#that might make me work on the first comic even lmfao-

[bitbot360]

Yo gamers, I just got a quick lil question

So for my au I was wondering- would y'all rather me finish all the admins and show em to ya. OR (and maybe the funnier one) design the abstracted peeps and show their "2nd chance" look (I don't have any name for this yet but im just spit balling lol)

I should probably show a doodle so here- uh take this old fnf sprite I made like 2 years ago???

[neflil]

Hearthian oc time!!! Meet Nepheline

Below the cut for more info and doodles of them :3 vv

So I caved in and made an oc. This is the first time I'm really doing something like this so hhhhh.

Nepheline, or neph, a half self insert - half oc! They're a bit younger than the Hatchling, so still considered a hatchling but almost an adult.

They like to draw, paint rocks, and explore around timber hearth a lot! They're cool with everyone and friendly, but much prefer to sit in the background and listen instead of actively talking. That is of course until someone gives them enough time and trust that they'll listen to whatever neph has to ramble about.

They're interested in all kinds of things really. The nomai, physics, the weird quantum rocks ect. Even if they're not the brightest when it comes to that, they love learning about anything when given the chance.

As soon as any of the travellers get back from space, neph rushes over to ask them about what they saw or if something cool happened. Gabbro and Riebeck especially, as neph is interested in what they have to say the most.

As much as they value the village and it's people, they also value their alone time. Sometimes disappearing for days into the quantum groove or the old mines just... Vibing really, doing whatever. They also have a small piece of a quantum rock they call a "friend", of course it disappears every time neph let's their eyes off of it, but they compare it to the travellers going away and mainly- feldspar. It's a rock that keeps them company without actually needing to have someone *there*. Along with really liking to sleep in and let their mind wander in worlds far from here, people often joke that they remind them of gabbro (the pains of making a half self insert while relating to a character hhh)

Their interests and way the explain them isn't that common, so people often turn a blind eye to them. They mostly parrot cool facts people have taught them which results in situations like "but did you know that the nomai-" "yes neph, you've told us three times already". They just want to share the stuff they know

Esker is someone who likes to listen to them! But also share their own stories. Ever since neph was young they'd hangout nicely. Now they radio eachother. Neph is old enough to join the space program but seeing and they aren't that great with more technical stuff, they are afraid. They put off actually seeing gossan and talking about this so hey.

Their scale pattern covers a big majority of their face at the front, it's a mix of lines and ovals. But when I draw them I just... Blehhh color. Also! Nepheline is named that I spired by the Greek word "nephele" which means cloud (and is also my name, hi lol). Since the rock turns cloudy when exposed/put in acid. Therefore, to somehow reference this, nephs face turns a cloud blue color when they're frustrated of angry!

Once they fell asleep in the old mine (that sounds stupid but I swear I've imagined the whole situation, there's more than that trust, might make it into a comic) and people looked for them, worried as they couldn't find them. Once they got back they got grounded to not not leave for there again- especially alone.

Neph despite everything, went back. They drew a nomai, based off the skeletons there and everything they've seen so far. To prove that they need to get off their grounding since they're doing "work". They don't really have a speciality either so yyyea

They used to be named Nephrite but merry showed me a rock named Nepheline, so I HAD to change it because well- we have the same name lmfao

(if you saw me posting this before, no you didn't)

[drbatsponge]

Birds of Prey #1 Review!

I'll start this review by saying that yes this review can seem it's coming kind of late given this comic is now on 17 issues, but like I do reviews of comics on my own time, lmfao, and usually I like to start the beginning of the year with some Cass comic reviews and just decided to review the #1 issues of her most recent comics, lol.

Anyways, Birds of Prey #1 is quite fun, even if it isn't the old team that we're used to, I still think Kelly Thompson manages to make us fall in love with the newer team.

The first thing I immediately took notice of when reading this comic is that Kelly remembered Sin Lance, who is a character that many Black Canary fans might know hasn't appeared for quite some time in comics, so it was nice seeing confirmation of her existence again.

The next thing I took notice of was artist Leo Romero's stunning artwork.

He's working on the Spider-Man cartoon that comes out this year, and I can definitely understand why they got him, because his designs and art style are immaculate to say the least, lol.

Kelly Thompson already proves she has a really good understanding of Cass from how Dinah describes her, so I can already say that Kelly gets the Cass pass from me, lmfao. (I mean she's very much improved as well from reading some of the later issues, so yeah a big thumbs up.)

Of course, as a Cass fan, the best thing that I enjoyed about this first issue was OBVIOUSLY the relationship between Cass and Barda.

Really great dynamic and I'm glad it's become a staple in the series.

"Small Bat" is already an affectionate term towards Cass amongst Cass fans, so you can tell that the response to pairing these two was overwhelmingly positive.

Of course I would like to address a little bit of controversy with this issue too, that being Cassandra's fight with Harley... and honestly? I kind of like it, to me it's pretty comedic and it's not like it doesn't have context within Cassandra's history, if you read DC 1st Joker/Batgirl you would know that unpredictability is a way to throw Cass off her game.

(Also it's not like Cass doesn't struggle in the fight either, Harley doesn't beat her immediately, lol.)

Overall, I really liked this new Birds of Prey comic, it has some great Cass moments and I found the other characters to be respectively handled as well, a definite recommendation from me.

Well that's my Birds of Prey #1 review!

Another happy birthday to Cass, and as always stay tuned!

[logicallyblind]

I think there’s something wrong with the fandom’s attitude if you can’t like post your “this is clearly an au I am making a fanfiction concept” without feeling like you have to apologize. Like what are you even apologizing for? Being a fan? Post your heart out let’s all think about how dick would treat little Jason if he interacted with him as 30ish year old NW instead of early 20’s

i’m gonna be so real with you anon this fandom slightly terrifies me lmfao i made a post a couple weeks back talking about an au i was thinking about and when i tell you i was getting full on death threats in my inbox because the characterisation wasn’t in line with the comics or fans just didn’t like the idea to the point where i just deleted it to avoid the trouble 💀💀 so now im just making SURE i make it clear it’s an au shdhdhd

glad you like the concept tho! i think the angsty opportunities post switch back would just be so good because it’s like dick realising just to which degree his relationship and dynamic with bruce effects the family at a greater scale than he’s first realised

but also the angst of jason seeing how dick had changed in the years since the others had joined and coming to the conclusion that dick cared enough about THEM to improve his relationship with bruce but not enough about Jason to do the same (and we’re working with an unreliable narrative here cause insecure 15 year olds do not have clarity of thought about a situation they’re in dhfhd)

and etc etc i might acc transfer my notes on this into another post soon if people are acc in any way interested in it tho!

[rontra]

I have never played persona so I wasn't sure if I would understand your failteacher comics but I just looked up the characters for a little bit of context and I'm 👀👀👀👀 at it now xD

Without being too spoiler-y, why would you say they'd have a messy relationship? (Besides the fact of Becky taking advantage of her client's loneliness)

HAHAHA yea i think the like dramatic irony enjoyment of knowing (even just roughly) what's going on with becky is very strong so good on you there (obviously toriumi has no idea what's going on with her and becky is doing her best to Handle It, but it contextualizes her behavior for Us...<3)

it's yummy isnt it... its yummy

anyway, the rest of this very long post is just me analyzing a fictional situation i myself engineered, so if that sounds boring please dont click the Read More LMFAO <- cursed to put a lot of thought into Character Stuff

basically they have great potential for mess, which they're Currently keeping a lid on, but would exponentially increase with time. teehee.

as for what WILL happen, im not spoiling anything concrete of course… (winks at the Knowers who already know my Vision….

well, this AU isn't ever going to devolve into a "super destructive toxic nightmare" mess or anything, just to get our working definitions of 'mess' sorted out at the top of the post. not this time. atm (as of comic #3) it's shaping up more like a "this seems . inadvisable and absolutely Don't Try This At Home, but i guess it won't…kill you" mess (LMAO)

to assess their situation at present… there is one half who wants money (and can't ever make enough of it to satisfy her extortionists), and one half who wants intimacy (and is scared and unable to get it on her own). on its exterior face, it's simply a lonely person hiring a professional to keep them company, which is a fairly common thing n not rly super noteworthy; the parentheticals are what make things a bit uh thorny for these characters

the "problem" here is not the transaction itself; they're both willing to supply their half of the trade just fine, and neither party is doing anything wrong by engaging in it. but for these two specifically, there is also a mutual willingness to bend the rules of their transaction—because they're both cornered in some way, and desperate for what the other one is offering to trade

to elaborate on "rules", i mean, first and foremost, that their relationship is not "real"—these people Don't know each other personally and intimately, and they're Not Supposed To. their relationship should never be "real"; they're not friends! (or lovers, for that matter!) they're in a conditional exchange of money for services. right now, these characters are participating in and maintaining a kayfabe; they should operate under a tacit understanding that A) this is not real, B) they both fully know it's not real, and C) following the script is the comfortable way to get what they both want without causing undue risk to either party. creating and then maintaining a fake "reality" together is regulated by a contract between them, and it ends when their booked time ends (and not a minute over time!)

but to return to the earlier point, they're also both cornered and desperate, which drives them both to go beyond what might be considered appropriate. i think this is compelling; it's probably unnecessary of me to add this paragraph but i want to underline (just in case) that i don't think either of them is like "at fault" or w/e (there is no "villain" between them). they're showing Signs Of Mess that could snowball into something much more messy, but it's not something they're doing to hurt each other; they're making decisions based on skewed risk/reward estimations that might not be healthy, and could realistically have harmful consequences for both parties, but they're not, like, Evil (lol). two women getting wrapped up in each other's personal graveyard spirals…it's yuri, isn't it?

