#i really like these colour shapes animals paintings

[thuviel]

A gift for my brother of his dog Puffen ❤

[afterglowkatie]

little starfish meets starfish | k.m/c.f.

katie mccabe x caitlin foord x child!reader | 2k | how you got your name, aquarium visits and meeting your favourite sea creature

ˏˋ°•*⁀ this is part of my new little starfish universe. i've had this written for a little while now with the second part already almost finished. first child!reader fic! so! i hope you all like it! (reader is katie's kid from before katie and caitlin)

‘Mammy, mammy!’ Your little voice rang out loudly throughout the car, ‘Did you know you like a starfish?’ Kicking your little legs around, excited to tell your mammy the new fact you’d recently learnt.

You’d become obsessed with starfish the moment you saw one in a nature documentary that had been on the tv at the time. Stars and animals were your favourite things separately, and to find out that there was a sea creature shaped like a star had blown your little mind. 

Since then Katie helped you fill out your room with all different starfish items, a little starfish night light, bed spread of sea animals that included starfish of course. You’d even begged your mammy to paint your walls blue with little starfish to match the glow in the dark stars that littered the roof of your bedroom.

One day your mammy came home with a colouring book she’d found, all different kinds of starfish and little facts on each page. Katie and Caitlin both helped you read the facts, soon enough you were able to read them all on your own. Proudly getting to tell them both all the new facts you learnt on each page.

‘Oh, am I now?’ Katie glanced back in your direction briefly before looking back at the road, an amused smile on her lips. 

‘Mhm,’ You sang out a little, ‘They got tough skin, keeps all the baddies away. Like you mammy you keep all the baddies away from the ball,’ Both Katie and Caitlin stifled their laughter at your comparison. They both loved watching you grow up and how your mind worked. 

‘You got that right, my little starfish, no one gets that ball off me,’ Caitlin rolled her eyes at Katie’s smug expression giving her a little nudge. You always helped inflate your mammy’s ego, even if you didn’t know it, you genuinely just thought that everything your mammy did was the best in the world. 

‘Mammy’s the best,’ You smiled proudly, repeating the phrase you had on the little sign that you took to every match. Caitlin had helped you make it, you wanted it to be a surprise for your mammy. 

Despite how much Katie tried, you weren’t that interested in football, only if your mammy was on the pitch. If she wasn’t then you’d have to have something to keep yourself preoccupied or you’d gravitate towards Kyra and Laia. They both listened to your random facts, Laia even giving you new ones every now and then, you claimed them both to be the fun ones and they’d always rope you in to cause a little bit of mischief. 

‘You know, little starfish, they’ve got little touch pools at this aquarium,’ Caitlin turned around in her seat to look at you. Your eyebrows scrunching into a little frown and your head slightly tilted to the side, the frown alone there was no doubt you were Katie’s daughter.

‘What's that Caity?’ You wiggled your feet a little, intrigued by what Caitlin was about to tell you.

‘Touch pools have different sea animals, like starfish,’ Your eyes widened a little upon hearing your favourite sea creature being mentioned, ‘And they let you touch the creatures in the little pools,’ Your eyes widened to the point they looked like they might pop out of your head, you thought what Caitlin had told you was the coolest thing ever.

Though a frown was quick to take over your face again, ‘Does it hurt them?’ You didn’t want to accidentally hurt something that you loved so much.

‘No, no. You just have to be really gentle,’ Caitlin was quick to reassure you.

‘Mammy?’ Not that you didn’t trust Caitlin, but you believed your mammy knew everything and if she said the same thing then you know that it’s the truth.

‘Little starfish, Caitlin’s right. Just be gentle with them, like how you’re gentle with Myle and they’ll love you the same,’ You beamed at the mention of your favourite dog, your best buddy as you call Myle, though you couldn’t say that to Steph but Calvin was a little too big for you but you still liked him.

‘We there yet mammy?’ You whined already wanting to be at the aquarium so you could see your favourite creatures. As soon as Katie stopped the car in the aquarium parking you were tugging at your seatbelt and kicking your legs trying to escape your car seat. 

‘Now remember, no running and stay close to either of us. We don’t wanna lose you,’ Your mammy reminded you while she was getting you out of your car seat. 

‘You won’t lose me mammy, you find me with the starfishes,’ You gave your mammy a cheeky little smile, one that you’d learnt from Kyra, though your mammy didn’t back down instead raising her eyebrow at you, ‘Fine mammy, can we please go now please,’ 

You liked the staff at the aquarium, they gave you a little map and a sheet to find different items within the aquarium and fill it out so you’d get a little prize at the end of the day. Caitlin helped you write down the answers while your mammy kept trying to wrangle you and make sure you stayed hydrated while you were running, no you were walking fast just like you told both Katie and Caitlin multiple times, everywhere.

‘Woah slow down little one,’ Your mammy scooped you up when you tried to run off, it was a blessing and a curse that you knew how to read and associate that the little starfish symbol on the sign meant that’s the touch pools and the place you wanted to go the most, ‘There’s plenty of time to see everything,’

‘But I want to see the starfish,’ You wriggled in your mammy’s arms but you weren’t strong enough yet, one day you will be, ‘Caity,’ Accepting your fate with your mammy, you looked towards Caitlin, your best pout and puppy eyes you could muster. You learnt quickly that Caitlin would give in to you more easily than your mammy, especially when their relationship was still new and she wanted to be on your good side. 

‘How about a little snack and then we can go straight there,’ Caitlin gave you a soft smile before tickling your stomach. Laughing loudly, as if on cue your stomach grumbled as well, making you laugh even more.

The stop for a snack seemed to calm you down a little, you were still excited but you weren’t bouncing around almost out of control. You held onto both Katie and Caitlin’s hands, they’d lift you up and swing you every few steps. They both loved the sound of your little giggles filling the space around them.

The little touch pools were quiet when you eventually got there, just you, your mammy, your caity, a staff member and one other kid and their parents. You held onto your mammy’s hand quite tightly while the staff member was explaining and demonstrating how to safely touch the little sea creatures within the little pools in front of you.

‘Would you like to try now?’ The staff member’s voice was soft and kind, but you still semi hid behind Caitlin’s arm. The emphasis on being gently and soft got to your head a little bit, you didn’t want to be anything other than gentle and soft but you were still a little worried.

‘You okay little starfish?’ Caitlin was the one to notice just how quiet you were, quite unusual for you, in that sense you were just like your mammy. You peaked one eye out from behind Caitlin’s arm to look at her while she brushed some of the baby hairs back from your face. You were still holding Katie’s hand, even tighter than before.

‘What if I hurt them, Caity?’ At the sight of tears welling in your eyes, Caitlin picked you up, sitting you on her hip. Rocking you a little and rubbing your back despite the fact you wouldn’t let go of Katie’s hand either.

‘It’ll be okay, just be gentle like how you pat Myle. We can do it together,’  You calmed down at Caitlin’s words, leaning your head against her shoulder while you looked down at the sea creatures in front of you.

You’d finally let go of your mammy’s hand, watching closely as Caitlin put her hand into the water in front of you. Your own little hand soon followed, dipping into the water and hovering above one of the starfish that was in the pool. Caitlin took your hand in hers and helped you gently touch the starfish until you were sure you could do it on your own.

Katie watched from the side, a wide smile on her face as she watched your eyes light up as soon as your hand made contact with the starfish. She watched a little bit longer, taking a few photos of both you and Caitlin together, it always melted her heart a little bit more every interaction the two of you had.

The longer you touched the starfish the more you were committing to memory the feeling. You didn’t really have much to go by when you were trying to think of how a starfish might feel beforehand, you thought since they lived in water then they must be soft and squishy, even though you knew the fact about them being tough but you didn’t really understand that until you got to experience it.

‘I did it mammy!’ Your hand was still dripping from the water while you turned towards her, a proud smile on your face.

‘Proud of my little starfish, what a cool experience,’ Caitlin let you down gently, a good thing she was holding you or you probably would’ve ended up in the pool with the starfish, you made your way to your mammy who picked you up. Holding you close while she walked you away from the pools, letting other kids have their turn. 

The excitement of the day quickly washed over you and being in Katie’s arms your body was more tired than you realised. Katie and Caitlin shared a knowing look when you let out a little yawn and rested your head face down on Katie’s shoulder. You were fast asleep by the time they made their way to the exit. Katie took you to the car while Caitlin picked out a few things for you from the gift shop, even if you were asleep they couldn’t let you leave empty handed.

‘I hate having to wake her up, she always looks so peaceful,’ Your mammy whispered to Caitlin, who agreed, before gently picking you up from your car seat and carrying you inside the house.

Katie sat down on the couch briefly, rocking you gently, keeping you asleep while Caitlin sat down the bags from today before grabbing your favourite pyjamas and filling the bath up for you. Making sure the temperature was just right, though the little starfish bath toys she got for you today can wait another day, she still made sure to put bubbles in the bath.

‘Baby, everything’s ready for you,’ Caitlin gently sat next to the two of you, leaning in quickly and softly giving Katie a kiss while wrapping an arm around her. Both your mammy and Caitlin sat there watching how peaceful you looked after a big day. A moment of peace your household got to experience, if it wasn’t for the big day you and Cooper would be zooming around everywhere, ‘I’ll get her water bottle and bed ready,’ 

Katie whispered a soft thank you, kissing Caitlin’s cheek before she took you to the bathroom, ‘Hey my little starfish,’ Your mammy was always soft with you, especially when she would have to wake you up. Though you were so tired you barely acknowledged the bath, barely playing with or noticing the bubbles. 

