#the discord server watched me slowly go insane making this

[holopossums]

Official reference sheets for Krow's battle outfit and general look.

More info below!

Grown-up AU version of Casey Jr., late 20s to early 30s.

By this point he's fully adjusted to the present timeline. He has a day job and has taken up a role as a vigilante as his night job.

While Casey Jones Jr. is his legal name, he's really grown into his nickname, Krow, that was given to him by his sensei. It's become a major part of his identity and aesthetic.

Generally, Krow prefers to wear both the mask and hood when going about his vigilante work, as it's the most concealing and intimidating.

He may look edgy but he's still CJ, so can be very soft and wears his emotions on his sleeve.

He's the same height as CJ is in the movie, which I have assumed to be about 5'6". Long live our short king!

Most of his tattoos are meaningful to him, and he's planning on getting more, but this is what he has for now, just on his torso and arms. However, the highly scarred parts of his skin don't take ink too well.

Yes, you can draw him if you'd like! I had a couple people asking, but I wanted to wait until I was finished with this before saying so.

I am aware that this is not animator friendly in the slightest. What can I say, I get carried away. Simplifying or omitting tattoos/finer details (like the cloak decoration on the back) is a-okay!

[mysteryanimator]

Myst rambles about animation longer then they should + their love for Nocturne whoops

I keep thinking about the animation industry as of late again, all the layoffs, all the animators looking for jobs. So I might just be speaking to a void right now. I have not experienced any of the drought so I just may look doe-eyed trying to break into a disaster zone but I’m just here to offer that newbie perspective, as naive as it may seem. I’m gonna try and keep this short (whoops a lie) but if you can see where this is going, this is just going to be me talking about the impact Nocturne has on me, aka rewriting the abhorrent Twitter thread/Instagram post where I free-formed without checking my grammar. 

As someone who is pursuing animation, I have watched A LOT of animated shows growing up, I swear it was the only medium I did watch growing up. I made scuffed animatics and animations of the current show I was watching, not realizing they counted as love letters to the media. Yet, the animation industry scared me. It was so elusive and mysterious. The bar seemed too high, even when I decided to choose to study it at university. It seemed so out of reach.

Until Nocturne. 

Castlevania Nocturne practically humanized the industry to me. These people were fans of their own creations. They breathe life into them. All the character sheets that popped into my timeline, the rough cuts, all the silly memes. Something that seemed impossible became possible within an instant. My skills at the time were not what they are now by any means, hell even now I could be better, but, I looked at that show and went “I can do that. If they can do it, maybe there’s a chance I could do something like that.” I think it helps I am at a stage of my life where I can consciously consume content and have the ability to break it down.

Also, let's be so honest, it's combined with the fact that I fell in love with Mizrak and Olrox's plot... you get a very insane person. Passionate but insane. Who spends their entire day going frame by frame reanalysing 10 minutes of an episode? ME. Despite this, I have learned so much more than all my years at university have given me. I have become a genuinely better animator and a better artist. My understanding of animation finally clicked. I knew I was built for animation but didn’t know how I fit into it. I’m constantly on YouTube, absorbing information from YouTube channels like Dong Chang, wandering around Discord Sakuga servers/twitter, and taking notes. I'm still worried about bothering other people in the industry/more technically skilled than me but I think I'm getting slowly better and going "Hey I love your work! How did you achieve x/y/z? OH!? Can you explain what this means?" because again, these are just people like you and me.

So every single Mizrak and Olrox animation I’ve made has not only been a love letter to the show, and crew of people who put their heart and soul into making this, but these animations have been a testament to my skills. Take it like a capsule of how I’m improving every month. I will admit I sometimes get weirded out of the fan content I make, albeit a combination of low confidence, and imposter syndrome, and now my animation style has just become very synonymous with the nocturne style. These ‘cons’ however do get outweighed by the pros of it all. Finally finding a style that I find goes hand in hand with my illustration style (and I can't wait to see how I can evolve it into my own) and the bouts of self-doubt are vast and temporary. I am super grateful that I can look at my work in times of doubt and go “Literally anything is possible, let me put on a show that explores this certain animation principle/story beat in a particular way, and let me study it!"

It's super embarrassing to admit but Nocturne has genuinely changed the trajectory of my life. I am genuinely a whole new person with such a different outlook on animation because of this show. Yes, I am creative through and through, you cannot separate that from my blood, but Nocturne solidified that “You are exactly where you need to be”. The industry is in shambles, with people now reaching a year+ jobless, and contracts are ending, yet, if Nocturne genuinely wasn’t released at the end of September, I do not think any of this would've clicked.

(Backed up by the very fact I am/was directing a short and running a genuine studio when Nocturne came out. I was very unconfident at the time and doubted myself a lot in private since it was my first time doing any of this. This show helped me solidify a new perspective on how to run things! How to be a stronger animator!)

Now again, this is such a crazy thing to say now. I'm watching people from the show I love have their contracts ending/being laid off since last year. I swear every second tweet on my tl is of an animator desperately looking for a job or on the verge of giving up. Me, Mystery, is an animator with no skin in the game, so I don't truly know what the Western animation industry looks like from the inside besides what I get from social media. Let’s be honest, for all you know, I just animate two characters kissing constantly. That is merely the surface of its impact. HEY, I MAY DELETE THIS B4 ANYONE SEES BECAUSE THIS IS KINDA EMBARASSING, the industry sucks right now. People are losing their jobs, so what I’m saying may not matter, but also I think it does maybe? I think this is just a unique perspective to where people are losing faith and hope in the animation, I re-sparked my thanks to Nocturne. Who knows, I may lose this spark as I go further into trying to break into the industry once I'm out of uni, but I’ll take what I have now and ride this new bout of inspiration and creativity. I want to tell stories. I want to bring life to still images. I know it's possible because Nocturne exists. These are real people who exist, who put their love and care into this show. Passion like that is inspiring.

I also somehow can't escape these people reading this, so if you have made it this far- thank you for making this show the way you have! Thank you to all the people both still in it and to others who have had to part with Nocturne. I will admit I have gone through the credits and made sure I could try and learn from everyone's work despite how unique/different each role is.

I hope my grammar is better than last time HAHAH, the technicality of English isn't a strong suit of mine but fingers crossed that the ideas/content are still passable.

[isa-loves-you]

How you meet and realizing you like them | The group chat.

I love the GC and I like reading Fics about them, so I want to contribute. This is my first-time doing publishing on Tumblr, so it probably won't be the most organized. I am open to criticism or requests. I desperately need guidance.

This is going to be broken up into different parts because this was originally almost 5,000 words but tumbler will only let me post so much at a time.

-Isaac-

you had met isaac back in 2020 when you and some friends decided to go into discord servers and expose pedos. your friend had told you to hop on a server thinking it was with creeps but ended up being a couple of people doing the same thing as you. you all had a laugh and traded information on which servers had what type of weirdos were in. After that night you and isaac had messaged each other here and there about being in his discord videos which you had no problem with due to want to collab with other youtubers, and some years later asked you to be apart of a group with him and your guys mutual friends called the group chat.

Sometime had passed and you, isaac, tanner, larry, nick, yumi, and grunk all made a podcast and even moved into one big house all together. You had decided to stream watching random videos on the internet and just generally talk with chat. " I know that we've been watching meme comps chat but we need to add some spice to our night or I feel empty handed when I end the stream.... well besides leaving with your hard earned money that you donated i'll be empty handed". After saying that everyone started to type anything and everything that came to their minds, but something caught your eye "Have you or isaac read the fic about yall??" you said reading the chatter's comment. You immediately start googling for what this insane person was talking about, and after muttering to yourself about why isaac and you of all people out of the group you find it. "I'm sorry to chat but i need to know and besides one of you recommend it" you start reading it out loud. The story read of you and Isaac slowly falling for each other. "Chat who made this, I want you to reveal yourself so you can be shunned from the village" you bursted out with laughter at some of the parts in the fic but you had to admit, this author knew too much. yeah it's true that you started to like isaac but you knew nothing could ever happen because you work together but you have to admit he had a nice physic and was extremely funny, but still nothing could ever happen. After 30 more minutes of stream you decided to end the stream because you were getting too red from laughter and embarrassment from the fic; you said goodnight to your viewers and thought that no harm would come from a fan's artwork about you and your friend. turns out you were wrong. The next day you were bombarded with fan accounts and edits of you and isaac from past videos. you're scrolling through some of the comments of the edits and something catches your eye.

Isaacwhy?: Damn you guys are trying to manifest something fr ;))

you couldnt believe what you just read; Did he really like you too?, how long has he liked you?, what would the others think?, could you two be together?. Your mind was left with a lot of questions but you had come to terms with it. You like Isaac.

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-Nick [soft willey]-

you had been making music since you were five when your parents got you a fisher price piano. you've just fell in love with your hobby and wanted to make a career out of it, that's when you decided to put your name out there as a singer/rapper. You didn't have a voice like sza but it was good enough to make a living off of it, and it was better when you would pair it with your genius lyrics. It was a nice Sunday afternoon when your music producer Kenny called you to come into the studio and that there as some people, he wanted you to meet and collab with. you had seen that your producer was in the booth with three dudes and a camera? Your producer has seen you looking through the booth glass and gestured for you to come in and met the people he was talking to. There was a tall guy with a hat, sunglasses, and a black mask, there was a shorter guy with shoulder length hair that was pointing everywhere. The two guys were pretty good looking but the third piqued your interest; he was around 5 '10 with a nice build, it was very obvious that he spent his time at the gym. “This is y/n they are in the same business as you three” your producer presented with a big smile on his face. “It's really nice to meet you, Kenny convinced us that you would sound the best on our new single” you shook the gym guy's hand noticing the tattoo of a long spiky line wrapping around his arm. You got so distracted looking at the guy's arm and everything else he had that you didn't hear your producer calling your name “y/n you can't let go of nicks hand now i think he knows you now” you dropped nicks hand realizing how long you just held his hand without him saying anything. “All right let's get to work people, isaac would you be a doll and do your verse first so y/n can get the flow of the song and see what they need to do”. 

It took the whole day for you guys to actually record the song. With larry making funny faces while the nick and isaac where in the middle of their verses and make them laugh so you would have to start back from the beginning then you would issue were either you or the others would have a hard time saying a word right or you went faster or slower than the beat then it was start back at square one. A miracle had happened; you all got through the song with no hiccups and were able to send it out to an editor for some final touches. You had grabbed your stuff and walked out to your car so you could finally go home and let your dog out. You almost got to your car when your arm was grabbed, you wiped your head around so fast to see who you were going to have to beat the shit out of. “I'm so sorry i shouldn't have grabbed like i was going to kidnap you or something but i was shouting your name but you just kept on walking” Thank God it was just nick and not some creep. “oh no no you're okay i was just surprised is all, so whats up?” “I was wondering if i could get your number or maybe your insta so you could be a feature on some of our future stuff, you were awesome like kenny said and i want to keep you around”. It was nothing but two seconds of silence before Nick took back his words “i didn't mean it like that i just mean like your killer and it would be great if you got to do more with me…..not with just me just in general with music. Fuck you get what im trying to say right” “yeah i get what you mean” you said breaking a smile to make him feel less embarrassed “here just put your number and insta in, so we can do more stuff”. He took your phone for a minute to put all is information and handed it back to you with a puppy dog like smile. Dog? “OH, SHIT RALPH” you had forgotten about your poor baby at home “I'm sorry Nick but I have to go!” nick had tried to say something, but you were already in the car and backing out of your parking spot. ‘Whose ralph?’ nicked thought as he watched you leave the building “NICK GET YO UGLY ASS IN THE CAR I WANT TO GO HOME” Larry shouted hanging out the back of the car window. Nick spent the whole night trying to find a ralph in your following list on Instagram, but he had no luck and decided that he didn't care who your mystery man was he was better than this ‘ralph��� character and that he was going to win you over.

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[softsky-daily]

11/7/2024

My phone always makes these nighttime photos look so haunted.

Positive thing: I had a nice therapy session.