with that squared away, and putting it plainly;

toriumi should not be asking her to "break character" when the character itself is what she's paying for; this nudging of their little kayfabe, if indulged, could easily snowball and erode the professional boundaries between them (what she calls "distance" in #3). she is paying 'becky' to 'be here' (paying kawakami to conjure 'becky' into existence by pretending to be her), but she isn't really being mindful of the type of role that this necessarily demands of her in turn. the built-in emotional walls between them are there to protect both of them, but she doesn't fully respect them (despite instinctively sensing their protection in how "safe" becky feels to her). in the end, toriumi is bad at "staying in character" herself, and she can't help but try to root out the actual person behind the mask—despite the fact that no one wants this erosion to happen! possible dire consequences for her wallet aside, losing sight of the line between "transaction" and "investment" (pardon the pun) is a one-way ticket to a very messy place where one or both of them is likely to get hurt...

on the other end, and not helping the situation at all, kawakami identified toriumi as a soft target pretty much immediately, and is actively trying to elicit sympathy and endear herself to her (she is being quite choosy about what vulnerabilities she "lets slip" in #2) in order to make her keep booking and paying. of course some amount of "salesmanship" is part of the job—#grindset always be plugging smash that like button comment n subscribe—but the major difference here is that she's overtly attempting to foster in her client the exact kind of dependency/personal attachment she should be discouraging (for, frankly, both of their safety). like not only is she out fishing to get toriumi hook line and sinker on purpose, but it's also alarmingly reckless behavior on kawakami's part; there's a lack of regard for her own wellbeing involved here on top of it all. again, a messy place where someone, maybe everyone, gets hurt in the end

crucially though, as comic #3 finishes setting up, they're both willing to endure these shenanigans from the other half. at this stage, toriumi does realize that kawakami has her unilaterally wrapped around her finger, and nonetheless agrees that she'll call her again; while kawakami knows very well how this kayfabe is supposed to work, but is indulgent (even rewarding) towards toriumi for her clumsiness. that mutual willingness to keep playing this game would—if the AU continued on these tracks uninterrupted—probably compound until the situation they've made becomes super confusing and unclear for them emotionally...

of course "taking advantage" is sort of a loaded phrase colloquially… but i would say in many ways they are "taking advantage" of each other, yea. the "we both benefit, so it's okay" logic was already vaguely raised as justification in #3; if elaborated a bit with the above in mind, their situation is one where "even if they're both overstepping what is considered appropriate for their arrangement, they've also both decided the benefits outweigh the costs by a wide enough margin to make it worthwhile"

it's got the marks of a sort of symbiotic relationship... their individual motivations for being involved w each other are totally unrelated (cue the "hold on, does. kawakami even like women???" question), but they both feel they benefit enough towards their priority goals to be OK with the other one taking something "less valuable" from them (toriumi even calls out the “sales pitch” becky is doing in #2, but ultimately decides that’s fine because she’s willing to buy). i think each and every moving part here has great capacity to go "too far" and ruin things (perhaps even causing Severe damage in the collapse), but if the situation were to continue in this same rhythm, without that kind of dramatic change, i would say "they're both evaluating the scenario with their own personal goals in mind, and are extracting what they want from one another relatively(?) peacefully(??)". like it might ultimately be a selfish game but they're adults they'll figure it out probably idk its none of my business what they choose to get up to. wouldn't get into that type of shit myself though LOL

women are playing kind of dangerous games with each other but i forgive them because it's interesting to rotate in my mind...<3

another thorn to consider for their future bonding endeavors from here on ofc is that without being "cornered" the way they are, they would not be running this type of "risk math" in the first place. it's hard for either of them to fully back away at this point because they're already cornered in their personal lives; toriumi is incredibly isolated and lonely with a pretty insecure lifestyle even when she's NOT actively sawing through the branch she's sitting on, and kawakami famously MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, NEEDS A LOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW because she's being extorted by an unrelated third party. looking ahead it does kind of start to look like an ouroboros of "taking advantage of each other" bc it's hard for both of them to leave their individual situations; it's kind of like, if they weren't here with each other they'd be ... well, they'd be here—just with someone else...

they didn't put each other in this jam—it was unrelated personal circumstances and sheer coincidence that pushed them together—but now that they've committed to each other, it's hard to reverse back out, if that makes sense. i think that kind of thing is interesting too, because it makes me want to see them recognize this, connect, and help each other pull out of their Greater individual personal messes. you know? we can make it if we try... just the two of us... 😔

(unfortunately step 1 of that is ofc to make a genuine personal bond that isn't wrapped up in all this for-pay roleplay stuff. drat!)

tl;dr they're both simmering under high pressure and don't try this at home, but they do already have a sort of tacit agreement forming that this level of messy play is OK between them—as long as the rewards continue to outweigh the risks. at the end of the day, it's a delicate balance ultimately hinging on a money-for-services transaction, so if either of them stopped feeling like paying their half was worth it, it would rapidly come apart. i guess it's kinda like the ways you can tell if animals are genuinely beefing or just playing rough—are they willingly coming back? 💀 ...

no lmao where's that post thats like "this would be terrible if it was anyone else, but considering the people involved this is actually the best option" HRBHJDJG that's kind of how it feels. like if they're gonna be stuck with Somebody (and they would be), its probably good luck that they got Each Other. at least the narrative can sustain the balance of this one and maybe even solve it down the line. heart

to round this post off i would say if i had to nominate one of them, kawakami is probably the most "in control" atm—since she figured out very quickly that she was dealing with an easy mark and moved in to make her a regular customer (quite successfully i might add per the end of #3 lmaoo). i think that's been kinda fun, since in her SLink she's immediately on the back foot due to being unmasked by the inciting incident. we know she will lie and attempt to play to the listener's sympathy, so unleashing her with her Mask Still On has been fun 😭 for her part, toriumi is not only taken with the funny maid (& emotionally invested in her IRL situation to boot), but also very clumsily trying to obtain something she's scared to have, which makes her very impulsive/erratic in her rulebreaking compared to kawakami's much more intentional plays...

play of the game 🧹 (<- there's no maid emoji idk its housekeeping)

of course, my future plans will immediately jostle this entire dynamic into something else and make this whole post obsolete, but i don't wanna lay that out ahead of time. smiles.

anyway, otome dissection on the playlist or whatever

[sniffle-bird]

HEY HEY READ ME🗣️‼️

about me 😚‼️

i’m birdie, she/her, 16 from aus.

i love art and writing, but please don’t repost my work without credit or permission! send me a cheeky ask or dm me first.

might open commissions at some point if people would be interested in that.

socials 💽

tiktok; snifflebird

ao3; snifflebird

youtube; snifflebird

shocker…. they’re all snifflebird. lmfao

my fandoms 🍎

FNAF! i am a huge fnaf fan, always have been. just don’t ask me about the lore post help wanted. currently working on a retelling/comic adaptation of the afton era.

the quarry. i love this game so much. i don’t post much about it any more but it is always on my mind. need to post more fics about them i think!

BSD/MHA… grouping these two together because my biggest project regarding it is my huge crossover fic. i send soukoku to hero school it’s a good time i swear.

spider-man of all media types. i need to read more of the comics i swear but they always give me a headache like 2 volumes in. rip. also want to make my own adaptation in the form of an animated series (or just animatics…) on youtube but that is a lot of effort and i don’t have the time! would probably call it spider-man: rubatosis. rubatosis meaning the unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat. please don’t steal it i’ll take you to court.

arcane!!! we finally got season 2 but at what cost… 💔

EPIC THE MUSICAL! my current obsession. working not-so furiously on some animatics but the 32gbs on my ipad are all taken up and the lack of storage is making my procreate dreams crash every 3 secs… 😓 so annoying especially because i have my goodbye already completely storyboarded but i cant even export it to post my progress!!! hence the potential commissions opening. i want money for a new ipad. lol.

had to rewrite this intro post because my other one was. not good. i got jealous of everyone else with their good intro posts.

[thejournalofandokklaklet]

hello tumblr im back making 30 blogs again because i can't stop

if you don't know me uh hello!! i'm colt / hunter / orion / reshi / wolf / revolver / uzi (he/they/xe, see pronouns page for neos)

my pen name is hunter bunnyfields!! i'm a young neurodivergent author, i write gay shit and primarily fantasy stories bc im cool, and this blog is primarily dedicated to the series i'm most proud of;

The Journal

it started as a minecraft roleplay series but then i turned it into a book series, and it's much better this way (even if my primary refs at the moment are made in gacha life LMFAO), i might wanna make it into an animated series or a comic or game or whtv at some point in the future i just. need the funds for it lol

anyways enough rambling uh this blog is primarily my own personal fandom space, i wanna be able to interact with my fandom with their headcanons and what not but i don't wanna feel intrustive so if you have headcanons, fan-art, redesigns, rewrites, etc. that you wanna share with me feel free to! if you wanna ask stuff to the characters from the journal but you don't know who all is available, just know that every character in my toyhouse folder for the series can be asked questions about, even the deceased!

currently the journal is unreleased, but i am more than halfway through completing the first book and i will happily promote it here once it's done <3

in the mean time i'd love to see if others are interested in my work (even if it's not the journal) so i want to just kinda vibe out on this tumblr lol, if you want to reblog this post as a promo go ahead idm

my askbox is open for asks or headcanons or theories about my characters, whatever you want to send in! my submissions are closed just because i fear being sent graphic content, but if you have fan-art or what have you please feel free to tag either this blog or my main (@s00ths4yingz0di4c) and i will happily do the following to it (/pos)

my special tags are under the cut if you wanna look for specific stuff

asks.txt = answered asks random.txt = miscellaneous posts the journal.txt = posts specifically about the journal & its characters other books.txt = posts about non-the journal content fan art.txt = special tag for fan-art posts only official art.txt = official art that i or my friends have created headcanons.txt = headcanons from other users or myself writing struggles.txt = complaining about having to write, shame writing help.txt = helpful tips & tricks, from others & myself progress report.txt = updates on how the books are coming along collabs.txt = promotion of stories i worked on alongside others memes.txt = inbox memes for my characters; they never expire!*

*note: yes im serious even if i reblogged a meme like 4 years ago i will still answer it if you send it in (assuming i can find the link lol)

[amischiefofmuses]

Ghost Rider - A stream of consciousness while watching.

