#it also looks a little wonky because i drew these pretty quickly…

[clockworkvampyre]

experimenting with style

[violetnotez]

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(Requested) Hawks x reader

@chxcolxtemilk: Can I get an imagine with Hawks where the reader is his gf, and she got a BODY. She’s hourglass, slim thicc. Anyways. So during that intern arc where Bakugou and todoroki are like interning with Endeveour and it’s like a meeting and the work students are there and they all think reader fine af, but like mineta takes it overboard and hawks gets protective. Especially since readers hero costume shows off her curves please! Have a nice day ❤️

I read “slim thick” reader and my eyes went 👀👀👀-also sorry if this is a little wonky in the canon timeline cause my brain can’t function 😂😂

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⤷Word Count: 1200+ (?-Im just guessing here sidfnsdifiw)

⤷Warnings: Pervy Mineta, cursing, the usallllll

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Hawks stood in the back of the room, his arms crossed around his lean yet sturdy body, a smirk gracing his lips as he watched you speak with a loud welcoming voice to the newbies.

Hero schools across the nation were starting up their students for internships with hero agencies, and UA was no different. Countless teachers from that high school were shuffling their kids into agencies, and it was one of your duties to greet the students that were about to enter their internships for the other pros. It saved alot of time when one hero told the kids the do’s and don’ts of their internship, so you had sorta graciously took the role (you had lost a match of Rock Paper Scissors to Hawks and you were fuming).

Only you could make public speaking interesting to him-especially when you were in your hero suit (even if it sounded pretty perverted).

He couldnt help himself from letting his eyes wander around your frame- you were dating after all, it wasnt like you wouldnt want him to...but damn was that hero suit a blessing to his eyes. Whoever designed it, he wished he could perosnally thank them for making it so perfectly sexy on your frame.

 Your quirk relied on you to show a little more skin, as you needed to physically touch things in order to activate it. Which made it the perfect for Hawks (and others) to gawk at your curvacious figure- deep swoops on your chest, high cuts against your leg that showed off your hips, an expanse of the soft skin of your thigh….it was absolutely tantalizing to him and left his whole body throbbing every time he saw you in your suit.

Hawks felt his heart thump in his chest from the back of the room as he watched you bend down, apparently having dropped a piece of paper on the floor.

How you bent down gave the best view of your chest-the mounds pushed up so delciosuly he licked his lips from the sight- and then the nervous, innocent laugh you gave as you fiddled with your hair- god, you really just the most beautiful little birdie, werent you?

Hawks loveisck grin quickly melted away when he heard a slow whistle come from the seat in fornt of him- apparently somebody else found his little chickadee pretty too…

Immeidately Hawks felt his the feathers on his back ruffle- he usually wasnt protective at all, as long as  everyone knew that you were his and his only.

But oh, the moment he got a whiff of someone trying to flirt or be smitten with you-he immeidately did a 180, becoming fussy and dominant as he shielded you or sent the person a death glare behind a strained smile. 

“...could you imagine snuggling into her boobs? They must be so soft….” he heard a nasally, boyish voice whisper to his friend next to him, a few seats to his right.

Well-that was pretty fucking creepy.

Hawk’s head swiveled around, trying to find the voice. He was trying his best to not let his emotions do something rash-he didnt want to throw you off your task by doing something stupid. He was pretty known for his outgoing and filter-less peronality, so it was taking everything in him to just be calm for once, for your sake. Hawks quietly began to walk behind the seats of the kids, trying to find the owner of the voice.

“Ohhhh I would do anything for her if I could call her Mommy just once-”

The hell was this kid?! And how old was he to be making such nasty ass comments??

Hawks felt his cheeks flush, his eyes darting around, finaly landing on a student who seemed to be whispering to his friend with electric yellow hair.

He recognizied the kid with the bright hair- you had taken him on as a intern, his name was… Kalimari? Kanimari? 

He didnt quite remmeber, and frankly didnt really care that much as his eyes were trained on the kid next to him- he was so short, only his hair was visible from the seat- if you could it hair. Three balls of messy purple spheres were planted on his head as he leaned into the boy next to him.

“Hey Kaminari you think you wanna switch interns? Ill do anything, anything to just be next to her…”

“No way man!” the kid “Kaminari” whisiper yelled at him, “I landed a total babe as a intern, Im not loosing that-”

Hawks blinked a few times in complete shock- now this kid too! He knew you were a hit with the men (because hell he was a total fanboy before meeting you just because of how hot you were), but god he didnt realize you were popular with the teens too! It made sense, boys were pretty, well- interested- in women alot more at this age, but still- it bothered him how possessive he was getting because of these boys.

“Ahh please Denki!”

“Nah Mineta youre crazy!”

So his name was Mineta...Hawks leaned against the wall, his hands fidgeting as he tried to stay calm.

He might be petty enough to give a small call to his intern and see how he can make his life a little hellish….

Hawks drew his gaze back to you, hoping that maybe watching you speak will calm him down...but the kid wouldnt let up.

The whole time you were talking “Mineta” made every comment in the book, wondering “if you liked short guys”, “how big your butt was”, even asking if you had modeled lingerie….Hawks was pratically mortified for you.

Were all guys liked this? Cause god, if it was, he was going to have a problem...he felt his chest fluff out in dominance, his feathers pratically vibrating from agitation because of how possessive he was feeling and he couldnt do a single thing.

He watched you looked around the crowd, a soft radiant smile on your lips.

“Does anyone have any questions?” you asked as you peered up at the students.

Mineta instantly raised his hand, Hawks stomach churning with dread.

Unaware of the situation Hawks had just witnessed, you gave to boy a bright grin. 

“Yes?” you asked goodnaturedly.

Mineta sniffled, his voice nasally and somewhat desperate sounding. 

“Yeah I had a question- um, how big are you boo-”

Haha, nope.

Hawks instantly sent a bunch of feathers zooming towards Mineta, each one ramming into his open mouth. The force took over his frail body, the sight almost comical as his eyes grew wide with fear as he began to lean back, his pudgy hands flailing.

Hawks felt a small part of him inflate with dirty pride from his little trick, a lazy grin gracing his lips as everyone in the room turned around to watch him with complete shock.

“Sorry about that kiddos, had to just demonstrate somehting for you guys real quick...” Hawks looked down at you, your face blushing yet riddled with conufsion. He sent you a small smile, giving you a quick wink- “Ill tell you later” was written on his face as he turned his attention back to the students in fornt of him. 

“...when you intern with your heroes, show them some respect...cause words get around when you talk out of place-”

The Mineta kid turned around, sputtered coughs dribbling out of his mouth as he picked fluffs of feather off his tongue. His eyes widened as he turned around and realized what was going on, the #2 hero giving him the deadliest glare imaginable. 

Hawks could almost feel sympathy for the kid-almost. He must have realized who had shut him, after all, you two were dating (and Hawks had made sure that everyone knew that).

Hawks sauntered over, a dark grin wrapping against his complexion as he kneeled down to get to the kids level.

“I’d watch what you say, kid- my feathers can get sharper when I want them to,” 

A gulp could be heard from Mineta, his skin paling as the #2 hero, the one dating the pretty herione in front of him, had pretty much threatened him.

Yeah, he stayed quiet after that.

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Taggings:

Everything Taglist (All Fics, All Characters):

@bunnythepipsqueak​ @pasteldaze​  @ionlyspeakinmyheroacademia​     @notadrian​  @hithoeshi​ @sizzlingbarbarianglitter​ @sunnie-nugget​ @shoutosteakettle​ @we-mentally-unstable​ @sm0kingcrack​ @wesparklebitch @kac-chowsballs

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Buy Me A Kofi| Masterlist

[k-llama-llama]

FanCam-ed

Seventeen AU: 14th member

Rei x Seventeen

Rei during the Aju Nice promotions - the first time she had to deal with criticism. 

Rei is not a permanent addition so if you have requests let me know…but she’s just an idea I had. She is NOT cannon with the rest of my AUs.

A/N: bonus post for you all today….ALSO CHECK OUT MY PATREON FOR ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND EARLY ACCESS (patreon.com/kllamallama)

Requests are OPEN!!!

Masterlist and other Follow Me links in bio!

“Where are they going to put your mic pack?” Vernon asked.

“I think the stylist said they would put a belt around my waist.” Rei answered. “There isn’t really anywhere on my skirt.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Vernon looked over her outfit once.

They were promoting Aju Nice, and Rei was being reminded of how horrible it was to promote in skirts. It was just a standard little white skirt, and she did have safety shorts underneath, but it was a big change from how she normally dressed.

Though she’d recorded the music video in a skirt, she hadn’t actually considered what it would be like performing in a skirt. The dance moves were a little more...mature than she was used to, and there were lots of spinning and jumps.

But she had safety shorts on, so it would be fine.

----time jump----

“My face mask is sliding off!” Rei cried, tilting her head back to try and fight gravity.

“I’ve got it.” Jeonghan pulled it back on, inadvertently dragging the slime through her mouth. “You need to stop moving around.”

“I need to play Robot Unicorn.” Rei countered. “I worked hard today and I want to be able to relax without eating my own facemask.”

“Well that’s your own problem. The mask can’t work if you keep wiggling.”

“Urgh, fine.” Rei scooted away from him, moving to the other side of the bed. She still lifted her phone to her face, but opted for checking twitter instead of the aggressive gaming. 

A lot of Carats were talking about their performance today, complimenting the choreography and the entire album.

Rei smiled, as much as she could with the mask on her face. She was so happy that fans were liking it. She’d worked so hard on learning the choreography and the vocal parts, and she’d been nervous that fans wouldn’t like it. 

Out of curiosity, she typed in Seventeen Rei, just to see if people were liking her role.

The first few comments made her smile.

Baby Rei is so cute! Our pretty girl is all grown up!

But as she kept scrolling, other comments started to come to her attention.

Is anyone else uncomfortable with her outfit? Why do they have a minor dressed like that, dancing like that? Were they really okay with Rei pretending to a love interest? She’s a kid.

And then one in particular drew her eye.

This fancam is going viral! Check it out! Against her better judgement, she clicked the link. It took her right to a fancam on naver, and her heart sank as she watched it.

At first it just looked like a fancam of her coming out of a spin move, but then it played in slow motion, and then it zoomed in. Showing a clear, slow-motion view up her skirt. Sure, she was wearing safety shorts, but they were small, and they didn’t hide much. 

Rei felt sick to her stomach, starting to read through the comments.

“What are you looking at?” Jeonghan sat up, pulling his mask off. “Is that from our....wait, what are you reading?”

He took the phone from her hand, scrolling quickly. When he reached the top, he saw the fancam and froze.

“Don’t look at it.” Rei pushed the phone down. “It’s just...”

“Cheol!” Jeonghan hopped up from the bed, taking the phone with her.

“Oppa! It’s nothing!” Rei hopped up, pulling the face mask off of her face. “You don’t need to.”

“Look at this.” Jeonghan shoved the phone in Seungcheol’s face.

“What is that-” Seungcheol looked away quickly, before realizing what it was. “Wait, is that....is that from today?”

“Yes! And it’s-”

“Hey guys, have you seen that-” Chan walked into the room, examining their faces. “I guess you have.”

“How did you know?” Rei cried.

Chan swallowed. “A guy from school sent it to me.”

“We need to call the company.” Seungcheol said, before looking at Rei. “Don’t worry, Rei, we’ll take care of this.”

“We don’t need to make a big deal.” Rei insisted. “I really don’t mind.”

Jeonghan patted her shoulder. “I know you’re lying. But we need to take care of it. And some of those comments are disgusting.”

“Some of them seem like legitimate threats.” Seungcheol said.

“We’ll see about changing your wardrobe for tomorrow too.” Jeonghan told her.

Rei clenched her jaw, and then snatched her phone from Seungcheol’s hand and stormed out of the room.

They heard the front door slam behind her.

Seungcheol moved to follow her.

“She’s probably just going to the fire escape.” Chan said quietly. “Maybe give her a minute.”

Rei sat outside on the fire escape, dangling her feet over the sides. She wasn’t sure why it was bothering her so much, but she really didn’t want the boys to make a big deal of it. And watching Jeonghan and Cheol freak out about it just made everything worse.

“Rei?” Jihoon’s voice interrupted her moping.

Rei turned to look at him as he stepped out onto the fire escape. “Go away.”

“No.” He sat down beside her, and she looked down at the ground, refusing to meet his gaze. “You want to talk about it?”

Picking at her fingernails, she sighed. “Did they call the company?”

“Yeah.”

“And what are they going to do about it?”

“I’m not sure.” Jihoon scooted closer. “But why are you sitting out here?”

Rei crossed her arms, resting them on the railing. “I just wish they wouldn’t make a big fuss out of it.”

“It’s worth making a big fuss over, Rei. It’s wrong.”

“Isn’t that why female idols wear short skirts?” She asked. 

“So they look cute, maybe. But not so creepy guys can take videos of them, spread them on line and say disgusting things.” Jihoon leaned his head on the railing so he could get a peek of her face. “You read some of the comments?”

“Yeah.” She frowned.

“What they said wasn’t okay, Rei. It’s important that when people say gross things like that, when they talk about doing things to you or coming to our house, we take things seriously.”

“I just don’t want it to be a big deal.”

“It’s a big deal to us. You’re a minor. And besides,” He poked her stomach. “We love you. Of course we’re going to stand up for you.”

“But if the company says something, people are going to talk about that instead of the comeback.” She looked up at him.

“What do you mean?”

“You worked so hard on this album. Everyone did. And now I’m ruining it.” She looked away, tears pooling in her eyes.

“Aw, Rei. No.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a side hug. “You aren’t ruining anything.”

“I am. All people are going to talk about is me and my stupid skirt and that stupid fancam. I ruin everything.”

“No, you don’t.” Jihoon said with certainty, stroking her hair. “Sometimes people just....focus on the wrong things. We really don’t mind. We’d rather this get dealt with properly than people keep saying stuff like that about you. Because we love you.”

“Even if I ruin the comeback?”