So Katie was as quick as she could be, wrapping you up in your soft shark hooded towel and getting you dressed so you’d stay warm. You woke up a bit when you noticed you had a new friend in your bed. You grabbed the new starfish plushie, smiling as much as you could in your tired state, holding it close to you. 

You looked to your mammy who gave a little nod towards Caitlin, which you understood, ‘Thank you Caity,’ You mumbled quietly before drifting off to sleep. Only dreams of your new friend in your arms and of the starfish you got to meet.

[beifong-brainrot]

Aang is great because almost every ship you can put him in instantly becomes top-tier.

Like:

Kataang- they literally make me cry every single time I think of them. Their love story is wonderful and genuinely heartwarming. It symbolises healing and peace for both of them and the literal world. He showed her the world and he's her biggest supporter and she always defends him and they find solace in each other because they understand what it's like to be the last of their respective kind. And they're each other's hope and just... ahhh. They're so much more than the vanilla hero gets the girl ship people paint it as. Haters stay mad or smth.

Zukaang- the symbolism? They're the actual Ying and Yang of the show! The Rozin parallels? Them standing in a vortex of rainbow fire as two dragons (the blue one like Aang's tatoos facing zuko and the other one, red like Zuko's general colour scheme facing Aang) forming a heart shape around them? Zuko was literally searching for Aang and found his redemption in Aang and Aang made him a better person and Aang is literally the only person who genuinely experienced Fire Nation culture before the war and he clearly values it and he's helping Zuko bring peace to the world and the nation...

Taang- The og tomboy x soft boy dynamic. He's literally the person that helped her free herself from her parents and Air is the element of freedom? And she teaches him when to stand firm like the Earth? And I love when they do synchronised earthbending it's so satisfying and they work so well together. Toph having lost her face in one of Aang's nightmares is also a nice parallel to Ummi and Kuruk. (One caveat though: i hate taang being used as a "get Aang out of the way" side ship to Zutara)

Sokaang- they kinda come out of left field for me but the more I think about them the more obsessed I become. It's all about a teenage boy who has been forced into a role that demanded way too much of him finally learning to trust and rely on others. It's about Sokka finally living out the childhood that he was forced to grow out of. Sokka also has such a cute bond with Momo and more importantly, Appa, Aang's animal soulmate. The fics write themselves.

Sukaang- ok, I know Suki and Aang barely interacted in the show but like Hear me out.Suki is so connected to one of Aang's past lives. And she saved Appa, which would totally bond her and Aang (genuinely distressed that this was never discussed in canon). And they both value a sense of community so much, and Aang was one of the people who inspired Suki to leave Kyoshi to help others. Plus, there could be some amazing Rangshi parallels if Suki became Aang's bodyguard instead of Zuko's, which could be very plausible.

Azulaang- I adore this ship because I genuinely think Aang could really help Azula find her redemption. Hell, he was so nice to her in The Search and she literally killed him. Plus I've already laughed about how it would absolutely kill Ozai. The mental crisis Azula would go through due to fallingin love with Aang would be hilarious, and also the guilt over everything she's done, as Aang's kindness makes her realsie she was on the wrong side this whole time. He's one of the only people who can beat her at her prime and he doesn't seem to fear her at all, which is rare for her. Aang could give her the unconditional love she so desperately craves and needs.

Maiaang- genuinely adorable to me. Other than the obvious grumpy x sunshine trope, Maiaang has a lot of potential. Mai seems to genuinely like Aang in the comics, which is really cute. I also think Aang would be able to help Mai express her more positive emotions, other than just anger. Also something about the girl who was forced to remain silent and passive her whole life learning to finally let go and allow herself to just live with the help of probably one of the most active and expressive characters of the show has me by the throat. Plus, he got along great with her lil bro!

Tyaang- They're so similar and cute and bubbly! They'd have tons of fun together and I just know Ty Lee would teach Aang some gymnastics and he really enjoy it! I think he can also find Ty Lee's chiblocking very cool, since it is essentially a great way to deal with a conflict without causing permanent damage. Very airbendery. Speaking of which, Ty Lee is also very airbendry herself. I can genuinely see her finding herself in Air Nomad culture and be excited to help revive it.

Onjaang- i just find this ship so funny because imagine being a random schoolgirl in the fire nation and not only rizzing up a demigod but rizzing that demigod up successfully. This ship can also go so many ways depending on On Ji's reaction to that random cute guy who threw a cool dance party is actually the Avatar, so it's certainly interesting.

Yuaang- the ultimate cinnamon roll x cinnamon roll ship. But more than that, there's of course the Yue becoming the Moon Spirit and Aang getting lowkey possessed by the grieving Ocean Spirit. There's Yue appearing when Aang needed her most, while he's stranded in the middle of the ocean and helping him. They both understand sacrifice and responsibility, and maybe they could comfort each other through it. Also Aang being the bridge between the spirit worlds and Yue being a Spirit could lead to a very interesting romance, depending on how much the Avatar could interact with the Moon Spirit.

Jetaang- ok, Aang was just as infatuated with Jet as Katara was, right? And I think Aang was heavily affected by Jet's actions and behaviour. Also Aang really not wanting to hurt Jet while fighting him (twice!) was really cute. And Aang helping Jet snap out of the Dai Li brainwashing could be a really cool ship moment the more you think anout it.

Teoaang- Honestly their little one sided rivalry at the beginning of the episode was really cute. And I think there could be some interesting symbolism between them. Aang symbolising the old and Teo symbolising the new. They compliment each other like that. Teo comforting Aang by showing him that the critters of the temple are still alive and well is also sweet. And Aang admitting that Teo has the spirit of an airbender is so sweet.

Kuzaang- they're adorable. I loved the comic about them. Aang calling Kuzon "Hotman" is really funny. Aang helping Kuzon make a bigger flame with airbending is also really sweet. I especially like this ship in combination with Zukaang. It's such tasty symbolism.

Aang may just be the most shippable charater of this franchise, argue with the wall. He's so filled with love I have no choice but to multiship.

[peachypine]

the roomies!!! i originally designed this ososan oc trio in full about a year ago to write on an rp blog. it's not really active rn, but i still want to talk and post about 'em, so here they are! just basic rundowns, but i'd be curious to hear which one (if any) is your fav of the three (feel free to leave it in the tags?? if u want!)

bonus transparent of them all together:

aaand some rambling under the cut about their designs

anzu:

i wanted to use orange as a character colour bc it's one that wasn't already used in the matsu rainbow, and i had a concept of a gyaru character named anzu kicking around in my head for a long time as well, so here we are. miwa from the mixer ep inspired the eyeshadow (orange rather than miwa's blue obv, to keep with her colour theme) and delinquent totoko's design inspired her ombre dyejob! i went with a blonde-to-orange look as a nod to anzu's namesake fruit (apricot).

the strands framing her face are split into 3 sections at the end (2/3 are grouped together and 1/3 flips in the other direction) which is a little nod to her being one of 3 siblings (eldest), as well as the "三" character used in her surname (mikado) meaning 3. the rest of her hairstyle is just because i thought it looked cute, though.

ososan's style is more simplified, but i wanted to convey makeup that was a little bold, but cute (long false lashes, eyeshadow, & and a soft pink or nude glossy lip). clothing-wise, she mixes and matches a few different substyles (agejo and onee are prominent, with some ane, tsuyome, and general old school gal influences as well?), with a particular fondness for animal prints, esp. tiger print. (that said, orange tiger print doesn't seem all that common in gyaru clothes, so in-universe i like to think that the top pictured above was originally a black-and-white zebra(?) stripe print she thrifted and dyed at home--close enough!)

her nails day to day are usually medium length since she has a lot of hobbies that involve her hands and anything longer makes those things a bit more cumbersome. sometimes they're decoden/bedazzled, sometimes they're just painted a cute colour/pattern, depends on the day! and i think she opts for press-ons over extensions for longer nails, since it's cheaper.

ran:

i'm just a bitch who loves purple, that's the reason for this one. i think the hime cut with shorter bangs is nice because you can showcase the eyebrows (i think eyebrows can really elevate a character design so i gave all 3 their own brow shape) without worrying about the lines for the eyebrows and bangs intersecting in an annoying way when you draw it. i like shorter, slightly sharp eyebrows like these because they're easy to draw, lol. i think they're usually furrowed like she's displeased with something, but that may just be her resting face. i also thought this blunter, sharper-looking cut (bold, standoffish) was a fun contrast to anzu's flippy half-updo (bright, bouncy) and yuzu's short, wavy hair (languid, relaxed).

