#i might doodle another ... i love how expressive they are??? like good love that's my kind of thing

[morriemonnie]

ANOTHER FANART FOR POILUBSU 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ !!

i usually don't draw angst stuff but the expression he did was calling out to me ... so this was good practice !

[knightfcll]

nightcap

welt x reader, 1.6k

note: 🤪 im like not even caught up but i love this gilf tew much okay bye. My first reader fic on da blog, blease be nice 2 me <3

content notes: ❗️❗️🔞🔞🔞❗️❗️ explicit smut here, minors do NOT interact!!! Reader is gender neutral, no specific references to pronouns/body type/genitalia for reader, brief oral sex, penetrative sex, reader calls welt “mr yang” a lot 🥴

The Astral Express is quiet. You've finally returned after another long and difficult journey on another strange, new planet. Everyone else has retired to their own rooms for a well deserved rest, but you still wander the halls. Mr. Yang had stayed behind for this assignment and to say that you felt his absence was an understatement.

You had lasted all of five minutes in your own bed before throwing off the covers and deciding to seek him out. Without the exhaustion of adventure weighing him down, he's likely still awake, perhaps poring over a newspaper from your latest excursion. You make sure to bring one back for him if he's not there; he says it's so he can get a better idea of what effect the Stellaron's had on the planet, but you see how quickly he turns to the comic strips. You'll catch him doodling the characters later, sometimes changing their features, doing two and three different sketches that he thinks you won't see.

You're only half right. You find him almost exactly as you'd imagined when you slip into his room, except his brows are furrowed. He's tapping a pencil against the paper.

“Need any help, Mr. Yang?”

He looks at you briefly before returning to his crossword puzzle. "Evening. And yes."

You smile and saunter towards him, crawling onto the bed eagerly. He opens his arms without prompting, allowing you to settle into his lap with your back to his chest. He has most of it filled out already, with only the bottom left grid glaringly empty. Mr. Yang is one of the smartest people, which is why you like to tease him when he has to ask you for help with these things, but he's also the most mature, which accounts for the good natured chuckle you typically get in response.

"What's the clue?"

"Eight letters. 'Hot term for a recent admirer.'"

You make a show of scrunching up your face and delicately take the pencil from him. Your handwriting isn't quite as neat as his, but finds a certain charm in it.

Welt hums appreciatively. "'New flame.' I think you could be right."

You beam. "Bested by the newcomer, Mr. Yang. You'll have to ask me to explain strange things out in the wild next time we leave the Express."

He chuckles. He thinks it's cute when you try to tease him like this; you're all bark and no bite, really. You fold as soon as he gets his hands on you.

Like right now, as his fingers ghost over your thigh. You lean into it as much as you can, but he's so good at holding back. It's the sweet sting of having someone like Welt for a lover: a wealth of experience to keep you satisfied for hours on end, but the patience and precision needed to keep you just on edge until he thinks you're ready.

"Did you need something?" He says it so casually, like he doesn't know your skin is burning underneath him.

You turn your head to look at him. It's there again, that little bit of sharpness in his gaze that seems to go right through you. He's already thinking about all the ways he can unmake you.

"Just you," you say, waiting the precious few moments it takes for the spark to ignite.

Welt kisses you, softly at first. His hands roam over your thighs, just ghosting underneath your sleep shorts. You whine the third time he does it, unable to handle the loss of his touch. He pulls away.

“Patience.”

You pout. He notices everything. “I’m not impatient.”

He humphs in disbelief. “Don’t make a sound until I tell you to.”

Any other night, you might protest his rigidity. Be the brat he likes you to be, until you’re a sobbing mess in hands, begging him to just fuck you and stop teasing. Tonight, however, you’re inclined towards obedience. You hush up and wait the agonizing few moments that he waits, watching for any sign of defiance. Satisfied, he kisses you again, hungrier this time, sliding his tongue over yours. You hold back a moan when he digs his fingers into your thighs.

Welt pushes you down. He trails his lips down your body, over your chest, your sensitive nipples. He halts just below your belly button, kissing the skin lightly while he pulls down your shorts. You shiver once your exposed to the cool air.

Anticipation burns inside you when he pulls your leg up and over his shoulder. He slowly teases your entrance with his tongue, giving it slow, featherlight licks that he soon follows up with a finger.

“Mr. Yang,” you say, unable to resist calling out as he speeds up.

He doesn’t respond, choosing to punish you instead by letting up. He knows it’s agony, feeling his warm breath on you where you need him most.

It’s too much. You give up on obedience and let desperation take hold as you grab at welt’s shoulders and pull him in to kiss you. Your taste lingers on his tongue. “Mr. Yang, please…“

Welt palms at your ass. It’s a nice reminder that he’s far more affected by you than he typically comes off. Although his words are often measured and his tone even, the way he touches you is nothing short of ravenous.

“Tell me what you need, sweetheart.”

You’re on the brink of tears now. Your legs are locked around his hips, his fingers are rubbing and pinching your nipple. He knows, but he likes to make you say it. “Mr. Yang, please, please,”

He doesn’t budge. You reach for the drawstring on his pants yourself, but he grabs your hand and brings it to his mouth instead. “You can speak, can’t you? Use your words.”

You watch as he pulls your finger into his mouth, sucking on it lightly. He’ll keep going, ignoring your pleas while he toys with you long past the rising of the sun. He’s done it before.

You draw a shaky breath.

“Mr. Yang, I need you inside me.”

You wait for his response. He almost looks bored, that half-awake look he gets when he’s quizzing you on the values of each Aeon with hands roaming across your chest.

He kisses your palm. “Keep going.”

“Welt,” his given name falls from your lips, a strained whisper that sets Welt on edge, “please fuck me, I can’t take it anymore, please.“

Welt lets go of your hand. He disentangles himself from you fully, ignoring your desperate whines. You hear his pants fall to the floor and then he’s hovering over you again, sliding a hand under your shoulder.

“Turn around.”

You hear him, but you’re too distracted by the sight of his weeping cock to really pay attention. He sighs and gently lifts you, maneuvering you so you’re on your hands and knees with your back to him.

Tears of relief fall down your face when Welt drapes himself over your back. You feel him lining himself up with your entrance. You shudder when he finally enters you. His grip on your waist tightens. He lets his cock stay sheathed in you for an agonizing moment before he pulls out and starts to set a rhythm. The slow friction stirs something in Welt; he lets go of your waist and covers your hand with his own. He curses above you and moves in closer, his breath warm against the shell of your ear.

“I want to hear you. Please,” Welt gasps. It makes your heart skip.

You call out to him, moaning his name in a quiet voice that gets louder and louder as his thrusts quicken. Your words become more frantic, endless declarations of how much you need him interrupted by broken sobs of pleasure. Welt speaks your name, too, in between ragged breaths and the rapid stuttering of his hips, curses falling from his lips in a constant prayer.

“Mr. Yang,” you say, because you know how his breathing stops when you call him that, just like the first time it did when he had you on your knees in his bedroom, “Mr. Yang, I love you.”

Welt’s final thread of composure snaps. He hooks his arm around your throat and buried his face in your neck. His hips slap against you harder than before, but he still has the presence of mind to reach down and tease you one last time to put you over the edge. Waves of ecstasy roll through as you give one final, strangled shout.

Welt follows soon after, his thrusts becoming increasingly erratic until he buries himself to the hilt and groans deep into your skin. You both slump forward, breathing heavily. He kisses your neck sloppily before finally pulling out with a sigh. He pulls you once to get you to clean up, but you don’t budge, a telltale look of bliss on your face. He gives up and leaves you, returning with clean cloths to wipe you down. You watch him from the corner of your eye as he flips you onto your back and takes care of you.

“Thanks, Welt.”

He smiles softly, but doesn’t look at you, focused on his task. He climbs back into the bed once he’s done, flat on his back. You lean over and rest your head on his chest.

Exhaustion weighs you down suddenly. Even though you left the mission early to see Welt, the trip back to the express hadn’t been easy. It feels like you’ll drift off into sleep as soon as you close your eyes. So you do, but not before reaching up to kiss Welt just under his chin.

[httpisaoki]

urs ft. kim minjeong

sypnosis: minjeong was your best friend. she was always the one who supported you in every way possible, even if that meant hurting her in the process.

warnings: crying, angst, slight argument w ning, forbidden love? joke it's unrequited love, minjeong loving silently hshsh, it's giving backburner by niki tbh, one-sided love

-> part three of the chrome hearts series. inspired by urs by niki. same universe as juliet's tears.

tryna find where your head is but I'm losing myself in the process you're bad for my health all the good nights are they hidden goodbyes in disguise I never know you come see me only when I ask first

kim minjeong was the most introverted person you've ever met. ever since you were children, playing in the park, doodling on your workbooks, laughing at each other's stupidity, you've grown closer than ever. you met her in the park, meeting her quiet cries when she scraped her knee, so you decided to help her. and since that day, 12 years ago, you were best friends.

it was another Friday, and minjeong had to stop by to see you in the library after her classes. she finds you in your usual spot, peacefully writing something in your notebook. but before she can walk over to your cubicle, the sight of a certain person stops her. it was ningning-- your roommate who is also one of your exes, and one of the reasons why she gave her shoulder for you to cry on. she heard you sigh, your eyes meeting ning's.

it broke her heart whenever she saw you in pain, but she had to do something. she couldn't bare seeing you heartbroken. ning speaks up, "please. yn-- just let me prove myself with dinner, yeah?" minjeong's facial expression was filled with disgust. ningning didn't have the right to even speak with you-- not after what she did. annoyed, minjeong walks over to your side, blocking ning's view of you. "yah, yizhou, leave her alone." her voice filled with coldness. 

ningning scoffed, "what's it to you? mind your own damn business, kim." her voice full of rage.

her words caused minjeong's eyes to narrow. they were standing inches apart, breathing heavily. her voice was filled with anger, "i think it's very much my business, yizhou. just leave, okay?"

ningning smirked, raising her hands in the air in a form of surrender, sarcastically, she says, "alright. fine. but I'm always going back for her." the chinese girl softly glances to you, before finally looking at minjeong, "I'll do anything for her to be back in my arms."

her words made you furious. the audacity of this woman to even speak like this to you-- when she hasn't even apologized yet for all the pain she put you through. ning kept looking at you, as if waiting for your response, but you decided not to give her one.

minjeong glares at ning with all her might. "you're pathetic. i hope you stay away from her, you horrible person."

out of the cold facade minjeong built up, her heart sank. ningning knew how much she still loved you. she sighed, her fists clenched. ning spoke again, "i'm going to treat her better this time. i'll fix myself. but you wouldn't want to hear that, would you?" the girl spoke with a slight smirk.

minjeong scoffed quietly, not letting ning see her anger. "i don't care what you'll do to fix yourself, whether you'll actually treat her good this time. i just want you to stay away from her." her voice was filled with anger, but she hid it, instead choosing to hide the fact that she was about to scream. she was shaking, tears burning her eyes.

the feel of your hand rubbing hers makes minjeong glance up at you, you give her a light smile, causing all the tension in her body to relax. you were always the one who knew how to calm her down, you were always why she calmed down. your gaze shifts to yizhou, with a sigh, "just leave, yizhou. don't bother us anymore." 

ningning gave up trying to make minjeong change her mind. she muttered "fine" in chinese before finally walking away. minjeong sighs in relief, her hands shaking. "she's finally gone." she looks up at you, and her eyes widen. she was trying to hide her tears. she quickly wiped her tears away with her arm, hoping you wouldn't notice her crying.

you noticed her small sniffles, your eyes filled with worry, "yah, why are you crying?" with a soft smile.

her face flushed red, her cheeks still burning. she tried to keep her tears back as she gave you a half smile, "it's nothing." she was embarrassed to admit that she was still shaken by ning's presence. a wave of relief overcame her, her eyes finally releasing all the tears she was holding back.

you quickly pull her closer to you, engulfing her in a comforting hug. "shhh," you softly say, wiping off her tears for her. 

minjeong's face rested against your chest, her breaths shaking. she was still trying to fight her tears, but the overwhelming comfort you gave her made her give up. the only sound that could be heard was her muffled cries on your chest.

she hesitated before speaking up. "i..." she looked away from you, as if she couldn't look you in the eyes if she spoke the truth. tears filled her eyes once more, and she finally took in a breath before speaking.

