#purple is a weird colour to paint with here

[dragonroilz]

Electrochemistry [Medium: Success] - Hey, at least there's still half a bottle of tequila and brandy left. Let's party and forget this shitshow!

[wakeup01]

Playing It Straight

“Roomieee. I need your help with something.” I hear the telltale high pitched cry from my twinky roommate Yuan’s bedroom. The last thing I need right now is his whiny ass distracting me.

“What it is? I have a date with this hot chick in half an hour. You better have clothes on this time dude.” My hand pushes the door to his room ajar and I see him laying down on the bed facing away from me. There was some upbeat trashy pop song playing on his sound system. Yuan begins to gyrate to the beat. “Don’t dance. No dancing.” I order bluntly, turning off his music.

There was being gay and then there was Yuan, who seemed to make it his whole identity. It was bad enough his room was colour coded in pastel purples to match his dusty lavender hair. But he had now painted the whole door too.

“It’s my big butt, I think there’s something wrong with it.” He announces with fake concern, rolling his hips on the bed sheet - revealing more of his smooth slim body than I ever dared wish to see. I make a internal note to ‘mace own eyes later’.

Yuan was not as innocent as he liked to make out and had on numerous occasions attempted to trick me into indulging in his fantasies. Gifting me a bright crop top and calling it a ‘fashionable tank top’ - it certainly turned heads at the gym the one day I wore it, or inviting me to a progressive club with the promise of scoring ‘lots of ass’. And the less said about ‘locktober’ the better, that was NOT a halloween costume. Only last week he had convinced me to listen to some gay as fuck audio tapes while I slept; obviously that crap didn’t work on a man like me. His justification always being ‘you’ll like it, I swear’. This one was a bit on the nose, even for him.

“Dude we talked about this, I’m flattered, really. I get it, I’m a gay bottoms wet dream. I can’t blame you for eying my superior meat.” I puff out my well built chest, barely contained in my tank top. “But fuck, it ain’t gonna happen.” I attempt to not make eye contact with him as he looks over his shoulder at me.

“No, like seriously. Something feels wrong, can you pleeease juth take a looksee. Pretty please.” He pulls down his shorts and moons me as I shield my eyes. It’s like the sun, you’re safe if you don’t look directly at it, right? Internal note: ‘buy more mace’.

“Serious like when you said we were in a ‘mandatory hand holding zone?” I hear muffled giggling coming from his pillow. “Bro it’s probably from all the things you shove up it.” I shudder, trying not to picture THAT in my head. “I’ll look but only if you promise me that you’ll drop that ‘I know you’re secretly gay bullshit.’ My friends at the gym heard that crap last time.”

“Hehe. Ooo thuch a manly jock. Geez, I pwromise. Meathead.” Yuan winks at me and I hated him for it. Hated the weird way it made me feel in my chest.

I sigh loudly for effect and bend down until the cleft of his…cheek is at eye level. I felt so self conscious, how on earth did he talk me into this? I look at my chiseled body just to remind myself, yes I am a man. A masculine man. God, here we go. My eyes briefly glance across his—ew—his raised butt before I quickly look away.

“Bruh I don’t see a thing. It’s a mans butt. Congratulations.” What the hell am I even looking for? I’m sat on the floor checking out a dude’s…posterior. And for what?

“Come on, look clother.” Yuan insists with a slight lisp, curving his back and pushing his rear higher.” Again, I look at my thick biceps, yes, still a man.

His hands pull at his buttocks and slowly part them, revealing his tight hole to me. Woah. One glimpse was all it took. I should have recoiled but instead I was fascinated. I’d never seen a man’s hole before, it was different…

I hear him say something to me but whatever it was, it didn’t seem too important. I couldn’t stop staring, it was like looking into a black hole, and the more I looked the more enraptured I became. It was distorting my worldview, it made me feel like I had been missing out on something all these years.

“Helloooo! See anything?”

“Uuhhh. Maybe.” I mumble, my head getting closer to his rear.

I pull away his hands and replace them with my own, laying my fingers across his round cheeks and spreading them wider. Wow, it was…dare I say, enticing? The rest of the room faded from my mind as my eyes fall deeper into his needy, winking hole. I lean in and my nose makes contact with his crack. I can’t help myself, I inhale and suck up his scent, it acts like an immediate aphrodisiac. My cock wakes up, poking against the edge of the bed.

“You have been lithening to your programming for me then. Good Meathead. Remember when you were the stuck-up clever one, going to college? That was thuch a bore.”

“Say what bro?” College? Did I…? Nah. That smart shit wasn’t for me bro, my head was like beef central. I haven’t a clue what he’s talking about but I was happy to be a good fucking meathead. Something in my mind told me I was supposed to be. It made me even more pumped about the gym session tomorrow, I gotta bulk up my pecs.

“Make sure to take lots of selfies tomorrow ‘bro’, I need to see your gains.” I continue to breathe in the sweet aroma emanating from his behind. What was I doing again? “So, anything there dummy? How about now?” giggle “Isn’t it likth so big.”

He wiggles his hips and pushes back into my face, my lips making contact with his boy pussy. My eyes go wide. Fuck, this was soo gay. I should be revolted, why am I still down here? I could get up and walk away whenever…whenever I wanted to. Suddenly my mouth felt parched, like I had spent a week in the desert. It became clear where this was going. I’m not sure if I could even stop myself at this point, one tiny thing could tip me over the edge and disintegrate my own self image. It was as If I was having an out of body experience, seeing myself pressed against him. I wouldn’t, I was stronger than this. I was straight. Straight as an arrow… straight as a…

“Eat up jock.”

F—fuck. My lips open and my tongue presses up against his rear, dragging up and down between his cheeks and then swirling around his inviting hole. It was like a dam breaking, once I started I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. He tasted too good. Ready for the main course, my tongue dives deep into him and begins to eat him out in earnest, my mouth sucking at his entrance like I’m slurping on a ice cream filling.

While giving him a very manly rimjob I think of a solution to our problem. I finish up indulging in his sweet cake and pull my face out, slapping his jiggly butt cheeks.

“So what’s the issue?” He asks impatiently.

“It’s empty for one. Huhuhu. But I can fix that bro.” I say confidently, rushing to remove my underwear so I can finally nut inside him.

I push his skinny back down against the bed and line up my monster cock with his lubricated hole. Yuan moans into his pillow like he should. I slide into him with ease and flex my arms, feeling proud at ‘conquering’ my roommates hole.

“Good Meathead.” He praises between loud panting. “Mmm. But I thought you were straight.”

“I am. Unff. Just helping a bro out. No homo. Though I do need to see if there’s anything wrong with your throat after I plant my seed in your hole.”

______________________________

The next day.

“Man that was a fucking lit workout.” I exclaim, marvelling at my bulging muscles. I tense my arms and see my veins pop, sweat dripping to the floor. “Though you losers sure focused a lot on your glutes today. Hey—aren’t you ‘queens’ gonna shower?” I turn as my gym bros stop behind me in the locker room.

“Well… we spoke to your roommate about your progress yesterday.” Xavier states, removing his damp muscle tee - his dark shiny skin reflecting the harsh lights from overhead.

Yesterday…for some reason my memories from the day before were a blur. For the life of me I can’t remember what happened. There was some strange taste lingering in my mouth that had been making my dick hard all day. My roommate was certainly in a suspiciously good mood this morning too and made some strange comments about me ‘being hungry for more’.

“About what bro? That Yuan can kiss my ass. Huhuh. Come on, stop checking out each others dicks and let’s go!”

“Uh see, he thinks you’re now ready to be our…” I’d never seen him so unsure of himself before, I roll my eyes at him and slam my locker closed.

“Y’all acting like a bunch of girls.” I swear if Yuan is back to spewing his gay bullshit again…

“Go on. Say it.” One of the others insists, nudging Xavier’s shoulder.

Xavier hesitates and then looks away from me, his cheeks flushing red. “There’s uh, there’s something wrong with my…butt…so could you?” The others fail to stifle a laugh.

I do a double take as Xavier turns and points his toned ass at me, his jockstrap framing it like a wrapped gift. “What the fuck? Bruh what are you doing? Put that shit away.”

“Be a good Meathead.”

I see a flash of my roommates butt cross my minds eye. Uhhh. My cock throbs at the image. Before I know it my legs are kneeling behind my friend, what am I doing? My body certainly seems to be one step ahead, my hands grab at his muscled legs for support. “What the actual fuck. Guys…” I’ve never felt so embarrassed, how am I ever gonna live this down?

A hand pulls on the strap hugging Xaviers left buttock and lets go, letting it snap back into place, a slight jiggle vibrates over his firm rear. Was it my hand? I couldn’t even tell.

“Holy shit. I can’t believe those tapes actually worked. He’s come a long way since he was that scrawny nerd, thinking he was above everyone. Now he’s dumber than all of us. We just need Yuan to join us next. Damn someone make sure to record this” It was hard to take in what they were saying, my mind was fixated…elsewhere. One of them leans down to my side and points their phone camera at my zoned out face. “Dude, we stink…I’m next after you.” Someone pats my back as another hand holds my shoulder in place. “Nothing more manly than licking the salty sweat off a bro’s butt.”

No….

Xavier bends forward, his pert dark cheeks pulling apart - sweat glistening on their surface. And then I see it. What my body craved. His hole. Everything falls into place, my mouth watering at the sight, my eyes entranced. I could no longer deny what I wanted, deny the inevitability of what I was about to do. The depravity would be immortalised on camera too, my dumb face shoved in a mans ass. Oh fuck.

The perfect black void nestled between his tight buttocks seems to suck away my shame as I lick my lips. “So manly.” I repeat to the crowd that had gathered around me. Mmm. Rimming a man’s ass was almost as good as fucking it. I wanted a taste of all the guys, their shiny sweaty bodies, their musk. It was my place in the group, I was their meathead after all. My cock was already throbbing at the thought. Maybe Yuan was onto something with this whole ‘gay’ thing. Yeah, let’s try going full homo. Huhuhuh. Anything for the bros, bro.

Looking down at me confidently, Xavier grips the back of my head.

“Clean my hole bruh.”

_____________________________

A few days later I check in on Yuan to see his progress after a few nights obliviously listening to his ‘jocking’ tapes. Dude, I’m going to enjoy watching him slowly bulk up and dumb down. He’s sat up in bed casually tugging at his cock, mouth agape. The heavy thumping bass of trap music is blaring from his speakers. His room is a complete mess.

“How’s it hanging lil bro?”

“Just…mm—wanking.”

“Can see, Meathead. Hung and dumb, nice. I think you’re about ready to join us at the gym.”

“Hmm. Roomie, I—I need your help with something. It’s my big dick…”

“Huhuhu, there’s something wrong with it, let me be a bro and give you a hand with that stick.” I climb over him and wrap my lips around his cock.

“Thuck…ahem. Fuck yeah brooo!”

[asapeveryday]

We Have Now

Pairing: Nika Mühl x Reader

Warnings: lil bit of angst, suggestive content

Summary: The season is over, the seniors have graduated and the summer has begun. The future holds a lot of uncertainty, but your feelings for Nika have never been uncertain. Is it too late for you?

A/n: I just can’t resist summer themed fics. Also I’m ngl this is NOTT my best work so I’m sorry for that… enjoy anyways.

“Holy shit!”

Through the window of your bedroom you can see the sunset has turned outside an entrancing mix of tropical colours. Pink, purple, orange and yellow mix in the clouds and paint the world around you for a moment, and you know you need to see it up close.

You rush down the stairs and past the living room, where the rest of the team is sleeping on the couch with a movie on in the background.

It had been a long day for everyone, the team had planned to spend a couple days of July at an airbnb in Rhode Island back in February, and the plan thankfully took off.

The day had been filled with a long car ride, various TikToks, loud music, unpacking, swimming and barbecuing. Everyone was exhausted.

When you rush out to the deck you’re encapsulated by the scenery. Sunsets were beautiful, but even better by the beach. The white sand and deep ocean water against the rich setting sky was something out of a book.

After taking about a hundred photos and videos, you put your phone away and just stood in astonishment.

Playing basketball with these girls at Uconn was one of the biggest blessings you’d ever received in your life, and you were going to miss them so much. You often found yourself swimming in old memories at night, memories of locker room conversations, late night drives, shared playlists, loud Friday night parties, shared looks, useless yearning and post game tears.

You’d already gone through your sad feelings at graduation though, and the draft had brought some more light to the situation. You had no regrets whatsoever about your college career, except for maybe one thing. And that thing was on the beach right now.

Nika was laying on the sand, just far enough from the ocean to avoid getting hit by the high tide. She didn’t say anything when you laid down beside her, the both of you just stared at the darkening sky as the sound of waves filled the silence.

“Remember how different things were when we first met?” You finally say after some time.

Nika quietly laughs. “How could I forget?”

You roll your eyes playfully. “Gosh, I thought you were so weird.”

“You were weirder.” She grumbles.

“You just thought all Americans were weird.”

“Because you guys are! I never saw so many overly confident basketball players who were so bad till’ I came here.”

The two of you laugh together for a moment, then it’s quiet again.

Your hand is excruciatingly close to hers, but neither of you move closer.

“Everything’s so different now.” Nika mumbles, almost to herself.

You turn your head to face her. Nika’s side profile is strong, prominent nose, perfect lips, sharp eyebrows and expressive eyes. Her cheeks are pink from being out in the sun. You have the urge to make them pinker, but you shake the thought away.

“Yeah. Everything is different…but that’s a good thing”

Nika nods solemnly, but you can tell she’s thinking hard.

“Niks, don’t worry too much okay? Things work out if they’re meant to.”

She brings a hand to her face, covering her eyes and muffling her voice, which slightly wavers when she says. “What if I don’t make it?”

With this you give in and take her hand, squeezing it tight for a moment.

“Baby they’re lucky to have you. One day with you and they’ll know you’re needed on that team. Everyone else knows it for sure.”

“Says who?” Her eyebrows furrow. “I can’t just assume this’ll work out. What if it doesn’t? What the fuck do I do then? All my work will have been for nothing.”

“If Seattle doesn’t see you as an asset to their team, then I assure you there’ll be another team just waiting for you. Everyone here knows how valuable you are as a player, and the internet wouldn’t let anyone forget.”

She isn’t very convinced, but she turns her head to meet your gaze. Her eyes remind you of a puppies eyes. “Thank you.” She says, sincere and slightly embarrassed. Her hand is still in yours and your noses are almost touching. You wonder if she’d ever talk to you again if you kissed her.

