#some scenes from the game inspired me to get back into drawing again

[salty-autistic-writer]

For @captainrockley, Happy Birthday Mako! ❤️ Inspired by your drawing: Deleted Scene from s07e03

Sometimes, Buck and Tommy like to play the “do you remember?” game.

It usually starts with one of them asking while they are cuddling on the couch or before they fall asleep in bed together. They like to remember the little things. Like all the firsts they have had so far.

“Remember our first meeting?” Buck asks, threading his fingers through Tommy’s curls.

Tommy blinks up at him with a drowsy smile. “How could I ever forget that? You crushed my hand.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t the other way round?”

“Okay. We crushed each other’s hands.”

Buck laughs. “Yeah. And hearts.” *

The sight of the helicopter is enough to make Buck’s heart beat faster in nervous anticipation of what’s about to happen. But then he gets distracted. Because a brick wall of a man approaches them, wearing a blue flight suit and a smile that makes his nose scrunch and the corners of his eyes wrinkle.

Buck stares. Notices he’s staring. Quickly stares at the helicopter instead.

“Hey, Tommy!” Chimney says, grinning. “Nice to see you!” He hugs the guy, who looks down at him fondly.

“Heard you need a helicopter? I hope y’all made your will, didn’t eat anything that might slosh around in your stomach, and like to cuddle. Because this ride will get bumpy and you’ll be packed in like sardines in the back.”

Eddie and Buck share an uneasy glance. Chimney just chuckles, apparently not concerned at all.

Tommy shakes Eddie’s hand first, briefly. Then it’s Buck’s turn. And somehow, when he looks at the very blue eyes of the man who is even bigger than he is which really doesn’t happen often, his heart jumps up, his ears burn and he feels kind of … stupid.

“Tommy Kinard.”

Buck stutters, “Uh. Bu - Evan Buckley.”

“Nice to meet you, Evan!” Tommy beams at him.

And they’re shaking hands. Still.

Buck can’t stop. He’s not letting go. Why isn’t he letting go?

Tommy’s smile doesn’t falter when he notes, “Strong handshake. Great. I like it. You can let go now, if you want to, Evan.”

Buck’s face heats up. He pulls his hand away, scratching the back of his head in a frantic skipping action and then asks, just so he can get rid of the embarrassing silence, “So, uh, what are the chances of a helicopter getting hit by lightning while flying through a hurricane?”

Eddie raises a wondering brow and Chimney tilts his head, his arms crossed over his chest. But they don’t say anything. They just shrug and climb into the helicopter. *

“Remember our first kiss?” Buck asks.

“It was better than fake mouth static,” Tommy says teasingly. An echo of the past.

Buck chuckles, reaching out to draw circles on Tommy’s naked chest. “Hmmm. It was. I wanted more.”

“I know,” Tommy says. “You were staring at my lips.”

“Oh. Well. You do have pretty lips. Did you want more too?”

“Hm. Not immediately. I … didn’t want to overwhelm you. But I was thinking about more. Later. The whole evening and night and the next days.”

Buck feels warmth coiling in his stomach. “Want some more right now?” He asks, raising a brow.

“Please,” Tommy breathes, pulling Buck in for a kiss. *

Tommy closes the door. Buck’s lips are still tingling. He touches them with a fingertip, still kind of frozen. In the silence, he can hear himself breathing.

Tommy kissed him.

He kissed Tommy.

And he already wants to do it again.

He is going to do it again. Soon. Right?

Buck really wants to. Wow. He feels floaty. Like a teenager with a crush. Feels like something heavy fell off his chest.

Smiling, he goes to grab his laptop. He has to figure out what restaurant he’s going to take Tommy to. *

After they collapse on the couch, filled with lasagna, Buck kisses Tommy’s nose and asks, “Remember our first time?” 

“You mean our first whole night of sex. In which you showed me what my libido is still capable of.”

“It was kind of cute when you asked me again? like that. Slightly panicky,” Buck says, chuckling.

Tommy snorts. “You were absolutely insatiable.”

“Too many new sensations. New possibilities. I wanted everything at once,” Buck admits, marvelling at the memories.

“And did you get it?” Tommy asks, raising a brow.

Buck smirks. “Oh. I got it good!” *

“Again?” Tommy breathes in disbelief. “I don’t know …”

“You do have one more for me, don’t you?” Buck lowly whispers into his ear, hands stroking down Tommy’s sides, rubbing at his nipples, lips wandering down to his neck, leaving another mark. “You can do it, I know you can.”

Fuck.

Tommy moans helplessly as he shivers and writhes, Buck’s words going right to his groin, his spent cock giving a feeble twitch. “Okay,” he agrees. He could be safewording out, they talked about it, talked about everything, but he doesn’t want to.

He’s an overheated, sweaty mess, out of breath and energy. It’s too much, but he wants all of it. Especially when Buck is looking at him like this. With hunger and adoration in his eyes.

Tommy wraps his arms around Buck’s warm body, pressing them together until they’re breathing a moan into each other’s mouth and says, “Let’s do one last round.”

It’s two in the end. *

“Remember our first I love you?”

“Of course. It was so dramatic.”

“You were being dramatic, Evan.”

“No. I was being serious and realistic, Tommy .”

“Do you really want to fight about it?”

“No. I want to kiss you and remind you how important you are to me.”

“Oh … Come here. You’re important to me too, Evan.” *

“What were you thinking?” Buck huffs, hands on his hip, eyes narrowed.

“That I was saving the day?

“You could have died!”

Tommy winces and tries a weak smile. “Well, that risk kind of comes with the job, right?”

Buck shakes his head. “Still. Tommy … I can’t stand the thought of losing you. Listening to you crying out over the mic, thinking you might not come out of that building alive … Those were the longest minutes of my life. I was so scared. I couldn’t … My heart, Tommy. My heart was being crushed.”

Tommy looks at him, eyes open and wet. “Evan. I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to worry. And I promise, I will always try my damndest to get home to you. I promise.”

He can’t do this anymore. Buck wipes tears out of his eyes, then climbs into the hospital bed, snuggling against Tommy, mindful of not putting pressure on his broken leg and ribs. He needs to feel Tommy. Needs to know he’s breathing. Needs to hold and be held.

“I love you, Tommy,” he breathes, hiding in the crook of Tommy’s neck. “I love you. I can’t lose you.”

Tommy exhales shakily and reaches for Buck’s hand, taking it and squeezing gently. “I love you too, Evan. I love you so much.” *

“Hey. Remember our first wedding?”

“Tommy … We are not going to have a second wedding just because you liked the cake so much.”

“Fine …”

“Oh stop sulking! I’m going to buy it for you.”

(AO3 Link)

[localplaguenurse]

Falling Head over Heels (Pantalone x Male Reader) pt 10

First and foremost, we've gotten quite a few pieces of fanart from @your-local-furby and @antartzz in the last little bit! We've got a smooch scene as well as a drawing and comic of MC with antartzz's oc Freida. I always get all mushy and/or feral when I get art so I really do appreciate it!

On a more serious note;

Content warnings: homophobia, as well as "queer" being used as a slur, verbal abuse/altercations, and attempted physical assault. (MC and his father get into a really bad argument while shopping.) There is also a bit of ableism but it's no more extreme than in previous chapters, and the homophobia is a much bigger thing in this chapter.

Please be cautious if that is a particularly triggering.

@thedeimoshimself @eli-chris

“Could you hurry it up already?” you hear your father ask, holding a package under his arm.

You look around the store shelves, eyes scanning over different brands of typewriter ribbons. Your fingers ache from carrying the basket of items, so you carefully swap hands. “I’d probably finish up faster if you actually helped me find the brand I need.”

Your father scoffs. “There can’t be that much of a difference between all the other brands here. I’m sure you can find… whatever it is you’re picky about from a different brand.”

“The ribbon I’m looking for is from the same company that made my typewriter,” you explain for what feels like the hundredth time, but is probably only the seventh or eighth time, “it’s specifically made for that particular brand, and since mine is an older model, it’s difficult finding adequate substitutes.”

“Have you ever considered getting a new typewriter? Something newer and more universal?”

“Why would I when the typewriter I have right now works fine?”

“Because your typewriter is older than you are,” your father states, “and I’ll give you credit, you take good care of it, but if something breaks, it’s going to be expensive and difficult to repair, and that’s if they’re even making parts for it anymore.”

“I will worry about that when it happens,” you reply, “but for now, I need ribbons, and I’m struggling to find them.”

Your father sighs. “What’s the brand again?”

“Fuscienne ruban d’encre.”

“What?”

“It’s a box with Fontainian on it,” you answer. “This store is the only place in town that sells it, and unless they’ve partnered with other suppliers in Fontaine, it should be the only one.”

Your father is quiet for a few moments, allowing you to go back to searching for your ink ribbons. The silence is nice, and it’s short lived when you hear the man sigh again. “... Is this what you wanted for a career?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Writing those… girly books.”

You give your father a look. “... Really?”

“What? That’s what they are.”

“They’re romance books. It won’t kill you to say the word romance.”

“And who reads them?”

“People who like romance.”

“Don’t play this game with me.”

“Just get to the point already.”

“I’m just saying writing isn’t the only career you could have chosen,” your father explains, “you had options when you were younger, and you still have options today. You talk about how you can only do certain things on account of your vision, but you act like they’re the only options you have.”

Your father’s words catch you off guard, and you are quiet for a moment as you mull them over. They’re… almost inspiring out of context, but in that condescending hand holding way. You can hear someone else who means well but doesn’t understand saying some of those words to you with a smile that’s too big, too bright, too rehearsed. Something that would have sufficed as motivational when you were little, but just leaves a bad taste in your mouth as an adult.

That said, this is your father, so it immediately raises a red flag. It’s one thing for him to make a backhanded comment, it’s another for him to say something that could be misconstrued into something well meaning when stripped of the full context. You know this, and you know it can only mean one thing.

Your eyes land on a small box, and you pick it up. You then sigh, realizing this isn’t your brand, the design just looks similar. You’re still looking at the shelf when you speak up. “So, why are you in the doghouse this time?”

“Excuse me?”

Your eyes finally spot the word Fuscienne. You momentarily forget the conversation and grin at the last box on the shelf. You snatch it and drop it into the basket.

Your father places a firm hand on your shoulder. “What did you mean by that?”

Right. You turn to face him. “Mom’s mad at you about a comment you made and is making you babysit me,” you reply, “I don’t care what it was you said, but I’m assuming she’ll forgive you if I said you did a good job helping me.”

(Which he really didn’t, because you are a grown man who has been to this store on his own many times before, and your father helping you navigate the store would make your outing even longer.)

Your father averts his eyes, and under his irritation, you see embarrassment shine through the cracks in his mask. He crosses his arms, and on a smaller figure, it would look like such a petulant gesture. It just looks pathetic for someone his age. “The faster we get this over with, the sooner we go home and you go back to your books.”

You answer by walking to the front of the store. The old man behind the counter grins when he sees you. “Find everything you were looking for?”

You nod, placing the basket on the counter. “Grabbed the last box of the Fuscienne ink ribbons. Lucky me.”

“You know, son,” the old man says, “I like to keep at least one pack of the Fuscienne in the back, just for you.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes! You’re one of my regulars, and I know you like that one, so I always make sure I have extra for you in case it sells out before our next order.”

You find yourself smiling. “That’s really kind of you.”

“It’s no problem.” He starts pulling items out of your bag, ringing them up before handing them to his son, who then begins to bag the items. “How is your book?”

His son gives him a quick look. “Father, remember?”

