#plus i wanted to make some neat poses but these still seem flat :/

[emrlden]

hehe postin at midnight- i woulda gone to sleep earlier but my brain kept thinking about finishing this woops

 also some doodles 

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Christmas Specials: Jake and Kauri

Honestly, this is mostly just some genuinely sharp pining and yearning.

“Merry Christmas.”

The box, small and light, drops onto the kitchen table with a sound more like a tap than a thud. Jake blinks down at it, cheerfully wrapped in a bright cacophony of rainbow colors in vaguely ornament-like shapes. Jake sets his coffee mug slowly down, steam curling up into the air, particles of dust briefly visible floating through the beams of early morning light.

Kauri hasn’t slept, and it’s clear - his hair is still mussed, he’s wearing clothes from the night before, that particular look of shadowed satisfaction he has after a night well-wasted. Red-rimmed eyes and the slightest wince at the sun coming in through the curtains, and still… still, he’s Kauri, and Jake’s glad to see him.

“Not Christmas yet,” Jake offers, carefully casual. If his eyes are on Kauri’s too long, neither one of them mention it. Kauri smells like cigarette smoke and another man’s cologne, and he doesn’t smoke so Jake knows that means he’s been with someone who does. “You’re up early, Kaur.”

“At what point,” Kauri asks, with the air of a philosopher posing a question for the ages, “Does it stop being up late and begins being up early?”

“When it’s 7 o’clock in the fucking morning, you’re pretty safely at up early. What brought you by?”

Kauri shrugs, pouring himself a cup of coffee. The house creaks around them, ancient bones settling into the foundation. There’s the telltale squeak of the spot just outside the bathroom door, and then the sound of water rushing through pipes. Chris, in the shower, Jake thinks. Antoni steps around the spot on the floor that squeaks. Leila moved out, and they haven’t gotten anyone new for her old room yet.

“I just decided to,” Kauri says, yawning, and something about the way his eyes close makes him look like a sleepy kitten, rumpled and ready to simply list to the side until he collapses. “Had this to give you.”

“I have something for you, too, but I haven’t wrapped it.”

Kauri blinks, pouring peppermint mocha creamer into the coffee cup and topping it off with plain milk. He turns and leans back against the counter, sipping, and the way he smiles a little at the taste of the coffee makes Jake’s chest twist in an anxiety he can name but can’t afford to linger on. “You got me a present?”

Kauri sounds so fucking surprised that it hurts.

Do you really think so little of yourself?

“Of course I did. So did Chris, and Nat, and Antoni.”

Kauri lets out his breath, disbelieving, shaking his head with a half-grin. “I don’t know why. I can’t have anything that doesn’t fit in my backpack.”

“I mean, you could stay-”

“No.” Kauri cuts him off. “No. I can’t.”

“Fair. But I think everyone got you stuff that you can carry with you easy. Plus I think Nat got Keira something, but don’t ask me what. What you buy for a fucking Roomba is beyond me.” Jake watches the way Kauri relaxes back into the easy joking, the more sensitive minefield of simply being cared for avoided for now. “I’ll be right back, then we can exchange, yeah? Just us, first.”

“Yeah.” Kauri gives him that cockeyed grin again, turns to look out the window. The sky is a riot of purples and pinks as the sun slowly rises on a California December. The only change is that it’ll start raining soon, and Kauri wears a sweater sometimes.

Jake pushes himself to his feet, ducking his head as usual to avoid knocking it on the top of the doorframe, heading up the stairs with the solid creaks from the old steps that are as much a part of the house as the pictures Nat keeps on the wall. Chris meets him coming out of the shower, towel-drying his longish hair - he’s growing it out, he says, and it has the slightest curl against the back of his neck and under his ears - and wearing all his clothes already.

With some of the rescues, it’s a sign they still didn’t feel safe, when they took all their clothes into the bathroom and never let their skin be seen. With Chris, as with most Romantics, it’s the opposite. He feels safe enough to know he can make himself comfortable any way he wants. Not feeling like he needs to show skin is a sign of security for him.

“Hey, hey Jake,” Chris says, one green eye covered by the pastel purple towel. “Did, did I hear you, um, you talking to, to-... is, is breakfast-”

“Can you chill up here for a sec?” Jake interrupts him, voice pitched low. At Chris’s confusion, he says softly, “I just… want to do something. Give me ten minutes, yeah? Then I’ll start on breakfast and you can come down.”

“Um, oh-okay,” Chris says, frowning, but he slips into the room he shares with Antoni, and Jake heads for his own room, digging out Kauri’s gift from underneath a carefully arranged pile of basically trash papers in his desk drawer. Hidden, like Kauri was a kid who still believed in Santa.

Hidden, like Jake didn’t want to explain what he did to anyone but Kauri, and definitely didn’t want to explain why.

He heads back downstairs with the gift carefully slipped into his back pocket, unseen until he wants Kauri to know. Ducks his head again - and Jake has been ducking to avoid doorframes since he was sixteen, he thinks, or eighteen maybe - and finds Kauri right where he left him, still sipping his coffee, lost in thought.

Warm gold light edges his mussed-up black curls, sets off the blue of his eyes when he turns to look at Jake. Lights his smile a little, too. Jake’s eyes catch the barest hint of a flash of bare skin at his stomach, where shirt hem and low-slung jeans meet. 

“Want to do yours first?” Jake asks, and his voice sounds airy to him, but Kauri doesn’t seem to notice.

“Nah. You open yours, then I’ll do mine.” Kauri gives a smooth shrug, effortlessly graceful. Or maybe it hadn’t been effortless, before it’d been beaten into him until he couldn’t be anything else. 

Jake nods, slowly, and sits down, carefully shifting his weight not to put any on the phone, and takes the box in hand. He rips open a seam very slowly and shifts the box out, then folds the wrapping paper and sets it to the side. 

