#rendering the fire was so fun hehe
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rissaito · 10 months ago
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cinders and secrets 🐚
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karlachismylife · 2 months ago
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Standing For Something
This one was requested by @rerejunebug and it was a fun challenge, cuz I kinda understand Hesh better through his family bonds, so romantic partnership with him was a little bit of a riddle to me. Hope I did him justice, definitely had a good good time simply watching through his cutscenes and dialogues. A very special man indeed hehe.
CW: gn!military!reader, mentions of injury, kinda hurt/comfort I guess. Also cursing. Riley is there and he's alright!!!
(Title from Eminem's "Survival")
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You were honestly more surprised than hurt, when in the middle of your retreat from a mission, compromsied by a whole Federation squad stumbling into you four (counting Riley), the ground suddenly jumped from under your feet and changed its place with the skies several times. Took you a second to realize that you simply fell and rolled downhill, another - to feel the hot sting in your leg, refusing to support your weight when you tried to get up and getting suspiciously colder despite feeling like it was burning.
A clean shot, in and out, cutting through some important shit deep in the tissue since it rendered you currently down one very crucial limb.
The next shot would've landed somewhere in your skull if Logan didn't provide cover.
"Shit," was your first word after you somewhat regained understanding of your situation. There wasn't much time to lounge on the ground under the constant gunshots chatter, so you grunted, turning over, and tried to get up at least on your hands and knees. There came baby's second word: "Fuck!"
Your leg was giving in under your weight, you slipped and prepared to hit the ground painfully again, when a solid arm wrapped around your torso, yanking you upright. The sheer force you were lifted up with caused your already whoozy from the bloodloss head to snap back. Blood ran cold in your body for a second, the whole world darkening before your eyes rolled back.
Then a familiar voice cut through the cotton (or was that Riley's fur?) stuffed in your ears, calling your name.
"...how copy? I repeat, how copy? Can you walk? Ah, shit, just hold on. I'm not leaving anyone behind."
Hearing David's solid promise made you want to try and find your footing again, but the best you could do was stumble, dragging your hurt leg as he hauled you along, your arm thrown over his broad shoulders.
Fucking guardian angel, your Lieutenant, coming through even under heavy fire.
Your head was spinning so much. What did that bloody bullet hit to fuck you up so badly?
"Riley, down! Take cover!" Nearly blew your ear off, suddenly ducking with you in that same steel grasp, rolling out of the way of something worse than bullets, judging by the noise and rubble flying everywhere from the spot you literally stood (well, Hesh stood, you were more like... located) seconds ago.
Saved your hide again. For the small price of your leg feeling like it got dipped into molten metal as you felt David's weight press down on you generously while he shielded you with his own body. Would've been so much nicer to feel all those kilograms and pounds of discipline and training paying off in some other circumstances.
"Still with me? Good. You're good. We're getting out of here." He could've told you that you'll die in five seconds and you would've still been enamoured with him all the same. Bloodloss didn't make you any sharper, and you already had been feeling the stupidfying effect of Hesh's presence for some time.
Damn, his eyes were greener than the grass in this burnt and torn world.
"Fuck, wanna kiss you," somehow slipped your tongue. You were pretty sure you were saying something else - assessing your condition, maybe? Giving directions? Anything else?
"What, now?! Here?!" Hesh didn't even seem fazed - did anything ever faze this always-prepared, never-taken by surprise man? He did have a point though.
"Yeah... sorry." How did he even understand your slurred speech? You wanted to add a proper "sir" too, show him you weren't completely out of your mind. Just a little out of blood and inhibitions, probably.
You blacked out in his arms the moment he hauled you up again. A limp bleeding body, sporting two wounds instead of the one you noticed.
Good men are defined by the choices they make.
David made a choice to leave no one behind.
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textingtroublesanswers · 6 months ago
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[Lore attachment: The concept of ghosts in tf2 always confused me. You can go to heaven or hell but also the Mann brothers ended up as ghosts (and eventually tried to drag the other to hell in a previous halloween map) and there were ghosts with rocket launchers in the halloween maps. My theory is that it's like usual ghost rules where theres unfinished business that needs to be done, meaning someone else can conplete that business to let their souls be free to go to heaven or hell.]
To all of the mercs, if a bomb were to drop on all of you while everyone was in the base, destroying all your possessions (which will remove the "unfinished business is an object" unless they didn't bring it to the base.) as well as destroying the respawn machine, rendering all of you true and permanent deaths, where would you all end up? Would you go to heaven? Hell? Or would you haunt the living?
(Have fun with this one! You can even mix it up a bit with other people being in the base with them as it happens! Like the babies, Zhanna, Miss Pauling etc. etc. This is all hypothetical so maybe even the characters themselves would bring it up! This is why its a bomb and not just that every merc dies.)
-🤡 (made this in french colors for fun hehe)
Before you're even done talking, Ludwig is already gone from the room. No one knows where he went, no one even noticed him leave, not even Misha. He is just gone, & everyone realises this very quickly.
"Do you think doc left an experiment on the bunsen burner again?" Tavish asks while scratching his beard. He & Mikhail were the first to notice Ludwig's absence, & Tavish was the one to bring it up to the others.
"He usually doesn't leave them on when we get questions," Dell says, scratching under his helmet. He's just as confused as the rest of the team, "But, going back to the question, I'd hope I'd go to heaven, although I'd probably end up as a ghost. I have a lot of blueprints to work on, & I'd hate to leave them all unfinished, even if I never get the chance to build them."
Jeremy shrugs, "Eh, doc's weird. He's never really been on board with the whole heaven & hell thing. See, one time Bug & me were talking to him, & he says that he grew up Christian, right, but his family was actually Jewish, so he grew up with a weird mix of ideas, but then as a young adult he stopped believing in god cause what sorts god would force him to live through all the bullshit he lived through." The rest of the mercs stare at him for a moment, wearing matching looks of confusion.
"Vati said that?" Bug squeaks.
"Yeah, when he was drunk. All three of us were, but you the most, so you don't remember it."
"Oooh, right."
"Anyway," Jeremy continues, "I'm going to heaven, duh. I'm god's gift to humanity after all."
Mick is shaking his head, draping an arm around Jeremy's shoulders, "I'm not getting into all that with doc's past, if he knew you knew he'd probably dismember you. But, I know for a fact that I'm going to heaven." There is a chorus of mumbles from the other mercs, ranging from Mikhail & Tavish saying they'd hope they get to heaven, to Jane claiming he is immortal & could never die, to Bug saying she'd prefer hell because of all the fire.
"You've been rather quiet, French toast." Dell says, coming over to Jacques.
Jacques takes out a cigarette, & looks down at Dell, "With all of my sins, I thought it was obvious I was going to hell. However, I can't shake the thought that Ludwig is not telling us something."
Dell wraps his arms around Jacques, standing on his tip toes to lean up for a kiss, "Ah, when is doc not, not telling us something? You know how sensitive Lu is about his past, he hasn't had an easy life."
"No, but this is different, labourer, I'm telling you. That man cannot be stealthy to save his life, & yet no one noticed him leaving," Jacques sighs, "He is hiding something from us, & I simply hope it's nothing bad."
Dell smiles sadly, "He hides a lot of stuff from us, Spah. A lot of stuff, trust me."
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ssalballoon · 9 months ago
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What are your favourite art books? 💕💕love your work
thank you! 🌟 oh artbooks?! that's actually a really interesting question hmm... I don't physically own any (expensive ⚰️) but I've seen them online for some games and artists I like! idk how interesting they'll be if you're not into those specific games but nonetheless i think the art is a treat to see even without context! i'll answer under the cut, this ended up being rly long
Dai Gyakuten Saiban 1 & 2 / The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Kazuya Nuri)
- Nuri's soft lilac shading is so beautiful + unique to his art! I also appreciate that this artbook is mainly full of sketches and renders you don't see in game. They're so expressive, I wish other artbooks had more doodles of the characters goofing off, you can tell Nuri loves these characters a lot hehe (how often can you say the lead artist drew april fool's furry designs + canon animal plushie designs for the mcs)
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the doodles that really stuck out to me are spoilers so i won't share those, but they really feel like snippets from a slice of life anime which humanizes the characters so well
Fire Emblem Echoes (Hidari)
- Hidari's designs are so classy and elegant, the way his fabrics all have a palpable weight and texture to them, and his coloring is so warm... there's a good reason why his designs keep getting circulated with praise every once in a while hehe. I really hope they bring him back for another game!
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a personal favourite... she's very pretty!!
(on a side note i rly love Nuri and Hidari's female character designs, it's refreshing to see! not to say that modest designs are inherently better than more fanservicey ones, but i find that the female character designs are even more memorable because of it! it's mainly a personal preference)
Fire Emblem Awakening + Fates (Kozaki Yusuke)
- god of drawing armor and anatomy in perspective... his poses are so dynamic because of his mastery of foreshortening. I love seeing his work in Heroes, it only continues to get better over the years! plus he designed Lucina and Inigo so :D
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as much as i love his artbooks my favorite art from him comes from fe heroes! his units have the most unique posing in the game, it always makes me excited to see more of his art (i especially love how conscious/deliberate he is with body types in his designs)
Persona 5/ 4/ P4 Arena Ultimax (Shigenori Soejima)
- Soejima's art influenced my artstyle a lot back in 2017(?) and 2021! (I mainly enjoy his b&w rougher style since it's so bold and also a fun style to draw in, although his painted stuff is fantastic as well) I enjoy seeing the Persona designs since they're so different to what I usually draw and it's really hard to capture the grace he draws them with (especially P4's)
this video of Shigenori Soejima drawing live changed me in 2017
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persona 4/arena ultimax have my favorite persona designs out of the modern games!
Death Stranding (Yoji Shinkawa)
- It's a shame you don't see Yoji Shinkawa's artwork in the game much (to my knowledge) because it's stunning how vivid, gritty, and yet effortlessly elegant it is. The monster designs are so haunting gahhh it's so cool! The mastery he has with ink and brush is insane he can be so loose with the lines and yet it conveys everything you need to know
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the full body ink sketch of die hardman... it's so loose and yet it's very controlled aghh it's so impressive (i saw hunter schafer got her portrait drawn by him and like. imagine yoji shinkawa drawing you. ohmygod)
Okami (Takeyasu Sawaki, Kenichiro Yoshimura, Mari Shimazaki)
- when I was in middle school I didn't even know games could look like this?! The obvious traditional Japanese art influence makes the designs really unique even compared to modern games. The calligraphic brush strokes are so striking and I especially love the subtle ink bleed outside of the outlines, it honors traditional media so well. honestly this game's style in general is one of a kind
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love how playful these are! i forgot how much i loved this game
Journey (Matthew Nava)
- (although it is an artbook I've only been able to see a few of the pages! Nava does have an archived GDC talk where he presents the book that I still have to take a look at) I found the color script for the complete story interesting since it shows both the color corresponding with the literal height of the mountain for the hero's journey that the game was so inspired by. Plus the alternate designs for the iconic main character are so cute!
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masterfully crafted experience... i think this is the first time i've seen a color script for a game? (although i guess i'm not that familiar with games)
These aren't actual art books but I really like the concept art for them:
Transistor (Jen Zee)
- my favorite Supergiant game! It's a shame there's so little of the concept art out there (I'm pretty sure I saw more years ago but I couldn't find them more recently... link rot grr...) Jen Zee's painterly style is gorgeous and the colors are so warm, so uncharacteristic of the cyberpunk genre we're typically familiar with! her art was also a big inspiration for me when I was younger
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Apex Legends
- apex does have an artbook but l mainly enjoy looking at the character designs and the transition screens for compositions (especially the season 4 Revenant's trailer ones, one day I hope my background/environment art can reach a level anywhere close to that). The character designs and overall setting are different from my usual style so it's cool to see the attention to detail in fabric texture, prop design, worldbuilding, etc. and try to apply it to my designs
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this transition has such a strong sense of narrative in the illustration, it impressed me so much i drew something inspired by it (i'm not sure who the original artist is, i thiiink it's liam mcdonald...?? i really hope i'm not misattributing it;; out of the concept artists his illustrations look the most similar...?)
I'm interested in Outer Wilds' artbook and Disco Elysium's but I don't think I can look at those without spoilers! both phenomenal games that i really need to finish (i know outer wilds' main story but not echoes of the eye)
hit the limit on pictures 😔 and i've been sitting on this ask for a while... I feel like there are more artbooks that aren't coming to mind ahh I should really keep track of them better! thank you for the ask, it was nice to revisit these again 💞
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sagesilentfire · 1 year ago
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I FINISHED A SKETCHBOOK! Every page is drawn upon. It only took me... eight years. Wow. I only started working on it in earnest about six months ago, though, so... yeah. 
TO CELEBRATE: I want to take one of these sketches and develop it into a full rendered digital painting. I will make a fun little quiz and we'll narrow it down to one drawing. Quiz and logistics coming later, but will be posted here.
A lot of this is me figuring out designs for characters I haven't even written about yet, so look out for that. I'll elaborate one every sketch if you're interested, so keep reading if you want to know who's who. The sketches are generally in reverse chronological order from top to bottom.
1. Alice, a new character in Star and Marcie and the Forces of Evil, my latest project. She's fighting. She's a fighter. She's a love interest, but I hope I make her interesting on her own.
2. Cinder, wearing a shirt Kowari and Kultarr got for her. He will never take it off.
3. Various faces for Iako, a character in my next project that I'm 90% sure on the design for. She lives in a world of kitsunes who accidentally got addicted to gaining their nine tails through murder. Also magic powers are cursed. Iako wants to make magic better, so she goes on a trip to a mysterious island that holds the key to ending the curses... and their lives. Also it's based on the original premise of Lightlark. Hehe. Prologue can be found here. It's part 2.
4. lorge Sílthéy and small derg. 
5. Practicing SilkWings and playing around with dragon faces, plus their defining attributes.
6. ANCIENT Sílthéy expression practice. This is years before the eye redesign, but you can still get the essence of her character and how she's born out of my religious trauma.
7. ANCIENT Sílthéy expression practice cont.
8. SilkWing practice with face shapes.
9. Alice fullbody. My second drawing of her, getting her design down.
10. a. Evelyn, the protag of a story I'd like to tell someday. I can't say much more than that, except that it's a tragedy of epic proportions. b. Human Sílthéy
11. Alice and Shinjai. Shinjai is a main character in SAMATFOE, and she and Alice have an almost-thing going. 
12. Iako and a still unnamed... side character? They're studying the book Iako gets in the prologue.
13. This is [NAME REDACTED]. They're from a universe inspired by Star Wars, but if it was animated and also deeply weird. [NAME REDACTED] is [TOP SECRET INFORMATION]
14. First drawing of Alice. Figuring out her cheekmarks, and what I wanted to keep in her show design (she's based on a one-off background character).
15. More Iako drawings. Left out her hair in a, can't remember if it was intentional or not.
16. A dragon from a Wings of Fire inspired sci-fi world.
17. RPG species. They're aliens who are eusocial, and females are split into four "genders"/roles in society. This gender is soldier, distinguished by their massive claws and size. Their job is everything that requires strength.
18. An early Tethalaos, and also an entirely plausible form for them to take.
19. Above mentioned RPG species. This gender is gatherer, distinguished by their small body and delicate hands. 
20. Another dragon from above mentioned Wings of Fire inspired sci-fi.
21, 23-26. More sketches of [NAME REDACTED]. As you might guess, I quite like them. I just think they're neat, and I wanted to get their design down solidly.
22. Wasp friend :D
27. Shinjai's new crown, as seen in the latest chapter of SAMATFOE.
28. Funny Christmas Carol-inspired AU of SAMATFOE that I drew after being bludgeoned over the head with Christmas music for hours in a holiday sale I was working at.
29. Sílthéy being big mad.
30. RainWing. Not sure who this is.
31. Toffee's Mewberty wings.
32. More Evelyn.
33. LunarWings, but in my sci-fi world.
34. Yet another species in my sci-fi world.
35. Star and Marcie from SAMATFOE
36. Espina, a character from an urban-fantasy boarding school story about being bonded to animals people often find disgusting and repulsive. Espina controls wasps.
37. All the they/them nonbinary characters in SAMATFOE at the time of this drawing. From left to right: Nova, Toffee, Necahua, Dr. Edevane, Mayhem and Miette Maizley, Higgs, and of course, Tethalaos. Drawn at a nonbinary people meetup.
38. Sílthéy again
39. The oldest drawing in the book, Darkstalker from before we even knew what he looked like. An old doodle, but it proves how dedicated I was to Darkstalker being a good guy back in the day.
40. A design for an old idea I had of a hollow mountain filled with outcasts from society. Might revisit it, there's enough there to make at least a novella.
41. Toffee fashion sketches.
42. An old drawing of Sílthéy in her Wings of Fire dragon form, a hybrid named Liminal (nicknamed Lin). I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, honestly.
43. Sílthéy even BIGGER mad
44. More from the hollow mountain. The outcasts are protected by these guys, and in exchange they're cleaned and fed.
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jeremy-ken-anderson · 4 months ago
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Fun-GAAAAH!
There's a fight in the Masked Carnivale where you fight Typhon, then Ultros, then Typhon (but when she gets to 75% Ultros shows up to help).
This is a really good Carnivale fight because on the one hand if you plan carefully it isn't hard, but on the other hand I literally used almost every spellbook slot they gave me for the one setup. Typhon's weak to fire, so fire moves are great to have.
On her own Typhon's pattern goes Fungaah, which is a melee attack+push, so all you have to worry about is not getting push-interrupted out of a cast. I started with Bristle into Song of Torment, which does improve the DoT as of a recent patch. Then Bristle again, because it has a fast cast time. Get shoved against the wall, start casting Breath of Magic, which is a strong DoT you get from the trainers for having a big collection. But you can just cast Flamethrower. Either cone will finish casting as Typhon gets into range.