Talking with him about election woes helped, and it was also while I was talking I realized there's plenty of good things happening in my life too. I have many wonderful friends, I'm moving to a new place soon, my mom is confirmed to be coming home in December, and I'm getting back into stuff I enjoyed like nigehaji. I reflected on how much more I've been feeling like drawing and writing again which I thought might never happen.

There were some funny/interesting things from today. My coworker friend and I have been slowly watching through nigehaji together after we finish work on Thursdays, and she gets supremely frustrated while watching the main leads. It's a playful kind of frustration, and I totally feel her because I'm pretty sure I reacted similarly when I was first watching. There's this weird quality to nigehaji where the exact same details and scenes that make me insane make every other person go "...ok?" or even "god what is wrong with them". Which is absolutely their perogative and I don't feel offended if they don't like it. It just makes it hard to explain why I do like it. I don't know how to put into words that the fact that the two main leads don't communicate on the same wavelength and the main guy is always running away is frustrating but also a key part of the message of the whole show. And if it was any other romance with a different setup I would condemn it to hell for being a dumb miscommunication arc but in nigehaji it's actually just cinema to me. I don't know how to explain!! I just don't know. But maybe I'll write another essay about why I like it and maybe it'll finally turn out coherent one of these days.

Another interesting thing that completely distracted me from my nigehajiposting was someone in one of the Japanese Discord servers I'm in apparently got coaxed into some maid cafe bar, and spent ¥100,000 on a drink. ¥100,000!!! For context, that's roughly $650. I know he got pressured into a tourist trap basically, but I was so shocked at how he basically reacted like it was a small mistake and not something that ruined his wallet. Like, that's almost my rent for the month basically. On one drink?? Oh my god. I would fall to my knees. What cracked me up was how he followed up saying he was done with maid cafes because of this but not 30 minutes later he announced he was in another one. Godspeed, dude. I guess this is how Japan's tourism industry stays alive.

This one's less interesting but I had to do a reading for class, and the book we have to read is written in a very annoying way. Basically it's a self-help kind of book about how to organize your life, applied to building your career or whatever. I do think there's some good points in there, but because the author is a Los Angeles white woman hustler type lady it has this grating edge to it. "You just have to get up early and do things!" rings hollow from anybody but especially from someone like that. There's a short excerpt where she describes how one of her lowest points in her life was lying on the floor for 30 minutes feeling stuck. And like, lady, I feel that way every day, and I'm lucky if it's for 30 minutes. Also her anecdotes tend to include other brands and social media and it just feels like I'm being advertised to every other minute. She shows an example of what she thinks a cordial email is and it's the most passive-aggressive thing I've ever read and she finishes by saying something like "And I'm really proud of how I handled this email, I'm so professional!" and it's like, okay...

Long story short, I don't trust people whose lives are extremely niche in the grand scheme of things giving advice as if it's universal. Maybe if you're white and neurotypical and abled you'd resonate more with this lady and her "I try to get up at 6:15am and be in my car by 8:23am" type nonsense.

But anyway. Tomorrow I'm looking at another place with my friends to potentially move into, and this one looks real promising. It's got wood floors instead of carpet like the last one, and it's located in a nice neighborhood close to my university. The rent isn't bad either. I'm hoping it looks as nice in real life as it does in the online pictures.

[goldstargloww]

i just ranted in my friend group discord server about 3ld life and im just gonna copy paste it all here

spoilers for: 3rd life, last life, double life sessions 1-4

story trigger warnings: trauma, suicide, abuse, exclusion, bullying, insanity portrayed negatively (all in universe, except the swearing is from me lol)

typed trigger warnings: swearing, caps

all characters are c!, not cc! !

okay, ffs, why is friends messing around with small light roleplay sO EASY TO MAKE DRAMATIC

grian just

causing chaos because its fun and he isnt hurting anyone (...debatable)

aND THEN KILLING 2 PEOPLE AND WATCHING 2 OTHERS GET SHOT TO DEATH-

"im still kind of in a little bit of shock because i was just playing the fishing rod game" nah what you mean is "so i just committed murder while having fun and now im traumatized"

andthefucking- like- desertduo just happening by chance every single season

and grian slowly going insane while scar has already accepted that he's chaotic

but them only being able to lean on each other in the end

and the first time that happened they had to punch each other to death

the second time they were separated in the chaos of last episode war and both individually died

and now theyre gonna be forced to die together

and then fucking flower husbands

scott (canonically) sobbing over jimmys last death as he had been shot in the middle of a war that scott also died in, and scott had no time to process it until everyone finally left him alone and he just built a grave and broke down

then latching onto pearl in last life and them being the one duo that never broke up in any way as they had agreed to not go face to face in the final battle

and then in double life, scott latched onto cleo as that was the only other person he had any sort of positive personal history with, and they went looking for pearl and by the time they found her they were pissed that her and martyn had just ignored looking for them

so pearl was left on her own, martyn wanted revenge but also wanted to be with cleo, cleo and martyn had beaten each other up, and scott was just like yeah no bye

and then pearl, at first going into some sort of hiding, as she stays awake longer, 5am pearl our beloved loses her dog and just takes it out on the world, freezing herself in a snow bath purely to hack away at scott's health and openly being suicidal just to get back at scott because why should she care? she has nothing left, nobody cares about her, and scott hurt her for (from her pov) no reason. she has nothing to lose and may as well get revenge

scott's view of pearl is just changing for the worse as pearl isn't with it and nobody knows how to handle that, describing her as having gone batshit psycho and wanting nothing to do with her, so much so that he tries to break up other couples (and in the process, having to have ren also be openly suicidal due to a failing relationship), yet still caring for pearl, because one, he kinda has to as he doesn't wanna die, and two, he knows pearl, they spent and entire lifetime together from day one, she's not in a good headspace and scott knows it's his fault

grian's going crazy trying to keep scar from being chaotic as hell, all the while causing his own chaos, subtle enough to not be recognized until the damage is done and even then nobody learns their lesson. he's seen scar be suicidal ("you can slay me and take the enchanter") as well as pearl ("do you want to die?!" "YES!!"), he's seen scar slip further out of touch with reality, talking people into doing things that isnt worth it in the slightest, and he's seen scar latch on to things that they can't give attention to right now. he's seen scar take every risk possible and not realizing the dangers of it - and if he does, he couldn't care less. grian's seen jimmy be excluded and tossed aside and made fun of, and while grian does this too, he sometimes feels bad for him. he's been preyed on for is gullibleness, he's been excluded just because he's jimmy, and he's been tossed into rivers and left to drown just because it's funny

grian's gone to bigb as an escape, and the two want to do something about it, but their universally decided soulmates and the stigmatization of others make it hard - bigb doesnt want to be the reason ren's suicidal, and grian doesn't want to be either - grian also doesnt wanna just up and leave scar, as he's gonna get himself and therefore both of them killed or worse

enjoy my rant, 3ld life lives in my brain rent free every weekend

[brattysorcerer]

hi welcome back !!! glad to hear that you're taking good care of yourself <3 please always stay hydrated and get some good rest, you deserve it for supplying us with good luxiem content mwa as the other anons have said, luca's mc stream was absolutely chaotic, with sonny & uki trying to chase him down and shu just enjoying the insanity LMFAOO. i propose a suggestion that streamer!reader also happened to be in the server alongside shu on a discord call and both of them just started making fun of the two golden boys while watching both sides' stream povs 😭😭 "dude luca was right there he's so blind" "i know right lmfao" "i feel like luca's trap is gonna go wrong, question mark?" "oh it totally is gonna go wrong" while they both cackle like two idiots afterwards god i love them — 🔪

i'm definitely trying my best! i fell off the bandwagon for a bit, but we're slowly getting back on track. i'm mostly just taking things slow at the moment, taking breaks from things when i need to and all that! spent some time gaming to help myself relax as well.

and i am! i keep water near me at all times!

also, thank you for the kind words <3 i'm happy to know you guys enjoy the content i put out! it definitely helps the motivation!

but yes!! i love this, honestly. you and shu start placing bets on how certain antics are going to go and who's going to win or succeed at whatever they're doing.

"you think sonny's gonna rope uki into whatever he's doing? or maybe luca's gonna get uki on his side? hm. maybe uki'll just ignore them." "are you kidding? uki may be quiet but i know he's an agent of chaos. he'd help both of them if he could."

also just getting to hear shu laugh whenever something goes wrong or terribly right for one of the gold boys.

[cathedreal]

en pointe. [Corpse x Female Reader]

・❥・Corpse x Female Reader ・❥・Genre: Fluff, hurt comfort ・❥・Word count: 1.5K+ words! ・❥・Requested: Yes! By the incredible 🩰 anon! Thank you so so much for putting in this request! I was thrilled to receive it! I was a dancer for about 14 years (including ballet) and this fic made me remember how much I love being on stage. I really miss it now.  ・❥・The request: hello again! could you write something about and the reader, who’s a ballet dancer, arguing because he’s been promising to go see her perform but the show is running it’s last performance? Cheers! ~ 🩰 Request a fic/hc | Request List | Join my Discord server | Buy me a Ko-Fi

“You promised!”

 “And I’m keeping to that promise,” Corpse replies, wrapping his arms around your frame. “Things have just been insane lately, that doesn’t mean that I forgot.”

 You sigh softly in response, your shoulders dropping. Corpse pulls you closer and you lean against his chest, your fingers tangling in his shirt to absentmindedly play with the edges of it.

 “I know, I don’t blame you,” you finally say, your lips finding his easily. “But the show is running its last performance…”

 You bite your lip, trying to hide the disappointment that wraps around your heart in thorns, squeezing enough to make it bleed. Corpse notices immediately.

 You like that he knows you so well, that you have fallen into such an easy rhythm in your relationship that gauging each other’s mood has become second nature. There is comfort in knowing that someone understands you so fully that you often don’t feel the need to explain yourself because the other already knows.

 But, in times like these, you really wish that Corpse wasn’t able to read every single expression that crosses your face, that you couldn’t see the guilt in his.

 “I haven’t forgotten,” Corpse assures you and drops a kiss on your forehead. It’s sweet yet fleeting and he soon pulls away again. 

 “You have to go,” you fill in for him and he nods, brushing through your hair one more time before moving to his office, closing the door behind him to shield you from the noise.

 You sulk for the remainder of the day and it doesn’t slip by Corpse who watches helplessly as you frown, more to yourself than to him.

 “I’m trying, Y/N,” Corpse says, reaching out to take your hand. “You don’t know how much it fucking pains me that I can’t easily go.”

 “You don’t know how much it pains me that my boyfriend can’t even come to my performances that have been going on for a damn long time even though I always support said boyfriend in everything he does.”

 It’s a low blow, you immediately want to apologise but instead you clench your teeth and breathe in and out deeply.

 “Don’t,” Corpse says when you open your mouth to apologise and you snap it shut again, guilt filling your body until you feel like you’re going to choke on it. “I deserved it.”

 “You didn’t!” you immediately protest but Corpse shakes his head again. 

 Corpse takes out his phone then and you watch incredulously as he types something, wondering what could be so much more important right now.

 You wonder if he’s on Twitter, liking some tweets of fans which he seems to prioritise more than your relationship. It’s a nasty thought but you still have it. You never claimed to be perfect.

 “What are you-“ you finally ask, needing Corpse to say something, do something to fix this mess. You want to shake him hard, urge him to finally choose you when he holds his phone up.

 Thank you for your purchase.

 “You… Oh.”

 “Yes, oh,” Corpse replies and the corner of his mouth quirks into a small smirk of self-satisfaction. You don’t know if you want to kiss it off his face or whack it with a pillow. Maybe both.

 “You have a stream that day,” you say stupidly and you wish that for once in your life you would just shut up already. Now you’ve planted that seed in his mind and he will cancel the performance. Again.

 “I know, I’m cancelling it,” Corpse says and watches with wide eyes as your bottom lip curls outwards. “The stream,” he says quickly, wrapping you back up in a hug.

 You both move back until you’re half sitting, half lying on the couch, Corpse’s cheek lying on your chest. “I’m sorry for being such a dick sometimes.”

