#more cropping for me lmao
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Buddha & Beelzebub~
#random post#more cropping for me lmao#glad to see them again#record of ragnarok#ror spoilers#ror buddha#ror beelzebub
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Here are some Season 2 Arcane GIF comparisons before and after I color and sharpen them! | Season 1 Comparison GIFs
#arcane#arcaneedit#gifmaking#reminder that if ur not a fan of the coloring and sharpening then i dont need to hear ur opinion so fuck off and make your own gifs :)#sooo yeah!!! just sharing this very old coloring comparison i use from time to time to make sure i follow a certain peg for my gifs#but i dont really follow it to the T of course#and now i will use the tags to rant/comment about my coloring process lmao#ok so.... arcane s2 is SOOOOO much brighter than s1 i am so so so thankful we have such bright scenes instead of all the dark ones in s1#because it makes my life so much easier#that being said my coloring isnt really perfect i still cant handle more complex tones like the mel gif......#i used to have a more stylized coloring wayyy back in s1 (esp when u look at my old gifs) but i kinda realized i had to change it#so i scrapped all my old psds and now coloredit EVERYTHING MANUALLY#hence why sometimes i gif the same scene but theyre colored different since i never use a preset PSD now#however it became way more tedious to make gifs... so yeah.... lmao#but in the end i like it more!!! i like that my new coloring just basically matches the show more but is just brighter and more saturated#unless ofc i dont like the tones of the original show i.e. the vi gif you see there where its super green gray???? idk i dont like it so#i recolored the entire thing#anyways thats really it coloring will always be something i continue to try to improve on but recently ive just been v busy so i just#speed color and edit everything and dont rlly take all adjustments into account so no more complex tones and#i just stick to basic things#oh right sharpening! so for sharpening i use a very basic setting: just 500 px and 0.4 radius which is what i use for almost everything#i also dont add noise bc the landscape photographer in me does NOT like it LMFAOOOOOOOOOO#but yeah thats really it for sharpening oh i also use 4k sources as much as possible bc it gives the best quality and if#i cant find any source i just upscale everything by myself then crop stuff again back to 540 px and imo it really just does look better#personal tag
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Making Incorrect H:SR Quotes Until I Run Out of (hopefully) Original Ideas - Pt. 6
[Pt. 1] [Pt. 2] [Pt. 3] [Pt. 4] [Pt. 5]
#hsr#honkai star rail#hsr incorrect quotes#hsr textpost#hsr memes#honkai star rail memes#hsr meme#honkai star rail meme#boothill#hsr boothill#argenti#hsr argenti#sunday#hsr sunday#aventurine#hsr aventurine#black swan#hsr black swan#argenhill#boothill x argenti#i love their 'guns n' roses' ship name a whole lot but im not trying to unintentionally put this in the actual band's tag lmao#i dont have a good concise title for this one its just like. 50% Boothill and 50% my other fav hsr men. thats it thats the theme#also. dont fuckign come at me like 'but the 6th one isn't accurate! he wasn't born in a test tube!!' listen. i know.#he was found abandoned in the snow or smthn idk i haven't dug into his lore leaks yet but i Know. the first half isnt all that accurate#but the overall vibes of it are funny enough to me that i had to make it anyways. let's all just learn to suspend our disbelief a bit#for the sake of laughs. also also. hopefully it goes w/o saying but if something ever lacks a source it's bc i found it like that#i always leave the op's handles even if they dont fit the characters but sometimes the posts i find have already had them cropped out#which irks me bc i Try to be a stickler for giving credit. but anyways. enough overthinking the making of these silly memes#also. some of these are prob a bit more accurate only if you've seen some of Boothill's voiceline and message leaks but eh its fine
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so anyway ready to be m*rdered 💀🔪😩
#the heart killers#firstkhao#joongdunk#gmmtv#thai bl#bl drama#AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH#these fits are insane also im having FEELINGS about dunks crop top HELP#😭😭😭😭😭😭#they can all gladly assassinate me thank you#also dying at how first looks so much more dangerous than khao lmao#also joong can literally fuck off like wtf#hey siri how to recover from a photo
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Colored this sketch with a new rendering pen I found. I am in love.
