#now it just looks weird?? and the colors literally are not vibing with the black im screaming

[evilminji]

Okay, you know how bird don't ACTUALLY look the way we think they do?

They are far more colorful? But only to the eyes of other birds?

And it has to do with how light reflects off them and how their eyes are shaped etc etc.?

Well..... humans can see the most shades of green, right? But! We sure as shit can't see UltaViolet and InfraRed? Or shades BEYOND those. Ectoplasmic colors. Magical ones. Third eye, need to see with your SOUL type ones.

Danny? Could very well still have lil baby "kitten's eyes who haven't open yet" syndrome.

He thinks the Zone is Green and his hair is white.

But it's not.

His hair is Starlight colored. Frost. His suit is specifically "the void between stars" colored. Which looks... different? Then black? No, no, guys. How can you guys not see it? It looks REALLY different! How did he not NOTICE before?! They're not ever CLOSE to the same shade! It's like calling salmon and hot pink the same. You know... if you were to compare an actual fish and some irradiated, violently glowing version of "hot pink".

......guys?

His gloves are.... guys, these ares stars. Pressed so close together there's no gap. His body is the night sky, all rearranged. He's wearing SPACE, guys.

*continues to stare at his gloves for the next five hours*

Now... why is this relevant? Because! Danny slowly, as all humans do, adjusts! It's like finally having glasses after years of blurry vision. He... forgets, what it was like, not NOT See Zone Colors. Not completely, mind you, but enough he has to be reminded.

And the Zone? A Realm of the Dead. Specifically, the great catch-all and highway of the Dead. They get EVERYBODY. Misfits and vagabonds. Those who don't quite fit. Funky lil dudes. And of course, assholes, but everybody has those! See, Zone colors?

Are DIFFERENT.

They're all of um!

It's like looking at the technicolor, stobe light, multi galaxies in one, Sun. Tingly(tm)!!! You get used to it. What helps? Is that as garish as the Zone is? The painting and grand tapestry of it all? Keeps changing. Like weather. If it's too much for you, you can stay inside your Lair until the current Color changes. Until the designs shift. Vibe changes.

There are even glasses for that! "Temperate" areas for people to set up, that get headaches or are just... kinda killjoys. Too each their own. Though the stormy areas? Those guys are freaks. Watch out for those guys. They're the kind who stare directly are stars until their eyes burn out.

Where was I? Oh yeah! Danny!

No longer a wee baby, smol baby, twig-o!

Sad. We miss it.

But he did get used to Seeing The Colors. Got a handle on his powers. And! Finally worked with his parents on how to safely turn the portal OFF. There was much booing. Cries of "kill joy" and "booo! You suck!". But? Like? Dude DID have the right to protect his home. Go to college. What can you do?

Problem with THAT is? Baby grew into his "built like a brick shit house of constantly running off to literally tackle the Supernatural excellence" Fenton genetics. He Tall. Muscles! And he PUMPING out "somethings fucked up with me" Vibes!

Add in his DEEPLY Sus off hand comments. Weird ability to tell when someone has or is about to die. Basic immunity to the cold. Fuckin EYE GLOW?

Ha ha... *Horror movie screams from his college dorm mates*

Clearly a demon!

He gets kicked out. Well... not kicked out. He's a model student and broken no rules. They'd never survive the lawsuit. But... he's? STRONGLY INCOURAGED to finish his education elsewhere. Repeatedly. By like... 15 colleges.

Sam is not just livid, she's actively foaming at the mouth.

Breathe, Sam! Remember what your doctor said! Your mortal body can't handle that kinda Vengance spiral! Think of your blood pressure! Breathe!!! (Were not for the laws of this land... and the weak, fleshy constraints of her mortal form!)

Thankfully? Tucker's been interning, remotely of course, with Wayne Industries. He asked his manager where he could find some of those scholarship forms. (Since Gotham University is just a touch out of Danny's price range.) Manager wanted to know why. And oh! Oh holy shit. Apparently? Danny is the hot new office gossip.

People in the main office are OUTRAGED. Danny's "too spooky"?! Too FUCKIN SPOOKY!? Are you KIDDING THEM? Even juicier, a Meta kid from some wacky ghost hunters turned scientists. From a line of Supernatural hunters. Wants to be a aeronautics engineer.

Ooooooh how SPOOKY! Better watch out! He'll design an ENGINE at yooooou!

Fuckin casuals. Non-Gothamites are WEAK. "Too scary" their collective asses. Yeah, maybe the kid SHOULD come too Gotham. He can be the weird kid. Mildly unsettling or something. His powers won't be SHIT in Gotham. Just remind him to buy a gas mask.

So! Danny gets his Scholarship! Merrily packs his bags for darker, Gothic hellscape hills. Unaware... that Constantine has been following reports of a "demon" that he's? 80% sure is a Banshee but MIGHT be a winter spirt with a shtick? For the past 13 colleges. He's getting closer. And this sucker is a strong one.

Not "this is going to cause me serious, life imperilling danger" strong. But more? "Man, that cat is HUUUUUGE". Could he still get mauled a lil? Yeah. Scratched to all hell and back? Probably! But DIE? Unlikely.

He just needs to know why the FUCK this spirit his hanging around colleges.

Which is made harder... by the fact that what HE sees? And what OTHER people see? When they look at this guy? Separate things. Yeah, he'd LOVE to give you guys a description! IF HE HAD ONE.

@the-witchhunter @hdgnj @hdgnj @spidori @babbling-babull @nerdpoe @lolottes

[deadghosy]

Hazbin Hotel x Jeff the killer or BEN drowned reader.

Please?

SURE! I’ll do Jeff the killer as someone had requested I do BEN drowned! 🦆💗💗

HAZBIN HOTEL X JEFF THE KILLER! READER

prompt: after fighting with BEN drowned, Ben decided to send you into a show….

You were asleep snoring as Ben snickered holding up a tv that was playing a title card saying “HAZBIN HOTEL” and with that. He smacked you having you go inside the tv with a devilish smirk. You hit the ground as your body did a whole fucking Peter griffen pose 😭

*metal sound* DAYUM!

You were screaming curses under your breath at Ben who just smirks at the tv and leaves whistling like a damn cartoon character. You dusted yourself off looking around this place.

“The fuck is this?….” You said with a scowl looking around…there’s a bunch of ruined buildings and fire everywhere. You walked around confused as some demons whistle at you. Literally catcalling you as one tried to grab you, when they tried to grab you. You stabbed their fucking hand smiling with that extended smile to your cheek.

“Fuck you think you trying to do huh?” You said with a crazed smile as they fall holding their hand to see you aren’t really a “girl” “YOU’RE A GUY??!” You rolled your eyes wanting to be sarcastic “No. Ima killer..Now. Go. To. Sleep.” You said lastly stabbing the demon in its head. You kept walking as the bystanders move out of your way.

AND YEES WE ARE GOING WITH FANON LOOK INSTEAD OF THE CANNON LOOK😨 CANNON JEFF IS SO…..

Let’s just skip ahead, so you went to the hotel as you seen an advertisement about redeeming….tbh you didn’t give a fuck about redemption, you only needed a room.

Vaggie was definitely judging you by your looks as you had shaggy [idk if I wanna give you black hair or just your own color hair but you can imagine yourself as Jeff or nahh] hair and blood stained clothes. But soon later you turned out to be a chill person who helps their peers but also jokes around.

Alastor and you just stare at each other “smiling” at each other just waiting for the other to talk.

“…..so like..are you always this ugly or were you born that way…” “my smiley fellow, I was born for radio…” “no you were born to be ugly-”

Alastor immediately hates you after that but your boldness is entertaining. He might just take you as a guest for his broadcast.

Angel would love to play with your hair and braid it…as you relax at the touch of Angel’s hands in your hair. It reminded you of how Sally braided your hair when she was bored.

Angel had put pink bows in your hair saying “this is so coquette💗” and you just stood there looking at the hand mirror he gave you. “Angel wtf. >:/”

You woke up to get your laundry to see your white jacket IN FUCKIN PINK?!

“ANGELLLL! IMA CHOP OFF YOUR DI-” yeah angel hid in the bathroom as your anger was no match for any demon….

Lucifer will feel concern about your face as you don’t look…normal I suppose. He’ll be probably have a clear weirded out face

I feel like you and Lucifer would have a weird friend dynamic as you just roll with his hyperactive activities.

“How in the hell do you eat?” He says poking your open slit by your mouth. “I just eat. Simple as that.” You said at the king of hell.

Yeah I imagine Lucifer had put duck stickers on your jacket one time.

I imagine husk and JTK! Reader doing a drinking competition….you owed husk 20 hellbucks. 🥲

Husk will actually tolerate JTK! Reader as they don’t whine and don’t complain much until something actually bothers him.

Sir Pentious would be scared of you…I mean if a normal person saw you. They would be horrified.

You give off a depressed Starbucks worker vibes who don’t get paid for shit…..literally a sinner would test you as Charlie or someone will have to hold you back as you swing your knife. “LET ME AT THEM YOU LIL SHI-”

The crew had always noticed you seemed to look more like a human other than a sinner or hell born. But they never really asked. I mean shit Alastor wanted to ask but Charlie had to tell him to stop it.

The egg boiz were scared of you until you saved Frank from cracking as he tried to reach the damn cookie jar.

You used your body to soften his fall as you hit your head on the ground. “GAH DAMN-” *crash* and then minutes later it was found out sir Pentious was watching over your knocked out body as Frank was telling how cool you saved him.

You sometimes try to call Ben to pick you up and this is how it goes: “Ben…YOU SHORT STACK MOTHERFUCKA! YOU BETTA GET ME OUT OF HERE OR I WILL CUT YOUR LINK LOOKIN ASS-” he had you on voice mail as Ben was just chilling playing video games.

I headcannon you having to wear a fucking smiley mask to not scare off residents😭

“Hi welcome to the hazbin hotel….” You said in a dead tone flat. The sinner looked at you confused asking questions. “ Why are you wearing a mask? Is your nose too big? Do you have bad breath? Are you sick? Are you ugly under the mask?”

You had enough as your eye twitched grabbing the sinner by their collar. “How about I shove my foot up your-” “OKAYYY!” Charlie says seeing you about to give the sinner a piece of your mind as she grabs the sinner from your grasp. “How about we show you around the hotel…”

Yeah you don’t do the greeter job no more….

At least you get to give out food as husk serves drinks. That was at least a cool job as husk helped you serve out small little portions of the trays you used.

I headcannon niffty to make you a bug “flower” crown to show how she admires you.

I imagine Charlie would get you a metal shirt and you would be like. “oh thanks.” You smiled and took it.

You had a knife stash just incase you had to defend yourself. You love collecting knives when bored….

Keyword was HAD. Charlie found your knives and hid them from yourself as you had a sad puppy face at seeing your stash gone.

Imagine you just standin there and a Charlie had put stickers on your jacket saying, “good job for not killing!”

You’re such a good kid😄

[joshsindigostreak]

I See Hell in Your Eyes

Chapter Eleven

“Revel in this, my lover.”

Vampire!Josh x Vampire!Reader

Authors note: Once again I am SO SORRY this took forever. I hope you can forgive me. Enjoy this rollercoaster of a chapter!!

Word Count: 8,586

Warnings: Detailed descriptions of blood, World War 2 discussions, brief SMUT towards the end, but nothing out of the ordinary.

To say that this particular Blood Den in Chicago had a different vibe than the first one Josh had been to, was an understatement. Instead of the antique furniture, there were plush booths that lined the walls, each paired with a set of curtains for added privacy. Instead of classical music, there was enough bass booming through the sound system to make the floors shake. The color scheme was varying shades of red and black, and the matching lights added to the dramatic atmosphere. 

Josh tried not to let his nerves show when the two of you were escorted up to the VIP section, which was a roped off area by itself on a red carpeted platform that was in the corner of the Den, and had its own circular couch that wrapped all the way around it. The second you both walked in, hand in hand, eyes turned and stared. Some Vampires who were in the middle of feeding looked up and paused as you both passed. Josh would openly admit he loved being the center of attention but this was…different. 