At the thought of that, your stomach sinks. You sit up suddenly, hand breaking from hers. You don’t see how her face drops when you do it.

“I-“ you start, but hesitate. You didn’t want to regret anything like this again. You wanted her to know every thought in your head, even if it had a chance of going sour. “I’m really gonna miss you Nika. More than anyone else, I think.” You finally manage to get out.

She sits up now too, her brown hair blowing in the salty wind, her almost hazel eyes glinting from the reflection of the water, or perhaps something else, something like hope.

“More than anyone else?” She questions you.

“Yeah.” You say, turning to meet her stare. “I’ve always liked you more than the others.”

“Hm.” She says, as if she was expecting more.

The silence is eating at you, you just want to scream out how badly you want her. You know it’s too late, when this trip is over everyone splits. You to your hometown, Aaliyah to Washington, Nika to Seattle, Paige and the others to Connecticut. Still, you didn’t want to live with this in you forever.

“I had a massive crush on you during freshman year.” You utter as confidently as possible.

Nika’s lips part in surprise “You- you did?”

“Yeah. Major.” You scoff. Those days were almost pathetic in hindsight, obvious to everyone but Nika and yourself.

You watch as Nika draws swirls in the sand with her finger. You can practically hear the gears turning in her head.

“And…when did this crush fade away?” She finally asks you.

You let a beat pass before sucking it up and saying. “It didn’t.”

Nika’s eyes really widen now. You hold her gaze as best as you can. “I never stopped liking you. It just got stronger overtime, actually.”

You almost recoil when she scowls at you.

“Fuck you.”

“What?”

“Fuck!” She rubs her face, exasperated. “You- urgh, I wish you told me. I wish you told me way, way earlier.”

You don’t say anything.

“I wish I knew. Don’t you get it?” She whines, almost pleadingly. “God, if you’d told me way earlier we could’ve…maybe we would’ve..” she trails off.

Finding out that Nika Mühl, your best friend and longest love, also loved you should’ve been the best moment of your life. Instead it had you thinking of everything that could’ve been.

“I was scared.” You mutter. “I was so, so scared, I don’t know why. I wish I’d just told you, but you know me. I never take chances. I pass the ball, I don’t make the shot. I just…I wouldn’t have been able to take it if you didn’t feel the same. So I never did anything.”

She’s close to you now, hand on your knee, face flushed.

“What are we gonna do?”

You stare at her face, eyes darting from her eyes, then lips, the her eyes again.

Her eyes are beautiful. Honey brown, golden in the sun but piercing now at dusk, eyelashes long and fluttering as she tries to make sense of this situation.

You’ve wanted her more than you’ve wanted that ring at the end of the National Tournament every single year. The thought of you wasting time that could’ve been spent pressed next to her, skin to skin and soul to soul? It was sickening to you.

Still, here she was. Eyes begging you for something you’ve dreamed of. The sky now staining the beach a violent pink.

When your mouth meets hers it’s everything you’ve fantasized about. Her lips are full and soft, fitting perfectly against your own. You can feel her lashes tickle your face as you tilt your head just right, her arms get goosebumps when you fiddle with her hair.

Pulling away from her, you can’t help but melt at the satisfied smile on her face.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long.” Nika says. “I just wish it could’ve happened earlier.”

“I’m tired of wishing.” You say, putting a hand on her face gently. “We can’t change anything now. It’s over. But we have today.”

She drinks in the feeling of being this close to you. “We have now.” Nika whispers.

Your kisses are sweet and chaste at first, but it’s getting colder out and you need her warmth. She changes the pace, clashing into you with a sense of urgency now. When her mouth slightly opens and you feel her tongue against yours you know it’s over for you. She can have whatever she wants.

Nika finds herself straddling you now, and you’re suddenly hyper aware of everything that’s happening.

After four years of thinking of her before bed, before letting your hands take care of yourself night after night to the thought of her, here she was in all her glory. Body toned and breathing hard, hair sprawled against her tan skin, fingers untying her bikini top.

She leans into you, but instead of kissing you she puts her mouth to your ear. You can feel her smirk against your skin.

“How much of the past four years do you wanna bet I can make up for in one night?

[existentialcrisis-9-5]

DCA Subnautica AU

Version #2 of the designs, including the bioluminescence! + fun tidbits on each of the goobers and a visual on Y/N!

(Edit: it’s out now! Check my bio for the link)

Eclipse is up first!

Theirs was the first design I drew out in any detail (as shown in the crude MS Paint drawing), so it's the one that needed the most work. Even after making the more detailed version with the lights, I still ended up changing things as I got a better grasp on what direction I wanted to head in. Fun lore tidbit! Eclipse is a freak of nature and should not look like that! They're properly split down the middle between day and night. Also I messed it up in the drawing because I was tired when I made it, but they're also covered in scars and bite marks.

Sun !!

I did Sun next, and here I had a better idea for what I was going for. There were still a few problems with this design though, which got changed. This is also where I started drawing the pattern on the tail, which I felt looked weird in this picture. Fun tidbit! Sun has an inability to express his feelings in the appropriate fish mermaid way, leading to much confusion.

Moon !!

Moon was done last. Once again, I learned from this drawing and changed Moon's design to match, however Moon is the one that remains the most unchanged! I knew what I was going for by the time I got to him each time, so I guess that helped. Something I did alter, however, were some of the lights. I found that they either blended together too much or weren't as visible as I would have liked. Fun tidbit! This is pose actually based on a scene in one of the chapters. It was actually one of the earliest written scenes.

Y/N, my beloved <3

I did 2 versions of Y/N, one with longer hair and one with shorter. It was important for me, when writing the story, that I kept the person I'm imagining as vague as possible, with the only physical descriptions being "physically fit" and having a few scars (for plot reasons), so this is only for me and whatever drawings I do. As a result of trying to keep it vague, I ended up going with the shorter hair (though in the final reference I made it a bit longer than shown here). Fun tidbit! The green is because whenever I'm sketching, I have 4 colours I sketch in to differentiate parts of the picture (usually background vs foreground or different people), and green was the one I used here (red, blue and purple were taken, I'm sure you can understand why). It ended up sticking, since I didn't want to go with the orange that's on Ryley's suit in order to avoid possible confusion.

That's it for now! At some point, I'll post the full references for each of them, but until then, the next thing I post will probably be chapter 1!

[omaano]

SW Hades AU July Update

Other updates: May - June - July - August

I've made a lot more progress with my Star Wars meets Hades AU project than I'd imagined - and absolutely none in other aspects, so let's see how the past month has been!

I have finished the character illustrations both for Maul

and Omega, (look how cute she is in her pocket sized version! ^^)

and I have also finally rounded out my Din collection, so that I now have 6 variations on his character art (helmet on and off, with Grogu and the darksaber, and with and without Grogu and the beskar spear in hand).

Aphra has lines and flat colours too, as well as the very basic lighting layers on her!

I'm real hyped to start working on her! I'm very proud of the dynamic pose I picked for her, too. I'll likely up the red in her jacket and gloves for a bit of a pop in colour, because all this brown everywhere is growing a little boring tbh. Like with certain other characters...

There has been some progress with Obi-Wan, but it's going suuuper slow, and I continue to preemptively worry about how I should completely redraw him for after his reunion with Cody, too. (Iirc Patroclus is standing with his spear in hand after he's reuinted with Achilles in Hades, and I also very badly want to draw him with his lightsaber ignited, but I feel that wouldn't be very good for him just, you know, hanging out in front of his little house on Tatooine...)

And now I'm going to add my first ever poll for the next month in case anyone wants to weigh in on the order in which I add characters to this project:

I'm making no promises, but I thought this could be fun :)

This post is growing a little long, so I'm putting the rest about Obi-wan's background re-draw, and some musings on picking colours for Omega under the read more ->

There was no room for it in the previous update, but I'd fully redrawn one background finally for Obi-Wan's chilling spot!

It is the same setup as where you can find Patroclus in game, with the walls and the chasm and the doors out, but I added Obi-Wan's hut and a desert envisonment. (I've watched so many videos on how to draw in an isometric grid, because there was always something that just wouldn't work... I'd thought there was a trick to drawing squares and circles in this grid that I just couldn't figure out for the life of me - and it turns out that I was just careless and my grid wasn't tight enough so I had to eyaball distances and the width and length of things too much lol.) And now I'm faced with the difficult task of picking colours and figuring out if the character shading tricks also apply here or not.

For now these colours are more for just to block in certain elements in the background, but I have some more desert/desolate looking backgrounds saved from other Supergiant games (they've got some really vibrant and dark colours, like wow!) as well to hopefully help me out moving forward.

I'd redrawn those bulbs you can find over the door leading out of various chambers in-game, because I might as well go in full re-design mode bit by bit, and after some deliberation and googling I picked the Mandalorian Crusaders symbol as inspiration for it.

And now back to Omega for a bit:

While I was working on the character illustration for Omega and Batcher I became very aware of how weird it is to pick colours for me. (I very heavily rely on preexisting colour palettes; I have multiple saved just for the Hades project like for Rex, Ahsoka, Cobb...) I'd been working on Rex and Cody last (Maul doesn't count because he doesn't have very human colours, so picking reds and purples and browns for him wasn't so shocking tbh), and aside from the armor paint and hair colour they very much share the very same colour palette. That was easy, I'd picked the skintones off Boba and the little portrait icons already, upped the saturation a bit because seeing the base skintone laid down scared me, and off I went.

(Laying down the first layer of flat colours is always super scary because they too often seem too dark and too grey/green, which I know will change after the complete shading is done but it still looks very off putting...)

So. The way the colouring in Hades made sense for me is that it works with pretty desaturated colours, there is a lighter shadow colour that's a bit more desaturated and the hue is shifted cooler but is still pretty cool to the original base colour (so much that I'd often have to turn it darker so that I'd see it laid down if I'm not sitting right), and another darker shadow layer that is a tad more saturated and warmer in tone. And there is also (a possibly slightly cooler shifted) and lighter highlight, and another more saturated colourful highligt (in the skin that is the bright, peachy orange for example). (and the little super bright pops of colour at the very very end. I hate adding them so much, but they are very important!)

But while I could pick the skin tones off of Rex, the problem I'd tumbled into was when it came to shading her hair (it's very important to me that Rex and Omega shared all these colours). Omega has a lot more hair (shocking, I know), and so shading that required a lot more than Rex's simple two-tones, and the "shadow" colour from Rex just didn't work, it was too saturated and warm in a larger quantity. So I tried to find another blond character in Hades, picked some colours off of Theseus... and those didn't work too well either, because those colours looked too pale and washed out compared to how lively her skintone was. There had been a lot of adjusting - I'd colour picked all of Theseus' colours and watched like a hawk where my colour marker moved both in hue and saturation a couple times in every which way and tried to mimic that in comparison to my base colour... and then you already saw how she ended up.

Here is the visual representation of the process:

I do a lot of these swatches.

You can see them there next to Omega with the blues and the gold/metallic detail colours (the latter of which I'd ended up using in her crossbow), and up above with the Obi-Wan wip as well (I needed to pick a lot of colours from Chaos and Aphrodite to figure out how to go about his pale skin), but I also worked like this with Din and Achilles in the beginning, as well as trying to pick the greens for Boba's armor. Usually the first and biggest hurdle I run into is choosing my base colours... that's something I really need to work on; but after that this method really helped me feel a lot more comfortable with cell shading.

I hope it made sense to you, and it was at least a tad bit entertaining (or if I'd ruined the word "colour" for you for a while, I'm sorry XD, I know I'd used it a lot). This was really the first time I'd truly seen how I changed around the colours I worked with in a piece, and also tried to go a bit more consciously about shifting them around here (that's why I have all the screenshots XD) and thought I might as well share them here in this monthly update.

I've also switched over to using CSP and a display tablet, in the hopes that I can familiarize myself with them without the pressure of needing some fancy or very specific brushwork and work process. No texture, little need for pressure sensitivity - I hope to slowly pspsps my brain into accepting working with these, and build up some success and good experiences before I try sketching and drawing on it and maybe trying out some new unfamiliar brushes as well ^^;

[krispycreamcake]

Diabolik lovers x reader (part 4)

You awoke to freezing cold hands clenching you gently, your body lay limp in his arms as you looked up at Reiji, who wore such a bewildered expression. He sighed as he helped you up and began to speak. "I don't believe fainting spells were apart of the possible side effects, but I suppose that is the point of experimentation, trial and error. You were astonishingly lucky that I caught you in time, are you alright?" It took you a second to catch your breath before answering. "Yeah, I'm ok, my head just kinda hurts a bit..." But were you really okay? What on God's earth was that interaction with you and Karl anyways? He said you two would speak again concerning more personal matters, but you had a hunch that told you it had nothing to do with your personal matters, but more so the relationships you're bound to make here. A snap of some fingers dragged you out of your thoughts as you slightly jumped, looking up at Reiji.

"I take it you haven't a clue on what I just requested you to do?" Reiji asked with a monotonous voice. "No...not really. Sorry I was just thinking." Reiji raised an eyebrow at this before shaking his head. "It is highly unbecoming of someone to not pay attention when others speak, it seems you might be needing some disciplinary corrections later." You didn't quite understand what he meant by that but you assumed that it'd just be more chores. "...Reiji?" He glanced at you before pulling out his notebook to write before waiting for you to continue. "When your father sent me here, he said I was supposed to secure his family line.." Reiji immediately stopped writing and you could see the glimpse of a scowl beginning to form on his face. It was obvious from the start that Reiji wasn't fond of your role in this house, but just exactly why?

"You're all.....vampires so-so why send me? Why not just ask someone more competent...It doesn't make sense and he won't tell me why. My point is I'm not like the rest of you, I'm human and I'm not sure what he said to all of you before I was sent, but he promised me that none of you would kill me and I expect that from you all. I won't be helping in your experiments if it means my life could be in danger....because you don't even know the effects of your weird...drinks." You saw as his face morphed into that of one from annoyed to anger in less than a second. He stalked towards you closer, eyes surveying your every move before grabbing your arm and wringing it behind your back as he pulled you into his chest.

"Reiji! Stop it-Let me go!" You cried out as you tried getting your hand free. What was up with these guys? Sure they were vampires but did they really need to be monsters too?