Then you cast Moon Flute, which gives +50% damage for 15 seconds but will render you unable to do anything but move for 15 seconds after that runs out. Typhon slowly casts Fireball, so run out of the floor AoE casting Eruption on the move.
I recommend making an Eruption macro that reads /micon Eruption blueaction /blueaction Eruption <t> This will target Eruption at the enemy's location, saving you the extra click of picking where on the floor you put it.
Flamethrower again. Shock Strike for the OGCD damage.
Then Typhon starts casting Snort. This is a killer move, stunning you for like 10 seconds while she pelts you with 3 fireballs worth 50% of your hp each (33% of your hp if you have Mighty Guard, so still a kill if you're tankin').
You use Diamondback. This makes you immune to knockback and dramatically resistant to damage (seriously, like 95% resist) but unable to do anything for 10 seconds. Because it starts right as Moon Flute is running out, you're only missing out on 5 seconds of dps on the other end of it. And if you Moon Flute and drop 2-3 DoTs they can be eating the enemies while you hide. The Moon Flute/Diamondback combo is pretty sweet.
After that Typhon's a basic fight, and your basic attack of Flamethrower hits her weakness so you're in good shape.
The only fancy thing for Ultros is to bring Flying Sardine to interrupt Imp Song. Otherwise you waste a bunch of time getting turned into an imp. Besides that you just bring your favorite DPS rotation - Tingle>Trident, Assorted ult OGCDs, whatever. Dodge floor AoEs, heal at 1/3-1/2 hp, basic stuff.
The third fight, you get an achievement if you cheese it. So cheese it.
Make sure Mighty Guard is off. Toad Oil. Moon Flute, Off-guard, Bristle, Eruption, Bristle, Swiftcast, Self-Destruct.
Self-Destruct deals 1800 potency if you've got Toad Oil when you cast it. x1.5 for Moon Flute, x1.5 for Bristle, x1.05 for Off-guard, and at least x1.5 for type weakness, maybe x2, couldn't confirm. That's a minimum of 6,378 potency in one hit, the equivalent of casting Flamethrower about twenty times.
The achievement is for defeating Typhon without hurting Ultros in the fight. Which...Ultros never even makes it onto the field, because Typhon never hits 75%. She's at 90% from Boosted Eruption, and then she's dead.
The achievement for not hurting Ultros is "Octopath Traveler." Hehe.
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chuuyrr · 2 years ago
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Hiii i can i request for a headcanon of teen! genz scarlet witch like just her quoting a vine or a meme in a daily basis, has broken sense of humor like she could just watch a vine or meme that wasn't even that funny to others but to her it's like the most hilarious thing she ever seen(minus the dark humor jokes) How would gojo and her uncles along with toji and her friends react to her personality. Please free to disregard this if you feel uncomfortable doing writing this headcanons. hehe ty!
scarlet witch! fushiguro! reader as a gen z headcanons
jujutsu kaisen x reader
masterlist of the series
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╰➤ CW(s): possible spoilers for jujutsu kaisen, themes of crack, teen! reader being a gen z and having a broken humor content, dad! gojo & dad! toji being boomers (jk), not proofread because im lazy at the moment & it's 1am
╰➤ PAIRING(s): platonic! jujutsu kaisen x reader
oh my god this request is literally it. tbh, i had fun writing this thank you for requesting and for being patient!! enjoy reading anon dearest, and you're always welcome ♡
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headcanons !
you're always seen smiling and laughing about those vine or meme-like videos you see online. whenever you show them to gojo or toji, they're like, "uh-huh, that's nice kikufuku/angel." but like, they really don't get what's so funny about that lawnmower soaring through the sky with some girl singing a high note, or that "f re sh a voca do" one, or literally the vines and memes you show them every single time.
being a "typical" gen-z, you have your slang in your vocabulary that poor gojo and toji just can't seem to get the hang of.
"periodt" uh, are you on your period or are you talking about the exclamation mark?
"slayy" do you mean to kill? what?
your adoptive and biological fathers are so confused when you just start quoting vines and memes, as well as saying gen z slang on a daily basis. they just can't keep it up that well, but i can definitely see gojo working hard to do so. gojo wants to knows what's in and out for the youth to be able to relate to his students, and not just you.
please, even the king of curses is so fucking confused. he's like, "is this the language that people speak now?" sukuna would have also kicked you out of his domain if it weren't for your almighty chaos magic, rendering him powerless while you hit a woah that one time.
gojo definitely asks the students to translate for him whatever slang you just started saying. the same goes for toji, who asks tsumiki and megumi. 
you got into a heated argument with the higher-ups at one point because they were irritating you with all the special grade missions, and side comments they were throwing at you, and you just started yelling things like, "you're done, you're done." "objection, lack of hairline." "wow, it's internalized misogyny for me." "it's not the vibe, stop." "all of you just had to be fire signs." it both disses and baffles the higher-ups; in either way, gojo is proud.
when it comes to memeing and stuff, you definitely relate to the first and second-year students more, especially yuuji and nobara, because your age is closer to them as a teenager. in fact, you show and do tiktoks with them almost all of the time, from dances to skits. gojo occasionally joins in because he doesn't want to be left out, and he also wants to be able to relate to you and the others.
gojo definitely tells nanami all the gen z stuff he learns from you and his students, and nanami is just like (ㆆ _ ㆆ), because it sounds strange hearing those slangs, vines, and memes from gojo himself.
even when you're sad, you say things like "i'm going through it," and when you're really excited, you do that lowercase scream while shaking your head and opening your hand over your mouth.
you have a very broken sense of humor. they could show you a badly photoshopped picture of something with some random words, and you'd find it really funny even if isn't. you are enigmatic for this personality of yours, but they actually like this side of you. it makes you fun to be around. even if people like gojo, toji, and nanami don't really understand you, seeing you smile, laugh, and be enthusiastic about explaining why those videos and slangs are funny is enough to make them happy.
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hotwings0203 · 4 years ago
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Decided to do a part 2 (due courtesy of @an-ambivalent and @definitetrashlord for motivating me to even continue this series HEHE💖)
Pt. 1
Tw: manipulation, dubcon, language
It isn’t the cum that slides down your legs continuously, nor the black and blue marks that so obviously covers the expanse of your neck at all times, no.
It’s the constant surveillance you’re under, it’s the lack of conversation you get from your comrades, it’s the way you mold and shift for however he wants you to be that solidifies his hold on you.
The attack from three weeks ago feels like yesterday, the way he held your head up by your hair after he was done ruining you and crooned in your ear that you were his now, and you’d be suicidal if you continued to lash out on his godsent decision plays like a broken record in your head.
You can’t look him in the eyes now, only meekly staring at his feet when he orders you to stand in front of him. Sometimes he’ll circle you and invade in your personal space, standing behind you and leaning in close behind your ear, simply inhaling you and saying nothing. Other times when no one’s around he’ll lounge back on the couch with a beer in his hand, spreading his knees wide while he lazily orders you to dance for him, slowly stripping away your self esteem and clothes simultaneously.
He doesn’t seem to outwardly mind the silence that seeps from you anymore, now that he has your body and attention focused solely on him.
Even Tomura has stopped talking to you just for fun. He’ll try and make a snipe at you, fruitlessly expecting your once-usual comebacks, but all you can do is blearily smile at him.
It makes everyone uneasy how quickly you’ve been reduced to nothing.
You couldn’t leave even if you tried to. Your medical skills were too valuable to be rejected, and Dabi’s scrutinizing tabs on you wouldn’t allow for even a foot stepped outside if not for Shigaraki’s missions.
Even your meals are meager at best, mainly consisting of copious amounts of alcohol and shitty ambiguous burnt food that pops up on the counters randomly.
You feel dirty, like a disease-infested rat. No amount is showering from the dingy stalls, no amount of cheap soap bars wittled down on your body erases the feeling of being used.
Dabi has never been in more love than he has now.
He hopes you like the food he makes, secretly placing it on the bar counter seconds before you sit down. Sure, the food might be a little burnt, but it’s still your favorite right?
It doesn’t matter how expensive the shower products are, he thinks they smell nice and that they’d smell even better on you. Shigaraki can fuck off, he’s not spending too much revenue on his girl, it’s the bare minimum he can do to show you how much he appreciates you playing by his rules...even if he can never say it out loud.
And his favorite part at the end of every day is putting his surely-misplaced words of affection into action, where he can scream with his body against yours how long he’s wanted you for, how thankful he is to any deity that exists that you’ve been placed in his care.
Dabi might be in love, but he’s not stupid though.
He sees the way your body becomes more and more deteriorated, notices the small change of you hesitation to answer him, the way you can never truly look at him, how you retreat to his room more and more(your room has just become a guest room now after he burned all your belongings, rendering you completely dependent on him to supply you with scratchy clothes and feminine products, no matter how embarrassing it is for you). It’s so frustrating to him- you’re not actually doing anything wrong, but you’re not doing it right either. How long does he have to keep threatening you for? Why can’t you just be happy with him? At least pretend like he’s not the villain for once.
He just feels so passionately for you, a word he never thought would be used in his vocabulary. It all bottles up, and sometimes he feels like he isn’t expressing his feelings of love, jealousy at you not giving him enough attention at times, concern over your quiet demeanor, and wanting of you enough.
You’ve never been more broken than you are now.
If it wasn’t bad enough that you bend at his every beck and call, he expects you to understand his body language and cravings without him even saying anything, which is more so often than not. He just stares at you for so, so long. You originally tried to get up and leave after he dragged you over to the couch and plopped you down, but immediately stilled after smoke began curling from his wrists.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
You look at him incredulously, but his lids are lowered at you as he smokes a blunt. And so you exhale in annoyance and run a hand through your hair, closing your eyes to avoid looking into his unnerving glacial eyes.
It’s too bad you don’t see the big red hearts in them that break when you turn away from him.
You’re just so pretty, how can you expect him not to stare?
He tries to get you to do weird things too when you guys are alone and he’s not plowing you into the mattress.
Once on a cool winter night a majority of the League was out hunting for recruits. Dabi, you, and Spinner had done your quotas already-or,rather, Dabi had yanked you by your wrist alongside him through the dark alleyways, growling at you to “Keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking. If I see you looking at any one of these trash kindlings I’ll burn the whole alley up and force you to watch”.
And so while the rest of the party was out, Spinner had mumbled something about needing to take a piss with a pointed glare from Dabi and you were left alone again with your...boyfriend?
He sits down on the crumbling leather and gives you a once over, not saying anything.
You fidget in place, thinking he was going to make you give him another slutty show.
Moments pass, and he snaps, “Well?”
“W-well what?”
“Are you just gonna stand there like some braindead bitch? Sit down.” He leers at you.
You drop into the loveseat at the other end, looking down at your lap. You can’t see his expression, but he scoffs in disbelief.
“Are you actually slow? Get the fuck over here, it’s cold as shit.”
And so you scooch over to him regrettably, knees touching with his as you squirm.
He leans forward and turns to face you, reaching out a hand to brush a strand of hair behind your ear. He notices you trembling and squeezing your eyes shut, so he stops midway.
He sits back again and as soon as you feel his presence retreat you let out our breath.
It hurts his heart to hear it.
You solely turn to face him when he doesn’t say anything, and he points to one of the grimy blankets strewn over the side of the tv. He grunts, and you catch his drift.
You get up to retrieve it, and hear his gravelly voice. “Get the remote too.”
When both items are brought back, Dabi snatches the blanket from you and drapes it over himself contentedly.
What am I, an errand girl?
He tosses the remote at you to your surprise, and you look at him with raised eyebrows.
He props his cheek against a fist and stares briefly at the tv.
You take your chances and press the on button on the remote.
The ancient monitor comes to life, and it takes a few minutes of scrolling through the channels and glancing at Dabi’s face to decide the appropriate one to watch. You settle on some old slasher finally after seeing the scowl on his face lessen at the sight of a rusted blade chopping through some guy’s shoulders.
It’s weird to be sitting there with your bully-turned-beau, watching a horror flick as if your relationship with him was normal. You’re surprised he hasn’t jumped your bones yet, it’s what he always wants to do these days as if you’re planning on leaving and it’s his last dying wish to fuck you.
But he does nothing except for sit there, gazing at the screen with unblinking eyes, bouncing his knee.
He wants you near him.
What, does he have to spell it out for you? Why do you think he even sat you next to him with a blanket and a shitty movie?
Dabi expected you to snuggle up to him the moment you say back down. It’s rather insulting that you haven’t so far, if he’s being honest. Why would a fire user like him need a blanket to keep warm? That was for you.
And the horror movie? The only reason he allowed you to put it on is because he wanted you to jump, scream, flinch-hell, do something so he can put an arm around you and tease you for being scared!
But you just sit there. Stock-still, like a deer caught in headlights. Hands in your lap, back straight up, it bothers him that you’re not relaxing around him.
“Aren’t you cold?” You jump at the break in silence.
Indeed it is cold, the chilly winter draft seeping through the crumbling foundations of the old bar. But you’d resist, not wanting to know where he was going with this.
“Uh, no, I’m good thanks.”
He looks at you like you’re crazy. “You’re literally shaking cold, doll. Come here.”
You turn to him beseechingly, very much not wanting to prolong this. “Dabi...”
You’re met with an icy glare.
And so you begrudgingly scoot closer to him, barely a few inches away. Gingerly picking up the corner of the blanket, you place it over your lap in a faux effort to warm yourself.
Dabi rolls his eyes when he sees this, and pulls you by your arms to fall against his chest.
You gasp lightly at how warm his torso is, and can’t help the shiver that passes over you.
Unable to stop yourself from chasing the warmth amidst the cold night, you huddle closer to him, pressing your palms against his chest to feel more of his heat.
He looks down at your head and gives the slightest twitch of his lips.
His heart swells, and he hopes you don’t hear how embarrassingly loud it’s pounding against your hands.
You slowly start melting in his hold, shifting your leg up adjoining his to seek out more heat, and it makes his cock twitch slightly. He likes you like this: pliant, easy, comfortable. He just wishes you’d talk more, and with less of that apprehension and fear in your eyes
Some minutes pass, the slasher fic having been ended and changing to a rom-com. Dabi doesn’t remember the last time he saw one of those. It must have been back when he was Touya, back when his mom would bake his favorite cookies and him and Fuyumi-chan and Natsu would chase each other around-
You stir in his arms, mumbling a bit from dozing off. Dabi gazes at you, wondering when the day would be when you bake him his favorite meals, when he gets to chase you around and make you giggle instead of chasing you like prey and making you scream.
He rubs up and down you arms soothingly with hot palms as you murmur and begin to wake up. You sit up from his chest and rub your eyes, yawning widely all the while.
It’s only when you focus on him smirking down at you that you jump back as if you’ve been electrocuted.
His smile drops at that.
You scowl at his proximity, mentally face-palming at how you could’ve been lulled to sleep so easily by this dickhead. It wasn’t even that cold, how could you have warmed up so easily to him?
A blast of icy air seemingly coming from nowhere settled over your bones and you shivered violently, rubbing your arms that were warm a minute ago.
Okay, maybe it was a bit cold. But you’d be damned if you willingly became vulnerable for him any more than you had to.
“Is someone tired?” He teased, his white teeth gleaming with his sickening grin.
“Whatever, I’m going to bed,” you mutter and avert your eyes, getting up to go upstairs.
“Good idea, I think I’ll come too.” You don’t need to turn around to hear the smug laughter in his voice, knowing full well that he was making fun of you.
You grumble and stalk upstairs with him right at your heels. At one point he lifts his gaze just to see your cute ass sashaying side-to-side with every step you took up.
He can’t help himself when he reaches a hand out and squeezes the flesh there, causing you to yelp and shoot up the stairs even faster.
Dabi shakes his head and snickers to himself, beelining after you to his quarters.
It’s a medium size-room, not meant for two people but that doesn’t stop him from cramming you in here every night.
You’re already glowering at his sheets, yanking them back and getting ready to dive in when a sudden thought strikes him.
“Have you eaten yet?” He leans against the door, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.
“Yes.” Comes your muddled answer from beneath the comforter.
You did not, in fact, eat anything for almost a day and a half. You couldn’t do it, your stomach was constantly in knots from his presence.
“Don’t lie to me,” his nostrils flare and he glares at you.
“I said I ate already.”
“Yeah? When exactly? ‘Cause if I remember right, i haven’t seen you leave my sight for almost 36 hours now, and none of that time includes when you ate.”
You stay silent, fuming underneath the covers. Why the hell was he so concerned about you? It pisses you off that he’s putting up a fake act of caring about you, just so that he feels less guilty about raping you.
He sighs and shifts to open the door. “Stop being such a bratty little shit. You were doing so well earlier, so keep it that way unless you wanna piss me off.”
Dabi turns the knob and takes a step out of the room. “I’ll ask you one last time before I choose myself- what do you wanna eat?”
“Eat shit.”
It’s so faint and muffled, but he hears it. His eyes widen marginally, his jaw clenches and the brass knob under his inflamed palm starts to steam and bubble.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?”
“I said eat shit!” You throw the covers off and glare at him full on. “Stop pretending like you actually like me, or that you care about me. You’re a crazy fucking rapist, you’re not my father for gods’ sake, so stop trying to be this fake good person!”
The only sound around the room is your soft panting and the squeaking of bubbling metal. Then, it stop.
He steps forward, and speaks softly. “You want me to be the villain so bad?”
Another step forward, and you instinctively retract your legs from the edge of the bed.
“Fine. We’ll play your little game. You’re not leaving this room until I say so, or eating until I give you permission, since that’s what you wanted anyways. Wanna act like a stone cold bitch? Be my guest.”
His posture immediately relaxes, and his smug smile returns as he crosses the room to flip onto the bed.
You look at him in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”
He turns over and scrolls through his phone.
There’s no way he’s serious. Is he actually planning on keeping you in this room? You’re already limited to the base as it is with him breathing down your back, no way in hell you’d tolerate even more confinement.
