#me: i want to get better at simpler backgrounds

[glassedplanets]

you were too good to be true, gold-plated but what's inside you? but what's inside you?

[deadbeat-motel]

ᐯᗩGGIE ᗩᑎᗪ ᑕᕼᗩᖇᒪIE ᖇEᗪEᔕIGᑎ

These two are simpler than the angel dust design I did since I didn't have a lot to go off of. Posted on Valentine's Day because yes I can.

I don't think Charlie is significantly different from her Pilot design because I genuinely think it was the best design from the cast (before the redesign).

Thoughts below, though TW for the creepy charlie image at the end:

My issues with their Original designs:

Vaggie:

The giant "X" over her eye is really distracting and even world-breaking because

1. Why had no one put 2 and 2 together that the only character in Hell who has a visible 'X' mark on her face might be related to the angels who also sport that X mark on their faces.

2. Why is it shaped like an X? Her eye was taken out via a single slash.

3. If the hair's purpose was to cover it, why would it show through it? What's the point of the hair then?

The hair that was supposed to cover that wounded eye looked so ugly and confused as to what it should be doing. I mean every shot that showed that thing in a sideview shot of Vaggie felt like the animators had to make their own guesses as to how that was supposed to look like. It was distracting for me personally and I hated it so much.

It's been said over and over again, but her clothes look like she works at McDonalds. I get needing to change her outfit so that she looks like she works at the hotel, but it's just been poorly designed.

Why change her clothes' colors from white to red? the white helped her stand out from Hell and the Hotel's majority red background. (In the finale, she at least has a non-red attire)

She's also one of the very few women in HH and she falls under the skinny stick side of it despite being an angel exterminator.

Her hair is kind of hard to visualize looking at in any way other than what it is when it's static. However, when it changed into a ponytail or a bob, it's actually really nice to look at.

Unsure of what that bow's purpose is for the design.

Charlie:

Charlie is a simple but very confused design. The pilot design was a lot more coherent than the current show design

It's disappointing to see the bouncy Pilot hair go and be replaced by that boring bubble braid of all things.

Her undershirt peaks out of her tuxedo.... why???? to separate the top jacket and the pants? You wouldn't need to do that if her pants were a different color like the pilot design.

Thought about it and was confused, as a demon with an angelic father, why didn't she have wings as well? She didn't need the 6 wings like Lucifer but maybe a pair of one would appear?

Out of all the characters for the show's redesign, Her's was by far the MOST infuriating to me. Her pilot design wasn't perfect but it was good, they had to downgrade her for some reason.

I didn't have much to say about Charlie. it basically sums up to "the Pilot design was better".

On to the thought process for these two:

Valerie the fallen:

Yes, she got a rename. Sue me.

I had to remove the moth aspect of her design because it doesn't seem like it makes sense for a heaven-born to follow the sinner's rule of "gaining features based on the life you lived" since she basically never lived right?

In this redesign (and eventual rewrite), Valerie is not ashamed of her exterminator background. In fact, she was known as the most recent "fallen" in hell. her short stature doesn't make her less of a threat to the demons.

She's also visually thick with muscle because why not let one of the show's women have a body type that isn't stick-thin?

She's using the wings that were torn off of her as both an interesting article of clothing and as a way to remind others and her that she is (or more accurately 'was') an angel who could kill them if she wanted to.

Her clothes are pure black underneath the pale feathers to show that while she is an "angel", deep down, she is far from a good person.

She's also getting an actual skin color because from what I gathered myself from the show's heaven. Most of the souls there still retain a human appearance (Adam, Lute, St. Peter, and the other random human angels up there still look human..... but just don't mind the fact that most of them are white.)

Her hair is that ponytail she had in the finale because as much as I didn't like that episode, some designs looked actually decent.

Also, her hair actually covers the eye scar properly.

I wanted to keep her ribbon as a splash of brightness on her design but the OG ribbon looks a little out of place on a warrior so It became that (Plus it pays homage to her OG moth influence with its shape looking like the fluffy antennas of the moth)

Gave the spearhead a little bit of detail on it plus a chipped side so that it has a bit of charm as an old weapon she still decides to keep around.

A note about Valerie's design is that I haven't tackled the armor of angels yet so I was unsure of what pieces of the undesigned armor to give Valerie as of now.

Charlie:

I honestly actually enjoyed her Pilot hair, so I tried to put it back and also simplify it a bit so there are not a lot of strands for me to keep track of. Plus it was a genuinely cute design for her. (There's a reason that version was used in the Verbalase video.) <- I'M JOKING

Replaced her button nose with a goat's because a friend has commented how it looked like the noses of the women in a Goofy Movie and I will never be able to unsee that.

Her hair is also a lot brighter compared to her washed-out blonde color.

She has the same design thought process as Valerie, Covering the darkness of her true nature with white fluffy fur which is stylized like feathers at its ends. She has pitch-black skin underneath and looks like a proper nightmarish demon like the image below.

I ditched the tuxedo look, since almost all the cast has a similar outfit already, and gave her a jumpersuit instead. (Idk what it's really called but that's what I think it is). It's a light grey because she's a mix of bad and good (though a bright grey because she prefers to be on the good side)

Her horns are there and visible because yeah it's cute but also helps her read as the half-angel/half-demon character she is.

Tiny goat tail because can you imagine every time Valerie holds the rare angel smile of approval, her tail is visibly wagging in glee and excitement???? My heart would die. I love these lesbians with my life.

Has wings from her father.

Anyways, those are my thoughts and redesigns... I wanted to add more details to them but I didn't really know what to add that didn't feel unnecessary.

Also bonus! Concept art of Charlie's true form:

[gudgurkan]

Got any tips in shading stuff in black and white digitally?

Hi Anon!

You're in luck! I'm currently wrapping up a book which is shaded digitally, so I've been thinking a lot about this recently.

How I do this is by no means the only way, so take from these tips as much or little as you want! When I add grays and shadows to a line art drawing, I try to think about these things:

Preparing the image

I like to work with a file that has a white background and a layer with only line art on top of it. Between these two layers I add new layers where I use the pen tool and bucket to fill areas with black, then I lower the opacity for that layer to get a value that I want.

This method works well for me, and for simpler pieces I don't need more than 3 layers with different values - light, medium and dark grays.

I work in Clip Studio. Here's a picture of the layers of a recent drawing. Each layer is actually completely black but you can see the opacity percentages by each layer. Lower percentage -> brighter value. This makes it super duper easy to change the value of a layer, no need to repaint it, just change the opacity!

Value composition

For the best result, do a couple of value sketches with a limited set of values and find something that works well for the image. Getting the values right is what will improve the image the most! Here's a quick tutorial on muddycolors. Muddy Colors is a very nice art blog to check out. Looking at grayscale storyboard drawings or value sketches are great ways to pick up on this too.

I try to group values when working with grays. Take this image for example:

The character in the foreground has mainly dark grays, which separates her from the background, which has mostly light grays. Then the windows are white and the roof black.

Value composition is a huge and complex area and I recommend anyone wanting to learn to be more conscious about their values and to do value sketches. Analysing art you think has good values is great too.

Shadows

Not every piece needs shadows, but they can add a lot to an image! I use three kinds of shadows when I work in grayscale.

Inked shadows - these shadows are added during the inking stage and usually show areas where light would have almost no way of getting there, such as under this tent.

Gradient shadows - these shadows usually represent something getting further and further away from a light source or an area that would bounce light. This tree receives a tiny bit of light from a campfire on the ground and moonlight that bounces on the ground and up, fading as we get higher up in the tree. But mainly I add these gradients in ways that look cool and will help the overall composition.

Hard shadows - these shadows appear when a strong light casts shadows and can be used on a shape or to cover something. Here's a werewolf with shadows on its back, which gives it a better sense of mass and is interesting visually!

You can also cover an area in shadow like this, where the tree casts a shadow down on the archer and the cliff.

Texture

I like to add a layer of noise as a finishing touch. In Clip Studio you can create a noise layer with Filter->Render->Perlin noise... Find a balance of scale and amplitude that works for the image, then change the layer mode to "Vivid Light" and lower the opacity of the layer to around 30%. I like how this looks, it's not super visible usually but helps make the drawing feel less artificial and digital.

I hope that helps! Here are some nice links too:

Muddy Colors

Android Arts

Gurney Journey - Read his books!

Happy drawing!

