#i might color this later but i like the sketch as it is so eh we’ll see

[ceruleansonic]

maria showing shadow how to braid hair :)

[magpigment]

wholly based off an off handed comment grizzly made in the disaster every five minutes video and the hardest minecraft difficulty video so have this! my general concept for what grizz as a nomad shepherd turned deity looks like!

[quibbs126]

Well I also did this today. Sketches so I could try and figure out that skystar fankid since as mentioned earlier, I’ve been trying to think about him

I’ve been trying to draw other stuff today, but honestly after drawing Jazz, my creative juices have not been flowing as much. I tried to do more color palette drawings, but Megatron’s shoulders give me so much trouble I couldn’t figure them out, and I tried to draw Ironhide but he wasn’t turning out right proportion wise and I realized by them I was kind of just forcing it

But then I was bored and needed something to do creatively, so I tried to at least attempt some amount of designing this kid. Though first I needed to try and draw Starscream and Skyfire’s helms (since that’s on of the main things that don’t rely on alt mode) to see how I could combine them

I mean, I think I did all right. It is very much still a work in progress though

Probably shouldn’t have even posted it, just kept it to myself for future reference, but I have a problem of wanting to share literally everything I make with very few exceptions, so here we are

I have multiple alternate color schemes here as well because I just didn’t know what to pick

Honestly my biggest problem here for me is that Skyfire doesn’t have any design in Transformers One, at least not as far as I can tell. And he doesn’t really appear in much outside of that, so I’m really just stuck with his g1 design to base off of. So most of what I do have to work with comes from Starscream and the other Seekers

So like, I feel like this kid looks too much like Starscream, but I don’t know how to fix it

By the way, while I haven’t settled on a name for him yet, the one floating around for me right now is Overdrive? I don’t really know why, and it unfortunately is already a character’s name, but shush

It may change, but for now, in this post, his name is Overdrive

There’s also the problem of the color scheme for him here. Because like, Skyfire and Starscream technically have almost the same color schemes, just that Starscream also has black/grey and they’re dispersed differently. So I’m trying to find a balance here that works without looking too much like one or the other

I had a brief idea to base Overdrive’s color scheme on the original Jetfire toy, and honestly I do think it could work, with the mainly white with red and black accents, it's just that for whatever reason, I don't like how it looks when I make his middle part red. Maybe I've been watching too much g1, because there's a lot of red Autobots, and characters having white and red on their helms isn't that uncommon either. So I just keep it blue so he looks distinct in my head. I might switch it over to the Jetfire color scheme later though

Also you see that for one of the visors I toyed with him having green eyes (his eye and visor color match btw, the eye's only there so you can see it), because some people decide that pre-betrayal Starscream had non red optics. But I didn't just want to stick with plain blue, and I knew that we see a number of miners with green eyes, so why not green? I changed it because I thought maybe he didn't look Starscream enough, but eh

Oh yeah, I do have a few other notes on his design here, since I'm realizing I've mostly just been complaining

Why did I give him a visor? Eh, why not, Skyfire and Starscream don't have them. But I based it on how it looks on Thundercracker and Skywarp

As for his side vents, I wasn't really sure how to do them, but I didn't want them to be the same as Starscream. I tried to base them off of Slipstream's, but the way the vents folded looked weird to me, and I ended up cutting them off and making his face into what you see in the bottom left there. It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted in the colored version though, and I think I ended up circling back to Starscream's vent shape. But oh well, things to change later

Oh yeah, pictures of Thundercracker, Skywarp and Slipstream to know what I’m talking about. Or more accurately, this is what I used

Also those things on his sides? They were supposed to be like Skyfire's side cheek things he has in g1, but I also made them puff out for some reason. I don't know why. I'll probably tweak it, but I want to keep some aspect of it I think

*sigh* to be honest, I really don't know what I think of this design. It really isn't finished at all. I'm really not even sure why I'm showing it, other than to say I'm working on it and I didn't just abandon it? But I mean, we'll see how long that lasts

Do I have anything I added on to Overdrive's character at least? Well no, not really. By this afternoon I think I had mostly creatively drained myself, I mostly just wrote what I had originally again

Namely that he came to be after Sentinel's betrayal, and as such Starscream doesn't know he exists and Skyfire thinks Starscream's dead. Overdrive still has his cog, it never got stolen, either because Sentinel hadn't thought of it yet or he didn't have a believable means to have it taken without it being suspicious. All I really know is he's a jet, but isn't outfitted for military work of any kind, his profession probably being closer to Skyfire's

As for Skyfire, I'm stealing his role here from another fanfic I read, where he's a scientist who was trying to figure out the cause of the Energon shortage and the lack of the miners' cogs (unaware that latter part is a lie, but he was growing suspicious with the discouragement of that line of research), though he also races occasionally. So maybe Overdrive's a scientist too? I don't know, I don't think he needs to be, but I don't know what to make him

Also a note that isn't new to me but I don't think I ever mentioned, due to Skyfire's research, he's met the miners plenty of times and was generally considered one of the nicer cogged bots to them. Overdrive has by proxy met them on occasion as well, including D-16. So as it happens, Megatron does in fact know about Overdrive and the fact that he's Starscream's kid (Skyfire probably mentioned his former conjunx at some point), but he doesn't know that Starscream doesn't. So he hasn't told anyone because he assumes everyone already knows

But yeah, I have Overdrive's backstory, but I really don't have anything about his actual job or personality. To be honest, I think some of it's me being paranoid I recreate Locket in some way, since I like seeing stuff on the Locket AU. I suppose I try making him closer to Skyfire's personality? But for whatever reason, my brain can't rectify that in my head. I don't know

Still don't have an answer on his alt mode either. And it gets even trickier now because they don't have Earth alt modes, they're Cybertronian (even if they don't all look the most different from Earth vehicles here). I did learn about the existence of triple engine jets today, and I kind of want to do that, but I don't know if I will. I also don't know how to draw planes yet, or how they entirely translate to robot mode

But yeah, I think I'm done here, just updating you on what I've been up to this latter half of the day

[evercelle]

i really love your lineart!!!!!!

sometimes in the inking stage i kind of mess up about the thickness about the lines and such. and in general it looks stiff in comparison to the sketch. any advice for a novice?

thanks!! wow it's been two years since someone asked me about lineart :') in addition to the stuff i wrote in that post, some ways my process has changed since then:

using a pen at lowered opacity w/ velocity variation:

(example used is ciro pen!) if you draw a fast stroke it thins out, but consistent speed/pressure gives you a uniform width. it took me awhile to get used to bc developing speed + control just takes practice, but i like how pens with velocity make it quick to vary line width easily. (it might be a placebo effect but i also feel like drawing with these types of pens forces you to have more line confidence, bc it's very visually apparent when you go slow or unsteady...haha)

2. sketch vague, draw detail in later

for pictures that i draw separate lineart for, i usually do rough bodies/shapes and then draw in details while inking. if there's too much detail in the sketch, i think it's easy to focus too much on following the sketch perfectly with your lines, so it gets really stiff and loses the motion in the original sketch. example sketch -> lineart

3. the "this is fine" or "eh fix it later"

try not to overwork it! its fine if there are holes... and the lines dont connect... and the width is weird... it is okay.... employ the time honored techniques of "it's fine" it or "ill just fix it later" lol i tweak or add details as part of coloring to correct places where the lineart got weird. you can probably see it better in this process vid i posted before, but i also drew an example today ft. my boy gaming

like any other skill, i think developing skill + speed with lines follows with time and practice, but i totally empathize with the struggle against it looking too stiff... getting past the mental block of trying Too Hard and losing the charm is tough. you can do it!! i hope this helps!

[buttercup-barf]

Um..Hi again ^^

Sorry if I bothered you.

I saw your requests are open..so.. I also want to ask you. I know I asked this like..a year ago..and you drew my request, but..I want to ask you again..

Could you please draw me and my f/o? Please?? 👉👈

(I know, NOW I might look like a very impudent person..But..To be honest I didn't want to write you this request, because I understand that you might be very busy rn, and..Maybe will not want to draw my request..Eh..)

I'm not asking for full and colored art. You can draw a sketch/lineart like you did before. You can take my request whenever you have free time. I'll wait respectfully ^^

And again.. If you reject my request..I'll totally understand..😞

And thus, a thousand years later... You are in his arms once more!

[arvandus]

Picture Perfect (Sakura x f!OC)

Warnings: None! Pure fluff!

WC: 1,832

Author's note: this is a (very late) commission for @shhroomer as part of the @ficsforgaza event that I'm participating in! Thank you again for your support, and my apologies it took me so long to get this finished for you! I hope you like it!

----

Sakura wasn’t sure exactly when Fujiwara started joining him, Suo, and Nirei on their patrols.  All he did know was that he’d gotten used to it. Even though half of the time she got distracted, trailing behind to sketch in her sketchbook, or take pictures with the camera on her phone.  She took pictures of everything, he realized... storefronts, people, the sky... even the graffiti.  And she was always drawing, her sketchbook in one hand and her pencil in the other.

Sakura always liked peeking glances at her as she drew, taking in the way her brow furrowed in concentration, the way her pink tongue would stick out of the corner of her mouth.  From a distance, she looked intimidating – black hair with long, bleached strands, piercings lining the pinna of her ears, her clothes loose and baggy, with an edge to them brought on by her chosen color palette.

But where others might have seen someone aggressive or off-putting, Sakura simply saw her as cute.

Today was different than the other days, though... today, Fujiwara had something box-like hanging from a thick strap around her neck.

“What’s that?” Sakura asked as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, this?” she looked down at the object and lifted it up.  “It’s a polaroid camera! Isn’t it cool??”

“Eh?? Why don’t you just use your phone?”

“I like this better. The pictures feel more real and kinda nostalgic.”  Plus,” she giggled, “It’s fun to flip the polaroid to make the picture show.”

Sakura stared down at her for a moment, then gave dry scoff.

Fujiwara’s violet eyes widened, and she poked Sakura’s arm. “Are you laughing at me??”

Sakura felt his cheeks warm.  “What?! No!”

