#sketchy style is my new favorite

[nightly-ruse]

Queen of the Crown with a face always in a frown. Oh how far she’s fallen. Shadows always grip her gaze and pull her mind. Exterior of ice and teeth ready to fight no cat swears they’ve seen her cry. But when the moon falls and she’s all alone her thoughts swirl like a whirlpool. The passing fish either a treat or a stinging bite to her throat. It seems over time the polluted fish have grown. And yet the most abundant most painful thought is always;

Was it worth it?

===============

@oldfacesnewdawnoffical ‘s very own Rainfall (Bluestar). Needed to draw something and felt like drawing her. She’s about to step up and say some shit, all cats waiting on baited breath to face her sharp tongue.

(Rainfall is a dull blue cat with slightly darker color point patterns on her face, legs, and ears. On these areas are sharp stripes that are slightly purple toned. She has sharp yellow eyes with the inner corner of the left one a dark blue, a scar is up her lip and a little fang pokes out. A ginger fox coat goes over her neck with two fangs in her right ear, two yellow feathers at her tail, and three small shiny stones under the feathers. On her head is a crown made of curled brambles with a shiny shard of the moon stone in the center. Branches are at her paws and behind her with three new twigs to the right, one snapped with a leaf on its end. A darker purple tint is over the piece)

[anothersuperstition]

new comprehensive (long, so sorry) commission post!! i lost my job a couple months ago (turns out the office manager is literally evil and she set me up to get fired on purpose :D) so commissions and my freelance work are my main source of income rn and every single extra comm helps!!

i’ve also been trying to take advantage of my free time and use it to grow as an artist and practice things i normally don’t so i would love to try some more nonstandard comms alongside tattoos!

as always line art only tattoo designs are $50 flat (*edit to say line art only FLASH tattoo designs), full color tattoo designs and everything else offered (portraits in any style, illustrations, posters) are all unique and prices will depend on content so if you’re interested or if you’ve got an idea and you’re not sure i can do it, feel free to shoot me a message for more info!!

examples of my work! (please open the images for full view i’m bad at formatting) ⬇️

posters! from show specific, to movie posters inspired by your fave albums or songs! (does not have to be mcr i just have brain worms)

tattoos! from small flash designs to full scale, neo trad or line work or anything in between!

illustrations! full page, comic-inspired, small and stylized (gerard way style inspiration optional!), you name it!

portraits!! these are my favorite to do and i never get to do them! pencil or painting, if sketchy and painterly are your thing i can do that! if cleaned up and smooth are your thing i can also do that!

so sorry for the novel length post, i hate doing it as much as you all hate seeing it, but a girl’s gotta pay the bills! tumblr is where i first found my footing as someone who was taking commissions and i’m allergic to social media these days but tumblr still feels as comfy as it did back then and i appreciate everyone who has been kind and supportive to me here over the years!! even reblogs help, thanks y’all!!

[lunarriviera]

hi hey hello i have started watching a new crime drama and I AM OBSESSED. it's called 雪迷宫 or, for some reason, The First Shot, although it should be more properly Snow Maze. it's a period piece set in 1997 and it's produced by ZHANG YIMOU which must be why the production values are actually good??? anyway i am here to tell you all about it and why you should be watching it okay here we go

first of all there's a big hot dumb cop, zheng bei. yes that's huang jingyu and you might not like him because of his apparently quite sketchy personal life but all i care about in this case is that he's tall, and thoughtful, and a police captain who's protective of his people and a little bit of an idiot. my catnip tbh. (i guess he was in addicted too? somehow breaking the you-can-only-be-in-one-BL rule?)

(ETA that by "dumb" of course he's not dumb at all, only by comparison; cf. my own stupid meta on this fascinating topic)

then there's an effete genius consultant, gu yiran (wang ziqi), who knows everything there is to know about drugs. he comes from the south to help these ignorant northerners form an anti-narcotics unit. he's such a massive nerd, the team doesn't like him until they realize that he runs 10k every morning and can outrun motorcycles and is actually quite useful. then suddenly it's no longer "gu-laoshi" but is all "ran-ge" this and "ran-ge" that. he can't dance for shit. i adore him.

there's a superb seven-samurai style Assembling The Team sequence in which this cop is brought in as the muscle. Her nickname is mad dog yao and she kicks the ass of an entire club at one point. we love her. her only problem is that, not unlike zhang haixing in tibetan sea flower, she will in fact fight a wall. here's gu yiran's face after a drug dealer mistakenly underestimates her and she stomps on him.

one of my favorite things about this drama so far is how poor the police are. it's 1997 in a dinky northern precinct and these cops ain't got shit. no computers. rudimentary cellphones. barely any forenic analysis, and most of that is on pieces of paper. no bullpen. no interrogation rooms. they have to interview suspects at their desks.

captain zheng is so underpaid he can't even afford a real pointer for his situation board, he has to go outside and get a literal stick.

drives his dad's chicken delivery van. has to slam himself against the front door to open it. everything about this is absolutely perfect.

i'm only on episode 7 but this shit is already brotastic. please behold:

yes that is an actual line from the show. yes gu yiran has to live with captain zheng, they can't afford fancy accommodations for him. turns out there's a trundle bed made out of paper clips but that's okay, they still get plenty of cosy domestic time together.

and that's also what i already love about this drama—in spite of being about anti-narcotics, it's also very slice of life, very daily city life, with meals and neighbors and friends and family and did i mention food, there is so much eating in this drama. it's gorgeous. also i'm improving my colloquial chinese by leaps and bounds.

of course you are you stupid service top, now take care of the baby.

and those are just some of the reasons why you should be watching the first shot, which is funny and suspenseful and unexpectedly brainy and well-cast and has beautiful opening credits. there are 19 episodes on youku's youtube channel right now and the subs are shockingly high quality. i'm hooked, and also so mad at my day job because i can't just binge it, pls join me in this handbasket

[flippinpancakes64]

Hey can I request the cullens x pop star reader who wrote a love song about them. Like do you think they would like it or find it embarrassing.

Thanks for your time❤️

The Cullens with a Pop Star! Reader

This ask is so cute I love it! I’m such a sucker for love songs it’s not even funny.

Aaaaaand…. My asks are back open! Send me requests! Go crazy!

Thank you for requesting and I hope you enjoy!

Edit: this is now day 3 of me writing this one… i have been so preoccupied reading Wolverine x Reader tics I completely forgot that I even had this in here. My sincerest apologies

Edward:

He’s a little hesitant to be with you publicly

It’s already sketchy enough for him to be in one place too long because people notice he doesn’t age

But being with you on tv or in magazines? Yeah no

So he doesn’t make public appearances with you

But he does support you unconditionally

He’s no stranger to writing a song for someone

So when he’s sitting at home, tuned in to a live show you’re having and you announce a new song that’s about a man that you love, he’s all ears

He LOVES it

Makes you sing it for him all the time

He wants it on vinyl, on cd, on a casette, on apple music, on spotify, and even on soundcloud

He wants this song etched behind his eyes so he can see it whenever he blinks

To him, it just proves that you love him without a shadow of a doubt

Alice:

She loves it

She doesn't really care about being seen on tv or anything

In fact, she loves being able to show off her outfits

It's her favorite thing to help you find stage outfits and outfits for red carpets or award events

She's backstage at one of your concerts, waiting for you to come back during a halfway break so she can touch up your makeup

When suddenly you announce that you have a new song that you wrote for your girlfriend

And obviously everyone in the audience knows who your girlfriend is

She could start crying

She loves the song so much

It could be one minute long or 6 minutes long and she would still want to listen to it on repeat

You better be prepared to sing all of the time because that's all she wants to hear now

When you do eventually go backstage you have to take a bit longer than a brief intermission because she kisses you so hard that all of your makeup comes off and your hair gets messed up

Jasper:

He's a bit camera shy

He doesn't really care about being seen with you because he's a vampire, it's moreso because he just doesn't want to be on camera

But he does his best to be supportive of you

He hates when you have to leave to go on tour or something

He likes to pose as a personal bodyguard so that he can still be close to you

He is a little embarrassed that you wrote a song about him

All of your fans already started speculating that you and your "bodyguard" were dating

But with this song it was definitely confirmed

He's not mad tho

He's just a lil bashful

He is happy though

It means that you're gonna get hit on a lot less since people know that you're in a relationship now

He loves the song though

When you sing it for him, he is never more at peace

He's still coming to terms with the fact that you love him so much you're willing to let the whole world know

Rosalie:

She's a little hesitant for the same reasons as Edward

As much as she hates being a vampire, she loves her family

Even if she doesn't let it show

She doesn't want to put them in jeopardy

And especially being in the age of the internet, it would be really easy for any of your fans to look her up and see that there's no record for her

It's just more risk than necessary

So she hangs back whenever you're out

She is super supportive of your career though, don't get me wrong

One night, you're on a late night talk show and it gets to the segment where you get to perform a song

You get out there and say that you made a new song for the love of your life, and she instantly perks up

It sounds heavenly

It's in the style of music that she adores, your voice sounds perfect, the song is filled with innuendos to things that only the two of you understand

To say she loves the song is an understatement

And no, she is not embarrassed at all by the song

She loves it too much

Emmett:

He's your biggest fan

He is at every concert, at every red carpet event, every awards ceremony, everything

All of your fans know his name

He might run a fan page on instagram who knows

He'll never tell

You're singing at an awards ceremony when you announce that you have a new song that you wrote for yours and Emmett's anniversary

The cameras capture his reaction too

His mouth is wide open the whole time

He starts crying

Afterwards he literally just holds you the whole night

He doesn't feel even one drop of embarrassment

In his eyes, this song just proves how much you love him and his reaction just proves how much he loves you

And yes you now have to sing this song for him for the rest of eternity

Esme:

She’s also hesitant to be seen with you publicly

She’s had to hide herself for so long, it’s just second nature

Not to mention that she doesn’t want to do anything that could put her family at risk

So she opts to support you from home

And support you she does

She loves your music

Even if it’s not what she would normally listen to, she loves it

You had a concert on her birthday, and you were super upset you couldn’t be there