[littlemochabunni]

1-800-TROUBLE

Serial Killer!Suguru Geto x Bimbo!Fem reader

Content: MDNI, WIP, (lowkey... probably highkey..) bimbo reader, blood and homicide mention, fuckboys victims;

smut might include: daddy kink, breeding kink, degrading + praise, c-pies, possibly knife play idk yet.

WC: 644 so far

On your way home from a party you take a few wrong turns, and when you try to call your…. Overprotective boyfriend your phone dies before you get the chance to tell him the cross streets you’re at. With it being late on Halloween night, most of the house porch lights are off your feet continue to carry you down this foreign neighborhood until you hope to see someone could help you. Tear begin to sting your eyes with each street corner you turn, and the nip fall air strips you of any warmth from your cropped puffer jacket Suguru made you wear before you left. You definitely wish you listened when he warned you repeatedly to charge your phone too…

Police sirens are blaring in the far distance from where you originally started which means only one thing… “One of the officers can take me home!” Right…

Trying to follow the sounds to guide you out of the maze of houses you’re lost in. You find a group of men sitting in an open garage, drinking with the tv on in the background. **Although you know Suguru told you not to talk to strangers especially when they’re drunk, what other people were around that could possibly help you?**

“Excuse me? Hi, I’m like super lost…Can I borrow your phone or a charger please?” Every one of their eyes graze over your body before meeting your eyes, and of course the man that looks like the embodiment of a Chad speaks up first, “ooo a sweet bunny girl like you all alone? Need me to come warm you up?” You glance around the garage spotting the space heater near the couch he’s sitting on and a bright smile appears on your face. “It would be nice to get out of the cold while I charge my phone!” You happily skipping inside the garage to sit near the heater and immediately feel so much better now that your off your feet… Little did you know that with this little interaction…. you won’t be back on your feet anytime soon.

All eyes are on you and your like a innocent hare unaware of the foxes preying in the tall grass.

“So you gotta a name sweetheart?” Asked the store-brand version of Derek Shepherd. “Uhh I’m a bunny, duhh?” The men all blink at you before bursting out in a fit of laughter. You don’t understand how that was hilarious, but you’ll take it as a compliment. “Funny and cute… But seriously what’s your real name?”

Hearing that emergency number Suguru always tells you to remember if your lost coming from the braking news announcement about some house party incident. You focus on the tv and ignore ‘Chad’s’ questions, “Hey can you turn the tv up? I think I know that number.” The extra quiet man, who remains you of your friends creepy uncle Lester, turns up the tv and it retells the gruesome murders of the house party that just occurred half an hour ago….

“The next image we show may disturb some viewers…”

Grumbles and tsk scatter among the men around you as they get a glance at the gruesome writings on the wall. You squint your eyes as you notice a simpler stamp Suguru uses when he writes you love letters…. Your stomach drops at the thought of someone using that beautiful stamp for something so… horrifying.

“This message along with a description of the women and the phone number were left at the scene of the crime…” The woman proceeds to describe you from the hair on your head to the holographic boots you’re wearing. The men in the garage are too drunk to realize that you’re exactly what the killers wants, “Please if anyone has any information regarding this women… please call: 1 (800) 876-8253… That’s 1-800-……TROUBLE… Again that number is 1-800-876-8253…”

a/n:Might not be the entire planned posted I wanted but it’s some of it…. it still counts right?🥹

tags: @etherealxmaya @tojisbutterfly @fuyuaika @peachy-dove @hoshigray @bontensbabygirl @tophamhat-kyo @princess-of-fuckup @moonieper @dondake-senpai

[talesofesther]

warmth in winter

Tara Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You meet with Tara on a cold day. She keeps you warm.

A/N: A very random drabble to distract my mind from the bigger projects a little. <3

Masterlist

New York was covered in a white blanket. Temperatures were frigid outside, the horizon with a soft white fog that didn't allow you to see much far.

It was one of those mornings where getting out of bed feels like a punishment and no matter how many layers of clothing you put on, it still feels like you were standing outside only in your pajamas as your bare feet disappear between the snow.

To put it simpler; it was cold, and it was snowing. And you had to go to class.

Truthfully though, it wasn't your chance at a better future that made you brave the unkind weather. It was the fact that, in that same university, you would see her.

Love does weird things to people; it makes taking a fifteen-minute walk holding your jacket close to your body as snowflakes kiss your cheeks feel like no trouble at all. Because inside, you're as warm as ever. That's how Tara made you feel; warm. Even in the coldest weather.

As you walked the stone path on campus, blowing hot breath into your gloved hands, your eyes roamed around in search of her. And you found her sitting on a bench, the one that stood under a huge tree — otherwise adorning vivid green leaves, now was all naked branches and fresh snow — she was sitting there, cross-legged and wearing a fluffy coat with an even fluffier scarf around her neck as her hair fell in waves over it.

You were smiling before you knew it.

Tara perked up as soon as she laid eyes on you, her cheeks and nose a deep red from the cold made the dimples on her smile stand out all the more, eyes twinkling at the sight of you. She got up and opened her arms for you in a silent invitation.

Your feet might be freezing, but your heart melted. You enveloped her in a hug that was arguably cozier than your bed; squeezing her into you and burying your nose in the fabric of her scarf.

Tara sneaked her hands under your jacket — she'd always been like this, wanting, needing to be as physically close as possible as if she had to remind herself daily that you were actually real. You could feel the coldness of her fingers through your shirt, it raised goosebumps all over your skin and made you squirm in her hold.

"Coldest hands ever," you mumbled against her.

Tara chuckled and you were able to feel the heavenly sound all over your body, feel the shape of her smile.

"I don't have gloves," she told you, pulling away just enough to look you in the eyes.

It was something out of your favorite fairy tale; her dark messy hair contrasting with the white background, her pink cheeks, and her eyes crinkling on the sides because you made her smile.

Sometimes it was painful. It hurt just how much you loved her, but it was that kind of pain one can't have enough of. Especially when you could see that same love right in those gentle eyes of hers.

You reached for her hands until you could hold them in your own, the fabric of your gloves closing around her palms. You leaned down to place a kiss on her knuckles, feeling the cold skin there on your lips.

Tara took the opportunity then to cup your cheeks and pull you closer. She pecked your lips with her own, leaving traces of strawberry chapstick on the corner of your mouth. "Let's go inside before we catch a cold," she spoke before stealing another kiss.

You hummed, taking off your gloves, "give me your hands."

"It's okay, you don't have to," Tara shook her head softly, but extended her hands to you anyway.

Taking hold of her hands, you gently put your gloves on her, "I want to, I'm warm enough."

Tara's cheeks became rosier, if that was even possible; she had an endearing grin on her lips, her nose scrunching adorably because of it. She sheepishly looked down, flexing her fingers to feel the new fabric around them.

She took your hand in hers with a strong grip as you started walking towards the university. Her heart overflowing with a familiar warmth.

Needless to say, you didn't get your gloves back. Even if it was a bit harder to write with them, Tara didn't take them off during class, or when you went to grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria. And you were gifted with the adorable sight of Tara holding a coffee cup with both hands so it wouldn't slip her grasp as she tentatively took a sip of the hot beverage.

It was certainly worthy of a picture, so you took one, and every time you turned on your phone you felt that same burst of happiness. Love does weird things to people, but mainly, it teaches them to see the beauty in small moments that would otherwise go unappreciated.

You were snapped back to reality when a coffee cup was placed in front of you on the table.

Tara was smiling when she pulled her chair closer to yours to huddle for warmth, "got your favorite," she told you, her shoulder bumping yours.

Yes, that's what love was all about; her pink cheeks and dark eyes shining under the dim yellow lights of the cafeteria, your gloves on her hands when she intertwined her fingers with yours.

⋆* ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

Thank you for reading this little story. Feedback and reblogs are literally what keep me motivated to continue posting here, so I’d appreciate it if you could take some time to reblog and comment if you want. <3

Tara’s taglist: @milkiane @v1ci0us @alexkolax

[elirastudio]

I love your art style so much. 😅

Do you have any tips for coloring/shading or just tips to draw bodies (I can't do any without them being weird) ??

Have a nice day, :)

I’m glad sweetie

And of course I can give some tip I use!

I have to say I have many ways of shading and lighting so I will share my usual and then add some new one I have been experimenting

First: don’t do shadow on multiply ,that’s for later, shadows and lights are made on a mask layer and they are not just the darker shade of the colors, but a different color entirely

Same with lighting.

Some colors are easier than others for me tbh, like I love shading red and purple but blue not that much.