“Oh, he definitely laughed...” Suo said with a smirk.  Nirei vigorously nodded his agreement next to him.

The heat in Sakura’s cheeks spread to his ears and down his neck.  This whole time his two vice captains had kept their mouth shut and kept their distance.  The fact that they chose now to chime in...

But before the playful argument could draw out, they were interrupted by an old shopkeeper, an elderly woman with thick glasses and wide smile.

“It’s so good to see you!” she beamed.  “I have something for you boys....”

A moment later, Sakura, Suo, and Nirei each held a bag filled with containers of yakitori.  Nirei was already opening his to take a bite, while Suo kept his sealed with the intent of taking it home.  Sakura opened his as well, but paused when he noticed that Fujiwara was further away from him now, her sketchbook held protectively against her chest.

He’d come to realize over time that she only ever did that when she felt shy or out of place.

“You okay?” he asked.  “Why are you so far away all of a sudden?”

“Me??” Fujiwara flushed.  “No reason. I just don’t like to be in the way when your fans show up.”

Sakura stared at her for a moment, the stick of yakitori still in his hand.  Then he thrust it out toward her.

“Here.”

“Huh?”

“Have one. They always give me too much.”

“A-are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he replied.

Fujiwara gently took it from him.  “Thanks!” she smiled.  She subconsciously took a couple of steps closer and Sakura’s chest tightened with warmth.  He liked having her close...

The sticky teriyaki was nearly dripping down the side and she held it out and leaned towards as she took a bite, struggling to keep her sketchbook and her camera clean.

“Oy,” Sakura grumbled. “Give me your stuff before you ruin it.”

Before Fujiwara could respond, Sakura had closed the gap between them and was removing the camera from around her neck and the sketchbook from her arm.

“What about you?” she protested. “You haven’t had any yet...”

“I’ll eat it later, I’m not hungry,” he lied.

“You’re a terrible liar, Sakura,” she teased.  But she ate anyway, making quick work of the food partially out of hunger, and partially to allow Sakura a chance to eat as well.

As she ate, he looked at her camera that now hung around his neck.

“Why do you take so many pictures all the time?” he asked.

“Huh? Oh, because there’s so much to see here!”

Sakura stared at her in blatant confusion.  “Eh?”

“You don’t ever look around and notice how pretty things are?” Fujiwara asked with a curious tilt of her head.  “Like yesterday, the sunset was the color of sherbert.  And the graffiti around here is so unique and cool... oh! I have an idea.  Why don’t you try taking some pictures? Here, you turn on the polaroid right here...” she flipped a small dial switch from red to green.  “And then you look through this part and press this button.”

Embarrassment started to freeze up Sakura’s body, and he glanced back at his comrades...

Only to find that they were nowhere to be found.  They’d managed to sneak away as soon as they reached the end of their patrol route, leaving Sakura to fend for himself.

Jerks...

“You want me to take a picture??” he stuttered. “Of what?”

“Of whatever you want!” she said with a smile.  Her stick was empty and licked clean now, and she threw it away in the nearest trash can.  She didn’t notice, however, that the corner of her mouth still had some teriyaki sauce on it...

Cute...

“You have some...” he started, then pointed to the corner of his mouth.

Fujiwara flushed, her eyes wide with embarrassment.  “What?? It’s on my face? I need a napkin...” she started to look around, spinning in circles, and Sakura couldn’t help but chuckle as he pulled one from the bag he was given.

“Here,” he said.

Fujiwara yanked it from his hand and quickly wiped at her mouth, double and triple checking to make sure she’d gotten it all.

Sakura stared at her for a moment and then looked down at the camera.    He shifted his hold on the items until he could hold the camera with a free hand.  He lifted it and centered the image of her within the eye piece and clicked it.

Fujiwara froze as her pink cheeks turned practically red.

“D-DID YOU JUST TAKE A PICTURE OF ME??” she shouted.

“W-well, yeah! You said—”

Fujiwara was on him in an instant and snatched the polaroid photo that slowly popped out of the bottom of the camera.

“Give me that!!” she demanded.  Then she took it and threw it into the trash can without even looking at it.

“WHAT?? WHAT’D YOU DO THAT FOR??” Sakura demanded.

“I didn’t mean take a picture of me!” she retorted, now entirely flustered. 

Her eyes avoided his, and guilt crept from Sakura’s chest to his gut.  Did... did he do something wrong??

His lips jutted into a pout and he looked away as he took the camera strap off of his neck. He thrusted it back into her arms along with her sketchbook.

 “I told you wasn’t any good at this stuff...” he muttered.

He thrust his hands deep into his pockets and walked over to the fence that followed the river.  He leaned his forearms against it and stared into the flowing waters.  Fujiwara stared at him for a moment, her eyes wide. Then guilt softened her gaze.  She looked down at her camera and then up at Sakura.  She looked back at the trash can where she’d thrown the photo away.  She took a hesitant breath and went over to it.  Lucky for her, the trash can was nearly full, most of it consisting of bags, cans, and papers.  And on top of it all, sat her photo, her surprised face now staring back at her.

Carefully she grabbed it and looked it over, checking both sides.  Luckily it wasn’t dirty.

She stared at the picture and cringed. It wasn’t a good picture of her, at least not in her opinion...

But there must have been something that Sakura saw, something that was worth capturing, even if she might not see it.

She quietly went back to join him against the railing.  Her grip tightened as she held out the undamaged photo to him.

“Here,” she said.  “I’m sorry.  I just... I didn’t think it would be a good picture of me.”

Sakura stared at the photo in her hand, and the icy ache in his gut began to warm again.  He reached out for it, but her hand withdrew it.

“But....” she said, “I’ll only let you have this if you take a picture with me first.”

“Ha??” Sakura flustered.  “How is that fair?”

“You get a picture of me, I get a picture of you,” she replied.

“You have a bunch of pictures of me!” Sakura countered.  “You’re always taking pictures of me when I’m on patrol! Don’t think I don’t notice!”

Fujiwara flushed.  “That... that’s different! That’s for artistic purposes, documenting the memories of Bofurin!”

“And this one is what? Personal?” Sakura countered, his heart pounding and cheeks hot.

Fujiwara froze, her jaw clenching slightly, before she spoke. “Yes.”

Sakura was stunned into silence, his eyes wide as they took in Fujiwara’s stubborn pout, the way her violet eyes both seemed to avoid his gaze but also bathe in the sight of him at the same time.  A soft breeze pushed a few strands of her hair across her face, and he fought the sudden urge to tuck it behind her ear.

Sakura swallowed and then nodded.  “Okay.  Fine.”

He loved the way she smiled, the way everything about her shifted from nervousness to joy.  She held out the polaroid, lining it up as best she could before clicking the button.  A moment later, the polaroid poked out, and she removed it, shaking the photo to help it clear up faster.

Sakura watched as their faces slowly appeared. She was smiling, her head leaned towards him as if she were truly happy, as if she really wanted to be there with him, close to him.  Sakura didn’t smile, but he wasn’t glowering like he used to, and it was the first time he’d seen a picture of himself where he could tell that he was actually happy.

“That’s a good one,” she whispered.

Sakura watched with longing as she tucked it away into the back of her sketchbook.  A moment later, she handed over the photo of her that he’d taken.

He took it gingerly from her and started at it, the corner of his mouth quirking up slightly in a hint of a smile.  She really was cute... he wasn’t sure why she got so upset over it...

But for some reason, this new, unfamiliar sense of longing wasn’t entirely satisfied.  His mind went back to the photo she’d tucked away of the two of them.

“Fujiwara...” he muttered.

“Hm??”

“Can.... can we take one more?”

[erinhime83]

Okay, look, I decided to redo the Christmas picture I had done for @callistochan87 ten years ago after giving her the idea to do the same for me. Now, I'm obviously not sure at the moment if she actually went through with it, but I figure, hey, why not? I mean, she did a computer colored piece for me for m birthday, so I figured it was okay for me to do one for her for Christmas.

The problem was that, well, I basically sketched it out and inked it before she put up the official design sheet of the character, so now it's not really accurate. I took the parts I liked from each of her designs (the one from when she first turns human and then a year later), and sort of made ti a transitionary thing? IDK.

I didn't want to make this a straight redraw. I had already drawn Aoide/Coral in her fancy dress, so that was out. So I figured I'd make it, you know, less dumb? Yes, she's still out in the snow with bare arms, but eh - I might not have drawn her with the correct body type, but she does have extra protection going for her. :P

I know she's probably experienced snow before - I kinda get the impress that where she was from originally was a lot colder than the main kingdom. But this is the first time she's experiencing snow as a human. (But at the same time, if she's anything like the Coral of the past, it wouldn't matter - she'd be excited to see snow every time it happens. :P)

I do plan to further the present by streaming it's completion. Just need to figure out when I can, lol.

Hope you enjoy this!

[scriptfree]

I recently started reading "Harry Potter and the Boiling Isles" on AO3 and this story has a disgustingly tight grip on me. I know that the author made some designs for the characters already but I felt like I should just share what I had in mind when I first started reading. Especially since the whole entire document became CORRUPTED somehow and now none of the unrendered color versions and sketches are all lost and can never be recovered, which hurt my soul much more than I expected it to.

I first started designing it and put a stupid amount of worry into whether Harry should have a jacket or not in Season 1, which is currently taking place. I'll get into why I'm divided between the jacket/no jacket look later but Ron was particularly hard. I couldn't decide if I should go the book/description loyal route or Rupert Grint inspired route because, honestly, I never read the books so I will always imagine Ron as the average height guy that Rupert Grin has encompassed for the kid. I decided to just go with what inspired me more, which isn't so book accurate but was more fun to draw. And drawing it in the Owl House style was an interesting exercise in learning line weight and simplification of design. Though I'm pretty sure these would still need further simplifying, specifically for the belts and collar textures.

Mild spoilers and speculations for later in the story, I guess?

