#so they only exist in my brain considered not being good enough to share with the world

[will41n]

guys i have billions of ideas flooding my mind rn and i want to know what you want to see first !!!!

[pinklotushere]

Just a little something ig

Tim's eyes widen as he takes in the sight before him, his brain slowly processing the pictures.

"You're a bat fan," he says, his voice a mix of disbelief and amusement

Danny looks away, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

"There's literally a picture of me mid-grapple across from us. Dude, your blankets are covered in my family's symbol," Tim points out, his tone caught between exasperation and fondness.

Danny's face flushes as he mumbles “I’ve never seen that picture before in my life,” danny lies. “And—and you happen to share the same symbol as this space group from russia, total misunderstanding, I can see how you’re confused—"

Tim can't help but grin as he watches Danny squirm, caught red-handed in his superhero fanboy moment. It's adorable, really, how this powerful ghost boy turns into a blushing mess at the mere mention of Tim's vigilante alter ego.

Tim's eyes glitter with mischief as he moves closer to Danny, his voice dropping to a teasing whisper. "So, you used your powers to stalk us, huh?"

Danny squirms, caught between embarrassment and the warmth of Tim's body.

"Maybe a little," he admits, barely audible, his lips brushing Tim's ear. "But it wasn't for long-! Like only a few times and-"

Tim kisses him, just to shut him up. He keeps his eyes open, if only to watch the way danny’s face melts under tim’s touch.

“You’re our biggest fan,” tim teases

Danny hides his face in tim’s neck. “You guys are so cool,” he complains, shy and soft-voiced. Tim hums, and his smile broadens; he has the cutest boyfriend. A cute, ghosty boyfriend who could dead-lift trucks. Yum

"Okay, fine," he mumbles, barely audible. "I might be a teensy bit of a fan."

Tim can feel the heat radiating from Danny's cheeks, and he can't help but grin. His boyfriend, this powerful ghostly being who could probably level a city block if he wanted to, is blushing like a schoolgirl over some superheroes.

"You guys just do so much good, y'know? It's hard not to admire that," Danny continues, his voice soft and shy.

Tim's heart melts a little more with each word. He pulls back slightly, just enough to see Danny's face, all flushed and adorable.

"You're ridiculous," Tim says fondly, unable to keep the smile off his face. "And absolutely perfect"

He playfully pokes Danny's side, relishing in the soft giggle it elicits. "You better not have any of the other's merch. you're all mine, ghost boy"

"Well..."

"That's it, you're not getting cujo in the divorce"

"Oh, come on," Danny whines, his eyes widening in mock horror. "You can't take away Cujo! He's our ghostly baby!"

Tim snorts, trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably.

"Fine," he concedes, rolling his eyes dramatically. "You can keep the spectral pooch, but I'm confiscating all your Nightwing posters."

Danny gasps, clutching his chest. "You wouldn't dare!" he exclaims before breaking into a fit of giggles.

Tim joins in, their laughter echoing through the room. As it dies down, Danny leans in, pressing his forehead against Tim's. "You know," he murmurs, a mischievous glint in his eye, "I might think jason is hot, but you'll always be my favourite Robin."

Tim groans but can't hide his smile. "You're impossible," he mutters, pulling Danny in for another kiss.

"I can't belive you just told me you think my brother’s hot"

Danny presses a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Forgive me?"

Tim pretends to consider it, tilting his head thoughtfully before a grin breaks across his face.

"I suppose I can let it slide... this time." He punctuates his words by capturing Danny's lips in a deep, searing kiss that leaves them both breathless and dizzy.

When they finally part, Tim's eyes are dark with something that makes Danny's non-existent heart race.

[aveloka-draws]

Saleos-anon, the one who sent that big essay about Saleos/Kallamar's relationship, here to think about the freak again. Just thinking about the unique position Saleos has watching the Lamb's ascension. Saleos knows that to love a god is tread the inevitable path of giving everything you are to them. Because thats what being devoted to the divine is. Kallamar asked them to plunge that dagger into their chest and that was that. I've no doubt Kallamar probably gave no thought to if Saleos lived or died after that until they reunited. Also considering how Saleos reacted post Lamb learning about Narinder's order to die for their freedom. The way he says "So you didn't know." No idea on whether Saleos knew the specifics, but he KNOWS that to love a god will only end with them demanding everything of you. Because he's living it himself. We see the same thing with Theon and Leshy in that worshiper AU. Cause if I recall correctly, that timeline ultimately ends with Theon being sacrificed to Leshy despite everything they do and the bond they form. Its truly ironic that the thing that makes their relationships possible, the thing that allows them to even EXIST together, is the fact that their gods are mortal now.

Anyways apologies for my second essay your comics and characterizations give me brain worms (I have a tangent about how this affects Narinder's current actions with ascending lamb and how this no doubt warps Shamura even now because that lens is how they've viewed all their personal relationships for aeons but this is long enough as it is.) Keep up the good work! My brain worms need nourishment

🤝Brainworm to brainworm comunication this is so fun im barking at this im

thank u for sharing it hfhdgg

[ashs-nerd-den]

Studyblr prompt Week 1 - My Study space

I usually study either my desk or by bed, but nobody is seeing my bed on here, and I did up my desk at the start of the summer to make it ADHD friendly, which I have been dying to show off, so this is the perfect opportunity to do so.

The peg board is not only aesthetically pleasing, it is an ADHD saviour. The clear storage means that I can actually see stuff so that way I dont forget that they exist. The pretty notebooks add the aesthetic which draws me in to study and makes it seem more appealing to my brain.

The temporary dumping box is where I throw things when I don't have the energy to put them away because it prevents mess and when I do have the energy, I don't have to pick everything up around the room because they're all in 1 spot.

A lot of people put up pictures of their goals, like their dream university, or the exam results that they want. I put up pictures of my grandparents (that's what's behind the hearts). If I turn out even 1% as amazing as any of them, I will die happy, because they are the most incredible people ever. I'm considering shuffling things around a bit so I can put up a picture of one of my aunties because she is beyond amazing and she is currently doing her masters in psychology (the field I want to go into) while raising her kids and being a carer. I don't use Pinterest for inspiration, my family is more than inspirational enough for me. I could go on for hours about how extraordinary each of them are, but I'll save yous the time.

The water bottle hole was probably for a pen holder, but neither of my pen mugs fit and it gives me a designated place to put my drink so that I don't forget about it, which is good because last time I checked humans need water and not just lucozade and coffee.

There are even more highlighters in the drawer because they are one of my special interests and I love them (I have more in my school pencil case and a full pencil case of highlighters)

Everything is visible with no covering or lids because I will forget that they exist. Adhd object impermance is a BIG thing in my house, and when I say big, I mean it.

The tumb tacs and paper clips are once again part of a stationary special interest that I have had since I was around 8

The different shaped sticky strips and sticky speech bubbles are for annotating things in a way that gets my brain to actually want to look at it. You might be recognising a recurring theme here. If it isn't right infront of me and looks fun, my brain doesn't cooperate.

The day planner is because I want to try to work out a way to do bullet journaling that works for ADHD. Like the way that it was originally created for. But all of the resources are aimed at neurotypicals and nobody can find resources on how to us it for ADHD anymore, even though that was the whole purpose of them (this is not hate towards any neurotypicals that use them, this is hatred of the fact that so many of our resources get shared to neurotypicals and then we lose access to them)

This was longer and more rambly than intended, but I'm both mentally and physically exhausted so I'll probably edit this tomorrow because once it goes into the drafts, it never comes out.

[sourw0lfs]

dance with the devil - part eight

No one look at me. My three fics for STRBB has taken over my brain.

Words: 509 | Rating: E (mostly parts 1 & 2, but also future parts) | CW: no warnings this time! except Eddie's continued bad time

part one || part two || part three || part four || part five || part six || part seven || part eight || part nine || part ten || part eleven || part twelve

Eddie turns to Steve and blinks, once, twice, thrice.

“I just admitted to being dead and being one wrong move away from going to Hell, and you want to know how this effects you?” he asks incredulously. “You really are something, aren’t you?”

And maybe he’s being a little mean, a little unfair, considering the scene he walked into not even a handful of hours ago now, but Eddie can’t find it in himself to actually care. Maybe he’d be a little more sympathetic if he could remember being alive, but he can’t. He can’t, and he doesn’t know if he ever will again.

“You’re dead,” Steve bites back. “At, apparently, twenty-three. I think my still being alive is more important.”

It takes every bit of self-control for Eddie not to laugh, because this would be his luck. He would get assigned to the actual rudest person on Earth. “Well, you worry about that, and I’ll worry about the eternal state of my soul and whatever the fuck happens if I fail this.”

It’s not an ideal situation. It’s so, so, so far from ideal, but Eddie doesn’t really know what else to do. Not with Steve apparently being the prickliest little motherfucker in existence.

“How about we worry about both of you? Is that something you two can compromise on?” Robin asks with the judgiest raised eyebrow Eddie’s ever seen.

Eddie rolls his eyes at her, noticing that Steve does the same. “If we must,” he grumbles.

“Glad you can be reasonable,” Robin thanks him sarcastically and Eddie thinks he might be back to hating her a little. At least Steve seems equally miserable. “So are you stuck just following Steve around and keeping him out of trouble or what?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“I don’t need your help,” Steve gripes as he crosses his arms.

Eddie snorts, probably louder than he really needs to, but it’s fucking funny. “Says the guy that would be in jail right now without me,” he points out, bearing no thought on if Robin knows the predicament Steve found himself in that morning in full or not.

She doesn’t seem surprised, so Eddie takes it as her knowing.

Steve huffs at him, rolling his eyes so hard Eddie has to wonder if it hurt. But he doesn’t open his mouth to protest, and that’s good enough for now. It means they both agree that Steve would be fucked if Eddie hadn’t been there, and that’s a start. If they could keep that being the worst of their time together, Eddie might think himself lucky, but he’s never had much luck. He did, after all, die at twenty-three.

“Either way,” he continues on when no one protests. “I’ll try to stay out of the way as much as I can. Only intervene if I think there’s danger.”