“Even if you ruin the comeback.” He confirmed, rubbing her arm. “So you’re okay? You’ll come back inside and we can all figure this out together?”

“I guess so.” She hugged his waist, before letting out a little giggle.

“What?” He looked down at her, happy that she was smiling.

“Nothing, it’s just,” She laughed again, looking up at him. “You used to put up a fight about hugging me.”

He snorted. “Yeah, well I got used to it. Come on, let’s go deal with our problems.”

He stood, reaching down and pulling her to her feet easily.

Looking down, he clicked his tongue. “No shoes?”

Rei shrugged. “I was being dramatic.”

“You’re good at that.” He nodded. “Let’s go. You need socks before your toes freeze off.”

“You know, I really don’t think I need all of my toes. My pinky toe is kind of wonky already so I could-”

“Rei!”

“Right, I’m going.”

[you-andthebottlemen]

59 - Original: Happy Birthday Van!

A little gift from me to you to celebrate our Boy’s 27th birthday!!! 

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Your desk was littered with glitter, paper scraps, and whatever else you’d pulled from your craft drawers. Your hands were covered in dried glue and you were sure that it’d take weeks to get the glitter out of your clothes, hair and carpet. That didn’t matter though as you were staring down at your freshly made card for Van. He would be arriving back home on his birthday and it was the first you’d spent together in two years.

Pen in hand, you thought long and hard about what to write. How on Earth could you capture exactly how you felt about him in a few short lines? It was the same dilemma you faced every year. You wondered if this was how he felt when he tried to write songs. How do you condense years and years’ worth of love for someone into one little card?

Van's presents where simple, some new shirts because you knew he'd never go and buy them on his own and a bottle of his favourite aftershave. You also knew better than to go over the top, as much as you wanted to. Van liked his birthday to be an intimate affair. Besides, it was coinciding with his arriving home from tour; he'd be exhausted and needy.

You lay the presents out on the dining table, wrapped in silver paper. The handmade card, your pride and joy, was balanced on the top.

Falling asleep that night was difficult. Your heart was racing with anticipation over seeing your beautiful birthday boy again tomorrow. All you could think about was how good it would be to have the empty space beside you, filled by Van’s body again. You only managed to force yourself to sleep by remembering that if you slept, tomorrow would come sooner.

You weren't sure what time Van would be back, but you took the day off work and spent the morning making a birthday cake while keeping an ear out for the door. Baking, cooking in general, wasn't your area of expertise. But Van would appreciate the effort anyway. Simple and heartfelt was his thing.

As the small, wonky cake with the pink buttery icing was cooling down, you heard the familiar click of keys turning in the door. Your heart stopped for a second before speeding up; you felt like a kid on Christmas.

You raced to the front door, heart pounding. The second Van saw you he dropped his bags to the ground and held his arms open wide. You collided into his body with such force that he had to take a step backwards as to not fall over. His long arms wrapped around you tightly and you both held each other in silence for a few moments. Van nuzzled into your hair, breathing you in.

"Happy birthday baby," you smiled up at him, giddy with love and happiness.

His hair looked flat and greasy from both touring and the plane travel, but that didn’t matter. Seeing him again for the first time in a while just reminded you how of how attractive he was; photos never did Van justice. You let your hands slip underneath his suede jacket and run up and down his back, over the navy striped long sleeve he wore religiously these days.

"Thanks, love."

Van’s lips curled at the corners and he gave you a small and weary smile. He looked tired from the travelling and relieved to be back in your arms. You both leaned in for a kiss. It was long and drawn out; you were both taking time to get to used to each other again after months apart.

Van held your face in his hands and stared at you both as if he was seeing it for the first time and is if he were trying to remember every detail ready for the next time he had to leave. You couldn’t contain your smile. You remembered how in the earlier days of your relationship it wouldn’t have been abnormal if you both stripped each other naked in the hallway the second he walked through the door.

“Smells nice in here babe,” Van commented suddenly, sticking his head up and sniffing a little.

“Oh. Thanks, yeah got something for you, birthday boy.”

You led Van into the kitchen and dining area of your little place. You leant against the counter and looked down at the cake.

“It’s not perfect but-“

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect,” Van interrupted.

Before you could respond, Van lifted you off your feet bridal style. You giggled and clung to his neck, smiling into his skin. His gingery stubble was grown longer than he usually liked it though he was probably just too lazy to shave before coming home.

“I need to give you your presents! Go back!”

“Shower first. And you didn’t have to get me anything y/n, you’re enough of a gift as is. Stick a ribbon on your bum and I’m happy.”

“Oh stop it,” you replied, rolling your eyes.

You traced your finger along the delicate line of the golden chain that hung around his neck, hidden behind the collar of his shirt.

Van plopped you down on the bed before starting to undress. You brought your knees to your chest and just watched him, in complete awe and happy he was in the same room as you again.

“Join me?” Van asked, eyebrows raised.

You nodded and let him pull you to your feet. Van undid his belt and jeans, then reached to take your shirt off. He ran his hands slowly down your body, feeling every line and curve. His eyes followed his hands. It wasn’t necessarily sexual, just intimate and you liked that.

In the shower, Van caught you up on tour shenanigans while he let you shampoo his hair. You smiled and laughed so much your cheeks were starting to hurt. You’d gotten used to Van being pretty rubbish at phone calls and texting while he was away. It just meant you were always in store for a full debrief when he got back.

Van leaned his head back as you massaged his scalp, sighing with satisfaction and closing his eyes. He wore a little contented smile too. You could tell how much he missed this sort of attention and it made you realise how much you missed giving it. Though you liked how the other guys had picked up on Van’s hair/head thing. You’d seen clips of Van on stage and Bondy giving him little head scratches. God, you just loved them all so much.  

Once Van felt well and truly clean and content, you took your warm and wet bodies back into the bedroom where one thing led to another.

After the first of what would probably be many instances of love making that day, Van lay on his back and you were cuddled into his side with your head resting on his arm, both breathing heavily. He drew circles on your shoulder with the hand that was wrapped around you, almost lulling you off to sleep. Then you remembered.

“Presents!”

Your eyes opened wide and you sat up.

“Mmm no come back,” Van whined.

He had his eyes shut and reached out for you but didn’t move his body, clearly feeling sleepy.

“Do you want birthday cake?” you asked, and his eyes opened.

“In bed?”

“Okay, stay there.”

You kissed Van quickly and then climbed out of bed. You felt shivers up your spine as you detached yourself from Van’s body heat, so you grabbed a bathrobe, despite Van’s little groan of protest. You glanced back at him and he was now laying on his side with his head propped up on one hand, looking at you with a pouty face and messy half wet hair.

As you waited for the kettle to boil, you cut two slices of cake.

“Don’t forget to call your parents!” you called to Van.

“Already spoke to ‘em in the taxi here!” he replied.

You smiled to yourself as you plated up the cake and wondered when you’d see Mary and Bernie again, you loved them both dearly.

First you brought in two mugs of hot, steaming tea and placed them on the bedside tables. Van pulled himself up and sat against the headboard.

“I’ve missed the way you make a brew,” Van smiled. “Among other things.”

You ruffled his hair in response, and he gave you a cheeky look before reaching for the mug.

“Careful, it’s hot!”

“Like you babe,” Van winked.

You managed to balance Van’s presents as well as two plates each with a slice of cake, in your arms and hands. Van took the plates from you and set them down on the bed before quickly reaching down and grabbing his shirt off the floor with a slight shiver. You climbed in beside him and both sat cross legged.

Van tucked into the slice of cake, getting some pink frosting around his mouth.

“This is class y/n, thank you,” Van smiled as he finished off the cake.

“You’re welcome, there’s more in the kitchen if you want.”

You reached out and wiped the pink off Van’s top lip and then sucked your finger. Once you’d finished your own cake in between mindless chatter and kisses, you placed the silvery presents in Van’s lap. He looked down at them in amazement.

He went for the card first. You watched as he held it carefully in his hands and looked at the picture on the front; your attempt at a collage and glitter birthday cake.

“Did you make this?” he asked, sounding impressed.

You nodded and his jaw dropped a little.

“So fuckin’ talented,” he said under his breath.

“Like you can talk! Mr wrote three successful albums!”

Van rolled his eyes. Once he read the contents of the card, he placed it down and grabbed your face with both hands and kissed you hard. His lips were warm and soft and you’d missed kissing him with every ounce of your being.

“I fuckin’ love you. I’m so in love with ya’,” he gushed.

“I fucking love you too babe. Happy birthday,” you replied and ran a hand along his hairline, sweeping his fringe out of his eyes.

“But hey guess what,” you began, a stupid grin on your face. “I can’t believe you’re....no longer....26.”

Van looked at you with a deadpan and unimpressed expression, but you burst out laughing anyway.

“Should never have written that line...” he mumbled to himself.

Van opened the presents next, ripping the silver paper in a way that made your sentimental heart hurt a little bit; you were always one to keep nice paper to craft with later.

When Van saw the shirts, his eyes lit up. He pulled his top off over his head and immediately replaced it with one of the new button ups. You couldn’t help but chuckle. Only Van McCann.

“Whadya think?”

It was skew-whiff and poorly buttoned due to Van still being sat in bed but he held his arms out and waited for your assessment anyway. You’d chosen a blue shirt with a thin white stripe to it and a burgundy one, knowing both would bring out his eyes. He was wearing the blue stripe.

“So handsome, that one’s my favourite. Maybe you can wear it tonight?”

You reached out and fixed the collar.

“Tonight?”

“I thought we could get dumplings with Larry then go to the pub after?”

Van grinned at the idea.

“I want it to be just us for a while though, yeah? I’ve missed you.”

Van let his body fall into yours and rested his head on your shoulder with a sigh. One of his arms found its way around your waist, the other in your lap.

“Yeah, we can meet Larry late. I’ve missed you too,” you exhaled, feeling calm and content.

You moved the card, plates and presents off the bed and Van pulled you back beneath the sheets. You were enveloped in each other’s arms, legs intertwined and feet touching.

“You’re gonna get your new shirt all crinkly,” you whispered, tugging at the collar.

“Better take it off for me then?”

[thefragileblackdahlia]

Metamorphosis: Final part

Chapter Summary: Sam and Dean find that a family man is turning into a flesh-eating monster, and they argue about killing him. Ariel makes a big decision that leaves her crippled and alone.

Pairing(s): Eventual Dean x Archangel!OFC

Warning(s): Fluff, Heavy Angst, Blood, Nudity, Self-loathing, Kissing, Typical Supernatural violence, Mild Language

A/N: Here is an episode with some Sam content for those that really like Sam. I never really liked the Ruby storyline, but anyways here you go. Its a bit wonky everything will be explained in flashbacks, I promise. Kinder surprise egg.

Beta’d by no one

Word count: 11,308

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After Dean and Sam settled their dispute on the side of the road and Ariel, awkwardly third-wheeling it, they pulled up to Jack's home.

"Jack Montgomery?" A masculine voice came from behind Jack.

Jack stood in his backyard with the hose in his hand, watering the plants. With his back turned, Jack looked lively, but once the trio saw his face, they knew he was feeling out of it.

There were two men and a small woman standing between them. She also seemed pretty spaced out. The rougarou faced away from them after the little acknowledgment.

"I'm Sam Winchester. This is my brother, Dean...and This is Ariel." Sam gestured between the three of them, and when he got to Ariel, he gave her a small pat on the head, which made her cringe.

This action didn't go overlooked by Dean, but he chose to ignore it because she wasn't anyone special, and he wasn't relationship material.

The angel just observed the two men with her hands resting at her sides. She already knew the end of this situation, but she still wanted the boys to choose for their own. Outcomes were already unraveling in her head, and she wasn't sure if she should even tell the boys about the plan. Her thoughts were interrupted by Sam's husky voice. She decided not to, it wasn't the right time.

"We need to talk." The tall hunter stated in a firm but compassionate voice.

Jack finally whirled around to face the hunter who was walking forward and leaving Ariel and Dean standing in the far background. He glanced over at two and then back to Sam. "About?"

Dean tuned out Jack and Sam's conversation and solely focused on Ariel, who was evading every kind of contact there was after their bathroom situation. Maybe he should distance himself also.

A loud 'ahem' pulled him back down to earth.

"You're probably feeling your bones move under your skin. And your appetite's reaching, you know, 'Hungry hungry hippo' levels. How am I doing so far?" Dean adjusted himself and stepped to his brother and the man. He had an unreadable expression, but the annoyance in his voice told them that he didn't want to leave Ariel's side.

Jack was taken aback by Dean's forwardness. How could these strangers know all this stuff happening to him, and what does it mean? "Who the hell are you guys?"

"We're people who know a little something about something." Dean replied blankly as he casually shoved his hands in his jean pockets.

Sam pursed his lips at his brother's vague answer. "We're people who can help. Please, Just hear us out?" He corrected.

Jack hesitated. "Okay..."

Ariel roamed the garden, the square heels of her boots digging into the wet grass as she inspected the hedge bushes. They were cut in a particular oblong shape with a pointed tip. Staring at the plants offered her no solace, her mind ran rampant with the many slurs Raphael used to break her.

Though she was tortured for only a day, it wasn't the pain that broke her spirit. It was the lack of free will and control over the several millenniums that made her break down. She never thought escape would even be possible with Raphael always looming and dragging his blade across her skin. The fear of dying had never been so prominent for her. She was lucky when another Angel disobeyed, and Raphael was distracted by Angel radio. When he turned his back, she drew a banishing symbol.

Having her grace sucked out of her, traumatized her in ways that some couldn't even imagine. They never did this to Lucifer; they just tossed him out of heaven and put him in a cage. It felt almost violating, regardless if it would replenish itself; It left a mental impression.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Instinctively, her eyes lit up. It was her only way of fending off whoever chose to sneak up on her. She promptly spun around and reached for the culprit's throat.

It was Dean.