I'm sure that it's not much of a spoiler as it is implied that Ron will be studying abomination magic and that Harry and Lilith will reconcile at some point, so I made my post-show future designs reflect that. If Luz is 18 when the epilogue takes place, Harry and Ron would be like 15 or something so they would be like fourth or fifth years. Harry is wearing Lilith's grudgby jacket--like how Luz wears Eda's--and continues attending Hogwarts (don't ask me how with the whole Wizarding War situation, just let me be happy) and Ron decided to stay in the Boiling Isles to apprentice under Alador or Darius, even if it might seem a bit out of character. But, eh, Weasley's are ambitious folk and to become the first Weasley to master Abomination magic as a human would totally outdo all his other siblings at the dinner table and parties.

I mentioned being torn on taking away Harry's jacket in his season 1 design because I imagine Lilith would come clean about being Harry's mom at some point during or before Season 2, which is where I would imagine Harry would end up wearing her grugby jacket. And I wanted it to feel significantly different from his season 1 design because him wearing it would be a MAJOR development in the story and his relationship with Lilith. I also added more to Lilith's jacket because it felt a little bare compared to Eda's, but I will post that later when I redraw the designs.

I had a season 2 lineup cleaned up and colored too but I never saved it out so that version is lost forever where Ron wore some edgy ripped vest with abomination goo or whatever but I haven't finalized his design because it's always come as an afterthought and the kid deserves better than that.

Anyways, I imagine that by the end of the series, if the author is kind, there will be not much more physical scarring on the poor children after all their inevitable trauma. Harry will get a palisman at some point, which I headcannon to be a peryton (a winged deer with antlers) that he names Prongs (I dunno how he gets the name, I dunno if he knows his dad's nickname yet). Prongs came from the Forest of the Forgotten who used to belong to a jerkass grudgby player who threw them out after one of their wings broke off, which the flyer found unacceptable because it would "affect their speed". Prongs became attracted to Harry's passion for Quidditch and missed competing in a sport, so they bonded with Harry through that. I decided that Ron's will be a capricorn, because I imagine the ram would be a good representation of how stubborn he is but the tail end would sorta represent his almost contradictory flexibility under pressure. I haven't finalized the design and am still on the edge of changing it because drawing a capricorn is SO FUCKING HARD, so the little palisman is not present in the lineup.

None of this should be taken as actual spoilers for the story as I am literally making fanart of a fanfiction, so none of this is author approved.

But if they end up liking it, I would not mind them working with these ideas which would be a huge honor.

[tizzymcwizzy]

hello master mctizzles!! 28 & 29 for the artists ask pleae, since i know you do a fair amount of traditional? also 10! (and if u say anything other than HELL YEAH, all caps, i will have many hype words to say at you<3333)

28. For traditional artists: what medium do you like the most?

OHHH INK DIP PENS MY BELOVED

god i miss her, i haven't done an ink peice in so long this is making me yearn

for those of you who are new, i used to primarily use a dip pen and watercolors for my art, you can see a general look at all the materials in this old drawing i did for class

the bottle is way fancier than need be, but i like it so i use it lmao (the ink is winsor & newton india ink and the pens are just the general dip pens you can get at michaels or hobby lobby) the water colors where the masters touch fine art studio watercolor set with 24 colors, they're the pan kind.

also i just generally like using pencil, ik very basic, but nothing will ever beat the feel of using a 6B pencil on drawing paper, immaculate 🤌

29. For traditional artists: How do you usually start on a big piece?

I usually start with a thumbnail in my sketchbook or on a scrap piece of paper to get a general sense of the composition, and do some bigger sketches if i want to map out specific poses that might be difficult later

then I do a light sketch with as much detail as i can on a taped down peice of watercolor paper, then i ink it, erase the sketch, clean up some of the lineart with a white gel pen (sometimes white paint if I bungle it enough) and then go in with watercolor, going from dark to light, then shading over everything after the first layer is dry.

(I KNOW I KNOW, ur supposed to go from lights to darks in watercolor, and I do if I'm doing like a painting, but it's much easier for me to fill in all of chat's black and marinette's hair before i go back in to work on the grey's, and by that point im using less and less pigment the more I paint, as my little puddle of black gets smaller and smaller in my palette.)

I took a lot of process photos when i did traditional but i haven't done it in a while so these are a tad old,,

some examples of thumbnails,,

some examples of sketches

and then some lineart photos

(i usually take photos of just the lineart when im scared to start the watercolor, so theres not a lot of them)

10. Are you confident about your art?

aaahha... eh.... i answered this ask in another post, so you'll have to go there to read it,, love you maryssa, hdhdhdhf 💙

thanks for the ask!! these questions are from the artist ask game, send me some and I'll do my best to answer them!

[pjunicornart]

Meet the Robinsons, but freaky and fabulous.

So! *insert clap noise* I’m recently starting to remember/get back into Monster High! Remember Monster High? If you do, I love you. Because Monster High was basically my childhood. I would watch those low budget movies over and over again. And as I’m remembering it, I come up with a stupid AU for Meet the Robinsons. You know, as you do. I was so invested that I actually drew up sketches for them and assigned roles for characters. Sorry Goob fans, but I did not have enough room to draw him. :(

I even drew a full bust of Wilbur Wolf in color. I also drew one for Lewis but eh... I hated the way it turned out. Green skin just didn’t work out. :/ But maybe later on down the road I’ll redo it where his skin is like, a really pale blue or something. Might even do the others that I didn’t do. Who knows.

[alby-rei]

Paint My World in Shades of You (Vincent x MC)

a/n: Happy birthday Vincent <3 

[Characters]: MC, Vincent, Theo

[Genre]: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort

[Warning]: None

{Paint my World in Shades of You}

I was sitting in Vincent’s room on his couch while he painted. His eyes were trained on the beautiful arrangement of flowers that rested against the window.

My eyes were trained on him; I was obsessed with his side profile. I loved the way his eyes shone with concentration, and his jaw relaxed and tensed as he worked. Suddenly, his serious expression lit up in laughter.

“When you look at me like that, I can’t help but lose focus.”

“Ah—I’m so sorry! I just—” My face heated up considerably, I must be a roasted tomato by now, “I really like watching you paint. It fascinates me so much how you create such wonderful paintings, and I was… taking mental notes of your technique,” and your face, and your arms, and your fingers, and-

“Have you painted, too, in your time?”

“Mmhm,” I nodded with enthusiasm, “though I’m still very much a beginner. I enjoy painting with a friend more than I do when I’m alone.”

“Oh?” Vincent set his palette down and faced me fully, “I can get you a canvas if you want to paint with me.”

“Right now?? I mean I’ve never worked with oil paints before… just acrylic and watercolor.”

Vincent rummaged through his supplies behind his desk, taking out a case full of paint tubes.

“I’ve got watercolors right here,” he shot me an excited smile, and my heart fluttered. How was I so lucky to have such an adorable boyfriend?

I wasn’t used to painting on large canvases— though it was still small compared to his— so I felt pretty intimidated just staring at the blank white abyss in front of me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… don’t know where to start,” I looked back at him sheepishly.

I waved my paint-less brush on the canvas, shifting my gaze between the flower bouquet and the canvas to make a mental sketch. I caught sight of Vincent’s work in progress, and I had an idea.

“Hey Vincent, do you mind if I… copy you?”

“Hm?” He quirked his head to the side. 

“I want to learn how to paint like you, that’s how I’ve always learned actually— by watching others.”

His eyes widened, and he stuttered uncharacteristically. His gaze softened, as a small blush crept up his cheeks, and he looked back at his own unfinished work.

“Well, if that’s what you want to do, then I’m all for it.”

“Yay!” I clapped my hands in excitement. 

Vincent didn’t have an extra easel, so he suggested I use his. But I insisted that I can work without one. I brought a stool and dragged it close to his and started watching his every move.

“So first, I mixed these colors…” he stretched his arm out to display his color palette. It was a beautiful mess of oil paints, with a large white spot in one corner.

Time flew as we enjoyed the moment in each other’s company doing what we both love. 

“I’m not sure how to make this shade…” I pouted, staring at my messy palette.  

“The trick is to get a bit of ochre yellow in the mix, and then…”            

We talked on and on as we painted together. I tried to keep my focus on the bouquet, but I always ended up leaning over to see Vincent’s own painting.

“Your painting should capture how you­ see the world, MC.”

“I know… but I can’t get it to stand out the same way yours does,” I confessed. 

Vincent’s soft laughter eased my anxiety. I mixed some colors together blindly to try to create the right shade I’m looking for.

“Hey! That’s a great shade of purple you got. How did you make it?” He asked me with child-like curiosity and excitement.

I told him honestly that I didn’t know how, and we sat and experimented together. In a way, it gave me a confidence boost to see him try so hard to replicate the shade that I accidentally made. 

Clearly, I had lost track of time because the sun was gone, and the lamp in Vincent’s room was the only source of light left. I didn’t even notice the change, so when I looked up from my work, I had to rub my eyes to adjust.

“Oh boy, I didn’t realize I was so focused. I think I got a small headache…” I brought a hand up to apply pressure on my forehead.

“Are you ok, MC?” Instantly, Vincent was by my side, one hand caressing my arm as I sat on his couch to regain my bearings.

It took a second, but the world stopped spinning. I took a deep breath and looked up, smiling to reassure Vincent. Worry was written all over his face, bordering guilt.

“Don’t look so down, Vinnie~ It’s nothing serious,” I giggled, scratching the back of my head.

I looked between my canvas and his. I was really proud of how it turned out! His painting definitely had better defined lines and clearer contrasts in all the right places. Mine was less impressive in my eyes, but still a full image of the bouquet, no less.

“What do you think of my painting?” I nodded towards my canvas.

“It’s beautiful just like its artist,” he brought my paint-stained hand up to his lips and gently kissed my knuckles.

“Oh you…!” I punched him jokingly with my free hand.

“Mm… I meant it,” he laughed along, shielding his arm from further assault, “I’m a lucky man to be able to share my passion with my sweetheart.”

“Vincent, you’re too sweet.” I wrapped my arms around him, hiding my tomato-red face in his chest.