Decided I'mma post my notes I made while watching the movie, might do it for every movie rather than spam the feed with liveblogging me watching it. Some of it has absolutely no context and I want it to be known that especially for this one, I don't know the comics for ghost rider AT ALL so this is a blind reaction with only the movie itself as source material. I'm starting with movies not tied to the MCU or XMCU for now - then I'll be working my way into those too.

Younger Johnny is actually a decent enough actor, even if the film is super cheesy. The penance stare sequence with evil laughter, gunshots, a baby crying, screams, just so over the top I actually giggled.

Little disappointed that the cop checking his speed didn’t cut to it saying 666 - feels like a missed opportunity to lean into the silliness. So many unneeded flashbacks, yes I know what happened 5 minutes ago thank you.

The old guy is an actually decent actor, I like his vibes - wish he was the ghost rider the film focused on ngl. THE MIRROR SCENE WHERE HE’S CLACKING HIS TEETH TOGETHER AND MAKING FACES TO TRY AND TURN INTO THE GHOST RIDER, HELLO? Kjashdkjsha No wait, this whole scene of him trying to gain control is goofy. Good lord.

The ‘YOU’ thing is meant to be iconic, instead it’s so ridiculous- maybe because it’s cage. The prison scene, good lord, this man cannot act. ‘Don’t put me in here’. Pffttt. Criminals are angry he didn’t die in a jump??? ‘NICE JACKET.’

Modifying the jacket?? What ARE his powers? He can manipulate things like that just because he MUST look edgy????

I ALMOST DEFINITELY HAD A CRUSH ON BLACKHEART, this is the first time I remembered a line and it was that ‘Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I’ve sinned a lot’. Come on now young magnus, you gay as hell. No wonder I watched it so much.

The zoom on the guard pfftt. Goofy af. Finger waggle was kinda cold tho. If he didn’t blow things up wherever he went then maybe he wouldn’t draw so much attention smh. Flipping the cops off while driving away on top of the water was FIRE.

Remembering another line - ‘The suspect is going UP’, the delivery was great. Pulling in a helicopter, how strong is he actually????

I do think the elemental nature of the villains is p cool and their designs aren’t too bad, they are defeated shockingly easily though. The chain as a tool/weapon is also damn cool. Leave the old man alone dammit, stop kicking him. I know he’s a ghost rider but damn.

THEY DID KILL HIS FRIEND. I KNEW IT. Blackheart faking the penance stare working on him, this sassy little fucker. I really do have a type.

ALSO why is the old man hot, I hate it here. I would smooch that grandpa. Music choices bang HARD. Hate that carter slade only rode with him there and left, I was so hyped for the team up goddammit.

Bike giving him encouragement. Hell yeah. I’d love that tbh. Also is the bike sentient then???

DRAMATIC WILD WEST EYE ZOOM PFFTT. Reading the contract was a bit underwhelming, they could have added some latin fanciness in there or smth. ‘This is the contract. All of you,,, come to me!’

The red effect on blackheart’s eyes when he turns into legion, LMFAO NO. Turning the gun to a hellfire gun? Again, sir, what ARE your powers? Another penance stare, fuck yeah gimme the silliness.

His fire turning blue when he looks at her is cute af honestly, that is cute.

THE POSE. THE POINT. It’s kinda growing on me. Also I hope it’s acknowledged that he’s a known criminal now because,,, oof? Not gonna be easy if he can only be Ghost Rider at night. I LOVE THE ENDING SONG. Getting it later.

[koitrash]

I like your voice

Okay this is my first ellie fanfic and i'm a sucker for slow burn so these r gonna b long ;D also first time posting any of my work so bear w me pls! This is purely self indulgent, i just wanted to write about smoking with Dina and Ellie LMFAO Also ive already written the second part so i might post that later Also not proof read cos i'm lazy :P

You've only arrived in Jackson about a year ago. You really only keep to yourself but you and Jesse immediately hit it off. Becoming close, Jesse needs help with trying to talk to Dina so he makes you his wingman. And somehow you've gotten yourself stuck in the middle of a smoke sesh with two hot girls.

Paring: Ellie x Fem reader

Warnings: Slight cursing

Word count: 1.9k

Jackson

You loved Jackson. It was like your little heaven on earth. In a world full of chaos and hate Jackson was the most wonderful thing you've ever laid eyes on. There was no fight for your life everyday. No dread for where you were going to sleep every night. No need to hoard water or food because you don't know the next time you'll come across something actually edible. They had fresh food. Electricity. Structure. They had cute town meetings. Little seasonal dances. They had a farm, fresh produce. They had schools. They had bars.

So why the hell were you outside Jackson right now?

You weren't excited to do patrols but Jesse convinced you to keep your skills sharp. Jesse was your best friend. You loved that man to the moon and back. Ever since he gave you a tour of Jackson a year ago he was the most gentle human being you've ever met. He could fully be doing the bare minimum but that felt like home in a world like this. But man did he work your last nerves.

You thought back to your conversation as you stared holes into the back of the black haired girl's head just a few feet in front of you.

"You should really get to know Dina. She's honestly amazing." You watched Jesse as he lugged a stack of hay in a not-so-neat pile of more hay.

"Puh-lease" You popped your P in exaggeration. "You're so in love with that girl, it's honestly disgusting."

He stopped and stared at you for a moment. Poker face on 9000. You were honestly a little nervous he would accuse you of being jealous. Nothing made you scrunch your nose and wrinkle your features more than the thought of someone mistaking your platonic love for something more... romantic. Although Jesse was easy on the eye you can't exactly say he's your type.

Jesse's shoulders surprisingly sagged as he let out an exasperated sigh. "It's that obvious huh?" You let out a belly laugh at the comical face he wore. It was so obvious, how did he even think for a second it wasn't?

"Jesse come on man- seriously?" You chuckled as you nudged his shoulder.

Whipping around you he looked you square in the face. "Come on Y/n I need an inside wing man!" He cried as he shook your shoulders.

You let your head bobble back and forth as he shook you. A soft smile still playing on your lips. "What about that Ellie chick? Isn't she your friend?"

He grumbled as he let you go and continued walking straight. It took you a second to unscramble your thoughts as the tall man shook them all out of you. "What was that?" You leaned your head over like a curious puppy. Why was he talking so low anyways?

"Ellie won't help me for shit" He grumbled out again. You chucked. "And why is that?"

"I personally think it's because she has a crush on her too." You mentally noted that you really needed to see this Dina chick that everyone is so obsessed with.

"But she says I never returned her favorite comic book she let me borrow." He continued, face now scrunched like he's in deep thought.

"That's it? Just give it back to her, no need for me to get involved." You marched forward grabbing a crate of veggies. You needed to take them over to the Tipsy Bison before the sun went down or Seth would get upset again. You fucking hated that guy. Every time you were late to bring him something he would tell Maria about it. Getting her on your ass was the last thing you wanted.

You glanced back at Jesse now looking incredibly guilty. Your shoulders slouched in defeat knowing exactly what happened.

"You lost it." get a load of this dude. You thought to yourself.

"It's on my to-do list to find her another one okay!"

"Well no wonder she won't help you! She likes her too and you lost her favorite book!?" You would equally be hesitant to help if you were in her shoes.

"Come on, just go on one patrol with them! You'll probably end up liking her as much as I do!"

You didn't necessarily dislike meeting new people. You just didn't see the point of making new friends. Sure you were friendly to everyone but you really only had one friend. Jesse. You didn't need to hang out with him everyday but doing patrols with him was nice. You were a very capable person yourself but he was an excellent fighter. There was little to no fear you weren't returning home.

Either way you felt more than one friendship was draining. You live in a zombie apocalypse.. There's seriously no reason for more than one friend. You watched your older brother die for you as you were left alone. Wondering place to place. You learned it's better off to be by yourself. No one to disappoint you. No one to cry over when they inevitably died. It was the circle of life in this fucked up world.

Jackson didn't have many casualties on patrols. But accidents happen. Not everyone is as capable as you or Jesse. You'd say they had about 2 casualties a week from patrols which is pretty good odds for a zombie ruled world.

You arrived at your destination, snapping you out of your thoughts. Jesse opened the door as you thanked him and pushed past. Humid thick hot air greeted your face and you scrunch your nose. It was warm out but it was so cramped in here the air was gross. It was sundown and everyone was finishing their assignments for the day. Filing into the small bar after a long day's work. You pushed through the crowd to see Maria and Seth talking.