Just to check his bluff, you slowly slip off the bed and pad towards the door, one eye over your shoulder to check that he hadn’t turned around. But the second your hand outreaches for the disfigured blob of cooling metal on the door, a massive wave of blue flames lash out mere inches from your hand and between the knob.
You scream and clutch your hand, leaping backwards.
“What the fuck, Dabi?!”
He says nothing, but continues to smirk at his phone.
You take a deep breath and are about to try to open it again his his raspy voice calls out, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. My nursing skills aren’t as good as yours. And even if you do manage to sever your hand and try again, if you leave then I’ll personally make sure Shigaraki withdraws all your missions here on out.”
You pause at that, cursing under your breath. As much as you knew he’d never admit it to your face, your leader needed Dabi for long distance combat. He was the second most powerful member in the group, so his word was scripture after Shigaraki’s himself. He would do anything Dabi would say if it meant keeping him in the League. You, however, were expendable at the end of the day.
Sighing, you trudge your way back to the rickety bed, grumbling under your breath. He says nothing, simply continuing to scroll through his phone as if he didn’t blast hellfire at you seconds before.
Sleep did not come easily. Even after Dabi put his phone away, he didn’t press up against you like he usually did at night. The empty space behind you was growing colder and harder to ignore.
You tossed and turned for a couple minutes, contemplating what to do. Apparently he was serious when he said he wouldn’t let you leave the room until he said so. So when was he gonna give you the all-clear?
Your stomach rumbled loudly, and you winced clutching it. Damn it. If only you had taken up his offer instead of throwing a tantrum.
Finally, after an excruciating 10 minutes more of deafening silence save for your weeping stomach, you cave in.
“Dabi.”
Silence.
“Dabi, you awake?” You prop yourself up on an elbow and peek over his shoulder. His eyes are closed, but his chest is moving too fast for a slumber.
“Look, I’m...I’m sorry I didn’t listen, okay? I should’ve eaten when you told me to.”
Nothing again.
“Hey.” You lightly shake his shoulder, but no response comes from him.
You sigh in frustration, tapping your fingers on the pillowcase. Suddenly, an idea comes to you, but it makes your stomach recoil in disgust and quiet down its grumbling. Desperation is a bitch.
“Can I make it up to you...?”
And finally, he turns around to face you, one cheek propped against his palm, a lazy grin complimenting his salacious gaze.
“Well, why didn’t you just say so earlier doll?”
You grimace in disgust, mixed emotions at your plan working.
“So what exactly did you have in mind, hmm?” He pouts condescendingly down at you, and you grit your teeth before letting him in on it.
“Um, well..I thought maybe I could...um, y’know, like..I wanna, um...” Oh god. This was more embarrassing than you thought. How are you supposed to ask your captor if you can suck his dick? Usually he just took you fighting tooth and nail, you never fully submitted like this before.
And he knows it too, based on the way his eyes gleam in the silver moonlight and shadows of lust cross his face while looking at your wide eyes and bitten bottom lip, your fidgeting fingers showing nothing but needing pure guidance.
But this isn’t supposed to be easy, he doesn’t want you to feel comfortable, he wants you to feel bad and make it up to him.
To give you a little push, however, he gives toga slight hint as he sits up and leans back against the rickety bedrest, folding his arms behind his head.
“So, what’s it gonna be sweetheart? ‘Gonna stare at me like that all night or are you gonna tell me how you’re gonna make this up to me?”
You look up at him, conflicted for a moment before solidifying your resolve. You shyly reach out a hand and touch the outside of his thigh, slowly rubbing and moving it closer up to the tent in his pelvis.
Oh, this is precious.
“What?” He sneers. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. You were pushing me away earlier, but now you wanna suck my dick? Make up your mind, babe.”
You wince and continue, not backing down from his mean comment. You knew he wanted this, he expected this from you. That’s why even though he’s spitting venom from his lips, his hips are bucking up into your hand as you stroke over his member.
Your fingers move nimbly up and down, around and under his thighs and dick, with him softly cursing in the background as he grows harder and harder.
“Stop being a tease and get to sucking. It’s what you were made for, anyways,” Dabi’s low voice comes out from in between little moans.
Your hand shakes a little bit as you fumble with the drawstrings on his pj’s, and he snickers at your inexperience. When you finally free his length, it bounces out like its on fucking hydraulics, precum beading up at the tip, his shaft coated with an intimidation Jacob’s Ladder.
He watches you lick your lips and he groans under his breath. You’re nervous and scared, but he’s wondering whose heart is beating faster right now. The hand which you use to hesitantly start pumping him is so much softer than his own, and even though he’s gotten fairly accustomed to your body and the feel of it, the sensations multiply tenfold when you do it willingly for him.
Dabi has half a mind to shove your head down onto his shaft when he feels like you’re stalling with your hands, however good they feel. He wants to see you sloppy with saliva dribbling down your chin like a baby.
But he waits. As excruciatingly painful as it is, he wants to see what you’re like when you do things at your own pace, and at your own...comfort? If you can even call it that.
Finally, finally after caving in from his silent flower you get the idea to put it in your mouth.
Your face contorts in disgust as you slowly lower your head and latch your lips onto the slippery bulb, hollowing your cheeks out and sucking hard at the tip.
Dabi hisses and juts his hips up into your mouth, furiously chewing at his burnt lower lip as he holds back a pornographic moan. He knows you’d be startled and embarrassed by it, so he refrains...for now.
That doesn’t mean he’s not gonna tell you what to do, though.
“Yeah, just like that. Suck it like an ice-pop. No, don’t use your teeth idiot. And fondle my balls while you’re at it, too.”
Instructions pour into your ears, one after another as you fumble around trying to satiate his needs. You’re clumsy, which makes it even messier and hotter for him. Various fluids coat your hand and the lower half of your face as you work on him, doing exactly what he says. Sucking and kitten-licking the tip, even going so far as to dip your tongue into the crevice of his tiny hole and rapidly lick up the massive amounts of pre bubbling up after doing so, spiraling your tongue down the piercings and on his shaft until you circle around his balls. Your spit helps as lube to slick up his dick as you pump your hand while nursing on his plush balls.
Dabi, of course, has a hand woven through your hair and randomly jerks down on your head when you hit a good spot. You can tell he’s trying his best to hold back from his way his body and arms shake in self restraint, so you know it’s time to finish things up before his control snaps.
You start stroking him even faster, squeezing a little harder when you move up on his tip and massaging his balls. The soft schlick schlick sounds echo throughout the quiet room, the rustling of his sheets as his legs move to their own accord mute the thudding of both your hearts.
You can tell his orgasm is about to come from the way his cheeks puff up and his chest heaves. Pulling away is futile, as the second he sees recognition in your eyes he finally does what he’s been wanting to do, and slams your head all the way down his length.
He starts actually face-fucking you now, all 7 1/2 inches tightly cramming in your throat. You retch and cry out around his dick, trying to pull your head back but he’s not having it; he pounds the back of your canal and you swear you’ll wake up with a bruised esophagus in the morning.
“Fuck, fuckfuckfuck yes doll, fuck, just a little more, you’re doing so good, my little cumdump huh? You love me, yeah? Of course you do, of course you love your daddy, you’re never gonna leave me you’re gonna stay right here under me like the good little girl you are-“
Filth pours from his mouth as white ropes leave his cock, your already-filled throat flooding with his seed and leaking out of your strained mouth.
You squeeze your eyes shut as he waits for a moment or two, calming his breath down by taking deep inhales in place of his rapid panting. His breath deepens after a minute or two, but he still has an iron grip on the back of your head sealed so tight that the cum is trapped on the inside of your stretched lips.
“Mmmfh!” You cry out and beat at his knee. He finally looks down at focuses on you, squinting and laughing at your predicament.
“Aww what’s wrong, don’t wanna gargle my kids? Would you rather have them someplace else?” He shakes your head back and forth on his softening cock and more seed spills out over your mouth and around his groin.
You painfully pull your head up, and Dabi revels in how you look.
Teary-eyed, your hair a mess, cum and spit coating your mouth like a fucking whore.
You’ve never looked more beautiful to him than you have at that moment.
“Come on, clean me up,” he gestures to the mess on his body, and you grimace.
“Do I have to? I just did what you wanted me to-“
“I thought you were trying to make it up to me?” He raises an eyebrow and looks you up and down.
You sigh and try to do it quickly, ingesting the vile contents and avoiding his cruel grin.
After what seemed like a lifetime, you finish him off and flop down in bed, catching your breath.
“So, was that good enough? Can I go outside now?”
“It’s the middle of the night, where the hell would you go right now?” He fluffs up his pillow and pulls his pants back up, getting ready to actually sleep this time.
“Well, I mean yeah, but...you know what I mean, in the morning you’ll let me go out, right?”
He rolls over to face you, and you can’t decipher what emotion crosses his face as his position blocks out the moonlight. From his body rolled over, the light reflecting off the side of his head would almost make it seem like he had white hair.
“Who said anything about letting you go out?”
You gape at him for a moment, then chuckle nervously. “Come on, don’t freak me out like that. You said that if I made it up to you-“
“I said make it up to me, as in apologize for your bitchy attitude. I didn’t say anything about you leaving. You’re gonna have to do more than a shitty blowjob if you wanna leave this room.”
“Dabi!”
“What? I’m just complying with what you wanted. You didn’t wanna go with me, right? So, I’m playing by your rules.” He says simply, shrugging as if it’s no big deal.
Tears brim up in your eyes. “You’re an asshole.”
“Exactly. Which is why you’re not leaving until I say so.”
You turn over and scoot away from him, ignoring his scoff. But you suppose you couldn’t be too mad, after all.
You don’t know what you were expecting from a villain anyways.
560 notes · View notes
alovesongshewrote · 4 years ago
Note
Hiiii idk if you’re taking requests or anything rn but!! My birthday is coming up in a few days and I wanted to ask if you could do a cute one shot with douxie celebrating his witch gf’s birthday 🥺 pls don’t feel obligated!!! I just love your writing SM hehe ❤️
BIRTH(Day) | Hisirdoux Casperan x Reader
Plot:  Your friends tried their best, and you had to give them that.  Besides, fire was your thing!
Word Count: 1,621
Warnings:  Pyromania
A/N:  Happy birthday anon!  Hope you enjoy this!  Also, fun fact, on my seventeenth birthday i got hit by a car, rip :/
Tag List: @furblrwurblr
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“Wizard Dad, is the Witcher distracted?  Over,”
“War hammer, the Witcher is very distracted, are you sure this was a good idea?”
“Absolutely, don’t let her know what’s going on!  Over!”
Douxie sighed, “Over,”
The plan was pretty simple.  He was supposed to keep you distracted while the guardians of Arcadia set up a surprise party in your apartment.  He could only hope that things were going well on their end because distracting you was more difficult than it seemed.
But he’d managed!
You were now helping him fight off at least twenty shadow mephits, and you were not at all focused on the fact that it was your birthday.  
He wasn’t sure how it had happened.  You’d been walking through Arcadia, just vibing, when suddenly, mephits.  Douxie didn’t know if that was inconvenient or not.  On one hand, it was a distraction that he didn’t have to put any effort into.  On the other hand, you both had to wrangle the mephits.  It was, in his opinion, a draw.
“Douxie!  A little help please!?”
“I’m on it!”  
He blasted a few of the mephits away from you before rushing to your side.  You kicked one of them in the face before spinning around and firing a spell at two more.
“There’s too many of them, do you have a plan?”
He did have a plan, but that plan involved coming out of this unharmed and getting you back to the apartment.  It was not useful against shadow mephits.
“No, just keep fighting,”
You did for a few moments more before you remembered the can of hairspray and the lighter at the bottom of your bag.  Why did you have those things on your person at all times?  For situations like this, of course.  You were actually a little disappointed that you hadn’t thought of this earlier.
“Cover me!”
“Wait, (Y/N), what are you doing!?”
“Just trust me!”  you yelled, diving for your bag and digging through it.
Douxie covered for you to the best of his ability, but he was one wizard, and there were way more than twenty mephits now.  This was no longer a draw between inconvenient and otherwise, it was straight up not a good time.  He was seriously wondering what ancient deity he had pissed off to have this as a distraction, or what deity you had pissed off to have this happen on your birthday.  It could have been puppies.  There could have been puppies in the road for you to gawk at and play with, but no.  Some god out there had decided on shadow mephits.
One of the creatures jumped at you, but before Douxie had a chance to call out a warning, you spun around setting the thing on fire.  The wizard was pleasantly surprised by this, although he was a bit concerned by the fact that you had the tools to craft a flamethrower on your person.  Did you carry those on you all the time, or-?
You carried them on you all the time.  Aside from joining to form a successful flamethrower, hairspray and lighters were just important tools to have on hand.  You only used them to build flamethrowers though.
“Doux, watch out!”  The wizard jumped out of the way as you turned the flames in his direction, singing the edges of his hoodie and setting the mephits around him ablaze.
You cackled with utter glee as you set fire to the world around you.  To a bystander, it would be concerning, but you were having the time of your life, and Douxie was used to this.  He was actually more than used to it.  He’d been dating you for years, this is what he’d fallen in love with.
The fire jumped around you, seeming more alive than any other fire on the planet.  It moved almost at your command and burned brighter and longer around you.  It didn’t take Douxie too long to figure out that this wasn’t regular fire.  It was magic fire.
When you were done, you set fire to the sky for a moment, laughing still as the flames continued their dance above you.  And then, you were done.
With the mephits defeated and the fire out, you tossed the hairspray and lighter back into your bag and calmly walked over to Douxie, kissing him on the cheek, “That was the best birthday present ever.  Thank you, babe!”
You sounded so sweet, and not at all like a woman who had just set fire to a bunch of monsters.    
It was pretty hot.
You made your way back to your bag, making sure everything was in its place before zipping it up.  Out of earshot, Douxie spoke to someone you couldn’t have seen even if you were looking.
“Wizard Dad, we’re in the clear, send in the Witcher, over,”
“Perfect timing, Toby,”
“War Hammer!”
“Yes!  Right, sorry,”
“Who were you talking to?”
Douxie nearly jumped out of his skin, “Nothing!  No one!  Come on, love, let’s go home,”
“Aight.  Are you okay?”
“Yes, darling, never better,”
You bit your lip, looking at the singed edges of his hoodie, “Cool beans.  Let’s get gone,”
He smiled at you as you spun around, heading in the direction of your home.  
To anyone else, it might just be a regular apartment, but to Douxie, and to you, it was everything.  It was a place where safety was confirmed, where the two of you could be yourselves and just exist without the pressures of being known by anyone but each other.  And Archie.  Douxie loved living with you, spending time with you, all of it.  Even if some of the towels were singed, he wouldn’t want to live with anyone else.
“Douxie?  You sure you’re good, babe?”
The wizard smiled at you, “I’m more than okay, I promise,”
“Then come on,” you grabbed his hand, “Let’s go,”
Douxie was glad to follow you home.
He was less glad to open the door to your apartment to see a bit more than the towels singed.
“Oh, fuzzbuckets,”
“What?  I didn’t do this?”  you entered your apartment, trying to figure out who burned literally everything in your home if it wasn’t you.
“SURPRISE!!!!”
“OH MY GOD!!!”  you screamed, flinging your bag in self defense.  It hit Krel, knocking him out even though it didn’t hit his head.  You weren’t sure how that happened, but there was no time to think about that.  At the moment you were focused on the faces of your very embarrassed friends, trolls, aliens, changelings and humans, all of whom were probably responsible for burning everything in your apartment.
And it wasn’t only burnt.  Behind them, a white banner hung on the wall, the word, “BIRTH” was written on it in large red letters.  Someone had thrown glitter at the sign in an attempt to make it better.  The glitter, however, had not stuck to the banner, instead, it coated everything in your apartment.  You were pretty sure there was frosting on your ceiling.
“Happy birthday?”
“Aww, you guys!’  You exclaimed, looking around your apartment, relishing in the chaos, “Thank you so much!”
They all visibly relaxed, thankful that you weren’t mad about the mess.  But why would you be?  You were a witch, you could clean it.  Also, fire was your thing.  You were fine with a little soot.
Your eyes were wide as you took it all in, “You’re all so amazing!”
“It’s no problem at all, (Y/N),” Jim said, his nerves slipping into his voice as he scratched the back of his neck.
“You heard her guys!  She’s okay with the scorch marks!  Let’s party!”  Toby yelled, eager to stop stressing after what had been a very tense and flammable party set-up.
And so the party began!  It was pretty chill, there were many vibes, I don’t know how to describe it because I’ve been to one party in my entire life, but let’s just say it was dope.  Halfway through Krel woke up, and was totally fine.  Everything was going well.
And it kept going well.  
It seemed that the universe decided that a metric ton of shadow mephits and a burnt apartment were enough for one day. By the end of the night, you were pretty tired.  You’d sent the children and trolls home at a reasonable hour because you were a pyromaniac, not an irresponsible influence.
You and Douxie used magic to clean the apartment after everyone had left.
“Are you actually okay with the burns and the glitter?”
“Okay?  It literally could not be better,”  you looked at Douxie, smiling brightly, “Our friends tried their best to do something nice for my birthday.  Did they burn the apartment?  A little, but I don’t care.  It was sweet, and,” you picked up a handful of glitter, “They gave me free ammo,”
You threw the glitter at your unexpecting boyfriend, hitting him in the chest.
“Oh no, you don’t!”
The glitter fight that ensued was glorious.  You both fought bravely, not stopping for anything.  Your tactics were well thought out and nearly fool-proof, but alas, you were battling against the person who knew you best rendering all strategy moot.  After a fierce and shiny battle, you found yourself cornered by your wizard.
“Surrender, love?”
“Never,”
Before Douxie could throw more glitter on you, you grabbed his face and kissed him.  He melted into it, not noticing your hand reaching back for more glitter until it was too late.
You came away from the kiss before throwing glitter into your boyfriend’s face, giggling at the displeased look on his face.  Your laughter made him crack a smile before he kissed you again.