I felt his arms wrap around me, too, and we sat there in comfortable silence. The smell of oil paints and flowers wafted in the air around us, as his arms squeezed me securely. It was like we were left in our own bubble and time itself had stopped for us to enjoy this moment. I pulled away eventually, needing to wash my hands and help Sebastian with dinner. Looking outside again, I realized I was already late… woops.

“I have to go prepare dinner with Sebas soon, so I’ll see you later?”

I reached up to plant a kiss on his cheek. He turned his head and captured my lips with his. How am I supposed to say goodbye like this? The thought of leaving this room, this bubble of ours, felt like I was leaving a paradise behind.

“Don’t go just yet…” He pleaded with his eyes shimmering under the glow of the lone lamp.

“How about this: I’ll go wash my hands, then come back to clean up with you. Then, we’ll walk together to the kitchen, deal?”

He nodded, “Deal.”

I went to the guest bathroom room across the hallway. Paint was a lot harder to wash off than I thought. I scrubbed at it with soap, making sure not to damage my skin in the process.

It took a solid while, so I hurriedly dried my hands and made my way back to Vincent’s room. I was standing outside when I heard—

“…and what do we have here?” A chuckle, “Were you teaching a kid how to paint?” It was Theo.

Theo and I… didn’t get along. Maybe our humor just didn’t align, maybe he didn’t appreciate walking in on us that one time when he… shouldn’t have. And maybe I was too sensitive for his bluntness. But we made an unspoken truce to avoid conflict with each other for Vincent’s sake. At least, I thought we did. 

Before Vincent got a chance to speak, Theo was already inspecting the foreign painting in art-dealer mode. 

“Hmm… the colors are dull, and the strokes are uneven. If they thought they could imitate you, they’ve clearly got a long way to go,” he scoffed.

“Theo, that’s not—”

“And who asked you, huh?” I couldn’t stand aside and let him talk about me or my painting like that. It meant a lot to me; it embodied my precious time with Vincent.

“So the pup wanted to paint, eh? I guess I shouldn’t have expected much, then.”

I was about to give him an earful, but Vincent stepped in.

“That’s enough, Theo! MC and I painted this together. So, if you think it looks like a child’s work, then you’re saying that about me, too.”

“What…? No! I didn’t mean—” He shook his head, choosing to stare at the wall instead. He sighed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, “I’m sorry I said those things, hondje. I didn’t mean to upset you.”      

Well, that was fast. At least he’s being civil about it.

“I-it’s fine… I’m just an amateur anyway,” I hugged my arms, looking away as I tried to calm myself. I was shaking, whether it was from anger or embarrasment, I didn’t know.

The silence was killing me, so I made to start tidying up my station. I blinked away the oncoming tears—I had nothing to cry about! I enjoyed painting with my boyfriend, and Theo apologized.

So, I kept blinking. Discretely.

Or at least as discretely as I thought I was.

Theo dropped the supplies he brought in for Vincent, talked to him for a bit, and left. I wasn’t paying attention to their conversation. 

“MC…”

Vincent’s voice broke me out of my thoughts. I sensed the guilt rising in his voice, so I rushed back to hug him in reassurance.

“…don’t worry, Vinnie,” I nuzzled my head into his chest, not realizing my tears had spilled onto his apron, “it’s not like I’m a professional artist anyway, he was just stating his opinion.”

His strong arms wrapped around me firmly, rocking me back and forth as he spoke.

“You are an artist just like me, with your own unique view. That, in itself, is a valuable treasure that no one can take from you,” he pulled away to stare into my tear-streaked eyes with his own saddened cerulean eyes.

Then he smiled gently, soothingly, “Art isn’t about perfection, it’s about self-expression… about sharing your world on a canvas. Today, you shared a piece of your world on my canvas, and it is my greatest honor.”

I was speechless, I couldn’t find the words to express the pride, the elation, the utter admiration I had for Vincent and his ability to always say the right things to cheer me up.

“…Thank you, Vincent. I-I really appreciate it,” I smiled brightly up to him, and my tears flowed freely down my cheeks.

He brought his right hand up to wipe away the tears, using his thumb to caress the side of my face. Try as I might, I couldn’t blink back the tears fast enough before they spilled silently down my face. I wasn’t mad, or sad even. I was just really extremely happy. It’s hard for me to explain though, and Vincent held my face in his strong hands and kissed every tear as they fell.

“We should do this again,” he declared, his hold on me never faltering, “I want to display your paintings all over my room until every part of it is immersed in the world you create.”

[xo-cuteplosion-xo]

Shameless self promotion ahead- why? Because i have nothing else but soukoku brain-rot rn (yes, I'm working on the stack of request for my personality HC thing- but some of ya'll gave so little information it be hard T_T)

-Bsd college Au- (It's soukoku)

Dazai’s confident, independent, smart, but a total jerk and playboy

.Chuuya's confident, independent, slightly idiotic, but a total pushover.

Dazai’s unorganized, calm, and enjoys making his roommate's life hell.

Chuuya’s organized, irritable, and hates his roommate with his entire soul.

Sadly, Dazai finds his roommate appealing to the eye, in other words hot, but he’s still… a closeted bisexual.

Sadly, Chuuya finds his roommate hot, but his roommate insists they’re straight.

Nakahara Chuuya and Dazai Osamu are roommates.

Chapter 1: Roommates With every rustle of the leaves, a brisk wind passed over, chilling the humidity to be bearable for a moment. Yokohama tended to have warm summers, even towards the end there were days when the humidity stung. It could be cold enough for a hoodie in the early morning, but far too humid for one in the later afternoon, right before it cooled down again. The signs that lead into the sweet release of the cool fall season.

“You know, I said I was helping, not doing most of the work here.” Oda, a male with slight stubble and brown, slightly red hair grumbled. His eyes looked back to another male, arms wrapped in bandages, and eyes drained of any emotion. The smallest cardboard box within his hands as he snickered.

The boy was Dazai Osamu, an 18-year-old who’d pushed through hell to make it here. Despite not wanting to go to college and instead be a basement dump until he died, he stuck his tongue out.

Within that exact second, Dazai's eyes filled with life, something that he could do on command, a mask of sorts. “But Odasaku, I can’t carry all the heavy boxes!” the childish whine Dazai produced towards his cousin scraped within the poor adult's ears.

“If you ate anything besides ramen and take-out, you might be more than skin and bones,” Oda grumbled. Setting the final box down in the dorm room. So far there hadn’t been a sign of whoever Dazai’s roommate was to be. Oda prayed for the unfortunate soul who had to deal with the brunette.

“I don’t only eat ramen! I ate vegetables just yesterday!” Dazai crossed his arms, laying his finger over his bandages.

“The ‘vegetables’- Oda moved his hands to form air quotes around vegetables - in those 10-minute self serve ramen packets don’t actually count.'' Frowning Dazai pouted, acting like a child once again. It was something Oda had never minded considering his cousin had never had a real childhood.

Before he could make another whiny remark, the door to the dorm opened.

~

Stepping from a rather expensive-looking car, a ginger-haired male stepped outside into the warmth of the closing summer. His hair, longer on one side than the other, rested neatly over his shoulder. His feminine-like frame caused him to stand out a bit more than he’d like. Though, it was natural for a model to stand out in the crowd. Not that he modeled too often, it had been a pastime after moving in his third year to Yokohama. He’d done it with his older sister a handful of times before then, but she’d left for London just before they moved.

Grabbing one of the cases, he glanced at his father, who was getting out of the car. “Dad, I can handle this myself, you really don’t have to help me.” The petite male mumbled slightly embarrassed. Though, his words were the truth considering his strength was out of the ordinary for his size.

“Nonsense Chuuya, let you old man at least have this.” The boy's father, a male who kept his locks of raven hair down to his waist in length, shivered as he spoke.

Chuuya sighed, handing his father a few smaller boxes as he grabbed several of the larger boxes. “How’s Ane-San been?” Chuuya hadn't been able to call her with how busy he’d been the last month, he suspected his father, with how protective he was, had to have called at least once.

“Ah, Koyo has been doing alright. Both she and Yosano (Koyo's fiance) plan on coming down for Christmas.” Rimbaud smiled lightly as he spoke. Chuuya’s lips also turned into a smile hearing that he’d finally met his older sister's fiance. The two of them had been engaged since she’d graduated from college two years ago, and had been together for 5 years before that. “So when will you be attempting dating again? I do miss that boy… it was Shirace right?”

As his father mentioned the boy's name, Chuuya's stomach tightened and his heart picked up before he calmed himself. The two of them were cities apart, he’d never see that boy again. Shaking off the thoughts that had flashed within his mind, he smiled. “It wasn’t meant to be dad. Regarding another boyfriend, I don’t know. I know Ane-San dated a lot, I'm just not sure I want to get back into dating yet.” Chuuya shrugged as they came up to his assigned dorm. Grabbing the handle, he twisted it and opened it, coming face to face with his roommate looking like he was about to start a childish bicker with whoever that was.

“Hey…” Chuuya’s attempt at speaking was completely suffocated when Dazai turned to look at his roommate. God, he was more than just good-looking. Sure Dazai was on the frail and thin-looking side, but he still looked perfect. The shape of his jaw, to the depth of the brunette's coffee-colored eyes, all added to his looks. That was also looking past the males' ideal height. He was positive, the brunette noticed he was being checked out.

“He’s so… so short.” Dazai snickered as he looked Chuuya up and down. His eyes glanced all around looking for little things to poke fun at. At least, that’s what he was saying he was doing. There was no way he was checking Chuuya out. Sure, he did resemble a girl, at least a little bit. His eyes were a replica of the clear ocean. The way his hair curled around his face, the small freckles that stood against his pale complexion… were all attractive.

At least, it had been until the male’s brow twitched and his hands balled into fists. “I’m still growing!” he hissed almost like an angry child. Rimbaud sighed, tapping his son's shoulder.

Oda looked to him apologetically before turning to Dazai. “That’s the first thing you can say? Not, hey or hello?” Dazai shrugged, walking to his room with a yawn.