Not that she celebrates her birthday anyway

But still

So you wrote her a song

And you played it

She didn’t even know about it until you texted her later

You had to walk her through how to pull up the video of it

But after she does she can’t stop listening to it

She loves it so much

Expect a cuddle tackle when you get home

Carlisle:

Also is not seen with you publicly

He’s okay with people knowing about him, but he has to put the safety and privacy of his family first

He loves how people are dying to know who your mysterious boyfriend is tho

He thinks it’s funny

And he’s super supportive of your career

You love music, he loves you, so he supports you no matter what

He has the receptionists play your music at the clinic

And he does his best to tune in to every performance you have

One night you come up to him and tell him you have a surprise

You play the recording of his song for him

He loves it

You’re not escaping the cuddle monster for the rest of the night

Sorry

And him being embarrassed is not even in his vocabulary

He loves the song, and he loves that you love him so much you wanted to write a song about it

Vampire! Bella:

Pop music’s not really her thing

But she loves you and she actually kinda likes your music so it’s not a problem for her

She doesn’t really want to be seen in public with you

Not necessarily because she’s scared of protecting her secret

But mostly just cause she’s awkward around cameras

The first time she hears the song, you dragged her out to your studio to listen to a new song you were working on

She didn’t know what she was in for

She gets a little embarrassed cause there are other people in the room

But other than that she doesn’t get embarrassed over the song

She loves it so much

She wants it burned onto a cd so she can listen to it all the time

[starrysilvalley]

Time for the secondary protagonist of this tale, Emmet! He may have a familiar face— if only he had the same understanding of himself. He occupies more of a Virgil/mentor archetype, and within the Pokémon games universe he would be the closest to a Professor role.

To emphasize again, this project takes place in distant future of the Pokémon in-game universe. The plotlines of previous games are all considered canon up until Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Anything past that is considered non-canon within the context of Spectrum. Emmet’s place in particular was based on the context of PLA and my own interpretations/theories on the subject of the twins when playing it (mostly answering questions like “where is Emmet”, “is he in present-day Unova or another time/place entirely”, “what happened to cause the separation”, etc.)

✨⭐️✨

Emmet is an amnesiac and fugitive against the New Unova League, as well as a surrogate father to Una. Despite being a verrry blunt and open book, Emmet remains a bit of a mystery. His earliest memory is waking up in the custody of the Pokémon League with nothing but his ratty coat and hat that just so happened to have his name stitched inside. Interregators told him he was found with illegal possessions (what type of possessions, he still doesn't know) and had been conspiring to eliminate the Champion. It was only through an intervention that he was able to escape with a mysterious little girl in tow. To this day, he still has no idea where he came from before his captivity or if he has any roots somewhere in New Unova. Although there will always remain the desire to know his true self, under the current circumstances, Emmet is focused more on his found family in Una and his business partner Fajra.

Due to his experiences, Emmet has a tendency to be more reserved… at least, sometimes. He is more mischievous than he first appears and typically uses this to his advantage when faced with more sketchy characters. He is very observant, but learned that his commentary can get him into trouble. It also may just be that he has become more restrained with his trickster side in order to show a good example to the young rascal in his charge. If he wants her to follow his safety guidelines, he should probably learn to follow them himself, right?

Emmet currently only has one Pokémon— a Neo Variant Liepard. If he had any other Pokémon prior to his amnesia, he has no way of knowing where they are or what they were. He acquired Liepard during his incarceration, but he’s never spoken on the specifics of how he acquired her. Regardless, their experiences together led to a strong comradery between them. Liepard is almost always out of her pokéball and flanking his side. For whatever reason, Emmet never pursued acquiring more Pokémon and seems to avoid Pokémon battles altogether. He’s never made it clear why this is the case. However, on the rare occasion where he and Liepard do battle, they are notoriously ruthless and almost perfectly in-sync. At the very least, he has shown to have a strong knowledge of battling, even if he doesn't seek it out.

I currently do not have as many sketches of Emmet as I do Una since I'm building Una from the ground u, and I struggle to find a design/style I like for him. This sketch of the pair and their Pokémon is one of my favorites.

My one other drawing I liked was an even chibi-er version of him (I don't usually draw in chibi style, but its proven to be the easiest to use), including some character notes from the time.

I've gone back and forth on a LOT of his character since I wanted to have his character explore a twist in the themes originally given to him by the creators. I know there are theories that Emmet is meant to embody truth while his brother embodies ideals, so its been an interesting challenge to work with this character in the dystopian context where truth is oppressed and often requires characters to abandon honesty. Its also difficult because Emmet is known for his optimism and I don't want to take that from him, even in a dystopian context. I believe his upbeat/mischievous nature helps him stand out from his brother, and quite frankly, I think even dystopian worlds could use some hope. I'm just more use to writing Ingo characters rather than Emmets. I'm hoping I can do this little guy justice :’)

[allfleetingdreams]

"Cheryl is my daughter. I will save her. No matter what."

First drawing of the year! When was the last time I even did digital art? I don't remember.

Anyway, have a sketchy portrait of Harry Mason my dearest. He is, once again, my fixation at the moment because of the Silent Hill fanfic rewrite I've been doing since last year, and quite honestly, it pains me to realize that I barely draw him even though he's easily one of my favorite protagonists of all time. He is so pure, the most dedicated father of them all, and I am so happy to be exploring this character once again. Despite being a kind man and a good father, I find him to be very complex. In SH3 we know that he did love Heather, but in all those years prior to the 3rd game, he really had a hard time loving this new girl. He had to learn to accept her and love her as she is, even when at times, he looked at her only as a replacement for his lost Cheryl. It's heartbreaking, and to be able to develop this character further in the rewrite is both rewarding and eye-opening.

Btw I'd love to draw in this style a bit more often, this rough sketchy half-finished looking style. I don't have much time to draw nowadays, and for now I just wanna have fun drawing... things. Faces. Simple portraits. There may be stuff to explore in this new style anyway, and besides, it's easier for me atm. I want to do a challenge similar to the "100 heads" portraits, but I definitely will NOT do 100 heads! Maybe 10 or 20 will suffice, depending on my time and energy—I'll figure it out!

P.S. Also I have deleted all my writing pieces on my page. I'm planning to create a new account eventually, purely dedicated to writing because the photographs I use for those pieces aren't mine. They are sourced from sites that offer them for free, and I'd like to dedicate this main account for purely original illustrations that are hand-drawn by yours truly.

Nice to be back!

[painting-warhammer]

C’Tan Shard of the Deceiver in the style of Sonichu (CWC)

I lied. This is my favorite figure. Commentary under cut.

#1: Rule Number One Is That You Gotta Have Fun

The other two figures I painted had ups and downs--days genuinely ruined and many frustrated moments where I just hated everything about this hobby and everything I was making. I'm sure this is no strange feeling to any artist, but since I kinda gave up on art over a decade ago only to pick this up after that decade, it really felt like that heartbreaking moment of making something that you know was bad and not improving fast enough.

I never had that for one second while painting Sonichu. I honestly giggled to myself a lot when I worked on him. When something fucked up (note how I didn't make as good of a glowing effect on the eyes) I just took that as "Well, that's just me being accurate to the original art." When something went well, I learned something that I would be able to apply in the future. If you look closely at the quills and the chest, you'll see that this was the first time I tried edge highlighting to get more of a good lighting effect. On top of that, I just used Baharroth Blue without a base paint, but rather as a base paint that I later darkened with a Tyran Blue shade wash for the creases in the sash. I did the same for the skin near on his abs and arms. (I should have made them blue. Damn.)

I also didn't get so bogged down in being accurate to the inspiration, or became better at knowing what to pick and choose. For example: Sonichu doesn't have a sash, of course. Instead, I decided to go with the color of the banner in Issue #0.

There was a point I briefly considered learning how to actually make a decal, then taking the title to be plastered on the front of the model, but I decided against it. I even considered some yellow streaks to give him a bit of a glow, but if you look at the base you'll see some of the experimental wetblending I tried (and would hypothetically cover later) and it just didn't look good.

Also the feet. Sonichu does have a distinct color for his shoes, but I just shrugged and figured it was more correct to just keep it in line with his hands on the model. I made the hands in the hideous style of the Bad Trailer Sonic, and figured the feet would probably follow the same principle. Besides, the sash had enough blue as it is.

#2: Rule Number Two - Just Don't Get Attached, Too

I said I had fun at all stages painting Sonic'hu, and I meant that. The painting part, that is. Gluing was a disaster.

If you're new to the hobby, understand this: Older models, things from the 90's or earlier, are produced using a plastic resin. It's very light gray (left) while the newer stuff has a dark gray tint and is made with a different kind of plastic.

Now Citadel sells ONE (1) glue, pictured to the left. It's a very good glue for the DARK GRAY plastic. It looks like this. Some people use the one on the right, but the listing on Amazon is apparently sketchy as hell and comes empty because they can scam you out of your money since you can't return or refund liquids. So I never fw it; if I encounter it in a hardware store or hobby shop, I'll pick it up and give it a shot.

This is all to ultimately say that in spite of Citadel selling only ONE KIND OF GLUE, that ONE GLUE cannot hold light gray resin figures together AT ALL.

I don't have pictures, but God was it frustrating. Sonic'hu would CONSTANTLY fall apart while drying. I would be holding his arm in place; the head would fall off. His spines would fall off. He'd flop over on his base. Even after priming him, his arm fell off again, and you can see his face is a mess of when my fingers were just covered and glue and I was just holding him in place frustratedly. I tried like three different glues (not including Tamiya, but Krazy Glue was one) and I don't remember which one worked.

However, whether Tamiya works or not, I actually did have to go back to resin on a different figure recently. I went through my old man's drawer and found this.

It's unreal how good this is. Put this on resin, and the plastic itself comes apart easier than the glue does. It also works okay on the dark gray figures, but I've had the odd part come undone and I went back to the Citadel Glue.

Fair warning though--I'm praising this version of Loctite specifically. There are a few varieties, and I can't say much as far as their quality, but I read online that the ones with an extra long cap tend to dry out and be unopenable later. This Gel Control version doesn't give me any problems like that, though.

