#so i guess i gotta practice drawing them more!! lol

[tgtbata]

with juices like wine

[keeps-ache]

ggghhg i hate vehiclessssssss ghghghhghhhhh [dies dies dies forever]

[impishjesters]

I have this idea floating around in my brain for a while about a reader who likes to draw and because they have a crush on Jax they draw him. Jax eventually steals their notebook and probably teases them about it lol.

Jax x Crushing!Reader

warning(s): innuendos, bullying/teasing, Jax note(s): Look it's me and Jax, there's gonna be innuendos or some spicy wording and bullying. It's like a packaged deal or something. A/N: If you see me mixing Angel Dust's speech into Jax, no you didn't. If you didn't notice, I don't know how to tease and not be an asshole, so pretty on the brand I guess.

Caine had given you a sketchbook upon request, it was a little different than an actual sketchbook but it did the job regardless. Ever since your arrival, your fingers have been itching to draw, there were so many new sights and so much new inspiration.

There were so many things, so why did it seem like the doodles of Jax ended up on almost every page?

Easy, you had a crush on the apathetic, mischievous jerk named Jax.

Why? Well, now that’s the million-dollar question. He’s not inherently awful, no, that’s a lie, he’s an asshole. You don’t really have a good read on him yet but he’s funny! That’s gotta be redeemable, right? However, his jokes are usually backhanded and often involve being mean at the expense of others.

Okay so he’s a walking red flag but there’s something about him that has you crushing on the purple bastard.

Looking down at the sketchbook on your lap shows another two pages filled with sketches of random things, though most of the page is filled with Jax. You had taken to sketching things back in the real world to remind yourself of home, but eventually, those sketches would involve Jax doing mundane things.

Thing’s like sitting at a table eating real food, though you took creative measures when drawing an open mouth on him, it still looked off but it was serene and domestic. Then there’s the little sketch at the bottom of the page of Jax leaning against a window and staring outside. You’d manage to nab the pose and angle when he was leaning against one of the many random geometrical-shaped things in the main room and later added in a window.

It was embarrassing that almost more than half of the pages in the book involved Jax to some degree. Some pages weren’t even subtle, the whole page taking up a detailed portrait version of the male. Sometimes you even got creative and put him in different clothing.

Thumbing through the pages you saw there weren’t that many empty pages left. You’d need to ask Caine for another one and figure out what to do with this one. It couldn’t be left out in the open, you knew Jax had keys to everyone’s room and wouldn’t put it past him to go snooping. He’d already questioned you about the sketchbook before.

You’d been so focused on the sketchbook that you hadn’t noticed the man of the hour walking up. Jax noticed your intense focus and peeked over to see the infamous sketchbook on your lap, and with practiced ease managed to yoink it right off your lap.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? You finally showing me what you keep your nose buried into?”

A yelp left you, stumbling to get on your feet you rushed to him and began swatting at the book and of course, he’d keep raising it just out of reach. “You took it! I didn’t say you could look at that!”

“Nah, pretty sure you said I could look at it.” He continued to lower and raise the book as you jumped to grab it. Sure he was curious before, but with a reaction like that? How could he not be even more curious? What kind of seedy shit were you drawing? Or perhaps some spicy nonfamily-friendly content?

Jax ignored your frantic words and opened the book to a random page, he was going to tease you about whatever dumb stuff you drew since you always had your nose in it but all he saw were sketches of himself.

A normal person might get embarrassed and hand the book back, but he’s not a normal person. It’s a little freaky, he won’t lie. A glance downwards shows him you’ve gone silent in front of him, simply staring down while he invades the privacy that was your sketchbook.

Your face is red and you look like you’re going to cry any second.

He’s a jerk, he was going to fuck with you, and he still is, but for the moment he’s taking in all the creative little pieces involving his face. Ya know, he never really thought much about how he’d look in other clothes. Gotta say he looks pretty snazzy in something that isn’t these shitty overalls.

“You know if I didn’t know any better,” his fingers still flip through the pages as he steps closer, circling you. “I’d say you like me.”

“I don’t.”

The reply is rushed and he rolls his eyes at the blatant lie, he’ll humor you this time. “Oh yeah? Does that mean you’ve got sketchbooks for everyone else too? Cause I’m pretty sure this is the only one I’ve seen you with.” He taps a doodle on the cover that gives away it’s the same notebook he always sees you with.

Tears trickled down your cheeks, you knew he was a jerk but this felt like too much. You just wanted your sketchbook back and to run away to your room, maybe pin something in front of the door that would render even the key useless.

His eyes roll the second he sees a tear, he’s not really seeing the problem here. You’ve got a book full of creepy—okay not completely creepy, he’s a good model so good on you for seeing that—sketches of him and he’s truthfully honored. It’s clear that you didn’t do this with everyone, so he’s honored to be your little model. Besides, it’s not like you actually have a crush on him, right?

Minutes tick by of him simply eyeing you, you’re still crying and it’s starting to get a little ugly and snotty, ugh. But you aren’t trying to further deny his little comment about you liking him. He’ll have to have a little talk about that later, what you could possibly see in him because he knows that you aren’t a sadist—oh, are you a masochist? That’d explain a lot.

Jax sighs and closes the book but doesn’t hand it over, simply putting the free hand on his hip. “You know if you wanted to see my face all you gotta do is ask. I’ll gladly show you this handsome face any day toots.”

Of all the things you thought he’d say, that wasn’t it. “H-huh..?” You embarrassingly wipe away the tears and snot before looking up at him.

“You heard me. Ya know I love this face too, very handsome. Maybe we can get Caine to put up some artwork in the tent of yours truly.” Jax wouldn’t consider himself vain, but you did have a way of making him look more, dare he say, attractive.

“I-I don’t… I don’t understand…” Was he still making fun of you?

He rolls his eyes before playfully hitting your head with the book. “Jeez, and here I thought you were smart.” Jax leaned over like he was speaking to a child and pushed the book to your chest. “I’m saying, the next time you wanna draw me I’ll give you a front-row seat. Maybe even take it to the bedroom so we won’t be disturbed.”

You push the book into his face to cover up that growing smirk and blush furiously. “Wh-what?! N-no I-I don’t…!” It’s hard to tell if he’s being serious or not in his offer to model for you, especially with the bedroom comment.

“C’mon, clearly you got taste. I mean that book is filled with sketches of me. I’ll commend you on your immaculate taste.” Jax taps the book before playfully bopping your nose. “At least let me give you the pleasure of seeing me close up. I’ve never been a model before so you might have to get a little hands-on to get me the way you want me.”

