's a burden or whatever..." He's kicking himself mentally for being unable to say what he actually wants to say. He ruffles your hair roughly to deflect. "See, now ya look silly like you act. Come on, let's go. I like you better safe in one piece than ending up in the back of some guy's van."

I lost all of my TMNT gifs from my old phone 😭 The post feels bare without it, but anyways, this is my first post in over a year so i hope it's good! 🐢🐢🐢🐢

[sewerpalette]

Have seen a bunch of people do this again so I thought I’d join in: Human AL-AN redesign from my old version, this is just a base I’ll probably draw more full body shots another time.

I gave him a burn scar over his face as I like to imagine that whilst he wasn’t present during the sea dragon attack he did rush back in, guilt ridden trying to save the seven architects still stuck inside attempting to prevent the outbreak, this is how I believe he got the kharaa and (physically) died before being put in storage, ofcourse he doesn’t have the same body now that he did then, but I’d like to imagine mental scarring remembering of past lives and stuff sticks with them throughout every body they continue to inhabit moving on (unless said memory is scraped by a storage transfer). The burn isn’t from the leviathan directly however it is from the heat in the facility that the leviathan mother caused.

Obviously from a design standpoint this is to mimic his face plate (?? What would you call that?) but yk, I thought making up an in lore reason would be fun.

Lab coat more heavily inspired by those the alterrans wear as most stuff in this universe is funded by alterra anyways so even when working for a different or self owned company there’d still be some similarities.

Hair shaped to resembles his horns obv, was thinking of making it white initially but thought the dark greenish teal with white/grey streaks would allow for more referencing on the glowy bits on his head.

Also i gave him facial hair because I thought it would help with the shape language aswell as making it look more similar to his canon design, I actually always loved the idea of making his head look more like he’s wearing a helmet / full body suit, so in reference to mechs that also share that kinda design aesthetic I gave him kind of a goatee, mustache is curled up to aid the shape of his face.

I also thought about giving him a blackout tattoo on his neck as that is also the darkest part of his design in value on the normal alien version, so that might come up in more doodles another time.

Pin on the lab coat inspired by the head of the precursor statues from BZ.

I think he hides his face in his coat a lot, because one, as he doesn’t make a lot of expressions or speak with his mouth it’s not really that necessary to show it in the first place, might aswell have a bit more protection. And two, kinda to show he’s hiding himself, both on things he’s done in the past, aswell as on what exactly he is to people that aren’t Robin, aswell as a sort of shame that comes from not only being in a human body but also having done something that butterflied into something horrible, I think it made him alot more reserved and fearful if not paranoid of extreme consequences to minor actions.

Made another image of him and Robin but it won’t export so I’ll save it for another post.

Also off topic but I hc him as non-binary aro/ace using he/they/it and still referring to themselves in we form because I think that may be a little comforting and make him feel less lonely.

Also wanted to make an alternate version where the burn is so bad his eyelids and mouth are melted shut, since he doesn’t have facial features in his actual design, in that version he’d speak with a voice box obv, but I haven’t gotten around to drawing that so you’ll have to wait a bit.

If you have any questions just ask me in the comments since I have no idea how to enable the ask me anything thingy on my page.

[aphidclan-clangen]

Do you have any tips on how to design a sparklecat, Like any inspiration or ideas for it.

Oh man, hm. I usually just freestyle it so let me think

The thing is, AphidClan designs are like. My least professional designs that I have lol, so I can’t really give you classic Actual Professional Character Design Technique Advice because if you followed the professional advice, you would probably not be producing anything that looks like Aphidclan designs lmao, you’d be making much better shit. But you guys want Aphidclan specifically, you guys want how I do it! So I’m gonna try to give you guys,,,whatever advice I can scrounge up from the shit that I do specifically! And like break down what my thought process is into tips?? Anyway

My biggest tip has gotta be Pick An Aesthetic. You don’t have to do this, but it’ll help narrow things down significantly. An aesthetic, a theme, etc. All my best designs for the comic that I get the most compliments on have specific theming, and all the character designs of mine I personally grew to…strongly dislike, were characters WITHOUT any theming, like Gravel’s old design for example. It was all just purple and more dark purple but slightly desaturated, and there wasn’t any direction to it at all, because that’s what happens sometimes when you make shit up on the spot and go with your first draft lmao. Blisswhistle’s theme is rainbow, Pearlstar had a sort of cotton candy unicorncore vibe, Gravel’s new look has a punk aesthetic, Shadebreak and Goldshine are famously emo, etc. Pick a theme! It’ll help!

Right now I’m trying to create Toyhouse profiles for everyone in Aphidclan, and it is a bit of a nightmare trying to figure out what to do for the members of the cast that don’t have a theme. I really really need to give Firebeetle a theme and redesign him with it in mind to give him a design that actually looks good because it’s driving me BATSHIT how directionless he is rn it’s really pissing me off. I’m thinking vaporwave neon cyberpunk shit…

DETOUR TIP FOR GENERAL COMIC-MAKING: Don’t always stick with just your first draft before jumping into comic production! A character may look real nice, but you don’t know what it’s gonna be like to have to draw that same design over and over and over and over and over and over and over again forever! A good way to test this is to take a sketch sheet and, as quickly as you can, draw that character as many times as you can! Draw them like 20 times, 30 times, just 5 or 10 can be pretty dang enlightening on its own. You’ll find yourself dropping certain details, agonizing over the more complicated markings, wishing to get rid of certain accessories, adding new features that come more naturally to you, and more! Take note of those natural changes and make edits accordingly 👍 ((psst: have you noticed that Gravel’s concept art shows her depicted with golden earrings? when was the last time I drew those motherfuckers. it happens🤷‍♂️))

Narrowing down your aesthetic will also help with picking accessories or pivotal details that are related to the theme you chose. If your character has a strawberry theme, you now can give them like a strawberry marking on their chest, or narrow it down to be based on Strawberry Shortcake specifically for nostalgia points, so you can give them the strawberry hat and green-and-white striped leg markings, or leggings. If they’re scenecore, you can give them scenemo hair, or kandi bracelets—have you noticed that Shadebreak has markings that look like fishnet gloves? This is because I wore those bad bitches all the time throughout my emo era in highschool. It’ll make it easier to decide what your markings will be, basically

~~ peruse my collection of my best designs below ((none of these are Aphidclan characters though sadly)) ~~

(Virus, the third one, is directly based on the You Are An Idiot computer virus!)

I may not be a professional over here, but I still believe one of the main things that’s always super important about character design is intention. Intention makes the best character designs. Ideally, you want to be completely clear about what exactly you want to convey to the audience about a character. The audience should know exactly what to expect from your character at first glance. Their base personality, whether or not you want them to think they’re a villain, or a good guy, or a background character, or somewhere morally gray and conflicted. Their style, their themes, their age, their goal, their hobbies and passions, what they do for a living, what they’ve been through, why they’re here, their culture, the time period they live in, their status in society, anything and everything that is relevant to their character. Are they tough and rugged and been through some real shit? Are they dainty and flowery and feminine? Are they a princess, or are they a peasant? Are they a thief, a rogue, or an enforcer of the law? Could a stranger tell any of this just by looking at them?

Warrior cats isn’t a series where a lot of intention can be utilized, since we’re only working with cats. I have seen some warriors artists really master visual storytelling in their warriors designs alone, but usually you have to get really fuckin cool with dynamic shape language in order to do that, and I’m nowhere near that level yet with my own shape language lol. Instead, I try to utilize intention in other ways.

Berrykit has very round fur tufts. This is to show that she’s soft, she’s approachable, she’s cute and harmless (presently. …mostly.) But Nimblekit’s fur is jagged and sharp, he’s COVERED in sharp angles all the time, to communicate that he’s edgy!! He’s snippy and snarky and reckless and chaotic!! He’ll getcha!! ((Berrykit’s curly fur is also to make her look more similar to Blisswhistle as her half-sister!)) I also use these fur tufts to make heart shapes in her fur, like her heart-shaped ear tufts, to further drive home her lovecore theming! Stormwhisper has round fur tufts to look more like a cloud, Icesheep has sharp tufts to make him look more like an icicle, etc etc list goes on

Virus has devilish horns and tail to communicate he’s impish and gonna get ya, Lemon Wash has scale markings to communicate the sharky oceanic theming, be intentional!! That’s the fun of sparklecats, there’s more room to play with! You can give your strawberry shortcake cat strawberry markings ! You can give your care bear based sparklecat a funny symbol on their big squishy belly! You can still tell a purpose with their markings and accessories! Intention intention intention, drill it in!!

uhh that’s all I have today. tired now. Good luck! and have fun and all that

[zluty-spendlik]

WAKFU REDESIGN SERIES PART 3 - ADAMAÏ

Hiya, Im back lmaooo - took me long enough

I have been struggling with Ad's and Am's design so much. I dont know why. With Amalia, Im going to have to start over- again- 4th times the charm Im sure - but I finally finished this little guy!

ADAMAÏ IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER GUYS IM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS I LOVE HIM SM

But anyway, here is the final (human form) design:

Im aware he has multiple forms since hes, you know, a shapeshifter, and Im going to add them i promise but im like super tired and burnt out from the rest of my mortal life rn

Anyway, to the DESIGN.

Honestly, Adamais og design kinda sucks. Im sorry (not rlly). He doesnt look similar to Yugo at all - YES I KNOW HES A DRAGON - which bothers me a lot, even his color scheme is a lot different from his literal twin...

In my version, I wanted Ad to look deer-like at first, since I gave Yugo deer features, but then I drew him over and over again until I got this fusion of a moth and a lamb or smthing..

I don't know, but I really like it!

The outfit he's wearing is actually what I plan to be an official eliatrope/dragon robe? Both Grougal and Qilby will be wearing it and - potentially - Yugo in season 3. It has some portal imagery (the spiral on the back), and I don't know I just think it's neat!

