#the voices keep giving me ideas for new fanart

[millspyxis]

@thisnameisnotspokenfor your wish is my command🫡

here is the asha fanart ive been working on (plus my inspo hehe)

I STARTED THIS THE DAY THAT YOU POSTED THE CONCEPT ART FOR HER DATE DRESS SO THIS DOESN'T TOTALLY MATCH WHAT HAPPENS IN THE CHAPTER i just really like sunsets :3

if only their "appointment" hadn't been interrupted by those people...😔

teeny cepheus (he's ready to commit some crimes for asha)

[dreamcatcheratdawn]

Luffy x mermaid reader please

I'm so happy to see this I've set the story as the Fishman Island arc, for an equally obvious reason. In advance, I hope you enjoy the story ( ꈍᴗꈍ). And, I don't know who made this amazing fanart one, but if you do, please let me know immediately so that I can give due credit.

"Like Ocean"

Luffy x Fem!Reader

Warning: nothing, just fluffy.

You were living another monotonous day on Fish Man Island, trying to find any crumb or spark of adventure to give you a good laugh and a bit of adrenaline. Pappag and Camie tried to cheer you up with the idea of shopping and eating Hachi's takoyakis, but you had done the same thing three days ago.

It wasn't a certainty, it was a pure fact that nothing interesting was happening on this island for you. Until you, exhausted by boredom, went to Camie's house to see if she had any news. And that was a great idea, a really great idea.

As soon as you entered her house after a couple of knocks, you saw that there were three people and a strange being, apparently new to the area. On closer inspection, there was a blond man with elegant hair, who, as soon as he saw you, came running towards you, blood gushing from his nose. Speaking of noses, there was a big-nosed man next to a boy in a straw hat. But none of them interested you. What really caught your attention was the tiny creature that you had no idea what animal it was.

-Is that even an animal? - you asked yourself, your thoughts speaking aloud as you deliberately poked at the creature's antlers.

-I'm a reindeer! - the reindeer exclaimed, backing away from you angrily, covering its antlers with its fluffy paws.

-Y/N, I want you to meet my friends. This is Sanji," Camie approached you, pointing at the blond with the heart eyes.

-Oh, miss, I've never seen beauty as fascinating as yours. When can we get married? - the blond in question asked, kneeling down in front of you and holding out his hand to you.

Camie just laughed, ignoring the whole show, while you followed his finger-pointing.

-That's Chopper over there, isn't he cute? - you went over to the so-called Chopper, pulling his cheeks and feeling his soft fur.

-So cute… - you blushed, pulling Chopper into a hug, to which he responded not very pleasantly.

-That's Ussop, he's got great adventure stories. - the word "adventure" rang an alarm bell in your head, making you turn your head so quickly that anyone watching would be afraid you'd break your neck.

-Ho ho, people keep coming after the great Captain Ussop to hear his fantastic stories. - Ussop struck a superhero pose, as if he were looking towards the horizon.

-Captain Ussop, can you tell me about your adventures? - you asked, hoping to get a positive response from the big nose.

-Oh, but of course, I'll always be available to tell you all sorts of stories about my adventures! - he thickened his voice, nodding outrageously to say the least.

You were delighted, excitement electrifying every part of your body.

-Finally, this is Luffy, the captain of the gang. - Camie concluded, pointing to the boy who was looking at you, grinning from ear to ear.

On closer inspection, you found the brunette attractive, not to mention handsome, right off the bat.

-And I'm going to be king of the pirates! - Luffy concluded, his smile widening, his eyes closed tightly, making him cuter by the second. "So they're pirates," you concluded, thinking. Incredibly, that line moved you, burned you up inside, but you didn't know why or how. It was the first time you'd felt your heart beat so fast in so long. Oh, and that wasn't adrenaline. It wasn't the fear of being caught. It wasn't any of those things. It was something different, quite different from the usual. And from that moment on you silently decreed that you would find out what that strange feeling was, your eyes focused only on Luffy, who never tired of smiling at you.

-Nice to meet you - you smiled, Chopper kicking you in the face begging you to let go while sparks flew from his eyes from staring at Luffy.

-Hihihihi - Luffy just found the situation amusing, always smiling as long as he could.

-What about walking around? There's a lot of cool stuff you need to see! - Camie decreed, already tugging at her colleagues' hands, you going along out of sheer instinct for fun.

You all visited Pappag's clothing store, and you even met other members of Luffy's gang, who were just as kind. As you looked around, Luffy made a point of always catching your eye in any way, with anything. From some stuffed animal that, according to him, looked like you, to how the food was prepared, and even though you knew all this, you lent yourself to learning it all over again, just for Luffy.