The man behind the counter goes pale. “O-Oh, right, I forgot about the, erm…”

“No, it’s fine,” you assure the man, “progress is good! Very good. I actually got a deal with the Yae Publishing House shortly after my old publisher dropped me. I’m actually waiting for them to get back to me with their final thoughts before I officially start my final draft.”

The man grins. “Oho! That’s delightful! How long do you think it will take before you get it published?”

“I should be hearing back within the week,” you answer, “and after that… a month maybe, and I’m still deciding between cover designs, and I’m not sure what their exact manufacturing and publishing process is, so… I’m not a hundred percent sure when I’ll finally have it out, haha.”

“So I take it you haven’t heard about your old publisher?” the son pipes up.

“What?”

“You don’t know? He’s gone bankrupt.”

Your eyes go wide. “What?! What do you mean?”

“Mountains of debt, from what some of the other writers and editors have said,” the son explains. “Rumour has it the reason he started terminating contracts and laying off editors was so the money would go to paying it all off while still getting a cut of the profits from the books they had published through him.”

“Son of a bitch,” you mutter, before you feel yourself go pale. “Wait, wait, when did this happen?”

“Just a couple days ago,” the son says, “I’m surprised your girlfriend didn’t tell you. She still works there, right?”

“My girlfr… Alik? No, they’ve been out of town visiting family. Archons, the shitshow they’re going to be coming home to…”

“Wait, she– they’re not your–”

“No, no, I’m… I’m not interested in them like that.”

The son stares at you, and you see the little twitch of his lips. “You know what? That makes sense.”

“The hell are you implying?”

Your father’s voice making his presence beyond your central vision known scares you. You turn and see him glaring at the young man. 

The old man speaks up. “S-Sir, my apologies, my son didn’t mean any–”

“Are you insinuating something about my son, boy?”

You turn and see the son’s horrified expression. “I-It was just a joke, some banter between friends! R-Right?” he asks, looking to you for help.

“Father, calm down,” you tell him, “it’s not a big deal.”

He glares harder at the young man. “You’d like it if you thought my son wasn’t interested in that girl ‘like that,’ wouldn’t you?”

By the Tsaritsa this cannot be happening.

“I swear to you sir, it was a bad joke, I promise you, i-it sounded funnier in my head and–”

“I think it’s best we start going to another business,” your father hisses, “I don’t need you leering at my son.”

Horror floods your system, eyes widening and mouth agape. You feel your father staring holes into you expectantly, waiting for you to announce your disgust and disdain at such implications and storm out. Stuck in place, you see the old man’s face first, and he’s in a state of shock, too caught off by the situation to get angry. Then your eyes land on the young man. You can see he’s also shocked, but more than anything he looks humiliated, scared even. He looks like he’s about to start crying, and the sight switches your absolute horror to absolute rage.

You whip around, teeth bared in anger. “What the fuck is your problem?!”

“What’s my problem?! Ask him!”

You push your father’s chest and he staggers back. You point at the front door. “You already bought your shit so why are you even still in here? Just leave already!”

“And leave you alone with this–”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO.”

The shop goes deathly quiet. Your father’s eyes widen, absolutely shocked by your vulgarity, before his eyes narrow again. His jaw clenches, and in the quiet, you can almost hear the creaking of his clenched teeth. He gives one more dirty look to the young man before he stomps off. He makes sure to slam the door on the way out.

Your mother says he’s a good man, there are still just some traditional things he prefers. He’s very supportive of your sisters’ career or schooling choices, and is endlessly proud of his son for meeting a hard working and loving woman. It’s a side of him that doesn’t always come up, but it rears its ugly head when it comes to you, with your love of literature and romance. You’ve never been sure if it’s because your specific career isn’t the most manly of jobs, or if it’s because writing isn’t as impressive to him as becoming a surgeon or a lawyer or taking over the family business. Regardless, you’ve seen and heard some rather ignorant opinions from him. Your mother doesn’t approve of it, but her attempts at discouraging it are little more than a look, or a hand placed gently on the shoulder and a harshly whispered “honey” or “Mikhaïl.” 

Still, what the fuck was that?

You’ve by now memorized how much your purchases will cost. Fuscienne ink ribbons, stack of paper, and some envelopes. You know roughly how much the amount would weigh in your hand, so when you reach into your pouch and pull out a rather hefty handful of golden coins, it’s purposeful.

You pour the mora into the old man’s hand. “T-Take this, I am so, so sorry, I’ve never… I’ve never seen him react like that to anything.”

The old man looks at the mora in his hand. “This… This is too much, I can’t–”

“I don’t care, please take it as an apology on my behalf,” you insist. You step back and meet his son’s eyes. You place your hand on your chest, your face burning with embarrassment. “I-I can’t tell you how fucking horrified I am, and I am so sorry this happened. He’s said stupid shit before but this is new, I-I don’t know what happened but that is not okay.”

The man sniffles. “N-No, I made the joke, I–”

“It’s not your fault,” you tell him, “and, um, if I’m honest, y-your joke wasn’t off the mark, but I…” You shake your head. “You two will always be my go to shop whenever I need supplies, so I truly cannot tell you how awful I feel about this, I’m really sorry.”

The young man forces a smile, and nods, still distressed. His father pats him on the shoulder and gestures to a door behind them. You watch him step away from your things and head through the door, and you can hear the shaky breath he lets out through the closed door.

The man takes over bagging your items, which isn’t much considering you only bought a couple things, but he’s deliberately slow in the process. You wonder why, until he speaks in a soft tone. “So… you’re like my son.”

Picking up on the meaning behind his words, you immediately feel even worse about what just happened, feeling physically nauseous. “I am, if you’re talking about… not having girlfriends.”

He nods. “Not many people know, and not many bring it up,” he says, “this is the first time something like this has happened to him in the store. I… I think he’ll appreciate what you’ve done today when he’s not so shaken up. I know I do.”

You find yourself smiling, but not out of joy. “It’s nothing, really. People are fools, and my father is a court jester. It’s honestly the least I could have done, I feel.”

“Either way, I appreciate it,” he says, and then he hands you your things. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I will be,” you say, “I’m just about sick of his shit anyways, if you’ll pardon my vulgarity, and if I don’t rip into him then my mother will. Again, I am so sorry.”

“You take care now, son.”

You smile and nod, your chest tight with worry and face burning with embarrassment. Not much else is said, but there’s not really a whole lot else to say. You take a deep breath, brace yourself, and step outside.

Your father stops his pacing and immediately goes off when you step outside. “Where the hell do you get off embarrassing me like that?!”

Having lost all patience with him today, you immediately match his tone and energy and yell back. “Oh don’t give me all the credit, you did a fine enough job of that yourself!”

“That boy was out of line!”

“So you started berating him in front of his father? You started insulting him?”

“Do you not understand how inappropriate that joke was?”

“No, enlighten me.”

“He was implying you’re a queer! A queer! Why aren’t you upset about that?!”

There it is again.

You press on. “Why should I be?”

“You know why!”

“What the hell is your problem? Why are you so mad about that?”

“What are people going to say if they think I raised a queer?”

“It can’t be anything worse than what they’re going to say about you going off on an old man and his son for stupid reasons!” You grin angrily at him. “Front page, ‘owner of Kuznetsov Shipping Company verbally abuses shopkeeper's son.’ Like you need the bad press when you’re starting to get your shit back together. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you today?”

“What’s wrong with me? I could ask the same thing to you!” your father spits. “You’re going to defend some… some…!”

“Let’s not say anything too deplorable now,” you tell him, like a parent talking to a fussy toddler, “you might want to save that for when we get home.”

“This is your fault,” your father growls.

“How is this my fault?”

“Those prissy little fairytales you keep writing,” he answers, “they think you’re a queer.”

“And what… what’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong with– son, are you gay?”

“What? No! Besides, I don’t have to be gay to think you’re being an ass, I can still see you, and they can probably hear you spouting hate from the palace.”

“You don’t have a wife, or a girlfriend, you don’t try to find one, and you spend all day reading girly books!”

“Like you’re any better,” you snap, and then immediately regret.

“What was that?”

Fuck. Well, you’re already in it now.

“You are obsessed with Pantalone,” you tell your father, “obsessed with getting on his good side, obsessed with making sure he likes you, your practices, that we don’t embarrass you in front of him, you even hijacked the afternoon tea he invited me and only me to! You want to point fingers and call me gay because I write romance? At least all my books are about men and women! You literally spend every day thinking about how to impress another man.”

You watch your father wind his arm back, but he’s stopped and seized by gloved hands. You step back in surprise, and when he’s pulled back, you can see he’s been grabbed by two guards. It brings you back to the present moment, and reminds you that you aren’t one of two people in the whole world. You look around the snowy street and see people, couples and families and a couple tourists, frozen in their spots on the street just staring at the spectacle. You look up at the shop and see the old man watching you, concerned.

“Unhand me!” your father yells.

“Sir, I’m going to ask you to calm down before you do anything stupid,” replies the guard.

A third guard steps out from behind the first tow and approaches you. “What is the meaning of all this yelling?”

“A-Ah…” You look over and spot your dad, no longer resisting, glaring daggers at you. “It’s… a family dispute.” 

“A family dispute?”

“Look, I’m sorry about causing a scene,” you answer, “my father and I had a disagreement, no one got hurt–”

“Because we stopped him from hitting you.”

“I know, I know, just…” You sigh. “I don’t want to press any charges, if there’s a fine for disturbing the peace, we’ll pay it.”

The guard looks to the other two, then to your father. He sighs, then turns back to you. “... Fine. We’re letting you off with a warning.” He looks over at your father and points at you as he addresses him. “You’re only off the hook because of him,” he says, then turns to you, “and you’re still on your feet because we stepped in. Remember this next time you let a family dispute get heated.”

“O-Of course, sir,” you reply.

The guards let your father go, and he gives them a dirty look while he straightens his coat back out. You don’t bother with sticking around, electing to instead turn around and walk down the street of murmuring people. Your father doesn’t bother calling out for you to follow him home, heading in the opposite direction instead.

You keep your gaze forward as you head to a currently unknown destination, just wanting to be anywhere else. Maybe the bakery down the road, something sweet would do a good job washing the bitter taste out of your mouth. 

The Pantalone comment was stupid, you think as you happen to pass the man himself, though your humiliation and wish to not be seen makes you figuratively blind to that fact (as well as literally). He stops when he recognizes who just passed him, half tempted to call out and ask how you’re doing, but refrains. Your body language is obvious and painfully honest, almost to a fault, and he can see you want to vacate the area as soon as possible. When he happens to look the other way, recognizing the silhouette of your father angrily storming in the opposite direction, he sighs.

“So that’s what all that racket was…”

[cameronspecial]

Savour The Moment

Pairing: Dad!Drew Starkey x Reader

Warnings: N/A

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 0.5K

Summary: With Drew watching Stella for the day, they spend as much time as they can together.

A/N: Inspired by this video.

Masterlist

With Y/N out, Drew is left in charge of taking care of Millie alone. Normally, he would let the three-year-old play somewhere in his office, so he could keep an eye on her while he played his video game with his friends. She would be content with colouring or making up her own stories until her dad called it a day with his games. Today, however, all she wants to do is be in his grasp. Austin’s and JD’s yells can be heard through his headphones, but he is brought out of the game by the tiny tugs on his shirt. “Up, please, Daddy,” she demands, reaching up for him. He pauses the game. “Hey, guys. Give me a second. Mills needs me,” he informs his castmates on the other end of the headphones. They voice their understanding, telling him to tell the little girl hi from her favourite uncles. He brings his daughter into his hold, “What’s wrong, Baby?” “Rapunzel,” she simply states while pointing at one of his computer monitors. He chuckles, “You want to watch Rapunzel while Daddy plays his game?” She nods her head. “I hungry,” she adds, rubbing her stomach to prove her point.