His steps slowed, and you looked over your shoulder and saw the look on his face. You squeezed his hand as you led him through the crowd, following the security detail Dimitri had assigned to you for your stay in Chicago. At the gesture, he squared his shoulders and caught up to you. 

You could hear the whispering as you wove through the crowd. The music was loud enough that you couldn’t make out much, but the words hunter and Kiszka were crystal clear. Thankfully you were finally walking up the short flight of stairs to the VIP section, which was entirely vacant as Dimitri had explicit instructions that it was for you. Anyone else who would normally sit up there would have to get over it for the nights you were in attendance. 

As the both of you settled on the red couch, the security guard turned and took his post at the foot of the stairs. It felt surreal and almost fishbowl-like where you were sitting, but thankfully the crowd went back to what they were doing and for the moment the spotlight wasn’t literally on you both. 

You turned to Josh, “this is still…very weird.” 

“It’s definitely…a lot.” 

You searched his sweet face, trying to find every question he had swirling behind his eyes. 

“Hey,” you said as you reached up to turn his chin towards you. Your fingers lightly toying with the hair that grew from it, “what’s going on in that head of yours, Boy Scout?” 

He stared at you as if you were the only person in the room, his eyes softened at your touch. 

“This…this is the first time I’ve walked into one of these as…,” his voice trailed off.

“One of us?” You tilted your head slightly as you smiled at him and your thumb rubbed back and forth on his jaw.

It was only three words, but there was so much weight to them. 

“Yeah,” he all but whispered.

“Boy Scout, I saw them staring too. But just know that they’re not looking at you like you’re a hunter. Because you aren’t one anymore, and they know you gave that up. They’re probably confused as to why you did something so selfless. We’re not known for our generosity, as you know. What you did doesn’t happen very often, if at all.”

“I’d do it again.”

Now it was your turn for your eyes to soften. 

“You would?”

His hand slid across the small space between you, taking your free hand.

“Wouldn’t even hesitate…” 

You started to lean in to kiss your Vampire, but someone clearing their throat in front of you made you freeze centimeters away from his lips. Annoyed, your eyes slid to the side to see the source of the noise. 

It was one of the Den servers, who had been awkwardly standing there for most of the exchange. 

Sitting back against the couch, you said, “...yes?” 

“I was sent to get your drink orders.”

You perked up a little at the question, automatically telling him you’d like your usual A-Negative Manhattan. He looked over at Josh, who seemed a bit lost at what to order. 

An idea struck you, “OH! Do you do Blood Flights here?”

The server gave you a slight, duh, look but he quickly smiled and said, “yes we do.” 

“Ok can we get one then? It’s been awhile since we’ve had some real variety.” You smirked at Josh, happy you smoothed over a potential awkward moment for him, and got him a treat in the process. You were about to have fun. 

“Do you want only Negatives, Positives, or-”

“Oh no give us the whole eight please, a full spread!” He gave you a slight grimace before nodding and turning to leave. 

Josh  turned to you as the server hurried off to the bar, “is a Blood Flight what I think it is?” 

“You haven’t figured out what you like yet, and this is a good and safe way to do so for someone as new as you.” Your finger reached up and lightly booped his cheek. 

He tried to fight a smile but failed miserably, and relaxed on the back of the couch with you. A few Vampires approached the bottom of the stairs, looking up at you two curiously and speaking to the security guard. He shook his head at them and promptly shooed them off. 

You rested your arm behind Josh on the back of the couch, and lightly toyed with the curls at the base of his neck, “did you read the itinerary?” 

He shrugged, “I skimmed it before we went to sleep this morning.” 

“Well, apparently the first night we’re here, we aren’t going to have any visitors, but the next few nights we’ll slowly get more and more people up here with us. Dimitri has some friends that are regulars here that he felt needed to be seen with us.”

“Great.”

“Oh it’ll be fun. You need to make more Vampire friends anyway. They’ll love you, I’m sure of it.” 

“We’ll see, I guess,” he said, not fully convinced. 

“...and if anyone is rude to you, I’ll rip their fingers off,” your tone was so light and cheery it made Josh give you a look. “What? They’ll grow back.” 

“Have you ever done that before?” 

You smiled and gave him an innocent shrug, “maybe, maybe not…” 

“Sweet-”

“You see the trick is,” your fingers of one hand wrapped around the middle finger on your other hand and you pulled it back slightly, “you have to do it quick enough to shatter the knuck-”

“That's enough, I get the picture,” he took both of your hands in his to get you to stop. 

“Well, like I said, if anyone is rude to you, I’ll show you how to properly do it,” you smiled at him. 

Before he could properly reply, the Den server was back with your drink. He placed yours on the table in the middle of the platform that the couch wrapped around. Behind him was another server who was holding a long tray containing eight small glasses, all filled to the brim with dark red blood. After delivering the drinks the two of them scurried down the stairs to tend to the booths on the wall. 

Josh scooted forward to the edge of the couch to get a better look at the “Blood Flight” as it was called. The long wooden tray looked to be hand carved, each glass was labeled by the blood type etched into the wood in front of it. The smell wafted up into his nose and he could feel his gums itch, with pressure around his canines. It was getting easier to look at blood and actually want to drink it. He tried to equate the smell with the smell of his favorite food before he was turned, but each night that memory was getting more and more distant and faint, and the instinct to crave blood was getting stronger. He even tried to think about something as basic as pizza, but found that he had to concentrate really hard to remember the taste, and when he finally did it didn’t even sound appealing to him. 

You took a sip of your Manhattan before putting it down and scooted closer to him. 

“This is going to be fun, Boy Scout,” you encouraged as you draped your arm over his shoulders and leaned in even closer. You gave him a quick peck on the cheek before turning to the glasses on the table. “Now, they line them up from most to least common blood types, starting with O-Positive, the Ol’ Faithful of blood.”

He gave you a sideways glance, before reaching for the small glass and bringing it to his nose. The smell was a little unfamiliar but sweet. As he brought the glass to his lips, he felt more pressure around his fangs, and he looked at you curiously. You flashed him an encouraging smile as he brought the glass to his plush lips and took a sip. 

First impression? He liked it. He couldn’t pinpoint why, but there was something…hardy about it? It wasn’t overly remarkable, but it was pleasant. He took another sip for a second impression, and he wobbled his head back and forth before looking at you. 

“It's not terrible,” he concluded. 

You nodded in agreement, “yeah, it's not my favorite either. But it’s the most prevalent so you’ll get used to it eventually.” 

A-Positive was a step up, but it was definitely different from the O-Positive, and going in knowing they were two different blood types made the whole notion of different flavors start to make sense in Josh’s head. 

His first sip of B-Positive, however, was the game changer. His eyes went wide and he went in for a second helping immediately, loving the bright and fresh taste. 

You rested your chin on your hand, a serene and fond expression was all over your face. 

“You like that one?” 

He turned to you and smiled, “oh yeah this one is the best so far. There’s kind of a kick to it but in a good way?” 

You glanced at the type he had in his hand, “B-Positive, huh? Noted.” 

Josh made his way down the flight, stopping at A-Negative, remembering it was your favorite. He could see why you liked it so much, and your words that first night in the Den made sense to him now, and he made sure to tell you that. 

“Ok…I get it now,” he said as he sipped on the A-Negative. 

“I told you!” You laughed. 

It was when he got to the second to last glass, B-Negative, that his face scrunched up and he quickly put it back down. 

“No…definitely not that one.” 

“B-Negative is one of those either you love it or hate it, I’ve never really cared for it myself.” 

“So it's like the Merlot of blood?”

You had a very limited understanding of human wine, and you blankly stared at him.

“Is Merlot bad?” 

“It’s not great.” 

“Oh well then yes I could see that.” 

Finally he was at the last glass, AB-Negative, and as soon as he drank it he recognized it. The girl he fed from at Dimitri’s tasted the same, or at least very close to it. 

“I’ve…I’ve had this before,” he said softly. 

You remembered the girl from his first feed and it clicked for you too, “Dimitri did love the rare types. I think it's some sort of status thing.” 

Josh nodded before going back for the B-Positive glass and downing the rest in one gulp. Even with the loud music, he could still hear your soft laugh float towards him. 

“Ok ok, Boy Scout, we’ll get you some more,” you said before flagging down your server from earlier. 

~!~

Jake kept stealing glances at Lou, who was silently watching a baseball game on the TV mounted on the wall. He sat on the same barstool every time he came in, ordered the same drink (double whiskey with a splash of O Positive, or a double O Positive with a splash of whiskey, depending on the night), and minded his business. He had been a regular for at least two decades now, and even knew CiCi’s father before he died. He wasn’t the only Vampire to show up at the bar, but he was the most consistent. Jake wasn’t sure how “old” he truly was, just that he still looked to be in his early twenties. Regardless of his appearance, CiCi would warmly call him ‘Old Man’ in conversation with the same reverence one would give a grandparent. 

The first night Jake showed up at the bar, a little over a year ago, he didn’t make a good first impression with Lou. Mainly because he tried to kill him, but CiCi had put a cork in that quickly. Thankfully, Lou didn’t take it personally, and just went back to his drink. Ever since that night Jake hadn’t really gone out of his way to talk to him, but he was cordial to him when he needed to be. 

But Jake looked at him differently now. Different in the sense that when he looked at Lou drain a glass of O Positive, he saw his own brother.  He had been back in Tucson for about three days now, and he hadn’t spoken of Josh at all. They had exchanged a few texts here or there, but they were just letting the other know where they were in their travels. Josh had sent him a few regular texts, asking Jake how he was, and a few photos of Chicago, but Jake hadn’t answered them yet. He couldn’t pretend everything was normal. He couldn’t pretend that Josh was just on a roadtrip with his girlfriend and seeing different cities. No, the truth was that Josh and said girlfriend were both Vampires now, and were being paraded around different Blood Dens to draw in business. It was so fucking stupid. 

Neither Jake or Sam had said anything to their parents yet. Josh had texted both of them that he wanted to be the one to tell them, so they respected that. It helped that they were still busy with whatever they were up to in Canada, but Josh would have to rip the bandaid off soon. 

For now, Jake sat in his own girlfriend's bar, trying to make sense of it all. 

“You know I can see you looking at me, right,” Lou said after throwing a sideways glance at Jake. Jake’s eyes snapped back to his beer in front of him. 

“Sorry.” 

“Is there anything I can help you with, son?” 

The nerves got to Jake and he blurted out the first thought he had, “when did you get turned?” 

Lou’s eyebrows slowly raised in mild surprise, “hi Lou, how are ya, wasn’t on the menu I guess.” He sighed and turned on the barstool to face Jake, “1942.” 

Jake nodded, “and how old were you?” 

Lou could tell something was deeply bothering Jake, even if the hunter was trying his best not to show it. Jake typically had a haunted look on his face, but he looked even more tormented tonight. “What's this about, Jake?” 

“I can’t just try to get to know you?”

“Well I don’t know who taught you social skills, but asking a Vampire about how they were turned isn’t the first thing you bring up. We can be touchy about that subject, depending on who you’re talking to.” He continued to eye Jake curiously. 

Jake nodded, and internally argued with himself over what he should do next. Everything was eating away at him and for the first time in his life he didn’t know how to fix it. With a rough exhale, he picked up his beer and hopped off his barstool, moving to the one nearest to Lou. 

The Vampire was taken by surprise again as Jake found his new seat. For a few moments, the two sat in awkward silence. Lou only glanced back at the TV when he heard a ball get hit, and cursed to himself when it was caught by the other team. The Cubs had been trailing behind the last 3 innings, and it clearly wasn’t their night. 