“Eh, I’m tired, I wasn't thinking of being polite. Plus, when am I ever polite?” Dazai smirked, leaning his head back as he shoved his hands into his back pockets. Sadly, his statement was nothing less than honest. He was never polite. If he wanted something, he was upfront about it. How else would he have such a long list of girls' hearts he’d shattered?

Chuuya rolled his eyes before moving the rest of his boxes into the dorm. ~

Chuuya took an hour to get everything from the boxes and his suitcase into his closet and drawers. His secret box, which he’d made sure to carry in, was still packed tightly, but that was because he was figuring what to do with it. Luckily, his closet had the perfect space for bottles. Unlucky to him that space was out of his reach. Hissing to himself, he looked around before grabbing the footrest to one of the chairs. When he finished organizing and making sure every drawer was labeled with what should be put inside, he glanced around.

His roommate had yet to unpack anything from his boxes. Not that there seemed to be many boxes to begin with. In fact, they were all labeled, one box of clothes, another labeled self-car, and a third labeled bandages. That had been something he noticed about his roommate. Rolling his eyes, Chuuya moved to knock on his roommate's door. The response he got was grumbled and inaudible. “Are you going to unpack?” there still came no response, so he figured his roommate was simply sleeping after a long trip or something. Shrugging it off, Chuuya walked into his room, directly next to dazai’s with a very thin wall separating them. Pulling out a sketchbook and some pencils, he put on some music and began sketching some art designs.

[mxtcha-tea]

Lines.

✎desc; how I would rate haikyuu character's drawing.

✎team[s]; fukurodani, inarizaki

✎genre; crack

✎language[s]; english

✎chef note; okay, first off, I'm not a professional drawer but I can still rate drawings. This idea just came to me like a minute ago and I had to do it now, so enjoy :)

fukurodani.

Bokuto

Aight, I see that we started off greatly.

In all honesty, he have no idea how to draw,

And of course his drawing would look,,,, quite terrible i'm so sorry bokuto lovers

He's that kid in art class where's when the teacher already told them what to draw,

Bokuto sat there on his chair, staring at the canvas

Like, what is he suppose to do? Draw?

Well, yeah technically but what???

I can totally see him frustratingly erase the sketch if it can be called as a sketch

And then proceed to try to copy other people's work

Keyword; try

It's bad but at least he had an effort to finish it

4/10, there I said it

Akaashi

His drawings are not that professional but it's pretty

Have you ever seen a drawing that you wanted to stare at it for hours until you're satisfied?

That what's his drawing are like

Not typically an art kid so he's fine when student's from his art class asked him to draw for them

And is feeling pretty neutral with his talent (he actually won't call it a talent but more like a hobby or sum)

And just say 'thanks' if peoples compliments his drawing

Let say his drawing is, a good 8/10

A decent drawer in conclusion :)

Konoha

Not a bad drawer but he rather keep it basic

Konoha's prolly too lazy to draw something over the top so he's just gonna draw flower or something ksndnzkj

Sometimes sleep during art class and had to ask what they had to draw

Proceeds to decently draws a scenery

He's totally not the creative kid so whenever the teach tell them to draw something, he'll always go with basket of fruits, like,

Man, I appreciated the drawing but at least put some effort on thinking what to draw

The art teacher also kept telling him that he have raw talent and should enhance the skill more,

But that never happened, no

"Sorry ma'am, I'll just stick to volleyball, thank you,"

One part of the art room has a section of konoha's basket of fruits drawings but in different mediums

Rating is 7/10

Washio

IS actually an art kid and you cannot convince me otherwise

Has a small sketchbook with him and he'll always doodle when he's bored or in a middle of a lecture (while taking notes of course)

His main skill in drawing tho is painting

The colors blends in so well with one another and he's good at picking color palettes

Also, he doesn't really get that annoyed if some kids from his class ask him to teach them how to draw

Or even look through his sketchbook

He'll just nod and hand it to them without a second thought

Ajsjdhsijsi Washio get so blushy when someone compliments his drawing,,,,

I’ll give a 10/10 :), congrats

Sarukui

The best that he can do is doodles of owls and other shits but other than that, he cannot do

But the doodles are kinda cute doe ngl

He’ll have his moment where he’s in class and have no idea what to do, and just doodles a bunch of stuff

Once he draw his whole teammate including his coach and himself, he thought to himself,

“Huh, this looks good,”

And then take a picture of it for memories (cause he might throw the book he’s doodling in away)

Speaking of that, he doesn’t have an official book for drawing and just draws in his english or math’s textbook or sum

His juniors eyes are blessed when they got his textbook

Sarukui just vibes in during art class, draws and that’s pretty much it

The drawings,,,,,eh,,,, not that good, he only specialize in doodling as I said

so in conclusion,

drawing? 2/10

doodling? I’ll give a solid 5/10, good job

Komi

I’m gonna say this and I’m prolly gonna say it again

He hates art class

Like, even with him trying his best to draw, it’ll always gonna look strange than what he planned

mf cannot draw a straight line in art class

This dood can draw a nice straight line in any other class whether it’s for a graph or others,

And then proceed to shakily draw a straight line during art session

Totally not an art kid and will never be one

His drawings,,,,

I’m so sorry but it looks so bad

It’ll prolly look a lot better if he put more effort, but it’ll still look bad no matter what

Komi hates art class and can’t draw even a decent doodle so unfortunately, I’ll have to rate it 0/10, sorry :(

Anahori

His drawings are eh

It’s not good but also not bad?

Sometimes you’ll just stare at his drawing for a good minute and be like, what did he just draw just now?

What I’m saying is that his drawing’s are unexplainable

Maybe if you stare at it a little bit longer then it’ll make sense and you can see the beauty in it

But honestly I can’t really see anything, not in a bad way, but like, literally nothing

You’ll be staring at his canvas as the mario kart rainbow road music started playing inside your head

But Anahori is always proud of his drawings no manner what

So, I’ll rate confusion/10

Onaga

Just like Komi, he sorta hates art class too

But lemme tell ya, his sketches are GODLY, like, have you seen those pinterest hand sketches?

That’s what his sketch would look like

It’s so yummy to look at what

But he sucks at lineart so JAHGSDSHD

Onaga cannot properly hold the black pen and do the lineart, it’ll always turn wonky and he had to throw it away

Like, if he spend even hours tryna outline it all, and then erase it

It’ll look so trash

And he’ll just stare at it for a couple of minutes before crumpling the paper

He’ll also suck at coloring

Mans cannot understand how the color blend in together

And I think I’ll rate,,,,,6/10 just cause he suck at coloring and lineart lmao don’t worry i suck at coloring too

Kaori

Another decent drawer and her drawings are almost the same as Akaashi’s

But instead of it looking pretty, it looks cute

I have a headcanon that Kaori have a journal and does journaling so that’s prolly the reason why her drawings are cute af

But honestly, her drawings sometimes depends on her mood,

If she’s mad or frustrated, her drawing would look kinda rough and not that cute anymore

If she’s feeling happy tho, It’ll look so nice and cuddly does that even make any sense

Isn’t necessarily an art kid but would love to try be one

And she totally have drawing sessions with Washio aaaaaa,

Just imagine both of them sketching in the same sketchbook while talking about the volleyball club or anything else

She’s getting an 9/10 just cause her sketchs looks clean <33

Yukie

She doesn’t draw at all

Like, you’ll never see her drawing at any kind of time so you have no idea what it looks like

Yukie would still attend art class,

But never draws

She said that she’s pretty lazy to draw it and said to draw it at her home later

But no one even saw that drawing after that

Yukie doesn’t show her drawings nor EVEN draw for once

So I technically can’t rate :/

inarizaki.

Ginjima

LISTEN

The only reason why I started with Gin is because he have some amazing drawing skills

He admit that he’s not an art kid but draws godly as if he had been thought since he was a kid,

Well, actually yes

I think Ginjima actually wanted to be a drawer when he was still a little kid way before he started his 3rd year of middle school

So he practiced a few and became a nice drawer since then,

But he kinda quit being a drawer and decided to go with volleyball

And guess what?

His drawing talent is still there

He totally specialize in pencil drawing cause that’s the first thing he started learning

The lines are smooth and the shading are so yummy what is wrong with me

The Miya twins and Suna are so sh00ked when he saw his drawing during art class

ngl he’s pretty smug about it too but doesn’t brag about it

I’ll give this boy 12/10, mwuaah

Suna

I hate this man for this sole reason

Suna is too LAZY to draw so he doesn’t give any effort in his drawing

I can guarantee myself that I’ll get an eye strain when I saw his drawing

And...

*wipes away tears*

He draws too many dick

–2/10

Don’t come for my head Suna lovers

Atsumu

OMFG

OKAY, OKAY, I KNOW THAT ATSUMU MIGHT PUT ON SOME EFFORT IN HIS DRAWINGS,

BUT WHY IS IT STILL SO BAD?????

He’ll prolly think his drawing would look good but no, it’s not

No matter on what perspective you look his drawings at, It’ll still look bad

AND HE DOESN’T EVEN NOTICE IT

Osamu laughs a lot at his drawing and they started fighting for that only reason smh

Atsumu, I appreciate your effort so SO much,

But please, just stick to volleyball

–10+/10

I put a plus there because of his effort and because of pity

Osamu

He draws in ms paint, with a mouse

But he can draw some foods tho

But all of it looks wonky af

1/10

Akagi

A pretty decent drawer

Akagi always draw happy and cute drawings so you’ll also get happy when you saw his drawings

Puts on a big smile when people compliments his drawing and shyly scratches the back of his neck

“Nah, this just look normal!”

But he draws oddly thick lines sometimes

Sometimes it looks good in some drawing

And sometimes it looks, bizzare in others...

But I think his drawing would look nice <3

Overall, I’ll give a,,, 7.5/10, keep up the good work

Oomimi

He’s from class 7 AND I really think that he’ll be good at drawing

Well, he can draw a few things but he struggles drawing other things he never accustomed to

But!