"See Seth, she's on time today." Maria said, glancing back at the man. He scoffed and mumbled something along the lines of 'about time'. Man this dude always struck a nerve with you. You set the crate on the bar, shoving it at him and aggressively swinging around to try to find Jesse again.

"Wait Y/n!" You heard Maria call at you. You glanced back to see Seth holding 2 neatly wrapped sandwiches in his hand. You couldn't believe it. This ass was trying to be nice?

"Thank you Y/n '' He mumbled, setting the sandwiches on the counter. You can't say you were hungry but you took them anyway. Pivoting around without a word to find Jesse again. Which contrary to his height was surprisingly hard. It even crossed your mind that he left for a second.

You hear an angelic bark of laughter to the right of you, close to the door. You squint to see Jesse standing awkwardly by two girls who, from the looks of it, just entered the bar. Both Shorter than him, one with black wavy hair in a ponytail and the other with brown locked back into a sloppy bun. You approached them sticking the 2 sandwiches out in front of him. "Sandwiches." You mumbled glancing at the two girls now eyeing you like a piece of meat. You retreated slightly behind him as he grabbed the food from your hand.

"Y/n I'd like you to meet Dina and Ellie." He side stepped so he was no longer your shield. You mentally cursed him out as you nodded your head at them. You wouldn't say you were shy but you certainly didn't like meeting the people Jesse has been pressuring you to befriend.

"Y/n" You politely repeated your name to them with a soft smile.

"Hi!" The black haired girl chirped. "I'm Dina and this is Ellie." She gestured to herself then the girl next to her. You glanced at them both paying more attention to Dina since she's the talk of the town. She was pretty alright. You can certainly see why Jesses got a crush on her. She wore nicely fit jeans, sporting a mauve t-shirt. Her side burns poked out of her ponytail and she honestly had a smile that would light up the room. You felt this glowing confidence beside her. Unlike the girl, Ellie, standing next to her.

She looked awkward and shy. She had traces of a smile played on her lips and freckles that you could trace consolations on. You swore God himself actually came down and placed that beauty mark under her eye. Not to mention her eyes were beautiful. The prettiest shade of green you'd ever seen. If it wasn't for the fact that she's staring bullets into your head right now you would have fallen in love with that cold glare. Ellie wore a brown flannel rolled up at the sleeve with a white tee underneath. It looked amazing on her and quite frankly made you feel a bit insecure about what you were wearing as you judged every aspect of their clothing. You didn't look bad but you were working all day and definitely didn't look the best.

"Hi nice to meet you." Ellie croaked out. And if you were being honest with yourself it felt like you was just shot by fucking cupid. Her voice was the best medley to your ears. It was so smooth. You can't explain why but you felt this warmness in your heart as soon as she spoke. Man you need to get laid soon because this is ridiculous. All she did was say hi, jesus christ get it together y/n.

"Wait... y/n..." Dina said as she twisted her face in concentration.

"She's the one going on patrol with you guys tomorrow." Jesse chirped as he gleamed at you. You could seriously punch him in his throat right now. You knew you were going on patrol tomorrow. What you didn't know was that it was with them. Jesse was the coordinator for patrols and you frankly just assumed you were going with him like you always do.

"Three people on one patrol?" Ellie spoke up this time.

"Well this would be both you and y/n's first route on the back trails. Exceptions were made." Jesse shrugged.

That cunning fuck knew what he was doing. You squint your eyes at him hoping he would feel you drilling holes into his head.

"Well Y/n, you'll love this route! It's one of my favorites, I can't wait to show you guys." Dina beamed, turning your attention to her. You politely smiled at her before taking a deep breath in.

"Yeah, I'm super excited." You said tightly as you moved past them towards the door. "I, uhh gotta go... clean up my... porch?" You said nodding at them and pushing past the heavy doors. As soon as your skin hit the fresh outside air you closed your eyes taking a deep breath. Why in the world would Jesse make you patrol with someone else!!? Why would he leave out the fact that Ellie was the hottest girl you've ever laid your eyes on!? God this air felt like water in a desert.

"Don't worry about it too much Y/n!" You heard Jesse's voice behind you as he smacked your back pushing you forward slightly. You swiveled around punching him square in the arm.

"You got some fucking nerve." You chuckled now stuck on a patrol with 2 random hot girls.

"Go home and get some rest, Soldier! You've got a long day tomorrow!" He chirped, excited at the new information that was soon to come. His plan was finally set in motion. You scoffed and headed home as he started in the other direction.

"And don't be late!" He shouted now far enough that you could squish him in between your fingers.

This was going to be hell.

Ahhh thanks for making it this far!!! Thank you so much for reading get ready for part 2 it's a whopping 3k words long so that's fun

[miranda-mundt-art]

How did you get to where you are?

I know the easy and immediate answer- practice. Drawing often, drawing daily, and pushing yourself for years. It’s the answer every artist gives and that’s fair, because it’s true.

But how did you keep pushing through? I hate what I make. It’s so hard to just ‘keep practicing!’ when the results are so disappointing. It’s hard to keep at it when I look at page after page of work I’m not proud of. Did you ever feel like this? And what’s the answer if you did? How do I push through this frustration and inadequacy to be able to draw for my own enjoyment and for others’? I want to make comics, I want to make fanart, I want to make art for the sheer enjoyment of it. But I look at my reference and then at my creation and it’s so hard to keep at it.

Is there any advice you could give? Was there anything that helped you if you ever felt this way?

well first off - I don't recommend drawing daily. Tbh I don't. I don't think I ever have unless I was really excited to draw every day but if I don't feel like drawing I usually dont lmfao. You can try scribbling a bit and see if it sparks something in you but I wouldn't push it. You'll just burn yourself out over nothing. But tbh my answer might not be what you're looking for because it's not something that is necessarily healthy lol

WELL okay - one thing that might be helpful is just the concept of letting go of what you think is perfect and that "FINISHED is better than perfect" Because things will never be perfect. So you just gotta learn to work with what you got in that moment and try to do better next time.

But yeah - I feel like my work isn't good enough a lot (not always and not as much as I used too but that's just a thing for artist is the periods of time when your eyes are working better for you than your hands are.) I graduated from animation school in 2011, didn't get into animation, had a job at a call center and thought that was the worst thing that I'd ever done. Worked as a freelance artist for 10-ish years ( childrens books and graphic design) and 99% of that time I didn't draw fan art until Heather's literally took a chunk out of my brain for a year in 2017 and then I joined the WEBTOON contest for Muted in 2019. But if I didn't finish my work then I............ didnt' eat. lmfao. Not like I would starve myself but art was literally my job and i didn't have an alternative to NOT doing it- it was the only way that I got paid. If I spent time making everything perfect then I wouldn't be able to meet my deadlines - and I found very quickly that things that I overthought and tried to make 'perfect' were things that people generally liked LESS (this isn't always the case but I found that to be the way)

So I will say this- idk how old you are - but you're probably young. Even if you're 30 ... you're young. I think a lot of people don't really realize just how much time there is... and things will keep growing and changing the more you do them.

The downside of my method is of course that I can't NOT treat art like a job anymore. It's very rare for me to set time aside to draw "for fun" as opposed to drawing "for work" but I am in a good place now where my work-art IS fun art (i like drawing muted stuff)

I'll recommend an exercise I recommended to someone else the other day - just because I suffer heavily from over working pieces sometimes - try for speed for a while.

I'd encourage you to maybe just sketch a handful of your ideas between 10-30 minutes and then after you are done sketching pick which one you are most excited to work on to keep developing on in that moment key word being - the one you're most excited to work on- not the one you think people will like most. Work on it for an hour - still excited to work on it? no? Wrap up some finishing touches and call it done. DONE not "WIP", wrap it up and put a bow on it. There is always next time :) cuz even if you don't like how it looks now - if you like the concept?? you can keep it and come back to it in a couple years and redraw it and see how you've improved since then and see how you can build on your original idea!

[lestcat-de-lioncourt]

(Gerard Way, by me. Black ballpoint, red fine-liner. 🖊🩸 )

Soo I’ve not posted much OC character stuff of recent as I’m still writing the second chapter of The Lord of Wet and Pyro Princess Adventures (Genshin Ayato x Diluc fanfic I’m having a lot of fun with as I’m back in ~Genshin playing mode~ since I invested a bunch in the game and it’s also the Lantern Rite time of year again, a favourite of mine).

I’ve had a request to finish my WattPad Kaze fanfic too, which I’ll try and deliver but I got kinda stick in the basement scene lmfao as writing Zero as a top is so odd for me even though I Want It to happen.

I’ve wanted to get out some Kaze stuff as not as many people post it anymore and I’ve realised there’s still a big fandom community for Vampire Knight which is excitingg! I might move it over to Ao3 once I have time.~

I’ve been a little busy planning and “making the art” and custom credit card designs as well as payment plan ideas not too mention considering setting up an Etsy or Fiverr or somewhere people have more access to than pixiv as setting up my regular posting on my pixivFANBOX and trying to build a schedule for Saturdays whilst juggling my physical/mental health and transition as well as parenting and socialising more. Basically I want a gallery of stuff to trickle out rather than doing it every week under pressure rather than when it comes to me, as whenever I have pressure to deliver I lose my imagination and just feel like it’s a chore so avoid it. I’m sure other creatives can relate!