-Look, it suits you. - Luffy came up behind you, putting on a straw hat with a purple scarf adorning the hat. - Now we're matching - he said, standing behind you and putting his hands on your shoulders, smiling as you looked at yourselves in the mirror in front of you. - Isn't it?

You agreed slowly, fascinated by Luffy's pure beauty. And it didn't stop there. Everywhere you went, Luffy always kept those warm hands on your shoulders, clinging to you like a tick. Did he… Liked you? Or was it just a figment of your mind?

After a whirlwind of confusion that you unfortunately didn't take part in because you were "investigating" the sudden disappearance of your mermaid friends, you were directed by your pet seahorse to where Camie and the others were.

Your eyes popped out of their sockets at the sight of a giant mermaid, or rather, the princess of the Ryugu Kingdom, Shirahoshi.

She and Luffy were laughing together, like old friends seeing each other after so long. That unsettled you, and strangely your heart squeezed. What could it be? Were you ill? Something you ate or drank for breakfast?

-Oi, Y/N, over here! - Luffy's voice caught your attention, making your heart pound. It made you recall a vague memory of something Pappag told you.

"If your heart races when you interact with someone, it's because you like them."

Of course, you were inexperienced in this field, you'd never even considered dating. But you didn't give up easily. Oh no, you'd figure it out on your own.

Swimming over to Luffy quickly, you sat there, next to him. He was in a bubble to make sure he didn't drown, and quickly slung his arms over your shoulders, resting right there. He introduced you to the princess, to whom she was delighted to meet you, and you felt the same.

Looking around, you saw that you were in the sea forest, and it soon became clear that both Luffy's boat was there, and also the princess wanted to see her dead mother, to make up for the time she hadn't been able to see her.

Meanwhile, Luffy was already snoring on her lap. It was adorable to see him so vulnerable around you. Until his pet seahorse started to catch his eye, heading towards the pile of coral.

-What is it, Koryu? - you asked him, watching him point frantically at the pile of coral.

Koryu gave up and started pulling you towards it, waking Luffy up in the process. Koryu only let go of your arm when you could see a dolphin calf with its tail all bruised to the point where it could no longer swim. Perhaps the dolphin had run into predators and narrowly escaped.

You carefully picked up the dolphin and put it on your lap, and thought of a way to take care of it. You were so caught up in your thoughts that you didn't even see Luffy coming.

-Huh, a dolphin? - he asked, right next to your ear. You turned abruptly, so that your faces were right next to each other. Your lips were millimeters away from meeting, and your breaths danced together. Let's pretend there isn't a bubble separating you. You turned your attention to the dolphin, your heart almost bursting out of your mouth and your face turning into a blushing mess.

-A-ah, yes it's a…dolphin. He's hurt, so he needs to be looked after.

There was a moment of silent tension between you, and you wouldn't dare look at Luffy's face now, you felt like you could die from an attack if you did.

-If you keep avoiding looking at me like that, you'll never know if you really like me. - Luffy said, catching your eye. You widened your eyes, and turned to him, shocked.

-How did you know? - you asked, your stomach churning with that familiar feeling.

-Well, it's easy to tell when you keep saying your thoughts out loud. - he shrugged, smiling.

You closed your mouth, cursing internally. That was your weakest point, speaking your thoughts out loud without even realizing it. You must have done it at some point when the two of you were together and he must have heard it. Lucky you.

-Well, I like you. - Luffy said without blinking, giving you a quick kiss right after he declared himself.

It caught you off guard, and he just smiled, leaving the pile of coral and going back to where the others were. After your brain short-circuited for a few seconds, you smiled, bringing your fingers to your lips, where seconds ago they were being kissed by the first boy you ever liked.

Feeling his lips was the thing that gave you the most adrenaline in your entire life. And yes, it was addictive. And yes, you wanted more.

The truth is, Luffy, from the first moment he met you, he liked you. No, that's incorrect. He fell in love with you from the very first moment. Of course, he didn't know the first thing about love, God, hours ago he just wanted to be king of the pirates. Now he has another goal, and that goal is to love you until the day he die.