5 piercings on each ear (2 spiked helix & 3 lobe) = 5 siblings including ran (4 older brothers). the other reason for this number of piercings was that her namesake flower (orchid) had--i thought--5 petals, but as it turns out i'm a fool, it's actually 3 petals (including the lip) and 3 sepals??? ah, well.

clothing-wise, influences from various punk/vkei styles alongside some rokku gyaru. (maybe anzu introduced her to this one?) this brash style is the total inverse of how she was expected to dress growing up. (when she and anzu first met, she was an OL with no piercings, undyed hair, and positively miserable, but that was a number of years ago now.) i'm really not reinventing the wheel with "small and angry", but y'know, we have fun here.

yuzu:

is teal distinct enough from blue to count as its own colour? i think so. for yuzu, i really loved the concept of a deadpan-looking character who is very much not the straightman, who in fact wants very badly to be the funnyman 99% of the time. that kind of straight-faced but silly comedic character is always really fun to me.

half-lidded/heavy-lidded eyes paired with thick brows are always a winner to me fsr, and i wanted to give her a more "handsome" looking face with a bit more of a defined jaw than you typically see on women in ososan. as a treat. i wanted her to look a bit like a mysterious prettyboy, but she's not actually mysterious, she's just a space cadet. (and very straightforward about her thoughts and feelings, saying them with little fuss or thought.) expectation vs reality, people deciding what you're like based on their own perception vs what you're actually like, etc. etc.

i don't have anything deep to say about her hairstyle, but maybe that's how yuzu would like it, what you see is what you get. (again, eyebrows vs hair... let that eyebrow scar that i gave her for no reason shine.) as for clothing, she prefers things that are easy to move around in, so her style is the most "matsuno"-like (t-shirts, hoodies, basketball shorts, sweats, etc.). in particular, she likes shirts with phrases, usually in english, that are funny or almost make sense but not quite ("for background visual gags" and "for the english speakers in the audience").

[kathegoose]

the compane i think

lineup of every (at least somewhat) biological entity (aside from earth leviathan) in lethal company!!!

again, non-VHS version under cut with some wacko headcanons and allat!

WOOHOO!!!!!!! so here are my extra headcanons and other minor changes because i am allowed to ramble about my art if i want to👍👍 (Those without any HC dumps here are pretty much as they are already, nothing to talk about them!)

Tiny bugs: the locust, bee and wasp are made to faintly resemble their real life counterparts aside from the reused fly model as in the game.

Manticoil: i will get either praised or executed for this but i made the extra wings.... leg wings. like a microraptor. but it does come with a reason, yes! it is practically impossible to evolve a new pair of limbs, it's either remove or change existing parts when it comes to evolution, and the manticoils are just evolved corvids in canon!

Hoarding bug: made to resemble hymenoptera more, as they are - again - canonically in this order of real life animal :]

Spore lizard: back scutes and more toes added to, you guessed it; resemble their earth relatives (in this case alligators) more.

Bunker spider: spider pitter patter feet :D

Thumper: more earth-relative (chondrichthyes) resemblance, especially the mouth is more shark-like.

Baboon hawk: earth thing again and also made the 'wings' the brightest, since i believe they pose no other purpose than social display.

Bracken: i've been WAITING to talk about my brackens' symmetrical, two-thumbed hands. PERFECT (i think?) for grabbing a victim's head to do a little snappin'. also the claws are just on the hands to really make sure they have a firm grip, and not on the padded, almost mitten-like feet for silent sneaking! (even though they are usually quadrupedal)

Eyeless dog: okay fellas but... that's no actual mammal (as we know) i think. the in-game head shape is too ridiculous to have evolved from anything and the class saeptivus doesn't even exist! what i think is a re-evolving of mammals at play, say.. synapsida 2.0 perhaps. so i took creative liberties and made the dog a taaaad bit more fish-like with a line of sensory pits on their sides kinda like a fish's lateral line. suits the blind critter :]

Nutcracker: some little paint job changes and added some hinge doohickeys to accentuate the mechanical properties of the nutcracker itself that the meaty-eye-hermit-thing is operating.

Jester: i am simply here to say that i would like to bite a chunk off of the jester's meat gluppo.

Forest keeper: ok so there is the cool octopus-style beak yeah and i gave it tiiiiny little silly pinky-thumbs as they're probably canonically related to the brackens but MY GOD!!!!!!! I HATED COLOURING THAT THING!!! what colour is it even if I HAD TO FNAF 3 BLAST IT. that's how you know that i didn't like doing it sorry giant enjoyers i didn't enjoy colouring large jonathan (my fan name for them) :[

[seneon]

♰ LAST ARCH!VED ￤ STARS COLLIDE, WOLF¡DABI¡!

ABOUT. there is no resistance for the divine deity as you are simply a living sacrifice. highly suggestive content¡! ( short breast play ) omegaverse themes such as scent pheromones thingy, mating, knotting. but it's not too much bc i hate it LOL. and sacrificial ritual themes. wc of 1800+

NOTES. ok alpha dabi anon come get your food. YOO IM FINALLY DONE WITH THE HALLOWEEN MASTERLIST WOOHOO HAPPY HALLOWEEN SENATION

in desperate awe, you cling onto the fragments of the divine painting portrayed and gifted to your gaze. just like art, it almost felt like the heavenly angels were still working on the sculpture. albeit completed, it needed to be presented in perfection.

your eyes couldn't tear themselves off from the sight right in front of you. the image of a man, or a divine being, you do not know. he lays on his sides, elbows propped out to support his head as his free hands play with the white, almost gold silk linen.

but that is not all.

this being, so divine and beautiful as if he is the ultimate blessing from above. he bore the ears of an animal, his fingers and nails are long. it's perfectly shaped, along with his beautiful arms down to his chiseled and toned chest.

when touya's eyes paid mind to your existence, you froze under his cold turquoise gaze that pierced through your soul.

his eyes are beautiful.

you think to yourself, while your own eyes travelled around to drink in the colour of his hair as white as snow. there's a hint of a rather invisible gray veil covering him, and it made touya look even more divine.

“you're the one?” he asks, sitting up properly on the large bed covered in the finest and expensive silk blankets, covers and soft pillows.

yes indeed. you are the one. you were brought here against your will. your freedom stripped from your soul as the villagers have dragged you, a traveler from far away. you were to visit the divine being on your own accord, not have your senses blocked off from the face of the earth and only regain them back to be graced by such a work of art that laid upon you.

though his words did not strike you in curiousity, fear itched at your skin. what were you the one for again? you're here, dressed in a rather beautiful white dress, your hair is perfectly done, and beauty reeks all over you.

it feels like a curse and a blessing at the same time.

there's an odd smell that starts to circle around your nose, a sense that was once blocked off for such a long time you couldn't smell the difference between flowers and poison. this fragrance crawled into your brains and it journeyed down to your body.

you start to feel uneasy.

it's an uncomfortable feeling that wraps you around like the faint, merely visible gray veil he wore around him. it's now onto you, and the scent is even more dangerous to your nose. dangerously enticing.

“what.. am i here for?” you asked in a whisper as touya slightly tilted his head lazily at your question.

“what are you here for? do you really not know?” he repeated, his voice striking a chord in you, and it became poison to your ears. you can only shake your head slightly to keep the poison from spilling.

touya lets out a chuckle, amused by your lack of knowledge of your presence in his. there is so much imbalance in the power that you feel like a mere ant who dares to stumble across a human’s skin. a tiny smirk was carved at the corner of his lips as he gazed at you.

“you will be my woman in a few moments. i shall claim you as mine and you will bear my seeds.”

you are a sacrifice. a mere aspect in this living world that is to be sacrificed to touya, the divine being. what divinity does he even belong to? your eyes darted to where you first entered, then they came back to rest on touya's.

“are you a god?”

“perhaps. i am a blessing from the heavens. i rule over the wolves and all which are close to wolves.”

pieces of reality began to stick together like broken mirror shards who came together. the world is starting to make a little sense to you.

“so… i am a sacrifice to you and to be made yours in whatever way. at what cost?”

touya's fingers gently traced the silken sheets. “there is no cost. it's how the world works, pretty one. i am given a sacrifice that the heavens chooses for me, and i am to link my soul with hers and have her bear my seeds. then a new child of divinity will be made. what is the cost?”

before you could even utter out a string of protests, he holds out his arm and invites you to him.

“come here.”

and just like that, your feet listened to his orders and they moved against your will, lured by the allure of touya. everything has been happening against your will lately. you've forgotten what 'will' even is. you've forgotten freedom even existed in your world.

his fingers carefully took your hand, thumb immediately caressing your knuckles as he looked up at you and pulled you closer to him so you stood in between his legs while you gaze down at him.

“what is your name?”

you told him, and it runs down his tongue twice. your name sounded nice coming from him, an existence whose name you don't even know.

there the scent hits you the hardest. an immediate realisation washed over you when you realised you've been inhaling his scent all this time. it mends the strings of your heart to fall under his spell. your eyes gazed all over his face.

touya's his name, he tells you that. he's some worshipped divine being apparently. and you can't help but admire how beautiful he looks up close. you were in absolute awe at how flawless and perfect he looks.

when the caressing of your knuckles ceased, touya’s right hands found their way to rest on your hips while his other hand reached out to graze your cheeks. he then tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ears.

“you're the perfect sacrifice. so beautiful too. the angels have chosen the perfect woman for me.”

a faint blush painted your cheeks a field of bloody roses as touya rose up. his thumb that was previously grazing with the silk sheets now went back and forth on the skin of your cheek.

such a loving gesture that it has your insides fluttering. caterpillars have blossomed into butterflies to rage in your stomach, it seems.

touya leans in close to your ears to whisper a secret as if you do not know of it yet. “lay with me, y/n. and i will link our souls together.”

your blush deepens, and he moves to slowly push you on the bed. once your back hits the bed, he's hovering above you.

this divine creature, a perfect being who looks after the wolves. touya's a wolf himself, yet he's in this divine form so close to the touch of being human. it actually makes him wonder what is it like to be human. well no matter, he could ask you all about it.

you can smell his scent enveloping you when he closes the distance. his body is above yours, pressed firmly while his lips found their way to press against yours in the slowest and most intimate form.

it was like touya didn't want to ruin any aspect of this ritual. he wants it to be sacred like how his ancestors have made it sacred and memorable. more importantly, he wants to simply please his beautiful sacrifice and make her forget that she was even a sacrifice in the first place.

touya's tongue is engaged in a battle with your own tongue and the rest of it is simply the little sounds both of you occasionally let out. his hands feel all around your sides and waist, so gentle with it that it feels like the touch of the sun.

soon he pulled away, immediately pressing a chaste kiss on the side of your lips before his lips dragged down to your jawline and planted kisses along it. your neck becomes his canvas where he sinks his teeth deep into your skin and places his mark all over.