“I was just…” Jake started, “my brother was, umm…” 

Lou knew that Jake wasn’t a bad kid, in spite of his ‘profession’. Over the past year he had seen a gradual change in the hunter, a good one, and he knew that CiCi deserved a lot of the credit. He still didn’t entirely trust him, but he had the CiCi stamp of approval, and that was enough for him. He perked up a little at the mention of Jake’s brother. He knew Jake came from one of those hunter families, but he didn’t know what his immediate family consisted of. 

“You have a brother?” He asked, deciding to play along with Jake’s impromptu Q&A. 

“Yeah, two actually...”

“Is one of them in trouble or something?” 

Jake took a long pull of his beer, stalling to answer, “he was…he still is, I don’t know.” 

The distress was all over Jake’s face, and Lou gave him a sympathetic look, “what happened?” 

The hunter gritted his teeth, not wanting to say the actual words. He had avoided truly verbalizing the situation since he left Josh’s apartment. 

“Hewasturnedintoavampire,” he mumbled his words together. 

“...Into a- oh,” Lou replied carefully. Now the sudden interaction made sense. 

Jake nodded, not able to meet his eyes. 

“I’m not going to ask you how it happened, as I said earlier, it can be a touchy subject,” Lou started, which made Jake’s shoulders relax significantly as he didn’t think he’d be able to tell the whole story.  “But I will ask you if he’s ok?”

“I guess…I didn’t see him much before we came back.” 

“It’s a lot to adjust to,” Lou took another sip of his drink, “the first few weeks can be rough, especially if you’re alone.” 

“He’s not alone, not really. The umm…the Vampire that turned him is kind of his girlfriend,” Jake added. 

“Oh? Is she nice?” Lou was even more curious now. 

“She’s alright…for a V-,” Jake caught himself before he finished the word. 

Lou sighed, “you know, Jake, some of us are actually nice and personable. Sure, there are plenty of murderous bastards among us, but name me a species that doesn’t have any of those.” 

Jake’s cheeks reddened, “I-I know, I just…I just never thought that Josh would ever be one of them.” 

Lou purposefully ignored the use of the word ‘them’, “I get that. Is he your older, or younger…?

“Older. Well, by five minutes. We’re twins.” 

Lou’s eyes softened again, “oh that's tough, son.” It was strange to Jake that someone who looked younger than him called him “son”, but he could tell that Lou wasn’t trying to be patronizing. “How is that going to work with your…family business…” 

“I have no fucking idea. Our parents still don’t know.” 

“Well, shit.” 

Jake nodded in agreement, “yeah.”

Lou looked up at Stacy, the other bartender besides CiCi, “another round for us please, Stace.” 

She looked up from the glass she was washing and nodded, making her ponytail bounce in the process. She quickly sat down two fresh glasses in front of them, with Lou’s drink having a darker hue from the added blood. She flashed a grin at Lou, who gave her a shy smile in return. 

As Stacy bounced away, Jake mumbled a thanks to Lou. “You looked like you needed it,” he replied softly. The Vampire took a substantial sip from his drink, before turning to the hunter and saying, “it happened when I was shipped out to France.”

“What-“

“When I was turned. It happened in France.”

“I thought it was rude to-“

“I said it’s rude to ask, it’s just a personal decision to share. And I’m sharing,” Lou took another sip of his drink, his eyes seeing all the usual questions forming behind Jake’s eyes. “I was 22, and my unit had stopped in this small village that hadn’t been taken over yet, miraculously. We were only staying for the night, and planned on leaving at dawn. But somehow a few bottles of wine from the village ended up being passed around and we got hammered. But honestly after walking for three straight days we needed it. After a while I needed to piss so I got up and went down the little path we were on, when this stunning, and I mean beautiful, woman appeared out of nowhere at the tree line. I was so drunk I thought she was a mirage or something, but she was real. She asked if I could walk her home, and who was I to say no to that? That’s when she says there was a shortcut through the woods, and I stupidly fell for it. We got maybe a hundred feet or so into the trees, where you couldn’t see the road and no one could see you either…” His voice trailed off as he stared at his drink, his thumb wiping at the condensation absently. 

“You don’t have to tell me the rest  if you don’t want to…”

As if Lou didn’t even hear Jake’s voice, he continued, “suddenly I was against a tree, this woman’s lips were on my neck, and I thought ‘holy shit how lucky was this?’ But then I felt her teeth, and then I really felt her teeth, and everything went dark soon after that.” He took another swig of his drink, “I kept blacking out, I don’t even remember her giving me her blood to complete the process. ‘Next thing I know is that I’m alone in the woods, extremely disoriented and hungry. But I didn’t know what exactly I wanted.” At this, Lou gave Jake a pointed look, the answer being obvious. He didn’t want to divulge anymore, at least for now.

Jake didn’t know what to say. Lou’s story was the first he had actually heard. Vampire’s backstories were never a priority to learn about growing up. They weren’t supposed to live long enough to even know their names. 

Lou broke the silence again, slightly pivoting the subject, “you said his girlfriend turned him?”

“Yeah.” 

He raised his eyebrows at Jake, “He’s lucky, you know, to have someone help him through the transition. Most of us don’t get that.” 

“I wouldn’t call being forced to be turned ‘lucky’,” Jake grumbled. 

“He was forced? By her?” Lou’s brows knitted together in a mix of curiosity and confusion. 

“No, not by her, but he, uh, pissed off the ‘Council’ and it was either get turned or…death,” Jake gripped his glass a little tighter as he spoke. 

Lou made a face at the mention of the Council. He knew enough about them, though he had never dealt with any of the members personally. 

“The fucking Council, of course,” he rolled his eyes and took another sip. 

As if a dam in his mind had broken, Jake started rambling, “the first time I saw him afterwards, he didn’t look different but he looked different, if that makes any sense. He walked differently? He always stomped around the house growing up with those flat feet of his, but that night I could barely hear his shoes on the floor. I hugged him, and for a few seconds…things felt normal…but I couldn’t just carry on as if nothing had happened. Everyone else in the room as if it was a regular Tuesday night. My other brother was sitting on the couch next to him, asking him question after question as if he had just come back from a stupid vacation. They were all Vampire questions, harmless ones, but even then no one was acknowledging the elephant in the fucking room. Like we weren’t going to talk about the fact that he’s dead now, but he’s not really dead, but he can’t go out into the sun anymore, and-” 

The grip Jake had on his glass was getting to the point where he was about to break it, and Lou wisely reached over and wrenched it out of his hand before that could happen. 

“Let's not break anything tonight…,” he said as he placed the glass out of Jake’s reach for the time being. 

Jake flexed his fingers before setting his hand back down on the bar, his gaze fixed on the wooden surface. His nose twitched, the heat rising in his face and he felt his eyes start to sting. His voice was much softer when he observed, “he has to live off blood now…and that’s it. I know Vampires don’t eat actual food, and he won’t either and…this sounds so stupid but I’ll never be able to share a meal with him again.” 

Lou’s face was riddled in sympathy, and his voice was equally as sympathetic, “yes you can, Jake. His plate will just look a little different is all.” 

“It’ll just be a glass,” he snarked as a defense mechanism,  trying to hide  any emotions bubbling up to the surface. 

“Then it’ll just be a glass. But he’ll still be there. Sitting with you just like I am right now.”

“What am I supposed to do, stock my fridge with blood bags now just in case he comes over?”

“That would be the courteous thing to do.” 

Jake finally looked up at Lou again, “how do you even get blood bags anyway?” 

“Would you believe, we Vampires have a delivery service?”

The hunter gave Lou a blank stare, “...what?”

Lou chuckled, “yeah, it's a whole network here in the states. There’s a number to call and they set you up with a schedule if you want it. Instead of the MilkMan showing up at dawn, it's the BloodMan showing up at dusk, leaving a cooler at your door.”

Jake didn’t find it as funny as Lou did, “that’s…different.” 

“It's not as popular as you think, most prefer their dinner a little more Rare, as you know. But it’s helpful for the introverts out there.”

“...do you use it?” 

“For the most part, but I mainly use it so CiCi can have her own stock on hand. BYOB, as the kids say.”

Jake blinked at him, trying to digest this information. 

The Vampire went back to the subject at hand, “But what I’m saying, Jake, is that he’s still your brother, differences and all. It’s a lot, I know, and it won’t be easy to get used to, but being ‘normal’ like you said everyone else was the other night, is exactly what he needs. Don’t treat him differently. It's pretty rare for newly turned Vampires to even see their family again, let alone stay in their lives. You have a gift on your hands and you don’t even know it.” 

Jake chewed his lip, he hadn’t thought about it that way. 

His voice was soft, nearly a whisper, “I…I want to do all of that, I really do it’s just…I’ve never looked at a Vampire with any other thought than to finish them off as soon as possible. Ever since I saw one for the first time when I was a kid, they’ve just been anonymous monsters that I needed to get rid of.” 

“Not to state the obvious, but maybe it’s time you reevaluated that.”

Jake was quiet, trying to absorb it all. But one truth was still lingering in his mind. 

“The thing is, even if I stop, I know that Josh is now going to be a target for other hunters out there. Even if he’s good, even if he doesn’t make a mess, keeps his head down, I know some personally that wouldn’t hesitate to-,” he bit his lip hard, not wanting to finish the sentence. “The fact that he was a hunter that was turned, and turned willingly, makes him an even bigger target than just a regular Vampire.”

“To me, it sounds like you’re the perfect person to use this knowledge and to protect him as much as you can. You know how they move, where they go, and whatever tells and patterns they have. Use it to your advantage, remind him to do the same.” 

Jake was emotionally drained at this point, but Lou made a great point there. 

He nodded, “that makes sense. Umm thanks for the talk, Lou.”

Lou shrugged, “you know where I’m at if you need to talk again.” 

Jake nodded again, and hopped off the stool. He wordlessly made his way to the corner of the room where the stairs to the rooms above the bar were. More specifically, where he and CiCi lived. He needed some quiet now, and he needed to think about what he was going to do next in his life, and what that meant for Josh. 

~!~

It was your fourth night at the Chicago Den, and true to the itinerary, each subsequent night led to more and more Vampire’s populating the VIP section. Both you and Josh were a little timid at first, but so far everyone had pleasant, even if they were overly curious about Josh. He fielded questions with ease, his natural charm coming out instantly. Everyone still had intact fingers, though every once and awhile you’d make eye contact with your Vampire across the VIP section and pull back one of your fingers just to make him laugh. 

His drink of choice now, a tequila and soda with a splash of B-Positive and a lime, was resting in his hand as he listened to a Vampire you couldn’t remember the name of droned on and on about his last trip to the south of France. He was holding his own very well, and you were comfortable enough to not have to be right beside him the whole night. Your own charm carried you around the VIP section, and after asking nicely and  batting  your eyes  at the security guard at the bottom of the steps, you were allowed to follow a few of your new friends out onto the dance floor. It felt so…normal to you. Being surrounded by other Vampires, the various Human Companions, being able to look up and catch your lover’s eye whenever you wanted, in a world that was entirely yours. While the circumstances that led you here were troubling, being able to exist and experience all of this with Josh had you focusing on them less and less. 

However, while you were enjoying yourself, the lover in question was getting more and more irritated by the minute. Josh is the last person you’d describe as clingy or even worse, needy. But ever since your night had begun, you had been distracted by nearly everything and everyone else besides him. Mingling with everyone you came into contact with, greeting anyone new and introducing yourself quickly. Swapping stories while you sipped your drink, occasionally making eye contact with him, but otherwise left him to his own devices. Which isn’t a problem, but if he had to hear one more Vampire reminisce over a time period over a hundred years ago he was going to try that finger trick you mentioned on someone. 

It was your last night in Chicago, and before dawn the two of you would be whisked away on Dimitri’s jet to your next destination: Seattle. He liked the Chicago Den well enough, but he was ready to see what else was out there. 