 “You’re not-“

 “I am,” he says and looks up at you with sad eyes. “I should have come earlier but work always had my priority and I fucking regret it so much. I’m scared of suddenly becoming irrelevant and losing everything I built.”

 “I know, I know you are,” you whisper and brush through his hair reverently. “I understand, I always have.”

 Corpse shakes his head. “I’m more scared of losing you,” he finishes as if he hasn’t heard you. He takes your hand in his own, kissing your fingertips softly. Corpse takes his time and you let him, trying to keep the tears at bay. “You don’t have to understand anything. I should have been there and I wasn’t and now I’m making up for it.”

 “Thank you,” you can only croak out and lose yourself in the kiss Corpse presses to your lips.

 You don’t see Corpse before your last performance. It’s the early morning when you walk into the theatre, greeting some of your friends before you fling your stuff somewhere and put your earbuds in. You spend longer on stretches that morning, wanting your body to be loose as you go through some of the more difficult parts of your choreography meticulously. There is much more pressure now that you know Corpse is going to be in the audience and you want to impress him. You want him to be as proud of you as you are of him.

 Hair and makeup are next and you strum your fingers against your leg impatiently as you move your brush with the other hand.

 “Nervous?” Rose, one of your best friends in the company, asks. She puts her hands on your shoulders, rubbing the tension out of them sweetly. 

 “My boyfriend is coming so now I feel like more is at stake,” you reply honestly, relaxing back a little in your seat when you realise just how much you have been clenching your body because of the stress.

 Rose smiles at you through the mirror and wraps you in a hug from behind. “You’re going to do great. You’re always great. Don’t worry too much and have some fun.”

 You hold onto those words until you’re in the side wings, hopping en pointe, lowering yourself down slowly to keep your feet warm and flexible. Nervousness is clawing at your throat now, your stomach rumbling with nauseousness. 

 This is your job and yet… It always feels like so much more. It’s your passion, the one craft you have worked your ass off to master, it’s the ambition you now get to share with Corpse.

 The moment you walk on stage, every bit of nervousness washes away when you fall in fifth position easily. You are aware of the eyes on you, the lights shining just a little too brightly into your eyes and Corpse sitting somewhere in the crowd.

 Your movements are fluid, you almost feel like you’re dancing on air and you know that you look like it too from the applause when the first scene ends. Your confidence spikes and you’re no longer worried that Corpse won’t like what he sees, that he is not as impressed with you as you are with him. You know he loves it because you dance like you’re born to do only that.

 The audience is too dark to see everyone clearly with the lights blinding you but when the lights dim for a moment you catch a glimpse of curly brown hair, a mask covering half of the man’s face, and you know it’s Corpse watching you.

 Nothing else matters anymore at that moment, just the glance you share. You perform then like it’s just for Corpse, as if he’s the only person in the audience, silently cheering you on.

 When the curtain finally falls and the applause dies out, you want to run to Corpse immediately but it’s not that simple. Costumes are to be returned and there is one bobby pin poking you in the head that you crave to take out of your complicated up-do.

 It takes a while but once you can finally go, you almost fall in your haste to get outside. You take a big gulp of the cool night air and then you spot Corpse, waiting for you with a big bouquet of flowers, waving at you sheepishly.

 “I won’t be such an idiot next time,” Corpse mumbles into your ear when you finally fall into his arms, tears threatening to fall from your eyes. “I can’t believe I could have seen you do this more than once and I didn’t take that change. I feel so stupid now.” “You’re not,” you tell him, leaving a smear of red lipstick where you brush your lips against his cheek. “I can do this at home too.”

 Corpse looks at you and you can finally see his eyes up close, the awe and the yearning for more clearly written in his gaze.

 “You’ll do that?” he asks, cupping your cheek to graze his thumb over your cheekbone.

 “If you keep looking at me like that, I will.”

[joezworld]

Any headcanons about Ever Ace and the other new A-class Evergreen ships? This totally isn’t just because I love your version of Ever Given and want more of her and her family XD

The following is an excerpt from How to Avoid Huge Ships, Or: I Never Met a Ship I Liked by Capt. John W. Trimmer (National Writers Press, 1982)

Chapter 14: The Emotional State of Ships

For most captains, the emotional state of a seagoing vessel (other than your own, of course) is often seen as irrelevant - after all, who cares if the seven hundred foot tanker about to run over you and your ketch is a nice person or not?

However, like many common beliefs in the marine industry, this is an incorrect one. The mental state of vessels is vital to continued safe navigation.

First, we must mention the obvious: An unhappy ship is a dangerous ship. Think about the last time you drove to the store while upset. Now pretend you weighed several thousand tons and required a mile and a half to stop in an emergency. I imagine your car insurance premiums might be a bit higher, no?

Then we must mention Fleets.

Allow me to explain: While this may be seen as a massively reductive statement, most large vessels (and most living machines for that matter, including commercial aircraft, railway locomotives, and even large dragline cranes) are best viewed as pack animals. When left alone to their own devices (and the growing economic benefits of 'machine autonomy' have meant that more shipping lines are allowing ships to go off by themselves!) vessels will often form a "fleet", as they call them, which substitutes for what we humans would call a joint family.

A fleet may include any number of vessels and relationship combinations, ranging from a number of single vessels who consider themselves siblings, to sets of separate married couples, and even groups of non-monogamous vessels whose conduct would make a Mormon blush. That being said, regardless of type, bonds formed in this manner are extremely strong, and will often overcome any difference between vessels - see the growing trend of former US Pacific Fleet vessels and their former Imperial Japanese Navy spouses!

Now, what does any of this have to do with the continued safety of marine navigation, I hear you ask? Well, let me put it to you in the simplest terms possible:

If you were to wrong me in some way, I might decide to take legal action against you, or I might lick my wounds and walk away. I might even go to the police if the offense were serious enough.

If you were to wrong a ship, and the offense were serious enough, they wouldn't lick their wounds, they wouldn't pursue legal action, and they most certainly would not go to the police. Most ships believe quite strongly in the merits of what could be charitably called 'extrajudicial punishment'. Most ships, if they are in such a relationship, would bring this to the attention of their fleet-mates, at which point you would not have one, but several, maybe even a dozen, extremely large and extremely angry ships going after you.

-

Of course, any discussion of the often-overlooked subject of Fleets is incomplete without at least a brief mention of the US/Canadian Great Lakes Fleet, which has managed to continuously add to their numbers through a process they call 'Lake-napping'...

-----

April, 2021 - Great Bitter Lake, Suez, Egypt

The Egyptians were insane, Given concluded. Aside from the obvious - where in the name of all that floated was she going to get nine hundred million US Dollars? - they'd actually called their Navy on her, like some kind of Triad enforcer making sure a mark didn't get away without paying.

He was a tiny ship, really - some old design that made its priorities clear, judging from his open-air flying bridge and thick hull, but the massive anti-ship missile pods on his aft deck showed he could punch well above his weight.

She'd tried speaking to him, but they didn't have a language in common - and that was impressive all on its own. From the short, clipped sentences, and badly accented Arabic, he seemed both Eastern European and decidedly unfriendly.

As the sun set on the end of the first week of what might be a very long stay in Egypt, she wondered if the line might abandon her here. The cheap fucks had already been making noise about replacing her with another, bigger ship, but Ace - still in the shipyard, but already proving herself to be just as loud and annoying as any proper 20,000+ TEU ship, bless her - had made enough noise about "not being a rebound date" that their hand had been forced.

Of course, that was all before the Egyptians decided that they wanted nine hundred million dollars, so who knows?

Another ship went by - the backlog still wasn't through, and convoys continued at all hours. This one was one from CMA CGM, and while she couldn't quite catch his name in the dark, she could absolutely catch the scathing French insults being hurled her way as he passed by.

"Je parle français, toi voilier sans hélice." She sniped at him, relishing in the startled yelp that trailed him into the night. The tugboats pulling him along laughed, and he growled at them as he moved further into the lake.

The missile boat looked at her with what might have been admiration, but it didn't stop him from keeping his guns trained on her as he changed his watch position to a spot off of her stern.

She honestly considered running - the mockery she'd get once she left Egypt might be too much.

As the next ship in line approached, she got a ping on one of the company radio frequencies.

Tuning in, her brow furrowed in confusion - now that everyone had satellite internet downlinks, internet chatrooms had become the primary communication method across the fleet. Evergreen Lines ships had all gravitated towards Discord instead of WeChat or Line, but their server had been strangely silent for most of the last week.

Opening the channel, she caught a flash of a call sign - What was Elpida doing out here? Wasn't she on the Australia run?

"Don't say a word, we've got it under control."

"You what? Who's we?"

Elpida swept past , literally - she was breaking the speed limit for this part of the lake, and had probably been doing so in the Canal too - the ropes to her tugs were taut, and judging by the Arabic screaming, they were trying to get her to slow down or at least let go. She was high in the water - her decks empty of containers - what the hell was going on?

Given was too big for the swells to affect her, but the Egyptian Navy ship wasn't, and he yelped in whatever his native language was as he rocked and rolled in Elpida's wake.

Behind her, a distant cry that sounded suspiciously like the word "Now!" rang out, followed by a deafening cacophony of foghorns.

She'd shut down her radar - because what really was the point? - and it took a worrying few seconds for the Furuno system to spin to life and return a clear result.

Or... what might be a clear result.

All hell seemed to be breaking out behind her - the convoy had broken formation and was going in what seemed like every direction possible. At least ten ships were now going berserk behind her.

The Navy ship, by far the smallest vessel out there, (except the tugs, who were fleeing for their lives, it seemed) spun around towards the main shipping lane.

Collision alarms immediately started wailing on the Canal's common channel as a very large blip on the radar screen (Who turned off their AIS transponders in the Canal?) slowly swung towards him.

The Egyptian seemed stunned for a moment - he'd drifted back into Given's range of vision, and his expression ranged between sheer horror and mildly poleaxed - before he calmed himself and stood down the ship bearing down on him.

That calm look lasted for a few minutes, but as the blip got closer and closer his confidence faded. The doors to his missile pods swung open, but his nerve broke before he could fire them, and the water around his stern frothed up into a roiling tempest as he set off at full astern.

It wasn't enough. He'd held his ground for just long enough for the other ship to reach him.

Slowly - this whole event was playing out in breathless slow motion, because nobody was actually that speedy - a bulbous bow, riding high out of the water without a load of containers, ploughed towards him. It was followed by a bowsprit, one that was so huge it looked like it could have been Given's own.

Then came the name: EVER ACE.

Then came the collision.

Ace (?!) didn't so much collide with the Egyptian ship as she drove over him. His low freeboard meant that the impact with her bulbous bow had his far side dipping into the water. Once his deck hit the swells, it acted like a giant scoop, and his keel was to the night sky within a few seconds. He'd been hit at an angle, so once he'd been pushed free, he slowly rolled back up, a much more traumatized and injured vessel than he had been a minute ago. More importantly, the water gushing out of his missile tubes meant that he was no longer a problem.

"Hey!" Ace boomed as her pilothouse drew even with Given. "Best Sea Trials Ever!"

Behind her, another ship - this one laden and looking a lot like Golden - steamed by. "Stop hanging around and get her out of here!"

"That would be my cue." Another voice called from behind her.

"Tex?" He was in Manila!

"Who else would it be?" Texas Triumph, thick Texan accent and all, steamed up. "now let's jus' get you settled up here and we'll blow this joint."

"This is a rescue?!"

"For sure pardner! We've been planning this since those highwaymen said they was keepin' ya here."

"Stop talking and get her out of here!" Golden bellowed from further up the river. It seemed like she was now intimidating some other tugboats from intervening.

"Well, ya heard 'er." Tex said. "Les' go!"

Given had been so distracted by the appearance of so many members of her family that she hadn't even noticed Tex slipping lines through her hawseholes until they went taut and she was yanked from her moorings by Tex steaming out in pursuit of Ace's retreating form.

She just barely managed to get her anchors retracted before Tex really put some power on, and began to pull her across the lake entirely.

------------------------------------

Later...

