#the black marker isn't working the best

[milksuu]

…the poly sett/reader/aphelios… ur insane for that one… i need a follow up🤭

-🎧

❥ prompt: Sharing is caring. And so is getting along. When it comes to you, Sett and Aphelios are working on it. ❥ content/warnings: mild suggestive themes, fluff, teasing, cuddling, possessive boyfriend behavior ❥ characters/pairings: poly!heartsteel!settphel x f!reader

"This one is so cute, Sett. Your mama really knows which ones to get you," you smiled, rubbing your face against a PoroKing plushie.

"Oh, yeah. When it comes to Ma', I got lucky and ended up with the best," Sett said with a grin, "but, let's be honest here. You're the cutest thing on my bed right now."

Aphelios narrowed his eyes against his computer screen. Clicking and typing away. He was working on a sample Yone had sent him to dabble with for their next song. He would need to ensemble some lyrics to go along with it at some point. Except...he slapped his hands against his desk, turning a sharp chin towards you and Sett.

"Uh-oh," you said, wrapping your arms around Sett's neck. "I don't think Phelly likes us being all lovey-dovey without him."

"Looks like it," Sett agreed with a snaggle tooth smile. "I mean, he's free to come on over when he's done being glued to his computer. He's been ignoring us for hours. What did he expect?"

Aphelios popped the cap off a marker, took up his notepad, and scribbled:

I'm actually working. Unlike someone I know. I wOndEr wHo?

You gasped, covering your mouth. "Phelly's extra sassy today."

"Extra? Nah, he can be worse than this. Believe it or not, he's in one of his better moods today." Sett chuckled, lowering his head and planting a kiss to your collarbone. "Probably because you're here. But it's got me thinkin'. Wonder how his mood will change when I take you all for myself. Right in front of him."

You shuddered at the tingling feeling. "Don't you think you're being a little mean?"

"The boss can't be nice all the time. Sometimes, he's gotta play the big bad wolf," he grumbled a purr, carefully nipping at your chest with his canines. You couldn't help the fluttering of your eyelids and hitched moans.

Aphelios almost snapped the marker in half. He jumped out of his desk chair. And launched a calculated attack while Sett had his arms filled with you.

"Woah! Buddy. What're you doing—?" Aphelios snatched Sett's chin, and planted the black marker against his nose and cheeks. With quick strokes, he painted the look of an actual dog on his face. Whiskers, snout and all. "Wait, isn't this permanent marker!?" Sett released you from his hold, jumping out of the bed and making a beeline for the bathroom.

Aphelios released a 'hmph' with a satisfied glean in his eyes. He sat down next to you, laced his arms around you, and plopped you both against the bed.

"Maybe Phelly's the real villain," you commented, snuggling his bed of hair. "But you two need to play nice. Okay? That was a mean thing to do to Setty. You should both apologize."

There was a twitch in his brow. He was the mean one!? He needed to apologize!? He brought you closer, placing his face between your neck and shoulder. He shook his head back and forth.

"Yes. Phelly. It's the nice thing to do," you said softly. "I know you two won't always get along. But I know you both love each other very much. And I love you both very much, too. And we can show that when we apologize after we hurt one another. Right?"

Aphelios buried himself deeper into the crook of your neck. Muffling his whines and groans into the heat of your skin. He didn't like admitting fault. He'd rather throw a written apology into the nearest burning trash can than give it to the actual person. It wasn't his fault he tended to hold onto grudges. It was always the other person's fault for not taking his personality into consideration. If they cared enough, they would know that about him. And in that case, they were making the conscious decision to be put on his shit list. He was the reasonable one. As far as he could tell.

"Please, Phelly," you asked sweetly, planting a kiss to the top of his head.

He exhaled one last breath of resistance. Somehow, you always had an unfair advantage over him. Slowly, he left the warmth of your body. That was a painful in itself. He almost cowered back into your arms. Needing a bit more strength, he slipped his mask down, and took your lips. Applying just enough pressure to make you both moan. Alright. That's all he needed. He could do this. He took up his notebook and marker.

Just as Aphelios was about to leave the room, Sett appeared from the door. His cheeks bruised red from all the scrubbing he had to do. Aphelios shifted his gaze away. A silent grip ensnared the two. Sett rubbed the guilty knot at the back of his neck. After a moment of silence, he grumbled under his breath. "Listen, Phel—"

Aphelios flipped his notebook around:

Sorry.

Sett stumbled against his words. He hadn't expected Aphelios to be the one to apologize first. Or honestly, apologize in the first place. Technically, it was Sett's own fault for egging him on the way he did. Sett's trouble was evident in the frown lines against his face.

"Yeah. I'm sorry too, Phel." Sett sighed, ears drooped. "I shouldn't have teased ya'h like that. But I couldn't help it. I just wanted you to take a break and cuddle with us. That's all. Hope you can forgive me."

Aphelios paused. The marker squeaked against the paper. He tossed his chin away, cheeks stained pink. He flipped the notepad:

I'll forgive you. On one condition. I'm middle.

Sett's ears perked-up. Grinning like a panting pup, he swooped Aphelio's into his love-crushing arms. You laughed when Sett dove onto the bed, causing you to bounce from the weight. Unraveling Aphelios like a long awaited package, you and Sett planted kisses against his flushed cheeks. The both of you then secured your legs across him, took up his upper-body, and rubbed against his figure in every way possible. Aphelios whined and groaned. He wanted to be cuddled—not suffocated. Of course, with his luck, things had to turn out this way.

an: poly!settphel x reader is my new crack. give me all the fics pls. also, maybe the next part will be nsfw. hmmmm! thank you for the follow req. anon!

[otdiaftg]

The King's Men - Chapter Seventeen (19)

Day: Friday, April 26th / 27th* Time: 3:32 AM EST

Neil forgets the stench the second he see's the bandage on Kevin's face. It is too much to hope for and too impossible to believe in, but Neil freezes in his tracks and stares. Kevin pushes the door closed and stumbles backward into it. He almost falls, braces himself in the nick of time, and stares blearily at Neil. That is about all Kevin can manage, it seems, so Neil goes to him. Kevin makes a limp gesture near his side. Neil works a corner of the tape up and pulls the gauze off Kevin's face. It feels a bit like falling and a bit like flying; Neil's stomach bottoms out a second before adrenaline floods his veins. Kevin had worn a "2" since his first days in the Moriyamas' cruel care. Riko and Kevin used markers for years, writing over their numbers any time they threatened to fade. As soon as they were old enough they'd switched to a more permanent ink. Now that number is gone, covered up by the jet-black image of a chess piece. Neil's knowledge of chess is hazy at best, but he knows for sure that isn't a king.

Art used with permission by Emry-Stars-Art. Thank you @emry-stars-art!

*Due to the Leap Year, I have opted to highlight the day rather than the date to keep the events in occurrence to the 2007 year. I will continue to mark both days accordingly.