He looked down at the dance floor, and saw you with a few of your friends. A few of them were old friends from a few decades ago when you were in Chicago last, and some were brand new but you had no problem befriending anyone. A thought briefly ran through his mind, that this was probably how you normally were before you met him. The version of you that wasn’t preoccupied with hunters being in your business, or following you around. The side of you that only other Vampire’s saw, where you were completely relaxed and not worried about protecting a fragile human. It had been a welcomed sight for him, he just wished he wasn’t watching from the sidelines all night. 

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a very tall man weave his way into the crowd towards you. Josh was instantly on alert, even though he knew you could handle yourself. He mentally cursed that even with his newly heightened sense of hearing he still couldn’t make out what was being said when he saw the man dip his head down to say something in your ear. You turned around excitedly and mouthed the word ‘really’ to the mystery man. Your face lit up as you loosely took a hold of his arm, letting him lead you out of the crowd and back towards the VIP section. What the fuck was going on? 

The security guard at the bottom of the steps stopped the both of you, which Josh was grateful for, until you waved your hand at the guard and pointed back at Mystery Man as you said something that Josh still couldn’t make out over the music pumping through the speakers. He drained the last of his drink, and slammed it on the table a little too hard as he stood up, but he didn’t care. 

You practically bounced up the stairs, Mystery Man following right behind you. 

“Josh, guess what!”

Josh looked at you curiously, his eyes darting back and from between you and your ‘guest’.

“What, sweetheart?” 

“So…since it’s our last night in Chicago, Dimitri sent us a…treat…,” your eyes swiveled up to the tall man. 

At the risk of asking a stupid question, he said, “What kind of treat?”

You smirked at your Vampire, “…a B-Positive one…”

Josh used every muscle in his face to not show his surprise. He did not want you to pick up on any inkling that he thought there was anything else going on with B-Positive Mystery Man. Nope. He would never live that down with you. Instead he rolled his lower lip into his mouth and raised his eyebrows to play it off. 

“I’m Alex,” Mystery Man said while extending his hand out to Josh. 

“Josh…,” he replied while shaking his hand. “Dimitri sent you?” 

Alex smiled sheepishly and explained, “yeah. I’m kind of a regular around here but I’ve never gotten a call from the boss himself, you know? Couldn’t say no to his opportunity.” 

Josh was a little skeptical, but played along, “I get that…” 

You wasted no time to pull Alex over to an empty spot on the VIP couch and sat down on his left. Josh followed and sat on the other side of him, and ‘treat’ aside, it still felt too far from you. 

“Now Alex, do you have any bite preferences?” You asked brightly. 

He turned and smiled at you, “most of the time it's usually the wrists but, you can go for the neck if you want.” 

The flirty tone in his voice was so obvious to Josh he had to fight an eye roll, but he silently hoped you’d turn it down. He wasn’t possessive, but you hadn’t fed from anyone’s neck besides him in the last few weeks, and part of him wasn’t ready to share you in that way. 

He didn’t have time to unpack whether this was some kind of Vampire social norm he was getting used to, because when he looked up you were nodding and descending towards Alex’s neck while your fangs lowered down. 

Alex kept his attention on you while he offered his wrist to Josh, and while he didn’t want to be impolite, Josh also wanted to shove his hand out of the way and walk out of there. 

Instead, he let the spite take over. His own fangs popped down a lot faster and harsher than they had previously, and he swiftly brought Alex’s wrist to his lips and bit down with little care. The first thing he noticed about Alex’s blood was how it was almost…minty. He was definitely B-Positive but in the four days he had been in that Den, Josh had had better samples of that type from the bar instead of this human. He looked up to catch a glance at you, while you happily dined on Alex’s neck. Alex himself had his head thrown back against the couch, which only made Josh burn hotter.

 Being fed on as a human versus being fed on as a Vampire wasn’t entirely different, but there was something so raw about offering yourself to a Vampire when you’re human. He remembered the first time he feld your fangs bury themselves in his skin, how it stung and burned but you fed from him in such a way that pleasure had rolled through his body within seconds. 

Josh continued to feed on Alex for a few more minutes before wrenching his wrist away from his mouth sloppily pricking his finger on his own fangs and healing the wound. He frankly couldn’t give a shit at this point, especially with how you were still latched onto Alex’s neck. Rather petulantly, he sat back with his hands in his lap, waiting for you to finish your “treat.” 

After the slowest five minutes of his life, you finally popped off of Alex and quickly wiped away a stray trail of blood from your chin with your thumb. 

You looked up as you healed the bite wound with your own blood and saw the hard stare coming from your Vampire. His sudden shift in mood confused you.

“Is something wrong, Boy Sc-”

“Can I talk to you,” he gave a sideways glance at Alex, “alone.” 

“I- sure,” and with that he reached over and took your hand, quickly leading you down the stairs and around the security guard, not even glancing back to see how your “treat” reacted. 

In every Den there are private rooms, soundproof and lockable for even more privacy. Some Vampire’s were weird about feeding in front of others, or they simply wanted proper alone time with their Human Companions, but Josh wasn’t thinking of their intended purpose now. He quickly weaved through the crowd to get to the back corner, where the private rooms were. The universe was on his side when he saw the door on the far left open, leading to an unoccupied room. He beelined towards it, rushing the two of you inside. 

“Josh what the-”

He turned and pushed you against the door, smashing his lips against yours. You let out a squeak in surprise but quickly melted into the kiss. Your arms wrapped around his neck and your fingers went into his hair. His hands moved down to your hips, gripping them through the thin fabric of your dress. Before you knew it you were swept off your feet and your legs locked around his waist. 

Clothing was practically ripped off on the way to the lone L-shaped couch in the middle of the room. Your back hit the plush cushions as your Vampire pinned you against them, his lips leaving a hot trail of kisses from your mouth down to the base of your neck. You weren’t complaining by any means, but you were curious as to why he had this sudden change in mood. Nothing felt wrong, but it was decidedly different from the norm. 

“J-Josh…wait a second,” you let out an airy laugh as you pulled his head from the crook of your neck to be above you, cradling his square jaw. 

He looked down at you, eyes dark and unblinking, “what?” 

You didn’t want to seem clueless, but you were truly at a loss, “what’s gotten into you tonight?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he quipped before giving the other side of your neck attention. 

“Yes you do,” you whispered in his ear. 

He turned his head slightly and ran his tongue along the shell of your ear, “I can’t just love on my girl?”

Your retort was cut off when you felt his hand snake between you and start gliding through your folds, his thumb circling your clit while his other fingers dipped into your entrance. A loud gasp escaped your lips at the sudden feeling, and you felt him chuckle against your neck. 

“You were saying, Sweetheart?” 

He curled his fingers inside you, teasing all the right spots, causing you to clench around him and dig your nails into his back. 

But as soon as you started to feel that delicious build up in your core his fingers left you. 

“JOSH!” you yelled out in frustration. 

“Turn around…,” he whispered as he lifted off of you. 

You stared at him for a second before doing what he told you. Slowly you rolled over on your stomach, your back to him now. His hands reached for your hips once again but this time pulled them roughly off the couch, the skin on your knees burning slightly from the sudden movement. You rested your weight on your hands as you looked over your shoulder at him. 

His eyes were even darker then they were before, and they were gazing down your back as he slowly pumped himself. Deciding to play along, you faced forward, and rested your elbows on the arm of the couch. You felt the head of his cock move through your folds, dipping down to your clit before traveling back up to your entrance. Josh was mumbling behind you, words you couldn’t even make out as he slowly started pushing inside you. 

You hissed at the stretch, and when he reared back and surged forward to bottom out you didn’t even try to muffle the strangled sound that flew from your mouth. His nails dug into the skin of your hips as he set a brutal pace. 

Josh stared down at where you were joined, not wanting to take his eyes off the sight. He quickly got lost in you, the sounds you were making, the way you were clenching around him, the sheer warmth of you, the fact that you were his. At a particularly hard thrust he threw his head back and noticed what was on the ceiling: a massive mirror. His eyes became fixed at the reflection, where he could see more of your face, down your spine, to where he was pounding into you. 

He started mumbling again, but this time you were able to make out at least a few words out: mine, all mine. That's when it clicked. His attitude for most of the night, his reaction to Alex that he tried to hide, and why he pulled out into this room as soon as he could. Your Boy Scout was jealous. This was a side of him that you hadn’t seen very often, if at all at this point, but it made you turn your head completely away from him once more to smirk at yourself where he couldn’t see. Now you could fully play along. 

Looking back over your shoulder again, you saw him slack jawed staring at the mirror on the ceiling, his eyes rolled back in his head. 

“...am I yours, Josh?” you baited. 

A harsh growl was made in the place of words, accompanied by another hard thrust. He was getting close, and both of you knew it. He pulled you backwards, gathering you toward him so that your back was flush with his front, his breath coming out in puffs against your neck. 

This time he made no mistake with his words, whispering them directly into your ear. 

“Mine…all mine…” 

You turned your head to capture his lips with yours, letting him know that he was absolutely correct. Your hand tangled in his hair to hold him in place as your tongue swirled in his mouth and ran along his teeth, his fangs clearly present. 

He continued his fast pace as one of his hands held your hip while the other snaked around your front and made its way to your clit. You cried out against his mouth, and he took this moment to bite down on your lower lip, relishing in the sounds you were making. Neither of you cared how loud you were being, or how the sound of skin slapping against skin rang throughout the room. Your end came hurtling towards you, quickly sending you over the edge and shaking in his arms. 

He couldn’t hold back any longer himself, and just as he teetered on the edge he drove his fangs into the flesh of your neck. Letting the welcomed taste of you be the final act he needed before spilling inside you. His hand continued to work you through yours as his thrusts became uneven and started to slow. All he could feel, see, and hear was you. Even the memory that was shown to him at the taste of your blood was you all by yourself, sitting at your vanity touching up your lipstick in the mirror. The decor and dress you were wearing suggested the twenties, but the memory went dark before he could take in more details. He lifted his fangs from your skin as you both came down from your highs. Slowly he withdrew from you, the loss of your warmth making him hiss slightly. 

You turned around to fully look at him, and his arms wrapped around your waste, not wanting to let you go just yet. The both of you rested there for a few moments, enjoying the sudden silence. 

Eventually you brought your hand to his face, rubbing your thumb into his cheek. 

“I’ll always be yours, Boy Scout,” you whispered. 

He still didn’t look you in the eyes quite yet, the realization he had acted out of pure jealousy causing his cheeks to redden. 

“I know…,” he said so softly you barely heard him. 

“I’m not even going to remember Alex after tonight anyway,” you reassured him. 

“It wasn’t…it wasn’t just him.” 

“Oh?” 

“I…just missed you tonight,” he finally looked up and met your eyes, his dark brown irises full of sincerity. 

“I’m sorry if I get a little caught up out there, it’s been a while-”

He cut you off, “no you don’t have to apologize, you were having fun and you deserve to.” 

“Next time, just come get me, push people out of the way if you have to. People will get over it.” You gave him a sweet kiss against his lips for reassurance. “Now…my turn…,” you grinned wickedly as you took this moment to properly pounce on your Vampire, toppling him onto the couch. 

~!~

Many rounds and hours later, you were both back at the hotel. The sun was about to rise, and the black out curtains were preemptively shut. Sleep quickly overtook you, and while you began to snooze, Josh peered down at you, loving the way you cuddled up to him as you slept. 

His phone buzzed on the nightstand, alerting him of a text. He looked over at the screen and saw Jake’s name at the top. 

Jake: is this a good time?

Josh typed out a response: sure

He was expecting another text, but instead his twin called him directly. 

“Hello?”

“Josh? Are you about to go to sleep? I can call back later if you-”

“No no it's fine, what's up?”

“I just wanted…how’s Chicago?” The tone in his voice sounded tight, as if he was unsure what to say. 

“It’s been pretty great, man. Not a bad place to start at all.” 

“That's good, I’m glad. How is…how is she?” 

Josh was starting to get confused at the sudden small talk, “what’s this about, Jake?

“It’s not about anything, I promise, I just…wanted to see how you were.” 

Josh looked back down at your sleeping form, fully knocked out at this point and beginning to snore slightly on his chest. 

