#might change the character sheets for them for the artfight

[pawl3ss]

Oc's that aren't self-inserts???!?! No fucking way

+og sketches

[Tap for better quality!]

[thatpikmin]

Artfight is over

With Artfight over I’m posting all of the drawings I did for my first year starting with my first drawing

I decided to start with a silly bunny since

1. I love bunnies

2. I thought it would be nice to start in a familiar place, FNAF

It was a simple start but it was very fun and relaxing!

—

Second drawing is for @patchworkfox01

When I discovered that 2 of my friends were on the opposite team, I knew I had to draw them, but I don’t want it to be simple so I added a cute background. They have a very cute oc

—

Third drawing is for @sages-shack

I had a toon cat oc (which I didn’t finish their ref in time for Artfight 😔) so I went with the next interest in my live, rubberhose cartoons, and came across this guy!!

Originally I was going to add a shadow of my oc, Maxwell, being the one opening the door but I didn’t have the energy, I already struggled enough with the floor perspective and shadow

BUT THEY ARE SUCH A CUTE I LOVE THEM!!!

—

Next is

https://instagram.com/gin.needs.to.draw.more/

I wanted to draw some humans so I went through dangaronpa ocs and saw this sweetie, originally I wanted to add a more detailed background and more chibi drawings of little Oliver but quickly got bored of drawing them and had no ideas for background, I’m super proud of the moth charm and braid, tho I struggled a lot with the bangs

-

A double whammy for

https://cartoonytoonycharacters.tumblr.com/

My thirst for cartoon characters was not over, I was originally going make one then the other in different art pieces but I realized that they were made by the same artist so I combined them both to a bigger piece. I wanted to try something new with the tree textures in the background but not sure if they worked, I struggled a lot with perspective for them but I think it looks nice! just don’t look at the bricks too hard

—

My first ever revenge drawing with @beansmakinbooks also known as @boyswhowawa

And was curious if I could also attack another user, @witchyeevee

I’ve been yearning to draw some of their pokemon designs from a RP server with foxes so to be attacked and having a change to do a revenge I knew I had to do them. While looking through the description I noticed that if ever drawn to be drawing with Temilly (the pokemon next to jolteon) I had to not do shading due to so many details (it was a matter of time before the month was gonna end)

—

My last piece being for @kolawy

I don’t know how many times I drew their characters, so seeing their rivulet being up for attacks I had to strike. This attack was planned since the beginning of the month and never got to it till 2 or 1 week before it ended but it’s always worth it

—

Artfight is over, with 2 drawings not being completed before the month ended. I hope to finish the ref sheets for the remaining 3 ocs for next year which might be posted here on tumblr once I reach 100 followers

It was very fun drawing others ocs and has been years since I’ve last done this and was wonderful drawing others ocs. I hope to get to do this again next year.

[thepaintedsable]

Two spreads this time! Plus a reference sheet for a character and some other artfight prep in the form of my thumbnail marker! I guess I could use a digital one, but I think it’s more fun if I use a silly little physical note to keep them consistent. :)

Close-ups, character design/ref, and general AF prep under the cut!

FOWLE R!!! This guy is like… a derivative of a character I’ve had in my head forever. He got created in my scribbles room draw the other guy (who is a lot more human. A LOT. I can’t draw him lmfaoo.), and even though it wasn’t good enough for the other character I really, really liked this design. I’ve posted about him here, and I might post his original sketch page after I complete Sketchbook 29. I’m still deciding if I should go back and post all the other spreads, or just continue with my new sketchbooks only.

His story is still a work in progress, but I’m leaning towards guy who got trapped in a spell because he worked in the castle of a king who pissed some very magic monster off (think the Beauty and the Beast curse? Kinda.), probably because the king was low key pulling a Gaston and decorating his castle with monster mounts or something (general asshat too. Treats his people like dogs.), and while everyone is dealing with this poorly, Fowler takes it as a chance to fly off and actually take the chance to have a better life for himself. He was being treated very poorly as a person, and he ends up adapting very well to the change. :) Also the curse can’t be broken unless everyone works together, and he is so ready to tell the king to kick rocks. Irony probably comes into the fact he was named for his family’s profession of hunting bird monsters. If he was born this way, I think he’d been named Blackberry or something.

Art fight thumbnail thing!!! I’m team Stardust!!! I made one of these last year, but it was just a little sticky note that said the year and my handle. I’m not into the whole “OLD ART” thumbnails (although I don’t mind when others do it!), so I’d rather just put one of these on top of the art for the thumbnail right off the bat.

