#that's just wearing red and hearts. It's a motif

[goatmilksoda]

When you go through the entire aesthetics wiki and look at all the new-ish ones that have specifically developed on Tumblr, TikTok, and Pinterest, you start to realize that they can really be put into three categories like 75% of the time because people choose the same music constantly when they're making -core playlists so they all fit into either "Soldier, Poet, King", "Bubblegum Bitch", or "Sweater Weather".

[queensparklekitten]

people with multiple capes how do you picture your elytras

[tarjapearce]

Lips anon! AHHH MY HEART 😭 💕 good, good food.

I love how the wife grabbed Miguel's ass lol brought me back to my childhood with my parents when my mother would get upset at my father.

This muggy ass weather stewed up an idea. Miguel and the wife taking the kids to the pool, and she gers jealous because there are more eyes on him than she likes lol

Jealous wife? 👀👀 yes.

-----

Pool day. A little break from everything, school, work and stressful situations. Despite you protesting for not wearing the swimming suits Miguel had gotten you, he finally convinced you to wear his favorite. The white one, that fit a bit too snug on your breast and made your rear to look bigger and bouncier.

All clad underneath a pair of shorts and one of his shirts, a long a hat and sandals, a fanny pack on your side filled with sunblock, hair ties and sunglasses. Miguel wore a pair of swimming trunks with spider prints motifs, sandals, his sun glasses and a deep blue button shirt.

Floaties, towels, extra clothes, snacks and foods were packed in the car, a 2018 Red Ford Escape.

Gabi wore her swimming suit under the shorts and flowery button shirt. Benjamin wore his trunks and a little shirt with a spider logo.

------

Upon arriving, you looked for a spot next to the pool, and unpacked everything. Benjamin was held to your side, Gabriela was helping Miguel to set up the table and the things they would use for later.

The rest was too into their little world that you couldn't help but notice the stares of other women glancing at Miguel, that had just removed his shirt and slid his glasses back ontop of hid head.

"Let's go swim, Papa!"

"Uh uh, wait." You caked some of the sunscreen on her arms, face and every visible part of her body. She ran to the pool.

"Here, lemme." Miguel took Benjamin, and it was like a sight for sore eyes for the women staring. You frowned, and lathered up little Benji with sunscreen. You then moved to Miguel and smooched him a bit deeper you had intended to. Not that he minded.

A woman scoffed and turned her eyes.

------

Your husband was handsome, and of course that the stares and ogglings at his way we're expected. Beefy, handsome, tall and a dilf father. He was playing with Benjamin and one of the floaties, letting his feet to kick on the water, as Gabriela was trying her hand at diving as she remained close. You just watched as you were sat under the umbrella, donning yourself with sunscreen.

The stares turned more shameless, when he submerged himself and slicked his hair back. The same woman that had scoffed, bit her lip at the sight.

The Audacity.

You had enough. You removed your sunglasses and your shorts, sat before him on the pool, your legs soaking.

Miguel approached and placed a kiss on your knees, holding Benjamin's floaty with one hand.

"God, it's awfully hot today."

"Get in, water is nice." His hand was placed on one of your thighs.

"Benji looks so adorable" You mumbled casually as you removed your shirt, Miguel had to do a double take before actually process what was happening. His mouth gaped softly. Good, you had his full attention. He licked his lips and with one hand pulled you effortlessly in the water, earning a triumphant squeal. from you

He kissed you deeply and smirked.

"¿'Tas celosa?" (You jealous?)

"Shut up."

He laughed and squeezed your butt underneath water, making your cheeks flush deeper, the hot weather disguising your embarrassment.

"No les hagas caso. Im yours anyway." (Ignore them.)

[psycho-static]

dethklok posting wahooo!! I decided i wanted to do some interpitations of swiss n toki :3 what do u lot think?? Desing notes down here lmao (warning, its a bit long lmao)

SWISSY .He wears white because hes just so much more superior than the rest of the band and he insist it makes him look cooler .Fabulous long hair beautiful blonde locks and pale blue eyes n skin, the perfect man, sent straight from heaven .Rosy red cheeks just to accentuate his pale soft, angelic look .Hes got a black belt, black armbands n shoes to oppose his white fit .His trousers are also slightly flared with black seams and angel wings on his cheeks because hes so fancy .His guitar remains black but its holy asf thunder themed guitar topped with angel motif because...hes the best of course lmao a fancy ass guiar born straight from the hands of GOD. . He also has a few rings and arm hair cuz...why not? lol ------------------------------------------------------------------------- . TOKI .His shirt is ripped n he too wears bracelets a skull belt rings and flared trousers just to be like skwiskgar (except his colours are reversed to give him his own flare) .Said flared trousers also have devil wings on the front lol .He has scars all over his body, but most the most notable scars are the ones on his face that imitate cat whiskers . Hes also missing a finger...dont ask abt it- .His love for cats is very apparent given his new little tattoo (possibly got it after really cool cat died lmao) .His guitar has reverse motifs to skwisgarr cloud themed with devil wings , His dosent radiate the same polished aura however, his was hand painted n looks a bit more tacky . Toki also has body hair, and a goatee cuz...i like goatees lmao (Also his new chest hair is actually shaped like a love heart :3)

[hanakoofthejungle]

Another HuskerDust Hazbin Hotel fanart because I am obsessed with these two.

Speedpaint process below:

This piece is based on the fanfiction, Wicked Old Soul by BunnyBight. It is also a Overlord Husk AU fic but has its own distinct and captivating plot. I highly recommend.

The scene comes from Chapter 24 where Husk and Angel host an engagement party for Asmodeus and Fizzarolli, and of course they have to dress the part :))) in other words, excuse for me to draw Husk in a fancy suit and Angel in a beautiful dress.

I took a lot of leeway in interpreting the clothes.

BunnyBight describes Angel's dress as "made of a black shimmery material. Not sparkly, it was too subtle to be called that. The top of the dress wrapped over one shoulder and under the other. It fit snug to his body until it hit his hips where it then draped straight to the floor. The front of the dress had a large opening. The left side of the skirt fell straight down but then another layer started at that hip and crossed in front to end at his right ankle. His entire left leg was bare as was the bottom of his right leg." So I was thinking of silk chiffon as the material for the blouse/bust and first layer of the skirt and taffeta silk for the bodice and second dress layer. As both fabrics has shiny property, they would look a bit more grey than black as opposed to Husk's wool suit. I added a layer of pearlescent watercolor on top to make the dress shimmery but it doesn't show after scanning. Check out my speedpaint Youtube short to see how it shines under the light. The dress is also supposed to have gold and red playing cards embroidery, but I was lazy.

Angel's necklace is the centerpiece of the outfit, '[t]he necklace was an intricate design of many small black diamonds and seven large rubies, all set in gold [...] It looked like something royalty would wear." So I went ahead and based the necklace on Empress Elisabeth of Austria's ruby parure. I saw the necklace in her portrait by Georg Martin Ignaz Raab while visiting the Schönbrunn Palace some years ago. There are exactly 7 rubies in this fanart and some small black diamonds. The details do not look good up close since I was drawing on a small A5 size paper and this is the best I can manage with tiny tiny jewelry. BunnyBight also mentions a pair of earrings that go with the set, but I don't know where the ears of a spider locate so I replaced those with a matching hair ornament.