Because for all he could use his newfound angelic magic for things like making sure Steve didn’t trip over an untied shoelace or that he always has exact change, Eddie really doesn’t think that’s his job.

Tags below the cut as always!

@chaosgremlinmunson @soaringornithopter @hbyrde36 @shares-a-vest @dreamwatch @quevadilla @tboyeddie @penny00dreadful @momotonescreaming @stevesbipanic @dawners @steddiejudas @just-my-latest-hyperfixation @estrellami-1 @vthx @lolawonsstuff @gleek4twd @littlebluejane @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lawrencebshaggoth @sadisticaltarts @queenie-ofthe-void @r0binscript @anaibis @hairdressersdoitwithstyle @goodolefashionedloverboi @spookednsaucy @anne-bennett-cosplayer @flustratedcas

[e-vay]

Evay QA Bulk Post 5

Here we go again! These do not include Domino or Phlox questions as I plan on addressing those in a separate post. I couldn't get through as many questions this time around but I did what I could. I'm sorry, I'm just a little mentally and emotionally overwhelmed right now so I can only respond to so many at a time.

Thank you all for reaching out ☺️ Despite my brain, I am always very appreciative to hear from you!

PERSONAL ASKS

sayain-princess-vegenta asked: What is some original artwork or stories you've been working on lately? I know you probably get a bunch of questions for established fandoms but spoil us with your own thoughts! 😇

A: Well that's very kind of you to ask! To be perfectly honest, I mostly stick to fan art or creating original characters that exist in an already established world. I only have one personal project that is completely original, but so far it's only character designs. I don't have a full story or world built yet. I'm not sure if I'll ever share it on here.

Anon asked: Who or what made you wanted to do art?

A: There wasn't anyone or any particular thing that made me want to draw. I've just been drawing since I was able to grasp a pencil (or crayon) in my hand and I've never stopped! 🥰

Anon asked: Have you ever caught someone stealing or drawing your art?

A: Ohohoho, allllll the time

-

MISC SONIC ASKS

Anon asked: Do you still like sonic boom or are you over it?

A: My love is everlasting!

Anon asked: Hello Evay_art I always wonder have you always thought doing Amy Rose game???

A: Hi! Do you mean for me to make an Amy Rose game? I don't have the talent to do that, but gosh do I want there to be an Amy game so badly! ☺️ She deserves it! I would love to play a game devoted to her. I thought The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was especially great because she was a major character in it!

Anon asked: What is your opinion of Sally Acorn? Do you like the idea of her and Sonic have had a relationship? In fact, something I never got an answer for, is she considered canonical?

A: I'm not a fan. Plenty of people can argue for or against Archie characters, but Archie is not considered part of the game canon like IDW is.

Anon asked: I keep on hearing everyone talk about Hell Hath No Fury, so I finally got curious enough to read it! I have to say that it was coming out really good! Do you plan on working on it again any time soon?

A: Thank you for checking it out! I'm glad you were enjoying it. Yes I do plan on picking it back up eventually.

Anon asked: Does HHNF take place in Sonic Boom(Sorry if this is a stupid question)

A: It's not a stupid question at all. HHNF is a Modern Sonic story, not Sonic Boom. Also, it is not part of my AU. It's a completely separate story 🖤

fungus101 asked: Can you do more Werehog stuff

A: Oh I plan on it! I love drawing werehogs!

Anon asked: I have a question since sonic boom has been over for a while now. Do you still like the designs from it or have you moved on? Cause I know the sonic boom designs are somewhat of a future designs for some of your comics. I was just wondering if it would be Recon at this point

A: I still love the Sonic Boom designs and they're still part of my canon. I try to draw more than just Boom (I've been especially neglectful of the Modern designs and I need to do a better job of that), but the Boom designs are still my most favorite to draw.

sonicx1027 asked: Hey Evay, I’m curious if you are going to make another comic in the future, especially with the new Sonic Characters being added from the IDW series. If you are, have a story in mind?

A: I definitely plan on including IDW characters in future comics! I need to catch up on the IDW comics before I feel comfortable enough to write anything. I want to make sure I keep them as in-character as possible. But in the meantime I do have plans of having them make little appearances.

itsyourboysworld asked: on a scale of one - ten how made are you that we still don’t have a trailer for sonic the hedgehog 3 because for me it’s infinite

A: WHY ARE THEY TORTURING US?! GIVE US A TRAILER!!!! I am sure it will be worth the wait but it's killing me.

Anon asked: How do you feel about Mighty the armadillo?

A: It's funny because I think one of the Tailstube videos (or perhaps it was one of the Twitter takeovers) made the point that Mighty is basically just a more mellow version of Sonic and I do agree, I've always thought that. I actually think he's like a fusion of Sonic and Knuckles, but super chill.

-

MY OCs/AU ASKS

emceevoices asked: In Boom Baby, what was the movie Sonic, Amy, and Eggman were watching? In my dub, I had them watch the 93 Super Mario Bros movie, but did you have any specific movie in mind?

A: I believe you're talking about Chapter 5.1 of My Gal. They are watching my own make-believe Overwatch movie lol I just wanted an excuse to draw Mercy as a Mobian

toonfan91 asked: Oh my gosh I thought your tumblr was dead, as a fan of your work it is stellar seeing new Sonic art from you again, or art at all really. I do have one question, if you were to have the time and willingness to, would you draw designs for the Freedom Fighters (Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor and Nyx) that fit in your AU and try to work them subtly into it?

A: I'm still alive! Haha 😄 Thank you so much, I'm really glad you are enjoying my new work! I'm sorry to disappoint but I was never a fan of the Archie comics or characters, so no I do not include them in my AU. Sorry!

milangakokoros asked: Has pensado dibujar a whisper y tangle como si fueran parte del AU donde Aurora existe? Como serian sus vidas? Dime que estarian casadas jajsjj

A: I do plan on adding Tangle and Whisper 🥰 I need to get caught up on the IDW comics to make sure I'm writing them in-character, but they will make an appearance in the near future.

furrylovergril495 asked: Also how old is Aurora? Ps I think she one of the nicest fan kids I ever since

A: Thank you so much, I'm so glad you like her! 💗 I don't like to include exact ages because I don't think Mobians age the same way humans do. Especially since SEGA has redacted the Sonic characters' ages. But for majority of my drawings, Aurora is the human-equivalent of about 20-23 years old.

Anon asked: can you draw super Aurora and tell me what abilities she has

A: 😊 I've drawn Super Aurora (aka "Aurora Borealis") quite a few times! [x] [x] [x]. She has all the standard Super Hedgehog powers (Flight, strength, invincibility, etc.)

thechosenflow asked: How does Metal sonic interact with Aurora? Are they friends or does Metal act as a guardian?

A: I've only drawn the two crossing paths once. I like to think that Metal Sonic is secretly in love with Amy, and so when Amy and Sonic get married he is pretty devastated. Maybe he gets his own Metal Amy and has his own Metal family??? 👀

Anon asked: So we know that Sage is best friends with Aurora but how is she with Rouge and Knuckles son's? I forgot their names😭

A: That's okay, I have a lot of characters. You're asking about Ruff & Tumble! Honestly I don't see her having much of a relationship with them. They are quite a bit younger than Aurora so I don't think Sage would have much reason to be around them often. HOWEVER! I do write Sage to have a friendly-competitive relationship with CC, and since CC does not care much for the hyena boys, that means Sage automatically gets a kick out of them.

antooogamer asked: What happened to Sonic's scarf? Do you keep it or when you retire will you give it to one of your grandchildren?

A: With how much danger that hedgehog gets in to, that scarf would have been ripped to shreds! No way it survived long enough for his grandkids to have it 😆

Anon asked: Have Aurora ever met Blaze, Sliver, and Amy's parents?

A: Blaze and Silver are friends with Sonic and Amy so she definitely would have met them at some point. I originally wrote Amy's parents as having passed away before she and Sonic got married, but I recently decided to change that! The Rose 'rents will be alive in my canon! So yes she'd have met them, too!

cyberdiesel asked: What is Aurora's relationship with the Gogobas and Froglodytes (including Og) like?

A: Aurora does not have any relationship with them (I did not care for them so I don't plan on ever drawing them haha)

Anon asked: What did Sonic and Aurora do for Amy on Mother's Day?

A: They spoiled her rotten by making her the most delicious, sweet, unhealthy breakfast imaginable with pancakes and ice cream and all the flavor syrups! Sonic even cleaned up after!

Anon asked: Does Aurora loves Chillidogs like his father?

A: Nobody loves chilidogs as much as Sonic haha But she does enjoy them. She kinda has to, chili dogs are a staple in the Rose household!

medi0creartz asked: There’s something I’ve been thinking for a long time. I don’t know if someone asked you this but has Cream and her Mom Vanilla ever meet Aurora?

A: Of course! Cream is Amy's best friend. Aurora absolutely would have met her!

echidnapower asked: So, difficult philosophical lore math question for you. 👀 Aurora and Sage are besties. Aurora is the daughter of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sage is Dr. Eggman’s daughter. Dr. Eggman wants to destroy Sonic and take over the world. Sage never wants to hurt Aurora. Eggman hurting Sonic would hurt Aurora. Sage is "presumably" loyal to Eggman. Solve for X, if you know what I mean. >:)

A: echidnapower you always ask the tough questions! It might not be very exciting, but Eggman mellows out in my AU as he gets older and he even adores Aurora, so he has no intention of hurting her. Sage does want to rule the world and make the Eggman Empire reign supreme, but she wants to do it passively and by intelligent means, not through destruction ;) Sorry that's a boring answer for you!

km0901 asked: Hi again! A question that's been on my mind lately comes from your "Time travel" comic. In it, we know that Aroura goes back in time to save Shadow, but from what? I first thought it might be DR. Eggman, but he has seemingly moved on with his life along with everyone else. This leads to the big question, who or what is this new menace?

A: I know this is a disappointing answer, but I can't reveal what the threat behind that storyline is yet! You'll have to wait when I can finally write that story out as a fic. All I can confirm is that the threat is invented by me. It is not an antagonist from the game canon. I'm so sorry I can't share more!