Art fight thing again, Dubwool, sheared Dubwool, some reference prep for Fowler, bird?????, and journaling stuff.

Dubwool is my buddy in Pokémon Go, because I think it is very funny that he is absolutely huge. He is just one big sheep, y’s-sir. I only play because a couple of my friends use it to keep in touch, in a way. Dubwool replaced my shiny shadow scyther because I really, really want to evolve that mf into scizor to make his shiny more obvious (scyther shiny really is just olive green vs piss green) and I have enough candies but I need an object thing and it’s very tragic. Needed to replace it with something that brings more joy, even though I barely open that game on my own accord.

Plush drawing! That mushroom cap was sewn in :) Also “The Moss” slaps. More Fowler stuff. And I finally broke down an drew a spider-sona-thing; don’t ask, but I had a Spider-Man nightmare and it put the thought in my brain. He does not have a name, but he is based on a spiny orb weaver and is not beating the villain accusations. Worm, who was surprisingly not birthed from a nightmare, is just a little guy. Then more journaling, but emotional edition™. Stress + boredom yum yum wonderful combo that should not exist. These feelings shouldn’t even overlap, but they sure do yes-sir-e. I have not touched a video game and enjoyed it in months and I think a good horror game I haven’t spoiled myself to might fix whatever is going on with me rn. I am drawing too much.

[firbetmakes]

2023 Firbet Character Sheet

If you saw my icon update you might have noticed I changes around firbets design a bit.

Blame artfight, as I became obsessed with Obsessive Coyote, Sukari dragon, and Sev’s oc designs >~<

I really wanted to create a bipedal design so I could practice human posing more.

Took alot of inspo from artists amd character designs I love for this redesign. Realised while colouring the outfit everything became very miku coded.

My character sheets are getting more and more spaced out. I just love them simple and clear when I reference them ^~^

[sunshades]

🤥✏️ and 🌪️ for tirare!

[oc asks] + 👑

TIARE SO POPULAR IN MY ASKBOX. HAPPY FOR THEM

🤥 are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

mechanically: nooooo NEGATIVE CHARISMA LOOKING ASS. doesn't mean it's not worth trying. has semi-successfully hidden they're half eladrin to the party for 2 months i think, through sheer Focus (very funny, we've been rolling con saves for it). i will count being from elven bloodlines of seasonal mood-ring eyes and markings as "having a tell" and count "covering that shit up with makeup" as a point toward being kind of a good liar. more in general: they're a mediocre actor with a lot of heart, so they're amazing at things they've practiced a lot, like assuming a new identity and being super mean (they're currently here in camp). kind of a tell: hair flip when nervous. it's an elle woods kind of move.

✏️ is there a particular quote / lyric that you associate with them?

SHOUT TO THAT VON RADICS POEM "I WAS WRONG BEFORE WHEN I SAID MEAN THINGS ABOUT LOVE SONGS. I'M SORRY LOVE SONGS" it's just sooo it. beside the whole romantic love thing of the poem it's very much also about forgiveness towards urself which is very sweet. lyrics... they have a big ol playlist out of which boys don't cry might be one of Thee songs, but i've had the vaccines on loop for a couple days so 👍 i always knew "let's go to bed before u say something real let's go to bed before u say how u feel" kind of hilarious. their ladyprince girl best friend at them for years.

🌪️ what is the biggest change you've ever made to them? how have they changed from their original version?

KIND OF LITTLE I FEEL. WEEEE as the whole party. figured out we were having a cross-campaign family tree of elves with red-adjacent hair and an m- initial like midway thru, which made me go from "uhh UHH theyre a sun elf or something?" to having a Big Ol Family, and esp the eladrin stuff which is preddy important to their character now. ended up making me lean more on the vibe of hm... duality i guess. Thee standing between but not rly feeling like u fit in any part of the world + learning how to make ur way to where u wanna go anyway. this also means they have like, a bunch of hairstyle changes and i'm DREADING making an artfight sheet and having to explain the visual journey without sounding crazy (#swag) then u__u made em as a character w a big theme of Grief since the start which has always been very fun to explore. especially after last year that has been Something to me it's very cathartic as well to write silly little character who go thru The Shit and Have Been Hamlet Many Times, Inside Their Head, and then get their silly little happy ending ☀💖

actually wait i have real answer. they weren't gonna actually be a theater kid, it was gonna be just metaphorical. now they like directing and set design and doing makeup. #growth (the crowd boos)

[unexaltedonewhoisnotking]

Big copy-paste explanation I prepared incoming

Where it’s hosted:

ArtFight is hosted on its own website: https://artfight.net

You’ll have to upload your characters there in order for them to be attacked - if you don’t have a character on the site, you can’t be attacked, but you can still attack others. A few people choose to remove or hide all of their characters specifically so they only give attacks instead of getting.