[cosmossystem]

running list of things i've learned from making my patch pants:

if you use canvas for your patches, the edges will start to fray. this is inevitable. i'm sure there is some way around this but i haven't figured it out yet. i'm thinking maybe a glue stick or fray check along the edges right after cutting the patch could work. of course, that might be part of the look you're going for, so it might not bother you too much (personally idc lol)

don't bother with fabric markers. they bleed and they won't show up on black fabric and they look like shit. acrylic paint markers are a GODSEND, use them. some are better than others, so try around to see what works for your fabric. i use top notch in white and it works for me.

also, if you use acrylic markers, be careful of it seeping through your material and onto the surface behind. i've ruined my desk this way.

no markers? try just regular ol' acrylic paints. works pretty good too, just keep in mind that it will make your patches stiffer and crack a lot more. also might not be waterproof--but who cares, really.

don't want to freehand all that text? USE STENCILS!!! you can make your own with tape and an exacto knife (apparently, i've never tried) or you can do what my lazy ass does and just buy a bunch of premade letter stencils. it also makes working with acrylic markers much easier.

if your material is black, or if you have a lot of black areas, you can use a sharpie to fix any mistakes. i usually do this to make my edges sharper. go over the area several times if you need to. it smells horrible but it works.

your patches will inevitably start to come off, especially around areas that crease (for pants, that's hips and knees.) that's part of life. there's a few things you can do to make them last longer. if you use a sewing machine, try using something other than a straight stitch, like a zig-zag stitch. if you stitch by hand, try doubling up your thread or double-sewing the edges using a combination of different stitches. i've had the best luck with a very close whipstitch. of course if the patch is beyond repair, you could always just take it off and replace it with something different (ship of theseus that thang!) you could also maybe get away with using embroidery thread but depending on your patch material, it may make it harder to work with.

also, i know this is kind of cheating, but you don't have to just decorate with patches. i added a bunch of safety pins and it adds a bit of Flare. that also means i have a free safety pin whenever i need it! (often)

these rules are not set in stone and you should experiment to see what works for you!!!

if you have anything to add on please feel free :)

edit for the love of GOD stop mentioning hemming in the notes. like i said, i specifically didn't want to include it in this post because hemming is A) a pain in the ass, and B) not accessible to everyone. i mentioned alternatives to hemming in my reblog, but here they are again:

a lighter or fray check (be careful with this and make sure you won't accidentally ruin your material or set something on fire. also please research how to do this correctly. don't blame me if you set your jacket on fire)

glue stick or liquid glue (this one might depend on what kind of glue and fabric you use as well)

interfacing (thank you to someone in the notes for mentioning this because i totally forgot about it and interfacing isn't my specialty)

liquid stitch or other forms of fabric glue (i actually had no idea this existed, thank you to the notes again)

again, stitching the patches on very closely. i use a close whipstitch for mine.

similarly, a blanket stitch on the edges before sewing the patch on (technically this is a form of hemming, but i'll allow it)

[flame-shadow]

A breakdown of my quirrel!nosk comic from last year (original post here) since I like doing breakdowns and talking about my process, and I know at least some people like reading those things. :)

First of all, a little background. I made that comic in an evening with just a pencil, a black marker, two grey markers, and a yellow-orange marker. (All markers had a thick tip and a thin tip, and all were water-based markers, so they don't blend like alcohol markers, but they can still be layered to affect the values) I had a text post from @g0at0ad saved in my drafts that said "gotta say. massive missed opportunity to not have nosk mimic quirrel to lure the knight into its lair." and finally, I had an idea for how to illustrate the reveal and felt I had a decent idea for the nosk's design.

I wanted to follow the same encounter order as the game provides, and by happy coincidence, I realized that the route from first sighting to nosk den includes the hot spring, so it made perfect sense for that location and the real Quirrel to appear in the comic.

Ghost spots a Quirrel-like figure in the darkness in the first panel, and then as the path continues and drops into the hot spring, there's (real) Quirrel, so clearly that's who Ghost saw a minute ago. Yay, friend! And since Quirrel explores around, it's not strange that Ghost would spot him again in an area not so far away, though it's odd how he got ahead of them. Perhaps a different tunnel? And it seems like Quirrel wants to lead the way to something, so Ghost follows, until- That's not Quirrel.

In addition to the potential of a reader already knowing the game's locations and recognizing the path to the nosk's den, there are other visual clues that subtly communicate that something might not be right. I made it so every panel but the hot spring one has black silhouettes encroaching on the space within.

The third panel is the mildest one being encroached upon because Ghost doesn't yet feel like something is off (still reassured from seeing Quirrel in the safe hot spring) but the trap is coming together. The existence of the spider web in the corner is a nod to the trap because it's a common visual symbol for being trapped.

Also note how both the first and third panels have some safety via straight panel edges. Contrasted with the fourth and fifth panels which have no straight edges as Ghost cannot escape and there is no safety.

Another subtle reinforcement of danger vs safety is how the use of black is very limited in the hot spring panel. It's a brighter room mechanically, yes, but it's also a Safe Room. The only black is Ghost's void parts and a thin outline around Quirrel (and also a bit of shading on his arm that I did out of habit before remembering that I wasn't going to use black to shade him here, oops!)

And, note that in the only panel with Real Quirrel, he isn't framed against a darker shape in the background.

Okay, and finally, I will share a bit about the nosk reveal panel and its design...

This pose and angle are dramatic and all, but they're The Worst for showcasing the actual design of the nosk! Just a complete mistake on my part that I did my best to roll with, since I didn't realize until too late how I'd messed myself up.

Which happens! I don't always get it right, and especially when I'm working traditionally, there's a point where I can't go back, so I just have to make do with what I gave myself. :) I don't hate what I have here, but I have been dissatisfied with it ever since I drew the lineart.

A thought I have had since then was that maybe I should've drawn it larger, to be more threatening? Maybe a different pose to show off the side-body frills? I explored a couple ideas below, but honestly, I think the whole panel would have to be reworked to get it right.

Making sure that the background frames the nosk effectively would be one of the main things I'd redo, but I'm getting tired and don't feel like drawing more, so I'll just leave it at the nosk replacement sketches.

And since I don't think I did a good job with displaying the nosk's design effectively, I quickly sketched some of the features to maybe show them off a bit better.

I like the gimmick of the nosk turning its head, so I pretty much always maintain that with my nosk designs. This one is no exception. Quirrel's head and face become the cranium and upper jaw while Monomon's mask becomes the lower jaw - the extra length causes an underbite. I've always been a fan of when people add a veil hanging from Monomon's mask while Quirrel is wearing it, so that's where the frills come from. ("Why didn't you include the veil in your Quirrel drawings, then?" I hear you ask. And honestly..... I don't know! That could've been an oversight or it could've been deliberate and I just don't remember my justification. That happens sometimes XD)

Anyway uhhh yeah! I think that's it. I like making comics. I like thinking about nosk. Tadaa~

[emlovessid]

@into-the-jeggyverse for the bingo prompt coffee shop au, 769 words inspired by this tiktok // bingo masterpost

He's trying to hide Regulus' birthday present when he finds them.