As the innuendos continue your face feels like it’s getting impossibly red and warm. Somehow this is worse than him telling you a sketchbook full of his face is creepy, in fact, you’d almost prefer it because your poor little heart can’t take anymore. You let out a yell and it stops his tangent but that stupid smirk of his never disappears.

“Offer still stands. You know where to find me.” Jax turns away but not before throwing a little wink over his shoulder. He still plans on pestering you about what you see in him, but for now, he’ll cut you some slack. You’re about as red as Ragatha’s hair and as much as he loves to see it, he didn’t plan to get this sidetracked when he saw you on your own.

He’s got a sucker to prank.

[distant--shadow]

The witch and the widow chapters 1-4 author’s notes

Ok, so first off I feel I gotta preface this by saying I am absolutely not a history buff. Kinda the opposite of one really. I was one of less than 10% of the kids in my year of 300 or so that didn’t take history at GCSEs, mostly caus a subject taught and based around names and dates etc is the definition of something not suited for my type of brain, also I hugely lost interest in it caus we moved past the fun trebuchet eras and all that real fast and it became of slog of me falling asleep in lessons caus I had a teacher whose method was putting on movies and shutting the blinds (I’d always fall asleep and he was later jailed for being a p*edophile, so that’s a thing.) Anyway, all that to say I’m not good at this shit, but as ive gotten older I have taken a bigger interest in queer history in particular, and that often if not always links into other areas such as fashion, women’s rights, religion,the arts, class, and race etc. (I’m still not good at names and dates though!)

They are outfitted and arsenalled - the stones of the wall - in a manner to rival any army; tapestries of red and gold perhaps once brandished on battlefield as banners promenading around death now retired and indoor-still-air-still as taxidermy giving colour between all of the shades of metal, burnished and polished and in some cases rusting, some still purposefully left blood-stained, swords and pikes and maces arranged in wallpaper patterns as though flowers or fans, sword-sheath beams spreading from chest-plate armour suns.

Let’s start with something easy and recent. The Baron’s armoury was inspired by a few castles I’ve visited, these rooms are always so bizarre to me. I don’t know if this is at all of the time/how they were decorated or a more recent thing, but either way it’s pretty wild but I do love the visual and metaphor of it. In this one castle I found out from talking about the carpentry to an attendant that the decorative ceiling work around the chandelier above the dining room table actually hid a trapdoor - and there was other hidden doorways for passages and to secret rooms in this castle, that’s not that unusual - but this particular trapdoor was to allow for the chandeliers to be switched out. Why? Caus they had them in multiple colours of glass, and the lady of the castle liked the chandelier to co-ordinate with her dress if they were having guests round. Aint that such a flex? Definitely some food for future thought.

Aight. Clothing. So anyone that chats fic/au to me or is in my server has probably heard me yell to go watch Kaz Rowe’s videos many times. As I’ve said this fic aint meant to be historically accurate but it does kinda straddle histories, one of which being our own; so women wearing trousers and the like at this time would still be a crime, and draw a lot of attention . Imogen in men’s clothing genuinely isn’t meant to be much of a gender thing but a thing of practicality, and she has mostly lived in the countryside or in the outskirts, so she does not get into the trouble she would should she go into the towns and cities (another reason to keep away past the potential noise, but this Imogen will happily don a dress or skirts if she needs to, she’s just usually working – and maybe it’s a bonus that dressing as a man acts as a sort of flagging for any women who might be interested lol.)

I guess here I should mention how I think this version of Imogen's powers and how they’ve manifested (along with everyone else being unaware of them) will have somewhat changed her disposition and personality, it is a lot more aligned with later campaign Imogen who has more confidence and empowerment, she hasn’t been ostracised for her abilities or particularly bombarded by them, think more like when she has her circlet on, she chooses to listen in (mostly), although of course she has still heard many terrible things (and her life has still been pretty brutal but that’s to be written still).

(it’ll be really fun in this regard getting to explore and explain this version of Laudna, but early days for giving much away on that yet!)

Her skirts are full and structured and plumed by many layers of petticoats that hide the movement of her feet across the wildflower lawn, causing her to appear to be drifting like the bees do from petal to petal, pollen dusting her pleats though ghostly her skin in contrast to the fine fabrics that she dresses for the part, black in mourning, still, bodice tight and sleeve leg of mutton, an ornate decorative layer of black lace laying over each yard of textured textile like spider webs on porcelain patterns, her husband's tableware collecting dust in the kitchen cupboard.

real impractical for how tending towards practical the Lady dares to be, hands on, too busy for errant hairs in piano key ivory and ebony windswept and loose from the high bun she pins in place with a cameo broach, a memento mori engraved in silver and inlayed with ruby eyes and tied with red ribbons. Her skin also proudly displays the age and perhaps trauma that her hair does, lines from laughter and furrowed brows and the feet of the crows that cry from the top of the chimney pots

A little note as to say that Laudna’s appearance is heavily influenced by Victorian mourning wear, with some of the clothes cuts altered to be a little bit more regency and earlier in places. (her  attire is a little outdated, further suggesting her distancing from society and fashion)

A couple of days ago Imogen happened upon a bird with an injured wing, crying helplessly and rolling in circles, feathers taking flight away from the bird that could not, settling around it as it panicked itself bald-

The bird could not live without the use of its wing, and it didn’t, whether that was by Prosciutto or a fox, only its feathers were left in a pile.

Imogen had gathered them into an empty burlap sack; taken them to one of the maids downstairs to clean, repurpose them for filling pillows.

Here’s a silly little easter egg for my p(r)oof reader. Last time he visited we was enjoying a cinnamon roll from the local bakery by the city river (as you do) and a cyclist hit a seagull. It was real distressing, the seagull was distressed too. A handfull of middle aged women stood around it not wanting or knowing how to intervene as its wing was twisted at a crazy angle and it flapped about in a pile of its own feathers, there’s still bird flu about so it is wise to not touch wild birds, and as bleak as it is I was saying to freshy that a wild bird who’s wings broken like that is gonna die, and probably slowly and painfully. Some man came along and lifted up the bird to take the bird off the path and laid it to rest behind an old bridge building, I think he must have mercy killed it too as the bird was already dead when we walked past 10 or so minutes later after finishing our cinnamon roll and giving a cautious glance. So there’s a nice happy memory thrown in there for him.

what appears to be driftwood breaches the surface, then another point, then another

the water belches

Ceviche scares, whinnying as he rears onto his back legs, the Lady leaning forward and clinging to his harness. Imogen stands in her stirrups, leaning across the gap over to the black stallion, grasping his reins and cooing

“All good, boy, all good-”

What had appeared to be driftwood lands on the surface with a slap, looking like the carcass of an old boat left to rot in the muddy bed of a dock, timber ribcaged and leathered skin cladding.