ALSO WAKFU FRECKLES-

Season 1

Ad has been raised by Grougaloragran (least complicated name ever, wtf Ankama :3) and with Eliatrope/Dragon traditions, so hes very knowledgable of the now dead culture and values it very much. He loves talking to Yugo about it (he gets almost bored sometimes, but he would never admit it to Adamaï).

He, just like Yugo, is extremely curious and loves studying the way Wakfu works and its limits.

And mainly, he loves Grougal, whom he sees as an idol and a father figure. Which is why hes so hurt when he gets killed by Nox.

It feels like the whole world is collapsing on him. His mentor, care-taker, father, LITERALLY THE ONLY OTHER "PERSON" HE EVER INTERACTED WITH AND THE ONLY OTHER DRAGON ALIVE, is gone.

Adamaï has noone. Well- almost noone. Theres this little 12 year old Eliatrope, his only hope, his only anchor.

And he asks you: "Uh, sorry, whats your name again?"

Season 2

HAHSHA LETS TRAUMATIZE THE BOY!! (Even more than he is) Like I said, Adamaï values his culture and people very much, so I assume he would get very, I mean extremely attached to Yugo. However, Yugo is not actually interested in the same things Adamaï is interested in, which makes him a little bit more avoidable of Ad than he should be, given his emotional state.

Not that we blame him. So instead Ad seeks out a new anchor, a new mentor, a new... idol. Who is that you may ask?

Well, it's Qilby of course. Now here's where the funny trauma part happens, because Adamaï starts blurring the line between Grougal and Qilby.

Qilby's mistakes suddenly don't matter as much because Adamaï cares about him as much as he cared about Grougaloragran even though they don't know each other that long (which is the core of the problem).

Anything he'll be does that is morally questionable suddenly isn't bad, because that's not the mentor that Adamaï was raised with ‐ he trust Grougal completely, so why should Qilby be aby different?

So when Qilby betrays him, Adamaï is all the more surprised and hurt. It doesn't help that he really doesn't want to hurt Qilby: Even though he finally realizes that Qilby is a bad person, Adamaï still sees him as an anchor. He might be bad, but other than Yugo he's the only other person Adamaï has.

So of course he loses the fight, of course he gets captured – he doesn't actually want Qilby to get hurt.

Season 3-4 (5?)

Okay let's make one thing clear, I'm a bit of a hater.

Like I genuinely really dislike season 3 and what it has going on with making Adamaï a villain? I really don't think it fits his character, and I would much prefer for the story to have Yugo and Ad grow closer and revive their culture despite all the horrors and terrible things that have been bestowed up on them - But the writers have decided to go the obvious evil twin route which honestly makes my blood boil..

so I don't think I will be even considering rewriting season 3? I think to make it likeable for myself - as this is a self-indulgent project - I would just have to make my own season 3?

If that makes sense?

Art dump!! (Seriously my sketchbook is filled w this lil guy, these r hand picked) And- woah, is that Cleophée redesign? Maybeee~

@saturnyukaa i was looking forward to ur reaction 👉👈

[hazshit-hotel-hater]

Surprise! I am going to rant about my own redesign and art! I think this is me mentally preparing for the helluva boss episode next week and praying to god it’s actually good. I’ve also been nursing a bit of a hangover today so forgive me if my wording is a bit more jumbled than usual

Im a big fan of my Angel Dust redesign, but in the general aspect of my art, a lot of my poses are a bit flat. That can be from either posing issues on my end, trouble with facial features, or just some secret third thing, but I think so far Ive been enjoying drawing much more cartoonishly as of recent. That vox canon & headcanon drawing was super super fun to do even though it was supposed to be vivzies style, but I used to have a style with more sharp angles and pointy curves that I honestly kind of miss, I also miss playing with cartoonish proportions!!

My art style may end up changing eventually, but my main pieces will stay in my usual style and my more doodle-y ones will probably be in a more cartoony style like the ones above. While theyre definitely closer to canon and meant to be inspired as such, the difference is that I can draw diverse body types in said artstyle! I also cant lie, Angel’s chest fluff is one of my absolute favourite things to draw and it’s so easy in this style…

About my redesigns though! This is mostly about Angel, but I’m gonna slap this here from DMs with a friend: “Im so pleased with this genuinely im so happy he has his little pedipalps, theyre technically also still his fangs but now he can move them and stuff and :33 typically for male spiders the pedipalps are a reproductive organ but that isnt the case for angel or many other arachnid or insect sinners id say so I think personally most of them have developed pedipalps for primarily other reasons like fangs in Angels case or maybe something similar to cat whiskers for other people”

In my original angel dust redesigns I just couldn’t find a way to draw his fangs in a way that made me happy because I want to keeo the same energy in his face as the original. Big clunky fangs that stick out just didn’t work for him and while they made him look like a spider, he lost that sort of angel-ness that I need when drawing him so I instead looks to the pedipalp aspect of spiders to move them off of his mouth and more onto his cheeks. It’s a very small change but it improved the design in my eyes significantly and just really made me a lot happier. I wont be updating his redesign post as of right now and maybe never will, but if I do yknow why now!

I just really really like drawing this guy a bit rubbery, hes supposed to be fluffy so like he should move kinda soft in a way? I dunno how to explain it rn, its 2 AM at the time of writing this so im gonna lay the hell down now!

[lemonjestercoffee]

so i said something about alicorns being funky in my last mlp redesign post yeah? well before i get into that-

the beautiful bride and the ugly ass groom

okay okay jokes aside here's Shining's real sheets and Cadance on her own

starting off with design choice notes

Shining Armor - his was like- really hard to figure out and i didn't really know what i was doing, but i did like the concept of him having lost a leg in some sorts of battle. one thing i did know what i was doing with tho was his armor, i never really liked the canon armor so i decided to take my own stab at it. decided to make it cover the more important areas better, added gambeson underneath, put a royal crest on it, and gave them a head weapon. yes the metal horns are on all species armor, it's there not only to protect real horns from oncoming attacks but also give all soldiers an emergency weapon if they get disarmed. the tassels would be colored differently depending on rank

Cadance - the only through i really had going into her design was i wanted her to have a cloud and heart motif, but i'm unsure if the way i handled it is the best. her cutiemark is meant to resemble a Mexican sacred heart because deity of love- like come on. i also wanna kinda change the color of the carnation in her hair to stand out more, but white carnations have a different meaning so it's fiiiinee

okay now what we really wanna hear about, what the fuck did i do to the alicorns?

i decided to tamper with their lore quite a bit, as i was inspired to by the Skyscraper Gods Au by Shirecorn. now mine is no were near as drastic as that au, obviously, but it did inspire me to come up with my own quirks for them.

i went more "alicorns are more like the elves of ponies but because they can only be made by some unexplained rare mystical intervention and live for fuck off long, normal ponies see them as demigods of sorts". i've even given them things like groups or locations that they act as patrons of and prioritize above other things, but that stuff gets a little rambley so imma not do that on this post

for the anatomy tho, i can talk. i'll be using Twilight as a visual example because she's the one i've drawn in all stages

so basically the concept here is pretty similar to the canon, but with some funky add-ons.

first up- when an alicorn ascends, not only do they gain the wings/horn combo and grow an inch, they also gain some other unique anatomy from the other species.

Unicorn- along with the horn, they also receive the ear tip tufts i gave unicorns. these actually have a purpose, they're sensitive to magic energy and allow unicorns to tell where magic is coming from. depending on the unicorn they vary in sensitivity but alicorns are by far the most sensitive Pegasus- along with the wings, the get some of the extra feathers pegasai have on their bodies, namely the ones on their ankles that are used for finer trajectory adjustments in flight. they also receive the sensitivity of their hooves that's used to pick up changes in cloud texture and sense their stability Earth Pony- earth ponies may seem like they don't add shit, but they actually give two very important things. the first thing is a strength boost, as they're stronger than the other two pony species by nature. the other thing is dense as fuck hooves. that sounds kinda lame but they have rock hard hooves that allow for them to dig into dense materials and have a kick with some real bite in it that the others just can't replicate and might tear their own hooves up trying. they also add the visible fluff in the ear canal. but that's just a dust filter and if isn't cleaned properly might actually be more of hindrance

it's worth noting- if you look at Cadance and Twilight side by side- that despite being given extra anatomical traits from the other species they will always look more like the species they were before ascension. this is mostly visible in the ears, tails, and hoof shapes -unicorns have long tails with hair only growing from the underside, basic ears, narrower hooves, and usually have long fetlocks as part of their culture. -pegasai have short tails that are completely covered with hair and have rudder feathers at the base, pinned back feathery ears with restricted movement, and really shallow hooves with no fur around them -earth ponies have medium tails with even hair growth around a third of the way down, basic ears, and slightly taller hooves with varying fetlock sizes.

second up- the only uniquely alicorn physical traits that they really have (aside from height) are their hair and beards. unlike normal pony beards that are made of the same hair as their manes, alicorn beards are made of coat fur and will grow a specific length each year that marks how old they are kinda like tree rings. due to this the alicorns don't try to cut them. the manes are kinda funky cause they start out at the roots as normal hair, but then become more "ethereal" after a few inches or so. they tend to start to become ethereal roughly 10 years after ascension

they do have one more weird trait but it's less noticeable and that's the thing with the patterns. when an alicorn is first ascended they gain an extra pattern on their legs, and that pattern gains a second layer around the time they start to get their ethereal manes. you can see it happening on Twilight's lineup.

there's also a bonus thing here that has nothing to do with alicorns as much as it does unicorns- but i like the idea of Unicorn tails (flesh/bone, not hair) getting longer with age. it's usually not too noticeable because they don't normally live long enough for it to be really noticeable compared to younger unicorns, but alicorns do- so former unicorns can end up with some long ass tails in their 1000's

that's all i really got now- if i added in magic and social stuff this would have been way longer. i'm done with my rambles

[tumbleweedsthesecond]

Clone high season three headcanons.I BASED THEM OFF THINGS IRL I SAW AT MY SCHOOL and cause I see them as completely different from s1 I wanted to give the old ones new looks. Sorry about the quality

Abe- abe reminds me of guys at my school that wore shorts every day no matter what the weather was even if it was freezing. That's why I gave him shorts sorry if it looks weird 😭 also slighhht mullet like barely I could kinda see him growing it out a little and gave him more moles. His legs were bugging me so I'm sorry if his hand looks weird that is not on purpose :(

Joan: s3 Joan is completely different to me and she gave me this vibe from girls I knew. Ill draw her redesign more cause in that pose it doesn't show off the movement of her shirt that I imagine in my head because her shirt is kinda crop top. Wanted to compliment her more awkward vibe in s3. The hair just makes sense to me I have an idea of it in my head ill draw more.