Likewise I’m sitting back and reading again to unwind again and haven’t caught up with everything I’m reading yet but I’ve got numerous things In The Works I’m taking more time on rather than rushing out chapters such as:

• The NYE one shot for Orange Juice in the Studio~

• Chapter 3 “A Date In The City” of Orange Juice in the Studio, essentially the ~teaser~ Aquarium and ice cream parlour date where I finally introduce supporting character into the actual story who works at the parlour! I don’t know when I’ll be introducing Mama but they are on the horizon for sure. I’m currently busy researching real locations in Valencia and I’ve never been so I don’t have in person reference and am sourcing that online. I’m also researching top LGBT+ hang out locations/clubs in the city to make appearances in the storyline.

• ORANGE JUICE IN THE STUDIO CHARACTER INFO SHEETS!!! Exciting.

Here I’ll give lots of what you need to know about OC and Reader! I’m wondering if I should not make one though for Reader or ask for engagement from my actual readers of Who Reader Is To Them, as well, the whole point of the character is to depict You as a reader, and those who relate to what I write can get on board. I will make a mock up one for sure and be loose with it as a rule! Or leave out absolute details like “star sign” or height or something.~

• Beginning work on the AU “HorrorLand! The Isle of Marionettes”! This will be about the Orange Juice OCs. As you can tell, it’ll be slightly gory horror fiction, somewhere to express my love for horror and things but not canon. Just a little fun.

• Designing what will be in my monthly newsletter which only Bronze subscribers will get for yours truly to enjoy!

• Weekly updates to my pixivFANBOX, with my manga style art specifically. My pixivFANBOX is for my manga art style only, my other types of art can be found on zer0comicz IG, and Zer0 Comics on Facebook, or posted on here. This is my official name for my freelance illustration/comic business.

• I’ll try getting some new commissions up I’ve got of OC and Reader on here and/or on @crimsonyoukai , if not that, I’ll make some mock ups on PiCrew whilst I’m doing my own.

• Tiered FANs will be getting The Monthly Marionette+, this begins after the first month of being a patron on Bronze, Silver (to be set up) and Gold (to be set up). I’ll announce when the newsletter is starting to air!

You can get early teasers for chapters of OJITS posted on my pixivFANBOX as well too on Bronze tier, I’m not posting teasers so much on here anymore until I’ve aired it for protection of my work etc.

My Ao3 profile for writing updates!

Any queries or questions or anything you’d like to know in general or what you may like to also see from me, please feel free to drop them into my Ask Box!

I have commissions open for art likewise. Each custom piece is £5, £10 for more detailed works, which I offer postage for the original or a print. Tattoo designs are £25 each.

[fallout-lou-begas]

Less people know me on tumblr than they do on twitter so I feel a bit safer using this as, like, yknow, a blog that is personal, and something that’s been eating at me for a while is that the pencils to the first two pages of the next IKROAH have been done for a while but when I tried to ink them I fucked it up so bad that I’ll probably just have to completely redraw them, and I don’t think anything that discouraging has happened to me before since I started drawing back in 2020. It’s just been really hard to motivate myself for the mulligan when I’m already worried about messing the inks up again, and also I’ve been under a heat advisory for the past week and change so I’m already too hot and sweaty to be motivated to do much of anything lmfao

I remember when IKROAH first started I would put out issues every two weeks or so, and then once per month, and treated that as almost like a schedule or a deadline, which was insane! All while working the same full-time job that I do now! Admittedly that pace was only achievable because frankly my art was worse and sloppier and while impatience is definitely still my biggest weakness as an artist, I have undoubtedly improved over time but at a certain point making art better means taking more time on it. It’s created this weird conflicting feeling where art and comic pages aren’t something that I can just bang out in a day or a few days anymore, and even relatively small projects are pretty big time and attention investments. Obviously I could revert this by just embracing drawing more shittily but, like, come on, I have my own standards. And this isn’t insurmountable and doesn’t mean that I hate drawing now, not at all, but this change in my relationship to my art and my art-making has definitely been on my mind a lot, especially as I’m aware of how much I’d rather just play video games or hang out with my husband whenever I’m not at my job. Because that’s a big part of it, the increase in how much art feels like “work” means I don’t want to do it as much in my leisure time. It’s good work, it’s work that I love doing (much more than my actual job lmao), but it’s still work and lately I haven’t wanted to work!

It’s another funny balance. A wise friend of mine once said, bluntly, that you do it or it doesn’t get done. This applies to making and finishing art of any kind, reading books, cleaning house, developing skills, etc., and applies even if you’re sick or busy or distracted by myriad other things. If the only people who ever made and finished art were the idle people with the luxury of all the time in the world, we’d only have pretty shitty and boring art. So unfortunately the only way to get good art or to make it is to power through feelings of overwork or sickness or exhaustion or whatever is ailing you and make it anyway. Intellectually, I know this, but emotionally(?) I’m just dealing with a real lack of steam ever since I finished a zine at the start of May. It’s not like I depend on commissions or print sales for income or anything, anyway, so it’s not like I have an urgent need to be drawing, either, the way some other artists might be.

These thoughts don’t really have a point. I suppose I’m just self-conscious about falling off such a meaningful hobby to me for so long, about not Making Things, especially as someone who generally figured that she Makes Things? But it doesn’t feel like burnout or loss of interest, it just feels like I’m doing what I want to do and enjoying it and I just don’t want to make art as much as I used to. Maybe if I got paid my current salary to work on comics eight hours a day instead of doing data entry I’d get a lot more art done but that just goes back to the previous paragraph lol. I don’t really need any kind of “chin up lou, i’m sure you’ll be able to draw again soon” or “it’s okay take all the time you need” kinds of comments because I feel like I know these things already and I’m just Posting Through It

Anyway how’s your summer going

[oodlyenough]

life is strange true colours review

the non spoilery part: i LOVED this game, my personal fave game this year and the first franchise entry since the original that has really resonated with or moved me.

it's a life is strange game through and through, so if you don't like slice of life episodes or bonding with NPCs, it's not gonna be for you. but if you like the franchise, or even if you liked the first game but haven't been interested in/liked the other two instalments, i recommend giving this one a chance. i think it got closer to figuring out the formula while still doing something new and interesting.

more detailed spoilers and opinions:

alex

holy shit i love alex? bisexual chad... my darling... i'm gonna be real, a lot of the trailers and promo for this game made me worried she'd be kind of a dull wallflower Soft Girl character, but she's not! she's so funny, and even parts of her characterization i initially thought were maybe a bit of a stretch ended up making sense as i learned more about her. she stole the show. i straight up forgot how much loving the protag helps enjoyment of these kinds of games lmao ... finally a reason to click on everything in the room: to hear what alex will say about it.

i thought her backstory exploration in ep 5 especially was wonderful and emotive and great. broke my heart and explained so much about her :( baby girl

plot/choices

i loved the mystery. i don't think it was quite as Mysterious as the mystery in lis1, but that was okay, i was still invested in solving it. i also got invested enough in the NPCs around the town to make all the exploration bits really fun. i loved eavesdropping on the sagas of the random NPCs like bald man and ice cream couple... just fun little touches and narratives to follow that i enjoyed.

i really appreciated this script not being afraid to shy away from some messier emotions, even if in some cases i wish we spent more time on them. for example: alex feeling a bit jealous of the other people in town that got to know gabe better than her/spend more time with him than she did. or charlotte hating ethan!!! my jaw dropped, i thought that was so good, what a messy but realistic response.

I'm not entirely sure what all the ramifications of different choices are at this point, fresh off my first play. i ended up getting only part of the council to stand with me (eleanor & duckie) while losing pike and charlotte.

i do wish we saw a bit more fallout or exploration of what taking away emotion DOES. i took charlotte's anger, and obviously it meant she didn't stand up for me in the council meeting, but where does she go from there? does she like... ever return to feeling emotions lmao... I also think we probably should've had the opportunity to do that another time, instead of just 2 isolated events -- I think Diane would've been a good candidate.

the romance

i romanced steph, ofc, but i was surprised during the game how drawn i was to ryan too -- i really liked that Drama of him being the one who cut Gabe free, as well as later the drama of him being Jed's son. UNTIL HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME... that made me mad lmfao, i have to learn what to do to make him believe me before i play a Ryan route bc i'll kill him lmfao.

the steph/alex romance was sweet... it didn't really, like, Consume Me as a ship, but by the end of the game I was still "aww"ing at their moments in the flashforward. steph was more rounded and flawed than i thought she might be, which i really appreciated! i was worried they'd just make her perfect idealized gf, but she has a bit of a temper and is kind of tempestuous and stuff... liked it. loved her standing up for alex so fiercely and immediately at the council meeting <3 and my main reservation about her in ep 4 was that i wanted alex to stay in haven, so when she offered to stay i was thrilled LOL

one semi-complaint i had was that something i loved so much about lis1 was how max and chloe's relationship was central to the entire game and story, it wasn't some extra thing on the side, it WAS the game... whereas here, the romance routes, especially steph's, felt like sidequests. I wish they'd found a way to incorporate those relationships a bit more into the main goings-on. I also wanted to spend more time with either romance option to feel like I knew them better -- splitting the time between Steph and Ryan means that I came away feeling like I didn't get quite as much of either of them as I would've liked, vs spending almost the entire game with Chloe lol.

however, this ended up not really bothering me too much because I DID really like the core mystery and themes, the exploration of grief and Emotion, etc.

other characters

considering everyone knew going into the game that gabe was going to die, i was impressed with how they did it, and how they managed to get me attached to gabe in a mere single episode. it's a tall order to introduce a character designed to die, who your audience KNOWS is going to die, and still make them work.