He'd swung past his place after class to grab his overnight bag – artfully-wrapped present hidden in amongst his trackies and jocks – before arriving at the flat Regulus shares with Evan and Barty. It's Regulus' birthday tomorrow, but James unfortunately has an eight am class; his only class that the lecturer actually takes attendance, or else he'd skip. Regulus' first class isn't until two, so James' plan is to leave his gift on the end of the bed for when Regulus wakes up, which won't be until at least ten am, knowing Regulus.

James gives Regulus a quick kiss on the cheek when he lets him inside, saying, "Let me just dump my bag and then I'm all yours," before taking the stairs two at a time up to Regulus' room on the second floor.

He doesn't want to be rustling about in his bag in the morning when he's trying to be stealthy, so with a peek back down the stairs to make sure Regulus hasn't followed him, James pulls the present out of his bag and looks around for a good hiding spot. Opening the wardrobe door, he pushes aside some of Regulus' clothes to tuck the present behind them when he freezes.

At first, he isn't sure what he's looking at, plastic stacked on plastic. Reaching out, he picks one up out of curiosity and as soon as the light hits it, he realises it's one of the plastic iced coffee cups from the coffee shop James has worked at since he started university three years ago; the coffee shop where they first met, actually.

It was in his second year that James first saw Regulus, who very quickly became a regular, coming in two or three times a week during semester for his vanilla iced coffee.

But that doesn't explain why Regulus has a stack of the cups hidden at the back of his wardrobe.

Turning the cup in his fingers, James feels his heart leap into his throat at the words he sees written in black marker on the side:

Regulus

And beneath it:

Have a magical day :)

James immediately recognises the handwriting as his own, though he doesn't specifically remember writing this message. Reaching into the wardrobe once more, he pulls out another cup. And another. And another. Each of them with Regulus' name and a short message.

Happy Tuesday!

Have a great weekend :)

Good luck with exams!!

I really like your smile

Seeing you is the best part of my day

Do you want to get coffee with me? Somewhere other than here?

I had a really great time last night :)

He's staring at the cups in disbelief, that Regulus has seemingly kept every cup with every note James has written him since meeting nearly two years ago. There has to be close to a hundred of them, stacked neatly in rows. He lets out a wet laugh as he reads the next one, tears in the corners of his eyes as he remembers the day he wrote it.

Will you be my boyfriend? Yes / No

He remembers it like it was yesterday, the way he had to steady his hands as he wrote it so his handwriting wasn't all over the place, the way his heart was beating loudly in his ears as he slid the cup across the counter to Regulus, the way Regulus laughed as he turned the cup and read the message.

"What are we, fifteen?" he had chuckled, before adding, "Can I borrow a marker for a sec?"

James had watched nervously as Regulus uncapped the marker, picking the cup up and dramatically circling his response. He'd leant over the counter to tuck the marker back into James' apron, before turning the cup in his hands to take a sip, smirking around the lip as James saw that he'd underlined and circled Yes.

It's like this that Regulus finds him, sitting cross-legged in front of Regulus' wardrobe, cups scattered around him and eyes watering with unshed tears.

"Oh," Regulus whispers.

"You kept them?" James asks, his voice hoarse as he looks up from the cup that reads I love you to find Regulus standing in the doorway, wringing his hands nervously. "You kept them all?"

Nodding, Regulus says, "Yeah. I mean, almost all. There was one that Barty threw out accidentally but otherwise, yeah. Every single one."

Putting the cup in his hand aside, James pushes himself to his feet, striding across the room to Regulus and muttering, "God, I love you," before crashing their lips together.

[honeydisiacc]

nerd talk: how i did the riso thingy

the riso effect is achieved through riso printing, printing by layer with CMYK. a lovechild of screen printing/photocopying. it starts with the lightest color to darkest, in this case; yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and lastly black (K). the same principle even applies to markers and watercolors

somewhat fun fact from what I've learned so far: while CMYK is subtractive, replicating riso digitally works best with ADDITIVE blending modes (darken, multiply, color burn, linear burn, etc)

crazy (i was crazy once—), right :D ? obviously there's no "correct way" to do it, so i suggest experimenting to fit your preferences <3

here's the separate layers. i cheated a little since i wasn't sure what i was doing (or if it would even WORK), the lineart isn't layered but hey ! the coloring sure is 😅😅

here's the colors together without the lineart. riso prints tend to look "misaligned" so i did the same thing (kinda looks like chromatic aberration 😬😬😬 whatever !!!)

psst.... color palette is from this post!

opacity matters as well ! to get the desired color, i had to experiment and constantly adjust the opacity of each layer 💀💀 (i did say "the workflow is deffo slowing me down atm" thats because i intended to make a color chart FIRST AND FOREMOST !!! GRRR)

(an example of a color chart would be like this. i'd like to make one with my chosen color palette but noooo instead I eyeballed everything 💀💀 i was excited. sue me)

anyways ! sorry not sorry for infodumping. and im not an expert. however, riso is one of my recent favorite things to learn about. its a lengthy process to do it with illustrations imo. for my graphic design projects however? i might use this technique :D

[redfurrycat]

🤠🥐☕🐓Bakery & Coffee Shop AU Fic Recs🐓☕🥐🤠

(Includes B, CS and the lovely combo of the two)

(May also include AUs close to B and CS but not quite)

Check the Top Gun Masterlist post for the latest updated version. 💕

Ao3 Authors: Bahjrc, Curapick, Dalearden, Dandeliondick, Fuddlewuddle, Greenstuff, Haridwar, Infinitejaust, Nimuetheseawitch, SunMonTue, Winterbucky, Xo_em.

Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor AU > Mechanic AU > Chef, Bartender & Waiter

Can I take you to go? by Fuddlewuddle {E}

/☕/

Jake Seresin only went into the coffee shop to get a drink. He didn't expect to meet the love of his life.

The Way to a Man's Heart by dalearden {T}

/☕/

Jake Seresin is a pilot, currently on medical leave from Naval duty as he recovers from injuries sustatined in an ejection during a training exercise. He's grumpy and bored when he takes a chance on a random coffee shop on a rainy afternoon and meets one Bradley Bradshaw, manager and possibly world's best barista. Bradley wastes no time taking such a pretty broken bird under his wing, winning Jake over through pastries and charm and also by being insanely hot. Then therer's an attempted robbery on the premises, and everything accelerates.

The Color of Malibu Blue by curapick {G}

/☕/

Or, simply put, I've liked you long enough to remember all your likings and hope to make them right for you only to bring a smile to your face. But no, I won’t tell you all these… at least not just yet, Bradley mutters to himself. or - in which Barista Bradley's secretly in love with his blond customer with blue-green eyes without him knowing... until one day.