I also usually put blue everywhere cuz it looks pretty but it’s on me honestly

(Obviously I decrease the opacity of some layers, there is not really a rule, I just go as I like)

If it’s a style choice I also do shadow in light blue multiply, but just if I am in a rush or working with flat colors

Second: choose how you want to smooth your shading and light.

Over the years I picked up my own way to do it but lately I have been a little experimenting.

Anyway i always start of with defining shadows then get to smoothing, it’s tempting but I don’t advise the use of the airbrush, just use it for lighting maybe.

( I want to be clear. This is my style, other artist may say the contrary)

I am one of those artists that clears the shadows from the inside to the most exterior part

Just how you can see here.

All the cleaning is made with a soft brush cuz it doesn’t have to be too definite.

In my latest comic tho the shooting was made the other way around with a water color brush to give this kind of 3d effect.

You essentially have to make some tests and find the one that you prefer.

Third: apply a layer of shadow in multiply to give more volume .

Usually when the work is done I add another layer of multiplied shadows that won’t be smoothed, just in the places that would cast a neat shadow, like a cape on the body, some fabric folds and some body shadows.

It really make things pop.

Four: don’t exaggerate, simpler is better, in both shadows and lighting, experiment , find your way but don’t rush , there is no need to exaggerate

Five: the subject of your drawing should be affected by the atmosphere.

For example if it’s night you can put a blue multiply layer over and erase where the soft light is, or don’t be afraid of adding some gradients of light is it’s a bright day outside, make the character be a part of the backgrounds

Six: you can color your lineart, it make the drawing very fine

That’s it mostly, I mostly go on the flow and I always test and try new stuff and you should try too to find you preferred way to do this stuff.

I want to say again that THIS is MY WAY of doing stuff, you can totally disagree and have your own way, I hope this way useful

[sanctus-ingenium]

u guys wanna see more WIPs... similar to the last post, here are Some WIPs

all of these were started in sai before going on to procreate. before going back to sai again in the case of the strength card

so Blue Sky/Out Of Time... yeah it’s extremely self-explanatory, it’s very obvious what this scene depicts and i’m sure everyone gets it (this is a joke i’ve had multiple people dm me asking wtf this even is). the one element that absolutely NEEDED to be there was the LED digital clock with a bullshit time on it, and i decided to replace it with an AIRE warning sign instead and put the LED readouts in the bg. the warning sign in this setting serves the purpose of informing ppl when there are hostile faeries around. i knew what the colours would be from the beginning, but it took a bit for me to realise what sort of shading style i wanted (it took forever). but i did know i wanted to contrast the very sketchy black void against the cleaner and almost cartoony/comic book style rest of the drawing, to emphasise the fact that the foreground sky and background void are made of two very different things. again i used a colour shifting brush to quickly make all the shards of sky different colours, but originally i planned to have some of the shards be dark or night time (with stars or the moon etc). unfortunately it didn’t work, it was too dark and pascal got lost against it.

My Eyes Are Up Here is pretty obviously the exact same scene with the same character, in the same field, but with a different sort of atmosphere. i sketched this in sai then did the final in procreate. originally it was going to have a black background

i really like this version tbh but the blue works better. i think he looks good against dark backgrounds where it’s kind of hard to see wtf is even happening there

so about the neon signs..... i’m well aware that the sketch has way more promise than what the final ultimately was, and that’s because i found that i didn’t have the technical or artistic ability to pull off the complex neon signs like i wanted to. i couldn’t get it looking good enough so i had to scrap them. but these signs will be back, i want to draw them properly and do them justice. the gif was unplanned too but i thought it would be fun to have the flicker be very intermittent so that if you scrolled past it you might not even realise, or you’d have to stick with it just to catch it looping. i used GIMP to make the gif and change the frame rate, and this actually took a very long time because i had to preview it over and over. anyway if you WERE to get lost in the púca’s field, in this story, you would see neon signs like this encouraging you to follow them.

Strength is actually the last drawing i ever made that ended with a paint-over in sai, and the oldest drawing here. as such i actually don’t think it’s representative of my current ability but i do have a soft spot for it for sentimental reasons lol. the reason for the paint-over in sai was because i drew this at a time when i still did not trust procreate to be able to place the level of finish on it that i wanted

the background took me a thousand years to figure out. literally it was so annoying that i considered scrapping it for something simpler. but the idea was for it to be a kind of fairytale-ish lost in the woods sort of look while also appearing like the blood vessels around the human heart. the branches were also supposed to be heart-shaped in cross-section but i spent so long zoomed in painting them that i forgot to zoom out to see if all those fine details were actually visible, and it turned out they weren’t. i was disappointed that i couldn’t get félix’s tattoos to look right but that’s what i get for making a character with shit tons of both tattoos and body hair. i also got rid of the foreground branches really soon because they weren’t adding anything and muddied up the readability of his pose

the swan is from a daemon au and bears no relation to my other swan characters. i just like swans a lot

[neuroticbookworm]

Parenting in Step by Step, a defense

I saw a bunch of posts about how Pat is immature and has poor communication skills, and citing his parents' divorce as one of the potential reasons.

*baffled* W H A T.

I don't have the time or energy to rant about the "poor communication skills" read, so all I'm gonna say is that Pat was busy holding his mushed up braincells together for the majority of this episode and direct your attention to @shortpplfedup's crisp and hilarious Ten Movements that perfectly summed up Pat's emotional journey. Cut him some slack, for fuck's sake.

Now, onto Pat's parents and their relationship with him and each other. I want to highlight the writing and dialogue in their scenes, because it hurts my heart to see not a lot of people talking about them.

When we first meet them, both Pat's Mom and Dad express concern about his eating habits, but the parent-child dynamics in these conversations were very different. Pat's mom says it's not good for him to eat ramen for breakfast, but she quickly accepts Pat's excuse and goes back to doting on him. When she brings up Jeng, and Pat complains that she is nagging and changes the subject, she lets him.

When Dad comes into town a few *undisclosed unit of time* later, he basically asks the same question as Mom, but this time, Pat is a little elaborate with his excuse explanation.

But Dad doesn't let him get away with his bullshit. He offers up a few solutions and wants to work on them with Pat.

After he's sure that Pat knows the need to change his food habits, he then adds levity to the conversation, and goofs around with his son. (I will forever adore the Asian Gordon Ramsey moment, more father-son wholesomeness in Asian media, please and thank you)

(did y'all notice how both Pat's Mom and Dad call him adorable with very different energies? did ya? okay, good)

Now, when the time came for Pat to let go of all his frustrations and break down in front of his parents, I was worried that the show would lean a bit too hard on the parental roles, the good cop/bad cop gambit. But no, it surprised me. It sure started out that way, with Pat offering up an empty excuse to Mom's question.

Which is immediately followed by this look:

(more on this later, I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about this)

When Dad follows up with this statement, Pat's defenses begin to crumble.

He opens up about how he feels overwhelmed and disconnected with himself, and Dad responds with this:

He brings the realities of adulthood to the forefront, reassuring him that he has also been there before and that Pat will learn to manage it. Still in line with the roles the show had previously drawn up for them. When Pat continues, Mom moves to Pat's side as soon as they realise that Pat's problems include heartbreak ("Everywhere I go, it's filled with memories") and she hits him with this:

Oooooof. That's a hell of a line. Accurate? yes. Comforting? Fuck no.

That's when Dad moves to Pat's side, and tries to soothe him. The roles are flipped.

Pat then says that maybe it would've been better, if they had stayed with him all the time. Now, this can mean two different things: I wish I didn't grow up so I could've stayed with you and life would've been so much simpler; I wish you guys did not get divorced and we could've all stayed together. Mom chooses to address the first part. She says that even if they stayed together, no one could stay with him all the time.

Dad, then acknowledges the separation and they tell him, TOGETHER, that they will always be his parents, and they never stopped loving him. And that they don't hate each other.

The TEAMWORK here, between Pat's mom and dad is executed SO WELL. They love their son, and want to comfort and reassure him, and they do it together. They don't do the "one of us do the talking and the other one hmms in the background" bullshit. They both understand his pain and give him their individual and collective opinions. They are in sync with each other's thoughts, and it shows. Remember the look between them at the beginning of this scene?

This speaks VOLUMES. They know something is weighing on him and they can't let him excuse his way out of this conversation. They look at each other, a non-verbal "let's do this", and start talking to Pat.

Being in love with each other and being good parents are not strictly inclusive. The show did not leave this unsaid, either. They show us, how two people can move on and still remain in each others' lives as someone to lean on. Someone who will always know you better than most people in this world.