#trials of apollo#toa apollo#lester papadopoulos#apollart#Here with yet another look for post-trials apollo#also last time I posted Apollo in a crop top y'all went wild so here's me feeding you guys again. You're welcome#it’s not really a full render but that’s more my fault than the brushes lmao
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Fuck it I’m speaking my truth. Boobers y’all gotta stop being unnecessarily mean to ConnorEatsPants. I’ve been going through his sf6 vods and every time he references being ostracized and harassed by twitter users, my heart breaks. Connor even said that he no longer mentions being friends with Ranboo and other creators because he doesn’t want boobers to start hating Ranboo for it.
And he’s right btw. Remember when there was a possibility Connor might be in genloss? Instead of being excited or just saying nothing, boobers began linking threads on why he’s such a horrible person and how his inclusion would ruin the project as a whole. We don’t even know if he was joking or not, yet you all still celebrated when he didn’t appear in episode 2. I’m pretty sure Connor will never publicly interact with Ranboo or this community again after the way you all treated him. That’s really fucked guys.
While I understand the want to “hold people accountable” for their past actions, 1) it’s not your responsibility to hold people accountable over the internet and 2) judging everyone on their past mistakes alone is a very dehumanizing and hypocritical way to view other people.
Why is this community all about treating other with respect and kindness, especially when they’re on the spectrum, but Connor is the exception?
#discourse#connoreatspants#ranboo#ranboolive#genloss#this is mainly a twitter thing but now that more boobers follow me I thought I might as well#plus it’s a good way to know if you have the discourse tag blocked lmao#Also last m c c the way y’all treated h was deplorable#like I looked through tweets of people asking why people were cropping him out of team announcements#And so many people said “idk we just do” like????????#H IS A HUMAN BEING#CONNOR IS A HUMAN BEING#RANBOO IS A HUMAN BEING#ACT LIKE IT#sorry this really has been frustrating me for a while#Now that twitter is dead my best advice is to just do better
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‘a demon has appeared in nagoya’ and the demon (oni) is me akki means oni i have finally found my way to kuukou’s nagoya and am ready to be demon slayed by his sword—
#this is vee speaking#kuukou is looking FINE over there gawdDAMN#that cropped robe like hello???????? when kuukou drives his sword thru me i will tank him for slaying me as he SLAYED#also can i take this to assume that a shounen manga kuukou would enjoy is demon slayer lol???#we got slam dunk from the anime we got demon slayer#maybe he’d also be into jjk since he banishes spirits lol#i’m actually really excited about this trio lmao like i LOVED juto and jyushi’s interactions in the 2gumi fantasy event#and juto hating kuukou on principle is never not funny lmao#it’ll be a setsubun event so that doesn’t necessarily mean that there needs to be a competition for who can banish the most demons#buuuuuuuuuuuuut if there was it could be a two parter event and we can get more characters#i….. ichi…………??? 🥺👉👈 (unreasonable lmao)
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can you draw dennis jerking off by himself? thank u i luv u
sorry i just...you know he would.
whole version
#this is the real reason he needed mac out of the apartment in frank v russia#idk if it will let me post this even with the cropping trick lmao#there's a lotta ass on the left side#i was working on this while sitting on a boring training for work and accidentally rendered it more than i usually do lmaoooo#oh well#machinegoods#machinequarantine#thank you anon!!#the two sides match up worse on small screens like phones sorry
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You know, I always thought the "take reference pictures of yourself" advice about drawing hands would never work for me cause I don't like how my hands look, but! Turns out! It works! Who would have thunk!
My first try was too round/detailed for the style I was going for (since I tend to just copy exactly when using reference) but after sketching it a few times stylizing it I managed to get something MUCH better than I did without a reference (i couldn't find one in the exact angle i wanted)
I'm still gonna tweak it more but man I should really try things first before deciding they wont work for me.
#it still doesn't look great/very right but I'm known to avoid drawing hands so I need more practice#idk I wanted to share in case other people have that “It wont work so I might as well not try” mental block like I do#happens a lot to me#drawing#I kept erasing my attempts before taking the reference pic so I dont have how it looked before but it was barely a hand#I was about to just put her arm down and crop the drawing lmao
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ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 2x06 - “The Message Hidden Within the Pattern” ↳ “And a big distraction.”