“I love you, Doux,”
“I love you too.  Happy birthday, (Y/N),”
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chunhua-s · 4 years ago
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hi baby! CONGRATS 🎉 on 200!! HEHE and ur wish is my command— tho, this time, i’ll put off friends to lovers for mafia!au whew 😆 and my favourite boy, mr bokuto koutarou <33 (i think i’m rlly in lovvv w him 🥲) i love u!! hope u enjoy writing this hehehe 💙
atiq, sweetie!! thanks so much for requesting from me!! and thanks for always swapping ideas for haikyuu with me 🥺 i love our interactions and everything you add to our discussions is always so golden!! your mind? amazing, astronomical, built different. and i know how much you love kou so i’ll work extra hard on this request for you!! ilyyy 🥰 and i hope you enjoy it!! i cannot tell you how badly i wanted to write a mafia au for a while and i was actually hoping that someone would request one for me for this event! originally i had three different ideas for this oneshot, but across all three i wanted our reader to be in a oosition of power — a ruler rather than a bystander in the grand theme of things of that makes sense? i just... i really like writing female characters with a strong presence that you can feel pressuring you whenever you’re around her. when i chose this route for the plot, i added a little twist to it since i thought forbidden lovers would be another good fit for this — i hope this is okay with you? it still falls under your original request but with just a touch of another really fun trope! uhhh for the song i did struggle a little with choosing it, but i think the vibe of this song fits better than what i had in mind? it the lyrics capture the whole “i’m helpless when it comes to you” theme that i wanted to put into this oneshot, like it’s a sensation that the other person has so much power over them that they can’t resist. anyways enough with my rambling — please enjoy the story! and as always, don’t be afraid to tell me what you all thought of it 💕 and a big thank you to runa for giving me a hand with writing this when i got stuck! ily wifey 🥰
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WHERE YOUR LIGHT SHINES BRIGHTEST ➽ KOUTARO BOKUTO x READER
genre: drama— tiny bit of angst if you squint
au: mafia au with some hints of forbidden lovers
warnings: none other than the au type if that makes anyone uncomfortable!
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your relationship with him is like something written straight out of fiction — the tale of two lovers whose paths should never meet.
as the rules dictate, a queen should never kiss the hand of her servant. it’s unheard of — the mere thought of it could be called ridiculous had it ever left from your lips. and even you had frowned upon it once upon a time. back then, you would never have even entertained the notion of love within your business. the word love has no place inside a frozen heart, it’s petals without a home on cold northern land. as a woman in your world, you couldn’t afford love, not with your money, nor with your time. to you, all it had ever been was something too expensive and not worth the pain that would trail after its name. and so, the empress closes her heart and builds her throne on the skulls of men who dared to challenge her power, sews her dresses from their flesh and blood and decorates her neck with silver bones, her fingers with rings of thorn. you become a force in the underworld, one that demands respect with your name alone and causes the blood of those who should doubt you to run cold with fear. in the cruel and unforgiving world of pain and bloodshed, you blossom beautifully, and you run your empire on the same harsh principles that you once fought against to get to the top.
but the queen, she has a weakness — one lonely spear that rests right over her heart, piercing the skin there and drawing rivers of blood from her opening wounds. the queen who once spat on that four-letter word and scorned it with every part of her being, she fell in love with her right hand man. you couldn’t stop yourself from melting into golden eyes that shine like the sun itself, you’re rendered defenseless in the face of his light that shines like a beacon in your dark world. you’re a moth to his flame, and you so carelessly let yourself burn on embers of adoration and worship. for him, you abandon your personal code and allow your heart to dance in the palm of his hand. for koutaro bokuto, you allow yourself to bury your crown on a sandy beach, you let him pull you into golden waters and teach you how to swim in his ocean.
music blares outside of the private room, where neon red lights hide the trails that his lips leave across your skin. he fills you lungs with a subtle aroma of sweet oranges and a sort of earthy scent that’s almost lost under the overwhelming smell of gunmetal and blood that clings almost desperately to his clothes— as if to suffocate his fire and leave the both of you cold. when you pull away from his arms, you find his golden eyes already searching for you through black and white strands of hair that you gently brush from his forehead; he leans into your touch with his eyes closed, and his lips come apart to exhale the weight that sits on the both of your chest. the gun in his belt suddenly becomes heavier, as if it would pull him under if it weren’t for your hands around his waist, supporting his body when he tiredly collapsed into you. guilt turns your stomach over with a sickness so powerful that your resolve wavers, flickering like the surface of a calm lake disturbed by a single stone — that stone, you think bitterly, is your throne. the empire you’d created that you can no longer run from.
“you did well for me, kou,” you whisper against his skin, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek and sinking further into his arms as if to permanently mold your bodies together. “you always do so well.”
he pulls back once again to lock gazes with you, golden hues drinking red wine to shine on a sunset blaze. you see his lips pull upwards in the beginning of a smile as your thumb traces the shape of his jawline, his hand coming up to cradle your own when he leans into your touch. “i live to serve you, my queen,” he mutters into your palm, and you swear you feel the devotion behind his words as they rumble across your skin like thunder. “i’ll do anything for you — just give me the order and i’ll get it done.”
you bring his face closer to yours and press your lips against his, feeling his entire body relax above you as his hands lock around your waist, draws you closer into him so that your figure curves into him. what space once existed between the two of you vanishes as you steal his breath from his lungs and lose yourself on sweet ocean waves. your voice of reason goes muted under every hushed gasp that falls from your caving chests chests, codes and conduct vanish beneath the heavy base of the music that blasts from outside the private room. when you pull away, the both of you are breathless, left to drag in slow, heaving gasps as if the air surrounding you both had vanished.“good,” your lips brush against his lips, your eyes flutter closed as your forehead leans against his. and you don’t dare doubt the validity of his words — in your world, an oath bears the same weight as a pound of flesh. false promises are punished in blood and sacrifice, and one would do well to quickly learn to never lie under any circumstance.
your smile softens on its edges as you press your head against his chest, falling into the soothing rhythm of his heartbeat. a queen can’t afford to fall in love in such a dark world, but you think that, for koutaro, it’s alright to let your guard down and offer him your heart.
he would never betray you, after all.
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davi hits 200 followers — haikyuu!! au writing event! 💕 
taglist: @aiiishiiiteru @tsumue @bootylikepeachy
send an ask to be added!
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hquirks · 4 years ago
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hello !!! omg yalls admin names are so CUTE it makes me hungry it’s currently 1am where im at 🤤 anyways if the boys at karasuno were youtubers instead, what kind of videos do u think theyd post? discussion is OPEN
Hi anon!! We’re glad you like our admin names !! We were pretty hungry when we made them hehe. Also thank you for this ask and for being our first anon!! We had a lot of fun doing this!! We were laughing so much while we were facetiming as we did it!! So thank you again and much love! Hope you enjoy!! ❤️ - Noodle ✨, BananaMilk 🐯, and Frice 🌊
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Karasuno as YouTubers AU
School: Karasuno
Genre: Headcanons, fluff, crack
Warnings: one mention of alcohol
HINATA SHOYO & KAGEYAMA TOBIO
Hinata definitely dragged Kageyama to make this channel
He only agreed if they did things they both could do
So, they have a whole Volleyball 101 series like how to receive, block, set, etc. They also help teach like volleyball fundamentals and strategies!
They also do exercise and stretch tutorials
Kags would have a series of good and healthy food while Hinata would vlog about his days which mostly are about playing volleyball and biking lol PLUS interview his friends especially during training camps like Kenma and Bokuto.
They do lives sometimes but they always end up fighting/bickering somehow and it becomes popular content 
SUGAWARA KOUSHI
Actual DIY king!!
He has a DIY channel for pen pals, bookmarks, socks, candles, slime, etc.
He will even do the really weird life hacks to see if they work or not
Very soft and pastel with a sprinkle of chaos because it is Sugawara 
Vibes of those angry home cafe videos like one minute he’s making really cute cakes but another minute he’s punching the air and pouring chocolate all over his hand
His videos are popular not only because he’s so sweet and friendly (and chaotic) but also because he’s so pretty (has many girls and guys in the comments like “are you single uwu”)
SAWAMURA DAICHI
You know that dad on YouTube with the “how to…”? That’s Daichi
Examples of the videos are like “How to fix your tire” or “How to manage your finances” 
He also loves to tell about his life and just gives advice like “What it means to be responsible” or “Tips for proper and open communication”
Also has “funnier” bits like “How I managed 11 demons (10 children + 1 vice-captain)” 
(it’s 30 mins and most of the time it’s actually just chaotic bits of volleyball practice from their school and even when they are at the Japan camp)
(also the boys from the schools (read: Bokuto and Kuroo) take the camera at one point and just bombards the video)
NISHINOYA YUU & TANAKA RYUUNOSUKE
We all know they have a joint acct!! Their channel is like Korean Englishmen/Jolly
They love to vlog whether it's about school, their trips, volleyball practice, just anything!!
They also love to do all the challenges and trends
Their most viewed video is of them trying do the fire noodle challenge bc they almost DIED eating it 
(they chugged a whole bottle of milk between themselves and even went to the store to buy more and bathed themselves in it)
TSUKISHIMA KEI & YAMAGUCHI TADASHI
Their channel is like Buzzfeed Unsolved/The Watchers !!
Yama is Ryan and Tsukki is Shane. Chaos and debates obviously happen. 
Would collaborate with Tanka and Noya or the other first years to go to a local haunted house place together and record their reactions/experiences. Buzzfeed unsolved way. 
Separate sections: tsukki makes a playlist of music and yamaguchi local food restaurant reviews(think Worth It). 
Reaction videos to music videos (it’s fun to watch them because tsukki usually maintains his cool stance and yamaguchi is completely honest with his feelings. Tsukki mostly criticises and analyzes musical technicalities, but sometimes when he’s amazed you can see his eyes widen. 
YACHI HITOKA
Her channel is mostly drawing tutorials + speed painting!!
Also does Adobe product tutorials, very technical but also cutesy aesthetic like she has a her own character (that’s a baby chick) at the corner of her videos
Vlogs where she live records her drawing + sometimes rants about the torture of rendering 3D animation
She actually vlogged the one time she spent 28 hours at the library trying to render a video that was 1 minute and 30 seconds long...
She does some baking videos and sometimes does collab with Asahi’s channel!! Because of their height differences, the top of Asahi’s head is often cut off from the screen 
Kiyoko makes frequent appearances at Yachi’s channel and everyone loves when she comes on
SHIMIZU KIYOKO
She would have an ASMR channel that mostly focuses on her hands and the objects she’s using
She doesn’t like showing her face or having anything attached to her so no one ever knows it’s her (she’s uncomfy with all the attention vs. when she’s on Yachi’s channel where the attention is shared)
But she becomes like one of the top ASMR channels bc her vibes are really soft and also super aesthetic
Also, SOUND QUALITY !!! exquisite !!! best crunches, taps, scratches, etc. 
Her most popular ASMR video is the one where she roleplays as a witch
NARITA KAZUHITO & KINOSHITA HISAHI
They have an anime/Marvel channel together!
Top 10 Anime Betrayals, Top 10 Anime Deaths, Best 2020 Anime Shows, Could this character beat Goku discussion/debate, etc. You name it. They have it. 
They do reaction videos to anime shows/movies/marvel trailers. 
Civil War Debate: Who Was Right (a lot of differing opinions so its LONG), All Marvel movies Ranked, Funniest moments in Marvel compilations, etc. 
Their most popular video is when they made a funny video pretending to be BNHA heroes and have quirks. They invited the other 2nd years as well and it was a MESS but they had fun making it and editing it with bad effects and all.
ENNOSHITA CHIKARA
Of course our choir boy has a singing channel (covers, original songs, collaborations, etc.)
Plays guitar and sometimes posts acapella videos
He does youtube live with his fans and talks about his day, what he is working on, his favorite songs/musicals, etc. He answers their questions too!! 
Ennoshita does a collaboration series with Takeda sensei (our musical lover) reacting and discussing music videos/songs. Very knowledgeable and calming vibes
He does it with the Karasuno team too and those become his most popular videos because they are SOOO chaotic and funny. Complete opposite of when he does a collab with Takeda sensei
AZUMANE ASAHI
Mainly a cooking channel that specializes in easy recipes!!
He also does a miniature food series.You would think he would have a hard time but he is very adept with small instruments.
Bakes sometimes due to Yachi’s influence, loves to bake bread from scratch.
Fashion tips : “How to layer clothes,” “How to find your aesthetic”, “How to do monochrome looks right”, etc. 
He did a makeover series on the Karasuno team where he diagnoses and dresses them up from head to toe
One of his popular series is “How to cook/bake without a recipe” and the Karasuno group are invited to do it in teams! It is pure entertainment lol.
BONUS~
Coach Ukai and Takeda sensei make frequent appearances in Daichi’s channel / Hinata & Kageyama’s channel
Takeda sensei also goes food hunting with Yamaguchi sometimes and will leave reviews for the restaurant drinks (alcohol
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standingmanintheshadow · 4 years ago
Text
The Gambler
Chapter 5: The Loud Escape
(I hope you enjoy the chapter)
Walking into Human Resources, the first thing that stuck out to Elijah was that the entrance to Human Resource was a bathroom, but with all the things he has seen, this wasn’t the weirdest. Shrugging it off, he walked through the bathroom with a sense of dread on his mind. Elijah continued walking through the large bathroom until he saw a large hole in the bathroom wall leading into another room. “Why are we even trying Magic Man, there’s a ton of them, and one and a half of us, even with your powers, we have no chance to escape,” Scout said in a defeated tone. 
“Look, you may have given up already, but I didn’t, so we’re going to continue whether you want to or not unless you want me to cut the stitches connecting you to me and just leave you here if that’s what you want?” Elijah said with a somewhat threatening tone.
Scout immediately perked up at what Elijah said. “WHAT? Are you crazy? I was just dramatic, asshole,” she said with returning vigor. “Hehe, good, I would like the company; it can be boring wandering around abandoned warehouses controlled by sentient puppets trying to kill me,” he said sarcastically and continued walking.
Elijah slowly crept through the large hole and saw another large window connected to a hallway. Slowly approaching the hallway, they both saw what it looked like a rat eating a person in some form of a body bag. Elijah shuddered with disgust and looked down the hallway and what greeted him made him want to throw up. Down the hall was an uncountable number of people in body bags and hung up on hooks like meat. It didn’t help that the hallway was also covered in a deep mist. But the worst part of it all was the disgusting smell, which Elijah could easily distinguish from others as it was the smell of death. The smell got worse as Elijah walked forwards towards the bodies. Wanting to protect his nose from the smell, he dropped the cigarette in his mouth and covered his nose with the shirt under his jacket. 
“What is this place? I’ve never been in here before,” she said before continuing “are these hosts?” she asked rhetorically as she looked at the bodies on the hooks. Elijah continued walking through this miserable place when he saw another window containing more rats, which seemed to have puppet parts stitched to them. The rats were eating a human hand, desperately fighting for it like it would be their last meal. Walking away from the window, Elijah kept moving through the hooked people without saying a peep. “Host, are you alright?” Scout asked since she noticed his silence.
“Scout, do you think I’m alright?! I’m in a room filled to the brim with people that are most likely dead on hooks like their pieces of meat. Now tell me, do you think I’m Alright?!” Elijah yelled out without care if anyone hears him. Scout looked at Elijah with an empathetic look before turning away in silence. “I’m sorry, Scout, I didn’t mean to take out my anger on you,” he said with regret in his voice. “It’s alright, host, we just need to get out of this hellhole and fast,” she said, gaining a quick nod from Elijah as he began walking again through the mist. Coming to the room still covered in fog, they both could barely see anything except a door that was touch activated. When Elijah got to the door, and Scout put her hand on it to open it, the screen turned red and said, “level 1 clearance required.” 
“This door won’t open; I need a green security pin. It’s like the one I wore on my shirt. But I don’t have it, so we’re fucked, unless we can find one somewhere in here,” Scout said as Elijah looked at the bodies that surrounded them. “We don’t have time to find a fucking pin; I think I know a way to get through this door,” he said as he started stretching his right leg out. “How in the hell are supposed to get through this metal door?” she asked as she wondered how he would accomplish this feat. “Just watch me” was the only words Elijah said before violently kicking down the metal door off of its hinges. Elijah stretched out his right leg again before walking through the now opened door.
“How in the hell did you do that?” she asked, completely baffled at the strength he has shown. “Well, I  work out a lot, that’s all,” he said as he began scratching the back of his neck. “Your hiding something from me, something other than the regeneration and the fancy card tricks,” Scout said as she gave Elijah a look that could be described as annoyed. “How about this? I’ll tell you everything when we escape and go out for lunch,” he said. Scout just signed and nodded; Elijah gave a small smile in return and continued through the newly opened door.
The door itself was connected to a room that was circular in design, but other than that. The room was empty in terms of furniture. But the only saving grace was that there was an employee elevator that didn’t seem to need any pins, unlike the last door. Elijah pressed the button next to the entrance to call the elevator; there was an awkward silence between the two as they waited for the elevator to come. When the awkwardness started to become unbearable, a musical tune played, followed by the elevator door opening up. Elijah walked into the elevator and pressed the only button in the elevator, and in response, the elevator closed and started going up slowly.
“If you’re serious about this whole escape plan thing, then the only way out of here is through a hole that was created by the fire. but here’s the fun part, it’s way back in Mortimer’s section, and to get there, we have to go through the Soundstage, which is where all the puppets are, so I hope you have enough cards to fight them all or are a fast runner” she said. “Hmmm well, I don’t want to fight all of them if I can help it soooooo; I guess I can sacrifice my pride and run away instead,” he joked, which Scout did not appreciate. “How can you still joke around when we can be killed at any time?!” Scout yelled at him, clearly displeased.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Damn, I was just trying to have some fun, fun killer,” Elijah said with a pout. Scout shook her head at his behavior and started to talk again, “Hey, I have a question,” she said, gaining Elijah’s attention. “Shoot” was all he said back. “Well, you’re from the host world. Is it a good place?” she asked, paying full attention to Elijah for an answer. “Well, it’s better than this place and more well lit, so yeah, it’s a better place than this dump,” he said as Scout’s eyes seemed to light up with excitement. 