(At some point I was even going to describe the color of the tail, but I left it to your imagination)

[freesia-writes]

Chapter 3: Boys at the Bar

Enjoy an immersive, warm and fuzzy tale of romance, suspense, adventure, and self-discovery as Hunter finds his path after the events of TBB. Banner and dividers by @pinkiemme ~ Master List here ~ Previous Chapter

Chapter 3 - Word Count: 2.2k

The motley assortment of local tree nuts and shells in the decorative wind chimes swung back and forth contentedly in the breeze, brushing up against the wooden poles that held them up. Their gentle sounds were lost to the wind and the waves, which provided a calming backdrop to the happy atmosphere of the tiki bar. It was the only establishment that was actually down on the beach, brightening the shoreline with its thatched roof and colorful lights that stretched from the covered L-shaped bar counter out across the outdoor seating, which sat on low, carpeted decks. 

Considered to be the proverbial living room of Xylo, it was frequented by locals from every walk of life and provided some entertainment in the form of karaoke nights, card game tournaments, and other random ideas. A creative assortment of island drinks was offered in addition to a fairly impressive menu of food, allowing it to be a restaurant for families to enjoy before it turned into a slightly more raucous adult lounge in the evenings. 

Crosshair shifted on his stool, angling his back toward the pillar behind his seat and taking in the activity around him. There were some new faces, so it was only fair that they receive an unflinching assessment to determine how much future observation they would require. His sharp eyes followed their interactions and demeanors, and a certain dynamic had piqued his interest enough to distract him from the bartender’s arrival at his elbow. 

“You’re gonna scare em away if you keep glaring, Silver,” came a bright voice that snapped him out of his scrutiny. His hair had grown out a bit during their months on Xylo, earning him a nickname from Luciana, the bubbly, outgoing bartender who seemed to know everything and everyone.

“So what?” he answered, not taking his eyes from the targets.

“Soooooo that means I don’t get tips. Now cut it out,” she poked, grasping his forearm and giving it a playful shake. “Unless you’re gonna cover what they’d be paying…”

“What’s this?” Hunter asked, sliding into the seat next to his brother. “Crosshair’s paying other people’s tabs? What did you put in his drink?” 

“Hunter!” she huffed, her voice sugar and spice as she flashed a coy look of shock and affront in his direction. “I would never!”

“You would in a heartbeat,” Crosshair said dryly, finally turning back to the conversation behind him. “Don’t pretend like you’re some angel, Luciana.” 

“Oh, sweetie, we know that’s not the case,” she countered, leaning on the bar with her elbows close enough to give her shapely bosom a little boost. “But you’re still too chicken to find out.” She finished with a wink and an open-mouthed smile before being called to the other end of the bar, holding up a finger to Hunter and giving it a little waggle before darting off. 

“Your partner’s not gonna like that,” Hunter remarked, shoving Crosshair’s elbow with his as they rested near each other on the counter. “What was their name? Farkel? Faryl?”

“Doesn’t matter; they’re gone,” came the hissed reply, a surprise to no one. 

“Hm,” was Hunter’s equally unhelpful response, unsure of how to proceed. 

“Apparently there’s such a thing as too much similarity,” Crosshair explained, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

“I can’t imagine. Two of you? You’re telling me that wouldn’t be a cruise in a hyperspace lane?” 

The vulgarity of Crosshair’s retort was lost in Luciana’s return as she flounced back to stand before them, spreading her hands to either side and resting them on the wooden countertop. 

QUICK BREAK FOR FANART BY @clownbloody!!

.

“Alright Xyrgio, what’ll it be tonight?” she crooned, tilting her head at Hunter. She’d immediately informed him upon his first visit to the bar that he reminded her of an action holo star that she’d “always had the hots for”, and he’d been given the name from then on. It seemed mostly harmless, at least until Hunter had been put on the spot to explain it to Omega over an afternoon snack of porg tenders one day. 

“Eh, I don’t know,” Hunter said, rubbing his forehead. 

“It’s cute that you think that,” Luciana answered, hands already moving across bottles to mix a dry concoction that Hunter had come to enjoy. “You can keep believing you’re gonna branch out one of these days, but until then, it’s the Luci special for you.” She squeezed a bright purple wedge of fruit into the top before dropping the rest of it into the drink, stirring it with a long spoon that she licked when finished, catching Hunter’s eye with a coy grin.

“The Lucy Special? That’s what this is called now?” he said absently.

“Luci with an “i”, baby. Don’t you forget it,” she echoed, pushing it toward him with a flourish. “Aha! I was wondering where the other boys were! Glad you didn’t miss the Grand Re-Opening!” Her announcement was met with the arrival of Tech and Wrecker, and amid the greetings, Hunter noticed Crosshair glancing behind them for any sign of Echo, who was unexpectedly absent. 