#yes vi you are the biiiiiiiiiiig distraction hehe#its kinda accurate bc i wanted to gif something else and then here she is again..... distracting me LMAO ANYWAYS...#just rotate your phone i guess cuz i dont wanna crop this scene more haha#arcane#arcaneedit#vi#vi arcane#arcane vi#arcane league of legends#league of legends arcane#league of legends#arcane s2#arcane season 2#arcane netflix#vi league of legends#type: gif#media: arcane#s2 ep6
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suguru... satoru... GAY
#there was a lot more to this illsutration but gojo was pissing me off so I cropped a lot lmao#anyway#finally got around doing some fanart hehe#gojo satoru#gojo#geto#geto suguru#gojo x geto#jjk#jjk fanart#fanart#art#digital art#illustration#satosugu
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i need you to know that your jonah magnus art has changed me on a fundamental level. i come back to your blog every now and then and search "jonah" and i simply Look at the most evil trans man to exist
😅 aahhhah
#i renamed his tags to just jonah to avoid tma fans#i think i art i did at the time was good#but i think it was my brain’s last hurrah in terms of ‘dedication to a piece of media’#and it was an extremely Big hurrah. and i am tired and i am ashamed#and based on what ive seen crop up on my feed my effects still echo in tma LMAO#i dont know what took over me but ive Actively taken steps to never get invested in anything that deeply again#dear lord it was so bad i couldnt even sleep more than 5 hours. and i woke up tense#anyway. obsession… (hyperfixation?) is like a sugar high#and since tma ive been riding out my sugar crash IM SO TIRED#SORRY TO GO ON A TANGENT ANON i know youre just being nice#thank u for liking my art at least#shioshpam
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❤️💜
#gamingedit#vgedit#bg3edit#bg3#gameplaydaily#bg3 spoilers#Shadowheart#Baldur's Gate#Baldur's Gate 3#faesedits#mybg#mybg3#*2023#oc: faolan#otp: more of life than i'd ever imagined possible#don't ask me how many versions i recorded but i am too scared of getting yeeted off tungl to use the exp licit variant#when I cannot creatively crop out her (perfect) t*ts i must use night swimming: chris*tian edition lmao
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Oohh for the spotify thing, how about 20 with Eddie Munson??
Literally a great pick, and again another on my character playlist for this specific person. It’s Cherry Bomb by The Runaways!
Eddie Munson x reader
Eddie always drove you back after school, no matter if you were going to his place, yours, or anywhere else in Hawkins. Walking hand in hand with you through the corridors as you both chucked your bags in his van and managed to leave that shithole behind, and go somewhere for the rest of the day no one would bother Eddie, or the both of you.
Today Eddie had finished taking you out for a milkshake, conveniently the both of you taking long enough to finish that by the time you got back to Eddie’s trailer, you’d both be able to say a quick bye to Wayne before his shift, and it meant you had the entire place to yourselves. As you did most evenings... and nights when you could find an excuse, or sneak out.
Although you had to pick up some stuff from your place before you could go over to Eddie’s, so he was driving there first. Hoping that you’d both stop off at another perfect time, one where there was already food on the table, that your mom always encouraged Eddie to have some of.
He really did like your mom, mostly at first because she always liked him too. She never treated him differently, or bad, even from the start. She literally welcomed Eddie into her home with open arms, giving him a hug that first time she met him, probably because of how much you’d raved about how wonderful Eddie was before.
And Eddie was pestering you about if you knew what your mom was making tonight, and if she might have already made it by the time they get there, when it reminded you of something you forgot to tell Eddie this morning.
“Oh actually, my mom and I were talking about you last night.” You nodded from the passenger seat.
Eddie stopped asking about food, intrigued, turning to you with an expression that was inviting into a full conversation, interested as he let his eyes go back to the road. “Oh yeah? What about? Can your mom not stop complimenting me and going on about how you’ve got such a bitchin’ boyfriend?” Eddie rolled the last couple of words off his tongue, holding it at the base of his open mouth as he beamed at you, head exaggeratedly bent down to tilt up at you, chuckling at your earned laugh.
“No!” You retort smiling. “She said that earlier.”
“Ohhhh, of course!” Eddie beamed, going along with your ‘very serious’ nods. “My apologies. Why were you talking about me?”
“We were listening to a song in the car and she said it remained her of you. And to be honest I totally agree.” You explain, already sensing the eager interest arising in your boyfriend, who would be bouncing in his seat the whole journey if you kept it from him.