Drew hmms in confirmation and kisses the back of her hair. He picks her up and takes her into the kitchen to get her a snack. She pleads for some ice cream, but Drew knows he’ll get in trouble for feeding the girl dessert before dinner. They settle on apple slices with Nutella, not the healthiest thing, but hopefully better than ice cream. He sits back down on his gaming chair and pulls up Tangled on the monitor in front of them. Millie watches as the opening scene begins, opening her mouth so that her dad can feed her. He knows Y/N would chastise him for feeding their little girl, who is old enough to feed herself, but he knows she is growing and he needs to savour this moment. 

He scoops some Nutella on the apple and brings it to Millie’s lips. Her eyes are glued to the screen. He can probably get back to his game, but he wants to spend a little more time with his focus on his daughter. As they get half an hour into the movie, Millie has finally finished her snack and Drew decides he can get back to his game. “Can Daddy play his game over here, Baby?” Drew seeks her approval, pointing to the monitor that shows Austin and JD’s gameplay. The little girl nods, snuggling into her father’s hold with her eyes still on the screen. Drew picks up his game controller again and calls out to his friends to restart the game so he can join them. He ignores the teasing of his friends about how he is such a sucker for his daughter, calling them bad names under his breath with his hands pressed over the toddler’s ears. 

——

Y/N walks into the office to find Millie asleep on Drew’s chest and the end credits of Tangled rolling on the screen in front of her. Her eyes land on Drew, who is focused on playing whatever shooter game is on the other computer screen. She wants to speak up to draw his attention but pauses. Her hand rests against her baby bump and she leans against the door frame. Y/N has to savour the moment before their little girl is all grown up and doesn’t need them anymore. 

Taglist: @winterrrnight @loves0phelia

[choccy-milky]

A few months back, I asked if it was okay to write using Clora and Seb. Finished the work - thought I'd lost it on my hard drive and a virus scan located it.

Not sure if it's sad or happy, but the basic premise of it is Clora getting frustrated/upset at Sebastian and Sebastian comforting her, Sebastian getting upset at a predicament Clora's in and Clora comforting him, and them both getting frustrated/upset and having to comfort each other.

If you'd rather I didn't post it, that's fine too, but just wanted to test the waters and double check that you'd be okay with it if I gifted it to you via AO3, or see if you wanted a sneak peak of it before posting it.

OMG im so happy you were able to find it and recover the work you did!!😭🙏 AND YES OF COURSE YOU CAN POST IT AAA I CANT WAIT TO READ IT!! you can DM it to me first if you want, but i also dont mind if you post it straight away on ao3!! IM LOOKING FORWARD TO IT SM AAARGHHHA💖💖💖IT SOUNDS ANGSTY WE LOVE THE HURT/COMFORT I HOPE MY HEART CAN HANDLE IT🥺💖💖TY AGAIN FOR USING CLORA AND SEB AND TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT THEM😭

@sunshine-goblin AAA THANK YOU!!! im honoured its your fav fanfic AND ALSO THE LONGEST YOUVE READ BAHAHAA fr, when you say its as long as four books in lotr it rly makes me realize how insane i am😃👍 aw IM GLAD I COULD INSPIRE YOU TO DRAW MORE AND WRITE AS WELL😭 I was curious so i creeped you and everyone go look at their HL blog @sunshines-legacy your MC is so cute and so is your art🥹💖 as for tips on writing a longfic and brainstorming and motivation and stuff, my motivation was my brainrot and unhappiness with the canon story/ending LMAOO, and looking at the story of the game and playing around with what i was unhappy with/what i WISHED could have happened instead, was a lot easier than just coming up with plotlines from scratch. but something i highly recommend is just OUTLINING and making a timeline, one of my fav parts of writing was just putting on some cafe ambience in the background and doing stream of conscious type word documents where id just barf ideas and then worry about making it pretty later....like look at how many versions of the same chapter i have BAHAHA or like different renditions bc i couldnt decide if id wanna keep a scene/what order, so id make a timeline and keep smoothing things out until i was happy with it and whatnot

brainstorming is defs my fav part of the process and the most helpful part to me. just getting a blank document and writing stuff you want to happen without worrying about how it connects to the story, and then a lot of the times as i was doing that id just keep going and it would kinda tie itself together/id come up with a solution as i was writing / once the ideas kept flowing. so basically : TIMELINES AND OUTLINES I VERY MUCH RECOMMEND, but very low pressure and barebones ones. for example, this is what my outlines/brainstorming look like

its honestly just me talking to myself LMAO, and a lot of the time ill interject and be like "OH YEAH AND THEN THIS CAN HAPPEN" as the ideas come while im writing BAHAHA. its a super fun process and honestly nothing feels better than just getting hit with that flash of inspo, and since its all very low effort theres no pressure to actually write well and its just a chill fun time AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR OWN PROCESS / WRITING💖💖💖it can be difficult but HOPE U HAVE FUN TOO💖💖

@a-little-lysdexic WAIT REALLY?? LMFAOO OMG THATS CRAZY....SAME BRAIN...🤝🤝...that would trip me up so much if i were you omg BAHHAHA but aside from having similar tastes in names, IM GLAD YOU LIKE MY ART AS WELL, TYY💖💖💖

THANK YOUUU im glad you're liking it!!! and that its taking over your life BAHAHA💖💖 the video you're thinking of was by @silverxstardust for chapter 13 of my fic, and you can watch the video here! (AND TY AGAIN TO SILVERXSTARDUST FOR DOING THIS!)

[purrplegyuu]

The best for both of us | Choi Beomgyu

Pairing: Writter!oc (named Seoli), animator!Beomgyu

Warnings: penetrative sex, oral (fem receiving), clitoris stimulation, unprotected sex, overstimulation, poor plot, gaslighting, non corresponded love, toxic Beomgyu, soft som Beomgyu, sub reader, lemmie know if im missing something.

Word count: 2,6k

Masterlist

“We’ve already read your book and it’s amazing. We also saw the animations, and we all thought they are perfect for our style. However…” he stops talking.

“However, it’s too disturbing for anyone under fifteen” says his boss. The woman, the owner of the video games company, who wears an expensive suit that screams everywhere she’s a squared closed box. I don’t really know how she manages a video games company. “Which wouldn’t concern us if we didn’t want the money, but we need this project to be suitable for all ages”

“I talked about this before, I have already rejected various contracts because I’m not interested in any project in which my art is changed” I say.

“Well, as I already said before, we need this to be suitable for all ages”

I stand up, taking my documents from the table, and when I’m about to leave, Beomgyu takes my arm, forcing me to sit down.

“Well, why don’t we listen to their proposal?” He asks, looking at me with killing eyes, which I don’t really understand since he’s always been on my side when I rejected last projects for the same reason.

“Yeah, sure. We just thought it would be better if Kira’s enemy isn’t her mother but her father. This way, we can avoid some future problems with angry mothers” one of the workers points out in the presentation, the part where all of the changes appear. I frown, disgusted. “We can also make her boyfriend the good guy instead of just another enemy—you know, for the love scenes we need to create a fandom” A good boyfriend? In real life? I cannot help laughing sarcastically at this, to which Beomgyu hits me with his elbow on my arm. “And she might also change a little bit—see, this is Kira before, and this might be her after” the picture on the presentation shows the draw Beomgyu made with my instructions. I told him to use only black ink, and draw it very messy. I remember the day we decided that this art style was just perfect for my book. When I created Kira I was thinking of the worst part of the world, I even got inspired by my own life. She’s too thin because she had very poor eating habits, she’s tall, her hair is messy and greasy and the clothes she wears are made for someone bigger. Which makes a big contrast with the whole new character they made—this Kira is short, and has a big pair of round boobs, a tiny waist and big thighs; her hair is pretty and… she just seems like another video game girl character.

“We will skip her eating disorder, and she will not die at the end. There’s obviously more changes to do, but those are the most important ones”

Everyone looks at me while I try to do as much as I can in order to not explode there and then. I feel just so offended that I cannot even speak. Even if I open my mouth, nothing comes out.

I stand up, take my papers and get out of the office, not even worrying if Beomgyu tries to hold me once again.

After an hour or two of getting back home, I finally start to calm down. That’s exactly when Beomgyu enters home too.

“Fuck, you could have waited for me, you know?” He wasn’t mad, that’s just his usual behavior.

“Seoli, we need to talk” I do not turn around to face him, keeping up on reading the instructions of the new bedroom lamp I just bought. “Seoli” he takes my hand, forcing me to turn around. “Why do you keep rejecting any minor change in your books?”

I turn my eyes. “You should know that, Gyu. My books are all too personal. If I write something is because I feel it, and I don’t like it to be changed”

“Yeah, I understand that, but you cannot keep rejecting every opportunity you have” he sighs. “See, babe, I think this is the best company you’ve been contacted by, and if you want to succeed, you should sign with them”

I frown. “Why do you like this company that much? I’ve rejected thousands of companies before, and you always supported me”

“I’m just looking for the best for both of us. We’re twenty now, but soon, we’re gonna be thirty, and forty, and fifty; we need to make money for the future… this isn’t a big company—small enough for you to be important and ask for almost everything you want, but also big enough to succeed monetarily and as an artist. This is just what we need”

“I don’t care about the money, everything I care about is being loyal to myself. I won’t sell myself and my art to some shitty company. The things they said to me in that reunion were almost insulting! How the fuck am I supposed to be fine while seeing one of my deepest books being thrown away this bad and be happy with it because I MIGHT get two hundred dollars a month from now on?! Specially in this one book!… this is almost my own autobiography…” the last words were almost audible, very low in contrast with the rest of my screams. It hurts my heart as I said it.

I see some kind of compassion in my colleague’s eyes. We never talked too deeply about it, but I did tell him that most of my books have some kind of self insert somewhere, but never as important as this one.

He takes my body in his hands, hugging me so comfortably as one only time before—when I confessed to him, and he said sorry because he couldn’t correspond to me.

He moves apart without letting me go, and unexpectedly, takes the back of my neck and kisses me. He only touches my lips with his once, moving away just a little, and then kisses me deeper when I take the back of his neck also with my right hand and his shoulder with my left hand.

He’s gentle at first, only leaving some close mouthed kisses on my lips, until he notices I’m more eager, and then, he devours my mouth whole like it's the last thing he’s gonna do on earth.

His hands travel all over my body as he starts kissing the side of my neck, sucking on my skin, biting and then licking, to which I cannot do anything but hum in pleasure—he touches my back, caresses my waist and pushes the hem of my gray shirt up.

I squeeze his shoulder when he take off my shirt and starts kissing my clavicles, and scream of pleasure as he bites the bone.

While devouring my torax, he manages to take off my black bralette, and kisses all of the skin of my small breasts, making me wonder if he actually likes the curvy girls he shows me of it it’s always been nothing but a façade in order to no look like a pervert.

He takes my hand from the back of his neck, moving away from me, unbuttoning my low-rise jeans and lowering my panties, then guiding me to sit on the couch. I oblige, and soon he’s kissing my body again, my abdomen, my pelvis, my thighs—which he takes and puts them over his shoulders before looking at me, right in the eyes as if looking for consent, but keeps going without a second of thought.

I scream when I feel his muscle exploring all of my cunt without a warning.

“Gyu-“ I moan while tapping his back with the tip of my foot.

He notices I got more sensitive everytime he stimulates my clitoris with his tongue, so he decides to do precisely this while one of his fingers caresses my entrance. A second finger enters, and he starts scissoring as if measuring if something will be able to come in.