Harriet: I like Harriet alot actually but that may be because she adds more plot and I like her. I didn't change her clothing much I know her design isn't that good I know. But this is more hc. I think the pants make sense for her and I changed the green a bit. The hair is because dye can't stay forever and it fades but I tried to give it still a cartoon flare in a way which is why it fades weirdly. Had to get rid of the socks sorry.

Frida: originally had an idea to change the pants to dark green with gold zippers on the pockets on her knees but I was drawing her and my idea of her became clearer. Her pants are supposed to be baggy but its hard to show from that direction I like those pants she's wearing I have some. I thought it'd help skater vibe a bit. Also her lacing on her shoes is the sapphic flag! Sorry I changed her nose so much irl Frida has a different nose to me but I may be nitpicking.

Cleo: Idk how to feel abt how it turned out in my head she wears black shorts. Maybe skirts too obviously. Longer hair cause I hc s3 Cleo has it straightened while I think s1 Cleo had dreads

Jfk: s3 jfk is fun to me I guess. Tried to give him more of a popular 'jock' vibe I knew at my school but I barely changed much. In my head his hair is fluffier. Ill be sure to draw him more too. Probably should've given him different shoes

Confucius: I don't like the color of his horror but decided not to change it. Wanted to give them more a YouTube vibe. I've got to draw this one too because I will get used to the hair. In my head they have longer hair. I hc enby in some wayyyy but is still trying to understand themselves. Like they're just getting used to it, mainly after getting with Joan

Topher: not much to change weirdly he's the character I draw the most. I was thinking abt giving him a different shirt that suits his vibe too but I like his coat. In my head he wears sweatpants I don't know why. His coat is longer in my head and some acne. hope his hair still fits the weird kid vibe. My weird son🙄

[eveningrainstorm]

my take on teenage raz and lili!

some design notes under the cut:

They're intended to be about 16 here! I didn't go for anything too drastic in terms of changes -- these are largely just what I'd consider natural evolutions of their canon designs

For Raz, my main focus besides just making him look older was to add a bit more resemblance to the other Aquatos in his design, since his relationship with them wouldn't be strained like it is during canon

Raz is shown with very straight hair in canon, but since most of his family's hair is more wavy or curly I tend to imagine he styles it that way on purpose as part of his Sasha Nein cosplay or whatever. He wouldn't still feel the need to do that at this point, though, so for this design I wanted to make it more curly, similar to Augustus or Frazie, while still similar to his canon style. This turned out to be incredibly difficult and I'm still not entirely happy with where I landed, but it's good enough

I didn't think he would still wear the helmet but I didn't want to discard it entirely, so the goggles were a compromise. I meant to give them some visible scratches and wear and tear since they're presumably the same goggles he's been wearing since he was 10, but I forgot. rip

Obviously the most notable change to Raz's outfit is the scarf -- I wanted something that would tie him visually to the other Aquatos while still fitting with his general look. I imagine they gave it to him as a gift, sort of an acknowledgement that even if he doesn't perform with them as an acrobat, doing his Psychonaut work is his own way of being an Aquato

Raz's outfit here is honestly very similar to his PN2 outfit. This is because in my eyes "long coat and turtleneck" is Peak Character Design and cannot be improved on. (Hence why I may not be the best person to redesign Raz.) He has an actual coat rather than just an oversized blazer this time though, so that's an improvement. With the turtleneck I was was vaguely intending for it to be color-wise something of a middle ground between the Sasha-style green striped turtleneck and the Aquato blue/green and white stripes, but it ended up basically just being the PN1 stripes with the PN2 color. which, you know, that works

I went back and forth on what their heights should be -- I thought it would be kind of funny if Raz ended up short and Lili ended up taller than him, but then I decided to just make them more in line with their families, with Raz being tall and lanky and Lili being average verging on short. Except then I accidentally made Lili tall anyway because I was only vaguely considering her height relative to Raz. I guess Lili's probably taller than her dad now? good for her ig

Most of their facial features are just slight variations of how they look in canon -- slightly smaller eyes and so on. the only real specific change is that Lili has a more defined nose now, similar in shape to her father's

Lili's outfit here is more different from either of her canon outfits than Raz's is, but there's still not much that really requires a ton of explanation. The goal was to make her look vaguely cool and fashionable, although as I am neither of those things I cannot guarantee I was successful

I tried a couple different hairstyles for Lili, and I'm still not entirely set on this one -- Originally what I settled on was to give her two braids, which I did like, but I kept doing sketches of her where I just drew the top part of the hair and was like "ngl this kind of works on its own" and so I ended up going with the short hair. I also briefly tried an asymmetrical haircut but I couldn't get it to look right. I think this one suits her though

Lili's tattoo (on her left wrist) was a later addition to the design, and even in the later stages of drawing this I wasn't sure whether to keep it. I like it conceptually I just haven't figured out a consistent design for it yet, only that it has to be of plants

god these notes got way longer than I meant them to be I am so sorry. Uh basically I'm still figuring out the details of these designs but for now here's Raz and Lili, they're teenagers now, thanks for reading

[thescarletnargacuga]