“Ooooh, what is it!?” Eddie says excitedly, licking his lips as his eyes flit between you and the road, tapping his fingers on his wheel, almost like a subconscious drumroll. “Holy Diver? Enter Sandman? Please tell me you finally showed her some real Ozzy.”
Instead of answering, you move your hand and eject the tape currently playing Seek & Destroy, letting it fall to his dashboard as you rummage inside your bag by your feet.
Only when you ejected Eddie’s tape, in the middle of a song, a genuine pout spread across Eddie’s poor face. “Heyyy wha- wait.” He whined pitifully, and you looked up at him, raising an eyebrow, at his genuine big brown eyes.
He literally repeated that song twice in the 11 minutes to the milkshake place. “Eddie.” Is all you say, your hand down your bag, just looking at him. And he gets over it real quick. Shuffling up in his seat, attentive as you pulled a blank tape out, and slotted it into place, interested to hear what song was about to start playing.
‘Cherry Bomb’ by The Runaways hadn’t been exactly what he was expecting.
You looked to him as it started playing, noticing he wasn’t shocked, or upset, or ecstatic, he was genuinely thinking about it. His eyes looking up at he tapped his fingers on the wheel to the beat, before looking at you.
“Really?” He says genuinely, taking it in, considering it, and wanting your thoughts on it too, as he thinks more about it, already knowing the song of course. He did like it.
“Yeah actually, I think it does fit your...” you gesture Eddie up and down with your hand, looking at him, and remembering as you listened to the song yesterday you thought all about Eddie Munson “-well, you.”
“Huh.” Eddie nods, nibbling his lip as he nods slightly to the song. “I see it actually.”
“Yeah.” You add quietly, both of you starting to properly nod to the song now. And when Eddie turns to you, cracking a smile, you know he’s about to sing, and knowing him so well, you join in at the exact same time.
“I’m the fox you’ve been waitin’ for!!”
You both burst into laughs, the excited and sudden unison so you two, singing it to each other dramatically, before beginning to rock in your seats. Smiling as you sing the popular song together.
“-Hello mom! I’m your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch- cherry bomb!”
You both exclaim the words, the energy in the van always this high.
“Hello world, I’m your wild girl!”
Eddie rolls his eyes at the ‘wild’ part, and you remember just how ‘him’ this song sometimes feels.
“Yeah. It is you, this song. You’re my wild girl.” You tell Eddie, smiling entrancingly at him, your baby girl, and Eddie very quickly plays along.
“You’re my wild girl.” He says himself leaning in all teasing and mushy to tell you, before you do the exact same thing. Both repeating the words “You’re my wild girl”, “No you’re my wild girl” to each other over and over, until you both pull back from where your lips are extended comically and gushily at each other, laughing too breathlessly from the pose for anyone to repeat the joke.
Before you both end up joining in the song again, quick to make sure you can get to the chorus.
“-ausin’ teenage blues. GET DOWN LADIES, you got nothing to lose!”
You both sing the lyrics loudly and pumped with each other, jamming out together like you often do in his van, and practically anywhere Eddie or you can have music.
“Hello daddy, hello mom!-“
You started the next line, but Eddie instead chose not to ch-ch- with you, and turn to ask you openly. “Hey! Maybe that’s how I should announce myself to your parents when I walk into their home real soon. With the cherry bomb part and everything!” He suggests, a casually serious look on his face as commitment to the bit saying it, but his deep brown eyes sparkling with playfulness.
“Oh yeah. That’ll go over radically.” You both nod in comical agreement, like you’re making fun of middle aged men in a business meeting. And you even manage to throw a thumbs up and a solid wink to Eddie, that he replies with a twisted lipped confident smile, and the okay signal with his free hand. Both throwing out “yeah’s” back and forth to each other, in agreement of this excellent plan.
Although as the next part of the song comes on, one bit is dropped for another for Eddie, as you both listen to the chorus of moans playing in the song.
And as you wonder why Eddie was turning to you yet again, and without singing, he quickly outdid you on the jesting scale.
“Your mom wasn’t reminded of me with the moaning part of the song right?” Eddie asked you, as if he was shocked at the sudden thought she’d overheard anything, but not even bothering to hide his grin.