It warmed his heart that the sniper was allowing himself to be somewhat a part of the family again; he had been slow to abandon the deep regrets he held that made him feel unworthy, but the unconditional love from Omega and overwhelming love from his family at having him back had allowed him to find some semblance of peace. While their slow settlement into island life had its ups and downs, his gratitude for their safety was foundational. Crosshair still maintained a regular facade of disdain and snark, but there was an undeniable undercurrent of warmth beneath it all.

“Couldn’t miss the new freshers, haha! And I nearly built an entire house today!” Wrecker exclaimed, plopping jovially onto a stool next to Crosshair. Tech opted to stand, leaning on the counter and nearly disappearing behind the hulking mass of his brother.

“Considering the amount of time required for many of the construction materials used on this particular island to set and remain solid, that is actually somewhat worrisome.”

“Oh shove it, Tech. You’re just jealous. Besides, what are you doing these days anyway?” Wrecker returned.

“Leeching off his pirate girlfriend so he can read all day,” Crosshair muttered, startled by Luci’s bright laugh as she slid a large mug of beer toward Wrecker and popped open a can of seltzer water for Tech. 

“I am most certainly not–” 

“Heyyyy, be nice!” Luci interjected, cutting off Tech’s heated retort. “Genius here is going to revolutionize the entire island after he learns everything about it!” Crosshair’s groan was also interrupted by her continuing, “Don’t listen to him, Tech.” She turned to face him now, tracing light fingers across the back of his hand, which he clenched and pulled away. Unfazed, she gave him a confident nod and a brilliant smile. “You’re doing us all a favor, I’m sure.”

“Thank you, Luciana,” Tech said pertly, pointedly not meeting her eyes. “Although I do not believe this island is in need of a revolution. I merely hope to apply my brilliance to various procedures and practices with the intention of improving life for the residents as much as possible.”

“Gotta do something with all that brilliance, babe,” Luci affirmed, tapping the counter before disappearing to deliver some food to a table. 

“Look out, Tech,” Crosshair said bitterly, and Hunter wondered for a moment if he were jealous of the attention channeled toward his brother. “Phee’s not going to like that one bit.” 

“I see no reason for Phee to find any issue with the particular manifestations of a random individual’s personality.”

“We’ll see how she feels when I tell her,” the sniper jabbed, reveling in the clear discomfort belied by Tech’s sudden shift in position. 

“Cut it out, Cross,” Wrecker said, stuffing his face with a basket of roasted potato wedges that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. His ability to procure food in any situation was a regular marvel to the rest. “Hey, how’s Omega’s trip goin?”

“Sounds good so far,” Hunter answered. “She’ll be back the day after tomorrow. Nothing much to report otherwise.” 

The rest of the night progressed with idle chatter and a variety of plates they shared between them, and finally ended as the sea breeze began to prickle their skin with a hint of cold. The sun was sinking low in the sky, earlier and earlier each day as the planet’s cooler months approached. Xylo shared a 24-hour rotational schedule with Core Worlds like Coruscant, but it took 404 days to travel around its star. The winter came with increased rainfall, strong winds, and a biting chill to the air that invited cozy sweaters and roaring fireplaces as joyful additions to daily life. It also meant that people retired to their homes earlier, driven indoors by their acclimation to warmth and distaste for anything less than the balmy comfort of the other months of the year.

With a round of mumbled goodbyes after settling the bar tab with Luci, the clones dispersed. Hunter hung back for a moment, taking a little stroll toward the edge of the beach, mesmerized by the gentle glow of the two moons reflecting off the surface of the waves. His thoughts drifted from the tasks that awaited him in the butcher shop to a general wondering about Omega and her experiences on the other island. Sometimes it was hard to keep the nightmares at bay, and he had to consciously remind himself that everything had turned out alright despite the harrowing paths they’d had to take to get there.

Suddenly becoming aware of an approaching presence, he turned to see Luci venturing out from behind the bar, her black half-apron tied around her small waist, which was bare for a few inches beneath a tight white shirt that left little to the imagination. Her cutoff jean shorts were hidden behind the apron’s pockets, where she’d tucked her hands as she came to stand beside Hunter, hugging her elbows into her sides against the chilly breeze.

“You miss your girl?” she asked, a quick side glance at his face checking his response before she returned her gaze to the rolling waves of the sea. 

“Eh, I guess you could say that,” Hunter admitted, a jolt running through his body as she nestled against his side, her bare arm brushing the fabric of his shirt. “It’s just different without her around.”

“I know,” Luci agreed, her voice soft and unguarded. “She’s so sweet. You’re such a good daddy.” Her rich green eyes found his as he looked at her in surprise, balking at her choice in words.