My hand found its way on Beomgyu’s fluffy hair, which I take strongly trying to move it apart but also trying to keep it as close as I can.

Once he positions himself on the perfect way to have me screaming his name once and again and again, he starts doing it nonstop, faster, and holding my body by my pelvic area so I don’t move too much. My whole body trembles from pleasure, and I feel the knot on my lower abdomen tightening so much I feel it’s about to break.

And within thirty seconds morr, my whole body spasms under his, while I scream nonesenses and cry his name. He keeps on licking my whole cunt, cleaning me from my orgasm, making me cry at the oversensitivity. I try to push his face away, however, my strength after an orgasm is always null.

He goes back to the same speed as earlier, to which I scream: “Too much, gyu!”, but he doesn’t stop. Instead, his pace becomes even faster, making my head spin as I unexpectedly orgasm once again, faster than the first time.

He caresses my pelvic bones, licking my juices from his face. He stands up and kisses my lips once again, letting me taste my own cum.

I hear his right hand unbuttoning his jeans while his left hand helps him hover over me. I hear his clothes fall to the ground, and then, his tip touches my left thigh. I move away from the kiss for a second, moaning as I mentally prepare myself for having sex after one and a half large years of not being active.

“I know it’s always been hard to go through changes, babe,” he mutters in between kisses. “but everything I’m doing is looking for the best for you. You’re really successful with your books, but you don’t know if it will ever change as you grow up” the contrast between his lovely words and his condescending voice tone, and his hand lifting one of my legs up to my ribs making me go crazy. “Besides, you can ask for any change you want, and as long as it doesn’t make the game too disturbing for kids under twelve years old, they will accept it” the tip of his cock touches my clitoris at first, and then, he explores my whole cunt, looking too casual in contrast with my high expression. “Seoli, I will always be by your side” and suddenly, that option didn’t seem like trash anymore.

With that, he puts the head of his cock inside my entrance, to which I scream squeezing his shoulder. He goes back to kiss my clavicles while going on until he bottoms out. Feeling his tip against my spongy point, the deepest part of my cunt, makes me forget about all of the doubts I have, and I already know that the second I wake up tomorrow, I will be calling the company and ask for them to meet again.

He doesn’t give me time to get used to his big size, and starts moving immediately after he bottoms out, at a savage pace that makes my head spin. The way he’s hitting my cervix strongly over and over again has me cumming after less than two or three minutes. He doesn’t stop there though, and doesn’t even slow down. The second orgasm comes after maybe five minutes more, much more intense and piercing. My legs tremble, and he chuckles while taking my other leg and lifting it up to my chest also, making his cock go even deeper.

He holds both my legs up with one hand while the other stimulates my clitoris in circular motion, nonstoping, without giving me time to recover.

I cum once again, and my whole body feels so tense I feel like I'm about to break.

“Gyu-yu, I can’t anymore” I cry, the tears spilling from the corner of my eyes as I take his shoulders, trying to move his body away from mine. “please”

“I know, sweet, but you’re gonna help me cum too, right? You’re not a selfish princess, right?” His face is not close to mine now, and my legs find their way on his shoulders while he prepares himself for fucking my cunt faster and stronger than before.

I squeeze the silk of the couch, while my tears run down my face and all over the couch, and I scream his name over and over. His pace becoming even more animalistic as I feel his cock twitch inside of my vagina, the heat inside of me making me feel like I’m about to be torn there and then. The feeling is so unbearable, but also addictive. At this point, I don’t even understand myself.

He cums inside of me with a guttural growl, and keeps fucking his cum in for some seconds before using his hand to try to put his cum in when it tries to escape. I cum on his fingers one last time, and he leaves a kiss on my forehead.

(…)

I fix my lanyard with my work ID on my neck, holding my drawing tablet and the handmade sketches I’ve made.

“Oh, see! There’s coffee over there!” Beomgyu says amazed.

“Every company has coffee for workers, Gyu”

He goes to get a cup while I look for the office. The boss asked me to meet her once I accepted working with her. I signed the contract a week ago after making her accept the clause of letting my opinion be the most important one over there.

“Oh, Seoli!” That voice… it’s just impossible to forget it. “Oh my god, I’m so excited to see you again! Ever since high school I knew you were gonna succeed, you’re so talented!”

We went to high school together, and after we graduated, we also went to the same college. She stuck to me since then, but I never liked her a lot. She wasn’t a bad person, I just didn’t match her energy. However, I did everything I could in order to separate her from me in college, right after I realized Beomgyu liked her. Beomgyu and I met at college—the three of us decided to study an art major—, and it took us only one semester to start living together as roommates, and two more months to start working together on the animation of my books. We left college so we could put all of our time on making money with the animations, and luckily, that was enough for Beomgyu to forget her. At least that was what I thought.

“Dami? Do you work here?” I ask.

“Kind of. My mother is the owner of this company, and she likes me to participate on all of the projects. We’re gonna be a team! Just like in college!” She says with a big smile. “Where’s Beomgyu, by the way?”

Everything makes sense suddenly, why did he get so excited when I received the invitation to this company, and why was he so eager for me to come, and why did he want me to stay here.

I turn around slowly, and as soon as I find him with a scared expression, I feel my eyes ache.

He fucked me so he could get a chance with the one girl he likes.

How dumb.

[ccycloneblogging]

Idk way but seeing catnap chasing dogday is quite funny.

But idk way but I can see player/angle. Just standing there like it a normal day like there not even trap in the factory

I had a lot of fun drawing that little chase, but you are also so right.

In fact, that inspired me to actually write some fanfiction! All below the cut, but sadly no drawings to go along with it (for now).

"Angel!!!" It was a screech, mixed with a pitiful whining and another plee for help.

Only to be promptly followed by heavy footsteps and the sound of furious hissing.

Angel gave a heavy sigh, leaning against one of the upright picnic tables as they simply watched the scene before them.

DogDay, a small cartoon dog with sunny orange fur and a personality to match, was bouncing around. Desperately, he was trying to avoid the large purple paws of the feline chasing him down. Every clawless swipe had missed so far, but the cat's aim was getting better.

"Angel, Please!!!"

Angel sighed again, raising a hand to rub their temples. Two hours. Two hours ago, Angel had first found this little pup handing in a rotting cell. Two hours ago, they freed him and returned his legs. Two hours ago, their life was quiet.

They had begrudgingly allowed DogDay to follow them, concerned the pup would be helpless. They were pleasantly surprised to see he could handle himself, but his looney behavior leaved much to be desired. Simple tasks became jokes, stealth was no longer an option, and Angel was almost positive they could hear a faint laugh track playing every so often.

The worst part?

Ever since they freed the dog, CatNap became unpredictable. Ollie had warned them that this monstrous cat would hide in the shadows and hunt them, but this? This wasn't something any of them had expected.

CatNap gave a rather loud hiss, lunging forward with a powerful pounce. The orange pup was helpless, unable to dart to the side this time, and was tackled to the ground.

The two toppled over, again and again as they came to a stop on the hard paved floor of PlayCare. Once more, CatNap returned to a smaller size like DogDay, though he had him pinned to the ground.

DogDay wheezed, trying to force air back into his lungs. It wasn't easy, as CatNap firmly sat on his chest.

"Apologize." CatNap's voice was distorted, thanks to his voice box being broken long ago. His white eyes narrowed, his tail thrashing.

"You took my legs."

"You lost our game. You knew the risks."

"But you chained me to a wall! And left me there!"

"I came back for you." The cat huffed, his purple ears flat against his head. "It kept you safe from the minis. Or so... I thought it would."

"Angel!" The dog whined, tilting his head up to spot the human a few feet away. Without hesitation, he shot them the most pitiful looking puppy eyes he could manage.

Two hours of this.

Angel would have theorized that CatNap was simply territorial, but frankly? They didn't need to guess. Yes, CatNap wanted to serve the Prototype. Yes, horrible things occurred and he made efforts to stop Angel from cutting off the red gas.

But CatNap made no attempt to hurt them.

He watched them running around, only providing small obstacles to stop them - which only encouraged DogDay's wackier side to show more. Angel was convinced that this cat, though loyal to the prototype, had his heart set towards something more.

"You two are acting like children." They frowned. They shouldn't be scolding their enemy - if they could even call CatNap one. "If you two are going to do this, can you at least play a little quieter?"

"I thought he had died!" CatNap hissed. "You stole him from me! I thought -!"

"...What?" This got DogDay's attention as he snapped his head back to look up at the cat. "Angel freed me, and we were chased around by the minis for a bit. They saved me."

"I... I saw the human." CatNap's frown deepened as he flexed his claws. "I needed to see if they harmed you, so I went to your cage. I found minis, eating and bloodied orange fur scattered around the cell. I found your belts, torn and cut. I thought..."

"Oh, Moonbeam..." DogDay's voice softened, reaching over to the cat to gently pull him in for a hug.

Angel rolled their eyes again.

At least Huggy had been simple. Hungry beast, shove off catwalks. Miss Delight? Hungry creature who went insane? Smash into a wall.

But CatNap? He seemed to love only two things. The prototype, and this odd dog. Even the severed legs hadn't been an issue. They were in the next cell over, casually walking around on their own. DogDay hadn't experienced any pain reattaching them. The belt on his waist and some torn fur were the only signs that he had been ripped in half to begin with.

It didn't make sense to the human, and it certainly wasn't adding up how this cat needed comforting from the same one he had torn and held captive - or even why the dog was providing such tender moments so easily.

CatNap looked furious, still trying to stare daggers at the human. Though... It was impossible to take him seriously as DogDay nuzzled into him. Even more so when a soft purr escaped the cat.

Whatever.

So long as the cat wouldn't try to kill them, and Angel could escape this hellhole, they wouldn't ask any further questions. All they really wanted was to go back home and sleep in their own bed, preferably away from any sort of cartoon.

...Though deep down? Angel had a feeling that dream would be impossible now.

[anonymouse5]

tips for writers block bc I need them:

~ go back and re-read what you’ve written

you might find spots that are keeping you stuck/scenes you need to scrap

~ work on a different wip/start a new wip

you might just need a break from this one & the other might give you inspo, esp if it’s similar genre/characters/etc.

these are motivation boosters/ways to get inspiration:

~ make a pinterest board or playlist (if you already have one, add to it)

~ daydream about scenes/characters

~ read something in the same form as what you’re writing, try to analyze why certain scenes work or certain characters draw you in

more random tips:

~ brainstorm random scenes that could happen in your story

if you can’t use it for this one, save it for something else!

then you can look back to these scraps later and see if you want to include them when you have writers block later

~ write a different scene

if you haven’t gotten to the scene you’re most excited to write, write that one.

if your brain is weird like mine and won’t let you write out of order, write it in a separate document/notebook depending on whether you type or write out your stories.

if you have a specific brainstorming notebook, write the scene in that. find what works for you!

~ try a sprint

try to just free write for 1 min, 5 min, 15 min. whatever you feel that you can. even 30 seconds. this might help you get into the flow. if it doesn’t, at least you wrote something. progress is good!

you can try different writing websites that make writing a game or force you to write or it will delete your work (this stresses me out so I don’t do this)

~ reread a different work of yours

try to reread something you’re proud of. this could be a confidence boost!

~ use a prompt

this can be a picture, a painting, a song, something you read (quote, poem, story, etc) or any other form of art. it can literally be anything. prompts will get you started.

~ try to remove doubts/become calm

sometimes writing becomes hard because we’re not fully confident in our writing. it happens. just remind yourself that it takes time to get good and even great writers get imposter syndrome, writers block, etc.

chill and see where your writing journey takes you. this applies to all aspects of life btw.