“it leaves a permanent scar, a reminder to everyone else that you're mine,” touya tells you before licking the mark he created. he pulls away to look at your messy breathing, cheeks flushed and chest rising up and down.

your eyes slowly looked at him above you, carrying the haziness that wraps itself around your vision. your breathing is ragged, hitched in every way as your fingers twitch at this odd sensation you're feeling.

a smirk crawls up to grace his handsome features. touya leans down close to your chest and his teeth takes the edge of your lace ribbons that ties the top of your dress together. slowly and carefully, he pulls away the lace in between his teeth to unveil the strings that kept you clothed.

he does that all his eyes are locked on yours. that lazy gaze who held something so dark behind them. your lace is untied, and his cold fingers slid the top of your pure white dress off your shoulders and soon they are stripped from your body. the cold air hit your skin and you shivered at the suspense.

touya kissed your chest and travelled his lips down to your breast where he began to trail intoxicating kisses. you can smell how potent his scent is, and it's killing you softly on the inside. all while his lips and tongue began to work their tantalising magic on your bare skin.

your back is arched in the pleasure he gifted to you, fingers immediately finding their way to weave themselves into his soft angelic hair. touya hums in approval at your fingers which hold onto his hair tightly while his tongue runs itself over your breasts and to embrace your hardened buds with his lips.

the uneasy feeling you felt has been defeated in a battle against pleasure. now all you can think of is how good divine wolf touya’s tongue and lips feel on your body, his smell that fills your nose, and the pooling feeling at your sex that gathered to stain you damp beneath.

it was silent the entire time. well not quite, for only the sounds of your soft and sweet praises echoed in touya's ears. they sounded like music in heaven to him. you really are the chosen one, a beloved child of the stars.

the stars above collide once touya finally intertwines your body and soul together. the wolves no longer has to worry about their existence coming to a halt when their deity has knotted a human sacrifice and she is to bear his sons and daughters.

the ritual is completed.

©SENEON 2024 ♰ D!ED, D3AD, G0NE. DO NOT REPOST OR ALTER. OR ELSE THE BATS WILL COME FOR YOU.

[kozachenko]

(Click the image for better quality)

Yipeeee that Keiki and Mayumi fanart I posted the WIP of is finally done woooo- This piece was a very experimental one that I'm kind of OK on. Maybe because I've just gone insane looking at it for so long and I'm my own worst critic lol.

Artist's Notes;

So I've once again been playing around with my rendering style, mainly because I have been wanting to improve my lighting for a while now and as I was just scrolling through Tumblr, I saw some of the official art for that one webcomic-turned-animated-TV-Show Lackadaisy and was immediately inspired. I also have seen a technique a few times in the past where the lineart and shading are merged together, so I've been meaning to try that for a little while.

I did some experimentation on this one sketch of Keiki I posted in my sketch dump and I really liked the results of it, so I carried those over to this piece.

I ended up scaling up Keiki and Mayumi from the original WIP because I felt like they were both getting lost in the composition, and I'm glad for that because I think it works a lot better. I'm not a fan of how Mayumi's sword turned out at all, but it's not really meant to be the focus of the piece so eh. Overall, I think I could do better with my colours, probably because with Keiki and Mayumi's colours, I did them flat in greyscale and then used a brush on the overlay blend mode to colour all of them over, after which I changed the base layer for their colours from white to yellow and then lowered the opacity so it all went together better. I also decided to use gradient maps for a lot of the background elements, mainly to experiment with getting in my values first to make them pop out more. I ended up finding a really nice sky gradient on Clip Studio Paint that I really liked, and that kinda helped to establish the colour scheme of the background a lot. I think the whole "start in greyscale then colour" thing really works better with painterly styles rather than more illustrative ones, and while it is good at making sure your values are more readable, I honestly don't think I have the skill level to pull that off yet. Honestly, I think I've been looking at this drawing too long or maybe I added too much to it, but I wish I could've made the colours less monochromatic, but I'll just save that for the next piece I do.

I do love how the flame (...well it's more of a weird space rift than anything in this piece) and the lighting turned out, those were fun to do. I was initially struggling with the flame and how Mayumi is positioned in front of it before realizing "Oh wait! This is a weird abstraction of a weird creature! I don't have to follow the laws of anatomy!" and just dislocated it's flamey bottom jaw from the main body. I also changed the colours of it since I was really not liking how incredibly bright it was when it had lighter colours. Again, the gradient maps served the more painterly style of the flames well.

I also love how Mayumi turned out. I could do her sleeves better but that's more of just me needing to study how those types of sleeves fold in that position more. I'm also very happy with the posing, the technique I used for that was taking photos of myself in the positions I wanted, blocking in the silhouette and then modifying that by adjusting it to my lines of action that I drew on top of the original photos, and then sketching over the silhouettes and drawing in the shapes of the hands overtop of the photo if I needed to get the fine details right. As for what I do to take the pictures myself, I use a tall chair I have, prop up my phone with a phone stand, put on a ten second timer and scramble to get in position. Yes, I did have to use a bunch of thin markers I had to try and get the hand positioning on Keiki's pose right, yes I do have a fake sword that I used to get the positioning of Mayumi's arms and hand right, the sword was for an old Halloween costume from several years ago. I really like how both Keiki and Mayumi turned out in this drawing, I'll have to play around with these designs for them more in future drawings.

Also, if you wanna know why I draw buildings like that, when I watched Fantasia 2000 as a kid (One of the Disney movies where they make really beautiful animations to classical music) the way they drew the buildings in the first few sections Rhapsody in Blue segment (the jazz one with the cities) changed my brain chemistry and now whenever I need to draw buildings really quickly, I refer back to that. Since the buildings aren't really the main subject, I didn't put much thought into them.

As you can tell I am very tired of this piece, mainly because I made things harder for myself by overcomplicating the process compared to what I usually do, mainly with the whole "starting in grayscale then adding colour." I'd honestly just prefer having a black layer set to colour that I can just toggle on and off when I need to see the values, but it was good to experiment. And that was mainly the point of this whole drawing, to experiment. I'm definitely going to have to play around with this new style I'm going for, mainly because I liked how it turned out a lot in the augmented Keiki sketch, and also because I want to find ways of making it suit my style more. I also really want to keep experimenting with my lighting like this, it's very fun. Last but not least I am never starting in greyscale again because dear god I do not like the workflow it forced me into. I don't have a problem with the method itself it's mainly just a skill issue lol.

If you wanna read my headcanons for these two, I put them in my WIP post, so you can read them there if you want to. The more I look at this the more I prefer the simplicity of my WIP. I might go back to this and just take away the fancy colours and effects to see what it looks like without all of that stuff and reblog this post with that drawing, but for now, I don't think I can look at this drawing again for a while.

[pansylair]

hiii your flowerbeasts are amazing!! i looove the way you use colours and shapes, and their designs are so special. are there any specific flowers you were inspired by? also i am in no way comparing you to other artists, your art style is unique, i just wanted to tell you in the best way possible that your flowerbeasts somehow reminded me of the animals in paintings by Maria Prymachenko. she was a ukrainian folk art painter, you should check out her works, i’m sure you’ll like it!

aww thank you!!!

i’d say there was light influence from pansies with their rounded edges and robust colour/pattern variations, i’ve always really loved them since childhood alongside their queer history.

my first flowerbeast art was a pansybeast as well so seemed the most logical step for these guys, you can find it under the flowerbeast tag! (my username is also pansybeast on twitter and would have been the same on here but it’s stuck to a dead account 😔)

i’ve seen prymachenko’s art before and really love it, i need to do a good deep dive sometimes.

i don’t mind you mentioning my work reminds you of hers at all, I’m happy to know as I’m quite influenced by eastern european folk art with my paternal side being hungarian! :)

[silksongeveryday]

Drawing Hornet everyday until Silksong comes out - Day 327

DTIYS RESULTS!

The results for my dtiys celebrating reaching 300 days is here! It was a tough one, there were so many amazing entries! I highly suggest checking out the tag #sseday300dtiys to look at all the entries, they were all so good!!

See the results below the cut!

1st place - @alphabetacomics !

And will be receiving the 1st place prize of any simple rendered art of their choosing! Congrats!!!

The thing I loved most about this entry was the animated part of it! Even though it’s as simple as a little bit of glow and some moving lumaflies, it really brought the whole thing together in my opinion! <3

2nd place - @gemisbored !

And will be receiving 1-2 halfbody doodle style art pieces of their choosing! Congrats!

I absolutely loved the rendering on this as well as the atmosphere! Everything from the colours to the shading detail is just amazing! I especially love the use of emphasised shapes for each of the characters as well, I could tell right away there was a lot of thought out into this!

3rd place - @moonwatcher1000 !

And will be receiving an icon/headshot doodle style art piece of their choosing!

It was so hard choosing third for this, I was very close to placing this 2nd because wow!! I absolutely love the way this one was drawn/painted, it has such a cool texture and overall mood to it! I especially love the tree branch-like shapes of each of the horns of the siblings!