Technically you can upload a ‘character’ that is just a link to something like Toyhouse where you’ve got other characters hosted, instead of putting that information specifically on ArtFight, although there are some people who won’t attack characters that require them to go off-site for information.

How to join:

First of all, make an account on the site!

Second, you can’t play until you get on a team. You can start uploading your characters and bookmarking other people’s characters, but you can’t attack anybody and nobody can attack you unless you’re assigned to a team. That means that if you decide not to participate one year, nobody can attack your OCs against your will, since by not choosing a team you simply won’t have made yourself available as a target.

How do you get a team, then:

Well, you can’t yet.

You’ll notice that if you make an account right now your username is grey, indicating that you aren’t on a team. A lot of users currently have pink or blue names, which represent the teams from last year (Vampires and Werewolves, respectively). Don’t worry, you aren’t being held back from anything - those team colours don’t mean anything for this year! The themes for the year should be announced in June and then team picking will become available.

What if you’re late to join the fight:

No worries! On my first year I only heard about it a couple days into the fight and thought I was too late to start… and then I realised halfway through the month that I was not, in fact, too late. You can make an account and join a team right up to the last day of the fight, so don’t feel scared of a late start! You won’t be prohibited from joining and you can still probably get a lot done. There’s no minimum number of attacks required, unless it’s just a goal you set for yourself.

The only thing about joining late is you’ll have missed out on the ‘early bird’ team picking - you’ll just be randomly assigned to a team instead of getting to choose. That said you’ve got two chances each year to ‘reroll’ if you prefer the other team. Personally, so far I’ve been excited to get randomly assigned, and last year I specifically waited for the fight to start for that reason instead of getting in on the early bird choice.

What the team themes do:

…nothing  really, they’re just for fun. Each year the theme changes and like I said above, we’re still a while away from hearing what they’ll be for this year.

You aren’t required to make your OCs or profile or anything match the theme, although some people do like to. One type of OC you might see is the ‘ArtFight sona’, which is, y’know, a sona inspired by your team for that year, uploaded as a character to be attacked.

Submitting a character:

At the top of the site there’s a button that says ‘Submit’, and then gives the option of ‘Submit a Character’. That button’s available year-round, during and outside of the fight.

ArtFight’s a bit finicky about image sizes, which can be annoying when uploading characters. When you’re uploading a character initially you can only add one image, but if you then go to edit the character you can add more images, up to 6 total.

Like I said up above you can technically link off site instead of writing a profile for a character on the site. You can also put multiple characters in one slot on ArtFight, if you consider them a package deal.

Personal opinions/advice for uploading characters

You don’t necessarily need a full reference sheet, but at least having a fullbody artwork makes it a lot easier for people attacking. There are some people who won’t attack without a reference sheet, and others who won’t attack unless you have some non-ref sheet artwork to show your investment in your own character - honestly, just put what you want to and what you think is worthwhile.

Make sure to use the tagging system! A character can have up to 10 tags which make it easier for people to find them. Some good things to include would be like genre/aesthetic - ‘fantasy’, ‘steampunk’, ‘superhero’ ‘modern’ - and, in the case of fan OCs, the original media. Tag if they’re a human or another species, and tag if they’re anthro or feral for furry characters. And if they have some distinct feature or motif tag that too! Maybe tag a distinct theme colour if they have one. You might not be able to fit everything in that tag limit, but those are ideas.

I’ve seen someone ask how many characters is a good number to have. Honestly, the answer will vary. You can have up to 100 at a time on the site but some people use that ‘link to Toyhouse or somewhere else’ idea to functionally add more. Personally, I’d say it’s just nice to give people some options when they want to attack you, so at least two or three… past that put as many as you like.

You can re-order your characters in the ‘manage characters’ page. A lot of people make sure that the characters they’d prefer to get art of are at the start of their list, and of course it’s handy to group characters from the same setting together.

Submitting an attack

An ‘attack’ is an art piece of another user’s character or characters - making attacks is how you earn points for your team. Again, use that ‘Submit’ button at the top of the page, and then choose ‘Submit an Attack’… Bear in mind that this option is only there during the Fight and only if you’re on a team!