“I’m not a daddy,” he laughed, wrinkling his nose and shaking his head. Something about that word rankled. His stance beside her was stiff; he didn’t want to pull away but wasn’t entirely comfortable either. “We just all watch out for each other. That’s how it’s always been.” 

“Daddy, brother, friend, whatever…” she conceded, “You care for her, and for the others. And you do it so well. It’s just really admirable.” Her tone was warm, her affection plain in a way that allowed him to feel his guard lowering a little. Hunter shifted on his feet, and she took the opportunity to lean into him a tiny bit more. “Thanks for hiding me from the wind for a minute, too,” she explained, her red hair waving in the breeze. “It’s gonna be a busy night; I just needed a break. Or maybe a new job.” Luci giggled, pushing her curls back in a futile attempt to contain them momentarily. 

“Got something else in mind?” Hunter asked nonchalantly, his inquiry met with a shrug of her shoulders against his side. 

“Always,” she said quietly, eyes brightening as she considered the moons, coming ever closer with the shift in season. “I love trying new things. There’s always adventure to be had. New places, new foods, new jobs, new people…” She fell quiet for a moment, her tone turning almost wistful before vanishing with the next crash of a wave on the shore. “But I’m starting to like it here more and more,” she purred, looking up at Hunter to give him a playful wink. 

“Luciana! We’re dying of thirst over here!” came a holler from the colorful bar, and she rolled her eyes in mock fatigue. “I guess it’s time to get back,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself as she pulled away from Hunter. “I’ll see you around!” He found himself watching the sway of her hips as she walked gracefully back to the carpeted decks of the restaurant, noticing a funny sensation in his stomach along with a mild frustration at his inability to read her fully. She seemed to be someone who very much wore her heart on her sleeve – she didn’t hold back her thoughts and opinions, and she had a zest for life that invited others to join in. But he couldn’t tell if her interest in him was anything different from the flirty way she enjoyed everyone who crossed her path. He supposed it didn’t matter much, attempting to shrug it off as he made his way to the empty house, but the nagging thought remained – just how much could he have a “normal” life?

Previous Chapter ~~ Master List ~~ Next Chapter

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[oreoov]

☆ - 𝐗𝐈𝐀𝐎 𝐀𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐂 '𝐒 . .ᐟ

xiao x gn!reader ♡

wc ; 824 / fluff & angst (kazuha ver)

honestly he would be pretty shocked when you confessed to him , i mean you???? love him???

(yes you had to confess first cuz hes too much of a pussy to say it himself)

very shy when you guys started dating , he doesn't know how to act at all !!

i mean how could he not stutter when your pretty self keeps saying he's all cute and dat

hes super thankful if you make him almond tofu , and would probably share some with you ( he would never share with anyone else , only you)

when you're around he always follows you around like a lost puppy !

very jealous :(

when you're around some guy or laughing with him he definitely gets jealous (especially if the dude is rlly tall or something)

its not like you're not allowed to talk with him its just that he gets so insecure and starts doubting his skills as a lover :((((

the way he communicates and makes you laugh so easily just destroyed his self confidence

he literally has a notebook filled with ideas of different topics to talk you with , and he doesn't know what to do when he runs out of ideas lol

and when he gets jealous he probably avoided you , and when you confronted him about it he felt even more guilty cuz u didn't even do anything wrong :(

ofc he trusts you but his insecurities just get the better of him

often thinks that maybe you're just better off with someone else rather than someone like him :/

he often thinks he doesn't deserve you

reassuring him that you only want and love him definitely calms him down , but probably starts doing the same thing again after a while

so make sure you reassure him a lot once in a while !!

he wants to hug you , but hes scared hes gonna make you feel uncomfortable or anything

so when you hug him first he definitely got rlly flustered but now he wants to do it again and again

and when you kissed him for the first time , he literally just stared at you when you pulled away. like what is he supposed to say now ??? all this is just so new to him

but he definitely enjoyed it and wouldn't mind if you did it again hehe

when he feels like you aren't talking to him as much as you usually do , he definitely overthinks about it and thought he did something wrong to upset you :(

after some thinking he finally decided to text you "r u mad at me?" or "did i do something wrong?"

in reality you were just busy and had to explain to him that you're not mad at him and he never did anything wrong

likes to say sorry to you even if he didn't do anything (hes just rlly scared you'll get mad and leave him at one point)

literally stares at you at random times and looks away when you finally look back at him

i feel like he would be that one emo hot nerd (cuz of this fanart) , so he would gladly teach you any subject you're struggling with !!

he finds you so cute when you start whining to him that you understand nothing lol

always so proud of you when you get good grades on your test

he likes to scold you whenever your being so reckless about your health , i mean how could he not?