“I knew it! I’ve seen the host world, you know; before my first orientation, I found a television in the basement with working cable. I didn’t know how long I was watching it before Riley caught me. Cop dramas, bake-offs, nightly news, it blew my mind; ever since then, I never fit in here. That’s when I stopped rhyming. I just couldn’t anymore,” she said, then stopping to take a breath before continuing. 
“If we survive, I was wondering if I would fit out there in your world; I know I’m a puppet, but do you think it’s possible?” she asked as she stopped talking to let Elijah say his piece. “Well, considering what crazy things I have seen out there, I’m pretty sure you would fit right in,” Elijah said as Scout’s eyes seemed to light up more with joy by the second. “Wow, thank you. I don’t know if I believe you, but it’s nice of you to say,” Scout said as the musical tune that played before started playing again, and soon the elevator door opened.
“It would seem that this is our stop,” Elijah replied, “it would seem so,” Scout replied. Walking through the elevator door, they were both greeted by familiar darkness. Elijah hit Scout on the head to turn on her light. When Scout light was turned on, the darkness surrounding them was pushed away by the light and shown a room filled with crates and cabinets. Elijah slowly walked through the small maze of cabinets and small chests when he heard a familiar voice start talking on the loudspeakers above them.
“Attention Handeemen of every shape, a defective puppet named Scout and her host has escaped. They have corrupted my data and rendered my test incomplete, so you must hunt them down now and halt their retreat. Rip out their eyes, eat their guts, burn their skin, throw them in the trash, OR I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!” Riley yelled out over the speakers making Elijahs ears hurt from the sheer volume.
 “Damn, If she plans to make me deaf, then it’s fucking working,” Elijah half-joked as he covered his right ear in pain. “That’s Riley for ya,” Scout said. “She’s a very mean woman,” Elijah responded as the pain in his ears started to subside. “yeah, you don’t know the half of it,” Scout replied.
After the pain in his ears went away, he started looking for a way to get out of the room and started walking through the darkness. He kept walking until he pumped into a table with a rather large jack in the box on top of it that seemed to have skeleton hands holding it. Above the jack in the box was another series of writing that Elijah couldn’t understand. “That’s Mortimer’s handwriting. It says, “mind if I join in on the fun,” Scout said in a scared voice at the mention of Mortimer. “It’s about time he gets off of his lazy ass and does something. If he’s supposed to be the head honcho around here, then how come we haven’t heard from him sooner?” Elijah said, rather insulted by the lack of attention from Mortimer. He looked at the jack in the box and started to turn the handle slowly. After a minute of turning, the top of the box opened by a small bit. “I think you broke it,” Scout said, and right after, she said. A few seconds after she spoke, a replica of Mortimer’s head suddenly popped out of the jack in the box, scaring both of them. 
Composing themselves, Elijah walked towards the jack in the box and noticed a pin with a  fourth of Mortimer’s face on it stuck on the replicas hat. “That must be one of the pins I was talking about, but it seems incomplete,” Scout said as she started speaking again. “And why is Mortimer helping us? That makes no fucking sense,” Scout said as Elijah was deep in thought. “I don’t know what he is planning, but it doesn’t feel right. It’s like some game to him,” Elijah said as he put the pin onto Scout and began walking away from the jack in a box. 
Elijah continued looking for a way out of the room. His search was not long when he found a door that needed the pin to be unlocked. Before scout could open the door, they both heard a new cartoonish voice that had bloodlust hidden within it coming from behind them. “You...you are the ones that killed my brother’s Crinkle and Bubbles, they were the only thing I had in this world, and now that I found you, I’m going to torture the two of you nice and slow!” the new puppet said without a rhyme.”
Elijah turned around and faced the puppet; he saw that this one had a more clownish look, as it had a colorful bowtie and clown nose attached to its face. Elijah looked at the clown puppet with an unamused look. He responded to the puppets threat by quickly pulling out a card that turned into a Colt 1911 pistol and shot the host in the head. The gun’s sound echoed throughout the warehouse as the clown puppet slowly fell to the ground dead, laying in its pool of blood. “That was anti-climatic,” Scout said, gaining no response from Elijah. 
Walking back to the door, Scout quickly unlocked it, and they continued through the door to face the unknown, But the only thing that greeted them was a small hallway that led to another door. Elijah faced the machine that opened the door behind them and swiftly smashed it with the butt of his pistol, preventing anyone from sneaking up from behind them. “Great thinking host; since you fired that gun, everyone is going to be coming after us, but the door you just broke should give us the time we need to escape,” Scout said as Elijah continued walking down the hallway. Getting closer to the door in front of them, the machine that opened it was covered in blood; Elijah saw that Scout started recoiling from the machine. “Ew! What is that? Is that like blood? No, no, no, I have a thing about blood; it’s like a phobia. I get sick even the thought,” she said as she started to gag.
Elijah’s head started throbbing as Scout continued psyching herself into touching the screen covered in blood. Elijah blinked a few times to get the pain to go away, but on the fifth try, he opened his eyes and discovered that he was much closer to the screen before. He looked around and saw that he could see his body and quickly realized that he was in Scout’s body, controlling her. Turning back around, he tapped the bloody screen, and then the door suddenly opened up in response. Still, in Scout’s body, he began to get the same head pains, and before he knew it, he was back in his body. Scout turned around to Elijah, clearly shocked and mad at the same time. 
“What the?... Either I’m going crazy, or you were just in my head; how in the hell did you?... Shit, our psychic link must be going haywire. Stay out of my head!” Scout shouted at Elijah. “Okay, okay, I’ll try not to, but it just kinda happened, so don’t blame me. Blame Mortimer for his dollar-store magic not working properly,” Elijah said as Scout gave him a confused look as she didn’t know what a dollar store was. “Use any excuse you like, just stay out of my head!” she yelled again, standing her ground on the issue. Elijah quickly nodded at her request, and when she gave him a content look, he walked through the door ahead and into the next room.
The room ahead was by far the biggest in the warehouse; as Elijah walked through the larger room, they could see various posters of the show’s main cast and even some of the show’s minor characters. When they were done looking around, they both turned their attention to a sizeable lit-up sign that said “Main Stage.” “I guess that’s where we have to go?” he asked. “Yup… but looks like we need the all of the parts to this pin to get through, and good luck kicking through that; it’s thicker than the other doors, so there is no way for you to get through,” she said as Elijah chuckled and walked forward to the larger door. 
Elijah put his ear to the door and started softly knocking on it. “What the hell are you doing host, do you know how idiotic you look right now?” Scout said. “This door is indeed too thick to kick through, but I’m not going to do that, I got a better plan, but when this door is opened, we have to book it out of here, okay?” he explained as Scout just sighed. “It better be a good plan,” she said. “Oh, it will; you just have to trust me,” he responded, which Scout gave a quick nod; Elijah then continued with his plan.
Elijah reached into his pocket and pulled out five playing cards, which began to mold together, formed a brick of C4 with a detonator attached to it, stuck it onto the door, and quickly retreated behind some crates were nearby. He then grabbed another card that turned into a detonator and promptly pressed the button. When he pressed the button, both of them could only hear the roaring boom of the explosion as the bomb’s power utterly eviscerating the door. Seconds past after the bomb went off, and Elijah came out behind the crates and was ecstatic at his work, while Scout looked like she was scared shitless. “You asshole, you could of at least told me to cover my ears. And now since you made a shit ton of noise, everyone knows where we are!” she yelled as they both could hear distant yelling coming from where they first entered. “We should get going,” Elijah said as he began to sprint through the blown doors of the main stage.
Running through the main stage as fast as possible, he saw only an empty stage with a table with no chairs near it. Jumping up on the stage, he could see another door that had an exit sign on top of it. Opening the door and rushing through it, Elijah continued running through hallways that seemed like a maze. He kept running and running until he came into a room that had two doors going that both had the same symbols that Scout was able to read before. “Scout, where do I go?” Elijah asked quickly, not wanting to waste time. “Go through the right door,” she said as Elijah started running through the right one. After running through the door, he was able to see another door that had an exit sign; in front of the door was yet another machine that needed turning. Both Scout and Elijah quickly grabbed the handles and started turning the levers at a fast pace. When they began turning the levers, a large door began to close in front of them and getting closer to closing with every turn of the levers.
Elijah looked up from the machine and saw across the long hallway in front of them a large group of sockpuppets with Riley leading the charge. “There, Scout and her host, they’re trying to escape, don’t let them!” Riley yelled out as the group of sock puppets started running towards Scout and Elijah with the intent to kill. “Scout, we need to double time it now,” Elijah said in a panic. They both increased their efforts in turning the levers, which started to close the door way faster than before. With the increased effort, they managed to close the massive door seconds before the group of sockpuppets could get through the door.
Scout and Elijah both released a collective sigh of relief when the door was closed. Beyond the door, they both could hear the voice of Riley screaming to the other sockpuppets to open the door. “I told you it was a good plan,” Elijah said while letting out a chuckle. “Good plan, my ass, we almost got killed,” Scout said, trying to hide a smile but failing. “Well, we’re still alive, so that’s all that counts,” he replied. “Yeah, your right,” she said, giving up trying to hide her smile and let out a big toothy grin. “We should go,” Elijah said quietly, which he gained a nod from Scout.
Walking through the door behind them, all that was keeping the both of them inside this hellish place was a long hallway, which at the end of the hallway, they could see a bright light that meant that they were almost outside. Elijah walked down the hallway as Scout was looking at the bright light in wonder.
 When Elijah finally exited the warehouse through the hole, he saw that they were in the empty parking lot of the Handeemen studio. Elijah felt the cold autumn air hit him as the sun’s warmth shined on him, bringing him warmth. He took a deep breath and exhaled, slowly enjoying the outside air for a few minutes. “It’s not like I imagined,” Elijah heard Scout say as she looked at the trees that surrounded the parking lot. “What do you mean?” Elijah asked. “It’s far more beautiful than I could ever imagine,” she said as she began to tear up.
 “Are you crying?” he asked.“I’m not crying; my eyes are just watery,” she said as she pretended to act tough as tears continued to flow from her eyes. Elijah brought Scout to his chest and let her cry on it while he patted her back for comfort. “Shhhhh, it’s going to be alright,” he said, trying to reassure her while her tough act quickly broke and started bawling on his chest, making his shirt and jacket damp.
Scout continued crying for a couple of minutes until she stopped and pulled away from Elijah. “Thank you; I needed that,” she said as her voice was trembling from the recent cry. “Hey, that’s what teammates are for,” he said as Scout sniffled and wiped her eyes. In a quick move, Scout hugged Elijah’s chest again as she began to speak, “You’re the best person I’ve ever known, and I’m happy to call you my friend.” “Now your gonna make me cry, Scout,” Elijah half-joked. “Now come on, we have to get to my car so that we can get away from this hellhole,” he added as he began walking across the parking lot and was soon back on the street. Elijah kept walking when they were on the road while Scout observed everything from Squirrels climbing the trees to leaves flowing in the wind. When they finally reached the spot where Elijah’s car broke down, Elijah noticed that his car was not there anymore. “Wheres your car Magic Man?” Scout asked. “Well, as you see, it’s gone; either Mortimer and Riley got rid of it, or it was towed away by a towing agency,” he explained as Scout gave him a worried look. “So, what’s the plan now?” she asked.
“We just have to walk.”
2 notes · View notes
comicteaparty · 6 years ago
Text
September 13th, 2018 CTP Archive
The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on September 13th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Gemini Journey  by Tracy MacLauchlan & Yesenia Carrero.
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RebelVampire
COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!
Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Gemini Journey by Tracy MacLauchlan & Yesenia Carrero~! (http://geminijourney.com/) Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!
QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?
Shen
i liked when she was getting ready for interviews and she messed up her makeup and her buttons popped 100% relatable
Tenor | Shinavar
Hi Hi! Q1: TOO MANY. But specifically I really enjoyed Veil's anger he morning after Gemini went missing. I just really appreciated getting to see someone actually care someone just wandered off, and him still having lingering emotions about the whole incident of her returning home.
aliceapproved
Oh gosh, that one was such a BIG MOOD!!!
saetje
whoo-hoo! Thanks @RebelVampire for putting on CTP. And hey all, thanks for coming :)!
Kabocha
Oh, boy, this is a hard one to answer, to be honest! I really liked the first chapter, where Gemini and Veil were going up against the Dragon-Roach... I was like "WAIT HOW CAN YOU HATE DRA--- Oh." Also, this scene: http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=69 Veil. You are the best.
It was fantastic handling of that... Creeper Kappa? Is the flasher a Kappa?
Shen
i just give 100% of my heart to Veil he works so hard hes so tired let him rest
Tenor | Shinavar
Flasher, I'd say
aliceapproved
Gosh, yeah, the dragon cockroach was really creative and I'm SO HAPPY there's a Kappa and they had to do the "bow" move to "defeat him"
Tenor | Shinavar
But yeah I love how 'street smart' he is about like, everything going on.
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
a book nerd with street smarts
Kabocha
Veil has no time for any of these Shenanigans
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
he's amazing
aliceapproved
I really love Gemini's "guilt" expression in one of the interviews
Superjustinbros
Hello!
RebelVampire
yeah i think veil is also a great character balance to gemini. cause when you have someone who is into the shenanigans, you need someone to be a grounding influence
Tenor | Shinavar
I also really like that though because he shows a level of attentiveness and perception to the world around him. <3
saetje
yess! It's a flasher Kappa! Glad you liked that scene.
Shen
yeah sometimes the "straight man" character can come off as a wet blanket but he genuinely cares for Gemini. i'd like to see more of that, like how they mnet or something one day in the future
aliceapproved
Yeah! Veil and Gemini are such a dynamic complimentary duo, from personality, body shapes, and orange and blue colors!
Shen
EXCELLENt design
Superjustinbros
Oh yea, huge props for how polar opposites Gemini and Veil are
aliceapproved
OH!!! One of my favorite scenes is when Gemini firsts visits the creepy circus and the scene transitions to her perfectly waking up in bed. That was such a cool transition!
Kabocha
Yesssss!
mathtans
Yes, I agree, the two play off each other well.
Kabocha
It was!
Superjustinbros
http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=198 Also, I like this scene, in part cause it reminds me very well of what happens to me some days
aliceapproved
I'm really eager to see how the circus devolves and how Veil and Gemini will handle it. Also those rad fox twins!
mathtans
(I may have to leave at a moment's notice when the baby awakens, if I suddenly go silent.)
Jess
You guys are so nice. I don’t know if I can add smilies fast enough haha
Kabocha
http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=55 Also, the lighting on this page was woooonderful. I wasn't sure how to read Veil's expression though. It was kind of like... "wait. Do you not want her to move out? Or... Are you just... ....caught off guard by dog fire?" ....Then the next panel is like "Back to reality."
Jess
Yeah the scene where it transitions from her as a circus performer to her in the bed was one of my favorites. @saetje really owned that scene
Tenor | Shinavar
I read it as he's a bit hurt at the "You can finally be alone!" more than her moving out
Superjustinbros
wow that is some really good lgithing
Jess
I think that was the first time that I didn’t second guess the panel format
RebelVampire
to repeat something already said, i loved the dragon bug. that was such an immensely creative idea, and i think it was a great way to open the comic. we get a great way to get not only the impression of what the world is like, but we get to get a great feel for the personalities of the characters.
mathtans
I gotta say though, my favourite was apparently Death owning a flower shop that has the slogan "You Don't Gno-me". Gotta love those little details.
http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=44
Tenor | Shinavar
GASP I MISSED THAT
OMG I LOVE IT
Jess
Yaaaaay!!
RebelVampire
yeah i give death's appearance an A+. that and gemini's confusion about why death asked about her immortal soul
aliceapproved
I looove all the mythology monsters at play in the background!
saetje
A lot of those details are thanks to @Jess who does final rendering/lettering. Flower-shop Wraith/Death will actually be showing up again I think next update, haha.
RebelVampire
http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=45 although i was also distracted by the page right after. this feels so true for getting a job.
mathtans
It's the Wraith of Khan.
Shen
LOL Gemini's entire job ordeal is so relatable. "i workeds hard on this one application im gonna go get a treat" girl, same
Superjustinbros
hehee
Kabocha
http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=157 Veil's distress :<
Tenor | Shinavar
Gemini sets off my inner Veil tho bc I know so many friends who do like
1 app a week
Shen
UGH hes so cute when hes sad XD
Tenor | Shinavar
and it's like: HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
mathtans
Back to what Rebel said though, I agree the dragon as a bug was hugely creative, and a good way to see the main characters play off each other.
Tenor | Shinavar
istg I relate to Veil the entire job process lmao
Kabocha
I love the expressiveness of both Veil and Gemini, but yeah, I really really feel for Veil
aliceapproved
I love how much Veil cares! He cares SO MUCH!!!
Tenor | Shinavar
Did anyone else notice in he dragon roach scene Veil has Gemini's shoe the whole time as the weapon?
RebelVampire
i love that page, @Kabocha like the lighting plus that expression made my heart weep
mathtans
I like that Gemini did start to take it more seriously for Veil, or at least seems to have been at interviews.
RebelVampire
weep so dang much
mathtans
Tenor: I don't think I picked up on that.
Kabocha
Although, how much is Gemini caring vs the Circus influence infecting her with confidence?
Tenor | Shinavar
I realized it after I noticed Gemini running around without a shoe and had to go back to see where I missed it lmao
saetje
@Tenor | Shinavar AH! Someone noticed that!