"Husk was wearing another three piece black suit with gold pinstripes and buttons. His gold bowtie looked fabulous over the red shirt he wore with it." I found that when executing all these details on paper, the suit would look very busy and lack an emphasis. Hence, I instead put Husk in a pure black double breasted suit, kept the red shirt and placed all the red, gold and black color in the tie as the highlight of his outfit. I couldn't draw the tiny "little gold and red playing card cufflinks at his wrist" (again the limitation of traditional art on small paper) so I replaced the with heart shaped gold cufflinks. A nice allusion to Husk's wearing his heart on his sleeve just for Angel, which was definitely my plan all along and not just mere coincidence. I skipped Husk's fancy top hat and cane because I was lazy. One very wrong detail in this whole outfit is Husk's ring which he doesn't get until Chapter 36 :((.

The background is just me freehand drawing that tapestry with card symbols and other motifs appear in Loser, Baby and the marble column.

[micksture]

hello i’m back on the grind and today i bring you the fullbody refs i nearly did a backflip over 🌞 hope you’ll like em

notes under the cut

CHARLIE

- Former Princess of Hell. She resigned from her role and place in the royal home because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to fulfill her dream of redeeming Sinners. Her parents had different plans and expectations for her, and deem her as an embarrassment. Charlie lived in a dingy apartment and worked a couple of jobs for a few years to gather money. She struggled, but she finally earned enough to afford an empty, run down building. At the start, she and the gang will have to start rebuilding and renovating it to make the hotel she planned to build :p

- More goat motifs (ears, nose, horns, pupils, legs and hooves)

- Doll-like joints, which make her movements awkward and robotic at times

- Fangs and buck teeth <3

- Fluffy, puffy hair!!! The color is a mix of Lucifer’s hair back when he was still an angel (golden) and the hair he has now, after falling (red)

- One snake on each side of her head. Both of them are different species and have different personalities. They’re also super venomous, but she doesn’t rlly use that ability

- A mole under her left eye because I just couldn’t help myself hehe

- Tail that she can’t retract and has all the time. It’s a bit too short and just bothers her most of the time by accidentally knocking stuff over

- A blue ‘blouse’ (it’s actually a long sleeve top with buttons printed onto it, kinda like those silly faux tuxedo t-shirts) and shoes with accents of the same color, as any variant of blue is a vital part of the very loose dress code for the hotel’s workers. She also wears blue earrings and always adds a bit of blue to her makeup :3

- Other than that I think her outfit is pretty much similar? At least to the Pilot one

- I tried to sneak in some hearts to her design and just overall make her look friendly and awkward lolz

VANHI

- Former Exorcist angel. She gained consciousness during an extermination and was discarded solely because of that fact. Exorcists are programmed to be killing machines that feel nothing and don’t ask questions, so when they gain consciousness (which is very rare), their higher ups – so Lute and Adam – get rid of them. Vanhi was found by Charlie two days later, miraculously still alive. Charlie rushed her back to her apartment and slowly nursed her back to health, recognising her as an angel, but not an Exorcist. They’ve known each other for 3 yrs now, and they took some time to grow fond of each other but they’re getting there

- Obviously, the name change… She did used to be called Vaggie (when she was still an angel), changed it after being banished from the holy troops and left behind in Hell

- STRRRONG 💪💪💪💪 probs the strongest one out of the main six characters, at least physically

- Lots of scars all over her body from previous battles

- Long teased hair put up in a high ponytail for practical reasons. The black tips are dyed. Also RACOON TAIL!!!!!!!!

- Some moth motifs, like the antennas that mimic a bow and also her hair kinda resembles the wings of a moth when it is down.

- A funky ahoge (I think that’s what it’s called..) that looks like a halo :3

- A different eyepatch + protective gloves

- She wears a pink and white striped pullover under her blue shirt and she also has mismatched socks 👾

- Angelic spear, obvi.. its’ handle is a little bent in the middle, because Adam tried to snap it in half for dramatic effect and failed LMFAOJEBW BOZO

ANGEL DUST

- He’s a famous pornstar under Valentino’s contract, and he has been for some time now. Before that, he’d perform in clubs

- Lots of Valentino’s influence in his choice of clothing: shorts, boots, the black top, pink gloves + fur scarf, rings and the collar. The only thing that wasn’t gifted to him by the overlord is the pinstriped shirt and hat that he’s had since the very arrival in Hell. ALSO SHOUTOUT TO MY FRIEND FOR THIS IDEA: the buttons on his suit are little flies because he’s a spider!!!!!!

- Six eyes, four arms (but he can also grow out two more), pedipalps and abdomen to rlly play into the spider theme

- His teeth are stained with Val’s red saliva

- He has lots of toned pink spots all over his body. I couldn’t rlly decide on an exact design for his markings and I felt like there was already a lot happening on him so I just went with little pink speckles

- Very fluffy :v

ALASTOR

- Powerful Overlord that came back from his seven years of radio silence to invest in the biggest flop of a project in Hell and stick around, seemingly just to laugh at its’ failure

- Toned down colors yay

- Long, pinstriped crimson suit worn over a beige dress shirt, 1930s inspired shoes (they still have the silly hoof prints on the bottom don’t worry) and a tie because I’m sick of the bazillion bowties 👿👿👿

- Voice box located between the top of the knot of his tie and the bottom of his high neck ruff. He often uses it to speak without moving his mouth

- The two sharp ridges that peek from under his neck ruff and have a white glow to them are actually a part of a collar. He’s forced to wear it because of his deal. It’s made of angelic metal, so he can’t really take it off anyway

- For the deer features, I changed his ears to be a little more deer-like, made his antlers bigger and gave him a deer nose :p He has a tail and hooves too but he hides them as much as possible

- No fuckass bob 🙏

- Couldn’t help myself and gave him a pencil mustache 🕴️

- Staff inspired by a 1930s microphone. It can be shortened to a regular mic or expanded to work as a cane!! It's a sentient being and it often adds to situations/conversations by playing sound effects. And yes it does have tiny antlers hehe

- Different monocle

- Some green accents because his magic is green idk

HUSK

-A former Overlord, long past his prime. His enjoyment of Alastor’s 7 year absence was short lived – now, he has to deal with even more annoying people in the hotel. He works the bar and because of Charlie’s request he’s allowed to only fix up mocktails instead of real alcoholic drinks

- Based his design on a mainecoon cat, so he’s super fluffy. Lots and lots of fur, which is unkempt because he gave up on trying to care for it a while ago

- Owl wings. His right wing is clipped (because of the deal with Alastor) and he can no longer fly. He can’t even expand this wing to its’ full length without having to painfully strain it to get it to move out even a little bit

- boy why u so eyebrow…….