#3: Rule Number Three - Wear Your Heart On Your Cheek

My only regret is not going harder with this.

There were some gemstones at the bottom of this model and I literally don't remember what happened to them. I was going to paint them like Chaos Emeralds, originally. Then I saw a paint job of the model that had stones encircling the C'tan Shard like he was making them rise up Dragonball style, and the thought came to mind to get little Chaos Emerald replicas to look as though they were orbiting him. (Unfortunately, Etsy pretty much only had them in a set size, and though Sonic'hu was the largest figure I'd worked on, he was too small to have those orbiting around him.)

I also wanted to learn how to model with Green Stuff using this model; there was a point where I considered making the actual sneakers, but more importantly the Pikachu ears and the one additional spine to bring it up to six total. I didn't not want to do that when I bought it, actually, but after the glue had settled after so much effort I was utterly sick of the prep phase and just went straight to painting.

There's also a little Necron that is at the base of the C'Tan that I also haven't painted, but the reason for that is that I am considering how to do the CWC's "The Classic" shirt on his rib cage. I keep waiting for the inspiration to strike.

So that's Sonic'hu. Honestly, having a shitpost figure was something that helped me be a little less afraid of failure and take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. I would resume tryharding by the next figure, and ultimately paint, in my opinion, my best figure yet.

[bwabys-scenarios]

Reunited

Part 34

Illumi x Reader x Feitan(+Kurapika)

part 33

part 35

warnings: suggestive content

A/N: Kurapika is getting lucky next chapter 🫶

taglist: @tsukilover11 @mercyboluthecrazychicken @sxyriii @shidoni-san @living4tomrua @lemonslut @honeylunalove @sugarrushdaydream @canthebest1 @whorermoviestar @fabitheraven @ashdownunderscorebeloved @astresoleil @ranzxki @smuttysammie22 @yandere-enthusiast @lostsomewhereinthegarden @sketchy-owl @bekahtaylorgriggs @zanzie

if you’d like to be ADDED to the taglist, please comment a red heart ❤️, make sure you’re able to be tagged/mentioned, and have your age in your bio(IF YOU ARE ALREADY ON THE TAGLIST, YOU DON’T NEED TO ASK TO BE ADDED AGAIN!!)

if you like my writing, come join my discord!! we watch HXH, play games, and spend all night writing sometimes!! there’s also lots of content there that I may never post here!!

(Name) stepped out of her shower feeling relieved in more ways than one. She’d orgasmed a few times before she was finally satisfied.

“Hmm…”

She sat with a towel wrapped around her on her bed, thinking about what to wear to her dinner date with Illumi. Her eyes landed on the lilac dress she’d bought when she’d gone shopping with Feitan.

“This should do…”

She stood up and placed the dress on her bed before stepping out into the living room to grab her purse. She’d retire her backpack for the night and take the small white purse for a more classy look.

Her towel slipped from her body, falling to the floor. Because she was alone, (Name) didn’t bother to cover herself, and just bent down to pick the towel up.

“With those heels, I might just have an outfit!”

He excitedly ran back to her room and pulled on a pair of her new lacy white panties. Feitan had picked them out for her, even if he’d had his face turned away while he did.

‘I wonder if they would like these…’

(Name) shook the thought from her head. She shouldn’t imagine the men in her life fawning over her underwear choice.

(Name) pulled her dress on, forgetting that it needed to be zipped up.

“Shit… maybe I can ask Illumi when he gets here?”

She continued getting ready. (Name) styled her hair, applied her makeup, and finished by spraying on her favorite perfume.

Knock knock knock!

(Name) set her bottle of perfume down and held her dress to her chest as she ran to the door.

She opened it to see Illumi standing on the other side, smiling down at her.

“Hello, (Name).”

His dark eyes took in her appearance hungrily, his hands twitching at his sides. He hadn’t seen her in so long, and he was aching to touch her.

“Illumi! Come in!”

She pulled the door open and gestured for him to walk in with a friendly smile. Illumi did as told, peeking at her from the corner of his eye to see her dress was unzipped in the back.

“Your dress?”

(Name) sighed. “I was actually just about to ask you to zip me up.”

He didn’t respond, instead grabbing her shoulders and turning her so her back was facing him.

Illumi looked down the expanse of her bare back, biting his lip. She was gorgeous, and this dress showed off all of her curves perfectly.

“Of course.”

He moved the zipper up her back, pausing only to give her one final look before pulling it the rest of the way.

“There.”

She turned around, looking up at him through her eyelashes. He hesitantly pushed a piece of hair out of her face, his touch gentle. “You look lovely.”

She looked away, flustered, warmth spreading through her cheeks.

“Thank you, Illumi.”

He stared down at her for a moment. Illumi had struggled to stay away from her these past past few months. Just being in her presence right now had his heart threatening to burst out of his chest.

“We should go. I’ve made reservations for dinner.”

Illumi took her hand and led her out the door, to a car parked outside. It was nice, nicer than any car she’d ever seen.

He opened the passenger door for her and closed it behind her before sliding into the drivers seat.

“Where’s the restaurant?”

Illumi pushed his hair back, glancing at her from his seat. “A few minutes away.”

She just nodded and stared out the window as he drove.

—————

Illumi pulled into the parking lot of a seemingly fancy restaurant, escorting (Name) to the door.

“After you, dear.”

(Name) walked through the door he held open with a smile, looking around with a gasp.

The restaurant wasn’t huge, only consisting of maybe 10 tables, but it was gorgeous. The walls almost seemed to glow red and yellow, creating enough light to see, but being dark enough for each table to have privacy.

A waiter appeared at their side, smiling. “Master Illumi, welcome. Your table is right this way.”

The man led them away from the front of the restaurant, opening a door to a private dining room. (Name) held onto Illumi’s arm as they walked.

“I’ll be right back with your drinks. Please, have seat and relax.”

The waiter left, closing the door behind them.

(Name) sat down, Illumi taking the seat across her. She played with her napkin.

“So… we should talk about… things.”

Illumi knew that she wanted to talk about what had happened, but he was still a little nervous. He had some things he wanted to tell her, and didn’t know how she’d react.

“Yes, we should. Let’s wait until our drinks arrive and we’ve ordered food.”

(Name) nodded. “Alright, that’s fair.”

The two chatted idly, (Name) doing most of the talking. Honestly, he was just happy to be near her again, and could listen to her talk for ages.

“I got to meet up with my friends too! Oh, I missed them so much and I even-“

She paused. It was probably for the best if she didn’t mention she’d been confessed to. And kissed. More than once.

“Hmm? You even what?”

Illumi tilted his head. “Oh, um… I even got to see Killua!”

This seemed to distract him from the fact she was holding back some other information. “Really? How is he?”

(Name) sighed. “He’s fine.”

The waiter walked in carrying their drinks, smiling. “Here you are! Are you ready to order?”

The two ordered their food, the waiter leaving shortly after.

Illumi looked like he wanted to say something, so (Name) stayed quiet.

“I…”

He took her hands in his, looking into her eyes. “I wanted to… apologize for what I said.”

She stayed quiet, but her eyes lit up.

“I… I never believed for one second that you only cared about money. You never have before.”

‘Never had before?’

“You’ve always been so kind and thoughtful, and never asked me for anything. Although sometimes I wish you would ask for a little…”

He trailed off, squeezing her hands lightly.

“What I’m trying to say is… I’m sorry. You did nothing to earn what I said to you, and even if you had it was still out of line. You’re important to me, and knowing I hurt your feelings…”

He grimaced, looking down at the table. (Name) squeezed his hands back.

“I see… I accept your apology Illumi. I’m really happy you didn’t actually believe in that… it’s a real weight off my shoulders.”

She sighed in relief and gave him that pretty smile of hers. “Is that all you wanted to say?”

Illumi hesitated on this. There were so many things he wanted to tell her. That she looked beautiful tonight, how he was her childhood friend and most importantly…

“I love you.”

He’d blurted this out without thinking, a mistake he didn’t make often. His cheeks turned a light pink when he realized he’d said they aloud.

Illumi searched her face for a reaction, desperate. She didn’t seem offended or upset, just… surprised, and… conflicted?

“You… love me?”

His words finally seemed to sink in, and the girl became visibly flustered. Her cheeks heated up in a blush.

“…”

Illumi leaned across the table and pulled her into a kiss. It was as gentle as he could manage, his hand on her face keeping her firmly in place.

When he pulled back, his eyes were half lidded, his tongue licking up the remnants of her strawberry flavored chapstick.

“Yes, I do. I…”

He sat back down and grabbed her hands. “I want to marry you, (Name).”

(Name) blinked and hurriedly let go of his hands. “M-marriage!? Illumi, I haven’t even been on a date with y-“

“Then let’s go on a date. I’ll take you anywhere you’d like to go.”

He pulled her hands back into his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles gently. ‘So soft…’

“Illumi…”

She sighed and looked down. “Marriage is… a big thing. You can’t just confess your love for me and say you want to get married. I haven’t even said if I reciprocated yet.”

“You don’t have to reciprocate my feelings now. You can grow to love me after we’re married.”

He lifted her hand to kiss it, (Name) groaning. “Illumi. I haven’t even agreed to marriage yet. And yes, if I marry someone I have to love them.”

Illumi paused, his eyes boring into her. “You said you wouldn’t mind marrying me, before. Has… something changed?”

He felt something awful begin to well up in his stomach. Had she fallen for one of her friends?

“I said I wouldn’t mind, not that I would marry you or was ready for it.”

She lifted one of her hands to rub her temple. “Illumi, I’m not rejecting you, or saying I would never marry you. I just…”

Illumi’s grip tightened on her hand. “What?”

She decided not to acknowledge the tone of his voice.

“I’m not ready for that. For… any of this. I’m not even sure how I feel about you, about anyone yet.”

“Anyone?”

(Name) felt the air begin to change.

“Does that mean there is someone else?”

She looked away. “… kind of? I mean I’m not sure how I feel for them either.”

“Them? Plural?”

(Name) nodded hesitantly. Illumi would have never thought he’d have any competition for (Name)’s hand, considering he thought she was already HIS. The thought of any other man taking her from him made his skin crawl.