Anon asked: will you ever draw your human AUs for sonic again sense you have a newer art style ( btw speaking of art style i Love it and absolutely adore everything you post)

A: You are such a sweetheart, thank you! I'm really happy to hear that. I'll draw human Sonic characters again, just not sure when :) Some people really hate the way I draw the gijinka Sonic characters so that's why I don't do it much. But whatever, it is what it is. It's not going to stop me forever lol I'm happy you like it!

Anon asked: I love the design for Movie Aurora!! Since Tom and Maddie are like Sonic's adopted parents (if Aurora lives on earth), would you see Tom and Maddie show her tons of affection like grandparents?

A: Thank you so much! Yes I'm sure Tom and Maddie would be over the moon to have a grandbaby! I have the cutest vision in my head of them having to buy doll clothes for her since she's so little.

*The next question is a Shadora Ask. Skip if you don’t like Shadora

Anon asked: Now that i thought, have the Shadora Offspring ever met Black Doom? If they did what's their relationship with him?

A: The Shadora Horde are aware of their lineage [x] [x], but no they don't have a relationship with Black Doom at all. If Black Doom were alive, Shadow definitely wouldn't let him anywhere near his kids.

-

SHIPPING ASKS

aeroranger100 asked: What inspired you to make My Gal? Or maybe I should ask, what got you on board the SonAmy ship in the first place? 💙🩷

A: My Gal came about simply because I thought, if Sonic were to ask Amy out, how would it go? Although I love sappy romance and angst, I actually prefer writing comedies so I put it in the Sonic Boom universe because I could go super silly with it! Though, I still think their date might go sort of like the events of My Gal no matter what universe it takes place in 😉 As far as why I first started shipping Sonamy, it was simply by learning who Amy was in the first place! The moment I saw her and got to know her character I thought, oh, this girl is the one. I wrote a very detailed post about it a long time ago if you'd like to read it! It wasn't meant to persuade anyone, it was just meant to illustrate why I'm so passionate about those two!

Anon asked: Your Sonamy art always gives me life and I love whenever you draw them smooching😘😘 Question: Do you have any art of Sonamy making out? Or if you know of another artists could you point me to them? I'm having cravings!!

A: Thank you so much! Honestly I feel like I draw them making out all the time 🤣 The entire ending and Epilogue of My Gal is just them kissing constantly haha! I'm working on some birthday drawings that should satisfy that craving of yours 👀

Anon asked: Hope I’m not annoying but what are Shadow’s, Sonic’s and Amy’s orientations(sexualities)? I know you answered What are shadora children sexualities but I really am curious about this. Also,love your art💜🙌

A: You're not annoying and thank you for the compliment! Honestly I can only answer for my own characters because they are 100% made by me. Unless SEGA officially confirms what Sonic, Shadow, and Amy's preferences are then I can't say for certain. We can all just imagine what we want.

Anon asked: Are Sonic and Amy still an active couple when their grandparents? And what do you mean by active e-vay? 😏Plz explain if you want😊…. I’m very curious 😂

A: Anon, you are too funny. You can't ask me a question and then follow it up by "what do you mean" when it was your question! 🤣 Yes they're still very active, however you mean it to mean! 😜

Anon asked: Do you think boom sonic has feelings for amy as well?

A: Absolutely I do! He was so sweet on her in that show!

Anon asked: What if sonamy was a same gender couple?

A: I've said it before but I'll say it again: As long as they're together and they're happy, I'm happy!

Anon asked: hi e-vay what's ur fav sonamy universe?? (boom, prime, etc.)

A: Hi! Wow, that's really difficult for me to pick. Boom was definitely the most fun for me. That show made me laugh so hard and Sonic and Amy were both so handsome and pretty, and they were so funny the way they interacted. I am still 100% of the belief that they were secretly dating during that show!!! But Modern has the most potential. It can be fun and it can be serious, so if they ever wanted to take Sonic down a romantic path I think it would be more meaningful in the Modern context.

Anon asked: desearía tener más contenido tails x cc realmente los amo!!

and makarov asked: More cc x tails comics pleeeaseeee🥺? And will you do an cc x tails animation?

A: I'm so happy you like the LoveBytes (TailsXCC) ship! I promise I'll draw more in the future 💛 I'm sorry for the wait. I don't know about an animation but definitely more drawings to come.

nightfurylover31 asked: I’ve been listening to Backstreet Boys again to relive my childhood, and the songs “Shape of My Heart” and “I Don’t Wanna Lose You Know” feel like perfect Sonamy songs! 🥰💙🥰🩷

A: Backstreet Boys! Talk about ROMANCE! I love those and of course now I will associate them with Sonamy 🥰 Thank you for sharing!

blueberryydraw asked: hey e-vay! I love your works and I'm a big fan of Sonic. Would it be possible for you to make a Sonamy movie? :)

A: Thank you so very much! Are you asking if I could make a sonamy animation some time? If so, I can't say much about it but there is a very special project I'm working on! It won't be ready for a very long time, but when I can talk about it, I will!

ultimate-guardian asked: What do you say about Knuckles x Mighty?

A: I don't personally ship the two of them together

*The next question is a Shadora Ask. Skip if you don’t like Shadora

Anon asked: Sonic does not want Shadow to date Aurora cause he thinks he might hurt her or is it because they don't like each other?

A: It wouldn't matter if it was Shadow or not, Sonic doesn't want Aurora dating anyone. He doesn't think anyone is 'good enough' for his daughter.

–

Thank you all for the questions!

Evay QA Bulk Post 1

Evay QA Bulk Post 2

Evay QA Bulk Post 3

Evay QA Bulk Post 4

Evay QA Bulk Post 6

[turuin]

Inktober

So, in a few days it will be Inktober again.

Many (ill-informed and arrogant) people think Inktober is a silly thing, a show-off, a stupid challenge that has nothing to do with art, and generally despise those who partake in it. We will not talk of such people: they are just another specimen of the archaic "internet troll", and we know well one should not feed trolls. They are only expressing themselves to grief others, or to spoil their fun, and this is pretty much their top aspiration for their internet persona - and I think this speaks volumes of what kind of people they might be in real life.

I'll tell you this instead: Inktober was the very reason why I started considering my stupid office-time doodles something more than that; and, potentially, the very thing that made me understand a couple of important things about art in general.

So, it boils to this: you have a list of verbal prompts, one per day, which you pick from many lists. Yes, there is an official Inktober challenge, set up by Jake Parker and normally available on Instagram and on its own website. Parker was part of an internet controversy, a couple of years ago, about having stolen the idea for an Inking Textbook from another very good artist, Alphonso Dunn; whether you choose to use Parker's prompts or entirely different ones, though, is entirely up to you. I have skipped them, back then, and then I started using them again a couple of years afterwards. They are handy, and you can use them without sponsoring Parker at all, if you feel like it (he has trademarked the Inktober brand for sketchbooks but you can't really trademark a challenge, so hashtags are still free to use).

List controversy aside, the fun thing is that it asks you to draw once per day, possibly with ink (but not solely, and rules are entirely up to you about the medium you want to use whether it is digital or traditional) for a total of 31 days, the whole month of October.

Back when I started, I didn't think myself capable of doing this until the end, and surely my skill was much lower than today. And yet, Inktober taught me many things:

stick to the plan, but if you skip a day, or multiple days, don't worry! Nobody is paying you for that, and there are many people who will keep drawing from the list well into November, but when you decide to draw for the day, put yourself into it - don't do it just because. Inktober is not about speed or skill, it's about challenging your brain and hand on interpretation and execution.

share your art. It is basic? Share it. It is made at the top of your abilities? Share it. People are insulting it? SHARE IT. You have to be able to disconnect emotionally from your art when it is done. You like it? Fine! You don't like it? Fine! I've made it. It is there. Do what you will with it. I have already accomplished my goal: the process.

It will be an occasion for you to learn. You never used ink? Try! You never used ink pens? Try! You never used an old brush with dried ink on it to create strange effects? TRY! Inktober might as well be about trying anything that crosses your mind. Also, you don't need expensive tools; a sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen can, and often will, be enough.

People mock you because you do Inktober or are stressed out because you post Inktober updates? That is a perfect time to remind them of the existence of the "unfollow" button. It does wonders with people who live in troll caves.

You feel like you need to vent? You feel like you're being left behind and stress because you think you will not complete it? First of all: VENT. Your blog / page / online space is yours and you should keep in mind that whatever you post has to do with YOU, not others. People may not like what you post, it's fine. They can unfollow, or start their personal rant in their online space about you - at the end, we are all passing by, if people want to live their life in anger or ranting about your art or your blog, it's their liver, not yours. No, that's not a typo: I'm actually referring to their liver, which probably will not be in very good conditions to start with.

People give you unsolicited advice or opinion on your art? Gracefully nod, and forget about it one fraction of a second later. When you will need advice, you will ask for it, and welcome it. My suggestion is you stick by that rule for pretty much everything in your life: you should be asking, that is of paramount importance, and learning how to ask something is at least as important, but nobody should force you into their opinion. TL;DR: fuck'em opinons.

Again: don't fall in love with your art. It's a piece of paper; you can burn it afterwards. You already possess that art within your hands. It is lost forever? It's ok. You have made it. It existed. You ceased caring about it as soon as it was on paper. Let it go. It is not yours anymore. Let people make what they will of it. You are already unto the next one.

So: I will partake in Inktober, and vent, and chat about it, and post art. I will also do this in our community, https://www.tumblr.com/communities/ars-gratia-artis , and for the time being, I will allow people who want to share their art, participate in the community and not be toxic about it, to join with a link. I would also very much love for community members to attempt Inktober, even with a little doodle whenever they are able. It's fun, I promise!

If you want to join our community, Inktober or not, here's the link:

[wordsandrobots]

Apropos of half-awake thoughts this morning, I've been considering the perennial subject of people coming into fan-works and making demands of the writer or artist in regards to their creative choices. You know, 'this is wrong', 'you should change this', 'make more!!!' etc. It's been quite some years since I had to deal with that kind of behaviour but I've seen it happen to other people and it always sucks. Today my brain has decided to connect it to Humphrey Smith.

Story time: the town I come from has three breweries. The reason for this is that the limestone we're built atop filters the local water, making it 1) good and hard and 2) easy to access. Technically we're a market town but brewing is the foundation of our modern economy.