i thought this supporting cast was ... maybe the strongest in the franchise? or at least, they created scenarios where i felt invested in multiple people in the town, and was genuinely trying to build decent relationships with most of them. duckie cracked me tf up, i liked eleanor and riley, even diane and jeb were good for their roles. (fuck pike. i signed ur stupid thing and left your emotions alone and you still won't do shit? ACAB!!!) the choice to stay in haven or leave was a little harder than i expected honestly, considering how quickly i let arcadia bay burn to the ground lmfao.

gameplay/etc

also i know the whole internet has been dunking on "empathy" as a super power since the game was announced, and i get that it sounds corny and looks corny in the trailers, but i thought how they did it was really cool. i wish they'd branded it "Mindreading" more than empathy tbh because a lot of the cooler elements of it are more along those lines... using her power to manipulate people, potentially taking people's emotions away and what that does to them... very interesting imo!

i really liked the memory feature!!! cool way to give us character exposition and inform the story while encouraging exploration. finally a collectible that like, expands the story, instead of chloe drawing butts on the wall and sean taking 10 years to draw something.

it's definitely the most evolved-feeling LIS game, which it should be, given it's the newest. graphics looked really nice, loved getting to see the characters actually emote, even if there are still some scenes that were a lil comically blank-faced -- usually NPCs. i actually noticed this with Jed the most, which in retrospect maybe was somewhat intentional?

i had a number of visual glitches, nothing major but a little silly, like T-posing Alex, npcs t-posing in the windows, etc. i'm sure they'll get patched out soon.

anyway... i rly liked this game, i'm excited for the steph dlc and finally feel like i have reason to be optimistic about future LIS instalments. hooray!

[wilhelmjfink]

Drabbles 24. and 27. for Daryl please(づ￣ ³￣)づ i love the way you write btw ♥️

disclaimer I have no idea what’s been going on for the last like 4 seasons of TWD so I make up my own scenarios for good stories and drabbles lmfao 👉🏻😎👉🏻 zing

Also remember when I said “drabbles?” I meant “one shots” cuz I have no self control.

ALSO SHOUT OUT TO THE FUCKIN @thewritingdoll FOR TEACHING ME HOW TO ‘READ MORE’ ON MOBILE!!!!

—

You felt the first rain drop hit the top of your head, right onto your forehead and fall down to the tip of your nose and you wiped it frantically because god dammit if he thought you were crying. You knew the water works would start soon enough, but you’d fight it as long as you could. Theatricals didn’t mean anything to Daryl… and apparently you didn’t either.

He had stopped walking at least, his back to you, still as he waited for… what? This wasn’t the first time he walked away from you, but something heavy in your chest told you it may actually be the last time. Regardless, nothing you’d said ever seemed to get through to him — at least, in the midst of an argument. Maybe later he’d come back with his tail between his legs and his eyes low, biting his thumbnail nervously as he fumbled over the right thing to say.

But right now, where you stood at this moment in time, it was different. The rain was beginning to pick up and you watched the droplets roll off of the carbon limbs of his crossbow and suspend themselves, frozen in time, before falling to the ground.

You swallowed nervously, hoping your voice would sound more confident than you were feeling: “So, what are you waiting for?”

At first he didn’t respond, didn’t move, and you held your breath when he did finally shoot a quick glance over his shoulder at you before shifting his weight almost impatiently. “I dunno. You usually have some sort of dramatic, ‘what about us?’ speech ya spew before I try ‘n leave.”

“So you are leaving.”

“We’ll, I ain’t stayin’ here, that’s for damn sure.”

“But couldn’t you even bother to say ‘goodbye’? Am I not even worth that to you? Are we not worth that to you? A fucking goodbye in the very least?”

Nothing.

You took a deep breath. “So, that’s it?”

He could read you like a book with his eyes closed and a bag over your head. You desperately tried to remain stoic, but he could clearly hear the shift in your voice — and as if you weren’t upset enough, he let you know this all with an exasperated sigh.

“Here we go…”

You let out a sharp bark of laughter, disguising the much sharper pain in your chest at his words. “Oh! Okay, my fucking bad, Daryl. My bad I can’t just throw away everything I’ve worked so hard on like you can. Sorry I can’t just turn off my emotions and stroll the fuck out of somebody’s life — somebody I know loves me — or, at least, used to, I guess. Maybe? Maybe not even. Guess it don’t matter now though, huh?”

Okay, you’re rambling. You’re trying to dig yourself out of a hole that Daryl is standing over, toeing back in each load of dirt you shovel out onto him.

But why was he still standing there? Why hadn’t he stormed off yet, like he always did when you argued? It worried you, deep down to the core of your being; you weren’t sure why, but you had a hunch it was because before, he always came back. And he always knew he’d come back. But he stood there quietly, waiting, silent. Your hands balled into fists at your side.

“You’re pathetic!”

There you go. You got your anger out, sort of — whatever it was, it got through to him. He whipped around furiously, and you could tell by the way he stiffened, the way he got so angry that you were finally getting through to him. And if he still decided to leave? Fine. You’d let him go. You’d left your scratch marks, and you didn’t want anybody who didn’t want you anyway.

“Pathetic? Yeah? Maybe I am, Y/N! And if I am, that’s fine — I don’t give a damn what you think. I don’t deserve to be loved. Not by anybody; definitely not by someone like you. You’ll be fuckin’ fine, alright? So just… figure it out!”

He might as well have slapped you across the face.

You still silently, the rain finally picking up, a nice dramatic scene set for this Lifetime movie argument. Did you even hear home right?

“Daryl, I….”

“Save it,” he bit out in response. And, there it was — he spun on his heels away from you and your heart lodged into your throat. “Just… save it, alright?”

This time, though, you stepped after him. “D, wait, please — “

“You’ll be fine,” he threw over his shoulder at you. The words almost formed a wall, halting you in your tracks. Was it the harshness or them? The certainty that you would be fine without him? It was almost comical — did he really think you’d be okay without him?

Daryl, at least, had a stuffed back pack slung over his shoulders beside his crossbow. You, alternatively, had nothing. But that didn’t stop you as you picked up a jog against your better judgement, trying to keep up with his long strides as he stormed away from the main gate silently.

If this was the time he decided to try and leave for good, fine. But you would not be left behind… whether he liked or or not.

“I don’t care if we didn’t mean anything to you,” you announced as you caught up to him breathlessly. He didn’t respond. “You meant something to me, and you’re not fucking leave me behind.”

—

@crossbowking @julesmalek I restarted my tag list bc it’s been so long and I’m such trash. If you want added plz message me lol

[shinesurge]

I’ve been holding off on making this post because I wanted to try it out myself and get settled in and make sure everything went okay, but seeing as I’ve gone ahead and updated my site and everything I thought now might be a good time to start talking about this publicly! 

If you’ve known me for more than five minutes you know I fucking hate Webtoon, like, a lot. Every aspect of it disgusts me to the core of my being, and while Webtoon is the ugliest version of them the aspects that I hate also extend to basically any comic aggregate site. I hate that they treat artists like content robots, I hate that they treat comic readers like morons who aren’t capable of engaging with complex stories, I hate that they actively try to strip away all the cool parts of indie comics by cultivating sterile and impersonal environments that discourage artistic experimentation and unique expression.

So! I hope you’ll be interested in what I have to say about this new platform that’s (hopefully) going to be out of alpha this summer. If you think you like reading comics on Webtoon, I really encourage you to check out Dillyhub once it launches. That’s the short version, but I have a LOT to say about this! So I’m putting the rest of this under a cut.

Full disclosure, I’m not getting paid or anything for this. The creative outreach at Dillyhub contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I’d be interested in having Kidd Commander be one of their launch titles when they go live this summer. I was hesitant at first, since I actively distrust anything claiming to be For Creators at this point, but they answered my pushy questions patiently and everything seemed on the up and up so I gave it a shot; I’ve been needing a mobile mirror for KC anyway. Eventually they invited me to the alpha creator discord, where they’ve been working directly with all of us artists to improve the platform, and now to be honest I’m REALLY excited for this thing to get off the ground. Nobody asked me to make this post, but since I’ve spent years whining and bitching about how other services do wrong by their creators, I thought I’d talk about this one that’s doing things right.

So, the biggest advantage this site has for creators over others in my opinion is that it. Treats us like individuals, regardless of follower count lmfao. If you’re a new person just starting out with your new webcomic, here’s what webtoon does for you:

Note: you don’t get a custom banner, you don’t even get to choose the solid color it is. That big circle icon is ALSO the image that shows up in searches, but everywhere else on the site it’s a 100x100px square, so you have to choose whether you want it to look good as a giant circle at the top of your comic’s page OR whether you want to look good in search results. Which, by the way, is the ONLY way for people to find you if you’re not partnered. And that’s it! You have no monetization options, you won’t show up on the genre pages, and when someone DOES stumble across your page it looks super unprofessional. Good Luck! 

Now here’s my Dillyhub page(s):

You don’t get a static banner and one icon, you get a whole carousel banner with as many images as you want front and center as soon as you get to the project page. You get seven (custom!) genre tags, as opposed to Webtoon’s single tag you have to pick from their list, and plenty of room to talk about your work. The episodes are even laid out better, you get a MUCH bigger preview space to work with and they’re nice and big on the bottom half of the page:

you know, like they’re actually presenting ART lmfao.