- I live for chubby Husk <3

- A bunch of scars

- A rough beard and a droopy mustache

- A stained, patterned blue shirt with rolled up sleeves and a missed button at the top, tiny magician hat, black pants + suspenders and a green cloth to wipe empty glasses

- Give this poor man a break…

NIFFTY

- Used to work at a tailor shop and one day, she came across Alastor when he went in to get his suit fixed after a fight. Rather than being presented with a deal offer, she offered her soul to him herself. He agreed, of course, but he was so weirded out by this that he decided to spare her life to further observe her antics. They’ve grown fond of each other and now have a father-daughter relationship of sorts

- I rlly leaned into the idea of her being a bug… She’s a grasshopper/ant mix, so she has antennae and mandibles

- Fluffy, glowy hair that she curls with hair rollers every day

- Green eye (same shade as her dress)

- Freckles :3

- Big patterned dress, a matching head scarf, blue apron and blue cleaning gloves

[silentwhispofhope]

*Limping to your request box* I MISSED YOU AND I WANT TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA FILLED WITH FLUFF!! Is it okay to request?

💞[Skin Writing/Drawing Soulmate AU]✍️ 🖌️ - Reader is an artist and constantly draws many art in their skin because it's just so satisfying! Their soulmate Vash feels appreciated, in love, and beautiful whenever Reader's drawing appear on his skin. Their art just gives him a reason to love his skin despite skin scars 🥺 🖋️ - Reader does calligraphy, and they sometimes quote the bible doing it cause why not? Soulmate Wolfwood just looks with a soft, maybe teasing smile as he sees his soulmate's work. 😎 📜 - Reader is a poet and they randomly have ideas and prompt all throughout the day, so they grab a pen and start writing all the poetry from their head. Soulmate Knives who's intellectual and curious admires whenever his soulmate's writing appear on his skin, he just covers it from others eyes because pest don't deserve to see this beauty. 🌱

YOU CAN PICK TWO OUT OF THE THREE!! IT'S YOUR CHOICE MY FRIEND!!! 😍💝💌

- Sugar Plum Anon 💟

A/N: Just for you Sugar Plum Anon, I’ll do all three <3 I do hope you’re alright though! Please do stay safe! Since I’m doing all three, I hope you’re alright with headcanons instead of normal lil’ one shots. :)

Skin Writing/Drawing Soulmate AU Headcanons

Vash

He was absolutely scared out of his mind when he first saw the ink appear on his skin. He even went as far as to try to scrub his skin raw, and the ink was still fresh as ever. Poor blondie is wondering how the hell something like this is happening.

Meanwhile, you’re doodling like there’s no tomorrow with your ballpoint pen, tracing the outlines of your veins and doodling smiling faces.

Over time, Vash learns to just accept the random appearance and disappearance of drawings across his body. At the end of the day, it’s like a fun little game to see what’s been sketched on him underneath his turtle neck.

It takes a while for Vash to realize that it’s his soulmate doodles appearing on his skin. Warmth floods his heart each time he thinks of this, causing him to lovely trace the marks across his own skin.

He would laugh sometimes at the sudden ink smear appearing on his skin before new sketch marks appeared, your work hypnotizing him. He especially loved when you used different colors, almost painting his skin like a canvas. Eventually, he makes the move to respond.

So imagine your surprise when you find a poorly drawn flower appear on your skin. Ensue the same panic Vash experienced when you remembered you didn’t draw that.

Wolfwood

Scrubbing his skin did nothing. Seeing the scripture on his forearm made him wonder if he had perhaps gotten too drunk the night before and had gotten a tattoo.

The fancy calligraphy was choice, especially with that proverb. For the lips of the adulterous woman drop honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. Wolfwood decided that there could be worse things etched into his skin from that old religion.

You, on the other hand, were giggling to yourself. Oh, the irony of something appearing to beautiful but naughty. A snort escapes from one of your nearby friends.

He didn’t put anymore thought into it until the next day when the ink disappeared. Lowkey, thought he was super dehydrated for him to imagine that, but nope, even after drinking tons of water, the ink was no longer on his skin.

Cue some praying. He nearly has a heart attack when more ink appears on his skin. He has to go back to the orphanage and ask the elders for help on understanding the situation. Turns out it’s a soulmate thing, one which they didn’t even bother to mention until now.

Overtime, he appreciates the calligraphy he appears on his skin, particularly when new motifs appear. Wolfwood liked seeing you test new things and watch as the ink appear on his skin.

However, he was very glad to wear long sleeves when you would write down a particularly dirty proverb like 5:19. He would always end up blushing a bright red like a tomato, a huge contrast to his normal, stoic personality.

Imagine, your surprise when you notice fresh ink on your skin. For your ways are in the full view of the LORD in basic script.

Knives

He almost didn’t see the script appear on his arms, the ink nearly blending into his suit and pale skin. His fingers traced the letters he could make out. Knives immediately knew what this meant, it was his soulmate reaching out- most likely not knowing what was happening.

He tried to ignore it the best he could and kept himself covered with his cloak. Having someone would just drag him down, make it harder to reach his goal of eradicating humanity. However, his curiosity got the best of him.

Taking another look, the bleach blond quickly recognized the letters as chords with their denoted accidentals. Luckily for him, he new how to play. It was child’s play, really.

Meanwhile, your trying to understand how to play different songs only by listening too them. You were too stubborn to look them up, very confident in your ability.

And so it became a pattern for him to decipher your song you had written on his arm. He would spend hours playing the piano, watching the notes on his arm be crossed out and replaced. The composition rarely stayed imprinted on his skin for longer than a day.

Often, Knives would see lyrics being written with the chords. A little artist are we now? His small joke to himself caused a small smile. He would end up humming them, his low voice cutting through the air. It was for the sake of rhythm, he told himself.

Imagine your surprise when you saw a new. mark you knew you hadn’t inscribed into your skin, a word marked out for another.

[waltricia]

More Hawkins/Innovations Ball Observations 🔭🎈🧭

+ A Color Theory

I know I’ve already made several posts about this ball, but I have more observations, so I’m going to compile everything here. For the stuff I’ve already made detailed posts about, I’ll just give brief descriptions.

1. Yellow. There’s so much of it here, and in the episode as a whole. Ahead of the part 1 release, I had been thinking a lot about how the color red would be used to signify Colin’s growing love- and it is, particularly in 3x04 (I’ll come back to that)- but in this episode, yellow is used more so, which is even better because it signifies how much Pen, specifically, is haunting Colin (in the romantic way obviously lol). At Stowell House, earlier in the episode, the walls are a very obvious singular yellow tone, and Colin wears a yellow waistcoat. Here at the Innovations Ball, there are a ton of different shades of yellow on the walls, props/furnishings, costumes, and in the lighting.

Also note the blue elements.

AND green!

(I love Marcus repping all the Polin colors. That bodes well.)

So, yeah, lots of Polin-coding, but also, like I said, I have a particular theory about color, which I will return to at the end of this post.

2. Colin’s entrance into the ballroom mirrors the infamously unfortunate Beauty and the Beast scene from 2x04. Both scenes have our leads stopped on staircases in front of grandfather clocks (another surprisingly significant motif of the season). I love the comparison of her being lonely because she’s left alone by him in that moment- and by everyone else as usual- to now him being lonely, despite being surrounded by admirers, because he’s being left alone by the one person who truly knows him and would make that difference for him.