How some people saw this amazing back-and-forth and thought "yeah, they're incompatible, and they traumatized their son, and he now has communication issues", I'll never understand.

TL;DR:

Stop demonizing divorce and calling it the root of all childhood trauma

SBS writers are doing some things EXCEPTIONALLY WELL, and they deserve credit for it

[skygemspeaks]

okay so after seeing all of the first three episodes again last night with friends and falling even more in love with the cast than before, i finally got around to episode 4 today. some thoughts:

i can't gush enough about the set design, it's all absolutely gorgeous. i was completely in love with the little clearing where young zoro and kuina have their match, just seeing the sunlight filtering through the trees...it really gives off that kind of nostalgic, romantic feeling that you get when you think back to a simpler time in your life. and of course, kaya's mansion is gorgeous! it doesn't look like yet another generic rich person mansion. it has character! i loved all the wall art in their dining room, i like the orderly yet cozy cluttered feeling of the kitchen, i love how it all feels lived in, like it has a history

talking more about the technical aspects, i love the costume design too! i like the slightly too clean look of the marine uniforms - it brings notice to the fact that these are new cadets who don't have much fighting history. i like that both nami and sham get to wear practical clothes! no stupid high heels for nami! no short shorts!

i didn't mention this last time, but i LOVE jacob's version of usopp. it's crazy that they managed to find a guy who can do usopp's over the top facial expressions in real life. they really lucked out with this entire main cast, i can't imagine literally anyone else playing our beloved straw hats. i hope we can see at least one more season, and i hope i adore robin and chopper just as much as i love these the east blue crew

as sad as it is, i'm glad that it seems like merry really is dead. i like this more brutal direction for the live action, because it feels like there are actual consequences for them, and i like that you can't take for granted that just because someone survived in the manga/anime, it means they'll survive in the live action too

the child actors are a little stiff, but i think they're really doing a good job given how young they are! young zoro's actor was definitely doing a better job that kojiro's. he sold his grief over kuina's death very well

speaking of koshiro, i still fuckin hate that dude. he did kuina so dirty with his sexism, convincing her she had no future as a swordswoman, making her believe that she could never stand up to men.

i think having koby and helmeppo show up at kaya's mansion and inevitably get duped by kuro was a good choice. it lets koby get a little more experience in a leadership position, and more than that, it helps establish usopp's distrust of the marines. from the beginning he was always interested in the romantic view he had of pirates because of his dad, but seeing that the marines failed him, even after they said they would help him, and that they didn't believe him no matter how much he begged them to, it helps establish a reason for him to go along with the pirates when they invite him to. the marines didn't do shit to protect kaya, but luffy and his friends did everything they could. they loved kaya, maybe not as much as usopp, but they wanted her to be safe.

side note, it's kind of hilarious to think about helmeppo trying to kill luffy, and then going back to the ship and finding out that he's garp's grandson 💀💀

when we are! started playing in the background as the going merry set sail for the first time with her crew...i cried, i'm not ashamed to admit it. gosh, i missed her, and i miss the first opening. it's so nice to see her get to go on more adventures with her crew in this new medium! i know some people were unhappy with her figurehead, but i just adore it, it suits her crew well

luffy's little shit-eating grin when kaya just gives them merry for free, and nami being just SO exasperated because he's gonna be so insufferable now, it made me laugh so hard! i love these idiots

when usopp and luffy were arguing about which one of them was captain, and nami just burst out laughing? and then zoro started chuckling too? that was so healing! they've already had good chemistry so far, and they've shown loyalty, but it's so nice to finally see zoro and nami kind of starting to admit that they do like these people they've become friends with, and it's nice to see that they're coming around to how much they care about luffy

i was a little iffy about them doing the garp reveal at the end. my first instinct was to be really annoyed by it, but after thinking on it for a moment, it honestly does make sense. in the first place there wasn't really a plot reason to put off the reveal until post enies lobby anyways. and then you also have to take into account that it would be a huge success if we ever even get a second season, let alone reaching post enies lobby. so it's not ideal, but i'm not too upset at them about it. ALSO, seeing zoro, nami, and usopp's reaction to the news was fucking hilarious. i hope we get some good dynamics in the next episode! i want to see garp call luffy his idiot grandson. i want that funny family dysfunction.

[grimmcheems]

Rest In Peace Toriyama 🕊️💫🐉

DragonBall has always had a place in my heart for the way it was ever-present in my childhood. I grew up loathing weekend mornings because my brother would always drag me out of bed to watch it with him. I suppose that’s why it’s extra special for me, it was a simpler time when me and my brother could just sit and watch what came next in the current arc. The days always felt warmer then, but now I’m grown.

I’m glad Toriyama made this series and ignited something in me, though his passing was harsh and unimaginable for most of us, I hope he has found peace in knowing how many people he’s inspired to be better, and the many that he will continue to inspire. I wish his family healing and condolences for their sudden loss.

.^An extra illustrating what those Saturday mornings felt like. Dragon Soul was my alarm clock for the better part of my childhood. (It’s also my fav op)

I remember we even had a vhs tape of two specific episodes in which the bunny boss ended up on the moon. I always had bulma’s personality embedded into my head whenever I thought of her in that bunny suit.

I never appreciated that time then as much as I do now. Maybe it’s Goku’s loving nature and fatherly care that left an imprint on me and kept me from forgetting him, or maybe it was the way my brother was obsessed with the series, either way he was somehow always in the back burner of my mind. I even remember having to play with my brother when he got Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for his PlayStation. He even bugged me to wake up when Super came out (though we had already graduated and i would be resting on my days off from work, he was also only visiting for the month) and tried to get me to watch it with him, but Super never really had the same appeal to me as the og series.

Perhaps the connection it has to my brother is what draws me to it time and time again, I feel as though I can’t understand him as well anymore after we’ve graduated and he’s moved on with his life and out of the house. I never thought this random shounen series my brother forced me to watch every Saturday morning of our childhood would have the effect it has on me now. It was last year that I decided to rewatch the entire series since I figured I didn’t actually know what was ever going on, I was just always intrigued by the action and the characters. Surprisingly my child brain remembered the arcs pretty well and I could just have it playing the background and know what was going on for the most part.

Did I mention that my brother also collected the dvd series? Lmao. I was so hype when the Broly Movie came out and when we watched it it felt like I regained that connection to my brother momentarily.

It also inspired me to draw when I was in elementary school, though I thought of it as something I could show off rather than take it seriously like I do now. I never thought I’d draw again after middle school until I got to high school and got back into it. It wasn’t until last year that I first drew something dragon ball related since elementary school, and it felt so surreal to look at how far I’ve come in my art journey.

It was never intentional for me to start drawing dragonball, it was just stuck in the back of my head and it wouldn’t leave me alone until I brought my ideas to life by sketching them out. I literally have two drafts DB related as I’m typing this.😅 oddly enough there’s many things I think about when I think about dragon ball, but they are too many to list. There’s just so much I love about it and so many characters I love. The thoughts never leave me alone when I come up with an idea or headcanon for them and it’s actually so hard for me to try and forget them that I always give in and do something with the idea. It will always be a part of me.

I wasn’t planning on making a painting of Goku ever, yet here I am. I don’t really paint either, which makes the time it took me to make this that much more surprising. I wanted to portray an ease in his expression, something peaceful. I hope it comes across that way, he somehow looks like he’s sleeping and it’s funny because I don’t think I’ve ever really seen Goku relax like this at any point.

[xekstrin]

NO ONE CAN STOP ME FROM SHARING MY HAZEL ROUTE PITCH!!!!!!!!!!!

Since she would be a fourth wave love interest*, we don’t really need to start with the whole background in the Wilds.

In the prologue, “anti-monarchy rebels” are probably the ones who try to kill the queen

SEASON 1 — EPISODES 1-3

Game IMMEDIATELY starts out with MC in Altadellys looking for her friend Hazel. She is moving to the big city for a better life and Hazel promised to help her land on her feet.

First CG is MC seeing Hazel for the first time in years, and she’s hammering away at the forge all sweaty and focused and hot, and MC is like “……..why does Hazel look so different here…..”

Anyway they’re extremely cute and happy to see each other for two chapters! Hazel is more than happy being roommates until MC finds her own place. MC has work lined up in a noble’s house

(either Sevastian, Xenia, or Piama— in every case, Xenia is of course keeping close tabs on MC)

Third chapter would be the introduction of the main threat: a local crime lord.

EPISODES 4-6

Since Hazel has zero connections to the nobility, her struggles would all be more focused on the problems of the common folk. Hazel slowly reveals she is extremely rebellious and critical of the current power structures in Altadellys, which paves the path for her and The Silver Dagger to team up and keep the peace on these streets.