A femur surfaces, followed by a jaw.

Second easter egg for the p(r)oof is a quick one (I’m such a considerate writer, I know.) On a train ride to a loch we went to for a day out there is a stop that is on another lake/body of water, and right by the train tracks (which are at water height) there are 4 or 5 old ships stuck in the mud, most of them just the frames/structures of the old boats, mostly wood and some bits of metal, but they’re pretty big boats! It really looks like whale carcasses. I’ve always wanted to get of there and check it out, and we were gonna stop by on the way back but my health being what it is was giving me some grief that day so we missed 2 trains and then soon the daylight, so hopefully next time buddy.

There’s alotta meat and gore talk and Imogen being a vegetarian without the label for such is just another way of me playing round with all of her complex feelings about what the Lady might be doing, her feelings towards Angharad butchering and nourishing the women with these communal stews and all of that. I’ve been vegetarian myself for 20 years now, and it was all triggered by an existential crisis in my mid teens (still a huge fan of leather and blood though) – Imogen greatly cares about animals, struggles with the thought of anything being slaughtered, she is in some ways more empathetic than most because she knows those she does on so much more of a personal level, really feels how someone is reacting to a situation they are in, but also because of this she knows humans are often corrupt and vile and she is spared such thoughts from animals, only knows their instincts and the love and comfort and service they bring – and yet she will obsess over the Lady’s (potential) tooling on that saddlework leather that’s really fucking brutal if she thinks about it one way and beautiful if she thinks about it another hmmm what if everything’s not black and white.

Oh, and the stew is a homage to @picturesofthegoneworlds’ pre-campaign fic Intertwined which I am lucky enough to co-parent and her writing is hugely influential on mine.

There’s a few things being bread crumb trailed here that I can’t explain in the author notes yet, but I’m looking forward to when I can. One small detail I will give away is just a silly thing about the chapter headings. They are something of significance from within the chapter, given in its ‘proper’ name – maybe someone gets access to some books to do research at some point?

anyways, thanks @astoriacolumnstaircase for enabling me. will do another post like this for future chapters if folks find it interesting.

[implalazz]

Waaaaaaaaa I’m back with more yokai fusions & also a comically small Buchikoma

L-R: Blazitina, RoboGrapenyan, Damonono, Buchikoma, Komajisan, Pandatina

Again more design thoughts under tha cut ✌️

My fingers always feel sore after typing this much….. Lots of learning about the details of traditional clothes this time. I chose these pairings cuz I felt lazy & wanted to draw the simpler ones first lol

Blazitina: Lion girl 👍 First thing I can think of in my thought process was making the belt an obi sash. Tattered at the ends to batch Blazion’s & with an obijime for fun. I didn’t super feel like giving her the same kind of Miku-esque kimono sleeves that I gave Lord Lie-In so I just made them weird kinda arm warmers. Did the same for her pants too, I’m not sure what they’re called but they’re inspired by the leg warmer kinda things in PLA on the fancy kimono. Also gave her a juban cuz idk I made her gi dip too far under her arms & yknow she’s a little lady she’s gotta stay covered up. I know all of this traditional kimono gear isn’t conductive to good karate but whatever…… She doesn’t get boots cuz I like drawing paws & her ahoge mimic Blazion’s scar (I didn’t have enough room to fit it in). I was thinking of giving her an x shaped hair clip but I thought it’d be too busy on her head. Overall despite some things I’d change (the way I shaped the obi I know realize the shape is TOO stylistic) I think this is my favourite design of the bunch

RoboGrapenyan: Very much inspired by the pkmn Violet paradox mons* (*See the bells & eyes.) Not much to say it’s a pretty straightforward fusion. The tail onibi are lightbulbs because it feels more robotic & I thought it’d be cool. The jet exhaust is grape soda……. That was a choice. LOOK I’LL EXPLAIN, uh….. grape….. grape exhaust? Grape vapor? Grape soda????? Sure. Also I think in the back of my mind I was thinking of that soda gun from that one episode of SpongeBob. Naughty Nautical Neighbors. I had to google it I had to know what episode it was….. yeah.

Damonono: YAAAAYYYYY FIRST TIME DRAWING HAKAMA THEY’RE WEIRD BUT I’LL GET BETTER AT IT!! They’re supposed to be split leg hakama but in every reference I looked up they’re so wide that they just look like the skirt kind rather than having two leg holes. I gave them hakama cuz bootleg jeans would be weird with a kimono. And I like hakama. That’s it. The sleeves….. Let’s talk about those. I didn’t wanna give them the heart guns/cannons cuz idk…. I liked the way Damona’s hands were posed & I wanted to keep that. So instead they have weird fucked up heart shaped kimono sleeves. I wanted to keep Damona’s long obi too but I thought it might mess with the silhouette already having the sleeves & also that’s just not a thing you do with hakama. So….. her sleeves are kind of like the end of her obi…….. I’m only now realizing she could’ve had them tied up normally & they could still hang that low….. whatever. In my mind they go under the obi, get tied up so they can put on the hakama, & then untie them & let them hang over the hakama. Look I don’t think of fashion in terms of is this normal? Is this practical? If it looks good I do it. Not much else to say. I had to look up a tutorial on how to put on hakama cuz I wanted them to be as accurate as possible……. And now I know how to put them on so that’s cool I guess. I LOVE LEARNING!!!!!!!!

Buchikoma: Again pretty simple. I gave him a little tuft of hair to emulate Buchinyan’s wispy hair tuft. I forgot to draw the spot of the side of the right thigh, lol. His eye spot is shaped like an onibi cuz it’s cute 👍. His haramaki has the patterning of Jibakoma’s tummy spot cuz I can’t not give him the haramaki that’d be a crime. His ears are farther apart & smaller like Jibakoma’s, & his tail onibi are shaped like that cuz idk I tried to imagine what Jibakoma’s tail looked like & I thought of that. Overall another one of my favourite yokai fusions I’ve done. That’s my son

Komajisan: SPLIT EARS!!!!! Inspired by a fandom design of a certain character from a certain comic I won’t name….. IYKYK. Split ears cuz 2. Also extra swirly bits on the swirls cuz 2. I was thinking of adding blue spots to his bindle but I didn’t like how it looked so I didn’t do it. Fun paw spots cuz it’s cute. Forehead onibi are kinda angry lookin cuz idk….. I just felt it. Also mini onibi in between the forehead ones cuz 2. Some makeup accenting cuz……. IT’S CUTE!!!!!!!! I was also thinking of making the onibi half brown & half blue but it looked bad so yeah, I didn’t do it.