3. I think everyone already knows about this parallel by now, but I have to note it because it’s so in line with my other observations- when Colin says his “it is possible to do anything” line, that scene mirrors the “assuredly, fervently, loudly” scene from 1x08. Pen and Colin are both inspiring each other, encouraging each other to be honest about their feelings.

And I feel like that’s not the only moment where the scenes are mirrored. In 1x08, when Colin sees Pen, the crowd parts so he has (and we have) the full view of her, and he makes his way over to her from the center of the floor to the edge. In 3x03, after Colin almost reveals his feelings (similar to how Pen almost revealed her feelings in 1x08), Pen leaves him at the edge of the floor to go to the center with Debling. And the crowd, which had been parted- giving us a view of Colin behind Pen- now rushes in to block that view.

4. Double meanings. They’re everywhere.

a) Again, the “it is possible to do anything” line. He’s delivering it to the admiring debutantes, but we know he’s really speaking to Pen. He’s really talking to her about his feelings for her. Of course, Pen thinks he’s talking to her about Debling. The hits just keep on coming for Colin in this episode.

b) In another interesting turn of events, considering she’s Whistledown and so much of what she’s said and done in the past seasons has been layered with hidden meanings, Pen goes and speaks the plain singular truth about herself and her intentions to Debling (obviously barring the fact that she’s Whistledown). Of course this is very in line with one of her main journeys for the season, which is to accept and reveal herself.

c) Colin attempts to hide the true meaning of his words to Violet when he asks her about love and friendship. Of course, he’s just so god damn transparent, bless his heart. And Violet, very sweetly, goes along with it.

And btw, after she leaves Colin to let him go approach Pen, she watches them the whole time. 💜

d) Unserious but relevant:

Not only are they literally and metaphorically sick, this pregnancy subplot also fits with the whole theme of nature.

e) The Whistledown narration. As per usual, it applies to multiple characters and their storylines. I’m obsessed with how it’s so intentionally layered onto the shots. The sequence is so incredible and so involved. I’m linking the post I made about it here in case anyone hasn’t seen it yet and is curious about what I mean.

5. I could be totally off about this one, but it looks to me like Miss Malhotra’s hair clip is designed like a compass. If it is, that would make sense because it would be on theme for the ball. But what I particularly love about the idea is that it’s also relevant to Polin. Hardcore Polin fans like to say that Pen is Colin’s compass.

6. At the end of this episode, as Colin has officially fallen in love with Pen, we see the beginning of the next episode’s theme color, red.

Which brings me to my final observation, my color theory.

I’ve said this before and I will continue to say it every time I have an insane prediction or theory: I am probably very wrong. But I’ll say it anyway…

It seems to me that each episode has a different signature color. I think 3x02 is green because Pen and Colin are starting to grow and bloom.

3x03 is yellow because, again, Pen is haunting Colin.

3x04 is red because they’re lovesick for each other.

And 3x01 is everything. It’s an explosion of color.

I think that, in many ways, 3x01 is meant to be a preview of the upcoming episodes, highlighting all of the colors. I mean, wouldn’t the presence of a “Four Seasons” ball indicate that everything is there? Everything that you would see in a year? (Or a full season of Bridgerton?) I think it probably tells us which colors will define the part 2 episodes as well, but I won’t venture to guess.

In speaking about Colin’s garden party waistcoat, the associate costume designer, Dougie Hawkes, said that it has hints about future episodes.

I have to wonder if this color thing has something to do with that. I’m also pretty sure that all of the other waistcoats Colin wears in 3x01 are ones he wears again more obviously in the other part 1 episodes. This seems to indicate, for one thing, that the garden party waistcoat is indeed special, but also that there is so much hiding in plain sight in episode 1 that will come back throughout the season. In other words, there’s probably a lot of stuff in part 2 that’s already been hinted at in 3x01…

But I dunno, I’m probably wrong about this.

Anyway, that’s all for now! ✌️

[sciderman]

What was it like coming up with Anita’s design versus Olive’s design?

god! feels like so long ago now, i don't know if i can cement all my thought process - sometimes you just see something and it clicks into place - with anita, i needed something with a heart motif - something classy, and something fantastical. something that almost couldn't exist in reality. something made of dreams and rainbows. anita is a fantasy - the ultimate, divine diva who came from the heavens. the embodiment of truth and love.

the rainbow motif kind of came from anita being kind of a filter - she was born out of necessity for wade to be able to filter his emotions - i was in writers block with a truth anon and i needed anita to be that filter to get wade to express himself. so she's a prism of light. (it's also why i sneak in that pink floyd shirt constantly. hehahoheo...)

i think somewhere in a hunt for visual inspo i peeped this monstrosity. and i riffed on it.

this dress... dear god it's impossible. and kind of hideous. but there's something there. there's something there. it's as gaudy and loud and fantastical as anita has to be. added a garter (because she's playful, and i kind of just - love the garter symbolism attached to wade, and the traditions that are attached to it – all being tied to marriage and good luck all-the-while also being tongue-in-cheek) added evening gloves (she's a lady) and – vitally, the mask. because all in all, she's still putting on a show.

olive - olive's first ever look was inspired by a beautiful brighton queen - she had a kind of asymmetry motif to her outfit that i kind of really loved for peter - if peter would have a motif - it had to be asymmetry. two sided boy. one side slutty, one side conservative.

duality of olive... and oliver... early on i kind of wanted there to be a distinction between olive and oliver - olive me is this sweet, romantic creature. who's ready to give all of himself - and oliver me is...

bossy. slutty. whorish. demanding. they kind of melded into one - i think they kind of had to. but it's a conceit in olive's playlist too - two warring genres - the soft, hopelessly romancey tones of ella fitzgerald vs the sluttiest era of britney. peter's both of those things. a romantic idiot, but an absolute freak. i thought about having a half-mask sort of situation, like the classic way the comics drew his spider-sense -

i think i'll still do it at some point - a la one of those fun half-man half-woman vaudeville acts - i think it could be hilarious.

i'll do it one day. i'll do it one day.

it's kind of important that olive doesn't wear the mask, though, i think - so the funny little britney-esque microphone became my compromise.

the aerial silks were vital. vital. in fact, it's how i became obsessed with spider-man - i saw a spider-man themed aerial silk performer at a circus, and i could Not stop drawing spider-man since.

peter getting to be that sort of lithe, strong, athletic sort of queen vs wade's very classically feminine sort of queen.

the silks are important - i sort of have it living in my head, no matter how impractical it is, that peter spun those all himself. his entire costume came from him. hence all the pink glitter which, apparently, flows through his veins.

pink's kind of the colour of love, in the 9319 universe. literally.

peter's kind of a bottomless reservoir of love. which is great, because wade needs a lot of it.

i always think about how pink is kind of a softened red. peter's so full of passion, and rage, and red is so intrinsic to him - it's something he's scared of, actually. all the red that courses through his veins.

but when you soften him, he's all pink. all that passion and anger comes from love - it's kind of his lifeblood. it's the thing that consistently pulls him through, in every iteration of him. it's literally what pulls him from the brink of death.

sorry. wow. i'm going through all of these gymnastics to tell you why olive wears pink. why is my brain like this.