A Brand New Start of It by xo_em {E}

/☕/

“When you asked me out for coffee I didn’t think you’d be the one making it.”

lover be good to me by haridwar {M}

/🥐☕/

Jake picks a random coffee shop to go be pensive in when he receives a birthday card he doesn't want and things turn out better than he ever could have imagined

Extra Hot by greenstuff {E}

/☕/

Of course it’s Extra-Hot-Means-180 Degrees guy, in his absurdly tight black Las Vegas Fire and Rescue t-shirt with his abysmal personal mug that never fails to rub off a smudge of permanent marker onto Jake’s palm once it’s hot. And it’s always Jake’s palm because of course Las Vegas’ hottest man insists that only Jake makes his triple grande blonde latte (extra hot) correctly. Features flirting via coffee cup, hand holding, rock climbing, and a daring rescue.

a spoonful of sugar (helps the medicine go down) by bahjrc {G}

/🥐☕/

Bradley Bradshaw is a tired college student coming home for summer break. All he wants to do is come home, catch up on sleep, help his family's business and maybe figure out what the hell he's going to do with his life. He's not expecting a mysterious man and his weird cat that just moved into the apartment down the street to become a thing in his life. And he's definitely not expecting that golden cat to be such a pain on his ass.

31 Flavors and Counting by infinitejaust {G}

 /🍦/

Jake has a terrible sweet tooth. He doesn’t indulge it much - you don’t get to have great abs and dessert every day. But there's something about that little concessions stand down the beach... For the prompt: Meet-cute at the beach! Bradley works at an ice cream shop and meets lifeguard Jake.

Baker Bradley by nimuetheseawitch {T}{G}

/🥐/

Bradley owns a bakery. Jake can't sleep. They meet in the hours before dawn when only bakers and insomniacs are awake.

The Roost by SunMonTue {T}

/🥐/

The Dagger Squadron have put Jake in charge of organizing a cake for Mav's 60th birthday and retirement celebration. Little does he know he's about to ask Mav's son to make it.

Jake's Cakes by SunMonTue {T}

/🥐/

Iceman has tasked Bradley with organising Maverick's 60th birthday cake. This goes as planned until Mav decides to be a gremlin.

coffee court dates by winterbucky {T}

/☕/

An assignment in a coffee shop isn't what Special Agent Bradshaw dreamed about, but it's not half-bad. The only downside (aside from the mafia meetings that take place there) is a particular blonde mafia member who can't seem to take a hint that Bradley is not interested Though, it turns out, that maybe it's not all as it seems and it's Bradley who can't take a hint or coffee shop au with special agents and mafia (but not really) and stupid bradley who should really learn to read assignment files

The Need for Caffeine by dandeliondick {E}

/☕/

The man was tall, taller than Jake’s 6’, with chestnut curls and dark eyes. Even the porn-stache he had was attractive much to Jake’s dismay. He wore a tight black shirt which was straining against his shoulders and pulled taut around his frankly obscene biceps. Jake had the insane thought that he wanted to climb the guy like a tree and lick those disheveled curls. Jake startled realizing he was staring, “I heard you in the back, figured I would wait. Didn’t mind prolonging my payout.” Those dark eyes sparkled with mischief, reminding him of Maverick, “You must be Hangman.” - When Jake loses a bet against Maverick, his payout is coffee with a side of paternal scheming. Bradley never joined the Navy, instead opening a coffee shop and Jake is...well still Jake...but when the blonde gets himself into trouble he is grounded. But what happens when his punishment is up? Flying away is so much harder when the ground is where you want to be.

[upsidedownsmore]

Hi!! I was wondering if its okay to ask what brushes u normally use in krita? I love your art!!

Thank you so much!!! I only use the ones available in Krita by default and I tend to jump around based on what I think will work best for each piece, but I can give a little rundown on which ones I use the most and what I use them for :)

Here's an image guide with each of the brushes I've used and that I recommend checking out:

I'll highlight my favorites as well with some examples where they were predominantly used! (though in some cases multiple or even all of these brushes were used)

Marker Details:

Varying opacity and size makes this one my favorites for sketching, especially since it can easily be nearly transparent or fully opaque which helps with value range.

I also like using it for silhouette sketches!

It can also be used for final linework, but it takes more work to get to a full opaque and its lack of texture makes it a little less interesting than Ink-7 Brush Rough imo.

Ink-7 Brush Rough:

Really good for linework, especially for comic styled drawings with it's slight texture, varying weight, and opaqueness.

Also good for just filling in entire areas with a single color as well as non-smoothed shading!

Wet Bristles Rough:

Actually just an amazing brush, its pressure sensitivity is crazy.

Blends strokes like paint and can vary in size and opacity.

Also has a nice subtle texture!

Amazing for smoother coloring and shading, especially if you want a more painterly style.

Watercolor Texture:

(hard to show examples of this, just assume that I've used it in any piece that has smooth shading lol)

Not the best for painting/drawing on its own, however I've found it to be really useful when set to white or black on an overlay layer for adding extra shading and/or highlighting on top of the shading I've already done.

I usually shade individual figures, objects, and parts separately, but using an overlay layer with Watercolor Texture (or even Shapes Square) on top of everything helps make the entire piece feel more cohesive.

Also adds a hint more texture!

Another thing to note is the importance of layer modes!

I know that you asked about brushes specifically, but many of these brushes (particularly those to do with effects and textures) work best when experimenting with different layer modes other than Normal. Overlay is generally a safe bet and most of the best for, well, overlaying multiple layers for interesting effects. But please try out all of them at any given opportunity, sometimes things like Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, etc can have more interesting effects!

In addition, mess with filter masks! You can even edit where they apply by drawing on the mask directly! HSV/HSL Adjustment (also accessible with ctrl+u) in particular is INSANELY useful for fiddling with the colors and balance of a piece, from individual layers to whole groups and drawings. I also really like blur filters, often times I'll duplicate a layer and make the bottom one blurred to add a glow affect to something without losing its definition.

While this latter stuff isn't about brushes specifically, its generally very important to how I use and experiment with all these different brushes!

Anyways I hope this helps!! I kinda went overboard with this post, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you again for the wonderful ask!! :)

[ccasey0]

Okay, i have the first five stars. this took way longer than expected lol.

@allyheart707 is the one on Casey's tail. she is the star of sleep, and her bow carries dream arrows that grant those she shoots with it the dreams they will love the most.

@onlyhereforturtles is the fox looking at the black that Casey always leaves behind when he walks. They are a kitsune with markings that were surprisingly hard to get right. i was unable to add in all the stuff they mentioned, but i hope this is still acceptable.

@kitmay05 is the one waving at Casey. She is a small farmer who harvests shinedust and gifts it in little pouches to people in need. different kinds of shinedust has different qualities. she has a hoe that can be used for farming or whacking.

@cosmocafe is the goat floating at the top left. the only thing they mentioned was for the goat to have a scarf, so i made up a few little things while i was drawing. they can float and wherever they step they leave swirls of various different temperatures depending on the season. they help make the winter cold and the summer hot.