UNSEEN FRAGMENTS

PART 3 OF THE UNSEEN SERIES: A HARLEQUIN AU FANFICTION

Harlequin AU credit: @tadc-harlequin-au @iamespecter

Shadowblade is my OC and is NOT CANON

WARNING: intense violence, mechanical gore, swearing, long read

~~~

"Fascinating, aren't they?" Thousands of small neon green-yellow butterflies swarmed the manor forest. Kingr was covered in the fluttering friends, looking like someone took a highlighter and dotted all over him. "They're migrating south, and since this is the only bastion of green for quite a ways, they all flock here for a respite. We're so fortunate the manor grounds is on their marching order." He held his butterfly covered hand close to his face.

Shadowblade laid on the grassy ground next to him, taking in the nature around them. They watched the tiny specs of color flying around in the cooling breeze. The seasons were changing, it's the first they ever noticed. Has the world done this before? They could feel the crisp air against their armor, sending a chill through their body, making the metal creak.

Shadowblade listened to Kingr as still and as quiet as possible, not wanting to scare the precious insects. Many landed on them, their butterfly light touches adding to the new experience. Shadowblade went crosseyed trying to see the ones that landed on their snoot. To see such small delicate lives exist beyond the war torn past was... comforting.

Kingr took his attention away from his hand to see Shadowblade being so attentive and a smile reached his eyes. He gently shook the butterflies from his hand and gave Shadowblade a pat on the head. "You may be a war machine, but that doesn't define who you are. Trust me, I would know."

Shadowblade rumbled against his touch, lowly vibrating the ground. It was nice to experience so many kind hands. Not just from Kingr, but Caine and even Pomni. They loved the positive attention, it made them feel...it made them feel.

"Sorry, to interrupt..." Caine joined them on the edge of the forest. "But could I borrow Shadowblade? I have something new to show them." Excitement laced his voice. His white shirt was covered in grease and smoke stains.

Kingr got one last pat in before Shadowblade stood, scattering the butterflies. Shadowblade followed Caine, who had a bit of a skip in his step, to the barn. "You're going to love this! I've been working on a few redesigns for you! You're already spectacular but there's always room for improvement! Your wings for example..." He uprighted an apparatus on the barn floor. "How would you like to be capable of actual flight!? It would mean removing all the blades except your outermost, and making some adjustments to your armor weight, but it's possible!"

Shadowblade examines the wing apparatus curiously. It was huge, they flexed their current wing-like blades in comparison.

"I know, it'll take some getting used to, but it'll be worth it! And don't worry about the amount of noise on landing, I have some improvement ideas for your paw pads too. A genius like me doesn't just think of one thing at once." He chuckled and wiped his stained glove against his shirt. "Anywho, this will take awhile, so get comfortable."

Shadowblade settled and quietly powered down. As much as they felt like they needed to see Caine work, if this was going to be as invasive as it seemed, they didn't want to be awake. They'd experience plenty of positive touch today and Caine was trustworthy, so they finally decided to take a nap instead of endure the pain.

Caine did a double take when he heard Shadowblade's systems powering down. They'd always stayed awake, no matter what sort of repairs had ever been done. He grinned and spoke softly. "You're in good hands. Rest well."

He got work right away, disassembling and rebuilding Shadowblade's entire wing structure. As he was installing the right wing, he had to take off part of the side of Shadowblade's chest. The molten gold core shined before him like a beacon, beckoning to be studied. Caine leaned over to see Shadowblade still completely off, fast asleep.

"One little peak wouldn't hurt." He carefully reached inside and felt the core for opening points. There were cracks all over the core's protective case, years of wear and tear evident of a long hard existence. His fingers found a latch and the core opened. Shattered remains of something fell out and he cursed to himself as he caught them. He checked Shadowblade again, still asleep.

Inside the core was a glowing, amber gold crystal. Fluid pumped into a chamber the crystal covered and flowed out to the body. He leaned in as close as he could, squinting to see black spidering cracks spread across the crystal. Being this close, he could feel a soft radiant hum emanating from the epicenter of the core.

"Beautiful. A crystalline core with energized fluid distribution. I've always theorized this was possible, but never seen it done practically. How was your crystal charged? How has it stayed charged?" He, very carefully, took a scraper from his pocket and shaved off a micro sample of the crystal. Shadowblade didn't even twitch, much to his relief. He closed the core's case and backed out of Shadowblade's chest to examine the bits that fell out.

Three crumbled purple stone pieces with strange markings sat in his palm. He immediately recognized them as parts of what was once a charm. He turned them over to examine all the markings, he recognized only a few. His own charm knowledge was not as extensive as Ragatha's, and would have to get her to look this over more thoroughly. He paused when he saw markings that weren't runic in nature, they were english letters. SB

"Huh...never seen someone sign their work this way. Maybe..." He trailed off and pocketed the charm shards. He could think on it later. He resumed his work on the upgrades.

~

"Hey, have you seen Caine?" Pomni inquired to Gangle as they passed in the hall.

"No, Miss Pomni. I have not seen him all day. I assume he is in his workshop?" Gangle answered in a soft voice, lowering her gaze submissively despite being much taller than the Harlequin.

"I just came from there. Fucker's probably out. Why didn't he think to take me with him? I'm bored as hell!" Pomni crossed her arms in a disappointed huff.

"I'm sure he had his reasons. Maybe it would've been dangerous and he didn't want you to get hurt."

"Bitch, please. I eat danger for breakfast. Then I top my salmon burger with it for lunch. THEN I-"

BOOM!!

The whole mansion shook. Pomni unsheathed her sword and rushed to a window. She saw no immediate threat, her eyes landing on Shadowblade. The beast leapt into the air, flapped huge wings and landed back down with another heavy boom. Caine was outside waving his arms and dancing around.

Pomni threw open the window, jumped out and put her sword away. "What the fuck is going on out here!?"

"Pomni!! You're just in time! Shadowblade has wings now! Look!! They can really fly!!" He held his hands out towards Shadowblade with pride.

Shadowblade tried to take off again, awkwardly flapped like a baby bird and fell back to earth. They vented air hard, their systems not used to the strain on their front limbs. They flexed their new wings at Pomni, Caine's excitement was infectious.

Pomni blinked, trying to process what was happening. "...uh-"

"BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING! It will take some time for Shadowblade to get the hang of it, as flying was never part of their original design, and I have no idea how to program the directive. Honestly, I would be hesitant to even try. So this will be a learning experience for the both of you. Machine learning at it's finest. Oh! And look!!" Caine pulled at one of Shadowblade's front paws, signaling them to lift. "I improved their pads too!" He squished his face against the paw the size of his torso. "They're thicker! Should help soften the landing a bit and be a bonus for stealth."

"....still shook the whole house."

"Well, yeah. We're right next to it, and Shadowblade easily weighs several tons. They're never going to be perfectly silent, but it's an improvement! So, what do you think?" He let go of Shadowblade's paw and clasped his filthy hands together.

"Uh, neat, I guess. Not super thrilled about the idea of being high off the ground."

"But you've been doing so well, I was starting to think your acrophobia-"

"IT WAS NEVER A PHOBIA!" Pomni exploded unexpectedly. She looked away and spoke quieter. "But yeah, I've been handling heights better lately."

"Progress. That's what's important." Caine sighed. "I should get cleaned up. You and Shadowblade can experiment with the wings, if you want." Before he could walk away, he felt Shadowblade's maw against his back. He pet Shadowblade as they pressed against him and rumbled their low mechanical purr. He smiled a little. "Nice to know someone around here appreciates what I do." He didn't look at Pomni as he left.

Pomni watched Caine leave without a word. Her insides twisted a bit with guilt. A chuff from Shadowblade got her attention. The beast lowered themself to the ground, offering the saddle to her. The crystal charm on her right hand glowed softly. "Yeah, I could use some fresh air." She mounted up and they took off out of the city.

~

The shower was more of a phycologcal need than a physical one, sometimes it felt good to literally wash the day off. Caine stood under the hot stream, trying to relax his mind. "Why can't anything I do just be enough?" He let his mind wander. A dangerous thing, but it needed the freedom to process his thoughts before he stamped the emotions back in place. He stayed until the hot water ran out, shots of icy water bringing him back to reality.

He wrapped himself in a towel and went through the pockets of his dirty pants before he forgot what was in there. He didn't want his tools going through the laundry again by mistake. He found the pieces of the charm he discovered inside Shadowblade as well as the core sample. "Hm...I've had suspicions since day one that Shadowblade isn't a true marionette. Maybe this is my answer." He closed his fist around the pieces and got dressed to see Ragatha.

~

Shadowblade stood on a high rocky outcropping, judging the distance to the ground and feeling the direction of the wind. They could feel Pomni's nerves through the connection. This was dangerous. Maybe, just a tiny bit, TOO dangerous. Maybe they should climb back down. Maybe they should hop along the ground some more. Maybe....they should just go for it.

Shadowblade looked over their shoulder to Pomni. "Don't look at me, I'll never be ready. Jump when you want." Her grip on the saddle left permanent indents in the leather.

Shadowblade adjusted their stance and unfolded their wings. The wind caught enough that they could stand on their hind legs. For what it was worth, the view was rather nice. They flapped and lifted from the rock. The strong wind carried them up and away. They steadied themselves in the draft, they could feel Pomni's heart racing.

"Okay, okay, okay, this is okay. We're in the air. Oh my fucking god, we're in the air." Pomni refused to look down.

Shadowblade tried to send reassuring vibes back, but they were too nervous themselves. They've never been this high up.

Then, the draft died. Shadowblade lost altitude rapidly. They tried flapping, it wasn't helping much, just made the turbulent descent all the more bumpy.

BAM!!

Shadowblade bellyflopped to the ground. They moaned as Pomni slid off and puked. She braced herself on her knees and horked up everything her system. "Ugh...this isn't going to be a fun learning curve."

Shadowblade groaned back.

~

"So, what do you think?" Caine sipped a glass of brandy as he poured over books and old maps in the library.

Ragatha cross references symbols on the charm pieces with ones in her book. "Well, I can tell you for certain that it is some sort of suppression charm. The stone itself is fluorite based, which isn't local to our area. As for the writing, I don't know. I've never seen a charm with english letters. I'm surprised doing that wouldn't interfere with the charms purpose. Unless it's part of it, but I don't know of any ritual that would use initials."

"Suppression..." Caine muttered to himself, looking at the charm around Ragatha's neck. "Why would a marionette need suppressing?"

"They wouldn't. They have no emotions or will to suppress. ...are you thinking what I am?"

"Yes, and I don't like it. I had my entire head inside their core. I didn't see a D.I.E. It doesn't make sense. They're powered by some crystal. I have to run more tests, but if I find presence of a soul... I don't even know what to think." Caine set his drink down.