"Nothing...Father told us nothing about you arriving. I was only later informed and once again, you've found yourself lucky. If I hadn't found out in time, that good for nothing brother of mine was going to suck you dry. I haven't the slightest idea of what a mortal like you could possibly expect from vampires, but trust that death is in your future if you think you don't have to submit to us in the same way Yui has. I may be the only one in this house that cares about our Father's wishes, so while it may not be me to do it, you will surely die and I will be there to witness and indulge in the finest of pleasures as I get to watch the life and ambition you once held, get slowly drained and ripped away from your physical body." His voice sent chills all over your stunned form as you finally hear of his true colours, feeling their hues splatter across your skin in the form of purple and blue bruise marks, a painting unintelligible to others that haven't met the artist himself. You felt your heart rate speed up and you know he can hear it, smelling your fear and getting a sick high off of it.

"It's not about what I expect, it's about what Karl expects....His expectations just happens to benefit me." You spoke, voice a bit shaky as you tried to hold your ground. That's right, none of them could kill you as long as Karl sees that you don't die. If you can't use your physical strength on them, mind games will just have to do. "And you...you listen to what he says, you make sure his orders are actually taken seriously. So then that just means you'll have to make sure I don't die, even if you want me dead." You said, confidence regaining as you remember the power you hold over these men. Just then, you felt Reiji release you and spin you around. You watched as his scarlet eyes burned with something alongside anger, you couldn't quite tell what it was, but you knew your words got to him. You felt the hesitance in his grip as he slowly released you.

"I'll be more cautious with my experiments...I can assure you that you won't be dying from any of my elixirs. You will however, still be aiding me with my work and if you cannot see the immense privilege in that, then it is not my job to belittle myself and explain things to you just because you cannot fathom it. As for now, I need rest before I lose control of myself and slaughter you this instant. You may see yourself out." And just like that, you made your way out without incurring Reiji's wrath. Perhaps you could do this with all the brothers, but first you'd need leverage. Reiji was right about one thing, he can't control how your actions will affect others, and others they will affect. It felt good to be in control of your shitty situation and to be able to think clearly after a long night of paranoia. You headed back to your room to finally take a break from everyone. It was clear that they wanted you to give yourself up, but you might as well start going insane if that was the case. No, you needed to keep yourself together, keep yourself whole.

You paced your room back and forth until you were sure there were callouses on your feet. Did that girl... Yui, did she actually give herself up? Then that means she's human, she's definitely human and still somehow alive. You needed to find out how and why. Sure she was the future daughter-in-law, but did she actually love these horrific beasts? Something told you otherwise.

While you were still pacing the floors, digging your own trench, you hadn't noticed a certain fedora adorned man sitting on your bed and watching you closely. It was only until you turned around to lay down on your bed, did you catch sight of the eccentric harlot.

"AHHHH- Wha- Jesus fuck! God.... Don't do that, Jesus... Shit-" You screamed at him, palm pressed against your heart and clenching your shirt. His eyes only gleamed with excitement as he saw how terrified you were. "My, my, bitchlet, what a voice you've got there. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to rupture my ear drums, nfu~ But that expression you make is so cute, isn't it?" You watched him in shock and disgust as your eyes trailed to the door. Shit, did you forget to lock it? But how come you didn't see him get in? Or hear him as a matter of fact.

"I thought vampires needed permission before they could enter someone's space, that's supposed to be the only good thing about them." You joked lightly, despite a hint of spite being present in your tone. "Kicking me out already bitchlet? You're so cruel, y'know that?" Laito said with a pout as he stood up. "Yes I am, so leave- oh uh, before you do.... Do you know which room Yui is in?" You asked, hoping he'd allow you the knowledge of where your human housemate stayed. The truth is, you knew he knew where her room was, but it's much easier to act dumb and have these narcissistic plebs underestimate you.

"Oh? Looking for bitch-chan are we? I'm not sure if I remember where exactly her room is, but I wish you luck on your endeavors. Besides, wouldn't you prefer you come to my room instead and have some fun? Or we could even do it in your room if that makes the hassle easier for you, nfu~" You couldn't help it as your face was contorted into a deep scowl, eyes narrowing at his remark and nostril flaring as if you'd just smelt the garbage truck pass by. "Uhm no- literally never ask me that again. That's- that is unbelievably weird to ask someone especially if you just met them..." You said, stomach churning. How insane were these people? God, you hoped Yui was at least normal, and speaking of, he completely lied about not knowing where she was.

Laito stalked closer to you until he had your back against a wall. He took a gentle finger and ran it across the side of your face before gripping your chin. Your blood pumped at an unnaturally speedy rate as you shoved your arms out to create distance between the both of you, hoping things weren't going where you thought they were. "I love girls that play hard to get, it makes the chase all the more worthwhile. And someone of your position too, doesn't it just exhilarate you? I can feel my body warming up just by the thought, hahh~" Was he being serious?? There's no way this could be happening, there's no way he thought this was normal. And what did he mean your position? "What do you-" You cut yourself off quickly. Based on his words, you clearly carried some sort of ranking or role amongst the others in this household. But you were just a caretaker, so what was he truly talking about? You knew you couldn't let him know that you hadn't a clue in the universe as to what he meant, so instead, you played along. "Exactly, all the more reason we SHOULDN'T be doing this, even though me not wanting to should be reason enough, I'm assuming you're the type of guy that just doesn't care. Either way, you need to get off of me and tell me where Yui is, it's something that concerns.... All of us and my stay here." You declare, as you try shoving him off of you with one final push. However to your unfortunate fate, your efforts went in vain as he planted himself in his spot, not budging a bit. Even his body seemed rock hard and unwilling to move. "I'm sure you can tell her whatever it is your heart desires later bitchlet, as for now..." You felt him squeeze your shoulder as his body entrapped yours against the wall.

"Laito! Stop it! Stop it now- shit- you're hurting me! Stop, I'm not fucking play games Laito, I said STOP! DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" You bellowed out at him. You were sure anyone within a 10 feet radius could hear you. Laito looked taken aback as you shoved your hand into his face, ripping him away from your personal space as you wriggled out of the cage you'd found yourself in. All he did was laugh before trying to regain the close proximity between you two. But even so, nothing about that laugh felt like amusement. "What a fiesty bitch you are. I don't think you quite get how things work around here. Just because that man allowed you to babysit us, doesn't mean you get to bark orders at me. Shu's fangs just weren't enough for you were they? You're being difficult on purpose so I can get allll worked up and tear into your impure flesh like a savage, I'm sure someone like you gets a thrill from seeing others lose control..." You needed to get out of here now, immediately. You needed to leave and get away from this crazy sex obsessed whore, God knows what he'll do to you once he has you in his grip.

"I was sent here to make sure the Sakamaki line continues because you all suck ass at keeping any kind of woman. I don't know whether they left on their own accords once they realized you're all.... Monsters or if something worse happened to them. I'm not on of those women and I'm certainly not something you can just have your way with because you were never told no as a child! The Sakamaki name doesn't end with any of you, it ends with me. I know Karl chose me for a reason, instead of just any other person. I don't care what you think you know about me and what I want, but what I need is to see Yui and you're in my way. And if you're in my way, you're in Karl's way, so get that through your head." You said backing up as you curled your hands into a fist, preparing to fist fight this guy if need be. Instead he just stood there and laughed, so much so, you could've sworn you saw tears form in his eyes as he toppled over himself before he began to clap. "What a brave performance bitchlet, or should I say stupid? I don't know why the others let you get away with talking like that, but I'm certainly not my brothers. I couldn't care less for your little friend's plan and I do not care for you or how you feel. But I must admit, it is entertaining to see you like this. I'll make sure to take my time when breaking you, so I can savour the way you call out and beg for mercy, repenting at my feet. I was planning to kill you here and now, but perhaps we'll reschedule nfu~ You really do spark something within me bitchlet, and it is so hot." Laito said, his sultry voice returning. He creeped up closer to you before grabbing your neck and squeezing it, making sure enough air was restricted so you'd have to gasp, but not enough to kill you. "Consider this a warning, I'd hate to have to discard of you before your time. Straight down the hallway, second room to your left." And in an instant he was gone.

Everything to these people were nothing but games, seeing terror flood your body, relishing in how your heart pumped because of them, all of it was nothing but a sick thrill. You had to remind yourself of the demons they actually were as you rubbed your neck, gasping and retching for air. You took multiple deep breaths to try and soothe your burning lungs, thanking the stars and moon that Laito found you entertaining enough to keep you around. And as the ever generous vampire that he is, he also gave you directions to Yui's room. You allowed your body to slowly recover before heading straight to her bedroom. You knocked a couple times and waited but no one came. You tried again and this time called out her name. It took a couple seconds before she finally opened the door, her hair was a bit tousled and eyes not quite open. She must've been sleeping, but at this time of day? You suppose it couldn't be helped if she was meant to live with 6 nocturnal blood-suckers.

"Yui? Uhm is it alright if I come in? I wanna talk to you about something if that's fine with you." She gently opened the door while yawning. "Yes it's fine, you'll have to excuse me though, I was sleeping." You watched as she trotted her way over to you, her negligee swaying as she walked. The room was quite feminine but still held some simplicity to it, nothing extravagant. The bed looked as if it were made for a princess, but yet here was the princess who looked so unwilling to be one. "Are you... Actually in love with these guys?? I know I'm probably speaking out of term and I'm sorry but are you really staying here by choice?" Her eyes widened with shock, whether it was from your boldness or the absurdity of your question, you didn't know. "N-no! I-well no not at all, I've been trying to escape since the day I was kidnapped!" She blurted out as she scrambled to find her words. "So that's how it is... I had a feeling. Could you tell me about how everything went down when you first came here?" You asked as you sat in her bed. You listened intently as she retold the story of her and the Sakamakis and even caught you up with current events. A lot of what she had to say sounded straight out of a horror story really. If you weren't in the same situation as her, you probably would've never believed her.

"Is there a reason you wanted to know all this?" She asked once you both finished discussing the events of her arrival. "Yeah actually... I'm just surprised someone like you lasted this long-ah not that that's a bad thing or anything, I'm just uh wondering how someone as.... Soft as you isn't dead yet. You see, Karlheinz-" Just as you said that, you watched as her chest throbbed in pain as she tumbled over herself, gripping her heart. You almost broke into a cold sweat as you tried asking what was wrong. "I-it's fine... I-my chest just hurts, I'll be ok, really you don't have to worry." You could tell she was lying, maybe more so to herself than to you. "How long has this been happening?? You really should see a doctor, something could genuinely be extremely wrong." You said, palming the back of her hand as you helped remove her hand from her chest. ".... A while. I'm not sure what's the cause, but I'm sure it has something to do with me staying here. I only started getting these convulsions after I met the brothers." Come to think of it, your headaches were caused by Karl to make sure you don't remember your actual purpose of coming here and why you initially agreed to such a task. You were sure that these two things could be connected. You relayed your information with Yui as you both talked about how much closer you guys were to understanding what was going on. It's difficult to figure out why certain things were happening, but now with the mention of the triplets' mother, you slowly started connecting a bit more of the dots. But you weren't quite ready yet to tell Yui everything, after all, she was the prospective bride and on the off chance that she actually does marry one of these lunatics, she might spill everything she knows. This woman could either be your greatest ally or worst enemy, so it was crucial that you didn't let her know your every move. "Thank you for telling me, I really appreciate it, honestly. I'll let you know if I find out anything else, but our meetings shouldn't be as frequent." She looked more than puzzled as you mentioned this. "In case we're being spied on or monitored, it's best that our interactions remain randomized. If you find something out, don't rush to tell me, wait for a bit or at least find a way to let me know you've found something. I'll be the one to come to you in that case, so just stay vigilant and make sure no one finds out okay?" She nodded as she understood what you meant. "And do you know where I might find out more about Karl's wives?" You asked, getting up from the bed. "Hmm, I suppose you could check the library for the family archives. It should be on the third floor, walk straight ahead and go to the last door at the end of the hall." You thanked her profusely as you headed there immediately. It was unfortunate that someone as kind as her had to be stuck in a God awful situation like this.

"Nfu~ little bitch, who knew you had it in you?" Laito said as he seemingly emerged from the shadows. "You said that if I answered all her questions truthfully you'd leave me alone.... It's not something I'm proud of, so can you just leave already?" Yui said as she spun around, facing him as he made his way to her bed. He sat on the plush mattress as a grin formed on his lips. "So the bitchlet wants to know more about mother, how curious. And constant migraines everytime she tries to remember her meeting with that man....things are begining to get exciting, wouldn't you say so little bitch?" Laito said, as he stared up at the the top of her bed, inhaling both their scents. "Laito, please I don't want to be involved with this so can you just leave?" Yui said, getting a bit more irritated. "Hm? What's this? One little visit from our caretaker and you're already growing a backbone... You're as funny as ever little bitch. But don't let me remind you of where you belong. In case you forgot, it's under my boot, as I crush any attempts of you trying to climb your way up. I only entertain bitchlet's attitude because she's new and fun to play with, albeit she does have this sexy charm to her that makes me want to feed into her little games. You however, little bitch, should know better by now. You're not an innocent little girl anymore, you've felt our fangs time and time again to know who you belong to and I won't be accepting any backchat from naughty girls." He said, getting up from the bed and ramming Yui into a wall. "Hmph, that's what I thought. Nothing but a weak human mortal. Speaking of, I should really do a background check on our newest companion. I wonder what that man doesn't want her to find out?" Laito said in thought before scraping his nails against Yui's neck before diving into her flesh like a rabid dog, draining and sucking away at her life force as tears trickled down her skin.

The mansion was eerily creepy at this time of day despite it being so beautiful. It was unfair how a house as gorgeous and breathtaking as this, fed off of death and agony. The way the sunlight hit the stone walls from an open window, making grand light shows as it reflected shapes from the glass. How the air smelt crisp and clean, the coolness of the breeze engulfing you like a weighted blanket. The harmonious choir of birds that rung out like church bells, the way the warmth of the summer sun toasted your supple skin. You truly wouldn't mind staying here if it meant you didn't have to deal with the others. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. As you creaked open the door, you swore you heard light snoring. Was someone already here? You continued nonetheless, as quietly as possible so you wouldn't wake whoever it was. The library was extremely large and you couldn't help but get engrossed in its beauty. The smell of books reminded you of your childhood and if things were different, you wouldn't mind spending hours inside of here with a cup of tea and some pastries. However, you continued your search for the family archives, but where would that honestly be? Maybe in a box? Or a stack of files on the shelf? You wandered about for a bit before finding a metal door, the only metal door you've seen in this entire mansion. "This must be it, shit but it's locked... I'll have to look for a key."