"Woah, Woah. Okay!" The jaded hunter caught her hand and held it in his, tenderly. He subtly caressed her palm with his thumb and flashed her a wary smile. "C'mon, feathers. Time to go quickly." He wrapped his other hand around her wrist and pulled her toward the gate while frequently looking over his shoulder.

Sam hastily exited the garden and climbed into the running impala. "Feathers?" He laughed and put on his seat belt.

Ariel's voice cut over Sam's laughter. It was soft and enchanting. "It's not like I call you legs 'cause they're shaped funny? Don't call me feathers."

Sam started. "Legs actually sounds like an appropriate nickname-"

Dean immediately cut his brother off. "Alright, let's get some food and then stake out!" He clapped his hands together and turned up the music. "And they are not shaped funny." He added.

Sam just laughed over the music and carded his fingers through his chestnut hair.

. . .

The trio was seated at a table in Biggerson's. Ariel sat across from Dean, and Sam sat adjacent.

"So, That is coffee, and sometimes sugar helps make it less bitter." Sam reached for the can of sugar and slid it over to the angel.

Ariel grasped the sides of the mug and brought the cup to her lips. She never once tried any of the human inventions, she didn't need to, but to blend in, she had to. Her eyes widened as the bitter hot liquid touched the tip of her tongue. She coughed and quickly placed the china down and dumped a significant amount of sugar into the cup.

"Ariel-" Dean started with a chuckle as he watched her sweeten her coffee, but soon the sugar to coffee ratio would be too much, so he snatched the canister away and placed it on an empty table.

"What? It was gross." She cooed as she looked between Sam and Dean, who were just holding back their laughter. They shared similar expressions, one someone would make when looking at a toddler or small child. Is that how they saw her? She was billions upon billions of years older, how dare they.

Sam cleared his throat and leaned forward with his elbows perched on the table. "So, Ariel...Did you know?" The mood instantly plummeted by that question. Should she say all of heaven knew? That would only kill his spirit that every angel knew who Sam and Dean Winchester were.

"I did, I know a lot of things that happen or is going to happen. But different choices branch off, and that's when things get murky." Ariel replied shortly. She and Dean made eye contact once she revealed this information. She brought the mug to her lips, her gaze still on the older hunter.

"Wait, so you knew, but you didn't say anything to me?" Dean mumbled. His tone was accusatory as if Ariel was the offending one. "Why would you not tell me something like that? That comes before everything else."

" I am here to help lead you both to redemption. So, Don't you dare take that tone with me, because I saved your brother when I was the one who would be tasked with 'stopping' him." Ariel spit fired.

"Well, I had to find out from Constantine that my brother was ganking demons with a demon, which I actually thought was dead!" Dean countered. He narrowed his eyes at the offending angel, letting his anger take control of his mouth once again.

The enraged hunter leaned into the table and clenched his jaw. "And stop him? Not only did you forget to tell me he was hanging with Ruby and using his powers, but YOU; You were supposed to kill him?!" He tried to keep his voice down best he could, but the word kill grasped a waitress's attention.

"I'm sorry, did you miss the part where I risked my life for you and your stupid brother?! I fell for you, Dean, in so many ways you cannot even fathom, you incompetent human being." Ariel lamented. The sound of her voice breaking tore Sam out of deep thought.

"Well- No one asked you to, and I sure as hell didn't ask you to fall either. Y'know, I knew you were too good to be true. No one would just waltz into our lives, offering help just for the sake of doing good." Dean drawled with a stoic expression.

The lights in the restaurant began flickering, and her mug cracked down the middle.

Those words sent a pang through her vessel's heart.

"Ariel- you have to calm down!" Sam whisper shouted as he glanced around at everyone who just gawked at the ceiling in confusion.

Ariel fixed her doe-eyes on Sam, but his words did not compute. Tears began filling her eyes and falling in rivulets down her pink cheeks.

'Damnit,' Dean thought. 'She looked pretty when she cried.'

"Y'know, you are just like him. And when one of you end up dying, do not expect me to come running just because you prayed." She whispered before pushing herself up from the booth and making her way to the exit.

With each clack of Ariel's heels hitting the tiled floor, it sent a pang of regret through Dean's heart. When the door slammed close, Dean flinched.

Sam scoffed. "You're unbelievable. She risked her own life to help us, Dean." He scolded him. "What is wrong with you, Dean?" The tall hunter asked in a spiteful tone.

"Yeah, Well, No one asked her to." Dean ignored Sam's questions. Shortly after he had processed what he said, he regretted everything. He wanted to go after her, pull her into a hug, and possibly stay like that for a while. "It's getting late. I'm gonna hit the can, and then we can go."

"Whatever." Sam just scoffed at his asshole of a brother and got up from the table and left the restaurant.

This reaction prompted Dean to just hurry to the bathroom. Once inside, he checked to see if anyone might be using it, then he locked the door when he found no one. He hunkered over the ceramic sink. The troubled hunter let out a breath.

Dean just wanted control, but he lost that long ago when he was just a boy. He struggled to maintain his composure as he recollected how he treated Ariel when all she wanted to do was help him. He was just so angry, and he had no idea how to control it. And the longer he stood in front of the mirror, the more he wanted to thrust his head straight through the glass.

She not only told him hours before that someone she cared about did the same but that he reminded her of him. He could barely hold it together. Was it a good thing that he reminded her of that guy or a bad thing? And why him? What's so great about him?

A portion of him wanted to pray to the archangel, but the stubborn side took ahold of the wheel and told him not to and that what he said to her was reasonable. He tore himself away from his reflection and shuffled over to the door to unlock it.

. . .

Later that night, Dean and Sam tracked down Jack back to his house and found what was left of Travis. Jack attacked them, effectively knocking out both of them. Ariel nowhere to be seen.

Sam awoke from his comatose state with a faint gasp. It took him a moment to grasp his surroundings and remember where he was. He panicked once he realized his brother was nowhere to be found. He pushed himself to his feet and tried the door handle, but it was locked. "Dean?"

"Dean can't come to the phone right now." Jack muttered as he swayed back and forth.

That response enraged Sam. He just got his brother back, and he couldn't lose him now, not when there's so much more left to fight. Samuel slammed his hand against the door. "Jack! If you hurt him, I swear to God!" He bellowed as he banged his hand against the wood again.

Jack sniffled and swayed harder. "Calm down!" He looked over at Dean, who was knocked out and sprawled over the coffee table with a wound on to his head. "Your brother's alive." He added.

The rougarou's head whipped around at the closet door, "But not if you don't calm down!" He asserted.

This note made Sam relax, as long as Dean was alive- there was a chance he could wake up. Sam shut his eyes and pressed his forehead against the door, his breathing labored.

Sam pressed his hand against the door and let out a low exhaled. "Alright, Jack. Listen. Open the door. We can figure this out, okay?" He tried to reason.

Jack let out a hysterical laugh. "We'll have ourselves a little brainstorming session."

"Jack, please." Sam begged.

"I don't think so, after what you did." Jack uttered.

"What? What are you talking about?" Sam figured it would be a while until he was let out of the closet, so he began searching his pockets for anything to pick the lock.

"You send your friend here. He tried to burn my wife alive!" Jack's voice began breaking as his body slowly morphed.

Sam halted his search at that accusation. "What? Why?" He looked around the closet for anything pointy and found a metal hanger, grabbing it.

There was a long pause.

Jack tilted his head to the side. "He didn't say." He glanced over at Dean, who was still unconscious. "I guess psychopaths don't have to explain themselves." Jack sneered and crawled toward his limp body. All of a sudden, Dean's blood looked delightful.

Samuel kept his head to the door as he spoke."Listen to me. You gotta believe me. My brother and I, we never would have hurt her, okay?" He quickly unraveled the metal hanger and reformed it so he could pick the lock.

Jack stopped by Dean's face, and with a wavering hand, he dipped his fingers in the little pool of blood that formed by Dean's head. He tried fighting it, but there was no use. The monster raised his blood-soaked digits to his lips and licked his fingers dry. "Oh, God. I'm so hungry." He began rocking back and forth, contemplating.

"Jack, don't do this." The hunter knelt and attempted to pick the lock.

"I can't ever see my family again." Jack paused. "You two...your friend--you made me into this!" He roared.

"No one's making you kill us." Sam began working the lock, struggling to get the door open. He feels overall defeated and lowers his hand. He needed to stall. "Listen to me." The trapped hunter began to sympathize with closed eyes. "You got this dark pit inside. I know. Believe me, I know." Sam opened his eyes and began picking the lock again. "But that doesn't mean you have to fall into it. You don't have to be a monster."

Sam only heard a mocking laugh come from Jack before he began talking. "Have you seen me lately?"

The hazel-eyed hunter let out a low sigh as he gave it one last try. "It doesn't matter what you are." He took a long pause. "It only matters what you do. It's your choice." Sam felt like he would never get out in time, so he desperately prayed to Ariel. "Ariel, I don't know where you are or if you are even listening, but we need you..."

Jack stilled for a moment, his heart pounding in his chest. The pain of restraining himself began to wear him down. He groaned and opened his mouth wide and inched toward Dean. He restrained himself best he could, but now he was ravenous. Dean began stirring awake, moving only slightly. The rougarou's mouth only inches away from Dean's neck before a high pitched ringing overcame the silence, followed by the closet door slamming open behind Jack.

"Bad Jackie." Ariel quipped with her shoulders, rolled back as a blinding light filled the room, and her wings projected on the wall.

Sam came bursting in with the makeshift flamethrower at the ready, but his eyes landed on the Archangel. She came.

Jack stumbled back from Dean as he witnessed the angel asserting her dominance and vigor. She was intimidating, but that didn't dissuade Jack from getting up to fight. The monster pushed himself to his feet and lunged for the woman.

Ariel took a hefty step forward and connecting her right knee to the monster's jaw, sending him collapsing to the floor with a broken jaw. She beamed.

The loud commotion awoke Dean completely. He rolled off the table, his mouth and eyes wide with panic and confusion. Why would she come to save them after what he said? He wanted to question it so badly, but he just accepted it. Dean never looked away from her outstretched wings; they were so beautiful.

Sam watched with wide eyes and labored breathing. It was very intense for him, witnessing Ariel fight for the. Jack was no competition for her, even on a bad day, and it made Sam feel secure and safe.

"Godspeed." Ariel cooed. Her eyes lit up with grace, causing Jack's eyes and mouth filled with a white-hot light, and then soon, his whole body caught fire.

Dean looked to Ariel and then Sam, who sported a disappointed look as he watched the monster crumple to the ground. He swallowed hard. "Ariel, you came." Sam breathed.

"Well, you prayed." Ariel cooed softly and put out a hand for Dean to grab.

"Thanks ..." Sam smiled wanly.

"Let's go, Legs." She added with a smile.

The surly hunter glanced over at Sam, who just had a tired smile. "Why did you pray?" Dean gruffed and stood by himself. He ignored her.

Sam sighed. "You were about to be eaten, Dean."

"Dean," Ariel started with a step toward the stubborn hunter. "Don't pretend to hate me cause I made an honest mistake. I didn't want to scare you."

Dean curled and uncurled his fingers as he listened to her words. "No, something like that isn't a mistake. Lying isn't a mistake, you made that choice."

The redhead took a wary step back. "Can you for once get your head out of your ass, It is not a hat!" She uttered.

"Fuck you." Dean shouted and stepped to the offending angel. His chest fluctuated as he glared down at Ariel, who returned his gaze.

"Fuck me? Fuck you! It's not my fault you can't handle the truth!" Ariel argued.

"The truth?! You have no right to talk about truths! All you did was lie to me." Dean huffed, taking another step closer.

They were now three feet apart.

"Lie to you?! Dean Winchester, you are the God of lying! Your whole life, you conned and stole. I decided to not tell you that Sam is hanging with a demon and that my job as an archangel would be to kill Samuel if he went dark side for your benefit!" Ariel stomped her foot down to put emphasis on the word benefit. She continued, "You just came back from Hell, you discovered Angels were real, you went back in time and witnessed so much death. Why in the world would I want to add to that?"

"I never asked for any of this! I have been taking care of me and Sammy my whole life, you do not get to waltz in here with your pretty red wings and decide what's good for us. I don't care how old you are." The angered hunter closed the three-foot gap between them and gestured to himself and the door where Sam should have been standing.

The only word that Ariel picked up was Red. "Red?" She questioned with a shaky breath. "You can see my wings?" Her eyes were wide.

Dean remained silent once he realized he let slip that he can see her wings. He wanted to apologize, but something prevented him from articulating. The way she asked him and how her eyelashes fluttered every time she looked away made his blood pump faster. It took him a moment for him to realize that she had expected an answer. Was he supposed to talk now? Fuck.

"I'm sorry..." Ariel whispered in an oppressive tone. She fixed her gaze on the broken man in front of her.

The righteous man withdrew sharp breaths threw his teeth. He parted his lips in an attempt to apologize, but only nonsense came out. "I- You know-"

The woman tentatively raised her fingers to his cheek. "You're sorry?" She palpitated as she crept closer to his front.

Dean felt inclined to lean into her touch, shutting his eyes, and gave her a slight nod. It was the first time she actively tried to touch him since he dreamt, and the sensation was intoxicating.

"I'm sorry. I just get so angry...I don't know why." He choked out, licking his lips to prevent them from drying. His eyes wandered down her face to her fleshy pink lips. It was tempting, and there would be nothing to drag them apart now. Dean raised both shaky hands to her head and clutched both sides of her face.

Ariel's sapphire orbs bounced between Dean's eyes and lips. "I didn't mean to call you an asshat or lie to you. I should have told you-" She whispered in a quivery tone.

"You talk too much." Dean growled as he hastily yanked Ariel into a deep, heartfelt kiss. He nearly knocked her over with the amount of force he exerted.

The buzzing started again.

Once their mouths united, a surge of exaltation billowed through Ariel's body. The man squeezed her face, afraid she might disappear at any given moment.

Dean furrowed his brows as his teeth nibbled at her bottom lip. His tongue danced wildly behind his teeth; he could not wait any longer. The jaded man attacked her neck, pressing wet sloppy kisses against her feverish skin.