Oomimi is that kid who’s good at drawing scenery

He knows basic color palettes and which is cold and hot colors

So the scenery drawing would always look good

He get a lot of compliments for the drawing (50% of it from Akagi)

I think he doesn’t have that many time to relax and draw freely but when he does have it, it’ll just be small and simple doodles

um, let’s go with 8/10 <3

Aran

I truly believe that Aran can draw peoples face but in a pretty decent amount

He’s also good with anatomy teach me your ways king

But as much as he’s good at that, he kinda sucks at drawing any kind of background drawings

Mans can’t draw a scenery I’m telling you

As if the background doesn’t even exist in his mind lolol I’m sorry Aran lovers, I didn’t mean that in a bad way

Mainly uses copic markers to color and color pencils to shade

The first time he use the copic marker, he got really frustrated that the marker stain the other pages lmao

And he never uses digital drawing applications or softwares

Aran just doesn’t

I think I’ll rate him, 8.5/10

Kita

Okay, I know that Kita’s a top student and never fails in anything

But he’s not typically a good drawer that much

His drawing still got good marks but when you look at it, it just looks normal

I just know that the Kita lovers gonna get me after this

It’s not that bad and not that good, just a nice balance in between

I personally think Kita’s not that godly in drawing but rather a neutral drawer

He draw what he can and does shading and coloring when it’s needed

The colors are all basic colors, no pastel, no neon

And the shadings are pretty basic

Just a normal drawer here

Ya’ll gonna fight me for this but I’ll give Kita’s point,

7/10

[quibbs126]

So what if Fire Spirit Cookie and Sea Fairy Cookie do have a child? 

Alright, this is Hot Spring Cookie

“Within the scorching land of Dragon’s Valley, there lie a series of hot springs said to be capable of soothing any injury, some even claiming it grants the Cookies who bathe in it special blessings. However, the springs are not uninhabited, and they are home to the lovely yet fickle Hot Spring Cookie. Born of searing heat and the untamed depths, it is unknown who appeared first, the springs or the Cookie, but she deems herself the guardian of them, and she decides who gets to bathe in them through a series of tests. However no two Cookies go through the same tests; some are remarkably easy and others near impossible, the difficulty being determined only by how much she likes the Cookie and her mood of the day, and whether or not she feels like being entertained. However you cannot force your way to the springs, as no mere Cookie can best her power, so it’s best to simply do as she wishes and hope you catch her on a good day!”

“She claims she cannot leave the springs’ surface, but some claim to have seen her near the coast, very far away from where she claims she cannot leave.”

Okay writing that was pretty fun, I think I might do this more

Alright, so design time. I’m gonna be honest, Hot Spring probably isn’t the best name, but I couldn’t think of a better one that still kept her hot spring theme, so that’s the best I got. Maybe if I come up with a better one I’ll change it

But her name’s hot spring because it’s water that’s hot. Simple as that

Hot springs:

So I kind of just drew her on Monday while sitting with my friend at dinner, instead of studying for my political science exam. But whatever, I did fine on that one. I just kind of started drawing, no rough sketch really needed

Truth be told there’s not really much to say on the design front, I sort of just went with the flow for most of it. I know that I added that cape in because her design felt too plain without something else. It’s supposed to be connected to her dress or something but I didn’t really figure out how, or how it really works at all. I made it red and orange because I wanted to reference the orange streaks, and also Fire Spirit, so that’s what I went with

I was flirting with her having a darker dough tone, but I couldn’t figure something out that worked with the colors, so Sea Fairy’s tone it is

I think the eyes look too small and a bit off. To be honest I’m blaming that on the lighting of the dining hall, I was having trouble seeing the eyes in the sketch. I may change it later

But yeah, that’s about it really. Her design’s probably a bit plain but eh, so are Sea Fairy’s and Fire Spirit’s (though Hot Spring’s might be too plain). But overall I like her and I hope y’all do too

[doodle-zombie]

Lamia Bonding #6: Coral Appreciation

Gotta say, I really love the boys I got from @vex-bittys and I think I feel confident enough in their personalities to, perhaps, make a fic about my lamia/bitty journey!

It was a productive evening. Valerie had finished a commission for several concept sketches in the latest contract she’d signed into and she had put the final touches on a larger piece she’d done freelance. She had even put something in the slow cooker for her and Currant to eat later since Marmalade was out hunting and would likely catch himself something to eat. There wasn’t much worry when her Chain went out to hunt since he was close to being the largest predator roaming the woods around her home. Currant was curled within the blanket nest she had set up when she was drinking her first cup of coffee that morning, following Marmalade waking her at a normal hour since she had a deadline. It wasn’t uncommon for her Coral to snatch up any comfortable spot she vacated.

The house was pretty quiet. She’d been so in the zone that the video playlist she’d queued had reached the end and autoplay was turned off.

Luckily, Val knew how to crush the silence and she was due to give Currant his favorite mustard chips to snack on. His snacking times were carefully regulated since she didn’t want him to get so big he couldn’t move but she didn’t want him to suffer either. Currant had developed a deep affection for his favorite chips and he loved when she made him sample platters so he could try new things dipped in mustard. It was about time for a break anyway and what better way to spend it than giving Currant some love.

She opened her music program and queued up a random playlist to fill the resounding silence before pushing away from the desk and shuffling towards the kitchen. Red eye lights followed her along but Currant made no move to follow… yet. It was a bit of a game to be played because Currant could be fairly lazy when he wanted and getting him to exercise was out of the question. But he could be convinced to do some things to keep him moving, so long as she was sneaky.

Currant knew what she was doing, of course. He wasn’t stupid. But he humored her more often than not.

The effort to keep him active was maximized today, however. A song that Valerie loved came on. Currant was small enough she could have just snatched him up but that would just make him less likely to indulge her. Instead, Val grabbed one of the pre-portioned bags of his snack and set it on the edge of the desk. The lemon-yellow color was immediately recognizable to Currant, whose red eye lights darted to where she was standing with her arms out towards him and where she had put the food.

He could bypass her entirely and get his snack with no consequences. Val never made them do anything but she especially let Currant know he could refuse at any point.

But if he refused her hands and went for his snack he would miss out on more one-on-one interaction with his human. Valerie would be disappointed and she would go back to work quicker. Marmalade wasn’t in the house to see if Currant did anything uncharacteristic for a Coral (not that the Chain cared, he just loved how anything Currant did made Val’s SOUL brighten).

Currant got up, grumbling as was expected of him, and slithered up to Val. He didn’t grab her hands, though. Just offered his own bare-boned phalanges and withheld the little quiver when she held him. There might not have been a bond between them just yet but Currant could feel just how proud she was, encouraging him to wrap around her so she could sway to the music. He had to maintain just the right amount of pressure to keep himself from falling but it wasn’t so rigorous that he would lose magic through sweat.

“I’m a little O.D.D.,” she sang, wrapping her arms around his ribs so he didn’t fall. “I see the way they look at me.”

Honestly, Currant had never met a human that went through so much trouble for a Coral. They were venomous, considered ill-tempered, and could be very distant to the inexperienced. But Valerie had been caring and understanding from the very moment she’d brought him home. Even though he wasn’t the only lamia in the house he still got more than enough affection and she wasn’t phased by even his grumpiest moments. He could hiss and spit all he wanted and her voice stayed gentle when she told him she’d leave him be until snack time. The house wasn’t the only place he could go, either. There were caves decorated around the outside that he could retreat to.

Valerie enjoyed the subtle weight of Currant around her, petting the back of his head and feeling the way he tensed and coiled whenever he thought he might slip. It was a trust exercise and he was doing awesome. When a few songs had passed she gathered the snack and Currant so they could collapse onto the sofa in a tangle of limbs and tail. There was a brief hiss of displeasure but nothing serious and she got the glorious privilege of hearing the happy purrs of Currant enjoying his snack.

Of course, Marmalade chose that moment to appear.

Unlike Currant’s carefully regulated snack times, Marmalade had free reign of the chocolate that he could find. Because Marmalade was much more active and spent a lot of time patrolling outside the house, he had absolute access to any food item he wanted in the house. He was careful to avoid whatever Currant liked best, the darling that he was.

“Such a sweet boy,” Val greeted, feeling the nuzzle against her temple before she had even seen her Chain. She could vaguely feel the relaxed emotions he was feeling and had no doubt he could tell that she was beyond ecstatic to have them both around. “Terrorized the local rabbits enough, eh?”

“For now,” was Marmalade’s smug reply.

Stars, he was going to be a menace to the wildlife when she adopted a Mamba…

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 11: In Dreams (originally posted on March 29, 2021)

AN: Hope you all packed your bags dear readers, cause we're gonna go on a real trip. One of my initial ideas for Alternate Future was with the addition as Aquamarine as a more major antagonist, we'd also have a mini-character arc about Peridot blaming herself for Steven's capture at the end of Season 4 even years later, which I felt was kind of a waste of possible character development for the little nacho. Regardless, it's time I finally see it through myself. And trust me, I'm really gonna put Peri through the wringer.

Synopsis: Steven's dream powers start acting up when he and Peridot want to watch TV.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven, Stefan

Shelby Rabara as Peridot

Johnny Hawkes as Cookie Cat, Rodrigo

Marieve Hernington as Jasmine

Della Saba as Marine, Aquamarine

--

The night was dark as Steven strolled through Beach City on his way home after a long day until he heard music. Racing to the beach house, he discovered that colorful flashing lights and loud music were coming from inside the house, and that got him super excited.

"All right!" Steven gasped cheerfully. "Now that I've saved the universe, I finally get to party!" When he raced to his front window, Steven could see all his friends inside dancing the night away. Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl, Lars and the Off-Colors, Lapis, Bismuth & Peridot, Connie, even Onion was breaking it down. Before he could join the fun, however, the door and windows suddenly vanished, leaving behind an empty wooden wall. "Huh? Hey guys, let me in! This isn't funny!"

"STEVEN!" a booming voice echoed from above. When Steven looked up, he discovered that Obsidian's head was replaced with a giant Cookie Cat looking down on him with a taunting grin. "NOBODY NEEDS YOUR HELP! SO WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!"