The War Zone

Ever Given Escapes Custody Suez Canal Authority claims no responsibility, Egyptian Navy vessel possibly damaged. BY TYLER ROGOWAY April 17, 2021 THE WAR ZONE

📷@mahmou10_ships VIA @SUEZWATCH_EGY

SHARE TYLER ROGOWAY View Tyler Rogoway's Articles @Aviation_Intel Details remain limited at this time, but there was an incident in the Great Bitter Lake. At least one Egyptian Navy vessel has been severely damaged, and MV Ever Given, who had been held in the Great Bitter Lake by the Suez Canal Authority, has now fled the Canal into the Mediterranean Sea.

Again, details are extremely limited, but based on social media reports, marine tracking data, and radio reports, at approximately 11:47 PM Egypt Standard Time (EGY) a disturbance was reported by the Egyptian Navy craft - their identity is still unconfirmed, but images posted to social media seem to indicate that the vessel is a former Soviet Osa-class missile craft. The vessel reported that "A convoy has gone mad" and he was "under attack from multiple vessels".

While a convoy had transited the canal at that time, it is unclear if they were involved in the attack, or if one occurred at all.

We've reached out to Evergreen Lines, The Suez Canal Authority, the Egyptian Navy, and the individual ships believed to be involved, including Ever Given.

We will update this piece as more information comes available.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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[serenedash]

I started rambling about my experience with kh and then it turned into khux and then it just turned into me rambling about Ryou and my art journey????? enjoy I guess,

it’s very long but there’s art in there :)

It’s funny to think about my kh journey as a whole tbh, I grew up watching my mom play video games, which included kh1 and 2. I wasn’t allowed to play the playstation2 we owned BUT I did have a gameboy so the first game I played was CoM (after my mom finished it ofc,) so I guess you could say I’ve always been passionate about kh “””side games””” lmao but I did fall off of kh very quickly bc again, I wasn’t allowed to play our PS2 and also I Am A Terrible Gamer I’ve Never Finished CoM I’m sorry you all had to find out like this, but then 358/2 came out when I was in middle school and!!! I didn’t care and I didn’t play idk why lol

Anyway, fast forward to high school I’m like 15 and my older sister, who HAS been keeping up with kh, has a wallpaper on her phone of roxas and ventus. And bc I haven’t kept up I say “nice roxas wallpaper” and she says “thanks but it’s roxas and ventus” and I proceeded to get so mad that I was determined to prove to her that her wallpaper was just roxas twice and then I fell down the BBS rabbit hole and suddenly I was reading about vanitas and then I’m reading the fan translations of the BBS novel and I’m crying??? I am sobbing???? and that’s how I actually got into kh for real lol we are vanitas stans before we are people,

It’s so funny how I thought I was some kh super fan, knowing all this stuff that I spent so long reading and rewatching cutscene movies, but I never once, SOMEHOW NEVER ever came across khx. It’s so absurd and bizarre I seriously have no idea how I never once encountered khx prior to khux. I suppose that has to do with the fact I wasn’t involved in the fandom? In early high school I had stepped away from fandoms as a whole and I didn’t have any interest in really posting content or interacting with fans anymore bc of how burnt out I was from a previous fandom,

but khux released! and I was so hype and excited for it! on launch day I was a senior in high school, I had ran around to every “nerd” and weeb I could find in school to ask them to join my party and fun fact about me is I have crippling social anxiety I literally refuse to start conversations irl so holy shit I was OUT HERE doing the MOST

My player just originally had my name (Matt) but everyone in my party had fun names so Ryou was born! High school was one big yugioh phase for me and ryou bakura is one of my favorite characters ever so it was just the logical name choice lol I quickly started creating Ryou, the character, as well. I was also leaving my homestuck phase and that + vanitas obsession made This character design (art circa 2016)

If y’all are familiar with my kh oc’s you might notice that keyblade now belongs to my kid Monty LOL

Anyway that got scrapped quickly for the chip and dale outfit (which is where Ryou’s trademark goggles are from <3) Goggles have been a staple of my character designs for a LONG TIME so like, it had to be done, (that’s a separate ramble about a separate oc tho)

OG Ryou was an interesting guy; he was a young party leader with this overwhelming responsibility on his shoulders bc of his status as a party leader. In his original story, he also struggled heavily with darkness, much like Terra but for Ryou it was more that the darkness was controlling him and not like a source of power like it was for Terra

A big part of early Ryou I kept, however, was the crushing awareness of loss. One of my party members (the strongest one at the time,) had left without saying a word and I was very confused and hurt. This was around the time the ephemera plot was happening so I decided to incorporate it into Ryou’s story; having him experience losing a friend to darkness since it’s so normal for wielders in Daybreak Town to just disappear, and this would unintentionally become a theme for both me and Ryou as khux friends would just randomly disappear.

I was desperate for khux at this point and I decided to watch the fan translations for khx and GOD, god, was I obsessed. I couldn’t stop thinking about the foretellers. And I’m not going off about that here bc I already did that, but I actually started entering fandom again! I did it slowly, I started on tumblr before this blog was made altho it was me sending anons to the few khux related blogs I could have lol a friend convinced me to get twitter where I got involved with the ffxv fandom, which led me to the kh fandom and eventually the khux fandom there which is what REALLY got me going on khux.

I joined discord servers, most of the servers I’m in are khux related, and from there I joined the khux oc rp (shout out to anyone there who might be reading this lol here’s some art from the beginning of the rp,)

It’s SO FUNNY how the RP influenced me so heavily. I hadn’t RP’d in YEARS, I used to have a strict no oc rp policy, but here I was? And the funny part is, I had barely developed Ryou. I had scrapped his original story and all I had was POST WAR Ryou so I literally had to reverse write him; I had only ever written him as a depressed, guilt ridden adult, but it was a fucking blast and I have such fond memories of this rp when it was active,

But anyway, this encouraged me to get more serious about art! I started drawing, writing, cosplaying, and roleplaying when I hadn’t done any of that stuff in a very long time. The first time I ever drew a background was for a deviant art khux competition actually LOL

also! I always think extremely fondly of the drawing I did of Aced in the keyblade war. It was also one of the first backgrounds I ever drew and it felt like my real starting point in the khux fandom. It got a ton of notes on here and someone wrote a tiny fic in a reblog which just made me SO HAPPY like it really felt like people were noticing me :) I was going to draw a matching Ira but!! I just never did!! One day tho, it’s on my art bucket list to redraw this along with Ira,

Aside from my personal growth, khux was great for my social life ngl, I made SO MANY friends online and got to meet a ton of people irl over the years! It’s crazy to think about all the people I now know and talk to? It honestly makes me really emotional. I’ll never forget taking the train into NYC and meeting up with discord friends. Going to conventions and talking with people about the latest khux update? Absolutely insane and those were some GOOD TIMES, if I thanked every khux friend or even just person who made an impact on me then we’d be here for a LONG TIME,

Fun fact, for my Lauriam cosplay all I needed to buy was the wig I just owned his outfit LOL also? Probably retiring that cosplay ngl people treated me like absolute garbage when I wore him and it led to a lot of confidence issues for awhile ngl. That’s probably one of the only memorable negative experiences I have with khux; it was great when khux people recognized me but for kh fans that weren’t in khux? They were FUCKING MEAN??? fuck kh fandom at large, I only care about khux fandom,

This leads me to another huge part of my experience in khux fandom: THEORIES!! I used to write SO MANY and oh my god my brain was so full all the time. It was a huge appeal for me in the fandom; I had been previously writing theory posts in the RWBY fandom and it just migrated over to khux for me lol I had done a ton of theorizing around Lauriam tbh, it was really the only reason I liked his character at all bc initially I did not care about the dandelions, anyone who wasn’t Skuld I was like “please leave Now thanks”

A funny part of khux fandom I never intended to be apart of is the MEMES, I really only started doing memes as stress relief bc college had me so busy all I had time/energy for was these quick little shit post drawings.

The first meme I made, file name “invi despair” LOL we need to get her a girlfriend smh anyway, I think in my senior year of college I did a bunch of rapid fire memes all in one month bc the stress of finals was getting so bad afdgfhdgf as far as I know my impact on this fandom will be my memes bc all I do now is enter a kh/khux server and introduce myself and I go “yeah I draw art. here’s a meme” and everyone goes OH YOU, honestly I am nothing if not a clown

I’ve talked so much idk where I’m going with this. Khux is just a good game even if the gameplay actually kind of really sucks yknow lol but it was the first game I played where I like, REALLY got into the meta and the mechanics. I used to read so much on the mechanics and watch youtube videos on which medals were worth pulling for. I was never a whale or a top player exactly, but I could rank well if I tried lol I’ve made it to the top 100 for solo rankings, my party has made it to top 10, and in pvp I’ve made top 300. I’m not the highest level in my party but FUCK do I know how to manipulate this game LOL

And with all that hard work, the strategies, the theorizing, the content I’ve made-- it’s been my life for 5 years. I’ve logged into khux almost every single day. At the end, I have logged 1820 days in khux out of 1910 days. Kinda crazy. Crazier I’ve never spent money on khux either lol the only “money” gone into it was one time my mom gave me a google play store gift card and I used it on my birthday for a VIP xemnas medal which eventually made it to regular pulls anyway but it was nice and a little treat :)

I’m not a gacha fan, I don’t care for it, so I don’t think I’ll be touching another gacha again. But for kh? This was pretty fucking awesome, even if it sucked a lot sometimes LOL It was worth it for the people I’ve met most of all I think. I would honestly be a completely different person without khux and that’s REALLY insane to think about.

[isogenderskitty]

One-Shot Fic: Tied Together

Soon to be put on AO3 once my signup goes through but for now it lives here.

Fandom: Ace Attorney Ship: Narumitsu (AKA Wrightworth) Word count: 1,342 Genre: Fluff, getting together, inspired by a conversation on a Narumitsu Discord server. ♥ Warnings: None! Except that I haven’t written anything in approx. 100 years. jkzsdhf Summary: Phoenix isn’t very good at tying his tie neatly. Miles really, really wants to fix it, among other things.

When he gets over the initial shock of his childhood friend suddenly showing up across the courtroom from him, the first thing that Miles Edgeworth notices is inane, illogical, and confusing.

The man cannot tie a tie.

It’s not so bad that it’s not technically tied up, he reasons – a person with slightly lower standards than his own probably wouldn’t even notice – but it is loose and wonky, and could look so much better with a little help from a more deft hand.

It’s not an outright obsession; there are often much more pressing matters at hand, obviously, both professionally and personally. But in tiny moments throughout the years, something living in back of his mind taps him lightly on the shoulder with slowly increasing confidence to say Miles, you really want to reach out and fix that tie.

Every time it comes to him, the thought is accompanied by an increasingly tighter chest, faster pulse, and more detailed visions of what Wright’s face might look like that close. How he might look at him. Whether he would feel the same pounding and rushing and near loss of control that Miles does. What that meant.

He thinks about it during multiple post-trial celebrations, looking across a tightly populated dinner table with the buzz of alcohol consumption in the air, unable to hear anything anyone said for worrying amounts of time, and especially unable to look away from a triumphant and jubilant Wright, smiling enough for all of them.

He thinks about it hundreds, thousands, infinite times while away in Europe for that secret year, wondering if Wright still hadn’t learned how to tie a tie properly. As lonely months pass, that thought becomes less wistful and more riddled with guilt and anxiety.

When he returns home, the first time he sees him is in the Criminal Affairs department, a young girl in robes clutching his hand tightly. He’s never seen Wright look this dishevelled. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days and hasn’t changed out of his suit or showered in just as long. The tie is barely holding on. A selfish and stupid thought flickers through Miles’s mind, for just a moment: is this what happens when I leave?

How absurd, he thinks, shaking his head. Something else must be wrong.

When Wright is disbarred, Miles can’t get hold of him for weeks. He drops everything and rushes over when he finally hears from him. Two surprises meet him at the door, albeit one much bigger than the other; Wright has a daughter now, and there isn’t even a tie in sight to fix.

He finds himself taking a more active role in Phoenix’s life from then on; as a current friend rather than just an old one. Visiting often for game nights, or just to watch TV, or giving financial or personal aid. Some nights just talking, some just listening, most a mixture of both.