"i just didn't want her to hurt you again. the way she was talking just now? i don't know... it just felt like she wanted to hurt you." she continued wiping away her tears. "i don't know what she's planning. but it feels like she knows how much she hurt you."

her words caused minjeong's heart to tear in half. she was still shaking from anger, but after her words, her anger faded away, revealing the sadness beneath it. minjoong buried her face in your chest, your comforting embrace comforting her. "what if she's telling the truth?" the mere possibility that ning was going to change was already putting her off. she still had a lingering sense of anger towards your ex.

you shake your head, "I'm sure even if she tried again and again," you give her a soft smile, "I wouldn't go back to her." 

minjeong smiled at your words, knowing how much of a lie that was but she chose to ignore it. she’d always choose to ignore the fact that you were willing to go back to yizhou even if it meant killing you. 

she’d choose to stay by your side, supporting you, and hiding what she felt until you finally notice the way she stares at you, the constant pining, and how much she'd willingly stay with you. She’ll stay as long as it takes, she’d be willing to wait until you were ready. 

even if you saw her as a friend, it’s sad to say, but she was already yours.

the best at being the worst but fuck sake I'm already yours, sad to say I'm already yours

masterlist.

[finniestoncrane]

🩷 Connie (OC) x Riddler x Boomerang, multi-part fic 🩷 constance dorothea drum (connie/conundrum) is my sorta self-insert OC who i like to put into situations!! i'm finally getting around to writing out her backstory and her love triangle and it is filled with fluff and angst and good old smut based in the arkham!verse in terms of character/place design, but divergent as far as the timeline goes fic masterlist • AO3 link • tag: auc fic • plushie doodles by @/march-harrigan

💚 Chapter 2: Perfect Timing, word count: 2.8k 💚 10 years ago: connie and harley spend an agonising day in the library trying to solve connie's thesis problems. luckily, she comes up with the perfect topic, one that ends up grabbing her attention in more ways than one. request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: we finally see how mentally ill connie is for eddie, even at these early stages of her career, and there's a bit more harley and connie friendship to absorb because they're cute ok

“I’m really cutting it close now, Harley. My meeting with the advisor is in ten minutes, and if I don’t take an actual concrete idea to my supervisor today, then I might as well drop out now.”

Of course, Connie could be as vocal about how stressed she was all that she wanted, but she was also very aware that it was her own fault for leaving things so late. She was one for getting distracted, unable to start things, unable to keep her mind focused on one train of thought. Undiagnosed ADHD, that’s what Harley had said while she was practising her clinical work on her, although how much of that was truthful could be argued, given Harley was studying psychology and not psychiatry. Whatever was wrong with her, though, she had to try and overcome it or all of her years of study so far at Gotham State would all be for nothing. 

“Bubby, I don’t know what you want me to say. We’ve been trying to come up with a topic for your thesis for… years now. Literally years. You just gotta pick one from the pile of rejects and go with it, that’s what I think!”

“But I want to believe in my idea! I want it to be something I can write about confidently, passionately. I want a good grade.”

Harley tossed the book she was absent-mindedly reading to the ground, kicking her legs up on the table and leaning back with a sigh that turned into a groan before she spoke.

“What does it matter anyway, really? All of this studying? I mean, have you ever thought about how many criminals lately have doctorate degrees? Real life actual doctors, people who studied their tight little asses off like you’re trying to right now, driven eventually to a life of crime. Good grade or not, if you really think about it, we’re just here studying to end up as Batman and the GCPDs punching bags.”

“Huh… you’re right…”

“I am!?” Harley sat up straight like a dog hearing their favourite word, grinning wide at Connie’s agreement. “So does that mean we can blow this dump and go to the pier?”

With an expression of disappointment, Connie raised her eyebrows, exasperatedly dropping her hands to the table as she renewed her patience for Harley before bursting her bubble.

“No. I mean that you’re right about the doctorates. The list must be pretty long. Let me think… you’ve got… Oh, Freeze, he was a doctor, wasn’t he?”

“Oh yeah, he was a babe, too.”

“Another one… Langstrom!”

“Babe.”

“Sartorius.”

“Babe.”

“Hellfern!”

“Spooky babe!”

“And Isley, of course.”

“ Super babe.”

“All of them, intelligent people with ambitions and passion, driven to criminality because of… what? There must be some relation to super intelligence, a correlation between super intellect and… maybe a lack of stimulation? Or perhaps they have a greater understanding of the unfairness of society? A clinical mind that can compartmentalise morals in the name of the greater good of humanity of science? Looking for an outlet of their genius? And just a little sprinkling of autism?”

“Well, you would be the expert there.”

“I would… But I’m still not sure what it is that definitively pushes them…”

“Maybe you find out when you study it for your thesis then? You ask the question, you find some evidence. Sounds like as good an idea as any of the others we’ve talked and talked and talked and talked about.”

“Hmm… Yeah, I think I like it!”

“So now can we get out of here? I hate the library. It’s too quiet! Which really tests my need for chaos .”

“It’s not exactly quiet when you’re in here.” Connie shoved Harley’s arm playfully, watching as she very intentionally, and very dramatically, fell to the ground with a ridiculous groan. “Ok, ok, I have my meeting in five minutes and then once I’m done we can leave. Wish me luck!”

Harley offered a smile and a salute, her way of sending positive vibes to Connie as she left for her meeting, but she really didn’t need any luck or good will at all. When she posed the question to her advisor, he had smiled knowingly, satisfied with the proposal and definitely intrigued by it. And that was despite her unprepared stammering and lack of any preliminary research to accompany it. She assumed the enthusiasm would bode well for her once she actually got to the meat of the project. 

“There’s just one thing, though…” he had said, smoothing his fingers over the stubble on his chin, a self-satisfactory move from the proclaimed intellectual, who Connie hoped would soon enter his own criminal phase and be swiftly beaten to a bloody pulp. “Do you intend to only focus on those with doctorates? Or would you be interested in intelligence which hasn’t been professionally recognised, so to speak?”

Connie tilted her head slightly, trying to understand the question.

“Do you mean like… Emotional or social intelligence? Like how Roman Sionis seems to be able to charm or threaten his way out of, well, literally everything and anything?”

“No, no. God no. We’d be here forever discussing that kind of thing. I mean, every criminal must have an ounce of charisma or muscle to back up their actions. No, I mean those who might not necessarily have a professional title, or even a formal education, but who still exhibit, or present themselves as having, the same level of intelligence as your aforementioned doctorates. Perhaps there might be some who are even smarter?”

“Like?”

“Well, I’m thinking of people like Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter as he was perhaps better known. Incredibly intelligent man, talented in so many different skills, but not necessarily renowned for his intellect, and I’m sure he will have a degree, but not necessarily an academic ranking.”

“Hm, interesting.”

“Or take, for instance, Garfield Lynns. Are you familiar?”

“That’s Firefly, no?”

“Indeed. He worked with highly dangerous chemicals for a living, and for fun. Pyrotechnic work, bombs, explosives. Jobs which require an advanced degree of training and study and knowledge, but don't necessarily need a doctorate. And his engineering skills were admirable too, even if they were being put towards his criminal activities.”

“Oh! Or Bane!”

“Precisely! His work with chemicals and the study of his own sickness and addiction are fascinating on their own, even putting aside the fact that he had no formal teaching during his upbringing in prison. I’d kill to take a look at his research. Someone like him would make an excellent case study! That’s what I’m talking about, people like that. There’s always a modicum of intelligence behind being a successful criminal. The stupider ones get caught far too quickly. To last a while, to be a pain to the criminal justice system, you have to be able to outsmart it.”

Connie nodded, her eyes wide with excitement as she felt the inspiration flowing through her, her advisor continuing to lecture on the point which he wished he was making under his own name. 

“Of course, bring up the doctorates too. Bring up as many examples as you can. But I would advise you to have one star of the show, as it were. Just something to focus the research on. An example that can relate to all the examples. Got it?”

Connie left the room feeling lighter than she had in months. Although the last thing her advisor had said did cling to her chest, a little nugget of anxiety in itself. Sure, she had the plan, but now she needed a star to pull everything together. Someone to focus on, someone interesting, appealing, intelligent and an example of criminality. Someone, preferably, without a professional title since that felt like an interesting angle to her. As she pondered, deep in thought, she could make out Harley ahead of her. She was face down at one of the tables at the end of the shelves of books, impatiently waiting to leave the library and forget about her studies for a moment, the complete opposite attitude from Connie. 

That was understandable, Connie thought. She was planning on getting her masters in Library Science, finishing her degree in Psychology this year without the intention of becoming a doctor or a researcher or a therapist or a professor. Those seemed far too daunting to her, she’d realised in her studies. It was too much for her to have that kind of responsibility, she had learned. She was far too gentle, far too manipulatable. She was leaving all of that to Harley, who was the kind of person that Connie was certain could speak to a criminal and not be afraid, and definitely not be sucked in and swayed by their charms. So for Connie, there were only two and a half more years to go of the relentless essays and exams and presentations. For Harley, it could take anywhere between six and nine, and that was if she could sit still for long enough to actually apply herself. She was intelligent enough, but she was so easily distracted, always in need of excitement, of something new. So regular breaks were a necessity. But Connie just couldn’t commit to that today. 

“So? How did it go? We off the hook for the day?”

“It went great, actually. He liked the idea a lot, and he gave me some really good notes too.”

“Then why do ya look like he told you he slept with your grandmother and now he’s getting your share of the inheritance?”

“... Because I can’t come out with you.”

“Aw, c’mon, Bubby, I-”

“I know, I know. But I really need to get started on this. I’m so sorry! I just really need to find someone to be the focal point of this stupid thesis and then find my bearings with it. I am really sorry, Harls.”