buys you your favorite snacks whenever hes at the market , he also memorizes your favorite menu whenever he comes to your favorite restaurant

he isn't a great talker , but hes a good listener so he always listens to all your rants and gossips , he loves hearing your voice

has an photo album on his phone specifically for you

always listens to the playlist that you made for him !

likes all your post ; instagram , tiktok , twitter , anywhere rlly

he also keeps all your gifts that you made for him , he mostly displays them on his room cuz they remind him of you

he loves your attention so much but hes too shy to ask for it so you'll have to notice the little hints he gives you

"you're the best so you deserve the best" is what xiao thinks all the timeee

tells you that you can always call him whenever you need him

idk man hes just a simp 4 u and his friends probably tease him about it cuz of how different he acts whenever your around (hes such a tsundere)

would probably beat up someone ass if they ever say something offensive to you , how dare they do such a thing??

he loves you with all his heart , and you're his number one priority !!

[yanderelovlies]

𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓁 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝓃'𝓉.

note: this is a modern time set. I'm in a Joesph mood, so here I am. I'm gonna have a part 2 for this either tomorrow or the day after.

Fandom(s): SWWSDJ

Character(s): Joseph

TW: none.

"boyfriend....for hire?"

The short red head in front of you nodded. she leaned in close, resting her chin on her hand as she smirked. "Yep. that right there will solve all your problems."

you looked up from the paper clearly unamused by your friends' antics. "What are you talking about Vex?"

Her eyes narrowed, but her grin never wavered. "Well, you were just bitching about your upcoming family dinner, and how your parents keep trying to set you up....You know some will even sleep with you after times up."

You gasped before glaring at her "Vex"

she leaned back, putting her hands up in defense. "I'm just saying~ I mean, what could it hurt?"

You looked back down at the paper, still unsure. "It feels... wrong."

Vex shrugged before crossing her arms over her torso. "Give it some thought. you got a week before the dinner. just uh... let me know how it goes?"

.

You sighed, looking down at the same paper from a few days ago. You had been debating if you should or not. You understood your parents were worried, but you weren't ready to hear it again. With shaky hands, you reach for your cellphone and slowly type in the number. With a deep breath, your pressed call quickly brings the phone to your ear.

It rang a few times before a female automated voice came through. "Thank you for calling callin' for love~. Please wait for representatives to help you." Soothing jazz began to play through the speaker, only making you more anxious. You just wanted to get it over with waiting and make you overthink.

God, what if this was a mistake? what if they turned out to be a murder? what if they - "Thank you for calling callin'" for love, my name is Jasper. How can i help you?" you paused for a minute. someone was there. "Hello?"

"h-hello?"

"Hello! how can I help you...?"

"y/n, and um, I'm looking to hire a boyfriend f-for a family dinner?" God, you hated this so much! it felt so embarrassing!

"Sounds great, y/n!" You could hear the typing of her keyboard ad she spoke. "Now, in order to find the man perfect for the job, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"

you nodded, forgetting she couldn't see you before responding "yes"

"Great!"

.

the questions took a good couple of minutes with her cracking a few jokes, making loosen up a bit. "Well, good news, darling. we have the perfect match for you! Give me a minute to transfer you to him."

"What his name?"

"His name is Joesph, and he is an actor."

you gasped "an actor? Why is he doing this job?"

Jasper giggled. "Why not ask him yourself?" Before you could respond, the jazz from before came back on making you slightly nervous again.

.

Joseph's feet rested on his coffee table as he scrolled through social media. He thought it was funny how his children's show captured more than children's attention. Scrolling through the latest fanart became his new favorite hobby.

An alarm siren rang through the speakers of his phone at the caller contact of his side job shown on his phone. Sighing, he picked up the call, his head falling back on the cushion. "Joesph speaking."

"Hey Joe! it's Jasper I got a job for you if your intrested."

He hummed, mulling it over. Having the extra money wouldn't be so bad, and it would be nice to go out. "Okay, Jasper. fill me in."

.

The jazz music continued to play as your anxiety grew. what if she was having more trouble than she let on. oh God, this was a bad idea! maybe you sho-.

"Hello? y/n?"

you paused again, not ready for whoever was on the other line. it certainly not Jasper anymore the voice deep and a males. "h-hello?" Your voice was quiet, and meek I'm return making you cringe slightly.

You heard an airy chuckle before he continued. "It's nice to meet you, y/n. I'm Joseph. now I'm assuming you're calling this line for specific reasons?"