He catches Kauri watching him, eyebrows furrowed again and glances up. 

“Why-... why didn’t you just tear it?” Kauri points at the folded square, as neat as origami. “Why did you do that? It’s like 15 cents of paper.”

Jake shrugs, running his fingers over the smooth, plain brown box the size of his palm, mostly flat. “We always saved wrapping paper to use the next year, when I was a kid. It’s just a habit, guess I never lost it. What’s in here?”

“Open the box and see.” Kauri holds his mug in both hands, giving him a pleased little smile, and not for the first time, Jake thinks, if I’d met you any other way…

He opens the box. Inside, there’s three gift cards, slightly shiny, and Jake looks each one over, blinking, before he looks up. “This is… the Mitchells Center downtown, the Blue Martini, and… Holden’s Harbor… Kauri, this is-... what is this?”

“A date.” Kauri bites down on his lower lip, looking at Jake over his mug, and his eyes are sparkling bright. Jake almost opens his mouth to say, I’m so sorry, we can’t do that, we just can’t, when Kauri quickly adds, “For you and Addie.”

Jake’s protest dies, unspoken. “For… for Addie?”

“Yeah. You’ve been talking for months about saving up for a big anniversary thing, and then, you know, I heard you say you were giving Nat a bunch of your money when the pipe burst and the basement flooded, so…” He shrug, again. “I didn’t want you to miss out on your date. And I remembered you said she likes that bar, the Blue Martini, I know the bartender there-”

You know everyone, everywhere.

“-so he’s gonna give you drinks half-price, just tell me the night and I’ll let him know. Then Holden’s Harbor, that’s the big one, but I’m friends with a waiter and the hostess is going to give you a table that looks over the Bay, she’s fun, I partied with her a few week ago. And then… the Mitchells Center is doing Hadestown, and you said that’s Addie’s big thing right now. So. Happy anniversary.” 

Jake is, for a moment, utterly speechless. “Kauri this is like-... three hundred dollars of-... you can’t possibly-”

“Four. But don’t worry about it. I had a bunch of really good weeks a couple months ago and I don’t spend much money, anyway. Is it good? Do you think?”

Jake just stares at the gift cards for a second, swallowing around a lump in his throat, a tightening threatening to take his voice. “It’s, um.” His voice cracks a little and he has to clear his throat to recover it. “It’s amazing, Kaur. Thank you. Um… like I said, I didn’t have time to wrap it, but…” He pulls the gift out of his back pocket and lays it out on the table between them.

Kauri steps forward, setting his mug down. “What-... a new phone? Thanks, I-”

“Yeah, but, um, that’s not what’s important. Just…” Jake picks the phone up, and it feels like such a dumb thing, now, what he did, but he powers through it. The phone isn’t locked yet, and it’s easy to pull up the apps and folders, select one, and open it up. He slides the phone closer. “Pick one of those, and click it.”

Kauri looks down, and Jake looks with him. It’s a file folder open to a bunch of sound files, each one labeled with an emoji rather than words. A heart, a broken heart, a smile, a sad face. A gravestone. A tree. A cat.

His finger hovers, and then taps deliberately over the heart. A line of options pops up, each one punctuated with new emojis. The one Kauri picks is marked with a face that has blue eyes and black hair, a leaf, and a flower.

“I swear,” A voice - Jake’s voice - comes out of the phone’s speaker, “since seeing Your face, the whole world is fraud and fantasy. The garden is bewildered as to what is leaf or blossom. The distracted birds can’t distinguish the birdseed from the snare.”

“What is this?” Kauri’s voice is hushed, and uncertain. He almost sounds scared. But he doesn’t stop the recording. 

“A house of love with no limits,” The voice continues, “A presence more beautiful than Venus or the moon. A beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart. The Divani Shamsi Tabriz XV.”

Jake clears his throat again. “That’s, um, Rumi.”

Kauri’s breath catches in his throat, and he looks for a second like he’ll pick another choice, then pulls his hand back, looking up at Jake wide-eyed. “You… recorded poetry? For my Christmas present?”

“Yeah.” Jake licks at his lips, his heart pounding for reasons he can’t really explain to himself, or maybe just doesn’t want to. “You, um, you quote-... you quote shit all the time, so I started looking it up, and it’s almost always… poetry. So I figured, maybe, um, maybe-... you liked that shit, you know? And you shouldn’t have to… not get it, just because you can’t read yet. So I recorded, um, like… two hundred poems or something?”

Kauri opens his mouth to speak, closes it again. 

“Oh my God,” is all he says. His voice cracks.

Jake’s chest twists, nervous, he finds himself tapping his foot on the floor, twisting fingers into his pajama pants. 

Kauri leans over and pushes another poem, in a sudden burst of movement like he wants to stop himself and can’t. “Sometimes, I think you get the worst of me.” Jake’s voice is softer on this poem, and it’s uncomfortable listening to himself read this. Why did Kauri choose the love poems? “The much-loved loose forest-green sweatpants, the long bra-less days, hair knotted and uncivilized, a shadowed brow where the devilish thoughts do their hoofed dance on the brain.”

“This is Ada Limon,” Kauri whispers.

“I’d like to say this means I love you, the stained white cotton T-shirt, the tears, pistachio shells, the mess of orange peels on my desk, but it’s different than that. I move in this house with you, the way I move in my mind, unencumbered by beauty’s cage.”

“You, uh, mentioned her one day when Nat was listening to NPR-”

“Ssshhhh,” Kauri says, holding up a hand, as Jake’s recorded voice keeps reading.

“I do like I do in the tall grass, more animal-me than much else. I’m wrong, it is that I love you, but it’s more that when you say it back, lights out, a cold wind through curtains, for maybe the first time in my life, I believe it. Ada Limon, Love Poem With Apologies for My Appearance.”