“…”

He bit the inside of his cheek so hard it bled, his eyes closing as he attempted to calm himself down.

‘She hasn’t rejected you, and obviously has to feel SOMETHING for you. Calm yourself before you scare her off.’

Before Illumi could think any further, (Name) stood up and approached him. “(Name)?”

She didn’t respond, only wrapping her arms around him. He quickly pulled her in closer, his nose burying itself into her hair. God, he missed having her in his arms.

“I do care for you, Illumi. A lot. Please don’t think you come second to anyone. This isn’t what this is about. I just need time to think things over, okay? Until then…”

She pulled away and pecked his lips before kissing him again, this time deepening it.

Illumi melted into her lips, his hands roaming her back. Before his fingers could reach her zipper to pull it down, there was a knock on the door.

(Name) pulled away and sat down, smiling at him.

“Be patient, okay?”

She gave him a wink before the waiter walked in with their food.

Illumi wasn’t a patient man by nature, but for her, he felt like he could wait for forever if it meant those lips would be on his again.

———————

After dinner, Illumi got a call from Hisoka and had to leave. She wasn’t sure why, but he seemed rather annoyed.

“I’m sorry, I planned on staying with you overnight, but it seems I’m needed.”

He cupped her cheek, the girl confused. “Overnight? Why?”

He tilted his head, leaning towards her from his seat in the car. “To make love to you, of course.”

(Name)’s jaw dropped. “Make- oh.”

(Name) wasn’t exactly opposed to having sex with Illumi, in fact she was quite hot and bothered after being kissed by two handsome men in one day, but she was a little surprised he’d said this out loud.

“My apologies, I’ll make it up to you later.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I have to go now. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to see you again, but it should be soon. How much longer are you staying in York New?”

(Name) sighed. “I haven’t bought my tickets home yet, so I don’t have any scheduled time to leave. I have to be out of my condo in a two days, though.”

Illumi nodded. “I see. I can pick you up and take you to the manor when you are ready. We’ll have more privacy there.”

(Name) was about to complain about not agreeing to leaving with him and the fact that they would not have any privacy in his home, but he was already parking and leaving the car to let her out.

“Goodnight, (Name).”

He gave her a final kiss. His kisses were a bit awkward and rough, but with a little guidance they were becoming softer, sweeter. His teeth nipped at her bottom lip, causing her mouth to open in a gasp and give his tongue access.

(Name) moaned into his mouth as his hands squeezed her ass. If Illumi didn’t have to leave, he would have kicked her door open and taken her on the floor if he had to.

Illumi pulled away, their tongues connected by a strand of saliva. (Name) blushed profusely at his expression. She could just feel the tension in the air, and in his hands.

“G-goodnight to you too.”

(Name) walked into her condo, pulling her dress over her head and throwing it into her closet. She was burning up, from the dress and from his kisses.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket to see Leorio had sent her a picture.

Silly<3: since you asked to see Kurapika’s disguise…

Silly<3 sent an image!

It was a picture of Kurapika dressed in his disguise, applying lipstick. It was surprisingly attractive, (Name) kicking her feet as she took on his appearance.

“He sure is pretty…”

She sighed. There were no other messages. Feitan must of been busy, and she knew the rest of her friends were as well.

She could feel her panties get wet as she remembered the past few days. Feitan calling her a good girl, Kurapika groping her, Illumi saying he was going to fuck her…

This much attention was making her head spin. She slipped her fingers into her core, whining against her pillow as she fingered herself to the thought of being fondled and touched by all these men.

It was too much, the girl whimpering and whining as she reached her high, cumming on her fingers.

‘This is so dirty…’

She stood and walked to the shower to clean the stickiness from her legs.

After her shower, (Name) lied back in her bed in just a pair of panties and her shirt, sighing softly into the plush material of her pillow.

———————

(Name) was awoken by her blanket being tugged off of her. “Wake u-“

She whimpered at the sudden coldness, pawing at where her blanket had been.

“Rest of you, out. Now.”

“But-“

“Out.”

(Name) slowly rubbed at her eyes before she opened them.

“Oh, Fei! What’s up?”

She smiled at him, arching her back as she stretched before collapsing on the bed again. He stared at her body, seemingly transfixed on her lower half…

‘Oh. I only wore panties and a shirt to bed…’

She squeaked and rushed past him to her bathroom to throw on a pair of pajama pants. Feitan watched her run, noticing the slight bounce her ass made when she did.

He didn’t even bother trying to calm his racing heart down, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from getting hard. Did she have to arch her back, making the imprint of her pussy in her strawberry panties completely visible to him?

She walked back out of her room wearing a pair of shorts that were a bit too short considering he wasn’t the only one in her condo, but Feitan wasn’t the type to tell her what she could and couldn’t wear.

She didn’t meet his eye, quickly shuffling past him and into the living room.

“Hey there, strawberries!” Shalnark waved to her, his cheeks a light pink.

(Name) gasped and her hands immediately went to her butt. “Did you…”

“Yep! We saw!”

“We!?”

She glanced around the room to see Phinks and Nobunaga sitting on her couch. They both seemed a little flustered, Phinks hiding it better than Nobunaga, who was a blushing mess.

Neither of them could look her in the eye.

“Didn’t think you’d be sleeping half naked.” Feitan said as he left her room, glad that he was wearing his cloak to hide himself.

“Well I didn’t think you’d be bursting into my room! You could have knocked or something!”

“I did. For five minutes.”

Her eyebrow twitched, and Shalnark wasn’t helping much with the way his eyes were following her ass as she walked.

“Jesus…” she walked to the kitchen and pulled out a juice box, which she sipped on while they began to talk.

“What’s the reason you’re all gathered here anyways? Didn’t know my condo was a hang out…” she’d said this jokingly, but the air grew cold all of a sudden.

“Wait, I wasn’t being serious, you’re all always welc-“

“Not that.”

Feitan looked down at the floor, clutching the fabric of his coat tightly.

She frowned. One look around the room told her that what they needed to say was serious.

“Last night…”

Feitan stepped forward, ready to bring her into his arms.

“Pakunoda died.”

(Name) stared at the short man, her eyes wide with shock. A small tremble entered her limbs, her hands slowly lifting to cover her mouth.

“No…”

Feitan pulled her close as she began to cry, openly sobbing into his shoulder. “No… not Pakunoda too…”

(Name) hadn’t known her long, but after she’d seen (Name)’s trauma, she bonded with her.

She’s promise to show Pakunoda her cats one day, even offering to let her adopt one of the kittens Tammy had.

But now she was gone. Forever.

Nobunaga stood up, walking towards the pair. He was tall and a little intimidating to the shorter girl, but she wiped away her tears and looked up to face him anyways.

“You… you cried for Uvogin and Pakunoda. And the flowers you gave us…”

He pulled one of the paper daisies from his kimono. “It’s a testament to your kindness. We wanted you to know Pakunoda had been thankful to you, for letting her see your past.”

He gave her a sad smile, something that must of been hard to do, considering two of his childhood friends had passed within the past two days.

“I… I’m so sorry. If I had been with you I could have-“

Feitan stopped her by covering her mouth with his hand. “Shh. Don’t be sorry. You there, would have gotten you killed.”

Shalnark was the next one to approach, patting her head. “We all know what comes with what we do. Every member of the group understands that death is inevitable, and that our work means it’ll come for us quicker than it would normal people. Pakunoda knew this, and accepted her fate.”

She couldn’t help the tears streaming down her face. “But… but…”

“Shh. You couldn’t have done anything to change what happened. She was killed instantly, no nen could have saved her.”

Shalnark gave her a hug if his own, rubbing soothing circles into her back. (Name) sniffled, finally drying up her tears enough to be let go and start making breakfast.

The four watched from the living room as she sniffled while mixing up scrambled eggs and flipping pancakes.

“She’s cooking breakfast?” Shalnark asked.

“Cooks when she’s stressed.” Feitan answered.

A few minutes into cooking she got a call.

‘It’s Leorio!’

“Hello?”

“(Name), we need you right now! Kurapika… he’s hurt.”

(Name) dropped her spatula to the floor, causing Feitan to look up from reading one of the books sitting on her table. “(Name)?”

“Where are you?”

Feitan walked over as (Name) wrote down an address on a piece of paper, before turning to Feitan.

“Can any of you cook?”

Shalnark poked his head up. “I can, at least breakfast foods.”

She handed him her apron and ran to her room, throwing off her shirt before she even closed the door all the way.

“Your girlfriend has so self preservation.” Phinks said, turning to Feitan with a raised eyebrow.

Feitan decided he wasn’t in the mood to correct him. “Not wrong.”

She walked out of her room wearing a pair of jogging pants and a sweater, hopping around as she attempted to pull on her other shoe and talk to someone over the the phone.

“Yes, yes I’ll be there in 15 minutes. Please tell him I’ll be there.”

She rummaged through the cabinets and grabbed a pop tart before walking towards her front door.

“(Name) what are you doing?”

She paused for a moment as Feitan grabbed her sleeve. “A friend of mine was hurt, and I need to go help him. Shalnark, sweetheart, can to finish up breakfast? You all can stay as long as you need, just-“

“I come with you.”

(Name) sighed, pulling at his hand. “Fei, that’s an awful idea. I know you all have been up to something, and it’s not a good idea to be out and about during the day.”

She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “I’ll be back tonight. Maybe. See ya!”

She left while he was distracted by the kiss, closing the door behind her.

He couldn’t turn around and face his friends with his cheek as red as a tomato.

“Ooo, someone’s going to get lucky t-“

Feitan threw a shoe at Shalnark’s head.

—————

(Name) munched on her pop tart as she sat in the back of her cab, anxiously texting Leorio. He took a minute to respond.

Silly<3: he has a fever, everyone’s here right now.

(Name) held her backpack to her chest, hoping he’d be alright. Her heart thumped painfully against her ribs.

‘He promised he would be okay…’

The cab dropped her off in front of the small motel, (Name) jumping out and running to the entrance.

Killua and Gon were waiting for her outside. “(Name)!”

They led her to where Kurapika was resting, if you could call it that. The fever was causing him to thrash in bed and pant like an animal.