You slap his shoulder, laughing as he lets one out himself, punching his elbow lightly, just pretending he was ‘saved’ because he was driving, even as you chuckled, shaking your head ‘disapprovingly’ at Eddie with a smile. Which was not a rarity.
Eddie gestured with his hand out as if he had a point, still smirking. “I mean it’s not like anyone’s heard us when you always make us both be so quiet when we’re up there-“ another whack, this time to his knee, cutting him off short.
And you snort laugh first, rolling your eyes at him as Eddie smirks at his suggestive quip. Although beaming with full teeth at you, proud to hear that noise meaning he made you laugh so. And God if you can’t just beam yourself, seeing that stupid smile on his face.
There’s a singular moan before the start of the next verse, and this time Eddie wasn’t quiet listening for it. Instead he leant in close to you, and moaned in time with the song, breathy and sensual and overdramatic in your face.
This time your hand is in his face, pushing him back as Eddie laughs into your palm and spread fingers, his soft skin, pliable lips, and warm breath teasing you, although being teased himself as you pulled away.
Chuckling, you brought your knees up in your seat, feeling your heart race as it so often did, even though you’d been dating Eddie for a while now, he still found ways to make you fall in love over and over. Actually, you don’t think that ever stopped happening.
And at seeing your curled up, excited and chuckling expression, and after he knew his flirting made you feel good, as always, Eddie winks at you, open mouthed smirking, his tongue on his bottom lip.
God your boyfriend was so hot. You admired his body, and hair, and clothes, and his shining personality next to you right now, feeling your blood rush through your body as you let yourself flutter with how extraordinary you knew Eddie was. You were so lucky.
“I’ll give ya something to live for” Eddie sings beautifully to you, before taking your chin with his thumb and forefinger, looking at you for the moment as he sings, shaking your chin lightly. “Have ya and grab ya, till you’re sore!” He squeezes your chin, with his teasing, scrunched smirk.
You giggle in his hold, your whole face lighting up as you love the atmosphere you always have with Eddie. Smirking right back at his perfect face. Not batting him away this time.
Until Eddie lets go himself, leaning over your lap with his arm stretched in his leather jacket, quickly opening the glove compartment by you, to show you his assortment of lollipops he keeps in there just for you. Ever since you two started dating.
You gasp excitedly, mouth open with a beam and thrilled eyes at Eddie! Leaning in to grab a cherry one for him and you, quickly taking off the easy slip wrapping, and popping yours into your mouth, relishing over the cherry flavour gushing over your tastebuds and cheeks.
At the same time leaning Eddie’s cherry lolly over to him, and giggling as he waggles his tongue out, and eventually wraps it around the cherry lollipop, his tongue flicking wetly against the tip of your thumb in amusement.
Taking the sweet red treat into his mouth, lolling it into the corner of his cheek, as he smirks at you. His mouth finally silent, except for breathy laughs that are so Eddie, but his eyes saying it all, glowing and sparkling just so unbelievably in love with you.
Eddie unable to stop stealing glances of you in his passenger seat, as you both speed off down the Hawkins road. Head banging together, especially with Eddie’s shaggy mullet, to the guitar, drums, and last yells of “Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb!”
#guys I swear I’m not making these up the numbers all match thank god I’ve been obsessed with my character playlists this year lmao#great choices!#also I know enter sandman was 91 but it’s maybe my fav Metallica song forgive me for inc it lol#as a note this plot was either gonna be this or Eddie in a v 80s cherry bomb crop top#ONE DAY I will write Steve and Eddie properly into a crop top it is an important mission in my life#but another plot I had for a rq has someone in an outfit to do with the song#these r definitely turning into more like fics not blurbs sorry hope that’s okay lmao#Eddie Munson/reader#Eddie Munson fluff#Eddie Munson#Eddie Munson x reader#Eddie Munson fic#Eddie Munson blurb#stranger things#my fics#ask#anon#2k
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Son boy
#HES SO TINY I HAD TO CROP MY CANVAS WHEN I WAS DONE LMAOOO#mixed a bit more Cat in him just for fun lol. Augusta is half cat/dog so that would make Vincent 1/4 I think#I spent all day trying to draw Xins reference but my brain was NOT COOPERATING like k could not get past the lineart bc my brain#would pipe up halfway thru like ermmmm actually this looks really bad and awful redo it UGH#GIRL LET ME COOOKKKK#OH SHIT YEAH VINNY HAS A SHADOW FORM TOO I NEED TO DRAW THAT. GAH#I might still be updating references by the time artfight starts but the site won’t even be accessible on the first day bc of overload anyw#anyway LMAO#bowwww pspspssspspspspsspsp#my art#myart#oc#Vincent#artfight#artfight 2023#reference
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fragments from the google docs continues with: Nero's mom has a little chat with everyone's favourite goth kid, and she knows her ex well enough to sniff him out even when he's up to his stupidest hijinks yet.