You began your trivial search for a key you knew you probably couldn't find. The library was so huge that if you weren't careful, you'd end up lost, so how could you expect to find a key in all of this organized madness? You eventually found a fireplace and decided to check the mantel in hopes of finding anything, but as expected, nothing. There it was again, the snoring. Who was honestly sleeping here? Your eyes trailed around a corner of books and would you guess that it was no one other than the oldest Sakamaki? "Tch, typical." You groaned in annoyance as you remember your last unpleasant encounter with Shu. He really didn't care about anyone other than himself and just inconvenienced others by laying around the house. You didn't mind the sleeping, but did he really need to be here while you were snooping? "Hey, uh...Shu. Do you know what's behind that metal door?" You risked waking him up because if push came to shove, you were certain you could lose him if you ran fast enough and turned plenty of corners. Unsurprisingly, he didn't even open his eyes a wink. You made sure to keep your distance but called out once again. "Shu! Wake up! I need you to tell me what's behind the metal door.....Shu!" You called out again, this time much louder than the first. If you weren't right in the head, you'd chuck a book at him, hell, even the whole shelf. "You're such a bothersome woman....." Finally he decides to talk just as you were thinking about whether or not an encyclopedia would be heavier than a globe. "Yeah yeah whatever, but do you know what's behind that metal door?" He sighed as he slowly got up from the couch he was resting on. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. It shouldn't matter." You were this close to shaking him stupid. "It matters to me otherwise I wouldn't be asking. I know you know what's in there, so I'm asking you again, what is it?" Shu scoffed at your pitiful attempt to get information out of him. "Can you for once in your life be useful? It's annoying to have to deal with your games." Shu smirked at this as he stood up. "This isn't a game. In case you haven't already noticed, you shouldn't keep messing with me, but here you are, continuously provoking me." You had to stop yourself from cursing at him and instead take long deep breaths. Acting out of turn because of your emotions was something that would get you killed for sure. "Look Shu... I'm not trying to be rude or make you feel like a servant in your own home, but I need to know what's behind that door and how to get in. I'm sorry for acting the way I did, but I'm just asking for a favour." Shu began to...chuckle at this? Jesus, what was honestly so funny? You watched as he walked up to you, digging through his pocket before presenting you with a key. "Oh shit- I didn't think you'd have it, thanks Shu!" You said as you reached out to grab it.

"And what do I get in return?" Shu said as he snatched it away from in front of you before you could take it. You should've known something like this was going to happen. "Uhhh...a new friend?" You asked sarcastically. You watched as his smirk grew. "I don't care for making friends, but there is something I wouldn't mind having." God, he was going to ask you for blood again. The feeling of your skin tissue being ripped apart filled your memory as just the thought of it made you light headed. "W-What... what do you want?" He loomed over you as his expression didn't waver an inch. "Strip." You couldn't believe what you were hearing. Your face flushed from embarrassment as you angrily protested and scolded him for being such a pervert. "Well then I suppose what's behind that door isn't really important, and I'm sure Reiji wouldn't mind that you're trying to go through our family's archives." He said sadistically as he watched the horror in your eyes swell. "I- Y-you're disgusting....This entire family is." You said meekly as you weighed your options. Before you could answer, you noticed him walking away. Shit, he was going to tell Reiji. "Wait! Shu! fuck... Yes! I-I'll do it, just don't let Reiji know....please." He stopped in his tracks upon hearing your words. "Say it again..." Shu spoke, not even turning to face you. You felt shame crawl up your spine as you repeated yourself, more timidly this time. "I'll....I'll strip..." In an instant you were suddenly on the couch in Shu's lap. How did you even end up in this position?? You were standing over there just a second ago, you were sure of it. Unless.... teleportation. This happened earlier with Laito too, moving from one area to the next in the blink of an eye. Vampires and their odd abilities. You looked at Shu who seemed like an entirely different person, now he was purely motivated by lust. Something about that rung a strange but familiar bell in your mind.... Lazy and unmotivated, yet the only emotion you don't mind feeling is lust because everything else is a hassle. Was Shu...depressed? You remember calling them all insane but, what if it was actually true? They're all fucked mentally, aren't they?

Shu dragged you out of your thoughts by dragging a hand up your thigh. "Start with your panties first." He said that so nonchalantly as your hands struggled to get them off. God was this really happening? You slowly removed your article of clothing as Shu leaned into the crevice of your neck. Was he smelling you? At least he wasn't watching which made things much easier. You handed him your underwear and felt the hairs on the back of your neck raise as he smiled into your flesh. Before you could continue any further, you heard someone approach the both of you. You were scared shitless and immediately jumped off of Shu, knowing that your skirt would cover your bare behind.

"Ne~ Teddy, look. Shu's defiling our poor caretaker." You felt your heart drop as you realized it was Kanato. "N-no! It's not.. He's not doing anything to me, we were just-" You scrambled to find your words as you broke into a cold sweat. "Shut up! I hate liars! Do you really think I'm as dumb as you to believe such a shallow lie? Hmph, I suppose that's what I ought to expect from a whore. You women are all sluts and liars!" You felt extremely guilty at this and hoped that God would just strike you down then and there. Kanato looked more than disgusted at your pathetic state as you lowered your head in shame. "But...with some training, I suppose even a whore like you could become a cute doll." What in the world was he talking about? "You know she's not the prospective bride." Shu said as he stood up. "I'm aware, but I want her to become my bride instead. The rest of you get to play with Yui and I get left with nothing. It's so unfair, you're always bullying me!" Kanato shouted as he marched towards you. "Ha...You actually find her attractive?" Shu said, getting closer to you as his chest almost touched your back. "So you feel it too Shu..." What were they even talking about at this point? Feeling what? "From the moment I saw her I felt it. There's something about her." Shu spoke calmly as his fatigue came back. "So that's why you drank from her so soon...It makes sense doesn't it?" Kanato said, as he took your hand and licked your fingers. You shivered at this and yanked your hand away immediately. "I don't need to explain myself. I'm done with this." You watched as Shu left you and Kanato to your own devices. Before you could protest, you felt something hard and metallic in your hand. He gave you the key after all, but it costed you your dignity....and underwear. "Come see me when you're more appropriately dressed so we can have a tea party, ok dolly?" And gone was Kanato, as he teleported his way out. Jeez, this place had a draft.

You quickly made your way to the door, realizing it was best to process everything that just happened after. You fiddled with the key for a bit before finally unlocking it. Based on how difficult it was to open the door, it was safe to say that no one's been in here for quite some time. The door gave a spine chilling groan as it swung open on its rusty hinges. A damp mossy scent invaded your nostrils, the aroma was so strong you needed to cover your nose. It was pitch black inside, no windows for any natural light. You allowed your eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room before feeling the walls for a light switch. Your fingers brushed over what felt like old paint that had already begun to peel and heady layers of dirt and grime. You involuntarily shivered at this and just prayed to get out of there as fast as you could. Once you finally found what felt like a light switch, you flicked it on....then off and on again. As fate would have it, the bulb was blown, or maybe the fuses were burnt? Either way, you needed to find a flashlight. You exited the room and began searching once again. After about ten minutes, the only thing you could produce was an old oil lamp. You used a torn page from an old book to ignite the lamp with the help of the fireplace. God Reiji was going to kill you if he found out. You made your way back into the old dusty decrepit room and noticed that almost everything was piled high on shelves in boxes. Where were you going to find a ladder? You were this close to just burning down this entire mansion until you noticed a box in the furthest corner of the room. Upon closer inspection, this box didn't have as much dust as the others, odd. You crouched down next to it and began rummaging through what looked like bills and receipts for repairs, This was probably Reiji's box, but why did he keep them? You kept scurrying through the old papers until something caught your eye.

"This...this is a bill for a room in the mansion...12ft by 12ft...stainless steel doors and built-in shelves, signed by.....Me?" You set the lamp down as you reread the bill. How could you have signed this? Maybe it was a different person with the same name-no, no, that doesn't make sense. This was your signature on the back of the bill, you were sure of it. You shuffled through the box once more, hoping to find something else that would give you the briefest of ideas as to what was going on. You only arrived here yesterday, how could...none of this makes any sense whatsoever. "Fuck a ladder, I need to see what's in those other boxes." You said to yourself before climbing up on a table. Box by box, they all came tumbling down as you disregarded the room's tidiness. You sifted through each of them but they were just paperwork that made no sense or had nothing to do with you. There was a stack of files in a language you've never seen in your life. It looked like a mix of Russian and Mandarin. You paid no mind to it as you pulled down another box, this one heavier than the last. What appeared to be a briefcase, fell out, almost knocking you down. It had some kind of code on it and was wrapped in chains with a....padlock? Whatever answers you were looking for, you were sure it would be in here. No one just padlocks a briefcase shut with an already installed code unless they really didn't want people knowing what was inside. As a matter of fact, the more you inspected it, it looked like it had water damage. Some parts were discoloured and a bit misshapen.

You ran back to the library and grabbed the globe you'd saw earlier and began hitting it as hard as you could on the padlock. It didn't even budge an inch and instead cracked the globe. Nevertheless, you continued bashing the lock as hard as humanly possible. Nothing worked, not hitting it on the edge of the table, not throwing it against a wall, not prying the chain off with your bare hands. At this point, you were sweaty and tired and your fingernails throbbed from all the meticulous ways you tried cracking open the briefcase. You sighed as you sat in defeat, brushing away the stray strands of hair from your face. You couldn't keep doing these stupid little run arounds when you knew Karlheinz had all the answers to your problems. With a heavy heart, you got up and took the briefcase with you. It'd be better off with you in its care, someone really doesn't want others to know what was in here and you were determined to find out.

You finally made your way back to your bedroom and plopped onto the bed with an exasperated sigh. You took a bath and changed into your clothes, hoping Shu didn't sell your underwear to Laito for some ear pods. God this family was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. You made sure no one was around as you peeped your head outside your door and scanned the hallway. Once you were sure you were the only one in your room, you lifted the mattress off your bed and dragged it to the floor. You used a box cutter you'd found sometime earlier and cut open a hole in the plush mattress and shoved the briefcase in before sewing it back together with two staples an some loose thread from your clothes. If it was one thing you knew how to do, it was to be resourceful. Your mind drifted a bit as you tried remembering where you learnt those skills, but you were shortly met with a migraine. That was....odd. Why did Karlheinz have that part of your memory blocked out? You still remembered the skills you learnt, so why cloud the part where you learnt it?

You couldn't think much about it either way as this was easily one of the most painful ones you've ever had. You set your bed back in place as you tried calming your senses. Nothing seemed to work as your pain only furthered. You slumped your way to your drawers, looking for any pain killers. You found a packet but these happened to be the ones that make you pass out, strange. You were sure you had the daytime ones as well. You didn't bother looking and just downed the entire thing with a bottle of water. You went to lay on your bed to try to sleep away the pain. It took you about thirty minutes before you could get comfortable enough to fall into a slumber. Unfortunately that rest was short lived as you awoke to yourself choking on smoke. Smoke?? Was someone barbequing? No....it was too intense and too ashy...? Your mind was a blur as you tossed and turned, silently complaining for whoever's bad cooking it was that woke you up. Cooking...cooking? Was someone cooking....? You awoke again with a violent cough, fully this time as your eyes burned from the thin layer of black smoke tinting your room. "SHITTTTTTTT SHIT!" You shouted out as you realized the manor was on fire. You ran to the door and felt the handle in case it was hot, luckily it was just slightly warm which meant the fire hadn't reached your wing of the mansion. You dashed to Yui's room and barged in, almost ripping the door from its hinges. "Yui! Yui! There's a fire! Get out!" Her room was a bit difficult to see as it carried the most ash and the smoke made it harder for you to see. You searched the room as quickly as you could, but she wasn't there. "Fuck-fuck-" You chanted silently as the smoke increased. You were about to run back out into the hallway but noticed the staircase was on fire and was rapidly making its way to your room. Where was everyone?? You covered your mouth as you made your way to her balcony. You hastily looked down and immediately realized you could be paralyzed from a fall like that. You hoped, you seriously hoped you were made of rubber and were tougher than you looked because this would be your only way out. Your heart raced 100mph as blood rushed to your ears, you felt your back sweating as you realized this was no time for hesitation and ran and jumped off the ledge with a scream. "FUUUUUUUUCK-" You shouted with your eyes closed as you braced for impact. It never came though, you never felt the pain of a thousand suns course through your splattered body. In fact you felt fine and....was someone holding you? You opened your eyes to see a shaken Subaru as he held you in his arms, bridal style. You followed his gaze as your eyes trailed to the burning mansion. You looked around and noticed that Shu seemed to be the most affected as he allowed his orbs to be engulfed by the flames as he stood the farthest from the group. You watched as the smoldering red flower completely absorbed the front corner of the mansion, its mesmerizing dance destroying everything inside, wiping out each bit of ancient furniture as it sung the melody of chaos, its flickering beauty tempting all who watch it to enter as a sign of heroicness, only for her to swallow you whole.

"W-what.... how did that happen?" You asked, voice timid from your near run in with death. Reiji turned to the rest of the brothers, glaring at all of them, making sure his criticized gaze lingered on you and Yui as well. "An oil lamp was left unattended."

Thank you all so much for your patience, this chapter took a bit longer than expected because I wasn't exactly motivated but I still hope you enjoy!

[sugurusombereyes]

worms | suguru blurb

“wanna love you till’ we’re food for the worms to eat”

a/n - thank you all so so much for 1K on the other geto blurb??? ily 🥹🥹 this might be a little longer but it’s okay 🤞🏻

“did you know worms have been here longer than dinosaurs?” you threw another chip into your mouth, the food crunching loudly in your mouth.

(geto hated the sound of food noises and always put his head down in defeat once you would do it, but this time he let it slide)

geto’s eyes shimmered purple into your green ones, the faint wrinkles by his eyes making an indent into his soft skin even when he wasn’t giving you that same smile which sent a million butterflies swarming around your heart; dancing around it as it beat in sync with his.