“Kurapika…”

She ignored everyone else in the room, Leorio shooing the others out of the way. She dropped down onto her knees next to him, pushing back his hair.

“Shh, it’s okay, I’m here sweetheart.”

Just her hand infused with nen was enough to make him relax a bit, but to save his life she’d have to go to a level two.

The entire room went quiet when she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. Even in his sleep, it was like he knew she was there.

“(Name)..” he muttered against her lips, his body finally relaxing. She pulled away and placed a hand on his forehead, sighing in relief.

“He’ll be okay.”

A woman behind her let out a breath she’d been holding in. “Oh, thank goodness. We were terrified the fever might kill him.”

She glanced back at the woman and smiled. “Your voice… it’s so pretty…”

Her eyes fluttered closed and she fell backwards into the floor.

“(NAME)!”

She grunted, trying to pick herself up, but could barely move her limbs.

“(Name), what’s going on? Are y-“

She shook her head. “I’m fine. If I hadn’t been here… he would have died. My ability takes my stamina and gives it to whoever I kiss to help speed up their healing process. And he…”

Leorio helped her to a chair. “If he was able to zap away all your stamina…”

“Then he was near death.” Gon finished, watching over his friend with concerned eyes. The woman stepped forward with a smile.

“You care deeply for Kurapika. Differently than the others do.”

(Name) barely had the energy to be embarrassed, whimpering slightly. “Oh don’t expose me like that in front of everyone…”

‘Is it not obvious?’ Leorio thought, his eyebrow twitching.

The woman laughed. “My name is Melody, I’m a coworker of Kurapika.”

“I’m (Name), a friend.”

Killua watched this interaction with conflicted interests.

On one hand, he thought Kurapika could potentially be a much better match for (Name) than his brother. On the other, he knew that Illumi genuinely did love her, and despite their differences he did care for him.

(Name) stayed by Kurapika’s side the rest of the day, only stepping away to eat and use the bathroom. Leorio offered to watch over him when night fell, but she stayed by his side even then.

“I can’t leave him. If his fever spikes again, I want to be nearby.”

Leorio knew better than to argue, so he pulled the small couch over so she could at least rest comfortably against it as she watched over Kurapika.

He tossed and turned in his sleep, muttering something unintelligible. She took his hand and kissed each of his finger tips, sighing as his palm cupped her cheek. Even asleep, his touch was gentle and loving.

“Oh, Kurapika… my sweet boy…”

Tears welled up when she looked down at his exhausted expression. She wanted to make all of his pain go away, but her nen only worked on physical ailments, not emotional ones.

She hummed the Kurtan lullaby he’d sang to her months ago, running her hands through his blonde hair. This calmed him enough to keep him from thrashing.

(Name) woke up to the sound of her phone ringing in the middle of the night. She looked down at it groggily, rubbing her eyes.

‘Did I fall asleep?’

She answered it quickly and walked outside to talk to the person privately.

“Hello?”

“(Name), where are you? Said you’d come back tonight.”

It was Feitan, and he sounded both worried and irritated.

“I said maybe, Fei. His condition was worse than I thought, so I’ve been watching over him. I’ll need to give him more treatment when he wakes up.”

Feitan scoffed. “Can’t anyone else watch… him?”

(Name) raised an eyebrow. “Technically, yes, but I’m watching over him. He… he almost died.”

Feitan was quiet for a moment, the sound of people talking in the background making her sigh.

“Are you still at my condo?”

“Yes.”

“… is everyone else there too?”

“… yes…”

(Name) held back a giggle. “There’s a pull out couch and a few air mattresses in the storage closet. You can have my bed, the others can fight over who gets what.”

Feitan pushed his hand through his dark hair with a sigh. “You not coming, then?”

“I’m not. Sorry, Fei. I can be there tomorrow, though, promise.”

“Tomorrow… I get you dress in the morning. We have plans for tomorrow.”

“Dress? Do you even know my s-“

He only laughed, before hanging up. (Name) looked down at her phone with sleepy eyes before pocketing it and walking back inside. Killua was waiting for her by the door to Kurapika’s room.

“Who were you talking to?”

He didn’t look suspicious, just curious.

“Oh, just a friend. He seems to be jealous I’m spending so much time with Kurapika.”

She walked past Killua into Kurapika’s room, sitting beside him once more.

Killua sat down next to her and leaned his head against her shoulder. “It’s been a hard week for you, huh?” (Name) asked, wrapping her arm around him.

He didn’t answer. It felt nice to be comforted, for someone to recognize he was having a hard time. Not many people noticed when Killua was genuinely tired or upset.

“You should sleep. The auction is tomorrow, right? You’ll want to be fully rested.”

Killua nodded, but didn’t move. He was pretty tired, but he couldn’t bring himself to get up. She was warm, and safe. He just wanted to feel protected for a little bit longer.

(Name) chuckled, moving a bit. “Here, you can sleep next to me. There’s just enough room.”

She lied down and patted the bit of couch next to her. Usually, killua wouldn’t have taken her offer even if he wanted to, but tonight was different. He was anxious about the auction, about Kurapika’s condition. A little bit of comfort couldn’t hurt, right?

He crawled in next to her, the woman instantly wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close. She was warm and soft, like a mother should be. He felt his eyes get heavy. It ordinarily took Killua hours to fall asleep, but now, he was about to pass out after only a minute of being in (Name)’s arms.

“Goodnight, Killua.”

He had fallen asleep, not able to say it back. She kissed the top of his head and pulled their blanket up to his chin. (Name) worried deeply did the boy. He’d never been so clingy before, whatever had happened the past few days must of been stressful.

She continued to hum that Kurtan lullaby throughout the night, only stopping when she fell asleep herself.

——————

(Name) awoke to the smell of something delicious. She pushed herself up, realizing that Killua was gone. ‘He probably left before everyone else woke up…’

She rubbed her eyes as she felt someone sit on the couch next to her. “Good morning, (Name). Got you some breakfast.”

It was Leorio, who was handing her a box of takeout. She took it with a grateful smile.

“Thank you, my nen takes a lot out of me.”

She began eating as other people filed into the room. Melody was there, alone with a strange man she hadn’t met before.

“Did you sleep okay?” Melody asked, giving her a smile. (Name) nodded, smiling back.

“Yes, I did. Thank you for being here for Kurapika. I’m sure he appreciates you.”

The woman was taken aback by this. ‘This girl… her heart beats for the sake of other people… what a kind sound…’

(Name) turned her attention back to Kurapika, planting another kiss on his forehead. “He’s doing a lot… better.”

She nearly fell again, but Leorio was there to catch her this time. “Woah, easy there. Warn us before you start treatment, doll face.”

She giggled, pinching his cheek. “Doll face?”

“If Kurapika can call you angel, I can call you doll face!”

His cheeks turned slightly pink, a pout on his lips. She smiled pulling him in for a hug.

“That’s fine with me.”

For a moment Leorio stared down at her, his hands on her waist. If Kurapika hadn’t confessed his love for her just a day ago, maybe Leorio would allow himself to feel something more for her.

But he couldn’t. Kurapika was obviously IN love with her. It wasn’t some crush or just lust, it was love.

“Yeah, yeah.”

He pulled away and ruffled her hair. “You’re like a magnet, ya know? You’re always pulling people in.”

(Name) tilted her head, confused. “Magnet?”

He laughed. “Never mind. Go ahead and eat your breakfast. We’re going to go grocery shopping. You think you can make lunch?”

She nodded. “I’ll make some soup that Kurapika can eat when he wakes up.”

The group left, leaving (Name) with Gon, Killua, and the still asleep Kurapika.

“We’re going to get ready for the auction.”

Killua stayed quiet next to Gon, staring at her with his blue eyes. He seemed to be trying to tell her something.

“Gon, could you grab me a drink?”

“Yeah sure!”

The boy raced off, leaving the two alone. Killua stared at her for a moment more before sighing and slowly wrapping his arms around her.

‘He’s shy, that’s adorable.’

She didn’t say this out loud, only humming again while patting his back. “Thank you. For last night.”

He kept a grip on the back of her shirt, his chin resting atop her head.

“It’s nothing, really. I’ll always be here if you need me, Killua.”

He didn’t respond, his grip tightening on her shirt answer enough. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

They heard Gon’s footsteps coming down the hallway, causing Killua to let go and step back.

“Here you go (Name)!” He offered her a glass of lemonade, which she took.

“Thank you, ya cutie pie!”

(Name) pulled him into a hug and kissed the top of his head. “My sweet boys! I’m so proud of you both, ya know? You’ve been through so much recently yet you’re still going strong.”

The two became a bit flustered over her praise, sitting next to her while she watched over Kurapika.

They stayed by her side and chatted until they had to leave to get ready for the auction. By that time, Leorio was back with groceries.

“Hey, got what ya needed! I’ll take over watching Kurapika, so you can make lunch.”

She nodded and stood, stretching her limbs. It was around 11 am, giving her just enough time to have lunch ready by 1 pm.

(Name) began cutting up celery and onions as chicken boiled on the stove. Occasionally she’d leave the small kitchen to run up the stairs and check on Kurapika, who was still would asleep.

She dropped the noodles into the pot of chicken broth to let them boil, tearing apart the now cooled chicken into bite size pieces.

When she had finished, she placed the sautéed vegetables, chicken, and a can of cut carrots into the pot, creating chicken noodle soup.

She began making bowls for each of the people still there. One for her, one for Leorio, one for Melody, and one for Kurapika.

‘He should be waking up soon…’ she thought, carrying the bowls on a tray upstairs.

“Oh (Name), that smells delicious!”

Melody took the tray from her hands and offered (Name) her seat by Kurapika’s side. (Name) took it with a small thanks.

“Mmm, (Name)’s cooking! Haven’t had some of this since the Hunter Exam!”

Melody smiled. “Oh, you took the Hunter Exam together?”

The two nodded. “Yes! Leorio, Killua, Gon, Kurapika, and I all took the Hunter Exam together! Ahh, what simple times those were…”

She took a bite of her soup, Leorio following suit.