That’s already an ENORMOUS improvement, but here’s my favorite thing.

o hm that’s a lot of super cushy settings I have for every individual episode, but what’s that, Episode Type?

LIKE.

listen, i know this is probably a bit specialized if you’re not a comic maker yourself, but this is a HUGE DEAL. You can post vertically OR page by page! You can even post pages two at a time for double page spreads, or so they read like a physical comic book! AND their specs are really open, as long as the file meets the size requirement you can make it whatever shape you want. You don’t have to reformat all your shit to post here!! I posted the entire first volume of KC STRAIGHT FROM THE PRINT FILES in like half an hour!!! The episodes can also be any amount of pages, you can post a single page or an entire chapter all in one go!

So that’s just the project page for the comic, let’s see what happens when I click on my username there.

Each author gets their own unique page (which you can tack a vanity url to!) to present themselves however they want! You always have the banner at the top, but beyond that you have a ton of options. Among other incredibly useful tools that really should just be bare fucking minimum at this point, like the ability to preview your page on different devices, you start customizing your blank page with this set of widgets,

and from THERE you can customize them MORE, you can promote your patreon or your kickstarter or whatever! Having this creator space ALSO means that if you run several comics, or if you want to promote your comic AND your illustrations, you can just separate them into individual projects! Each with their own page! This is also really nice as a reader because you can subscribe to a creator but you can also just subscribe to specific projects, if you don’t want to get ALL of their stuff in your inbox. It’s so good y’all hh.

Once again, all of this functionality is just THERE as soon as you make your account. You don’t need to be “partnered” or whatever the fuck, you don’t need to meet a certain follower threshold to unlock the ability to operate normally. You get your own creator space to present yourself how you prefer, you get pages for all your projects, you can even set up monetization options (and change them for individual pages IN a project) right from the start.

ok ok let’s compare this to my webtoon page

oh that’s right webtoon just puts your greyed out name at the bottom of each comic and that’s it because human beings don’t make this stuff, my bad lol anyway

Other fun shit that Dillyhub does that makes me feel like they’re people who have actually consumed or made comics on the internet at some point in their lives:

-When you log into the “studio” space, you’re in your creator account. When you log OUT of the studio space, it’s like you swap to a “reader” account, where you can access your pull list and comment on things with a different name and profile icon. Again, maybe only cool if you’re a creator, but if you ARE then you know exactly why this is incredibly useful lmao

-You can set up “hidden” projects, so if you only want certain things to be accessible by certain people or to not show up in searches that’s an option! You have SO much control here it’s great.

-The comment section has moderation options GODDD. You also have a real comment space, you know, so it actually encourages building a community (and a rapport with your community, if you like), and you also can just turn comments off entirely if you want! I haven’t used it much yet, obviously, but it’s been made very clear in the discord that artists want better control over their comment sections and the devs have it on their priority list.

-Absolutely every step of customization gives you a preview before it’s live, so you can easily see what these images you’re posting in different places are going to look like before you beam them to your followers’ inboxes. This includes individual episodes!

-This was sort of in one of the screenshots but it’s important so I’m saying it here too: the option to mark individual episodes as mature or with content warnings, rather than having to mark an entire comic as Mature Spooky Scary Content because of one or two pages getting a bit hairy.

This site is only in alpha right now, and it’s invite-only until they get to beta (for creators; anyone can make a reader account! but they haven’t set up a way to browse comics without direct links yet so) but honest to god it’s already blowing every other site I’ve used clean out of the water. And the staff has been really kind and responsive to us proposing fixes or changes! I will always defend individual websites as being the best option for an indie comic, but everybody’s gotta start somewhere and we NEED something that isn’t Tumblr or Webtoon to fill this role; this site feels a lot more like a symbiotic relationship than any of the other staples available for new creators right now. If you’re a comic reader and you want to see your favorite comics on Dillyhub I’d suggest keeping an eye on this site and once it’s live start poking them to look into it, and if you’re a creator follow their social media and hop in when they open up for anybody to join. I would LOVE to see this site take off as a viable option for hosting and reading comics.

Thanks for reading all this! I haven’t quite finished setting up yet, but if you want to poke around a project/creator page for yourself mine is here have at it. As things progress I’m sure I’ll have more to say, but since I’m usually so aggressively negative about places like this I just wanted to give some credit where it was due. fucking finally.

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

So, this may sound weird, since I don't ship ZK, but I think the reason some dislike EIP is because they realize it was the first part of a busted enemies-to-lovers arc. EIP was part one, where Zuko and Katara see how others see them, and it weirds them out. Yet, Zuko insisted on sitting next to Katara and Katara pushes Aang away, suggesting there might be something there that they don't want to acknowledge. (1/3)

The first part of the finale was Part 2, where June reiterates the "Hey you're with your gf again!" Zuko and Katara deny it, but there likely should have been an undercurrent of 'Why do people think we're together? Do we act like it? Should we be? S/he is kind of cute.' During this time, Zuko defers to Katara and despite Toph likely being more helpful, asks Katara to be the one to take down Azula with him. (2/3)

Last part of the finale should have been the money shot, Zuko taking lightning for Katara, and in a parallel to CoD, Katara healing him. Dante Basco is right in that there probably should have been a kiss at that moment and the end scene of the gang at the Jasmine Dragon with Zuko and Katara shyly proclaiming their interest in each other. (3/4, sorry I have one more)

Again, ZK is not my ship, but EIP seemed to set up a ZK endgame that jumped the tracks at the end. By all the "rules" of a good narrative, Zuko and Katara should have ended up together, otherwise EIP should never have been countenanced or storyboarded. Full disclosure that I'm not a huge Kataang fan either, but Kataang was done a disservice by having EIP exist. It either should not have ever gotten written, or the ZK enemies-to-lovers arc should have been concluded. (end)

Disclaimer: I don’t care if someone ships Zvtara. Never have, never will. If the takeaway you (the general you, not anon specifically lol) get from this post is that Zvtara is “bad,” then I’m going to assume you didn’t actually read anything I wrote, because that is the farthest thing from my point here. Also, this post is strictly my personal response to these asks. I don’t expect everyone to read this and be like “YEAH” lmao. I am sure some people have different opinions, and that is a-okay!

In short, I think we will have to agree to disagree, anon.

Do some people consider EIP the beginning of a busted enemies-to-lovers arc? Of course they do, they’re “rabid zkers” who wear Zvtara shipping goggles 24/7 lmao. EIP couldn’t have been the beginning of an E-L arc because such an arc was never in the cards for them in the first place! Katara forgave Zuko in the previous episode. Trying to cram a romantic relationship into five episodes after months of hatred between Zuko and Katara would have been awful writing (and thus probably would have been a decision mercilessly criticized until the end of time, lmao). So it’s honestly better that Zvtara gets to spread its wings in fanon instead (much less pressure)! Also, realistically speaking, Katara and Zuko probably still had so many issues to work through in their friendship. Like yes, she forgave him and recognized he was trying to do better, but that doesn’t erase what Zuko has done to her and her friends. There is still plenty of forward progress they need to make before romance can even be considered between them. If that makes sense?

Also, let’s be real: EIP and bit with June afterwards were 100% ship bait. Just an attempt to add to the “drama” of who Katara would end up. A technique only effective while it was airing, for the record, because if you watch the show straight through, it becomes glaringly obvious that Zuko and Katara’s relationship - while gorgeous - was always meant to stay strictly platonic within the canon timeline.

Anyways. I’ll try to break down your ask one piece at a time!

“Zuko and Katara see how others see them, and it weirds them out”

Yes, they are definitely weirded out! The transcript says, “Zuko and Katara inch away from each other, slightly uncomfortable.” Which is just a longer way of describing that they were weirded out by the depiction of their relationship in EIP, lol. However, the play is not how others see them. The play is the Fire Nation’s imperialist propaganda, meant to demean the entire Gaang. I talk about in specifics how the entire Gaang is belittled here, but this is the key stuff I noted about Zuko and Katara:

it’s important to situate that and more importantly situate eip zuko and katara’s relationship within the context of the show. the fire nation is an imperialist country. the southern water tribe has suffered heavily beneath them. we know from “the headband” that fire nation individuals are fed pro-imperialistic propaganda from birth; that combined with zuko and azula’s degrading comment of “peasant” towards katara demonstrate very clearly how the fire nation views every other nation - put simply, they are superior and everyone else is inferior. that attitude is therefore reflected in the eip play:

- katara, an indigenous woman, is highly sexualized and portrayed as overly dramatic and tearful, because the fire nation objectifies women not of their own people and views them as less intelligent and less emotionally stable

- she is thus paired as having a “romance” with zuko in eip because naturally, via fire nation logic, zuko would be able to “score” an “easy” woman of one of the water tribes

- furthermore, the eip “romance” between zuko and katara emphasizes zuko’s position as a traitor to the fire nation; the implication is that as a traitor, he’d only be able to achieve a relationship with a “lesser” woman, e.g. a woman not of the fire nation

That is not how other people truly view Zuko and Katara’s relationship. That is how the Fire Nation depicts their relationship in order to degrade and dehumanize Zuko and Katara. To misinterpret that as “evidence” that Zuko and Katara should have been together romantically is… disturbing, in my opinion. (I really try to stay far away from zkers who use EIP as “proof” of supposed Zvtara interest in each other like honey that is imperialist propaganda please don’t 😭).

If you want to talk about how other people actually view Zuko and Katara’s relationship, look at the Gaang, who were around them most of all! They never tease the possibility of romance between their friends. Why? Because within canon, there wasn’t one. Simple!