“She’s good, Jake, really good. How’s CiCi?” 

Now it was Jake’s turn to look down at his girl, who was also still fast asleep beside him. 

“She’s CiCi, incredible as always.” Jake paused before asking what was truly on his mind, “I just have a question…and I’m not trying to start anything I promise I just…what made you do it?” 

“Do what, Jake?” 

“Choose to be turned instead of-”

“Instead of death, Jake?” 

Jake quietly answered, “yeah.”

“They were going to have her Meet the Sun, Jake. In front of me. I couldn’t let that happen.” The emotion he felt while sitting in Dimitri’s study crept up on him, as did the vision he had had of her burning in front of him. 

“You must think a lot of her, then.” 

Josh could tell what Jake was trying to do, in his own way. 

“I love her, Jake.” 

There was silence on Jake’s end, but he cut it off by saying, “does she feel the same?”

Josh drew patterns on your bare shoulder as he answered, “she absolutely does.” 

Jake tried to angle his phone away from his face to hide the sniff he made as he took in this information, but Josh heard it anyway. 

“Can I ask you a question now, Jake?” 

“Yeah.”

“What was the first thing you noticed about CiCi?” 

Jake was caught off guard now, not expecting this turn in the conversation. However, he instantly knew the answer.

“Her laugh. I had only been in her bar for about 5 minutes before I heard the most beautiful sound coming from across the room. She was making small talk with some customers and the way she commanded attention without even trying…I was mesmerized.” 

Josh smiled, having not known this little fact before, “and did it sound almost familiar to you?” 

“I suppose so?”

“That’s how I felt the night I met my girl, Jake. The familiarity.” 

“Really?”

“She was supposed to be a target, just a target, just a job. But when I walked into that bar that night, and saw her sitting in the corner, there was something about her. I knew, even if I didn’t want to admit it at the time, that she wasn’t going to be just a job. I didn’t know how or why, but I knew she was going to be something to me. I’ve never looked at a Vampire and felt that way before, and you of all people know that.” 

Jake nodded, “I’m umm…I’m glad you found someone, Josh. I mean that.”

Josh smiled softly, “I appreciate that, and I’m glad you did too.” 

There was another silence between the brothers, but this was a comfortable one. 

“I don’t mean to keep you up, I know the sun should be rising about now…”

“No it's ok, it’s good to hear from you, man. Call whenever you want.” 

“I will…talk to you soon…”

“Talk to you soon, Jake.” 

Jake hung up the phone and put it down before settling back into bed next to CiCi.

“...so, my laugh, huh?” She mumbled as she turned over to look at him. 

“How much of that did you hear?” 

“Enough,” she said before tracing the outline of his nose with her finger. 

Jake playfully rolled his eyes before gathering her in his arms, “go back to sleep.”

“Gladly.” 

To be continued….

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[alaskan-wallflower]

i’m tired and blasting outsiders so here’s my explaination for what i see whenever one of them sings

With brody it’s kinda like…deep red? I don’t know why, it’s just a deep red. Warmer tones. The only cool color is like a navyish blue. It’s a spectrum honestly-it can kinda be a toss up? It really depends but usually it’s a nice shade of seeping red and navy blue with some warmer tones (yellows and oranges) in there as well. riffs are kinda fun because it’s like…i don’t know how to describe it but it’s like each note is an individual ring and it’s kinda like this gradient effect between either red and blue or red and yellow. It really depends. It kinda gets that silvery misty look with some of the higher notes.

Jason was kinda funny because if I didn’t have synesthesia I wouldn’t guess his voice would be a dark color but it’s like…kinda neon? Y’know how you watch those neon painting videos? That’s kinda what it’s like. Usually it’s uber bright colors on a black background. Kinda like bioluminescent light in a way. It sounds uglier than it is but trust me-it’s kinda got a more splashy feel to it. Like just splashes of chan and magenta against the black background. I dunno how to describe it lol

With Brent it’s kinda more woodsy? Shades of green and brown-kinda more earthy in a way. It’s kinda like going through the woods at sunset. Golden shimmering through leaves and lighting up a path iagaknst brown dirt in a way. It sounds weird but y’know. Even in his more aggressive tones it’s still that woodsy, earthy feeling. It’s never really dull but it’s never too bright. Like ai said it’s like a forest at sunset where the gold is just barely peeking through the green leaves. It’s prettier in retrospect.

Sky’s got a bit more f an orange/beige pallets? Like it’s kinda desert like in a way. sjust sandy and earthy-not quite in the same way as Brent but y’know-It’s also got some lavenders and violets in there? Like it really depends with him on the notes he’s singing but usually his voice is a rustic orange color with swirls of beige or tan and little flecks of purple. Think desert like with some purple in there. Sometimes the brown can kinda fade into a yellowish color; or a more muted gold. Just sandy colors. Desert hues.

Josh is purple. Alllll purple with some gold. Little Brother is SUCH a fun experience because it literally has such a strong grape purple to it and it just slowly bursts into more vibrant purples. It never goes beyond say a violet? But if randhes in spectrum. There can be some very dark red-darker than Brody’s voice but definitely still visibly red-or well, reddish pink. But it can also have little bits of gold or yellow. It’s like if you were stuck in grape jelly or something and the only thing visible was sunlight. It’s like that. Just smooth. Sometimes it can be midnight blue too but usually it’s shades of purple or something.

I don’t egg to hear much of Daryl’s voice but it’s definitely some form of yellowish brown. Not like Sky…think more sunrise colors. Pale. Sometimes muted. It really depends. Now again there’s not much audio I’ve heard of Daryl but he definitely has like dark orange/yellow vocals. Sprinkle a bit of sort of denim blue in there for good measure and boom. Sometimes he can have bursts of bright colors like bright pinkish red or bright orange but other than that it’s kinda hard to tell with such little audio lol

Emma’s all purples and pinks to me. Mostly light purples and pinks and kinda bubbly in a way? Like I just picture bubbles lol-white bubbles on a purple and pink gradient background kinda just floating around. During I Can Talk To You All Night it kinda also leads into a royal blue. But for the majority it tends to be pink and purple and kinda bubbly lol-kinda giving Sylveon vibes if I say so.

Anyway. I know this probably makes me sound high off my ass but figured it was worth a share.

[ombrathefurry]

how do you generally design characters/choose color pallets?

whenever I try and create a good color pallet they always end up clashing and looking absolutely awful

i've tried using websites but they always end up being very bland, so i'm turning to the expert lol

the only character i've created that I actually. like. is the one that's just a black freaking tiger with rainbow glowing stripes, but that's because monochrome with color pops just always is flawless </3

Expert what expert

I'm by no means any expert, but I'm really happy you think my designs are appealing enough for you to ask me this!!

I ALWAYS try to come up with a character concept or idea for who they are before I start designing. Because of this, you see a lot of my designs turning out to be designed very strategically, with their features actually having proper functions and reasons to be there

This is why I have such a hard time with gifted designs. I don't know how to make them work without a background or concept I can really connect to properly.

For specific character designs, I usually think of and flesh out a basic idea in my head. Depending on how lucky I end up being, I can imagine every detail right off the bat. Other times, I have to put some work into it and experiment a little.

Here's an example of me working out a character design WIP right now

Development of Mr. V

Some characters just pop into my head exactly the way they are, like how Samuel did

Cogsworth too

Some of my characters come from dreams, too, and I just immediately sketch out my interpretation of the idea I'd had

Peter came from a dream about a white rabbit with a weird face killing a nuclear family's father leaving the mother and child alone with no idea what happened (it was disturbing, (there are more disturbing details,) which is why I made peter very unsettling)

Butch came from a dream that had something to do with fake peppino from pizza tower running around the It Steals maze area throwing cleavers at whoever he ran into

Dreams are a GREAT place to come up with character concepts

They give you a very solid ground before you start designing

One of my guidelines for creating characters is that they should be instantly recognizable as their own character. What are their special features? What defines them? What features would I keep if I were to draw them at the bare minimum detail? What parts of the design would make the character unrecognizable without them?

For example, Reena without her yellow.

Queen without her shadows.

You see this rule pop up a lot online, though mostly focusing on the idea of the silhouette of a character standing out from the others.

While I think it's a good option for when it comes to developing designs, I don't like worrying about it too much. I try to create the individual features of the character rather than immediately think about the silhouette.

All things considered, you're also totally allowed to break the rules to achieve something else. For example, Saleem and Minnow have identical silhouettes because I wanted them to give an uncannily similar vibe. Some characters who were derived off of others through dreams I might have had have very similar silhouettes as a nod to their origins, though have very differentiated individual features.

I look to various other artists and designers I like for feature ideas when I'm super stuck (usually when my ideas are more abstract)

for example, scrawl came from a very abstract dream and literally didn't have a face (they were just a bunch of hands and looked a little bit like a black void worm from Rainworld)

I took inspiration from Fooffle's Space AU Warren for his face, Sir Needle's sona's ears for his hair, and gave him this sweater from a random thing I found on Pinterest that I liked

Bennet (and the rest of the caravan gang) came from a dream about various different individuals riding on a wagon - Bennet specifically in the dream was Uncle Ben who runs The Urban Rescue Ranch. I ended up giving him the name Bennet in reference to this, as well as Uncle Ben's broad shoulders, muscular build and curly hair.

Queen's entire existence is inspired off of the protagonist from Bendy and the Dark Revival. As a nod to this, I gave her a partially monochrome color scheme with some accents. Queen's shadow face was inspired off of this specific fanart of Caesar from The Mandela catalogues.

(I can't find the source for the life of me sobs)

Mr. V was inspired off of Itward from Fran Bow, as well as Pastra's sona Clyde the veldigun. I gave him Itward's large hat and formal attire, and Clyde's long limbs and striped patterns. I also gave him deep halloween colors as a nod to both inspiration's aesthetics.

My biggest thing about features is there has to be a REASON why they have these features, but that's just personal preference (and there doesn't have to be a good reason, or even a reason at all every single time)

okay now for the main part of the ask (I've been stalling)

Sorry if this is disappointing, I don't have a process for picking colors that work together

It's a lot of trial and error, and some characters I've even stalled making profile pictures for because I don't know what to color them as.

to me, you can pick any color you want. It's actually very impressive to think about how many colors you could use.

I'll try to explain what I do know about the placement of colors, though. It doesn't matter what colors you use, but in my opinion, the placement of these colors is what really matters in designs.

Depending on how many colors I'm planning on giving the design, I like to split them up into parts. Primary coloration (1,) which takes up most of the design, secondary coloration (2,) which takes up less of the design but still a good amount, (Sometimes I have more, tertiary, quaternary, whatever, that take up about an equivalent ratio of the design as secondary,) and accent colors (3.)

Similar colors can also be grouped together in these sectors. For example, all the purple in this character would be primary, the greys secondary, and the oranges the accents.

For Chakra, his purples would be primary, all the bright colors of the wounds secondary, and his outstanding eyes accents.

Each sector should be different and differentiable from one another!

Divide your character up into sectors for coloration. Decide what colors go where. Sometimes it takes a bit of shuffling to find what works for you. Adding inbetween colors to branch the gaps between your selected colors can help tie things together, too.

To me, instead of WHAT colors you use, it all comes down to how you USE those colors.

Cordis is mainly dark colored, primary, with their secondary rainbow colors and their accented white features. Even with rather bright colors in their palette, they still come off as a dark gloomy character because of the placement/ratio of those colors.

Monarch has very clashing colors, though when separated and balanced out, they appear harmonious and work together.

Anyways that turned further into a rant about character design than anything else

I hope this helped :D

[themushroomgoesyeet]

I apologize for breaking schedule already; this took me a while to figure out and I guess I accidentally forgot to actually write this up yesterday (Sunday is going to be the day that I post these, unless I decide otherwise btw)

Anyway!