Each character on the site has an ID code, which you’ll paste in when submitting an attack, to indicate what character it depicts. Then you’ll have to rate your attack in a few categories: Basically, you’ll give yourself points. When submitting an attack you’ll have to rate it in a few categories: how much of the character is visible? Did you use clean linework? Is it fully coloured and shaded? Is there a background? All of this works into the score that the site will display. The site has guidelines for attack rating with examples, but they change a little from year to year so you’d be better off looking for those than me trying to explain it here.

Friendly fire:

You usually attack the opposite team… but you can also attack people on your own team. It’s just worth fewer points - 20% of an equivalent attack on the other team, specifically.

Revenge:

When submitting an attack, if the recipient is somebody who already attacked you this year, you’ll see an option to mark the attack as revenge. It doesn’t impact the points, but it means that the two attacks will have a link to each other at the bottom of their pages.

Users can create revenge chains by repeatedly revenging each other. Some people make it a goal to create a long chain, others would rather leave it at one and done so they can focus on other people as well. There’s no obligation to take revenge, so don’t feel pressured.

Revenging is fun, but I’d recommend against saying that you will always do it. If you wind up getting burnt out or just get more attacks than you can deal with you might wind up breaking that promise.

Mass attacks:

Mass attacks are attacks that feature multiple characters - of course, more characters means more points! You can include your own characters in these, too.

Unlike revenge, mass attack isn’t an ‘official’ term and there isn’t anything to select when submitting an attack that will label it as a mass attack. You’d just keep adding more characters to the attack by the same method as normal - put in their ID and mark fullbody, halfbody or simple shaped for each one.

For a mass attack you designate one person as the main recipient; they’ll be the only person who can officially revenge it, although the others might still decide to attack you back as thanks.

If the main recipient is on the opposite team, you’ll get full points for the attack, regardless of the teams of the other characters in it. And likewise if the main recipient is on your team you’ll still only earn 20% regardless of the other characters.

There’s an upper limit of 100 characters per attack.

Finding characters to attack:

The first place to look is that ‘Browse’ button up at the top of the site. That can take you to a random character’s profile, or a random user’s profile. You can see all the most recently uploaded characters. And best of all, you can search for characters by their tags, like I mentioned.

And honestly, just trawling through the site, from the profile of someone who was included in a mass attack with you to an attack they made on someone else to a user that person was attacked by... something is bound to catch your eye

I lowkey wanna join art fight this year but have no idea how it works 😭

[rookflower]

ok, so. i drew every warrior cat! here's a long rambling sentimental reflective-type post on the blog i guess.

I started this blog when I was 15, in 2018. I was bored at a summer job, scribbled Onestar on the back of a sticker sheet, and thought "huh, there sure is a lot of Warrior Cats characters! I've seen some design blogs around, I think there's a "draw 100 cats challenge" people do, wouldn't it be fun if I gave that a try?" I had nothing going on art-wise at the moment, I was losing steam on my Pokemon webcomic and had given up askblogs a while ago, so I quickly fell into it.

Starting out was weird- I'd only read up to about Power of Three at the time, and hadn't read TPB or TNP in quite a while. I vivdly remember someone sending me a request to draw Tawnypelt about 20 cats in or so, and I genuinely couldn't remember who she even was. I think I got a request to draw Jagged Peak before I even knew DOTC existed? I wasn't working off of a specific list, and would miss certain cats out entirely due to forgetting them which frustrated me. Drawing cats was fun, and once I got to 100 eventually I found myself going "well, now what? I haven't even drawn Sorreltail, Nightstar, Appledusk, Spiderleg..." so, i kept going!

Then 2020 rolled around and lockdown hit, and I was suddenly stuck in my house with no plans, seemingly unlimited time, and a desperate need for some kind of outlet that offered escapism from the world.

Drawing Warrior Cats was something mundane and rhythmic but creative and enjoyable, and I found the aspect of looking at it as a challenge alluring, the same way I had when the goal was "100 random warrior cats". How far could I get before having to stop? I couldn't do over 1000 cats, right?

uh.

I could!

sunk cost fallacy or whatever, I guess?

Lot has changed in my life over the course of this. I started the challenge just after leaving high school, and now I'm headed into my third year of uni. Some family's moved around, we have a cat now, I started playing video games again, my bedroom's been revamped, I met some internet friends IRL for the first time, I'm more or less publicly out as gay, all different kinds of stuff. It's fucking wild to consider that one of the biggest constants in my life these past few years has been drawing goddamn warrior cats. I've had the Warriors wiki list of characters open on my computer basically forever, and finally closing it feels like a goodbye.