The local petty crime lord is terrorizing the commoners, but the nobles can’t be bothered to see how this affects them. MC gets swept up into these problems despite Hazel trying to keep her out of it. MC sees someone being hassled and steps in because she was raised in the WILDS and she has a KNIFE and she is ready to SHANK SOMEONE

They still find time to have fun in Altadellys though— Second CG is Hazel gazing adoringly at MC who is going ham on all the cool shit at the market or eating a fancy cake for the first time. “Do you like it? We can come here next week too, if you want…”

EPISODES 7-9

MC and Hazel get increasingly domestic and cozy. Funny, she didn’t feel like this when they were kids…

The Silver Dagger makes an appearance because he is doing his whole Batman schtick and says SOMETHING BIG is being planned in the city and the local petty crime lord is gonna do something bad but we don’t know what! Galen is also there being all secretive and knowing things they can’t share yet.

Hazel also hesitantly tries to loop Amara into things because she respects her. Amara is a Reasonable Authority Figure who agrees to help

Third CG is Hazel and MC arguing passionately — “This is getting too dangerous, Freckles” // “Do you really think I’ll let you do this alone?!”

Episodes 10-12

MC gets snatched by the crime lord who wants to have a little……. Chat. Really this crime lord only wants what is best for the people…. Outsiders from the Wilds can’t understand how complicated it is here… and MC has been causing lots of PROBLEMS….

(MC quietly agrees the Wilds were much simpler, but this crime lord (who is a hot lady, because it’s lovestruck, of course she is also beautiful) is scummy)

MC gets locked up and learns the truth that uhhhhh idk the crime lord is uhhh gonna poison the water supply or something heinous.

An invisible person (Ruelle) frees her and says “hey just hang tight, the rescue team is on their way”

4th CG— The Rescue Team. It’s Amara, Silver Dagger, Galen, and HAZEL!!!! Looking badass and battle ready. There’s a big fight, the crime lord escapes and Hazel gets to be all heroic and like “are you okay… i was so worried about you….”

The cliffhanger is they go home to celebrate their victory but the second they’re through the door they collapse into the same bed and start sloppy making out and Hazel is like “ouuughh MC i thought i lost youuuu i’ve wanted you so long” and that’s the season 1 cliffhanger

*“Fourth wave?” First wave was Amara and Sevastian, then Xenia and Lyris, then Galen and Piama, so Hazel would have been fourth wave

[lu-is-not-ok]

what are your thoughts on the AEDD egos? I can see how the theme of experimentation and exploitation relate to Gregor but i don't really see what Heathcliff has to do with it

Alright, cracks knuckles. Time to figure out what I can come up with here.

Under the cut we go.

Let's start with the Shock Centipede itself. Cruelty and exploitation is absolutely one of its main themes, but I think there is something more we can look into here.

The Centipede's Mirro Dungeon event involves a choice between shocking it or forcing it into water, two different methods of inflicting pain on it for the sake of a nebulous "better result". I'm going to focus on this aspect of this theme of exploitation specifically - putting someone or something in pain for the sake of progress or improvement.

Another potential theme I want to note here is perserverence. As a boss fight, Shock Centipede does not die upon reaching 0 HP, but rather stays on 1 HP for several turns as a "final struggle", as it's put in its Observation Logs.

Likewise, in its Mirror Dungeon event, while it is noted to stop moving upon being shocked, it notably does not drown when its tank is filled with water. It's clearly in pain, writhing and "dancing", but it doesn't succumb.

Let's apply both of those themes - pain for the sake of progress and perserverence - to Gregor and Heathcliff.

The connections here are immediately obvious for Gregor. Hermann put him through horrible trauma and likely invasive procedures for the sake of making him into what she considered a good soldier. I think the fact that Gregor ended up not suffering from as many side effects as the other Old G Corp soldiers adds to this theme. Gregor was treated as an improvement on the formula, in exchange of him having to go through a war and serve a role in it that he didn't ask for.

However, just like the Centipede, Gregor persevered through it. He survived the war, and he continued to try and live a somewhat normal life. Even as he trauma got in the way, he kept on living. Survival is a Sin, he'd tell Yuri, but who cares? Even if it is a Sin, you should keep on living anyway.

While we don't have enough information on Heathcliff to be able to make as clear of a connection as we did with Gregor... I think we can reverse-engineer here a little bit and speculate on what AEDD means for Heathcliff's potential backstory.

For one, we know two things for sure about Heathcliff's background - he's from the Backstreets, and he was part of a Syndicate at one point in his life.

I think in this case the theme of Pain for the sake of improvement still applies, but in a noticeably different way to Gregor's. Say, have you ever heard of the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?", the idea that the pain you're going through will leave you a better person for it?

In my opinion, that's exactly what Heathcliff's AEDD signifies. The idea that the pain and cruelty he might have gone through in the past is what made him stronger. What is impossible for me to tell at this stage is who would hold that opinion. Is it the opinion of someone Heathcliff knew and who had put him through a significant amount of pain, or is it his own opinion that he developed as a way to cope with his trauma? There simply isn't enough information to know for sure just yet.

Applying the theme of perserverence is a lot simpler here. It's clear that Heathcliff's life was rough, likely full of abuse and heartbreak. And yet, even having gone through all of that, he keeps going. He keeps living on with his chin held high and doesn't let anyone get in his way.

I'd also like to look at their dialogue lines real quick, as I think there's something interesting to be read from them.

When it comes to their Awakening lines, I think they're meant to signify the kind of torment they've been put through in their lives.

Gregor was forced through horrible trauma because Hermann wanted him to endure it, to become a better soldier for it. It was calculated, "just enough to kill", or in this case, just enough to leave lasting damage, but no more or less.

For Heathcliff, it was pain that aimed straight for his heart. While it's in Heathcliff's character to be excited about violence, I think in this case the tone of his line could signify that the person who hurt him saw him as just something to play with. Either that, or that's how Heathcliff views them in retrospect.

Likewise, I think their Corroded lines have both of them almost fully take the role of their own abusers, something that is already hinted at by the E.G.O taking on the form of a labcoat-like suit, the uniform of the people that likely tortured the Centipede itself.

When Corroded, Gregor takes on the role of someone like Hermann, a mad scientist who hurts other people because they are the test subjects. They aren't "people" to her. An idea that gets further carried over by the ID on the AEDD's outfit being crossed out in its Corroded version.

If it wasn't already obvious that Heathcliff considers Cathy as his abuser from his Awakening line, I think his Corroded line cements this. While I haven't read Wuthering Heights, I do know one thing about it - and it's that Cathy and Heathcliff were both toxic to each other. I think that's what Heathcliff's Corroded line ties back to, how Cathy was horrible to Heathcliff partially because he was also horrible to her.

Alright, that was a lot. Thankfully, I think the Sin analysis here is actually quite straightforward!

AEDD is a Gloom damage E.G.O. Gloom as a Sin represents actions done under the pressure of negative emotions. It implies severe emotional stress which. Yeah. Yeah I would fucking think an E.G.O representing the effects of the abuse its users perservered through would be Gloom.

There's also another angle to look at here, and that is the fact that AEDD has its users act in the shoes of their abusers, as implied by the dialogue lines. Whether it's biting back at their own abusers with the exact same tactics they were hurt with, or whether this ties into an idea of a cycle of abuse, I'm not entirely sure. The one thing I am sure of is that it would still count as something motivated by emotional stress, thus Gloom.

When it comes to Sin requirements, they're the same for both Gregor and Heathcliff, that being Gloom and Envy.

Gloom, of course, makes sense, as it's the severe emotional stress that distates one's actions when forced into a situation that AEDD represents.

Envy, on the other hand, represents actions done as a reaction to other people's actions. Which. Yeah. Yeah that is exactly what's happening here. It's Gregor and Heathcliff reacting to and lashing out at the abuse they suffered at the hands of other people.

I never know how to properly end these E.G.O analysis posts but uh. Yeah. There you go. That's what I got on the funny electric bug that symbolizes abuse E.G.O.

[snowmist-hashira]

I love love your way of writing. It's so beautiful :(! I have a big sister vibe when it comes to Muichiro and if you don't mind, I want to request a modern AU platonic Muichiro x Older sister reader ÙvÚ

So Shinobu, y/n's girlfriend, agrees to go with Mui to buy y/n something special (he forgets what y/n likes often, so he needs some advice.) Y/n, at the same time, is also buying him gifts (but will only give them to him a week later when his birthday comes.)