There’s a long silence broken only by Kauri’s harsh breathing, and Jake watches tears build in his wide blue eyes. He’s done something wrong, somehow. It had seemed like a good gift but he’s ruined it, somehow it wasn’t right at all, it wasn’t-

“Thank you, this is-... this is amazing,” Kauri says. Barely words. More just a breath.

Some part of Jake had been tense and coiled to turn in on himself in anger. That part, at the words, relaxes. “You’re welcome. Is it-... is it good, or…”

“You, um-... you fucking heard, some shit I said, and you-... got me something, I just...” Kauri’s hands move nervously, over himself and over the back of the chair, to the phone, back up to his hair. He meets Jake’s eyes, and his brim with tears and Jake feels his own heating up in response. “You just… I, I don’t-... no one’s ever done anything like this for me.”

“Really?”

“I m-mean, not that I know of anyway.” The joke falls flat, Kauri’s voice is too full of tears. Kauri picks up the phone like it’s a precious object that might shatter or disappear, holds it with reverent hands. Swallows and looks at Jake like he’s seeing him for the first time. “I didn’t-... know you listened to me so much.”

“‘Course I do. Merry Christmas,” Jake says, voice maybe a little thick, buried in the things they don’t say to each other. “Merry Christmas, Kauri.”

Kauri pours himself another cup of coffee, and Jake lets out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding at the sign that Kauri will stay a little longer. 

With his back to Jake and the phone still clutched in one hand, Kauri says, “Merry Christmas, Jake.”

They both pretend that Kauri’s voice isn’t shaking.

---

Tagging: @burtlederp , @finder-of-rings , @endless-whump , @whumpfigure , @slaintetowhump , @astrobly @newandfiguringitout , @doveotions , @pretty-face-breaker , @boxboysandotherwhump , @oops-its-whump @moose-teeth , @cubeswhump , @cupcakes-and-pain @whump-tr0pes @whumpiary

[jovialyouthmusic]

Lovelink fanfic

Featuring Albert Bishop from Ludia’s fake dating app. 

Word count 1868

A/N I’ve had this on hold for a while. Not sure where it’s going, but it’s still moving - just. Definitely NS*W

Holed Up

I felt stupid for going too far with Albert – calling him soldier when he was trying to cope with trauma. I’d left him alone to change and listened for the front door closing. After I’d washed up the breakfast things and tidied up I wasn’t sure what to do, but in the end I decided on yoga. It would calm and centre me, and I’d be better able to cope with Albert when he got back. I changed into my gear, cleared a space in the lounge, and set out my mat. I chose some ambient music and was soon stretching and letting go of any negativity I felt. I went through my routine and sat to meditate afterwards, clearing my mind and focussing on my breath. It didn’t seem long before I heard the doorbell again and he was back. I ran lightly to the door and he grinned at the sight of me in my yoga pants, looking me up and down with a gleam in his eye.

‘Damn Ma’am, those pants don’t leave much to the imagination’ I stepped back as he made to kiss me, putting my hand against his chest.

‘Now just hold up there Albert. You’ve worked up quite a sweat, so it’s off to the bathroom for you.’ I paused for effect ‘though I could join you if you like, yoga doesn’t always leave me smelling sweet either.’ His slow smile melted my core and told me that he had run fast and far enough to escape his demons.

‘Yes Ma’am’ he saluted and made his way to the bathroom. I fetched some towels and followed him. Already he had stripped and folded his clothes in a neat pile and grinned at me, already somewhat aroused before I had so much as taken my t shirt off. I had a hard time tearing my eyes away from his broad chest, flat belly and...

‘How about a nice hot bath? I suggested ‘There’s room for both of us’

‘Sounds good’ he said, watching me strip off my top. ‘You must be very flexible if you’re a – what do they call it – a yogini?’ I smiled seductively

‘I’m sure you can think of a way to find out. Running calls for stamina, so I guess we can do a little measuring experiment – flexibility versus stamina’ I went to the tub and turned the taps on to run the bathwater.

‘Sounds like an experiment I can get behind, but I think I’ll get clean in the shower first, then we can relax in the bath’ He leaned against the wall, arms folded and one foot resting against the tiled wall as I stripped, whistling with appreciation as I peeled my leggings off. He gave me another scorching look before turning the shower on and stepped in, not waiting for the water to heat up, grunting as the icy stream hit his skin. I bit my lip, watching appreciatively as he lathered himself off, watching his hands move over his muscled body.

He got out and waved me in and I stepped under the now warm cascade, soaping myself as he got into the bath. I heard him groan as he lay back, and was soon ready to join him. He opened his legs wide and beckoned me.

‘Let me wash your hair’ he said. I got my shampoo and stepped in, looking down at him for a moment and handing him the bottle before I sank to my knees and turned to sit with my back to him. I had a shower attachment to the bath taps and handed it to him to wet my hair, the warm water cascading over my head. I closed my eyes to let it flow over them before he handed it back to me to turn it off. I felt and heard him put shampoo onto his palms and rub them together before starting to massage it into my scalp with just the right amount of pressure. I moaned in appreciation.

‘How do you know how to do this so perfectly?’ He laughed softly.

‘I have nieces’ he said ‘You soon learn to be gentle when their shrieks shatter your eardrums at bathtime’

‘Your brothers have families?’

‘Yes, both of them. Two girls and a boy. I’m the fun uncle that gets them all riled up before bedtime. It’s great to look after kids when you can give them back’

‘Ha, my best friend has a little girl. You also figure out how to calm them down when you babysit and are responsible for getting them to sleep. Then you can get the snacks and chill in front of the TV’

‘Ah, see they never trust me that far. Do a job badly enough and you won’t be asked to do it again’

‘That doesn’t sound worthy of a military man’ He gestured for the shower attachment again and I handed it to him.