Arcana characters as cryptids

(see I told you it wouldn't all be Disney)

Asra - the Loch Ness Monster

Water theme? Check

Mysterious to a mind boggling degree? Check

Is it a dinosaur that the asteroid missed? Is it an ancient Celtic creature with nebulous shape-shifting magic? Is it just a hoax? Who knows! Certainly not us, and I feel like this fits Asra's "no gender only magic and adventure" vibes

Both of them have an increasingly frustrating ability to disappear at random and only be seen when they want to

Julian - Mothman

Big, blanket shaped, black and red color palette, sexy for some people

Did I just describe Mothman or Julian?

Both also have a bad habit of materializing from/melting into the shadows

I think if Julian were to find this post likening him to such an edgy, mysterious creature he'd be thrilled

Muriel - Bigfoot

I mean is there really even a question about this one

Literally all you have to do is make Muriel hairier and have bigger feet and you're all set

Both of them live out in the middle of the woods & don't seem to care for company

Bro basically is a cryptid to some Vesuvians

Lucio - Goatman

I feel this needs even less explanation than Muriel's tbh

Especially since a nice chunk of this fandom double as BuzzFeed Unsolved fans

Fuck you goatman

Nadia - sphinx

Ok so I'll admit this is where I started running out of ideas

Hear me out tho

I know that some of you will say that sphinxes are mythological creatures and not cryptids, and personally I disagree; I bet in a thousand years archaeologists and the like will look back on our cryptid studies and be like "man, these guys had a weird mythology"

So long story short sphinxes are just ancient cryptids

There are two flavors of sphinx, both of which I think fit Nadia well

Greek sphinxes were usually portrayed as guardians - usually of cities, gates, and doorways - and (in the case of Oedipus) challenged people with riddles. As ruler/protector of Vesuvia, I think it's safe to say that Nadia slots into the guardian role quite nicely

I'm not as familiar with Nadia's route but I imagine she'd also enjoy riddle games

Then there's the Egyptian flavor of sphinx; while these are also guardians (of tombs and temples specifically), they are also representations of Pharos and their closeness to the gods, as well as symbols of their strength and ferocity

And of course we love the strong & independent queen that is Nadia

Portia - Tonttus/Nisse/Gnomes

For those who don't know, Tonttus are creatures from Scandinavian folklore; they look like tiny men with white beards and colorful, conical hats

While their description doesn't fit Portia (aside from being incredibly small in stature), their actions and temperament certainly do

If treated well, Tonttus will become guardians of homesteads and farms, helping with chores, caring for livestock, and warding off danger and misfortune.

If treated poorly or insulted, Tonttus will instead cause mischief in the place that they live, playing tricks, stealing from the family, and sometimes even killing livestock

Now Portia may not go as far as killing animals, but she's definitely got a short temper at times and is a wild prankster

I almost forgot about these homely little creatures but I'm glad I found something that fits Portia's cottage core vibes so well

[adobe-outdesign]

Review of raging bolt?

(This is a special review to commemorate the new Pokemon Presents. Reviews will go back to being in the order in which they were sent after this.)

My coworker watched the presents before I had a chance to and showed me Raging Bolt, and my exact response was to laugh and go "hmm. no, I can't ever take that seriously"

Now, having looked at its official art (which looks remarkably better than the in-game model, due to the mane being up and the general pose being clearer), I can safely say... it's still goofy as hell. HOWEVER, despite that, I do find myself liking it in a silly, over-the-top way.

In fact—and this is gonna be a hot take—I like this better than Walking Wake. I think the reason is that Walking Wake felt like a dinosaur with Suicine elements slapped onto it, while this feels a lot more like Raikou despite being a brontosaurus (mostly because its still quadrupedal with a similar shape to the base of the body).

But I also like it a bit more because it's got a pretty cool concept going for it, with the mane forming a spiral of storm clouds, the body looking like a bolt of lightning coming from said clouds, and Raikou's tail forming dinosaur-like spines (compared to Walking Wake, which was just kind of there). The disc-like shape to the head combined with the long neck is actually a pretty neat monster design, and gives it a distinctive silhouette. Also, brontosaurus literally means "thunder lizard", so bonus points for that.

That said, it does have a few weird quirks. For example, it looks even sillier than normal when the mane moves away from the face like this, which was at least part of the reason I didn't vibe with it initially.

The colors are also pretty messy. The orange is actually very pretty and striking, and it goes great with the tiger striping (which, in turn, works really well with how it's patterned on the neck). However, this gives it four separate colors in the design, plus black and white. I feel like either the blue parts should've been orange, or all of the orange parts should've been blue (the later might've made more sense, as they were probably trying to keep the same blue from Raikou's palette, even if I like the pop of the orange).

Raikou's checks also look weird as heck on a body like this; another benefit of keeping the mane around the head. On the plus side, they did fix Raikou's terrible butt tufts or whatever was going on back there originally.

Anyway, overall, it's kind of a neat design and is at least fun with an interesting concept, even if it looks absolutely ridiculous. I don't necessarily love it, but I can't bring myself to hate it either.

(Also, quick side note: some people are speculating this means we'll get the designs in the journal, which would be amazing, but the design there has absolutely none of the paradox attributes. We'll have to wait and see.)

[nickeverdeen]

hiiii could i have an arcane matchup?

i'm agender (they/them, but feminine terms/titles are fine by me) and queer (STRONG preference towards women), and i'd prefer a romantic matchup but platonic works fine as well. i'm 5'5" (average height queen), i have curly, black, shoulder length hair and bangs. sometimes i straighten my hair if i have the time and energy but usually i just leave it natural. i have fairly pale skin with slight pink undertones, and a few freckles on my nose. my eyes are mostly blue with a little bit of green (my mom used to say i had some gold specks in there so idk what color they are really tbh). i have a pretty casual/somewhat athletic style, since my job does require me to be active, but i accessorize to high heavens with necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and any ring i can find, pretty much. i try to look as androgynous as possible at any given time.

a basic list of my interests: animation, digital art, creative writing, acting, broadway, theater tech (such as running lights/sound/spotlight, being a stagehand, just all of the cool backstage stuff), painting, cosplay and costume making is a BIG one, really anything artsy.

now the weird interests that don't really fit into the above category: roller coaster mechanics/accidents and how to avoid them, herpetology (mainly snakes but other reptiles as well), self defense, airports (not anything specific about them, i just really like the environment in airports)

i really like music! music is a HUUUUUGE part of my life. my favorite style personally is fast paced punk rock kinda style, but any sort of alt rock fits my vibe. i really like MSI (the music, not the people themselves, screw those guys), and some various songs by FOB, The Used, Pierce The Veil, Destroy Boys, etc. I do also love music of other, more undefined genres. I'm absolutely in love with Panic! at the Disco's Vices and Virtues album, specifically Sarah Smiles and Nearly Witches. And a few other songs/artists here and there (like will wood? and jack stauber) but those are my main ones. Sharing music I like is such a big deal for me in literally any relationship.

Speaking of relationships! My love languages are mainly physical touch (receiving) and acts of service (giving). But other "love languages," or just little things that I do with people I'm comfortable with are: rant about my interests/try to get them into said interests, sharing music (like i said), sharing memes and things that remind me of them, and (here's a really niche one) making cosplays of their favorite characters (if applicable, there are some cosplays i just can't do). the way i love is just pure devotion. if i'm in a relationship with someone, they are my everything, i would do anything for them.

i'm an enfp, 6w7, i'm extremely outgoing and have a tendency to strike up conversations with random people. i'm a performer, an actor, everything is a performance to me. i'm an incredibly artsy person, constantly creating something (mainly in the form of writing or physical art/drawings and sketches). my humor is very much just one-liners that are kinda hit or miss, depends on the audience. i understand very well the concept of masking who you are for the sake of acceptance, progress, etc. in public, i'm a completely different person, putting on somewhat of a professional, agreeable front for the sake of getting people to like me. i'm a performer with connections, i know the right people and they'll give me a huge advantage in my future as i try to get where i want to be. i'm not afraid to abandon some ideals and morals to get there. this is not something i'm proud of.

i'm neurodivergent, but incredibly good at masking it. when i'm around the right people, it's obvious, but i don't usually let myself unmask in public. to really know me is to know two different sides of me. anyway, i'm surprisingly organized. i have a meticulous morning routine (i'm a morning person through and through) that requires me to wake up two hours early every morning, but i don't mind (even though i don't really sleep). i get easily overwhelmed specifically by temperature. if it's too hot, i shut down, it makes it hard to function. i'm also somewhat prone to anxiety attacks, and i have bad paranoia, so it takes me a while to really trust someone.

i think my main personal struggle is that i focus on other people more than myself. relationships tend to feel like a sacrifice. i will abandon my own mental and physical health if it means helping someone that i care about (or someone who makes me feel validated but thats a different story). i'm also an incredibly hard worker, so much so that getting things done tends to be my main focus, even over essentials like eating, sleeping, showering, etc.

is this too much info this feels like too much info sorry if this is too much

Your Arcane match is…

Vi (Violet)

Vi would love your taste in music, and you’d often share playlists, bonding over bands like The Used and Destroy Boys

She’d even attend concerts with you

Vi would support your artistic pursuits, whether it’s digital art, writing, or costume making

She’d often help you brainstorm ideas and give honest feedback on your projects

She may not understand it, but she’s trying

Given your active lifestyle, Vi would enjoy working out with you

She’d teach you new self-defense techniques and incorporate kickboxing into your routine

Vi would be incredibly patient and understanding with your anxiety and paranoia

She’d create a safe environment for you to express your worries and help you through anxiety attacks

She had experience with them herself so she knows it sucks and don’t want you to have to deal with it alone

Knowing that you often put others before yourself, Vi would remind you to take care of your own needs too

She’d bring you food when you forget to eat and make sure you get enough rest

It’d probably be pizza or something like that as she can’t cook for life

Vi, not being much of a morning person herself, would admire and be a bit confused by your meticulous morning routine

She’d occasionally join you for a morning run or breakfast, though

Vi would try to share your interest in roller coasters and mechanics

She doesn’t understand that stuff, but would let you talk about (almost) all day

She’d be genuinely interested in learning from you and sharing her own knowledge and experiences

Vi would be sensitive to your struggle with hot weather

She’d make sure you stay cool and comfortable, finding shaded spots or bringing along cold drinks when you’re out together

Fortunately she understands as she isn’t a fan of big heat either

Vi would respect your need for physical space initially, but as you grow closer, she’d be affectionate and provide the comforting physical touch you crave in a relationship

Vi would appreciate your acts of service and reciprocate by doing small things to make your life easier, like running errands or surprising you with thoughtful gestures.

Your quirky humor and one-liners would always make Vi smile

She’d enjoy your company and the light-hearted moments you share

She’d attend your shows and be your biggest fan, supporting your theatrical endeavors

Vi would value the trust you place in her, knowing it takes time for you to open up

She’d be loyal and protective, ensuring you always feel safe and respected in your relationship

Vi would help you find a balance between your hard-working nature and the need for relaxation

She’d encourage you to take breaks and enjoy downtime together, reminding you to take care of yourself

Vi would plan adventurous dates, whether it’s exploring new parts of the city, going on nature hikes, or attending underground music gigs

She’d keep your relationship dynamic and full of memorable experiences

[the-haunted-prince-au]

Just to see how much my art had improved I redrew the chapter 1 image and WOW

You only notice you improve when you look back on your older art huh?