~ write about your writers block

this might be dumb, but it might be a great relatable poem? again, getting words on the page is good. quantity over quality for now. we can work on the quality once we get into the flow, y’know?

~ go back to square one

if you’re a plotter, go back to plotting. flesh out some of those vague ideas. add to your character sheets. think about the mood you want to create. tweak your mood board. etc. idk i only plot sometimes.

okay! happy writing. lmk if you want more tips <3

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR rambles 23

Oh boy. We're here!

This page was basically EXCLUSIVLY made to be a cover art page. XDDD

It was really fun figuring out the environment and capturing the vibe of the OOT Water Temple boss fight room with Dark Link.

This is a direct inspiration of that.

I'm STILL salty we NEVER got a proper manga adaptation of that fight.

I could go on a huge rant about how Dark Link's utilization was AWFUL in OOT's manga...like AWFUL especially knowing what it could have been with my own exploration into Dark Link's character (I say with the huge note that Dark Link is very OC coded in FSR...)

The Dark Link Fight is an isolating PERSONAL fight and the OOT manga turned it into a fucking display for the entire Kakariko village for them to kiss Link's ass for and it didn't feel properly introspective or deep or...anything. Relegating Dark to just a random demon that wore Link's face to fuck with him and not a reflection of his own darkness and insecurities, his flaws. His sins.

The reveal for Dark Link is PERFECT in the OG game, you lacking a reflection as soon as you pass the tree with a split branches. He's literally your reflected mirror image.

The fact we were robbed of seeing just how personal and frightening and introspective that could have been is just mnghghghg.

Wasted potential is the phrase that comes to mind with that adaptation of Dark Link.

There's another level of him being in the water temple because water shows your reflection. (Also...Deadhand's creepy ass getting completely cut from that manga...WHY. We could have had it all. 😭)

And it makes me so sad because Shadow is such a GOOD adaptation of an evil Link from the same artists. 😭 Giving Shadow SO MUCH that wasn't there in the og game.

Like...agh.

Dark in Twilight princess is a huge upgrade and was a huge inspiration to FSR Dark Link's character of reflection (Seriously read his scenes in TP, you will see FSR Dark Link's inspiration X'DDD)

Anyway...

I really like Legend of Zelda... And I've always loved Dark Link as a character if you couldn't tell from me utilizing him a LOT in FSR given the chance.

Anyway smth stupid about this page: hur de duur Dark is looking up Blue's skirt.

I remember just layering and layering effects onto this page. The fog and Dark's rippling visage in the water are some of my favorites.

Blue's in his cozy lil headspace.

Far away from people trying to keep him in what is to him: A torturous experience.

Blue made it VERY CLEAR he hates being Link and it's stressful and suffocating for him.

Just the thought of being Link again is deeply anxiety inducing for him. So he's retreated into a place of complete isolation.

He just wants to be alone right now.

Dark's boss room felt like a nice way to show that. ^w^

Blue in a lot of ways feels utterly LIED TO.

Splitting up with the sword was a promise they were going to be OKAY and safe. Because being Link is a DEATH SENTANCE to him.

So the prospect of going back is terrifying.

Peek a boo. Hi Dark Link. XD

That creepy ass grin as he slinks out of the water is very Ben drowned inspired haha.

There's a few pieces of Ben Drowned Fan art I've seen over the years that I thought of when drawing this one.

Like, the idea he's been walking underwater for WHO KNOWS HOW LONG just to follow Blue is very creepy.

Like, he doesn't seem the need to breathe. (He doesn't)

The lonely dirt or sand hilltop was an oasis from people but Dark pursued anyway. Dark got to him across this vacuous empty space of nothing but water.

Dark takes a moment to just stare at Blue and the situation.

And approaches slowly and carefully at first, before declaring himself and his intentions.

He gets a certain type of way when he gets no response.

Blue continues not to notice him. Green had a better handle on his own head and managed to decipher someone was up to something pretty quickly but Blue is shuts him out entirely.

He gets upset enough to clench his fist in anger but doesn't swing or do anything particularly violent yet. He just gives up and sits alongside Blue muttering he didn't really EXPECT Blue to respond but just wanted him too.

Dark Link is very used to disappointment at this point in the story. He's also the kind of person to only give as much effort as required of him.

Lifting his head back up he's in a blizzard...HUH.

He comes across a door and...just breaks the lock.

"That's not how the game is played-"

Instead of trying to get a key he just breaks it. X'D

Dark really doesn't play around.

Looking around, he gets attacked by...a blonde Blue-

Apparently this phantom is a "Faker" and "not the real blue" according to Dark.

...Care to elaborate on what that thing IS Dark- Nope okay...

If you want my stupid thoughts: It's a representation of Blue pushing people away and wanting privacy rn.

Since literally locking himself up didn't work he's lashing out.

When defeated this thing just turns into a puff of smoke that's the same shades as Dark's hair when he mimics Blue.

Dark Link doing his usual thing, which is tearing people down.

I refer to this as "The bisexual lighting Dark Link panel" because that's what it ended up being and it's hilarious.

Dark Link is the bisexual representation yall deserve-

...I'll let myself out-

Okay though seriously I do love this panel because it's so over dramatic.

Dark Link's crazy faces are fun as hell and he has a way with being a perfect muse. 🖤

The blue bleeding into red with Dark's mania and typical color scheme taking over the cold freezing blue with red hot anger and annoyance on Dark's end.

This is also a detail so small I don't think anyone would care or notice otherwise: Dark Link is drawn with Blue's nose. X'D

Him mimicking people's facial features doesn't pop up too often but originally I did want him to do it more often.

Dark has to drag himself out of his literal purpose and uhh, safe to say he's getting pissed off.

When Dark Link gets particularly angry across the "Darkblue" interaction he copes by clenching his fist in anger to try and dispel it. This dude would love stress balls X'D

Trying to keep a cheery attitude about something he WAS excited about, while faced with a task that's just infuriating him is getting to him.

he's not gloomy for long because he finds Blue hiding from him in a giant ice hide away.

Stupid art detail: I just like when Dark has gloves that are tinted red. It's cute.

Dark acknowledges he could brute force his way into the ice block if he wanted too but is just too lazy. XD

Dark just spilling his own opinions everywhere when given a captive audience.

he's just a lil guy with his heart on his sleeve, just wants to share his opinions on stuff like what color is he prefers and trying to relate to the other party.

He liked the blue fire he saw in SOMEONE's memories (Haha BOTW reference hello)

Blue's preference for green also being a reference to him trying to steal Green's clothing in the original FS. Though...there's also the question to be had if the colors would actually HAVE different likes and dislikes when it comes to things such as favorite colors or food...? Personality wise they're very different but would that change something like that?

Anyway, Blue finally starts to realize SOMEONE is talking to him.

LOL So this is the first time Dark Link's gender has been called into question by someone.

...Funny thing about that: Dark Link doesn't really understand gender. X'D

I head cannon him with an...interesting voice. Most of the time I see him sounding like Blue diamond from Steven universe.

When he's screaming though, Invader Zim. X'D (Think Zim screaming "YOU'RE LYING!!!!" and you got what I think he sounds like when he screams)

Sometimes when he's broody Legoshi from Beastars.

Basically: if someone voiced him, they'd either have to have insane range or he'd have to be voiced by multiple people.

Anyway back to Dark's gender.

he mimics people.

He's only been around MEN outside of Zelda (And her gender is less than straight in FSR lmfao, think back to when Link referred to her with they/them)

So...He's only mimicking men for the most part.

Link didn't have a maternal figure in his life, so Dark's understanding of women is super limited.

He also just uses his own name as a pronoun.

Dark Link's third person speak is very particularly written...I'm very particular about it.

Example of how I'd write a sentence and what I'd avoid if it makes sense:

Correct O "Dark Link would NEVER do that!? Do you think I'm stupid!?"

Incorrect X "Dark Link would NEVER do that!? Do you think he's stupid!?"

...I hate the idea Dark would refer to himself in complete third person. It would sound childish vs him just using his own name as a pronoun like "I/me/Myself"

Cause...if you've noticed only OTHER characters refer to Dark link with gendered pronouns. Dark Link only refers to himself as "I/Me/Dark Link"

Usually Dark Link refers to himself when he's distancing himself from his actions or just when I think it'd be funny/fitting.

So yeah, the curse doesn't really have a gender and everyone so far has just assumed he's a dude. XD Dark Link himself doesn't correct anyone because...why would he?

I don't think Dark would understand that he/she/they aren't universal pronouns for every person. XD

If you're wondering for future/current readers: This is also why he doesn't care Vio calls him an "it" or a "Thing".

Those are just descriptors of what he is.

he knows everyone calls Zelda a "She" and has called Zelda as such but I doubt he'd know why or when to use it otherwise. he'd just follow everyone else's lead.

ANYWAY.

YEAH DARK LINK FUCKS WITH GENDER.

So like...I've mentioned it before SOMEWHERE but in FS they just...straight up have telepathy??? Like Vio uses it to get Blue and Red to come to the Shadow temple AND Green (Imo) is woken up by Vio calling out to him when he wakes up from the massage.

So like...it's just cannon they can use telepathy with each other so here's blue referencing he'd know what the others sound like X'D

Cause of his curiosity the ice melts because...well he wants to know who's talking to him.

Dark's really happy about being let in. Announcing "Found you!" like he won a game of hide and seek.

Blue continues to push the fact he wants to be alone right now but Dark's too busy being weird.

Dark...buddy...Don't touch people's face like that.

Just seeing if Blue's lips are kissable I guess. XDDD

Blue's not fully in the headspace mindset yet so he's having a hard time visualizing Dark Link atm.

But he KNOWS that voice.

So Dark tries to appeal to Blue's emotions to get him to go back home...instead of just tearing him down.

Nice use of your powers buddy.

We get a nice POV shot of the blurred mess Blue sees of Dark's silhouette.

Dark's words in the first panel really do seem like sympathy...but it's hard to tell with him.

Blue gets frustrated enough he drags himself into the headspace to confront this mystery guy.

OOp-

We're back in the boss room.

You know what that means.

Blue fully recognizing and talking to Dark surprises Dark since he was SHOCKED Green fully noticed him.

Though this time...he seems...not happy.

Ngl, Dark's pissed off face sends me.

He's SO PISSED that Blue's pulling this crap on him.

I think Blue's phrasing specifically is what did it for Dark to snap.

"WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET A DAMN BREAK!?" - Blue shouted...at the disgruntled worker who can't take a break.

Dark even points out as much he could echo the sentiment.

Dark's just full of anger at this point at how this "Mission" has gone and has divulged into childish as hell insults.

Dark saying Blue's face is "hideous" and Blue immediately making an unattractive face is one of those things I just find so stupidly funny. (Dark ALSO making an unattractive face while saying it lmfao)

Just hits the funny bone just right. It's so stupid.

Dark Link proceeds to throw a piss baby tantrum.

ya know what pal, if I had to deal with BLUE I'd be at my limit too. XDDD

He's really just reflecting and taking out the rage that's been building and only getting worse since he's around Blue.

...Okay so I don't repeat myself, this entire fight is hilarious to me.

The eyebrow comment is so stupidly childish and it's funny DARK is the first one to point out Blue's MASSIVE EYEBROWS.

Dark is pissed off enough to actually fight somewhat competently to knock Blue onto his ass.

Dark's main method of attack is disarming his enemy. He knocked Shadow on his ass too and kept Vaati pinned when they fought after cutting his tentacles.

Dark's just loves breaking down your defences. ;)

HAND TRAUMA WARNING!!!