The pushing and pulling overwhelmed the vessel, the coil wounding up and tightening as heat pooled between Ariel's legs. She tossed her arms over Dean's shoulders and raked her nails across his nape. She wanted the buzzing to stop. They needed to be one.

They almost forgot there was a burning man on the floor until Sam rushed into the house and cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt. But we gotta go." Sam affirmed.

The two tore apart almost immediately. Ariel worked her fingers through her tangled hair and looked to Sam with lust blown eyes and swollen lips. She cleared her throat and fixed her jacket collar.

"Right." Dean huffed and speedily left for the exit.

. . .

Baby pulled off into the sunrise.

    ◇─◇──◇────◇────◇────◇────◇────◇─────◇──◇─◇

[comicteaparty]

March 4th-March 10th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from March 4th, 2020 to March 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What are some comic synopses that convinced you to read the comic?  In general, what are you looking for in a synopsis? 

carcarchu

bastard's "there's a serial killer in my house" was all it needed to sell me on it. short and sweet, just begging you to read more to find out what that means

Capitania do Azar

Broken http://broken.spiderforest.com/ had me at "psychic zombie kid befriending a fairy general"

Ash🦀

are there monsters? Are there wlw? are the women monsters like werewolves and vampires and demons etc etc I tend to see monster as the main character and I’m instantly hooked! I have a hard time empathizing with purely human characters, (as an autistic, I have often been called something not human, I guess that’s why) so when I see a monster, I’m like YEEEES. That being said, “Fox Fire” on Webtoons really drew me in. https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/fox-fires/list?title_no=125525 A mysterious journey through lands unknown by a raccoon dog? Yes. Inspired by Finnish mythology which I’ve not seen before? YES. It’s not short or snappy, but I love animal stories so much, and seeing them based on a culture I’m not overtly familiar with is so exciting! So many things to learn! To research! Yes!!

spacerocketbunny

Sink your Hookteeth had me at "cosmic horror romance with eldricht mermaids" https://hookteethcomic.com/ Usually I give things a chance past the synopsis to see for myself but there definitely is some keywords that get my attention right away. Stuff like psychological, horror, world-building, surreal, lgbtq+, occult themes etc., but I'm pretty open to most things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I usually don't get invested in a comic because of a strong premise, but I can get interested in a comic with a unique premise. Ironically the one example that comes to my mind is something I have not yet checked out (but it is on my list!). What is that one webcomic called, the one where time only flows in the vicinity of certain special individuals? And the MC is one of such individuals? I honestly have no idea if I will actually like that comic, but the premise sounds so interesting that I would like to at least check it out.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i too find that premise intriguing

please someone link it if they know what it is(edited)

Feather J. Fern

Premises are really important to me, since there are so many comics nowadays it's hard for me to filter through what I would like and not like. So if something like "Boy meets girl" comes up I tend to shy away but if someone says "Monster boy meets girl who is blind." Then I am like "OH THAT! I WOULD READ THAT!" I think it's the details that really get me, I need more details if possible to make sure I can get the most out of it.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

For me it usually boils down to "relatable/intriguing situation with (insert supernatural/fantasy/sci-fi element here)." The relatable/intriguing situation hooks me on a higher brain level - the fantasy/supernatural element hooks me on my lizard brain level

eli [a winged tale]

Art aside, I look for intrigue/hook and a conflict (whether that’s through a character description/contrast in presentation like a dichotomy/ or a surprise/thwarted expectation). I have my genre preferences but usually if there’s an intrigue (that’s so cool and interesting!) and a conflict (sense of pace/tension/driving the story), then I’m in. These are the examples of ones I love:

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I might be the odd one out that I don‘t look for synopisis much - I tend to read the first ten pages of the comic instead and look for two things: 1) character that interests me and 2) did the plot start yet?

Mind you, godslave synopsis got me at „modern-day egyptology“ https://www.godslavecomic.com/about

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I usually don't read the synopsis if I'm already "there," but like... when people are reccing something for me

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Then I still check out the comic proper. If someone likes it enough to rec it it‘s worth a try!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

My tastes are too specific (yet vague at the same time?), so I fully admit to not checking out every rec that comes my way.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Makes sense! I read quickly and have absolutely no compuction about dropping stuff that doesn‘t interest me, so sample reading works well. But in webcomic lists I found synopsis to be important, that‘s how I found godslave. So I guess I‘m like @Feather J. Fern and look for an interesting premise.

Feather J. Fern

I also try recommendations, which is why I like the CTP since it does help me narrow down reading choices.

Oh also, when someone adds something too typical like "And then romance blossoms" in a premise then I am like "Eh" Especially with the genre of the comic is NOT Romance. Like I think when I am looking into a genre, I want that genre, don't pull the side genres into the main stay in your premise. For example, and Action Comedy being like "Romance blossoms between the two" I would be like "Why wouldn't this be a Romance Comedy with Action side, or Romance Action" If i want Action comedy I WANT the action and Comedy. the romance cna be on the side just don't mention it in the premise, it makes me go pick another action comedy to read.

I guess it's like Confusing Promotion of your Premise is what gets me?

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah that’s fair Featheryjustice. I’m also the same

And chalcara I definitely am swayed by the art and pages too!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

In general, I feel a good summary should tell me why I should read it, rather than what the comic is about. (Those two things are closely related and definitely overlap, but not 100% the same.)

Deo101 [Millennium]

I like this idea a lot. I also think a good summary should match the tone of the story, and kind of give you enough to get you interested but without telling you what really happens in it

I'm not reading a list of traits about your story, I'm reading a bit of an intro to it to get all excited

Feather J. Fern

I agree with Keii and Deo. I want to get excited to know more, not "Ugh I can get this but better elsewhere" from a summary.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think that might be a helpful group exercise to do sometime in story_help maybe -- workshopping a short paragraph/long sentence/list of reasons of "why you should read this comic." It'd be like, an informal rough draft of a pitch maybe?

Anyway, I'm also in camp "art plays a big role." It's not necessarily how pretty the art is, or how much I like the art as art. More like, what kinda vibes is it giving off? Would I like a story with these vibes?

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah, the art and summary kinda gotta feel like they mesh, they don't HAVE to and there are exceptions of course but for that first impression glance I think it matters a good bit

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah I’d be down for some synopsis workshop!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

yes please!

Q (Wayfinders: Off Course)

Samesies!

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yes!

Feather J. Fern

Agreed!

DanitheCarutor

Eeeeh I'm kind of the oddball in this, I can't write a good synopsis to save my life, so I almost never read them. Not even on recs, promo threads, or masterposts. Usually I go by how the comic looks via the banner/thumbnail/promo art, or if I stumbled on an update showing pages with some interesting content. I would rather have the comic show me what it was about. Maybe if the comic is really young and I can't tell where it will go, but I'm intrigued by what I read so far, I'll then read the synopsis. Even though I'll read just about anything sometimes a genre will catch my eye, usually something really rare for webcomics like: Horror, thrillers, mystery, or anything with the word psychological.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I usually look for keywords that hook my interests specifically when reading a synopsis- words that stick out or create an intriguing combination An example of this os XII: Of Magic and Muses use of 'magical horror light show' was an insta- intrigue! And i def find it most important for people, when making synopsis, to use key words or phrases that make them stand apart. What is it about your mystery story That's so mysterious? Or what makes your romance so special? Twists and unexpected words are also an easy way to pop up in searches too!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I don't usually rely on a synopsis to determine whether I'll read a comic. As others have said, most of the time I just start reading if the art caught my eye and the genre is something I like. That being said, there are times where a synopsis has really sold me on a story, and it almost always includes the "who," "what," and "why." (Sometimes also the "when/where," but it's not always necessary.)

(Also, if we do a synopsis workshop, I want in. I'm horrible at writing them.)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i'm sure there's people who'll be down to help you out anytime in shop talk

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

If something says it has pirates I'll click on it usually

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Yo read Tiger Tiger https://www.tigertigercomic.com/tiger-tiger/

Tiger, Tiger -

(@sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD))

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I've seen this before! I read a little bit of it and there was this one scene that was very close to something I've drawn and it freaked me out a little bit. Tiger Tiger is a really great comic though and I appreciate it a lot. It does also have a lot in common with Joe Is Dead and I appreciate you recommending it!!!

Feather J. Fern

Oh speaking of summaries and premises, what are people's keywords for things that does make them read it instantly or things that a premise does that make you want to stay away? I mentioned genre failing but what gets me to click is if the premise itself has good grammar. Soemtimes you get some wonky grammar in the premise statement and it alerts me that the rest of the comic might not be as well edited as I thought.

Oh an a pet peeve, lack of punctuation and capitalization in the premise.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Feather J. Fern I definitely also get put off by grammar errors in summaries.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm not sure if there's a good way for me to talk about my major turnoffs in summaries without offending those who like to read/ make such stories...

kayotics

I think what gets me to read is when a synopsis is written in a way that’s off beat, or like they’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it. The synopsis has time put into it, it makes me think that maybe the story itself is a bit more unique or polished, and if the synopsis is generic I feel like the comic might be generic.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I am repelled by mentions of religious topics like gods or demons. Stories like those usually rely heavily on Christian themes that are too far outside my cultural grasp for me to relate to or enjoy

Feather J. Fern

Oh what does grab me is stories that are inspired or made in other cultures than my own. That makes me want to learn more about that culture

kayotics

I do really like foreign stories. Sometimes I want the familiarity of a cultural context I relate to, but I do like to explore worlds that I’m unfamiliar with

That’s kind of how I feel about Heart of Keol, I’m not very familiar with South Korea so I feel like I’m learning a lot through the world itself, even if it’s historical fantasy based

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

As for keywords I look for in summaries that might actually get me to read: words like "discovers," "mysterious," "ancient," or phrases like "learning to be human."

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The culture talk reminds me! I like stories that focus on non-mythological aspects of a culture. Not that I dislike mythological stuff, but the non-mythological stuff, the mundane everyday omnipresent aspects seem so awfully underrepresented.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

That's basically my favorite part of culture!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't code, but if I could, I'd be tempted to quickly make a bot that generates summaries based on the phrases/keywords that have been mentioned in this channel, haha

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Like the way people eat, or what they wear at festive events(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"Mysterious pirates discover ancient culture. Shenanigans ensue."

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I'd read that tbh

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah or like, even just everyday life things that you don't really think about until you go to a place with a different culture. Suddenly you become aware that you're sitting, standing, walking, looking (as in using your own eyes) different than everyone else

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I would read that because of the pirates

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Even stuff that's considered fairly universal, like smiles or laughs, are different

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) Or certain hand gestures that may be offensive or mean something entirely different in other places(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's true! (though I feel hand gestures, you're at least aware when you use them)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Or how eye contact is received

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

To be clear I don’t have anything against the culture. Stories exploring aspects of unfamiliar cultures are usually really cool. It’s specifically when a story is founded on religious beliefs that I don’t understand and don’t ascribe to that I have a hard time getting into a story because it’s too much work to suspend disbelief and live in that unfamiliar mindset while reading

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, that's fair

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Even if it's fantasy religion?

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Especially if its fantasy religion tbh. They’re usually grounded in Christian beliefs by some way or another because of their commonness in culture and expect readers to have a base knowledge of those things

Fantasy religions are rarely made of completely unique material. Its always gods and shrines and prayer

Feather J. Fern

I also like it when the summary is straight forward with not too many crazy descriptions. It's hard to get into a story if they are already throwing all the technical jargon of that fantasy world at you. At least for me.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I agree

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, succinct summaries are Good

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ah.... I understand your aversion, but I've kind of come to terms with the fact that religion is often so innately tied to culture.

Feather J. Fern

I think Sssfrs is talking if the entire story is based in religion or just a small part will turn you away as well?

I am sure there are stories where a bit of religion is talked about but not a focus

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

If large parts of the story require base knowledge of Christian religion to fully comprehend mainly

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ohhh, yeah that's definitely far more understandable

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I just have a hard time following whats going on

I specifically mean stories about hell or demons. I once read a webcomic about nuns in a cloister that I really enjoyed

RebelVampire

You know ironically, I can't really answer this question without out talking about what turns me away. Now on the one hand, there are certain keywords that will get me to look, but these are 100% about what I'm subjectively look for (like anything with royalty for example). So I don't think these synopses qualify as having convinced me so much as they basically included metaphorical hashtags that I was looking for. As for synopses that actually convince me, it's generally a lot more about it not having things I consider a turn-off. Things that turn me off include: -Being too vague and mysterious. I actually want to understand the who and the what I'm jumping into. -Prioritizing the "message" and/or themes of the story in the synopsis too much. In my experience, this usually means the themes will override the plot which doesn't generally make for good writing. -Too much emphasis on "This story is [insert popular mainstream media] meets [insert other popular mainstream media]." It can be powerful if used correctly, but in most cases I just find is alienating because I'm either a) unfamiliar with one or both of those mainstream medias or b) don't like those mainstream media its referencing -Too lengthy. I find lengthy summaries just paint a poor reflection of what the comic is as opposed to painting a better picture (which is usually the intended goal). There are probably more I'm not thinking of, but my overall point is I'm not overly picky about synopses. None really convince me so it's more about not convincing me to leave.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

You know, in some cases "it turns me off because I don't like the mainstream media it's referencing" might actually be a good thing. IMO the job of a synopsis isn't only to attract people; it is to tell inform people whether or not they might enjoy the thing.

So if a synopsis includes "panty shots galore!!!" and it's accurate... that's not a bad thing to include, even if it will keep me away

RebelVampire

I'd agree if not for the fact that a lot of the comics I've read who did this were either a) not really like the mainstream media they were referencing or b) something I still enjoyed despite the comparitive since the comic didn't do the things I disliked the mainstream media for

tho panty shots galore is a lot diff than what im talking about

XD

so i mean like i said

it can be powerful

and a good tactic to target a specific audience

but its a thing you have to be extremely careful with

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, sometimes what you disliked about that comparison media is not why they're referencing it

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Definitely true!