Two of these breweries, John Smith's and Sam Smith's, are the remnants of the brewing empire started by John Smith, a Victorian gentleman endowed with truly spectacular mutton-chops and also money, who bought an existing brewery in the town before building a new, much more impressive one further up the street. After his death, the business was left to his brothers, one of whom would go on to leave the old brewery to his nephew Samuel. Thus, the empire split into two. Both halves are still operating and have been successful enough that the current owner of Sam Smith's -- Humphrey -- is the biggest land-owner in the town.

Here is where the problems begin. You see Humphrey is, to put it gently, crackers. He suffers from being exceptionally wealthy and, despite some motions towards investing in local amenities, largely exists on a moral crusade against the changing social mores of the 20th Century. He won't countenance any businesses that does not contribute to the atmosphere of a sleepy market town (read: basically anything), refuses to maintain or sell off his properties, leaving the place full of the rotting shells of buildings, and he's been at war with the town council so long, they're currently planning to build on a flood plane that does indeed routinely get swamped by the river just to have somewhere to put new houses.

The man is not well-liked, is what I'm saying. And among his 'charming eccentricities' are the strict requirements he enforces on the pubs he owns. Any Sam Smith's pub must be run by people of good moral character (preferably a married man and woman), there must be no music and no phones, no swearing, no motorcyclists, no kissing, etc, etc. Basically imagine the dourest stereotype of Yorkshire grimness and that's what he's actively aiming for (no I am not kidding, just check out the 'controversies' section of the Sam Smith's wikipedia page).

Anyway, the point of all this is that there's a lovely tale shared around the town about how, one day, our Humphrey walked into a local pub and said to the bar-tender something to the effect of, 'Switch off that music, throw those people out, take down those fixtures and fittings, this is not the Victorian traditionalism I pay you for.'

Only, the bar-tender leant over the bar and replied, 'well that's nice, Mr Smith, but this isn't one of your pubs.'

Should you find yourself in the position of having some dipstick with fixed opinions swan into your work and start telling you everything you've gotten wrong, I think you could do worse than bear this heroic chap's words in mind. Your work is not their pub. They have no claim on what you make and no grounds for enforcing their vision over yours. They aren't paying you, you aren't working for them, and frankly, they have profoundly misunderstood the situation if they think they're entitled to tell you want to do.

This is true even in the face of widely accepted fanon or when you're cutting against general expectations. In fandom, every piece of art is the result of our own personal reactions to a piece of media. We can decorate our individual pubs however we want and if other people don't like it, well, they can lump it. Go forth and do what you like, music and kissing and all!

[This post brought to you by the belated 11 year anniversary of that berk on dA who spent ages arguing with my attempt at redesigning the Quarks from Doctor Who. The *bloody Quarks*, man! Sheesh.]

[whimsicalcotton]

I was wondering if you had any thoughts/feelings/snippets about Max/Kate? No pressure if not. I have so many feelings about Life is Strange in general lol. Also your writing rules.

i've actually never written any marshfield which is a crime considering they're what got me into lis and i've had them living in my brain rent free for almost 10 years now [shudders] but i Do have plenty of thoughts/headcanons!

– they have big silly puppy crushes on each other that are very obvious to everyone except, of course, them. “oh there's No way on earth she would like me back” x2 Combo. in the Blackwell 4-koma that exists in my mindpalace there'd be a running gag where the sheer force of their unaware-yet-wholesome yuri vibes is literally blinding to anyone who witnesses it 

– Kate is still in the middle of her catholicism-induced “girl?? 👀 girl Looking at me??? 🤯🌈¿? i'm going to die” phase, so the fact that Max is always doing little things like holding the door for her or asking how her day went or walking her to class even though her own is on the opposite side of the building just because she wants to talk more Earnestly keeps Kate up at night. (and then when she looks tired the next morning Max will say “are you alright?” with those big adorable doe eyes she is completely unaware she makes and Kate has a combination cardiac event and crisis of faith all before the first bell)

– they like to have lunch together when Kate isn't too busy w other school stuff. Kate is a creature of habit and always gets a cookie even though she knows she won't finish it all, so she appreciates having Sweet-Tooth Caulfield around to share it with <3

– Max keeps mysteriously finding excuses to be out in the halls when Kate is practicing her violin. everybody who asks winds up humoring her due to her sheer dedication to floundering denial but they all know she's down bad (except Kate, of course.)

– Chloe tried to bring up The Elephant In The Room once when they were all hanging out watching a movie one time & she was reaching her Limit being blinded by the aforementioned wholesome yuri vibes so she says, “Man, you guys need to get over yourselves and make out sloppy style.” and Max is like, “Chloe Elizabeth Price you better shut your goddamn mouth before I shut it for you,” (and Kate has a momentary second, smaller crisis about the name Elizabeth) but Chloe being Chloe does not in fact shut up and winds up getting wwe flying elbow smashed with a pillow to the face while Kate dissolves out of frame like a cartoon from sheer embarrassment 

– Kate really likes to draw Max. she'll be sitting there doodling her all over a page of her sketchbook thinking, “i just think her face is cute and nice to draw and there's absolutely nothing more to read into on this topic. on an unrelated note, what if i drew a little heart next to her? 🤯🌈¿? oh my god i'm going to die.”

– aside from Chloe, Kate is one of the only people who can decrease Max's anxiety 50% just by being in the room & she's more aware of this than Max is. Kate is pretty grounded/has the patience of a saint and tends to give really good advice so she has a particular knack for combating Max's overthinking; when Max is feeling brave enough to actually talk about The Anxieties, at least. but even if she's trying to keep them all to herself Kate still notices something is up and is careful to be extra gentle with her

[evelhak]

*Sigh*

You know, I really try to give people the benefit of the doubt, I understand how hard it is to break through your own bubble when you've never lived as a part of any minority, I understand that when you've been able to take for granted that you're represented and accommodated in the vast majority of contexts in your daily life, automatically, it's really difficult to see how that isn't because you're inherently more "natural" than someone else.

Like, not long ago I had a perfectly constructive conversation with a friend, whose partner's mother tongue is a minority language, and she wanted both of their languages to have an equal role in their family's life. Despite all of her good intentions, she still couldn't see how she kept treating her own language as the default. I told her that her partner might feel less like he needs to defend his language if their daily life was worded differently, if his language wasn't always the one that needs to have especially designed days. And this was a completely new idea to her. She hadn't even considered that instead of wording it like "on these days we speak your language" and assuming that the rest of the days are for her language, she could word things in a way where both languages need to be named, both languages have designated days. She was just so used to being the default that she didn't even see it, and it never would have crossed her mind on her own to change her viewpoint.

This is what I initially assume about people when they say or do something thoughtless or insensitive. That they just don't know better yet, that they're just so used to not having to acknowledge wider reality than their own, that the concept doesn't fully exist in their brain. I don't think it makes them bigoted, just uneducated or inexperienced or something. So, if these things come up in conversation, I tend to have a lot of patience and energy to explain new things to people who genuinely want to learn and genuinely just don't yet understand. I even enjoy helping people expand their worldview, in fact few things are as personally fulfilling to me as lending a hand to someone as they're trying to grow as a person.

It's just that when someone says they aren't bigoted, when they say that they support [insert a minority], when they are painting the picture that they are informed about things enough to declare this, and still in random and casual contexts they keep acting like minorities are taking too much space...

*urge to pull hair growing*

Like if another writer tells me that my story would be more balanced if the purpose of it wasn't to showcase every sexuality and gender...

😩

While their own stories are ALL about straight cis perisex people.

🤔

And ESPECIALLY when the story of mine that was in question has like... One significant lesbian character. One significant asexual character. One (cis) cross dresser. One significant polyamorous character. And ONLY the lesbian character's character arc is in a mentionable way about being a lesbian. And the rest of the significant characters aren't queer which makes for at least 10 significant cishet characters and several well-developed conventional cishet romances.

I'm sorry but if even in a story where the clear MAJORITY still caters to your experience of normal, the queer rep is ALL you pay attention to, then this is DEFINITELY not my problem.

Like, where do you perceive queer characters to be natural or invisible enough?? When being queer doesn't impact their storylines?? When there's only one significant queer character among a bunch of non-queer characters?? Or when queer characters are only background characters?? When "normal" characters and queer characters exist only in separate works?? Or possibly when queer characters just continue to be invisible to you unless it's about getting a chance to show that you're a good person willing to share the space that was never solely yours in the first place.

Balanced my ass.

[typingcorgi]

sanctuary; part i

pairing: joel miller x f!reader (no y/n) warnings: tw for mention of blood, mild gore, violence. no smut yet but honey have you met me? it's coming (and so is joel, and you, ey-ohhhh) word count: 1600 author's notes: canon divergent aka no ellie I'm sorry kids cramp my style

i feel like this is 80% character study and 20% plot, but these ideas have been gnawing at me like a hungry ass clicker and i needed to get them out of my brain and onto a google doc. please feel free to reblog, share, leave a comment, tell me what you like, tell me what you want to see more of, I'm so excited to be writingggg also not beta'd so here we gooooo if there is a typo I'm sorry but please understand i dumped this onto the internet and didn't look back

The car you drive is a target on your back. It’s a good thing your partner in crime is such a quick shot.

You’re not even a fourth of the way to Wyoming, yet you’ve outrun and outdriven more thieves than you can count. It’s unsurprising, considering the dismal state of the world. You used to think more often about what life was like before Outbreak Day. Before New York shut down, before subway cars crashed below Canal Street and even the damn rats seemed to have greater control over their faculties than most human beings.

You couldn’t get out of the city fast enough.

It’s been twenty years, and while the memory of it all occasionally haunts you like a looming ghost, most of the time, you’re just thankful to be alive. And whether you like to admit it or not, your survival is owed to the man you think of now as your companion, your partner, your…something.

You just don’t know what he is to you, even if your impact on one another is indisputable.

You’ve hardened. Where you have grown a thicker skin, you’ve softened his, even if just by the smallest amount. You can see it in the way his eyes linger on you for a moment too long when you return from a run with a fresh cut or bruising eye. You can sense it in the way he talks to you like he’s toeing the line between wanting to respect your autonomy and independence and knowing he might tear the goddamn city apart if he were to lose you.