"We don't know for certain. We shouldn't jump to conclusions. I said it was a type of suppression charm, it doesn't necessarily mean that it was being used to suppress free will. It could have been used to suppress the amount of power in the core. Maybe Shadowblade was too strong and... needed to be tamed."

"I'm willing to bet my last bottle that the charm broke when pomni shot Shadowblade in the chest when they first encountered each other. That's when I met them. That's when they were acting weird. That's what gave me the suspicions that they weren't normal. I should have seen it when I first gave Shadowblade the choice to stay."

"Maybe the crystal itself is a D.I.E?"

"If it is, It's the most unusual way to contain a soul."

"I mean, think about how big they are. Could a single puppet soul pilot an entire war machine without help?"

"Maybe? Maybe not? Take Z, for example. Many her size required the use of multiple souls. A lot of constructor puppets suffered that fate." Caine looks over the map on the table. "You said the stone has fluorite in it?"

"Yes, It's what gives it it's purple color."

"I think I have an idea where it came from." He pointed to a spot far east of the City of Circuits. "The City of Gears was one of the largest industrial cities in the world during the war. Fluorite is used in smelting."

"I don't think I've ever been there."

"The only thing your missing out on is a marionette infestation and bad investments."

"What..?"

"Nevermind. Pomni and Shadowblade could check it out but I want them to take backup."

"I'm not going anywhere near that place."

"I wasn't going to suggest it, I need you here. Z and Kingr are too big to ride on Shadowblade's back, and walking would make it a three day one-way trip. No, they need to fly."

"Gangle wouldn't want to go either."

"That just leaves...oh boy. Pomni's gonna kill me." Caine sighed and downed his brandy.

~

WHAM!!

Shadowblade goes headfirst into a cliff, just missing the top by feet. They dig their claws into he clifface to stop from free falling again. Pomni popped her dislocated shoulder back into place. "Fuck these stupid FUCKING winds!! Why do they keep changing??"

Shadowblade struggled against the crumbling cliff as they climbed to the top. They repositioned themselves to try again, looking back to check on Pomni.

"Just go, before I change my mind. LIKE THE WIND!!" She shouted angrily into the air.

Shadowblade dove over the edge. The momentum carries to their wings and they rose back into the air. With a smoother take off, they settled into a flight pattern around the wasteland. Shadowblade felt more comfident with every wing beat. They went even higher, to the clouds.

Pomni felt oddly at ease when she could no longer see the ground. The mist of the clouds felt cool against her face. When Shadowblade breaches the top, the vibrant colors of the waning sun were all around them. The connection felt calm and happy and excited. This was truly beautiful. The ultimate escape from the world.

Pomni raised her arms up in a shout of elation. Shadowblade roared with her as they soared across the sky.

~

Caine checked his W.A.C.K.Y watch for Shadowblade's position. They would be returning any moment. He left Ragatha to the research and found Jax on the roof.

Jax laid against the slanted roof, watching the stars slowly appear. He heard Caine's blink and internally rolled his eyes. "What is it?"

"I have a mission for you." Caine leaned against an adjacent roof section.

"Joy of joys." Jax said sarcastically. "Where am I headed?"

"The City of Gears...with Pomni and Shadowblade."

"Why-"

"Because I need you two to do some investigating. It's about Shadowblade. I'll spare you the details, but I think that's where they came from and it could lead to answers about their origin. I don't expect, nor really care, if you care about Shadowblade. All I need you to do is help Pomni. The city is swarming with marionettes. Who knows what you'll face."

"Hm...sounds dangerous."

"It will be."

"I'll need something in exchange for my services."

"That can be arranged."

"Your watch is quite fancy."

"Off the table." Caine narrowed his eyes.

Jax smirked. "Then I'll have to take a peak in your workshop, do a little...shopping."

"Off. Limits." Caine said sternly.

"Hm, then I guess Pomni's on her own." Jax shrugged.

"I can offer upgrades, charms, hell- new clothes, better accommodations...?"

"Nah, I like your fancy gadgets. They look fun to play with."

Caine grunted. "I'll see what I can come up with, but you an Pomni leave tomorrow."

"Fine. I'll go with piranha teeth to the city of whatever. What exactly are we looking for anyway?"

"....I don't know."

Jax laughed. "Seriously?"

Caine flustered a bit with embarrassment. "Like I said, I just need you to be Pomni's backup. Leave the rest of her and Shadowblade." Caine blinked away.

Jax kept chuckling to himself. "What a maroon."

~

Shadowblade glided down into the city and attempted to land on a long straight stretch of road. They came down a bit fast and stumbled. Pomni barely kept her grip as she was thrown forward ass over teakettle over the handles of the saddle. She hung awkwardly next to Shadowblade's neck until the beast stopped for her to let go.

"That wasn't the worst landing of the day. The fact we're in one piece of good enough for me." Pomni decided to walk the rest of the way to the manor.

Shadowblade was sore all over. Their armor felt overly sensitive to every cut and dent, a few spots bled. A small whine came from them as they walked.

Pomni felt the pain in the connection. "I'm sore too. I'm lucky I could hold on through most of that." She didn't realize the extent of the pain Shadowblade was in. This wasn't just them complaining about being over worked. They felt beaten and battered and bruised for the first time. They weren't used to this level of pain just from getting thrown around. Pomni shooting them and stabbing out their eye hurt less.

They go through the gate and nod to Z. "Yeesh, What happened to you two?"

"The wind." Pomni groaned.

Shadowblade grunted in agreement.

"The...wind?"

"Yes, the fucking WIND. It is an EVIL force of nature. Tossed us like a salad all over the wasteland."

Z sniggered.

Pomni went into the mansion, Shadowblade followed her through the windows. They made a habit of it. It was interesting to see the others interact in this large dollhouse. Not far inside, they see Caine appear in front of Pomni. They spoke. Pomni yelled. He looked exhausted. They half shouted more at each other. They came to an agreement. Pomni stormed away. Caine dragged his hands down the front of his face. Shadowblade had felt mixed emotions through the connection. Frustration, but not anger. Respect, but not fondness. It was interesting and confusing.

Caine caught sight of Shadowblade's golden stare through the dark windows. He waved. Shadowblade slow blinked in return. They moved on the the next floor to find Pomni. They came face to face with Gangle. She screamed. Shadowblade should've seen that coming. They moved down the side of the building.

They spied Ragatha in the library, reading and examining something on the table in from of them. Their optics zoomed in. Pieces of purple stone...markings...SB...

Shadowblade felt like they were hit by a charging drill worm. The letters burn in their mind. Flashes of unknown faces fly through their vision. Gold light. A woman's scream.

Shadowblade topples over and scrambles to their barn. They hid inside, producing a copious amount of mist. Their mind races. Their body shakes. They couldn't hear their core cracking over their hyperventilating.

Pomni would have felt the intense fear and anxiety too, if she hadn't just taken off the charm in preparation to go to bed...

~

Jax was the first out that morning. His hammer collapsed and compacted against his back for travel. He wasn't alone long, the combat harlequin was an early riser when it came to missions. He pointed to the barn. "Is your beast sleeping in or what?"

Pomni hadn't put the charm on yet. She saw black mist pouring out of every crack and crevice like it was a hot box. "...what the hell?" She put on her mask and opened the doors. "Shadowblade! Why are wasting all your mist!? Have you been doing this all night!?"

No response.

"Shadowblade?" Pomni put on the charm. She felt immediate emotional whiplash. Dread. So much dread. Bad people. Enemies. Can't fight. Hide.

Pomni walked through the darkness, finding Shadowblade trembling against the back wall. "What's gotten into you? There are no enemies. We need to go. Knock it off with the mist."

Shadowblade obeyed, finding this feeling easy to ignore under orders. The mist stopped and they followed Pomni out.

Pomni mounted up and cringed as Jax climbed aboard. "God, I can't believe he's making us do this." She grumbles and has Shadowblade start walking out of the city.

"I'm not thrilled about it either, shark tooth, but your hubby promised me something nice in return for babysitting you."

"I don't need babysitting! And he's not my husband! I can barely stand him!"

Jax extended his neck to give her a mischievous grin face to face. "That's not what I saw on my way out the door. Oh, Pomni, Do Be Safe. You'll Be Out Of Radio Range, But You Know I'll Come Running If You Need Me." He mockingly fluttered his eyes at her.

She elbowed him hard in the gut. "If you don't want me shoving you off when we get airborne, you'll shut the fuck up."

"Fine, he's smitten and you're a bitch. Is that more accurate?" Jax rubbed his abdomen.

Pomni growled and had Shadowblade take off. She does her best to ignore the ick she felt as Jax reached around her with his extendable arms to hold onto the saddle handles.

The City of Circuits became a model of itself as they flew high into the air. The winds were calmer today, making things far smoother as Shadowblade found an air current to glide due east.

Jax silently admired the view. Flying was a new experience for him too. He shuddered just a little, looking down, and gripped the saddle tighter.

Pomni mentally reaches out to Shadowblade. There was still an underlying feeling of unease in the connection. She tried to push her own battle ready calm through. Shadowblade was resistant. She out her hand on Shadowblade's back. The physical touch warmed the connection. The feeling of calm was more accepted.

Barely an hour passed before Jax needed to talk again. The splendor of flight wore off fast. "Do you know what we're looking for? Your hubby couldn't say."

"HE'S NOT MY-ugh!! I don't know either. He just said there was something significant to Shadowblade at the City of Gears."

"We're doing all of this on a hunch?"

"Pretty much."

"Tap-dancing Christ."

"Shut the hell up, it's not like you had anything better to do."

"That's not the point. If we don't know what we're doing, and the city's as large as he says, we could be there for days. Sounds boring as fuck."

"He did mention to marionette infestation..."

"So we're either going to be bored to death or be torn apart by marionettes, what fun." Jax rolled his eyes so hard, they nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Welcome to my world."

~

Caine triangulated Shadowblade's position in his watch to the map. If they minimized any stops, they would be in the City of Gears after dusk. Not the best time to be arriving, but the fastest. He pocketed his watch and looked to Ragatha, who was nose deep in a book. "They're making good progress. And it doesn't look like Pomni has left Jax anywhere, so that's a good sign that they haven't killed each other yet."

Ragatha put her book down. "How do you keep track of us..?"

"Let me put it to you this way. If I've made something, I know where it is."

"Oh..." She didn't ask further. "I've been able to decipher some of the less common symbols used on the charm. While I was correct in saying that it was a suppression charm, it's a very particular suppression charm."

"Aren't they all?"

"Yes, every charm is unique, but when I say this one is very particular, I mean that it was assigned to a particular person. Those letters, the initials, I don't think those are someone's signature. I think those are related to the person the charm was meant to control."

"You're confident in saying a person? A soul?" Caine felt his stomach drop.

"Yes. The way the symbols are assorted on the charm, it's a contract. Whoever put their initials on the charm agreed to the terms of the person who created it. Though I can't say if it was done so willingly. My....the one whom I served before...used similar methods." Ragatha shifted in her chair and looked away.