After about six months of this new, altered relationship, they develop a silent agreement. If they just so happen to be sitting adjacent on the sofa, and perhaps Trucy has gone to bed or fallen asleep with her head on Phoenix’s lap, and all is still and dark and quiet except for lights and sounds from the television, they enter a different state with a different set of laws.

Heads can lean on shoulders and against the napes of necks. Thumbs can brush softly over knuckles while the other fingers grip each other tight. Feet can gently kick and nudge each other on the floor, that or perhaps the TV eliciting chuckles that can be felt as rumbles against skin or as breaths in hair. Every moment of living in this warm space they create makes Miles’s heart burst aflame and crash violently against his rib cage, screaming to be set free… and yet, mysteriously, he always wants more of that destructive feeling. As years roll by like this, ties are long forgotten.

Until Phoenix gets his badge back.

Miles walks into the defendant lobby a few minutes before the trial is due to start, to wish his dear friend luck. He stops in his tracks when he sees him. Back in that familiar blue suit, but better. So many details that are already driving Miles insane. The hair, the chain, the waistcoat.

The tie. Even this new, more mature, somehow even handsomer version of Phoenix was hopeless.

Before he knows what he’s doing, Miles has already walked over to him and opened his mouth.

“Wright.”

A turn, a beaming smile that threatens to blind him, a slight crack in the voice that is echoed on the surface of Miles’s heart. “Oh, hey Edgeworth!”

“I… just wanted to bid you good luck.” He bows out of habit. Too formal, even for the public eye, he scolds himself as Phoenix’s face falls ever-so-slightly. The last thing he wants right now is for Phoenix to think he’s been demoted to Wright. That being a lawyer again means their previous, stiffer relationship has been reinstated along with his career. He panics slightly, not wanting that idea to take hold.

“Thanks.” It’d sound happy to anyone else, but Miles can hear the undercurrent of worry.

Again his body moves without his mind’s explicit consent and he’s reaching for Phoenix’s tie in the middle of the defendant lobby before he’s registered the impulse to do so. Phoenix squawks and goes stiff as a board and red as an apple but doesn’t quite get as far as moving away. “Edgeworth, what… “

“You never were any good at tying this thing. Hold still.” His own voice sounds much farther away than Phoenix’s. Miles distantly decides that if he’s going to exist in this insane dream state for a moment he might as well embrace it. He commits to memory the heat coming off Phoenix’s skin, the cheap feel of the tie, the way his knuckles brush against his neck and he thinks he feels the hint of a nervous gulp. The air in the room suddenly feels unbearably hot.

After he finishes finally fixing that godforsaken pink tie, he admires his work for a moment, and then dares to look up to Phoenix’s face. The actual proximity of his eyes shocks him mute. He feels a slight tremble in his fingers as he pulls them away from Phoenix’s lapel. The room doesn’t exist.

He spots Phoenix wet his lips quickly with his tongue, and speak:

“I love you.”

It’s not said as if it’s news, or as if it’s a dramatic declaration, just a simple statement. Like it’s a reminder of something he’s already said. In a way, Miles supposes he has, in ways other than with words, countless times. He supposes they both have.

Phoenix looks just as shocked as Miles feels. Miles can’t help but laugh a little, even in his stupor. Phoenix looks even more shaken at that.

Distantly, as if echoed through a valley, they become aware that the bailiff is standing a few paces away, awkwardly trying to get Phoenix to go into the courtroom. Miles steps back, clearing his throat. His finger catches on Phoenix’s newly reattached attorney’s badge for a moment, giving him a burst of pride that is somehow perceptible over the rest of his body screaming bloody murder.

“I-I should go,” Phoenix stammers.

Miles faintly registers just before Phoenix turns away that he shouldn’t leave this conversation at that bombshell; he doesn’t want him to think the feeling isn’t mutual - the one that tears him apart day and night. He takes a deep breath and replies perhaps a little too loud.

“I love you too. Call me after the trial?”

“Way ahead of you,” Phoenix breathes, chest heaving. The beaming smile is back and somehow even brighter. It seems to illuminate the entire courthouse in a radiant golden light. Miles weakly offers up an uncharacteristically erratic wave before Phoenix turns and disappears into the courtroom with a skip in his step. Miles makes a mental note to apologise profusely for the distraction if he loses the case.

[twilightvolt]

Well....that was one way to start a new decade, i guess. >  >’

Ok, from the death and destruction to the quarantine caused by viral disease to large parts of the world literally going up in flames, this year was like an ominous beginning that revealed the true ugly colors of everyone around us.

But there’s something telling me that that was just the universe releasing all of it’s built up rage from the last decade, so to think on the bright side, the only way to go is up now, right?

Regardless, pushing all the crap that happened this year aside, this feels like one of my best years yet in terms of art. i don’t think there’s any wedge of this clock that i wasn’t completely satisfied with and i had a TON of tough decisions on what to put in said wedges cuz i just luved almost everything i’ve created this year.

If you’re up to it, i’ll have my usual month to month reflection under the cutoff, but if you’re not, i hope to keep giving y’all even better art next year! ^  ^

So without further ado, let’s review!

January: ~ Days ~

Runner up: Team Solar Rises Again! (drawing in celebration of PMD finally returning with a remake of the first game)

Kicking off right where 2019 left off, i was hot on the heels of my Beastars phase, still cranking out countless drawings and doodles, mostly featuring Legoshi, and even hanging around the Beastars Amino and making some new friends there. this piece in particular i think encapsulates what i was mostly doing at the time, making up stories and stuff within canon to give myself more wolf boi content. which is something that i rarely do normally since i’ve mostly just done OC related writing before this.

February: - Sk8ter Wolf -

Runner up: Re:Hukaro (That thing i drew for Moon)

Ahh yes, the day i peaked with punk rock energy and created something in a highschool notebook sketch style. ngl, with the release of Beastars’ english dub on the way and the fandom quickly growing, i felt like i was on fire with the amount of stuff i was drawing. i felt so inspired and things can’t possibly go bad.

Or can it?

March: We Can Be Heroes

Runner up: One More Day, Emo Bird Boi Sketchies

Ahh yes, the month the worldwide quarantine started because they discovered the virus around this time. from this point onward, time pretty much meant absolutely nothing since i was stuck indoors for a majority of the year, only going out if i had to. on top of that, i tried a little attempt at a fandub and got picked on immediately by yahoos on Youtube. it...wasn’t fun.

I tried doing a little challenge i made up called Animarch where i drew a drawing representing anime i liked every day, but i only got about 5 days in i think? ehh, whatever. i did try, so that means something. lol

April: - ANOTHER SIDE -

Runner up: BEAST CROSSING ~Legoshi & Raymond

This was pretty much the final month i drew anything Beastars related as i slowly started shifting back to Pokemon due to the wait for season 2. but not before getting the new Animal Crossing and drawing a thing with Raymond and Legoshi that would blow up with hundreds of notes and interactions across every platform i posted it on. lmao

Regardless, i feel like Another Side was a perfect way to end that phase of my art journey. it’s like a nice finale to a long string of ideas that i will totally return to once season 2 drops next year.

May: - KOUJI -

Runner up: Fashion (that sketch of Alex and Jet in casual clothing)

What happened this month again? oh right, i went back to Digimon for a hot minute cuz i continued playing the copy of Cyber Sleuth Complete that i won from a giveaway on Twitter and created Alex and Jet, my latest Tamer and her Hawkmon partner. i should really do some more stuff with them.

ANYWAY,

June: - DOUBLE TROUBLE -

Runner up: “No Time to Waste! HENSHIN!” (AF attack against IonicIsaac on Twitter), Cafe Mix ~Ace, Yagami, Lance and Seliph

Art Fight. third year. and this time i kicked things up a notch and beat my old record from last year!...after uhh....cramming in 8 attacks at the very last night and totally going insane from the amount of sleep i lost. ^  ^’

But trust me when i say i will NOT do that again next year, i swear.

July: Squad Up

Runner up: Comin’ Out to Stun (Jet the Hawk sketches)

So after playing and beating PMDX, i started fleshing out Lance and Selpih’s characters and made more art and stories surrounding them and the rest of the team. one of those being a drawing for Mystery Dungeon Day, which happens the day after Odaiba Day. which is in August. why did i put this down for July then? some questions just don’t need to be answered.

August: - TOGETHER -

Runner up: In the Storm

You can tell by now just how uneventful life was this year cuz i have literally nothing else to talk about other than the art parts. no life issues, no big adventures like moving or something. just....indoor stuff.

It’s...kinda sad, now that i think about it. but hey, at least i was making the most of my time, trying new things and getting around a bit more.

September: Small World

Runner up: Rescue Together, PMD Forever!, Midnight Adventuring, Down Time

So this year, i turned 21, which a lotta people say is important. not really, if you can’t do much i guess. though, i did crank out a ton of art i’m super satisfied with as you can see by how hard it was to frickin’ pick one to use for this month’s wedge on the clock.

October: Feathers of the Shadows

Runner up: PAPERMOON - Final Mix - (not picked because it’s a touch up of an older drawing)

Hoo boi, this month was crazy. cuz i drew a whole lotta e d g e .....and a whole lotta Murkrow. lol

It was fun letting my inner edgelord out this month. even if nothing really significant happened in reality.

November: ~ One More Game ~

Runner up: UPokerap Project: Frogadier, - LEAF STORM -

This month....was actually kinda rough. it was basically me falling into a depressive episode after a scare at the dentist made me worry about my self image and insecurities again. but this time it really hit me just how much permanent damage i’ve done to myself in that aspect of my appearance. i know i shouldn’t worry so much, but it’s not great when people tell you to smile when the most i can do is grin since i’m just so....unhappy with my teeth.

But then around the end of the month, i stumbled upon a Pokemon themed Discord server with people that made me feel....not as alone as i suddenly felt i was. which i’m glad i could meet them even after only knowing them for a month now. if they’re reading this, i hope you know i’m thankful for raising my spirits when there’s still things i just can’t do due to financial issues.

December: Colors of the Heart  + Happy Holidays! ~Grovyle ver.

Runner up: ~ After the Battle ~ (the two part KHII anniversary drawing), - XIII -, Sketchmon: Buizel

And now this month. on top of my insecurities, i’ve now been struggling with my frustration with not being noticed as much as i should, watching as some people quickly climb up in following when i’m going much slower. honestly, i feel like the months when everything started lightening up for the world....was when things started falling apart for me. yeah, i know. pretty depressing way to end, huh? i hit 300 before the year ended thanks to the support from my new friends though, so i’m actually pretty happy.

But that doesn’t mean i’m not still scared of the future. i mean i have my teeth to worry about and also my wisdom teeth are coming in. so next few months...might be kinda rough.

Though, that’s not to say i didn’t soldier through it. this month i pushed myself, plowed through as many commissions as i could get to raise money for my new computer and made some of the best drawings that to me, feel like a great accomplishment. even if a couple of them weren’t as grandiose as some of my previous work. it was a big step forward for me as an artist. at least in my eyes.

And i have a feeling....that it can only get better from here.

[mcrmadness]

For the last ask game: ✨ 🌧 🍩 ⛅️ :D

Eyyyyy thanks!!! :D

✨- which fictional character (book, show, or movie) do you relate to most?

Hmmm. This is a very good question... I rarely find such characters and usually all I relate to still lack something that would make the experience perfect. For example I relate to Deadpool a lot because of his mental health stuff, medical trauma, talkativeness (actually it was because of him when I decided to stop caring and just started talking) and sense of humour, but then there's also lots of things that we don't have in common. Like the fact that he's a mercenary. I also often relate to outcast characters like Catwoman or Penguin from Batman universe but again, those are villains and often have killed people too...

So as I was thinking about this I think I'm gonna say Sherlock Holmes. He also fits all of those: book, show AND movie. I'm still in the middle of reading the novels but I'm enjoying them a lot; I love the Granada tv series (Jeremy Brett was the best Holmes, imho) and I also really like the movies with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes.