I think those types of comparisons might help you sell your story to a large company by saying, "Look! I make something with marketable qualities like these mainstream stories!"

But it doesn't accurately depict your work to its fullest

RebelVampire

Yeah which is my issue when theyre done poorly. Theres a lot of synopsis I've seen that kind just use that instead of also trying to paint their own unique picture. So I only have the mainstream media to decide what to expect.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Oooh, yeah, it shouldn't be the only description

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Oooof

RebelVampire

I'm probably more turned off when I don't know the media. Cause even if I dislike the media there are usually good aspects I can hope for. Like there have been a few synopses I've read that are like "It's a lot like Buffy the Vampire Slayer". And I just sit here blankly staring cause I've never seen a single ep of it

So there's no hope

Cause I wouldn't know what to hope for XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

And then the inverse happens because the readers who have seen Buffy and enjoyed it perhaps liked it for different reasons than why you compare your work to it.

So then they are disappointed when those aspects are not included

RebelVampire

Yeah. So I mean, I've seen it used really well, but it's super a double edge sword in all cases.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

As a reader, I feel the comparison is more interesting when I hear about it (e.g. "[this mainstream thing] was one of the main influences for this story") after I've already started reading it. I've had a few cases where I was like ooooooh, that hadn't occurred to me before, but now that they mention it...!!!!!

RebelVampire

Ah I have had that happen. Cause to be fair I don't always even read the synopsis till later. XD

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

This is a little hard for me to answer because often I jump into the comic without reading any synopsis... but when I do, I like them short and sweet, like an elevator pitch, almost, or very efficient in giving me the bare bones of setting, plot, stakes. An example of the first one is from Awfully Decent Fellows by Ironscarf (find it here https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Awfully_Decent_Fellows/) : A group of friends plan a murder mystery themed evening, only to find they have a real mystery to solve: who's murdering Miss Scarlet?

The other that would be representative of what gets my attention is something like Potato & Kraut's blurb (read the comic here https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Potato_and_Kraut/ ) : Set in early 20th century Ireland, Potato and Kraut centers around two young girls - one Irish, the other German. Brought together by unpleasant circumstances, the odd pair form a close relationship, only to be separated years later by even more unpleasant circumstances - the Great War. This story offers quirky folks, all kinds of love, a bit of silliness, a few tears, a couple of pet pigs and the occasional bloody nose. Welcome to Ireland!

[kzesl]

Kdrama: Moorim school-thoughts

I have a lot of feelings about Moorim School: Saga of the Brave, and guess what? I’m going to share. Fair warning, this post is probably going to be a jumbled mess. Like me. I’m a jumbled mess. Spoilers ahoy.

Meet everyone at the school. They all look dorky. Headmaster in the middle, students on the left and teachers on the right, with some overlap.

How I got into this one? I watched Secretly, greatly (ouch, my feels. I could write a long post about it. Stop me. Please.) and then I decided to see what else Lee Hyun Woo has acted in. Because he was an adorable badass in it, and I am weak.

Objectively speaking, Moorim school is not very good. I, however, don’t watch things objectively. Why be objective when you can be subjective? Right? Right. This is not a kdrama that I would recommend to anyone who has never watched a kdrama before. This is a drama for those who like certain, specific things in their dramas. I enjoyed it. Even though I had to increase the speed at times. I use Super Netflix extension occasionally, I admit.

What is it about?

This is the IMDb summary: Moorim School isn't focused on high academic scores. The school teaches students virtues including honesty, faith, sacrifice and communication. The teachers and students at the school come from different countries with their own stories.

These are the four main characters, from left to right: Wang Chi-Ang, Shim Soon-deok, Yoon Shi-Woo, and Hwang Sun-ah.

The intro is a bit misleading. It makes you expect badassery and mysticism, and instead you get a bunch of dorks arguing about who gets the bed with a good view though the window.

It starts with a man protecting a little girl, and fighting off a bunch of mean looking men, dressed in black (gasp! Bad guys) in the woods. The fight scenes are not exactly good. They make me cringe. It’s not high production. However, not every series can be like K2 when it comes to fight scenes. It’s a bit bad, because the series focuses on martial arts quite a bit, but eh. They managed to convey that the man protecting the girl is a badass. Let us move on and not mention the quality of action scenes again. He fights the bad guys off and hides with the girl behind a shield that he raises by activating magical symbols. (Magic is never explained. Everyone just accepts its existence. It’s not taught at the school either. It just exists and no one questions it.)

Then we jump to eighteen years later.

People are preparing for a concert, but the main star, the most popular member of k-pop group Möbius, Yoon Shi-Woo, is sleeping instead of rehearsing. He gets chewed out, but he is not overly concerned. He’s got bigger problems, like the splitting headaches and wonky hearing.

Next we meet Wang Chi-Ang, who is spoiled, sheltered momma’s boy, who only wants to make her happy and his father, the chairman of the Shang Hai group, proud. He’s in the city to go to the concert, because his father’s company is sponsoring it. Shi-Woo is a model for their company.

Shim Soon-deok is a resourceful young woman who is working hard to support herself and her blind father. She sells food at the concert, and she works at a chicken place. She also attends Moorim school. The ladies are badass in this series. Which is nice.

Hwang Sun-ah is Soon-deok’s friend and Shi-Woo’s biggest fan. She calls him my Shi-Woo (headcanon: she is the founder of his fan club. It is a secret she will take to her grave, because it feels a bit awkward when certain truths come to light. Headcanon 2: Shi-Woo knows, but lets her think he doesn’t.). She had to sneak out to go to the concert, because her father, the headmaster of Moorim school is overprotective.

There are a couple of shirtless scenes and Shi-Woo has a Very Important Necklace, which we know because the camera focuses on it a lot.

Chi-Ang and Shi-Woo are accidentally given the same room at a hotel. Oh, no. Who’s going to be the one to leave?!?! Chi-Ang attempts to throw his weight around and refuse to sponsor Shi-Woo, because everything is a competition for that man and he has to win. But Shi-Woo is unimpressed and uninterested and like cool, whatevs, day off.

That’s Shi-Woo there, in white. No fucks given. Can’t win against someone who’s not playing, Chi-Ang. Now this says a lot about their future relationship. Chi-Ang always tries to win, and Shi-Woo always refuses to compete.

The concert goes okay, until there is an accident on stage and Shi-Woo almost gets injured/dies because a piece of equipment starts falling on him and he doesn’t hear everyone shout at him to move because of the wonky hearing. He slows the equipment down with his surprise magical powers and Sun-ha manages to save him. She tells him to go to Moorim school, but doesn’t tell him how to get there (who needs directions, anyway).

Both he and Chi-Ang end up there in the end. Chi-Ang because his father insists (he has nefarious plans) and the girl he likes goes to the same school, and Shi-Woo because he wants help with his hearing. There is a possibility that he will permanently loose it and music is all he has. He is an orphan who has no one else in this world since his manager/father figure turned out to be all about the money. Also, the relationship he has with the rest of his group seems strictly professional. And Möbius was the name he used for himself before he was even scouted. So it predates the group. (I want to read a fic about group feels, or an AU where they are actually close.)

Also, the shield magically comes down when they come close to the school for the first time, and that was not supposed to happen and everyone is concerned. But that relates to the plot and the plot is a bit meh. I’m here for the relationships anyway. (Sigh. The plot had potential.)

Things happen, and I won’t go into detail, but the two of them get expelled, go on a quest, get accepted back into the school and become friends. BFFs.

The school teaches cooking, martial arts, manners (I think), dance (?), meditation, and no other subject, it seems. It is a very weird school, and the professors are weird and nothing makes sense, but okay. Not many things about this series make sense. Moorim was created to ensure world peace, apparently. And it’s a martial arts school, primarily, but they are more focused on teaching good values. There aren’t that many students in this school, and they are from all over. I’m not sure how students are actually recruited. The school is a secret. Are they scouted? Are they those connected to Moorim? Or those who get lost in the woods outside of the school? Who knows. Not me. They also seem to struggle financially because the heating is off. Why else would everyone sleep pretty much fully clothed?

The other students in the school get some screen time, but their characters are not all that well fleshed out, so I found myself not caring too much. It got a bit better in later episodes. One of them keeps badmouthing others in English, for some reason. It’s not like on one understands him. Everyone understands him. He just likes speaking English, I guess.

There is a mysterious man in a coma, villains, a magical key split into three pieces that can lead to unlimited power, reunited families, surprise siblings, etc.

Also, let’s ignore how quickly some people became good at martial arts. Now, I’m no expert, but I have a bit of experience in martial arts and I have known some extremely talented individuals, prodigies, but even they needed more than two months to get anywhere. I’m going to leave it at that. Magic is real in this universe. It’s magic. Problem solved.

The part I like the most about this series is the relationship between Chi-Ang and Shi-Woo. They start off as roommates who don’t like one another, so they fight a lot. It changes, but- Now I’m all for men being shown as having other male friends they can have healthy relationships with, someone they could lean on and cry in front of, if necessary, without toxic masculinity getting in the way. Let men be friends, yeah? And I’m not one who immediately sees gay in everything. But, those two guys have the hots for each other. They’re all: I came back for you/I stayed for you/I miss you/You mean more to me than unlimited power/You’re so cool-No you are/Don’t smile, I might start liking you.

Ahem.

They like the same girl (Soon-deok). Which seemed very hard for them, but I believe that was the best thing that could have happened to them. Soon-deok kept refusing Chi-Ang, and she was very clear about it. She drew the line at one point, and he made me very uncomfortable when he outright told her that he doesn’t care about her lines. This could have turned very ugly if his rival had been anyone other than Shi-Woo. He threatened to destroy Shi-Woo more than once, and he came close to irreparably destroying their relationship, but in the end he didn’t. Because Shi-Wook had so much faith in him, he couldn’t bear to. Again, if it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have even hesitated. (Hmm, imagine a Dark AU. So many possibilities. )    

I have the urge to write fic. Sigh.

Also, at one point the students have a party and Möbius’s song plays in the background and no one teases Shi-Woo about it or peer pressures him into doing his part of the song or the dance, or even looks at him while smirking. WTH. Come one, guys!

Back to the two leads. It’s an interesting dynamic they have. And although Chi-Ang is taller, physically stronger and more imposing, it’s Shi-Woo who’s actually in charge. And I’m not going to tell you to get your mind out of the gutter, because that’s exactly where mine is. And Chi-Ang looks like he might have a serious praise kink. Besides, we have seen that Shi-Woo is not shy about going after what he wants. As we saw with the two kissing scenes with Soon-deok, he is quietly assertive. Unlike Chi-Ang, who is more… bluster and need for attention.

Shi-Woo started as this arrogant, irritable superstar, but it didn’t take him long to shed that behavior, that image. As if, all this time, he was just waiting for a moment out of the spotlight, for a place where he can belong. He seems like one of those people who were born knowing which lines they are not willing to cross. His urge to harm someone is his greatest fear, because he is aware of the damage he is capable of inflicting.

Chi-Ang had different masks. He too knew loneliness, but his was of a different kind. While Shi-Woo was not protected enough, Chi-Ang was sheltered too much. His mother dotes on him, and his father adores him, albeit in his own, extremely unhealthy way. It was clear to me from the start that his father loves him. It seems a significant thing that he is the son of a mistress and not legitimate, but his father has made no attempt to hide him. He provides for him, protects him and spoils him. He has no kind words for him, though, and his lessons are poison, but he tried to make his son strong. Which is what he values. And he has used him. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love him. He just doesn’t know how to love properly. 

Chi-Ang takes after his father in many ways. We see that the most in later episodes. But he has people who have faith in him, and who are willing to tell him off. He is aware that he is wiling to cross too many lines, lines he shouldn’t. He is gray, and will probably always struggle with himself. He seems like a puppy most of the time, but when he is serious about something, his determination is a scary thing.

Shi-Woo would make a more terrifying villain, though. He wouldn’t become one, precisely because he terrifies himself when he thinks about what he could do, if pushed enough.

I could talk more about this series. There are quite a few touching moments I could cover, and also a lot of ridiculousness and wth moments, but there is a reason I didn’t do a recap of every episode. I don’t have time. Besides, I wrote all of this just to get it off my chest, because I have no fandom friends to discuss stuff with. It is sad.

Also, I should have broken up the text in this with a few more photos, but I’m tired.

[lorewytch]

A Little Trip

Authors Notes: Heres another Lore centric post. This one might be edited later but I hoped to make this a longer piece. Also I feel the ending to this scene is lacking. But I liked some moments in it XDDDDD

Lore quickly dashed behind two brick buildings, inching her duck head out carefully as several figures passed by the two buildings towards downtown. She let out the breath she was holding and cracked her back a bit, sliding between said buildings. They only had a width just about her frame as she shimmied through the claustrophobic crack. Quickly slipping free, she spun and quickly darted her head around.

Thankfully, downtown seemed pretty busy, and those who had witnessed her impromptu spy moves simply stared for a second and then went about their days.

After all, it was downtown and they had seen stranger things. Grinning sheepishly, Lore quickly blended within the crowds around her as she tailed her marks.

And No, she wasn’t a stalker! More like a guardian. Besides, she didn’t follow them ALL the time. After all, she was a busy witch. The opal around her neck twinkled a bit in the afternoon light as she slightly gazed up at the sun hanging above Duckburg. At least the weather was pleasant.

Keeping the McDuck group within her sights, she kept a distance. The bracelet around her wrist giving a annoying beeping noise.

Rolling he eyes slightly, she sighed and opted to take the call. Marking where she last saw Scrooge and the others, she ducked into a nearby café and ordered a drink. Pressing a button on her bracelet she went to a secluded seat where no one could hear her.

“This is Lore.” Was her overly perky voice.

What stared back at her was neither duck nor fowl. Electric blue eyes stared at her deadpanned while she sipped her juice.

“Lore, are you still in that weird Duck world?”

Lore finished her sip, setting down the drink expertly. “So what if I am?” She resisted the urge to cross her arms. So she simply averted her gaze.