At least, you tell yourself that. It’s self-indulgent and flattering, because while you’ve spent years learning how to exist in this new and unsafe world, your understanding of human interaction and behavior hasn’t completely gone to shit. And Joel Miller behaves like cares about you.

“Turn here,” he says as you approach what probably used to be an intersection, but now appears to be a blurred line of a dirt path. Most paths are like that now. The only clearcut routes from any place to another are the main highways and frequently used roads, but those are so closely monitored by FEDRA that you don’t dare to cross them. No, you and your partner opt for the scenic route to Jackson, if only to spare your lives.

That is, if you aren’t taken out by clickers or thieves or gang members first.

You don’t say anything, you just keep driving, eyes locked on the path in front of you. It’s late afternoon and you must be driving west—good, you’re headed in the right direction, at least—because the setting sun glimmers along the horizon, and while you’d normally find such a sight to be one of the rare moments of beauty in this fucked up world, right now it’s downright annoying.

His eyes are locked on the road, or at least you think they are. You can’t tell because if you catch a glimpse of him in this golden sunlight, you might actually melt behind the steering wheel. So you keep your focus on the path before you while the radio plays in and out of static.

And then it happens so damn quickly. Joel yells at you to watch out! And his arm stretches out toward your side of the car, and his hand is on the steering wheel, jerking the car in a sharp motion toward the left.

You brace yourself for then inevitable crash. The muscles in your legs squeeze and freeze until you collect your breath, exhaling while your hands tighten along the steering wheel.

“What the fuck was that for!?” You demand, the shock filling your tone with more anger than you intended. Joel doesn’t say anything back. His breathing is heavy, though slowing to a more normal pace, and he scrubs a hand over his features.

You turn back and see nothing at first. But as soon as you spot the culprit through the truck’s rear view mirror, you’re stunned.

“A fucking deer?” You ask incredulously, spotting a doe picking her way through the brush. “Really, Joel?”

He’s softening.

“Could have damaged the truck,” he contests, voice considerably lower. “We’re already taking the long way to Cody Tower. I don’t need any more setbacks.”

You scoff but say nothing, replacing your foot into the accelerator and continuing your trek along the back roads.

It’s dark by the time you pull over. You’ll have to refuel first thing in the morning, though the source of said fuel is to be determined. Siphoning gas isn’t hard, but it’s tracking down another functioning automobile with an oblivious operator that’s the hard part.

You’ve started sleeping in shifts. The bench seat in the back is about as luxurious a bed as you’re going to get in the middle of the apocalypse. Somewhere along the line, you’ve managed to collect a flimsy blanket that does little by way of insulation, but at least it’s comforting. 

Joel locks the doors while you settle into the back. He’s caught your eye in the rearview and you feel your stomach twist. Every night goes like this—he lets you sleep first, and you usually agree because you’re so fucking tired, but because he’s too damn polite to wake you up, you end up sleeping uninterrupted. He sneaks in sleep when you’re on the road the next day and he thinks you won’t notice.

“You know what?” You say, climbing back over the center console and into the passenger seat. He’s taken the driver’s seat in case you need to make a quick getaway overnight. “I’ll take the first watch. You sleep.”

He shakes his head. “Not gonna happen.”

“Oh, really?” You arch a brow. “Because it seems like you need it. You look like shit, Joel.”

Now it’s his turn to scoff. “Excuse me if i don’t look my greatest at the end of the damn world.”

You hadn’t said that. Even when Joel looks absolutely exhausted, he still looks good. His rugged handsomeness isn’t lost on you, and for the first time all day, you actually look at him. You take him in. Moonlight catches along the graying ends of his unkempt hair, his wrinkles along the corners of his eyes are pronounced, and you eat it up like a woman starved. If you’re blushing, you’re thankful Joel can’t tell in the darkness, placing a comfortable distance between him and your growing vulnerabilities.

You hold up your palms in friendly defeat. “All I’m saying is I’m not tired yet. If you want the first round, I won’t complain.”

He doesn’t budge, though. And neither do you. You both wind up falling asleep in your respective seats once you are positive the other isn’t looking.

–

It’s not the clicking that wakes you up, though as soon as you’re half-conscious, you hear it right away.

Your stomach lurches. Fuck. When you’d pulled over hours earlier, you hadn’t noticed any semblance of life other than the deer you nearly ran over. But now, tired and bleary-eyed, you make out the deformed, eyeless head of something that used to be human.

There’s three of them, and they’re approaching your truck fast.

“Joel,” you urge, shaking his shoulder. “You gotta wake up. Joel, baby, we have to go.” The urgency in your voice hopefully outshines the petname you go with. You blame it on nerves, on the chance that this is the moment you and your partner actually fucking die. Baby. That is a choice. With any luck, Joel’s too drowsy for it to register.

He’s up like a shot, the strained, nearly silent cry from outside the truck jolting up into consciousness.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he mutters, starting the truck and slamming his foot on the accelerator. One of the clickers narrowly misses colliding into your door. There’s less than a quarter of a tank left, though if you both don’t get out of here in one piece, that really doesn’t matter.

“I need you to shoot them,” Joel says over the roaring engine. He twists and turns in an attempt to lose them, but they’re on your trail, ganging up on you with each passing step.

You don’t challenge him, but you hesitate. His pistol is in the glove box, untouched since the last time you got into a dangerous situation—probably a day or two ago; every violent clash starts to bleed and blend together with the last.

“You can do it,” he says, though his tone is more urgent than encouraging . “They’re getting close. The closer your target, the easier it is to hit. Just do it—now!”

There’s no more time to waste. The clickers are a half step behind the truck. One of them places its grimy hand on the truck, holding on for dear life, if only to take yours.

Joel shouts your name to shock any remaining fatigue from every cell of your body. You do it—you reach for the gun in the glove compartment, lower your window just enough to hang your arms out of the side of it, cock the gun, and shoot.

Three fires. Three clean shots, each of the clickers blown back onto the dirt ground. Blood splatters on the side of the truck, some speckles across your forearm. Joel audibly exhales through his nose.

He keeps driving until you run out of gas.

[manyblinkinglights]

anytaur quarstion

Sorry im doing this thru a submission instead of an ask bc i want bigger text limit and also to insert images... clarity and allat. i hope thats ok...

Recently i got an actuual headset for vrc so that i could Physically Become the Beast of my Dreams. your rig is everything to me and makes me so so happy. ive wanted this forever. i cant thank you enough for this. main thing im having to fiddle with now in specific is forefoot pickup! didn't make much sense to bother with it back when i was desktop only but having tried it now with actual real hands, the whimsy is impeccable. hands still feel a bit weird though, and im almost certain i messed with something i shouldnt have in trying to set it up, so I thought it might make sense to ask you abt it considering you designed the system and probably have more insight! I'd try for figuring it out myself thru trial and error, but i am very new to vr and having to go in and out to tweak and rebuild avatar versions seems disastrously tiring. and i dont think i'd have much luck trying to fiddle with unity through a vr virtual desktop @~@ time is money....i miss unemployment...so I hoped this could expedite some of that trial+error+rebuilding time. maybe. god. longass preamble over.

point being: in the recent (~6mo ago...) setup videos you did, i feel like the "A" pose you got for your sample models is generally more "A" shaped than what my beast has procured. This may be on account of my beast being quite lanky and having long as hell forearms and quite short shoulders and upper arms. in addition, by default, just moving them down on the global y axis like on the script instructions, the SenseHand receivers end up in a weird position compared to the paws, atleast based on what i think i am picking up from the script instructions. image below.

please ignore the shit ass weight painting/distortion for the paw im new to doing 3d models, im honestly just impressed this thing exists at all.

anyways in the image (front isometric) the right paw (viewer's right not model's right) is set to the values you recommend in your setup video, and the other one is unchanged from default rotation just as a baseline i guess.

Anyways my real question boils down to: what might you recommend to focus on in tweaking forefoot pickup? would rotating thigh and/or shin pickups to better match an "A" pose make sense? Should I move the SenseHands on X axis to be more better "Held" like it says in the instructions? is it ok if the sensehands fall into the floor from "A" pose?

regardless, thank you for your time, dedication, and willingness to share both. this project has been living rent free in my brain ever since i first saw the vrc horse speedrun on youtube (exactly what i had been looking for after god knows how long looking around) and desperately checked your youtube page to see what else you'd been up to. i think that was around or just before when the LittleKitty port video was recent or new, so it's stuck with me for atleast 2 years and i hope to still interface with this rig for many more years to come! please dont feel pressured to a response either lol, i understand if you dont really have a good suggestion or answer. im sorry if i overwhelm you with wall of text. here is an image of the beast in action to hopefully warm the spirits MUCH LOVE!

[penny00dreadful]

Return of The King - Part 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 AO3

Eddie closed the back door quietly behind him and sat down in one of the lawn chairs, tipping his head up and staring at the scattered passing clouds as he smoked.

He could hear muffled conversation and an awful lot of tears from the house behind him and it nearly made him want to cry himself. There was so much relief filling him up both from Steve being back and finally getting to do what he’d been planning to do to him since he first got to know him but also that the healing within the Fellowship could begin. He just hoped it didn’t damage anyone further.

He had no idea how he was going to do it. How the both of them were going to do it. How on earth were they going to tell all these extremely broken people that the reason they were broken wasn't a reason anymore. That he was back? And how were they going to explain that he was back different but not bad? 

It could go so very wrong.

But maybe it would be enough comfort to them to know that Robin was talking again. Hell, not even just that she was talking again but that she was even… conscious again. That she was existing in the world again rather than around it.

He must have been ruminating in his own head for at least a half an hour vacillating in between smoking and worrying about the fallout of all this and watching the clouds and feeling that giggly excitement that comes with a new relationship and all the things they had left to do to each other and experience together when the door creaked open behind him and a pair of thin arms wound their way around his shoulders.

“You’ve been hoarding him.” Robin’s voice came soft and thick from the floods of tears she’d no doubt shared with Steve inside.