Superjustinbros
(I'm gonna go AFK for a bit, got some things I have to do but I'll hopefully be back later!)(edited)
Tenor | Shinavar
IT'S CUTE BUT MAKES ME WONDER HOW WE GOT TO THAT POINT LOL
saetje
Yes, Veil took Gemini's shoe despite having larger feet than her. I could jsut imagine the behind-the-scenes squabbling about it
aliceapproved
OOOH Good point about the influence! I'm really intrigued by the hypnotic circus
Tenor | Shinavar
Kabo: Caring about what, specifically? Like, about the circus, trying to get a job...?
(Sorry if I'm slow on the draw, got kids here )
Jess
On our world dragons: Yeah. It came from a conversation that dragons are the pests of the magical/mythical world. To the roach/dragon thing just kinda took form from that Ahahaha
RebelVampire
yes i noticed the shoe and thought that was a great art touch of continuity
Jess
Ahaha yeah!!! I mean. My boi got nice shoes. He can’t be using them for that
aliceapproved
I'm really glad dragons have the roach aesthetic, too! As someone who loves all dragons, I draw the lines at cockroaches XD
Shen
yeah that poster at the end threw me for a loop i thought it was a legit magic look-alike so when i saw the poster i was like "whoaaa no way" haha makes me VERY interested to read more
aliceapproved
Veil is so clean haha!
Kabocha
@Tenor | Shinavar -- Just in general honestly. Gemini started putting more effort into things, but it didn't feel like she actually really gave a damn more than she had gained some level of confidence.
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
i really liked gemini's haunted mascara
saetje
I'm glad you all like the Dragon Roach opening/idea too. It's also the idea...trying to imagine how mythical things might have 'evolved' along with our modern world, and yeah. Dragons are pretty much pests you always have to exterminate, yeah?(edited)
Kabocha
Although maybe that's the magic of the circus
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
or maSCAREa
mathtans
I grinned at it being one of the flying types.
Tenor | Shinavar
Ooooh that's fair, and a good point.
mathtans
Made me think of ants. I hate the flying ones.
saetje
@mathtans directly related to past experience with real life 'flying ones'. Nothing makes a roach worse than realizing it's one of those
omg ants too
Tenor | Shinavar
Saetje: So would this modern world have those 'fortune cat' memes but with the dragons instead? Reblog for good fortune?
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
god i related to that line so much bcus of how often i had to deal with flying roaches as a young childe
saetje
hmm, fortune cat memes? Like on tumblr when someone reblogs a picture of a cat with money on its head? XD
Tenor | Shinavar
Yeah~
!*
aliceapproved
OMG
Kabocha
I could do without the flying insects aaaaaaaa
aliceapproved
gEmini and Veil on social media haha!
Shen
i bet Gemini is a memelord
Jess
Yeah!! For the circus - we’re at the point not where we can start unraveling some of the mystery. Throughout the story so far we wanted it to be sorta ambiguous about if that Gemini in the circus was the same one. In the next oncoming scenes you’ll see what’s real and what’s not. But hopefully the way it’s being read is that the readers (y’all) are realizing it might actually be Gem
Tenor | Shinavar
I'd collect flying insects if they were smol dragons justsayin
Oooou~!
Jess
She is definitely a memelord Hahahah I love that
saetje
I doubt about dragons being seen as fortune memes since dragons are seen as pests and they tend to keep you from your money (ala sitting on the horde and breathing fire) or take loose items into their hidey holes-- so they're not seen the same as lucky. But that might just be for Gem and Veil's part of their world
aliceapproved
I'm so excited for the Circus to "unravel"
Shen
i bet she texts memes to Veil from across the room and then just waits for him to look at her in disapproval =3
Tenor | Shinavar
I've been under the impression the circus might not be entirely real and the performers there are stuck against their will - kinda fae-style. <_< So either she's performing against her will and is not yet fully bound or it's been an illusion to GET her there
RebelVampire
is veil thus the type to post all the old timey book quotes then? XD
in regards to the social media thing
mathtans
Yeah, at first I thought maybe Gemini was just seeing herself in place of who was actually up there, but with the poster it seemed likely that they were actually making her do the things.
aliceapproved
Oooh, I think it could go either way with trapped souls and she's not bound yet, or it's all an illusion to trap her.
Also, Veil posts moody aesthetic boards
Shen
XD
aliceapproved
"Juggling is not a garbage job" :V
saetje
yeah we're getting into I guess the third act and I hope it comes together and makes sense. as we unravel some mystery. There's more stories we want to tell after "Barley & Bay-Lily" that all follow continuity, so I want to wrap Barley & Bay-Lily where you all know what's going on but there's more overarching questions than answered in some ways.
I'm loving these thoughts on it!
mathtans
Clever play on Barnum & Bailey, by the way.
Jess
Thanks!!
RebelVampire
i want to say i loved the juggler. that was a great design and gemini's reaction to it made me laugh. although i do wonder now if the juggler is part of the circus conspiracy
mathtans
I wonder if it's significant that they seem to be foxes.
Kabocha
Foxes are tricksters, so I mean
aliceapproved
Kitsunes!
Tenor | Shinavar
My fear about the poster though, and why I hink it's a trap, is it said her "final act"
mathtans
'Tis true.
Jess
Also I don’t know if anyone noticed but the juggler was only juggling 2 balls with 4 arms
aliceapproved
Very fitting to make them foxes! Cute and mischevious and devllish
Tenor | Shinavar
so it's like; HHHHHHHHHHHHH GEMINI BBY NO RUN AWAY
aliceapproved
YEAH!! GEMINI GET OUTTA THERE
Jess
So lots of talent going on in the streets of New Olympia hahaha
mathtans
Jess: I caught the four arms. Guess I didn't count the balls. Seems like less of a challenge there.
Shen
"mysterious circus ive never heard of down a dark alley? sounds like a great time and not at all suspicious!"
Jess
Right!?
saetje
yes, what @Kabocha said. The idea for GJ is this is HER story/myth/hero's journey. Foxes are pretty archetypal to suspect characters in folklore and fairy tale. WHAT they are exactly, well. More to be revealed :' D you guys have some awesome theories.
mathtans
Maybe there was a chainsaw off panel.
saetje
hahahaha
Kabocha
This'll be really cool to see as it approaches the end
(of the chapter, anyway)
Tenor | Shinavar
yeeees
Jess
That’s true! Whether she was a good juggler or not is the true mystery
mathtans
The foxes are actually out of work actors.
saetje
oh god.
Mathtan you figured it out
noooo
Jess
Yesssss
aliceapproved
I misread that as "work out" actors LOL
Tenor | Shinavar
choke
saetje
oh even better
Tenor | Shinavar
Explains why they are trying to start their own circus
aliceapproved
LOL "Get BUFF with JUGGLING"
Shen
LOL
mathtans
Appearing next in the Big Top - Jazzercize.
Tenor | Shinavar
WHEEZE
saetje
Possessed Scary Circus Zumba
Shen
Crossfit but its clowns
Jess
That’s terrifying
Tenor | Shinavar
I h8 u all bc I can't draw this right now
RebelVampire
i would pay to see clowns doing crossfit
saetje
now tHAT'S a million dollar comic idea, Shen
or idea in general, yes
aliceapproved
I know it's probably way off in the future, but I'm curious about plans for Veil-focused arc in the future
Shen
yeah same, im sure its planned but im interested
RebelVampire
QUESTION 2. While searching for a job, Gemini clearly has gotten wrapped up in a dangerous situation involving a circus. What do you think the circus’ goal is in general for the people it entraps? Who exactly are the fox ringmasters running the show? Why was Gemini in particular targeted as opposed to other people in the audience? Why did Gemini seemingly come home in a trance, and what do you think it means for whatever is happening to Gemini? How do you feel the performer who represents Gemini’s ideals fits into all of this? Do Gemini’s anxieties have something to do with all this do you think? Lastly, how do you think Gemini will get out of this mess (or is she just doomed)?
Shen
i wanna know why he puts up with her tbh ^^; seems like she can be a bit self interested
aliceapproved
Also that it's confirmed he has friends cuz of that phone call. I'm sorry, I keep assuming he's a Sad Books lonely boy
Shen
no friends its just his mom
saetje
yeah you guys don't know if he's just sadly talking to a dial tone
Kabocha
The circus' goal is to... Basically steal her life energy! Somehow. But we'll see. Or enchant her and spirit her away~ Once she becomes part of the spirit world she won't really be albe to retuuuuuurn~
Shen
SAETJE THATS SO SAD XD
RebelVampire
well now you made it sad. XD
Kabocha
@saetje oh noooooooooooooooooooooo
aliceapproved
LOL! As for Question 2: Like most shifty magic things, steal her soul! Trap her in the circus
Kabocha
What about Gemini's mom? I'm sure he's probably got her on speed dial
RebelVampire
i assume soul stealing. i mean thats pretty standard evil fair. and who doesn't need a good soul
Shen
i dont think they targetted Gemini specifically as much as they laid out a trap and waited to see who stumbled in, and she did so they ensnared her
mathtans
Veil seems too organized to talk to a dial tone. It'd at least be the official time signal.
aliceapproved
I think the Circus targets ppl who are down on their luck or confidence or don't have a quote "real job" atm? Like job hunting is really stressful and feels hopeless a ton of times
so it looks for vulnerable ppl imo
mathtans
Gemini came home in a trance because the cab was too expensive.
Jess
That’s how I do too
saetje
BRB faking trance to get out of cab faire
aliceapproved
To heck with fantasy Uber and Lyft!
Kabocha
It shows them something akin to their best selves, maybe?
saetje
hahaha
RebelVampire
what if this is a known phenomenon in their world so when someone says "they ran away to the circus" they mean that whoops, got that soul life energy sucked out
aliceapproved
Yeah! The play of "UGH I should just run away and join the circus" it's so cool!
Shen
i once saw a video of a woman pretending to be a ghost to get out of paying a toll
Tenor | Shinavar
Q2: The specific part I havenb't already kinda answered is: I feel she is part of Gemini's subconciousness in the sense of having her "act" together. Her life wouldn't be too chaotic, she's able to balance all that is expected of her without being a 'clutz' or anything she seems to think at least minimally negatively on. (seen by her admiring the grace and such)
Kabocha
She's a representation of everything Gemini wants to be?
aliceapproved
^^^^
Tenor | Shinavar
Not exactly but def a bait, in some way
Kabocha
Except moving more toward that ideal means that Gemini gets trapped...
Well, representations don't have to be literal >_>
<_< I figured it was all pretty figurative
Tenor | Shinavar
True true
RebelVampire
the thing i cant figure out is why the trance thing. like gemini was in the circus, just suck out her soul. why give her the chance to escape?
aliceapproved
Since we see Gemini specifically, I'm assuming the audience members are just an illusion
Maybe these foxes like playing with their "prey" and make it a slow burn
mathtans
It could be through the music that the circus gets you. That alley cat seemed real scared of it, while Gemini was drawn in.
Alice: Oh, I like that.
Tenor | Shinavar
Rebel: If i works like fae magic, you gota get them to agree to it
aliceapproved
Yeah, why play if there's no risk involved?
mathtans
Rebel: To recharge?
Tenor | Shinavar
You also can avoid like - all legal repercussions if it's "willing" >_>
aliceapproved
^^^
Jess
Ahahaha consensual death is the best ... death?
aliceapproved
For lawyers, yES!
mathtans
Now waiting for the scene where Veil rules-lawyers the foxes.
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
thats how it be sometimes
aliceapproved
Law & Order with VEIL
Tenor | Shinavar
Also it hurt a lil bit I couldnt resist. Crossfit clown from geminis world lol
Shen
JKRFJGJHMHG LMAO!!!
saetje
omg @tenor hahaha
mathtans
That's a garbage job. ^.-(edited)
Tenor | Shinavar
BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE VEIL THROW DOWN VERBAL LOOP HOLES IN CONTRACTS
saetje
IT'S NOT A GARBAGE JOB, VEIL. I mean MATH.
Tenor | Shinavar
Just like, pops on some glasses and busts out a book from no where
Kabocha
That's Veil's magic power -- BOOK LEARNIN'
Tenor | Shinavar
YES
Jess
Yessss
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
magic is a thing, he probably just pulls out outta his pocket dimension- which is in his pocket
Tenor | Shinavar
He has a pocket just for his books
aliceapproved
I love all the art you guys do of Veil with his book beasts! They're the best!
Tenor | Shinavar
all 2k of them
saetje
haha,t hat's actually a joke we've been wanting to use somewhere-- "I love your dress" "Thanks it has pocket dimensions"
Jess
Omg I love it. All pockets are pocket dimensions from now on
Tenor | Shinavar
OMG YES PLZ
DO IT
aliceapproved
OMG PLS DO THAT
Tenor | Shinavar
AS A PARENT IT'S A NECESSITY wheeeeeeeeeze
aliceapproved
pockets are THE BEST
imagine a pocket dimension!
This world gets better and better! Minus the creepy circuses
Jess
Right
Hehehe
mathtans
"My pocket dimension is full of clowns...."
Jess
Nooooo worst dimension
Kabocha
I saw a few other people ask it, but... Why is Veil so tolerant of Gemini's shenanigannery? I mean, I am a far less patient roommate than he is...
saetje
I figure a pocket dimension dress would have to be some kind of plot device though for a future arc. i mean, HAVE to be.
Tenor | Shinavar
New def to clown car
Kabocha
matth whyyy
Tenor | Shinavar
Kabo: My shipping side if he finds it endearing
Exhausting but endearing
saetje
wellp, clowns ruined it
RebelVampire
i do applaud veil's sheer patience
Kabocha
I WAS LEANING THAT WAY BUT I DON'T KNOW IF HE'S JUST ENTERTAINED OR WHAT
RebelVampire
but i do assume the blushing is more than just blushing
Tenor | Shinavar
CON GRATS REBEL
YOU DID IT
Jess
Ah. Well be answering that soon. I think so far we’ve been focusing on Gem and some of her worst traits - her selfishness, but
Shen
nice~
mathtans
Kabocha: Because I can. As to why Veil's tolerant, maybe he knows someone like Gemini in his family or his past.
Kabocha
I figured Veil was kind of perpetually blushing unless otherwise upset.
Shen
i am absolute ship trash and i am waiting for this to sail but i am patient
Jess
And we’ve focused on veils best - his smarts and his loyalty
Tenor | Shinavar
I keep getting little hints Veil at least Likes her.
Kabocha
Hm. So he knows Gemini could be Amazing if she'd try?
RebelVampire
i think there is some of that yes
Tenor | Shinavar
But doesn't push it
RebelVampire
wait veil has bad traits?
i dont accept this
Tenor | Shinavar
No he doesn't
don't listen to them
shh
Shen
no, veil is perfect
Kabocha
Veil's afraid of bugs....
mathtans
Veil just likes Gemini for her shoes. Much shoe blushing, wants to wear them.
Tenor | Shinavar
Je
aliceapproved
I'm sure Veil totally finds Gemini charming and really.. pr-pretty BLUSH
RebelVampire
being afraid of bugs is a good trait
Jess
It’s true. And he won’t dirty his own shoes
RebelVampire
bugs carry disease
Tenor | Shinavar
But is he afraid of bugs
or the fact they can catch shit on fire
aliceapproved
Veil is very much a neat freak which is a double-edged sword
Tenor | Shinavar
like his books
aliceapproved
and not very impulsive, so Gemini helps liven things up for him
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
tenor raises a good point
Shen
thats more "quirky" than a character flaw lol
like "clumsy" girls XD
Kabocha
They're foils for one another, you say? That's how these sorts of friendships balance each other? NEVAAAAAAR! ....I ship them unless there is a reason I should not.
Shen
these ship goggles dont come off
Kabocha
Several people are typing...
aliceapproved
Yeah, this arc is very Gemini focused and how she needs to grow as a character
I'm excited to see how Veil needs to grow as a character in the future
Kabocha
Yesh!
Shen
aye
aliceapproved
Gotta take turns!
RebelVampire
admittedly i do think veil kind of needs to learn to have fun probably
as a character arc
Tenor | Shinavar
But books are fun
Work is fun
saetje
well but organization is fun
RebelVampire
although i do wanna know now who veil is calling
and what he does with his not gemini friends
Tenor | Shinavar
RESPONSIBILITY
aliceapproved
Yeah, that's definitely something I see with Veil
Tenor | Shinavar
Just what the dr ordered
RebelVampire
i agree with organization and books but i meant more in how he carries himself
Jess
Oh! It’s a dial tone
RebelVampire
gotta learn to tweet those memes back
saetje
hahaha
Tenor | Shinavar
lmaaao
Shen
thats fair he could stand to lighten up lol they both need to learn a bit from each other. hes not got time for fun if he has to always be the "responsible" one because someone else took up all the "fun" XD
aliceapproved
Yeah! Guy needs to party and have an impulsive time for once rather than strictly schedule
They need to work together
Tenor | Shinavar
I do agree tho, with how in the know he seems to be, I'd like to know who all he's got, esp depending how they'll influence stuff in the future.
bc it seems he's from here whereas Gemini isn't soooo <_<;
mathtans
Veil can be fun. Veil can't be impulsive.
RebelVampire
yeah i do hope this circus experience teaches gemini more responsibility. in that maybe she should fill out more than a few apps XD
aliceapproved
Does Veil have a hard time making decisions?
Shen
"look how impulsively i filled out your applications for you isnt that fun?"
mathtans
Alice: Not if blueberries are involved.
aliceapproved
And yeah, Gemini certainly learning more responsibility and also, to trust in herself if she applies herself and focuses
Jess
Ahahaha
Tenor | Shinavar
I think Gemini jus needs to get to the point she doesn't need a child leash
Jess
Well and for me - I think when people are going through hardships, like Gem not being able to land a job, sometimes the worst parts of themselves show up. And while I love the character - (and hopefully) she’s shown to be kinda funny and not overly mean - I thought it was important to show her bad side early on
mathtans
I don't see her as mean, just easily distracted.