‘I have to let go some time, and I only do it to get back at my brothers for all the ribbing they give me for not joining them on the trawler’ The clean water sluiced the suds off my hair, and I closed my eyes against the sting.

‘Did you ever want to go with them – would you?’

‘No, I wanted to break out on my own. I enjoy my job, and I’ll be happy to go to university when I’m done. I’m applying for the course I want right now – my promotion will hopefully make a good impression on the application forms.’ He handed me the shower to put away, and I turned to face him, kneeling and putting my arms around his neck to kiss him long and slow.

‘Well Albert, the water’s not getting any warmer’ I pointed out ‘In or out?’ He grinned slyly, and I shook my head at the double entendre ‘of the water’ I added.

‘I definitely think we should christen it and find out how flexible you are’

‘Hmm’ I replied ‘Well, I could try a kneeling pose I suppose’ I knelt with my thighs either side of his, belly and breasts pressed to him, his erection increasing in appreciation. He put his hands on my sides and helped guide me up and forward ‘In a hurry?’ I teased ‘Don’t forget the condoms’ He sighed, and with a flourish I reached up to the shelf on the wall behind him and produced a foil packet.

‘You really do think of everything’ He took the packet from me and started to tear it open carefully with his teeth and fingers.

‘I went round putting them wherever I guessed we might need them’ I reached down and wrapped my fingers around his length. He grinned

‘Right about now is where I’d say you’re so wet baby but I can’t tell’

‘That is such a cheesy line’ I sighed ‘Please don’t use it again’

‘No ma’am’ He pushed my hand aside and rolled the condom over himself. I sat up as tall as I could, pressing my belly to his chest. He groaned and turned his head slightly to set his lips to one of my nipples, flicking it with his tongue.

‘No nipping’ I scolded ‘Play nice’ He let the nipple go with a soft pop.

‘I always play nice with girls’ I sank lower to start guiding him inside me, sighing with satisfaction as I stretched and settled.

‘Slow and steady now, let’s not flood the bathroom. I don’t want to get chucked out of my flat for anti social behaviour. It’s a nice neighbourhood’

‘I’m sure I could find a nice remote little bolthole where we could make as much noise as we like’

‘Shut up and concentrate, soldier’ I assessed that he was relaxed enough for me to use the term again, and was rewarded by a slow smile.

‘Yes Ma’am’ I closed my eyes to savour the feeling of him filling me and the warm water swirling around our bodies. I pivoted and angled my hips rather than rising and falling, give in him a quick kegel squeeze from time to time, and grinding my pelvis against his. He gripped my hips and bent his knees a little to change the angle until I gasped every time we found my sweet spot. Soon I was oblivious to the swishing and swirling of the water, intent on our pleasure. I felt it bubble up from deep inside me, and groaned in anticipation, my back arching. Arnold took my cue and I felt him start to twitch. Together we shot upward to oblivion, to shared bliss, shuddering and shaking as we came together, seeming both to last forever and be over in an instant, leaving us heaving for breath.

I pulled back to let him slide out of me, leaning back against the tap end of the bath, water sloshing and just topping the sides of the bath to splash out onto the floor. Arnold sat, head tipped back, breathing heavily

‘Fuck’ he panted, and it was a little while before he could speak again ‘You know – how you said – it was – oh fuck’ He took a deep breath ‘I’ve never come with anyone like that so often’ I furrowed my brow.

‘I’m not sure I understand’

‘We – we come together – at the same time. Every fucking time. I’ve only managed that once or twice before.’

‘Oh’ I was nonplussed

‘Is that normal for you?’ He asked, still not moving from the rapidly cooling bath water.

‘Uh – no’ I replied, and thought about it for a moment ‘I suppose we’re pretty special together – though it’s early days’ I shifted from my end of the bath, which wasn’t exactly comfortable, and pulled the plug out. At last Albert moved, removing the condom and heaving himself up to get out, offering his hand to help me. We towelled off and I went to the bedroom to get dressed. He followed me and caught my hand as I opened my lingerie drawer.

‘No panties today’ he grinned ‘Just wear that sexy nightie for the rest of the day’ I smiled and rummaged in the drawer, finding a scrap of red fabric that I held up for him to see.

‘Not even this tiny thong?’

‘Nope, no underwear’ He stood close to nuzzle my neck and smoothed his hands over my buttocks, pulling me against him.

‘Only if you go bare chested’

‘Deal’ He put on his boxer briefs and a pair of combat pants and I slipped on my silky robe again. He frowned. ‘If you’re cold, turn the heat up, I want to see as much flesh as possible’

‘I could be naked’ I said, raising an eyebrow

‘Hmm good as that sounds, I think a little mystery is good’ He skimmed his hand over the fabric ‘Plus it feels good’

‘Well okay soldier – maybe we should eat, keep our strength up’

‘Sure thing, Ma’am. I hope you’ve plenty of  supplies, I intend to give you a thorough workout before I have to go back to base.’

‘There’s always takeaways’ I said over my shoulder as I went to the kitchen.

@kittidot @jaxsmutsuo @ramseyswifey @otakufangirl-12​ @mostly-tessaandscott @aestheticallypleasing5sos @sunflowy @celiamcg @basicallysailormars @fabi-en-ciel @rdjcoldplay @cyn-onlyyou @american-satanxx @exxtrastout @callmeluna7 @theclowneryqueen​ @speedyoperarascalparty @katedrakeohd @notoriouscs @bobasheebaby​ @fluffyfirewhiskey​

[daresplaining]

Some Thoughts on Daredevil #600

    Here’s to 600 issues of Daredevil (not counting mini-series, annuals, etc.)! As usually happens at these landmark moments, Marvel and the DD creative team celebrated with a longer-than-normal issue, which sparked far-reaching changes to Matt Murdock’s world. 