“Hoarding, Buckley?” He reached up to grasp her wrist. His heart was soaring. It was so good to hear her voice again. “I wouldn’t call it that. Though I suspect my Stevie exclusivity is coming to an end now that he has you back in his life.”

She hummed into his hair and tightened her arms around him, gently rocking the two of them back and forth as much as she could without toppling them over. “If I was gonna share him with anyone, I’m happy for it to be you.”

Eddie smiled to himself and tipped his head back onto her shoulder. “Awh, you’re gonna make me all misty eyed.”

“Join the club,” she let out a wet laugh, rubbing her eyes against his shirt, “it’s what the rest of us are doing.”

“Where is the man of the hour anyway?”

“He’s giving us space to say my ‘thank yous’ for taking care of me and everyone else for the last month or whatever.” 

“Ah.”

“So like, thanks or whatever.” She whispered, her levity coming through clearly despite her humour.

“Not a problem, Buckaroo.”

She gave him one last squeeze and placed a kiss against the side of his head before disappearing back inside.

Eddie followed not long after, desperate for a shower and to finally get back into his own jeans. The pair he was wearing last night hadn’t been his favourite but they were a worthy sacrifice especially considering just how they were destroyed. How Steve's supernaturally strong hands had effortlessly gripped onto the tough denim and ripped them clean in two right below him, all the little noises he'd managed to work out of him with his tongue and his hips as he'd slowly, torturously slowly, sunk in-

He turned the shower water icy cold, he needed to keep his head clear for the next few hours ahead and he definitely wouldn’t be able to do that if the only think that was knocking around his brain was the continued idea of fucking around with Steve.

When he came back downstairs, he and Robin sat Steve down and tried to summarise everything that had happened in the last month. The complete and utter fuckery that the California crew went through, Joyce and Murray’s little vacation to the Soviet Union where, oh yeah, Hopper was alive but imprisoned, the cracks in the earth that had split the second Steve died, inadvertently saving Max from mutilation, the wide open gates that creatures would crawl through every so often, the fact that Hawkins was half abandoned, his parents…

It was a lot to take in and Steve took it all surprisingly well, almost like he’d been waiting for some catastrophic events to hit Hawkins for a few years now.

The next challenge that was presented to him was just how they were going to tell everyone. If they just sprung Steve on them out of nowhere it would be disastrous. They could all collapse into grief, they could run scared, they could attack him, believing him to be some fucked up trick of Vecna’s, there was so many things that could go wrong.

At the very least Wayne was going to be out of the house for the rest of the day so he couldn’t accidentally get caught in the crossfire.

Eddie sat at his kitchen table bouncing his leg so quickly his whole body was jiggling. Robin and Steve had helped him write out what to tell the others over the walkie to get them to arrive.

It wasn’t easy.

He needed them to know that it wasn’t a world ending Code Red but at the same time wasn’t it? Steve was back and that was a huge thing on its own but definitely didn’t warrant sending them all into a blind panic and putting them on edge, especially when the thing that was waiting for them was enough to implode everyone in the worst ways possible if handled incorrectly.

So he had to tell them it was urgent without skyrocketing everyone’s collective stress levels.

“Eds, it’ll be fine.” Steve tried to soothe him as the three of them sat waiting. He had a gentle grip on the back of Eddie’s neck, rubbing his thumb in small circles. It wasn’t working. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Eddie and Robin shared a look for a long moment while Steve glanced between them.

“Okay, I don’t love this,” he said, pointing to each of them in turn, “whatever this is.”

“D’you think you’d be able to dodge a bullet if it came down to that, Stevie?” Eddie asked from behind his hair with his head hung low.

“Nance wouldn’t shoot me.”

“Yes she would.” They answered at the same time.

“She’s gonna think you’re some Vecna trick like I did.”

Robin nodded, agreeing. “Yeah, and you can’t fuck the doubt out of her like you did with Eddie.”

Eddie lifted his head just a fraction to glare at her but she didn’t back down, just raised her eyebrow.

“That’s not what happened.”

“No?”

“No, I wouldn’t have let him fuck me if I still thought he was the spawn of Satan.”

Robin scoffed with a cheeky smirk on her face. “That’s a lie. But maybe it’ll be Hopper who’ll try to shoot you, Steve.” She blinked innocently over to him. “You could try to fuck some sense into him?”

“Robin.” Steve hissed, his whole face turning red.

“You had a thing for Hopper?” Eddie couldn’t help the shit eating grin that started to pull at his mouth, quickly joined by Robin as Steve tried to glare at the two of them with as much venom as possible.

“You never heard those words come out of my mouth.”

“No, but Robbie insinuated which is as good as a confession.”

“I hate the both of you.”

Eddie and Robin shot to their feet, cooing and crowding around Steve, squeezing him tight in between the two of them with a downight dramatic level of sarcastic comfort and affection. Steve just scowled harder but wormed his arms around the two of them squeezing back, unable to hide the upward curl at the corner of his mouth.

They only broke away from their mocking ‘you love us’ ‘you looooove uuusss’ when they both felt Steve tense under their arms.

“They’re here.”

Eddie shot to his feet, his adrenaline and anxiety coursing through his whole body. He needed to move, he needed to get it all out somehow. Fuck this was it. Everything was about to change. Again.

God, it could all go so wrong.

But it could be so good too.

It could fix everything.

“Are you hidden?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah. Only you and Robin can see me.”

“Okay good, you know them, they'll just burst in-”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the front door was thrown open and a gaggle of teenagers spilled into his hallway. Eddie felt a short kiss be pressed to the back of his head, just a silent reminder I’m here before he took a deep breath in and tried to steady himself as best he could.

There wasn’t the usual noise and chaos that used to be so normal with the kids, there were no childish arguments or rapid fire discussions. They filed into his house quietly and without bluster, each finding a spot to sit around the dining table or lean against a kitchen cabinet looking at him expectantly, barely sending a glance in Robin’s direction who had marginally retreated back into herself. Whether it was the pressure of the situation or so many people around he didn’t know. He couldn’t really blame her or the group for their reactions.

Steve was staring around at all of them with wide eyes, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. But instead of any kind of delight or smugness or smart remark about finally getting them to quieten down, he looked heartbroken. Like he hadn’t realised just how changed everyone was.

“Well?” Nancy snapped. Short and eager to get to the point as she always was these days and Eddie could never hold it against her.

He realised he’d been watching Steve’s reaction too closely. It probably looked like he was staring off into space while they all filled in around him. 

So he took a deep breath in and began.

“Okay, uh,” he started to thread his fingers through his hair, picking out individual curls and twisting them, anything to keep his hands occupied, “it’s not bad news. It’s actually good news, or it might not be good news depending on how you view it and how we had to get here, but it’s news! I’m gonna be honest, I’m having a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to tell you all because it’s gonna be really hard to swallow at first-“

“Eddie.” Dustin interrupted, his voice lacking its youthful energy and his face as grim as it had been for the last month. “Does Robin really need to be here for this?”

Robin startled at the mention of her name and seemed confused for a second. Eddie supposed it was a fair question, Robin hadn’t exactly been present in the last month and the rest had mostly gotten used to talking like she wasn’t in the room. Most of the time she wasn’t, really.

Eddie looked over at her along with Dustin who’s eyes widened at the sight of any emotion on her face apart from blank despair.

She looked up to meet Eddie’s eyes and gave a small nod. The whole room seemed to have caught the tiny movement, automatically straightening up and becoming much more engaged. Because if it was something that had the power to pull Robin out of the pit of her mind, it must be something extreme.

“Get on with it.”

“I’m trying, Nance, but this is actually very nerve wracking-”

Nancy glared at him, hard and cold. None of the warmth he’d seen in her before was present now and it hadn’t been for a while. She crossed her arms before speaking in a very stern tone of voice.

“Eddie, I don’t have time to waste with this bull-” she stopped herself short, swallowing harshly before continuing, “with this nonsense. So just-”

“It’s Steve.” He blurted out before he could stop himself, sudden and loud and impossibly catastrophic.

Silence crashed in around all of them in the wake of his statement, filled with so much tension he could feel it tingling against his skin. They were all staring at him, some with anger, some with devastation and some with just blank expressions that hurt more than anything.

The sound of a chair scraping against his tiled floor screeched loudly through the kitchen, almost too loud to bear. Dustin stood and without a backwards glance, began to walk away.

Eddie opened his mouth to call after him, his heart breaking in two but before he could say anything a voice made itself known from behind him.

“Dustin!” Steve called out to him, cracking through the air in the kitchen like a hammer against stone. 

The air was sucked out of the room like they’d all entered a vacuum chamber. Dustin stopped dead and the silence that permeated around all of them felt both fragile and immovable at the same time. 

The delicate click of a gun being cocked echoed around them and there was a heartbeat where nothing happened before the room erupted into chaos.

Eddie whipped around but it wasn’t Nancy that had drawn her weapon, it was Hopper. He couldn't even make the appropriate salacious jokes at Steve's expense about that because such a panic had gripped him at the room's collective response, he found himself frozen solid. 

This wasn't going well.

Shit.

Shit!

Robin threw herself in between Steve and Hopper with her hands out, screaming at him to wait! 

Everyone else looked a mix in between terrified and shocked. Like Vecna himself had just manifested in front of them, Max and Lucas were shouting, their heads ping ponging between Steve and Hopper, Mike and Will were shouting questions at Eddie. Joyce had pulled Will back, trying to push him behind her, Jonathan and Argyle were trying to stand defensively in front of Joyce but Jonathan also had a hand fisted in the back of Nancy’s shirt, who was pulling a pistol out of her bag, El was staring up at Steve, silent and considering, Erica oh god Erica was crying, she was just a child, Hopper was barking at the kids and Robin to stand down and Dustin…

Dustin hadn’t moved. He still had his back turned to everyone, both fists clenched so tight the colour had left his knuckles. 

“Shut up!” He screamed, high pitched and cracking, somehow making himself heard over the cacophony of noise that swiftly came to a halt at the sound of his voice.

Steve had an arm around Robin’s waist, having pulled her out of the line of fire while she scrambled against his immeasurable strength to try and get back in front of the barrel of the gun but he too froze at the sound.