Blue accurately accesses Dark is shorter than him. (Blue's the tallest of the four colors in FSR.)

Even touching a sore spot with Dark being compared to Shadow Link.

Dark doesn't take that comparison well at ALL causing him to cut his own hand off just to win the fight.

And since the readers got hindsight: Dark Link's steaks in this fight are WAAAAY bigger than Blue's.

Dark gets chronic pain after he gets hurt by the Four Sword. (Granted timeline wise it's still the same day comic wise. 💀) Him holding the blade of his sword to avoid Blue getting him in the face and cutting his own hand off to avoid it was in a lot of ways the ONLY way out of that...Well if he was human.

I think there's a lot to be said about Dark literally harming himself to win this fight

He doesn't value himself much.

And that's a perpetual theme with him.

Dark just doesn't care about his own safety much.

Again, Dark already cut off his own hand and then GRABES THE BLADE OUCH DUDE.

These panels are pretty quick paced but dude's eyes have been the "Rage" eyes for awhile.

I usually draw Dark with these eyes when he's at his peak anger or manic.

Dark's cute lil horns popped out and his hat has a lil tail to it's end looking a LOT like vaati's.

MMMMM

Blue is SHOCKCED this guy would do something so drastic just to win.

Like reguardless of it growing back, I think most of us would have hesitation to CUTTING OFF YOUR OWN HAND.

Originally: Dark was meant to cut off his fingers, but ahh. Changed it because someone I know doesn't like finger/hand trauma. (There's a reason why there's a "mildly censored" of these pages.

Also the blood: Dark's blood dripping into Blue's eye literally clouding his vision and representing him being blinded by red/rage. XD

Hehe literal stuff.

It's also the eye that ends up glitching into Link's eye so...Hmmm wonder if there's a connection there.

Reasonable question from Blue. His shaky word bubble shows he's kinda afraid of that outcome.

Dark's downright offended by the suggestion though before laughing in Blue's face.

The "Are you stupid?" face is so silly. I'm sure a lot of you can tell it's inspired by the Excalibur face. XD

You can't "The writer's barely disguised fetish" me here, I added Dark pulling Blue's hair for someone else XDDD

FSR is nothing if not horny as hell.

The mention of Green snaps Blue out of having his hair yanked by this weirdo.

Stupid cut content rant:

Originally Dark Link was going to meet ALL the Links spare Green and Shadow all together (Vio/Blue/Red) and his rabbit dog line was actually in reference to Blue being PISSED about Dark.

La de daaa rewrites and ba boom they met here and Darkblue happened so.

Eh if you were interested. A lot of ideas end up being reused.

The idea of Dark reflecting Blue's toxic and overwhelming anger was used to a much better affect here than in the og brainstorming I think.

If you want another freaky cut detail:

Back when Dark had a bigger antagonist role. He went WAAAY deeper into his mental torture on Blue.

(Ya know. usual villain things like cosplaying vio's corpse)

Dark was less of a character in the older drafts and more of a HORROR creepy pasta character haha. more of what we saw Vio going through less of a hopeless romantic. XD

But the fact they had a boss fight has been around in the drafts since Dark's inception pretty much. Though the OG Darkblue fight had WAY more steaks and was towards the end of the og script draft of FSR.

Art wise I'm not completely happy with this page. Dark...buddy where's your eye shines. And MAN I wish I made the water more than JUST a gradient but ahh what can ya do. I release these daily sometimes with 6 page updates.

Can't always be bangers.

Dark expresses his "This is why you don't meet your heroes" rant because he's having an autistic meltdown shit didn't go the way he wanted. (Ya know what. Same sometimes pal)

Just throwing Blue back his sword in anger, to which Blue reaches for.

Dark is reasonably tired of this and expresses how HE feels about his situation.

This is more fucked up when you consider the four sword leaves Dark with serious pain.

Dude just offered to become Blue's punching bag "if it'll make him happy".

Dark's self worth is in the toilet and it's even worse because some part of him MUST think Blue might take him up on that offer.

Whatever fulfils his promise to Green.

Having this slung at his face Blue doesn't exactly take it well.

I've touched on it before but I really do feel like blue didn't ACTUALLY get much growth in his anger department. his anger just stopped being used as a punchline when he physically hurt the other 3.

Like...that's not character growth???

I really feel like we could have used a scene where characters REALLY touched on "hey, when you hurt people that isn't fucking cool" To blue but idk.

Like we got a very watered down idea of that where the fairy tells blue to stop being so mean but it's so soft and underplayed idk.

I really wanna touch on how I'd rewrite Blue's arc whenever I make a video dissecting the FS manga because I feel like blue has a LOT of potential to show someone coping with anger issues better.

Dark calling him out here forces him to recognize the gravity of his abuse towards the others.

And it'll be touched on again when Blue talks about how Vaati treats Dark Link, and how that pisses him off.

I just personally like how in realizing how his actions come off and how they hurt others (Specifically Dark Link here) Blue chooses to try and be better going forward.

Blue's defences kick in at first when Dark sugjests he take his anger out on him, and it's "Just something he needs to get used to" because he's bitter over what Vaati's been putting him through, what Shadow put him through even and the fight Blue and him JUST HAD.

Almost ALL of Dark's interactions, aside from Green's have been physical violence and that finally caught up with him and by proxy got him angry enough to confront blue on his behavior.

It's enough to make Blue think for a second like "No I'm not like that" so he immediately jumps to "Why would you say that!?".

Then to blaming Dark Link as he tries to rationalize before defaulting to wreck less anger just shouting for Dark Link to die as his terror at his own actions consume him.

The paneling reflecting how the darkness and his horror spread further and further.

We reached the 30 page limit sooooo we'll hop into this again soon. XD

[dailycupofcreativitea]

AHHHHH you're playing kingdom hearts? Please report back with your thoughts when you feel up to it it's my special interest 👀

Okay here are some thoughts I've spammed to my friends in the last few days! (BTW I read the manga already for the first game so I basically spoiled it but I was still equally as shocked when these things happened in the game lol)

By the way, spoilers below for anyone who hasn't played!

General thoughts:

SORA IS SOOOOOOOOOO CUTE 🥺 The voice actor voiced him PERFECTLY, he's exactly the perfect combination of hopeful, friendship, little kid, strong heart, over confident at times, stubborn, sweet. 😭💖

Told a friend I love Sora in a different way than I love Gohan, here were my thoughts: Gohan is more quiet, sweet, gentle, burdened with a lot of power that he seems hesitant to use and slowly builds his confidence throughout the show, I relate to Gohan a lot, sweet cinnamon roll that must be protecc, but forced to protecc others, etc etc Sora is sweet and gentle but loud, has a HUGE heart and he uses it to protect his friends with 100% confidence (he's more like Goku in that way), his heart is just unwavering and he doesn't seem to doubt himself often (at least in KH1), funny and goofy and his stubbornness can get him into trouble sometimes but his bonds with his friends give him strength, I don't relate to him but I would love to draw inspiration from him

"Shonen protagonist done by Disney" vibes (as put aptly by @genisflyingkites)

Riku is so insanely jealous of Sora it's hilarious, he's overall kind of a jerk and even Kairi said she wanted to leave the island without him, but also Riku is 15 and hormonal and Maleficent got to him so I don't really blame him for it

Donald and Goofy are way less annoying than I assumed they would be, I like that they seem refreshingly mature?? Donald is stubborn and beefs with Sora a lot and Goofy seems like he has a good head on his shoulders and is a deep thinker

Also I keep seeing memes of Donald constantly getting knocked out in game and being useless but for me Donald ALWAYS comes in clutch with the elixirs and ethers

That scene where Maleficent tells Riku that Sora replaced him and Kairi with Donald and Goofy was sad in both the manga and the game but what REALLY made my jaw drop was that SORA LOWKEY FELT THE SAME:

(Yes he was fighting with Donald at the time too but LOOK AT HIS FACE!!! 😭🙏)

If Riku talked to Sora for more than 10 seconds at a time literally all of this would be resolved XD LIKE!! Sora is literally trying to find them! Riku please!

This scene had my sister and I's JAWS ON THE FLOOR:

It was low blow after low blow! I read this in the manga too but somehow it hit harder in the game!

Hollow Bastion is a great OST and I've been listening to it on repeat. The map is also pretty nice but I wish I could explore more without heartless appearing every 5 seconds

Actually I also liked the OST "A Day in Agrabah"

I beat Riku's ass in 10 seconds and it was glorious (Ansem is a whole other story...still working on it)

DID I MENTION SORA HAS SUCH A KIND AND SWEET AND STRONG HEART!?

Every single cutscene had the words "light" "darkness" "friendship" "heart" "memories" repeated over and over again to form a cutscene (I saw this in a Youtube video and thought it was incredibly accurate XD)

My sister and I were CRACKING UP during this cutscene because it made NO SENSE

It just kept getting more and more non-sensical XD

I think Aladdin was my favourite world so far but tbh they were all pretty cool (Sora's Halloween Town fit was so cute! Also I loved flying around by Big Ben, and then getting the glide feature)

The Maleficent Dragon boss was really hard, cool, and fun; Tinker Bell really came in clutch

Also I gotta say this game is really hard to play because the control are so annoying, the jump function is annoying (I keep falling off and misjudging his jump), it keep glitching cause it's connected to the cloud or something, the directions are too vague so I have to follow a walkthrough while playing, and I have to keep stopping between plays because I get motion sickness from the wildly spinning camera really easily -- despite all that I am indeed having a blast

I think that's all my thoughts for now :3

[rainspicestudios]

Happy 2025! [RainSpice Studios plans & updates for the new year]

Hey everyone! Happy 2025 from RainSpice Studios. I hope this year will be kind to everyone and that many good things will be coming your way.

And speaking of good things, I'm cooking some projects that are just itching to be released and available for download. But before we get into that, let us talk a little about the games that were released in 2024.

This won't be a lengthy recap of 2024, as the games speak for themselves, but I am still proud of myself for releasing a full game, a chapter one, and a demo, during a very stressful year both in terms of world events and my personal life (I graduated college, I'm moving, all of that good stuff).

Stardust★Arcadis was my first ever release, and a game I struggled to finish. I lost all of my progress because of PC issues, I rewrote the story a few times, and I released it after working on it since 2019 (2022 if the moment when my PC broke doesn't count). However I love the characters, I love the setting, and despite the many hardships of game development, I had a fun time working on it.

I'm planning to release more games in this universe in the future, including a remastered version of St★Ar.

The Code of Crystals started as a novel collaboration with my best friend. Said collaboration never got finished, and I had a lot of inspiration for stories I could tell with these characters, most of these darker than the original project. Thus I used the characters I made for this former collaboration and started crafting this narrative, and the release of Stardust★Arcadis AND the 2024 edition of Phantasia Jam was a perfect opportunity to get started!

Chapter one will be re-release this January and Chapter two will be released in either late 2025 or early 2026. Stay tuned for more info!

Enter the Eternity, oddly enough, also started as a collaboration, but the idea of a dating simulator with magical girls was too good to let it collect dust and never get finished, especially since its inspiration board kept drawing me in.

With my best friend's blessing, I could re-use the idea, so I created a new cast of characters and got to work, and had to do even more work after I found out that the backgrounds I bought from someone on itch.io were made with an AI image generator, which disgusted me so much it powered me to redraw every single background by hand and I will keep doing so for the entire game. While it is more work to do on my part, RainSpice Studios will never endorse AI generation in any shape or form.

At first I worked on it while I worked on Stardust★Arcadis, which explains why the demo was done on such a short notice, but it has now became my primary project for 2025 and I am aiming to release it around November/December at best.