——

Congrats to the winners!! And big thank you to everyone who participated I hope everyone had fun!!

Biggest thing I ask is to be a good sport about this dtiys and the results of you entered! In the end I wanted to do this as something fun, everyone’s entries were so good, it was very hard to choose places. I may do more dtiys in the future if people liked this one enough and are good about it!

Thanks so much!

I look forward to making more daily doodles for you all :)

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Twist of Fate; Chapter Seven

Pairings; LADS OT4 X reader

Word Count; 2,876

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rating; 18+ for swearing and some mature context

Notes; you have a slight existential crisis, a kiss (but it doesn't get too intense unfortunately), another Xavier-centric chapter with a small cliffhanger, also a reminder that 💛 is Xavier! Also, I accidentally posted this so I guess y'all are getting this chapter early 🤷🏻‍♀️

Prev || Next

Masterlist

I would also like to mention, once more, that the reader isn't aware of anything relating to Sylus. Just his looks, the appearance of his evol, and all of that. Think of her as all of us during Sylus's trailer release! Even though she doesn't know anything, the story will go as it does in the original story. I'm definitely not creative enough to change any of that, but there will be major differences after we finish the final chapter (in-game, chapter eight)!

You have one more day of freedom before you enter the Nest as bait. How will you spend it?

You woke up a bit later than usual, wanting to spend as much time with Estelle in bed as possible before you had to leave her for an unspecified amount of time. You hope she remembers you. After you make yourself something to eat and give Estelle her food, you check up on your flowers. The bluish pink flowers sat in a vase you had made at a pottery class with Zayne. Your thumbprints in the shape of a heart and the vase was glazed in the colour arctic blue, which was a beautiful light blue. The vase was sitting next to the fox Xavier got you and the painting Rafayel made for you.

You decide to lounge around the apartment today, unwilling to go outside and do anything since you knew today would be your last day of freedom. You were honestly worried, after tomorrow you were in the dark on what comes next. Your gaze flitting across the notes you made of the past and near future, hoping to come up with a nice game plan for your next decisions. You could tell the other guys you know about your past lives, but if you don't know everything then what's the point? You knew Rafayel would throw a fit if you didn't remember everything. Zayne doesn't really remember or, at least, you're not sure. Most of Zayne's past life you're in the dark about since you never got his cards. For Rafayel, you know two specific instances of past lives but the bigger one where he was the god of the sea? You only know part of it. You never got those cards either. With Xavier, you know of both lives- one more so than the other. You know he's Lumiere, the man who saved the main character as a child and protected Linkon during the Chronorift Catastrophe..you also know he's quite jealous of himself. Any time Lumiere is mentioned, he gets jealous.

But Sylus? Nope, you know nothing. Besides his looks, that he's the leader of Onychinus, and what his evol looks like. That's all you know. And you think you remember a crow, but you could be mistaken because of meeting Mephi at the animal shelter.

You know you need the aether core at the auction, but you don't recall why. Maybe to help your heart? You don't dare ask because it would look weird if you were intent on finding something, but forgot why you needed it. And after that? You assume winning Sylus’ heart like you have with the others. So he can't be a real bad guy if he's a love interest. You've read theories that the Ever corporation, which is the biggest company in the world- branching from biotech to aerospace to evol energy and even international trade- might be evil or working with Onychinus, but that's the only lead you have. You'll just have to figure it out as you go along.

You put on the TV and laze around with Estelle for most of the day until you step outside to sit on your balcony to watch the sun set.

Your phone buzzes and you look down to check it, seeing a text from Xavier.

💛 :”whatre u doing outside this late?”

A smile tugs at your lips and you tell him that you're watching the sunset to which he doesn't respond. Instead his response comes in the form of a figure hopping down from the floor above you and grabbing onto the concrete wall of the balcony. “Watching it together would be better than watching alone.” He says, reaching out toward you and you grab his hand, tugging him fully onto your balcony.

“You scared the hell out of me, Xavier.” I say, looking up at the sky. “Give me a warning next time, please?” “I'll try my best.” He smiles, propping his arm up on your shoulder. “Aren't you nervous about tomorrow?”

“Ah…a little bit.” You look down at your feet with a small sigh and decide to sit down in a chair. “I'm nervous, but also anxious, but also I don't know what to expect. I have a plan and I know it'll work, but I'm unsure of where to go from there.”

“Well instead of worrying about it, how about you just go with the flow?” He crouches down next to you since you only had one chair, he rests his chin on your knee as he looks up at you. “Don't stress about what hasn't happened, just focus on right now and you can worry about the future when it comes.” You rest your hand in his hair and smile, tilting your head back to look up at the sky. “You know, you talk like an old man.” Your thumb brushes against his forehead, “but…I don't mind it.”

“Besides watching the sunset, I know of another way to calm down. Do you want to hear about it?” Xavier asks, his hand reaching up to cup your cheek. His thumb gently brushes against your fully healed scar and your eyes flutter closed for a moment. “Have you tried it with other people and that's how you know it works?” You tease with a raise of your brow. “How do you know it'll work, huh?”

“Well… you won't know unless we try.” He stands back up, resting one hand on the armrest of your chair. His other still on your right cheek as he leans forward to rest his forehead against yours. “May I?” He asks and you go to nod, but remember before that he told you to speak. “Yes,” you say before adding softly under your breath, “please.”

Xavier's eyes close as he closes the distance between you, his lips gently brushing against yours before fully connecting. He doesn't try to deepen the kiss, leaving it as a soft, yet intimate moment between you both. After a few moments, he breaks from the kiss and leaves a few scattered kisses across your face. His final stop was at your scar, his lips brushing along the scar from the top of your eyebrow all the way to your cheekbone. Your body immediately jerks in surprise at the touch since you realized your scar was rather sensitive. “Better?” He whispers, going back to resting his forehead against yours. His ears as red as yours probably were.

“Thank you.” You say softly, cupping his cheek and you rub your thumb back and forth across his cheekbone. A loud meow coming from behind you both finally breaks the moment and allows Xavier to pull away from you. “It seems like Estelle was jealous.” He chuckles, picking up the large cat with ease. “It looks like she's worried about her mommy.”

“She'll be fine because she'll have her daddy looking after her while I'm gone.” You say nonchalantly, not noticing the blush that spread across Xavier's cheeks or the way he buried his red face into Estelle's fur. “You really have a way with words.” He chuckles, shaking his head.

“We missed the sunset!” You realize, quickly standing up as you whine. “Damn it.”

“We might've missed the sunset but didn't we make a better memory in place of it?” Xavier muses, glancing over at you with a soft smile. “I guess we did.” You reach over to pet Estelle behind the ears and Xavier takes the chance to say, “Be safe tomorrow. Promise me.”

“I can't make any promises, Xav. You know that.” You sigh, hugging both him and Estelle. “But just know I'll do my best to come back in one piece. I can promise that. I'm not going anywhere any time soon.” You murmur into his chest and rest your forehead against it.

“That's…” Xavier lets out a heavy sigh and gives you a forced smile before he nods, “That’s enough for now.”

D-Day

Finally, it's Hunting day. Your last day of knowing what comes next. You spent most of the night tossing and turning, mulling over what would happen and worrying over getting hurt, but you felt a bit better now. Especially as you changed into your clothes for the day. In the game, the main character showed up at the Nest in her uniform and while that would be the best kind of bait, it seemed impractical. If you're trying to be bait, wouldn't being obvious bait deter people? If you're too on the nose, people might think it's a trap. So instead, you opted to put on a strappy, red ruffled shirt that was tucked into a white skirt. You added a belt and you set your red low heels by the door. You spray some perfume and spend a few minutes getting ready to look your best.

A stylish outfit is a good weapon for a woman. That and your actual weapon in its holster under your skirt. You shrug on an expensive black jacket, one of the only things you own that wasn't in game, to hide your obvious weapon. You weren't sure when the right time would be to leave so you decided to have your last meal. Well, it wouldn't be your last meal but it definitely felt like it. After you ate, you'd leave for the Nest to meet up with Rafayel. Your last message to him being ‘Meet me at the Nest and show me how to fish.’ to which he replied that ‘the biggest fish come out at night.’ So you assume 10-11pm would be an appropriate time to leave?

You still have time today so what were you going to do?

You took a few more notes on what to expect after and made sure the tiny tranquilizer was in your pocket. The antidote vial sitting on your kitchen island ready to take before you leave. You double, no triple, no quadruple checked that you have everything and spent a few hours anxiously pacing back and forth and petting Estelle. You were never good at waiting, especially when you were anticipating something.

You decide to leave at 10pm, giving you an hour to get to the Nest, which makes sense since you'd be walking. You down the vial, tossing it in the garbage as you head toward the door. You slip your shoes on and lock the door behind you after feeding Estelle for the night.

Honestly with all this walking, you should probably just bite the bullet and learn how to drive since you already have a license in this world. But driving is scary and you have bigger issues to deal with right now so that'll have to come later.

As you walk through Azure Square, you pin your ‘family’ crest to your jacket, trying to make sure that not all of Jeremiah's hard work went to waste and even though you have your hunter's watch on, it is covered by your jacket sleeves so you assume it'll be fine. A pretty bait is what you're planning to be tonight, no need to go too overboard with it. You enter the Nest and it just looks like your average nightclub. People were standing and drinking, some slightly dancing to some music or talking amongst themselves, not many people were at the bar though, besides the bartender.