Dustin took a deep breath in. “Eddie. What makes you so sure?”

Eddie looked in between Steve and Dustin. What could he say? He couldn’t exactly tell everyone what had transpired in the last twelve hours, he definitely wasn’t going to mention the sex. What had originally convinced him? Would it be enough?

“He…” Eddie swallowed. Somehow he’d never felt more vulnerable than right now, every single eye in the room was on him and he had the power to make or break everything. “He laughed at me? I insulted Vecna to his face and he… he thought it was funny.”

It sounded stupid, it sounded so stupid when he said it out loud. He couldn’t even bear to look up at them all to see how that explanation landed.

After a few seconds of heavy silence, El spoke up.

“What was your insult?”

Eddie glanced at her, she had her head tilted slightly to the side and her face was calm but curious. “I, uh, I called him a lump of unseasoned bolognese.”

“A dickless lump.” Steve interjected, a small smile on his face despite the tension in the room. Like a spell had been cast through the group at the sight of that smile, the strain on them seemed to lessen. Steve probably didn’t even realise he was doing it, there was just something about him now, something about his smile brought calm to them all. Maybe he’d always been that way. Eddie couldn’t really be sure.

Dustin whirled around and stomped his way over to Steve, the rest of the group parting like the Red Sea for him.

He stared up at Steve, an angry tilt to his brow and his jaw set, like he was ready to punch him in the face if he moved wrong.

“How many puffs?”

Eddie supposed the question must have been some kind of test, he certainly didn’t know the answer to whatever the fuck had just been asked, and no one else around him seemed to know either. No one else except for Steve.

“Four.”

Dustin’s lip quivered for just a second before he gathered himself, slamming his eyes shut again and turned his face away.

“El.” He called over his shoulder.

“Dust-” Steve started, reaching out, but was cut off.

“No!” Dustin yanked his shoulder away, his voice sharp and cutting. “I can’t- St-” swallowing harshly he continued a little quieter. “I need to be sure before I can- I need to be sure.”

Steve retracted his hand slowly, letting it fall to his side where it was quickly snatched up by Robin.

“Okay.”

El took a step forward but was halted by Hopper’s hand on her shoulder.

“We don’t know if this is safe.”

“I’ve been inside Vecna’s head.” El took her fathers hand and gently lifted it away. “If Steve is an agent of Vecna he will not be as strong. This is not the most dangerous thing I have ever done.”

“And that makes this okay, does it?”

“What else would you rather do?”

Hopper scowled at her, the downward tilt of his mouth making it clear he didn’t have an answer.

“I still don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it.”

El stepped out of Hopper’s space and towards Steve, holding her hands out and waiting.

Steve nodded down at her before leaning forwards, effectively slotting his head carefully in between her hands and they both closed their eyes.

For two and half long, long minutes the room collectively held its breath, waiting in anticipation for her to draw down her verdict.

Eddie was sure as shit that he hadn’t had sex with Vecna in Steve’s body but god damn if the thought still didn’t make his skin crawl.

El’s brow furrowed and her grip tightened around Steve’s head as though she was trying to burrow her fingers into his skull. Steve grimaced as she dug in hard but held himself steady, his hand still clutched in Robin’s.

Dustin had moved to stand beside Eddie, staring wide eyed at the scene before him. Eddie had never seen him look so young, so small, so lost. He slung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him back towards his chest, holding him firm, trying to impart comfort in any way he could. Dustin sagged into him, barely holding on by a thread.

A small hand slipped into his. Erica refused to look at him but the shake of her hand and her silent tongue told him all he needed to know. For all her bravado and all her snark she was still the baby of the group and by a long shot too. While she protected herself and made herself seen with her attitude, it often made them forget that she was barely out of elementary school.

In some ways she was the biggest victim of all of this, no one else had been thrust into this apocalypse as young as Erica Sinclair.

And based on the little he had heard about how she had gotten introduced to all this, Steve was there. Steve, Robin and Dustin were the ones around trying to keep her safe against some kind of underground Russian spy operation or something. No wonder she was affected by all this.

Eddie pulled her back towards him too, his other arm around her shoulders, all three of them huddled in close together, watching and waiting.

“There’s something else there.” El muttered as her fingers relaxed, gently combing through the parts of Steve’s hair she’d messed up. “This is Steve. You are Steve. You are here. But there is something else here too.”

Steve’s face paled just a fraction. “Vecna’s not in my head.”

“No, it’s not Vecna, it’s something else. A cloud.”

“A good cloud?”

“No.”

The tension in the room ramped straight back up.

“A b- a bad cloud then?”

“No. It’s just a cloud, but pushed and tugged. Made into long legs-”

“The Mind Flayer?!” Will shrieked out in a burst of panic.

“El, is he Flayed?” Joyce asked, somehow calm but straight to the point.

“No. No it’s not like-” not like Billy. “The Flayed were Vecna. Vecna puppeteering The Mind Flayer. This little bit in his head… it’s free.”

“So he’s…” Dustin huffed, his voice cracking again. “El, please, in plain English? Is he safe? Is he Steve? Is he- is he back?”

El nodded. “He is safe, he is Steve, he is back.”

She barely had the words out of her mouth before Dustin had ripped himself away from Eddie to throw himself at Steve. Steve unwound himself from around Robin quicker than should have been possible to be able to catch Dustin in time but catch him he did.

“You- you died. You died! You told me you loved me then you just went and died on me like an asshole. How could you- please, please don’t ever do that again. Swear to me, I can’t… I can’t-” Dustin was screaming, wailing into Steve’s neck, the sound echoing loudly around the room while everyone simultaneously tried not to intrude on their moment while not being able to bear the thought of leaving Steve.

“I know, I’m so sorry, Dusty. I’m so sorry. Never again, I swear on your mother.” Steve tried for humour but even he couldn’t push past all the emotion in his voice. “Never again.” He had his own face buried into Dustin’s hair, his arms wound tight around him, unable to keep his voice from wobbling.

Once Dustin had stopped screaming and cursing and was able to take a few deep breaths, he loosened his arms slightly, allowing Steve to glance up towards the other kids. 

It was all the invitation Max needed. 

She threw herself against Steve and Dustin, clutching on to them for dear life. She had barely made contact before the rest of the kids were rushing forward, grabbing onto any piece of Steve or each other they could reach.

Dustin unwound an arm from around Steve’s neck, opening his body up, looking back towards Eddie and Erica.

She shot forward, being pulled right into the centre of the group hug, right up against Dustin, Steve and Robin.

Robin still had herself pressed in close, her arms around Erica and Dustin while the kids all muttered and cried and punched and breathed. They told Steve they couldn’t lose him again, they practically fell all over themselves to tell him how much they appreciated him, how important he was, the guilt at thinking him dead and having never told him how much he meant had been eating away at all of them for a solid month. They even turned to Robin and told her how happy it made them to have her back too. They’d missed their Aunt Buckley. 

That started a fresh round of tears from everyone.

Movement to his side caught Eddie’s eye. Nancy was standing a little bit away, pale faced and swallowing repeatedly, trying to keep her emotions in check. She looked like she was desperate to throw herself into the fray but didn’t know if she’d be welcome, didn’t know if she was allowed. 

Her eyes were shining and her mouth was tight as Eddie approached her. He took her hand in his and pulled her forward. She turned her wide gaze on him as he led her closer, scared and apprehensive but Steve raised his head and held his own hand out to her. Will and Mike almost immediately shifted to the side, pulling her into the group with them.

Steve sent a short thankful glance Eddie’s way before turning his watery attention back to that wild eclectic group of people that loved him so incredibly.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 AO3

@romanticdestruction, @darkwitchoferie, @justforthedead89, @didntwant2come, @estrellami-1, @warlordess, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @weeennussy, @studentlife-with-sassyaf-friends

[theneighborhoodwatch]

another thought/question/invitation to ramble! I was wondering if you have any thoughts on the TV interview clip? There's a lot going on in there in terms of it being, as far as I remember, the only content of "past Wally" we have interacting face-to-face with a Physical Human Person so far. But specifically...am I the only one who is Really Weirded Out by the host asking Wally about his love life? Just the tone and the way he chuckles afterwards hit my arospec autistic brain right in the "no no no no bad" zone because like!!

it's not Bad to think about children show's characters in romantic relationships! Wally is an adult. He's a very childish person, but he's a grown man who could very well talk about and share his experiences in that department, as it were. But it's the context of this being like the first thing the man asks him combined with how confused and Uncomfortable Wally sounds until Barnaby comes on stage. Like why is the first thing this guy wants to know about this little puppet "hey are you dating anyone?". why not ask him about oh I dunno, how he's adjusting to the "celebrity lifestyle", or ask about his hobbies outside of painting or whatever else he does on the show?

Why did this man see a little puppet and instantly jump to asking about who he is smooching or getting dirty with. It's just such! an odd thing! by far the most subtly unsettling part of the site so far and I'd Love to hear your thoughts on it, if any

(so sorry if this was a rambley mess :" )

that's funny, i feel like i was one of the only people who Wasn't all that bothered by that? like, it's definitely not an interview question i would have thought to ask wally, especially as an opener (although it does sound like they had been talking for a while beforehand before rick was like "SO WHO ARE YOU MACKIN' ON") but in in-character interviews for the muppets (which this recording was very clearly a reference to) they did actually ask about the characters' love lives quite a bit, ESPECIALLY kermit's, regardless of whether or not it would have been considered a little trashy to ask the same of human celebrities.

i do think the whole interview serves to highlight how much wally is... Not a kermit-like, though (at least, not the way kermit was characterized in the 70s.) wally isn't really one for dry wit or discussing the intricacies of show biz; pretty much all of his lines in that interview seem like either him just saying what he thinks and then playing along when the audience thinks he's doing a bit OR him falling back on a script when he doesn't know what to say/has learned that A Specific Phrase tends to go over well with people. and yeah, obviously it reads a lot like a Hashtag Autism And/Or Acearospec Moment, but it's also kind of what i mean when i propose the question "is it that the wally we see now is that different from the one we see in official welcome home media in-universe, or is it just that his situation has gotten much worse since welcome home's heyday?" (assuming we're operating on the terms of linear time and not any extradimensional bullfuckery like the "welcome home may not have even Existed" theory would suggest.) wally may be aware that welcome home is a show, or at least that it was created for Us, but it's also his whole life. that's a lot to grapple with, especially in the middle of a conversation with someone who only really seems to acknowledge the first half of that sentence. of course, it's likely that this is because rick doesn't actually know that wally is sentient/aware/what have you; like as far as he's concerned, he's just doing a really good bit with the guy puppeteering wally, but that depends on whether or not anyone knows who the puppeteer is, and that's something we don't have enough info to get into right now. but like, obvious metaphor for subtle dehumanization is obvious, right?