The human on the other side sighed and brushed a hand through her silver and blue shoulder length locks. Freckles dotted her darker peach skin and her silver and blue clothes complimented her eyes and hair perfectly.

“Lore we talked about this. You can’t stay there more than a couple more days.” She pressed a couple buttons on her keyboard before her.

Lore’s dark eyes lowered, turning a bit sad. “I know, I know.. its just Scrooge and the kids are going on this really amazing adventure soon and I want to be sure-“

The blue teen raised a hand to the screen to stop her.

“It’s been two weeks Lore.”

“That soon already?” Raising a hand to her beak, Lore glanced to the side. Watching a waitress stumble nearby and drop a few glasses on the floor of a table farther to the right. Watching her apologize, Lore’s gaze drew back to her friend on the other side of the screen.

 “Yes and I’ve done the calculations. Another week and the ‘Lore Effect’ will begin to- well take effect.” Smirking at her own clever work usages, the young woman chuckled and kicked her feet up onto the blinking buttons before her.

Lore paused a bit, glancing down at the table before her and pressing a hand against it. “I get it. Better now than later huh?” Her gaze was distant.

Electric blue eyes studied the pink haired female duck on her screen and she sighed. “I don’t understand why you are so attached to this world anyways.” Waving a hand in the air, she crossed her arms across her chest she made a sarcastic smirk.

“After all, being a bird has to be annoying. Walking on those webbed feet and that beak! Don’t you miss having lips?” She ranted, raising a hand. “Don’t get me started on the whole not wearing pants thing! Oh and I’m sure the food thing is weird…Why are ducks eating hamburgers anyways? Does that make them omnivores in this world?” The blue girl shuddered at the thought.

Lore sighed. “Clix….”

“And really? How could they even build these buildings? Although I suppose they do have opposable thumbs now…which is another odd and disturbing thing. Also, this world seems like a cartoon type world which is also kinda creepy..”

Lore started to get annoyed. “Clix…..”

“And am I the only one that thinks the magic in this world is rather wonky in of itself? Or how closely it parallels to the world called Earth you are so fond of? Not to mention you constantly stalk this one family from this world that’s also kind of creepy-“

“CLIX!!” Lore yelled. Everyones eyes were suddenly on her within the café.

Quickly turning off the bracelet, she turned to everyone and let out a soft laugh. Waving a second, she bolted from the Café and started to wander around some of the more isolated alley ways.

Turning the bracelet back on, she was met with an icy glare.

“Yes Lore?” Clix asked dryly.

Staring at her friend, Lore smiled softly. “Sorry about that. I know you were just trying to help.” Glancing around her at the darker side of town, it still felt different than other worlds.

“Look, I can’t explain it myself..” Spinning around a bit, she leaned against a brick building. Watching the sun vanish from above her, the shadows began to cast around her. “But everything here seems so safe…so warm…so like home.” Lore smiled softly. “And the McDucks, they have adventures and stick together like a real family. Even if not all of them are the same blood!” She laughed a bit.

“Unlike your own family.” Clix said solemnly.

Freezing in place, the sixteen year old duck girl hummed in response.

“Not everyone can have a…..decent home life Lore. I thought you can put all of this past you..” Clix’s words hurt because they were true.

“The longer you stay there Lore….the easier your enemies will find you.” Clix said factually. “We can only detour them for so long.”

Wrapping a white arm around herself, she grasped her other tightly. “I know..” but she didn’t look convinced.

“The longer you stay, the more likely you will affect that worlds events.” Clix pushed.

Lore’s eyes closed. “I know..”

Clix paused.

“You could even destroy that world.”

Lore’s frame snapped to attention, her eyes glaring down with slight tears. “I KNOW..”

Startled, Clix glanced away and sighed. “I’m sorry Lore…I know Noir is a touchy subject..”

Lore’s tense frame softened. Sighing, she pressed the back of her head against the brick building, staring briefly up into the darkening sky.

“I can’t go back and erase my past mistakes.” Lore smiled softly and glanced back at her friend with a calmer disposition.

“But I’ve learned from them. I’m more careful now.” She held a determined gleam in her eyes. “ I won’t let this world fall like-“

“Hey! Chick who is talking to herself!” A sniveling voice called from behind her. Blinking, she glanced behind her to see three tough looking dogmen approach her with various weapons.

Clix simply looked at them with no expression. “I have ten different quips for this moment..”

“Not now.” Lore whispered and turned off her bracelet. Hiding it behind her back, she met eyes with the tallest of the group. A wiry looking mutt with a piece of his ear chopped off. He had a stained tank top with black shoulder vest and baggy looking blue jeans.

“Can I help you?” The duck in the purple dress asked them.

“Yeah..” The mutt growled. “Give us all your money!” his two friends flanked either side of her almost boxing her inside the end of the alleyway.

The shorter of the group was wielding a baseball bat. Creative. His breed was probably closer to a terrier mix, where she could see the mutt before her had a wolf gene prominent. His last friend seemed to be a mix of collie and possibly german shepherd?

“Right…and may I ask what you are going to do with my said money?” Lore asked with a slight grin. She wondered how far she could push these guys before they broke and attacked.

Wolf boy glared at her harshly and proceeded to pull out a knife. “It makes no difference does it?” He threatened, pointing it at her.

Lore pressed a finger to the end of her bill, as if thinking about the others sentence. “Well I mean if you were going to say, give it to a nice family who is in trouble I’d say sure and fork it over no problem.” Lore stated, but her eyes narrowed at the two others who were slowly approaching her on either side.

“But…” Arms still crossed, she kept her eyes open a sliver, waiting for the right moment to attack.

“Webby! No Stop!” Eyes opening instantly, Lore recognized Huey’s voice as a little blur zoomed from a nearby trash can where the triplets were standing and kicked the wolf boy hard in the back.

Taking this moment, Lore grabbed the baseball bat from terrier boy and kicked him in the side. Swinging the bat, she stopped it in midair, blinking as she saw the triplets struggling with the final mugger, Huey was on the guys head, using the dog’s beret to block his face. Dewey had the dogs arm which held a razor blade. Louie had the guys leg, trying to trip him it appeared.

Dropping the baseball bat, she watched in awe as Webby kicked the mugger and the boys flew off, landing on their feet mostly.

“Uhhh.” Was Lore’s intelligent response as Webby grabbed her hand.

“Quick! Follow us Miss!” Dewey grabbed her other hand as the group ran out of the alleyway and a few blocks away before the group stopped, breathless.

“Webby that was so dangerous!” Huey chastised the girl duck. “We should have gone and gotten Scrooge and the others!”

“Aw those guys didn’t look so tough.” Webby smirked. “Granny taught me to handle guys like these no problem!”

“Woo-ooo!” Dewey fell to the ground with his arms up. “That was so cool!”

Louie was still breathing hard, hands on his knees and nearly keeling over. “I should start charging the people I save..” He eyed Lore.

Sliding to her instantly he grinned. “Heyyyyy-“

Huey pushed his brother out of the way and onto the ground. “Ignore him..”

Lore was still in a state of semi shock and looked at the group of kids she had been following just hours before.

She raised a finger and opened her mouth to speak, but felt nothing come out. All the kids glanced at her curiously.

Her bracelet buzzed. “Very articulate today I see…”

Laughing, Lore quickly glared at her wrist, then stuffed both arms behind her back.

Slowly, Lore took a breath and let it out. She couldn’t let her social anxiety show. “Er…Hi!” She waved nervously.

“Hi I’m Webby!” Webby happily announced, bouncing up to Lore and shaking her hand.

“And you can call me Dewey the great!” The blue boy announced, taking her other hand and shaking it.

Letting the kids shake her arms off, Lore blinked down at the kids and wondered where Beakley, Scrooge and Donald were.

“It’s great to meet you kids.” Lore stated and glanced at Huey and Louie.

Huey was busy looking at the map and frowning. Obviously, he was trying to determine where they were. Meeting her eyes, he smiled a bit. “I’m Huey!”

Turning towards Louie, Lore saw the other was on his phone, only glancing up once he felt eyes on him.

“If you give me five bucks I’ll tell you my name.” He grinned.

“Louie!” Huey frowned.

Louie’s smile dropped and he rolled his eyes a bit. “Fine..”

Lore couldn’t help but giggle a bit at the others interactions.

“What’s your name?” Webby asked excitedly. “Who were those guys anyways? What were they trying to do?!”

“They were obviously thieves from around town.” Huey commented from the side before Lore could respond.

“Yeah and they obviously wanted her money.” Louie added, eying the strange older girl once more.

Lore nodded. “Yeah they figured I was an easy target.” She brushed a hand through her long pink hair absentmindedly.

She pondered though what she should tell them her name was. She bit her beak nervously.

Dewey narrowed his eyes at her and suddenly she felt really nervous.

“Have we met before?” He wondered, feeling something itching in the back of his mind.

“Ah, no I don’t think so..” Lore commented, hoping that Dewey wouldn’t remember anything from the past.

Oh this was not a good idea. They might recognize me…

Shrugging, Dewey turned to Huey and together they were trying to find a way back to where they were before.

Webby was staring at Lore with sparkles in her eyes.

Louie was with his brothers and trying to use his GPS to locate their exact location.

“Lor-rain…” Lore suddenly blurted, startling the group of boys and causing Webby to tilt her head curiously.

Lore cleared her throat. “Um. My names Lorraine…but most just call me..Raine?” Lore offered with a slight shrug.

She couldn’t believe she was lying to them. But she couldn’t risk them remembering her and putting their world at risk.

Webby studied her for a second then smiled brightly. “Kay then I’m calling you Raine!”

Louie seemed a bit more skeptical. “You don’t look like a Raine..”

“Hey Raine, where are you going anyways? We can walk you to where your going!” Dewey chattered excitedly.

“That’s really fine.” Lore said, holding up her hands and giving them a sheepish smile. “Why don’t I walk you guys back to your….um family?”

Louie’s eyes narrowed at this.

“Oh yeah I’m sure Uncle Scrooge and Granny are probably worried.” Webby smiled weakly, rocking on her feet a bit.

“That would help out a lot, thanks Raine.” Huey nodded. “I just wish I knew where exactly we are right now. Downtowns like a maze.”

Lore took this chance to glance at the map. “Where are you guys headed anyways?”

Louie took the map and eyed her suspiciously. “Why do you want to know?”

Lore blinked and took a step back. “Er, to help you back there?”

“I think we’ll be fine on our own.” Louie took Huey’s arm and dragged him towards the other two.

“Really?” Lore asked with a raised eyebrow and slight smile. “I mean it wouldn’t feel right leaving you guys alone in the city just as the sun is setting..” She eyed the slowly lowering sun.

“Oh man, Granny is going to kill us.” Webby mumbled.

Lore glanced at Louie again and sighed. “Okay, how about you guys lead the way and I’ll walk you back, make sure you get safely to your destination as a thank you for saving me.” Putting a hand on her chest over her heart, Lore lowered herself to Louie’s height.

Louie eyed her, like really looked into her eyes trying to find something. After a minute or so, he relaxed. “Fine..but one wrong move..”

Lore gulped. “Got it..”

With that, they started off and Lore glanced around briefly wondering what she has gotten herself into this time.

[super-art-tastic]

earlier (probably on my main blog) i talked about how i did not particularly like the bard design outfits nor did i like the characters who were bards.... so i made an au/hc that only bards who are Good People(tm c r) can actually find their quest beds and god tier and every bard costume weve seen in hs is actually just a fake- hence the reason why theyre so awful in design, because awful creepy people made them. i had some redesigns i quickly sketched in my notebook for the “real” bard outfit and then quickly drew over in firealpaca so they look a bit wonky, but these were the ones i had liked the best. i like the idea that the bard pjs come with a lute or something like that, and are a little bit more individualized for each bard player, like on the designs on the right (hence why gamzee has a different front and cape, and why cr*nus has different shoes and has gloves, as well as other small differences). for a non individualized god tier the cape would be double layered, with the top layer breaking into three sections to somewhat replicate the streamer-things on the original design. i also couldnt decide if it should have a belt or not, so iirc the picture on the left is tied with some fancy string/rope, probably with those golden aglet things on the end. im still trying to get down a better design, and while i think this one is a pretty good improvement, its probably too complicated and has too many layers.