(you’d always ask him why he didn’t complain about his faint wrinkles and he’d tell you that he didn’t mind since he then always had a permanent reminder of you painted onto his skin)

“sorry.” you sheepishly smile, remembering how he would cringe at food noises. geto didn’t break eye contact, rather shaking his head softly and rubbing his soft thumb onto your bruised purple knuckles from battles that were never fought physically. “ts’ okay baby.” he said so genuinely it made you melt into a puddle onto the floorboards that you both danced on when the lights went out; the refrigerator light being the only source of light.

“oh and you know what?” you smiled eagerly at suguru as he searched the cabinets for a glass, turning around to your body as soon as the words were uttered from the same lips that he could swear healed any open wound on his body.

“worms literally have five hearts.”

now suguru would usually smile at how interested you were with worms but he just stared at you with a blank expression. his eyes still shimmering the violet that matched the bruises that were plastered onto you, but had a complete different meaning. you wouldn’t tell him since you had to keep up your cold sarcastic nature so he could unfreeze your fists with the warmth that would always engulf you whole no matter what.

“what?” you let out a small chuckle as he still stared at you, running a hand through his raven locks that you would always find yourself playing with when you were nervous.

“i love worms.” suguru blurted out, a crimson tint creeping up onto his cheeks that reminded you of the new paint colour you had just bought. if you had looked a little closer you would see the carefully crafted brushstrokes that kissed every inch of his skin.

“i love worms… too.” you had breathed out, the same heat mirroring onto your face, but this time you had no urge to cover your face.

geto moved closer toward you, his big arms snaking around your waist as you smiled at him, his purple eyes glistening red and any other colour that you would associated with the L word that would wrap around your heart and bleed it dry.

now you both knew what this meant, well geto questioned if you did know but he hoped he did. for some reason he couldn’t think straight, his thoughts directing only towards you and your weird facts that you would blurt out throughout the day.

“i love you too.”

he sighs in defeat, your laugh following along and echoing throughout your small house that you’d told him was perfect the minute he has suggested it.

he was perfect.

and he felt like he could finally forgive the world for its cruelness that constantly charged at him.

(his forgiveness spelling out in the letters of your name)

[year2000electronics]

And of course Super Paper Mario and 4. Convince me to give this game another try perhaps :]

4. …why you should choose to check out the world of this story and choose three gifs that should underline my point.

NOTE: i will be forgoing the GIF part and using pictures instead because every single GIF search result has been clogged up with mouth-breathers on the internet who have been arguing over whether SPM is good or bad and have been doing it in GIF form for years. don't believe me? search "super paper mario" on discord's gif search. you'll see it. you always see it.

oh jesus. see the thing about liking super paper mario is that there's a lot of SPM fans out there who really like the game but can't really connect a very important dot as to Why they like the game. (HINT: THEY PLAYED IT WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG AND ARE NOSTALGIC FOR IT SO THE FLAWS IT HAS IS WAY LESS FOR THEM, AND BY PROXY, ME.) IM self aware. i will never be able to hate the game, but i am incredibly aware that the gameplay can be fairly lacking sometimes. if the story doesnt already grip you, it probably wont ever be worth it to go through the gameplay. thats my bit. thats my piece.

(but then youll have people who see how SPM defenders dont like to critique it when it deserves to be critiqued and start going after stuff like "oh the story isnt even that good"? MAN WHY DID YOU BRING THE STORY INTO THIS.)

but i digress. the life of a paper mario fan is a long and hard one.

POINT THE FIRST. MARIO'S "EXPERIMENTAL" ERA.

you can argue that ttyd also fits this bill, and i think it does, but this is about SPM so im focusing on that. if the mario series has never really Gripped you or you havent really been a lifelong fan, i always think the gamecube-wii era of mario has been one of its more interesting moments. the switch renaissance has allowed a breath of creativity to come back into mario, and mario's allowed to be Weird again, but gamecube-wii mario is weird in a really SCUFFED way and i love it. the gamecube's flagship mario game was a LUIGI game where he cant even jump. super paper mario came out before mario galaxy or NSMBwii. that was our mario rep on the wii for a while. mario games get a little crazy, a little weird here. and so what you get is a more melancholic story about the end of all worlds, and exploring what it really means to be a hero, and the closest many games will get to acknowledging that the mario characters can have emotions that arent Perfect. its just such a fascinating era for such a perfectly-marketable franchise and i adore it. it's a testament to what mario can Be, for me. Mario Is Weird. say it with me now!

POINT THE SECOND. GOODBYE TO A WORLD.

i just really like the theme of All Worlds Coming To An End. usually in these sort of things, it's "save the world so the world doesnt end!" but in this game, it really feels like "the world is ending and you have to fight even to have a chance to succeed". it colours the tone of the game in such a fantastic way. many songs in the OST have a ticking clock in them. the inescapable void is even in the hub world. it's like the majora's mask of paper mario. many people talk this up but the fact that in chapter 6, you're beholden to the traditions of a silly king who REFUSES to believe the world is ending even when HIS ENTIRE SKY IS PURPLE, and youre trying so hard to beat this 100-man duel faster and faster, only for the world to end and then youre forced to go back into the chapter and see this GRAVEYARD. it makes it so much more tangible. THIS is what will happen if you fail. and this overhanging melancholy paints the themes of love so much stronger. it's not just a love story, it's a love story in adversity. love conquers all, but what is the "all" in question? well, this. bleakness. sometimes the bleakness is part of the love. sometimes you make a sacrifice in the name of love, and nobody likes it, but you know it must be. the whole game is actually a love story between bleck and tippi and it just grips me so. it's such a multi-faceted depiction of love and loss that it feels so much more real to me, that love isn't always the Magical Solution. love is a sword, a shield, a prayer, a wish, a curse, a blessing, an order, an act of cowardice, an act of bravery, a sacrifice.

(you see what i mean? i can literally only be talking like this because i grew up with this stupid ass game)

POINT THE THIRD. FUCK ALL THAT THOUGH LET'S TALK ABOUT THE BLECK MINIONS.

so, the whole kind of crux of this game is that it's a love story between bleck, the main antagonist, and tippi, your companion, right. if you can't flesh both of them out you're in a bad way. obviously for tippi, she's hanging around you all the time, and you get to hear her journey play out throughout the entire game. BUT WHAT OF BLECK? HE'S HIDING IN HIS CASTLE! how are we supposed to know more about him and learn his story if he is IN HIS CASTLE? well that's why after every chapter, there's this interlude where we CHECK UP ON THE BAD GUYS.

i blame this game entirely for my love of villains. this gang of baddies has so much quirks and personality that i find it hard NOT to love them. they're not just gormless minions of the count- each shows their own personality in their relationship with him. mimi has a puppy-love crush on him, o'chunks has a sort of warrior's bond with him, nastasia pledges herself to him and almost uses the minions she controls as a conduit for her dedication to him, dimentio is like a cat in a bird store, and mr l clearly isnt supposed to be here but i dont think he knows that. the minions bicker amongst themselves but clearly have a bond of cameraderie because it all feels like teasing of people who've known each other for a long time.

you fight each minion at least twice, and even though the lackluster gameplay kinda comes in full force again, you get to see so much PERSONALITY in these guys. mimi is super-bratty but seems to know most people would see her as a monster so leans into it, dimentio is playful and jovial while also having his own motives, o'chunks is bold and brash but asks you to finish him off the second time he fails, mr. l is cocky to a fault and reeks of insecurity. i just love having these guys we can always check up on. it's like lord crump but MOOOOORE.

and through a combo of you inferring things about these people and some of the Deeper Lore (flopside bar stories), you kinda come to learn that these minions were kinda manipulated by bleck when they were at their lowest. mimi is a failed creation of SOMETHING. o'chunks' men all died because there was a traitor in his midst. nastasia was saved from a cage by bleck. and the more you learn about bleck the more you see that he is a man grieving the woman he loved, apathetically trying to end all worlds so the pain would end. he lies to the minion, he says he aims to make perfect new worlds, and they believe him, and they love him, because he saved them.

this sort of birth of a relationship through bleck's pain and manipulation comes through by the end, as the love the minions have for bleck is a KEY part of the final act. and idk it's a bunch of deeply-hurting misfits binding together and accidentally finding love in a world they found loveless. i think thats really cool. i think THEYRE really cool. such an awesome cast of villains.

but yknow. again. this is my childhood game. the special feeling i have for it can't really just be put into words. it's my diamond in the rough and nothing can really change that. it's Home.

[thygoddessouijathicc]

Old Man Yaoi May Not Be So Old

So there’s a segment in the DSaF fandom that beleive Dave and Jack are visibly old men. I’m fine with it, I used to, and in fact love the designs especially because there’s seems to be an almost taboo of drawing old people to a point and it’s homely really great that people here are doing it, but I don’t think that’s actually true canonically like I used to. I must stress though DRAW THEM HOW YOU LIKE. They can be old or not it doesn’t concern me.

Both of them are corpses. In terms of age, yes, they are quite old, but corpses don’t tend to age. And we see this in DSAF with the Phones not aging visibly, perhaps it’s just that it’s stock photos but Harry, despite being Gen 1, is physically not old. Why? Because Harry isn’t alive. None of the phones are. The phones are just well preserved and act like living creatures.

You know what else isn’t alive but acts like it? Dave and Jack. While they’d be in terms of numbers, old, in DSAF 3, given their ages at which they died it’s unlikely they’d physically get any older. And don’t say some kinda magic thing because we know for a fact that both behave like corpses, especially Jack. Jack paints himself orange to look alive (a weird colour choice but I digress), he does this because his body is rotting, likely turning black or purple (this also means any cursed colour swap between the two, the Jack side may just not have put on his makeup yet lol). Jack is rotting, definitely not alive body behaviours. Dave also does not behave like a living person. How many of those do you know that can do what he does. There seems to be a consensus that Davetrap is rotting but Dave is too nothing happened to Davetrap to kickstart the process that would mean Dave could not have before, it’s likely the pests just got in because he was stationary and likely far slower.

Let’s also talk about their behaviour. It’s not great to go off of but Jack doesn’t act like a mature adult and neither does Dave, they act like they’re rather young adults still figuring themselves out. Jack especially is quite childish, as if he never got a chance to mature. You could bring up Dee, but Dee’s situation is far different. It doesn’t seem like Dee has actually mentally matured so much as she has been put in a position in which she has no choice but to take on a more mature role and tries to fit that, she has no reason to mentally age, and none of the other children have meaning if she actually got older there would have to be more to it. Dee is as old as she always was, any maturity added is not due to age but due to her situation. Dave and Jack are immature people, and with this in mind it paints a somewhat grim picture of the fact that they never got to mature.

One could mention the ending in which Jack dies of old age… but the phones also have beards here and Jack is actually established to be semi immortal so dying of old age just doesn’t make sense, he can die, but it seems like he gets back up. So let’s be real the beards are fake, and Jack probably ate something weird, and will be fine in like 12 minutes. The game probably ends when you die because it would be weird if it didn’t even if you do get back up.

The only time I’d say Jack permanently dies is when he’s burned. Which leaves no body behind, which by the same principle as the others, means there’s nothing left to come back which sucks for him because oops no soul either.

Jack can also get rabies but… this also doesn’t feel like a sign he is alive.

Dave actively does rot in the game as Davetrap, Jack rots constantly, it’s safe to say their bodies do not work like human ones especially considering not having organs is not something that kills Dave. At least not that we know.

With all of this in mind, yeah. They are corpses. And as I’ve said before, corpses do not age in DSAF physically or mentally, even Blackjack is incredibly immature if you actually look at his behaviour. He’s also an asshole who never gets character development but that’s a story for another time.

It actually makes more sense if they don’t age given the very little change in their behaviour or character between games even after a massive Timeskip nothing seems to have changed at all which makes sense logically too, because why would Fredbear give Jack the ability to age? Let’s be real here if Jack can age eventually that will become a problem given that he is immortal seemingly as long as he has a body to return to. There’s no reason to give him the ability to age and plenty of reasons not to.

Now that’s not to say their bodies don’t change, they do. And if you realistically want to draw DSAF 3 Jack in his most canon possible form… which I doubt many do… Jack doesn’t age he rots he’s probably just a lot worse for wear if he hasn’t found a way to stop rotting yet. Him being an old man is unlikely, but a very decomposed zombie? More likely than you’d think.

And before anyone brings up the tapes, Dave may just look like that, pretty much every piece of art in that game is by a different person who is not Doggo, while Dave seems to be a bit older Jack does not. The tapes are in the past if we are saying that is Dave’s age in DSAF 3, sorry no.

DSAF 3 has incredibly inconsistent art to a point I’d say fans can largely disregard it but that’s an essay for another time just know art in that game isn’t as canon as people seem to think it is. At least not by my observation.

Dave and Jack are old men in age, but not in body. No in body they are most likely the age they died at which seems to have been pretty young for both of them like we know Jack was in his early 20s and Dave is a few years older but also died at the very least a few months before Jack. They aren’t old men, at least not canonically.

I must stress I mean they probably are not canonically old because honestly the DSaF fandom needs to take a chill pill and stop being angry at people for making their own designs, literally do what you want as long as it’s not illegal or like super fucked up. Don’t make Jack 12 and Dave 60 and ship that, but if you want to draw them old be my guest. This essay was just my observation of the idea that the fandom calls them old men and people seem to think they are canonically but it just seems unlikely.

[adobe-outdesign]

Good morning, are you still looking for neopet suggestions? If so, have you talked about Chomby? Adore that little guy, it was my first (and possibly only, I can't remember 100%) neopet!

Thanks to the presence of Tyrannia, we have a few different species of dinosaur-based 'pets. Out of them, the Chomby is probably my fav. It's mostly just a simplified stegosaurus, though it only sports a singular row of plates and no thagomizer (tail spikes). It also has an upright neck and overall body shape that's closer to brachiosaurus, and a row of spots that exist to break up the body. I like how the spot shape matches that of the plates, and the overall body has a good shape to it.

One thing the Chomby struggles with a bit is the color proportions and usage, as you can see a fair amount of variation just in the base colours alone. For the record, I prefer the handling of the yellow Chomby for the base colours, wherein the spines are an accent color that matches the eyes while the spots are a secondary shade.

The Chomby had some massively dated art that was in bad need of an update, so for the most part the customized version is a good improvement. My only issues with the converted art is that the eyebrow looks really weird, and the mouth and eyes almost go a bit too far back on the head.