"What?!" Steven cried before the porch opened up like a trap door under him, forcing the boy to fall through the sky screaming.

--

"STEVEN! STEVEN!"

A little voice broke Steven out of slumber and back into the real world in his bedroom. "Why do I keep having these dreams?" he mused to himself. "Are they telling me something?"

"STEVEN, OPEN UP!" the voice cried out while pounding on the door.

"Peridot?" Steven began to recognize the green Gem's nasally voice as he walked downstairs and let the former Kindergartener in.

"STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN!" Peridot chanted, beetling in place while holding popcorn and drinks. "Today's the big day! Did you tape the premiere?!"

"What premiere? I have no idea what you're talking about." Steven said coyly.

"But you promised me!" Peridot whined, not realizing that her half-organic friend might be joking.

"Oh, you mean the premiere of the reboot of the classic Great North teen camping drama Camp Pining Hearts that I recorded," Steven revealed as he pulled out a VHS tape. "on this very tape?"

Peridot gasped at the mere mention of the show she had awaited for so long and began squealing excitedly. "Yes, it's finally here!"

"THE RETURN OF CAMP PINING HEARTS!" the pair declared joyfully.

--

Steven and Peridot raced upstairs to watch the Camp Pining Hearts reboot when Steven realized someone was missing. "Hey, where's Lapis? I thought she was a big fan of CPH as you are."

"Oh, she declined to attend our viewing because she feels this reboot will be an abomination." Peridot answered as she sat down at the foot of Steven's bed. "You know that United Defenders of the World show? She really likes that too, and that's gotten a reboot much like Camp Pining Hearts, but she doesn't like how that is so dark and depressing because apparently, it's more adult. I mean, come on! Can't we go one minute without any intense violence or Mangolin yelling so many nasty wo-"

"What, she's not coming because one show clouds her judgment of another?" Steven rolled his eyes at Peridot's explanation while putting the tape into his VHS player. "That's a little silly. But I'm glad you were still able to come because I've been having these weird dreams lately. Like, are any of them real or-"

"That's not important Steven!" Peridot shut her fellow fan's mouth. "Now press play already you monster!"

Steven chuckled for a bit before he started the tape, and the theme song for the Camp Pining Hearts reboot began to play while two attractive young actors were credited for the roles of its leads, Jasmine and Rodrigo. Steven excitedly ate popcorn while Peridot waved a Great North flag around as the show began.

--

Fifty-two minutes later, the credits finally rolled, and Steven & Peridot were left stunned, silent, and disappointed.

"L-Lapis warned me, and I didn't listen." Peridot quivered in shock.

"W-what?" Steven added, just as horrified. "What…."

"WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?!" the pair roared in unison.

"What is with that Rodrigo guy?!" Peridot began complaining and clawing at her face. "He has no charisma! He is clearly inferior to the old cast!"

"And can we just talk about the cinematography?" Steven added just as furiously while Peridot got up and marched towards the TV.

"They changed all the characters, and I don't care about any one of them!" Peridot threw a tantrum and began venting by picking up the set & slamming it to the ground. "How could this happen to us?!" she began to cry her eyes out on the television. "Camp Pining Hearts was my escape when I first arrived on Earth, when my whole world was nothing but chaos!"

"CPH brought us all together." Steven comforted his green friend, though he was sobbing as well.

"And now, just look at this nightmare!" Peridot yelled with a hand to the TV screen when it stopped showing the Camp Pining Hearts reboot. Instead, it began playing Steven's dream from last night. "Wait, Steven, when were you ever an actor?"

"What? No, they didn't!" Steven exclaimed as the dream continued on television. "Is this my dreams?" When Steven watched himself fall from the beach house in his dream, the TV then switched back to Camp Pining Hearts. "Whoa! My dream powers must be messing with the TV signal!"

"How in the world is that even possible?!" Peridot raised an eyebrow at this revelation, but it also gave her an idea. "Wait just a second. Steven, you realize what this means?!"

"I should start wearing a tinfoil hat?" Steven asked, unaware of what the little genius had planned.

"No!" Peridot answered. "If we use your dream powers on the TV, we can make our own Camp Pining Hearts! We'll reboot the reboot!"

"Reboot the reboot?" Steven realized and excitedly stood up. "Peridot, you're a genius!"

"I know." Peridot smugly declared.

"Plus, it would be really fun to fix something small this time." Steven said before Peridot wrapped a lime-colored arm around his neck.

"This shall be the beginning of Peridot & Steven Productions!" Peridot triumphantly declared.

"Yeah!" Steven added, and then he fell from Peridot's grasp.

--

Later that day, Steven and Peridot were now standing in front of a whiteboard detailing all their plans for fixing the Camp Pining Hearts Reboot, bouncing more plans off each other in regards to shipping.

"So Peridot, you think Jasmine's endgame should be Khaz or Rodrigo?" Steven asked Peridot while looking at a web of pictures of the characters from the reboot.

"It seems the characters are trying to railroad us into a Jasrigo relationship, despite turning everyone else into complete jerks just because they don't agree with-" Peridot began, but then she started getting irritated. "Gah, these characters have no chemistry together! It's like they're being shipped just because they're the leading man and woman!"

"Just can't get into Rodrigo, eh?" Steven asked his writing partner.

"He's just so passive and quiet, it's positively irritating!" Peridot yelled. "He has none of the old cast's personalities that made them so memorable!"

"Sure he may be really quiet and soft," Steven assured Peridot. "but what if we try to do something with his social anxiety and peanut allergy despite them not being connected to the larger story, like make him a foil?"

"A foil, you say?" Peridot raised an eyebrow at Steven's idea. "Okay, I'm listening."

"I got it!" Steven declared before he sat down in front of some pencils and paper and began to draw. "I call him Stefan." He began explaining while drawing. "He's a hunky lifeguard friend with nice muscles that everyone likes and wants to hang out with. His popularity is both a blessing and a curse, yet always makes time to help his buddy Rodrigo boost his confidence." He handed his final drawing over to Peridot, which turned out to be a sketch of a more muscular Steven.

"So he's like your self-insert!" Peridot beamed at her friend's work. "I like your ideas, Stefan!"

--

As night fell, Steven got back into bed with a bowl of chili in his lap while Peridot inserted the tape into the VCR player.

"Uh, why are you eating at bedtime?" Peridot questioned Steven's choice of a bedtime meal.

"Oh, you mean my chili?" Steven replied, gesturing to the chili in his hands. "I read that eating spicy stuff before bed makes your dreams super vivid."

"I appreciate your initiative, fellow creator." Peridot grinned at Steven's idea while he continued eating his chili.

"Thanks, Peridot." Steven thanked Peridot before putting the bowl on his nightstand and tucking himself in. "Okay, good night."

"Good night Steven. But remember," Peridot said as she started whispering into Steven's ear. "action-orientated storytelling."

--

"Hey Jasmine, I hear you love birds." A tanned, muscular version of Steven said flirtatiously to a cute brown-haired girl examining a bird perched in her hand.

"Sure Stefan." Jasmine giggled cutely.

"Well, a little birdie told me downstream that there's a special island somewhere 'round here." Stefan replied, leaning against a tree and giving Jasmine a wink while pointing offscreen. "I hear it's full of rare specimens."

"Did you hear that?" Jasmine gasped elatedly. "Thank you so much Stefan!" Stefan responded by giving Jasmine another wink.

Meanwhile, Rodrigo was by himself at a campsite reading an instructional book on how to date when Stefan came racing to him.

"Rodrigo, I've got terrible news!" Stefan exclaimed, catching Rodrigo's attention. "Jasmine's in danger!"

"Wait, what?!" Rodrigo did a double-take in response.

"She's headed for that island full of dangerous birds!" Stefan revealed, propping one foot on a rock and dramatically pointing to the river nearby. "But if we go downstream, we can surely save her!"

"Okay Stefan, you're the best!" Rodrigo shouted. "Let's go save Jasmine!"

The pair raced for a pair of canoes docked close to the campsite and began rowing through the river to rescue Jasmine.

"Thanks for telling me Jasmine was in trouble Stefan, you're such a great guy." Rodrigo complimented Stefan.

"You're welcome Rodrigo." Stefan replied gratefully. "You're pretty great yourself, y'know, great enough for Jasmine to like you."

"You really mean it?" Rodrigo asked eagerly.

"I can tell by the way she looks at," Stefan began, but then he started getting sidetracked by Blue Diamond with the body of a dolphin, a gargantuan pineapple with Yellow Diamond's face on it, and a pair of White Diamond's feet right next to the fruit. "you? Huh?"

"Stefan, is something the matter?" Rodrigo asked Stefan, or rather Steven, who had now replaced Stefan in the dream.

"Oh no, not again!" Steven began panicking as he started to glow pink yet again, not knowing how things ended up like this.

--

As Steven woke up in his bed, he found Peridot standing at the side of his bed, looking very excited at how the experiment went.

"Oh my stars Steven, you did it!" Peridot cheered excitedly. "You just fell asleep and started turning pink, which started happening in the dream! Here, I'll show you!" She then ran over to the TV and began playing Steven's dream again. "Our script, our story, it's on the television and it's wonderful!" she kept on praising. "Not sure what you were going for with that bizarre imagery towards the end but I'll admit, seeing Yellow Diamond's face on a pineapple made me laugh."

Amid Peridot's eagerness, however, Steven then started to get drowsy again.

"Steven, are you okay?" Peridot asked with concern.

"Sorry Peri, just feeling a little off." Steven assured her. "Maybe eating that chili wasn't a great idea."

"Yeah yeah, don't believe everything you read online and all that." Peridot japed. "We got none of the money in the world, and all the time in our hands. Hey, I've got a great idea of my own! Picture this, a mysterious young woman with a teardrop tattoo on her face arrives at the camp because she wants to kidnap Stefan for her own dark designs. But before she can succeed, Pierre from the original Camp Pining Hearts comes in to save the day!"

"Uh, okay then." Steven replied awkwardly while trying to make himself comfortable. "But you're right, let's pull off a do-over. We can try as many times as we want until we get it right."