Pandatina: Probably my favourite in terms of lineart. I actually got noticeably better at drawing kimono particularly the sleeves. I’m proud :]. I honestly didn’t feel like giving her a haori/cape/whatever so I didn’t (also I just forgot to lol.) So she has a good sewn into the collar of her kimono. Clover shaped obijime like Slimatina cuz it looks cool & I like it, also I needed more clover shapes lol. She’s got one in her hair because of that too, I was thinking of making it blue but I thought nahh. She’s intentionally very pale cuz I wanted her skin tone to really match the snake part of her body. And she has eyeshadow on to emulate the spots around Pandanoko’s eyes, same with her pupils. Again just a simple fusion

[green-alien-turdz]

Do you have any advice for drawing backgrounds? I want to start drawing them more but they intimate me and perspective seems really difficult

I can try! I kinda suck at givin advice, but here we go

When drawin backgrounds, you almost wanna think of them as their own characters with the details you add n put into them. Rooms n homes are the best ways to express this bcuz you can add details like decor that represents those who live there n shit. You can draw the wear n tear on things, the aging, etc. Of course, a lot homes aren't gonna be as maximalist as I like to draw lol but that doesn't mean they don't have their own charm. Even when it comes to drawin the outside, there's so many little details that make the whole piece. Even a vast open desert has rocks, cracks, heat waves n alla that. Now that's just talkin about details, if perspective is what you need to work on, there's a few exersizes for that I guess.

You wanna focus on depth. Now not every scene has to have a lot bcuz sometimes that's just not the perspective or location, but depth is kinda important. Think of what's in the foreground (closest), middle ground, and the WAY way background. The two best ways to really capture this depth can be 1) Forest/nature scenes, and 2) Lookin through a window.

Practice by drawin the things you see. Like wherever you're sittin, draw your perspective from right there (includin things close to you in the foreground). This can help gain a better understanding of shots n scenes in different locations n understandin the perspective. These drawings don't have to be the most beautiful thing, just take in the depth n perspective. Take a very impressionistic style if you wanna.

I think the best advice I can give ya is to REALLY take in your surroundings. Every now n then, just take a moment to take in all of the little details in a room, in public, outside, on transit, etc. Look for the things that everyone sees but it's such commonplace that no one really notices. The beauty of backgrounds is that they can say a lot about a character, a places history, etc. Backgrounds tell their own mfin story.

But yeah, perspective can be kinda tricky, so imma go back to those two depth practices I recommended. Gonna do some quick lil shitty sketches to show you what I mean on like gettin that shit in. (Sorry for the crumply paper, my cat sat his wet ass on it). These are just to get an idea of what the practices can look like! They're not te end all be all. Spend as much or as little time as you want. It's all about learnin, man

I don't know how helpful this was. Sorry about that, dude. The best advice I can give is to just keep practicin. Everythin seems intimidating at first. Ya just gotta take the stride forward and keep tryin. It doesn't matter where you are with backgrounds now, bcuz with an effort made you'll see improvement each n every time. I've seen some of your stuff, man, I know you got this shit. Good luck!

[nerves-nebula]

I fucking adore your comic panelling, any advice on how to do it? Like specific ratios or ways to divide the page?

god there's so much advice i COULD give but i really dont wanna end up writing a book here. so I guess I'll say this: however you divide the page you should be CONSISTENT with it, i literally just learned/internalized this but it's made comic paneling soo much easier. when you break that consistency it will be more impactful. hold up lemme grab some pages.

so i recently started making loose stitches a 4 tier comic. it's not the exact same for each page cuz i'm lazy but i think it's made legibility way better. before i think it was kinda uhhhhh a little all over the place. not BAD but a little difficult to tell where your eyes supposed to go sometimes. which isnt great for a commic.

the page on the left in particular has always bothered me cuz i always read the top panels incorrectly and it's like. fuck man what is the paneling here why is it in two columns ????? that's so hard to understand. but the page on the right can be more or less easily understood (by someone who knows how to read comics) even without panel borders because it's just a simple 4 panel square.

one thing my comic professor really stressed was that he didn't like weird paneling or weird borders. for the most part, a square is fine. AND HE'S RIGHT. weird paneling is fun and cool but should be used sparingly or with intention, cuz if you do it too much then like. how tf are ppl gonna read your comic.

that being said there are a lot of cool ways to cut up panels even if they're just squares hold on lemme grab some examples

so the panels here are all square but the image in the one at the bottom is almost like a mural. one thing i really like to using is a lot of heavy BLACK, what can i say silhouette's have my entire heart.

in my fable comic, I used a 3 tier system. it wasn't the same exact size across all pages but all pages had 3 tiers of paneling. that way i can be a little more flexible with the SIZE of the panels to emphasize the more important things, without it feeling like it's all over the place

meanwhile in my comic final i used a 4 tier system where each tier was nearly the same across every page, but you can collapse tiers together for establishing shots and big reveals so that they're more impactful. it's still fully within the grid system I set up so it doesn't feel like it's messing with shit either.

ok i just spent a lot of time rambling about this one particular concept and it's probably not even what you wanted to hear about :') i didnt even go into ratios or anythinggg guhhhh sowwy

other than all that i'd just say you gotta keep looking at what comic artists have written and take note of how they use space and cut things up. there's this book called How To Read Nancy and it has all these exercises for understanding the building blocks of nancy. for real the author is OBSESSIVE and goes through everything of a 3 panel nancy strip from body language to spot blacks to the minutia of the background. we used this book in my class and did some of the exercises in the back and i think it's really good at getting you to THINK about what you're drawing. and you can easily pirate it if you're broke.

also try to make sure things dont get stagnant on a page. zoom out if you're only doing close ups (i try to make sure every page of loose stitches has at least one full body shot even tho I'm lazy and wanna just do talking heads- talking heads arent interesting!!)

also, take advantage of the fact you're drawing a COMIC. you can do shit in comics that you can't do in other mediums, try to implement them when u can! ALSO PRACTICE. you're not gonna get better just by reading and watching. you gotta do it lol. ok ok that's enough and you didn't even ask for that stuff you asked about PANELING sfdasfsd byeee

[specialized-rexan]

SCREENSHOTS I GOT FROM THE JEREMY JORDAN LIVESTREAM YESTERDAY. especially love the comments on his duck drawings. he was very proud of some of them since he needed to practice before the stream. he admits he does not draw much lol

and here's Lucifer's signature that Jeremy came up with: a cursive capital L attached to a pentagram!

the stream was SO FUN and literally only felt like 20 minutes even tho it was almost an hour

at one point he mentioned he's making pancakes with olive oil now since he has high cholesterol, and that he LOVES how the pancakes turned out. someone responded:

(later someone joked he should make pancakes with bacon grease and he almost shouted (not angrily) "DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE? I JUST SAID I HAVE HIGH CHOLESTEROL. I just said. I had high cholesterol. Are you TRYING. To kill me."

anyway back to screenshots lol)

"Take that, depression!" was a popular quote to write on prints, and he said he hoped we're not depressed and it was very sweet

some more quotes written during the stream and other notes:

"I'm gonna be signing these prints of my boy Lucifer, the short king of Hell"

he drank both a cold smoothie and hot tea during the stream. "Doesn't make any goddamn sense, but here we go."