I think the biggest reason for why I relate to him the most is because he's canonically asexual and aromantic, altho those words have never been used in canon because those words did not exist back in late 1800s yet, but still Doyle wrote him as a "bachelor" who simply just enjoyed other things over relationships. (It's just insane that I can't find a more relatable aroace character when it's the freaking 2020 but have to go all the way back to the late 1800s to find someone with a great aroace "presentation".)

But just like Holmes, I also really enjoy challenging my brain and I love to "play a detective". Altho I'm actually a terrible detective because I want everything to be somewhat special and non-cliché so I easily miss any clues that are too normal. And I'm not even nearly as smart as him, but I kinda have the same egoism sometimes that I still like to think I'm smart when I'm actually not :D I also have been playing the SH games and omg I love those games! Sometimes they're driving me crazy tho because I'm so unpatient and just don't get something right away and then I look it up and feel myself stupid because it was again something obvious but I was just again trying to think too much outside the box.

I want to go back to the books for a moment: one thing I did notice from the stories is that now as I have read quite a many of those stories, I have learnt Doyle's way of telling stories. I am now able to notice when he does that where he starts to give in clues that will lead the reader to the wrong conclusions, and that way I can already guess the actual events of the story. It was actually pretty cool moment when I was reading this one story and suddenly realized that Doyle is doing it again, he's trying to lead the reader to the wrong direction on purpose and I didn't fall for that trap anymore. And ever since it's been like this with every story. I'm excited to see if his writing style changed or evolved from this and if he ever stopped doing that. But yeah, it was super fascinating experience to myself because I do that in real life too: I observe people a lot and I slowly start to understand how they are as persons and e.g. how their sense of humour works. For example, with new people I don't always catch their "prank" humour or sarcasm but after a while, I'm able to spot when they're only joking and won't fall for those jokes/pranks any longer, and sometimes can also join the jokes myself as well. I think that's also something that kinda reminds of of Holmes' character, at least he's really good at observing people and his surroundings - I do that all the time as well.

***

🌧️- favorite thing to do on rainy days?

The same things I do every day - sit inside spending quality time with my computer XD No but, if it's a rainy day in a pretty way, like a summer rain, then it sometimes like playing with my camera and try getting photos of the rain drops or something. And especially if the sun starts shining after the rain and often creates these super interesting looking lighting phenomenons like coloring the whole air with yellow etc.!

Today is actually a rainy day and I FINALLY planted some plants I've been meaning to plant for months.

***

🍩- current mood?

Well pretty okay, just tired because it's that time of the month again, and I even got myself to use the exercise bike because I noticed I've again reached a weight I have never reached before and I've been trying to get my weight to come down for years. But it just goes up the more I try to do things like exercise and nothing makes sense, ever.

I'm also feeling slightly hyped because of dä, my anxiety and stress levels are finally reducing a little and also my mouth doesn't feel too bad anymore so I don't have those sensory overloads 24/7 either. And I'm gonna play Valheim with friends later today again so I'm really looking forward to that :D

Oh and it's extremely windy outside and the sounds of wind piss me off every single time. I don't know what it is, probably misophonia, but it just makes me feel so angry when I hear that wind hitting the walls or so. Maybe I should do something that I can listen to music meanwhile so it will hide the sounds of that wind underneath...

***

⛅- what is your morning routine?

I wake up, (check Bademeister.com), get up, turn on the computer on my way to toilet, pee, brush my teeth... Usually I do that at my computer while browsing Discord servers and Tumblr etc. After I'm done brushing my teeth I often just spend time browsing the internet, I always check the same websites like my email and browse everything on Tumblr and it depends how much time that takes, sometimes a couple of hours.

So I then get myself breakfast either when I'm still browsing Tumblr (if I'm really hungry) or only after I'm done with browsing. I also always eat my breakfast either at my computer or in the living room as I watch tv. Can't just sit still in my kitchen doing nothing so I hardly ever eat there :D And when I have eaten my breakfast, then I make myself tea. I never eat anything with it but I just start and finish my tea after I'm done eating.

That's my morning routine. But bold of you that it's always a morning when this happens. Sometimes I eat my breakfast at 5pm, sometimes at 9am ::D

***

Ask game: Sweet and pure asks.

[darlingsdevil]

The Ballads of Rebirth (Arthur Morgan x Reader)

Chapter 13: Whispers of An Early Morning Traveler

Masterlist

A/N: Sorry for the weird hiatus, a lots happened since then. I also struggled to write this chapter, I don’t know why but I really wasn’t digging it at first.

I made a discord server for this crazy fic, I’m not expecting too many people to join, but if you want to join, it’s very much appreciated, even if you do just lurk :)

Discord

•••

Lee returned to your side after hanging up the phone. Once again he was stared at, all eyes on him. He was the only visitor, after all it was six in the morning. Two more hours and you should be awake, at least from the doctor’s estimate. They assumed you had passed out from exhaustion and blood loss, judging by your clothes and your feet, but still it was an estimate. There was no telling when you woke up.

You looked peaceful, despite being bruised and bloodied. It made his heart lurch.

He’d have to wait. Waiting was something Lee was good at, or rather, he had learned to be good at. This week had been beyond insane, only a few days before the wedding, you hadn’t even found a dress. The plan was a very simple wedding, married at the chapel in the woods, Lee inviting his close friends from childhood, and then a small party at the apartment. The honeymoon would be a trip to Chicago, as you’d always wanted to return to your home city. Lee wanted to see a sprawling city, larger than Richfield. But a wedding seemed so fruitless now, it was very possibly there would be no wedding and Lee would be left alone again. It seemed outlaws always weaseled their way into his life, and the outcome was never good.

What would he tell his father? His father probably already expected an old flame had returned. His father would die before he would get to see Lee married. The thought scared him, one day his father wouldn’t be here, and that day would be coming very quickly.

Arthur was there within minutes of his call, he looked tired too. It seemed like all three of them were.

His heavy footsteps knocked Lee out of his deep thought, Lee simply nodding to him.

Arthur looked vacant at the sight of you, sighing as he sat down next to Lee’s chair.

“When’d they find her?”

“Couple hours ago. I think, at least. Not too sure.”

“This whole mess..” Arthur trailed off, still staring at you with watchful eyes.

“I know.” Lee laughed dryly.

Silence ticked on. Coughs rung out through the building. Arthur looked around, grimacing at the sight of gaunt and pale faces.

“I looked like all these people a few months ago,” Arthur muttered.

“Surprised she was even able to be around me, I looked damn near like a skeleton.” He continued.

“She’s not like that.” Lee responded dimly, leaning back into his chair.

“You’re right.”

Lee was so damn tired, heaviness pulling on every part of his being. But he had to be there when you woke up.

“You know.. you know she used to cry over you?”

Arthur glanced at Lee.

“For the longest time I couldn’t figure it out, it would be small things, a mention of a journal, candy, anything. She’d tried to hide it, until one day I finally asked her. Felt like shit of course, but I had to know.”

“Even at night, when I moved in with her, she’d cry late at night, small sniffles when she thought I was sleeping. I’d wake up and feel so broken about it, maybe even a bit jealous. I wondered why she still cried over you.” Lee’s eyes were clouded with emotion. Dark, and glossy.

“I thought about her every night,” Arthur cleared his throat after a moment.

“I had no idea if she was alive or six feet under. But I couldn’t search for her - I couldn’t. I wasn’t well enough.”

“How’d you make it out alive?” Lee asked him.

“A friend of mine found me. Rushed me back to a native reservation, wasn’t even much of one at the time. An older woman there kept me alive. I like to think she was some sort of guardian sent to save me, and she did, and once her mission was done she died.” Arthur nodded, confessing his story.

“I’m sorry about all this.” Lee finally said.

“Me too.”

•••

Time passed slower while in hospitals, or perhaps waiting was what made it so unbearable. Nurses came and checked on you, but you were still out of it and only somewhat responsive. It seemed more so like you were sleeping, peaceful and with the occasional slight movement. That was a good sign at least.

When eight rolled around everyone was holding their breath, at least Lee was. His foot tapping on the floor restlessly. Arthur scribbled away in a black journal, eyes burrowed in thought.

Minutes ticked on, it was almost nine now. Lee was sure you’d never wake up then, but when you began to stir he changed his mind.

It started with a small flicker of your eyelashes, then a slight head move and then your arms. Lee watched you intently, his brown eyes gazing your body.

Your eyes slowly opened, and blinked a few more times.

“Oh thank god.” Lee said, rushing to your side. He kneeled next to your bed, holding your hand in his.

“Lee?” You asked him, still adjusting to the bright lights.

“I’m here. Shh.” Lee smiled with tears welling in his eyes. He didn’t care if he looked stupid and he sure as hell didn’t care about all the eyes watching him.

You tried to sit up but Lee lightly pushed you back down. Your head hurt like hell, and so did your arm.

“Arthur?” You said, looking off towards Arthur.

“I’m here, sweetheart.” Arthur smiled too.

“Don’t ever do that again.” Lee laughed through his tears. You nodded in response. Lee’s hands gingerly caressed your own.

“My head hurts.” You groaned.

“I know it does, sweetheart. You gotta pull through for us, okay?” Arthur responded.

Arthur felt like an intruder. Like he wasn’t supposed to see this reunion. He felt like a stranger even next to you.

Arthur desperately needed to talk to you, you would just have to listen.

He remembered the chocolate bar in his pocket then. A small tradition. Arthur pulled it out. He stared at it in his hands as Lee said something to you he couldn’t hear.

Then you spoke.

“You always did give me that brand.”

Arthur walked closer to your bed, handing the chocolate bar to your outstretched hand.

“Chocolate?” Lee asked.

“It’s an old tradition.. when Arthur first saved me he had a chocolate bar in his pocket. It was the only thing he had and I was starved, so I nearly gobbled it up. It’s been a tradition ever since then, every time I’ve been hurt he’s given me a candy bar.” You said, remembering the story.

“We got a girl over here, Dutch!” Arthur shouted. The entire place smelled of carnage, a smell Arthur had become acquainted with after joining Dutch.

You were wide eyed and cowering in the corner of the room, in nothing more than a dirty, torn white gown.

“I ain’t gonna hurt you, miss.” Arthur said, slowly walking towards you. He raised his hands up. You were silent, staring at him with fearful eyes.

Dutch and John entered the room and you flinched. Arthur motioned them to stand back, and they did.

Your bottom lip quivered as Arthur approached you, backing further into the wall.

“I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. What’s your name, miss?” Arthur asked you, stopping in place.

Your small voice gave him your name, flickering your eyes between John and Dutch.

“That’s a pretty name. My name is Arthur.” He smiled at you.

You stared at him with woeful eyes.

“Are the bad men gone?” You asked him quietly.

Arthur nodded. You ran up to him, pouncing from your corner. You wrapped your arms around him and wept. Arthur was hesitant, but slowly wrapped his arms around you.

“You’re safe.” He mumbled.

Once the men took everything they could, Arthur waited outside with you, finally free from your cage. You were gaunt, and looked like hell had ripped through you.

Arthur’s horse whinnied as you ran your hands over it’s silky head. It had been too long since you’ve seen a horse, or even been outside for that matter. Arthur wondered who you were or how you even ended up with that gang.

You were still shaking, despite the heat of the desert air.

“Are you hungry, miss?” Arthur asked you.

You nodded quickly. It had been days since they had fed you.

Arthur felt around in his pocket, feeling a rectangular object. He pulled it out, it was the chocolate bar he had been saving for later. Arthur learned he had quite the sweet tooth after joining Dutch, after all, he finally had money to buy chocolate.

He didn’t mind giving it to you, so he held it out. You eyed the chocolate bar suspiciously.

“It’s not poisoned.. or rotten?”

“No, no, not of that sort.” Arthur laughed.

You snatched the bar from his hands, you tore the package open and relished the sweet smell. You took a small bite, chewing slowly and then a giant one. And then another, and another.

“Woah! Slow down or you’ll make yourself sick.” He told you.

You moved the chocolate away from your face, giving him a grin. You had chocolate all over your face, but he was happy to see you smile.

•••

Lee still fretted over you, as you waited for the doctor to come treat you. You just wanted to tell him to back off, but you knew better than to yell at him, he was just worried. You ate your chocolate, wondering how in the hell you had gotten yourself into this whole mess.