@icequeenabby is the little owl on Casey's head. she flies around the night sky while the other farmer stars are working to harvest the shinedust. she likes to fly underneath them and catch some of the stray dust on her wings. she will then happily fly around the newer shines that are just blooming and shower then with the dust to make them glow even brighter. she also has a stick. there isn't anything special about this stick. but she will kill you if you try to take it from her.

Whew, okay. that took forever. i still have two more stars to add to this, and then i wanna make individual drawings for each star. also, im calling the characters "stars" and the actual glowing dots in the sky "shines" so as not to get them confused with each other. I also want to add that i'm sorry if the stars don't look exactly how you guys described them. i did my best, and for some of the harder ones i just gave up and simplified them. at this point i'm too tired to change anything about it. oh. the explanation for why the stars are following Casey. sometimes, Casey will be walking through the Night sky to do something. sme of the stars see him and decide "oh! it's the Night Spirit! i bet i could help him with some stuff!" and they just start following him. they usually follow him around for as long as possible until he tells them to leave or to go do something. they will even follow him outside of the nighttime. Casey acts like he despises these little guys and their persistence. but he actually adores each one of them and will take a bullet to protect his tiny star bebes. the edgelord will never admit it though.

also, fun fact: the night sky is a little world of its own! it may just look like the sky from the earth, but it is more of a vast expanse of white where all the night spirits live. and yes, i know what you are thinking. "white? shouldn't it be black?" well, It is a mix of both. Wherever the upper spirits walk, the leave black footprints that spread like markers bleeding into paper. the blackness will eventually all drip away and land on the border between the celestial realm and the mortal one. then it just stays there, making the sky look black to everyone below. the Shines are bright enough to be able to shine through the backness though, giving the look of a night sky. also, only spirits can go through the borders alone. any mortal has to have celestial help to get to the celestial realm.

it might be a bit until i work on this again since i have a ton of work to do, family staying at our house for the eclipse, a bunch of other drawings i wanna get done, and way too little sleep to function properly. so yeah, imma sleep for a bit. catch up on some stuff. and then i will likely start up on this again. ALSO!! feel free to make this digital and add your own stars to this! i'd love to see what other people can come up with for this!

info on the au can be found Here! oke, bye now. hope you like it!

[oldnewtrainer]

introducing me

I have been informed to make an introduction post.

Hello. My name is Atlas, and I run this blog. I am from Kalos and am doing the gym challenge there, I have not beat a gym yet

I am 20 years of age

my pokemon:

-Fennekin | Her name is Tish, and she is very cute

-Eevee | Shiny | No name yet, but also cute

-Bulbasaur | Henry! My best friend who isn't fused to my back nuh uh.

Just so everyone knows: I am not a human who fused with their first pokemon bulbasaur and now I AM NOT a half human half bulbasaur. It is not true. That is not who I am.

I am looking for friends, apparently I need more of those

sorry for the bad typing I have some dexterity issues

My lil brother is finally postin @percythechamp

All my homies hate Bill from Kanto

^ this is what I look like but my hair is green. I only have black marker right now though so…my eyes are also green

ooc intro under the cut

hi I’m Sirius, (that’s not my real name but it’s my internet name) and I run this blog! I use he/him pronouns and I’m also twenty! I’m a college student soon going into grad school. Feel free to reach out to collaborate I love working with others. DMs are open! I am autistic as is Atlas! I write what I know lol

Some important stuff:

-pelipper mail is on! and the like, drop junk is my ask box please!

-Avoid anything with choking around me, i do not like it, it's a big trigger of mine

-also Atlas is canonically aro/ace so...just so you know

Picrew I used https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2518983

Henry takes over when Atlas is sleeping and types in green! He's a sentient Bulbasaur who is in fact fused to his back! If his text isn't in green, I'll notify yall.

[greetings-from-the-eraser-king]

Hlvrai kids au

Basic premise the crew go on a field trip to Black Mesa they stumble upon a secret experiment b-u557 and end up releasing him and Black Mesa security desperately tries to stop him

Comic 1

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Comic 5

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Comic 7

Comic 8

Comic 9

Comic 10

Eatch kids character description below 👇

Tommy- is the oldest and is in 4th grade and is in a gifted class with darnold he has a huge collection of soda cans and stuffed animals his favorite thing to do is line them up in different patterns. Hes mainly happy and cheerful. him and benrey live together as brothers though there not biologically related he's not quite sure we're ben came from. Gman takes Tommy to black mesa a lot to show him different science experiments going on. Wants a dog so bad his toy dog is doing the job for now.

Gordon- he's in 3erd and is mainly a loner who doesn't fit in a chronic over-thinker he mainly likes to play videogames or read (mainly magazines about video games) he is a smart kid and maybe next year he'll be in the advanced science class. Anxious but loyal and can get easily annoyed. Him and benrey are frenemies both bonding over videogames and other nerdy things but benery is a bit to annoying to be a true friend (benery constantly taunts him by calling him feet man because when he was in kindergarten he stepped in peanut butter and ate it Gordon regrets telling him this) he carries a Gameboy wherever he goes.

Darnold- is one of the smartest kids in the 3erd grade but unfortunately the shortest which leads to constant taunts from forzen though not in the same grade him and Tommy are in the same gifted class and are very good friends. They enjoy making positions out of soda and doing all sorts of strange experiments.more shy and less confident than Tommy he still has a similar joyful attitude. Reads fantasy books and constantly has a new one every week.

Benery- in 3erd lives with Tommy and has no memory of how he got there but meh who cares loves to skate board and do tricks though no one knows how he holds onto it at all times seemingly appears and disappears at will. He wandered a lot and seems to forget things you just told him. You can't tell when he's joking or being serious. His helmet never comes off. Chill jokester who doesn't take a lot of things seriously and likes to hang around Gordon and annoy him. He is not allowed near black mesa.

Forzen- moved from France when he was around 3-4 his dad's in the military and he's a bit spoiled has had to move a lot because of his dad but he's been in the same neighborhood as the gang sense the end of 2ed grade. He's not truly one of the bullies of the school but is annoying to Gordon darnold and Tommy he quickly became friends with benery when he moved and benery taut him how to skate board.

B-u557- a top secret black mesa experiment to be the ultimate life form he was still brewing when the kids broke him out of his tube so he might have some defects mostly annoyed all the time but he is thrilled to be out of his tube and even more thrilled to finally be able to hear a scientist who has been visiting him.

Dr.coomer- a good friend of Tommy's dad but usually not taken very seriously by his coworkers. He is a little unusual and loud but is a very kind soul other scientists complaine that he talks to much. he works in many departments around black mesa but is most offensive seen in the robotics department is the founder of the black mesa boxing ring and has not lost his wife in the divorce yet. He likes to visit the secret experiment B-u557 to see how he's doing he does his rants to the experiment even though he knows he can't hear him. But b-u557 doesn't ever seem to be annoyed so he keeps visiting. Even if everyone else in black mesa tells him to stop.