"You needn't explain." Caine reassures. He takes our the core sample and hands it to her. "Give your thoughts on this when you have a chance. I need those charm shards back." He turns to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To test a theory."

~

Pomni focused silently ahead. If she stayed calm, Shadowblade would be calm. It would make the travel that much more bearable. Jax, on the other hand, was bored out of his mind and couldn't stand the silence.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

He waits only a second to ask again. "...how about now?" He smiled.

Pomni's grip tightened. "No."

"Are we there....yet?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"NO!!"

Jax held back a laugh. "You're too easy. Maybe that's why Caine likes you so much. Didn't take him for the type, but whatever floats his boat."

"What the FUCK are you implying??" She turned to glare at Jax.

"Wow, really gotta spell it out for you, huh? I'm calling you a wh-"

Pomni punched him so hard, he tumbled backwards off of Shadowblade. Shadowblade felt something grab their foot. They look down and back to see Jax hanging by one hand. They look back up at Pomni.

"Keep flying. If he falls, he's no longer our problem."

Shadowblade snorted, feeling Pomni's rage.

Jax extended his arms to reach up and grab into the seams of Shadowblade's armor. He hoisted himself back up to the saddle and settled behind Pomni. "I can add sensitive to the list." He called it quits for the time being, she definitely dented a few of his ribs with that hit. He took steady breaths through the pain.

~

Caine locked himself in his workshop and set the charm pieces on a small table with a sigil. He lights the half melted candles and puts both hands on symbols on either side of the sigil. He takes a deep breath and focuses.

Blue energy travels from his heart, down his arms, and to the table. The sigil lights up and the pieces of the charm hover an inch off the table. He mutters ritualisticly under his breath, willing the pieces to be whole again. The electric blue energy shocks the pieces one by one, heating and melting the jagged edges. The pieces fit together and seal the cracks. The reformed charm clatters to the table as he releases it, feeling a little light headed.

"Okay...step one wasn't too hard." He braced himself. "Now....who made you?" He focused again, using his soul energy to tap into the void. He heard faint whispers all around him. The symbols on the charm glow. One whispered voice stands out. A middle aged male voice comes from the charm.

"I....am the Master...."

Caine rolled his eyes. Of course someone who made this kind of charm would call themselves that. He has to stay focused, he could only hold this for so long. "What is the purpose of your charm?"

".... control...."

Fuck. He already knew that. Sweat rolled down his head as he concentrated. "Who is SB?"

"....my greatest creation..."

"No, WHO is SB? Is it a name?"

"...yes, the one who served me..."

"Vague bastard." Caine could barely hold the connection. "Is SB a puppet?"

"...my perfect puppet...obedient and powerful...the soul served without question..."

Caine could feel his hold on the voice slipping. He forced himself to keep going. "HOW? Where is the D.I.E??"

"...within..."

Caine vision blurred with exhaustion. "Are there...others...?"

"...yes...my traitorous son..."

"Where....where...." Caine collapsed. The Master's voice whispered as darkness took him.

"...where it all began..."

~

The sun shone its last as the City of Gears was finally in sight. Massive warehouses and factories towered over all other buildings. The city was ravaged by time and being reclaimed by nature, as the forest on the south side slowly intruded more than half the city.

Shadowblade flew low and made a better landing this time. At least they didn't fall forward on their face. Shadowblade and their passengers stayed alert as they entered the city. It was quiet. Despite being surrounded by trees, no birds sang. The wind was still. They wandered the silent streets aimlessly.

"I think Caine's info is a bit out of date. There's no one here." Jax said.

"Keep your voice down. This place shouldn't be this quiet with the amount of nature here." Pomni's whole body prickled on high alert. Her instincts told her to look up. She did just in time to see a wolf like pouncing from the second story of a broken building. She didn't have time to warn the others. She rolled and slid off Shadowblade as the wolf landed where she had been.

Jax jumped back and slid off the other side. Shadowblade felt the claws of the wolf in their back and bucked it off. More wolves attacked. Pomni dodged one and drew her blade. Jax activated his hammer and swung at a charging wolf, sending it into a wall.

They were surrounded by a dozen wolf sized and shaped marionettes snarling at them.

"Seekers!" Pomni shouted. Seekers were used to track and kill puppets. They tore their prey apart without mercy. As it was getting dark, Pomni put on her mask. Her eyes glowed with Shadowblade's as they stared down their opponents. Shadowblade roared, shaking dust from the ruined buildings. The ungraded blades on their wings and Pomni's sword glowed with energy.

The seekers weren't intimidated and attacked. Pomni put her sword through the mouth of one and she avoided another. She rolled over the back of the one she killed and kicked the next seeker that lunged. Shadowblade sliced two seekers in half with one swipe and whipped ther tail around to the ones behind them.

Jax limbo-ed under the swinging spiked tail and sprang himself into the air to bring his hammer down on one seeker, caving it's body in. He moved quickly to the next, spinning his hammer and launching a seeker into a ruined building.

Pomni got pinned by a seeker, she held it back with her sword in it's maw. It snapped and clawed wildly until Shadowblade chomped down on it's body and threw it away from her. She got to her feet and ran under Shadowblade to get to the seeks attacking on the other side by Jax. She cut through one that was about to pounce.

Jax swung around, saw Pomni and changed trajectory at the last second. He threw his hammer, crushing a seeker's face in.

Shadowblade brought their heavy tail down on one seeker and swung at another. Two jumped on Shadowblade's back and they reared.

"Shadowblade! Roll over!!" Pomni commanded.

Shadowblade did so, crushing the seekers under their bodyweight. Jax laughed, grabbed his hammer and killed another seeker. "Play dead!" He couldn't help himself.

The one remaining aimed for Pomni. It tried fainting left but Pomni was too quick. She decapitated it as it lunged. No other marionettes in sight, they caught their breath.

Jax was in a fit of giggles. "Roll over? Really?"

"What else was I going to say?? Stand there a take it!?"

Jax howled with laughter. "No...no, it isn't that. It's the basic bitch pet command shout during battle. You couldn't call it something else?"

"Like what, smartass?"

"Kill the passenger?" He really didn't have a clever retort, he just thought it was funny.

"God, you're insufferable."

Shadowblade was looking all around for any more signs of danger when they spotted a street corner with small shops. Windows ruined and signs faded, they were still recognizable as a market. Another flash. Shadowblade was short, maybe Pomni's height, walking down the street. The market was alive with people going to a fro. The scent of fresh bread and gardens flowers filled the air.

Shadowblade walked away from Pomni and Jax, following the vision. They were looking through windows at beautifully crafted jewelry and dresses but moving on. The went to a book shop on the corner. The vision fades to reveal a destroyed corner building. The books long destroyed.

"Hey...your beast is walking away."

"Huh? Shadowblade, where are you going? Get back here, we need to stick together." Pomni commanded but Shadowblade didn't obey. They kept walking down the ruins market street. "What the..?"

"Pffff, even your pet if sick of you."

"Fuck off." She moves to follow Shadowblade. "They've never ignored an order before."

Jax followed behind, keeping an eye out for more seekers. His own eyes glowed softly in the unlit city. He didn't need goggles to see in the dark.

Shadowblade looked down a desolate street past the market. A poster on the wall of a business stood out to them. It was barely legible, but it was an ad for a circus. A vision showed the poster it's full glory, they've walked by it many times. It was a landmark for their commute. Moving on, the businesses gave way to town houses and suburban homes. Once large and beautiful homes reduced to rubble.

~

A polite knock rattled Caine's workshop door. "Caine? I have some information on those crystal shards you gave me. ...Caine?"

"Oh dear, maybe he fell asleep. Here, let me help." One of Gangle's ribbons slithered under the door and reached the lock on the inside.

The ladies see Caine on his side in front of his charm table and rush to him. "Caine??" Ragatha checked his heart, he was still alive. "Caine!"

He stirred a a little. "Rag...the..." He lifted his hand to point at the charm on the table and passed back out.

"Oh my god, what did you do to yourself? Gangle?"

"On it." She wrapped her ribbons around Caine, easily lifting and carrying him out of the room.

Ragatha grabbed the charm, impressed to find it in one piece, and followed Gangle. "This must have been an incredibly powerful charm for him to use so much energy to pass out."

"Will he be okay?" Gangle asked worriedly.

"He'll be fine, he just needs rest. Take him to his room." Ragatha went back to the library to study the reformed charm in greater detail.

~

Shadowblade stopped in front of a half collapsed mansion. They stared as a vision of walking through gate entered their mind. They couldn't walk on the grass, no matter how much they wanted to feel it between their toes. They had to take the groceries to the kitchen so the cooks could ready supper for ....for someone. Someone powerful.

"Shadowblade?" Pomni asked quietly. She could feel confusion and deja vu through the connection. "Is this what we came for?" She pointed to the large ruined house.

Shadowblade didn't answer. They didn't know. They stepped over the low ruined wall and inspected the house closer. Three floors of grandeur, once upon a time, now a darkened shell. They could see the grand stairway through the huge hole in the wall, spiraling up all three floors. They went up and down those stairs many times. Lots of work to do. Always an errand. Always a chore.

Jax and Pomni climbed through the rubble to investigate the first floor. Jax aimlessly milled about for any interesting trinkets, but Pomni made a b-line for any intact rooms. She searched for evidence of who once lived here but the ravages of time and war took most everything that once existed in the homestead.

Jax stepped on a losse floorboard and fell through. Shadowblade's bright eyes found the hole he made a peered down. Pomni heard the crash and rushed over. "Hey! You alive?"

"Yes." Jax rubbed his ass. It wasn't a far fall, but it still hurt.

"Shit. I mean, good." Pomni smirked.

"Fuck you."

"Get in line. What's down there?"

"Uh...a basement? Old storage. A few wine racks. Ooh, some of them still have full bottles. Lucky day!"

"You're sharing that!"

"Then get down here and collect your own, lazy ass!"

Pomni jumped down and Shadowblade demolished the part of the house blocking them from entering. They clawed and chewed at the floor to expose a large portion of the basement. As Pomni and Jax bickered over bottles, Shadowblade focused on one corner in particular. A vision showed them being down in the basement to put away some preserved food. A figure in the dark was in the corner reaching for something in the ground. Something heavy closed shut. The figure yelled at them.

Shadowblade clawed the ground and they came in contact with something heavy and metal. They dug up a large ancient safe.

"OH SHIT! Now we're talking!" Jax excitedly examines the safe. He figures the locking mechanism is far rusted in place and the only way into it, is with a really big hammer. He brings his hammer down several times until the safe warped and the door didn't fit in the frame. Much to his disappointment, there were no treasures inside. Only papers. He goes back to the wine racks.

Pomni sifted through the papers. There was a lot of boring stuff, banknotes and contracts and deeds and bills of sale, but... There was also a journal. She opened it to find it full of gibberish. Backwards and mixed writing that made no sense.