Tenor | Shinavar
^Same
She's irresponsible but not in a malicious way
Like if she hurt someone I'd be dead up surprised if it was intentional
aliceapproved
Yeah, that's definitely it ^^
mathtans
Tenor: She killed a dragon.
aliceapproved
I never thought of her as "mean"
Tenor | Shinavar
she is a sweet widdle cinnimon bun who needs protected from circuses and flashers
I said someone
Not thing
Kabocha
Gemini is Dovahkiin now lol
aliceapproved
I'm sorry, Mat, but they're pests in this universe. Cockroaches uugh
Tenor | Shinavar
Difference ;)
RebelVampire
oh yeah gemini is still super likeable. its more shes that adult who hasnt quite grown up yet. and youre kind of hand waving her to make stop being a kid 100% of the time.
mathtans
Fair.
aliceapproved
Yeah! She's like a kid fresh out of college
Jess
Oh good! Was kinda worried. But she’s definite selfish and flighty and I’m happy to see that it’s coming through
Without making her irredeemable
Draco Plato
yeah she's definitely still likeable
aliceapproved
Open to the free adult world, but still needs to learn how to adult cuz lord knows school prepares us for THAT
Tenor | Shinavar
Yeah nah there's not a mean bone in that child's body
Free spirit, I think is a good desc?
mathtans
The foxes are also spirits, but they're not free.
saetje
I'm glad! That's what we're going for- she's not intentionally harmful but has a lot of growing up to do. I don't think she realizes when her actions can hurt someone else.
aliceapproved
She's selfish and irresponsible, but there's still potential to be redeemed. She's a well-rounded character that's set up to evolve from this story and that's what makes sticking with this story so worth it!
saetje
no one's free when they teach Clown Jazzercise
RebelVampire
those poor foxes. gemini is actually doing them a service
mathtans
I wonder if this world has the Zodiac? Is Gemini's name at all related to that?
Kabocha
Pffff
Tenor | Shinavar
Oooh. <.< Good q
aliceapproved
Like, Veil is obviously responsible and an adult, so Gemini doesn't seem to think she has to think about Veil's feelings or words on some matters? He's got it all figured out! Me though? I need help. Veil, veil help me! What applications?! Not boring help ;; That's how I see Gemini
Kabocha
Gemini's the twins, yeah? Does Gemini have a sister, or a hidden second side where she's actually really competent?
mathtans
Maybe she's the good twin, and the evil one is in the circus.
aliceapproved
OOH, I'm curious about that, too, Math. I'm a Scorpio!
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
that means you have a scorpion in the circus
Shen
"the twins" the foxes...
Jess
Ahahaha yesssss
saetje
Can't really reveal the Gemini connection yeeet buuut, duality and twins have some play in the overarching story yes!
aliceapproved
DUN DUN DUUUN
Shen
PS im a Gemini~
Jess
Me tooooo!! Yesssss
Are you also plagued by fox clowns out of work
Kabocha
Gemini probably hasn't really taken time to consider other people's feelings long-term. I don't think she's quite there emotionally, but when she actually like.... really has it sink in that she worried Veil, that'll be interesting. Although she did acknolwedge she scared him, so I mean
aliceapproved
Secret revealed, Gemini is called Gemini cuz Jess is a Gemini
Tenor | Shinavar
Naaaice ~ Also omg the fox twins ffft- Makes me think
Kabo: Yeah, I don't think she fully got how bad the scare was?
Shen
sweet im gonna name my next character Sagittarius
Kabocha
Yeah, it's the depth that I think she lacks
Tenor | Shinavar
Like "I'm sorry for scaring you but not sorry I did the action to cause it :D" levels of immaturity
aliceapproved
@saetje What's your zodiac sign if you don't mind sharing?
mathtans
Plot twist, Gemini sells her soul to the Flower Wraith Shop, and the foxes have to buy it back to keep their shenanigans going.
Tenor | Shinavar
kjdhaskj
Kabocha
When she gets more insight it'll be awesome as she grows
Shen
LOL
Tenor | Shinavar
Kabo: Yeeeeees
Jess
She’s two fishes
saetje
Pisces
aliceapproved
Yeah, Gemini maturing as an adult is really exciting to wait for
My sister's two fish, too XD
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
twins............. two fish..............................
i see a theme here
Tenor | Shinavar
I really wanna see Gemini work for Death now hhh-
aliceapproved
OMG
Yes haha!
Maybe a temp job that doesn't work out somehow
Kabocha
Twist: Death only claims dead plants
Tenor | Shinavar
Mostly bc I'm stuck with Death having the VA as the Death from Conker's bad fur day and I just. Can't.
mathtans
"You should probably hold the scythe the other way."
Kabocha
"You're going to hurt yourself if you trim the shrubberies this way."
Tenor | Shinavar
"Why are you wearing all black it's hot af out go change, child"
RebelVampire
i hope death only claims dead plants cause otherwise gemini is basically going from one soul threatening adventure to another
saetje
haha so true
XDD
Tenor | Shinavar
WELL I MEAN
she just have to give death her soul
it's never said when
mathtans
Does it have to be her soul, or just a soul? Or maybe soul music?
Tenor | Shinavar
oh god
Just a soul can be how we find out Death accepts plants
RebelVampire
death better be a fan of soul music
saetje
you've split this concept wide open Maths
Shen
the sole of this shoe
Tenor | Shinavar
Shen NO
Shen
=D
saetje
SHEN YES
Jess
Yessss
aliceapproved
Another note about this story, is that I think it's a really good Young Adult story, cuz I feel myself and a bunch of other adults or kids coming out of college can relate to Gemini's story of trying to find work after moving out to live on their own
Tenor | Shinavar
That's Death's brother, Reaper.
mathtans
Veil: "Your spell checker has done you in. Gemini only has to give you her shoe sole."
Jess
Awwww!! Thanks so much
Tenor | Shinavar
Alice: Yeees. Tho I think this first big arc is good for younger children too
RebelVampire
the shoe in the dragon part was foreshadowing
aliceapproved
Yeah!
Tenor | Shinavar
Like my kiddo would love the art and atm if it goes where I suspect it might, it's a great lesson to learn young
saetje
Thanks @aliceapproved !! that makes me happy to hear because that's also what we're going for
Jess
Yeah actually when whenever we show Gem getting rejected I get real sad. Since some of it draws from our experiences
aliceapproved
You guys nailed it
Yeah, it was a big mood for me this year, so this story has been helping
Tenor | Shinavar
Rejeced? D:
Jess
Younger out of college Jess applied to be the new death - and I got turned down
RebelVampire
QUESTION 3. Though we certainly know Gemini and Veil a bit, much of their past history has yet to have been discussed. Why do you think Gemini has struck out on her own? Do you think it’s just to embrace adulthood, or is there something specific she’s seeking? Was there anything about Gemini’s journey into adulthood that you connected with? What about Veil? What do you think Veil’s backstory is? How do you think Veil and Gemini even know each other? Do you think Veil’s overprotectiveness of Gemini exists for a reason, or do you think it’s just part of Veil’s personality? In regards to their future, do you think that the two will be able to remain friends, or will their differing personalities get in the way of peaceful cohabitation? Do you think Gemini will be able to successfully get a job? Finally, will Gemini move out once she gets a job, or will Veil potentially actively sabotage it?
saetje
I guess now that we're getting more shows like "Aggretsuko" I'd say we'd like to hit around that target. Like, we're sort-of 'mature' only because of some of the (not-NSFW) themes resonates more with older folks. But hopefully there's still more to be enjoyed from a slightly younger YA/teen audience.
mathtans
Interesting last question there - I don't think Veil would actively sabotage, but might passively, without really thinking about it. "You can't move out next week, it's supposed to rain."
Shen
i think Gemini's irresponsibility combined with the double life (???????) shes got going on now is leading to a big fight with Veil. I dread it though
aliceapproved
SAME SHEN!!!
A big confrontation scene!
I can feel it coming
Veil finally calling out Gemini
I can only imagine the emotions!
Kabocha
...Can Veil handle confrontation where he gets pushback?
like, he can handle snark, but, an actual argument?
RebelVampire
yeah. veil might be the type who cant really deal with confrontation like that
Tenor | Shinavar
3: Gemini is homeschooled. If she's trying to branch out there's a chance she might either feel shackled a bit, or she's been encouraged by her parents to stretch her wings. Gemini ran into Veil lost puppy style, trufax. Brought her in from the rain and cold Veil's personality is probably tied to sorta trying to guide Gemini in the sense of law and order. Everything has a place, so you gotta do it- where you going coME BACK OMG I AM TRYING TO HELP YOU. I do believe here is going to be some strife at some point because Gemini has shown a lack of communication and emotional skill and Veil has shown a lack of willingness to bend. BUT I do believe this will clear up after some resolution from some juicy content So yes I believe they'll stay friends.
RebelVampire
although i think the confrontation is coming
saetje
That's a really great question, Kabocha. We haven't shown that yet :)c
Tenor | Shinavar
Maybe at worse a temporary not friends moment to crush our hopes and dreams
aliceapproved
Or maybe "not speaking" terms atm
RebelVampire
actually ya know what i could see as veil's big character arc is addressing change. cause the moving out thing may be more than veil just doesnt want gemini to go. it may be that veil is the sort that completely shuts down when there is change
saetje
y'all you guys have such insight, I'm loving your thoughts here. It's a relief to know you guys are getting a lot of what we're trying to put out and I love hearing your concepts, and concerns, for the characters!
Kabocha
I dunno that Veil realizes how overbearing he can be, to be honest. So.. Gemini's gonna get pushed to the edge and push back against him.
Tenor | Shinavar
Rbeel: Oooooh, that can be true too
aliceapproved
I think Gemini might resolve to move back in with her mom (which is LEAST wanted thing for her cuz I think she loves being out on her own), but Veil offers that she could still say with him, granted now that she has a proper not circus cursed job
Tenor | Shinavar
SOME chaos is good but what is his limit.
aliceapproved
RebelVampire, that's a really good note on Veil!
Tenor | Shinavar
Kabo: Yeah I get that. He seems so happy to 'help' but because he knows what you NEED to do to get done, he doesn't seem to fully 'get' that it's a lot for Gemini
aliceapproved
Veil's very much overprotective
Tenor | Shinavar
A bit of lack of empathy for the situation in the face of necessity?
aliceapproved
Yeah, like filling out applications is FuN???
Kabocha
He also doesn't understand how to break things down into smaller more completable tasks
mathtans
Gemini needs a source of income, maybe Veil's letting her stay for cheap?
Kabocha
he can handle a long list, but.... honestly, Gemini needs to feel accomplished at each step of the way and realize how much progress she's made
aliceapproved
Yeah, Gemini is a person that needs to be eased and break down steps, not all dumped at once
saetje
@Kabocha exactly- one of the flaws we've hopefully seen in Veil is that he can be pushy (literally physically pushing her around town int he beginning arc) and then tends to put too much on Gemini than what she's ready for at times.
Tenor | Shinavar
I got pushy though I didn' know the physical part was part of it
aliceapproved
Yeah! That page with her smushed with all his word bubbles was a great representation of that!
Tenor | Shinavar
I figured him grabbing her was because it was liTERALLY UNSAFE LOL
mathtans
Veil isn't as observant as Gemini, maybe because she's so distractible. He didn't realize she knew his fave berries and such.
saetje
Well I might've misspoke- it was more of a visual analogy for being emotionally pushy than, like, physically harmful or abusive.
Kabocha
He's basically trying to herd her lol
saetje
yes like a little sheep dog lol
aliceapproved
Yeah!
Tenor | Shinavar
OOOH OKAY
I getcha now lol
aliceapproved
Veil is honestly a toothpick and I bet a small breeze could push him over
Tenor | Shinavar
laskdjKLSDFJ
Jess
Lmao
saetje
omg
Tenor | Shinavar
Don't insult my son like that
just bc he can takje flight with those ears don't mean nuttin
Shen
LOL
aliceapproved
He's a GOOD SON!
saetje
oommg haha
aliceapproved
I love him!
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
veil is a good boi
aliceapproved
Boy ain't gonna win a bar fight is all haha!
Bless this sensitive boy!
Kabocha
http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=178 "You are in my personal space"
Tenor | Shinavar
Nah legit tho being the tiny I'm surprised he CAN push her, or at least shows she's willing somewhat to be guided
Jess
Guys. It’s the nose isn’t it
Tenor | Shinavar
omg someone draw me Veil getting carried off by gemini plz
Jess
He can do no wrong with a face so right
mathtans
Veil has a large picture of Spock in his room. Big fan.
Tenor | Shinavar
That's exactly it Jess
saetje
Honestly Gem could just pick him up and swing him around like a baseball bat if she wanted, I think.
Tenor | Shinavar
kaisdjfKHJDSF
I mean he is such a stiff
saetje
@mathtans definitely a huge Spock influence!
aliceapproved
OMG BASEBALL BAT
RebelVampire
veil's number one advice to gemini is to just think of what would spock do
Shen
PFFFFF
RebelVampire
then gemini asks who spock is
aliceapproved
http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=186 < a M O O D
mathtans
Gemini to Wraith: "Dammit Bones!"
RebelVampire
oh i loved that page with the giant to-do list
it was a great visual gag
aliceapproved
I definitely "treat myself" for small tasks when there are still more or bigger tasks to do haha!
Jess
Lol me too
saetje
I was REALLY into Star Trek a while back and almost did some 4-panel Star Trek Gemini Journey AU comics...I don't know if I have the sketches anymore though. Kind of psyched myself out of them
I think everyone works differently. You gotta treat yourself once in a while though!
Tenor | Shinavar
^
Jess
But going back to the characters - we hope to focus on their dynamic more and more. We love all y’all insight tho!
Tenor | Shinavar
reating yourself is importaaant
I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC AND AM HYPED FOR MORE
mathtans
Their dynamic is mezzoforte.
saetje
yeah I'm loving hearing all your thoughts and getting some insight into how you all are reading the comic. It can be tough when you're so close to something to really 'see' it anymore
I appreciate your thoughts!
aliceapproved
Yes! They're a great duo!
I'm always excited when there's an update and Veil and Gemini are interacting
And yeah! Ofc dude! Lots of pairs of eyes help
mathtans
Just want to say the style of the comic is really interesting... I don't think I've ever really seen it before, just having the one panel. Most trend to pages or 4-panel or whatever. But one panel can really speak volumes, even if it's just a reaction shot, done in this way.
Jess
That means so much to hear!
Tenor | Shinavar
As someone with a messed up wrist I appreciate it too bc scrolling hurts so this worked great
aliceapproved
I think the webtoons layout for it works really well for scrolling! I love reading updates before bed It fits so well!
saetje
Thanks! Honestly it's how I've always 'seen' it and I'm glad you all like that-- It's been a bit of a point of uncertainty for us. I'm hoping in the future we can get some sort of swiping option for mobile devices to swipe between panels on full-screen instead of always clicking
and yes! Webtoons has done well for us too
Kabocha
Yeah, I'll agree - carpal tunnel makes scrolling format hard, but your website is perfectly suited
thank you for having both options!
Jess
I gotta be honest when we made the decision to do it this way - we were so conflicted. We wanted to do this format becuase we envisioned it with simple panels and @saetje really works hard to make things look cinematic
Tenor | Shinavar
omg if you get swipe in I'd be so happy bc I do like 90% of my reading on my phone ;u;
aliceapproved
Yeah, I would definitely love that as a feature in the future. Clicking is fine, but it can be difficult going back and forth and waiting for a website to load
Oh yeah! This story really reads well as a show or film! The storyboard format
RebelVampire
yeah i was skeptical of the one panel thing at first but once i got used to it i thought it was really nice. especially for how much it allows to be fit on any one "page"
saetje
yeah! Tenor, we always wanted it to be REALLY mobile friendly. Like my ideal is to just let the panels fill a mobile screen and swipe to read. We just....aren't really programmers so we haven't figured that out so much yet XD BUT- I'm really happy to hear the one-panel tapping is easy on wrists! I've heard other people call us 'accessible' for that and that was an uninentional side effect but I'm happy to hear it.
aliceapproved
Yeah! Plus, you get cool scenes like the circus sequence back to Gem waking up in bed in the same pose as the juggler
Tenor | Shinavar
It's muchly appreciated too <33
RebelVampire
on a different note, im really intrigued by the fact that gemini's savings are in the form of like actual treasure. and im really curious if thats literally their hard currency, and if not, where did gemini get all that treasure.
Tenor | Shinavar
I think it is bc she says the coffee was a gold coin + a virgin's tear
Superjustinbros
I'm back!
Shen
"a gold coin AND a virgin tear what a rip off"
mathtans
They're paste gems.
aliceapproved
I think it's Mom's allowance to her before she moved
Superjustinbros
And glad you're aiming for a smooth mobile experience with the comic.
Tenor | Shinavar
So I'm curious, if you two are willing to answer this (and it's cool if not!) But what's inspired you guys to tackle this story? :D
Superjustinbros
I have to admit, sticking to one panel per page helps a lot
mathtans
Yeah, maybe Gemini should store up her tears and sell them on the street?
Tenor | Shinavar
omg math
saetje
omg
Superjustinbros
@mathtans
mathtans
Tear-able idea, I know.
Jess
It’s probably a bit different for both of us: We’re huge myth nerds but we felt like there wasn’t a story that really talked about what ppl just starting their journey was like.(edited)
Superjustinbros
oooo
saetje
@Tenor | Shinavar no problem at all! Honestly GJ has been through many iterations including an animated series pitch in 20...12?? It was my and @Jess 's senior project! It was always very heavily myth-inspired because we're really into that. It's a modern hero's journey
Tenor | Shinavar
Oooh~! <3
saetje
but basically what @Jess said
Superjustinbros
Did someone say, animated series?
Jess
Like the feeling of being unprepared to adult and the lack of jobs. The scariness of being on your own. Finding love, and losing it. And the fear of letting people down.
aliceapproved
That's a really good point, a Journey!