Favorite Colours:

Darigan: I really like the way the Darigan Chomby plays with the base design. Fro example, the back spines have been changed into spikes and the markings have been given a sharper, more bat wing-like shape. I also really like the addition of an underbelly and how it runs up to the jagged mouth, and the semi-transparency effect on the wings. My only nitpick is that the black fin-like structures on the head feel too busy when paired with both the horns and spikes, and I would've liked the wings to be just a little bigger. Great colour overall though.

Camouflage: Probably vaguely based on stegosaurus interpretations, the naturalistic markings on the camouflage Chomby look really nice. The markings contour with the body properly, and the countershading with the darker green elements on the back adds a lot of contrast and richness to the design.

Oil Paint: Oil paint is just an inherently pretty colour, but I really like the use of it here. Like the camouflage Chomby, it carefully contours the body in a way that makes sense, and there's both a good amount of detail in the brush strokes and a nice texture. The actual color palette is also lovely, using a mix of dark purples and blues to contrast with birght oranges and yellows. I just wish the eye had also been painted, as it looks out of place compared to the rest of the design.

BONUS: The Halloween Chomby has it all, with skeletal elements in the head and back spines (which have been given a slightly different shape as well), a striped tail, bandages, and a cloak with an eye on it. None of it should work together, but it surprisingly comes together well due to the muted greenish-gray base combined with black, red, and white accents.

The only reason this one is a bonus is because the base colour is pretty mid. The tail wasn't made a wearable so it just suddenly becomes striped out of nowhere, and it's left with skeletal back spines despite the skull being removable.

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . the battle at the low-orbit station

So. According to Gundam Wiki (citing an official Twitter message that's cited in turn without a link on an English-language message board), the shoulder-mounted bazooka that Akihiro uses in his second deployment in the Graze Custom was acquired during the battle in Mars orbit that forms the bulk episode 5, 'Beyond the Red Sky', when Tekkadan manage to run rings around Colonel Coral Conrad and shady trader Orcus (remember Orcus?). This struck me as rather curious, since I couldn't remember a point in that fight where it would have made sense for anybody to mug a Graze for its weaponry, much less a bazooka-equipped Graze actually appearing among the Gjallarhorn forces.

Being a diligent sort of obsessive, I decided to go back and watch the episode in full, to check my memory. This led to noting a number of (to me) interesting things and since nobody can stop me, I'm going to jot them down here.

First up, the Graze contingent for this episode mostly consists of the rather nice blue models labelled alternatively in secondary material as the 'Ares type' or 'space type'. The latter seems the most useful term since we see this livery repeat at various other locations later on, most significantly as part of the Dort Colony garrison and Gaelio's intercept squadron in Earth orbit. We can assume this is the general-purpose colours for Gjallarhorn 'suits operating in space, outside of elite units like the Arianrhod Fleet or those under the Seven Stars direct control (e.g. the yellow/gold versions the Issues use in Urdr Hunt).

Like a lot of the Graze's design, this seems to be a callback to the Leos from Gundam Wing, which featured a similar green/indigo distinction for ground/space (although space Leos are much more purple).

This episode is the series' first major space battle and it showcases some brilliant shot composition. There's so much to love about how this fight is story-boarded, from the mobile suits flying at weird angles to one another, to the way in-cockpit views are used.

The right-hand image here is from the perspective of Ein Dalton's Graze, and his appearance demonstrates a small detail that's easy to miss if you haven't poured over the the concept art. While this is still the green Graze that Ein was piloting in the opening episodes (its arm having been replaced in the meantime), the waist-mounted boosters have been swapped for blue shoulder-mounted units, like the rest of the squadron deployed from the Ares space station.

This is because the space boosters are slightly different from the ground-use ones, featuring extra vernier jets. However, I'm not sure the gaps for those ought to have been drawn in the left screenshot here, since they're supposed to be at right angles to the main thrusters. You can see the correct rendering on the left, below. In a great bit of continuity, Ein is later shown assisting this particular Graze after it's lost one of its boosters. Good boy! (For all that he turned out to be a mite unbalanced, Ein begins as a very diligent soldier.)

Oddly enough given its ubiquity in the merchandising, the shot on the right will be the last time the green Mars-branch Graze is seen in action in the show. After this, Ein switches to using Gaelio's Schwalbe Graze, and opposition to Tekkadan comes from different Gjallarhorn units using other colour schemes. The Arianrhod Grazes that will become the mandated 'green enemy type' for Season 2 are a notably different shade and colour layout (left), and the next and final time the 'Mars green' Graze appears, it will be in the rather ignoble aftermath of Hashmal's rampage across the Chryse Planatia (right).

[EDIT: I belatedly realised the above is not quite true: Mars-green Grazes do in fact participate in the final battle of the show against Mikazuki and Akihiro, and the machine Iok commandeers after McGillis wrecks his custom model is painted in these colours. So that's actually a nice bookending. I was misremembering because most of the action is handled by the Graze Schild variants.]

Anyway, that's enough Graze appreciation.

Time for some blatant Eugene Sevenstark propaganda.

Up to this point in the show, Eugene has been positioned as something between a joke character and the obligatory Doubting Thomas. He's clearly got an ego, clearly has a chip on his shoulder regarding Orga's leadership, and his main contribution to a battle previously has been to run away (very effectively, saving Orga's life in the process, but still).

Then, with Gjallarhorn and Orcus bearing down on Tekkadan's spacehsip, Orga comes up with a plan to use a nearby mining asteroid to perform an insanely sharp handbrake turn in order to gain altitude over their pursuers. This involves launching an anchor into the asteroid and sling-shotting the Isaribi through a tight orbit before using an explosive charge to blow the anchor and release them. Given the speed with which this must be enacted, the charge has to be placed manually, using a mobile worker. Orga originally intends to do this himself but Eugene brashly volunteers in his place, saying that as leader, he shouldn't be doing everything himself and grumbling that the others let Orga have his way far too easily.

Both these will be important charaterisation for later.

What I want to talk about, however, is how this manoeuvre goes off. It starts reasonably enough, with the anchor being fired into the rock and Eugene racing down the cable to, uh, shoulder-barge the bomb into position.

He shoots the charge and it detonates, but the anchor struck deeper than expected and doesn't come free. Now, based on past expectations, one might expect Eugene to panic over this. He's certainly not seemed especially level-headed up to now, and perhaps even a bit of a paper-tiger.

Instead, he backflips the mobile worker to launch his fuel tank at the recalcitrant anchor.

I just -- this is the first time we have seen any of these boys operating in space and he just . . . does that. Split second decision-making, zero-g environment, no problem. And it works! The extra blast from the tank frees the anchor.

It's brilliantly rendered too, with Eugene's shots going wide for a long few seconds before he finally gets the range and blows the tank.

If that wasn't enough, we then get a moment of 'oh shit, what happened to Eugene?' as the screen whites out, the cable snaking in silhouette, before coming around again to show that he's managed to latch on to the anchor to ride it back to the Isaribi.

Not only is this a fantastic action sequence, showcasing the weight and physical interaction that IBO excels at, and not only does it cement Eugene's position as 'the guy you really want flying your spaceship', it also serves as excellent set-up for where his griping about Orga's leadership is eventually going to go. Because yes, Eugene complains about Orga charging ahead and raises some legitimate objections. But at the same time, he is fully prepared to take incredibly risky actions on Orga's say-so, both recognising the strategy is sound and trusting Orga enough to follow his lead regardless of personal friction.

This will pay off later in perhaps the worst way it could, when Eugene proves incapable of properly pulling Orga up on his 'I must do everything' tendencies until it's much too late, precisely because of this trust. For now, it's just a wonderful piece of showing-against-telling, highlighting that Eugene is a true part of the team -- whatever he says -- and a damn skilled one at that.

Also, and this is me stretching for interesting reads, but the fact he is *this* good in a mobile worker and in zero-g in general despite being canonically not great during ground battles or when using mobile suits is something I place in the 'neurodivergent Eugene' column. I mean, if that's the right term when we're talking about fighting ability using a human/machine interface. Basically I think there's the basis to argue Eugene just copes better in space, where he can move any way he wants, rather than being stuck under gravity and following a human template. Partly this is inspired by how he gallops his mobile worker during the battle at the CGS base, as if he's trying to jump into the air to escape Orlis Stenja's attempt to kill him and Orga. Mostly, it's this scene, and what it shows us about Eugene's skill level once the gang gets off the ground.

What was I supposed to be talking about?

Oh right, Tekkadan swiping Gjallarhorn components. Well, this episode does give us the Saga of the Schwalbe Cables, as McGillis and Gaelio use their souped-up Grazes against Barbatos and its newly painted shoulders (those are bits of Orlis' Graze. RIP).

McGillis manages to snag Mikazuki's forearm quite soundly, forcing Mika to eject the armour from the frame to make his escape. Bye-bye weirdly out-of-place buckler.

This tussle between the two pilots prompts the beginning of their mutual respect in combat, as they each recognise the other's skill (with some lovely framing to boot).

Meanwhile, Gaelio shouts a lot and generally makes a right nit of himself, also latching on to Barbatos and even making a good try at dragging it on to a lower orbit, before getting maced for his efforts.

His grappling cable remains latched to Barbatos' leg afterwards and Mika will later use this self-same claw weapon during the fight with the Turbines in a couple of episodes' time.

There is a slight animation snafu here, in that while the gauntlet from which the cable is launched is clearly still attached in the shot where we see Mika's mace hit Gaelio's Schwalbe Graze, it's missing from subsequent frames showing Barbatos on the Isaribi's tail. However, the intention is obviously supposed to be that the gauntlet remains connected, since it will replace the ejected forearm armour and be used to allow Mika to keep pace with Lafter's Hyakuri. This glitch aside, the connecting logic is extremely clear, as Tekkadan once more incorporate battlefield debris in place of missing parts of Barbatos' outer shell.

Speaking of continuity, this episode also establishes the unique nature of Ahab reactor signatures, not only by having Ein recognise the signal from Tekkadan's new Graze Custom as belonging to Crank Zent's Graze (see the second screenshot in this post) but also by showing one of McGillis' subordinates pattern-match Barbatos to an official database.

The entries here are fairly meaningless in terms of wider canon details but for posterity, here's a breakdown.

Barbatos aside, each frame number takes the form of a letter followed by a three, four or five digit number. Examples include 'E-978', 'R-3908' and 'C-09067'. These are shown to be equivalent to 'ASW-G-08', so presumably identify the specific frame/'suit. The second term appears to indicate the kind of mobile suit listed, since Barbatos' is 'GUNDAM TYPE'. Outside that, however, they don't accord with the more commonly used terms like Rodi, Graze or Geirail. We've instead got things like:

NORMAL WR-09

NORMAL PR

NORMAL 26 WW

NORMAL GERA

AUTO MUG

AUTO MUG 2

ANTI 809

And so on, with variations of these general formats. As I said, this isn't especially meaningful, though it does give us a code for Barbato's database entry (186.390.20) and, together with Ein's POV, establishes that Ahab signals take the form of bar graphs -- although, here at least, there is little in the graphics to indicate much difference between Crank's single-reactor Graze and the dual-reactor Gundam frame, a distinction described by the dialogue.

While we're on the subject of screens, we may as well take a look at the following two as well, which provide a little bit of additional world-building.

First we have the display from Orcus' ship, showing an overview of the battlefield. Interesting, it indicates Barbatos' frame code in full, suggesting this is broadcast as an IFF signal, which is rather funny given the extended search sequence that follows on Gjallarhorn's side.

We also see the Grazes in play identified using codes such as 'EB101', 'EB102', 'EB103' and so on. Now the Graze frame's model code is 'EB-06', indicating it is the sixth mobile suit Gjallarhorn have developed since the Calamity War (predecessor Geirail is EB-04). We can infer therefore that 'EB' is a standard designator for a Gjallarhorn 'suit, making it likely these are just generic IDs assigned from Orcus' perspective.

More interestingly, this screen picks out one of the structures in the vicinity of the battles as an 'orbital mass driver'. This is presumably the large satellite the shuttle skims past as it tries to evade the first three Grazes to come after Tekkadan.

Together with the mining asteroid, this is gives us a brief indication of industry going on in Mars orbit. What exactly the mass driver is being used to launch and where is never made clear, although we are told that Mars' main export is the 'half metal' used to dampen Ahab reactor emissions, so it's plausible this forms some part in that. It's a pretty nice design at least, using the same spherical core as Gjallarhorn's space stations and the larger space dock, but with an unusual asymmetric rotating boom and a stationary rectangular module on the end.

The second screen shown above is the attitude control program running aboard the Schwalbe Grazes, shown as McGillis commentates about Gaelio's inability to hit Barbatos. I love how this highlights that standard mobile suits are doing a lot of computing in order to enact what their pilots want. This is something that's been made explicit in Gundam shows right from the very start, but it's rarely more than a passing detail. In Iron-Blooded Orphans, by contrast, it's part of the central conceit that the Alaya-Vijnana allows people to operate machinery much more effectively, by making it a direct extension of their bodies. Gaelio can't hit Mikazuki explicitly because his Schwalbe's software struggles to predict Barbatos' more instinctive movements. We see the program cycling through different patterns as it attempts to lock on, and might infer this must go both ways, with the program analysing an enemy and deploying a corresponding attack or defence response.

We've seen before that Barbatos moves far more fluidly than the Grazes; this nicely underlines the point and provides a bit of technobabble to quantify the advantage that will carry Tekkadan so far. Gjallarhorn's mobile suits appear more robotic because they are -- something with interesting implications given we eventually learn that an excessive degree of weaponry automation caused the Calamity War, and that will provide a moment of sharp dissonance when the Graze Ein appears during the season finale, fully emoting with human-like gestures.

Alas, in all this, we never do get any hint this is where Tekkadan acquire the bazooka, if that was indeed the intention all along. To be fair, we don't see what Akihiro is doing after a certain point in the fight, so there's plenty of room to posit a missing scene. But I have to say, from a continuity management perspective, I would personally have had them recover it after the ground battle in the opening two episodes. For one thing, the alternative shoulder armour is painted dark green, in line with the land-based Grazes rather than the detachment from Ares. For another, that initial battle is one Gjallarhorn soundly lose, as opposed to 'merely' failing to stop the Isaribi escaping. Wouldn't it have made slightly more sense for the boys to happen upon an abandoned equipment module once Gjallarhorn's mobile workers had cleared out?