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Tea Set Painting Date With Riddle Headcanons

Masterlist

Warning: I write the Reader as female

This idea came to you one day to have a tea set painting date with your boyfriend so you went to Sam’s store (since you didn’t know if there was a Twisted Wonderland equivalent of Hobbycraft and he always seemed to have everything you needed) and purchased about five to six different blank white ceramic tea sets, the appropriate paints, paintbrushes, and all of the other supplies.

Then you handmade a very formal and professional-looking invitation card, telling Riddle to come to Ramshackle on the afternoon of the next day for your date and that you already double checked with Trey and you know that his schedule is clear, which you gave to the resident baker to give to the love of your life.

Strawberry boy is very confused but on the day of the date, he finds himself knocking on the front door of Ramshackle.

He was very excited for whatever it is you’ve scheduled. Whether it’s a study date, tea party date, picnics with his beloved hedgehogs or simply just sitting side by side in complete silence - he adores every minute he spends with his precious rose ♡

He even kept your invitation all nice and secure in the drawer of his bedside table.

You greet him with a beaming smile and usher him inside where he finds a newspaper covered table with an assortment of different arts and craft supplies

When he asks you what you’ve got planned you tell him that since you enjoy spending tea time with him, you thought it might be a fun idea to decorate your own tea sets together 

As strange as the proposal sounds, he’s all for it. After all, any time spent with you is worthwhile.

So you lead him towards your table and start your relaxing painting session by playing some calming classical music on your phone

At first he’s a little insecure - since he spent his childhood locked in his room studying all day he doesn’t have the first clue on how to draw and paint, making him worry on whether or not this would reflect poorly on him in your eyes - but you reassure him like you always do

“Don’t be silly, Riddle,” you smile at him, taking his hand and pressing a kiss on his knuckles before nuzzling your cheek on them, “art is subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And allow me to tell you that my eyes will always consider you and everything that you do beautiful. So just relax and have fun, dearest. I want you to enjoy yourself.”

“Of course I will, my rose,” he clenched his free hand into a fist in front of his mouth and turned his head away so that you don’t see his blush

So the two of you start painting together, decorating the blank tea cups, saucers and teapots with his motifs: red roses (of course), strawberries, colourful hedgehogs wearing crowns (they looked more like lopsided spiky jelly beans, though), flamingoes 

You both even sign your initials inside a heart underneath every piece of crockery 

Riddle is having the time of his life decorating them, scrunching his nose in concentration as he paints on all of the finer details

Usually he’d raise a fuss if he got even a speck of paint on him but he’s having so much fun and your joy is so beautifully contagious that he doesn’t even think about the possible mess.

To anyone else they look a little slapdash and unprofessional and definitely amateurish, but to Riddle they were worth more than quadruple their weight in gold.

He keeps them all in a special tea cabinet in his bedroom so that he proudly gaze upon them in his own time, and to prevent anything from happening to them

Trey has walked in on his friend lovingly staring at one of the sets at multiple points in time 

At first he was too scared to use them because he was worried that they’ll get damaged and he doesn’t want your handiwork to go to waste but you point out that tea sets are meant to be used not looked at so he relents

He likes to use them whenever he misses you, smiling fondly as he traces over your artwork

Whenever the two of you have private tea parties, you bet that those sets are going to replace the expensive one-of-a-kind limited edition royal tea set that was imported straight from the Queendom of Roses.

At one point, he was drinking from one of those tea cups during a Dorm Leader zoom meeting and he looked at everyone, just daring them to say anything about his and his precious rose’s handiwork - no really, he wanted someone to say something so that he has a reason to brag about you

Riddle in the near future: *proudly showing off the sets, which have been placed in a rich, luxurious glass cabinet* And here we have the fine china

Poor unsuspecting person: *stares confusedly at a set of tea cups with a bunch of paint splatters that appear to have been done by reception aged children*

[daielsal]

I finally completed my Lucera fanart! Was inspired to draw her after I discovered @presidenthades ‘A House Full of Daughters’ AU the year prior, which has helped in improving my mood by a lot. I think I fell hard after reading ‘The Golds’ (which I was able to actively get updates on as the author was still posting updates at the time, it’s been completed as of now)! Right now I am reading there newest addition of their AHFOD AU which is ‘Compromise and being Compromised’ (surprisingly enough this is my go to fic if I want to read a fic that has a happy premise, compared to the other Lucera fics that are usually really angsty, or just pure heart break. I’m looking at you ‘When Dragons Danced’ and ‘The Dying of the Dragons’ 👀 Although on a side note I would love to eventually make fanart for TDOTD and WDD, especially more so when WDD was my the first Lucera fic that I got to see actively posted up until its completion. Of course, I would also love to draw some fanart for TDOTD as that was recently completed, if anyone is looking for some angsty Lucera fics I would totally recommend these two as they are completed and the writing quality is pretty great). Back to my fanart piece for AHFODs though, overall I am really happy with how she came out in the end. I am open to drawing the rest of the Velaryon girls however that would probably have to be at a later date. Anyways, onward to the details!

* Lucera’s dress is obviously in various shades of blue. Not only as a shoutout to her favorite color, but also in slight homage to her Arryn and Velaryon family ties/roots.

* Gold is included in her dress as well as it seems that the Velaryons are more partial to including gold instead of silver from what I can recall from the last time I was able to watch ‘The House of the Dragon.’ That’s not even including that the Targaryens are also partial on having gold placed within their clothes as well.

* Of course she is going to have some sort of Seahorse motif included in her dress to pay homage to her house.

* The Arrax brooch is also there since she is also paying tribute to her dragon.

* I added the swirls, so that they kind of come off as whirlpools (call back to my Naruto days baby! 😜).

* Pearls since our baby is the ‘Pearl of Driftmark!’ Represent!!!

* The silver sea star is included as she is the future lady of a house that is usually seen in correlation with the sea 🌊

* There are hints of the OG teal of the book!House Velaryon House colors included within her jewelry and adornments that are scattered across her dress.

* The multitude of seashells are included as another representation of her house and the sea 🐚

* The oranges are a call back to her favorite fruit and perfume. President Hades actually brought up a good point of it also being a homage for Laenor, I had actually forgotten that he was also mentioned to have had also been fond of the fruit as well as coconut (which I sadly forgot to add, but that can be used for a later piece, maybe 🤫)

* The carnations are in relation to the actual actor who ended up playing teen Lucerys which is Elliot Grihault, and his birthday happens to fall in January, so of course I had to add one of the months flowers which one happens to be the Carnation. I decided to go with Red Carnations as the color represents a variety of things including love, affection, passion, and distinction (and we know our girl is definitely all of these)!

* Cinnamon flowers are included as Lucera is also noted to have a love for this spice. If I remember correctly from ‘The Golds’ Aegon is able to notice that Cassandra Baratheon is wearing this perfume so that she could entice Aemond (although for those of us who read the fic, we know that plan flunked in the end).