As you look around, your vision is blocked by someone stepping in front of you. “Hey there,” the man’s eyes glance at your crest as he continues, “Actually-”

“Isn't it a bit weird to do business with newcomers?” Rafayel steps into frame, practically shoving the other man out of the way as he fixes his sleeves, not even sparing the man another glance. “Come.” He loops a finger with yours as he pulls you up to the bar. “So…do you have your bait ready?” He asks, leaning his chin onto his hand.

“Mmh, I'll play their game and allow myself to be caught. Act like a clueless little worm on a tackle.” You say, nonchalantly. Not mentioning the N109 Zone since you didn't want to catch others' attention just yet. “You'll still need to cast your line though…that should be easy enough.” Rafayel drums his fingers against the bar counter before he hands the bartender a coin. He picks up an embossed card, sliding the blank side over to you. “Go ahead. Write down what you're looking for.”

You take a deep breath, nodding your head as you grab the black feathered pen that was sitting in a nearby cup. You write down ‘aether core’ and the ink disappears a few moments later. Rafayel scoops up the card to hand it to the bartender who nods and disappears into the back. “Who's he going to tell?” You ask, turning your body to face the well dressed artist. “Doesn't matter. If they're interested, you'll know.” He muses, moving his hand over to trace random shapes on the back of your hand.

“Rafayel?” He's still silent before he takes your hand, kissing the back of it. “Now, we wait for the fish to bite.” “How long?” You ask after he lets go of your hand. “Hmm..not long. The Nest lives up to its name, you know? An underground intelligence network that's well known to match supply and demand.” As Rafayel finishes his sentence, the bartender comes back with a shot glass. He places it in front of you before stepping away once more.

“And this?” You ask before assuming this means a fish has taken a bite so you reach out for it and Rafayel suddenly grabs your wrist. “Think about it first. The glass is black, that means you'll have to pay a high price and if it doesn't go smoothly, you'll be the payment instead.”

“Well, being the payment is better than sitting here and doing nothing.” You shrug, downing the shot in one go. “Since you've made up your mind, I won't stop you.” Rafayel chuckles, placing his hand on top of your head to ruffle your hair. “I hope you find the answers you seek.” He stands up from the barstool and doesn't look back as he walks away, just puts his hand up as he waves.

“Alright, I guess let's look around until the hunting starts.” You murmur to yourself, rising to your feet as you walk around the bar. You notice a board off to the side, a wanted board. You see a head shot of Lumiere who looks obviously like Xavier except with a white mask and an outfit you've never seen before. A small chuckle leaving your lips before you notice how much he's wanted for. “100 million? Geez, what did he do?” You step a bit closer to look at the other wanted posters and you only catch a glimpse of purple hair on another poster before someone runs into you.

“It's starting, it's starting.” The drunken man excitedly mumbles to himself as he walks further into the crowd.

The lights suddenly shut off and a modified OTTO patrol bot rose up from a podium in the center of the room. The circular robot flies high until a voice booms from it, “There's a price to pay when a wish is granted! Will you be the hunter or the hunted tonight?” The robotic screen was a deep shade of red, the camera on it shaped like an eye. “Hunting day will now…commence.”

As your gaze lands on the eye, you feel your blood run cold. This…this reminded you of the red eye from your nightmares but you couldn't put your finger on how. You decide to play it safe and try to find a place to hide but honestly, where can you hide? You're in an unfamiliar, crowded place so you're not even sure where the bathrooms are and why would you hide if the plan is to be caught in the first place?

Your thoughts are cut short as the voice says one last thing. “Now.” It's red gaze lands on you, effectively spotlighting you to everyone in the crowd. “Shit.” You mutter to yourself as a few people in the crowd walk toward you.

“There she is…we've been looking for you.” One person says and another one chimes in, “This is the prey.”

You're a tad bit overwhelmed as people close in on you and as you try to dip out of the crowd, you feel your breath leave you as you're hit in the back and your knees hit the ground hard. “Hey-” you say, trying to turn toward the person and elbow them in the gut but they grab you by your hair and hold a vial in front of your face. “C-003, a neurotoxin. If you're smart, you won't put up a fight.”

You sigh, head hanging down and your hair covers your face to hide your smile. At least everything still went according to plan. Now what comes next is a complete mystery. Your smile leaves your lips as you feel the butt of a gun hit your head and you fall to the ground.

I'm keeping the extra spaces in this chapter to show a comparison, so just let me know which you prefer and I'll keep doing it for the up-coming chapters! Also, this won't be a cliffhanger for long since I'll also be posting chapter eight today. I decided to spoil y'all 🩷

I do want to add that I change up mc's dialogue compared to what she says in-game sometimes because I don't like how it's worded or I don't like specific actions she does (like shaking Mephisto, you'll see). I also make comments on her stupid actions- like her trying to hide in the original chapter or wear her hunter's uniform as if she wants to scream to the Nest, "I'm a hunter!! Please, take me!" Instead of being more low-key and under the radar.

Taglist; @orphicmeliora

[namu-the-orca]

Do you have any advice on how to begin drawing a cetacean? When I'm drawing terrestrial animals, I can break them down into simpler shapes pretty easily, but cetaceans are just Big Tubes and I'm completely stumped on how to start

(Disclaimer that my work is rather stylised, so I'm not looking for advice on photorealism! Just any advice you have in general. I admire your ability to understand and render these sausage-bodied beasts)

Hi! That's an interesting question. I have to admit I had to draw a couple of dolphins first to see how I actually deal with them when free-handing lol. So much of my work as of late is scientific illustration, where in many cases I can build upon my own older illustrations. The new pieces are always 100% new, but correcting a base - however poor - is easier than starting from scratch.

Before I go any further let me stress the eternal importance of references. I can draw a dolphin fine from memory but for it to be actually accurate I need references. I always use them. Especially when it comes to weird poses or angles, but even for illustrations I will reference 25-50 photographs. Use them, study them, find them. They are a resource not a cheat.

Also, years ago I actually started work on a whole series of dolphin drawing tutorials. Or rather, collections of notes and tips for different topics (anatomy, differences between males and females, colouration, variation). Looking at the files now I see I had actually written and drawn a frightening amount already. Perhaps I should try to finish them? Is that something people would be interested in? Anyway, it starts off with a word of encouragement, which I do want to share here:

Actual advice is below the cut:

ONTO METHODS - illustrations

I found that for me, my method depends on whether I'm making an illustration or a full scene painting. For illustrations - which are in flat side view - I actually embrace the sausage. I drew a dolphin for you and saved the steps of how I go about it.

And this is the first. I start with a sort of flat-bottomed airfoil shape, and then add fins and a beak in approximate locations.

Next is refining the appendages and giving a face. Shape and placement of appendages as well as eye and mouth line is all experience and/or reference work.

Then comes fixing what I messed up lol. I always make the head too big first try (would have been good for a baby dolphin though!). Using cutting/transforming/moving selections around I correct proportions to what feels correct to me (again, that part comes from having seen and drawn a lot of dolphins).

Add some markings and hooray we have a spinner dolphin! This is the part where I would seriously start consulting references to check all the details and proportions are in order. If you don't need (photo)realism you can skip that step and use refs further back in the process just to get the shape/idea/colour of the species you're trying to paint right.

MORE METHODS - for different poses

When it comes to dynamic poses, my workflow is completely different. I just start from the nose and build my dolphin from there. Because as said above, they do have anatomy. And I think the way the beak flows into the cheek, the eye bumps connect, then the curve of the throat, the attachment of the pectoral fin, the way the belly curved up towards the genital region, the slight bulge behind that, then the muscles of the peduncle which flow into the flukes - I think the relations between those separate parts are enough for me?

These are the little dolphins (and a porpoise) I sketched from memory. In all cases I started from the tip of the nose and built from there, with minimal or no adjustments/erasing along the way. It was very much outline work. Details on eyes, mouth, etc, would come later. The killer whale is a bit different and got way more detailed than the rest. With such a front view angle I do use some spherical shapes to break it down for the body and face.

Otherwise I've never really liked or used the method of breaking an animal down into shapes, it never felt logical or intuitive to me. My "method" (if you can call it that lol) just comes from having drawn a lot of dolphins. I don't know if it is necessarily helpful when you want to get a grasp of them when starting out. Regardless I do hope this answered your question somewhat and you could get something useful out of it!

Also, I realise now I mostly talked about "standard "dolphins - for whales/short-beaked smaller cetaceans/etc my process is mostly the same, except their heads just have different shapes.

[discopaws]

Hello there! I've been an enjoyer of your art for a while now and absolutely adore your style! The lineless-ness, amazing colour usage, and such clear shapes/silhouettes! I want to look more into this type of art style and was wondering if you had the name of the style, any sources of inspirations, artists, or anything to get on the right track?

My stuff is broadly inspired by Mid-Century Modern design and illustration! I'm really into Mid-Century Modern illustration especially because it represented a fantastic application of the innovations of Modernist painting and design in the mainstream during the post-war era, in areas like print and advertising, book illustration, animation design, etc. Its Modernist roots help it to retain a lot of the original energy and appeal it held, where older styles have become markedly more dated, and you'll probably recognise its influence in a lot of current illustration and animation (notably in the work of artists like Craig Kellman or Genndy Tartakovsky, among others).

As for direct inspiration, there's honestly too many great artists to list, but some of my personal favourites from the period are the Provensens, a prolific husband-wife pair who illustrated children's books in a range of painterly styles.

Alice and Martin Provensen

Another fav is M. Sasek, an architect by training, whose This Is series gives a fantastic glimpse into the metropolitanism of the 50s and 60s.