"y-yes. I have a family dinner coming up....I really dont want to hear it from them..." You rubbed the back of your neck, glad you weren't making eye contact with the guy.

"I hear ya doll. My coworkers are the same way. So what day is this family get together?"

"Um, this saturday?"

You hear some rustling followed by papers being flipped before he settled down. "That's perfect, actually. I'm off that day so we can arrive together to make it more believeable."

oh God, this is really happening! you were gonna introduce a total stranger to your family just to get them off your back. "c-can we meet the day before? I'll pay for it if I need to!"

He hummed in thought "mmm how does dinner sound then? We have a day of filming that Friday, but I can meet you for dinner?"

Once again, you nodded before giving a verbal response. "That sounds fine. Um, do you know that mom and pops Cafe on first?"

"Cara's Cafe?"

"Yes! how does that sound."

he chuckled again, putting down whatever paper he was holding. "Sounds great, doll. Here, let me give you my number so we can keep in contact."

.

It was a good thing you took his number when you did. Due to come technical issues, filming took longer than he thought, so he texted you to let you know.

So now you sit at the booth staring out the window, trying to calm your nerves. it wasn't a real date. Yet you were still meeting a stranger like it was. "I should've had Vex ghost our date."

As soon as sighed the bell above the door rang. Looking up and away from the window, your eyes meet with the one most beautiful brown eyes. The mam attached to them wasn't hard to look at either. If you didn't believe he was an actor before, you certainly did now.

He talked with the waitress before making his way to your table. "y/n?" You go to stand up, but he stopped you simply holding his hand out for you to shake, smiling down at you. "It's fine, really. It's nice to finally meet you."

You take his hand, giving him a nervous smile. "y-you too, Joesph."

"Joe is fine, doll." He sat down across from you, the smile never leaving his face.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, seeing as we have to pretend we didn't just meet each other recently, I would say so." He shrugs

"Okay... Joe," it felt weird saying his name in such a friendly manner despite just knowing him, but at the same time, it felt....nice?

"So I'm assuming you wanted to early to get to know me better." You nodded,"Smart. Then let's get started, doll."

.

The "date" went pretty well, you felt. You leaned the basics of his life and even got to hear what him and his costars. He seemed somewhat laid back, which put you at ease. You might even have to thank Vex later for the suggestion.

A knock bounced off the walls of your quiet living room as you placed the finishing touches on your outfit. "coming!" You called gathering your phone and keys.

When you opened the door, you had to stop gasping. He dressed really nicely. it wasn't a suit and tie, but damn did he look good.

He eyes you up and down, giving a low whistle. "Damn, you clean up nicely, doll." He held out his elbow for you to take. "Are you ready?"

You shut and lock the door behind you before wrapping your arm around his own. "You know I could say the same thing about you."

He chuckled, watching your movements. "What can I say? I wanted to leave an impression."

The two of you were making your way to your car when you scoffed. "On my parents? why? you will only see them once."

"Who says I wanted to impress them?"

When the two of you got close, you unlocked your car. However, before you could open the door to the driver's seat, Joesph beat you to it, opening the door for you. You turned to him face slightly red with a raised eyebrow. "Man, you really want to be hired again, huh?"

He smirked and simply shrugged. when you got into the car, he shut the door before making his way to the other side and climbing into the car. "Show me your music taste doll."

.

Joseph would be lying if he said it wasn't awkward at first. He was surrounded by strangers, but he played the role of boyfriend pretty well. Their father even seemed to take a liking to him, even asking for his help with the grill, and even bring him a cold one whe. got one.

The can opened with a pop followed sizzling from the carbonation before he took a long swig of the drink. "So how did you and my kid meet?"

Joesph had just opened his can when he looked up at your father. "Online dating. They just...stood out to me."

Your dad looked him up and down as if trying to determine if he was telling the truth. "Did you find out what the something was yet?"

"No, but I plan sticking around to find out and after."

Your dad smiled, patting him on the back. "Good man, Joe. Now come on! these burgers aren't gonna flip themselves!"

.

You watched from afar as Joesph interacted with your family. He was certainly putting his acting skills to use as he happily talked with your father and uncle. Not only did he get along with adults, but the kids seemed to love him as well. always showing him the things they color or make in minecraft. God, how has he not settled down by now?

"You made a good choice hun." You jumped slightly as your mom stood beside you, watching the crowd with you. "Heck even your dad likes him, and that's feat of its own."

You hummed, taking a drink of the drink in your hand. "Yeah. It kinda surprising, honestly."

Your mom chuckled. "Me too, but he must see something in him. It must be your sign."