What's the plan for 2025 then?

My primary goal is to release Enter the Eternity and my secondary goal is to release The Code of Crystals chapter 2.

I aim to finish all first dates for Enter the Eternity AND re-release chapter 1 of The Code of Crystals in January. The dates are already written and coded in the script files, so my focus is to add in all the sprite expressions, draw CGs and backgrounds, and add all the necessary music. As for TCOC, I wanted to remake its menus and add a scene with Eranis that I did not have time to add before the end of the game jam. While the UI code I bought doesn't work, its images are pretty, and I am happy with the result.

2025 will be another busy year for me as I try to find a full-time job to sustain myself, launch some new projects more-or-less related to video games, move out again, among some other irl things. But here at RainSpice Studios, I love making games, and will keep making them for the foreseeable future.

If you read down to here, thank you so much!

There's a lot to do so I'm going back to work 💪 I'll update you guys when I reach a milestone or I find something interesting to share.

So stay tuned! And as said, I wish you guys a kind, good, exciting, fun, and game-filled 2025. Thank you for your continued support and here's to more projects this year 🥂

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

[RainSpice Studios itch.io] [Stardust★Arcadis] [The Code of Crystals] [Enter The Eternity]

[badsalmonella]

SGATGK getting 'er done.👍

TLDR: some neato historical/fantasy drawing references, I like character design would be neat if someone paid me to do that someday, I have to trick myself into being motivated to finish anything like one tricks a dog into taking their meds by putting it in the wet food, tales passed down for centuries are cool.

Why did I do this? : Because I'm obsessed with art books and design bibles and it's what made me want to study animation in the first place. Portfolio pieces like this, this and this were always something I wanted to do, I think they are so inspiring.

Unfortunately you like have to put in a lot of effort to get something like this done, and as I have learned from a semi-failed attempt to do this with Hadestown it is very easy to get too precious about the art and restart 80 times and essentially never get anything done. I'm out here chanting "finished not perfect" to myself in the mirror like a mantra maybe one day it will seep into my bones and I will fully embrace it. Full disclosure, one of the circumstances that led to me actually finishing this is that I have way too much free time on my hands atm, like I don't think I would have gotten this done (or gotten it done in a timely manner) if I was also balancing full time work, but I was tryinggg to squeeze some lemons out of a less than ideal situation. Second thing, on top of trying to do this for 4 years with Hadestown, I alsooo initially tried to do this with the musical Camelot/ the Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere love triangle part of the Arthurian legends but found I was once again too obsessed with the thing, and getting too precious about the art to get anything substantial done. I did get these Guinevere runaway bride drawings done though. Phillipa Soo high cheekbones Guinevere will always be important to me!!

So I switched gears and chose an Arthurian legend I liked well enough, but not so much I would sike myself out of getting it done and went with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It's also a story that adheres to a pretty traditional fable structure. A young guy goes on a quest, he experiences trials in threes, he comes back a little changed having learned a life lesson, etc. Also designing The Green Knight comes with a fun 'cool' factor that I like. The Arthurian discord server run by queer-ragnelle on tumblr is full of really nice, and wayyyy more knowledgeable people who pointed me in the direction of Simon Armitage's translations of the poem so that's what I read to get started. Another great resource I liked was Queer as Fact's podcast episode on the story. Something that I found really interesting was that they discussed Gawain's kissing game with the Bertilak's being something that brought on both queer positive and queerness as a sort of cautionary tale that was encouraged to be turned away from interpretations*. Interesting that you could take away two opposite readings from the same text, but also really framed the experience of staying with the Bertilaks as something that is otherworldly and treading into unknown territory for Gawain.

*I wanna add that 1. just because I acknowledge the two conflicting interpretations doesn't mean that I think one cancels out the other's validity 2. Just because I acknowledge it doesn't mean that it's one that I like or agree with. Obviously these stories are so old we can't ask the author what intent they were writing with so we'll never get 'the right answer', all we really have is interpretation. So like why not interpret something positive out of it, especially if you can back it up with the text.

I got pretty tired of using Google images for research, and actually went to the library for most of my drawing reference. This was also good because it got me out of the house yay! It made me feel like those movie behind the scenes featurettes I love, where people go on their little research trips, like OoooO I'm making the fake movie in my brain!! I unfortunately never wrote down the titles of these books I was using but there were some great illustrated book of clothing worn throughout history. I wanted to keep Gawain, and the design of Camelot fairly close to something historical.

I loved this book especially because all the art was so colourful. I think a lot of people have this idea that medieval costuming should be dull/dark colours but I definitely didn't want to go in that direction. I love bright colours!

I really took inspiration from this illustration I found for Gawain, even though people typically associate medieval knights with full plate armour, in the story Gawain is going on a lengthy journey to find the green chapel, then accept his beheading so I actually felt something lighter like this chainmail outfit with robe on top was the way to go to make him feel mobile. Also Gawain really lays on the self deprecating sauce thick when he volunteers himself up to participate in the Green Knight's game, claiming he is of no great importance, he's just a little guy, it's not a big risk if he gets hurt. (that's not a direct quote. That just the vibe) So I also snuck in the small detail that his clothing is a little oversized, not quite arranged straight, but he grows into it by the end of the tale :3

I also used designing Gawain as the chance to lock down what artstyle I wanted to move forward with. My brain told me 'oohhh storybook!' but go into a bookstore and give it a peruse and you will quickly find there is a wide array of storybook artstyles. So that was not specific enough. I tried simplifying my art style, I liked Cartoon Saloon's stuff (good catch everyone who commented on it's influence in the post's tags) but felt it was a little too simplified and stylized for what I wanted to do. The big lightbulb moment for me was when I found this art by an-old-lady on tumblr. I really like how this artist's work is pretty stylized but sticks close to recognizable human proportions. So I put this one my inspiration board, while still trying to keep it distinctly mine. not really my call to say if I succeeded at this or not lol

But yes Cartoon Saloon's influence is still there, especially with backgrounds,

and I also really loved looking towards the art of Sleeping Beauty. Really amazing use of colour in this art, also the way they simplify nature into easy to read shapes, then pack in all the detail there is something I loved.

me doing my best to harness that Disney concept art power

(Side note one books I can name from all this research is this one because I would like to own it some day. Fantastic resource for not only showing the classic art and architecture they are taking reference from, but how you can apply that to something a lot more cartoony and simplified. Seriously the side by side comparisons of medieval book artwork next to their Sleeping Beauty storybook scenes are masterclass mwah)

From there something I really wanted to drive home was this contrast between Gawain's world and Lord Bertilak/Green Knight's world. The Green Knight comes with lengthy descriptions about his odd (but hot *wink*) appearance, and there is definitely an aura that something unknown has entered King Arthur's court. While I tried to find inspiration for Gawain's armour from old artwork, Green Knight's outfit I was looking more to fantasy influences like Lord of the Rings, House of the Dragon, Renaissance Faire costumes, etc.

When you look up medieval fashion you get a lot of reference for these crazy cool headpieces

Lots of head coverings too for women (lots of it done for modesty reasons. Also a little bit for hygiene reasons) so I kept that consistent with the women of Camelot

Also even though a lot of medieval media associates the revealed shoulders and the sleeves with interesting cutouts with woman's fashion at the time, a lot of actual historical imagery I was finding has a full coverage layer underneath known as the kirtle (mostly for hygiene purposes......though I'm sure modesty is also a factor)

( Alicent where is your underlayer?? Cringe.)

But for Lady Bertilak I went full medieval fantasy and whipped out those sleeves that I always associate with princesses and gave her long flowing hair. Also interestingly I remember the story once emphasising her ~flirtatiously~ revealed shoulders. I wonder if that was a fashion choice still made back then, or if this is fantasy detailing, sort of like how the trash doctor drama TV show Doctor Odyssey will have doctors doing work on patients in full cocktail party attire a decision that is not based on any sort of reality but maybe hundreds of years from now if the media is preserved humans might assume that was how the doctors of our day dressed. HM!

Lord Bertilak actually gave me a hard time with his look. I went in really only knowing I wanted to give him that Hozier inspired bun hairstyle. My reasoning being that like Lord Bertilak loves going hunting he's a kind of man of the woods.....but he's also supposed to be this hot Lord who is making Gawain question if he wants to join a very unchristian open marriage and when I think of man of the woods but make it glam I think of this dude

but other than that I had no ideas on how to approach this 'same shape as the Green Knight but make him more warm and approachable' look I was trying to achieve, so I just made lots of sketches that got trashed pretty quickly. Also at the time I didn't know what colour scheme I wanted for these two yet, only that I wanted green as an accent colour to hint at his true identity (also because plot relevant green girdle) but not the MAIN COLOUR of their colour scheme. So anyways that's how you get this funny drawing of Lord Bertilak looking very Curious George's Yellow Guy vibes.

Then it hit me in the most unexpected of places....

You're probably wondering "hey there is literally a fantasy historical King Arthur musical you are OBSESSED WITH why are you not turning to that for inspiration?" or maybe "why would you reference House of the Dragon earlier but not the much more famous Game of Thrones?" and the answer there is as cool as those costumes are they are taking a LOT of inspiration from modern runway fashion and that just wasn't the vibe I was looking for. But then one day as I played the Camelot bootleg as comfort background noise (normal behaviour) I found inspiration from THE UNDERRATED FASHION ICON SIR PELLINORE!

I just really loved the long sleeveless drapery situation he had going on. I added the fur along the neckline for Lord Bertie though to make him more top heavy (like his Green Knight counterpart) and as a nod to hunting. but yes big props to Pellinore. ty king!

The contrasting shape language I used in the character design then informed all the extra prop details surrounding these characters.

But to keep things consistent I tried to keep some similar design principles for costumes. They like drapery. They like big sleeve moments. Bold colours. Girdles to break up dress forms. Tunics that generally fall close to knees in length.

I think the coolest bit of research I did was I visited a church in my city and got some good pictures as reference for the green chapel. In the poem the green chapel really ends up being a grass mound but that's not really an impressive drawing to put in your portfolio so I got the idea to have a chapel so old that nature has overtaken it and there's a structure in this hill. The church is open to just look through for free without attending a mass, it's a bit of a tourist destination for good reason it's really well kept, I'd been telling myself to go check it out for years of living here now but this project was what got me to finally do it.