Adaline has stepped out - she needs a breath of air not tainted by fear and guilt, please God just give her that much - and so she is the first to see them.
Her first impulse is to tell Morrison it can wait. Or, if it can’t wait, to send whatever job it is Lady and Trish’s way. Devil May Cry doesn’t need the money and the thought of leaving Nero -- or Dante leaving her -- is, for the moment, incomprehensible. Even for an evening. Even for an hour. She will fall apart. She will shatter like glass.
Then she sees the figure following -- limping -- a step or two behind Morrison, and holds her tongue. It’s rare that a client makes their own way to Devil May Cry; Morrison likes to act as go-between to keep the jobs coming through him. His pockets would empty fast if there was no need for a middle man.
So she keeps her peace, sipping from her glass of wine held in a hand that is only ever so slightly shaking, until Morrison comes close enough to see her in the dim glow of the neon sign. He tips his hat to her, as is his custom, but Adaline is hard-pressed to fetch up a smile as is hers.
“Always a pleasure, Ada,” he begins conversationally. “I realise this isn’t the best of times, but… well, we have a bit of a doozy by the sounds of it. Might even be connected to what happened here.”
Adaline’s toes curl inside her shoes and her grip on her glass tightens; the chardonnay glitters a kaleidoscope of colours as the neon lights refract through it. She says nothing.
The figure behind Morrison -- a young man, maybe only Nero’s age, dark-haired and covered in tattoos -- keeps his head bowed. In one hand he clutches a cane; no affectation, he’s leaning on it quite heavily. In the other, he holds something else, although Adaline can’t properly see what it is.
“May we…?” Morrison nods towards the door.
“Who are you?” Adaline asks the boy. “Why are you here?”
At first, she thinks he isn’t going to answer, but eventually he finds his tongue. His voice is low and slightly husky. Eventually, he does her the courtesy of looking at her. A pretty boy, with pale green eyes; she recognises the shape and colour from somewhere, though she can’t presently think where.
“My name is V. I am here because I have some information about a powerful demon lord poised to wreak havoc on this world. It is something I thought an equally powerful demon hunter ought to be aware of.”
Again, Morrison makes a movement towards the door. “Probably easiest if we don’t have to repeat the story…?”
The last thing - the absolute last thing - Adaline wants to do is let them across the threshold of Devil May Cry. This boy brings trouble, she can feel it. She wants to run inside, batten down the hatches, and keep what is left of her family safe from whatever trouble is building outside.
But Dante never will; she knows him that well by now. Dante never saw trouble in his life without throwing himself into the middle of it. Deep down, Adaline knows she has (just, barely) too much of a conscience to let the world burn for the sake of her boys. Not for the first time she thinks of how much easier life would be, without caring. Without that little bean counter in the back of her mind, totting up life and death. The rippling, unknowable consequence of so much as an afternoon off at the wrong time.
She downs the last of her wine and nods towards the door. “By all means. God knows, he needs some occupation. Why don’t you boys talk about money first? And we’ll talk about… everything else.”
It’s difficult to tell, at first, who is more disconcerted by the proposal. Morrison, however, is a wonderfully uncomplicated man and the rare opportunity of browbeating Dante into promising away his earnings before he’s even earned them without Adaline there to intervene is a powerful incentive. Nodding again to her, Morrison strides into the building.
And so they are two. For once, Adaline doesn’t care to hear the details of payments and cuts and debts, which is all Morrison will be talking about for now. She’s much more interested in V.
He’s gone back to avoiding her eyes as much as he can, fiddling with his cane and what she can now see is a large, though not particularly thick, hardback book. Something about it catches her attention, but it’s too dark to make out the details.