So Mui calls y/n if she's home yet. She says no, she's with Shinobu. He knows she lied. Y/n also asks him why he's doubting her answers. But he wouldn't blatantly say that he knew y/n was lying because Shinobu, her girlfriend, is hanging out with him tonight without her knowing.

So they're both trying their best to keep their secrets until someone has to give in.

Please take your time and have a nice day/night ÒvÓ I'm not best at explaining things so if it gets confusing, please write however you interpret it 😩

[Chapter title: Playful Exchange]

[Requested] Muichiro Tokitou x Reader

Wattpad:[KNY Fanfiction] (One shots) Tokito Muichiro x Reader Archive:Kimetsu No Yaiba: Tokitou Muichiro x Reader Master list:♠ Information ♠ Word count: 1,343

Artist link: https://twitter.com/oekaki_eririn

Always stalking Eririn's art masterpieces, I love them-

Pls adopt me. XDDD

I am open to requests for Muichiro x Reader content, and I also enjoy engaging in roleplays. If you're interested in either, please feel free to check out my pinned post for more information. ~ ♠

This request was the earliest one in the queue, and it's my first time writing a platonic scenario, so I apologize if I didn't capture it accurately. I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope it still meets your expectations!

"Do you think nee-san would like this?” Muichiro questioned, gesturing towards a pendant that appeared too large for a woman to wear. Shinobu responded with a smile, shaking her head softly.

"She doesn't prefer extravagant accessories," Shinobu replied, using hand gestures to direct Muichiro's attention to some simpler bracelets displayed at the vendor stand. Muichiro leaned forward, examining the accessories with interest. Muichiro examined the simple bracelets that Shinobu had pointed out, his gaze focused on their design and craftsmanship. He carefully considered whether Y/n would appreciate them.

Shinobu couldn't help but chuckle softly, finding it endearing how Muichiro, despite being Y/n's younger brother, was struggling to find a suitable present for her. His usual absent-mindedness had caused him to forget what Y/n liked, but he still had the sincere desire to buy something for his older sister. After all, who knew Y/n better than him? Except, Shinobu as Y/n's girlfriend.

"These bracelets seem more understated and elegant," Muichiro remarked, voicing his thoughts. "I think nee-san would prefer something like this. It's not too flashy but still beautiful."

Shinobu nodded in agreement. "Yes, I believe she would appreciate the simplicity and subtlety of these bracelets. They would complement her style well."

Muichiro gently picked up one of the bracelets and turned it in his hand, admiring the delicate details. "I think I'll get her one of these.”

“Do you plan on wrapping them out?” Shinobu asked.

Muichiro pondered Shinobu's question, considering the possibility that Y/n might not be at home when they returned. He wanted to surprise her with a beautifully wrapped gift, but the uncertainty gave him pause.

After a moment of contemplation, Muichiro replied, his voice gentle. "I do have gift wrappers at home, but I'm not sure if nee-san is there at the moment. It might be best if we wait until we know for sure before wrapping the gift."

Muichiro reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone, dialing Y/n's number. After a few rings, her older sister answered the call.

"Oh, hey Mui!" Her voice came through the phone, accompanied by some muffled voices in the background, indicating she might be outside.

"Are you home right now?" he inquired, holding the phone close to his ear to catch Y/n's response. Shinobu leaned in slightly, trying to listen in as well.

“Nope, I’m not. Why?” Y/n returned a question. Muichiro felt a sense of relief as Y/n confirmed that she wasn't at home. It meant he could proceed with wrapping the gift without worrying about spoiling the surprise.

“Nothing. I just wanted to ask.” He said, not wanting to reveal his surprise.

“I’m with Shinobu right now, so don’t worry!” Y/n replied.

Muichiro blinked in surprise at Y/n's response, he glanced at Shinobu, who was trying to suppress her laughter, and a puzzled expression crossed his face.

"I see…?" Muichiro replied cautiously, unsure why Y/n would lie about Shinobu being with her. "Well, if you're busy with something, I won't keep you. We'll catch up later then."

Y/n's voice held a hint of nervousness. "Oh, um, yeah, you sound like you don’t believe me though.”

“Ah-? No…” Muichiro hesitated for a moment, glancing at Shinobu, unsure how to respond. Enjoying the unfolding scene, Shinobu simply offered a small smile. Muichiro had kept the plan of having Shinobu, Y/n's girlfriend, accompany him in choosing a gift for her a secret. He wanted it to be a surprise and didn't want to give it away too soon.

"Anyways… Have fun with Shinobu, nee-san," Muichiro finally said, bidding farewell and ending the call. His confusion lingered as he turned to Shinobu, who continued to chuckle.

"Did Y/n just lie about me being there with her?"

Muichiro nodded, Shinobu’s amusement subsiding as she noticed his confusion. "It seems so. I'm not sure why she would do that. Maybe she has her reasons?”

Little did they know, she too was buying a present for her younger brother, Muichiro, and Y/n used Shinobu as an excuse to avoid raising any suspicion. However, what she didn't realize was that Shinobu was actually spending time with Muichiro at that very moment.

“Crap…” Y/n muttered a curse under her breath, uncertain whether Muichiro had seen through her lie or had deduced her true intentions due to his sharp observational skills.

After ending the call, Y/n quickly sent a text message to Shinobu, requesting a favor. She asked Shinobu to cover for her in case Muichiro asked about her whereabouts, requesting Shinobu to say that she was with her. Y/n hoped that this would provide a plausible explanation and alleviate any suspicions Muichiro might have.

Receiving the text, Shinobu's laughter echoed through the air as she read Y/n's message, clearly amused by the amusing scenario unfolding. Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she shared the message with Muichiro.

“Can nee-san be doing something illegal- Is that why-..” Muichiro's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden dark thought that crossed his mind.

"No, no, that's not it at all. I highly doubt Y/n would be involved in anything illegal.” Shinobu's laughter continued, her hands swaying dismissively.

“… Right.” He shook his head quickly, dismissing the idea.

Shinobu's amusement was evident in her expression and demeanor. She found the unfolding scene between Muichiro and Y/n to be quite entertaining, appreciating the playfulness and lightheartedness of the moment. As she observed the interaction, she couldn't help but feel a fondness for the bond shared between the two siblings.

Both Y/n and Muichiro were completely unaware of each other's true intentions, which only added to the adorable and heartwarming nature of the situation. Both of them were fully focused on creating a special surprise for the other, and their determination to keep it a secret only added to the charm of the moment.

After settling the present to Y/n, Muichiro went back home, his heart skipped a beat as he entered the house and was met with the surprising sight of Y/n standing there, holding a wrapped box in her hand. The shock was mirrored in both their expressions, and for a moment, silence enveloped the room, filling it with a sense of anticipation and curiosity.

Muichiro found his voice first, his eyes widening slightly. "Nee-san, what... what is that?" he asked, gesturing towards the wrapped box in her hand.

Y/n blinked; her surprise evident. "I could ask you the same thing, Muichiro. What's in your hands?" she responded, her voice filled with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

Realizing the coincidental situation, they found themselves in, Muichiro and Y/n couldn't help but exchange a brief moment of laughter, the tension dissipating as they shared the realization that they had both prepared surprises for each other.

Breaking the silence, Y/n spoke with a sheepish smile. "I... I was actually preparing a surprise gift for your birthday. I had no idea you had one for me as well."

"It's still a surprise until I unwrap that box.” Muichiro replied.

“Sadly, I couldn't do the same for mine," He added, his words expressed with a tinge of disappointment, recognizing that Y/n would be able to see his gift as he couldn't wrap it.

"For you, nee-san." He revealed a beautifully crafted bracelet with simple yet elegant designs and handing it to Y/n.

Y/n's eyes softened as she received the beautifully crafted bracelet from Muichiro. Her gaze shifted from the gift to her brother, a mixture of gratitude and affection in her expression. "Thank you, Muichiro," she said, her voice filled with warmth and appreciation.

"I'm glad you like it, nee-san," Muichiro responded, his voice filled with sincerity. "I wanted to choose something that would remind you of our bond and the love we share as siblings. Every time you wear it, I hope it serves as a constant reminder of how special you are to me."

Y/n nodded, a soft smile gracing her face. "You'll have to wait until your birthday to see your gift, though," she teased playfully.

"I'm sure it's a wonderful surprise, and I can't wait to see once I unwrap it."

[band--psycho]

Young!Remus Lupin x Reader- You're Here

It's been a while since I've written a Young!Remus Lupin story!