* Orange Blossoms are also included to go with the Oranges 🍊

* Lillies are included to highlight love, femininity, and innocence ( the innocence is more in line with Lucera and Aemond’s younger years when they were both children).

* In many ways the manner in how I drew Lucera somehow ended up reminding me of Layla/Aisha from Winx Club, a show I grew up with which I very much loved. Even though I am more of a Flora girlie I have to give props to Layla/Aisha (shout out to Lay Lay! 😆 side note: Lay Lay will always be Layla to me, I said what I said 😤)! I kind of want to draw Lucera in clothing that pays homage to Layla now, lol! Who knows if I ever do get back to drawing Laena, along with Rhaena and Baela I might have to implement this as well. That’ll be a lot of fun, especially for my 10 year old self!

* Lastly I decided to draw Lucera being surrounded by a flower wreath as a reference of sorts to all of the Voltron fanart that used to be prevalent back in 2016-2018! (Rip Voltron fandom, I very much still miss you 😭 🪦).

Other than that I believe that is everything. I may take another hiatus of sorts to focus on my school work. I also want to find new coloring methods along with possibly revamping my art style. That’s all for now!

[shakertwelve]

oh just found out that the meaning of nightingale's cape name is apparently not as self-evident as i'd assumed so breakdown of the meanings of all the alt vic & meeb cape names

dauphine - historical title of the crown princess of france

palatine - historical rank within some royal courts, etymologically related to "paladin". coincidentally also anatomically refers to the inside of the mouth

queen of hearts - the one from alice in wonderland. often confused with the red queen, who's only in the second book, alice through the looking glass

heracles - you would think it's because of the "trying to make up for wrongs committed while magically induced into a blind murderous rage" thing, and it is, but it's also because of the "wearing the impervious skin of a beast over his own" thing

gloryblaze - play on "blaze of glory" and "glory days". even dumber than "manpower" and "laserdream" because he doesn't even have fire-related powers, just light

nightingale - florence nightingale is considered the founder of modern nursing. coincidentally, "florence nightingale syndrome" refers to the (likely imagined) phenomenon of nurses falling in love with their patients

helios - sun deity, he has light powers like the sun, his costume is eclipse-themed as previously discussed

swan queen - swan maidens are a common fairy tale motif wherein a girl is transformed into a swan, or a swan into a girl; often the story involves taking the swan's wings away and hiding them to force her to remain in the form of a girl. related, by some measures, to the story of the crane wife, or potentially the ugly duckling

margrave - archaic feudal title, etymologically related to "marquis"; in some languages the two terms are not distinguished

vicereine - feminine feudal title for one who acts in the absence of/as extension of the will of the ruler

artemis - moon deity, associated with hunting & archery, her costume is crescent moon-themed as previously discussed

prince du sang - historical title for male descendants of a sovereign, usually translated from french as "prince of the blood"

[terresdebrume]

There is a dull knock of wood against the door when Edwin tries to make his way into his bedroom, and he sighs. The discovery is not strictly speaking unexpected. He and Charles have been sharing the Fridge since last November, after all. Edwin has had some time to get used to his friends' general habits.

"Charles," he calls out, keeping his eyes on the ground so he can sidestep Charles' cricket bat, some of his math equipment, his broken alarm clock, and what looks like the gutted content of his art box.

Charles is sitting at his desk, the one closest to the window. He is already in his pyjamas, his socked feet firmly perched on the seat of his chair. The long line of his back, vanishing into his long-sleeved shirt, curves forward so he can bend over his latest art piece, his legs framing him like a pair of red checkered wings. From the window outside, the pale light of late afternoon splashes against him, highlighting his curly hair, the shape of his jaw.

There is a purple stick of chalk in his hand, the tips of his fingers coated in it. There is a long line of turquoise along the curve of Charles' nose, as if he had scratched an itch with another piece of chalk. He is wearing an expression of profound focus that only ever seems to take him by surprise, and Edwin indulges in the sight for a moment, heart full to bursting.

After a while, Edwin knocks on the wall, calling Charles' name again. Charles takes the sort of deep breath Edwin gets after a long study session, then turns to him with a smile. Edwin, as usual, cannot resist answering with a quirk of the lips, even as he tries to scold:

"If Mr. Hampton sees this you'll be scolded again."

"I'll sort it out before dinner," Charles says without any sign of concern. That only leaves him about twenty minutes to get half his belongings off the floor of their room, but Edwin elects not to point that out.

Instead, he finds a path through Charles' explosive organization system to stand behind his chair. On an A3 sized sheet of paper, Charles has drawn dozens of flowers: pale blue lilac and darker hydrangeas, purple lavender and forget me nots, turquoise-looking mint, and even a few unnaturally blue daisies. In the middle, in blinding white, large letters, a single word: ਮਾਣ.

"Do you like it?" Charles asks.

Edwin looks back at the piece. He finds the color scheme soothing, if occasionally unrealistic, and familiar in a way he can't quite place. The motifs are uncharacteristically neat for Charles, who enjoys playing with the abstract, but pleasing nonetheless. And blue or not, daisies are Edwin's favourite flowers.

"I love it," he says sincerely.

Charles beams, and Edwin feels it like sunshine on his skin.

"Brills!" Charles exclaims, "I made it for you!"

Edwin turns around before he can help it, but no: the door to their room is firmly shut, and no one made their way in behind him. When he looks back to Charles, his grin has taken an amused, almost fond quality.

"For me?" Edwin asks, just to be sure. Charles laughs.

"Yes, you. It's your going away present."

He extends the paper to Edwin, who holds it gingerly with the tips of his fingers. He tries to take the whole piece in again at once, gaze flickering from one flower to the next, to the detailing of a leaf, to the bottom left corner, where Charles signed his name. He wishes he could say something—knows that he should, at least—but his throat is closed up, and his eyes strangely warm. He has to swallow several times before he can croak out:

"It's beautiful, Charles. Thank you."

"You're my best mate, you know," Charles replies, easy as breathing. "I just wanted to give you something special."

"It is," Edwin promises, clearing his throat to keep the tears threatening to spill contained to his throat. "Thank you." He sniffs as discretely as he can, and Charles generously pretends not to notice. "Is this Punjabi?"

Charles nods, a new layer of pride entering his expression. From what Edwin understands, Charles has received a lot of remarks on his penmanship from all his teacher except for Mr Madan. If his handwriting in Punjabi class is as neat as the painting, Edwin can understand why.

"What does it mean?"

"Pride," Charles says. "For everything you've accomplished this year. Also because you're a bloody brilliant friend, and I'm real proud you picked me."

"It's 'really proud'," Edwin points out, looking away from Charles as his cheeks and neck heat up.

It comes out snippier than Edwin intended, but Charles simply rolls his eyes.

"Well I'm really glad that you're my best friend," he says, giving Edwin's shoulder a gentle shove. "There's not a part of you I don't like. Consider this my encouragement to be as proud of yourself as I am of you, yeah?"