[theleetoalerandalertoalee]

Hey I made a shitty i mean- a super awesomeee fic

I know it’s not good, but I’m just gonna post it to say I did it.

Content: slight bondage, tword content

Have a nice day ^^

“With wind comes life…with life comes prosperity…with prosperity comes love..”

Kazuha sits on a rock beside a lake, closing his eyes as he relaxes, listening to the whispered melody of the breeze. Kazuha soon senses a familiar presence on the air.

“Well hello there, didn’t expect to see you here~”

Kazuha smiles slightly, “are you sure about that?”

The detective sits next to Kazuha, “hehe, couldn’t be more surprised.”

“You’re still fresh out of cold cases, I see?”

“Mhm, ever since the Traveler came and straightened Inazuma out, the only person I can count on seeing in custody is Arataki Itto.”

“Ah…that gang leader…he tries to get me to join on numerous occasions. He’s very extroverted, no?”

“You can say that again,” Heizou sighs, “I don’t know how Shinobu puts up with it.”

“I'm sure that’s an understatement, detective.”

“Oh, hehe, it is. Nothing gets by you, hm?”

“The wind carries the travels and thoughts of all who live and breathe it in.”

“You’re still just as poetic as ever.”

“Naturally.”

“I actually came here to talk to you about something.”

“About Wanderer?”

“Of course.”

“Do tell, friend.”

“He’s on his way back from Watatsumi Island.”

“Don’t tell me he went there to scoff at Kokomi again…”

“He scoffs at everyone, Kazuha.”

“True.”

Heizou pauses for a moment, “do you think Nahida is right? Will he ever fully heal?”

“Time doesn’t fully heal all wounds. Even rocks that have been eroded by wind and water still exist as sand.”

Heizou grins, “I like the way your brain works.”

“I know.”

“It almost makes me want to give you the birthday treatment I give the Traveler.”

“Aha, but that would make it less special for the Traveler.”

Heizou grins, “I know, that’s why I decided something different~”

“Ah, care to share?”

“Depends…humor me, are you an open minded person?”

Kazuha opens his eyes and looks at Heizou, “naturally, what makes you ask that?”

“Hmm…do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Enough to do a favor for me?”

“As long as it’s within my power.”

“I thought you’d say that.”

“Remember when you were a wanted criminal and I devoted everything to trying to catch you?”

Kazuha smiles softly, “hehe, of course, it’s how we met. The day my charges were appealed.”

“To this day I wonder, how did you evade me through all that time?”

“It was stormy during that time.”

“I see, so you hid in plain sight.”

Kazuha grins but doesn’t respond.

Heizou sighs, “my intuition tells me there’s more to that story than you’re letting on.”

“It’s a possibility.”

“I'm sure you’re wondering what this has to do with your birthday surprise.”

“Yes, detective, I am.”

“So, the favor I wanted to ask if I can pretend I caught you way back when you were a fugitive.”

“And you said you didn’t have an ego.”

“Hehe, consider this a humble request from a dear friend.”

Kazuha tilts his head with a curious expression, “then who am I to object to such a thing.”

Heizou smiles, holding out a pair of handcuffs, “you have the right to remain silent, criminal.”

Kazuha chuckles softly as he allows his friend to put on his handcuffs.

“How do I look, detective?”

“Too good to be legal.”

“I see why the Traveler said you’re a flirt.”

“Who, me? Nonsense-”

A voice comes up from behind the two, “you actually convinced him to put those on? How amusing.”

Heizou turns to the new voice and grins, “ah, Wanderer, you’re back from Watatsumi! How was it? Did you see all the sights I recommended~?”

Wanderer looks at Heizou, “no.”

“Tsk, what a shame.”

“I don’t care about such pointless things.”

“My intuition says that will change with time.”

“Hmph.”

“Anyway,” Heizou gestures to the handcuffed Kazuha, “I did it.”

Kazuha tilts his head, “was this a plan of both of yours?”

“Naturally. We wanted to give you a birthday you wouldn’t forget.”

“Well…it’s certainly memorable already. Being in handcuffs isn’t something I’m used to.”

Heizou smirks, “we haven’t even started yet.”

Wanderer rolls his eyes, “don’t say ‘we’. I still haven’t formally agreed to this.”

The detective sighs, “if you weren’t with me, you wouldn’t cut your time in Watatsumi short.”

“Tsk, maybe I wanted to wish my…friend…a good birthday.”

Kazuha smiles, “hey, I’ve leveled up to a friend, it appears.”

Wanderer mutters, “yes. Don’t make me revoke it.”

Heizou’s smile turns more and more mischievous as he looks at Kazuha, “so, Kazuha, it’s time for your surprise~”

“Ah, finally.”

Heizou smirks and slowly approaches Kazuha, “so, I’ve noticed that lately you haven’t been too happy. In fact, my intuition tells me you forgot today was your birthday.”

“You are correct.”

“I wanted to put a smile on your face, my friend.”

“But a simple joke wouldn’t suffice, would it?”

“No, this has more of a bonding effect to it.”

“And what is it?”

“Would you be against being tickled, Kazuha?”

Kazuha thinks, tilting his head, “you always manage to surprise me, Heizou.”

“It’s part of my charm, is it not?”

“It is…ah…I suppose I wouldn't be against it. It’s just…it reminds me of my first voyage on the Crux.”

“Is there a story there?”

“Of course, if you’d like to hear it.”

“Naturally.”

Even Wanderer seemed interested in the story, looking at Kazuha to hear what the samurai had to say.

“Well, you guys know how quiet I normally am. I seldom speak out of turn or above the tone of the wind. Beidou always accepted me and she always teased me, as good friends do. She wanted to see how loud I could get one day, so she decided to tickle me while I was practicing a tune on my leaf. Turns out I don’t really laugh loudly, I just get red in the face.”

Heizou smirks, “how precious.”

Wander doesn’t respond. He just looks at Kazuha, thinking about the story that was just shared.

Heizou smirks, “I’m totally going to ask Beidou about that when the Crux comes back into Ritou.”

Kazuha sighs, “please spare me that encounter.”

Heizou smirks, poking Kazuha in the side, “I dunno, it’s very tempting~”

Kazuha giggles, “I can see why you’d think that- hehehe.”

Wanderer smirks with an amused look in his eyes, “I haven’t seen your face that pink before, Kazuha.”

Kazuha continues giggling, and the handcuffs behind him are rattling slightly.

Wanderer curiously pokes Kazuha’s other side, entertained by this whole situation. Kazuha continues shaking his head as he giggles with flushed cheeks.

Heizou grins as he and Wanderer continue to lightly poke and prod at Kazuha, “hey, Wanderer, I think this was a good idea, no?”

Wanderer avoids Heizou’s eyes, but agrees nonetheless.

Kazuha continues giggling, but he doesn’t mind the experience. Usually he gets a few gifts for his birthday and a few kind words. Kazuha never got this much attention, because people usually leave him to his own devices. Which is understandable since he’s very quiet, and seldom strikes up conversation. Kazuha actually doesn’t mind attention from those he’s close to. Getting this kind of attention from both Heizou and Wanderer, without any cares or plans for later in the day, it’s lovely.

Heizou laughs along with Kazuha’s giggles, “happy birthday, my friend.”

Wanderer looks up at Kazuha, the faintest of smiles on his face, “mhm, but say I was never here.”

Kazuha continues giggling, “of course, thanks, really.”

Heizou let’s Kazuha free, undoing the handcuffs and Kazuha hugs the detective. Heizou grabs Wanderer by the collar and drags him into their hug.

Wanderer stands there in the embrace awkwardly, “this isn’t about me it’s about Kazuha-”

Kazuha interrupts him, “it’s about all of us, now. Thank you for remembering my birthday.”

Heizou smiles, “of course, we love you.”

Wanderer fails to hide a smile of his own, “I suppose we do.”

[murderfabrication]

Prologue & Chapter 1 UPDATE

Upupu... Everyone's favourite bear has been hard at work.

(I'm guessing Monokuma would crush Kumakuma in a popularity poll.)

For a few days now, I've been proofreading the entirety of the prologue and Chapter 1 of Murder Fabrication.

Their contents weren't changed. All I did was correct some awkward wordings, typos and poor punctuation - for some reason, that's the issue I ran into the most. I began writing Murder Fabrication in 2018, when I had no idea it would span into a years-long project. Unaware of its scope, and with it being my first ever writing project to be entirely in English, it makes sense that my standards weren't the same back then.

A few line breaks were enough to make Neo's narration seem more accurate to the man I know him to be... A few ellipses here and there brought together Jan's dialogue and made his voice instantly more recognisable... You get the idea. Still, in the grand scheme of things, many edits were made, which is why–

If you were considering reading Murder Fabrication, or if you're only finding out about it with this post, now might be the perfect time to start!

2018 was a while back! I've felt a little self-conscious about the possibility that the beginning of this story, of which I'm genuinely so proud, could read awkwardly. Even though it was a lot of work, I'm very happy I went through those chapters to make their writing feel more natural. Most importantly - I can now say, with 100% certainty, that Chapter 1 is great! The prologue does the job - but when the action picks up in Chapter 1, Murder Fabrication Gets Good.

Please consider giving it a chance. Danganronpa Murder Fabrication is a fangan which is entirely in written form, save for a few key illustrations. It is being published on a forum hosted by ForumActif.

Murder Fabrication has an entirely original cast who lives and grows in my brain non-stop. Despite being inspired by a video-game series, it exists in its own universe, which I'm always happy to use to share stories I care about.