"It's never too late to fuck up--too late to fuck shit up" (a legitimate accidental stammer. but still perfect in its own way)

"Every time I hear the name 'Shay' I think of my daughter's friend at school. My daughter's obsessed with a friend named Shay. 'S all she talks about. 'Shay Shay Shay Shay Shay Shay.' Shay and Madeline. It's like 'You can be your own person. Clara. You are your own HUMAN.' …HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATHERINE."

hopes to go to some conventions for Hazbin Hotel. more likely to go to cons in New York, New Jersey (where he lives), or Philly area

"He's just a li'l cutie. :3 Is he really da bosh? :3" (wondering if Lucifer really is the Big Boss of Hell Himself or if it's just more of a title)

"Hope you're not depressed"

" 'Write something Lucifer would say to cheer someone up.' And I think Lucifer would think that… 'SINGING MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER!' At least when it comes to rebuilding your relationship with your daughter."

"Guess what's in my smoothie. There are six ingredients. Go."

"…said draw a little duck, so I drew the smallest duck I could. (holds print up to camera then says in small high-pitched voice:) It's a little duck!"

MORE QUOTES UNDER THE CUT. THIS POST IS GETTING LONG ASFQJSKSKSKKS

_____

about his smoothie again: "Obviously, I just went to the gym. So I gotta have some kinda supplement in there. ... WHAT'S THE BASE, Y'ALL? YOU GOTTA HAVE A BASE." (someone could use that audio and give a character a bass guitar lol)

(still about people guessing smoothie ingredients:) "WATER? Why would I put water in my smoothie. (mutters:) Water is for losers. ... Kale! -grins and points at camera- That's it! You win. That's my smoothie."

his smoothie was blueberries, bananas, strawberries, protein powder, almond milk, kale

"…with a hUUGE shmiley faysh! :3" (about a little " =) " smile he wrote with an autograph)

"THAT DUCK IS CUTE!"

"We love, we stan Lilith"

AGGRESSIVELY, ABOUT A JOKE HE MADE: "GET IT?"

Some fatherly advice from Lucifer: "Don't fuck up your lives like I did 😎"

HE SANG THE START OF HELL'S GREATEST DAD AND WANTS A MIMZY-LESS VERSION THAT ACTUALLY HAS AN ENDING QSJFKSKKSKS

he's only seen Hazbin Hotel once, and he had "~champagne fountains, caviar mountains, that's just to staaart~" going through his head for the two+ years between recording his lines and the show airing. he wasn't able to tell anyone it because of non-disclosure stuff, and eventually he even forgot what that song line was from. but it still went through his head

"[Person he was signing an autograph for] is a bi girl [bisexual], and that's pretty baller"

"AN INCREDIBLE DUCK YOU SHALL HAVE"

"Take that depression!! Quack"

"Hold please!" (i just liked imagining Lucifer saying almost any small thing)

Jeremy Jordan says Lucifer is short, and not just that all the other characters are tall (i cannot confirm that that is canon even tho that's what i want LOL) "What gives!? There are short people in this world, and they need some love"

someone asked what he thinks about OC x canon ships. he was confused about what OC means and then when the chat explained, he was confused about how "OC x canon" works. but he figured it out after thinking for a moment. "So basically everybody wants to fuck Lucifer. GOT IT."

"Am I going to Hell for this" (about all the pentagrams he's drawing)

"…so i just did a bunch of stars and hearts around Emery's name 💜"

someone asked about his favorite Hazbin Hotel song, and he answered that season 2 has a rock song he really likes 👀 👀

"(a requested phrase for an autograph:) 'Duck lord loves you no matter what.' ...Don't know what that particularly means but…"

[loremaster]

BOBA AU - CHAPTER 1 EXTRAS

I had actually drawn a few more things than could fit within the 30-image-per-post limit. Here are the ones that didn't make the cut, with commentary!

(tw: mild animal abuse, n*zi mention, suggestive themes)

Zilch's animal companions. I named Carmina Burana and Tortellini, Gucci and Bosch were named by my friends - though Bosch was supposed to be called Hieronymus, it just didn't fit on the nametag lol

I wanted to illustrate some examples of Zilch casually mistreating/neglecting the animals but this was as far as I got. I don't think he would be a full on animal abuser, just... the type of person who likes having a bunch of pets to show off but doesn't really think about properly caring for them. He likes the aesthetics of animals much more than the logistics.

This was gonna be the chapter cover and I forgot. Oops.

This was just practice drawing the church characters from their sprites.

Zilch: I must say, it's an unexpected pleasure to run into another kindred spirit around here. I'm Zilch~

This scene was actually cut deliberately. I drew it before I decided exactly what the Nun's issue with Zilch would be and then once I did, I felt like it didn't fit anymore. Zilch is still excited to see someone else with ears and tail like him, but in the final version, he's a lot more derisive about it.

I imagine the Nun is, like, an actual animal-human hybrid whereas Zilch is a furry with a wallet that can afford bioengineered bodymods. (One day, my friends... one day...)

Zilch being flippant and Halara being dismissive/tsundere. Couldn't really find a place to put it but I still like the drawing - even if I did accidentally give Zilch human ears.

By the way, you might notice Zilch hasn't been wearing his cap. There are two reasons. One is to show off that his ears aren't actually connected to it. If I had the time to go back and redraw the prologue with him wearing it - so Halara's "holy fuck" reaction makes more sense here - I would. (Not really worth trying to fix though, not until the rest of the story is done.)

But the other reason is that upon looking closer at Zilch's original design, I thought it was a little too evocative of Nazi imagery and wasn't really comfortable with it. It's not really the same style of hat, sure, but combined with the swastikas in his eyes??? yeah no way is that not intentional. (I redesigned his eye symbols to be catlike slit pupils instead.)