Miroslav Sasek

Some others worth checking out: Alain Gree, Dick Bruna, Charley Harper, Aurelius Battaglia.

Alain Gree

Dick Bruna

Charley Harper

Aurelius Battaglia

For advertising and poster design, I'd recommend checking out Saul Bass, Erik Bruun, Lengyel Sándor, Donald Brun, Lefor Openo.

A range of poster designs by Erik Bruun

Lengyel Sandor

Donald Brun

For animation design, check out: Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, Maurice Noble.

Mary Blair

Eyvind Earle

Maurice Noble

If you want to look more into Mid-Century illustration generally, I'd recommend checking out the Fishink Blog. Design Reviewed is an amazing archive of graphic design and typography, with lots of Mid-Century stuff.

This post is by no means comprehensive, but I hope it helps you get started! 🐰🐰

[muffinsin]

hey i really liked that feral cass post, i keep rereading it. was wondering if you would ever consider doing a pt 2?

Hell yeah🙌 have a feeling someone else might like a p2 to this!

Part 1: here

Let’s get into it! :)

Masterlists

You’re carried; far, far away, it seems. You couldn’t find your way back to the village even if you wanted to

This creature- this woman..her grip is tight on you, but not bruising. She snarls at all around you

Leaves, trees, little animals scurrying across your path

Then, at last, far in the distance you can see the tip of a tower. As you get closer, you see more and more. Eventually, a castle is revealed

Only when she carries you towards the rusty gates and heavy doors do you notice what castle this is, just where you have found yourself

Castle Dimitrescu

They say, this is where all dies

Men are tortured and killed instantly, made into scarecrows or thrown aside in the dirt out front

Women are imprisoned, made to work, made to serve, only to be taken, tortured and killed or turned into wine at the smallest mistake. Or so they say

You wonder, will this be your fate? Is the woman carrying you to your death?

It doesn’t seem so, though. The woman doesn’t come across as though she has ill intent for you

She is feral, this much you can say. More of an animal than a human even, perhaps

But, it brings you a certain amount of comfort, too. You know at least, she will not attempt to deceive and trick you

You watch silently as heavy doors are opened and the warmth of the castle greets you

Your stomach growls when you pass what must be the kitchens, the sound alerting the feral brunette

She stares down at you, as though unsure what that noise was. Just as you think she will investigate, though, she keeps walking

You notice, all attempt to avoid her. No one glances your way, all make space for her. Clearly, this woman is just as dangerous as she comes across

You’re carried a little longer, through long hallways with red rugs and white-golden walls adorned with paintings and lights, past wide vases and small cabinets

Then, she steps into a room you know must be hers

Weapons are scattered across the floor and walls and while a bed is present in the room, there is a large pile of blankets, pillows, clothing, even some items on the floor. You immediately recognize this as her nest

And, true to this, she sets you down on it gently. You feel the soft cushions below you, the warm and thick blankets

Around you, you see dresses. Some too big to possibly fit her, some a little too slim for her, but matching hers in color and style precisely. You spot lipstick, daggers, necklaces and rings, books, pictures, pencils, and more among the cushions

Then, a picture catches your eye

You look up to find the woman staring at you, and slowly, slow enough for her to react should she want to, you take the painting from underneath a pillow and pick it up

She only continues to stare for a few moments, then busies herself by biting into some of the pillows and readjusting their position

You allow yourself to breathe, albeit shakily, then take in the picture in your hand

Four women, one tall, enormously so, in a white dress and a black hat. You know this woman. Alcina Dimitrescu, one of the lords of the village. You remember seeing her picture in the church

Then, three shorter women, all dressed in the same black dress. Among them, your feral saviour

The other two look nearly the same upon a quick look, but you soon notice differences, such as their hair colour, blonde and auburn, and the shape of their face

You spot writing at the bottom of the painting; Countess Dimitrescu and her three daughters. Bela, Cassandra, Daniela

“Cassandra..”, you say out loud, trying the name on your tongue

You nearly jump when her head snaps up, her eyes scanning you as though she is attempting to figure out what you want

Again, your stomach growls. You can’t remember the last time you ate

This time, the woman moves

You jump when she leans forwards, the tip of her nose nearly touching your stomach

Then, she growls. Did she think your growling stomach was an insult?

You can’t be sure, but feel too petrified to move even as your stomach keeps growling and the woman- Cassandra- keeps growling back at it

You feel your blood run cold, but eventually speak. You fear should you not, she might attack. You don’t want to imagine what risks that might bring to your unborn child

“I’m hungry”, you whisper

“I’m hungry”- Cassandra knows those words. She has heard them before. Hungry. Cold. Good. Bad. You. I. Yes. No

She knows them, but what are the meanings again? She shakes her head, as though trying to clear it

Then, just when she thinks your stomach will demand a fight again, she catches the sweet scent again

She still can’t understand what is so different, so special, about you

As though to make up for her growls though, she gently, or as gentle as she can, nuzzles her cheek against the round stomach. What a curious little creature you are indeed

She freezes when she feels your hand near her. You’re cupping the stomach. Why? She doesn’t understand. Though, she wants to learn

You watch as her hand reaches out, then sets it on your stomach too. She doesn’t seem to understand, merely copies your movements

The moment seems to go on for far longer than it does. It’s not unpleasant, though

Then, in the next few seconds already, it stops. She jumps up, then, to your surprise, she darts out the room, halfway turning into flies in her go

Cassandra races past maids and so, her mind set on a single goal: to retrieve food for you. She remembers now what hunger means. It means, she must fetch you some prey

Too feral to sit back and think, she races past the kitchens and back outside

It’s an easy task to find you something small for the time being, until she can bring you a nice and thick bear

She tracks sounds easily, her head snapping from one direction in the other. She’s drooling slightly

Then, golden eyes find her prey. A deer, in perfect shape it seems, feasting near the castle grounds

Of course, she can take it down in no time

While lacking her older sister’s coordination and younger sister’s speed, Cassandra still manages to catch up in no time at all, her arm wrestling around the creature’s neck and bringing it to the floor

From this on, it’s almost too easy

But she doesn’t kill for her pride, nor for showing off. She feels no such things, only the urge, the duty, the obligation to catch, fetch, and bring you the nutrients you require

And yet, you nearly scream when the door opens again and a deer is tossed to you. Dead, certainly. And fresh. You nearly vomit at the sight and smell

Cassandra doesn’t seem to understand

She nudges its side with her hand like a cat might do with its paw, her golden eyes searching yours

Her lips part, as though she is about to speak, but no words get past them. Instead, only low growls and grunts

You swallow hard to keep from vomiting as you feel the deer’s blood on your hands

Then, you press your eyes shut when she leans down and digs her sharp teeth into its tender flesh

You hear her feast, watch the blood smear her face when you open your eyes back up

But, she doesn’t swallow the bites in her mouth. Instead, part of the animal’s flesh hangs from her mouth, held tight between her teeth

You freeze as she crawls closer. More and more you feel like prey. Will you end up the same as the deer?

No, certainly not

Instead, you watch with wonder and slight disgust as she drops her bite, the tender flesh falling directly into your hands

She nuzzles your stomach again, and again

“I-I can’t eat that”, you whisper

She looks up, her head cocked. You watch as she picks the piece up again and bites a part off. She eats, swallows, then looks back up at you

You understand what she means

“I mean- I- humans, we don’t eat that”, you clarify

She looks puzzled yet again, and you can’t entirely blame her. You’re sure it must be strange to look after a human when she is surrounded by her family, who you’d bet shares her special diet

You close your eyes, your mouth watering at the memory of the smell from earlier. You smelled cake, you smelled grilled vegetables, you smelled cooked meat, you caught the faint scent of toasted bread, even

“The kitchen has human food”, you add when no response comes from her

You yelp when you’re picked up again. Truthfully, you don’t mind in the slightest, as your ankle still aches painfully with every step you attempt to make

Cassandra, as feral as she is in this state, takes good care of you, you notice

Better care of you than the villagers have done

You smile to yourself as you feel her cool skin against you

Perhaps, you can take care of her in return

[tagidearte]

"Pongo, the Imp Clown. Some say he used to be a Star, others say that's just his delusional ramblings." -Original Character for a (so far) unnamed Original Story.

I'm still in the early stages of designing him and his "friend" Pinga. However, I decided to share these initial drafts regardless! This way someone other than me can join in on the character design journey! Let's see how much he changes until the final design! Thoughts below.

Concept Log #1 - Pongo

Aka I want to ramble and my friends don't care robot clowns. Really big rambly rant below.

Also no, this is not a d/ca oc. Trust me, making a robot clown/jester is like walking into a laser trap when you've been obsessing over those two for the past three years. The only d/ca inspiration here was making Pongo warm coloured and Pinga cool coloured. If anything, this was more inspired by the Funtimes.

For now, I hate all the outfits. They don't fit his vibe, his personality, his whole persona. He's an imp clown, but he has... Delusions of grandeur. I need to make him more princely, perhaps? I'll attempt that next time. I already have the chibi base, so it'll be relatively quick.

I also want to make his casing... Different. Either paler with pink shadows, or a darker, more solid pink. He's meant to have only warm colours, contrasting with Pinga (you'll see him some other time) who only has cold ones, so no blues or greens... But I must say. Darker pink will probably win. When I painted his face white it looked too much like a Slay Button En/nard. In fact, I added all that eye and lip makeup to make him look less like En/nard.