It's a very minor detail; the bazooka isn't even especially plot-relevant (more 'let's sell more toys!' relevant; yes I am writing this while building the Graze Custom kit, why do you ask?). There's a much more obvious continuity problem in 'Beyond the Red Sky' that you might already be aware, where after being visibly winged by one of McGillis' shots, the sub and dub script have Mika say "that would've hit me," as if the bullet had missed (not quite sure if that's confusion caused by the original Japanese in some way?). But this is just a case of the script or versions of the script not keeping pace with the animation, or simply being ambiguous -- and anyway, it can be rescued as part of the point being made by assuming that since Mika hasn't yet adjusted to treating Barbatos' thrusters as an extension of his body, he's treating this hit as a near miss.

The bazooka thing stands out far more in an episode that otherwise effectively sets various things up or builds on already-established details. It's a case of something going unjustified in the text, which is quite unusual for materiel in this show. Usually, we can trace exactly where each of piece of military hardware the boys use has come from, highlighting the persistent through-line about how important logistics are in the fight for survival.

I'm not surprised there were queries about it at the time, and while the answer listed on Gundam Wiki is serviceable enough, it does still rely on finding a convenient void in the action, rather than being textually established.

[Index of other writing]

[heylavellan]

happy Friday!! because I think it would be hilarious, Shale & Wynne for "stealing the other person's clothes"?

i like the way your brain works because a) Wynne's clothing is not built for Shale and b) Shale's clothing is crystals. silliness under the cut (~670 words). Shale uses It/Its pronouns here. @dadrunkwriting

i also highly recommend going back and reading shales dialogue because its so funny. one of the things i really liked from the da:o epilogue is wynne and shale going to tevinter, so glad someone else invited me to write about it :D

The flesh creatures are strange. They cover so much of their squishy bits because some are more destructible than others. Those weird creatures should simply embed crystals in their skin as Shale did. Clearly It was superior, as the crystals were pleasing to the eye and not flabby. Purple was also a nice colour.

But if all the meaty animals wore something to cover their skin, surely there had to be something to the practice? While almost every soft being had little purpose or sense, if the warden did it too... Maybe they had purpose? If Shale had coverings, the birds would not have been able to drop their vile, icky shit on It. They would then be on the thin protective layer.

The soft things were also quite particular about their bird defenders. When speaking to the Sister, it mentioned that footwear should have a nice colour. Clearly the Sister's were brown from all the mud, so It didn't understand why colour was important. Red would be perfect for when the squishy people had their liquid evacuated from their bodies. Keep it the same colour as their liquid.

So why was It feeling the need to try on those clothes? Incredibly simple to put them on. The elder mage must have some for It to borrow. Just take them out of the tent and put them on Its stony limbs. Much like the people of Honnleath did during their Winter Celebration and the Harvest Festival. It truly sounded less and less appealing. But It had to know.

During the day, when the elder mage, painted elf, warden, and the annoying one were out not advancing the righteous cause of pigeon extermination, Shale made Its move. The perfect time to plunder the elder mage's things. Loose fabric. These could go around the arms. The neck.

Oh no. Now It was stuck. Too much fabric. This was not good. It could hear the swamp witch cackling. Even the Qunari was laughing. At least the painted elf wasn't here. That would be much more embarrassing. Or the annoying Gray Warden.

After a bit of waddling around, Shale eventually called out, "Qunari, you will help me." The most respectable flesh creature helped It out of the clothes It had donned. The clothes were nice. They were not made for Shale.

---

Wynne knew she was missing some robes she brought. A green set. Her senior enchanter robes. Two other sets the Warden gifted her. Her yellow pair, another green set, and black pair were missing. Something had happened to her things.

She wagered the two wardens had something to do with this. They usually caused all measures of trouble. For the day ahead, one of the gifted pairs should do nicely. As she exited the tent, she saw that Shale had actually neared the campfire and was surrounded by their chattering friends.

"Has anyone seen my robes? I've had a few pairs go missing," Wynne asked. The group broke out in more laughter and broke apart enough for the mage to see her two missing robes on Shale's arms. She could scarcely stifle her laughter.

"I... Should apologize to the elder mage. However, neither the Qunari or I could remove them," Shale explained, looking as embarrassed as It could with a face made of stone. "I will endeavour to return them as soon as I can remove them."

Wynne covered her mouth and laughed, "Oh, it's quite alright. I needed to replace those sets anyway." Strictly speaking, those two sets of robes were just fine after twenty or so years of consistent care. However, spending time with this group made her realise that her robe fashion was completely out of touch. Those would have been the first to go when she bought new ones.

Shale held out something in the palm of Its stony hands. "In exchange," It explained. In Its palm was a set of earrings, each with a purple crystal. Wynne smiled and put them in her ears, before getting ready for the day ahead.

[fiendishneko]

Mansions Commission Part 3: The shitty one with the masks

Final installment of mansions commission posting (for now...), so let's start with some actual monsters:

These weird snake guys were fun, I got to cut loose with some wet blending on their underbellies and wing membranes, taking colour ideas from the aliens in Attack the Block (seriously, go watch it!) and used a fluorescent blue paint to really sell the effect.

Next, we have some perfectly normal men from the charming fishing town of Innsmouth. I used a series of thin blue and purple washes over a pale blue-grey to really give them that Innsmouth Look.

Speaking of normal men, here's a couple mobs of them. Nothing too fancy here, just layers, shades qnd highlights to draw attention to faces.

Apparently my subconscious took the wheel because I accidentally painted one of them as Ash Williams from The Evil Dead, luckily for the investigators, he seems to have forgotten his boomstick.

A zombie? I think he is, at least? Honestly a little underwhelming, as far as sculpts have gone, but wasn't too bad.

Finishing strong: it's a bunch (a school?) of fish monsters. Their topsides were a murky green colour, save for fins and webbing, but their undersides were painted in the same way as the skin on the Normal Innsmouth Men, with a bit of cool white to pick out their teeth.

And that's your lot! I wait with eager anticipation for my next commission to fall into my lap, so, if you're interested in getting something of yours painted, feel free to message me and we can have a chat about it!

[hsslilly-blog]

been thinking about my bratz doll post. im going to start sharing my doll customising journey here so i get motivated enough to get back into it lol. the last time i posted about it was back in february i think? anyway

my plan is to make three custom dolls. claire (hwu mc), blair (hss mc) and addison (hwu). i also hope to make a bianca custom doll as i’ve found the perfect base doll for her, but she wasn’t in my original plans.

here’s my progress so far. all the pictures are going to be terrible btw:

blair stewart

outfit: their outfit is pretty much complete. the only thing missing is their sweater and their hairband. and i really really want to find/make a tie for them. i dislike the fact the skirt is a VERY grayish dark blue (in the picture it looks straight up gray) and i’ve thought about dyeing it blue but i’m afraid to ruin it and end up with nothing. so i’m keeping it as is for the time being. the boots are a perfect match. i plan on painting the gray details on the purse and making it completely white. but it’s very cute, it looks a lot like the one from this post.

the doll: this is a 2015 fashionista barbie doll that was WAY overpriced when i got her. i really like her hair colour though… it’s not exactly copper, it’s a very nice shade of pinkish orange. the picture does it no justice, but it looks a lot like the shade of orange i used to use for blair’s hair in my early 2021 drawings of them. the only issue with this doll: she has flat feet. which sucks. but she’s plastic so we just need to throw her in boiling water and mold it to my liking. medieval torture style.

my plan: i plan on repainting her face. i like this screening, but it looks… weird. im going to give her blair’s heterochromia + their scar and i plan on giving her less eyebrows. blair doesn’t have much of those. as for the hair, it still has some remains of box glue so i need to get rid of that before anything else. i plan on cutting it shoulder length and flipping the ends. i don’t know how i’m doing blair’s hairstyle though (the hair part/bangs) because this doll’s rooting is really weird. but we’ll see.

what do we think. hairstyle ofc not 100% blair compliant but gives me a general idea of what to do. there’s a really cool way of doing the bump/beehive-like/teased crown i sometimes draw them in, so i might try it if the doll has enough hair. also i realized just now how the eyes in this sculpt are very far apart. lol. i think it fits blair.

addison sinclair

outfit: and nothing for her!! i have her jacket and her boots (which have not been painted yet) and that’s it. addison has been the reason of my restless nights. i just can’t find a cropped top that looks like hers!!!! i didn’t think it would be so hard to find a blue/grayish/jeans-like cropped top but my god!! and the worst part of it all: i found a dress online that is a perfect match to hers but it’s been OUT OF STOCK since february!! here it is:

it’s not a Perfect Match, but i can work around it. it’s more than close enough to me. i’ve been checking the website every week but they haven’t restocked it yet and i fear they aren’t going to do so anytime soon. atp i think i’ll just sew it myself. i just need to find a similiar fabric to her dress. as for the socks… i have some white doll socks and i’m going to dye them purple. no bracelets yet.

the doll: i cannot for the life of me tell you which doll this is. she looks like a ~2012 barbie doll but i can’t figure out which one. and i don’t think these are the original clothes. the ad said she’s a fashionista but i don’t believe this. she does have articulated legs, but she doesn’t Look Like a fashionista. i think she’s from the early i can be line before they started using rubber legs. anyway. i fell in love with her hair. it’s perfect for addi.

my plan: i plan on repainting her eyes. here’s the thing guys. i’m a brown eyed addison truther. sorry that’s just who i am. i also want to close her mouth LOL. give her addison’s red lipstick and thin the eyebrows. as for the hair i think it’s perfect as is. i’m probably just going to style it better.

i plan on closing her mouth w/ apoxie paste or like. makeup clay (is that what it’s called?). her lips are going to be smaller too but i got lazy with the drawing.

claire swanson

outfit: isn’t she pretty!!!! i’m still having issues with her casual outfit but her formal outfit/the red dress i always draw her in is done. besides the shoes. i don’t like these open toed heels with this dress. for her Signature Look i have this cute red top which is a great match but i can’t find any shorts that match hers/the top. so far i have a miniskirt and these.. jean shorts. not my favourite. i have to paint the heels white but i found these gold hoops!!! w for me. no bracelets yet.

the doll: this is a 2011 glitz barbie doll and she’s been my holy grail for years now. the blue variant is so so so pretty. i never thought i’d find her since 1. it’s an old barbie doll and 2. i live in brazil. and then…. i found a listing online IN BOX!!! i got the purple variant but the screening is basically the same. i think her makeup is stronger though? but maybe it’s just a stock image thing. anyway i’m obsessed with the hair colour. this was such a great period for barbie if you were into almost-white-platinum-blonde hair. barbie bleach era.

my plan: i didn’t want to touch this doll but she is missing… claire-ness. i plan on repainting the eyes, giving her claire’s beauty mark and her red lipstick. the hair is perfect and honestly. such great box hair. like 13 year old box hair.

it’s not visible on the first picture and i edited out here, but she two black spots in her nose. otherwise she’s fine.

alright. my main issue at the moment is that i can’t seem to find any 100% acetone nail polish remover so i can get started on the repaints. they don’t sell these here anymore. so i’ve been looking for SOMETHING that can clean off the screening of the dolls. so far, no luck. which is why i got demotivated back in february. also something i probably should have mentioned: i have terrible motor skills so repainting these dolls is going to be so much fun!

setting some goals for the time being: 1. paint the accessories that need to be painted and 2. style blair’s hair. okay! that’s it!

[f1-giuki]

Ao3 Masterlist:

Hello readers *in James May's voice* and welcome to the masterlist of the fics I wrote/ I am writing! There are playlists and song recommendations for each fic!

I hope this post will be understandable and not too ugly!

1. A Sunday Kind of Love series: an ongoing series of fics set in the Emilia Romagna countryside, tons of fluff. They can be read alone. playlist.

1.1 Hearts of Gold : 9.4k words, summer fic. playlist. fic post.

Plot: One late afternoon in August Charles sat on a very pretty round bale, eating a slice of watermelon, white sunscreen on his face, cursing himself for having stained his last clean white t-shirt. He was having an unexpectedly good summer break, for someone with his bad luck (his fiat panda was holding on for dear life under the sun, much like his Ferrari F1-75, so this might be a stretch). To be honest, being on holiday in the Emilian countryside shouldn't have been his first choice of vacation, but he needed something different, something unusual that could take his mind off of racing for a while. But he needed a distraction, not a way to forget, so he chose to stay close to Maranello, his second home, but just in another province.

And something different he found indeed, someone rather than something. Someone with blue eyes and the constant need of sunscreen.

1.2 Moka Pot Mondays : 4k words, blurbs and slice of life. soundtrack.

Plot: The Italian countryside is the setting, Summer break the time and Lestappen are our main characters.

1.3 Cosa Sarà? : 9.2k words, end of summer break AU. playlist.

Plot: Charles sat on the side of the dry canal, in the field opposite to that which held his first kiss with Max. He would have sat with the Dutch in front of their field, but a tractor harvested it one afternoon and now only pointy golden thorns populated that lonely field. It felt like a prelude to a new chapter. Life goes on, like that song says.

And so Charles turned around and watched the alfalfa field and smelled the little purple flowers from a distance, complicit with the wind. The Monegasque was a nostalgic and a romantic person, the Regency era would have loved him dearly, and that field contained all the shades of the memories he held dear during his holiday. From the green of his old bike to the different shades of purples that tinted the fresh fruits he ate, passing from the blue of his lover's eyes.

That little field was going to be embroidered in his heart, like the hand on the small of his back, or the mischievous grin on Max's lips.

1.4 September : 8.5k words, set during the September European triple header. playlist.

Plot: August came to an end, some say sipped away like a bottle of wine, and with it ended the summer break. The Formula 1 season got back on track, for the last European races. This however didn't stop Max from tightly planning confessions, weird coming out moments and some unfortunately needed therapy sessions.

Luckily for him Charles Leclerc, his stubborn Charles, had other plans, such as casual homoerotic times in hotel rooms surrounded by fans, getaway cars to eat sandwiches and sheepish heart-eyes.

And maybe, with a lot of food, support from their stupid friends and some ABBA songs, maybe the two idiots will be able to finally say those three little gigantic words.

1.5 you're as beautiful as my home : 8.1k words, the fall and winter vibes are finally here friends, playlist.

Plot: The 2022 F1 season ended and Charles couldn’t stand the loneliness of his flat without Max or the flights to Italy inside grey clouds bringing rain around. So he decided to keep himself busy, having fun in Max's plane, causing the Formula One world to wonder if he could be a queer icon during podcast interviews and buying a house in Italy.