    The situation set up by this story arc is a grim one. Wilson Fisk has been elected mayor of NYC. Matt has been keeping an eye on him (and vice versa) as Fisk’s deputy, but has struggled in his every attempt to sabotage him. However, he has recently discovered a crack in Fisk’s law-abiding facade: a meeting that he has planned with the city’s prominent street-level villains. Matt, as Daredevil, gathers together a gang of heroes to crash the party. 

Matt: “We protect this city, we fight in its streets, we are New York. And now we’ll take it back from Wilson Fisk. Mayor or not, he has to go down. We agree on that.”

    Colorist Matt Milla still hasn’t quite gotten the hair color memo, because poor Jessica has lost her brown hair. It also would have been nice to see Colleen in this team-up, since Misty is there. But these are minor complaints. In a series that restored Matt’s secret identity and thus symbolically isolated him from many of his friends, it’s a powerful gesture, in this climactic issue, to see him engaged in this kind of a team-up... even if most of the people involved still don’t know who he is. It’s especially nice to see Maya (Echo) here, back in action alongside her former friends. Since her resurrection early in the run she has had a few really touching moments of reconnecting with Matt, and we hope to see more of her as the series continues. 

    Matt has pulled off similar plans in the past, and he has taken down Wilson Fisk in some thoroughly delicious ways, but in this instance, it ends up not being that easy. And we like that-- Fisk has been one step ahead of Matt for this whole arc, and it would have felt anticlimactic for such a simple, faulty plan to bring that to an end. Rather than catching Fisk red-handed, the Kingpin doesn’t show. The collected villains turn on each other, the heroes swoop in to prevent any unnecessary deaths... and then the cops arrive. 

Matt: “Damn. Damn. So much for the plan. Need to get down there, before someone gets-- Wait. NYPD. But that’s... Oh, no.”

    This scene, as exciting as it is, features a reappearance of the less-than-stellar Garney/Milla radar sense, which we’ve complained about before. 

    There has always been inconsistency, but generally, modern depictions of the radar sense don’t allow it to pierce solid objects. Here, we see Matt tracking the activity in the restaurant from outside, a blatant break with tradition that we’re not huge fans of. What makes even less sense is the arbitrary use of multiple colors. Since the radar depiction is a visual stand-in for non-visual perception, the different colors must represent something... but what? Texture? And in the panel where Matt notices the cops, his radar seems to be picking up on flat images and uniform details that he should have no way of perceiving. It’s a nonsensical, misleading approach to the radar sense, and a tragic departure from Paolo Rivera’s crosshatching design, which was used to great effect in volumes 3 and 4. We understand each creative team wanting to put their unique stamp on the comic, but come on... if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    The police swoop in and grab the heroes and villains alike. We learn-- in a neat twist that, again, fits with Fisk’s behavior in the issues leading up to this climax-- that the proposed meeting was a trap, designed to round up the city’s crime bosses and get them arrested. As Matt has done again and again in this arc, he assumed nefariousness on Fisk’s part, and ended up shooting himself in the foot. While we know that Fisk is still a bad guy, and probably has all sorts of things up his sleeve, it’s always fun to see him play the good guy, just to see how cleverly he constructs the facade. And even more compellingly, Matt’s failure to accurately read his nemesis backfires on his friends. 

Wesley: “There were heroes there, too. Jessica Jones, Danny Rand, Maya Lopez, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Marc Spector. Even Spider-Man.”

Fisk: “Spider-Man... and what is his name? Who is he?”

Wesley: “We don’t know. Just before the cops grabbed him, he sprayed that webbing of his around his neck. Sealed it up tight, like glue. They can’t get his mask off.”

    (Oh, Peter. He’s so... experienced at this secret identity thing.)

    It will be interesting to see how long they actually end up in jail, given the events of the rest of the issue. Hopefully, someone is babysitting Dani...

    One of our favorite moments in this issue is a little reversal. While Matt has failed again and again to properly read his opponent, Fisk knows exactly how Daredevil works, and where to find him. It’s a level of familiarity between hero and arch-nemesis that is highly compelling to us. It’s these kinds of details that make for the best hero/villain relationships. It also gives Matt a chance to do a badass pose on Fisk’s roof, which is always a plus. 

Fisk: “It’d be just like him. Come along, Wesley. Let’s go up and say hello.”

Matt: “Fisk.”

    There have been so many iconic fights between these two over the years that it’s increasingly difficult to do anything new with them. This fight is certainly a good one... but then, they all are, and this tussle probably won’t go down in DD history as one of their memorable battles. But it’s still highly enjoyable, and is enhanced by Soule’s excellent dialogue, which highlights the core of their conflict, and emphasizes just how long they’ve been having these fights. 

Fisk: “If my name weren’t Wilson Fisk, you wouldn’t have batted an eye. You’d be cheering that the mayor had found a way to get Owlsley and the others off the streets.”

Matt: “But you are Wilson Fisk. You are the Kingpin. And you’re the enemy of everything that matters about this city.”

Fisk: “No. I’m not. But I’m sick of trying to explain that to you.”

    But as was foreshadowed throughout this arc, Matt isn’t allowed a clean win. Fisk hits him with a sledgehammer so hard that it’s amazing he’s able to stand afterward, and then goes off to tell a crowd of adoring supporters how great he is. Again, we are given a look at Fisk’s faked (probably?) duality, as Soule is exploring it-- the idea of him playing the hero while still being a villain. This isn’t a new Kingpin concept, of course, but it remains a good one, and an engaging way of playing with the character’s complexity.

    Partway through the speech, the Hand arrive and shoot Fisk full of arrows, thus kickstarting the next story arc. The Hand are really neat when used well, so we’re excited to see where Soule takes them, particularly given their new connection to Blindspot. However, they are not this issue’s big surprise. We learn, as Matt is carted away by the cops, that with Fisk now out of the picture, the mayorship falls to his deputy...

Steve: “Matt Murdock is the mayor of New York City.”

    (Heck yeah!)