The coil torso is the most important part. On a final drawing I'll make it have more loops, which should give the impression the thing is stronger and capable of more powerful bounces (which can hurt you if he decides to launch) - but for these concepts I merely half assed it. The star shaped hat with the back cone coming out is my favourite part!

Hope you enjoy his star shaped nipple coverings as much as I did coming up with them! Originally (not pictured here) he was going to have a big star on his chest, to mimic what I see in a lot of jack in a box's boxes. But the nipple coverings were so raunchy and funny, yet still appropriate for younger audiences (in world), that I left them in. Him being a reformed villain (in the media he's built after, inside the world) allows for messing around with the makeup and eccentricity, but we can't go to far - he needs to look PG while being predominantly adult/teen entertainment as an amusement park bot.

For context... Ever since I got into FN4F I've wanted to do something similar - with a location and mascots -, but instead of an USA animal band, I wanted it to be based on a cartoon set in a magical forest (like Noddy from my childhood - with a city of living toys and two imps that lived in the eViL wOoDs-, but funny for all ages rather than so 5 year old centric). Overtime, the thought of sentient robots forced to work - objects that were given a soul, trapped in a synthetic shell that is their body, dependent on humanity and property to it despite technically being alive, easy to manipulate via some changes in code - wormed itself in.

But I never really had the proper setting or characters for it. That, and I have another original story that has plagued my dreams ever since I was 12/13.

Until now.

I won't go into setting details yet. Let me just say Pinga and Pongo are a ping pong pun, because they both bob up and down with coils - Pongo on his torso, which makes him kind of like a jack in a box; and Pinga on his legs, which allows him to jump really high. They are based on cartoon characters that exist in world, from a movies series that ended up with a cartoon too, sort of like disney stuff but... Not disney. The entire mythos of that company's content takes place in one single world/franchise, it just explores different parts of it with each new series/movie/game.

Pongo is an egomaniac, programmed the be flirty to adults, who struggles on the line between property and self. He used to give a lot of trouble to the park, because his AI allowed him to learn new tricks rather quickly... and most weren't really all that safe or appropriate. So, time and time again, he got sent back to fix it. Having his "brain" messed with has made him deeply afraid of not behaving like a machine, which clashes with how self pleasing he is - you just don't realize it at first, because he's programmed to be a flirty little demon with an attitude. It's just that his real attitude is much more... intense.

Let's see if posting this online makes me not put the project aside too quickly lmao.

[adobe-outdesign]

Have you done a Buzz review yet? Love that guy, but I feel like not a whole lot of others do.

The Buzz is only one of two insect Neopets, the other being the Ruki. Ironically, the two are kind of opposite in terms of design—the Ruki has a very insect-like body but a non-insect face, while the Buzz has a non-insect body but a very insect face complete with compound eyes (unusual for a Neopet design). Between the two I personally like the Ruki a bit more as I feel like it captures what I like about bugs more, but the Buzz is a worthwhile addition with its own flair.

In terms of design, the Buzz is closest to a dragonfly with its large compound eyes, four transparent wings, and cerci. However, the resemblance beyond that is closest to a reptile, with a scaled underbelly, spines, and anatomy that resembles a Krawk. The dragon/bug look is a rare combo to see in media, but it really feels natural here.

Color-wise, the base colours have green eyes and spikes with cream-colored underbellies. Personally I like it more when the eyes and spikes match the primary color, which most painted colours do, but the defaults are decent enough.

I think Buzz mostly benefited from conversion. While they have been saddled with a fist, they also received much improved art that fixes their anatomy and increases the size of the details so the entire design reads better. I also like the lighter-colored wings on the converted version; they feel a bit overpowering on the old art.

Favorite Colours:

Baby: Baby pets that lean into the natural life cycles of real animals are always fun, and the baby Buzz is no exception. (Entomology disclaimer: grubs are usually beetle larvae, but it doesn't really matter anyway as this is a fantasy creature.) It's hard to make a grub cute, but this design pulls it off, with a face that's still fairly Buzz-like and a tiny body to go with it. Both converted and UC/styled versions are good, though the styled is about 50% cuter.

Maraquan: Lobsters aren't insects but they are vaguely insect-like in terms of body design, with a hard segmented shell and lots of legs. In that respect, the Maraquan Buzz makes a lot of sense, and the design is able to adapt the Buzz's face and basic design onto a lobster-like body without it looking uncanny. I also really like the desaturated blue palette combined with the cream underbelly. Once again both versions are good, though I will note that the converted version subtly improves the marking consistency on the head a bit.

Faerie: More of a butterfly this time, the faerie Buzz sports a pretty pink, purple, and yellow-orange palette with lots of swirls and intricate details. The wing shape is really pretty and the body markings make it feel unique even when converted. While both versions are okay, the UC/styled is better due to both the original pose and details like the darker wings, curled jaw protrusions, and less spiky spines (which are constrained only to the head and not the back).

BONUS: The Darigan design gives the Buzz a wasp body, making it by far the most insect-like Buzz available. It's a great pick for the concept, and details like the stripes and the spines under the jaw feel really well thought out. Only nitpick is that the wings are too dark... and that the converted version is TERRIBLE, which is why this is a bonus pick. I guess there was nothing they could do to convert it without it looking bad, but like... yikes(TM). Thankfully, the styled version remains as good as ever.

[papermonkeyism]

Poking at the dinosaur project thingy, this time with some production technicalities point of view.

Here be musings.

I originally thought of the project as a calendar, then a series of calendars that could be collected into an art book once enough art had been made for it, and at some point I thought of just skipping the calendar part and going straight for art books.

I've been going back and forth between those options multiple times over the years, and it's still kinda open. Like on one hand a simple calendar with just thirteen illustrations (twelve months plus cover) is the easiest and cheapest option, though pretty limited (what to do once the year presented in the calendar ends, and you still got unsold leftover stock?), and the other hand art books are big projects requiring lots of work, even more money, but be a lasting and very satisfying thing to have.

Maybe I should take a middle road and make a zine instead?

Maybe.

Though, this is where the shape of the actual project comes in.

I've always planned the project as having a slice of life style format, with little story and more focus in exploring the setting. Kinda just looking in and enjoying the view while you go. But I've noticed that keeping the "narration" as illustrations kinda keeps the immersion at arm's length too. While that is fine and dandy for a calendar where the space for any narrative would be very limited anyway, if I was going to do more with the setting, I kinda need something deeper. Even if the audience is fine just looking at pretty pictures, with ADHD it would be better to have something deeper to help keep me personally invested enough to actually plan, plot and produce the materials needed.

Should I make an actual story, with plot and stuff? Feels kinda unnecessary for a thing focusing on just illustrations, and I don't know if I really "click" with a text heavy picture book format. I kinda feel it would make comic as the best option, though that has its own downsides. I've always wanted to do full colour paintings of the dinosaurs, yet going comic it would have to simplify a lot and make it grayscale just to keep me sane. And, as someone who has done well over 250 pages of a long form comic, that's still a HUGE commitment I don't think I have the resources - mental, physical nor financial - to pull off.

I also kinda feel having a plot story would sort of detract from the "exploring the world" aspect and put more heavy focus on characters, which. Well, it's not *bad* exactly, just not quite what I want.

(Also I am aware the dinosaur clan I have has a kid character, and I don't want to make her the point of view character for the story. I have no interest doing a childrens' book. I mean, I am perfectly fine if kids do eventually end up liking my stuff, but I don't consider them my target audience. My target audience is me, an adult person in their later 30s, and a handful of nerds I consider friends and/or mutuals.)

Another option I've been toying with is kind of a double edged sword.

Those who got the Almost Real speculative evolution zine volume 5 got a bit of a taste of this, as I kinda tried it out there.

So... I've gone to pretty great lengths as a layperson to work in the setting of the project thingy. It's always bothered me when dinosaurs get just dumped into a story with no regards to when and where they actually lived, making for an anachronistic hodgepodge of what's popular forming into a mismatched fantasy setting, usually with throwing humans into the mix. I don't like that. I'm more interested in seeing the actual animals as they were, when they were and where they were, where the focus is in the dinosaurs themselves. Thus the limit to Two Medicine formation (with some of the surrounding areas included too, though still keeping to the same time period).

I do not want humans in my dinosaur stories. Period.

But what if...

So, imagine a research journal. There's a scientist visiting the clan of Singing People the project focuses on, with the mission of studying them, their life and their world. The book or zine or whatever could be a story of the dinosaur clan introducing themselves and their life to this person. An outsider point of view to excuse learning about them by them teaching this POV person how their world works. There could be some interaction and maybe interviews, and of course illustrations because you need to document your subjects after all.

Like, I'm kinda excited about the idea. It would let me get into the details I want to picture without getting too into the heads of the characters to limit the chances of artistic exploration. You gotta document the surroundings your study subjects live in after all! But you'd still get to know the characters because it's the job of the POV person to learn about them. Win win!

It's just that I don't want to put too much attention on this hypothetical scientist. Like I said before I don't want to mix my settings. The dinosaur project thingy's world IS Laramidia in the Campanian period of late Cretaceous, it's not meant to be a scifi setting, nor do I want to have any focus on any time travel.

Wonder if it would be possible to leave the scientist character vague enough to never actually get explained? They're just nameless outsider from undetermined time and place who's interviewing some dinosaurs. Maybe with some peronal opinions or musings but no anecdotes about their own life or themself. And whenever there's interactions between the scientist and any of the Singing People it just gets handwaved away. (Of course the Singing People are curious about them too, but that's not the point of the study so it just doesn't get documented or something?)

I don't know. Could that work?