Credit: blinkees

[tklpilled]

actually. rant abt the bsd anime in the tags

rant abt the bsd dub in the tags (both good and bad)

[thewhumpcaretaker]

No because if Chad Stahelski doesn't drop the Impossible Task, I will write it myself and it'll be WickedSaint. I even have ideas, so Chad... gimme, but I'll still write my version bc yes. I need desperate Santino, I just need Santino feeling proud bc John Wick asked HIM for help (crush asked him out, date idea was killing ppl <3). Imagine, Santino was trying to prove himself to his father, who always had higher expectations, and apparently nothing was good enough, but then JOHN WICK THE BOOGEYMAN asked specifically Santino for help. His father must be rolling in his grave but fuck him, Santino was suffering. And the trust between Santino and John, you could see in the movie how much they trusted each other (until that trust got unfortunately broken). So something definitely happened, John doesn't just trust people. Yes, the marker and all that but still there was some level of respect. (And kissing).

I yapped a lot but I wanted to hear your thoughts on the Impossible Task AHAH

Soooooo I learned a little bit about how to write a film treatment (a kind of outline written before the script) and I went ahead and wrote one for The Impossible Task! I tried to make this completely canon-compliant and something that Chad Stahelski could actually make without breaking his franchise (even if he won't T_T). So, it's short and action-packed, and isn't exactly how I'd like to think things happened, but it fits better with the John Wick movies somewhat than what I usually write for wickedsaint. I have a lot of conflicted feelings about it, especially with how it compares Helen and Santino, but I did my best. This was fun to make!!

P.S. it also relies on some of the plot points from @mrssimply's story, because I'm not that good at coming up with what the impossible task was actually all about. I think she wrote that it was about killing all the crime lords in the area at once, and I reused that idea.

♥♥ The Impossible Task ♥♥

Log Line: John Wick asks his former lover to help him one last time in escaping the business, resulting in a nostalgic, heartbreaking postmortem on their doomed love affair.

TW: canon-typical violence, alcohol, homophobia from Santino's father, what could be interpreted as suicidal ideation from Santino but it's not overt

We open on a dreamy sequence, similar to the opening of John Wick Chapter One. It's cutting between a young John Wick in the Tarkovsky Theater, reading The Little Mermaid (the sad, Hans Christian Anderson version), and a young Santino reading the same book. Santino is dressed in all black, and so is John. Eventually we see that Santino is hiding from everyone at his mother's funeral. He is called away from his book to talk to important people. He refuses, but is dragged offscreen anyway. John is also called away, by The Director, who is scolding him that he should be practicing. He quickly hides the book and runs offscreen too. But we see both boys look back towards the places where the two books are hidden.

We cut to some five years before the events of the John Wick movies. We see John raise his head from under bloody bathwater. Helen is bathing him. She begs him to quit his work and come to her world. He agrees, and kisses her. 

Next, we see John coming to Viggo, requesting to leave. He’s “dressed for a resignation.” Viggo thinks, and says that in return, he must kill every other crime lord in the New York tristate area. John protests that it would have to be done all at once, or they would warn each other and flee. Viggo shrugs and says that is the impossible task. 

Realizing he can’t do this alone, John sneaks into the D’Antonio estate in Rome. It’s a reversal of the similar scene from John Wick 2. Gianna sees him and tells him that he shouldn’t be here, and to stay away from her little brother before he gets them both killed. John protests that it would be his own funeral, not Santino’s. Gianna says he knows better, implying how violent Giovanni (Santino's father) is, but Santino walks in at that moment. 

John and Santino talk, with John explaining that he needs someone who the New York crime lords trust to gather them all in one place. It’s tense. We get the sense that Santino dumped John at some point, but we don’t know why. John doesn’t seem to know why either. John says that he remembers what Santino told him, to come back if he ever seriously needed help. Now he does. He wants Santino to gather everyone in one place, which he is trusted enough to do. Santino asks for his oath in blood.

The next thing we see is the two of them exchanging the marker back in New York, with Winston as their witness. The scene is intercut with flashbacks to a sex scene in a Continental hotel room (it’s fairly PG, but there are some very intense kisses and Santino begging and moaning). Santino’s dirty talk includes asking John to swear that he’ll always serve him when he’s needed. John swears, with “the devil” as his witness. Back in the present day, the two of them conclude the marker ceremony and return to their respective hotel rooms alone.

The two of them suit up for the day. It’s a classic “John Wick getting dressed” scene, except that we’re seeing the same thing for Santino as well. In addition to getting suited up, John buys weapons, including bombs, while Santino starts making phone calls inviting everyone to a boat party that will take place on the New York bay that night. We can see that the plan is to place bombs on the boat, and that Santino will not be onboard once the bombs detonate. He will leave via life raft. We also see that Santino can’t persuad everyone - John has two people to kill who declined the invitation. So he won’t be around while the boat party is happening.

While John is planting the bombs on the boat an hour or two later, we see that Helen is watching from a car nearby, with a medical kit in the vehicle. She is tailing John, presumably to protect him. She looks scared but determined. He doesn’t see her. Meanwhile, Santino shows up at the boat. John scolds him for being there - it’s important that it look like Santino had no involvement in the plot and that this is risky. But Santino just jokes around and hovers over John, seemingly wanting to take this last chance to be close to him. He says he is coming with John on the first kill, “for old time’s sake,” and he’s not bringing his bodyguards. John will be his bodyguard for now. There will be plenty of time to get back to the boat, he says. John reluctantly agrees. He looks painfully nostalgic - we can see that he misses Santino on some level. Finally, we see Helen watching them together, but we don’t see her face. Is she jealous, or no?

They attack the first target early in the day, around noon. The target works in a high end fashion design business as a front, and the store is full of wedding dresses (yes, we’re going full camp.) Things get complicated when the target’s guards get involved, chasing them throughout the building. John takes a lot of trouble to ensure that Santino’s suit is not damaged for the party later. There are lots of antics with the wedding dresses - white dresses covered in blood, white heels used as weapons, etc. Santino is getting increasingly manic throughout all of this as he contemplates John getting married to someone else and eventually ends up with a wedding veil over his head somehow, trying to joke about a situation that hurts him deeply. The fight scene ends. They’re both severely wounded but John has managed not to get much blood on Santino.

Helen comes in and reveals herself to give John medical supplies. John is very upset that she’s there, as he says it’s too risky. Santino seems to take this personally - it’s too dangerous for Helen, but it’s fine if he risks himself? Of course, that’s different because he has training with weapons and she doesn’t, but it doesn’t feel that way for him at the moment. Also, he and Helen are in the same room and it’s awkward. It’s clear that Santino feels threatened and insecure but Helen does not. She thanks Santino for helping to set her future husband free. Santino looks miserable and says something snappy. John gets mad at him - no one treats Helen like that. And it was Santino’s choice to give up on their love. Pretty rich of him to be jealous now. Frustrated, Santino leaves to get back to the boat. There’s not much time left. 