Shadowblade could just make out the tiny writing. It didn't make sense to them either, but the journal itself looked important. They leaned their head down to press the journal towards Pomni, encouraging her to keep it.

Pomni looked up with an arched brow. "This? ...alright."

She dug around a bit more and an envelope marked "confidential" piqued her interest. Inside was a letter, addressed to no one.

Sir,

The project has proven successful.

The subject is integrated.

On your order, activation protocol Warshroud is a go.

"War shroud?" Pomni said our loud and Shadowblade froze.

Visions of being taken. Beaten. Hurt. Scared. Men talking. WARSHROUD.

Pomni felt all of it. This was the right path. There was no address but their was a symbol of a hammer and pickaxe on the stationary. She recognized that symbol from one of the factories they passed on their way in. "Hey, numbnuts, we're moving on." She climbed up Shadowblade's head and laid a comforting hand on them as Jax finished stuffing wine bottles into his bag. He extended his arm to grab shadowblade's shoulder and hoisted himself up.

Pomni steered Shadowblade to the factory. Massive bay doors laid on the ground, leaving an entrance large enough for Shadowblade. The inside was as ruined as the rest of the city. Nothing of interest remained intact.

Shadowblade spotted another set of large doors. These, they recognize. A vision of being barely conscious. Restrained. Helpless. The heavy metal doors sealed any escape. Shadowblade trembled. They didn't want to take another step.

"What is this place?" Jax asked, looking around.

"I'm not sure. Shadowblade, we're here because Caine believes there are answers to what- er, who? You are. He's a crackpot, but a smart crackpot. Can you keep going?"

Shadowblade shook in place, refusing to move.

"... alright." Pomni slid off and went to the doors herself. "Come on, Jax. We'll have a look around ourselves. Shadowblade can wait up here."

Jax left his bag hooked to the saddle and dismounted to go with Pomni. "Another dusty old basement, this place is just full of wonder." He sighed.

Down below was more destroyed than above. Hardly anything was recognizable as equipment. Giant smashed tubes held remnants of crystals of various colors. Claw marks and old burns charged the walls and floor.

"Looks like one of their projects backfired." Pomni commented as she stepped over some rubble.

"Shadowblade?"

"I don't know. There's a lot i don't know, but....looking at all of this, this isn't a normal marionette production facility. That's for damn sure."

~

Shadowblade felt a crack. A glacial popping sound from within. The crystal within their core broke further. More visions came. War was declared! Puppet uprising! A mother's touch. A handsome stranger. Debt. Famine. Disease. Death. Work in the city. Suffering. Gold light. Blinding. Obey. OBEY! Shadowblade roared in confusion and pain. Their cries echoed through the factory.

Jax and Pomni stiffened as they heard Shadowblade above. A loud mechanical whirring in the rubble beside them signaled something was powering on. Two intensely bright purple lights shone and rose high above them. In the dark, both could just make out the silhouette of a beast. A beast twice the size of Shadowblade.

Pomni and Jax bolted for the exit, sprinting back out through the facility doors. The purple lights finding them as they run. Monstrous booming announced the creature's pursuit.

Shadowblade felt the floor quake and got their senses about them as Pomni and Jax came running out, purple light right behind them.

Jax gave Pomni a boost throw onto Shadowblade and grabbed onto the saddle himself. Pomni whistled for Shadowblade to run.

Shadowblade got just a glimpse of the beast after them. A huge break-like maw snapping at them. They got outside and made for wider streets to attempt take off.

The roof to the factory exploded. Enormous silver wings lifted the beast into the air as it urgently broke free to pursue its prey. It's body gleamed in the moonlight, this beast was never meant to hide. It dove as Shadowblade finally found enough space to spread their own wings.

Without enough forward momentum to get away, Pomni whistled for Shadowblade to halt. They dropped to the ground and skidded as the silver beast landed hard in front of them, demolishing several buildings. Outside and up close they could see that this creature was also quadrupedal. It's silver steel body glowed with purple energy from every crack in the armor. The wings were on its back, giving it all four legs to fight with in the air. The head and front legs were bird-like and heavily armored, talons as long as Pomni was tall. The back end of the body was like a lion, the tail long and thin with a bladed end.

For the half second the creature was down Pomni mentally steeled herself for battle. Shadowblade, confused and scared, found comfort in Pomni's resolve. Shadowblade lunged, doing for the beast's neck. Pomni jumped from Shadowblade to the silver beast and clamped her mechanical hand onto it's face plates. Jax also jumped, going as high as he could and activating the spikes to bring his hammer down hard on the beast's head.

Shadowblade tried to hold the beast in place, clawing at it's chest and holding tight to it's neck. Jax's hammer comes down and barely makes a dent. He practically bounces off and lands hard below the brawling beasts. Pomni tried jamming her sword into the beast's eye but her sword doesn't pierce the optic at all, she just annoys it.

The beast shoves back against Shadowblade, pushing them away and shaking off Pomni. The beast's claws left deep marks in Shadowblade's shoulders. Shadowblade roared and the beast roared back. The talons and beak of the beast glowed purple, like Shadowblade's wing blades. Shadowblade was already glowing and went for the slash attack. The beast whipped it's tail, having farther reach, forcing Shadowblade to doge and abandon their attack.

Pomni's blade glowed brightly and she went for a back leg. The energy from her blade made a small cut into the heel. "JAX!! USE ENERGY!!"

Jax was way ahead of her. As the beast turned to attack Pomni, his hammer lit up with green energy. He ran up Shadowblade's tail and back to spring himself up and come down between the beast's shoulder blades. His hammer did damage this time. A lot of it. The silver armor split and broke around the wing joints. The beast roared and reared to remove Jax. Shadowblade slashed a deep cut along the side of the beast as it went up. Shadowblade kept themself between the beast and Pomni.

Pomni wasn't having that. She used her grapple to grab the beast and reel herself to it's back, where she dragged her energized sword up the beast's front leg. Shadowblade tore at the beast's throat again, removing armor by the mouthful. Jax dodged the beast's blades tail and smashed at the beast's spine.

The beast's purple eyes brightened and it tore it's claws into Shadowblade, it lifted them off the ground and suplexed the lot of them into a row of buildings. Pomni's and Jax barely got off the back in time as everything came crashing down.

Finally being free of the 3v1, the beast took off for the arial advantage. It circled around and aimed for the largest target, diving for Shadowblade's exposed belly.

Shadowblade was discombobulated. They lost track of Pomni. Their large wings were stuck under rubble. All they could do was roar in defense as the beast came down.

But the beast never came. A wall of green ice flew up out of the ground and blocked the attack. The wall crumbled but the beast was taken off guard and missed, giving Shadowblade enough time to get up.

Jax huffed against a brick wall with his hand out. He hadn't had to make something that big in a long time, it took a bit out of him. Pomni patted Jax on the shoulder as she sprinted passed to get to Shadowblade. "You owe me!!" He shouted after her.

Pomni mounted as Shadowblade righted themself. "Come on!! Let's show this mother fucker exactly who he's dealing with!!"

Shadowblade roared and took off as fast as they could. Finally airborne, they circled with the beast. Back and gold streaked across the sky opposing silver and purple. Shadowblade went on the offensive, aiming to slash at the beast as they flew by at top speed. The beast rolled and slashed them instead, with it's talons. Shadowblade want deterred. They went again, this time making the slash. Them again. And again. Being lighter and faster, Shadowblade made several successful attacks.

The beast roared with fury and opened its maw wide. Purple energy gathered between its jaws.

"What the fuck..?" Pomni muttered.

A wide beam of energy blasted out from the beast. Shadowblade narrowly escaped it hitting their body, but one of their wings was partially clipped.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?!?" Pomni steered Shadowblade away, dodging another fly by. "We need to disappear!" She pulled up and Shadowblade flew into the clouds, mist pouring from their body.

The beast followed, being blinded the moment they flew into the thick shroud. For a moment, the beast hovered in place. Then, a slicing blade cut them from the dark. Their tail fell to the city below. The beast roared and charged their energy weapon again, but before they could fire, a golden razor X flew at them and they had to abort. The beast flew above the clouds and mist, circling and searching.

Shadowblade came flying straight up, and sliced one of it's wings in half. The beast plummeted. It smacked into a factory chimney before crashing through an warehouse roof and to the ground.

Jax saw the fall and ran to catch up, his quick feet moving even faster with green energy.

Shadowblade didn't give the best the chance to get up. They came barreling down through the broken roof and slammed the beast with their powerful front claws. Purple fluid went flying. The silver beast thrashed wildly, trying to take off on one wing. Shadowblade couldn't keep it down, the larger beast kicked them off and charged. Shadowblade barely got Pomni out do the way before the beast slammed into them. Pomni was thrown, recovered and transformed their hand to fire at the open wounds on the beast's body. The gapping wounds proved to be easy targets, every shot found in opening and blew them even wider.

The beast ignores Pomni, focusing all of its hatred onto Shadowblade. It's talon's cut and slash into the armor, getting deep and breaking vital systems. Shadowblade fought back, using their tail to stab the beast, but it was unrelenting. That it opened it's maw again. A terrible buildup of purple energy formed right in front of Shadowblade's face.

"NO!!!" Pomni ran out of shots and hacked at the beast's back leg. She wasn't doing anywhere near as much damage as she wanted to, not deterring the beast in the slightest. "FUCK YOU!! OVER HERE!!" She stabbed it full on in the leg, no reaction.

As the beast was about to fire, Jax comes in out of nowhere, his hammer encased in green ice, and slams the beast right in the back of the mouth. The collision of the green and purple energy causes a massive explosion in the beast's throat.

There is a hush as the smoke clears. Everyone is down. The silver beast no longer had a head. It's body torn, purple blood soaking the floor. Pomni, the furthest from the explosion, rises first. She limps over to Shadowblade, whose eyes are inactive. "Hey...wake up. We won..." She put her hand on Shadowblade's face.

She looked around. "Jax..?" She sees him on his side, facing away from her. She limps to him and carefully rolls him on his back. She puts her hand over his heart, he's still active. A sigh of real relief escapes her.

Shadowblade stirs. Heavy damaged but alive. They slowly crawl over to the two smaller puppets and curl their big body protectively around them.

"It's okay...it's dead. You did good." Pomni gave a small smile and Shadowblade blinked slowly back.

Jax woke with a loud groan. "God...damn! This is why I hate using energy. Gives me an awful fucking headache."

Pomni slapped Jax on the chest. "You crazy bastard! You could have died!"

Jax groaned and laughed. "But it was awesome, wasn't it?"

"...yeah, it was." She checked her saddle bag for supplies and saw wine leaking from Jax's bag. She peeked inside to see only one surviving bottle. She took it and handed it to him as she performed some basic puppet first aid. "You've earned that."

Jax broke the neck of the bottle and poured some in his mouth before offering to Pomni.

Pomni accepted and saluted Jax.

Shadowblade watched as long as they could before exhaustion claimed them. As they powered down, the darkness that would normally greet them became bright and other worldy. For the first time in their mechanical life, Shadowblade dreamed.