The warmth spreads over the rest of Edwin's face, and he diffuses by pointing out they won't leave the school until the end of the week, and Charles is being dramatic. Then, when that doesn't work, Edwin nags Charles into dealing with his things before the dinner bell. They spend the entire evening bickering around, and Edwin thinks he's the lucky one.

Much, much later, he realizes why the color scheme on the painting seemed familiar, and cries happy tears again.

This snippet is more of a laying down of concept than a proper fic and will eventually be edited (probably added to) and crospposted on AO3.

[hazshit-hotel-hater]

Charlie Morningstar Redesign! (4/7)

It’s the girl herself!!!

I could NOT stand the red in her suit so i made it a much nicer soft cream colour! I think red is a lovely colour but in the case of someone like Charlie who wants to brand herself as approachable and welcoming, a strong harsh red all over is not the way to go. The red of her horns and lower hooves and vest is already more than enough red and it pairs very nicely with the yellows and gold accents in the rest of her design in my opinion!

I always tend to draw her with this big hopeful eyes to contrast the kind of scary look that rectangle pupils give and I think it reflects her character pretty well. Charlie is absolutely a sweetheart but when angry her eyes become flatter and more threatening. She’s literally offered to kill a guy for Angel once so she has to have some kick in her, plus horns are good for stabbing! And accessories!! Like cute chains!!!!! My original Charlie redesign had her with a little apple cuff on her horn and I do miss it a little, but I think she looks alright without it too :3 she keeps it in a dresser somewhere

I’ve never drawn or designed a character with cloven hoof hands but I think I might do it more often after this. Thinking about her writing or typing with the little clicky sounds makes my brain happy and honestly walking with hooves has that special flair that heels just cannot achieve. Since she’s the hotel owner/staff she also gets her own custom little nametag like Niffty (the rest if the staff have them as well but not all of them wear them all the time like Husk, Van/Vaggie, or Alastor) I personally think Charlie made them all herself and let everyone write their own names, but she enjoyed picking colours and all that :)

Her red cheek things were a bit strange to me and I gotta be honest I didn’t like them very much so I replaced them with a softer peach gradient on her cheeks and hips to give an extra warmness to her. I want her to seem like the kind of person that can give a REALLY firm handshake and also a very good hug and talk about anything. Oh her little wave is supposed to look kind of like that weird royal wave I see those royal people do sometimes. I thought it’d be a cute little thing to add slightly-off regal mannerisms where I could.

I hope the goat motifs came through well enough, I really like abnormal legs (you will begin to notice this soon) and they really just add so much personality to me I love working with them. I wanted Charlie to be kind of chubby and soft looking hence the colour choice leaning more towards warm rather than hot and trying to use less pointed shapes with her like the little gold ball tassels on her bolo-tie. About the bolo-tie! The little gem on the inside is purple to symbolise the pride ring, but it also allows direct transport to other layers of hell. Sinners cannot use this even if they get their hands on it, but it’s still incredibly rare and valuable because of materials and such. It’s like an eco friendly private jet. Maybe Taylor Swift should get her hands on one of these! :)

And if anyone was wondering yes I did want the purple to also look a bit like a nether portal.. it was a good opportunity.

The last little details I want to note are the faint heart motifs on her ear and hooves. For the hooves it’s really cheesy but I think the metaphorical idea of leaving a tiny bit of love wherever she goes is cute and I like being sappy. The ear heart being a tear has always meant some kind of “hurt to get what you love” thing to me. I don’t fully know how to describe it but it’s not in a toxic mentality, she just does a lot of stressful stuff to get her dreams and passions going and I think shes great for that.

I plan on drawing her true form eventually and maybe showing a little animation of transformation (I just want an excuse to draw her tail again)

Overall Charlie is one of my favourites to draw and write for, shes just such a sweetie and I love her to death 🩷 she is quite literally the heart of the hotel and she is doing her best! Excited to post again later today :3 📻

[oceanwithouthermoon]

the way i have absolutely flooded the kubosai tag is crazy😭most of the recent posts are mine.. my bad..

... anyway, im thinking about kuboyasu picking up different hobbies as a form of anger management, teaching himself coping mechanisms and to use his hands in more gentle ways and let himself make mistakes without taking his anger out in unhealthy ways..

knitting, crocheting, art (he already draws but he wants to do it more and start painting n stuff too), or even scrapbooking or journaling ?? he also already stress bakes/cooks lol.

and since he does it so much, he has so many little pieces of art and he ends up gifting most of them to saiki.. because kubo thinks theyre crappy, but saikis eyes lit up in a way kubo doesnt get to see often when he caught sight of kubos crocheted little pink cat with a suspiciously saiki-like grimace on his face.

so now saiki has all kinds of little knitted/crocheted blankets, pillow cases, stuffed animals, gloves, sweaters, etc. (he made a lot of scarves, bags, hats, coasters, etc. at first since those are easier for beginners, and at first he was keeping them for himself and his mom but the house has too many damn coasters and they do not need that many accessories and sweaters.. so the whole friend group started getting them, but mostly saiki.. and saikis mom started receiving some too).

and little paintings of cats (because kubo definitely loves cats but also saiki just reminds him of one so he draws/paints them for him a lot.. he doesn't know if saiki actually likes them, but he says he doesnt mind so..) and some cute paintings of their friends.. he makes a lot of vent art but saiki obviously does not receive that stuff☠️.

he also tried to learn yoga.. but he learns quickly that he just isnt very good at keeping his hands still and unoccupied for too long.. he might revisit that later, but for now hes just trying to at least learn slow and calculated motions with his hands..

he probably also starts helping kusuo and kurumi with their gardening (because they definitely have a garden). i doubt arens mom has a garden but i bet he could convince her to help him start one after enjoying it with the saikis so much.

the scrapbooking/journaling he mostly keeps to himself.. its mostly pictures of him and his mom, his friends, and him trying to document his feelings in messy pages of writing/doodles/choas..

i love the idea that he starts collecting stickers+fun pens+washi tape to use, which is something he totally would not normally fixate on but he starts getting really excited about it..

tbh it's probably mostly silly stickers from anime he likes, like one piece and dragonball.. a lot of his other interests like the yakuza movies wouldnt have stickers he could get so he just doodles the characters.

but he starts branching out into sillier and more colorful stuff, mostly thanks to chiyo, kokomi, kusuo, and shun. chiyo+kokomi have lots of girly stickers and glitter pens that they give him when they catch wind of the journaling..shun has lots of silly stickers from comic books and theres a surprising amount of harley quinn+poison ivy along with the mcu stuff(mostly spiderman).

chiyo+kusuo have like vocaloid+prosekai stickers, but kusuo mostly is just the reason aren has lots of bright pink+green on a lot of his pages hehe..

anyway, a lot of the gifts he gives to kusuo start getting really.. obvious ? he once gives him this crocheted pink cat with a blank expression and a purple dog whose taller and smiling, both wearing glasses, that are permanently knitted together holding hands☠️and kusuo just.. accepts it. and a lot of the stuff he receives along with their other friends are suspiciously more detailed than everyone elses and there are a lot of hearts and the cat+dog thing becomes a frequent motif and theres so many coffee jelly stuffies and keychains its insane

shun will get like.. a black and red sweater, meanwhile kusuo gets a purple sweater covered in pink hearts+matching gloves+a scarf+socks+a tote bag+a headband ??? aren are ur hands okay seriously

kusuo keeps every single gift obviously, and the first dog+cat plushies along with some other gifts are on his desk so he can look at them literally all the time..

yet somehow they arent dating yet😭aren basically professed his undying love with all the hearts and romantic ass offerings but neither of them have really said anything out loud yet☠️☠️

[meownotgood]

any aki fics in your drafts ? :)

oh I have... too many... most of them are just small scraps I'll probably never truly finish, but the current draft I was working on (before bg3 brainworms possessed me) was my elf prince aki x witch reader fic...

it's about 10k words right now! definitely will resume working on it when I've finished a few more tidbits for bg3. I'm experimenting with making it my first true multi chapter fic (under the influence was more of a super long one shot just split up...)

basically aki is the prince of a well established kingdom and reader is a witch, magic has been outlawed so their relationship is forbidden... I'll share a small bit of it for you...