After a moment (Name) left to the convenience store to grab more coffee for Leorio and Melody.

——————

(Name) walked back into the motel, drinks in hand when she heard talking upstairs. She blinked, hurrying up the stairs.

‘Was that..?’

She burst into the room to see Kurapika turn his head slightly, a tired smile on his lips when he saw her.

“Angel… you’re here…”

Tears started to fall from her face as Melody grabbed the cups so (Name) could collapse next to him, crying into his chest.

“I was… I was so scared you weren’t gonna make it!”

She sniffed and cried, the blonde lifting his hand to pat her weakly.

“Shhh, I’m alright. I promised I would come back to you alive, right?”

She nodded slowly, looking up at him through her teary eyes. “Yeah… you did…”

He wiped away her tears. Kurapika stared at her lips before (Name) caught him and leaned forward, capturing his lips in a kiss.

Melody blushed and quickly turned to give them some privacy.

(Name) pulled away and smiled.

“I love you, angel. Thank you for being here… it’s more than I deserve.”

She shook her head. “You deserve the world, Kurapika. I…”

She kissed his forehead, causing the blonde to pout. “You missed.”

He pointed to his lips. (Name) rolled her eyes and gave him another kiss, making him sigh dreamily. “Is that better, sweetheart?”

His eyes started to drift closed. “Mhm… much…”

“Kurapika, would you like some-“

“He’s asleep.”

(Name) looked back at Kurapika to see he’d fallen asleep again, this time with a small smile on his lips. Leorio changed the rag on his forehead, sighing.

“You should get plenty of rest.”

(Name) clutched at the fabric of her sweater, contemplating giving Kurapika another nen infused kiss for treatment when her phone began to ring.

“Oh, sorry. I’ll be right back.”

She hurried out the door as to not wake her exhausted friend.

“Hello?”

“Got your dress. Meet me in front of auction in 15 minutes. Help you get ready.”

Click.

‘Feitan, again? How rude.’

She sighed and walked back up the Kurapika’s room.

“Hey, I’ll be leaving for a few hours at most. A friend of mine needs me for something.”

Leorio nodded. “Of course, you’ve done more than enough. You should try and rest, considering how much nen you’ve used within the past day.”

She gave a quick nod before grabbing her backpack and sitting beside Kurapika once more.

“I’ll be back, okay? And… I’ll be keeping my promise to you.”

She pressed a sweet, gentle kiss to his forehead before leaving once more.

“Promise? What do you think that means, Melody?”

The woman only shook her head, her face red. “Oh um…”

‘It means something… not very platonic.’

——————

(Name) walked into the auction hall feeling insecure in her day old jogging pants and sweater. She got some weird looks from multiple people before she felt someone grab her arm and pull her towards a private area.

“Fei!”

She smiled brightly at the man tugging her away, spotting Phinks to her left. “Shh. Draw attention to yourself, stupid girl.”

The two pulled her into an empty room, Phinks holding a black bag. “You know, when two men pull a woman into a room she can’t help but be a little frightened.”

Feitan rolled his eyes. “I never hurt you.”

‘Not on purpose, at least.’

As Phinks pulled out a long red dress, Feitan stared at the wrist he’d broken just days before. Guilt still consumed him when he thought about it for too long.

“Oh…”

(Name) held the dress in front of her, raising an eyebrow at the two. “Are you sure this will fit me?”

Feitan shrugged. “Should, Machi made it.”

“Machi?”

“Yeah, don’t tell her I told you but it’s a gift from her.”

‘Oh, she’s shy. That’s cute!’

(Name) stared at the two men, who were watching her. “Can you two… um… leave so I can change?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

The two walked out and stood guard at the door, sending glares at anyone that got too close.

A few minutes later it clicked open, (Name) stepping out in the heels that had been included.

Feitan only looked at her for a second before he shoved her back into the room and closed the door behind him.

The dress she was wearing fit, but the chest area was snug. It was a sleeveless, floor length gown with slit on the left side that went all the way up her thigh.

“…”

He stared down at her ample cleavage, causing the girl to blush. “Fei you’re… you’re staring.”

He glanced up at her through his dark eyelashes, humming. “What about it?”

She pouted and covered her chest. “Pervert.“

He grabbed her waist and pulled her in close, staring at her face. She gasped when she shoved his nose into her neck, sniffing at her.

“Smell different. Like another man.”

She pushed him back a little, flustered.. “Y-yeah, my friend is a man. I was treating him.”

Feitan did little to hide his jealousy. “Tch. Stinks, brought your perfume.”

He covered his nose and pulled away, his eyes narrowed. (Name) snickered.

“You’re acting like a jealous boyfriend, Fei. I don’t think he stinks at all, in fact he smells very nice, like warm vanilla.”

Feitan scoffed. “Like vanilla? What is he, girl?”

“No, he’s not! He’s very pretty though…”

He didn’t miss her faint smile as she thought of him. Feitan looked away, biting his lip.

‘Does she think I’m pretty..?’

It was easier for her to see all the subtle expressions on his face when he wasn’t wearing that coat.

“Oh.”

Because she’d been pulled away and shoved into a dark room to get dressed, she hadn’t had the time to take in Feitan’s appearance.

His hair was combed, and dressed in a nice suit. She hummed in appreciation. “Fei, you sure clean up nice.”

Feitan’s face reddened by her compliment, the man turning away quickly to hide it. “Shut up. Time to go.”

But he was happy she noticed the effort he put into looking a bit nicer.

He opened the door and (Name) stepped out, Phinks letting out a low whistle.

“You sure are pretty, (Name).”

The girl waved her hand and giggled. “Aww, you’re sweet Phinks.”

Feitan handed her the makeup bag Machi helped them pack and pointed her towards the women’s restroom.

‘Why did I have to change in a random room when the women’s room was right there??’

She huffed and left to do her makeup.

——————

Feitan’s breath hitched when she left. She always looked gorgeous too him, but today she was on a whole other level.

While he loved the soft pastels she usually wore, he couldn’t deny that seeing her in that deep red made him feral. Feitan offered her his arm, which she took without hesitation.

It almost felt… normal the way she held onto him. She wasn’t scared, wasn’t intimidated by his presence. It was still something he was getting used to, but it felt nice to be touched without fear.

“Fei, I didn’t know you were taking me out on a date.” she whispered into his ear. The dark haired man paused for a split second before he continued walking.

“… not a date. Job.”

Phinks rolled his eyes. ‘Yeah sure, Fei.’

(Name) only giggled and kissed his cheek, lingering for a bit before pulling away.

“Mhm.”

Feitan tried to keep his expression neutral, but it wasn’t easy. Her affectionate nature made him both nervous and incredibly happy. It was hard not to smile and give her a kiss back.

The three sat down, (Name) the closest to the stairs. She didn’t pay much attention to the auction, instead reading from a book Feitan swiped from her condo.

“(Name)!?”

(Name) didn’t even process her arm being grabbed until she was pulled into the hallway, being dragged behind someone so fast her feet didn’t touch the ground.

“Why are there here??”

“How would I know?!”

(Name) recognized those voices.

“Gon? Killua, wh-“

They stopped, (Name) having to hold her head from the whiplash. Her two young friends placed her in between them, eyeing her two… older friends that surrounded them.

“Hey, that was rude. No need to run away with our little lady.”

Killua’s grip on her arm tightened, they two boys staring at her.

“Don’t worry, you hand her over and we won’t kill you.”

(Name) blinked. “Kill? Why would you kill them, they’re my friends.”

Phinks and Feitan blinked, the four staring at each other.

The four were slowly starting to piece some things together, (Name) still holding her head. “Ugh… boys, what is going on?”

Feitan sent Killua and Gon a look, telling them they needed to stay quiet.

‘Does she not know these are the people we’ve been fighting against?’ Killua thought, pulling her a little closer. ‘Are they using her or something? No, Feitan’s aura is almost surrounding her, as if he’s protecting her…’

(Name) began to wobble away. “Listen, I gotta go throw up, don’t kill each other. That means you, Fei and Killua.”

Feitan watched as she left, barely able to keep himself from accompanying her so she didn’t fall and hurt herself.

————————

(Name) sat on the counter in the bathroom, sighing. She’d felt sick, but hadn’t thrown up. She didn’t want to think about the implications of all of her friends knowing each other and potentially being enemies. It made her head spin.

When she heard a knock on the door, she hopped off the counter and walked out. Feitan greeted her with a nod of his head.

“Your friends… lots of trouble.”

He didn’t want to know if she knew the chain user, knowing that she was still processing a lot of information from the last few days.

“… you didn’t hurt them, right?”

Feitan shook his head. “Didn’t, not worth it.”

She frowned. “Does that mean you would hurt children if it was worth it?”

He knew he messed up when he met her eyes. She was looking at him with a mix of disbelief and disgust.

“… didn’t say that. Not normal children, anyways.”

She seemed to accept his answer with a sigh. “You shouldn’t hurt any children, Fei. It’s not right.”

(Name) pulled het purse to her chest and walked towards the entrance of the Auction Hall.

“Where you going?”

“To check on a friend. I’ll be home later tonight.”

Although she accepted his answer, she still wanted to talk with Gon and Killua later to make sure they were alright. But before that, she needed to see Kurapika.

Feitan didn’t stop her, only watching her walk away with a sigh. Phinks patted his shoulder. “Smooth. You know, sweet women like her don’t take too kindly to people that hurt kids. You’ll need to be on your best behavior, Fei.”

The dark haired man pushed Phink’s hand off his shoulder. “Whatever…”

But Feitan couldn’t shake how his body shook when she looked at him like that. It terrified him to think she might see him as the monster he could be one day, instead of the Feitan she saw.

‘Her sweet Fei, is what she called me. I want to be that…’

He followed his friend back to the auction hall.

“Going to steal extra copy for her.”

“Of course you are.”