    This is really exciting, not only because of its implications for Matt’s life, but also because it has been a long time coming. Kesel wanted to do it back in the 90s, but the idea was shot down by editorial. Bendis teased the possibility, but it never actually happened, thanks to the events of the rest of his run. 

Guy: “They’re going to ask you to be the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City.”

Matt: “Huh.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #56 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev

    And Waid’s speculative story in the 50th anniversary issue suggested that Matt had been/will become the mayor of San Francisco at some point, but we don’t get to actually see him in action. 

Foggy: “They remembered him from his original tour of duty here, when he and the Black Widow made the scene. [...] So when he came back, they had your pop running for office in no time. Busy boy, he was. Made lots of enemies.”

Daredevil vol. 4 #1.5, “The King in Red” by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez

    But we are finally getting Mayor Matt Murdock, and we cannot wait to see how that works out for him. 

    The issue’s secondary plot thread is possibly even more interesting than the Matt/Fisk shenanigans, because it’s all new. This thread follows Sam’s final battle with Muse... who is essentially a Blindspot rogue now, rather than a DD one. Their relationship is fascinating, with Sam’s quest to understand the nature of his own heroism/lack thereof paired with Muse’s frenetic lack of morality. They are both raw, emotional characters, and their interactions in this issue are stunning. We’re gonna miss Muse.     

Sam: “I need to understand, Muse. I need this to make sense. Why do you do what you do? Why do you hurt people? Why do you kill? Why?”

Muse: “You know why, Blindspot. It’s the same reason you want to kill me right now. It makes you better it makes you strong it shows them your power it says something it means something it solves your problems it gives you control you’re big they’re small it’s art it’s art IT’S ART!”

    This fight also hints that Sam’s connection with the Hand is far from over... and provides a glimpse at how his time training with them may have changed him.

Beast: “You know my power. The power of the Beast. I will give it to you once again. Just reach out... and take it.”

    While Sam refuses to kill for the Beast, this relationship will likely continue into the next arc-- which appears to be Hand-centric. Sam’s continuing evolution has been full of surprises, and we’re eager to see where this story takes him. All-in-all, this issue didn’t stand out as one of the most earth-shattering Daredevil stories ever told, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable, and did a great job of setting up some very exciting things in the future. 

    As an extra treat, the issue also includes a short, Foggy-centric story called “They Also Serve” by Christos Gage, Mike Perkins, and Andy Troy. This is merely the latest in a long line of Foggy-centric stories that celebrate his relationship with Matt. And there’s not a dang thing wrong with that, because they never get old. Matt and Foggy’s friendship exists at the very core of the comic, and its power and poignancy only increases as the years go by. Give us all of the Foggy-centric retrospectives. We will get misty-eyed every time. 

    We have only one complaint about this story, which is that Foggy... doesn’t really sound like Foggy for parts of it. 

Foggy: “This is gonna be so great! You have no idea how lucky you are, Murdock, ‘cause Foggy Nelson just happens to be the finest wingman in the history of wingmen. You just stand there looking handsome, strong, stoic... with a hint of tragedy, while I draw ‘em in with my oratorical virtuosity. Between my silver tongue, your looks, and the whole blind thing, you’re gonna need that cane to ward off the babes.”

    (Who... who are you, and what did you do with the real Foggy?!) 

    In fact, he sounds just like MCU Foggy. Which maybe shouldn’t have surprised us, because Christos Gage was also a writer for the first season of the Netflix show.  

    Despite this bit of weirdness, the issue is a nice look back at moments in Matt and Foggy’s friendship. It’s a trip down continuity lane, emphasizing just how long they’ve known each other and how much they’ve been through together.  

    All told, it’s a pleasant way to close out the issue, particularly given the rocky state of Matt and Foggy’s friendship throughout this run. 

[maguneedsalife]

Review time: ArtFX J Protagonist (Phantom Thief Ver.)!

(please excuse me while i scREAM!!!!!! REAL LOUD!!!!)

as usual, picture-heavy review under the cut!

Persona as a franchise means a lot to me, so I was of course extremely excited when Persona 5 finally came out overseas. My boyfriend and I marathoned the game together and beat it in just about a month (our roommate also bought the game and we had to race each other to avoid spoilers haha). What I didn't expect was for the game to completely, utterly charm me--the protagonist especially. I am the most weak for boys who can be equally sexy and cute, and Protag here hits that sweet spot dead on. So, ordering a figure of my best boy was inevitable. (technically, since my bf offered to go halfsies with me, he belongs to both of us--but he'll be living on my desk for now). When the release date was revealed to be my birthday I almost cried, haha... Anyway, let's get on to what you came here for, which is pictures of hot anime boytoys. (For the purposes of the review, I'm going to refer to him by his thief name, Joker, from here on.)

Here he is from the side! Those legs of his are really something....!!!!

You can see that he takes up quite a bit of space horizontally. Personally this is less than ideal, as I'm a little strapped for space at the moment--but the pose is so fun, I'm willing to make whatever room I can!

Here's how he looks from the back!

Lookin' cool, Joker!!

The way his coat billows out behind him is definitely one of the highlights of this figure. I can almost hear the sound of his footsteps amid Life Will Change now... The details on his coat are also very faithfully reproduced. Come to think of it, this is going to make great drawing reference in the future--it's hard to pick out details on a lot of the official art.

From a lower angle... the base's secret mask becomes visible! A very creative touch. It's hard to tell in this picture, but his butt is also... very nicely sculpted...

From the other side; possibly the least interesting angle.

Another side view. This figure has so much movement; its fun just to turn it around....

A closeup shot of his face... have you ever SEEN a man so beautiful??? It took me forever to get through the shoot for this review because I spent so much time just lying on the floor and admiring him..... His lower lip is a little too prominent for my taste, but it does follow the character designer's style. It's not too bad in certain lighting.