I get he (or, the hitman, I guess) is supposed to be a villain, and a minor one, in the original game... but here I'm gonna flesh him out a bit more. So I guess in that sense the removal of the hat symbolizes his growth as a character beyond his terrible awful fascist upbringing lol (more on that in the Gumshoe Gabs soon)

If I were making this an actual game it would be fun to have Yuma get a fun little added gameplay element of using Zilch's Forte like he does with Halara's. He gets some little animal friends!!!

I imagined Zilch would ask to be carried, but Halara won't do it without getting paid an exorbitant amount. And then Zilch forks over the cash on the spot. Yuma screams internally. If he had that the whole time why were they even trying to negotiate over the coat???!? Why does he still have his own debt to pay if Zilch could just cover the whole thing up front????

Halara has to pretend not to be enthusiastic about this opportunity.

Shinigami is... there, I guess.

Martina my wife driving around her little parasite of a boyfriend. Ms Electro please call me

Was originally gonna have Seth say that out loud but then I remembered he doesn't want to lose his job. (It's okay, he loses it anyway.)

(Also yes this is pre-Vivia-DLC.)

And then the mystery is solved!

Zilch feels indebted to Halara for saving him from the Nail Man, and wants to follow their example, turn it around, treat his animals better... his act of goodwill here is extremely performative, though. But, hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere!

Ultimately I cut this scene after coming up with the cat bed idea. (Was very tempted to have Halara cruelly taking the coat from the boy, but just decided to skip it instead.)

So Zilch kinda idolizes Halara now... which is fine... but then the morning after he really lets his simp flag fly.

Congrats on your furry boyfriend, I guess?????

A doodle from the margins of this comic way back when.... which finally has a place to belong! \o/

Zilch's fursona. His "zursona," if you will.

Thanks again for reading! I love everyone's comments in the tags and I'm so glad you all like my version of Zilch especially. Excited to develop him some more in future chapters >:)

[arkarti]

Hi, I hope you're doing well! If you don't mind me asking, what is your whole drawing process and how did you manage to develope your style? I really love your artwork and it's inspired me to try practicing in a similiar art style, but the problem is I'm still kind of a beginner and don't know where to start lol. Even just some general tips as I struggle a lot with perfectionism.

It's perfectly fine if you don't want to answer or have any advice, regardless I wish you the best and want you to know how awesome your art is! And also make sure you're not overworking yourself, but other than that have a good day :D

First of all: aww thats so sweet! thanks anon 😊💖 And for drawing: The more you draw, the more you see what you actually like from your artworks: for me it was the rather sketchy/loose lines with flat colors. kinda messy, kinda rough - not 100% polished all the time. Fun fact: started out with semi realism, then came back to "simple" flat colors 😂 actually did the spongebob meme irl:

Anyway, this style works the best for me, cuz I don't get hung up in too many details (like I usually do). I can draw something relatively quickly in a few days rather than spending weeks on one drawing. I have like 300 wips at once so I gotta draw EVerYThInG as soon as possible 👀 idk how to really describe finding your style - I guess it comes naturally? 😅

Now, for starting: it's best to draw something you're passionate about: animals, fanart or whatever you like! biggest motivation ever. And of course the classic fundamentals: - learning anatomy (first thing) - perspective and framing - color and all that jazz

start simple: break things down into simple shapes 🙏 for example this hand:

step 01: ALWAYS use a reference when drawing - it helps! step 02: If you can't see shapes you can always try to draw them over the image to help you understand things better - great for learning!

There are plenty of great drawing tutorials on youtube where u can learn :3

And finally: don't be too hard on yourself! 🔥

[rainbowsparklecur]

that one character post…. with fae …,-,,2?3))3

WOOOOOOOOOO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

First impression

ok so FUN FACT when i first started playing i was fully gearing myself up for gilman to be my absolute number 1 favorite blorbo of all time. uhhh when i first met fae i was like "oh shes cute :]" and then didnt think much about her after that iirc..........like i thought she was very sweet and all but she didnt really grab me(little did i know)

Impression now

um. i like her a normal amount.

Favorite moment

ALL FAE MOMENTS ARE GOOD MOMENTS (except yknow. That Scene. i mean it was also a good scene but also just. hhrrggnh :[ ) however gotta say favorite was the scene with her and tizo after tizo ate the weird mushroom and got sick..........they are so precious i love them so much...friend ship..........

Idea for a story

well obviousdly theres The Dogdeer Fic but uhhh in terms of fae-centric stuff i do have uh. a few ideas. main 1 is a multi-chapter(maybe) fic based on part of faes topside ending (something about her getting taken in by some family in the commonwealth?) except i dont actually know much of what actually happened bc im avoiding spoilers so all of this could be horrifically inaccurate! so uh take it with a grain of salt lol ill probably edit it when i actually liberate her. also heres some snippets if youre inchrested lol

even if the idea doesnt work uhh just take this as practice for writing fae ok i had fun writing this and im proud of it lol

Unpopular opinion

thinks. ummm not a fan of moonheart/fae x almer romantically. also have some feelings about her not being As cuddly/social/happy-go-lucky as the fandom sometimes portrays her as but thats more like personal interpretation i guess *hides behind furniture*

Favorite relationship

UMMM......dog.......deer... they have potential.............honestly i love their relationship in game not just the potential they have i just hate how sgg was like "ummm yea almer is actually IN LOVE with fae theyre both so STRAIGHT AND IN LOVE and theyre gonna GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES"

however i also adore fae and tizos friendship.........theyre so precious cmon

like CMON how could you not love them. look at them

Favorite headcanon

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sifts through all my headcanons. i like the idea of her not remembering a lot of her past due to trauma and stuff(dissociative amnesia???is that the word) though i still wanna like research that kinda thing more so i dont portray it inaccurately or anything. also maybe the idea of her kinda having memory problems present day.....maybe......... uhh in terms of more light/fluffy headcanons uhhh......she likes bugs :] she loves bugs she very good with them even more "creepy" crawlys like spiders and wasps shes very gentle with them and in turn theyve rarely if ever bite/sting her. also shes maybe kinda nearsighted (if you ever see my draw her with glasses thats why lol) uh this is not projection at all. also one time i got an anon that said something about transmasc fae. i thought that was neat but uh maybe thats just me maybe im weird haha

OH WAIT ANOTHER ONE I JUST REMEMBERED when she was little she had a stray cat friend .she named him bread :]

uhhhh i think thats all THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!!!!!!!!!!

[annymation]

Hi Anny!! Got a writing prompt for ya!

So I’ve been seeing your little snippets of the KOW! Swapped AU between Star!Asha and Human!Aster, and they’re all soo cute X33

But now I’m wondering, what would the “At All Costs” scene look like? Or whatever song you swapped for AAC.