[almightyhamslice]

Hillo! Just wanted to say that your gobb au redesigns of all the characters made me so viscerally disturbed upon first seeing them that I kind of just sat there for a second. There is something so great about how you design them and their masks and all. It’s so unique!! I would say more but my brain is in night mode.That’s also the reason I haven’t binge-read all their paragraphs yet but I HAVE drawn some of them. The arts kind of sketchy cause again I am tired so sorry bout that. Anywho They are now fixed in my brain. Thank you. New favorite gobb au/ gen

THIS IS SO FUCKING NICE AND SO COOL THANK YOU SO MUCH IM SO GLAD YOU LIKED MY AU AND YOU THOUGHT MY DESIGNS ARE SCARY!!!!!!! THIS IS THE NICEST FUCKING THING ANYONE HAS EVER SAID TO ME AND I LOVE YOUR DRAWING ITS SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!

I especially love how you drew my Nabnab, like his pose!! He looks like he's in the middle of a performance and it's so cool I want to redraw it in my style with a background!!! if that is ok with you anyway!

[lemongogo]

what's your process for coloring like? the look of that elendira is so textured and interesting, i can't figure out how you do it

AA THANK YOUU ^__^ !! textures & brushwork are my favorite things abt my art, so im happy you find it interesting hehe . its SOO cool to look at & so much fun to draw imo

i prefer to color by building in layers , if that makes sense 🤔!! hundreds of them !! such that i'm always drawing on Top of previous layers, working from big & messy blocks of color to, eventually, small and refined blocks of color until it feels processed enough. as a result, i rarely ever erase (!!) and i rarely ever draw lineart aside from the initial sketch

a rough, patchy textured brush is key here, as it'll give you dimension and variability w/ your colors. i recommend "Brush and various sets of fountain pen style (万年筆風ブラシと色々セット)" on Clip Studio (ID: 1679706) !! :3

im terrible with explanations though, so i'm going to show a step by step of that elendira drawing if you dont mind :3

sketch layer !! because i mostly render through color alone, i try to make this as close to the finished thing as possible . ^__^ i hateee drawing the same thing over and over and like the expressivity and movement of my sketches anyways , so the more i can preserve at this step, the better. if u were to look at a side by side of my sketches and finished pieces, youd notice a lot of those og lines are present in the final drawing :3

2. flats !! pretty self explanatory, but the solid background gives me an idea of where the figure begins & ends while the colors themselves help distinguish whats what . i stick to ambient lighting @ this point because im usually not sure what i want to do with the overall palette or lighting yet . having two tones (ex, dark and light in her hair or dark and light on her skin) can also help in identifying key features early on that u wanna preserve. as you build layer by layer, sometimes these areas will remain untouched and i think it makes for a rly lovely feel at the end

3. start blocking !!! to be totally honest with you, i dont really know what i do here HAHAHA. like i just scribble the shit out of it, usually focusing on what i might want to do with lighting (ex: grey areas to accentuate folds in her costume). i think i like to start "erasing" the sketch where possible by coloring on top of it .. like if you look at her hat or her arm , you can tell i'm starting to get a sense of the shapes i like vs the ones i dont. it's at this point that the final image starts to emerge in my mind , like im gradually pulling her from a tarpit of scribbles until shes recognizable lol. chipping away at the marble until i can free her. tbh.

4. keep blockingg...when u think u are done , block some more . as you can probably see, the brushwork becomes more intentional as i add more shape, with specific focus on line weight. this is also where the patchiness of that textured brush comes in - notice how none of the colors seem totally uniform (ex: the red cross or the original sketchlines for her waist). you can see bits and pieces of the layers underneath pushing through and i really like that !! ^__^ its very fun and sketchy to me, so i try to keep them around. those areas are also great to colorpick from, because it'll give you "new" colors to work w/ that are already part of your palette.

5. GRADIENTS & GRADIENT MAPS !! TONE CURVE !! COLOR PICKER !! this is the best stage tbh. flatten your image so its all on one layer and just go crazy with all the color settings in ur program. add gradient layers and set them to darken, or overlay, or subtract, orrr. lighten or dodge glow or divide or soft/hard light.! OR!! edit the hue, saturation, luminosity and contrast.and then color pick from these edits, block even more on top of ur image, flatten, color edit again, etc. etc. until u feel satisfied.

ANYWAYSS . i hope that makes sense @__@ sry i wrote this out and deleted it like 23 times trying to make it make More sense but thats what ive got HAHA i hope its useful though :3 !

[the-wolfbats]

thoughts on [The] Taggerung

This is very long because I'm very torn on it. When it's good it's very great but it fails in its original twist.

All my favorite Abessess are dead 🫥. Well except Lycian I guess. 

Here's something never mentioned - outside of Germaine's tomb, where are the Abbesses buried? Just by the vegetables to replenish the soil I guess. 

I may be wrong but this may be a new art style for the chapters and only for this book. It may never be seen again in another story because I don't remember seeing it again (disclaimer - I get the ebooks and not all come with art) Pity, it's like the Marlfox art but with less sketchy lines. It's nice!

You've heard their names, everybeast has. Cluny the Scourge, Slagar the Cruel, Ferahgo the Assassin and many others. All of them defeated and slain. Redwall is so powerful, it killed someone who never tried to conquer it or even entered Mossflower Country!

See they mention Vulpuz! There’s a demon entity! AWESOME

Once again we have a great concept that's kneecapped bc of the strict dichotomy these species have. You can find fanfictions on the Redwall wikia where people have played with the concept of “good” species who are raised in evil (or in my 25 chapter fanfictions case, suffered a head wound and turned into vermin) and actually kill and commit crimes. We can't even give Tagg the vermin dialect. There's nothing to deconstruct here. 

Sometimes he had admired Sawney, his strength, leadership and determination, but he had never really liked the ferret, never called him lather, never loved him. No internal conflict. If this had been written earlier, I'm sure we would have gotten a little. This is why Nimbalo is a better character because he has been changed bc of the abuse he suffered and is unlike most mice in the series.  

The hares are wildly hit and miss for me. Scarum was annoying. Boorab is delightful. 

We see the flatlands north of Redwall to the mountain. It's nice, lively, not as weird southern desert like where the ravine and Loamhedge is. 

This may be the only book in the series with an actual theme beyond good vs evil, in terms of family. The ones you pick, are born into, are forced into, you lose, you leave, you make. You see it in the Obvious but then you see it with instances like how Boorab and Filorn are peas in a pod or how Fwirl (who is a rarity as an actual active female character who is noted as pretty doing things beyond healing) joins the Abbey, and Mhera supporting Cregga all this time. 

Actually most of the redwall characters genuinely grow and learn something you don't often see in these books. It helps that it's not a huge cast, like in Loamhedge, the Bellmaker is killed early and they never name the man again. Broggle learned confidence, Fwirl and Nimbalo learned to rely on others, Filorn learned acceptance,  Alkanet isn't shamed for being stern but grows to be flexible , Mhera did the typical Abbess MasterClass speed run. 

One of the chapter arts suggests that Nimbalo is much smaller than Tagg. He stated to be a harvest mouse, when the non denomination mice of Mossflower are a bit more in scope with otters. 

We need more Forthrights. 

The actual drama of Tagg finally being back at Redwall but them not knowing he's the missing babe Deyna is very good and I appreciate how the reunion is delayed and not rushed through. There's a real sense of anticipation, and for my big critiques about the idea not having any follow through, this is probably the best 3rd act of any Redwall book. Maybe only Mossflower is better. 

Somehow I thought Ruggan Bor just...walked away when Deyna said the Taggerung wasn't at Redwall lmao WHY did I think this.

Another point; You know how I said squirrels don't have a subculture like the other animals? There are very few, if any, shrews without a subculture , they're either Guosim or Pigmy Shrews.

There's a sliding scale of sapiency with some animals. Woodpidgeons don't talk, so they can be eaten. Other birds do, so they don't get eaten, even if that's the intent of the villains. Most lizards are sapient but some like Firl in Mariel don't talk. So when rawback was trapped in the swamp, did he go insane by eating talking lizards and frogs? Basically one out of two mentions and depictions of cannibalism in the series?

While there's a humongous missed opportunity with Tagg as a character, this can very solidly sit in my top 5. 

[storyofmychoices]

For @choicesfandomappreciation's Countdown to 2024.

There are so many talented artists in this fandom. I could never pick only four. I am seriously in awe of all of you and your talents. You truly make this fandom a more beautiful place. We are lucky to have you all.

In no particular order

💛 @hydn-jpg: I absolutely adore you and your talent. I can't thank you enough for the beautiful creations you've made for me. I just adore your style. I'm glad you are doing better. I've loved seeing your art on my dash again. Thank you for sharing all of your beautiful visions with us.

💛 @cashweasel: What can I say?! I absolutely adore you and your art. You've created some of my favorite Mal pieces and you gifted the world Valen. How can we ever thank you enough for that?! Valen is everything, but I adore Gideon too!

💛 @oh-so-youre-a-nerd: I've only been following you for a few months but ohmygosh you are so freaking talented. Like how?!!! I absolutely adore seeing your art on my dash, no matter the subject matter, each piece is just stunning. Your use of light is unlike anything I've seen. You are amazing.

💛 @artbyalz: Your art is so much fun! I LOVED your 12 days of Christmas art series. You gifted the fandom so many beautiful and unique pieces. I absolutely adore all you've created, and ohmygosh how can I even thank you for this gift you've given me?!!!

💛 @cassie-thorne: GAH your art!!! The recent art with Astrid is still living rent free in my head. She is so gorgeous! I truly admire and adore all of your work, though I'm a little biased toward your CoP art! I can't wait for the next book to see how you tackle all the new content we get!

💛 @baldwinboy5ive: I've absolutely enjoyed all of your art and memes from Blades. They were simply fantastic. Your work always puts a smile on my face!

💛 @fairymatchmaker : JOY!!! You are just so so lovely and amazing, and your art is brilliant. I know you haven't been able to draw as much as you'd like to have recently, but please know we are here waiting patiently for when you can. Your art is just brilliant.

💛 @violentinecrl: I am still absolutely in love with this gorgeous gift you made for me. I never expected anything like this and genuinely treasure it. It lives rent free in my head always.

💛 @callmebeem: I only discovered your art this year, but I am so in love with it. I love the 3 commissions you've made for me so far (even if I'm still holding on to one of them) but I absolutely treasure each and know I will be back for more soon! Thank you for them!