So what's happening with this blog? Well, I'm not upkeeping a daily queue anymore, that's for sure. There are some cats here I KNOW I'm going to want to go back and redesign at some point though, so this isn't over! Even if I'm less active here, for now, I'm not going anywhere. I'll probably also use this for any general warriors art/posts I want to make, as well as those "send me asks" request meme thingies. those are fun.

I'm hoping to be maybe more active on my youtube now, as well as just generally experimenting with my art more. One of the biggest downsides of spending 3 years drawing fullbody flatcolours of warrior cats and not that much else is that my improvement on every ground except cat anatomy and character design has become pretty fuckin stagnant lmao. I need to make art with backgrounds and shading and non-cat characters again or i think ill explode. time to get out of this comfort zone!!

speaking of, very lucky this thing ended right at the start of Artfight. I'm @/RioBlitzle there and I try to revenge back attacks! Will probably put my energy into that for a wee while.

@daily-mario-characters might come back,, eventually but I'm not promising anything, and if I haven't learned anything from running this blog you might see me on a "drawing every pokemon" streak in a few months. it is how it is.

Anyways, thank you all so much for your support. Massive shoutout to everyone who's ever left nice comments in the tags of my posts, I don't really have a way to respond but I read every one of those and please know that they absolutely make my day.

Thanks for sticking through this challenge with me!

[bitchfitch]

arlo artfight resource

the only writing i have for him is this character test so please excuse the jank:

warnings: murder, off screen child death, cannibalism, comas

 He woke beside the man he gives his freedom for, warm and safe tucked up against Conall's side with their blanket tangled around his legs. Arlo sits up and stretches before pressing a kiss to Conall's cheek.

Conall doesn't stir, he very rarely does nowadays.

Arlo takes his time with their morning routine, always tending to Conall first. Brushing the mats from his fur as Arlo sang the bar songs Conall loved so much. Then wiping him down to clear away the left over grim. 

After he ran out of bar songs, Arlo would just ramble, narrating everything to his sleeping lover and editorializing on this and that as he went. It made him feel less alone as the weight of the world above bared down on their subterranean home. 

He'd repeat his vows every now and then, when the open and unguarded door way called to him. He could leave, it said, he could walk out right now and see sunlight again, it would whisper. There were no barriers between him and the world beyond, just a maze he could probably still navigate with his eyes closed. 

His magic was the only thing keeping Conall alive, but there was nothing else stopping him from heeding the often deafening call.

"In sickness and in health," He'd say more to himself than to Conall, as he changed the sheets on their bed, traitorous thoughts invading his mind as he struggled with the weight of caring for his husband, "Through the darkest times, I promise to stay by your side,"

Once Conall was tended too, Arlo would sit at his vanity on the other side of the room, brushing his own hair and putting on his make-up as he watched the world above through his mirror.

He'd send whispers out on the wind, waiting for someone to wander close enough. Conall had once compared him to fly paper, a sweet smelling snare.

Conall had been the only reason that it used to be a matter of judgment. Arlo used to look and listen, he used to hand out more boons than he did banes to those who sought him out. But that was before he needed every scrap of magic he could steal from those he caught.

Now he just levied banes on all that passed. Some would look like boons at first, so that the poor soul could go and lurer more closer, but most he would kill quickly. Conall didn't know about the change yet, and he never would if Arlo could help it, but his still, Conall wouldn't want people to suffer, even if Arlo did find a scrap of entertainment in it.

Sometimes he'd get lucky, and a traveler would arrive early, or two, or even a whole group, would arrive on the same day. Sometimes weeks would pass between their arrivals. 

Most of the time he got one or two a week.

Eventually, a man with a bundle in his arms stumbled into the clearing, frantic and driven by grief wrought madness as he fell to his knees and spoke his woes. Arlo only listened enough to pick what sort of bane he'd levy.

The child in the bundle was long dead by neglectful hands, but couldn't the spirit of the hill reunite a father and son? Couldn't the spirt see the his repentance? Couldn't it save him from the consequences of what he's done?

There was a time Arlo's heart might have ached for the man and his child, but that time was long passed. 

Arlo wove his magic around the man's soul as he sobbed and screamed his grief, tying the two of them together like he had with so many others, but before he could pull the noose tight, he hesitated.