John heads to the second target. He doesn’t bother to send Helen away this time - she’s coming no matter what, and it will be better if he can keep an eye on her. They double-team the second fight, which takes place in a butcher shop. Helen stays at a distance but she’s still very helpful. We see the contrast between John and Santino fighting together versus John and Helen fighting together. In both cases, John is protecting the other person and it’s distracting. But in Helen’s case, she seems to be protecting John in return. Instead of egging him on, she tries to minimize collateral damage. She brings an element of innocence to what’s happening and even apologizes to him that he had to do that. To Santino, John’s killing is a beautiful thing, a marriage of their skills as crime lord and assassin. To Helen, it’s butchering, it’s carnage, and she wants to save him. They are both drenched in blood at the end and he kisses her and thanks her for taking him away from all of this. She says she’s sorry his ex still has to be caught in that world. John says regretfully that it’s what he chose. 

Then, John gets a call from Gianna. She says she did something stupid: she told Giovanni that Santino is planning something with him. Giovanni is being rash. He has sent people to kill Santino. John and Helen get back in the car and start rushing to the boat to protect him. 

Santino gets back to the boat. He looks nervous as hell while greeting the other guests. He’s shaking, etc., but he’s doing his best to hide it. He has already started drinking before the other guests arrived. He’s ignoring his messages from John. We see a suspicious looking group of people board the boat just before it can launch. 

John kisses Helen goodbye and leaves her on the shore - he insists she can’t come this time because the whole boat is rigged to blow up and anyway, he’ll be right back. Helen tells him to live for her, and that he can’t die with the old world. He has a new world in front of him. John steals a speedboat and chases the party boat out into the bay.

With the boat out at the center of the bay and detonation coming soon, Santino prepares to board the life raft. But the people sent by Giovanni corner him and prevent him from leaving. (They don't know about the bombs on the boat or exactly what Santino is planning.) It’s interspersed with flashbacks in which we see Santino being beaten by Giovanni after his relationship with John was discovered. This is the first time the audience knows for sure that that’s why he left John.

John climbs up the side of the boat and starts killing, just killing everyone. He ends up killing everyone who would have died to the bomb anyway as he tries to get to Santino. There are boat related fight scene antics (there’s a seafood table and he stabs someone with a crab claw, etc.). Eventually John reaches Santino, but he is so distraught that he refuses to go to the life raft. 

There are only seconds left until detonation. John throws Santino overboard and drags him to shore while the boat explodes. Onshore, Santino breaks down. John tries to cheer him up, referencing The Little Mermaid rescuing the prince, and saying he will always save his prince, even if they’re from different worlds now. Santino says that he wanted to be John’s prince but he’s always been the monster, the sea witch, and whether he grants John access to a better life or not, his own life is damned. He tells John the truth about why he left him - to protect him from Giovanni. John cries with him, mourning their relationship and the way that the High Table tore them apart. He says that the real Impossible Task is to walk away from Santino after knowing all of this. He asks Santino to leave, and find love in the ordinary world. To find his “soul” (another little mermaid reference). He says he wants Santino to have a good life like he has with Helen. Santino says he can’t. He will wait for John to come back to HIS world instead. John walks away with Helen while the sun sets.

[qqueenofhades]

you can tell you work in academia with how much patience you have for some of these asks...."I don't know what is and isn't true anymore" is such an indefensible cop out of a way to exist in the modern world. morally clean "Leftists" could at least have the decency to learn the history of the people and places they pretend to care about for internet points, but hey, it's way easier to take the Opressor Approved route and give into despair and recycle repurposed right wing propaganda like the TERF version of geopolitics. a lot of people need to ask themselves, if there were no internet asspats involved, would you actually still care?? anyway thank you for your patience and willingness to engage, you're a better person than me :')

So far as the other anon goes, they have apologized and taken responsibility that it was a dumb thing to do, I have accepted that apology, and I think that matter is now closed. And yes, I do actually appreciate (as discussed in many other posts and asks) that it is difficult to always and automatically find reliable information, that it has been made deliberately even more difficult to do so by various bad actors, and that this results in a big ol' Bad Take Sea even by people who are genuinely otherwise well-meaning or want to make a positive contribution. So I really do have sympathy for that. Perhaps the previous anon did not put that sentiment across in the best of ways, but as I said, we should all have a bit more grace in remembering that we are real people behind the computer/phone screen and are dealing with different stressful things, and therefore sometimes make mistakes and do or say things we don't mean. (You know, for those of us who aren't pornbots. Oh tumblr.)

Where you and I absolutely agree, however, is that just because it is sometimes difficult to acquire that information, or that systemic and deliberate barriers/misinformation has been put in place to increase the difficulty, it does not excuse people from the responsibility of doing so, especially if they want to put themselves in the position of being the Perfectly Correct Social Media Oracle who will judge and criticize everyone else's responses and act as if that has some real-world impact or is a real marker of someone's "personal morality." And there are for sure plenty of people who are doing that with literally no self-awareness or other critical tools, because as you say, they want the Internet Asspats for being seen as a "Good Person" according to a very narrow and limited definition. But they can't think about what that entails, how to challenge it or correct it, or otherwise apply it carefully, so, yeah.

As I said, I am generally willing to answer asks that are made in good faith and show a real willingness to learn, because (as noted and which is doubtless visible again here) I am an academic and I enjoy having these kinds of discussions. But this topic in particular, and modern social media in general, is really not made for it, and it's easy to get sucked down the Discourse Black Hole that doesn't do anything for anyone, and I try to avoid that. So I answer only when I think I can contribute something useful to the discussion, which results in those kinds of long and careful responses where I do always worry that I haven't said enough or said it the right way, especially with the bad-faith reading police eager to leap on any small misstatement or sentence taken out of context. That is of course a hazard of being a person on the Internet in 2024, and since I am still here and still answering questions generally, I have clearly decided to accept it. But I also don't have an obligation to respond to *everything,* and I don't. It is a fine line to walk and again, I am a middle-aged tired academic and ordinary person doing my best. I appreciate your support. :)

[blackhole-dpa]

why i think death pact again will (hopefully) be safe for a while

i may just be on copium rn that death pact again is getting team victory'd or ulong'd but i think they have a good shot at staying safe for a while. not just from their small size, but that each of their members have a unique role to play. black hole (bh) and fanny are the obvious ones. these two are the best at challenges, have the strongest feelings/moral compasses, but are also at odds with each other. bh believes preventing death should be the main priority of the team, and that it should be prioritized above all else, including winning challenges to secure safety from elimination. any death should be fought tooth and nail to be prevented, and nothing justifies murder. fanny has conflicting and opposite views to bh. she thinks that while preventing death is important, she thinks that winning challenges takes precedent over death prevention so that the team can stay intact, and prevent deaths in the future. such protocols to ensure safety can include killing someone or letting a death happen to claim victory.