The paintwork on the mask is a little sloppy... but for the most part I'll be seeing it from a distance, so it doesn't bother me that much. I bought Joker from Amiami because I wasn't swayed by the Kotobukiya-exclusive parts (and I already had a September order going), but in hindsight I do kind of wish I had a calling card for him.

I can't remember why I took this picture actually.... but it's a good angle for him.

Close in, you can see that the details on his vest (vest?) were also very faithfully reproduced. I think it's meant to be a shirt, judging by the grey coloring on his wrists, but I usually draw it as a vest....

Akira "Legs for Days" Kurusu has some really very impressive legs.... He probably has the nicest legs of anyone in my collection.....

Closer in on those boots...! The paintwork on them really shines; they look just like polished leather. And those heels...!!! i almost want him to step on me...... In the above picture you can also see a couple of bits of leftover plastic; here's a detail shot so you can see what I mean:

They're only noticeable from some angles, and are probably easy to sand or snip off, but I felt it was important to point them out. Joker isn't my first Kotobukiya figure, but I've only had one other one to go on...

A closer look at his handgun. I noticed that he's been sculpted with his finger off the trigger; a+ gun safety there, Koto! Joker has a number of iconic accessories: the mask, calling card, gun, and dagger are probably the four that come to mind the fastest. I'm satisfied with the two they chose for the standard release, but I wouldn't mind having the calling card part too. though, considering I broke my P4 Protagonist's tarot card part not that long ago, maybe it's for the better that I got the regular version....

A closeup of his back! The seams of his coat are raised in relief as decorative piping. I also really like the strap in the back; very stylish.

Another detail I hadn't quite noticed in the game or the official art: the buttons on the far side of his coat! I don't know why I never noticed them before...

Here's a closer look at the base! The Phantom Thieves logo is faithfully reproduced, and the shattered-glass effect brings to mind the All-Out Attack animation. Plus, the stars in the background are meant to evoke the game's menus. I don't usually care much about bases, but this one is appropriately stylish for a game and character that ooze style.

Here's how the base looks from the back, with the hidden mask visible. The eyes are even hollow, just like the real thing! Like with May, Joker is also firmly anchored to the base with a screw. Is this something Koto does on a regular basis? It's going to make moving with him kind of a pain... While the base is certainly a highlight of the figure, it definitely has a downside. I don't know if this is a common problem on this figure, but my base doesn't quite sit flat on hard surfaces (or even carpet, like the one I was shooting on). It wobbles back and forth, which makes me a liiiittle nervous, since Joker is already putting a lot of weight forward. I might see if I can warm up the plastic a little and warp it back into shape.

Another close-up shot.... I just can't get enough of him, honestly! I was worried the final product would look too baby-faced, but he looks very handsome in person. Higher angles seem to be more flattering for him.

Alongside Shinjiro and Souji, we have The Holy Persona Boyfriend Trinity! I feel extremely blessed that figures exist for my main Persona crushes... now we just need Akechi Souji was my first scale figure, and at the time I thought he was impressively tall. He's since been dwarfed by every single scale I've bought since, and now he's even been out-legged by Joker. BUT! Souji still wins for looking like a Shigenori Soejima drawing walked off the page. (If I remember correctly, Soejima was the one who supervised GEM Souji in the first place....). Soejima's unique style is difficult to reproduce (see: every other Persona figure), so Joker here gets points for coming close. He's still very handsome!!

Maybe one day we'll get a nice scale Akechi to go with Joker, but for now I'll have to make due by balancing fan merch on him like a loser... (by the way, the cute Akechi charm is by K; here's her shop!)

This is actually kind of adorable..... maybe I'll hang more merch on Joker in the future....

AU where everything is the same except the Personas are the size of Pikachu

(By the way... I would kill for some Arsene merch right around now!!! I know a plastic model Arsene was just announced, and it looks amazing so far, but I want to decorate my purse with cute Arsene straps.... I have such a bad crush on him too haha. I'd also love to see cute little charms like the Izanagi one, but for the P5 crew... ah, I can dream.)

Anyway, that's enough delusions of grandeur.

Here's where I'm keeping him on my desk! Right within easy view of both me and my boyfriend, whose desk is kitty corner to mine. With a heavy heart, I had to relocate my Ren and Masato scales to storage to make room for Joker. ;-; Maybe someday soon I'll get a proper display case... Also--I didn't get pictures of it so you're going to have to take my word for it, but his box is probably the most stylish figure box I've ever seen. The box insert has the Phantom Thieves logo, along with the stars from the game's menu--and I would have used it as a backdrop for the review, except it's extremely (appropriately) busy. Not only that, the top of the box has a mask design like Joker's--and one eye is cut open to reveal a picture of the figure on the flap below it. This box is so neat that I actually didn't fold it up; I put the blister packaging back in and stuck it in my closet--so that's a testament to how cool that box is.

If my rambly fangirling wasn't enough to get the point across, Joker was worth every penny I spent on him. He adds a really dynamic presence to my collection, which I love (if you've read my reviews before, you know I never miss an opportunity to compare the sort of boring poses a lot of male figures get to the fun, interesting ones female figures get...). Joker has also brought to light the monkey's paw end of this scenario, which is that in exchange for a dynamic pose, he takes up way more space on my desk... whoops. Anyway, I definitely recommend this figure to fans of Persona 5--and I'm hoping that if this boy does well, we'll get more Persona 5 figures! Pls.... Atlus.... give us Akechi...... I'll take the most boring Akechi in the world if i have to.... I'll be looking forward to seeing more merch, especially with the anime coming next year... In particular I'm excited for figma Joker, who will be joining my collection in the spring. I'll have to try to pose him in the same pose as Koto's Joker just to compare. I'm also curious about Phat Company’s P5 protag announced at this year's summer WonFes. I wonder if they'll come up with a unique pose for him, or just go with the default... we'll have to see! Anyway, I think that just about wraps it up for this review. Tomorrow I'll likely (hopefully) be back with another review for the other item in my September AmiAmi order, figma Gwendolyn.  Oh, and to my Jewish followers: Shana Tova and G'mar Tov! And have an easy fast, if that's something you're participating in. (I'm not fasting, but I did go to services today...) The summer (summer?) of unending anime purchases continues...