“Zuko insisted on sitting next to Katara”

Nope! This is all the transcript says: “Zuko [Removing his hood.] Just sit next to me. What’s the big deal?” He doesn’t even mention Katara! Zuko is literally just like I’m already sitting. Why do I need to move? lmfao. It’s no thoughts head empty for our favorite firebender 😂

“Katara pushes Aang away”

I’m assuming this about the kiss, which I’m going to make a post about in the future because I am TIRED of the tomfoolery. Anyways, I’ll keep this brief - yes, she does push him away. She does not deny that she likes him. For Katara, the issue is the timing: “This isn’t the right time.” Both Katara and Aang know they like each other, plain and simple (which is why Aang doesn’t ask if he returns her feelings - he asks if they’d be together, because he knows their feelings are mutual). Katara pushes Aang away because, as she says, they’re in the middle of a war. She’s already seen Aang die once. He might die again. She doesn’t want that, of course, but it’s a reality Katara is forced to consider.

Anyways, her decision has nothing to do with Zuko. Lol.

“June reiterates the ‘Hey you’re with your gf again!’ Zuko and Katara deny it, but there likely should have been an undercurrent of ‘Why do people think we're together? Do we act like it? Should we be? S/he is kind of cute.’”

June’s assumption - especially because it is a repeat of a gag from earlier in the series, when it is incredibly concerning to assume a Fire Nation citizen would be with someone of the Water Tribes because of the war and its consequences - is comic relief. Not even good comic relief, lmao, because of the horrific implications I just mentioned that come with it, but it’s supposed to be comedy. There was no need of any “Zvtara” undercurrents there because a) Katara and Zuko had never expressed romantic interest in each other in the past, b) it wouldn’t track with the show’s narrative of Katara as Zuko’s surrogate sibling because of her position as Azula’s primary foil, and c) it just doesn’t make sense in general. Katara likes Aang. Zuko likes Mai. There was never a love triangle there, plain and simple. Fandom invented it.

And again, if you want to talk about how people actually see Zuko and Katara, don’t look at June, who has never had a proper conversation with either of them. As I said, the Gaang is a much better example, since they’re with the two 24/7. If they never tease Zuko and Katara about romance, why should we trust this random lady who doesn’t even know them?

“During this time, Zuko defers to Katara and despite Toph likely being more helpful, asks Katara to be the one to take down Azula with him.”

As I mentioned, Katara is Azula’s primary foil, so from a literary perspective she absolutely needed to be the one to take her down. Zuko needed to face Azula, but taking her down - again, from a literary pov - was always meant to be the end of Katara’s journey (she was the only person besides Aang who was ever a match for Azula, after all, as we see in CoD). Also, how would Toph be more helpful?? Not saying you’re wrong, btw, I just don’t understand what you mean. If I was Zuko, I also would have brought the waterbender that I’d already witnessed almost take down my sister already 😂. But even if Toph would have been more helpful, sometimes practicality must be sacrificed for a fulfilling narrative arc, lol!

“Last part of the finale should have been the money shot, Zuko taking lightning for Katara, and in a parallel to CoD, Katara healing him.”

Honestly, anon, this part of your ask baffles me 😂 I totally understand why rabid zkers might make this argument, but taking into account the rest of the show… It just doesn’t make sense? It’s been talked about a hundred times, but Zuko taking lightning out of romantic interest would ruin his redemption arc, regardless of if it was Katara or Aang or Sokka or anyone in the Gaang that he was taking it for, so that should be the end of discussion, full stop. I’ve talked about this issue here and here before, and someone else does a great job breaking it down in this post, too. But seriously. Zuko having romantic interest for anyone in the Gaang would ruin!! His!! Entire!! Arc!! I hate when people don’t understand that 😭 Zuko had to learn selflessness, to learn how to put others before himself, and to unlearn the imperialist rhetoric he’d been indoctrinated with from birth. Romantic interest during canon for Katara, Sokka, Aang, whomever, I don’t care, completely disregards all of his growth of breaking away from the Fire Nation. Plain and simple.

“Dante Basco is right in that there probably should have been a kiss at that moment and the end scene of the gang at the Jasmine Dragon with Zuko and Katara shyly proclaiming their interest in each other.”

I learned in a discord I’m in that Dante Basco apparently hadn’t seen the whole show until this year lmao. He didn’t know what energybending was nor did he know A:TLA ended with a Kataang kiss. Take that with a grain of salt, of course (you can watch the livestream this is revealed in here, and it was also mentioned in the recent StageIt A:TLA reunion), but I think it’s safe to conclude Dante Basco can be treated like any other Zvtara shipper. He likes the ship, which is totally cool, but he is not one of the writers, so his opinion meant naught in constructing the canon narrative.

ANYWAYS. My point is why would Zuko and Katara proclaim interest in each other if such interest would have to be crammed into five measly episodes?? Especially when four of those episodes were the finale?? That is awful writing, of course the A:TLA writers wouldn’t do that, lmao! They’d built up Kataang and Maiko already. Why scrap it and needlessly rush a romance from an excellent - and, important to note, a newly established - platonic bond? Nah.

“EIP seemed to set up a ZK endgame that jumped the tracks at the end. By all the ‘rules’ of a good narrative, Zuko and Katara should have ended up together”

Nope. Idk what rules people have been teaching you, anon, but they were lying!! You deserve better than people who would lie to you like that 😤. But yeah, narratively speaking, Katara and Zuko getting together would have made no sense. It would have undermined Zuko’s and Katara’s arcs, it would have completely disregarded Katara’s established feelings for Aang and Zuko’s for Mai, and again, it would have been totally rushed. Who wants that?? Normal people don’t, lmao. This might be hard to believe considering I occasionally rag about BNF zkers, but I actually have several friends who are Zvtara shippers! They agree that canon Zvtara would have made no sense, and that it’s better to play out a potential Zvtara dynamic in post-A:TLA fanon. I swear, it is only the rabid shippers who think Zvtara should have been canon, and trust me when I say no one should want to associate with them, lmao.

(And again, as I touched upon earlier, Zuko and Katara’s canon narrative relationship was surrogate siblings because of Katara’s position as Azula’s primary foil. The show wrapped their arc up perfectly! With a lovely bow and all. So no complaints from me!)

“otherwise EIP should never have been countenanced or storyboarded. Full disclosure that I’m not a huge Kataang fan either, but Kataang was done a disservice by having EIP exist”

What EIP did right:

- accurate (and horrifying) depiction of pro-imperialist propaganda

- recap of previous seasons

- a lesson on consent (Aang kisses Katara, it is depicted as wrong, and Aang reacts appropriately by admonishing himself and by giving Katara space afterwards. like, people call Aang an incel/entitled/whatever, BUT HE HAD THE PERFECT REACTION?? he literally backed off and never pressured her again. i would have killed for the guy who kept getting in my personal space during my junior year to have backed off when i told him to. spoiler alert: he didn’t)

- hit some good humor beats

What EIP did poorly:

- honestly it’s not very interesting just based on watching it (deconstructing it as propaganda gives it better depth), but that’s to be expected from filler

- stupid shipping drama

- not having an additional conversation/explicit apology between Aang and Katara

HOWEVER. This final point is actually very subjective. For one, A:TLA has a clear trend of not showing apologies on screen. Ex.: Katara doesn’t apologize to Sokka for what she said about their mother, Zuko doesn’t apologize for anything he did to the Gaang, Song, or really anyone (closest we get is “Hello, Zuko here” lmao), Ty Lee and Mai don’t apologize for putting the Kyoshi warriors in jail, etc. etc. So while an explicit apology would have been great, the lack of one admittedly tracks with the show’s pre-established standards. And two, while I of course would love a conversation between Aang and Katara (that’s literally MORE KATAANG. why would I refuse 😂), it isn’t… necessary, to be frank. Aang’s mistake is treated as such - kissing Katara was wrong and he should never have done that. Like I said, Aang acknowledges this error and gives Katara space afterwards. Thus, it is Katara who chooses to be with him when the war is over. She respects the time he gave her to come to a conclusion, and the choice she makes is that she loves him despite his poorly-timed kiss (I mean, she forgave Zuko for being complicit in Aang’s death. Katara is clearly a very forgiving person!). So like,, it gets to a point where if someone doesn’t recognize that, they’re probably the kind of weirdo who labels anything they don’t understand in a story as a plothole, lmao.

All of this is to say that EIP wasn’t a disservice to Kataang. It certainly could have been better, of course, and the kiss was obviously only put in to hype up drama (“will they, won’t they” blah blah blah), but overall it handled consent well for a kid’s show.

“It either should not have ever gotten written, or the ZK enemies-to-lovers arc should have been concluded.”

On the whole, EIP is absolutely an unnecessary episode, yeah. It was just a recap before the finale. The only important thing is its accurate depiction of pro-imperialist propaganda, but most people’s minds don’t immediately go to that, I’ll admit lmao 😂. And as I’ve already said, there was no Zvtara E-L arc - fandom completely made that up. Which is totally fine! That’s the point of transformative works. But they are still fanon. Plain and simple.

TL;DR - Zvtara was never in the cards for A:TLA. I wish rabid zkers would stop pretending it was and have fun in the sandbox like the rest of us 😭

And for the record, anon, you absolutely, 100% do not have to be convinced by any of this! It’s just my own, personal thoughts on the whole dealio. No worries either way!! 💛