💛 @rosefuckinggenius: what can I say about you and your art besides you actually are a fucking genius. Your talent is amazing and I'm grateful for all the times we've worked together!

💛 @bayleedraws-sometimesx: you are an absolute delight! You are a sweetheart who creates such lovely art for the fandom. I love your minimalist style. You bring so much love to your work and it shows.

💛 @erixafleur: I've loved seeing all your gorgeous Blades art throughout book two. I can't wait to see more. Your style is lovely whether it's fully rendered or the sketchy style.

💛 @sazanes : Your art is so beautiful! I love seeing all the gorgeous stuff you create for the various appreciation weeks. I truly look forward to seeing all your works. You can see your care for each piece in every stroke.

💛 @twinkleallnight: you write, you do art, what don't you do? Thank you for sharing all of your many talents with the Choices fandom

💛 @mydemonsdrivealimo: Jensen is an amazing character and your OH art is so lovely. Thank you for the Valentine's doodles you made for my Bryce and Olivia. I truly treasure it!

💛 @gaiuskamilah / @talasintahan: your art is simply brilliant. I haven't been following you long, but I'm loving seeing all your gorgeous work.

💛 @weetlebeetle: You're technically not in our fandom, but you've created so many amazing pieces for me and so many others, you might as well be. Thank you for sharing your talent with us! We are so lucky to have you

💛 @hashiedraws (I know you're no longer active in the fandom, but I will always adore and treasure your art!

There are so so many amazing artists in this fandom, just mentioning a few more:

@somewillwin , @garlickk , @myautumnrose , @rainesenator , @ellezelindraws, @totojo2 , @choices-ceri , @crowlion ; @gremmiie ; @cpt-indigo , @mavidraws , @javsarts

This list is by no means exhaustive, please know that it was not intentional if you were left off!

[metalandmagi]

Inktober day 7: This Inktober I'm challenging myself to draw Laurent from Captive Prince in the style of different manga artists!

Here's Laurent in the style of Yuki Midorikawa, author of Natsume Yuujinchou (one of my all time favorite series 😍), in honor of the new season! I love how the manga's art is so sketchy and rough compared to the anime's polished look. Her art style works so well for the story.

[bonnieisaway]

Good morning ladies and gentlemen (it's 6:30 pm) guess who's here to overnalayze episode 1 of season 4 of scissor seven that's right ME

Okay okay I think this might actually be my new favorite episode in the series and I love it so much and I was thinking about it last night and talking about it to my friend this morning and I have THINGS!! TO SAY!!! about it

First off: this isn't as important but did anyone else realize that Blackbird was wrong about Seven's ambushes?

Like when Seven initially jumps for Blackbird he grabs Seven's sword and says this but

he's instantly taken off guard five fucking seconds later? And like yeah, this was something Seven could do cause of the Thousand Demon Daggers, but by all means the fact Seven kept DIRECT eye contact with him and took him off guard to make him drop Thirteen makes it seem Seven does think and act faster than Blackbird does. In fact Blackbird fights Seven the exact same way he did Thirteen, he drags both of them out of the clearing and into the forest - though he throttled Seven around A LOT harder - but Seven didn't lose track of Blackbird the way Thirteen did.

Side by side look at how much longer it took Thirteen to get out of his grip and recover - I know Blackbird is arguably more in his element when he's fighting Thirteen but just their reaction times alone, Seven's able to keep up with Blackbird running around him and Thirteen is struggling to keep sight of him. Their main difference is Seven's got much better reaction time and is able to keep up, but he's horrible at actually avoiding getting hit most times. He's so much more aggressive in this fight but also takes twice the beating, Thirteen spends the first half of this fight getting her sides clipped by Blackbird's whip and Seven literally almost gets his whole shoulder ripped out. Seven seems to know what to do a lot quicker and thinks fast compared to Thirteen. Especially since Seven had the opportunity to and realized he could use the light against Blackbird.

And as he does, I mean initially Blackbird can't even react quick enough, given the distance between them it's surprising Seven got this far,

And he changes direction faster than Blackbird can even react to his initial movement!

Blackbird genuinely loses sight of Seven here! And it's not like he couldn't seen Seven, he was perfectly visible and neither of them were facing the sunlight here, but Seven is just faster than Blackbird can react here

And Seven had time to wait here! Of course Blackbird doesn't realize what Seven is doing and turns around, but if Seven had been going to hit Blackbird from behind he would've! Seven spends a solid second or so longer here before Blackbird actually turns around, and Seven is able to move fast enough to blind Blackbird!

SECONDLY and I've actually seen nobody talk about this but Blackbird has his own art style. Not just like, for his flashbacks. Blackbird has his own fucking art style for when he's in control of the fight. And it makes me so mentally ill

I think I've mentioned before early on Scissor Seven is a little inconsistent art style wise, but definitely by the end of season 3 you can really tell they've gotten comfortable with and have settled on a style they like and work well with. And it's absolutely beautiful, which is why I was really confused when this scene was in the trailer:

because this is so clearly not their normal art style. To be specific- the line art is really intentionally sketchy and messy, you can evne tell they used a different brush than they normally do for coloring and line art, and the coloring and shading really has a 'colored sketch' look about it. And it's not bad, I love it! But it's so obviously different from the normal style and in the trailers I was wondering if the style was going to change again, but this is the only time it happens. And I realized why: this is an art style specifically for when Blackbird is in control. Let's go through this fight from this frame:

the moment Thirteen is dropped. So I'm going to go through this by the most important moves or actions they take:

So obviously Blackbird has a real solid grip on Seven here, but also noticeably I feel like Seven doesn't try to do anything with his sword as he's dragged,

But notice despite how far or close they are, every frame is noticeably clear and really just true to the art style this show takes:

but also this sketchy texture and style is a consistent motif in Blackbrid, even if the rest of the style is still how it normally looks,

Now look at the coloring on Blackbird-

and THEN we switch to this sketchy style, which is NOTICEABLY the same as Blackbird's flashbacks but just colored with clearer line art.

This background is still clear but notice even their smear frames are drawn like this, and if you've seen some of my other post this isn't how they normally draw smears, let alone switching brushes and adjusting the entire color palette for it, and this is where the worst part of the fight for Seven starts! This is where he gets hurt!

Which , these genuinely look like the deepest cuts Seven has gotten in a while- and now watch these frames:

NOTICEABLE. FUCKING. DIFFERENCE. The second, the second Seven realizes that he has an opprotunity here and that he can use the light against Blackbird, the art style turns back to normal!

I mean as this fight ends and Blackbird DIES we don't see this again outside of his flashback! The usual sketchy parts of his body change to another texture!

And I just, it makes me so happy that not only have they found an art style they like, and are comfortable with, but are so good with it to a point that they can play with the art style now for story telling elements! And I mean even as Blackbird screams and tries to kill Seven the art style stays, because even if Blackbird can't feel it and we don't know yet, he has definitively lost this battle and this will drain the rest of his energy and kill him before it will kill Seven!

This bird flying away- and Blackbird's last flashback- is the last we see of this art style.

and I just. RAAAAAAH I love this episode. I feel like I could go on more and I might later - I still really wanna know if there's a reason why they put so much emphasis into Seven switching hands when he's using the sword, given he's ambidextrous and it's never been focused on before, I think it might be because he's not using his scissors even though they're near but I'm not really sure. I can't tell if using his scissors over his sword would be more draining given his last attempt at them in season 3 knocked him out cold. GOD this show makes me so fuckin mentally ill

[starkwing-co]

This is October is #Waretober!

Day 1&2: Favorite character

I'm gonna do a rapid fire of my old WarioWare art (that has never been posted here!) with some new stuff sprinkled here and there if school doesn't affect my schedule and mental health too much...

First up, some of my first pieces I made on my pc and graphic tablet back in summer of 2022 featuring... the Gamer Boi, 9-Volt! (who would've guessed?)

I tried my best at emulating the official art styles of Get It Together! (Ko Takeuchi's classic vector and personal sketchy Character Gallery watercolor drawings)

But the main reason for me to make these was to showcase 9-Volt's pocket and V-signing in action! (why no official depictions of the boi exist doing this gesture? It makes SO much sense)

And I also wanted to include Fronk in my new GiT render since my pipe dream for the game was devs adding dlc with new characters and Fronk would join his 'owner' after a small extra campaign with new levels to form a duo and help 9-Volt turn around and hop in the air a bit

(don't ask why, in my headcannon Fronks, like the Pokémon Porygon, are living computer bugs able to shift between pure data and a plasticy body with no bones and organs, they can change their size at will and stick to any surface

[fatalitycalico]

wanna see an artists yap about their spidersona?

well now you can! :D

First up we got the favorite child, Spider-Aspin! I wanted his universes style to be soft but since my sketch was tad rushed, i couldn’t really accentuate that, maybe another piece. I’ve been more focused on him artwise and if youre part of the Spider-Sona community then you’d know who i was inspired by when creating him.

Second up we had Wolf-Spider! The second favorite! And the oldest Spidersona i have(he was originally drawn back when Spiderman: no way home came out) I wanted his Universe’s style to be more lineart heavy which i represented a bit in this piece(again these were a quick sketch) i was inspired by old and new Celtic and gaelic art i see alot in irish culture, i’ve probably spent so much time on this dude’s character arc instead of his actual art which is a stark contrast to Spider-Aspin as im more focused on him artwise. Wolf-Spider is basically a wolf walker, if you ever heard of the term (or saw the movies) or basically a therian if you’re a furry, id make a comic on him but first i need to release a few oneshots comics in order to build my skill.

Last we have Sombra-Weaver, the Spider-Sona i never really draw or make up lore on. He’s apart of the trio, i just never draw him apart from that one time. He’s basically just a healer, he uses his webs to patch up wounds and hes one of my only Spidersona’s with naturally producing webs and he also has corrossive venom. Again, i never really explored anything but his ablities. I wanted his universe to be sketchy, which is why i hand drew his marketable spiderman plushie.

Anyways, i might draw them together honestly but sombra weaver is going to be a pain to draw with the other two.

if you made it this far you get a cookie! 🍪🍪🍪