There's a man leant on the door, your door, clutching his side. His clothes are simple, pants and a tunic with long sleeves, nothing you'd place as out of the ordinary. Knights from the kingdom would be wearing armor covered in motifs of the royal family's crest, and even commoners would most likely be donning a necklace or a pin or something that'd identify them. You glance him up and down, and he seems to have none of that. 

Surrounding the hand he has pressed into his side, the off-white of his tunic is stained a dark red you can notice even with only the stars and moon to illuminate him. You feel an ache twist in your gut. His chest heaves as he struggles to breathe. His hair is dark and shoulder-length, tied in a half-up style, a small ponytail on the back of his head. Poking out from his hair is a pair of distinct pointed ears. They're decorated by an array of studs and hoops, with black, star shaped earrings hanging from his lobes. 

You watch his jaw tighten as he speaks, the bridge of his nose in a knot, "Please, I don't mean any harm, I was-" He winces, sucking in a breath through his teeth, "I was training in the woods, and suddenly became overwhelmed by devils- I won't be a bother, I only want to rest until the storm clears. And then, I'll be on my way. I swear it." 

Devils? 

Wait. Your gaze flickers to his expression, pinched slightly as he tries to hide his discomfort. Then, to his side, his hand pressed to an obvious wound, blood staining his fingertips and speckling the sleeve of his shirt. This is your fault. 

When you head into the woods to forage, you cast your distraction spell on the opposite side to lure demons over to it, giving you temporary safety. Sometimes there are stragglers, but most of the demons will head towards the area, drawn by the rune without their control. 

This man sounds like he's telling the truth, and he's clearly injured. If he came here alone to train, he must've been expecting a fight he could win. But you sent every single demon in the area to one location; a risky spell, but effective as long as you know where it's been cast. He didn't. 

Even after the spell had been dispersed, even once the rain came down and the demons ran to hide in their holes, there would still be a ton of them, all in one place. Hell, as far as you're concerned, he's lucky to be standing. He could have suffered a whole lot worse than just a single injury. 

But what if there's more wounds you can't see? 

You take a step away from the door. The rain continues to drum overhead, and you hear the man briefly stumble, mumbling a swear to himself through gritted teeth. Your heart is pounding, and you don't know what to do. 

You shouldn't let him in. You shouldn't help him, shouldn't heal him, you should pretend no-one's home and leave him be without meddling. You know that, and yet you can't help but tell yourself you need to help him, you can't shake this feeling that you're the only one who can. 

There isn't anyone else out here, not for miles. He won't make it out in this storm, and if he leaves the protection of the cottage he'll surely be attacked again. From what you can see, he doesn't even have a weapon on him, and even if he tries to run you doubt he'd make it far. 

It's been a while since you've last met or spoken to someone, you haven't since those knights a long while ago. You hear a faint knock at the door once more, and your lips part, although you aren't sure what to say. Ultimately, you're silent, but you shuffle over to the kitchen in a hurry, stumbling through cabinets to search for what medicine you have left. 

Although you shouldn't, you can't help but care about him, even if you hardly know him. You can't let him in, that much is true. He walked over the mushroom circle with no problem, so you're assuming he can't detect spells. Regardless though, your cottage is covered in magical items, in spellbooks that were supposed to be burned with the rest of them. And you aren't the best at keeping your cool, if you say one wrong thing and he somehow discovers you're a mage, his injuries will be the least of your concerns. 

You'll give him some standard medicine, nothing infused with magic, just some herbs and some ointment for his wound. Then, you'll tell him you can't accept visitors, and he must be on his way. That's the most you can do for him. 

You gather the herbs, the ointment, and some bandages, placing them all in a small, spare pouch you found on the counter. You walk over to the door, hands shaking as you attempt to gather the courage to open it. You'll be fine, he won't know a thing, you'll be just fine. 

"Okay," The man's smooth voice starts from behind the door, he sounds slightly out of breath, "I don't think anyone is home, so I'm… I'm going to try to come in now. I'm not robbing you, just need to get the hell out of this rain- Please, don't kill me." 

Shit. 

The door unlocks in a hurry then, you fling it open and the man sways forward, almost tripping once what he was leaning on disappears. He's rather tall, even taller when he stands up straight. Deep blue eyes meet yours and you must be making a face, because he's quickly making amends. 

"Thank the Gods. It's okay," He says, he gives you a reassuring look, but his skin is pale and he seems lightheaded, "It isn't as bad as it looks, I'll be… fine, I'm…" 

With one more stumble, his eyelids flutter, his knees buckle and he falls into you, giving you just enough time to catch him. You squeak in surprise, he's already limp in your arms and you're barely able to hold up his weight. Rain pelts the ground, and in between the rhythmic drone, tiny droplets of blood slowly splatter against the floor of your cabin with a plip, plip. 

Damn. And you were hoping to eat your stew while it was still hot. 

also including this small part even tho it doesn't have anything to do with anything because... aki's cute when he's introducing himself...

"I should introduce myself, shouldn't I?" He starts, a hand extended out for you to shake, "You can call me Aki, I'm glad to be acquainted." 

You'll allow him to stay, just long enough so he can recover, and then he'll have to be on his way. He can't discover you're a mage. A witch, as the kingdom would call it. If even a hint of suspicion arises, you have a potion that erases memory in case of emergencies — Once infused with a hint of your magic, he'll forget everything about you, up to the moment you'd met. 

You won't give him the chance to be suspicious in the first place. 

"Nice to meet you." 

You don't take his hand. Instead, you give him a once over, and then you stride over to the fireplace, tossing in another log from the pile. 

Aki lowers his hand slowly, placing it in his lap. "Could I know your name as well? I'd like to know who I should be thanking for saving my life." 

"I'm going to bed," You head towards your bedroom, and you take one last look at him over your shoulder as your hand closes around the doorknob, "I'll be waking up early tomorrow to gather herbs for your medicine, I'll try not to wake you when I do. I suggest you get some rest, you won't regain your strength without it." 

"Goodnight," Aki murmurs, before you can close your bedroom door behind you. "Sleep well."