Some rambles about the various differences/improvements under the cut

Noticable difference #1: the mirror is round now cuz I'm 90% sure that old fancy Victorian esc vanity mirrors aren't square and that the square ones are more modern

Noticable difference #2: EVEN MORE UNHINGED THAN BEFORE- I feel like the old one didn't justify how unhinged Snatcher is as a character especially since he has a more expressive face now so I made the eyes twitchier and made that grin as WIDE as possible (specifically using the Disassembly Drones From Murder Drones as a reference point on how far it should go across the face) that plus adding what I refer to as stress lines near his left eye and mouth really sell the manic glee on his face

Noticable difference 3#: when you point a flashlight at a cat its pupils change color why am bringing this up? because I made his pupils reflect a lighter gold instead of the typical normal black once again to sell the unhinged vibes (and also because let's face it the cryptid creature tendencies never go away including weird physical traits that scare the shit out of Vannesa)

Noticable difference #4: the background felt too plain so I just added some little doodles that hint to Snatcher as well as drew a purple crown as opposed to a gold one to hammer in that this isn't the prince that everyone knows and loves (it's an emo pool noodle-)

Fun fact the scribbled out background is literally just a decently cropped image of outside of Snatchers tree

This took exactly 9 layers and I'm really proud of it

But due to the amount of layers i will share some cursed imagery

Yeah

On a better note here's the shading layers to help explain/give more detail on my shading process

I had a lot of fun with this and it really goes to show how much improvement can come out of just a few months!

@return-of-the-queen-au

[rubykgrant]

Finally finished my re-design for my dark-magic super hero! Cloe was always supposed to be this sarcastic girl who has been pushed into situations she didn't care for, told she had to behave a certain way, and given the advice to "just keep being nice" when other kids picked on her. Eventually, she got more withdrawn. It was much less stressful to be by herself, but she gets a little out of practice when she actually wants to interact with other people... and it didn't help that she developed "being mean" as a defense mechanism. However, her new friends are all weird themselves, in different ways, and are willing to put up with her default bad attitude; they can argue back, then calm down, apologize, talk it out, and get along... and that actually works!? When she starts to develop her powers, it first shows up as what seems to be ESP/telepathic abilities. As she puts it- "Oh, great. On top of everything else, I'm turning into Carrie". It soon becomes clear her powers are actually more MAGICAL, and she discovers she is quite literally a witch! Way back in the day, the hero outfit I draw for her basically just looked like a purple witch Halloween costume. Not horrible, really... but it was actually sort of plain, and didn't show any of her personality.

Part of her re-design involved changing her body-type (she used to be a skinny string-bean, but I've decided she has a thicker body-type, not really curvy, more like a soft square). Cloe originally had glasses, but I decided to give that to her twin sister (who is more athletic and sporty; I kinda like swapping the stereo-type. glasses aren't just for the brainy characters). Her hair style is the one thing that is the same; long, straight, light-orange hair in a low/loose ponytail, and bangs parted in the center (she also has freckles). It took a long time figuring out what to do with her shirt, she needed something vaguely goth, but not anything that would resemble her hero witch outfit. I finally settled on a pale-purple long shirt, with a spiderweb pattern around the collar, and dark-purple/black stripped sleeves. She has frayed dark blue jeans ripped into shorts, dark leggings (semi-transparent), and black sneakers.

The hero outfit is still inspired by a witch, but a little bit more of a fantasy magic-user vibe as well. Instead of it all just being plain purple, I added some yellow and lilac. Her top is now similar to a tunic, with loose short sleeves, a v-cut collar and hem. The edges are stripped with a shade of pale yellow on the outer edge, lilac on the inside, and very dark through the whole top. She has a pale-purple sash around her waist. Her pants are darker purple, loose-fit. On her head is a witch hat, same dark color as the top, with yellow and lilac strips at the base of the cone. On the stripes is a design of circles that mace the shape of a crescent moon (hero symbol), pale-purple and dark purple in the center. Under her top, she has a black long-sleeved shirt, that ends in a v-shape on her hand. She has pale-purple leggings that connect to yellow sandals. As a "mask", she has a spray of color across her face, lighter at the cheeks, and fading into sunset purple colors, with very dark eye-shadow (it also hides her freckles). Her hair changes to a vibrant magenta

[doodles-of-a-nerd-kid]

*Warning, this is gonna be a ridiculously long post...

So, some of you reeeeally wanted to know just a teeny weenie bit more about my weird boy huh? Well, here ya go:

Yeah, where do I freakin' start with this--? It was not only hard to put together despite the very simple (and more obvious) inspirations... but I had to mega ponder whatever the heck I was on when creating this character, LOL

Lets break it down all over again:

It is extremely obvious (I think) of which characters Tilde's appearance mostly stems from... our funny scout robots from Cave Story: Mr. Traveler and Curly Brace themselves. (Which heehee geddit he has a punctuation naem TILDE ~~ xdd)

I'm pretty sure some of you have probably assumed (Especially with how much I pair them together...^^") Tilde is... well... their kid somehow--

Not... quite? It's... much more complicated than that, don't worry about it! Anyways, I basically chucked them both into a blender to combine their appearances together as much as possible; an example of this is Tilde's hair! It's a blonde color like Curly's and straight; but has a waviness, spiking up at the ends like Quote's hair.

Tilde's antenna earphone things are green, and his eye color is also that bluescreen blue that Curly has as well, lol.

So Tilde's outfit inspirations! Tilde is actually wearing Sue Sakamoto's sweater, along with someone's long green scarf. Its a bit old and worn out... but it's very shnazzy, dontcha think? ^^ In earlier drawing drafts of Tilde back in 2021, his sleeves were actually much more sprite accurate to Sue's-- But then I played OneShot and drew them droopy like Niko's once and it... stuck. idc its staying too. I think I wanted to give him a cuteness bonus, so I gave him hairpins thanks to Chase from Harvest Moon lol

Underneath Tilde's sweater he is wearing a simple black tank with magenta shorts, like Quote's tank and sprite Curly's pants. His shoes I unfortunately don't have a direct correlation for their colors, but they're inspired by Cave Story 3D JP Curly's shoes.

A much more rare appearance, but this is what Tilde looks like as an adolescent-- Don't question why, just roll with it-- I have my reasons and I won't tell you :^) When I was drawing him, my brain just handed me Basil from Omori. Literally, just Basil's energy and a bit of the Mother series protagonists for outfit design... I tried to swishing it around a bit and ended up with a very puntable looking guy, which was the exact vibe I was going for~ >:3c

I gave Tilde a sweater turtleneck and called it a day, then Lucas came to mind again when I was coloring-- Which overall made this particular bit of the outfit more interesting ^^ Tilde here is also wearing Toroko's pendant. Not really much else to cover here, since the many traits from Tilde's youth carries into here. Continuing...

Oh boy, how the times have changed and he's all grown up now T_T

Tilde when he's older takes almost all the liberties from especially Quote, wearing his infamous deadpan expression naturally... but he still remains extremely expressive like Curly ^^

Tilde's outfit is very obviously influenced by them, from their cargo pants to their color schemes (which are also admittedly being carried from his youth as well.) Quote's Blade Strangers design (If you ever heard of it.) was definitely an influence for him as well--

BUT to keep him looking a bit more fresh, I devised to use even more of that special jrpg sauce i love to throw on my characters lmAO

Y'all should already know from my previous post that I'm a weeb a Japanese culture enthusiast, not gonna explain that again

Specially for his outfit Tetsuya Nomura's character designs immediately come to mind, i cannot tell you which one specifically.

While imagining the "cool rpg boy outfit" all these characters blend together in my head, probs because they seem to have similar vibes LOL (very cool Nomura-san)

100% CERTAIN Felix from Golden Sun had an influence on Tilde's outward appearance. I actually drew older Tilde before teen Tilde, and I gave him long hair partly bc of him-- lmao

(While Soren from Fire Emblem is not a main influence for Tilde, he is simply here because I hate him for making me realize long haired dudes are just,,, peak character design idk what to tell you.)

So that's Tilde's sheet

goes very crazy I know

If imma do a Tilde sheet, i gotta do it properly-- He's the best(est)

I'm very tired I worked on this for almost a whole week lol imma sleep or something

[luxmoogle]

ALRIGHT WASSUP I love your art style and am an art student so I know a little bit bout what makes art recognizable, (not an expert and definitely not good at remembering terms so don't act like this is some art bible) lemme tell you what I think makes your art recognizable and "lux".

First, you got your shape language. That would be what the other person was referring to as proportions. (Since we're talking about Sora, proportions is absolutely not a wrong word to use, but I'm going to talk about shapes specifically.) The cheek? Always the exact same little curve, same spot, the forehead is the same, which creates a head shape that is incredibly recognizable as you. The hair is also always the same, which may seem weird considering your drawing hair that's pre established but you have a very unique way of doing it. The shape of his lower hair on the back of his head especially stands out to me. His body is always the same type of lanky, you draw his arms and hands a very particular type of way. Overall, very recognizable and consistent.

The colors you use. Honestly, I don't even know how to describe this, and I literally took a class on colors. The only word I can think of is "surreal". They're usually very vibrant, but destaturated at the same time? Like you're taking vibrant colors and putting desaturated ones on top? Genuinely hard to describe. It is one of the most beautiful color jobs I've ever seen tho, and I'm not exaggerating. If you could explain I'd honestly love to try (read: steal) whatever technique you use. Also very consistent, even in the black and white photos. I think it's partially lighting but I digress.

The other person brought up your eyes, and that's probably one of THE most consistent parts of your art I notice. I'm not rly gonna go into detail, cause you said you worked on eyes a lot so I'm gonna just leave you to that honestly cause the eyes you draw are iconic imo. Beautiful. Stunning. Breathtaking. No notes just keep it up 🫡

Your lines (and the texture of the drawing) are specifically sketchy, like a very specific type of sketchy. I'm guessing it's the texture of the brushes you use, and it also makes it consistent and recognizable. This is probably one of the things that makes the black and white photos more recognizable as well, since they don't technically have colors to with with and, imo, that's one of the most recognizable parts of your art. The very specific shapes you use are about on par with the colors, with everything else gradually moving down the list.

So yeah. My mini essay on your art. I hope this helps you understand cause honestly? Your art is iconic. Gorgeous. Magnificent. I dream of drawing like you. Pls keep it up cause on god it brightens my day every time I see you post, art or no

I appreciate you taking the time to write out such a long and thoughtful post~! ❤️ This was a very interesting and fun read! I am in many ways completely blind to my own work. Unlike looking at someone else's work, it's very hard to distance myself far enough from my own to see it's prominent features.

For color I can I say I am aware of color theory and mostly follow a sensible routine of cool shadows and warm light points, things that are further away seem more blue etc. etc... But at some point while drawing/painting I do usually fall into adding and prodding the colors into a more impressionistic vibe and away from realism, mostly favoring cool toned colors and adding tones to places that they realistically shouldn't be, but they aesthetically please me, so.

Thank you for all the compliments, I've re-read this quite a few times now, but don't really know what to say besides a boring thank you~! This has left me a lot to ponder, and I'm very glad for your writing..!

Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, take care~!❤️

[ectocs]

The Lumchagg

Feel like I'm cutting it a bit close this week :P

So. The lumchagg. It's a bird, it's purple, it likes aromatic herbs and it sets itself on fire to revive itself into a worm. Honestly this thing grew on me the more I worked on it.

Ideas behind this design below the cut ! Alongside some doodles, rambles, and concepts :)

It starts life as a "worm" -- a featherless, pink squirmy thing with nubs where its limbs will later grow in. The lengthy tail will later be absorbed to facilitate that.. like a lot of metamorphosing (is that the word?) creatures.

The idea at this point is pretty straightforward. Recently got to watch two robin nests grow, which was interesting, and young birds look really... fleshy. Wanted to give it coloring on its throat like the clitellum on a worm (aka the saddle) but I think it's just not distinctive enough. I gave it four eyes for more of a bug feel, though it's so minor I don't think it matters much in the end.

As it grows and gets feathers, the lumchagg's tail shortens -- the wings are the first limb to fully grow, giving it an amphithere-like appearance, though the legs soon follow within the same day the wings finish growth, making the change from worm to bird seem almost instant. All four eyes are open, though body coloration is not "mature."

Not much to say on this stage; it's a bird with fun antennae-like tufts on its head and a fun beak, a vaguely dinosaur feel, and coloration based sorta on a violet-backed starling. It has faint horns/ridges because ... um...... well to be honest I just decided to give it to the thing based on the dinosaur/dragon/etc vibes in the room.