[mysticsparklewings]

Figures in Good Style

It's about time I got this one finished and uploaded! This piece was inspired by this adorable vintage Valentine: Vintage Valentines - Worth Your While graciously posted by Yesterdays-Paper   Believe it or not, I actually started on the sketch back in January not long after the original Valentine was posted. (From pretty much the moment I saw it I wanted to draw something inspired by it so I've had it open in another tab so I wouldn't forget this entire time! ) I got about halfway through and started to run into...not really problems so much as frustration. Some of the details were just not working out the way I wanted, the proportions looked wonky, etc. So I gave up and worked on some other things for a little while; some things that were on my to-do list, others that came up as I went along, stuff like that. The longer I went, the more it was looking like the sketch was going to be abandoned, especially as it drew closer to Valentine's Day (because originally I wanted to post it before then for hopefully obvious reasons). But all the while there was this voice in the back of my mind more or less egging me on to go back to it. One night when I was feeling artsy but had finished my other projects, I decided to go back to it. This was one of those times where there must've been something artful in the air because even though it was still trying my patience a little, I didn't get discouraged like I did before and powered through to finish the sketch. (Well, what I was calling finished, anyway.) And somewhere in the mix, I had decided to see it through to completion, after Valentine's Day or not.   Compared to the original, I did alter some details and age the two characters up a bit to better suit my own style. The eyes, in particular, I couldn't make out the color on the original that well, so I gave the girl blue eyes to tie in with the boy's shirt and he got green eyes to go with her dress. I think it connects them a bit more since otherwise, their looks don't really go together. I sat on the sketch for a day or two to figure out what I wanted to do exactly beyond just coloring it. I ended up doing the line art on this Parchment Paper by Strathmore that I got on clearance sometime last year, And I really should use that stuff more often. It's got five tinted colors to pick from (I went with the darker of two creamy/tannish options here) and the pages have a sort of subtle marbled look to them. It's also pretty smooth, so markers work pretty nicely on it, but not so smooth that colored pencils won't stick. It's only the 200 series, 60 lb. so it's kinda thin, but I haven't had any issues with that. (Beyond the very obvious I am never taking water to this paper because I am very sure it wouldn't hold up to it very well). I thought the creamy and marbled look would fit with the vintage theme, and the tints of the paper are light enough that they don't affect the color too much. Because I was feeling a little lazy I went with doing a base layer in alcohol markers--good, even coverage pretty quickly without having to build up layers--do a little minor shading, and then deepen up the shadows with pencils. This worked quite well, and again this is something I should do more often. I like colored pencils, but they do tend to take a little longer. I also like markers, but sometimes it's intimidating to me to try and get enough depth/shading/etc. with them alone. (Only thing is I can't use the markers on my tan and gray papers, which is a shame) Originally I wasn't going to include the little pattern on the girl's skirt, but once I started working with the pencils I said, "eh, I can do a little quick sketch-in with a darker green" and then later I accented it with a Pentel Sparkle Pop, so IRL when you move the picture it sparkles. This led me to add the ribbon on the boy's hat so he would have some glitter too. (I did do a couple of gold buttons on him, but it didn't feel like enough). The gold on the fan also sparkles; leaving it plain white in that spot didn't feel right. Then obviously I took my white gelly roll to them, And IRL the shine on their eyes somehow now looks almost like it's glowing because it is so nice and bright . Now, I had figured out while I was doing all this that I didn't want to just leave it on the paper and that be that. Once I was done with the coloring and everything, I let the drawing sit for another day or two and thought about what else I could/wanted to do with it. From my Elizabeth Tower piece, I have this stack/block of paper printed with maps/test/ledgers/etc. On a whim, I started flipping through it, possibly to cut and mount the drawing on a piece. I went through a few different ideas, but I ultimately came back to this piece left over from the Tower; I'd cut a butterfly out of one corner. I hated to waste a whole new piece to cover up most of it, so I was thinking about how I could use this piece that had already been marred. I still had the butterflies I used; So I pulled one out and cut one out of the other corner  To fill it out, I pulled out on the ledger pages and mounted it on that, then cut out the drawing and mounted it on that. Though I hadn't planned on it, I ended up mounting my little paper sandwich on a piece of my metallic cardstock just to give it some more stability. (The cardstock I got pretty cheap and don't use it that much, so I don't mind using it for stuff like that.) Some details and proportions still came out a little bit funny, but ultimately I'm happy with it. It's cute, and the different papers make it feel a bit fancier. This was also the piece that put a nicer paper cutter than the one my mom got from the dollar store many years ago on my art shopping list because that one was still cutting crooked and giving me trouble.  (I have since purchased a pretty nice one by Fiskars that works wonderfully from Wal-Mart). I went with "Figures in Good Style" for the title as it comes from the text on the original and seemed like a good fit. Next up...hmm...I've got a new resource to share, a colored pencil test, and another test, but I also have one other thing that's not quite finished I plan on wedging in there somewhere. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[w21030083-mi4011]

Bouncing Ball

Task

We’re to animate a bouncing ball, using the frame guides Ellie handed out to us. We’re to animate this, using traditional 2D hand drawn animation.

This requires:

Animation paper (Roughly 30 sheets + a sheet for the guides, for this task)

A pegbar to slot the paper into

A lightbox to see through the paper

The use of the Rostrums

DragonFrame

A Macbook in order to use the equipment and software.

Bouncing the Ball

29 Frames, 24 FPS

Setting Up

To create the animation paper, we had a box of A3, 3-hole-punched paper. We took 15 sheets each, cut them in half with scissors. For everyone else, they centred the paper and used a regular 2-hole-punch for their pegbars. Because I’m using my personal 3-hole pegbar, I required the traditional animation cell punch. It can only sustain punching 5 sheets maximum, so this process took a little while. Unfortunately, I misread the alignment on the wood block, so the holes came out lopsided.

Guides

Regardless, I worked with the wonky paper. I drew out the guides for how I’d like to animate the ball (I lingered at the bounce, to see how it would fair. I also exaggerated the squash and stretch a bit more.) As I used one sheet for the guides, I was left with 29 frames to complete the animation.

Lightbox

Using the lightbox, I traced over the guides in one stroke, using a Uni Pin fineliner (1.2 mm.) I breezed through this process pretty quickly. I thought that the looser lines would give the ball some more character when it moves (I was thinking of Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy.) It wasn’t very noticeable in execution.

DragonFrame

Finished, I moved to the rostrums to animate. At this stage, I wasn’t aware of the situation with the Windows laptops and synchronising the profiles. I only found out, after I set everything up. I replaced the laptop with a Macbook, which died immediately after I finished setting up the software. I picked up a third computer, which worked well.

When setting up the stage, I ran into some issues with the camera and the output to DragonFrame. When aligning the camera, DragonFrame only showed me a portion. I’m not sure what the issue was, but I hadn’t managed to fix it, before exporting the sequence.

Rostrums

The pegbar shifted quite a lot, even when I stuck it onto the “stage” using blu-tac I found on the wall. I wound up scavenging for tape, which was sparse and difficult to hold down.

The lighting became an issue, since the room’s lights were on and overpowered the rostrum’s lights, which let my shadow overcast a lot of the frames.

It was also difficult to centre my paper and pegbar, as my animation paper was punched in a lopsided manner.

I was aware that we had limited rostrums to use and that others would want to film their sequences, so I tried to rush through the shooting process.

Ultimately, the whole process became a hilarious mess.

Animation

My sequence is more cartoony, where the ball lingers in the peak of the arc, , drops hard and fast, but sticks to the floor for 3 frames per bounce. The Ball retains it’s normal shape, but exaggerates during the squash and stretch.

What Can I do Next Time?

I’ll need to be more careful when punching holes in the animation paper. The paper needs to be straight and the holes need to be centred.

When using DragonFrame, I’ll need to be more careful and try harder to find a solution to the alignment issues I faced.

Regardless of whoever else is in the room with me, I should turn the lights off and keep the blinds closed. My overcast shadow was too overbearing.

Whilst the others in class would need to use the equipment as well, I shouldn’t hinder my own creations by rushing through.

In regards to the sequence itself, I could remove one of the frames of impact. Although, I don’t mind how the final animation looks, as the ball is moving exactly how I intended it to.

[ieryana]

Dinner with Christians

*** Disclaimer *** - this is tongue in cheek fun. If you take it seriously and get triggered because bew hew you know a Christians then tough shit frankly. Enjoy! ________________________________________________________________

  "Fun as in 'naked twister' fun?" he quipped, slightly too hopefully. Felicity shot him one of her narrow-eyed, ‘you better behave’ sort of looks and squeezed his arm. "It's just that I went to a party once and it was full of forty-something swingers and-" "Oh you did not," She admonished with a flap of her hand that signalled that she didn't believe him and that the subject was dead. "Besides," she added, almost as an afterthought, "they're good Christian people, they wouldn't be into anything like that." "They're what?" A look of horror flew across Max’s face. Last time he’d encountered Christians en masse was his Christening, and he’d slept through that. "Flick!  Daaahling! Happy New Year!" A horribly ‘faux posh’ voice echoed from the porch. "Tom, Helen, how are you both, awww!"  Felicity gushed, hugging her hosts and flashing air kisses that missed by miles.  It was at that moment that the girl that was once Felicity Harbour changed….in a way Max hoped he would never see again. The transformation was devastating, dramatic and swift.  In that moment, she had become the entity known as Flick. Max stood in the doorway and juggled the beer, a resigned but somehow desperate expression on his face.  What had just happened?  It was only seven pm and he already wished the night was over. As he walked into the predictably magnolia and laminate hallway he spared a thought for the lads in the King's Arms, drinking, celebrating, happy, and single.  Happy New Year indeed. From inside, the stomach-churning soprano 'Walking in the Air' began to filter through into the hallway and he knew that with certainty it wouldn't be long before Cliff made an appearance too. Tom and Helen were pretty as boring as the house.  Helen was slightly overweight and dowdy. Straight mousy hair framed a chubby face and she was dressed in a shapeless floral dress.  Tom was the sort of guy you would want to beat savagely and, were it not for the fact that it would be something like kicking a puppy, you feared that you would.  Sporting a pair of tortoise shell rimmed glasses and a drab loose knit sweater; he’d also adopted a magnificent eye twitch that Max found compelling.  Tom would use words like 'cathartic' and 'holistic' a lot and pronounced the word beautiful as 'buuudafull’. Max ground his teeth together and tried to smile.            "So Maximillian nice to finally meet you, how aaaare you?  We heard you've been mentally ill is that right?"  Tom said all in one breathe.            Maximillian? Against his better judgement, he shifted the bitter into the crook of his arm and grasped Tom's limp, slightly damp hand, pumping it in greeting whilst brandishing a vaguely threatening fake grin.  "No, no it was a week off work for compassionate reasons, some work rela-"            "Super!  Well, this is my wife Helen…"  Tom cut in with a disarming smile and a sweep of his hand.             Feeling more than very put out, Max braced himself as Helen approached him for a double air kiss and he was horrified to note a wispy, grey moustache lying in wait across her top lip.  She smelled faintly of Yardley’s English Lavender, and that was no great surprise either.  Helen also had this irritating habit of talking to you through either closed or wildly fluttering eyelids, it made him wonder whether half way through a conversation he could nip away and come back without being noticed.  "Soooo gooooood to seeee yooooou," she whined.            Tom and Helen invited them into an untidy living room and introduced them to the others: Jed and Hannah, Campbell and his friend Philip, and Camilla. "Guys, this is Maximillian, Flick's beau – he's recently been mentally ill," Tom was saying, nodding sagely, "So let’s hope he finds tonight's diverse social integration… cathartic." Max raised a hand in salute. "Well, I wasn't strictly ill, but hello."  Something told him that the five pints of John Smith's he'd downed before meeting Flick and friends wouldn't be enough.  He then noticed Jed was wearing sandals with Argyll socks and briefly flirted with the idea of running away – quickly.            Dinner was a bland vegetarian affair that Helen had managed to become tearful over when she discovered that she had burned the crust of the leak and leak pie.  The potatoes were more than slightly underdone and the onion gravy watery beyond compare, although the Swede and carrot mash was passable.  She seemed heartened by the fact that her eye-watering, sugar-free rhubarb and gooseberry compote was edible, or at least that was the suggestion that everyone had given her by doggedly finishing their bowls.   "I think I've just developed a stomach ulcer," Max whispered to Flick, who shushed him tetchily.            "Matchmakers and coffee?" offered Tom, as if it was the height of sophistication.            "I'll stick with the beer, thanks."  Max pointed to his fast depleting stock.  The group had barely managed to empty three bottles of predictably cheap wine over dinner. He cracked open another can and tried to get comfortable on the lumpy sofa. "So," Jed was saying, his legs crossed and his hands constructing a pyramid at his chest, "Hannah and I met Campbell whilst on sabbatical in Bratislava in 1999…"            "Yea yea, Bratislava’s an awesome country”; Campbell interjected as if anyone was interested in his point.           Max rolled his eyes, but thought again about speaking out, leaving the group to embarrass themselves.            "Well, it's funny," Campbell continued in his soft, whiney Scottish accent and patted his 'friends' arm, "because Philip and I met during his gap year in Burundi." "Yes I was working with Médecins Sans Frontières as a volunteer nurse."  Philip added with a self-satisfied smile.            "Oh that's riiiight," gushed Helen.  "I heard that you had done a lot of good work in the Third World."            "I now do some volunteer work with special needs, but not as much as I'd like to" Philip continued, "in fact I'm a dedicated helper in the community for a great person called Ben Calloe."            “Wonky Ben?"  Max said.            The front room fell silent.  To look at their faces so aghast, one would have thought that he had just dropped his pants.  "What?  Wonky Ben, gammy leg, he comes in the pub."            "He's got cerebral palsy, Max," Philip said with the measured patience of somebody trying to break some really bad news.            "Yeah but you want to try and race lad, he's pretty quick after a few rum and cokes I can tell you."            "You feed him alcohol?"  Campbell seemed genuinely horrified.            Max shrugged.  "He's a bloke not a gerbil. Why shouldn’t he enjoy a drink or two, he’s still a person".  He was vaguely aware of Flick tugging urgently at his sleeve.  "What, you've never raced a drunken spazz?"            "We don't refer to them as 'spastic' anymore."  Hannah said gently.            "Anyway…" Tom intervened.  "Campbell, you were saying about Burundi…"            Max's eyes darted incredulously from speaker to speaker, what irritated him more than the inane anecdotes of who met whom and during what Hutu uprising, was the fact that Camilla simply nodded in agreement to every statement and mmm-mmm'd her approval.  This further cemented Max's theory that she had nothing to add to any conversation.  Anywhere.  Ever.            Max sighed and cracked open another can. "So Maxi, did your faith helped you through your period of mental illness?" Tom said, some time later, turning his attention across the table.            "Sorry, what?" Max jumped awake from the semi-doze he’d fallen into            "Your faith, was it a crutch?"  Helen asked.  "I found that my faith brought me through my darker moments when I was diagnosed with uterine polyps."            "Mmm, yah, polyps."  Camilla nodded seriously, shooting Helen a tight lipped look of unswerving support and female camaraderie.            "Er, no, I'm not a big church goer to be honest."  Or at all, but he wasn’t going to admit that.            "Awww."  The group crooned in an 'oh you poor, silly, ignorant little man' fashion.            He noted that Flick looked suitably embarrassed and could not help but feel a little crow of jubilation inside him.            "You really should consider taking Christ into your life."  Hannah said.            "Mmm-mmm, yah.  Christ our Lord."  Camilla spouted and actually held up a hand in some sort of 'hey Jesus, here I am,' wave.            Max drew a patient breath and forced a smile. "No, thanks all the same.  I'm happy with my lot and it's not really for me, but cheers."            "Don't worry; I'm sure you will regain your faith with Flick's help, she is such a strong woman."  Helen sympathised.  "You will find that it was the glory of the Lord that drew you out of your mental illness."            "Oh, I'm not so sure!"  Max replied smoothly.            They all looked at him in earnest.  "Yes Max… it was. They nodded as one. "Oh yes, Jesus loves you.  He loves us all."  Hannah intoned. This was getting a little creepy, and Max edged his way along the sofa.            "Doesn't seem to love wonky Ben that much does he now," Max replied sourly.            "Ah, don't worry, the Lord has His own plan for Ben. His physical illness is part of god’s plan, as was your mental illness."         Max slammed his hand down on the nearby table causing everyone to jump and sending John Smiths tins scattering.  Camilla stopped mmm-mmming all of a sudden and looked petrified. He stood up and stared at them all. "Look, I'm not mentally ill.  I never have been; I had a week's leave of absence after some work related stresses and my mum dying.  And before you say it, no, she's hasn't 'crossed over' or 'become spirit' or whatever it is you nut-jobs think and she's not 'in a better place'. She's in a box, in the ground, in Highgate cemetery.  Oh and in case you were wondering, I don't want to join your blasted Christian polyp support group or whatever it is.  I have been listening to you lot for the past four hours and you have yet to say anything remotely constructive or interesting!" "Maxi, I really don't think this is-" Campbell began to speak, looking pale. "It's Max you irritating Scottish poof!" "Wha-what?"  Campbell and Philip both looked stunned, as if some great and unspoken secret had been splashed across the national news. "Oh come off it, people!  If these two were any more mince they'd be a Chilli Con Carne." An awkward silence fell across the group, broken only by Philip, who began to weep quietly into his napkin. He glared at them for a few seconds longer before about turning and striding into the hallway.  "Jesus Christ!  No wonder they threw you lot to the lions!” The door slammed shut in his wake. "Peace be with you…"  Tom murmured cheerlessly, smoothing his pullover.