Would it be Aster who goes somewhere else private to practice his music? Would it be Asha who’s encouraged by their friends to confess to Aster? How does Aster react? How does Asha handle confessing?

Imagine the 7 (or 6 in this scenario) teens in the background being like: “JUST KISS THAT BOY ALREADY-!!”

Like I said in my original post about the AUs here:

Asha would sing "You Chose Me" from the musical "Breathe" as I think it fits her bubbly and happy personality very well. Now as for how a scene of them would play out, let's see...

After a lot of encouragement from the seven teens, Asha finally makes her way through the woods, following the sound of Aster's music. She finds him standing near a river, with his mandolin strapped on his shoulder, as he practices the magic she has given him.

(As I write this I realize that whole scene in KOW when Asha and Aster are hiding and Asha draws clones of themselves would have to change... Cause drawing is relatively silent, but playing music ain't lol so I guess Human!Aster's approach would be different, in this moment that is about him showing his growth... Maybe something more about him not being afraid to be loud and clear...)

Aster is trying to sing and hit a high note as loud as he can, by doing so he creates sound waves that make the water of the river tremble, but it's not enough, it wouldn't be strong enough to, let's say, knock someone out of balance for example, he gotta try harder.

Aster was so focused on his high note he didn't notice the light coming from behind him, till he feels a finger tap on his shoulder. He stops playing and turns around quickly

"AH- Oh hey Asha" the human didn't quite notice how nervous Asha seemed, like she was anxious to tell him something "Did Simon finish his dinner? We're good to go?"

"Umm yeah, everyone's ready, but- well... I wanted to ask you something first..." Asha can practically feel the 7 teens staring at them behind some bushes, waiting to see her confess... But instead Asha blurted out "Whatcha doing?" she asked awkwardly

"Just trying something different. I wondered if I could cause a sound wave strong and loud enough to be more destructive ya know... But no matter what I feel like my voice is like, stuck in my throat, ya know? Like it should be louder, but I'm holding back, even though I want to let it all out..." He explained with a pondering gaze on the mandolin

"... It takes time to find your voice, but I think the power you already have inside is more than enough to defeat them" The star smiled warmly as she spoke from her heart

"Let's hope. But yeah, what I can do is already pretty great, like, check this out" Aster plays a fast paced melody, and suddenly, the strings of his mandolin start to burn and he creates a fireball "I can make fire! That oughta be useful, right?" They try holding the fireball... It is- "HOT!" He exclaims as he throws the spell in the river "... Ya know, on second thought, maybe I'm not ready to go to the castle yet, maybe we should leave the plan for tomorrow or-"

"I know we'll win." Asha reassures him "You got a lot more power than you think, and that goes way beyond my magic"

Aster smiles and feels his cheeks getting warmer "Heheh thanks. I guess I'm just nervous cause'... Well, everything HAS to go according to plan"

"And what if it doesn't?" Asha tilts her head with a knowing smile

"Then Queen Amable kills us, I guess, or throws us in the dungeon to be her hubby's little lab rats" He shrugs, finding the outcome quite obvious

"... I don't know if things will go according to plan, but..." Asha holds both his hands, looking at him in the eyes with a radiant and optimistic smile that could make any shred of doubt fade away "As long as you follow your heart, you'll find a way... That's what made you wish upon me in the first place, right?" Asha giggled

Aster looks at her fondly, she's like the embodiment of hope...

"OH MY GOD- JUST KISS THE B-" Hal yelled from the bushes, to which Asha used her magic to make a wall of trees in front of the 7 hidden teens to hide them

"What was tha-"

"NOTHING!" Asha blurted out nervously

"Maybe the others are calling us, we should go" Aster begins to walk towards the trail that leads to their camp. But then, he feels her warm hand holding his wrist

"A-Aster wait!" Her voice shakes as she holds him, he looks back at her confused, so she tries her best to explain "I just... I think I discovered something new about how I feel about you... Well your friends did, but that's not the point" She mumbled the last part to herself "And I have so much I wanna tell you, but I don't know how to even start..." Then, Asha glances at Aster's mandolin for a moment, and that gives her idea "... Maybe I could try speaking your language... Can you give me a tune?" She asks with a soft smile

Aster is not quite sure where this is going, he raises an eyebrow at the request but complies "Uuuh sure ok" He starts to play a simple melody

And we get the song "You Chose Me"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I SPENT THE WHOLE AFTERNOON WRITING THIS LMAO @flicklikesstuff YOU BETTER APPRECIATE IT- just kidding, I had fun, but man, everytime these two are cute together I just covered my face blushing and giggling, kicking my feet, theyre so precious I cant hhidhefheljehbgfhhe

[froggo-tea]

I love how adorably you draw Xero. For me it is difficult to draw him so expressively, so how do you do it?

Waaaa thank u so much!!! Truly one of the best compliments I could ever receive :)

To be completely honest, I’ve been drawing Xero for like 2 years now or like a year and a half. Practicing has made me understand how I want to portray his character and the personality he has (or that I’ve given to him) in a way I don’t really acknowledge it, like, my hands know how to but my mind doesn’t- if that makes any sense lol

I still struggle to draw him from time to time, sometimes I feel like I do the same doodle lol. I guess exaggerating face features and moving them around is my way of doing it. Like I move his eyes a lot, every doodle of him has different eyes. I also add that little “brow” line on top to indicate the feeling better (just that one line can change the way he looks! which is impressive and a ur scary-) Playing around with poses too, even if you are just doing from the chest up twisting the body around helps, not just making him stiff in a straight line, certain poses can reflect someone’s personality! Like the way you stand is different from the way others stand (some out all their weight into just one leg, some have their hands crossed, etc etc) and that can show the way you act.

Sometimes I draw a little fang to show mischief for example! When his eyes are straight it means tiredness but when they are more tilted they look more angry, another example!

Im not a big expert on art and it’s hard for me to explain stuff to others but I hope this helps! We all start drawing something in a way you might not like, but slowly you get good at it! dw you’ll find your way!!

Ngl this made me look through my old doodles, so here’s how much I’ve grown to draw Xero!

These 2 doodle were done in November of 2022. The way I’ve drawn him has changed a lot actually- I hadn’t drawn him that much so these do feel a bit awkward- I hadn’t placed my art style on him yet, I was just using the in-game design.

Here are three others that I had done around 2023. I was getting more used to drawing him, tho I was still improving at drawing! The emotion I give him is expressed through his eyes cause he doesn’t really have a mouth lol- different shapes of eyes can help change what he’s feeling for me so yee.