Jess
It’s why Gemini’s full name is Gemini Journey
aliceapproved
Also mythology is SO GOSH DANG GOOD
mathtans
I thought that was a clever play on words.
aliceapproved
I love all the mythical creature references!
Jess
And plus—- all this myth jokes Hahahaha
saetje
Yeah. What can we say--- we were starry-eyed animation students once (well, @Jess was a graphic design major)
Superjustinbros
Seconding mythology
and wow, that's quite impressive!
mathtans
Wouldn't want to myth out.
saetje
yes! I'm REALLY into myth, folklore, and fairy tales. Bookshelves are lined with them, and I still don't know everything. It's a really rich topic.
Jess
I was not a animator hahah but I like them. They are awesome
aliceapproved
World Mythology class was one of my all time favorite classes in college haha!
Jess
Me too!!
aliceapproved
and your animated ad was BEAUTIFUL
saetje
same @aliceapproved !
and thank you!
aliceapproved
Seeing Gem and Veil move is gorgeous and I could see little gifs of them interacting
mathtans
As for the question of the half hour, I'm thinking Gemini answered a "want ad" from Veil, looking for a roommate, and she was the only one willing to take the place. Everyone else thought he was too strict, would get upset if they left the milk out.
RebelVampire
oh thats good to know. i did wonder what the significance was in that her name was gemini journey
aliceapproved
when time allows to work on those kinds of things haha!
Jess
I think myths in general tell important truths about people while still being entertaining. I hope our story gives them justice
aliceapproved
You guys totally do!
RebelVampire
veil does seem like the type whod make horrified faces at the milk being left out XD
Jess
Yeah. It’s a play on the Hero’s Journey
aliceapproved
I wonder if Griffins will make an appearance. I love that Teacup manticores exist haha!
saetje
Definitely lots of fights about how to load the dishwasher correctly (if they even have one)
Superjustinbros
lol
Tenor | Shinavar
I believe you guys give them great justice! I's def creative and fun for sure! :D
mathtans
"You bought the powdered soap again...."
RebelVampire
posting a bit early but i feel we are segueing into the next question already
QUESTION 4. Although the world has present-day elements, there are also a slew of magical things. What aspect of the world intrigued you the most and why? Are there tidbits mentioned that you’d love to know more about in the future? Alternatively, is there any magical related creature or being that you’re hoping to see make an appearance in the comic? In regards to actual story canon, do you feel Gemini is familiar with this magical world or that she still has a lot to learn? In what ways do you think magical elements might come into play and make trouble for Gemini? Regardless of magic, what sorts of other conflicts are you hoping to see/do you think we’ll see, especially in regards to Gemini learning to be an adult?
saetje
@aliceapproved honestly one of our downfalls is @Jess and I want to showcase TOO MANY mythological animals b/c we love so many of them and have a lot of ideas for how they'd work in our world. But, to what cost to plot, ugh.
and yeah griffins are like on that list b/c GRIFFINS
Shen
give me werewolves
ill give you a dollar
Tenor | Shinavar
brb
mathtans
Magical dishwasher.
aliceapproved
VERY GOOD
mathtans
Do they have flying cars?
RebelVampire
have we seen a minotaur yet? need some minotaurs up in this joint.
and unicorns
aliceapproved
What I'm interested is the fact that Gemini is an Antlantean and I wonder how that factors into future story elements if any
And yes, PLEASE griffins, unicorns, and minotaurs
saetje
WELL, here's something I think I can give away that hasn't exactly been pointed out a lot of times in our story yet (we are getting to it): there aren't any humans in the GJ universe (http://geminijourney.com/index.php?c=74) so a concept of a werewolf to them would really be a "werehuman", haha. But there are other wolfed-figured beings like Wulvers from Irish myth.(edited)
Superjustinbros
Unicorns, you say?
~~suddenly thinking about centaurs~
aliceapproved
YEAH THAT'S RIGHT! I remember giggling at that "HUMAN TALE"
Human tale must be so boring to them XD
It's like OUR world, but NO MAGIC
oh wait, they're horror stories
saetje
^^ yes
mathtans
Is Gemini actually a magical girl?
saetje
I MEAN, there are some strong "Princess Tutu" influences already and even more so coming up
Shen
magical girls are my jaaaaaaaaaaam
RebelVampire
did notice gemini was an antlantean, didnt realize there were no humans
i actually hope the gemini veil fight happens
Superjustinbros
What does the transformation sequence look like
RebelVampire
so we can see gemini's home
that sounds amazing
Superjustinbros
I must know
mathtans
Gemini is a duck?
saetje
how did you know?
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
a WHAT
Jess
Nooooo you figured it out
aliceapproved
I wanna meet Gemini's mom haha!
I've seen the art but gosh
or Veil interacting with them
Honestly, Veil and Gemini meet the other's parent(s)
mathtans
Waiting for the episode where Cupid accidentally shoots Veil with an arrow.
Jess
Yeah admittedly - the character designs for gems mom @saetje has done I’m really digging. I can’t wait for her appearance
mathtans
Veil falls in love with a dial tone. Very embarassing.
Jess
“Accidentally”
I love that
We need to rewrite the next episode stat
mathtans
He meant to shoot Gemini but Veil protected her.
saetje
um YEAH Math is going to be our new head writer
awww
mathtans
aliceapproved
LOL
Superjustinbros
Math, you should re-write all our comics/stories
saetje
omg agree
aliceapproved
I think you guys have a great Valentine's idea strip coming!
Superjustinbros
mind blown from the idea of a Math/SJB production
puns and jokes and visual gags everywhere
RebelVampire
i hope gemini's mom is super awesome. i feel like she must be and gemini wants to be awesome like her
mathtans
Let me try to get to 10 people reading my own comic first, maybe.
Superjustinbros
lol
I read your stuff and it's pretty rad @mathtans
mathtans
Would Gemini's dad still be in the picture, I wonder?
Superjustinbros
Gemini's uncle?
aliceapproved
Gemini's grunkle?
Shen
My dad? your dad?
saetje
hahaha, Uncle Saggitarius, Auntie Pisces...
aliceapproved
OMG
Jess
All dads
Superjustinbros
OMG
aliceapproved
HAHA!!! Great idea!
Superjustinbros
I dunno why but i always caught onto the name Saggitarius
Shen
in a shocking twist, veil isn't Gemini's love interest hes her dad
mathtans
Gemini could have two moms for all we know.
saetje
LORD
Superjustinbros
and it's totally not because I love centaurs
mathtans
(I now ship Gemini's parents, I guess...?)
aliceapproved
For Halloween, there probably should be a "Scary Human Tale" and it's filing taxes
Shen
XD
RebelVampire
well to be fair, dont need to be blood related for him to be her dad in a way. i mean he is basically pushing for her to succeed, teaching her stuff, and generally being the responsible adult
Shen
Veil is her dad confirmed
he loves and supports her and wants the best for her even when shes at her worst
Superjustinbros
daww
Shen
ps saetje and Jess i hope you guys are in DMs with each other just screaming about all the dumb shit we're saying XD
Superjustinbros
lmao
Jess
Are... you here with us
Superjustinbros
I never thought of CTP's featured creators ever doing that
aliceapproved
Repeating what a previous comment mentioned, it'll be fun to see how Veil falls for Gemini, like the spark that ignited his feelings for her and hopefully for Gemini in turn
Shen
LMAO
mathtans
Veil is actually a magic clone of her dad that was sent by the ghost of her grandfather, Thor?
saetje
oh, @Jess is my S/O so we're just chatting in our living room together and loving everything y'all say
Jess
But honestly this has been so inspiring
Shen
oh even better!
Tenor | Shinavar
BACK. #4: THe aspect that inrigues me the most is how diverse the world is and how it just is all one big melting pot. It's colorful and you've no idea what's around the corner. :D I'm curious if something like a Wendigo might get seen! :D
Superjustinbros
Daww, that's cute! (edited)
also WB!
Tenor | Shinavar
THaaaaank
Superjustinbros
np~
brb for a sec
mathtans
Wendigos is scary stuff. O.o
Tenor | Shinavar
Yes they are
saetje
I LOVE the myth of Wendigo! No plans, esp. because they start out as human, but. I enjoy that one a lot
Tenor | Shinavar
But also like, one of my favorites so-
That's fair!
RebelVampire
can never see wendigo in a positive light. 2spooky.
mathtans
Wendigone.
Shen
that eliminates vampires, too....
RebelVampire
i hope there are phoenixes. and i hope gemini doesnt know them offhand and freaks out when one bursts into flames.
aliceapproved
Would aliens fall into the category or is that too sci-fi?
Lol a fantasy world that has stories that are sci-fi
Jess
But what if we made a chain. And it’s a reheaded wendigo that sells burgers with square patties
Tenor | Shinavar
Y R U MEAN TO THAT CHILD REBEl
omg
oMG
plz
Jess
I mean —-
mathtans
Oh, phoenixes are fun.
aliceapproved
Phoenix chicks!!!
Tenor | Shinavar
"We sell Hyumahn meat"
aliceapproved
Little baby Phoenixes pls haha!
Shen
phoenix lady dating a merman
aliceapproved
Fresh from death!
I mean Rebirth!
mathtans
Jess: I got that.
Sassy twitter extra.
saetje
We've been throwing around a phoenix story idea! They're also a personal favorite
again: too many great myth/fairy tale creatures we love, guuh.
aliceapproved
Again as said earlier, I'm really happy that Kappas made an appearance, too! I love it when mythical creatures from all over the world are in one place together
Shen
i just love how he knew how defeat the kappa lol
mathtans
"Why's that bird hanging around the Vietnamese shop?" "It's a Pho Enix."
Shen
BOOO MATH XD
saetje
IE: we thought of Veil and Gem "babysitting" a sphinx and Gem keeps feeding it puns and popsicle riddles (junk food) when it needs, like, existential riddles for nutrients, ha.
RebelVampire
yes i do think theres a great mixture of things from tons of diff cultures. it really makes the world extra super colorful.
Tenor | Shinavar
AWH
Yes plz sphinx bby
RebelVampire
i bet veil has some great existential riddles
mathtans
Aw, those are cute drawings.
aliceapproved
AAAAWW
Shen
GOSH
Tenor | Shinavar
I'll hate it because the puns will hurt so much but UGGGH IT'D BE SO CUTE I'LL DIE FROM IT
Shen
SLEEPY VEIL MELTING MY HEART
Beyonce - Don’t Hurt Yourself
OMG CUTEEEEEEE
Kabocha
Awww, Veil, that is just way too cute ^_^
aliceapproved
Your sketches are SO GOOD
mathtans
(Speaking of, when do we get the pastries that I saw on Veil's plate for the CTP today?)
aliceapproved
Your guys' ideas are SO GOOD
saetje
older concepts BUT. Again. there are SO MANY potential for fun-myth-animal stories we tend to get lost in them, haha. I don't know how much/if any will make it into the comic
I'll mail them out Math!
Jess
The pastries were there all along. In your heart
aliceapproved
Do you guys plan to do little intermission stories before doing a big arc like this one?
saetje
yes! Just like the roach comic
Jess
Yup!
aliceapproved
Like the dragon cockroach felt like a good mini-story before we got a meaty story
saetje
we plan to do little minis between bigger arcs
aliceapproved
YEAH!
Tenor | Shinavar
Sweet! :D
Jess
We want to alternate between large stories and smaller world building stuff
Tenor | Shinavar
Exciiiiiited
mathtans
Anyway, gtg, baby needs me. Best with the comic!
RebelVampire
good luck math~!
Jess
Best!! And thanks for stopping by!!
saetje
thanks for coming Math! Best wishes
aliceapproved
Bye, Math!!!
Tenor | Shinavar
Oh more queestions~ Due to how your comic is constructed, do you find you have more time to work on it, and/or you got a good healthy buffer?
BYE MATH
saetje
oh that's a really good question Tenor!
Originally, for like the last two years we've had almost a 6 mo queue, because also only update bi-weekly. But we recently ran out of that queue because LIFE and freelance hit us hard XDD so we've been trying to catch up somewhat successfully. As far as page-speed creation, I think it can vary widely but both @Jess and I have gotten a lot faster than we used to be. When we're really able to focus after-work hours (no life and freelance jams getting too much in the way) we can do about 4-6 panels in a single week, about 10-20 hours between us
The thing is though, one of the draw-backs of single panel shots is you DO have to show a lot more, I think, than just a page-layout comic.
Superjustinbros
Oooh!
That's interesting~
also bye Math
saetje
like, if we took those panels and made them into a page layout we would get away with showing less, I think, and possibly saving some time? But it's hard to gauge because also there's panel layout and flow and page composition to consider that we don;t have to worry as much about
Jess
Yeah I was gonna say the same thing. Actually the full panels largest drawback is that you have to draw sooooo much. In a comic with many panels you could cut to a talking head suddenly - in ours, because of the layout we have to be very careful not to take them out of context too quickly and too frequently
saetje
yeah good point Jess
Tenor | Shinavar
That's a good point. It's such an interesting thing o consider because - I guess the easiest way I can describe it is like the illustrations in children's books. They can be just so world building and easter-eggy so it's interesting to consider the differences!
Jess
So it’s a mixed bag. On one hand you are making only one image at a time. Sometimes even usi a lot of the same assets. But on the other - it’s a full color illustration and having to show minute changes in expression to keep the pace from seeming too quick can be a challenge too
Yeah that too!!
RebelVampire
im curious if you took printing into consideration. idk if youve printed the comic before or ever intended too. just wondering how a single panel per page comic would work in that case.
Superjustinbros
Yeah, I see what you're saying, do one-panel updates but fill them with lots and lots of detail?
saetje
or if the pacing reads too slow too- panel comics (or comics made by animators in general) can also be too slow b/c us animators LOVE showing those minute pose/expression changes, which can sometimes read slow. I'm always stressed about the pace, ha.
whitneyandcompany
Hi! Love the comic
Tenor | Shinavar
I could see, in print form, largely remaining single panel per page, or for the more fast paced ones tweak to 2-3 on the page
saetje
@Jess and I always imagined the comic a digital-first production, but if we were to go to print it'd likely be something along the lines of what Ava's Demon did. Just, single panels-per-page. But @Jess being the graphic designer who often works in print too might have some other ideas on that
Hi @whitneyandcompany thank yoouu
Jess
So when creating one of the things we did as a priority is consider the mobile screen first. Which is the opposite of what is the norm. If we were to do a book it would be handled where we put a very limited amount of images on a page. Maybe 1-2 similar to Ava’s demon
aliceapproved
Yeah, the drawback of single-paged stuff is exactly that. Focusing more on some things, like a character going through emotions can read more slowly even tho it's important to the story
Tenor | Shinavar
ugh ilu for the mobile love lol
Superjustinbros
Just thought I'd say before the CTP ends- good luck with the rest of Gemini Journey, @saetje and @Jess. It's really coming along well and you're definitely got a good story here to tell as well.
aliceapproved
But it works so well for mobile scrolling, it's so friendly!
Tenor | Shinavar
Like I can't express how frusrating it is for me bc there's SO many people who own their own sites and it's not mobile friendly
saetje
thanks @Superjustinbros have a good night!
aliceapproved
Maybe you could have 3 panels per page if printed?
Tenor | Shinavar
I live on the go I NEED THAT MOBILITY ;n;
Superjustinbros
You too, and thanks for being here, @saetje!
saetje
@Tenor | Shinavar I got to be honest with you- as a webcomic fan and reader for MANY years I feel that
Kabocha
I really look forward to reading this in the future. It's enjoyable and to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what I was in for at first... BUT it is a pleasure to read!
Superjustinbros
And cya to you as well, @Jess.
Jess
Awwww thanks!!
Kabocha
Thank you for creating an amazing comic. :3
Superjustinbros
Anytime!
RebelVampire
yeah im glad priority was placed on mobile because it is basically the way thing are going, whether ppl want that or not.
Superjustinbros
^
Tenor | Shinavar
YES it was a fun surprise! (And def last minute for me bc I didn't realize it was something I could read lmao OTL)
saetje
Thank you @Kabocha for your wonderful insights and kind comments! Thanks for coming
RebelVampire
and its definitely a beautiful comic. i think the pacing works out great as well~!
whitneyandcompany
You guys are the reason I downloaded the web toon app, I look forward to every update
aliceapproved
Thank you for making such an inspirational and gorgeous comic!
Jess
Awww well it means so much to hear you guys say that
aliceapproved
I always look forward to your updates!
Superjustinbros
In that case, cya everyone!
aliceapproved
And yes, you're the reason I downloaded the web toon app, too!
saetje
oommmg @whitneyandcompany , thank you
Shen
im glad i got to read this story its so good so far and i cant wait to read more~
Jess
It’s been really humbling for us to put our work out there. But I am so incredibly touched right now
Superjustinbros
Glad to hear~
saetje
Thank you @Shen! I look forward to more of your comic as well! I'm glad you like it.
Shen
GOSH <3
saetje
Yeah everyone, thank you for coming and letting us know you thoughts It has meant the WORLD to us
aliceapproved
You guys are amazing and I love your work
Tenor | Shinavar
Thank you for signing up so we could disect it /shot
RebelVampire
COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!
Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Tracy MacLauchlan & Yesenia Carrero, as well, for making Gemini Journey. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Tracy MacLauchlan & Yesenia Carrero’s efforts however you’re able to~!
Read and Comment: http://geminijourney.com/
Donate via Paypal.me: https://www.paypal.me/YeseniaCarrero
Tracy’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/saetje
Yesenia’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Demongemini6
Comic Tea Party- Thursday Book Club
Next week’s Thursday Book Club will be about The Hunter of Fenaur by CalimonGraal. For participants, you have the next week to read as much of the comic as you would like~! We hope to see you on Thursday, September 20th, from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat in #thursday_bookclub!
Comic’s Main Site: http://hunter.fenauriverse.moe/
Comic’s Tapas Mirror: https://tapas.io/series/the-hunter-of-fenaur
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