The doctor was a middle aged man, with light hair and tired eyes.

“Glad to finally see you awake, Mrs. Rinascita.” He said, setting down his clipboard.

Arthur looked from you to Lee and scowled. Your last name was Morgan, not Rinascita

“Seems you gave your husband quite the scare,” He chuckled, pulling out a stethoscope. You laughed softly. He placed the stethoscope on your chest and listened.

“Can you tell me what happened, miss?” He spoke slowly.

You bit your bottom lip, a habit you had when nervous.

“I was attacked by a wolf. I made it out and ran for miles it seemed, before I collapsed on the main road.” You sighed, eyeing Lee’s stunned face.

“Do you have a headache of that sort, dizziness, perhaps?”

“I have a headache, but no dizziness.”

“I think you may be a little dehydrated, how long would you say you ran?”

“I ran for hours, then the wolf came and I ran for a while too.” You said, making sure to leave out the fact that you were running from the men Lee sent out after you.

The doctor nodded, picking up his clipboard and scribbling something down.

“Well, I think you may just be exhausted and dehydrated from all that running. We’ll make sure that wound doesn’t get infected, so after we do that you’ll be all good to go.” The doctor smiled.

“That’s good news, doc.” Lee sighed.

Arthur simply stood and watched, he was never fond of doctors anyways.

•••

Once the nurses reapplied your bandages and made sure to give you lots of water, they pulled you away from your boys for a private examination, after that they sent you on your merry way.Your face still felt swollen and a few of the scratches would surely leave a scar. You wondered if John would have laughed at you now.

Lee still had to head back to the police station to fill out the rest of the report, but for now all he wanted was to be with you. Arthur walked next to you as you traveled down the cobblestone streets of Richfield. Your feet were blistered, but you didn’t complain.

Everything still felt different, and while your expedition away from the men felt freeing, everything had still been changed. It changed the second Arthur stepped foot back into your life, back from the grave. The world felt like it had been split in two, and you were stuck in the middle.

When you arrived back at the general store, you felt relieved to see your home. It was old, rickety and worn, but it was home. Lee was home, and Arthur was too.

Lee held the door for you and Arthur as you walked in.

“So..” You trailed off, leaning against the counter, you held your elbow.

“So,” Lee continued.

Arthur looked at the both of you. He had to be alone with you, even for just a second.

“We need to talk. Just you and I, alone.” Arthur said to you. Lee nodded, biting the inside of his cheek. He walked away, to the stairwell, before walking up he looked at you once more as he reached the first step. Lee looked at you like he was begging you to make the right choice.

You sure as hell hoped you would.

•••

[pokenimagines]

NSFW Ball Guy x Reader: Back Room aka REGRET

I didn’t wish to write this. I really, really didn’t. We were chatting in Discord and it was all jokes and I wrote the beginning snippet. The people wanted more. So I provided. Yes...yes I do regret this. Read with caution. 

BTW if you want to join the insane discord server that wanted me to finish this: here’s a link! Enter if you dare. 

Warning: This is NSFW so if you’re under the legal age or uncomfortable with content like this, please skip over this one!

The trainer looked deep into the Ball Guy's eyes, breath hitching as they saw the giant, circular spheres of his mask. He was standing before them, seemingly hot and bothered, and the trainer suppressed the noise of surprise as he grabbed their wrist and pinned them up to the wall. He leaned over, whispering through there ear, "How about I go...balls deep in you."

The trainer hissed in surprise as he lifted them up and placed them on the table. Their mind spun as to how they got here. It all started with him giving them a love ball and soon escalated. Now they were in the backroom of the stadium, his hands on them. He felt up their skin, ever where he touched left a blazing trail behind. The trainer bit their lip while looking over at him.

"So that...Pokeball, you gave me?" The trainer said, a small, breathy moan while he gently tweaked their nipple, "Was it true?" They finally finished, and they heard the husky laugh that was muffled behind the mask.

"Do you want to find out?" He asked them, almost growling as the trainer melted into his touch.

"Oh, Arceus, yes." The trainer finally said. Ball guy just shifted them, hand slowly inching towards their shorts as he ripped them off. The trainer huffed, knowing that they'd be needing to replace when with how rough he was being. His hands grabbed onto their thighs, no doubt leaving a bruise.

"Wait…this is…" The trainer trailed off, blushing slightly, and the ball guy seemed to know precisely what they ere going to say. He gently massaged their hip while leaning a bit closer. They so desperately wanted him to rip off the mask so they could see his face but at the same time…the mystery was enticing.

"I'll be gentle, I promise." He said while his hand went over their head, applying a little bit of pressure and making them squirm a bit. It felt so different to have someone else touching them there. They sighed a bit while his hands went away, only for him to drop down on his knees.

He moved the mask upwards, to it was on top of his head and completely hiding his face from the trainer's view. They felt the hot air of his mouth fanning over them as he slowly ran his tongue across them. The trainer shivered in surprise while he got a single finger and began trailed over their entrance.

"Ball Guy, that feels so good." The trainer moaned, placing a hand on top of the round sphere that was his mask. It was smoother than they had anticipated.

Ball guy slowly began working them open so they wouldn't be so uncomfortable when he finally took them. The trainer kept letting breathy moans, covering their mouth so they wouldn't be caught. They kept reminding themselves that they were in a public building.

Finally, once Ball Guy deemed them ready, he put the mask back on and stood back up. The trainer was still sprawled on their back, shirt housed up a bit to expose their chest, while their pants and underwear were…well somewhere in the room.

They watched as the Ball Guy took himself out of his pants and swallowed the lump in their throat once they saw his size. They hadn't expected him to be so…thick. They briefly wondered if it would even fit inside of them. Ball Guy lifted their legs and put them over his shoulders, then took his cock into one hand and bobbed his head to the side.

"You ready?" The muffled voice came and the trainer could only nod as they watched him slowly insert himself. His hands went to their hips and the trainer grabbed into them, squeezing a bit as the new sensation took over. It wasn't exactly painful, but it wasn't anything they'd experienced before.

Finally, he was fully inserted, and he waited a moment for the trainer to get used to the sensation. It was silent, only the panting of the trainer could be hard before they finally nodded for him to move.

It was instant, the pleasurable feeling as he began thrusting his hips against theirs. The sounds of skin on skin were slowly filling the room, and the trainer bit down on their own hand so they wouldn't make too much noise. Their free hand was entwined with the Ball Guy as he kept up a steady rhythm. It was clear that he was holding back as to not hurt the trainer.

"Please, don't hold back for my sake…make me a mess, Ball Guy." The trainer finally said and he seemed to pause while thinking it over. They watched his Adam's Apple bob before his mask nodded. Soon he was pounding into them, taking his dick almost entirely out before rutting back in.

The trainer couldn't contain the noises anymore as they let out a chorus of breathing moans and small whimpers. The Ball Guy moved one of his hands and began stroking the trainer gently, helping them get to the edge a bit faster. The head of his mask was bobbing back and forth.

The trainer's vision went white as they came around him, their walls clenching, and he almost couldn't move with how tight they were. He let out a grunt while he tried to work them through it, but eventually had to pull out. Strings of cum cascaded across the trainer's stomach as the Ball Guy jacked himself off.

They stayed like that for a moment, just enjoying the aftermath, before a knock came from a door. A very awkward-sounding Bede's voice came from it, "Are you two…done. We kind of need this room." He said, almost regretting even knocking.

The trainer stared as Ball Guy, and he leaned over, "There's a secret exit to this gym through here, let me take you to it." He explained and the trainer felt relieved. Nobody had seen them come inside the building, so Bede didn't know who was behind the door. They'd like to keep it that way.

"Can we…do this again sometime?" The trainer finally mumbled, and they could almost see the smile forming under the mask of his.

"See you at the next gym.

[quietdaysco]

Primrose Path - Devlog #010

November was very productive! This month was NaNoWriMo, or “National Novel Writing Month”. This is typically a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel during November that a lot of writers and authors choose to do (with varying levels of success). All that creative energy definitely spurred us on this month with our own challenge!

Check out our progress report:

Main Game Progress

Writing

Common Route:

Rough Outline: 100% ✓

Revised Outline: 100% ✓

Draft Script: 50%

Word Count: 79,506

Scenes: 50* /100

*Scenes are counted when they are ready for internal review, qualifying them as complete for the first draft.

We’ve finished 20 scenes this month, which means we’ve completed 50 scenes for our first draft! We’re halfway done! That’s a total of nearly 80,000 words so far, and these numbers are only going to get bigger!

We haven't been without a small hiccups, but it looks like we’re slowly writing more and more each month. We’re eager to keep up that momentum.

Take a gander at some of our favourite unrevised snippets from this month: 

PRIYA: Morning, hotshot. PRIYA: Wow, you look like you woke up on the wrong side of life... PRIYA: ... then fell out of bed and onto two fists. One for each eye.

The tall blonde woman folds her cards and rises from her seat in a huff. SAMSON: (Chuckles) Clearly, you don't share your wife's sense of humour. She rolls her eyes, throwing her bag over her shoulder. AMANDA: Pipi, we're leaving. As she leaves, a small Pomeranian jumps off from Sam's lap and scurries behind her.

PRIYA: Are our readers interested in intimidating, towering thug dad vibes? MC: Are you? PRIYA: I watch hour-long videos of a buttery-voiced Russian narrating a tournament between elephant beetles in captivity. PRIYA: I am not the majority of our readers.

With her grasp firmly on me, I pull her out of the crowd. Her prim and proper appearance, a little more disheveled. MC: That wasn't so bad, right? LEIGH-ANNA: You're insane. MC: Y'know, people do say that.

If this is the kind of content you like to see, we’d love for you to jump into our Discord server! We occasionally share much longer unrevised excerpts and discuss the game in much more depth with our community.

Behind The Scenes

Concepts

This is a potential face concept for auto and tech CEO, Samson Opeyemi. We’re trying to work around a few face refs, so as well-rendered as this sketch may be, we’re eyeing a few other facial structures. 

Are you a fan of any of these? Let us know! We love to hear from you guys, and your support can have a direct influence on our design decisions. We want this to be something everyone enjoys.

Real Life

Coda’s been contracted for a sequential artist position with an animation and video game studio! Getting some industry-level experience on creating and managing production materials is nothing but a boon for the team going forward. She believes this will strengthen her composition and scene directing skills, which will help make Primrose Path and other projects going forward much more engaging.

A Short Break

The holidays are here, so we’ve decided we're gonna take it a little easier this month! Our next update will be at the end of January, as we settle down for the festive period and college finals. Self care is important to us, so we make a conscious decision to try and achieve a more balanced lifestyle. We're far from perfect, but we encourage everyone else to do the same.    We hope to see you in 2020 with some big changes! ♥

We’re focusing on monthly devlogs for our Tumblr, but we have to ask: Are there other kinds of content and updates you folks would like to see here? We want to know! Shoot us a message in our Ask the Devs inbox here on Tumblr, or hit us up on Twitter, Discord, and Lemma Soft!

Socials

• Micro-updates on Twitter!   ♦ Factoids with Greyson!  • Writing Progress on GitScrum! • Live art development on Twitch! • Art logging on Instagram! • Ask us anything here! • Continue the discussion on Discord! • Master thread on Lemma Soft!

[i-can-get-extra-with-my-ships]

A Slice Of My Love. Chapter 8. The One Where I Get Sent Downstairs And Em Gives You One Of The Stupidest Things She's Come Up With.

Hello, my children! If you saw the teaser then you know where this is going. I think writing about Virgil losing his sanity is making me lose mine. Anywho, it’s serious talk time.

Parings: Vilonso/Deathbread. (Oh god that felt weird to write. I’m normally the person who looks at people’s ocs, not the person who makes ocs.)