[blaqueandstuff]

Creating Saturn

A bit of my process again, and some insights on why things are the way they are in it.

So this art project was mostly based on my wanting to revisit my takes of the incarna from late 2013 to 2014 and do them in color.  While I liked the colored results of Luna and the Unconquered Sun, they were still pretty primitive compared to the art i was following on DA and also even what I felt I could do as I was working on my character portraits for my own Exalted games and as I got back into drawing more and more again.  I felt this standing out quite a bit when I finished my retakes of my older characters the Lead Knight and Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon, plus the art I did for some PCs in my group and Anime Banzai.  So I got a desire to revisit them, this time though going a tad backwards and starting with Saturn instead of saving her kinda-for-last.

For reference, this is the original drawing that I uploaded back in early 2014.

This one was pretty fun for how dynamic it was and I feel the fun of also having her outfit base don Buddhist robes and generally working out.  For this picture I wanted to not do a full body shot, because I wanted to have a background and also wanted to avoid some proportion issues that sometimes slow down these pictures if I try to do seven characters in the same area.  That said, I liked this almost martial arts pose she was in, and wanted to evoke that in her new picture.  So I went and busted out the pen on paper and sketched a layout as I am want to do.

This is chaotic but how I often will lay stuff out.  I wanted to do the hand out, and sword behind her and looking at the viewer.  I also wanted her to have this almost authority to her, looking down at a viewer.  Her pose and outfit shifted quite a bit as it got to sketching but whatever.

The next step was to bust out the tablet and get to work.  I decided to experiment with art programs and did the initial sketch in Sketchable, which is a really neat Windows 10 app for well...sketching.  It’s pretty fast and lightweight and so I thought it would be good for starting pictures.  And to be honest, it did.  Takes a bit of learning though, but it has good pencil tools and is good for getting the picture started, though I don’t think I’d finish thing sin it.

With that in mind, I sketched based on the original pose idea, plus how things shifted along the way.  I kind of wanted to do this kind of sexy “left had forward, right leg forward” thing where it looks like she’s walking towards the viewer, as well as having her have a fairly calm-but-cute face.  Also ahoge, since original image had one.

With her laid-out in digital pencil, I exported her to PSD and into Clip Studio Paint.  Here I did standard inking, using Masks in her sword’s design to help make sure it was preserved in all stages of the drawing.  Some things one might notice is her sword is closer, her head got a tad straighter, her boobs became more proportional and her left had got a bit of a tilt to be clearer.  Lots of things happen like that in clean-up, so not too unusual to be honest.

Wanting to do flats next, I proceed to take a step back from her and do the background.  There are two big elements here to be added:  The actual starry sky behind her and the omega that I am using.  I start with the stars, which I built out of a combination of Photoshop Filter effects, plus some things in Clip Studio with gradients and better transparency controls.  I added the five constellations associated with Saturn by hand and rearrange them throughout the drawing’s process to get them in better places.

I built the omega out of various form tools.  And then I finally did its glow using some effects I learned years ago with layer blending, overlays and masks.  I don’t have a flat version of it here, but you can see its version used in the final image here:

Now that that’s done with I can move to coloring our Maiden of Endings.I introduce her flat colors, with further tweaks to things like her hair (head was too big to me, bangs needed a trim) and the sword (straighter).  I also add the Old Realm characters and gems to her sword.

I want her sword to have this nice iron or lead look to it, so hence the dull dark color.  ANd there’s also a want to have her legs flow, but this is where I start hitting some problems.  Mainly I don’t think her leg/thigh looks proportional with her arms.  She seems pretty skinny (if top-heavy) in the upper part, but not as much in the lower.  I try to fix this by obscuring the length of her leg and trim the left sid of her skirt, but this creates image balance issues.

I then try this in the shading, which sorta works, but sorta doesn’t.

I try a lot of things but in the end the shading on her left side isn’t working for me.  So I take a break, shade her sword, her brazier, add smoke all that.  The solution I find is to just expand her waistband thing.  I go back to the Buddhist monk robe design I mentioned earlier and from there, shading progresses withotu much a hitch.  As a factoid, not shown here I have about six versions of how I shaded her left skirt part.  This was the largest delay in the picture I think.

This step is pretty easy to see where things go from here.  The kind of wrap thingy I like since it does make her outfit look more Buddhist and it also helps hide the width of her waist, which I feel makes her figure fit together better.  It’s also a nice contrast on shading since it’s a lot duller and less reflective than her silky purple and her leggings.  Leggings I did a bit of fun with.  I made a layer with a pattern brush of her skin tone over the already shaded leg and used layer blending to get that nice stocking look.  Quite happy with it.

Most the rest is finishing touches.  I add the glow effects for her talismans, the sword, and the brazier.  I also take a moment to add some level adjustments.  I think the original is a bit washed-out looking and so I increase contrast and adjust levels to make things pop more.

This was a pretty enjoyable art project I find.  I like how the character came out and I like what I learned in and program use as I did it.  I think if I were to say personal issues, it’s I wish it was still a bit cleaner line-wise.  And I do wish I could have gotten all five talisman things in here like i did with the orignal pencil drawing, but to be fair, that’d of made the composition of this thing a mess, so probably for the best.

As a bonus, here’s the sword and the brazier, actually.  Since I’m sure some folks would not mind seeing them all on their own.

And until next time, peace out.  Currently working on Venus.  That’ll be fun to say the least.

And stuff.