I sketched some random object in there (this can be helpful even if you don't draw these things in your actual project just because it fills up your design bank in your brain) I also wish I took this picture but they had what looked like one of those office water coolers but it was labelled 'Holy Water' and I just thought that was funny. Sorry just wanted to share.

and I am HORRIBLE at drawing backgrounds, I really hate doing it, I find placing the horizon line/ vanishing points incredibly hard to do, so if you are like me but you wanna push yourself TAKE YOUR OWN PICTURES OF PLACES. AND TRACE OVER THEM. THEN ADD WHATEVER CHANGES NEEDED. IT'S NOT CHEATING I PROMISE. YOU CAN LITERALLY DO ANYTHING YOU WANT EVER IT IS NOT THE SAME AS PLAGIARIZING OR TRACING ANOTHER PERSON'S ART AND IT WILL SAVE YOU HEARTACHE. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Anyways this has been my incredibly long advertisement for your local library, your local tourist spots, cool art books, cool cartoons, The Green Knight poem, the kirtle, to try your best to make the art you wanna make because it will fill your heart with joy. Don't be precious about your art in a design project, just sketch like your life is ending in the next couple of hours, it's cool if you draw something like this

There's definitely stuff I wish I had drawn, more props, something more to indicate Lord Bertilak's hunts (I also suck at drawing animals oop) and maybe those things will be drawn in the future, but I am happy to call this done for the time being :)

Did you get this far? Well thanks. ilu 🫶🏼

[ccmatta]

30 and 50 for the ask game!

ok!!! :33 (edit: oh shit this is huge i'm so sorry, i just talk too much 😭)

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

I try to avoid dealing with things out of my comfort zone, ngl. But yeah, a little, yes. First, Matt hacking stuff???? do I know anything about that? oh hell no. And I'm quite aware it sucks a lot because I was so excited to write nonstop (really, I spent maybe 3 months writting every second I was awake, sponsored by my lovely autism) that I didn't stop to research stuff. But it made me just relax and do my silly stuff not caring too much about having a 100% of verisimilitude. It's fanwork, we can just have fun, yk? Second: smut. I... I don't know what I'm doing at all, I'm just a silly extremely ace dude that likes to draw smut but have no idea how to write that. While I'd write like 10+ pages in a day, 3 pages of smut would take me 2~3 days because I'd stare at my screen and literally SCREAM because I cant. I just can't lmao. But again, it's just for fun, why should I stress about that? It's not pwp, it's just a scene there that usually have some meaning for the relationship, I'm not aiming to write porn, so let it just be a mess and badly done lmao, as long as I achieve my objective of making the reader see and understand how the relationship is flowing, I think my job is done. And I think that's what I learned the most making my longfic. And it kinda helps me not to be too anxious when I get to the part where my slice of life shit stops and the DN canon begins, with Mello being the badass mafioso he is (but yes i'm scared af lmao).

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

Mmm.. I think I'll choose "34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?" And... mental illness YAY :DDD I accidentally made Matt with an autism too close to mine (a while before I was diagnosed, I just wrote him and then I looked back and was "oh shit.... no way"). You see, not only because it's fun to project a little on the characters I write, but exploring someone's mind is so fun to me. And I'm quite morbid ngl, so writing depressive stuff makes me... happy. At the same time, if you read the beginning of my longfic Loyal Dog or half of my Matt x Linda fics, you'll see I do like some fluff, because behind my dark lord façade, I'm just a silly lil dude who likes silly and cute stuff :3 It's like I have a lil demon and a lil angel by my side and both scream at me what I need to create (you can see that with my fanarts too, i believe). But I digress, what I needed to answer is: mostly depressive, sad stuff. Make them miserable. Loneliness, a lot of loneliness, but still being self sufficient enough not to care that much about that (or just being too used to it). And on the fics I put more work on the prose, I think I try to show some pain. Being it 1st person or 3rd. And... hope? A little bit. As far as death note can give (which is not much, huh? lmao). Oh, right, and a little sun shining through all this mess. Yeah yeah, there's good things even when Mello and Matt both knows they'll die. There'll be light. (the same goes for Matt and Linda; Linda being the beacon of light there tbh.)

[glaciart]

From 2014 - 2016 I spent my days playing Ragnarok Online..

It was quite a ride.

Depression hit hard, but playing MMOs was still possible. I spent day and some nights on OriginsRO (now Arcadia Online), got to know people all around the world and even participated in some big PVP events (very unusual for me!). The first really fun guild I joined was the Cotton Shirt Crew. I drew the picture above as an inspirational piece for the crowd. My dancer Nepenthe wearing one of the iconic cotton shirts!

I didn't draw all too much during those days. But what I did draw I drew without any kind of reference. Just imagination and muscle memory.

I did try to draw a picture with more effort going into it, too, but never finished. Behold, my priest, who's character name I changed a few times around:

One reason I never finished the picture was, that the technique I used is exhausting for me. Color first, lines later. It works best for detailed spaces, not so well for big things like the robe. Also, the anatomy on the first draft was definetly terribly off (that's what you get from avoiding references!). After scrapping most of my progress away I never took it on again.

The last thing I drew in context of this game is this little lap-dance scene sketch, spontanously called into existence for my friend Kergal, which I met ingame. Good old times!

But eventually I batteled off the worst of the depression and found my way back into reality. Thanks to everyone who was around during that time. I miss you.

[zeldaelmo]

for the WIP tag game, tell us about your newest story "inspiration, illusions and other inconveniences". it already seems very self-aware, considering most people reading are likely to be writers or artists or at least frequent the same spheres, so it will be interesting to see how many references and how relatable you can make it :,D

Haha, that's exactly what I thought when you sent the comment the other day. As you know, I'm not an artist, just a writer, so we'll see how much I get wrong on Link's side of things. He'll be the only pov character, too (somehow I'm only writing his pov lately?), but we'll still see quite some writing typical shenanigans.

Here's a snippet from the next chapter, 'Bad ideas':

T had answered a few comments already but hadn't given away much. It was fun to read others' opinions anyway; some posted theories nearly as long as the chapter had been.

One comment, however, piqued his interest:

"Wow, this is so incredibly good! Bless you, for this gift, T! I wish someone would make art for this story! It would be so cool to see this scene, but I can't draw to save my life."

Link inhaled through his nose and leaned back on his chair. Oh, no. This was a bad idea. He…he…well. He could draw, couldn’t he?

He closed the laptop and blinked. That was not how he had planned his evening. He wanted to finish his landscape study. And not drawing smooching namesakes. Shaking his head to get rid of the stupid ideas, he stood up, walked a circle, and set up his drawing tablet. He opened the laptop again and navigated to the file of his study.

Yesterday, he hadn’t been happy with the lighting situation, maybe he could solve the problem after a day’s break. He settled down, tried this and that, added a few strokes here and there. Yet, the only lighting he thought of was how the sun filtered into the grotto and illuminated the Zelda of the story. He took a few more attempts, but it was useless. His heart wasn’t into it. Gloomily, he stared at the painting he had sworn to finish today, but his mind arranged a piece of art of two blonde Hylians kissing without asking him for permission.

Fine.

I commissioned @illcamp for the art Link paints in this chapter and the sketch she showed me looked already wonderful! So excited to share it with you all eventually. 😊

Thank you for the ask!

[psychhound]

for the tarot rpg ask game! The Fool, The Empress, The Hierophant, The Chariot, The Hanged Man, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Sun

The Fool – What do the earliest stages of work on a game look like for you? OR How did you get into game design?

i had a dream that me and @hmooncreates were playing not a tabloid because i had made it for him and when i woke up i still remembered everything about the game so i just actually made it :) and then was like bet that was fun and made like 8 more games in the next month

The Empress — Where do your ideas come from? OR Do you seek out or avoid inspiration while working on an idea?

i usually start with a mechanic that i think could be cool and then build a game around it. for mama werewolf i wanted it to be very nature-based, so your move tokens are found in nature and the scenes are determined by the weather. for lullaby nights i wanted a game that could be played entirely with a music app, no dice or cards needed. for dead man's hand i wanted something where a full hand of cards had an influence on the story, not just drawing them individually. and then i just go from there!! often i try to hit on mechanics i havent used in my other games, i dont like to repeat myself too much!!

The Hierophant — answered!

The Chariot — answered!

The Hanged Man — What other creative pursuits do you have? OR What current trends in game design are you most interested in?

i've written three books, have published some poetry zines on itch, worked as a graphic designer for a few years, have been drawing since i was very little, hand sew stuffed animals, and dabble in embroidery :) i like being creative

The Devil — What motifs or mechanics do you just keep coming back to? OR What is a game you’ve enjoyed playing in the last year?

@mintandrabbits has been GMing a game of apocalypse keys that ive been having so much fun with :)) im really enjoying the system so far and i do think i'll have to do a deep dive into the rulebook to really study how it works. def the kind of game i could see building into my thesis

The Tower — Talk about about a game you tried to make that crashed and burned.

i really tried strong arming my way through a game that i just kept losing steam on and finally put away but ... it was a duet game where you play domovoy and/or kikimora (slavic house spirits) and the family whos house you live in has left the baby at home alone. you have to keep the baby happy until the family comes back, or, if they dont, kidnap the baby to be raised with the spirits. i do enjoy the idea i just couldnt get my feet under me with it

The Star — answered!

The Sun — Talk about a game you’ve made that you’re proud of.

i'll answer this one again hehe. i'm really happy with the narrator paradox!! its a game where you are a storybook narrator and your protagonist is trying to defy you and escape the story. i think it turned out surprisingly cohesive for a one page game!! i've been very interested in one pagers recently, i think theyre fun :o)

[bromcommie]

For the ask game: 13, 14 and 27?

Hi stranger, thanks for the ask!

fic author ask game

#13: Do you have an ‘official’ creative writing background such as a degree or previous experience publishing?

Nope! I’d maaybe like to publish some short stories or poetry in a zine or something like that. Don’t have any concrete plans, though.

#14: What makes you the happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers or Tumblr asks?

Well first of all, let me preface this by saying that any and all interactions with my writing make me very, very happy. That said, it’s usually the comments and asks that are the cherry on top—I love getting to hear what people thought or what stuck with them, and I also love getting to answer any questions or share about the stuff I’m making because then it feels like a conversation of sorts, and that’s just really rewarding.

#27: Are any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

This is an interesting one I actually had to think about, so bear with me if I get too broad.

I suppose the short answer is: not entire stories, or at least not in a 1-to-1 way that I can think of? But at the same time—yeah, ofc, most of what I write is. This is probably gonna be a little too generic and a given of an answer, but I think anyone that writes or just creates anything at all would have a hard time completely separating what is and isn’t inspired by their own personal experience. But yeah, in a broad sense a lot of bits and bobs end up in there. For most “everyday” situations and environments (meaning: anything other than getting shot up with supersteroids or being yeeted 70 years into the future or into space or being a POW in a Nazi work camp or whatever), I tend to draw a lot on my own experiences. Same goes for interpersonal dynamics, and places, and OCs—you name it. But it’s always at least to a degree some kind of amalgamation. And obviously, all of that gets run through the filter of the particular characters involved + research + good old imagination.

In a more literal, specific sense, every so often I’ll throw in dialogue that is more or less a convo I’ve had, or certain anecdotes from my life (or family history! just wrote one of those recently) just with the characters in mind. An example of this is a Sam & Bucky draft buried somewhere in the depths of my computer where they get dragged into a bar fight in the Mediterranean over some kind of cross-generational feud that spans all the way back to the Howlies and that nobody even really has a goddamn clue what it’s about anymore—which is equal parts loosely inspired by a single page from a Brubaker WS comic and an anecdote from my family.

Another specific, if a touch too personal example, but I just remembered it and it works well: I have a scene in moving like a river of trouble crossing where Steve and Rumlow beat the shit out of each other in some kind of toxic mating dance. Now, did that exact messed up situation happen to me? Yeah no, of course not, and thank fuck for that. But I did once pull an ill-advised, “letting off a lot of pent up steam via sparring that quickly got out of hand” stunt with a friend I had a platonic, if complicated relationship with. (Spoiler: not a super bright idea! Especially outside of a gym. Do not do this, even if you are young and an idiot.) So a portion of the back-and-forth and roughhousing dynamic in that scene? Nominally inspired by that experience. But the context and relationship and emotional repercussions are vastly different, of course, and the environment and inciting incident that made me think up the scene in the first place are entirely made up, so again, it’s not a 1-1 thing.

So I feel like there’s quite a few bits that are like that. Either I start with an entirely imaginary situation and add in flavor via personal experience, or alternatively take a lived situation I think might be interesting in a different context and then shake it around for hours and put it through seven different sieves, and see what comes out. And sometimes it’s only a while after I’ve written something that I go, “Oh, this is actually very reminiscent of the time I was doing X with Y and Y said Z to me, but at the same time it has nothing to do with that at all. Ha, neat! And/or disturbing, didn’t know my brain would do that!”