"Please, my wife- she never woke up after our son was born. Shes in a coma, she- I would never forgive myself of it was my fault she never got to meet our son," he held the bundle tight to his chest as he sobbed, bent forward on his knees in the dirt,

Arlo's eyes flicked to where Conall slept, and he sighed.

Instead of burning the mans blood, like he had allowed his son's to in that car, he pulled the threads of his madness taught until he jolted upright, crying tears of joy over the still bundle that his bleeding brain now interpreted as being a healthy, crying infant, squirming in it's swaddle.

The man keeled over a few moments of joy later.

The magic Arlo could harvest from his soul drifted to him through their connection, a trickle that held promise despite its weakness. Arlo grinned as he held the power tight in his chest and lept up from his seat, prancing across the cold stone floors to climb on top of Conall. He straddled his broad waist as he pressed his hands over his beloved's poisoned heart and passed the magic he'd taken into it, this extra little bit being just enough to overpower Conall's curse.

Arlo's tail flicked and his ears pricked, already grinning as Conall stirred, his weary eyes blinking as one of his hands went to rest on Arlo's waist. 

"Good morning," Conall smiled as he looked up at his husband, too weak to do much more than brush his knuckles against the soft downy fur on Arlo's cheek, "Did I miss anything interesting, kid?" 

"Not really," Arlo nuzzled into his palm, they only had a few moments before Conall would sleep again, "But one of the travelers had a book in the bag they left as an offering, would you like me to read it to you while you sleep? Its a romance," 

"A steamy one?" he grimaced, already sensing the coyness oozing from Arlo,

"Of course, because I know how much you just Love those," he wraggled his brow, teasing his lover, 

"just skip the worst of it," Conall chuckled as his eye lids began to droop, "Come here," he sighed, pulling a willing Arlo in for a kiss before sleep could reclaim him again.

The kiss was short and light, and painfully familiar, far too easy melt into and far too brief to really enjoy. 

"I love you," Arlo whispered into the space between them as he pulled away when he felt Conall's grip on him go lax again. Leaving him trapped once more on the edge of life and death

Leaving his husband to wipe at silent tears as he stood from their bed.

This was always the hardest part, the brief moments of happiness made the following loneliness cut deeper, and the silence of a space that once felt like a home ring louder.

The doorway called to him everytime Conall fell asleep again. Reminding him that he could end this heart ache with a single step pass its threshold. 

It reminded him of the many times that Conall had said it would be ok. That Arlo didn't have to do this. That he loved Arlo too much to ask it of him. That he could leave and let Conall die, and Conall would still love him.

Arlo tried his best to keep his tears silent, Conall could still hear him while he slept, and he always did hate it when Arlo cried. 

He had to take care of the bodies, they scared away prey better than anything else could. It didn't matter that he wanted to just curl up and mope, he couldn't risk losing even a single traveler.

Arlo stood in the center of the room and focused on the world above, letting the ground part so that the corpse could fall through. A grim part of this process, but Arlo still needed to eat, and the animals in the forrest had all learned to avoid his hill.

The broken bodies of the father and his child bubbled through the ceiling before thwumping down to the hard stone floor with a smack. 

The child had been spared from the worst of it, still wrapped in its fathers arms. Arlo pulled it from his grasp and held it like he'd seen mothers and fathers less distressed than that one do. 

The child had probably been dead for weeks. 

Still he cooed to it and held it gently as he picked through the father pockets for anything interesting before sending him to the freezer to be cooked later.

Arlo had always been a bit indecisive about kids, he never really had the chance to spend enough time around one to form an opinion one way or another, but Conall had always wanted a big family. He had even already picked out the eight names he wanted to use, and when he had rambled while guarding Arlo he spent hours describing the home he wanted to build for this theoretical family. 

Each of the kids would have their own rooms, but every room would have big bunk beds so that if they were anything like Conall and his siblings they could sleep together and watch over each other through the night. 

He had once mentioned how cold the home he grew up in was.

The kitchen would be open to the main room so that Conall could see his family while he cooked, and the pantry would always be stocked with enough that when the kids brought their friends over no one would leave hungry. 

He had once mentioned how scarce food had been.

The yard would be massive and wooded, with swings and at least one tree fort, with a creek running through it.

He had once mentioned that the woods behind his childhood home had been the only place he felt safe. 

Arlo bounced the child gently in his arms like he'd seen happier families do. Like he dreaded Conall might never get to do.

When Conall woke up for good he'd be sure to give him the family he wanted. Eight children, starting with this one.