[placetobenation]

It’s a “lose your championship” kind of week for the WWE.

First, we get Becky Lynch giving up her RAW Women’s Championship now that she’s going to be a Mom. Then, we get Sami Zayn being “forced” to let go of his Intercontinental Title.

Zayn, after getting some dental work to go along with his pandemic hiatus, says he’s still the champion but will now have to watch a tournament go forward to see who the next I-C Champ will be.

I thought the WWE handled Becky’s situation well with some human moments to start RAW Monday night with “The Man” and Asuka, who was just learning that she actually won the title and not the MITB contract during Sunday night’s PPV. Pulling the curtain back a bit and letting the ladies enjoy the moment for what it was as mothers was really good to see.

Welcome back to the brand extension! It’s now called the Brand Invitation and it starts with the announcement of King Corbin coming to RAW Monday night to face WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Now, that’s quite the invitation to not only come, but face the #1 superstar on the show. NXT Charlotte Flair, who you could argue started this by being on RAW each week (along with Akira Tozawa and others), got things going by showing up on SmackDown.

They’ve done so much to make sure the bands are separate and now it seems, out of necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they need to mix it up because of talent shortages. I get that, I just hope they don’t overuse it. Make it special and it will be ok.

STAR OF THE WEEK:

Becky Lynch – Congrats to “The Man” on her awesome news and impending birth of her first child. That opening segment on RAW Monday night did more to humanizing her (and Asuka) than anything they could’ve ever done. I’m glad they were upfront and honest with the WWE Universe, something that can NOT be said about their handling of Roman Reigns (and others) during the COVID-19 crisis. Now, as for Seth Rollins. That’s a different and bizarre story for later on.

MONEY IN THE BANK PPV

THIS is the @WWEUniverse we're living in. Welcome to the #WWERaw after #MITB! pic.twitter.com/GfLh2o4NqU

— WWE (@WWE) May 12, 2020

LADIES and GENTLEMEN … we have ourselves a FOOD FIGHT!!!#MITB @otiswwe @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/5swu9nAMUz

— WWE (@WWE) May 11, 2020

RESULTS

Men’s Money In The Bank Match: Otis defeated King Corbin, AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan and Aleister Black

Women’s Money In The Bank Match: Asuka defeated Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax, Carmella, Dana Brooke and Lacey Evans

WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins

Universal Championship Match: Braun Strowman defeated Bray Wyatt

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Bayley defeated Tamina

SmackDown Tag Team Fatal Four-Way Championship Match: The New Day defeated Lucha House Party, The Miz & John Morrison and The Forgotten Sons

Bobby Lashley defeated R-Truth

Kickoff Show: Jeff Hardy defeated Cesaro

… Respect?#MITB @DMcIntyreWWE @WWERollins pic.twitter.com/TK4SUg1A4c

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) May 11, 2020

RAW

RESULTS

No DQ Match: Bobby Lashley defeated Humberto Carrillo

Angel Garza defeated Akira Tozawa

Non-Title Women’s Tag Team Title Match: The Iiconics defeated Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross

Non-Title WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade

R-Truth, Ricochet & Cedric Alexander defeated MVP, Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink

Aleister Black & Rey Mysterio defeated Seth Rollins & Buddy Murphy via DQ

Shayna Baszler defeated Natalya

What we loved:

"You go and be a warrior, 'cause I'm gonna go be a mother." Congratulations, @BeckyLynchWWE!!!! What a moment on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/yWnHB3Dc4o

— WWE (@WWE) May 12, 2020

Becky Mama – As we said above, nothing but positivity from this one! Congrats to Becky Lynch and the family!

Asuka as Champ – Such an awesome and genuine reaction. Asuka has proven she’s worthy in the ring and over the past few months during a down-time in the biz, she’s more than shown she can be out of the box out of the ring too which should bode well moving further.

R-Truth – The dude is just funny and entertaining. Good stuff from him and Cousin Ricky!

That was a lot.#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/nZt2RLSceg

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) May 12, 2020

Rey Mysterio Line of the Year – “What a d**k!”  – Mysterio to Charly Caruso after congratulating Seth Rollins on being a father and Rollins just walking away. Rollins of course got the last laugh though with an injury to end Rey’s evening.

What we didn’t love:

Zelina’s gang of 3 – While I do love the tension between Andrade, Angel Garza and Austin Theory, why just hand over a match with Drew McIntyre to Andrade (again) when he just had one a few weeks back? Just let the tension ride and let them fight it out for a spot against the champ? It would be a very good match and advance the story line as well. Missed opportunity there.

#WWEChampion @DMcIntyreWWE shows @AndradeCienWWE that he's also the champion of CHOPS!

#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/3WU331kRUs

— WWE (@WWE) May 12, 2020

Tag team champs losing on TV again – Just like the men’s tag champs on both RAW and SmackDown the past two months, it seems like having them lose on TV is a pattern. The Iiconics haven’t been around for over 6 months and they come back and beat Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross in their first match. Seems wonky to me and doesn’t make your champs look strong. 50-50 booking. Ugh! Predictably, it sets up a title match at Backlash.

Just plain bizarre:

Seth Rollins – After being catatonic most of the night, a night in which he should be happy about becoming a father, he goes wild on Rey Mysterio, giving him a bloody eye injury at the end of their tag team match, causing a DQ win for Mysterio and Aleister Black. Then, after the match, Rollins is all apologetic again. All this comes after he shakes hands Sunday night after his title loss to McIntyre. I wish they could’ve, at least for a night, let him be happy like his fiancée Becky Lynch.

Brewing:

MVP’s Stable – Well, it looks like we’ve got the beginning of MVP’s stable now with Bobby Lashley coming aboard. Will it be long before Apollo Crews joins too? I like the factions, there’s no doubt. They were great in the Attitude Era and can be again! The MVP faction. Zelina Vega faction. Who’s next? Plus, a strong Lashley is better than anything he was with Lana.

"If you've got the guts, it'll be @EdgeRatedR vs. @RandyOrton in a straight-up wrestling match."#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/7dEE5fumEN

— WWE (@WWE) May 12, 2020

Edge vs. Orton II – Just a wrestling match? Something smells fishy here, don’t you think?

NXT

RESULTS

NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) defeated Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher to win titles

Tegan Nox defeated Indi Hartwell

Interim NXT Cruiserweight Tournament Championship Match: Jake Atlas defeated Tony Nese

Cameron Grimes defeated Finn Balor

Interim NXT Cruiserweight Tournament Championship Match: Jack Gallagher defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott

Kayden Carter defeated Aliyah

Matt Riddle defeated Timothy Hatcher

What we loved:

Your entertainment is here.

Tick tock. #WWENXT @WWEKarrionKross @Lady_Scarlett13 pic.twitter.com/GiBaAab6FT

— WWE (@WWE) May 14, 2020

The End is Here – The best thing on NXT this week was the continuing saga of Karrion Kross and Scarlett. After an amazing debut last week, a well-done produced piece putting EVERYONE in NXT on notice – not just Tommaso Ciampa – was well done.

.@TripleH, @ShawnMichaels & @WWERoadDogg have a message for you!#NXTTakeOver: In Your House streams on the award-winning @WWENetwork on Sunday, June 7th! House

#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/RzKgNXIs5v

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) May 15, 2020

In Your House is back! – Yes, the infamous 90’s PPV’s are back for at least one night as the next NXT Takeover is an In Your House Special on June 7th! And having Triple H, Shawn Michaels and The Road Dogg Jesse James make the announcement with memories of their first matches at IYH 25 years ago was funny as hell too! I hope they use the old school graphics as well!

Congrats:

.@SuperKingofBros lost a bro and the titles. @Marcel_B_WWE & @FabianAichner are your NEW #WWENXT #TagTeamChampions! pic.twitter.com/5b1BquUw15

— WWE (@WWE) May 14, 2020

New Tag Champs – Imperium is now a two-title stable. Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel took full advantage of Timothy Thatcher walking out on his championship partner Matt Riddle to win the belts for the first time. Now with Walter’s NXT UK Championship, Imperium is getting well stocked to take over NXT.

Meh:

Thatcher & Riddle – Pretty quick end to this partnership. Now, I get that Thatcher didn’t like the comedy and off-beat antics of the “Bros,” but to end it so quickly and have a match the same night seems a little rushed to me.

Dinner with the Gargano’s & Rhea Ripley – Both were just kind of there this week.

Huh?:

NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament – I’ve enjoyed it so far, but I wish they gave them a bit more time. It’s been really good in-ring action. This week, we barely got 10 minutes combined in wins by Jack Gallagher and Jake Atlas. Now, we get Kushida vs. Drake Maverick and Akira Tozawa vs. El Hiro Fantasma in the upcoming week. I hope they give them some room to show their wares!

Aliyah – Why build her up as a new Rob Stone client only to have her lose right away?

Didn’t like at all:

HUH??! What is @ArcherOfInfamy doing out here? #WWENXT @FinnBalor pic.twitter.com/EkzHTx2TLP

— WWE (@WWE) May 14, 2020

Balor’s bully – Having Damien Priest come out as the man who attached Finn Balor while Balor was fighting Cameron Grimes seemed like a yawner instead of an OMG moment. Priest is just coming off a losing feud with Keith Lee and now having him get an upper hand on Balor to cost him the match with Grimes is a bit forced and yes, rushed again. It should’ve had more play time in it and a stronger payoff.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Intercontinental Championship Tournament 1st Round Match: Elias defeated King Corbin

Dana Brooke defeated Naomi

Intercontinental Championship Tournament 1st Round Match: Daniel Bryan defeated Drew Gulak

Braun Strowman & Otis defeated The Miz & John Morrison

What we loved:

"This is such a joy to watch." – @WWEGraves @WWEDanielBryan advances to the 2nd Round of the #ICTitle tournament after an amazing match with @DrewGulak! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/cGxaOYfEhr

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) May 16, 2020

Drew vs. Daniel – Give me more of this, please! Unfortunately, it’s a first round match and not further in the tournament. Would love to see these two do an ironman match.

"Are you your own woman, or are you just going to be @itsBayleyWWE's lackey and happy being an afterthought?" – @MsCharlotteWWE to @SashaBanksWWE

#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/3Odr5DYjYa

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) May 16, 2020

The Queen stirs the pot – instead of heading into the normal physical theatrics, Charlotte Flair got things going again between Sasha Banks and Bayley. Not only do we get a match with champion vs. champion as SmackDown’s Bayley will face NXT’s Charlotte next week, but maybe we get a Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha three-way dance too!

Sonya brings it – Daville continues to be dynamite on the mic in previewing next week’s mixed tag match with Sonya & Dolph Ziggler taking on Otis & Mandy Rose. She’s just being herself and it rings true! Well done Sonya! Keep it up!

Entertaining:

Main event – The combination of Otis and Universal Champion Braun Strowman was predictable as Tucker wasn’t available to join the new Mr. MITB against The Miz & John Morrison, but it worked. The double worm was fun and the right team won. Plus, we get to stoke the fire for Otis and his eventual cashing in of his contract down the road. Plus, I did appreciate the clean win and no shenanigans at the end of the match.

Huh?

AJ in the I-C Title mix – Isn’t AJ Styles on RAW? I see we are already taking liberties with the brand invitational.

Parting shots:

"Our job is to go out and be first-class professional entertainers and to give our fans what they paid their hard-earned money to see." – @undertaker #TheLastRide pic.twitter.com/z7hUQtaOWz

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) May 11, 2020

The Undertaker: Last Ride – If you haven’t seen part 1, do it. NOW! Loved it and need me some more this week as part 2 of the five-part docu-series continues on the WWE Network Sunday night. Loved the candor from Mark Calaway and loved the fact that WWE didn’t shy away from using stars not currently with the company to tell the story, i.e. Jim Ross, Chris Jericho and more! You simply can’t tell the Dead Man’s tale without good ol’ JR!

Plus, the emotion, openness and access we’re getting from The Undertaker and wife Michelle McCool is fabulous. This is MUST SEE TV folks!

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots and Red Sox fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND!