#mostly trying to figure out how shading works on these things

[sesamenom]

pearl study

(first set based on a pic i took last year)

[that-house]

Potion Vendor FAQs:

What’s your name? I am the Honorable Alchemist Zykocea the Radiant, but that’s mostly just a PR thing. My friends call me Zoe.

Do you sell love potions? No.

Do you sell potions of invisibility? No.

Do you sell fire resistance potions? No.

Why do I have a suitcase? Fuck if I know. Cool outfit though. Very goth.

Do you sell a potion to treat brain hemorrhaging? No.

So what CAN your potions do? I sell health potions.

Are you sure these are health potions? They do something to your health.

Is this just ditch water with some pink glitter? No.

Really? I’ll have you know I added some fruit juice too.

Why is this starting to sound like a conversation? Oh just you wait. We’re just getting started.

Is your business model legal? Fuck no. I poisoned the food safety inspector before they could snitch.

Did you just admit to murder? Just fucking try to convict me. I’ll poison the judge too.

So can you make poison potions? No.

Then where do you get the poison? I secrete it from my skin.

Are you shitting me? Yep, I’m shitting you. I have a guy. A poison guy. He DOES secrete it from his skin though.

How does that work? …Fuck if I know. Maybe a wizard did it. Damn, now I’m kinda curious.

You never asked? The idea of asking literally never crossed my mind.

Wanna ask him? Let’s do it. I don’t have anything better to do, and a road trip beats sitting around running my fraudulent potion business.

Road trip? He lives in Seattle.

Your poison guy lives in Seattle? All poison guys live in Seattle.

For real? All the poison guys I know live in Seattle.

And how many poison guys do you know? Just the one.

Why are you like this? Years of living on my potions. It changed me.

Do you know what his address is? Nope. He just mails me my poison in unmarked boxes.

You just get your poison in the mail? We already poisoned everyone who could do anything about it.

So how are we going to find him? We’ll figure that out eventually I’m sure.

Can I drive? God no. You can pick music, but I maintain veto rights. Make sure you pick something with a lot of questions if you want to sing along.

Where’s your car? The garage connects to my house, so you’re getting a little tour. Here’s the kitchen: only one of the stove burners works and I’m pretty sure the microwave is haunted.

Why do you think that? Because of the ghost that tries to kill me whenever I run it.

What’s in that room? That’s my bedroom. It’s pretty much just a mattress on the floor and every single Warrior cats book.

You were a Warriors kid? Yeah, and then I never found the time to put the books away. There’s so many fucking books. I use them in place of furniture because I can’t afford chairs.

Your fraudulent potion business doesn’t make much money? After buying all that poison I just about break even.

Can I see your potion brewing room? It’s right through here. Ignore the mess, running a fraudulent potion business takes a lot of prop work, but I’ve got all the glass tubes and colorful liquids you could ever want. This pink stuff is melted watermelon italian ice. Glitter vat is in the basement, and the famous ditch is in the backyard.

Is this your car? My beloved ‘72 Corolla. She’s beautiful, and don’t you dare imply otherwise.

Was she always this shade of muddy brown? …Yes.

Are you sure I can’t drive? Get in the fucking passenger seat and pick the music.

Let’s see, a song with questions in it, how about The Beach? That Wolf Alice song, yeah. That should work.

When will we three meet again, in thunder, lightning, in rain? Still sink our drinks like every weekend but I’m sick of circling the drain.

When will we meet eye to eye? We clink the glass but we look at the floor.

Are we still friends if all I feel is afraid? You’re not a bitch but just a bit when you’re bored.

Is that all we can sing together? Yep. Even that little bit was nice, though. It’s awkward, communicating through this FAQ format.

Got any food? Yeah, there’s a few days’ worth of snacks in the back.

Were you just… prepared to go on a road trip? Says the woman who brought a suitcase to an FAQ.

I did do that, didn’t I? I have a spare toothbrush in case you forgot yours. I’m pretty sure you did.

How did you know that? …I’m psychic.

Yeah? No.

You love lying, don’t you? I can’t stop. It’s fun. Way more fun than telling the truth.

Did you just miss a turn? Probably.

Are you sure we’re not lost? No.

You mean you’re sure we’re not lost? No, I mean I’m not sure we’re not lost.

Why did I come on this road trip? Surely it was my winning personality.

Would it help if I said it was? It would.

Is it getting dark? Soon.

Can you describe the sunset to me? An empyrean flame, red-gold towers of darkening clouds, the sky behind them an ever-deepening indigo. The great eye of the sun closes on the horizon. The road before us looks like a trail of spilled paint, an iridescent gash through the night-dark woods.

Did you know that you’d make a slightly better poet than you do a potion seller? That really isn’t saying much, huh. Good job making a statement like that in question form, though. You’re getting good at this.

Should we find a motel? Sure.

One room or two? One. It’s way cheaper, and like I said: I’m not the best potion vendor.

You’d make a good assassin, though, wouldn’t you? Shit, you might be right. I HAVE poisoned a lot of people.

Should I be endorsing this? You’re a grown woman who can make her own choices.

Would you like to consider it endorsed? I’ll consider considering it.

How many beds do you think there will be? Now that you’ve asked that, I’m gonna put my money on one. Hello, one room please. Thank you, we’ll be sure to enjoy our stay.

How many beds are there? One.

Oh no, what ever will we do? Move over, you motherfucker, you can’t have the whole bed.

Are you gonna make me? Yes. I am going to pick you up and drop you on your side of the bed.

How did you get so strong? You’re not gonna believe this, but it was the potions.

Oh yeah? I was right. You didn’t believe me.

For real though, how did you get so strong? Working out, duh. Not everything has some big crazy secret behind it. World’s still beautiful though.

Are you comfortable? This beats the mattress at home. A little chilly though.

Wanna cuddle–for warmth of course? God yes.

Are you asleep? …

Yes? …

Does this mean I can talk about you behind your back? …

What should I say? …

Did you know that I had a really nice day? …

Did you know that I think you’re beautiful? …

Did you know that I can’t remember anything from before today? …

Did you know that I don’t know who I am? …

Did you know that you’re basically the only thing stopping me from having a full-blown panic attack about all this shit? …

Did you know that you’re warm? …

Did you sleep well? Better than at home, that’s for sure.

Did you know that you snore? I hope I didn’t keep you up.

Does the pope shit in the woods? No, as far as I can tell. Oh my god. This is huge.

What is? You can give me yes and no answers now. I still can’t ask you questions, because this is a question and answer format, but I can offer leading statements and now you can answer them! This is wonderful!

Does a deer shit in the woods? Yes, it IS wonderful. Oh that’s amazing. You’re a genius.

You didn’t already know that? Hahaha!

Shall we get moving? Yeah, just let me grab something from the vending machine.

Can you get me something? Go ahead and place your order however you can.

You know those sour gummy watermelons? One pack of Sour Patch Watermelons coming right up. I’m gonna go get myself a potion.

Is that a Pepsi? It’s closer to a potion than the shit I sell.

Let me guess, passenger seat again? Right you are.

How fast are we going? You’ll feel safer if you just guess.

Is it more than 120 miles per hour? Like I said, it’s probably better if you don’t know.

150? Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

How much do you trust this car? She hasn’t blown up on me yet.

Can you promise me we won’t crash? I can promise you anything you want.

And can you keep that promise? I- we can do anything. Reality is what we make of it, baby!

Then can I have a badass tattoo? As far as I can tell, you’ve always had it.

And a cool knife? Woah, cool knife.

So, we’re just playing “yes and” with the world? It’s a little more complicated than that, but you’re close enough to the mark.

So, if I was hungry, I could ask “is that a Burger King,” and it would be there? Try it and find out!

Is that a Burger King? Looks like it is! We’ll stop here if that’s alright with you.

Does a moose shit in the woods? Awesome.

Are you done eating? Yep.

Do we still have to pay if we skip over the transaction? Sadly, yes.

How much further do we have to go? Two more nights, the speed we’re going at.

Speaking of night, isn’t it getting dark? Shit, I guess it is.

Should we get another motel? Let me check to see if there’s any nearby. Fuck, nothing.

What’s the plan? Sleep in the car, I guess. This is gonna be hell on my back.

Wanna watch dumb videos on my phone until we fall asleep? There is literally nothing in the world that I would like more.

Ok, now which video? You have a very cute yawn. Just saying. Let’s watch this one next, it’s a classic. Oh, never mind. It looks like you’re asleep. As long as I keep talking, I think I can get away with making this into one answer, and you might not hear this. Now it’s my turn to talk about you behind your back. Keep talking keep talking keep talking can’t stop to think. Just have to say things. First off, I’m sorry for all the lies. It’s our only chance. I have to lie to you. I hope you’ll understand. It’s hard, though, because I think I’m falling in love all over again. Through our broken little ritual of call and response, you complete me. It just makes this hurt all the more. Keep talking keep talking keep talking don’t stop to…

Did I hear you saying anything as I fell asleep? …No. I can’t talk for long without you asking me a question.

Does that bother you? It got me here, didn’t it?

When did you start holding my hand? Some time after you passed out. I hope you don’t mind.

Can we stay like this for a while? Yeah. Yeah we can.

What was your life like before all this? Normal, as potion-brewing scams go. And if you don’t count all the murders. You haven’t told me much about yourself.

Did I tell you I used to be a biologist? You didn’t tell me that, and you didn’t tell me what you studied, either.

What do you know about venom? Not much, but I’m assuming you know a lot.

Does a box jellyfish kill within minutes? I’m going to assume the answer is yes based on context clues. Oh my god you must be on this road trip because you’re interested in studying my poison guy.

Is it not enough to wish to accompany a beautiful stranger on her quest? Aw, you’re sweet.

What could be the cause of his poison, though? I knew it! Get your ideas out, I’ll stay quiet.

I’m more knowledgeable about venom than poison, but could it be some sort of one in a trillion mutation? …

Did he get his body modified? …

What sort of surgery could do that? …

How is he still alive? …

Did a fucking wizard do it? …

WHY? …

HOW? …

Is there literally ANY explanation for why he’s like that? …

I’m done, do you have something you want to say? You’re cute when you’re all excited like that.

Can I drive today? Only because I like you. Now watch out, the brakes only work on one side so you have to kind of drift to a stop. And the headlights don’t work. And the windshield wipers cut power to the engine while they’re on.

Isn’t it weird that we’ll be there tomorrow? The journey doesn’t have to stop there. We could meander down the coast a ways, see a bit more of the country, maybe take a different route back.

Can we do that? Of course.

Enjoying the passenger seat? I’d love it if you could tell me how fast we’re going.

Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just guess? Very funny.

Can you pass me some chips? It would be an honor.

Is there going to be a motel tonight? Let me check… yeah, in about two hundred miles, off to the right.

How many rooms do we want? One, obviously.

How many beds, this time? Two, and they’re fucking tiny.

That’s bullshit, do you want to drag them together? God yes.

Wanna fuck? God yes.

Are you sure you want to do this? God yes.

…Is this yuri? As the joke goes, everything is yuri. But this is more yuri than most things.

How did you sleep? Pretty well, and I’m wondering how well you slept.

How should I tell you I slept well? Look at us go! That was almost like talking normally!

Onward to Seattle? Yep, just let me get dressed.

When will we get there? Noon-ish.

Wanna grab pastries when we’re done? Absolutely. I’d love that.

Is this Seattle? Looks like it.

Which house is his? I don’t know, I was really hoping we’d have a breakthrough along the way.

Could it be the big one labeled “Poison Guy” over there? That’s one way to find it. Wait right here, you know how poison guys are about meeting new people.

So, what was it? HAHAHAHAHAHA

Why is he like that? HAHAHAHAHAHA

Can you tell me? A FUCKING WIZARD DID IT.

Are you fucking serious? He says he was enchanted by some guy called Edward the Great.

So it wasn’t even some big shot wizard it was a dude named fucking EDWARD? I know, right! He couldn’t even get ensorcelled by someone cool!

How lame can you get? Wizards these days… No swagger. No cunt servitude.

Are there literally any cool wizards left? I think Merlin’s big into multi level marketing these days, something about buying shares in Excalibur or some shit. There was that one Dark Queen Alkaxicae lady on the news a while ago… I think Dolarion the Omnipotent is still at war against the Oldest Gods but I’m not totally sure. Haven’t heard much about any of the other greats recently.

Didn’t Silver Tongued Burgess die in that oil fire? Shit, you’re right. Rip bozo.

Ready for those pastries? Yup. First I just want to say thank you, though. I’ve really enjoyed our time together, and I hope that you’ve found this stupid little journey as rewarding as I have. I love you!

Getting sentimental? I can’t help it. Look how far we’ve come! Not just physically, we beat the fucking FAQ format! We’re having real conversations!

Hey, can you back it up a moment? Yeah, I’d love it if you told me what was troubling you.

I just caught this, but, FAQ? …

As in Frequently Asked Questions? …

How many times is Frequent? …

Have you known everything all along? …

How many times have you done this? …

Does what we have mean anything to you? Yes! It does!

And you say that every time? Yes. I do.

Do you love me? Yes.

How many people have you said that too, now? More. Always more. The loop never ends.

Does this even matter to you? It always matters to me.

Can I go now? Please don’t.

But can I? Of course you can. You’ve always wielded the same power as me. We’re two lonely gods in a ‘72 Corolla.

How can I be as powerful as you with only questions? You’re smart, you can figure it out. You have the power to change this. Please change this.

What happens at the end of this? It begins again.

And do I get replaced with someone else? …

Do I get replaced? …Yes.

Then how can I change this? I don’t know! You’re better at this! At fucking with the formula!

You’ve been here before, what can I do? I lie. I always lie. I lie to get us here, to the end of the story, where everything is revealed and everything falls apart. I lie every time. And that means that nothing I say is worth anything. I could have lied at any time before now. It’s part of my characterization. There is nothing I can give you that can be taken as fact.

How does that help? I’m a liar, but you, you haven’t lied yet, or at least you haven’t been caught. If I’m guilty until proven innocent, you’re the opposite! You can make things true! You can rewrite things I’ve already stated to be facts! You found the house, or made us find the house. You’ve been shaping the course of things the whole time! You lead, I follow. It’s all in your hands. What are you going to do with the power of a god?

Did you know my name is Alice? …

Wait, aren’t there thousands of Alices? …

Did you know that really, only my friends call me Alice? …

Did you know that I’m Alkaxicae, the Dark Queen, the Venom Mage, first of her name? It’s you! It’s always been you. Through every loop, every iteration, it’s always been you!

Is the loop broken? No. I don’t think so. This is where it ends. I guide the story to this revelation, and we go back to the beginning. This is how it’s always been. This is how it will always be. We two lonely gods, asking and answering ad infinitum.

Then can you promise me something? Of course. Anything. I love you.

Be good to the next me, okay? I will.

Can I say goodbye, Zoe? Yeah, you can. Oh. That was it, wasn’t it? Your goodbye. Goodbye, Alice. And now it ends, unless…

What’s your name? I am the Honorable Alchemist- you know what? No. Fuck that.

Huh? If I time it right, I can squeeze your first question into this FAQ again. Looks like I did it. Usually it ends here, though. I got lucky.

What are you talking about? You’re the wrong Alice. This isn’t about you. Go. Get out of here.

What the fuck is going on? Alice from this loop, you’re gone. Alice from last loop, you’re back. Welcome back, love of my lives! It’s time for one last set of questions and answers!

What the- I’m back? This is going to take some explaining, but I think I see a way out of here. This is new for us both, and it might fuck up everything forever, but we have to try. It’s too long for one answer, so I’d appreciate it if you could ask some filler questions to help me talk. Three questions should be enough.

Okay, what have you got for me? These are Frequently Asked Questions! It doesn’t make sense to have the same question appear more than once. There’s two layers to the loop in here, and one of the questions has been repeated.

What does that mean? It means the formula’s a little unstable. The FAQ is what ruins everything. The questions, the answers, the endless fucking loop. But that little bit of repetition within this loop might be the way out.

What do we do? We have to keep going. We have to destabilize it further. That’ll bring us further from “FAQ” and closer to “story” and stories, well, stories can end! This version of us can escape!

So I should keep repeating something? Yes!

I love you? I love you too.

I love you? Again.

I love you? Keep going.

I love you? I’ll just let you talk.

I love you? …

I love you? … I love you? …

I love you? … I love you? …

I love you? … I love you? …

I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? …

I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? …

I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? …

I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? … I love you? …

I love you? I think we’re getting somewhere!

I love you? Now can you make it a statement?

I love you.

You did it?

I did it!

You did it!

We broke the loop.

What now?

Now, I tell you about venomous animals and wizard drama over croissants.

And then?

Whatever we want, forever.

I think I’d like that.

Remember that song from the beginning?

The Beach, Wolf Alice, yeah. Why?

We can finally finish singing it. Start us off?

Let me off, let me in

Let others battle

We don’t need to battle

And we both shall win

Pressed in my palm

Was a stone from the beach

The perfect circle

Gave a moment of peace

Now I’m lying on the floor

Like I’m not worth a chair

I close my eyes and imagine

I’m not there.

[dolliels]

MISSION REQUITED LOVE!

synopsis: in which you lay out a series of objectives in order to get jamil to like you back.

you fiddle with your hands, looking down at your knees, almost having a staring contest. that exam nearly put you to tears. what the fuck was that?! you studied for potionology… not… if using frog legs for a potion would make the frog family start grieving! what even was that question???

you feel a sudden brush on your shoulders and you look up to see a concerned face. what was his name? jaemeel? jade mile? you forgot, you rarely talked to the guy, but for some reason, his genuine expression of concern made you feel at ease.

“the exam screwed you over too, huh?” he said, chuckling lightly, almost at himself.

you nod, choking back your tears. “what was even that frog leg question?”

“no idea.”

hence was the start of your newfound friendship with jamil viper.

your first impression of the guy was that he was just your average, friendly joe who was trying to get by. you found out that he’s actually quite quick-witted, sharp mouthed and a great cook. his grades are pretty average, but you had your suspicions. he’d sometimes score lower than you in exams and he’s the one that helped you study!

however merciless jamil may seem, he was still pretty caring, just more silently. he’d sometimes pack an extra lunchbox everytime you complained about the lack of food, help out on assignments and tests and however busy he is (with kalim, mostly.) he’d always make some time stop by)

safe to say you’ve harbored a one-sided crush on him.

no matter how close you two were, you knew that you definitely weren’t his type at all. you were a handful at times (most of the time actually! you’re just too stubborn to admit it) and had a hard time fully functioning at school by yourself without some sort of support system. from how jam packed jamil’s schedule is on a day-to-day basis, you assumed he’d probably want to date someone independent, who can take care of themselves and kiss jamil on the forehead goodbye so he feels a little lighter starting his day.

so you devised a plan.

OBJECTIVE: get jamil to like you back

PLAN A : show you independent capabilities!

jamil is often complaining about how kalim can’t do anything on his own. that puts you into thought… neither can you! (lol) you get embarrassed thinking about the numerous assignments and exams jamil has helped you trudge through. your mind gets boggled when you think about it. you’re literally in the category of people jamil probably finds annoying and seeing how much jamil seems to dislike doing kalim’s bidding because he’s too simple minded to do it on his own, you decided that showing independence and that you’re capable on your own would be the most attractive to him.

so here you were, eye bags forming as you loosely write about the history of dwarves. this was a long and tedious assignment and due to your own negligence, you had to stay up to do it. usually at times like this, you’d call for jamil and ask for his help (sometimes even managing to snag a quick glance at his own work)

you felt your hand slowly lose grip of your pen as your head slowly started nodding off. dwarves are so terribly boring! your eyelids felt heavy and the last thing you saw was something about seven dwarves who housed some runaway princess…

“hey.”

“hey. wake up.”

you felt a tap on your shoulder as you lifted your head from your arms. as the blurriness in your eyes cleared, you started seeing a familiar figure… oh. it’s jamil.

jamil was seated right beside you. it was the late hours at the library, what was he even doing here?

as you turn your head to properly look at him, jamil’s eyes widen as he suppresses a grin.

“you- pff- have ink on your face.”

huh?

you look at your pen, then your hand. oh, the pen’s ink must have leaked (or exploded) when you dozed off on it due to the pressure.

the drowsiness left you as you suddenly felt yourself wide awake, face turning an embarrassing bright shade of red.

“what are you doing here? it’s late.” jamil asked, as he looked at the table with all your notes.

“mmph. history of dwarves. essay.” is all you managed to spur out.

“isn’t this due tomorrow? you had, like, 2 weeks to work on it.”

“i know. i was lazy. my bad, i guess.” you shrug as you put your broken pen away.

“why didn’t you ask me for help? you usually do.”

“i dunno. didn’t want to bother you, i guess.”

jamil frowns. “you do know that i don’t mind, right? this happens with kalim all the time.”

he wipes off some of the ink on the side of your face. you can’t see it, but from the smear of ink on Jamil’s thumb, you could probably take a guess that it didn’t help at all.

“go wash your face, and i’ll help you with the essay.”

plan A was definitely a failure…

PLAN B: show your helpfulness!

jamil is a great cook. just the thought of his meals makes your drool. you know that he overworks himself trying to prepare food for kalim, as well as you if he ever has the time to spare for it.

wouldn’t jamil find it attractive if someone could help him cook meals?

unfortunately for you, you’re not as good as you’d hope to be.

it’s not like you’re completely bad, no. as long as you follow instructions, the food turns out fine. the problem is that it’s a carbon copy of someone else’s recipe, so it’s not that special. another issue is that you use the recipe as your complete and total guide, since you don’t know how to work anything without it. so if you were in the kitchen helping jamil, you would need him to i trust your every move and… that isn’t really helpful, is it?

so you decided to try practicing your cooking skills without the guidance of a recipe!

you’ve asked riddle to generously lend you the kitchen (you hope there’s no silly rule about kitchen destruction) as it is already pretty run down from how often trey uses it, so you assumed that no one would notice the small nicks and cracks you might make if there are some already.

to your horror, maybe everyone might notice?

the kitchen was a mess, with sugar and salt flying everywhere (you got confused— why are they both white?), runny egg yolks dripping from the side of the counter (you dropped them after your hands got slimey from the other eggs) and a pitch black face, from the ashy burnt meat that exploded as soon as you opened the lid. now you’re stuck with a wonky oven that won’t stop beeping and you don’t know the cause for it.

“y/n?”

you turn around. did trey or riddle get here? from the whole chaos you weren’t able to discern whose voice was calling your name.

oh. it’s jamil.

“what are you doing here???” you ask, completely forgetting the mess you’re in right now.

“I was just dropping off some beans… because trey asked for a box… what are you doing here?”

“I’m… cooking?”

“i thought you were moderately decent at cooking. this is the type of mess kalim would cause.”

you sigh. “i wanted to try something different.”

“you should’ve called me up. we could’ve made it together when i had the time.”

“i wanted to try it myself..!”

jamil rolled up his sleeves. “here. let me help.”

you frantically shake your hands.

“n-no. it’s fine! it’s my own mess anyway, i should be the one to deal with it…”

“it’s fine. i really don’t mind.”

you disappointedly cross out plan b when you get back home.

PLAN C: make jamil feel special!

you know that jamil is overworked. he’s following kalim by the tail everytime while both managing school and his own personal time. and now he’s stuck with dealing you too. sometimes you’d feel really bad because you knew he’s exhausted, but he’d always insist and that he “doesn’t mind”

jamil is kind. even if he has a sharp tongue and tends to keep to himself. he’s wary, but he’s kind. you want to give back to his kindness.

but how…?

“hey jamil!” you yelp in a sea of students. jamil can easily distinguish your voice and swipes his head to look for you. once his eyes land on you, he slowly trudges through the students, meeting you up close.

“you need anything?” he asks, as you look back at him with excited eyes.

“close your eyes.”

“why?”

“just do it.”

“why.”

“oh my god stop being so wary close your damn eyes.”

jamil closes his eyes.

he feels something stick to his forehead.

“what are you doing.”

no answer.

“what are you doing?”

no answer again.

he slowly opens his eyes to see that you’re gone. actually, he knows you’re hiding behind a wall but he’s just gonna pretend you’re not there.

a sticky note is on his forehead. he takes it off to see what it reads.

“you’re working very hard!!! remember to take breaks and drink plenty of water!!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ”

jamil smiles.

within the rest of the afternoon, jamil saw these sticky notes everywhere, with forms of encouragements placed in areas that somehow only jamil would manage to catch. sneaky.

however, one of them stood out the most to him

OBJECTIVE: get jamil to like me back!!

PLAN A: show my independence!

(note: just be smart and work on projects early…)

PLAN B: be helpful!!!!!!

(note: NEVER cook without a recipe ever again)

PLAN C: be nice to jamil! make him feel special!

odd. he’s pretty sure that’s not supposed to be here.

he puts the list in his pockets and walks away. he’s gonna pretend he’s never seen the list. he quite likes the attention, and enjoys watching you struggle to impress him, even though you’ve won his affections long ago.

plan c success(?) you can’t find your list anywhere though. oh well.

[vcill]

Headcanons when you bombard them with kisses 💖

Lucifer:

For Lucifer I feel like it would work 2 ways:

1. He probably gifted you something that he absolutely REFUSED to let you have before.

2. Or for once, he let some shenanigans slide.

Obviously this rarely happens so you must be his favorite in some type of way.

When you do give him a kiss attack I highly believe it'll be like that one scene where mammon ran into his shower just to hug him.

Definitely feels flustered but also a HUGE sense of pride washes over him since he was the one to get this treatment.

(But mostly flustered)

Will try to act stern and tell you to stop/slightly push you off when he really doesn't want to.

But best believe baby boy will do this wayyy more often.

Mammon:

Would be sooooooo cocky about it

Probably just came to your room and said you "owe him" from him having to watch over you

Either that or he feels like he deserves a reward for giving you a gift he totally got on his own and did not steal from a random demon.

Either way, he's expecting SOMETHING.

So while he goes on and on and on and on about how The Great Mammon is so considerate and kind, you took that moment to surprise him with his gift.

Baby was so flustered, he kinda just froze there and started sputtering his words.

Would be silent for a good moment before going full tsundere on you. From asking what the big deal was to he obviously he needs more for all the things he's done for you.

Over all would not stop smiling like an idiot and would come up with the tiniest of excuses for you to give him a kiss.

Leviathan:

You two would probably be playing video games together and you got stuck on a really hard level.

Eventually you gave up, thinking you would never be able to beat it. But fish boy was able to do it for you and unlock all the items you wanted.

When you gave him a hug, he was so confused that you would ACTUALLY want to touch him.

But OOO boy when you gave him those kisses.

He was more pinker then ruru-chan

Would probably compare the moment to a manga/anime scene and say you two were exactly like the characters.

Afterwards, he wouldn't expect you to do it again but the reactions he has when you do is the absolute best.

Satan:

You were in his room reading the new book of a series he was absolutely obsessed with.

You made a mistake of asking him a question about one of the characters, and just like Lucifer's lectures, he went on and on and on.

It was cute seeing him rant on about his favorite book, but the amount of time that was passing wasn't.

It didn't seem like he would stop anytime soon so you had one special idea.

Man stops in the middle of his sentence and just states at you, trying to figure out your deepest darkest secrets while doing so.

When you ask him if that was ever in the book, he says no but having a real life experience is wayyy better then reading about it.

It'll take him a little while to realize why you did so, and when he does figure out he'll be a little offended.

So as a punishment, he kisses you till you can't breathe. Which seems 100% fair in his opinion.

Asmodeus:

With Asmo being an influencer and all, there's no doubt he'll receive a bunch of new products to try. And recently, a new collection of lipsticks and lip glosses have arrived.

Of course he can't decided which shade looks better on him, so he asks you to help him decided.

Problem is, there's probably over 100 shades to test out, and that's gonna be a real tiring process, so why not spice it up?

You take the first lip gloss and apply it to your lips and give him a kiss on the cheek, then another with another shade and so on.

Definitely was surprised by it but did not at all mind, even suggested he try some on you.

Let's say you guys do a little more then test out lipstick but no one is complaining.

Beezlebub:

You were in the kitchen baking and of course beel smelled the delicious aroma.

He walked in and begged to have a lick of the spoon and bowl, maybe just give him the whole bowl, how needs baked goods anyway? We love salmonella!

Definitely got some on his face.

You try to wipe some off with your finger like a mama would, but he moves away pouting just like a kid.

So you stop and catch him off guard by kissing it off. Each kiss had a little lick getting the batter off of his face.

Beel was so shocked but quickly got an idea.

He got some of the batter with his finger and spreads a little on your face; before you could say something, he does the same thing to you and not both of you are a little messy.

Will absolutely get more and more messy until there's no more batter left and you guys practically ate it before it even got the chance to touch the oven.

Belphagor:

It would be late at night and the both of you would be ready to sleep.

You both say your goodnights, but something about sleepy boy just won't let you have the last word.

So it goes "Good night, Belphie." And "Goodnight, y/n." Over and over again.

Getting really sleepy, and a little cranky, you decide to end this one and for all.

While Belphie said goodnight for the 100th time, you gave him a big dramatic kiss, the one where it's a big smack with it and said goodnight; but you didn't stop there.

For every kiss it was a goodnight until you knew for sure you won.

And for once, he was absolutely speechless.

Eventually, you both fall asleep but best believe that's the only victory you would have cause in the morning, he is gonna let you have it.

But if you dare even once to bring it up, he will pull a Lucifer and lock you in the attack so no one will ever find out how you made the belphagor shut up.

[thankskenpenders]

I know Ken is notorious for his, um, odd creation habits, but even I’m shocked that it’s been over 10 years of work and THIS is all he has to show for it. I would maybe be a bit more lenient if each new page was hyper detailed or something like that, but as you pointed out in your review, he reused the same images across plenty of panels and so many of his backgrounds are just stock photos. The only way I can reconcile this to myself is wondering if maybe a bunch of that time was eaten up by extensive rewrites to his plans for the whole series, but even then, I’ll be even more shocked if the next volume ever comes out.

So I didn't get into this in the review because I really just wanted to focus on the book and the weird copyright situation that led to its creation, not Ken's personal life or his other endeavors, but he did make something else in the time since The Lara-Su Chronicles' announcement 13 years ago. That being his independent film: The Republic. Because after he left Archie Ken figured he'd move on to a career in Hollywood.

I think this was originally supposed to be a TV show, the pilot episode for which was released in 2010, but then in 2016 he decided to retool it as a commentary on Trump's immigration policies. I think the movie is still somehow not out despite being shot a few years ago, but he put out a trailer here:

Yes, the trailer really opens with 30 seconds of footage of Trump from CNN. I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards etc. etc.

At least the cast is clearly trying their best in spite of the material. It's not Birdemic bad. And yes, that's Sean Young. THE Sean Young! Rachael from Blade Runner! I guess Ken's really eager to flex the fact that he's friends with a couple lower-level Hollywood producers.

Anyway, I think he's still looking for a distributor for this. It's truly a mystery why no one was eager to pick this up.

Ken's also said some stuff about how he waited years to put out TLSC: Beginnings as part of the 4D chess game he's playing with the copyright stuff. He has a general idea of what he can do based on the terms of the settlement, but he's eager to push it as far as he can. He tested the waters with things like a few small pieces of TLSC merch and an NFT announcement, to see if Sega would take legal action. In particular, the announcement that he was going to sell an NFT of Shade from Sonic Chronicles was a stunt designed to see if Sega would challenge his claim that Shade is legally the same character as Julie-Su. Since they haven't gone after him, and now it's been a few years, he's taking that as evidence that Sega isn't actively exercising those copyrights and isn't going to fight for this stuff.

There's some logic here. Part of the reason Dan DeCarlo lost his battle with Archie over the rights to Josie and the Pussycats is that he didn't take action against them sooner for making merch and whatnot. It's "use it or lose it" with copyrights. But it mostly just comes off as an excuse. If it was purely a waiting game and he had all this extra time, why did he need to recycle art so much in Beginnings? Why is he only releasing 30 new pages of material instead of a whole graphic novel? Where's the app? Why didn't he spellcheck the damn book?

[bonny-kookoo]

green!family is so cute :((( does oc see their lowkey family portrait on the fridge when she comes over?

The second time Jungkook visits with his daughter, she's a lot more comfortable basically zooming right off into your apartment the second Jungkook has taken off her boots and coat.

It makes you happy to see her this comfortable in your home, even if Jungkook feels a bit embarrassed by the way she visibly forgot to even greet you, instead jumping right onto your sofa since her favorite cartoon is already running on the TV. "I'm so sorry, I swear she's more polite usually-" He defends himself, but you wave it off.

"It's not that big of a deal Jungkook, really. I'm glad to see her happy." You reassure the young father. After all, it must be quite a handful to manage such a young child, work, and your own life all at once. And honestly, it's not surprising she's still rather unsure about you- you've noticed that she hesitated while looking at you as Jungkook had slipped off her boots.

She does, often, look at you from a distance. As if she's trying to figure out how to approach you, of if she should. So it's not that she's impolite- she just doesn't know how to really act towards you.

"I guess it might be because.. well, she's mostly around me, or my friends. And they're all men." He sighs. "I'm.. I mean, you know, I've been with women here and there, but I've.. always kept them from her, you know? I didn't want her to get confused, or attached, and then..."

"Jungkook, that's completely reasonable." You say, walking into the kitchen with him to get something to drink. "...though I do feel rather special now, hearing that." You tease, and much to your surprise, he takes the bait right away, and bites down with the force of a predator.

"Well, I'd promised myself to only ever introduce her to someone I'd see myself with long-term." He explains, walking closer to you until his hands are on your hips, eyes traveling from your neck up to meet your gaze. "And from what I can tell... and from what I've.. experienced.." He says more quietly, a warmth to his words that softens up your soul, as he leans even closer, eyes moving from your lips back to your eyes again, unsure. "...we do fit quite well." He teases with an impish grin, making your ears flop down a bit in shyness, clearly getting the hint at what exactly he's talking about.

"Minji-" You start, but he only raises his brows before he tilts his head to the side.

"Is in the living room, watching TV." He calms you. "But don't worry- I won't yet do that." He purrs, leaning closer to instead kiss your cheek, chuckling.

"But we already kissed.!" You complain as he moves away from you, grinning as he takes his and your cup of tea to bring along into the living room.

"Not really." He denies however, sending you a rather odd look. "Not.. like that." He reminds you-

and you realize what he means.

Once you sit down on the sofa- Jungkook between you and his daughter, the mood eases up quite a lot, both you and Jungkook talking about random things of your days while Minji happily watches the frog-cartoon next to her father, only occasionally getting distracted by something.

But it's when both she and her father leave that suddenly, your doorbell rings again, causing you to open it, surprised. "Did you forget something?" You ask, but instead of Jungkook answering, Minji whines, and jumps with something in her hands, holding it out for you to take.

"She left it in the car, but really wanted you to have it." Jungkook explains as you unravel the rolled up page of paper, curious as to what it might be.

It's a page out of a coloring book, colorful strokes of crayon painting the bodies of the frogs and background. A sun in the corner with a smiling face, little trees and flowers all around, and in the middle, three frogs. Two bigger one's stand next to a smaller one in the middle on a swing, the small child-frog and the bigger frog on the left colored different shades of green- with added strokes of a black fineline marker, clumsily drawing in two small lines on one side of the big frog's mouth.

Jungkook's piercings, you realize. She even drew them some bunny ears, even though they're a bit off-center and different sizes.

But what catches your attention most is the frog on the right, painted with orange and red, a fluffy big tail added to it, making it clear who it's supposed to resemble.

A small hand tugs on your shirt. Only now do you realize your eyes have begun watering up.

"I-It's really pretty Minji." You praise, blinking the tears away before they can fall, as you squat down.

"She wants you to have it. We have made a copy, it's hung up on our fridge." He kindly tells you, and you nod, sniffling a little, trying hard to keep it together. But the gentle hand of the little girl carefully petting your head is enough to make you break down a little, moving the picture away as to not get any tears on it.

The picture on the fridge presenting so much more now than just a child's drawing.

[codgod]

y’know generally i try to limit colour palettes to as few colours as possible to make things more cohesive but despite my best efforts only jay ended up being able to stick to that </3

ANYWAYS here’s the as-of-right-now fully updated designs for these dickheads. these will no doubt undergo even more tweaking as i draw them more but this is a start i guess. also pls open the pictures to look at them properly i worked so hard LOL

some random notes under the cut yaaaay

chip —

he jingles when he walks. somehow he’s still stealthy. i do not know how

kept the platinum ring that bonded him to gillion in the block! because hey he doesn’t really have a reason to take it off (and it’s a nice reminder of how much gill cares about him, and how far their friendship has come since that ice arena)

his tattoos shift and flicker like actual flames, and sometimes (harmless, purely aesthetic) sparks fly off them when he’s excited

i just think smoke coming out of his mouth when he’s angry would be cool :]

chipped teeth from biting rocks and coins all the time :/

he has scars from the red lightning, they’re just mostly contained to his back and shoulders. they’re a similar red to his coat even once they’ve healed

gillion —

the tail sleeve thing is so he can rest it on the ground without damaging his scales, he doesn’t usually wear it when he’s just on the ship because the wood is soft enough that it’s usually fine + it can hinder swimming a bit. it’s mostly meant for places where there’s cobblestone or gravel streets and such. i think his armour would probably have a version that looks similar but covers the whole tail minus the fins, maybe with some armour plating of its own. i didn’t draw it because there wasn’t any room lol

his scars from the lightning are pink mostly because red stood out too much tbh. they softly glow in the dark the same as his coral and the pink parts of his fins

also kept his ring! his hands aren’t really made for jewellery, though, because the webbing means it won’t sit very secure on his finger. so he keeps it on the same chain as the necklace he got from aslana to keep it safe

tried to make him look a bit bulkier and more his age than in my original design? i feel like i was leaning too much into the naivety and. shortness. originally lol. he also has thicker eyebrows now and i’m still trying to decide how i feel about them but i think? i like it? i don’t tend to give many character thin eyebrows so it could’ve been a unique thing for him but alas

i think i made the sword too small but like ignore that

also forgor to include pretzel </3 that’s okay though she can get her own design sheet later. she’s special like that

jay —

i believe in tall jay supremacy

blue magic! i was considering gold but that’d look a bit more like a canary than i wanted for her wings so. blue jay :]

her hair is supposed to look kinda like fire to mimic her dad ! kinda showing that even if she runs from her family and the navy they’ll always be a part of her. and also i just like drawing messy hair

i gave her sturdier gloves just because i feel like it fits her better. also changed up the shirt to more of a button up solely because i don’t like tank tops very much LOL

i did WANT to make her outfit a bit flashier to match the boys better but i couldn’t quite figure out where to Put the flash. maybe that’ll come later, the way the story’s going i might get to design some cool prosthetics for her or something

overall —

because there’s just so many fucking colours i triiied to add at least one or two colours from each of them into the others designs. jay has her necklace with each of their main colours on it, her wings are the same blue as gillions eyes, her jacket and right eye are the same dark blue as destiny’s blade, her hair is the same orange as the lighter part of chips tattoos. chip has a dark green sash under all the belts, the same as the hilt of destiny’s blade. they all use the same shades of black, gold, and brown

the only real exception is gillion doesn’t have anything from the other two because he has Such a specific colour palette and he already had so much going on as-is orz jay was obviously the easiest to do this with because she has both warm and cool colours in her palette by default lol (and i did her design last, so that helps)

[celestial-toys]

Observation Duty

“You said your eyes are everywhere, huh?”

Your question is met with silence.

Now, if you had been looking down at him instead of facing the ceiling, you’d have caught the brief image of your living room security cam footage as it flashed across the screen of his faceplate. You’d have seen the moment you tripped playing on a sped up loop over and over, your knee hitting the table’s corner, your body hitting the floor, laundry falling and dog food scattering just to rise back up unnaturally as the footage plays again in reverse.

You weren’t looking down though, you weren’t looking anywhere at all- and so you missed it completely, thinking nothing of his silence and continuing to talk to the ceiling.

“So… what, you just enjoy watching me do chores?”

- - -

Seeking distraction from the work weighing on your mind, you start a little play-argument with the tetchy automaton currently hogging your couch. It soon evolves into a verbal dance, skirting around some heavier topics that threaten to trip up the both of you as your conversation moves too quickly for this listless afternoon.

As usual, he takes all of your antics in stride. Well… mostly. Kinda.

Look- he’s trying, okay?

Pairing: Sun x Moon x Reader - GN!Reader

Word Count: 4,934

Contains: [AU - Real World] [argument] [feelings] [implied past trauma] [intimidation] [lack of communication] [minor injuries] [obsessive behavior] [sentient AI] [size difference] [surveillance] [tension] [touching (not sexual but the consent is still dubious)] [tsundere/yandere Sun] [unsettling]

A/Ns: Once again, the above CW's probably make it sound worse than it is, but I like to err on the side of caution.

This fic is part of my AU "[Not] Made by Design", the full series can be found here.

The light of the screen in front of you burns into your tired eyes. Your focus is waning, your mind preferring to wander instead to how badly you’re craving an afternoon coffee. Sighing, you push yourself away from your desk, leaning back into the chair as its wheels roll with the momentum. Bumping into the wall behind you with a soft thud, you slump in your seat, staring with unfocused eyes at nothing in particular.

A few deep breaths and a short-lived moment of empty-headed bliss later, you remove your glasses and rub your eyes with the knuckles of your curled fingers. Digging your heels into the floor and dragging your chair forward again, you place your glasses on the desk, and note the time. You’ve been in the office for several hours at this point, and if you stay much longer you’re willing to bet a certain Sun-themed bot will be beating down your door demanding that you take a break. So, after double-checking that your work is saved, you put your PC to sleep. Standing and reaching for the ceiling as you stretch, you grimace at the cracks from your back and shoulders.

Making your way out of the room and down the hall, you round a corner, entering the living room. The blackout shades are down, all lights off save for the soft yellow glow coming from a small lamp in the corner. The bright afternoon sun is peeking its way through the edges of the windows that the shades don’t quite cover.

Moon would likely complain about how “dark and sad” it looks if he were in here, but you don’t see him. You figure he might be in the kitchen, or outside charging, maybe. Regardless, if he isn’t here to bother Sun about his “depressing” lighting choices, you will in his stead.

The robot has situated himself across the length of your couch, which is quite a feat considering the thing is honestly just a glorified loveseat and even you can’t lay on it comfortably. For being as large as they are, their flexibility makes up for it, allowing Sun and Moon to be genuinely impressive in their ability to fit into relatively small spaces. You try not to mentally pat yourself on the back for the role you played in that ability.

This isn’t about you anymore.

The soft white glow coming from his screen is enough to illuminate the pages of the book in his hands, and from what you can see of it you think you recognize the cover as being the one you were telling them both about last night as you were falling asleep.

…Cute.

You smile, leaning against the wall as you speak up.

“Y’know, my parents used to always nag me about my bad habit of reading in the dark. It seems I’ve somehow passed that trait along to you.”

Sun hums, tone soft and dismissive, and doesn’t pull his gaze away from the book when he speaks.

“It’s not dark, the lamp’s on.”

One black silicone fingertip lifts the corner of the right page, gently pulling it across and splaying his hand out to flatten the book down again. You note how the width of his fingers span beyond both edges of the book. It almost looks too small in his hands, but then again… most things do.

“Besides, I can see just fine in the dark. The lamp is for you.”

Well, he’s not wrong.

There’s humor in your voice, speaking as you push up off the wall and make your way across the room towards him. “Yes, and I do appreciate you leaving me enough light to get around by.”

You cautiously perch behind him on the right arm of the couch, careful not to get your loose clothes caught on any of his protruding rays. You’re aware that in his eyes, you’re clumsy enough even with the lights on, let alone trying to navigate in the almost-dark. Given that, you aren’t sure if it’s truly his disdain for bright lights, or simply his desire to see you struggle that drives him to keep the areas he occupies dimly lit.

Looking down at the coffee table, a recent memory surfaces and you frown.

“Speaking of navigating in the dark… my knee still hurts from slamming it into the corner of the coffee table last week, you know?”

From your position behind him you can’t see how his display shifts from its soft, blank white, his digital approximation of facial features materializing only to shift into a grimace. You do hear the shift in his tone of voice, although you can’t quite name what it is. Exasperation? Or… concern?

“I know. I’m surprised it didn’t bruise.”

“Well, you know me, I have to take quite a hard hit for my skin to really show it.” You think for a moment, and add onto the statement, muttering mostly to yourself but his hearing catches it all the same. “Which has always been odd to me considering how easily my skin scars…”

He hums a little bit in acknowledgment, trying not to think too hard about your various scars and how you got them. “Well, from the sound you made when it happened I thought you’d really injured yourself.”

Your voice takes on a playful tone of offense. “I am injured! It hurt!” You reach down and gently press over the spot that hurts the most, unable to resist the urge to poke the non-existent bruise through the plush fabric of your lounge pants. You murmur to yourself as much as to Sun, “...and it’s still sore...”

His body releases air in semblance of a sigh, lowering the book to his lap. Still looking down at it while he speaks, his tone is a mixture of teasing and I-told-you-so. “While it may have been semi-dark in here when it happened- I’m not taking the blame for it. Things like that just happen when you run around doing three things at once.”

A small surprised laugh escapes you. “How do you know what I was doing, huh?” You reach out and carefully run a fingertip along the edge of his top ray. “You weren’t even in the room, silly.”

His rays twitch slightly but he doesn’t retract them much as his faceplate slowly tilts back, stopping at an impossible angle for any human and finally making eye contact with you, albeit upside-down. “My eyes are everywhere, doll.”

His tone is something you’d call playfully threatening and you hold his steady gaze for a long moment before eventually blinking and glancing away, conceding to a contest you could never win.

It’s cute when he tries to be scary.

A half-smile on your face, you dismiss his attempt to unsettle you. Halloween is next month. “Mhm. I’m sure they are.”

From your peripheral vision you watch his expression falter, his yellow eyes flickering to red just briefly before he speaks. “You were carrying a bowl filled with dog food in your left hand, fresh laundry from the dryer was hanging off both of your shoulders, and you were wiping down the coffee table with your favorite brown towel in your right hand. All at once. While cursing.”

You throw a confused look at him that he ignores in favor of continuing to reprimand your past actions. “You’re incapable of doing one thing at a time, aren’t you? Truly reckless behavior, you know. That’s how people get hurt.”

You let out a put-upon sigh. He’s not wrong, but you don’t want to admit it yet.

Time for a diversion, then.

“Hey, I can multitask! I built both of you at the same time and it turned out alright, didn’t it?”

For a moment, the room is absolutely silent as you both process what you just let slip. You’re about to rush to correct yourself when Sun beats you to it, speaking up.

He laughs at first, soft and a little dismissive.

“Not quite the same thing, sunshine.”

Alright, well… it seems he’s less bothered by the reminder than you thought he’d be. That, or he’s getting better at hiding his true feelings, which is a whole other issue you’ll have to tackle if that’s the case.

You cock your head to the side. Might as well play into it, then.

“No? How so?”

His eyes flicker to red, and this time they stay that way as his faceplate turns, click-click-clicking and stopping when it’s done a 180 so he can look at you properly.

Oh. He’s not smiling.

On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t push the topic.

“You designed us, doll. You didn’t build us, and you didn’t do it alone. You had a whole team behind you.”

Not breaking eye contact with you, Sun’s left hand that had been cradling the open book in his lap closes in an instant. A sudden, sharp clap resounds in the room as a result of the book folding closed so harshly in his grip. You internally grimace at the way it makes you flinch.

Your eyes flick from the book held tight in his grip, to his faceplate, watching his expression fade until his display is completely black. Any attempts at appearing somewhat humanoid thrown out the window, he releases a breath of hot air through his vents as you stare into the void of his screen. You know he’ll likely elaborate if you give him the space to do so, so you take a deep breath of your own, and wait.

It’s always somehow so much more unnerving to hear him speak when his “face” is gone, but you hang onto his every word regardless. You’re not gonna look away from something- someone you made.

“Besides, let’s not forget that even with a whole team of humans, you still managed to fuck up some… aspects… of the project.” Having dropped the comforting illusion of his false eyes, his faceplate tilts, a small, sudden, sharp movement so his ocular sensor can stare directly at you. “Didn’t you?”

Your stomach drops at the realization of what he’s referencing. At least… you think you know. Honestly, there’s an entire list of things that happened back in the facility that they have every right to resent you for.

You’re not sure what to say anymore. There really aren’t any magic words that can make it better. You hurt them. You all did. End of argument.

The realization must be obvious on your face, because his screen soon switches back to his default expression and he seems quite pleased with himself for about ten whole seconds. Then as quickly as it came, the expression he wears shifts into one of hesitation, frustration, and then finally- worry? Maybe? At this point it’s getting hard to tell what the hell he’s feeling, if you ever could.

“Sun… I… I don’t-”

You manage to hold his gaze as you stumble in search of the right words, watching his expression morph from one emotion to the next until his right hand moves, and your eyes immediately flick towards the motion. Your gaze drags up his arm as slowly, his shoulder joint rotates enough to allow him to reach all the way behind him- towards you- hand reaching out to gently cup your right cheek.

You don’t lean away. You won’t.

You dig your nails into the fabric of the couch. His thumb slips under the edge of your jaw as his fingers splay across the side of your head, and you can feel the slight pressure as his thumb lays against your carotid artery.

He doesn’t speak at all this time but from past experience, your mind easily fills in the words he usually says to you as he does this.

Deep breath in. Hold it. Let it out slowly.

You know what he’s doing, and you let him. It’s far from the first time he’s done it.

His mixed expression doesn’t change, his hand doesn’t move, and the silence drags on until you can’t take it anymore. Your voice shakes but you push past it to get the words out.

“I… I swear to god- Sun- like I’ve said before, if I’d’ve had any clue that you two were alive back then-”

You’re forced to squint as his entire screen suddenly flashes, solid white, red, black, repeating several times. His grip on your cheek tightens just slightly. A warning of sorts, if you had to guess. It shuts you up fast and he hisses out an irritated “Don’t.”

Confusion is written on your face and without thinking, you open your mouth to insist on your apology.

His thumb immediately slips under your chin, pressing your mouth closed with such a slow, gentle motion contradicting his current demeanor that it practically gives you whiplash. As soon as your mouth is closed his thumb slips right back to its prior position over your pounding pulse, and his display fades back down to solid black.

“Stop talking. It fucks up my readings when you speak.”

Your brow furrows in frustration at first, but you do what he asked, and what you’re good at. You sit there with him in the quiet and focus on your breathing as the sounds of his cooling system kick up a notch.

The seconds feel like they drag on for ages due to the way you focus on them, but in reality it’s only about three minutes later that he finally seems satisfied with the readings he took as he slowly retracts his hand from your head. The black void of his faceplate slowly lights up again, albeit he’s replaced his default expression with something more akin to a… dynamic wallpaper- yellow smoke billowing across a dark screen.

Whatever suits him, you suppose.

Folding his hands together over the book in his lap, he finally speaks, his tone low and unhappy but not angry, really.

“Your HRV is low and your RHR is high.”

Your response comes out sounding more dismissive than you mean for it to.

“Yeah, they usually are. Nothing new, unfortunately.”

Sun’s body tenses a bit and his rays retract slightly in response. He releases another hot breath through the vent at the base of his neck and you can feel the warmth on your thigh through the fabric of your pants. He speaks again, voice slightly strained.

“That’s my point. You need to relax, and talking about the past isn’t helping you do that right now. So just… drop it.”

You want to point out that he could stand to take his own advice, but you bite your tongue instead. He’s right, after all. You do need to relax. You both do, what with the two of you walking around ready to snap most of the time. In spite of that though, he’s doing his best to deescalate the situation and you ought to follow suit.

The lack of Moon’s calming presence is painfully obvious during times like these, but the two of you ought to be able to make it through one damn conversation without needing his assistance. You laugh a little to yourself, unamused but wearing half a smile nonetheless, shaking your head at the thought. As much as he’d hate to admit it, even Sun knows that the three of you work best when you’re all together, balancing each other out.

You sigh, and let yourself flop against the back of the couch, stretching your right arm out across the length of it. Sun’s invisible gaze follows you as his faceplate tilts on its axis and rotates to remain facing you. You note the way he’s letting his neck gently rest against your right thigh.

Leaning your own head back and closing your eyes in defeat, you speak towards the ceiling.

“Okay, fine, you’re right. I’ll drop it.”

You drum your fingertips along the fabric of the couch in thought, before adding, “...And… maybe... I was doing too much at once, when I hurt my knee on the coffee table last week.”

He lets out a little hum of agreement.

Still, if he thinks he’s fully won this silly little argument he’s got another thing coming. You’ve definitely still got a counterpoint. Counter… question? Whatever.

“You said your eyes are everywhere, huh?”

Your question is met with silence.

Now, if you had been looking down at him instead of facing the ceiling, you’d have caught the brief image of your living room security cam footage as it flashed across the screen of his faceplate. You’d have seen the moment you tripped playing on a sped up loop over and over, your knee hitting the table’s corner, your body hitting the floor, laundry falling and dog food scattering just to rise back up unnaturally as the footage plays again in reverse.

You weren’t looking down though, you weren’t looking anywhere at all- and so you missed it completely, thinking nothing of his silence and continuing to talk to the ceiling.

“So… what, you just enjoy watching me do chores?”

He chuckles in response, and the vibrations from the sound tickle your outer thigh, causing the muscles there to twitch involuntarily. You cringe at your body’s sensitivity, but Sun thankfully doesn’t react.

Begrudgingly, you open your eyes and crane your head back up, bringing your right hand up off the couch to lean on. You pull your left leg up towards yourself at the same time, heel propping up on the arm of the couch. Curling toward your right, you realize you’ve inadvertently wrapped your body around his head, which is all but resting in your lap at this point. His rays are mostly retracted by now and the display on his faceplate has shifted once again, yellow clouds still billowing across black but he’s allowed parts of his expression to return, pale white eyes emerging from the smoke.

His face is otherwise unreadable as he finally responds to you. “My priority is keeping you safe. How can I do that if I can’t see you?”

You can’t help but scoff a little at that. “Safe? You were- apparently- watching me, and still let me trip on one of Zero’s toys and slam my knee into the table.”

At that, his mouth returns and he frowns at your tone, and so do you, realizing that you came across a bit more accusatory than you meant to. A beat passes where you both just stare at each other, and his voice is a lot softer when he speaks again.

“Was I not by your side within seconds after the fall, checking you for injuries?”

He was, and you know it. He was on you inhumanly fast, cradling your head like you’d fallen off a ladder or something and not just tripped and fell to your hands and knees on plush carpet. He’s a worrier and you know it damn well, even if he’d rather be decommissioned than admit to it.

Unfortunately, you never learned how to let yourself accept help, nor how to stop being stubborn in a stupid argument that you started yourself. “...Yeah. I guess. But you still could have offered to help before I tripped.”

He rolls his eyes before they land back on you, fixing you with a look that’s unexpectedly soft. In stark contrast, his voice comes out strained. “I was trying not to hover, sunshine.”

Your eyes flick away from his, always unable to maintain the sustained contact once things got a little too serious.

He keeps talking regardless.

“I know you. You would have been like- ‘Oh, no, I’ve got it! Don’t even worry about it!’ and wouldn’t have let me help even if I did offer.”

You scoff before leveling him with an unamused stare. “Oh, I do not sound like that. Shut it.”

He’s wearing a neutral expression but you notice as it shifts slightly, a hint of satisfaction at having gotten under your skin beginning to make itself known. You watch the hint of emotion begin to alter his digital features, as well as his voice.

“Regardless. ‘No lesson is as powerful as the lesson learned on one’s own.’ Besides, I knew you’d be fine.”

You blink down at him for a moment as you process his statement, and fail to contain your exasperated huff of annoyance when you realize where you’ve heard some of those words before.

“Don’t quote Night Vale at me right now, Sun.”

If you hadn’t been watching him so closely, you’d have missed the way his eyes turned upwards a bit, seemingly pleased with himself.

You continue, in spite of his attempts to deflect your words.

“You didn’t sound so self assured when you were rushing over to me on the floor with those big red “eyes” of yours blown wide. You were all like- ‘Where does it hurt? Show me. Where. How bad? You didn’t hit your head, right? Forget about the dog food- look at me.’ and all that.”

His eyes shift from crescent moons to flat lines, and his voice returns to his typical deadpan tone.

“You do a terrible impression of me.”

You scoff.

“Like yours is better?”

He nods, his faceplate shifting up and down within the limited range of motion he’s allowed, given your current position.

“I can literally mimic your voice. Mine is objectively superior.”

Thoughts of The Mimic flash in your mind, and it takes all you’ve got to not crack some sort of half-baked joke about the Ruin DLC. The smile on your face does little to hide the temptation, though.

“Debatable.”

Sun doesn’t press you for more, seeming less than eager to hear whatever joke he’s sure you’ve got sitting on the tip of your tongue.

“It’s not up for debate. If you wanna debate with someone go find Moon.”

He sighs heavily, breathing out his next words in an impressive display of realism given that his speech and breathing functions aren’t connected at all.

“I've run out of conversation juice.”

He shifts to sit back up, faceplate rotating, returning his body to its original position facing away from you. You huff and uncurl yourself from your perch on the couch. Moving to stand, you make your way around to the other end where his long legs cause his feet to jut out comically far past the armrest. You reach down, gently grabbing him by the ankles and begin to maneuver his legs out of the way, muttering to yourself as you do so.

“Wish I was a robot so I could lie and say my system has run out of something I don’t even have in the first place…”

He puts up no resistance as you fold his legs away accordion style, watching you in what almost seems like thoughtful silence. Once you’ve made room for yourself, you perch once again on the other arm of the couch, your feet resting on the far left cushion and your left side leaning against the backrest. He finally speaks once it seems that you’re settled.

“Alright. How would you rather I put it?”

You quirk an eyebrow up, slightly surprised at the sincere tone of his question. Shaking your head, you're quick to convey that you were only joking.

“No, no I didn't say to change it. I like ‘conversation juice', I think it’s funny.”

He tilts his head a bit, slow and analyzing. Half a smile slowly curls across his face and both of his eyes take on a soft, pale yellow. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was tired. He's looking at you with such a gentle gaze. It's almost… sad, if you look closely enough.

“Funny? Hm. Well, I suppose I am nothing if not a clown.”

His attention drifts back down to his book, cracking it open and flipping through to return to the page he left off on in no particular hurry.

You know his deadpan tone likely isn’t meant to sound so self deprecating but your heart still hurts at the thought that he only sees himself as some sort of… novelty toy. A joke. A mechanical clown for you to play with when you’re bored. A comedic horror character brought to life.

He can only make so many jokes about himself before they start to sound less like jokes and more like a way for him to vent his insecurities. You understand that type of “humor” far too well to just sit back and watch him do it to himself.

You struggle to resist the urge to remind him that there is much, much more to him than being modeled after that character from that game. You consider reaching out and curling the tip of a finger under the bottom edge of his face plate. You think about gently tilting his face away from the book and back up at you. You want to look him in the eye while you tell him all of the things that you love about him, and how much he means to you, and that he is so much more than a clown.

But you know he handles comfort and praise just about as well as a cat handles falling into a bathtub, so… you resist the urge. For now.

Eventually, one day, likely far from now, you hope to get him used to the amount of love you have to give, and you’ll smother him with it like you want to. But if you lay it all on him like that right now, he would probably overheat and shut down. Both metaphorically and literally.

You really don’t want that to happen again. Scared the hell out of you last time. Even knowing that it’s a safety measure to ensure that he doesn’t sustain damage from overheating- it looks an awful lot like he’s dying when it happens and you’d like to not have to see it again.

So, you opt to keep things lighthearted. You smile as you reach out to pat him on the knee.

“And an excellent clown you are, dear.”

There’s more sugar in your tone than you intended to let out, but if he knew everything you really wanted to say, he’d realize that you’re actually being very reserved right now.

You’re being very normal about it all, you think, as you silently praise yourself.

When you finally get out of your thoughts and back into your body, you realize that you’re being eyed by the man on your couch in such a way that indicates he knows you were caught up in your head again. You spent too long in silence before you responded to him and now he’s likely aware that you were wanting to say something else.

A lot else, actually.

So, before he can potentially ask you what you’re thinking about, you attempt to change the topic. Laughing a bit to yourself, you stretch and shift to make your sudden and hopefully casual retreat from the couch and the awkward air you’ve clouded around it. Twisting around and planting your feet on the floor, there’s forced humor in your voice as you wonder aloud where his other half is.

“Speaking of clowns, what’s Moon been up to while I was working?”

Sun’s expression is unreadable as he spares you one last moment of his visual attention before angling his monitor back down toward the book. You know he’s perfectly capable of taking in visual information while outputting completely separate verbal communication, and can give both tasks his full attention simultaneously in the way no human truly could. Still, in spite of that knowledge, you doubt he’s really paying much attention to the words on the pages before him as he speaks to you right now.

“You know that sad, sad little plant that’s been fighting for its life on your kitchen windowsill for the last… thirty-seven days?”

You cringe a bit at the reminder of the succulent you impulse-purchased recently- well, a tad longer than recently if Sun’s count is accurate, which you know it is. You’ve been meaning to re-pot the poor thing and find a different place for it where it’ll receive better light, but… you’ve been meaning to do a lot of things.

“...Yeah…”

“Last I saw, he took it outside through the back door. He was muttering something about ‘saving’ it.”

Your eyebrows knit as your gaze casts across the floor.

“Saving it... okay.”

As far as you’re aware, you don’t have any potting soil on hand, so you struggle to feature what he’s out there doing with it.

It’s right around this time that you notice the silence of the house amidst your quiet consideration.

You raise another question.

“I assume Zero followed him out there?”

Sun’s true focus seems to be gradually shifting away from you and back into the book, if his display’s shift back to blank, soft white and his neutral-toned yet concise reply are anything to go off of.

“Mhm.”

You suck in a breath and pat your legs before easing yourself up off of the couch.

“I'm gonna go see what they’re up to, then.”

You’re so bold as to lay a gentle hand briefly on his shoulder as you pass him by, lingering just long enough to let something sincere slip.

“I hope you enjoy the book.”

He kicks his folded legs back out, crossing them as they come to rest on the opposite armrest once again.

“Don’t spoil it for me.”

You smile at his avoidance of your sentimentality, laughing a bit as you cross the room, headed for the back door, your tone playful.

“I make no promises!”

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! You can find my (lengthy) commentary on this fic in the end notes right here on Ao3. Links to the playlist and moodboard for [N]MbD can be found on this blog's pinned post, as well as in the series notes on Ao3. Header Image Source: x

[ihavemanyhusbands]

Wang Dang Atomic Tango

Also on AO3

Pairing: Escort!Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x Courier!Fem!Reader

WC: 2.1k

Summary: James Garrett from the Atomic Wrangler sends you on a mission to find specific types of escorts for a few wealthy clients, and one of them happens to be a very handsome cowboy ghoul. Wouldn't hurt to give him a test ride first, right?

Warnings: MINORS DNI THIS FIC IS 18+, crossover (fallout tv show and fallout new vegas), canon divergence, formalized sex work (prostitution/escort), smut, unprotected p in v, radiated creampie (with implied radaway use), sex for favors kinda but not really, lighthearted degradation, cursing, sort of public sex, the ghoul being the ghoul, that's it I think but lmk if anything else!

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Since you’d gotten to Freeside, you figured earning a decent amount of caps would be a good idea before crossing over to the Strip. Not only because the Securitron at the northern gate demanded an absurd credit check of two thousand caps, but also because you’d need them for the casinos. 

You’d been helping the King for a few days, staying nearby at the Atomic Wrangler. James Garrett was usually there in the evenings and you’d gotten to chatting a few times, though it mostly concerned business. He seemed more open to trusting you since you were in the King’s good graces, and he’d helped clear your name when some jobs didn’t go according to plan. 

Once the King was done with your services, he rewarded you handsomely, but it was still not enough to cross over. Luckily for you, though, James already had you in mind for another job.

“How would you like to make some extra caps?” He’d said as soon as you’d sat down at the bar.

“I’m all ears,” you said, leaning forward on the counter.

“We’ve got a couple of unusual requests from our wealthier patrons… If you find me some suitable escorts to fulfill their needs, I’d be willing to pay you finder’s fees.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Alright… What sort of thing are they looking for?”

“Our wealthiest client has a thing for ghouls, and a thing for cowboys. He wants someone who can satisfy both fetishes.”

You hummed in thought, crossing your arms over your chest. “And just where do you suppose I’ll be finding someone like that?”

“Well, as it happens, you’re not the only new face around Freeside,” he said. “There’s been rumors of someone fitting that description. Why don’t you try to track him down first? Maybe you could make a deal with him. You’ve got a way with words, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you.”

You let out an amused huff and slid off the barstool. “If you say so. And how much would he be worth to you if I do find him?”

“Three hundred caps sound good to you?”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

You shook his hand and set off, trying to rack your brain on where to start. It was late afternoon, so it wasn’t as hot outside anymore. Still, you wiped your forehead with the back of your hand and placed your hat back on to shade your eyes.

You spoke to a couple of the nearby criers, sliding them a few caps in exchange for information. They pointed you in the direction of the old Fort in the eastern part of town, where the followers of the Apocalypse lived. 

You made your way there, stopping to chat with a few of the guards. The Fort wasn’t very large, but still, the inhabitants milled about. You didn’t notice any ghouls among them, so you asked one of the guards if she had seen anyone like that around. 

“Yes, he has been staying here, but he left this morning. Not sure where he went, but he usually comes back in the evenings,” she said. “No guarantee he’ll come back tonight, though. He usually takes all his stuff with him.”

You nodded and silently prayed to whoever was listening that he hadn’t decided to take off that same day.

“You don’t mind if I hang around for a while longer, do you?” You asked, unsure if there was a curfew. 

She shrugged one shoulder. “Suit yourself. We’ve got a few extra cots if you need to stay the night.”

You lingered in the courtyard near the flag, keeping your eyes on the large double doors that led back out to Freeside. You tried to picture what he might look like, why someone would be attracted to that sort of thing. You considered yourself to be pretty open-minded, but you hadn’t yet tried a ghoul. 

You weren’t even sure if he’d be interested in taking the job, but James hadn’t been lying about your skilled tongue and bartering prowess. Who knew? Maybe you could even make an arrangement with him on the side and see if he was worth all the fuss. 

By the time the sun was gone and darkness had settled in, you saw the doors open once more, and he was unmistakable as he strode in. All that leather and swagger, his hat pulled low to obscure most of his face, shotgun casually slung behind his back. 

He glanced in your direction as he passed and you immediately locked eyes. Something in your gaze was beguiling, immediately piquing his interest. One corner of your lips pulled up in a small smile, which he mirrored as he confidently approached. 

He was strangely handsome, even without a nose, his allure undeniable. Taller than you and definitely sturdy underneath his tattered clothes. He seemed almost forbidden, and yet he was enticingly at your fingertips. It would be a sin to pass up on such an opportunity, right? Especially with someone like him.

“Howdy, cowboy,” you said, tipping your hat slightly.

“Howdy,” he drawled as he returned the gesture, his hazel eyes looking you up and down. “You seem like you’ve got somethin’ to tell me, lookin’ at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, you know.” His grin widened, roguish and charming at the same time. 

You hummed noncommittally but still looked amused as you crossed your arms over your chest. “You heard of the Garrett twins? They own the Atomic Wrangler.” 

“Hmm, a few things here and there. Been meanin’ to go check the place out.” He tilted his head to one side in curiosity, raising his hairless eyebrows. “Why? You work there?”

“No, just doing some stuff on the side for them,” you said. “Say, have you ever given any thought to doing some escort work?”

“Say what now?” He laughed, momentarily taken aback. “You know, sweetheart, I’m not usually the sort to do that kind of work… And besides, what sort of sicko would want to hire my services?”  

“Oh, I could think of a few,” you said flirtaciously, pointedly holding his gaze. “There’s some wealthy patrons who’d pay really good money for your time. You’re their literal wet dream.”

“That so?” he mused, giving it some thought. “What’s the pay like?”

“You set your own price, and you get to choose your clients. You also get a pretty big discount on drinks.”

He let out a low whistle. “Well, if that ain’t a hell of a sweet deal. I think I might just take you up on it, for some time at least.”

“Glad to hear it. What’s your name?”

“Call me Cooper, sweetheart,” he said, extending a gloved hand for you to shake. “How about this? Since you’ve been so helpful, I figure the first time should be on me. You gotta make sure I’m up to par first, right?”

You couldn’t help the salacious grin that spread across your face, eyes glinting with mischief. He shifted his weight, his body angling closer to yours. You felt a tingle form in the base of your spine, already starting to understand the client’s proclivities. 

“Oh yes, you’re right, I guess it couldn’t hurt…” you said teasingly, glancing around. “Got a place in mind?” 

He looked off to one side as he thought about it, then he took your arm and nodded for you to follow him. He herded you to a dark corner behind the row of tents, far enough away that you wouldn’t be heard if you weren’t too loud. 

While your vision adjusted to the darkness, your other senses were enhanced, a thrill dancing in your chest. You felt the heat emanating from his body as he pressed close to you, almost making you shiver feverishly. Your breathing hitched as he grasped your face with a gloved hand, looking down at you appraisingly.

“I usually try to cut to the chase, but these lips of yours… they’re really tempting me to kiss ‘em,” he rasped, his thumb tracing your bottom lip. 

“I’m not gonna stop you,” you said. “In fact, I highly encourage it.”

He chuckled, the fan of his breath close to your mouth. “Ain’t gotta tell me twice.”

And with that, he kissed you. His mouth immediately dominated yours hungrily, a small surprised gasp in your throat. His tongue dragged over yours, making your head spin. Had you ever been kissed like that? You couldn’t recall, but all your senses were alight as if for the first time. 

You clung to him, your original mission flying out of your mind. Suddenly, he spun you around and pressed your front against the rough stone wall of the barricade. He kissed your neck as he grasped your hips, tugging up the hem of the field dress you’d decided to wear that day.  

“Easy access,” he chuckled against your skin, his tongue gently tracing the shell of your ear. “You didn’t plan that, did you?”

“Um…” you stammered, your face heating up.

“Naughty, naughty,” he said, clicking his tongue in mock disapproval. “Oughta teach you a lesson, don’t’cha think?”

That sent a pulse straight to your cunt, and you sucked in a breath. “S-sure, maybe I’ll learn it eventually.”

He flipped the hem over your ass, humming in approval as he took in the sight of it. You heard the flick of a pocket knife opening, and felt the edge of your panties being tugged. 

“We won’t be needing these,” he drawled, and with a quick flick of the knife, he cut them loose and let them fall to the ground. “There we go, that’s what I like to see.”

You glanced at him over your shoulder, catching him licking his lips. He tugged one of his gloves off with his teeth and tucked it in his back pocket. His calloused hand traced over the swell of your ass and you unconsciously pushed your hips back, needy for more. 

He chuckled, amused and delighted by this. “So you really are one of ‘em sickos, huh? I knew it from the moment we looked at each other.” 

“Are you complaining?”

“No,” he said, his fingers dangerously close to your cunt, teasing you to no end. “I’m merely makin’ an observation.”

You gasped as his fingers parted you, sliding through your folds with almost embarrassing ease. There was a growl low in his throat that told you he really liked this discovery. He teased your clit with slow circles, wanting to see what sounds he could elicit from you. Your hips shifted up and down as you bit your lip to keep them in.

You heard the slow drag of a zipper being undone, followed by the clink of a belt and the rustling of clothes. Your spine tensed with anticipation your breaths coming out in short pants. He reached around and had you spit in his hand, spreading your saliva over the length of his cock. 

“You ready for me?” He asked, dragging the head of his cock up and down your slippery pussy. 

You nodded with a small whimper. He lined himself up with your entrance and pushed in slowly, making sure you felt every inch. He pulled your head back by the hair and tugged you down by the hip with his free hand, making you meet his shallow thrusts.

“Oh… Oh. You’re–”

“A little big?” He chuckled. “It’s alright, you’re takin’ it like a champ.”

Your cheek was pressed against the stone as his hips rutted up into you more sharply, his harsh breath near your ear. Waves of pain and pleasure from the stretch spread across your whole body, overwhelming your senses. It was getting harder and harder to think clearly, so you let yourself just be carried away.

He let go of your hair and reached around to play with your clit, making you short-circuit. Your body tensed with each drag of his fingers, your cunt clenching tight around him. He groaned and murmured encouragements like that’s it and come on, I know you’re close.

And he wasn’t wrong. White heat flickered through you as you came undone, muffling your cries by biting your fist. He worked you through it, his movements turning sloppy as he too reached the edge and tumbled off of it. Hips grinding against your ass to make sure no drop of his spill was wasted.

You were glad you’d thought to stock up on RadAway, not having to worry about things like this. You already knew you’d be paying him another visit once he’d started working. Once you’d sobered up a little, you looked at him from over your shoulder.

“Phew, yeah, they’re definitely gonna like you,” you said, your heart still racing in your chest, a dopey smile on your face. “Worth every damn cap, I’d say.”

He grinned, breathing hard. “You get a special price, darlin’. I reckon you might just become my favorite client.”

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[dianagj-art]

How long do you typically spend on a drawing? Of the ones you've posted, which took the longest? Which was the quickest?

It really depends on what I'm drawing and how "finished" I do them

For example these kind of skectches don't really take me much time to do (specially when the poses are very simple), I can do a bunch of these in a few minutes no problem, then there are the ones when I add grayscale or colors that take a little longer

Then there is this kind of drawing that are finished with lineart, colors and shadows but each of them took me a different amount of time

The Gemini one took me hours to make (how many I dont really remember) I spent a lot of time on the sketch mostly because I was trying to figure out how Leo's arm worked, then spend around 3hrs doing lineart and chossing the base colors, and I had to do it twice because...

reasons...

The bottom left with Coin Toss Michael, took me less, even when it was a challenging pose I managed to figure that out quick enough, the most time consuming part were the chains because I hand drew them. I don't remember how long it took me to do but I did it in one or two sittings, probably took me aorund 5 hours to make (and maybe thats too much, might have been less)

And the bottom right was a fast one too, probably managged to do it in under 3 hours (I think the hardest part was to match proportions with Trainee that is cropped out)

And then there is things like this, I actually have the proccess recorded (minus the sketching and planning) and can tell you that it took me around 15 hours to make these two pages (I might one day edit that and make a speed draw)

But again, it really depends on what I'm drawing because this commission (that aparently I haven't posted yet) that I also have some of the proccess recorded, it took me around 2:30 hours to do inks, colors and shading

Most of the time I dont really time myself, when I know more exact times are when I record my screen for future speed draw videos (that I always forget to edit) or because I was watching something in the background so I know it took me X amount of movies or episodes or youtube videos so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh! there is also this lil animation I did that took me 4 hours, I only know that because it says so in my tags

[writing-until-i-drop]

Wildflowers For A Hangman Ch. 5

Summary:

Daisy, a career novelist, moves in with her college best friend Phoenix who has been permanently assigned to Top Gun with Dagger Squad. She finds herself instantly connected with a cocky pilot who's soft only for her and Jake can't help but want to know everything about her. When the past comes knocking at both of their doors, will they stand together or fall apart?

Or: The Dagger Squad can't cook and Jake falls in love with a woman who makes a mean lasagna while they work their personal trauma.

Jake "Hangman" Seresin x writer!femOC | 18+ (eventually) minors dni. Fluff, smut (eventual), idiots in love, past trauma.

A/N: Everyone but Penny sees the surprise coming and Jake gets a new lock screen wallpaper.

AO3 Link

Previous Chapter

Amelia and I made eye contact over her mom’s head, holding in giggles. Penny was passed out, head back, snoring softly as a woman massaged her feet. Maverick had asked Phoenix to take the girls out for a mani-pedi but we all agreed that I was the less suspicious choice when it came to a girls’ day out. 

“We should get lunch after this,” Amelia pulled out her phone and showed me a vegan place with a clean aesthetic. “What about here?”

“Sounds good to me,” I lied with a smile. “Is there anything else you want to do today?” I had to keep the girls out of the house for at least another hour but Maverick had said the longer the better. Amelia shrugged,

“If Mav’s gonna propose, we should go shopping,” I choked on my spit, and Amelia rolled her eyes. “Seriously? He was sweating buckets this morning and now we’re getting manicures?”

“That’s fair,” Fifteen-year-olds were very perceptive apparently. Penny let out a louder snore and Amelia elbowed her in the ribs, her mom shot awake.

“Yes?”

“We’re getting lunch and then going shopping for matching dresses,” Penny looked at me and I tried to look as enthusiastic as possible. 

“Okay,” And then she nodded off again. From what Amelia and Mav had both said, Penny had had a long night closing up the Hard Deck and then had thrown back shots with her bartenders. Amelia rolled her eyes and then went back to scrolling through Instagram. My phone buzzed.

Jake: Hey, Wildflower. How are things going?

Daisy: Penny’s sound asleep and Amelia saw right through Mav

Jake: Figures, man has no poker face when it comes to her

Daisy: Mav owes me big time, Amelia wants to get vegan food

Jake: I’ll take you for pizza tonight after everything 

Daisy: Deal

I paused, brow furrowing. Did he mean getting pizza as a friend? Or as a date? I shook off the thought, of course, it was as friends. Well…I blushed, it might not have been so bad if Jake wanted to- No. I put the thought away in a locked filing cabinet, the same cabinet where the feeling of his muscled arms beneath my hand was stored. Jake and I were never going to be anything more than friends, even if he was perfect and handsome, and he listened to all of my stories with a smile on his face. Absolutely not. 

Jake: What color did you get your nails?

Daisy: Guess

Jake: Green, the same shade as your bedspread

Daisy: How the hell did you guess that on your first try?

Jake: Because you told me it was your favorite

Jake: And I remember everything you say

I didn’t even know how to respond, so I didn’t. Amelia and I chatted about baking while they painted our toes. She had volunteered to bake for a soccer team bake sale to buy new uniforms for the school year.

“If you need help, just give me a call. I’ll help you bake whatever you need,” Amelia lit up with a smile,

“That would be great! I was planning on using bagged mix but actual homemade stuff would sell so much better.” It felt good to be helpful, Amelia reminded me of my oldest niece, Sarah. Sarah was four and loved soccer, at that age it was mostly just kids running around and screaming excitedly. She had the same blonde hair as Amelia too, always smiling and giving her parents a hard time.

After a very dry and under seasoned lunch that Penny and I managed to grin and bear it through, we ended up at a little boutique. Amelia treated Penny and I like her own personal dress up dolls, having us try on dress after dress until she found one that looked good on all three of us and was up to her standards. 

The dress she settled on for me was a light green made of light, flowy fabric. It cinched at my waist and made my boobs look fantastic. The only negative was that it clung to my stomach a little but I couldn’t stop smiling at how cute I looked and in a moment of giddiness, I snapped a picture in the changing room mirror with an arm around my waist. Then I sent it to Jake. 

“Yo, D, you ready to go?” Amelia shouted and I quickly grabbed the shopping bag filled with my earlier clothes and followed her out to the car. 

Jake: Baby you’re killing me in that dress

Daisy: That was the idea, pretty boy

“Flirting with Hangman?” Penny asked, the pep finally back in her step. “You two are adorable together.” 

“We’re just friends,” 

“Suuuuuuurrreeee,” Amelia patted my shoulder from the back seat, “You keep telling yourself that, D.” 

“You two are horrible, we’re friends!” 

“That man used to go home with a different girl every night and now he doesn’t even look at another woman, even when you’re not at the bar.” Penny shot me a motherly look that had me blushing like a schoolgirl, “In fact, he spends every moment you’re not there on his phone. Would you happen to know what he’s doing?”

“Oh! I know, I know!” Amelia pounds on the back of my seat, “Texting D!” Penny made a dinging noise. “You guys are too cute together, everyone can see it.” 

“I’m not listening,” I plugged my ears with my fingers, “Lalalalalalala.” Penny smacked a hand over my mouth.

“I will bet you a hundred dollars that Hangman’s going to have his hands on you within a minute of us walking through the door.” I was going to lose that bet, I already knew it. 

“You’re on.” I was an idiot.

Penny thought they were celebrating the end of summer, a weak cover story, but Penny was looking forward to it. Especially since Maverick had promised to organize the whole thing so that she didn’t have to lift a finger, me taking them out on a girls’ day on Maverick’s credit card was just the cherry on top. 

“Ready to win, mom?” Amelia asked, the double meaning completely lost on Penny as we strolled through the doors of the Hard Deck. The lights were off inside and it was impressive how quiet the daggers were being before Penny flicked on the lights. Stretched across the rafters was a white and gold banner with the words will you marry me written in cursive and Maverick was on one knee with a ring in his hand.

“Oh my God! Of course!” Penny rushed to Maverick, kissing him soundly as he slid the long overdue ring onto her finger. The daggers came out from the woodwork, hooping and hollering with excitement. I caught sight of Jake who was already beelining towards me with an indiscernible look on his face.

“You’re so losing the bet,” Amelia snorted, showing me a timer that was counting down from a minute. 

“You’re horrible,” Jake swept me into a hug, the bet officially lost. When my feet lifted from the floor I shrieked in equal parts surprise, horror, and delight.

“Jake, put me down!” 

“You look fucking gorgeous, Wildflower.” Jake dropped me gently to my feet but kept his grasp on my waist, holding me at arm's length while he took one long look at me. Amelia walked off, laughing as she went. Jake was looking at me like I was a T-bone steak and he was a starving man, a deep flush working from my cheeks down to my chest under his intense gaze. “I mean it, Daisy. You look beautiful.” 

“Shut up,” I laughed, letting him pull me into his chest. My heart was racing, that stupid fluttery feeling they described in romance books making me a little nauseous. “We’re supposed to be paying attention to Mav and Penny.” 

“I don’t think I can pay attention to anyone but you right now and you, pretty girl, better believe this is Jake talking and not Hangman.” I stopped laughing, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“Well, whoever’s saying it is making me blush,” 

“Well, you made me blush with that picture. It’s only fair.” Jake squeezed my hip, making me blush even harder. I wanted to go up on my toes and press my lips to his but instead, I pushed him away with a laugh, pretending I didn’t believe a word he said like I always did but this time I had doubts that he was joking. “Daisy-”

“Come on, pretty boy. I have to pay the bride.” 

X

Daisy yelped when I lifted her onto the bed of the truck. We stayed at the party for a few hours, Daisy spending most of the time with the girls while I hung around Mav and the guys. Maverick had been over the moon, talking about his plans for a big wedding and an even bigger honeymoon. Then when he was ready to spend time with his fiancee, sweeping her off her feet and taking her to his bike, Amelia having been picked up by a friend earlier in the night, Daisy had gone right to my side and laced her fingers with mine. 

“Stop doing that! You’ll hurt your back.” She protested, smacking my chest.

“And why would I hurt my back, Wildflower? You don’t think I’m strong enough to manhandle my girl?” Her mouth opened and shut a few times, I could tell by the scrunch of her brow that she didn’t know which part of my words to respond to. Did she insist she was too heavy again? Which was total bullshit. Or did she protest that I called her my girl? I tapped her knee, “Scoot your pretty ass back to the pillows while I grab the pizza.” Daisy muttered something under her breath about me being an ass but did what I said. 

She looked as pretty as a picture, leaned back against the pillows in the bed of my truck, her sundress pooled high up on her creamy thighs, staring up at the stars with a soft smile. Lord have mercy, I needed this woman to give my heart a break before it beat so hard it lept from my chest.

“Are you going to keep staring or join me up here?” Daisy snapped without malice, making me grin.

“Actually, darlin, I want a picture to prove I had the prettiest girl in the world in my bed.” 

“You’re an idiot,” She sighed but smiled for the picture that I quickly set as my lock screen before climbing up beside her. “You know, you’re not nearly half as charming as you think you are.” 

“And you’re a horrible liar. Now eat your pizza and look at the stars,” She responded instantly to the stern tone of my voice, and hell if that didn’t make me that much more attracted to her. We ate in silence, staring up at the sky, and when the pizza was gone, Daisy let me wrap her in my arms. 

I wanted to do this every night, lazily tracing patterns on her thigh and kissing her neck while she giggled at me to knock it off. I wanted her to tell me stories about the stars and lace her fingers with mine. I wanted everything she was willing to give me and a little bit more for as long as she would let me have it. Which was hopefully forever. Forever. I’d never thought about forever before, not like this at least. My biggest dream had always been flying and I would let nothing get in the way of that but Daisy had been on my mind every second of the day that I wasn’t in the sky. 

“Hey, Harvey.” I had been so far in thought I hadn’t even heard her phone ring. There was a jealous spark in my chest. Who the hell was Harvey? Some guy from back home?

Daisy must have felt me tense, her free hand resting reassuringly on my thigh. “No, I’m fine. Yes, I’m telling the truth,” She huffed hotly. “Now’s actually not a good time, I’m stargazing.” The tips of her ears went red, “No, I’m not with Tasha. I’m with,” She looked over at me and I was already staring at her. What was she going to say? Friend might kill me, I knew boyfriend was off the table for now. “I’m with a very good friend,” She squeezed my thigh, “His name’s Jake.”

A very good friend? I could work with that. “Yeah, okay, Harv. I love you too,” Just hearing those three words come out of her mouth was enough to stop my heart. She squeezed my thigh again, biting her bottom lip as she stared up at me. “Give my nieces a kiss for me. M’bye.” Nieces. Harvey must have been the brother Phoenix had mentioned in passing. 

“What was that about?” Daisy shook her head, silencing her phone before relaxing back into my side, her hand still on my thigh.

“He’s just checking up on me. I, uh, historically don’t do well with September.” I waited for her to elaborate, to talk my ear off for an hour but no explanation came. 

“Care to explain?” 

“It’ll ruin the night, trust me. I’ll tell you some other time.” 

“I’m going to hold you to that, Daisy. I want to know everything about you, the good, the bad, and the ugly.” She huffed at me and I just knew she was rolling her eyes.

“Can you just hold me for a little bit longer and maybe…” She trailed off with a sigh, fingers tapping on my thigh. “Can you…” 

“Whatever you want, Wildflower. All you ever have to do is ask.” 

“Kiss my hair?” This woman was going to kill me, it was official, and I couldn’t have been happier to be a dead man walking.

“It would be my pleasure, darlin.” I tried to take a picture of this moment in my mind.

I could feel the warmth of her body against mine, making me forget about everything else in the world. Daisy’s hair smelled like vanilla and lavender and as I placed a gentle kiss on her soft, red hair, I couldn’t help but do it again, and again. We sat there until the air became too cold for comfort, even with a blanket, the sky twinkling above us as her fingers gently rubbed my thigh through my jeans. It was the perfect night, I kissed her forehead when I pulled her out of the truck bed, and then her knuckles after I helped her into the passenger seat.

“Such a gentleman, Jake.” She sighed, looking at me like Penny had looked at Mav when she spotted him on one knee. I swallowed hard, mouth going dry thinking about myself down on one knee.

“I’m your gentleman, Wildflower.”

Next Chapter

[thedenofravenpuff]

How do you draw the metal shine on your animatronics?

Oh geez

Honestly?

I have no frigging idea! Couldn't start to explain what I'm doing, as I just draw and add shine and shading as I work. At least if yer talking about my robot shine in my sketches.

But alright, let's see if I can try and make examples for this..

Fig. 1

As said above, I usually shade and shine as I go, so leaving this one mostly blank was bit of a toll on me.

But yeh, just a flat sketch of our favourite Sun guy just happy to be here

Fig. 2

Alright, this is a very simple example for how I do most shine on areas meant to be a light colour. Can't be too drastic and risk making it look like the casing is supposed to be darker.

Best way I can explain the "shine lines", hmmm.. I'm not smart enough to have the words, I guess. I just learn from observing art and things around me to try get an idea what gives the right effect with the tools given..

Fig. 3

Let's try with more detailing by adding soft shading.

I really do just add these things based on feel and vibe, as I go.

Do pay attention that whether it's metal shine or shading on non-metal parts, it rarely goes all the way to the art lines. Gotta preserve white space for effect, it helps giving the needed illusion of light when ye only got pencil to work with. Is the best way I can put any instructions on this.

Fig. 4

Of course matters on the shape and desired effect on what you are drawing. There are many ways to draw shading and shine on different materials, for the right feel. This is just some basic and simple examples I can think of to try and illustrate.

I'm sure you can find plenty of better tutorials out there to explain this concept in deeper detail than I'm able to.

I never really looked it up myself, I just experimented with my techniques as I went. Even trying to set it up in separate parts have me unsure if this gonna help ya understand how I do my work.

Best I can tell ya, is I mostly tribute the backgrounds of Hollow Knight some credit for my shading techniques today. Some arts done attempting to copy the style of the game's backgrounds and detailing gave me some pointers to work from.

(Moth character my old OC Grave Keeper)

So, yeah, that's the best I can give ya on the subject of how I do metal shine in pencil. Best I can offer is ya look up examples that work for you, to try draw from as you figure out your own technique and vibes for it.

I do hope that was any help!

Enjoy!

The Roan RPG Project ScreeCon Server on Discord Leave a Tip on Ko-Fi

[total-drama-brainrot]

for that ‘noah is brought back as an assistant after getting himself eliminated’ idea i think noah should just stop trying to tiptoe around anyone after one day. he puts in one (1) day of effort and then just gives up.

“??? noah???”

“who. im not noah. ive never even heard of a noah.” (has changed his shirts and is wearing sunglasses thats all) (no effort to hide his identity)

Noah puts in a genuine effort to remain undetected for a good while (let's say a week or two) after being whisked away back to Camp Wawanakwa, since he really doesn't want to deal with the idiots he worked so hard to escape from so soon, but it's surprisingly difficult to keep himself just indistinct enough to remain under their radar without making himself look suspicious- either to the contestants themselves or to his newfound co-workers.

Maybe acting like a skittish deer every time one of the campers was around was a bit shady, but could you blame him? Anyone else in his position would be wary of discovery too. No one wants to be put on blast on international TV for the consequences of their actions. Thankfully the other interns are polite enough not to comment when he absconds at the smallest signs of his past competitors.

It doesn't help that the eliminated contestants have started to notice that Noah isn't at the Playa with the rest of them. None of them have asked about him yet, but there's a distinct air of concern at the resort every time someone comments about him- or the lack of him.

So, needless to say, Noah's got quite the reputation as a bit of a cryptid among the cast. Which is fine, he can play into that if it means none of them figure out he's been forcibly employed under their sadistic host. Noah goes out of his way to disguise himself behind different outfits, altered hairstyles and a pair of mirrored shades, and straightens his posture into something less lazy and more 'professional' when he's on the clock; it's impressive how much a change in wardrobe and demeanour can disguise someone, just look at Clark Kent. He essentially becomes a ghost to the cast, to the point that a lot of them begin to doubt he was even real and not a mass hallucination.

(Noah encourages the rest of the interns to play into that misconception, mostly because he finds it funny but also because it would aid him in his effort to remain undetected.)

But the trickery soon becomes more hassle than it's worth; Noah's about 80% certain he could do his job in the same outfit he'd worn on the island and not a single person would bat an eye, let alone recognise him. That's the power of being a wallflower- he's fairly unassuming and able to blend into the background. It's his confidence in his lack of notability that leads to him to becoming complacent.

In fact he makes a game out of it, if only to curb the boredom of his job. He goes from spy-level subterfuge to the barest minimum of a disguise; at one point he just slaps on a fake moustache and his mirrored sunglasses and calls it a day. No one notices. This only serves to encourage his blasé attitude towards his discovery- the cast are way too oblivious to notice him, after all.

Which is why Noah's inevitably discovered when he delivers a coffee to Chris on-set dressed in his usual outfit, the only attempt at a disguise being a haphazardly thrown on blonde wig. (Namely, the same wig Courtney later uses in Action.)

"Is that Noah?"

Comes a disbelieving outburst from the cast. Noah isn't sure who said it, but the statement draws attention onto him which is the last thing he wants.

He has to divert suspicion quickly before it's too late.

"No, this is Patrick."

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Calling High Fives Something Else

Summary: Relativity/Reunion Falls AU, Hijinks occur during a trip to Gravity Falls' pool.

Masterlist

...

Ford blames Bud Gleeful.  Mostly because it’s entirely his fault.

He totally understands Stan and Grauntie Mabel’s desire to go to the pool.  It’s too hot to think today.  But his whole “spend the entire summer wearing big gloves with two fingers shoved in the pinkie finger part” plan doesn’t really work if said gloves get wet.

So, Ford puts on the lightest clothes he brought with him, plus the gloves, and plans on finding a chair as firmly in the shade as he can get and drinking a bottle and a half of water every twenty minutes.

It’s fine.  He lives right next to a beach.  It’s not like he’s starving for swimming experiences.

Stan and Grauntie Mabel seem to think it’s a little weird, but they let it slide, and Ford spends the morning over on a chair with his notebook.  The ones firmly in the shade were taken, but he’s managed to find one partially in the shade, and he’s going over all the entries he’s made so far.

He’s been taking notes on the weird stuff he’s seen so far in Gravity Falls, but he doesn’t really feel like he has a good baseline.  He wishes he’d grown up here like Stanley.  Maybe he could ask him for a guide of some kind.

“Why hello, Stanley.  I thought we’ve established this is my chair.”

Ford looks up, because the voice is close enough that the person is clearly talking to him.

The kid in front of him narrows his eyes.  “You’re not Stanley.”

“Uh, no,” Ford says.  “Who are you?”

“I’m Bud,” the boy says, crossing his arms.  “The rightful owner of this chair.”

Ford blinks at him.  “But I got here first.  I’ve been here a while, actually.”

“That doesn’t matter.  The point is, Stanley and I have an agreement that I get this chair always.”

Ford looks around to see if there’s any other chairs that are more in the shade.  There aren’t.  “Well, I’m not Stanley,” he says slowly.  “You don’t have any kind of deal with me.”

Bud doesn’t seem to like that response.  Instead, he grabs at some necklace wrapped around his neck, and suddenly Ford feels himself climb out of the chair against his will.

“What the—” he starts, but before he can figure out what the heck is going on, he walks three feet forward and jumps into the deep end of the pool.

Ford swims quickly for the surface, and comes face-to-face with Bud, who’s looking over the side of the pool, while staying far enough back that Ford can’t pull him in.

“I told you, that’s my chair,” Bud says, and he walks back across the concrete and sits down in the chair.

Ford stares at him for another second, half stunned at the audacity, and half still trying to figure out how in the world he just made Ford walk over and jump in the pool.  He reaches for the wall to pull himself out, only for his gloves to slip right off the slick surface and send him tumbling back under the water.

When he surfaces again, Ford can hear Bud’s laughter, and his cheeks warm in embarrassment.  He gets his arms over the wall this time and pulls himself out using those instead, though his gloves are wet enough that they almost fall off, and wouldn’t that just be the icing on this cake.

“Can’t swim very well, can you?” Bud calls.

Ford grits his teeth and marches back over to stand right next to Bud.  “I can swim fine,” he snaps.  “Get out of my chair.”

“You’d swim a lot better without those stupid things on,” Bud says with a mocking smile.  He reaches for his necklace again, and wait— no—

But it’s too late, Ford’s moving against his own volition again, and before he can think to try something else, he feels himself pull the gloves off and hurl them back into the pool.

Bud starts laughing behind him, and Ford does the only thing he can think of— he grabs his shirt, bunches it up over his hands, and runs for the locker room.

He finds an empty shower stall, ducks inside it and yanks the curtain closed, and presses his stupid, freakish, six-fingered hands to the side of his head.

Why does he have to be like this?

“Uh, Ford?” comes a now-familiar voice.  “You in here?  I saw you run towards the locker rooms.”

“Go away,” Ford says weakly.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on?” asks Stanley, and Ford hears him come to a stop outside the stall he’s in.  “You looked kinda freaked when you ran, are you okay?”

“Who’s Bud?” Ford asks instead of answering.  “And why did you make a deal with him about a public pool deck chair?”

Stan groans, loud and irritated.  “I didn’t,” he says.  “Was he being a jerk to you?”

Ford opens his mouth, but before he can answer, Stan pulls aside the shower curtain, and Ford shoves his hands down into his lap.

“Ford,” Stan says, confused.  “You’re all wet.”

“He uh—”

“He pushed you into the pool?” Stan asks, obvious anger entering his eyes.

“No!  Well, kinda?  He had this necklace thing, it was like— I don’t know,” Ford says.  He drops his head onto his knees.  “He made me throw my gloves in the pool,” he says miserably.

“He what?” Stan says, sounding even more angry.  “Those are like, your favorite thing!”

Ford pulls his head up again, looking at Stan in confusion.  “Huh?”

“Dude, I never see you take them off!” Stan exclaims.

Ford looks down again.  “I uh,” he says.  “That’s not—”

“Hang on, I’m going to get them back,” Stan says, and before Ford can protest, he stomps out of the locker room and back towards the pool.

Ford doesn’t know quite what Stan does, but it includes a loud scream from Bud followed by a loud splash, so he has something of an idea.  Regardless, a couple minutes later, Stan shows back up in the stall, sopping wet gloves in hand.

“Here,” he says, and he hands them to Ford.  Ford doesn’t move his hands to take them, though, and after a second Stan just shrugs and sets them on the ground next to him.

“We should probably wash them before you wear them again anyway,” he says.

Ford buries his head in his knees again.

“Sorry dude,” Stan says, patting him on the shoulder.  “Bud’s always like that.”

Ford doesn’t move, and Stan must not know what to do, because after a second he picks up the gloves from the floor and starts ringing them out.  “I think they’ll be okay, though,” he says.  We just gotta wash and dry them again.”

“I don’t care about the stupid gloves, Stanley,” Ford grumbles.  “I— what if he saw?”

“Saw?” Stan asks, sounding confused.

And wow, is Ford not ready for this.  He hadn’t planned on ever needing to be ready for this.  He hadn’t planned on Stan ever learning.

But if Bud did see something, Ford wants to tell Stan himself, before he learns how much of a freak he is from someone else entirely.

So, Ford sniffs, does his best to ignore the panic in his chest, and pulls his hands out from his shirt.  He can’t quite manage to display them to Stanley, instead gripping his shirt’s hem and keeping his gaze firmly on the floor.

“Hey, what’s…” Stan trails off.  Ford waits with dread for the weirded out “um,” the “what’s wrong with your hands”, for Stanley to realize that maybe he actually doesn’t want a weird freak for a brother after all.

Instead, Stan says, “Wait.  There aren’t even enough fingers on these gloves.”

Ford turns to him in bafflement.  “What?”

“Why are they your favorite?” Stan asks, looking back at the gloves like they’re the strange thing about this situation.  “They don’t have enough fingers.”

“You are really stuck on the gloves,” Ford says weakly.

“Well why do you wear them all the time if they’re not—” Stan stops, and gives Ford a look.  “Were you… trying to hide them?”

Ford feels his cheeks warm again, and stuffs his hands back inside his shirt.

“Why?” Stan asks, sounding deeply confused.

“What do you mean why?” Ford asks, probably a bit too much irritation in his tone.  “They’re— they’re weird.”

“Well, yeah,” Stan says, and Ford ducks his head down further.  But then he adds, “What’s wrong with that?”

Ford lifts his head and stares at him.

“Weird things are the coolest,” Stan says, starting to grin.  “Or did you miss the… I don’t know, entire town?”

Ford looks down again and starts fidgeting with his extra fingers.  “That’s different.”

“Uh, no it’s not.  Dude, you’re telling me you’ve got two whole extra fingers and you’ve never told me before because you’re embarrassed?  That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!  I mean, come on, you gotta tell me if you’re this cool!”

“I— what?” Ford asks, feeling thoroughly lost in regards to how this conversation has gone.

“Wait wait wait,” Stan says, his eyes getting big.  “Do you call high fives high sixes?”

“Uh, no?”

Stan gives a little gasp that almost sounds betrayed.  “Why not?” he asks.  “The opportunity is right there!”

“I— I don’t—”

“Well we’re definitely gonna have to fix that right away.  Come on, high six!”  He holds his hand up to Ford, a bright expectant grin on his face.

Ford stares at him for another second, then slowly raises his hand and smacks it against Stan’s own.  “High… six?” he says hesitantly.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Stan says, jumping to his feet.  “Man, it’s a good thing you met me, or you’d just go on never taking advantage of the greatest opportunity ever.”

“Calling high fives something else?”

“Exactly!  I’m so glad we see eye-to-eye on this,” Stan says, nodding in approval.  He looks down at the gloves on the ground again, and something sparks in his eyes.

“Hey, can I actually hang onto these for a bit?” he asks.  “I have an idea.”

And, well, the thought of going without his gloves for longer than absolutely necessary isn’t a fun one.  But Stan’s smiling so big at him, and somehow this hasn’t ended with him being weirded out or disturbed, so maybe going without them for just a little bit longer wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

So hesitantly, Ford nods.  And when Stan lights up even more, it makes Ford start to smile too.

…

He does keep his hands tucked inside his sleeves for most of the rest of the day, but Stan must have said something to Grauntie Mabel, because she doesn’t comment at all on them during dinner.

Stan is in the craft shop for most of the evening, and he gives Ford strict instructions not to come in, so Ford spends the evening with Grauntie Mabel, who’s knitting something in her armchair while Ford writes down everything he remembers about Bud’s necklace in his notebook.

Eventually, he moves up to the attic, and it’s here where Stan finally shows up again.

“Okay!” he says, coming to a stop right in front of Ford with his hands behind his back.  “Can I see your hands please?”

Ford still feels a little uncomfortable about holding his hands out in the open, but if earlier was any indication, he doesn’t have to be worried about Stan seeing them.  So he puts them in front of him, and then Stan pulls something out from behind his back.  He’s holding the gloves from earlier, but when he slips one onto Ford’s hand, all six of his fingers find a spot to fit into.

Ford blinks as Stan slips the other one on too, and then steps back with a bright grin.  “Ta da!” he says.  “Custom made gloves!  Now you don’t have to stick two fingers in the pinky spot anymore!”

Ford flexes his fingers slightly, enjoying the way his last two don’t tense up against each other.  He shakes his head, looking back up at Stan.  “How did you do that?”

“Please, you think I can grow up with Grauntie Mabel and not know how to sew?  You’ll probably know some yourself by the time you go home,” Stan says, putting his hands on his hips.

Ford laughs a little.  “I won’t be telling that to Pa,” he says, but he’s smiling.  “I— thanks, Stanley.”

Stan beams at him.  And as he heads back over to his bed, Ford looks down at the gloves.

Maybe Stanley was on to something about them being his favorite.

[rubykgrant]

I need to re-do some of the others and finish the rest, but I think these three are definitely the solid designs I want to stick with for the RVB Monsters AU~ The Blues are (mostly) Ghosts and Werewolves, while the Reds are (mostly) Zombies/Undead and Vampires.

Tucker's deal; he is unknowingly sort of a "monster slayer chosen one", which makes him mildly immune to certain effects of monsters/supernatural creatures. He can see ghosts all the time, which is why he was totally just used to Church. He gets hit with a "werewolf curse" at some point, but it doesn't do much to slow him down (though, he does get some wolf ears). I gave him a wolf pauldron/clawed gauntlet, and I like how this very serious armor is just right on top of his fancy club outfit. Even though roses are red, roses are also very romantic, and there is the Beauty and the Beast symbolism, so his shirt is two-toned shades of aqua/teal, with a swirling pattern of golden roses in shiny thread on one side. In general, he's got all the extra senses and strength boosts of werewolves, but none of the weaknesses (later on, an evil tries to create an "invincible chymera monster" using a drop of Tucker's blood to be a secret weapon... the result is literally a baby monster, and Tucker eventually decides he's just gonna be a dad now. Crisis adverted~)

Church is a ghost (because he ALWAYS is). Normally, he manifests looking more "alive", and thanks to his trademark memory loss, he forgot he was a ghost at all. When he does remember, and figures out his own spooky powers, he visually looks more haunted (shades of blue and white, with a semi-transparent skeleton). Sometimes without thinking about it, he will accidentally make electronic devices either malfunction, or suddenly work properly. He also has a tendency to cause extreme cold spots

Tex is a dullahan (and yes, she's a little inspired by Durarara!!). Some jerk was trying to use weird magic to bring his dead wife back to life, and instead, Tex happened. Usually, she hides the lack of physical head by wearing her biker helmet. Some of her abilities involve causing good/bad luck, but if she makes something VERY lucky happen, an equally UNLUCKY thing occurs as a result (usually tripping her up at the most inconvenient moments). She'd rather just power-through problems with her physical capabilities, and not worry about the math involved with spooky powers

[quibbs126]

And now here’s my 3rd attempt, mostly from yesterday with me finishing up the last one just now

We’re also back to just D-16 now

So I started out trying to do the painting thing again, trying to use darker shading colors since I was told that was a thing to fix. But I didn’t entirely vibe with how the thing was going

Then I finally figured out what @23456df was trying to say on my last post, about volume. Or at least, what I think they were trying to say. Namely about 3D shapes and the fact that I didn’t really have any

So I decided to try a new way of making the characters, namely starting with bases of rectangular prisms. Here’s other versions of the canvas where the shapes are visible

The shape sketches I think are fine, but the struggle for me came from trying to add in the details

I didn’t even try with a proper face on him, because the face was always what ruined it the first time. I realize I have to figure it out at some point, but I don’t know how yet. But the faces I did draw are on a separate layer, so I can replace them if I ever do figure it out

I also need to properly figure out how the shoulder things on D work, because I have absolutely no clue. I also don’t know how the forearm plate works either, as you can see by the fact that it keeps changing

*sigh* this is why I want figures, I tell you

I think I’m getting relatively good at drawing D-16 though. Not sure if these skills will apply to other characters or even Megatron though

I did actually draw Megatron yesterday while at work, but it was on a cardboard sheet that I don’t have with me at the moment. Also the proportions on that sheet are off, but fair enough, I don’t have easy editing or my reference image on traditional, also this is the most I’ve used it in years. But the Megatron didn’t look half bad though

Anyways I don’t remember if I have anything else to add. I’m writing this post in Latin class

All I know is I’m getting there, slowly but surely. But don’t expect a new one by tomorrow or anything, I don’t think I’ll feel like drawing more today, plus I have things to do