And these are the last doodles I’ve done for him, literally drew these yesterday. I feel so comfortable drawing him now cause he’s just so funky and silky. His helmet is so hard to get use to drawing tho, I still find it a bit hard to draw his side view but hey I’m trying! (Also I tried redrawing the doodle of Xero on a throne-)

Tbh I’m really happy that you think he looks expressive!!! I always tell myself I gotta add more emotion to him and not letting him have an emotionless face, so I’ve been forcing myself to add more and more feeling slowly lol.

I don’t really know the exact way of adding more expression tho, kinda just guessing why it may look like that. Sometimes, I just do it. So, keep practicing! It’s what every artist tells other artists but it’s true, sadly lmfao.

Thank u again!! As the self-proclaimed #1 Xero hk fan (which lol probably I’m not but I love him to much so I like to think it as that-) I am thankful that you’ve acknowledged my incredible skills at drawing this silly fool.

[luckycharms1701]

HEY LUCKY! TMNT ASK 3 bay, 11, 22, 35, 36?

HEY SLOWPOKE!!! 💖 sorry lol i saw this come in and then forgot about it, i'm terrible

3.) What was your first impression of [TMNT iteration]? oooo bayverse? i was in love from the moment the turtles first appeared. i have terrible taste in movies, and it was right up my alley. and sam told me that bay mikey was exactly my type and they were right

11.) Which version of Raphael is your favorite? asking the tough questions here. man. um. i. i don't think i can choose. i love that rise raph isn't afraid to be soft and how he's enthusiastically supportive. i love bay raph for his stupid one-liners and jokes and the way he does everything to protect his family. i love 07 raph for his feralness and how he stands up for what he believes no matter what. and the leather. they're all amazing in their own ways.

22.) What is your favorite kind of pizza? i'm boring, i like cheese. or a margherita pizza. i am fond of italian sausage though.

35.) Which character relationships are your favorite to write/draw? i love writing the brothers being brothers. just their lovable dumbass selves. i need to write them interacting more, they're so good!!!!

36.) Which character do you have the hardest time writing/drawing? i think it's bay leo. idk why, i have a terrible time with figuring out what exactly he'd say in a given situation. of course, dialogue in general is a struggle for me so lol just gotta practice i guess!

[lafortis]

many disparate thoughts in my head, none of them super gripping. gotta wake up at 5:30 am tho, so that's gonna take priority. really excited about an opportunity I have to do some good in this world with my present skillset (which I won't describe too thoroughly just yet but it's neat and cool and tldr putting yourself out there when you've got a semi niche skillset is a good thing! sometimes ppl need help)

mostly just floating around binging the fuck out of dimension 20 these days. wish I was the sort of person who could listen to stuff at 1.5x speed, but unfortunately it's really quite good and they're all really funny, so I refuse to do that (coincidentally the reason I'm watching it in the first place). makes me desperately miss playing ttrpgs myself, but I think I'm (just barely) big enough to acknowledge that for me any ttrpg group I joined or in fact created would be doomed to failure because of my extremely flexible work scheduling lol. and considering I'm more inclined to gm than play I'd be doubly fucking others over lol. I maaaay start slowly writing a campaign tho, in spare time.

actually I am writing a whole post I guess so one last thing: the most annoying thing I'm coming up against is that I don't have any hobbies I can do in my room that don't involve my language and audio brains to do while I listen to dimension 20. Can't practice my bass (which I need to do more of btw), can't write or read cus that'd defeat the purpose. I'm really seeing why people draw while listening to podcasts. unfortunately I've got like seven thumbs and can't draw or do really any visual art to save my life. maybe I'll take a plastic bag to my room and whittle while I listen or smthn 🤔🤔🤔

[nobully]

wang yi goes meta and takes over the narrative

hi yes it's been awhile since i've posted one of these chapter update summaries but it was too fluffy (and yandere? lol) for me to resist this week. been translating the manhua text in gdocs since like ch89 so yeah ping me if you ever want links

ch 102: don't understand

(mild warnings ahead for yandere tendencies)

so we start the chapter with a recap from the last one where X kissed wang yi and said he is very happy to take back his other 2 selves if they're bothering him

long story short: qin xian is split into multiple selves between worlds, apparently, but they're all one soul despite being broken up

wang yi's like "uhhh it's fine" but the other 2 qin xians get jealous until slime QX zaps them away (convenient, that)

they come to terms about qin xian's multiple selves and X asks to put a tracker in wang yi's body so in the future he can find him (even if they end up in other worlds i guess?) wang yi's like wait what but X is already on it and boom, offscreen kiss (because the censors would kill it otherwise alas)

this is literally the original manhua panel and the kind of picture that practically begs an artist to hurry up and draw the other half (so where are you artists???)

anyways wang yi swallows a portion of X and gets a weird flashback to his System days where original!Qin Xian confessed his love and asked him to stay, but the memory's too fuzzy for him to process it

ofc he gets mad at the unintended ingestion (though mostly for health reasons) but X reassures him it's fine and the piece of slime he ate will stay..inert in his body.

wang yi gives up and goes sigh well whatever, then asks X why he likes him anyways when he already has memories of his jerkass self in the other worlds. X says it's probably fate tying them together, but WY scoffs at that and says there's gotta be an actual reason for this kinda stuff. (he also tells X to stop being a hopeless romantic when he thinks about stuff like this)

in the end he caves and says he'll fulfill the promise (to stay with Qin Xian/X for the rest of his life) if X still wants to hang around, which ofc makes X amused because he's just been a total obsessive weirdo (and knows it too). he asks if wang yi can still accept him after experiencing his twisted form of love

to which wang yi replies, he doesn't get what affection even is, so really what he's doing is trying to work with X and play along as best as he can. if they're both clear on that, they can give this relationship a try.

and it ends with both of them laughing at themselves for being freaks together.

wang yi asks how he's been (or rather, his other selves AKA the other Qin Xians who had to live on after wang yi left their respective worlds)

X mentions that it was agonizing and lonely, but if he reasons that all the waiting was to wait until he met wang yi again, then it's more sweet than bitter in the end.

the next day, the research lab welcomes a newly hired assistant for dr. wang: X in a modified human appearance complete with shoujo sparkles~

to pull off the ruse, X left part of his body in slime mode behind so he could play both roles at the same time

Sao Ling is naturally shocked, saying they're going off-plot, but WY placates him by saying it'll make finishing the novel easier when the heroine has to escape with the mermaid at the end (because it's a complicated task to pull off so she could use "all the help she can get")

he sweetens the deal by adding that this is a great way for them to earn points from the System, leading S-0 to realize WY's ultimate plan: shipping.

(but is he shipping heroine x mermaid or crazy scientist x lab assistant? i guess we find out next week...)