~~~

To be continued...

[deadlinesmb]

Shop Fusion Collab - Splatoon 3

Hooooh boy, I have a lot to say about this one.

Let me preface this part by saying that this section would straight up not exist without the talented work of my teammate Nico. Not only did he model/rig Cordelia and the background, but it's thanks to him that I was able to learn the Blender animation pipeline. He was extremely patient with me and answered every question I had, and for that I'm extremely grateful.

For this section, I animated the shopkeeper Cordelia, from the game Dead Estate! While developing this part, I pitched the idea for a Splatoon 3 section and agreed to do the art for it regardless of what game it was paired with! That game ended up being Dead Estate, a game I had never heard of up to that point.

So, what followed was a period of deep research into the game as well as Cordelia, so I could get the best understanding of how to portray her in the Splatoon universe. First thing was first, I had to redesign her. Even for SiIvaGunner projects, humans existing within the Splatoon universe is a bit jarring, so I decided that for Cordelia's model sheet, I would try to jazz her design up to make her a better fit for this artstyle!

I explored some potential species design before deciding to make her an urchin, as I felt like it'd be the coolest way to adapt her hairstyle. I made some minor changes to her outfit and passed it along to Nico for modeling!

(image from Nico's Twitter post on his contributions, def check it out)

Needless to say I was blown away with how well he adapted the design. It came out better than I could have imagined. What soon followed was me forcing myself to learn the Blender animation pipeline from scratch!

It was a very interesting but invaluable process. I am a 2D animator by trade, with very little interest in expanding to 3D, but the more I was exposed to Blender, the more natural the process came to me. I was very surprised. I think the animation took me about a month in total to create, as I was balancing it with schoolwork at the time, but I'm very happy with how it came out considering my 3D experience level.

Beyond the 3D animation side of things, there was also the 2D assets needed for the UI, which I recreated from scratch through editing software with the help of some gracious Splatoon modders who were willing to help me rip UI and SFX from the game. All of the unique 2D weapon icons were drawn by me, each being direct callbacks to actual weapons from Dead Estate! Eagle-eyed viewers also may have caught that I snuck in a teaser for Prince Fleaswallow's upcoming section in the top right of the UI, which required me to make a Splatoon-styled head icon for him!

Overall, this one was a blast to work on. Everyone was surprised to see it being one of the earliest sections finished for the collab. We made sure to get it locked down because we knew we were in for a labor-intensive time if we wanted it to look just right.

[oc-fixation-hell]

Oc #4 is finally done! :D this is Herald, he's a big wierdo. This one was the first of the 4 but i wanted to redesign him.

More about the goober under the cut if you're curious :D

This is what his model looks like in full! This model was dubbed the Harbinger drone. He was constructed by surviving humans on one of humanity's many off world colonies to (hopefully) combat the absolute solver before it killed them all. It is bulkier, larger, and has a more advanced ai that learns as it progresses. Its also made to be more flexible and resistant to many forms of damage. Rather than metal blades, the wing blades of the harbinger are made of a tough glass-like corrosion and temperature resistant material, and the ends are laced with the same substance as their tail, which is nanobots that eat through everything they touch. The tail is coated in spines, has a bladed end, and is chalked full of the nanobots that will invade any fissures the blades make.

These are some of his functions! He can us his antennae to hail and communicate with near by drones, like having a communication link. He can also fire a high powered laser that can cause serious damage, but he can control the rate at witch it fires. If he wanted to, he could just use the laser in his hand to play with cats. He has a viral program that he can infect other drones with as needed, which will cause them to glitch and overheat, but not to the point of crashing. Just enough to subdue the host. He can use his antennae to hack as well, but that takes quite a bit of concentration. And finally, the EMP. The emp is made spesifically to disable all near by electronics, and drones. Its dangerous to use, because it is emitted by his core. It means he's in a vulnerable state untill it emits the pulse.

He was sent off from colony to colony to hunt the absolute solver, and warn surviving colonists (and drones, though that wasnt programmed). A messenger. But he mostly only found and killed their resident disassembly squads. He's targeting copper 9 next. But dont be worried! He may seen like a mindless killer, but he's actually an insatiably curious and very gullible himbo. Most dont take the time to figure this out.

N for size reference!

[camellia-salazar]

Ed Edd n Eddy Pony Redesigns.

Ed Edd n Eddy; Friendships are Jawbreakers. (Ed Edd n Eddy rhymes with My Little Pony)

I did this last month, but for some reason put off posting it until now.

I was into both shows at the time, so it was easy for me to understand the characters as well as the rule set of the MLP universe.

I would tell you each explanation of their cutiemarks, but maybe in another post. For now, I'll explain at least a few distinct facts about each of them.

Ed: Him and Sarah's family are relatively stronger than the average earth pony thanks to them actually being hella strong in canon. AJ would be tripping on the sight of Ed casually lifting a boulder.

Edd: Does pretty well with certain spells, less than Twilight and Starlight, but more capable than most unicorns his age. It takes a lot of energy to even do them, tho, like teleport.

Eddy: Pretty much what Scootaloo has when it comes to his wings. A lot of his insecurities are from his lack of flying. He can barely hover for about 3 seconds but ultimately crashes hard at the end. He blames it on not being taught.

Kevin: Not many ponies ride bikes. He's one of the exception. Wanted to be a Wonder Bolt at one point, but eventually dropped it on account of the day he earned his cutiemark. (I'll explain eventually).

Nazz: Like all unicorns, her magical ability depends on her cutiemark/special talent. She can spark up visions that resonate the stories she would tell. She was also trained in defense magic to protect the kids she would babysit along with herself.

Rolf: His family is the only one that have a stipe across their torsos. It just develops like a cutiemark, but only when you figure out the role you play for the family. So basically, there's a little more pressure on this kiddo.

Sarah: If my pony version would be a version of the show, she and Jimmy would earn their cutiemarks at around season 3. She would be a teeny tiny bit more empathetic, too, since she's a pony now.

Jimmy: He and Sarah were a lot like the CMC prior to their cutiemarks. Mostly inspired by the fact that they act like so in canon, always trying new things essentially. He also struggles with his magic like Sweetie Belle did for a while.

Jonny 2×4: He acts a lot like Pinkie Pie and often would stim by bouncing on his tail. Also, much like how I thought of Sarah and Jimmy, he would learn to fly later on, but most likely the end of season 2, beginning of season 3. Most likely, the former.

Plank: Was supposed to be an imagined pony, but idk if I want to keep that or have him be a dragon. He would give off griffin vibes at times, tho. Idk. Maybe I should just draw his face like the OG so that the others would keep guessing.

Lee Kanker: I couldn't think of her with normal mare hooves, so she inherited her dad's hoof look. Rather, she shaved it, or it was just developed that way is pretty unknown. I thought of the latter at first.

Marie Kanker: Much like Kevin, she loves cloud bucking. The only difference is that she loves it while he sees it as more of a chore. She would often get away with chores because her mother would tell her to. But even then, she would have fun doing it.

May Kanker: Most would be threatened with her magic being red, that is, anyone but her sisters. Not only would anyone know it's her, but also red magic is usually frowned upon. The judgment doesn't bother her, tho, giving the fact that she's used to it.

Eddy's Bro: He got one of the biggest pare of wings anypony had seen on a pegasus. Because of his huge wings, Eddy would have another reason to not only look up to him but also envy him. Stupid bro taking all the flight genes.

So that's it for now, I went from EEnE to other things, so it'll take some time before I get back into EEnE again.

Thanks for reading all of this. Have a good one. 👍💖✨️

[dav-suburbiia]

drdt ch2 ep14 spoilers

compiling some of my thoughts

god . fuck . the way Teruko’s “let go of me” was so soft and apprehensive as if she didn’t want to scare Eden further than she already was . I’M SICKKKK/pos

I still love Hu but yeah her insistence got a little much in this episode . thank you for everything girl but please . please take a break . that desperate smile as she begged Nico to let her defend them… she has some harrowing issues she needs to work out. I can’t wait to learn more!

david chiem secures his number one placement at the “top ten worst bisexuals” list /aff. god. I’m actually insane about him and Teruko’s foils it is everything to me. he wants Teruko to give into her nature so he can use her as a method to prove his worldview right- that every person is born with their permanent “nature” in their blood, and that it’s pointless trying to change that. he wants her to do what she’s always done, because that’s how he gets the advantage on her. that’s how he gets his satisfaction, when there’s nothing left to feasibly criticize about his words because he knows for sure he’s right. all he wants is for him, the man born to lie, to be proven without a shadow of a doubt that he is CORRECT.

but Teruko is not giving him that fulfillment. she knows he has a point, she knows he’s using her word against her, she is visibly affected by this “easy choice” he’s dangling in front of her. yet she doesn’t take his bait. she chooses to make room for a little bit of trust. not just to spite David, but also to make the trial more organized and efficient. she is working to fix her fatal mistake from earlier in the trial. and it’s fucking awesome.

Teruko as a character is just so engaging. she wants to find excuses for not trusting others, yet at the same time she also protects herself with excuses TOWARDS trusting others.

“I’m repaying your favor, and nothing else. That’s why I’ll trust you, just this once.”

she is so conflicted about what she wants. about what she THINKS she wants versus what is BEST. she wants to do the right thing, but she wants to be safe. I hope to see that grow and blossom as DRDT continues, because she is truly one of, if not, THE greatest fangan protagonist I know of

gah, and here comes the Ace culprit accusation. it may not be Huover after all… but, we’ll see where this goes. I think they’ll bring up Ace’s gloves (for the rope burn) and his strength (for getting the rope over the ceiling, which I assume was done with the starch ball…? he did have a chance to get the clothes, because he was a part of the redesign gang) when talking about his possibility as a culprit. either way, I look forward to what happens next!

good shit, DRDTDev. I’m loving everything about this. thank you for all you do . 🙏