Thank you so much @xacatalepsyx for helping me with this story for my Christmas Writing Challenge!

Warning: Grief

Prompt - I wasn't going to let you spend Christmas alone

This isn't exactly the happiest of stories; but I think it's always to import that Christmas can be a difficult time for people too!

Y/n was staring numbly at her surroundings, taking in the bright twinkling lights, the cheery ornaments and the cheesy Christmas music playing in the background.

She’d spent most of the day putting up all of the decorations.Christmas was her favorite time of year, it had been ever since she was little. So decorating her house was a habit.

But this year was different. 

Normally putting up Christmas decorations had always managed to cheer her up, always made things seem brighter, no matter how much shit had happened. 

It was almost like her own form of therapy. 

But this year; she did not feel happy, hopeful, excited or festive. 

She just felt hollow.

Like her heart had been ripped out of her body. 

Memories of Christmas’ gone by kept flashing in her mind. 

Memories that she wanted so desperately to remember and keep ahold of whilst equally wishing she could forget them.

How was that possible? To want to remember and forget a memory in equal measure? 

Remembering previous Christmas’ were painful; and the memories kept dragging her to depths she was struggling more and more to rise from.

This time last year, Y/n, Lily, and the boys, had all been preparing together. They were all decorating each other's houses, baking Christmas treats, belting out Christmas songs at the top of their lungs, shopping…

This time this year; they’d planned on having an extra member of their group; Lily and James’ baby, Harry. Y/n had even got him a baby’s Christmas ornament to place on the tree…but that decoration remained in the box it arrived in, purely because Y/n knew how much pain it would cause her to see it again. 

She was trying so hard to hold it together.

But then her eyes gazed down at the homemade Christmas silver and gold, glittery star that she was holding in her hands and that’s when the dam broke. 

The pitter patter of tears hitting the handmade ornament has her raising it out of the way, holding it up so you can get a better look at it.

Her mind wandered back to a simpler time and an easier time; when she still had her chosen family. 

Memories of James and Sirius arguing over what colour the star should be fills her mind; and as much as she wants to push it aside, to forget the memory entirely she can’t help but allow the memory to sweep her up in its embrace. 

It was years ago now, Y/n and Lily had attempted to explain some more muggle traditions behind Christmas, granted both of them were quite confused by some of the traditions but, they both immediately had taken a liking to the idea of having a star in the Gryffindor common room. 

Remus of course had been the brains behind putting the base together, and he merely sat with Y/n and Lily, eating Christmas cookies as the boys argued. Peter, bless him, had tried to be a mediator but to no one’s surprise he gave up in the end, when both boys decided that two colours would be better than one. 

Simpler and easier times.

She hiccuped a laugh at the thought. When a silly color had been their biggest concern. 

And now they were gone. Lily, James, Peter… Sirius. Even Remus.

She hugged the star to her chest and dropped down to her knees, her tears wracking through her body as the weight of her own grief overwhelmed her.

How did it come to this? In one night, she had lost everything. 

They were gone… lily and James. Peter. Sirius. Even Remus had left.

James, Lily, Peter and Sirius, they were out of her reach, gone forever. 

But Remus, despite how close the two were becoming in the months prior to everything, he had left. Left her on her own and she couldn’t figure out why. 

She didn’t blame him. 

Y/n understood better than most what he was feeling, but couldn’t help but hate that he had left her like this. 

At least if they were together they could comfort one another in moments like this.

She didn’t know where he was, or what he was doing but she had hoped he might make an appearance.

It sounds cliche but over the years at Hogwarts, her friends had become like her family…and right now, she just wanted her family back.

She wanted to hear Remus’ sassy retorts to Sirius, Lily's infectious laugh, Sirius’ and James' constant bickering as well as their surprisingly good singing voices and Peter's constant questions about Christmas. 

But things couldn’t go back to how they were, how could they? 

Falling to her side, curling into the fetal position, she holds the star close; like it’s the only thing that’s stopping her from completely falling apart. 

She doesn’t know how long she was like that; giving into the weight that had been slowly crushing her for months now. 

In the silence of her tears; Y/n heard a knock at the door; the sound of the faint knock was enough to drag her out of the painful memories racing through her mind. 

At first, she thought she was hearing things, perhaps it was her imagination playing tricks on her, it wouldn’t have been a shock she’d hadn’t slept properly for months now. 

Then she heard a knock on the door again, louder than before. 

Slowly, she sat up, quickly wiping away her tears in a fruitless attempt to clean herself up before she pushed herself to her feet, placing the star down on a cushion on the sofa beside her. 

Then she began to make her beau to the door; glancing up at the clock she saw that it was nearly ten in the evening. That was enough to have Y/n questioning who was outside her door, perhaps it was Dumblrdore or McGonagall, they’d both been to check on her previously so it wouldn’t be that off. She was fairly certain it wasn’t any type of enemy, given the fact that an enemy probably wouldn’t knock. 

Pure shock came over Y/n as she looked through the peephole of her front door to see who it was that was outside. 

“Can’t be,” she whispered to herself, a shaky breath slipping past her lips, her mind racing.

“I can hear you, you know…”

Despite being muffled with the wooden barrier of the door between you, his voice still sends a shiver down her spine. Husky, and low.

“I-“

He seems to bite his tongue as she reaches out to spin the locks, the noise putting his dialogue on hold as he waits to see her face to face. 

As she tentatively swings the door open towards her, he straightens himself up from his previously slightly slouched position. He had clearly attempted to make it easier for her to see him, knowing she’d look to see who it was.

“R-Remus?”

“Surprise…” he mumbled weakly. His voice was rough, as though he hadn’t used it lately, and you could definitely believe that. Had he been hiding away as well? She thought he wouldn’t turn up, he’d been gone for nearly two months, so why did he decide to make an appearance now?

Tilting her head at the thought, she took a step back in order to get a better look at him, the words falling from her mouth before she could process them, her mind trying to work out if it was really seeing Remus Lupin before that was standing before her. 

“What are you doing here? I thought…”

Seeming to pick up on your state of disbelief and confusion, he offers.

“I wasn’t going to let you spend Christmas alone.”

Once again, Y/n can feel tears building, blurring her vision as they started to fall from her eyes. 

Smile falling, Remus crosses the threshold, closing the distance between the two of them. He shuts the door over as he does so, enclosing Y/within the privacy of your hallway. 

“Y/N, I- '' before he could utter another syllable she threw herself  into his chest, arms wrapping around his waist as she held him tightly, fearing that if she loosened her grip even for a second, he’d disappear again.

Remus himself didn’t waste a second before returning the affection, leaning down to hold her close, both of them seeking comfort in one another after months apart. 

He buried his head in the dip between her shoulder and her neck, the shaky breath that escapes him warms her neck, but what really gets her attention is the feeling of liquid sliding down your collarbone.

Not a second passes before she realised that Remus was also crying. In all the years you had known him you’d seen him cry once after a full moon, but this was different. 

He wasn’t mourning himself, like Y/n, he was grieving for what couldn’t be. 