Moving as discreetly and unhurriedly as she can bear to, Adaline lets one hand drop to her side, and then behind her back; out of sight, she casts a series of cantrips. V himself -- his body; his being -- is untouched, but to Adaline’s eyes only his tattoos glow a faint purple. Perhaps the surprise shows on her face, or else he is magically attuned enough to feel the cantrips probing over him; he raises his head, offers a half-smile tinged with an emotion she can’t quite place.
“I assure you,” he says, “I am no demon, nor am I here to launch an ambush.”
No demon, maybe, but something in V is of the Underworld. Adaline’s consolation is that she knows anything she can pick up with a cantrip, Dante will smell on him.
“Forgive me if I seem discourteous,” she says with only a moderate amount of irony. “Someone tried to kill my son two days ago. It’s put me somewhat on edge”
There: V is good, he schools his expression again as quickly as he can, but Adaline sees the flash of panic; the momentarily widened eyes, the white-knuckled grip on his cane; the look of a man caught out.
“I’m… sorry to hear that,” he manages, but it’s too little too late.
Still with one hand behind her back, Adaline prepares to conjure more than a cantrip. “Who are you?”
V holds up his hands -- one still clutching his cane, the other held awkwardly to keep the book under his arm from slipping away -- and the attempted calm is replaced by no small amount of fear. Genuine fear, too, as far as she can tell, unless the boy is an excellent actor. While Adaline can’t smell fear rolling off a body like a demon could, she considers herself a decent interpreter of body language.
It calms her, just a little; anything afraid of her is no match for Dante.
“A friend. Or,” he adds, seeing her disbelief, “If not a friend, at least not an enemy.”
“Someone else walked up to this building once and said the same thing. It ended up causing us a lot of pain.”
They say, the two of them, that they wouldn’t be without Trish now -- but if it was between Trish and Vergil? That bean counter again: life and death, death and life. Pray they’re never given the option.
She’s scaring him: the boy with the demon tattoos looks ready to peel off. Adaline shakes her head, reminds herself he’s only Nero’s age -- if there’s a plot at work here, V is the intermediary rather than the mastermind -- though Nero would be furious to know she still thinks of him as a boy, not a man. Even if it’s a ploy, a trick, they need to know who is after them. Of course they first assumed… But it can’t be… Or is she fooling herself? Maybe the wine was a bad idea.
“Fine. I--” Adaline gropes for the words. “We need to know. Especially if it’s really all that bad.”
V relaxes slightly; lowers his hands, looks at her with something like compassion. He’s just a boy, she reminds herself again; look at him, this boy with his tattoos and his postmodern goth aesthetic, with his cane and his book and something demonic carved into his skin, something he might not even know of or understand. Bound up in a world of trouble beyond his capabilities. Even if that trouble is to do with whatever attacked Adaline’s son, V did not break into Devil May Cry and tear Nero’s arm off.
Those eyes, though. There’s something about him; something she can almost touch, almost taste. Something she feels like a bigger idiot every moment for missing.
“Had I the choice, I would not bring trouble to your door,” he says. His voice is low, genuine; Adaline finds she believes him. Or, at least, believes that he believes it.
She sighs. Exhaustion is settling into every muscle after two days of adrenaline-fuelled anxiety. The wine was definitely a mistake.
“We should probably head inside. They ought to be finished squabbling over money by now.”
V glances at the door; what he sees must confirm her suspicion, because he nods. He shoots her a quick smile and bows: it’s over-exaggerated, a dancer’s flourish; head down as far as his waist, arms outstretched, his cane flicking towards the door.
“Ladies first.”
It’s a charming display, but Adaline isn’t in the mood to be charmed. Especially not when charm so often disguises an intent to hurt. Again, that impulse against all good sense to turn the boy away and batten down the hatches with Dante and Nero. Her brain is running through all of the possibilities, even the most outlandish ones.
Okay, Mundus is dead (or as close as they’re going to get to killing him) and his corpse is slowly rotting in agony, but what if some other demon lord got the same idea? Mundus sent an underling to tempt Dante into danger once before, why fix what isn’t broken?
If that’s the case, whoever has taken Mundus’s place has even learned not to rely on painted doll replicas (and what if that’s why V seems so familiar? Something old, something new, something borrowed, something… green).
V looks up with a smile but his face falls when he sees Adaline still looks decidedly unamused.
“Let’s hear what you have to say,” she says, leading the way into Devil May Cry.