Max is right there by his side, befriending old people, providing perfectly timed songs, unwanted opinions about paint colours and homemade French fries and cakes, mostly enjoying the colourful chaos of Charles’s mind, with his cheeks red from Daniel’s teasing.

Or a set of stupidly romantic episodes starting from the 2022 Japanese GP

1.6 I would never take my eyes off of yours : 25.2k words, the April break au, playlist.

Plot: Max doesn’t exactly love spring. Well, we should say he doesn’t like certain aspects of it, like the insane amount of pollen flowing around in the air, next to bees, flies and all the other insects that exchange the blond mop of his hair for a flower bush.

What he loves about spring, though, is the warm sun, the spotless blue sky, cut only by the white traces of planes, and trees in full bloom. He also loves when Charles drags him to countryside festivals and dinners, when he composes new things on the piano, when Charles fights him after suggesting he should bleach his hair and especially when he gets on his knees.

Max should really change his mind about spring... 

2. Homeward Bound : 74.4k words, 12 chapters, completed, Magic/Urban Fantasy AU. each chapter has a playlist, c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6, c7, c8, c9, c10, c11, c12.

Plot: Max Verstappen liked many things, like playing the piano, jazz music, Star Wars (Mark Hamill, comrades, say no more), his new flat in New York City, Daniel's cuisine and Charles Leclerc, the cute ghost that flies in his living room. He didn't know if that made him a necrophile or something (Sebastian says it doesn't, it's just a confirmation of his being a bisexual disaster).

Max moved to New York to follow his dream of being a jazz pianist but he would have never imagined that such a transatlantic move would imply the discovery of a magical world he always lived in but always ignored. Or that he needed to fight people with an enchanted sword to stop the fucking Apocalypse and being able to date Charles, but yeah, another day in the New York City life.

3. The Sting series: what happens when top-tier Interpol detective Charles Leclerc and world-class thief Max Verstappen (or as he's known in the field: The Dutch Baron) cross paths?

3.1 You could hang it in the Louvre : 10k words, one shot, art theft AU. soundtrack + bonus. ficpost

Plot: Charles, a young Monegasque, is one of the top detectives for stolen artworks in the Interpol organisation and hates with a borderline homoerotic passion the Dutch Baron, an art thief who keeps on ruining his career plans.

Max, a young Dutch, is one of the most wanted thieves on the globe and Charles’s archnemesis. He’s kind of an idiot, hence the idiotic nickname he chose for himself after his first big heist, the Dutch Baron.

What happens when Max’s new and biggest heist goes let’s-say-not-exactly-well and Charles sees his face for the first time?

3.2 Late night devil, put your hands on me: art theft AU, 6 chapters, completed. soundtrack, fic post.

"Do you want to know what is more incredible?" Max asks, staring at Charles' full and round pecs without any shame.

"What?" Charles asks, enjoying how Max's cheeks get redder and redder as he licks clean the fork.

"Stealing the Nine Pieces of Eight, with me," Max says and Charles drops his fork in the plate.

"The Nine pieces of eight? Isn't that like a legend? The owner of those artworks is unknown…" The Monegasque asks, furrowing his brows.

Max grins and rolls his eyes.

"I know a guy..." Max says, pulling Charles close by the elastic band of his boxers.

or: World-class thief Max Verstappen asks Interpol Detective Charles Leclerc out on a date (to put on the world's most complicated heist ever conceived) but things never go as planned.

4. Red, White & Orange-Nassau : 54.9k words, 9 chapters completed, Royalty AU. fic post.

Plot: Diplomatic accidents don’t necessarily happen because of political feuds, sometimes they happen because a certain rockstar can’t shut his mouth at a royal wedding and the Crown Prince feels the need to obliterate his idiotic face, with those gentle green eyes and that stupid dark eyeshadow he always wears.

Said European crisis, as the New York Times put it, is more likely to happen if those in the room fighting are Charles Leclerc, frontman of rock band Moonlight, and Dutch Prince Max Emilian van Orange-Nassau Verstappen, the two eternal mediatic rivals.

But what if the fight ruins the short streak of good press the Dutch Royal Family got, what if suddenly the Dutch public opinion stopped liking Max, what if Charles’s reputation starts cracking too and with it his chances to win a Grammy?

What if this leads to a fake public truce and an equally fake friendship? Could this be the start of something at court or just the beginning of the end?

5. Fast and loose (and all that jazz) : 2.2k words, one shot, older sugar daddy Max, young sugar baby Charles.

plot: Max comes home from work and Charles, his sugar baby/young boyfriend, has a surprise waiting for him, a surprise made of red lace and dirty talk.

6. When I kissed the teacher (under the mistletoe) : 23.2k words, one shot, kid fic, uni professor Max, young dilf Charles. playlist, fic post.

plot: The Monegasque waits for a second before inhaling roughly and speaking.

"No, but I need two favours, actually, Professor," Charles says, keeping his head on the desk.

"Uhm, yeah?" Max asks, scratching his head.

"Could I call you Max just for my next question?" Charles asks.

"Uhm, a little unorthodox, but if it's relevant to your point, yes, you may, Charles," The Dutchman answers, his pitch raised just a bit.

Charles bangs his head against the desk once again, nearly cursing before speaking again.

"What I wanted, Jesus, sorry, what I wanted to ask you, Max, was if you'd like to go out, on a date, with me?" Charles asks and he doesn't dare look at Max to see his reaction.

7. If you'd have been there (if you'd have seen it) : 3k words, one shot, sugar daddy Max, sugar baby Charles. Christmas special! fic post.

plot: Max comes home after yet another problematic situation at work and Charles, his sugar baby/young boyfriend, has prepared a very kinky and tight Christmas gift for him.

8. Something to give each other : 6k words, two chapters, completed, lestappen rule 63, landoscar, friends to lovers. Valentine's special! fic post.

plot: "You know, you should just talk to her, Max, you’d be surprised how a conversation can solve things!” Oscar repeats for the fifteenth time that day. He’s chopping some tomatoes up for his famous tomato soup. 

Max huffs on the couch, sadly hugging her stupidly big IKEA bear. They named it Carlos, just because Lando thought the IKEA employee at the register was called Carlos and was hot.

“That's rich, coming from you, Mr I pretend to be straight instead of telling Lando I'm bi because then I fear he'll friendzone me intentionally!” Max points out.

9. Evil under the blossoms : 11.6k words, one shot, lestappen, florist Max, detective Charles, fluff. playlist, fic post.

plot: Max shows Charles the way to the plants lab. 

"That's where I think the robbery happened. These are the shelves where I keep the single flowers, this morning the tansies spot was empty. That is the greenhouse, but there are no missing plants in it. Then the rest of the lab here is a mixture of trees and different plants, the bushes that disappeared were there. I track in the register everything I sell, and I never miss a day, I'm-

"A plant nerd?" Charles jokes with a teasing smile. 

"A plant nerd, yeah..." Max answers blushing. 

or 

Max is a florist and one day flowers start disappearing for his shop. He calls Charles Leclerc, private investigator and childhood crush, to help him solve the case.

10. Prepare for trouble (and make it double!) : 19k words, 2/5 chapters, lestappen 1970s tennis au, interview format, playlist, fic post.

plot: The Davis Cup has always been the most important international tennis competition for national teams, but from 1970 to 1980 the tournament was renamed "International Cup" and moved on a continental-basis. For half of that decade, the European team was the team to beat.

These four iconic players, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, George Russell, Esteban Ocon, under the guidance of Austrian tennis legend Torger ‘Toto’ Wolff, wrote one of the most epic pages of global sport.

After all those years, they have no more qualms in revealing the secrets and the stories of their time in the funky and undisciplined Dream Team (alongside an incredible amount of gossip concerning Verstappen and Leclerc).

This interview tells their story and the story of the strongest tennis team in the world.

11. Brat Summer : 3.5k words, one shot, spideypool lestappen, deadpool max and spiderman charles, smut, playlist, fic post.

plot: “You mean to tell me that Sebastian Vettel, Iron Man, the guy who just saved the universe, was worried about me? And asked me to go on a mission with fucking Deadpool for my safety? I call bullshit!” Charles shrieks, nearly crying, the Avengers consider him a baby, he might as well behave like one.

12. First Impressions : 38.2k words, 3 chapters, completed, pride and prejudice lestappen au, girl!charles au, eventual smut, fic post.

plot: Miss Charles Leclerc, the daughter of a country gentleman, meets Mr Verstappen, a rich gentleman who owns land, at a ball in a nearby town.

At first, Charles is resolved to hate him, thinking him proud and full of prejudices against the people of her rank, but, as her life erupts in is various turmoils, her feelings start to change.

13: I was in your wet dream (driving in my car) series: Oscar and his ever growing harem of sexy men and kinky sex tales.

13.1. Dripping wet : 5.8k words, one shot, maxoscar, misuse of grindr, pwp, fic post.

plot: Oscar's bathroom sink is leaking and he needs a flathead screwdriver to fix it. Luckily for him he found a nice makeshift plumber on Grindr under the name of 'Max'.

13.2. Wanna know what I got goin' on down there? : 4.7k words, one shot, maxoscar, pwp, Max has a dick piercing, playlist, fic post.

plot: "He got it, Lando," Oscar says, blushing and making a face.

"What? Motherfucker disease?" Lando asks, raising an eyebrow.

“A piercing...” Oscar tries to explain, taking a steadying breath. This is the moment where Lando will call Carlos to ask for the number of a good exorcist.

“Max has several of those, Oscar, be more specific,” Lando complains.

"He got it there..." Oscar whispers, turning around, as if afraid of someone listening to him, making Lando's face light up with laughter.

13.3. Are you thinkin' 'bout me? (I'm kinda thinkin' you are) : 4.4k words, one shot, lestapstri threesome, pwp, Max gets a tongue piercing, fic post.

plot: Charles Leclerc is in his hotel room, sending him borderline erotic pictures of his boyfriend. He didn’t know his dirtiest fantasy was just waiting for him in his hotel room.

14. you're always there (so don't overthink): oscar piastri/jannik sinner, one shot, fluff, meet cute, barista!Oscar, introvert x introvert, playlist, osctober day 16! ficpost!

plot: “Sweet potato pie, the base is made with protein-rich chocolate cookies and evo oil, the filling with the potatoes, hazelnut milk and potato starch, all homemade by Lando. Complex carbs are good for recovery after training,” Oscar says, standing in front of Jannik with a little plate with a beautiful orange slice of pie.

Jannik looks at him astounded, with probably a milk moustache and his eyes too wide and comically soft. Neither of them speaks, or moves, for a second, before he comes to his senses and thanks Oscar blushing. Oscar passes him the plate and their fingers touch.

Jannik feels a bit silly and very much lovestruck.

15. Prompts : tell me a song you love at the moment, an f1 pairing you like (whatever pairing!!!), and if you want fluff, smut or angst and I'll write you a blurb inspired by the song!!

[thebibutterflyao3]

Day Fifteen - Candles @sapphicmicrofics

April Daily Series - 659 words

<<<Previous Parts OR Start Here

The curry shop they decided on was a little eatery tucked between a dry cleaners and a pharmacy. From the outside, it looked quaint and comfortable with a curved red awning over the entrance and hand-painted white flowers on the door. Inside, there was a stunning burgundy and gold colour scheme with a modern, glass chandelier that resembled a hundred little pieces of paper hanging from black stakes. Every table held lit candles and each place setting was elegantly set with a wine glass, water glass, folded cloth napkin, and silverware.

Marlene whistled low, so only Lily could hear it. “Wow, this place is posh.”

Lily nodded, eyes wide with surprise as she approached the host stand. As she requested a table for the group, Marlene slipped past Pandora to elbow James. His smirk told her everything that she needed to know.

“You picked this place on purpose, didn’t you?” she said, narrowing her eyes.

Regulus leaned past James and whispered, “He asked which of the curry places nearby was the most expensive. This one is deceptively simple from the outside, but it’s the best one I’ve found in SoHo.”

“Modest on the outside, lush on the inside. Just like me,” James said, biting the inside of his cheek hard to hold back laughter.

His boyfriend looked him over from top to bottom and scoffed, “Modest is the last word I would use to describe you. If anything, you’re overconfident.”

As the couple continued their weird flirting, Marlene checked her mobile again. She had three texts from Sirius and two from Pete. After Pandora sent Dorcas that last photo, she was hoping to receive a text herself. If Dorcas was that concerned about her, Marlene was happy to assuage her worries directly.

I know better. Dorcas doesn’t crawl for anyone, even me.

There was a time when Marlene held enough value for Dorcas to be worth her effort. She left London hoping that Dorcas would miss her. That one day, she’d find a text or voicemail on her phone from the woman that she pedestalled like the Venus she was for an entire year. It never happened.

“This way, please,” the host said. The older, West Asian man led the way to a large booth along the front windows. As they settled into their seats, he handed out menus and collected drink orders. When he finally reached Marlene, his eyes bugged wide. “Oh! Are you well, my dear?”

Marlene winced. She’d almost forgotten how bruised her face was after the “incident” this morning. “Yes, just a small mishap with a door.”

“May I bring you anything?” he asked, quickly returning to his professional demeanour.

“Beer? Vodka? Whatever you have with alcohol in it.”

The man nodded, then rushed away from the table. Marlene hoped that she hadn’t spooked the bloke. Peter told her often enough that she could be “off-putting” and “abrasive” when she was in pain.

“It’s not that bad,” Pandora said. “Your bruising is a lovely shade of purple now. It suits your skin tone beautifully.”

Marlene huffed a laugh. “Yeah, that’s why I always have them. Bruises are my favourite accessory.”

“I thought you preferred to hide your bruises.” Dorcas’s voice raised goosebumps on her skin as she walked toward their table. She was stunning in a deep purple pantsuit with a matching rosette tie at her throat. Overdressed as usual, Dorcas was a vision of loveliness.

“Depends how good the story is behind the bruise, and if I’m willing to tell it,” Marlene replied smoothly. Never was she more grateful for her mouth running faster than her mind.

Dorcas quirked an eyebrow at her as she slid into the only open seat left, directly across from Marlene. That had to be intentional too. These twats were clearly determined to see a row before she left. The host reappeared and handed Dorcas a menu.

“What about scars?” Dorcas asked quietly, thumbing through the menu. “Still hiding those too?”

“Only the internal ones.”

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