despite both views having their pro's and con's, fanny and bh put the game aside to debate their own views, and why one is better than the other, costing the team as a whole valuable time to at least take action for one of the two options bh and fanny push for. this is where marker comes in. marker is both amicable and neutral on fanny and bh's debate, so he steps in to mediate. and with his goofy personality, he can ease tension by cracking jokes or offering a different proposal. however, with all due respect, marker isn't very bright, and while he can diffuse tension between fanny and bh, any plan he may propose may have strategic holes or flaws. finally, this is where tree covers for marker. tree is the strategist of the group, and is shown to be able to think up a plan at the drop of a proverbial hat. tree's intelligence is help enough to formulate a plan, or to smooth over any issues with a plan fanny, bh, and marker combined come up with, he can also convince fanny and bh to work with each other, or at the very least, use his cunning to get them to go along with it. for example, bh only went through with fanny's idea of killing tree in tpot 7 because tree himself advocated for it, and phrased it in a way to get bh to go through with it. tl;dr: fanny and bh have good, but conflicting ideas, marker mediates between them, and tree combines fanny and bh's ideas or maybe im just insanely delulu idk u tell me

[sorry-moots]

Inversion of Genesis But I Changed It

i humbly toss my crumbs unto thee pigeons characters featured: scaramouche, childe/tartaglia, dottore cws: dottore is mildly creepy but when isn't he tbh wc: 1,102

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Chapter Three

The past few months working with Lord Scaramouche have actually been really nice.

He doesn’t yell like you thought he would. He’s only threatened to kill you once and he sounded sort of half-hearted? There’s never blood on his clothes or a predatory grin on his face. He doesn’t stand uncomfortably close to you to “monitor your progress”.

You like your new routine. Every morning at eight o’ clock, you come in and sort through the dozens of letters on your own. At nine o’ clock, Scaramouche comes in and the two of you put together his agenda for the next several days.

At first, you’d read through pages and pages of formal requests only for him to toss them in the trash less than five seconds after you passed them to him. Now, you call out a name and wait for his signal to discard the documents.

Sure, he scowls at every other question you ask but once he answers them, he goes about his business like normal. In the silence, the shuffling of papers and the crackling of the fire would often create a soothing ambiance as you both worked diligently.

Today, though, that routine is broken.

The guards outside could be heard speaking, which is odd in itself. In a moment, a knock followed the brief conversation.

“Go see who it is,” the Harbinger instructs without looking up from the stack of papers on his desk.

You’ve barely cracked the door open when Tartaglia forces his way in.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!” His energy is incredible for the hour. “I have come to personally deliver an invitation to a dinner party for the Fatui Harbingers to none other than the sixth Fatui Harbinger, Lord Scaramouche! The event will take place next weekend at 6pm in the Zapolyarny Palace dining room.”

Scaramouche perked up. “A dinner party? [Y/n] check my schedule.”

As you look for the date on your calendar, Childe asks Scaramouche if you’ll be his plus one.

The latter sneers. “Ha, what use would I have for a plus one? [Y/n], get this airhead out of here.”

You place a marker on the date on your calendar and walk over to Childe. “His lordship would appreciate your immediate departure. May I escort you out?”

“Why, yes, of course,” he chuckles. “You know, [Y/n], you can always be my plus one if ol’ Scarapoo won’t take you,” he finishes with a wink.

It’s hard not to laugh as Scaramouche berates Childe. Your superior looks to be ten seconds from chasing him out the door, but the redhead persists in pestering him. Though he would likely never admit it, you’re almost certain Lord Scaramouche is friends with his rambunctious colleague.

*****

“Don't look at anyone, don't talk to anyone, don't even bow your head at anyone,” Lord Scaramouche commanded. “You're just here to make a note of any important information.”

“Does that include you, sir?” you quipped back with a grin.

“Obviously not, you toad.”

Today is the day of the dinner. You're still in your uniform from earlier but you’ve styled your hair differently and shined your shoes. Even the notepad and pencil you brought were chosen to match your clothes, black with red accents.

Being the poverty-fearing wage slave you are, you heed your boss’s warning and do your best to avoid calling attention to yourself. No one really pays attention to you until you are greeted with a raucous shout.

“Hey, [Y/n]!” Childe yelled, waving excitedly. “What happened to being my plus one?”

You nearly responded but remembered that you weren’t supposed to speak. Instead, you turned and looked to Scaramouche for instruction.

“She’s here on official business,” he explained rather cordially before saying under his breath, “so don’t talk to her.”

Childe pouted before a mischievous grin made its way onto his face. “That’s okay, [Y/n], I’m sure Mouchie could use the fun.”

Once he left to mingle with the other harbingers, everyone went back to their own conversations and Scaramouche went to grab a drink. Apparently, they had his favorite sake.

Just as you were beginning to think you would be left in peace, you heard a deep, velvet voice behind you.

“So, this is why you ran off, [Y/n]?” Dottore prompted coyly. It was difficult to keep yourself from recoiling. “It’s been quite lonely in the laboratory… After all, I’ve only myself to talk to. Or rather, my selves.”

This time, you stayed quiet out of fear, not obedience.

“Oh, how silly of me,” he hummed in amusement. “My dear friend, Lord Scaramouche, forbade you to talk.

“Well, then.” He stepped in front of you and crouched to look at your face; you turned away from him. “I’ll do the talking.”

Just when you begin to feel tears pricking your eyes and your throat tightening, Scaramouche returns with his drink. He nods his head respectfully. “Was there something you needed to discuss with me, Dottore?”

The man smiled that smug smile of his. “No, no, not at all, Scaramouche. I was just telling our darling [Y/n] how exhausting it’s been working in the laboratory since she left.”

“I’ve found the new arrangement to be quite agreeable, even considering my own shortage in staff. If I recall correctly, I have one of the smallest forces under my command,” he remarked with all the uncertainty of a professional gambler. “Much smaller than yours, isn't that right, Dottore?”

The Doctor's face became a cloud of darkness and thunder, ominous as the end times. Within seconds, the faux cheeriness beneath his mask is extinguished and then revived. “You’ve seen right through me, Balladeer,” he chuckled. “I suppose it's the loss of [Y/n]’s company that has caused me the most bereavement.”

“That's tragic, Dottore, really,” Scaramouche said in a voice that almost sounded sympathetic. “I, too, have grown rather fond of her, so I can't imagine what losing her would do to me. I’ll just have to safeguard her from the other harbingers,” he continued to mock. “No hard feelings, right, Doctor?”

“Of course not, Balladeer,” the harbinger gritted through his teeth. “I can hardly fault you for something I would have done myself, had I thought it necessary.”

At this, Scaramouche beamed and jokingly told the other harbinger to back off. The Doctor finally leaves and you breathe a sigh of relief.

You open your mouth to speak, but Scaramouche beats you to it.

“Don’t thank me. That guy pisses me off.”

He starts moving in the direction of another harbinger and, as you follow him, you can’t help but smile and thank the Archons he’s your superior.

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