Dante looks expectant, almost excited; Morrison looks satisfied. Those two states don’t normally coincide. Adaline wonders how much money is involved here, and where it’s coming from. V doesn’t exactly give the impression he’s swimming in cash. Then again, this is Dante: he gripes about money from time to time but he’d work for free if the pizza place didn’t demand payment. Adaline happily funds him but he has a few shreds of chest-beating masculine pride about paying his own way that surface now and again.
Adaline circles around the desk to set her glass down on it, briefly makes eye contact with Dante, and leans against the wall behind him. She nods to Morrison as he leaves with a few final words about bringing in Lady and Trish and sets herself to watch. Now that she’s taken her own measure of their newest client, she’s interested to see what Dante makes of him.
Not much at first. Dante leans back in his chair, posturing boredom with the merest glimmer of interest.
“So,” he begins without preamble, “What’s your name?”
V stands in the centre of the office, the book open in his hand and his gaze pointed down at its contents.
“‘I have no name; I am but two days old’,” he says. In the ensuing pause, he snaps the book shut and looks up. “Just kidding. You can call me V.”
Adaline isn’t looking anywhere in particular. It is pure chance when her eyes fall on Eva’s photograph. It’s been on the desk as long as the desk has been in Devil May Cry, and Adaline stopped really seeing it years ago. She knows Eva is there, watching them (watching over them?) but familiarity breeds indifference to the contours of her cheeks and the exact curve of her jawline.
Or the colour of her eyes.
V is watching her when she looks up again; he’s quite still, but his grip on his cane is white-knuckled. His eyes are wide. Helpful: it lets her check the colour again.
Adaline remains impassive to the best of her ability. After a moment, during which she sees V’s Adam's apple bob frantically in his throat, he becomes impassive too; he looks away, deliberately turning his attention back to Dante.
For Dante’s part, if he’s noticed the brief, silent struggle, he gives no indication of it. Humming, he lazily sets aside his magazine and stretches.
“Okay, V... Why don't you tell me everything about this job?”
There’s a slight pause before V answers. He gives a little shrug, his lips pursed, as if to… well, Adaline isn’t quite sure, but his nonchalance strikes her as over-acted. In fact, if he is bringing them information about a job big enough that Morrison is nervous about Dante going it alone, isn’t ‘nonchalance’ the last thing in the world V should be feeling?
“A powerful demon is about to resurrect and…” Again, the briefest of pauses, as if the explanation is so obvious that V can barely bring himself to voice it, “We need your help, Dante.”
Dante lets out a bark of laughter. Either he’s giving an Oscar-worthy performance (and people rarely realise it, but Dante is a good actor when he wants to be; the man practically has a degree in misdirection) or he’s not picking up on any of the inconsistencies and questions Ada is. In stark contrast to her own anxiety, Dante is languid and lackadaisical. He pushes himself out of his chair and strolls over to the couch, still chuckling.
“Now that’s a familiar tune,” he quips. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard that exact line before?”
V doesn’t look offended by being blown off so easily. He shifts slightly, grip on his cane visibly tightening. Despite her suspicions, Adaline has an impulse to offer him a chair; he looks genuinely in pain. Before she can, however, he walks towards Dante, intent.
“This is… special.”
“Special,” Dante echoes disbelievingly, a hint of amusement colouring his tone. “Okay, what’s so special about this one?”
It’s about this moment that Adaline realises V has almost completely turned his back on her and she can no longer see his face.
“This demon is your… reason. Your reason for fighting.”
Something shifts in Dante’s expression. He doesn’t enjoy being jerked around and doesn’t suffer fools, but he’s enduring V’s dancing with more patience than Adaline would have expected. Is he finally realising, as she has, that there’s more to this than meets the eye? Or did Morrison just flash more money in his face than usual? Adaline can’t think. His reason for fighting? His reason… your reason--
I have no name; I am but two days old. How -- poetic.
Poetry. Murmured half-under his breath; the one indulgence in an otherwise spartan life; the book she had picked out for him, unearthed in a second-hand store--
“This demon got a name?”
“Vergil.”
#fragments from the google docs#devil may cry#dante#vergil#dmc v#nero's mother#nero's mom#this was the best place to crop this for posting but i do have a little more#that is basically v going '...lmao yeah u got me babe i should have known you'd know'#and yes v DOES immediately assume that ada's son is dante's#not vergil's
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