"Less talking, more sleeping." Peridot pushed a star-shaped pillow into Steven's chest and forced him onto his mattress before pulling his eyelids down.

--

Every time Steven went to sleep, he was back to canoeing with Rodrigo to rescue Jasmine. And every time, Rodrigo was replaced in his canoes by some very unexpected characters.

The first time this happened, Rodrigo was suddenly replaced by Dogcopter, of all things. As Dogcopter flew off using the propeller on his back, Stefan reached out to the flying canine before Steven awakened with bags under his eyes.

The second time, Rodrigo's place was taken by Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. The three Gems then flew away from Stefan just like Dogcopter did, and Stefan cried out for them before Steven woke up yet again, and the bags were starting to get darker.

The third time, Rodrigo didn't disappear. Instead, he started getting more unnerved as Spinel's massive Injector was present in the background, and Stefan was suddenly replaced with Steven as a baby.

Suddenly, a young woman with a teardrop tattoo on her face, just like what Peridot had described, snatched the baby Steven from the canoe with a maniacal laugh before Pierre, who now looked like he had green-lensed glasses and triangular hair, boldly stepped in and stood up to the woman.

Steven once again woke up, his baggy eyes now at their darkest, while Peridot just sighed in defeat.

--

The next morning, Steven sat down to some cereal and milk in the kitchen when Peridot suddenly appeared with a big stack of papers in front of her. "Uh, what's all this?"

"I've concluded that a script just wasn't working!" Peridot proudly announced. "So I've decided to take a more visual approach and made a whole series of storyboards for us to use! Besides, I've seen tons of cartoons use more storyboards than scripts, for better or for worse."

"You made all of these in one night?' Steven gasped in amazement at the triangular Gem's feat while looking through the storyboards.

"Duh, I'm good at everything!" Peridot bragged. "Now please study these in preparation for tonight."

"Hey, I got a question." Steven said while putting out one of the storyboards that featured the same tattooed woman from his dream. "Who's this girl, and why does Pierre look so much like you now?"

"Uh, that's Marine, Pierre's new arch-foe!" Peridot answered, awkwardly twiddling her fingers and looking in every conceivable direction. "She is totally not based on anyone we've met before."

"Are you sure?" Steven asked suspiciously while flicking through more storyboards featuring Marine. "Cause her haircut and location of her tattoo kinda reminds me of Aq-" Suddenly, he stopped to discover a new storyboard of Stefan having a romantic moment with Jasmine. "Wait, why is Stefan kissing Jasmine?"

"It's perfect!" Peridot yelled eagerly. "Right as Rodrigo is about to save Stefan from this reverse damsel in distress situation, he discovers that Jasmine got to him first, and they're already kissing too! Imagine, Jasmine defying gender clichés to save Stefan, unaware that they're stroking the fires of Rodrigo's jealousy!"

"I can't do Rodrigo this dirty!" Steven objected to the idea. "It's not only a betrayal of the friendship we gave him and Stefan, but it's also poor romantic drama too!"

"Whoa, take it easy Steven, they're just characters. No need to become so addicted to their love lives!" Peridot tried to excuse herself. "This is a story, and a good story needs conflict!"

"No, I still don't want to do this!" Steven declared angrily, startling Peridot before she came to an understanding.

"Look Steven, I can see you're pretty worn out from last night." Peridot said sadly as she began to get up and walk away. "Let's just scrap the whole project."

"What?" Steven replied in shock.

"There's really no point in continuing if it stresses you out that much." Peridot sighed as she grabbed the door handle. "Besides, I got classes to teach at Little Homeworld anyway."

But when Peridot was close to opening the front door and leaving the house, a flash of pink convinced Steven to change his mind. "No, wait!" he exclaimed, stopping the little Gem in her tracks. "I'll do the scene."

"Really?!" Peridot turned back with a cute smile and stars in her eyes.

"Anything to make you happy." Steven replied wearily. Though he was happy that Peridot was happy, he let out a heavy sigh as he was forced to put his friends before himself yet again.

--

"Oh no, that dastardly Marine has Stefan captured!" Rodrigo cried as he quickly rowed downstream to save his dear friend. "Jasmine said she's going to help him, but I haven't heard from her since!"

But just as Rodrigo finished his sentence, he finally found Stefan and Jasmine safe from harm, while Marine was left tied up beside them.

"You won't get away with this Stefan!" Marine yelled before she noticed Rodrigo, and had another fiendish idea in the works. "Hey Rodrigo, look! Your best friend's a cheater!"

"What?!" Rodrigo exclaimed, staring straight at Stefan and Jasmine kissing passionately. "Stefan, how could you?!"

"Rodrigo, this isn't what it looks like!" Stefan cried to Rodrigo in Steven's voice, but he wasn't there. And neither were Jasmine and Marine. And right before Stefan was a very angry-looking Connie. "Connie?"

Suddenly, Connie began to grow into the size of a giant and then turned into Obsidian. Stefan meanwhile was turned back into Steven as the Connie-Obsidian hybrid raised a foot and lowered it to crush him.

--

Steven then woke up in his old room wearing his old pajamas. Just like in the real world, Peridot remained by his side watching the television, but she was eerily silent, a far cry from her usual smug and loud yet cheerful nature.

"Peridot, my dreams are going nuts!" Steven informed Peridot while getting out of bed and walking over to her. "First everyone disappeared, then Jasmine turned into Connie, and she tried to squish me which is how I ended up here!" However, Peridot said nothing and continued facing the television. "Peridot?" Steven asked as he grabbed the green Gem's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

When Steven turned Peridot to face him, her visor and gem were now filled with SMPTE color bars and her expression showed no emotion at all. Steven's old bedroom abruptly vanished, and his PJs turned into his normal clothes as he noticed Peridot emotionlessly marching towards the beach house from the dream he woke up from the previous day. "Peridot!"

"Oh, poor little Steven." A familiar bratty voice called to Steven as he chased after Peridot. From the clouds came Aquamarine, still as haughty as ever and now in possession of her wand once more. "Don't you see? It's all her fault that I kidnapped you, that you had to learn all those horrible things about your mother! And yet not once did her blatant betrayal ever come up again."

"You don't know Peridot like I do, you little twerp!" Steven yelled at Aquamarine as he gained on Peridot, who was about to open the front door. "She's changed ever since we first met. She once tried to kill me like every other Gem who's ever antagonized me, but now she's become so sweet and funny!"

"Oh please, just because you like her now doesn't mean you should completely forget about all the ways she's harmed you." Aquamarine taunted before she restrained Steven with a tractor beam, but his iron will allowed him to resist as he tried to stop Peridot.

"Please Peri, don't go in there!" Steven strained from resisting the tractor beam and reached out to Peridot. "I still really want to hang out with you!" Just then, the floor disappeared beneath Steven and Peridot just like in the earlier dream. Peridot seemingly floated in midair while Steven leaped to the edge of the porch and continued reaching out to her, as the front of the house turned into color bars as well. "We always had something to fix together! The Cluster, the Diamonds, Spinel, but I don't know how I can be anyone's friend without something to fix!"

"Why can't you just surrender already?!" Aquamarine yelled as she tried to reel Steven in like a fish. "Your suffering is all because of her, and she's felt so worthless because of you!" Unfortunately for her, the tractor beam broke and the small, flying Gem was catapulted away from the pair. "We'll meet again brat!"

"I-I just can't do it anymore!" Steven cried to Peridot, unaware of the dream version of Aquamarine's failure to catch him. "I'm just so tired, and now I'm even trying to fix something in my dreams!" He soon started to cry as he got closer to Peridot. "I'm sorry I can't do this for you! Just please don't leave me!"

Peridot remained stoic as Steven kept on grasping for her. "Don't…leave."

The dream ended just like a VHS tape being removed from a VCR before a muffled voice began calling for Steven.

--

"Steven? Steven!"

Steven was suddenly shook awake with tears in his eyes, and he discovered Peridot leaning over him crying just as much.

"I saw everything Steven, and yes, it is true!" Peridot admitted sorrowfully. "A good reason why I was using your dreams is because I never got over how you were kidnapped because of me! I was so worried the other Gems would declare me a traitor, but they never bothered to bring it up. You know what, we don't have to do this anymore!" Steven then gave her a tight hug. "I don't care about the show anymore, or Rodrigo especially! I just want what's best for you! I'm such a clod!"

"It's okay Dottie, it's okay." Steven comforted his green pal. "I kind of knew something was up when you first mentioned Marine and Pierre, but I didn't know you've bottling this up for so long."

"I know, it's so unhealthy of me." Peridot wept. "I just needed something to vent with, so that's why I wanted to spend time with you. It's okay if you don't want an excuse to hang out anymore."

"But I do want to keep hanging out." Steven assured Peridot. "With or without all this trauma. We're friends, right?"

"I guess you're right." Peridot smiled sadly.

"You still want to watch CPH together," Steven offered. "even if it's terrible?"

In response, Peridot took off her visor and began wiping some tears, shedding the mask she had kept up for her entire stay. "Of course."

--

"How could you lie to me like this Rodrigo?!" Jasmine yelled crossly at her love interest while Steven and Peridot laughed as it all went down. "I bet you just can't help being an awful person!"

"You just buried a dead body Jasmine, and you're getting mad at Rodrigo for cheating at cards?!" Peridot cackled, pounding her fist on the floor. "Some protagonist you turned out to be! Oh my stars, this show is the worst!"

"This show is the best." Steven smiled contently before the pair leaned up against each other with smiles on their faces.

--

Like I said, wasted opportunity for more Peridot development. And yes my friends, that United Defenders of the World show was a total middle finger to dark & edgy teen drama reboots of family-friendly properties with fans of all ages. It happened to Archie, it happened to Winx Club and it's even gonna happen to the Powerpuff Girls soon. But I'm getting off topic, this was a pretty fun chapter to write since I love Peridot so much and she has an incredible dynamic with Steven. Speaking of green Gems, next chapter goes into original territory once again as we finally shine a light on a corrupted Gem that's seemingly been erased from existence come Future. That's right Nephrite, come on down!