And I’m this moment, both he and Y/n were two broken souls seeking refuge in one another. 

~~~~

“You decorated.” It wasn’t a question, she could tell he wasn’t surprised, and she knew he wouldn’t judge her for it, he’d known her for all these years, so he knew how much she adored Christmas.

“I wanted a bit of normality, I thought… I know it’s silly, but I thought it might help me.”

When she thought about it, it had helped a little bit, going through the boxes of old decorations, falling into this tradition from childhood, had helped a little bit. Things didn’t seem as dreary in the apartment that once hosted so many. 

“It isn’t silly at all, you did a wonderful job.” His soft admission drew her attention to his gaze, only to find him smiling down at her. She noticed his eyes were still red from the tears, much like hers probably did. 

He looked worn down and exhausted. But still handsome.

“Thank you. There’s just one more thing though.” Turning away from him she made her way over to the sofa, reaching out to grab the one thing she had yet to put in its place.

“Oh? And what’s that?” 

A small smile tugged at Y/n's lips, she  had piqued his curiosity, she could tell by the way the pitch of his voice increased.

She couldn’t help but notice the glitter left in its place upon the cushion, but made no effort to swipe it away, instead she turned back to Remus and held it out to him.

“You kept it?” He asked, feeling another tear slip down his cheek as he gently took  hold of the star; examining it closely. 

Y/n could tell by the look that was growing in Remus’ eyes that he was clearly reliving the same memories that she had done earlier in the night. 

“Of course I did,” she stated softly; gently wrapping a hand around his wrist, before pulling him over to the tree. 

Yes they could’ve used magic to place the star on top of the tree; but in all the years since the star had been made, one of the members of the group had always placed the star upon the tree. 

It was something James and Sirius would quite  often fight over; until either Lily or Y/n took it from them and placed it there themselves. 

Remus had rarely ever placed the star upon the tree even though he was probably the tallest out of everyone in the group. 

“Would you like to do the honors?” Y/n asked, glancing between Remus and the top of the Christmas tree.

“I’d be happy to, sweetheart, ” the words fell from his lips effortlessly, placing a soft kiss on Y/n's forehead before he reached up slightly to place the star in its pride of place.

Tagging:

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[comicaurora]

If this is rude to ask please please ignore, this is from the perspective of someone in pre-planning stages of my own comic:

How long did it take you to shrink from the 30(?) page buffer I think you said you started with to 10 pages? I assume starting with that big buffer meant that this is less impactful to the comic and thus less stressful, but do you have breaks planned for yourself so you can re-up that backlog or do you intend to try to do it in-time with the comic? You're a powerhouse who I only ascribe to half the output of, but I'd love to know a little more about your backlog ethos. (When you have time of course!)

Heh, oh boy. The biggest bite got taken out of the buffer during Falst's intro arc. I had boarded something like a dozen pages when I decided I didn't like the direction they'd taken and I scrapped them back to blanks. I don't do this as a rule, but I could tell this one was a problem - I can't even remember why now, but there was something there that just wasn't working. I thus had a time-loss redoing those pages that made up the better part of a chapter, and my storyboard buffer shrank pretty significantly, though it's since recovered in a big way.

More of the buffer got worn down during the back half of the Zuurith arc and the Tynan fight, since every page was so complicated. Alongside the environmental fog and rain effects and the eight different kinds of glow, it was also a lot of characters on every page, and that increased the lineart and coloring time significantly. If I recall correctly, the buffer shrank to the low single digits a few times during that arc.

At some point I might take a break, but I kind of don't want to. I've kept up a solid pace this long and I don't wanna break my streak. I've been able to build the buffer back up to 20 pages before, but the problem is I tend to then take the following week or two off on the comic progress front because in my head I've made a good chunk of progress and thus should take a break. I'm getting better at incremental scene-by-scene progress, and I think chapter 20 is going to be good for rebuilding the buffer, because - spoiler alert - a lot of these scenes are one or two characters only, and most of them have fairly dark featureless backgrounds. I suspect I'll be able to get a healthy headstart just working through this chapter. This was my reward to myself for constantly making the Tynan fight increasingly complicated and ridiculous, and it's honestly a breath of fresh air to make these pages so much simpler.

My rule for comic-making is set a pace you can keep up. If you need to take a break, that's fine - my own unwillingness to do so is a me thing I'm working through. not a policy to emulate. I've been able to keep this up for three years with minimal buffer-loss, and as the story progresses my own art gets better and faster, making it easier for me to maintain this pace. That's why I made sure to start with such a hefty buffer - to give myself time to pick up speed and get better, time to have the occasional crash-and-burn week or even month where nothing gets done, and time to rewrite things that were being problems. Basically, the buffer is 100% working as intended so far, because all of those things have happened at least once.

The math is pretty favorable. With a three-page-a-week upload schedule, if I can finish three pages in under a week I'm guaranteed to keep the buffer going. At peak performance I can do five or six pages in one day, though that's dependent on complexity and that pace isn't sustainable for long - but of course it doesn't have to be, because that buys me two weeks to recover and do all the other stuff I couldn't do during the hellride. The block of pages I'm going to color tonight is five pages, which will buy me nearly two weeks. I lined and shaded those five pages on Friday, and I'd blocked out the backgrounds for this whole scene and the following one in one afternoon the previous week. It's not hellride-pace because it doesn't have to be, but if I needed to push it I could buy myself a week in under a day. Because of this, rebuilding the buffer back up to 20+ is a lower priority than keeping a steady pace that won't hurt my drawing hand or my writing brain.

But if I take too big of a hit I'll announce a two-week break or something. I have things arranged so hopefully I never have to, but ya never know, and it's important to be okay with taking the occasional unexpected hit!

[taybatwo2]

Draculaura Vampire Heart Review Part 1

I preordered her on Amazon when she first quickly blipped up after that now deleted Monster High Instagram post (such a sucky rollout Mattel, why must you bungle EVERY Skullector drop?!). She ended up being 90 bucks and she’s the best 90 bucks I have spent in awhile and my favorite Skullector doll EVER.

Her box is decorated with little hearts, hearts with vampire teeth, bat-winged hearts, the Vampire’s Heart, and filigree. The filigree on the box is really pretty and metallic and I love that it has a lot of bat wing motifs, but it’s not distracting.

I even like how they made the Monster High logo the same light pink that is present in her hair.

There are even little bats on the side of her box and a nice ombré effect.

I also love her box art. It looks like she is descending the grand stairs and bats are escaping on both sides of her. It’s just all so lovely. It’s not overt complicated but not too simple either….

The back of her box sadly doesn’t have any artwork on it, but instead a flipped close up (her heart is on the wrong side, haha) and the back of her doll.

Close up of her doll photos. BACKWARDS FACE!

The description on her box: “In another time…Draculaura is the Vampire Queen. As the Vampire’s Heart begins to glow, Draculaura can hear the stirring melody of a string quartet. ‘But how?’ She wonders, her dark eyes peering down into the ballroom as dancers swirl in a ghostly scene. Candles flicker with an ominous glow as the clock strikes midnight and Draculaura approaches the grand staircase. The crowd grows quiet as they watch the haunting beauty descend in a romantic and regal cage skirt ball gown. Her dark hair pulled back by and elaborate bat wing headpiece, the Vampire Heart glitters at the center and brings the crowd to a respectful bow. Draculaura has arrived and is ready to stake her claim as the new Vampire Queen.”

The description gives me similar vibes of the Ever After High SDCC releases, in which the dolls’ were experiencing their darkest timelines/endings. It’s like we had a dark ending to “Fright, Camera, Action” where Draculaura takes up Lord Stoker’s offer to be the next Vampire Queen and becomes his pawn.

She really came in perfect condition (with tissue paper and her own cardboard box). I was really worried on how she would come in after seeing/reading everyone’s horror stories of their’s getting smashed and mangled. I have never been so tempted to leave a doll in her box before….

…..anyways out of the box she comes!! The rest is under the cut.

Here are some close-up of her without the plastic front. No glare!

A better look at the front plastic’s decorations.

Found her stand and card in the bottom of her box.

Here is here authentication card. You know what would be a great addition to what was under here too? A diary!! I need my lore dang it!! Draculaura’s original collector doll’s diary is one of the best ones I had read in G1. It was chock full of new information on Draculaura.

She has a clear (very lightweight) saddle stand that works as well as any other Monster High saddle stand…so not the best…but I like how it is clear so it doesn’t show under her dress.

Luckily she can mostly balance on her own.

Her box’s background.

Her skullete is featured on both the carpet and mosaic windows. Her earrings are also hanging under the chandelier.

Her staircase even makes a heart.

Her headdress on a table.

A pink plush chair and wait!!! ZOOM IN!!!

A drawing of Vampire Heart Draculaura!!! Maybe some concept art?? Why wasn’t this on the back of the box?? She’s even doing Draculaura’s signature standing position.

I wanted to compare her box to the original 50 dollar Amazon Exclusive: collector Draculaura from 2015.

It’s background is a lot simpler, but I love that they shaped it like a coffin.

I love the rock-marble details, along with the “handles.”

The top of the box. Her new box uses many of these little guys too.

She got lovely artwork of the doll on the back of her box….

And her description (that was elaborated more in her included diary….): “She is a hopeless romantic with the soul of a poet. A gentle hearted friend who is kind and loyal to a fault. Her favorite accent color is pink and she loves the warmth and light of a sunny day. You almost wouldn’t know that she’s a vampire except that she is. Draculaura; student, Fear Squad member, friend of werewolves, fan of days at the beach, daughter of Dracula himself, and in all the ways heir to his legacy save for one. She is a riddle, wrapped in sweetness, inside an infectious laugh. This is Draculaura like you have never seen her before, resplendent in a satin and lace embodied dress. Every detail painstakingly crafted to represent the height of Victorian vampire fashion in the late 19th Century. Take a stroll with her through the foggy streets of Old Londoom and rediscover an old friend or make a new one.”

And I ran out pictures. Continued in my next post.