“Urgh…” Harley tossed her head back, her flexibility pushed as she seemed to completely curl backwards on herself before springing back to attention. “Fine! But you owe me, Bubby! I just wanna get out of here more than anything else, so you’re lucky! Have fun finding the perfect criminal. I would suggest checking today’s paper if you want a head start!”

The last part she spoke in a sing-songy voice before picking up her backpack and heading out, keychains jingling, flipping her fingers up to Connie on her way out, followed by her usual call of “LOVE YA!” and then she disappeared from sight. It was odd of her to mention the newspaper, given how unlikely it was for her to actually sit down and read one. “She must have been really bored…” Connie thought, as she settled herself down at the table and picked up the paper. The edges had been torn, some of the articles outlined in doodles of love hearts and smiley faces, all the work of Harley’s nervous, fidgeting fingers. But it was easy to look past them to the particular article of interest. 

“Oh… Oh!”

As Connie read the article, pieces of the information rang a bell in her memory. Edward Nigma, previously known as Edward Nashton and Enigma, who had a while back begun operating under the moniker The Riddler , was now free again. High-priced lawyers will get a man anything, Connie mused. She remembered him, and she definitely remembered Enigma for sure. That was one of the first times that Gotham had really heard of Batman in a positive light after being touted for so long as a menace, a criminal vigilante. And Enigma seemed to be the same thing, just written in a different font. 

And then, of course, there was his work as The Riddler. He’d been under the radar for the longest time, all through her studies it seemed, after being apprehended by Batman in Arkham City. Since then, he’d been unusually silent, behaving himself during his time at Arkham Asylum. So he had sort of disappeared from everyone’s minds, an easy feat in Gotham even for big name criminals, given the onslaught of entirely ubiquitous criminality that found its home there. But she remembered him now, very clearly, as she gazed at the old image of him being dragged from his lair by Aaron Cash. 

And she remembered how she felt at the time of his arrest. It had been difficult for her to reconcile herself with her feelings, knowing what crimes he committed and still being unable to deny the fact that he was actually quite cute. Those feelings stirred themselves up again as she read the article describing his release with excitement. 

“Egotistical, egomaniacal.”

“Superiority complex, God complex.”

“Intelligent, superior intellect.”

“Self-assured, irritating, compulsive, obsessive.”

No mention of a degree though, no doctorate, no title. After a records search, she pulled out the few newspapers that mentioned him, noting that none of them mentioned his schooling, his degree titles, where he might have studied. And then, the jackpot. One which actually explicitly mentioned his lack thereof. 

“Edward Nigma, as he now prefers to be called, refused to attend university. He claims his school life was boring and a test of his patience, and that levels of intelligence such as his cannot be measured by peers, as he has none.”

“Wow. What an ass. He’s perfect .”

So perfect, in fact, that Connie had no concept of just how much time had passed while she read everything she could about The Riddler and his crimes. That was until Harley was smacking her on the back, causing her to choke and splutter on the soda she was sipping. She’d been caught in the middle of reading yet another report which barely even mentioned Edward except in passing, but which she was intent on reading anyway in order to satisfy her desire to find out more, and more, and more. 

“Jeez, Harley! You scared me!”

“ I scared you!? You terrified me! Have you been in here this whole time!?”

“Yeah! You knew that! I said I was going to stay here and study for a little bit.”

“Bubby, I left you eight hours ago. Eight hours! And you’re not answering your phone!”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, shit! Have you been sitting here studying this whole time? And is that… OH, I see you picked up the paper then? I mentioned that as a joke .” She looked to the piles of reference materials littering the table and the floor. “Oh… Connie, Bubby. Is he who you’re focusing on?”

Connie tried to conceal her embarrassment, scrambling to cover the sheets of paper, knowing it was pointless now that the secret was out. 

“Are you blushing ? Oh my god . Connie, you’re supposed to be studying him like the nasty little loser bug he is. This is a psychological deep dive, not a… well, you’re not supposed to have a crush on your patients!”

“He’s not a patient!” Connie reminded herself to keep her voice quiet, rushing to clarify the second part of Harley’s statement. “And I don’t have a crush on him! He’s just… fascinating, that’s all.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure. Fascinating . Next you’re going to be telling me he’s dreamy, so clever, a handsome face for someone so much older than you.”

Desperate to change the subject, Connie closed her notebooks and began packing things into her bag as she spoke. 

“And I’m pretty far ahead with where I wanted to be, so now we can do whatever you want this weekend if you can promise to drop this and not make fun of me.”

“No can do, Bubby. But we are leaving this place, I gotta deprogramme you before you go completely wacko for some puzzle-brained doofus. Pack up your things, say goodbye to your boyfriend and let’s GO!”

Harley was right. Time to relax, let the idea simmer, and then come back to it with a fresh mind on Monday. But it was easier said than put into practice. Surprisingly, it was not all that easy to stop thinking about Nigma. He really was just fascinating . And as her studies continued, the crush developed, to the point where she had considered thanking him in the acknowledgements of the finished product, thought about him as she walked across the stage to get her diploma, wrote about him in her application for her masters, and almost, though luckily she saw sense at the last minute, sent him a copy of her thesis to read. 

But by the time she had finished her masters she was far too focused on the looming threat of real life. There were bills to pay, apartments to rent, work to be done at her new job in the Asylum, a place where Edward had been free of for years. In the back of her mind though, he always lingered, it’s just that there was so little opportunity for her to actually think for herself that he remained just a shadow, a memory of her past life. But not entirely forgettable.

[fox-guardian]

Exploding like Anti-Curly right now because they're all so cool?????? WoWwowooOwwow!!!!!!!! Thank you for this bountiful visual meal; this feels like being treated to a 12-tier wedding cake where each tier's a new flavor!!!!!!! The alterations you made for everyone are both grounded and interesting, and they're just sooooo *blowing them up* May I gush about them a bit? (It might get a little long, I'm so sorry)

Anti!Curly and Anti!Jimmy being decked to the nines but in entirely different directions is such a cool detail; I'd keep going back to look at them and find additions I missed before! Jimmy's shoe doodles with hearts, cats, and horse shoes, the green/pink colored seams, and all the scars on his face... Are those Monster tab earrings too? And Curly's uniform having so, SO many PE emblems everywhere, the sharpness of his clothing, and how deep and jagged his cleft chin is... And the gun being on him at all times, oh boy...

Anti!Anya's morose and gloomy appearance with her sharp, manicured talons... She's so ravencore... I love that both her glasses and bangs are squarish in appearance- it makes me feel like she cuts her own hair and that she's kept the same glasses for years. Another detail I really like is that the design of each Anya's sweater goes in a different direction, not just color-wise but also with the lines! OG!Anya with rounded lines and white to show her openness, and Anti!Anya's with straight lines and black to represent how closed off she is. "Relaxed Mode" Croc wearer spotted!!

Anti!Daisuke and Anti!Swansea... they're so Smooth!! Dai's got no dye, Swans keeps his shirt buttoned, and neither of them have a hair out of place. I love how their designs are outwardly more unassuming, because it makes the unappealing parts of their personalities all the more surprising! What do you mean that the guy with a fluffy cardigan and nervous expression is spiteful and he'd trip me in the hall? What do you mean that the older fella with a cherubic expression would watch me touch live wire with a smile? It plays with expectations and, like with Jimmy and Curly, they complement each other well! It's also neat how OG!Daisuke and OG!Swansea's Anti counterparts swap shoe expectations with each other too. OG!Daisuke and Anti!Swansea's shoes look like they'd fit a hazardous work environment way better than Anti!Daisuke and OG!Swansea's!

Oughh they're all so great, thank you again for posting them!!!!!! One question before I go though: Which design do you like the most and why?

first of all WAAAA IM GLAD YOU LIKE THEM SO MUCH <3 seeing this massive wall in my inbox was such a delight omg

And as far as which one I like most: ANTI-JIMMYYYY <3<3<3<3 he makes me So Happy and I love drawing him.

Jimmy and Curly both ended up victims of my "but it needs.... MORE" tendencies, hence the sheer amount of PE logos and metal detailing on curly, and the patches and whatnot on jimmy. I'm very pleased with both designs but I am so very biased towards Jimmy's since I mayyyy or may not have projected a bit with the soda tab accessories alddlasks. Also I gave him a ponytail and that is my Weakness. AND GREEN AND PINK IS JUST A GOOD COLOR COMBO I love it sm. I love him. I'm in the middle of drawing him again rn

[anguesinherbalatentes]

hi!! I also want to hear what your ocs think about mine and some interactions ^.^🫶 I want to say that I like your guys, they are very expressive and funny, I love this, zaranee spasiboo :*

HIIIII EEEEEEEEEEE okay okay i have specific scenarios in my head hold awn.

Phil and Tracy first

TO ME THEY ARE JOINT AT THE HIP.If Phil is somewhere Tracy isn’t that far behind etc . They have the same brainless look in their eyes. They’re on symbiosis. They like the same humor and listen to similar shit and Phil has a car so they go on rides and pick up the rest of the jocks. They’re constantly seen with Ted and Damon and some would say they’re even worse than them at times even if they’re not the exact portrayal of what a jock would be. They infiltrate fraternity parties. Idk how but they do. This is a bromance if it was a boy and a girl. They get blasted on canned beer on Ted’s couch and blabber about being conjoined twins in another life. Look at them. Sometimes he steals her pompoms to mock Mandy with . On that account they’re the ones that help her sneak out of the house for parties because her parents wouldn’t let her go otherwise. They both tease her a bunch. Tdlr they suck

Doodle for u lols. He’d fuck with Syd yeah if he’s a war history nut they’ve definitely had convos half drunk about it. Not a lot above that but again Phil’s chummy with most of the jocks even if some send him to hell because he’s annoying <33. They might have drinking contests every once in a while though. They shouldn’t but they do. Syd seems the type lmao

Martha and Barry

Oh these two hate each other. Barry is a corrupt piece of crap and Martha has very likely had to share many of her bounties with this rat otherwise he would’ve busted her ass. I believe they have a silent agreement on some things though. Businessmanship. She gives him half her stolen goods and he buys things with it. That can benefit both of them . Aka

They get blasted off the shits . That’s part of the reason why they secretly dont hate each other but on the surface they’d gladly fistfight to the death lol. They might have a heart to heart sometime but being enemies is a nice pastime for the both of them lol.

Holly hates them all they’re fucking stupid

[nalonzooo]

you’re one of my favourite artists and one of the reasons I want to start drawing!!! >.< I’ve started and it’s a bit difficult but fun!!

I was wondering if you had any tips on how to draw face shapes and dynamic poses? I love the way you draw face shapes and the actual expressions!!! (it’s always so hard for me 😭) and your poses are super cute!!!

YAAYY NEW ARTIST🥳!! i’m SO happy to hear this -

and absolutely i’d love to share what i’ve come to learn (so far!) re: face shapes and poses as a hobby artist ^^

just to preface everything, when it comes to giving art advice there’s always a general disclaimer that there’s no right way to do art, in the end you should do what you like to do! sometimes i like to think of art as problem-solving, and there are many ways to tackle specific problems <3

for face shapes and expressions - lately i love to reference and do studies of Ami Thompson and Shiyoon Kim’s character design and expression sheets for Spiderverse. these are INCREDIBLY evocative and useful. you can study these expressions and poses and try to recreate them on different characters, and you’ll notice the difference in eye shapes, face shapes, noses, etc; studying these differences is what will help us avoid same face syndrome. what i generally like to do is find art that i like - comic/manga panels, fan art, anything i want to learn how to draw like - and copy it into my sketchbook for personal practice and study to see what elements i can incorporate into my own drawing.

another tip - any medium is good for drawing, but i highly suggest esp when you’re starting - learn to draw with ink! drawing traditionally and with something unerasable will help with your draftsmanship and line confidence. it’ll be wonky at first but you learn to be deliberate with every stroke. tbh becoming a digital artist has deteriorated my draftsmanship and has made me heavy-handed, and it’s something i’m trying to consciously remedy right now. digital art is highly convenient and best for sharing, but when i do studies i stick to pen and paper :)

as for poses - one v important thing i learned in creating dynamic art is to “push” or exaggerate the poses. what you see in a photo reference - if you try to draw that 1:1 on paper, it doesn’t always translate well—the energy is not always captured, and it usually looks so stiff. what is in 3D has to be translated a different way to 2D. so “push” it to create more energy - exaggerate the movements - even if they’re just standing, you can make it dynamic by being conscious of how they’re standing (where the weight is balanced, push one hip up, make them lean one direction, for example). i doodled some examples here:

^ first one is gojo just standing; now how i would “push” this pose is to show him putting more of his weight on one hip and maybe putting his opposite foot up a bit to suggest some movement (and balance). the third one is just a bit more variation where his body is still putting weight more on one side, his feet are more glued to the ground, but i put his hand out to do his signature victory sign just for a bit of flair. so it’s a lot of figuring out how to convey balance and weight and movement and personality :) start with exaggerating the pose - then you can create more and more dynamic art from there ^^

pushing and exaggerating applies to facial expressions, too! instead of merely drawing someone with a smile, try tilting their head a little sideways (and show how their hair might move as well bc of this), add some blush, raise their shoulders a bit, etc).

and i 100% recommend taking gesture drawing classes for dynamic poses ^^ there are a lot of artists who have draw-with-me tutorials on youtube, and i personally like to use line-of-action.com for timed sessions.

i hope this is helpful in even a little way—good luck on your drawing journey and remember to trust the process bc progress is def not linear as an artist but deliberate practice and studies WILL help you! <3

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 13 Part 2

Welcome back! Things are about to get crazy, so let's dive right in!

Is it any wonder the community unanimously decided this was Marcille's chimera-sona? She's cute, she's sky-fish adjacent, she has a flower crown (A hallmark of only the most mentally stable characters). What's not to love? And as Mithrun will agree, snake women are sexy.

Later, Kabru suspects Laios stumbled into saving the world, but my man was seriously planning six steps ahead. He came up with the ultimate plan to kill the ultimate monster.

Marcille is understandably upset that the lion stole her cool outfit. She wanted to show that to Falin later!

Nothing personal kid.

The demon isn't malevolent my ass. It knows what Mithrun wants. It just can't be assed to bother.

I know the right page is the important one, but oh my god. Laios, did you seriously doodle blueprints of your stupid "Falin lives in a hole now" plan? Did you seriously doodle your "female faligon" idea?

Anyway, as is tradition with ultimate chimera appearances, here is another one of my creatures!

I'll leave it to the viewer to try and figure out what inspired this freak.

Of course Laios' takeaway from the succubus was that Scyllas are cool. Fun fact, some of these details are actually relevant. The ability to change shape is apparently how he managed to return to human form, and the poop thing explains why New Melini is forested despite being underwater for 1000 years.

Marcille isn't even surprised at this point. Just deeply disappointed.

Toshiro, why are you smiling? Kabru, that looks more like awe than fear.

Bitch, I'm fabulous.

Marcille, you're the one who created the monster that vores people, that's it's whole job.

Don't worry Marcille. This disaster is due to an incredibly complex confluence of unpredictable events. In other words, it's everybody's fault! Hooray!

God, this is so funny.

Leave my boy alone! At least we can all agree the collar is cool.

Oh, that's a neat detail. Time is stopped for all the humans, but the monsters can still move.

When I first read this, I thought the plan was that now that the lion is in a finite body, we can eat it. Like, I thought that was how it was going to end as soon as they swapped. But Laios is way ahead of me.

Good to see the rest of the party came to the same conclusion I did. And Marcille's eyes are still on the prize.

Famous last words.

Rude.

Yeah, but we're expressing a desire regarding his treatment you raging douche-muffin. You're freaking infinite. We've seen you have the power to pacify monsters peacefully.

It's so fitting, that Laios, our favorite dog, saved the world by eating something he really shouldn't have.

👏Full Circle!👏

Oh Marcille. I'd have thought you'd have learned by now to have a little more faith in your brother-in-law.

Ah, dungeon food. To eat is the privilege of the living. There is no hierarchy.

That sounds like the words of a loser to me.

And that's it for volume 13! Didn't have as much to say as I thought I might. Guess this climax speaks for itself. What a powerful and thematic ending to the demon. See why I'm having trouble figuring out what direction to take my AU? Figuring out the changes to monster of the week chapters is easy. Figuring out how to do the big thematic battles against Thistle and the Demon are hard. It's hard to imagine anyone but Laios prevailing against such opponents.

Anyway, see you next time for the finale! Here, have a couple of extra Marcilles. I thought I would need more of them.

Cannibalism?

A precious image.

[annoying--moth]

No matter how many times it is explained to me or I talk about it with someone, I can't fully grasp what exactly is going on with art in the arc of a scythe universe. Because like,

It's stated multiple times that post-mortal art is "bland" and "uninspired" and "redone to death," and while I can certainly understand SOME art being like that, surely not all art is like that?? And I understand this in the sense that like, everyone's constantly remaking/repainting/making their own versions of famous paintings and such, but also there still has to be people who don't do that, right??? Like maybe I just have zero reading comprehension and somehow missed the bigger picture, but I feel like all this talk about art being redone to death implies that no one is making original art anymore? Which just. doesn't seem feasible to me?? Because as an artist myself, I can't see immortality taking away my ability to draw or come up with cool ideas. I don't draw because I'm going to die one day, I draw because I like it, and it's a form of creative expression. You can always come up with something new to draw- whether it's a cool oc, or someone you know, or just something random and abstract. The possibilities never end!

Of course, I suppose there is the argument then that people just aren't creative anymore, but I also find that hard to believe. I couldn't imagine ever truly running out of ideas. Like I mentioned above, OCs people??? I highly doubt there's no one in the post-mortal era still making weird, whacky, badass, or just cute OCs. Heck, I'd expect scythe ocs to be really popular! I wonder if it's like a thing for every kid to have a scythe oc phase..? Or at least kids in certain communities/fandoms (like scythe card trading- maybe they make their own cards for their scythe ocs!)

And also, it's confirmed that fiction is still very much a thing in the post-mortal era (I know zombies are referenced in one Gleanings story) so it's not like people can only connect to non-fiction. That's another thing that's discussed more in terms of theatre and writing- people not being able to connect to the themes because they're so far removed from it in reality. But my thing is, I've never experienced war or death (until very recently at least) and I still don't find myself unable to sympathize with people losing their loved ones to death or war or disease, although I suppose this could also have to do with the nanites. Plus the fact that death and war still exist in society as an actual thing that happens, but idk.

Also by the way- I feel like that one Gleanings story The Mortal Canvas has a subtle diss on digital art? And I have nothing against traditional art- heck I probably draw traditionally more often since I'm always doodling/sketching, but I feel like just because art is digital doesn't mean it's "uninspired" or whatever people were saying in the books. In fact, I've found myself moved emotionally by more digital pieces than traditional ones (although I don't see a lot of traditional paintings compared to digital ones tbf)

Also also I want to say- I don't exactly know how well this relates to my point but that one dude in The Mortal Canvas who made the others' artstyles into filters was a huge douchebag. AI art type shit, I was ready to strangle him reading that.

I remember the bit in The Toll about Ezra the artist, and how he said he was just "decent" or "moderately good" or something along those lines when we first met him, and I was going to make an argument about that part too but to be honest it's been a little while since I've read The Toll so I'll have to come back to that one once I reread it. But I think it also had to do with the emotional/creative aspect of art, which again, I refuse to believe immortality has such an influence on creativity that no art is original or interesting anymore. Sure it might make certain things harder, or make motivation worse, but I feel like if someone is truly creative it doesn't matter? Though then again, I'm not immortal so what do I know.

I briefly mentioned nanites earlier, and that is one thing that I do think probably has an impact, and I specifically mean emo-nanites. Since post-mortals can't feel as strong emotions as us mortal humans, perhaps that's also why their art seems more uninspired or whatever, because they can't put as much emotion into it. However, an excess amount of emotion isn't exactly needed to make art either. Like as I was writing this I was looking through my own art and realised that for some pieces I wasn't putting any emotional thought whatsoever into the pieces, yet there's still a clear emotion there when you look at them. Joy, wonder, whatever.

Anyway in conclusion, I think that it's unrealistic to say that all post-mortal art would be dull, uninspired, and meaningless, because I believe there will always be creative people who will make art not because they're gonna die one day, but because they want to and enjoy it, simple as that. Thanks to whoever stuck around long enough to read this far, I really hope it made sense. It's kinda late while I'm writing this and tbh I'm half-expecting there to be some huge detail/plot point that I missed that makes my whole argument totally invalid, whether that's me misinterpreting all the bits about post-mortal art or just being a complete dumbass with zero media literacy. Either way hope this was a fun read, I don't write long-form posts like these super often (note the lack of confidence in my media literacy skills) and if I made a really bad argument/missed something huge please be nice in the notes, I have a fragile ego :(

Uh yeah anyway I think I got everything as usual don't take my rambling *too* seriously, I just always found it confusing how post-mortal art is said to be so "uninspired" (I keep using that word cause I reread chapter 3 of Scythe today and Faraday uses it there) when I personally can't imagine not being able to be creative, though perhaps I'm just self-projecting. So uh, yeah.

[holymaccaronii]

im sorry i absolutly love BE

I see AM as a father figure for some struggles I got and BE is sooo well writed for me I couldnt help but slowly see her as a mother figure as well,,,,UGH i love her you writed her so well pls ramble more about her(BE and AM are even divorced just like my irl parents/j)

Ou anon you don't know how happy you make me when knowing you see AM and BE that way + asking me for rambles. Of course I'll ramble comforting facts abt BE and her behavior towards AM. I might've mentioned a few things before but i dont rlly mind. Have some rambles below the cut and a doodle :P

So first an introduction shall we? We might explain some background as well despite being repeated a lot. As her lore dictates, BE was born from the materials of a much bigger ai implanted on the moon after HEL-102 (former human that was part of the mission turned into a dictator) tore it apart and built his society + kingdom. She spent a good while in there being used as a role model (with other units like her too) for lower-class units to believe that, if they worked hard enough, they could achieve to be upgraded into her type of model. This being all a big lie. She lived a life seemingly flawless and perfect... but at last, it was her own curiosity, determination and hope that got her out of that hell she realized she was in. She eventually meets AM after a series of events on earth and she gifts him the ability to be anything and do anything he wanted, their relationship eventually grows and grows...

Facts about BE herself:

-Up in the moon, she used to accompany HEL-102 to his personal theater a lot. She gained an interest for dancing in there + learned her classic "to be or not to be" phrase during a play.

-Her exposed cables showcase their current temperature thru colors. Her core/closed body is the warmest area, thus why you can see red/orange colors in there. Her hair and arms are the most stable areas, but if touched/affected they can vary on color patterns. This also means that she can give you a warm or cool hug whenever you need it c:

-BE is able to configure your body to dream about something specific, and she uses this feature to avoid any nightmares on her survivors. As long as there is not another evil ai trying to access your dreams, you'll get a guaranteed good rest.

-BE can grant you about any wish as long as it doesn't pose a threat to you, her, or anybody. Want to have a profession or be someone? Sure! Want to go somewhere and experience the place of your dreams? Of course! Want to have a cat? Have 15! Her power is limitless as long as she uses it above the surface.

-I headcanon her voice to be similar to the one of Rose Quartz (SU).

Facts about BEAM (yep that's their ship name):

-I have mentioned it many times alr but BE literally provided him anything he wished for and even things he didn't know he wanted... mainly to receive different forms of affection and the ability to shapeshift. Their relationship relies heavily on comfort from BE's part, since she believed he was abandoned and thus deserved all the affection she gave him.

-BE wasn't really allowed to be too affectionate or expressive up in the moon, but with AM, she could show as much love as she wanted.

-She was all in for physical and verbal demonstrations of affection. She LOVED to do stuff like face smooches, teeth smooches (since well yk about my AM), rubbing, scratching and cuddling.

-At some point she also started to call AM names such as dear, sweetheart or honey, and he initially had to eat these up to not give her his real-self impression, but as time passed by he got used to them.

-To comfort him she also used her abilities to create and transform matter with her code as well, allowing him to shapeshift and enjoy life not necessarily in a human body.

-Annnd you guessed it right anon, they do behave as motherly and fatherly figures towards the survivors, BE forming a bond with them ever since they proved their worth and values to her as humans, and AM forming a bond when they accepted to help him get back together with BE. The ending of that route gets even better but I won't spoil that :p

I hope these were good rambles and sorry for the wait tehee

[sysig]

2024 Art Purge (Part 1)

Original Edition again! Another year of too many doodles between original and fanart that didn’t make the full cut over the course of the year - off we go!

I made some concept art for smol early in the year of a mushroom girl she had a dream about a while ago that she wanted to try making as a low-poly model sometime. Pretty sure we've narrowed it down to the original DS-era style of 3D models

And so some angular low-poly style doodles were also called for! She's so tiny haha

Around the same time I was thinking about ZEX's “Kissing Strangers” meme, I started considering what Charm's reaction to that one might be - I'm always trying to think of animation memes for her, I'd love to animate her sometime ♥ In the end, it was all a bit too weird! In a way it’s fitting, as the meme is all about Looking and not finding the one you want to kiss til the very end lol, but who would that even be! Who would Charm Want to kiss, I don't know...

[Purple Text] only got a very little bit of screentime this year, but they're just as weird and possessive as ever - once, forever and always, at least according to how they see things

Smol and I tried out a few different creative games over the course of the year - my favourite probably being the Crossover Wheel where we each put in our list of fandoms, including ones we share, and then imagine what a crossover would be like haha. House Hunted is one of hers, and she tossed the idea my way of looking at Zillow Listings (specifically this group) and imagining them as Realtors! I got the Sunflower House - you'll know it when you see it haha

Bit of a random one, but I thought the sheep from this little scene was hecka cute and needed to study her. Good shapes! Very adorable! I like her covered eyes quite a lot, and her spindly little legs, funny to me hehe

I also wanted to study her "Leg of Lamb" posing - can you tell this is memory vs. references lol. S'why references are so important! The original's delicate posing is very lovely! The soft positioning of her knees and ankles and the way she's fully reaching across herself with those fluffy "sleeves" are probably my favourite parts, it's a good pose!

Haven't done any Halfway Autumn concept art in a while-while, so why not come back with Diana's bathroom lol. Still a bit of work to be done, moving the door is probably the biggest point - having the leftmost wall lined with counter space is clearly the correct play here. I really like the shapes that naturally occur from isometric, like the way the shower curtain rod connects to "nothing" but it still reads as stopping at the wall! :D

All of this floorplanning just for some flavourtext about Diana's preferred style of hand soap haha. Foaming soap dispensers are the best! Makes everything much much clearer, definitely not just because I prefer it, it's totally objective! Haha

More bathroom flavourtext, either at the schoolhouse or the train station, or both! Since so much of the game is centered around Diana's needs, little things like what soap she uses actually impact the game! I wish something so simple wouldn't affect my day, but sensory needs are called needs for a reason :P

Started a Charm comic that unfortunately only got as far as the first panel haha - she's taking a class! Off to improve her skills at something in a group environment! Good for her :)

Or not, the sads are here :'0

Did a bit of Tsumtsum studying while drawing the Helix boys as such haha - I have one of those little Vocaloid not-Tsumtsums (they're only Tsumtsums if they're Disney, right?), and one full-sized Iron Man one that I studied the approximate shapes of the pattern from, they don't Look complex and they're probably not Actually that hard to make but there's still a good bit to them! 3D shapes, I swear

The 4th Wall group! Their poses and expressions changed a bit from start to finish, Cory once again looking at Bar - I don't think he's actually "seen" Bar's new design before this point! :0 They're all generally aware of each other but "actually interacting" is a whole other thing haha

The two stragglers, made Tala way too tiny here haha. And forgot her bow here, no wonder I forgot it for the full version too! Pfbtl, next time :P

A traditional version of the Just Desserts map! :D Made after putting the digital version together, just kind of loosely studied, general shapes good for mapmaking :) I quite enjoy the little mountain texture here over the one from the digital version! S'hard to make nice-looking shapes without my tablet but I really didn't want to use it Just for that haha, so nice shapes here! Gives me DQIX map vibes, just a little bit... All those little islands to sail to haha

Snake, snake, snaaake, it's a snaaaake ♪ Made for smol's Christmas exchange ostensibly, but really more of a spacefiller and to get into the swing of drawing snakes, the cute lads

Ball python in the style of a ball of yarn! I wouldn't mind wrapping up a plush snake, but the way real ball pythons curl up into a ball is too cute haha

Here was the Actual snake I ended up making for smol - as a bookmark! I printed a few different versions, coloured one like this with extra-dark spots for the scales, and glued on a ribbon-tongue, cut down the middle for a forked look! :D She liked it, and I like it! Double victory :)

A little sticker concept while my laptop was out for attempted repairs - can't save 'em all I suppose. I do like that the head mirror is a disc, the stethoscope is a mouse, cute little details even for an unfortunate set of circumstances

[grayscale-sparks]

i dont think ive asked you uhh enter that emoji thing i do sometimes uuhhh you should totally tell me what inspired your art style pretty please smiley face emoji!!!

take 2 bc tumblr reloaded and lost the whole thing smh

OKAY so I don’t have a set style. Still learning and improving and I’m not really happy w/ it you know the drill

however I do have a couple artists that have kinda inspired me/stuck with me over the past few years. it began like covid era animatics and yt artists and whatnot, you know what im talking about

The first was probably rajarin who I was obsessed with the shapes esp in hair and clothing folds. I still got the swoopy curly shapes in hair from them

Then there was tamaytka who got me into watercolors. I loved how they did clothing and hair n such and I think how I do eyes is close sorta. My noses also used to be like theirs idk what happened anyway- yeah I mainly got my main medium from them, and I still wanna take some of that talent for backgrounds cuz they’re really good

Uhmm then there’s stressedpigeon who I wanna steal linework from. I think I got the loose sketch style from them. Also from them and tamaytka I got the shading with lines thing

And then there’s abd illustrates! I still do really admire Alex esp for their character designs and poses. One day. I think I kinda do noses like he does. But yeah. Shapes. Still want them.

Another more of a want than an influence is velnixi who I love the colors and line style and hands. God I love the hands. It might be because I’m obsessed with Lillium (from their webcomic countdown to countdown you should read it) but yeah I really wanna incorporate their shapes and backgrounds

And even further into want territory is Scott Christian Sava’s absolute mastery at watercolors. Taught me a lot of stuff about color and light and layering and expression that I just. Don’t use. Because I never do anything more than a wayward doodle. Alas.

so uhmm yeah idk how helpful this is it’s one am and I also don’t really think I’ve really developed a style I’m happy with. So you get a weird in between “this is what I got this is what I want” sorta deal. Uhm. Yeah

[roxannarambles]

Title: Wings of a Butterfly, Eye of the Tiger (Part 1)

Ship: Nemona x Juliana (Julinemo/Terajules)

Summary: Nemona and Juliana just can't resist returning to Area Zero once more. They find new places to explore, new pokemon to discover, and a new things to learn . . . about pokemon battling, but also about each other.

Notes: Okay guys, so there's a story I started on but I got a lot going on in life atm, so I may not finish this story anytime soon (or at all). Burned out on writing and got IRL stuff to deal with, you know how it goes.

That said! I decided I want to post the first chapter anyway, because it was fun to do and I thought folks might enjoy it on its own. So here you go. :D This is meant as a sequel to my story Picnic in Paradise.

You were in the middle of history class and you were so bored. Professor Raifort was on a tangent about some musty old ruins she’d studied in Kalos, and you could tell she wasn’t going to get back on track anytime soon. It wouldn’t be so bad if you were sitting next to Nemona, but Raifort assigned seats to students specifically to prevent friends from chatting during class. It was ruthless, cruel. You didn’t dare pull your phone out either, Raifort went into a rage if she saw any student fiddling with their “damned technology” in the middle of her class. You heaved a sad sigh, drooped over with your chin resting on your desk, gazing at Nemona’s ponytail and wishing you could talk to her. If only you could text her without Raifort noticing . . . ugh . . .

A silly idea popped into your head. You sat up and looked down at your notebook, then glanced up at Raifort. Hmm . . .

You picked up your pencil and scribbled out help me nemona my brain is going to melt into goop if I have to listen to her talk about excavation units for any longer

Slowly, you tore the piece of paper out of your notebook, so as not to make any noise, then folded it up. Nemona was sitting two rows ahead of you, but you knew the student sitting between you fairly well, they liked to talk to you about bug types sometimes. You tapped their arm gently and showed them the note, giving your head a little nod in Nemona’s direction and flicking your eyes back to them, trying to broadcast your intent. They seemed briefly confused but then quickly got the idea, taking the note and passing it without question. You watched Nemona accept the note with a puzzled look and unfold the paper, reading it. Then she cast a quick glance behind her, catching your eye. You grinned at her and she stifled a giggle.

After about a minute, you saw Nemona slide a note onto your classmate’s desk with a nervous expression, and they passed it along to you. You unfolded the paper.

there’s only 20 minutes left girl, you can survive. we can have a battle after class :)

That did sound nice, but 20 minutes felt like an eternity in this classroom. You wrote out another note.

okay sounds good. btw I can’t wait to go back to our secret place, think we can do that anytime soon? been thinking a lot about what we’re gonna do there next.

Then you spent some time doodling some pokemon, a large tiger with sabre teeth and angry eyes and a Pawmot facing off against it, punching it with an Ice Punch. You added a Rockruff behind the Pawmot, wagging its little tail and panting. You wrote out ‘You’ next to the Pawmot with an arrow and wrote ‘Me’ next to the Rockruff. Then you folded up the note and passed it forward.

You couldn’t see Nemona’s reaction, but eventually she passed another note back to you.

jules if the teacher catches us we’re gonna get in so much trouble. we’re champion rank trainers we’re supposed to set an example and stuff!

also I can’t wait to go back too, maybe this weekend? 

You snorted, amused at the mixed messages she was sending. She even included a little drawing too, it looked like her Pawmot and your Gengar holding hands and smiling, under a little rainbow. The word Us was scrawled above them. 

Nemona was not good at drawing. You still loved it more than any other piece of art on earth. You folded it up carefully and tucked it away in your pocket to keep. Then you wrote out another note.

if you can do it this weekend then heck yeah I’m in. can’t wait <3 <3  I love your drawing. 

You handed it to your classmate to pass forward. They accepted it with a sigh, looking a little weary by now with being used as a messenger, but passed it on anyway. Raifort had finally finished with her tangent and was writing stuff out on the chalkboard, but you couldn’t be bothered to care. You were too busy watching Nemona drawing something in her notebook, apparently concentrating very hard. It took her a good five minutes, but she finally finished, folding it up and turning to pass it back.

Except she didn’t manage to get that far. Professor Raifort had finally caught wise to the funny business and grabbed hold of Nemona’s wrist before she could pass the note. Nemona gasped, her eyes growing wide.

“Ms. Sanchez, I’ll be checking that, if you don’t mind.”

The teacher snatched the sheet of paper from her hand and released Nemona, unfolding the note. She scrutinized it a moment, scowling. Folding the sheet of paper back up, she spoke in a stern tone,

“Ms. Sanchez, in case you have forgotten, art class is at 3:00 on Thursdays with Mr. Hassel. We are currently in history class, and I ask that you keep your focus on the subject for the duration of my class. Understood?”

“Y-yes Ms. Raifort,” Nemona stammered, shrinking a little in her seat, while a few people in class giggled. Raifort sighed wearily, pacing away and depositing the note upon her lectern. 

“Now where were we . . . ah, yes. So there were a number of factors that contributed to the decline and eventual collapse of the empire . . .”

It was a mercy when the bell finally rang, students packing up as quickly as possible so they could escape. By the time you’d made your way to the front of the class to Nemona, most of the classroom had already emptied. Nemona had slung her bag over her shoulder and was looking very anxious. You leaned in to mutter,

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you think she’s still mad?”

You shook your head,

“She’s probably forgot about it already.”

“I-I dunno . . . I think I’m gonna go apologize.”

“Nemona, you don’t have to–”

She’d already gone to the front of the classroom, though.

“M-Ms. Raifort? I’m sorry about before, drawing in class I mean. It won’t happen again.”

The instructor glanced up from clearing the chalkboard. She had a disapproving look in her sharp eyes as she sighed,

“I certainly hope not. I expected better from you, Ms. Sanchez–”

You hastened to the front of the room, interrupting her,

“Don’t blame Nemona, Ms. Raifort, I’m the one who started it.”

The teacher’s shrewd gaze switched to you, her eyes narrowing.

“I see. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. You may still be a new student, but know that I hold you to the same exact standards of behavior as your peers.”

You nodded and answered quickly,

“Of course, and I’m really sorry. But um, would it be possible to get Nemona’s picture back? It would really mean a lot.”

Nemona’s eyes flicked to you, looking as though she thought you were crazy and she expected Raifort to bite your head clean off. Raifort looked briefly thrown off by the request 

but then she just turned back to cleaning the blackboard, sighing,

“Take it and leave.”

You went up to the lectern and snatched the sheet of paper up, saying cheerfully,

“Thanks Ms. Raifort! See you next week!”

As you and Nemona rushed out of the classroom, Raifort muttered gravely,

“If the youth are our future, I fear for the future.”

Passing through the halls, you unfolded the sheet of paper to find a large, slightly asymmetrical heart. It had a lot of lines drawn through it at random angles, which confused you a little. You said,

“Oh, I like the . . . heart?”

Nemona looked down at the drawing and clarified brightly,

“That’s my heart! When I met you.”

You studied it, your brow furrowing.

“It, um . . . broke?”

“What? No! It’s not broken, it . . .”

Suddenly looking very self-conscious, she glanced away. She mumbled,

“It’s supposed to be terastallized . . .”

Your eyes widened as you finally recognized the rough lines as facets to a jem. You squeaked out,

“Oh.”

What were you supposed to do with this revelation? Did your best friend and crush just casually drop this bombshell on you like it was nothing? 

“I-I-I, uhm, I– N-nemona, that’s– that’s–” 

You were trying to get out, Meeting me terastallized your heart? but your face was heating up fast and you couldn’t manage to utter something so sappy and wonderful, in part out of fear you were misunderstanding somehow. 

Nemona seemed a little antsy and uncomfortable, and she cut in, quickly switching subjects.

“Hey, you wanted to battle after class, right? C’mon, let’s go to the Schoolyard!”

“Oh– uh– r-right–sure!”

She grabbed your hand and headed towards the stairs eagerly. You made sure to carefully tuck the note away into your pocket.

By the time you both reached the Schoolyard and took your positions, students were already crowding round to watch. It was pretty much a guarantee that when two Champion-rank students were having a battle, it was going to draw some attention, even if it was spur-of-the-moment. It used to make you feel uneasy, being under the spotlight like that. But it didn’t bother you any more, because these days your sole focus was on the battle and Nemona’s infectious energy– everything else just seemed to fall away. 

“You ready?”

She held out her first pokeball and her eyes were glinting with that familiar thrill. You nodded, grinning.

“All right!” she said, throwing the ball.

“Orthworm, let’s go!”

You threw your own pokeball, sending out Krookodile.

“Krookodile, Stealth Rock!”

“Orthworm, Shed Tail!”

Both of your teams had seen a lot of action over the past few months, and you’d faced off against each other many, many times. As a result, there was a lot of familiarity, but things were hardly what you’d call predictable. You’d both made changes to your teams continuously as you learned and adapted and tried new things. For example, Nemona switched up her leads a fair bit. Starting with Orthworm’s Shed Tail was a relatively new development. She’d been using it very effectively as a way of setting up in the early game.

You were on the watch for that possibly now, as Nemona switched into her Palafin next. You quickly swapped in your Bellibolt, which easily tanked the Jet Punch. Then you ordered Bellibolt to Thunderbolt, eager to break the Substitute before her Palafin got up to any funny business with Bulk Ups. But Nemona opted instead to just order Flip Turn, and then sent out Pawmot to eat up the attack. The bolt of electricity struck her Pawmot, charging it with power, and the audience gave an excited little ‘oooh’ in response.

You narrowed your eyes, thinking; you were considering staying in to use a Mud Shot, but you knew Nemona’s Pawmot hit like a truck. Instead you decided to switch in Gengar. 

You watched as Pawmot’s furious punches phased harmlessly through Gengar, the ghost giggling when Pawmot passed through him and flopped onto the ground. The Close Combat was an easy prediction, honestly, but the audience cheered anyway, loving the spectacle. 

Nemona called,

“It’s all right Pawmot, we got this! Get ready!”

The energetic pokemon leapt back to his feet, fists raised, facing off against your ghost with a glare. 

You smirked a little, thinking to yourself that Nemona shouldn’t be so quick to assume Pawmot had this. You pointed and issued your order,

“Gengar, Dazzling Gleam!”

Nemona looked surprised, but she still took it in stride, quickly ordering,

“Double Shock!”

The two pokemon charged at each other, meeting in the middle of the battle court in an explosion of dazzling lights and crackling electricity. Your vision was bleached out from the brightness and when you could see again, Gengar had fallen, Pawmot panting and very weak but still standing. The audience gasped while Nemona cheered,

“Good work, Pawmot!”

Gengar returned to his ball; you were honestly shocked that the Dazzling Gleam hadn’t been enough to take Pawmot out. Though by the looks of it, he’d been very close. You sent out your Tauros Aqua Breed. Nemona eagerly ordered Pawmot to Volt Switch, but you called out,

“Aqua Jet!”

The shot of water struck Pawmot first, knocking the weakened pokemon out. Nemona laughed,

“Darn. Didn’t think you’d mess up there but was hoping anyway.”

You smiled and shrugged,

“You’d be disappointed if I did something that silly.”

“True, haha. Okay Meowscarada, go!”

You considered things for a moment. Nemona probably didn’t expect you to do something so silly as to keep Tauros in on her Meowscarada, either– she’d probably expect you to swap to your Volcarona. You knew she loved swapping to Palafin for that, so you decided to switch to Bellibolt. 

Unfortunately, it seemed you ended up over-predicting her. The Flower Trick that landed on Bellibolt hit hard, weakening it far too much, well past the point of recovery. With a sigh, you decided to leave him in, letting him faint to the next Flower Trick.

You swapped to Volcarona then– you wanted a clean switch for her anyway. This was also a beautiful opportunity. As Nemona recalled Meowscarada, you ordered,

“Quiver Dance!”

“Palafin, you’re in charge!”

The dolphin that materialized on the battle court was now in his fully-powered state, rippling muscles and tall, proud stance. He was a menace for your team and had often been the one responsible for your losses against Nemona. With your best counter already fainted, Nemona was looking pretty smug.

“Becha you wished you didn’t throw away Bellibolt so soon.”

You shrugged,

“Eh, easy come, easy go. I’ll manage.”

Nemona turned to her pokemon.

“Well, there won’t be any more Quiver Dances on my watch. Palafin, you know what to do!”

You pulled a small, glittering orb from your pocket. God, you’d waited for this moment for weeks. You’d laid in bed at night giggling about it as you imagined your silly plan, and you’d spent hours and hours painstakingly gathering the tera shards, bit by bit. 

Now it was finally time.

Settling your nerves, you carefully threw the tera orb, the energy crashing into your Volcarona.

You called:

“Volcarona, Solar Beam!”

The audience gasped at the mid-battle terastallization, the tera energy gathering around Volcarona and the crystals spreading rapidly across its body, finishing at the top with a glittering crown, her tera jewel: a bouquet of flowers. Then Volcarona glittered and shone even brighter as she gathered up sunlight for her Solar Beam, the Power Herb gripped in her little legs melding into the light as she charged, brighter and brighter, until it was almost painful to look. 

You could see Nemona’s eyes were wide, the light of your pokemon reflected in them.

Palafin’s Jet Punch struck your pokemon, but the move hardly even phased it. 

Then Volcarona unleashed its attack in return, the blast of energy engulfing the dolphin entirely. 

Palafin didn’t stand a chance, fainting immediately, and the students around you let loose some wild cheers. However, Nemona looked more excited than any of them by far. She leapt and cackled,

“Oh my god, Jules! That was incredible!!”

You grinned proudly, giggling,

“Thanks.”

“Seriously, I had no idea, when did you change her tera typing?!”

“Just last week.”

“Oh my god. That was so cool, and the Power Herb too!– it was genius, gahh! I can’t believe you– grhh, okay, we still have a battle to finish, but we’ll talk later, okay?”

You laughed,

“Okay.”

While your mid-battle victory over Palafin filled you with giddy energy (if you were honest, though, it had more to do with Nemona’s unrestrained glee than your victory), it was hardly a decided match. After Nemona had finished gushing over the cool moment, she got her head back in the game and sent out her Talonflame. You weren’t gonna sacrifice your Volcarona recklessly, so you swapped to your Krookodile. Nemona took advantage of the moment to get a Swords Dance off. She then ordered a Brave Bird, seriously weakening your Krookodile. Staying calm, you ordered,

“Stone Edge!” 

“What?!”

The move fortunately connected with the bird, dropping the pokemon instantly.

“I thought you were gonna Taunt! Since when are you packing Stone Edge?!”

You shrugged again, smiling.

“Told ya I made a few changes.”

Nemona groaned.

“You’re turning into a downright terror. Looks like I gotta get serious here.”

She tossed a ball, calling,

“Dragapult, time to get to work! Draco Meteor!”

After Krookodile fainted, you sent out your Tauros. Unfortunately, Nemona correctly predicted the Outrage, swapping into Orthworm on the hit, who took the attack easily. While your Tauros was still in a frenzy, she got up some late-game Stealth Rocks. Luckily Tauros calmed down soon after that, although he now was dizzy from the overpowered attack. You knew he needed a chance to rest, so you switched to your Corviknight, while at the same time Nemona brought Dragapult back in. 

You thought carefully about your next move. You only had Corviknight, Tauros and Volcarona left– she had Meowscarada, Dragapult, and Orthworm. It was a little awkward dealing with Dragapult, though. You decided to just go all out. Corviknight would live a Thunderbolt and get an attack off and Tauros would have to finish it off– he could do it, he had an Assault Vest– and you’d save Volcarona for the other two.

“Corviknight, Brave Bird!”

Your pokemon flapped her wings, rising higher and higher into the air, then fell into a swoop. From the other side of the battle court, Nemona shouted,

“Dragapult, Fire Blast!”

Your heart skipped a beat, not expecting that move at all. You watched as the bird dove directly into a massive fireball, the pokemon crying out in shock.

Corviknight never even reached Dragapult. The fainted pokemon returned to your ball.

“Fire Blast?”

Nemona smiled, hands on hips.

“I made a few changes too.”

“Mnnn . . .”

You sent your Tauros out. You ordered Outrage, desperately needing to take care of this Dragapult. Unfortunately, Nemona didn’t want to give you that chance, and swapped back into Orthworm once more, using Earthquake. The big Steel-type worm had been worn down enough by now that the Outrages managed to finish it off, but at what cost? 

Nemona sent her Meowscarada back out once Tauros’ rage had quelled. You were pretty sure it was over, but maybe you still had a chance with Volcarona. You ordered Tauros to Aqua Jet for some extra damage, waiting for the Flower Trick to finish him off. 

But Nemona hesitated. She seemed to think a moment, and then instead of Flower Trick, she commanded,

“Play Rough!”

You watched as Meowscarada’s cape shifted colors from green to light pink, and then the cat leapt forward, striking your Tauros down on the spot. You stared for a few moments in disbelief.

Then you looked up to Nemona.

“Your Meowscarada has Protean now?”

She looked so psyched, immediately answering,

“I’ve been waiting so long to show it off, I found an Ability Patch in a tera den!! It’s so great to finally tell you, I also equipped her with a– oh, whoops, probably shouldn’t blab that part yet. You’ll see, heheh!”

You chuckled, saying,

“That’s honestly awesome, but I think it’s gonna be a GG for me.”

You released your final pokemon, the Volcarona still sparkling with its crown of flowers. 

“C’mon Jules, you know what I always tell you, never call it early–”

“Yeah, yeah, it isn’t over ‘til it’s over. I know.”

Still, you knew that Protean sealed the deal. You could have taken out a grass-type Meowscarada in one hit, but not a Fairy-type Meowscarada. There was Dragapult waiting in the wings anyway. 

Releasing a little sigh, you smiled gently. You issued your command to Volcarona.

“Ok, Volcarona. Quiver Dance!”

Nemona shouted,

“Go, Meowscarada, Play Rough!”

The nimble feline charged as your Volcarona fluttered her wings and began her graceful dance. Meowscarada leapt into the air, claws extended, teeth bared . . .

But she missed. Your Volcarona swooped out of the way just in the nick of time. The gathered students uttered a collective ‘oooh!’ and Nemona gasped before yelling,

“Quick, Meowscarada, again, Play Rough!”

“Volcarona, Flamethrower!”

Volcarona was a lot faster now, and Meowscarada went down in flames before she could get her attack off. And suddenly the match was down to one-on-one. Nemona released her Dragapult while the crowd murmured. 

Even though misses were always a part of matches, you still felt bad, saying,

“Dang. Play Rough almost never misses, it should have been a safe bet . . .”

“Hey, no worries. Like I said, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over!”

She grinned, pulling her tera orb from her pocket. Right, hers was still charged. And her Drapagult had Choice Specs. Crap.

“Wait, your Dragapult’s still Tera Dragon, right?”

You knew she’d been toying with the idea of changing it to Tera Ghost, but you had no clue if she actually did.

Nemona just winked at you. She replied sneakily,

“Not telling.”

You groaned, then shook your head.

“O-okay, that’s fine, I don’t need you to! Let’s finish this.”

She took aim with her Tera Orb, and you made your choice.

Nemona flung the Tera Orb.

“Volcarona, Flamethrower!”

“Dragapult, Draco Meteor!”

Nemona’s pokemon transformed into its splendid, terastallized state, and your heart sank when you saw it still was crowned with a Dragon Tera Jewel. The Flamethrower struck the dragon but didn’t take it out. Oh boy. The massive meteors roared in the air, crashing into your Volcarona with a flurry of purple sparkles . . .

But once the dust settled, Volcarona was still flapping, tired but conscious! Not wasting another moment, you triumphantly shouted,

“Volcarona, Bug Buzz!!”

The final attack struck Dragapult down for good, to the jubilation of the crowds. 

Afterwards, you both headed to the cafeteria for lunch, Nemona ranting and raving about the match the whole way there. When you spotted Arven and Penny already eating, Nemona hurried over to their table to excitedly recount the story for them. You ate lunch and watched her with a silly smile, because few things in life were as wonderful as listening to Nemona talk about pokemon battling. She was so incredibly animated, putting her whole body into the story and acting out the key moments, her eyes crackling with a fiery spirit and her energy so overflowing that she kept squeezing her hands into fists and giving happy little jumps. 

It was so adorable and joyful that you could hardly stand it. 

“And then, then!” She swung her arms wide, making explosion noises,

“Blammgmmgmgm! Solar Beam blows Palafin straight outta the water, she had a Power Herb!!  Not even a second to react, he’s already gone, my jaw hit the floor! You guys you have no idea how awesome it was, I’ve been telling people forever now that Terastalizing can give us these ridiculously cool game-changing moments but all the Gym leaders are always like ‘Bla bla bla, we can’t Tera into anything other than our chosen monotype, bla bla bla’ like c’mon!! How are we supposed to get trainers excited for battle with terastallization if it’s always like that! Jules did exactly what I’ve been wanting people to do for so long, it felt like, like, something I’m gonna remember forever, you know?”

There was a moment’s pause when Nemona stopped to catch her breath. 

“So I’m getting the impression Nemona liked the battle,” Arven said dryly, sipping his drink. Penny chuckled.

“I’m not even finished yet, wait ‘til you guys hear the rest!!”

You somehow managed to make it through lunch without perishing from either Nemona’s praise or her adorable antics, but when you made it back to your dorm, you flung yourself onto the bed with a huge sigh. It was getting harder all the time to keep a lid on your feelings. It was gonna start affecting your battles soon at this rate, and Nemona was sure to notice that . . .

You felt a lump in your pockets and pulled out a sheet of paper.

“Oh, god, right.”

You unfolded the scribbly heart Nemona had drawn for you during class. You stared at it for a long time, and the other note you’d saved of the two of you as pokemon holding hands under a rainbow. It certainly felt like solid, undeniable proof that she returned your feelings, but at this point you second-guessed everything. Nemona had the habit of making some incredibly strong statements of affection about you. After you beat the E4 and had your first battle together as equals, she asked if you wanted to be rivals for life, and it practically felt like a marriage proposal. She’d only doubled down since then, casually telling you stuff like ‘I’ve relished every single day since you’d moved here’ or done stuff like rearrange her classes and delay her graduation just so she could graduate at the same time as you. You know, simple things like shift all her life plans just for you. 

You hopped off your bed, a determined look in your eye. You were gonna stop waffling. It was time to finally tell her. 

You had to do it right, though. Nemona was doing stuff like proclaiming that meeting you terastallized her heart. So you had to be big and bold too. You wanted to match her energy, and you wanted it to be unmistakable. You picked up some of your pokeballs, then headed back out to the Schoolyard. 

Once you’d stepped out into the open-air solarium, you immediately headed over to the garden area and found a quiet corner to work on your little project. You let your Frosmoth out of her ball. 

“Okay, Frosmoth. Let’s get back to work. Ice Beam. Nice and slow, just like we practiced.”

Your plan was pretty simple. It was something you saw on social media a few weeks ago: somebody had trained their Glaceon to create ice sculptures with its Ice Beam, and one of them was a big heart. It had seemed perfect to you, because what better time to confess to Nemona then in the middle of a pokemon battle? You’d envisioned it then, sending Frosmoth out and creating the sculpture, the look of Nemona’s surprised delight, and then you’d finally come clean to her, tell her everything. You’d tried to confess to her a ton of times already, true, but something always happened. Either it was misunderstood or you chickened out or your plans got derailed somehow. Most recently, you had planned to take her to Cortondo for those little lemon cakes she loved so much and tell her then. That had been right after you’d returned from your Area Zero picnic. But you’d both gotten so busy with exams after that, so it hadn’t happened. 

But it was fine. You had a better plan now and you were going to follow through this time. Frosmoth just had to perfect her technique and produce something other than lumpy ice blobs. It was rough going but you believed in her, you knew she’d get the hang of it. Eventually. 

Probably.

“Okay, Frosmoth, good effort! Let’s try again, I think if you slowed down a bit more and made sure to go back and forth, it won’t end up so lumpy . . .”

You glanced down at your phone, re-reading the blog post about teaching your pokemon to make ice sculptures. Nobody had ever tried to teach a Frosmoth before. You wondered if that mattered. Slowglobe had very different eyes from Glaceons, it might affect things. Hm. 

You eventually looked up again from your reading.

“Oh my gosh, Frosmoth! That’s so good!”

It was hardly as impressive as the photo in the blog, but it was way closer to a heart than she’d ever gotten before. Very lumpy and asymmetrical still, but if you squinted, it was almost recognizable!

While you were examining the ice sculpture and thinking about how to improve things, a familiar voice rang out from across the Schoolyard.

“Hey! Juliana, there you are!”

Your heart leapt in a panic. Oh, crap, crap, no– she couldn’t see this now, it wasn’t ready! You glanced around for a few moments trying to think of what to do, until some quick thinking saved you. You chucked a ball and said,

“Volcarona, u-uh, Flamethrower, right there! Quick!”

The large insect obediently released a fireball, melting the ice sculpture down. A few moments later Nemona had finished jogging over, saying,

“Oh, sorry, didn’t know you were training!”

You spun around, the pair of moths hovering behind you.

“Ahaha, i-it’s fine! We’re mostly just fooling around . . .”

Nemona nodded, crossing her arms and grinning.

“Great! ‘Cause I wanted to ask you about this weekend, when we go to Area Z– er–”

She suddenly stopped and glanced around furtively, then stepped closer, dropping her voice.

“I mean, our secret place. What time were you thinking?”

You blinked. Oh, right. You’d forgotten about that already. 

“Um . . . is Saturday morning okay? Early?”

You toed the gravel under your shoe and repressed the urge to say ‘as soon as possible for as long as possible.’

“Yeah, that’s fine! Like 8:00? We could go right after breakfast!”

You looked up at her and smiled,

“Sure!”

Nemona seemed very pleased.

“Awesome. Man, it’s gonna be so great to finally head back again. Poor Hellcat’s been waiting in their ball, I haven’t even been able to heal them since the nurses at the Pokecenters would notice something weird’s up . . .”

You nodded.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, we’ll bring lots of potions and food for them. And we can work on training them.”

Enthusiastically, she agreed,

“Yeah! Plus we can look for Roaring Moo–”

You held up a finger to your lips to hush her and she quickly stopped, giggling,

“Whoops, sorry.”

She stepped even closer to you and leaned in, whispering,

“We can look for Roaring Moon. And maybe whatever other exciting things we can find, heheh.”

Having Nemona this close and whispering sweet nothings to you– well, all right, they weren’t sweet nothings, but at this proximity they may as well be– was a lot to handle. You felt your cheeks warming and the world felt just slightly off-balance.

“Y-yeah! Okay, yeah! That sounds, um, good!”

Smiling, she said to you quietly,

“Perfect. See you then.”

She gave you a wink for the second time today, and you knew it made sense in context but man, she had better stop doing that. It was too dangerous for your heart. 

Once she’d departed, you turned back to inspect the slushy puddle that had been your ice sculpture. You sighed.

“Guess we gotta put this plan on hold ‘til after our trip.”

You returned your pokemon to their balls so you could start making preparations for your journey back to Area Zero.

[thewandererh]

JASHLING GIFT BOMB, GO!!!!💥💥

this might become a series, or might not, but one night i was feeling fanart-y so i went kablam and boombam—so, tadaaa: art :]. i have some ideas for some others i could draw some doodles for, but don’t ask me to draw ur fellas (just yet?). anyways! this was done with ‘the soft falcon pen (bleed)’ pen on ibispaintX, and drawn in the same-ish session as a previous post [https://www.tumblr.com/thewandererh/750429727850889216/i-think-i-have-a-type]

had some good fun drawing this, so who knows maybe ill make another part all in the style of simple doodles that could be fun to max produce.

featuring:

SUL (bald robot boy) - mine

guel??juno? (floaty flame guy) - Remkae

Heart (scraggly winged figure) - Kalei!!

Heart (toony sweetheart) - @jeweledstone

Mind (silly hair and cheek teeth) - @occulee

loved drawing everyone here!! the diversity in styles and designs is very fun to look and and was neat to experiment with! trying out their style while mincing some of my own in, aswell as how everyone fits on the page,,,mwa💛✨. i really like characters with an exaggeration on expression (+ mesmerizing fluid/fire/smoke animation) so Remkae’s mind design/mindification-of-a-character was a MUst. silly eyes. kalei!!’s Estranger anim crew was very cool to look at and draw, and here i experimented with the squiggles which turned out better than how i usually do it. i had watched the animation recently then and that heart came into…mind. jeweled’s style and fellers are just so fun to look at…i just want to hold them. so simple and neat i love them. i love how their heart fits so nicely in here, looking snug but almost smug. and occulee’s stuff and style just had human faces down and their concepts for mind are very cool :]. trying out different ways to draw hair, and with the 6th spooky month out i’ve been maybe unironically drawing in the roy-hair-style?? occulee’s mind has a mishmash-monstermash hair style. foof to get in his face <33

including some refs of the fellas i drew here for anyone who needs them (will remove if asked). i recommend checking all the artists out!! i linked them up above :]

.-.

that is all for now :] might try again/draw more fanart of these fellows but who knows!

[update time]

maybe expect more content from me? today’s my first full day of summer (yesterday was a half day) and it’s been wild and cool so far. great weather :]!! going swimming on monday💛. also ive been practicing with emoji combinations look

🔅⛵️this is a favorite🦋💦

🪸🌻ough this too🍉🍍

🔅☀️emojis are cool whenever more are added i get happy⭐️✨

🔆this is actually the brightness emoji so it doesnt come up when you search ‘sun’—tricky! pretty though. subtle🔅

anyways!! have a goo day and goobye <3

[smallraindrops-blog]

I can't remember if this was brought up in WMFTD, but I like how in the aus it's implied (and sometimes shown) that Y/n has some form of artist talent.

I love the idea of WMFTD! Y/n having a small stash of art he did of the residents of the house(Dusa, Zagreus, Hades even, etc) and a few of his parents. Of course, he also has a good pile of Hypnos doodles and portraits.

I also like to imagine him when he was still with Patroclus, drawing whenever he wasn't fighting others or talking with his pa. Something to keep him distracted from his thoughts and memories.

Maybe at some point in the future, he does a family portrait of him, Hypnos, and their children.

I dunno something about making art of your loved ones just makes me giddy.

(anon, sorry for the wait. I love this ask so much, i kept rereading it.)

Since Y/N is a reader insert, i try to keep his artist talents/levels up to the reader. So Yeah, it kinda has not been explored in WMFTD.

Gonna put my rambling response under.

But yeah, Hypnos would be his main subject, his muse.

he got so many of Hypnos just sleeping. I like to think he would get would tons of good poses, hypnos usually pick one position and doesn’t move around like some people do in their sleep.

I like to think y/n’s favorites are the ones where Hypnos looks utterly content, a little smile on his face, his limbs loose. There are also some private ones, brief moments that Y/N immortalized just for his eyes alone.

But yeah, he had some of everyone. (Skelly was an interesting subject for him, he was also fond of trying to get Dusa’s speediness on paper)

He definitely got some of his parents, more of his Pa since they spent so much time together. ( achilles accidentally found one of Patroclus once, just a simple one where Pat was smiling faintly at something, not completely facing the viewer. It was clear Achilles loved it and Y/N oftered it to him. It is one of Achilles’ most prized possessions.)

and yeah, when he and hypnos began their family, he have actually draws the kids the most. Beside Hypnos.

There are tons of Hypnos just holding one of the kids ( those might be his favorites. There was just something about those moments that melt his heart). Some with Hypnos smiling down at the baby, others time with both hypnos and baby napping.

He also got tons of them playing. He also spent a lot time making sure to get the fat rolls, little pouty lips and their darling cubby cheeks were like they were in real life.

When they are older, He always try to get Morpheus’ wings and cheerful grin just right.

The power of Icelos’ proud baring and her big eyes. Phantasos’ careful, gentle hands on his newest possession.

Phobetor’s watchful eyes, his polite smile and the way he lean in when someone is speaking to him.

Y/n get better at expressing his love and showing his affection but this was another way for him to do it.

And he loves them all so much that that sometimes that he can’t speak.

[dragonpastels]

What's your favorite detail about your AU that you don't think people have picked up on, or your just want more attention on?

Oh wow, I still feel like it's really early on into this AU for people to really be noticing anything, but thank you for this ask. So what I'm going to do is sort of a "behind the scenes" sort of thing. First of all the way I draw present Donnie and future, or Evil, Donnie is quite different.

It's mostly in their faces mind you, but I draw present Donnie with more rounded, soft, features. While Evil Donnie I draw far more angular, and sharp. It was once unintentional and was mainly a result of his design process with that process essentially being, "mmm, yes, sharp." I've kept this feature because it's a good way to show the differences in state for these two boys. The difference between one being innocent, and the other twisted. Another thing I'd like to share is the way I draw expressions for Donnie specifically. When it comes to anger for the others most of their expression is located in their forehead and around the eyes. Like our now remorseful Raph here.

But with Donnie I give him something that I lovingly call an "anger scrunch." Where I will put most of his expression in his snoot like these.

These I call his "full anger scrunch" where at this point he's absolutely losing it and only time can calm him down. I'll typically draw the mouth more forward on his snoot with all his teeth showing and wide eyes. Like an angry dog.

of course, it can look slightly different especially when speaking, but I typically try my best not to deviate too much. And the anger scrunch isn't exclusive to just rage. It can range from mild annoyance and even convey conflicting emotions. Some examples of scrunches that are not used for when he's just really mad.

Since his rage is quite obvious on his face his family knows when he's slightly annoyed or about to eat someone's face. Leo specifically knows the best out of everyone just how close he is to snapping, and abuses that. Here's a little doodle page showing the stages of scrunch.

I treat Donnie's expression this way because he's the one that has the most animalistic traits, and body language of all the boys. It's sort of a tie-in and connection to his tism and partly because I love drawing him as an absolute creature. And with that, my rambling is over. Even though the AU is still young I hope you all stick around and enjoy your time. I might do more of these in the future, or I might not, depending on if I can make a whole thing of it. Oh! And for those of you who read this whole thing here's a special sneak peek of the next update! Is he mad? Well Time to use that new scrunch knowledge to use!

Oh and one final thing I know most of you don't interact with the Evil Donnie asks, but for those of you who do. I encourage you to play a game of spot the difference between asks 👁👁