Tw: Heathers and Be More Chill references, cursing, a slight NSFW mention (if you’ve listened to the song More Than Survive you know what I’m getting at), bomb mention, the death/murder of the fourth wall, and Virgil being insane. (The norm for this book)

Ok here’s a new thing: I’m going to link the four songs that are mentioned/sang/used: 

I Am Damaged (from Heathers tw: explosions, suicide, and suicide mention): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlVxhg-HVCk 

Candy Store (from Heathers): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQOoTX1Nxx8

More Than Survive (from Be More Chill): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuOrwWdJFEs

Voices In My Head (from Be More Chill): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpaivDBwQs

(Both Be More Chill songs the original cast recording because I listened to like 6 lines of More Than Survive from the Broadway one and hated it. (Will Connolly is SOOO much better for Jeremy) Look at this!! I’ve only been into this show for two days (on the day of publishing this chapter) and I have incredibly strong opinions already!!! And Heathers is the world premiere cast recording because you can hate me later, I hate the West End version of Heathers. They used the HIGH SCHOOL replacement for Blue!! I can tangent more about how much I hate the West End version of Heathers and the Broadway version of BMC later if you so wish.)

Virgil’s POV

----

“Virgil, could you please go downstairs?” Patton asked me.

Well, good luck to princey. I think we just got Ramen murdered. Oops, I did it again. I played with your- Why are you like this? Why are either of you like this?

I let go of Roman’s hand and begrudgingly went downstairs. I want to know what they were saying. Actually, I think I can find out. 

Em, what are they talking about?

(Now is not the time for you to find out.)

You’re writing this chapter before you write what they’re saying, aren’t you?

(Umm… Maybe!! But I have notes!!!)

Ahh yes, the very “scientific notes” you have that are written in cursive, with the all caps too because you're just extra like that.

“FaLsEhOoD!!!!!!!!!”

I jumped at Logan’s screech. Jesus!! What was that for?

(Dunno, it was funny.)

You know what will be funny? Seeing how you work that into the next chapter.

(Virgil, Virgil, Virgil, I already know how I’m gonna add that to the story. I’m decently smart when I feel like it.)

I can just hear the angry readers. Like I said in chapter 2, there is no fourth wall for this cautionary tale. For my chapters at least. OH!! That’s a funny idea.

(To the tune of I am Damaged)

It is damaged. 

Far to damaged. 

The readers think it’s not beyond repair.

I’ll stick around here.

I won’t make things better.

Cause Em’s beat us fair and square.

Step away from the wall now.

Little further.

I know what this thing will do.

Hope you miss it.

Please don’t kiss it.

I don’t need to know that you worship it.

It won’t trade its life for yours.

(Virgil what are you doing?)

And once it disappears,

(I’m in love with the reference but I’m confused.)

There’ll be a mess down here.

(Why do you have a bomb?)

Say bye to the wall.

Say bye to the wall.

Say bye to the wall.

Say bye to the wall.

(*Snaps fingers* There’s no more wall.)

What the? Why did you take my bomb?

(This is why Roman is JD.)

It would’ve been fine.

(You were planning to throw a bomb at the fourth wall. How would that have ended well?)

Magic!

(Ok. Yeah. We’re done. I’m gonna go now. I’ll still be the present force giving you existence. But I’m done with you. Too much lack of basic intelligence here.)

Well, at least I can have a bomb again.

(Oh yeah! And no more bombs.)

Whatever. 

I was too busy talking with Em to notice Alonso on the counter again. It startled me. But now I had the perfect opportunity to talk to him without getting interrupted.

“How long have you been sitting there?”

He’d been staring at me since I came downstairs I think. He got off the counter and walked over to me. “Ehh. Not too long.”

You know what? He’s like really sketchy. We’re gonna question him to the ends of this Earth.

“How did you get here?”

“I just appeared.”

That’s a constructive answer. “No like the first time. I could’ve sworn that it was only me and Pat in the kitchen.”

“Yeah I kinda just appeared then too. Also, sweety stop slouching and your bangs!! Who the hell gave you permission to walk around with your hair like that?”

That’s who he reminded me of. The critic character from Thomas’ last video. I told Roman that the character was too similar to Remy, as the fans have dubbed the sleep character from Thomas’ shorts. Did he listen? No.

The fans didn’t care though. The love the critic. If I’m not mistaken this one discord server has dubbed him “Critic Anton Dice”. (Shout out to all my wonderful friends in the The Kinds Of Minds You’d Only Find In Hell discord server! Y’all are amazing!!!)

Still something else though. I can’t quite place my finger on it and it’s pissing me off.

That something else is why you think he’s hot. Not true. It is true. Remy pisses us off, the critic guy is an ass. It’s that something else. Both of you need to shut up or I’m yeeting myself out a goddamn window!!

That shut them both up.

“Yeah, I don’t give a fuck about my hair or posture. And not gonna lie, your ‘appearing’ is kinda creepy.”

He rolled his eyes at me and fixed my bangs. “Ugh! Fine if you won’t fix them yourself I’ll do it.”

He fussed over my hair for quite some time. Once he finished, he finally brought up the ‘just appearing thing’.

“Don’t you just appear?”

I took mild offense to that. See? We don’t think he’s hot. He’s just an ass. The something else is hot. Can you both just stop? The option to yeet me out a window is still on the table. Just saying.

Anyways. I took mild offense to that. “See that’s the thing.” You have no clue how badly I wanted to say ‘with you plastics’. Not the time tho. “I appear in a not creepy way. You just pop up on the counter and don’t make a sound. It’s kinda terrifying.”

He scoffed at me. “Does it look like I care?” I rolled my eyes. “Anyways, do you guys have any coffee?” He asked.

There we go there is the Remy. You’re not wrong. Ya know, it’s kinda nice to have the voices in your head get along for once. SHUT UP!! BESIDES, HE’S STARING!!! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET HIM COFFEE!!! GODDAMN!!! CALM THE FUCK DOWN!!! BOTH OF YOU!!!

I played of the incredibly pissed voices in my head like they were nothing and answered Alonso’s question. “Uhh, yeah we have coffee, but it’s like noon now.”

“Do I look like I care? This bitch needs his Starbucks.”

“We have coffee, not Starbucks.”

“Whatever, I just need caffeine.”

Huh. This guy really is Remy, isn’t he? Yeah, he is. I need coffee too so it’s a win-win.

I walked to the kitchen and started making coffee. While the coffee machine was doing coffee machine things, I was sitting on the counter. Alonso had started looking through the cabinets.

I cocked my head to the side messing up my recently “fixed” bangs.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for sugar. You got any?”

“Yeah. It’s in that cabinet.” I pointed out the one that should have the sugar. I have no clue if it does. He went to the cabinet that I had told him that the sugar should be in and started combing through it.

I stared at the coffee machine, waiting for it to finish. I had subconsciously started to drum my hands on the counter-top. “C-c-c-come on!! C-c-c-come on!! Go! Go! C-c-c-come on!! C-c-c-come on!! Go! Go!”

Ok. You have no right to judge me. I fricken love Be More Chill. I continued with the song. Slowly getting louder. “I’m waiting for my porno to load. My brain is gonna fricken explode.”

The coffee finished. I grabbed two mugs, still singing. Like I said, I fricken love Be More Chill. I’m not gonna sit there and only sing 4 lines of More Than Survive. Also, the next part of the song fits. 

“And now, of course, it’s time to hit the road.” I poured some coffee into the mugs “Which means I’ll be uncomfortable all day, but that really isn’t such a change. If I'm not feeling weird or super strange, my life would be in utter disarray. 'Cause freaking out is my okay.” 

If Jeremy Heere isn’t me than I have no clue what is. “Good morning time to start the day.”

“But it’s noon.”

I jumped at the voice. I may or may not have forgotten that Alsonso was still there. I attempted to recover from the very obvious fact that I’d forgotten about his existence.

“It’s called Be More Chill. Have you ever heard of it?”

He had found the sugar and it was sitting on the table. I brought over the two coffee mugs.

He scoffed. “Of course I’ve heard of Be More Chill!! What rock do you assume I’m living under??”

Extra bitch. You’re not wrong though.

Me, being the idiot I am, actually, I’m not an idiot. This rather creepy man is. You don’t just interrupt someone jamming out to a Be More Chill song like that. 

“So why did you interrupt me?”

He gave me this look of judgment. But judgment and something I couldn’t read. 

What is it with you and not being able to read things today? First the something else and now this?

Yet another way I relate to Jeremy Heere. I could feel myself zoning out again.

“And there are voices in my head. So many voices in my head. And they can yell and hurt like hell, but I know that I'll be fine. I still have voices in my head. Yeah, there are voices in my head. Of the voices in my head, the loudest one is mine!” I had started singing again. “Loudest one is mine! Loudest one is mine!”

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Roman walking downstairs and screaming “C-C-C-COME ON!! C-C-C-COME ON!! LET’S GO!!!”

One thing that y’all need to know about being best fucken friends with Roman: He will randomly start screeching lyrics from random musical theater/Disney songs at random times.

In that moment, I was singing Voices In My Head. This added the idea/impulse (you never know with Roman) to his brain to either join in at some random part or jump in once I had stopped, even if that meant restarting the song. We don’t care.

Yes, we. 

Roman doesn’t give a fuck. 

I don’t have any fucks to give.

Anywho, I joined him. “C-C-C-COME ON!! C-C-C-COME ON!! LET’S GO!!!”

I heard Logan groan behind him. “OH MY GOD!! BOTH OF YOU NEED TO SHUT UP!!!!”

I locked eyes with Roman to make sure that we were in sync for the plan that was forming in our heads.

I stood up. Roman steamed “SHUT UP HEATHER!!!!” I very over dramatically fell on the floor. Roman then began to sing the Candy Store riff. I quickly stood up and sang “TIME FOR YOU TO PROVE YOU’RE NOT A LAME ASS ANYMORE!!!” 

We both came in for the end. “AND STEP INTO MY CANDY STORE!!! IT’S MY CANDY STORE, IT’S MY CANDY!!!! IT’S MY CANDY STORE, IT’S MY CANDY!!!! IT’S MY CANDY STORE, IT’S MY CANDY SOOOORE!!!!!!”

We looked at Patton and Lo-, well, he had gone upstairs again. So we looked at Pat. He looked like he was about to flip his lid. 

I mean, Pat had never been one for Heathers, or BMC, because of the death, murder, sex, cursing, drinking, and drugs/smoking in the shows. It’s sad though!!! All of the good shows are the ones that aren’t 100% kid-friendly!!

I looked back at Roman. We began to laugh hysterically.

I realized that Alonso wasn’t there anymore. Like anywhere. 

But I didn’t care. 

Right now wasn’t about Alonso. 

Right now was about me being a theater geek with my best friend.

----

Y’all can judge me later for all of the BMC and Heathers references!!! Heathers is Virgil’s favorite and then BMC. Fight me.

I would say that this chapter is the longest, but it’s only because of my theater tangent (which is a half a page long on google docs) in the first A/N. (The chapter is 5 pages on Google Docs)

Oof. Umm. I don’t like this chapter very much. Well, not as much as the others. I like it more than other chapters, but I still don’t like it. But not enough dislike to rewrite it.

Also, I failed my own goal. I WANTED to make this chapter post 666 on @i-can-get-extra-with-my-ships, but it’s post 695. *Sad author/theater geek/prinxietea trash goblin noises* 

But I guess that this is my birthday present to myself? I’m posting this on chapter on September 22. My birthday is September 23. Ehh. Good enough.

----

Ok, so before this gets really confusing:

This is the main voice inside Virgil’s head.

This is the other voice in Virgil’s head.

This is the two voices together.

(This is me, the author, Em, talking to Virgil, adding a random A/N in the middle of the chapter, or just establishing something like a stage direction almost. Ex. (To the tune of I Am Damaged) in this chapter. The difference between this one and the one above it is the parentheses.)

----

The now almost 13-year-old “author” (that isn't really an author),

                            Em

(P.s with the sign-off and this part, the chapter is now just barely over 5 pages long on google docs. I need to cool it with the A/Ns. No one cares/reads the A/N. Why do I tell you guys this random crap?)

----

Taglist (I need to be informed if you’d like to get added, preferably through DMs or the inbox so I can make sure you get added): @winterswishing-reblogs @just-some-gt-trash @thetomorrowshow @iixclementine @an-existing-leah @elatedgiff