In the adult stage, they will spend most of their long-lived lives as a darker, mostly-solid purple tone. This coloration lasts until the very end of their lives, at which point the lumchagg's wings become pale on the inside, allowing it to concentrate and direct the sun's rays onto flammable material. Through this method, the bird is able to burn and rebirth itself.

Drew the end-of-life stage here setting itself on fire. Don't ask how white/pale wings lets it burn stuff; it comes back to life, it gets privileges the average white goose doesn't get.

Here is a basic idea of the life cycle, hastily slapped together as a visual:

There was quite a bit of thinking to get to this point. Here is the last sketch page I did. Unlike the other doodles I never bothered coloring it in, as I decided to go with this look.

Note the "wyrm" title -- I initially wanted to do a more dragon-y take, with a final form maybe being an amphithere, but decided against it in the end and changed tracks when I couldn't get that to look right. Liked the idea though, so it gets to be a life stage that exists for 0.1 seconds. You can also see the adult pose change!

The butterfly note here comes from some images I was looking at with interesting wing shapes. Never quite got it how I wanted, pivoted to a purely pennant-winged nightjar kind of wing.

Now the thing I had done earlier was some bugs, which I liked, but ultimately just couldn't draw 'em. Bird can be a loose term, after all, and large black swallowtails flying by at fast speeds have had me thinking a small bird flew past me on multiple occasions.

Plus, well, lots of bugs have worm-children. There are literally just worms, of course. But butterflies, beetles, flies, sawflies... all winged (usually) with little squirmy babies.

And the first doodle page was, of course, birds. I must admit, this is my favorite just because I figured out how to draw birds only on this ONE sketch session. That heron is beautiful. But anyway -- I kinda merged ideas together in the end, giving it several traits from both doodled birds.

In my heart, after all these arts, a lumchagg is a kind of weird purple bird of any type lol. Even from the beginning, I wanted that kind of long feather just for looks. Please note the incorrect text describing what I call the "standard-winged purple swampjarhen." It's a hybrid of a grey-headed swamphen (aka a purple swamphen) and a pennant-winged nightjar. Oops! I was looking at them in a tab, I have no idea how I messed up my own damn text.

Here's a pennant next to a standard -- big difference in silly wing feathers!

[daemon-in-my-head]

Okay here's my impromptu datv review that nobody asked for but I feel a certain need to ramble. Spoilers duh

Shit I vibe with:

The hair. Not the selection but the overall way it was implemented. It's nice and flowy and actually moves when my character does which is pretty neat and definitely hits a spot I didn't know have

Exploration is kinda fun. As in, getting sidetracked by side paths and the likes

Contrary to popular opinion I actually like my Character having a voice and actually being part of the conversation, so that's cool

Considerably minor choices have an impact. And now I want to punch Solas for being a smug asshole after I was a dick. I mean cmon he kinda deserved that one

You can somewhat customize your room. That's fun

Also; aquarium room yay

Stuff thats just 'fine'

The character creator. The scars are cartoonish, the tattoo selection is something, for lack of better term, and the hair selection at least for elves is atrocious. But, there are a lot of sliders for the face and body itself and you can get lost in them for quite a while

The atmosphere is alright. Environment is pretty to look at usually

The tarot art and stuff is pretty

Shit I definitely don't like

The lightning, or lack thereof. Somehow my white haired dude has black hair everywhere but in the lighthouse where it's somewhat muddy gray. Outside of the character creator I don't think I've actually seen the color I chose. Seemingly not an issue for dark hairs tho

The action combat. Don't get me wrong, looked super fun, and may be, but at least as a warrior who needs to get up and close to enemies half of the time I just don't see shit cuz of the weird camera angles. The darkspawn and shit are especially horrible cuz the blight usually covers the mark that would tell me whether or not an incoming attack is blockable. Which is fun if your combat kinda relies on you blocking shit.

Complaining further about the 'action combat'; it's so oddly slow at times? At least the warrior combat doesn't feel particularly fast, especially dynamic attacks like dodging, rushing or jumping. Which yk, you'd think would be fast. Then again, I am used to incredibly fast-paced combat and games in general (yk the kind that doesnt even allow you to think), so that might be working at my disadvantage rn.

Further complaining about the combat +1; the tutorial is shit. I'm sorry but text dumps ain't a tutorial that's a wiki or smth. Tell me which button to press in a tutorial fight while I actually need it and see my actions immediately translated and don't tell me 2 seconds after spawning 'hey u can dodge like this' only to have absolutely no reason to dodge for the next 10 minutes and 3 cutscenes. That's just lazy game design

The combat controls. Listen I know this is super nitpicky but who the fuck uses space to dodge as standard control in 2024 and why do you hate your players like that?

The writing. It's so on the nose. It's legitimately written for people without any critical thinking ability or attention span or whatever. Also it's so fucking repetitive. Yes we've established the elven gods are evil like 10 times in the last 60 seconds. I think I understand now. Can we talk about literally anything else please?

It feels like all characters have this 'try not to smile now' smile all the time. The stakes are supposed to be high but everyone's just grinning about. It does definitely impact the vibe

Being a sarcastic bitch sometimes is as morally gray as this game gets

The story is paced slowly. Which could be a win, but in this case feels more like a drag or a timestretch to artificially increase the content.

I've been a bitch to harding, nearly killed her, told her to stay back multiple times, overall did only thinks she disapproves of and I still rizzed her up somehow. Why. How. Does it even matter if they approve or disapprove of my actions? So far it doesn't rly seem like it

Why do you allow me to pet cats nd stuff if I can't actually see it happening. -100 points just for this one in particular

Most of the NPCs are copy pasted models and I can't unsee it. BG3 spoiled my ass with their diversity.

Turn your brain off and it's fine. Nice to look at. 60€ worth nice to look at? I'm rly not sure. Oh but definitely don't try to think if you listen to or read the dialogue cuz it will physically hurt you.

Will I keep playing it? Idk, honestly I am kinda bored after the initial 'oh new shiny game' wore off even though the concept is exactly the shit I usually vibe with. But welp, we'll see, whatever happens happens, for now I'll just disappear back into the void where I came from and probably take a nap.

[bluelolblue]

Hiiiiii! So we talked about vampire John and Santino - what about werewolf John and Santino? Are they both werewolves? Does one turn the other? What’s their whole vibe? I want to know all about it! 🖤🐾

WEREWOLVES YAYAYYYY

This made me so happy bc I love werewolves ever since I was a kid YAYYY!

I also personally like those werewolves who look like wolves (more like anthropomorphic), you know, have tails and don't have any human features (there's so many werewolf designs). Because that is a real werewolf to me :].

Okay, I love this so much, lemme hyperfixate! This gave me such a good idea that I will write a longer fic on it one day!

Imma explain what I have in mind now! :3

Werewolf AU! 🐾

John is giving me werewolf vibes, so he's the one that was first turned into one. How it happened? Well, he was just doing what he usually does. He was on a mission but got ambushed by an enemy who just happened to have lycanthropy. He got some symptoms a week later and turns out he also got it and became a werewolf. I see him a dark-black coated werewolf (because of his hair), honestly kinda like the black werewolf from "Van Helsing" (2004).

I also think John got more physically stronger, I mean he looks the same just yk got more strength (bro is already strong like just imagine with extra strength). Yk also night vision and everything else.

He didn't want to tell Santino at first because he didn't want to scare him with that. In this AU there's lots of possibilities, like what if they were supposed to hunt werewolves and now this happened? That would make the whole situation even more intense! Then again, Santino noticed that something wasn't right with John. Like... he had even more trouble sleeping than before, was more restless and other side effects.

So, Santino was curious and wanted to help if something was bothering him. And then the whole "I got turned into a werewolf" talk happened. "Please don't be scared or mad at me l-" but Santino literally can't be scared or mad at him. And he's the only person who isn't scared of him, honestly. "I don't mind it. You're still the same in my eyes."

Santino accepted it. And he was really curious actually. Like... his werewolf form, he really wanted to see it. And once he did... yeah. Oh yeah >:]. Sorry if I sound weird, ummm monster sexy time isn't for everyone I understand 😭. Santino is a freak, okay lmaoo!

It didn't took long for Santino wanting to become one, too. If his lover is going to be a werewolf and suffer some side effects as one, he is going to do it. One more thing I think comes with changing into a werewolf. Muscle cramps after turning back to human. C'mon, that has to hurt! So, I like to imagine Santino massaging him, his legs, his shoulders, his back, anything that hurt. And back rubs when John struggles to sleep or has some side effects.

John was a bit worried about turning him into a werewolf. It can be really exhausting and and painful at times. But, Santino insisted. And John can't go against him. On the bed, pinned down, John bit into his shoulder enough for his fangs to sink into his skin and let the blood flow. It wasn't a big bite because he didn't want to hurt him too much. Santino did wince and whimper when it happened but he was glad John did it. Now he can be like him.

It left a little scar, just like it did to John (however I think he has a bigger scar because it didn't happen willingly). And of course, the side effects started happen after some time, John told him it was all normal and kept comforting him through it. His first transformation, John was there for him of course. Comforting him like always. I see him a brown coated werewolf, like his hair color yk. Maybe a bit more curly near head.

Ahh he would be such a cute werewolf. Not as big as John, and not as strong as him but still gets all the advantages of being a werewolf. A cutie, like imagine him wagging his tail when John praises him and pets his head AAWW!

It takes some time for him to get used to this new ability, like especially with his tail, "Why is my tail wagging??" And John is like, "That's because you're happy, love." Absolute cuties :3

When they're both in werewolf forms, I kinda think they would snuggle and, like how dogs snuggle each other, rubs heads together and nip on each others ears and that. Just be cute together.

Do they get freaky- yes. 💀😭

Considering how curious and kinky they both are (*coughs* Santino especially *coughs*) um... yeah. They definitely did it like that. :>

But they really just support and comfort each other. If someone wants to hunt them down after finding out they both became werewolves... they are ready for a fight against whoever wants to hurt them.

OKAY! This was so fun to write and think about! Thank you so much for this ask! I really love this idea, so I'm gonna add it to the list, Werewolf AU! YAYYY! 💙🖤💙🖤

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

Hello mascot what do u look like please? What colors do u have? Are you just a big wheel with eyes and communicate with us through text because hearing your voice would literally crush our eardrums? Asking for a friend.

Well that is an ominous ask I'm so tempted to say yes indeed I am the wheel of god. But no, in fact, a lot of maggots have heard my voice I literally never shut up on here idhfnwiuef?? I love the sound of my own voice a little too much. You can probably find me singing a lot on my blog. And talking, that too.

We don't talk about the live audio reaction of me realising Michael Sheen was in Twilight. Yes, I did burst into desperate tears right in the middle of a restaurant and everyone was horrified. It had been a few days into the kidnapping and I was fRaGiLe okay. Michael Sheen being Aro in Twilight was the proverbial last fucking straw. SHHHHHHH (...een. hahaha. im funny.)

As for what colours I have, my personality is very black-silver-wood-pink. If that helps. It probably doesn't.

As for what I look like, well, a less cute and more long version of my pfp self-portrait, which isn't terribly cute to begin with. I have been told I give off tiktok fuckboy vibes in real life more frequently than I would have liked. I give Crowley vibes in terms of gait and posture, but more than 50% of the time it's Crowley on laudanum vibes, without the Scottish part. Though I'm sure I can work on the Scottish part too. Sorry, Scottish maggots, I will put in more effort for you.

The posture part is far too real. I have somehow pulled my leg muscle by just sitting in the chair. Which is extremely bewildering because I've been David Tennant-ing chairs since I was five. Why did something get injured now I didn't even do anything extra weird? All I do is sit or sleep.

It could have been my responding to my mum's begging to exercise by saying yoga the way someone would say parkour!, and trying to balance my foot above my head on the wardrobe while still crammed on the desk chair.

I realise that this was a very unhelpful answer. I'm rather proud of that.