You scoffed, rolling your eyes if only she really knew. "Come on, mom, let's finish these sides before dads finished."

She watched you uncertain for a few seconds before nodding. "You're right. You know how your father doesn't like to eat cold burgers."

.

As the night came to a close, you couldn't help but feel anxiety. Due to your families curiosity, you didn't get to spend much time with Joe. At first, you didn't mind, but the more he interacted with your family or they said something sweet about him, you couldn't help but feel your heartache.

At first, you didn't understand why, but the more you thought about it, the more you couldn't deny that he was perfect. He got along with your family, polite to you, and even seemed to care as he would constantly check in with you through the evening. It felt almost cruel.

You knew from the start that this was all fake. You knew after tonight that you may never see him again. Yet your heart yearned for more. For something you felt you couldn't have.

"Is everything okay dear?"

You nodded "yeah sorry mom, ....just tired. Work and all."

You could feel her eyes on you before turning back to crowd "Your just like your father in that aspect. Lean on Joe a bit more. let him lighten your load."

You sighed "I think it's time for us to go mom. I still have work in the morning.

she nods in understanding, opening her arms to you. You wrapped your arms around her in a warm hug. "I understand, and please, you guys, come see us soon."

"We will, mom."

.

The car ride home felt weird. You both sat quietly as the soft sounds of the music you were playing flowed through the speakers. You wanted to say something anything really, but you didn't know what.

Joseph seemed to be thinking the same thing since he was the first to speak up. "You have a nice family doll... So friendly and loving."

You smiled, your eyes still trained on the road ahead. "Thank you...We try."

he hummed in response as the music began to fill the gap again. "You know this went so well it makes me feel like I should meet your family next." As soon as the words left your mouth, you felt yourself cringe.

Joesph was silent before letting out an unamused huff. "I would rather you not." You opened your mouth to apologize for making the comment, but Joesph continued before you could."They are awful. I would rather you meet my coworkers."

You closed your mouth, unsure how to take that comment. As you pulled into your driveway, putting the car in park, you sat there for a minute. You thought Joesph would have gotten out of the car as soon as it was parked with an awkward goodbye, but he didn't.

Instead, he stayed in the car with you, his eyes trained on you. "I....had a really good time, Joe. Maybe I can find another excuse to hire you again."

"Hmmm, counter offer. What if instead we go on an actual date? No company involved. Just us." You turned to him surprised only to be met with a slightly nervous look on Joseph's face. "I had a good time too, and I know a good thing when I see it. If you're down for it, I want to keep this good thing going."

You watched him for a couple minutes waiting for the got you moment, but it never happened. He looked at you earnestly yet nervously, waiting for your response. "Okay, let's try it."

[avissapiens]

Jockbull Summer Final Week Set A (1/1/24-7/1/24)

Model Used is Tsonghan Wu

Here we are bros. I decided to end it early since I accidentally started the Jockbull summer in like the last month of Spring. So we’ll call this a season. 8 weeks and then onto the next. Additionally, interest largely seem’s to have waned and I wanna focus on giving some more stuff that’ll keep your attention rather than flooding your dashboards lol. These will be my last set of diary write ups. And then next week I'll have a retrospective detailing how things went and what I'm likely to keep

1.

I’ll be straight and real with yall. This was probably the worst week yet lol. Mentally i just wasn’t here. Lots of stress and strain. I do have a new workout structure, that includes AMRAP pushups near the end. Diamond push ups that really tire you out by the time you finish all your other training, but its not quite the same or for the same purpose. I tried to sort my time table so that Pushups were combined with the times i wanted to work on my PT cert early in the day. But that has yet to really work out.

2.

Keeping with the smite idea from previous weeks I managed to go on a 3 game win-streak. Total ez streak, possibly because my Elo was reset from not playing in such a long time. But dunking is still dunking and you still get the mental endorphin rush from winning. Only thing that broke the streak is that my Duos partner (yet another Muscle brained Gym bro that i’ve known for years) had to dip mid game. Tragic.

3.

Since this is the last week and its even I didn’t throw anything out. But I am going to have one final push to get some of the last chunks of shitty oversized clothing out of my life. Gonna make an attempt to throw out 4 more pieces of clothing and then the lot will be going to the charity/thrift shop.

4.

I’m good enough at this. I’ll use it more often. And I am 100% going to do that Bro voice file at some point in the future.

5.

There is an episode of Baki where the main character is lying in bed with his girlfriend horny as hell, and they are about to fuck when Baki’s father, Strongest man in the world Yujiro, appears out of the darkness to cheerlead them fucking. And more than cheerlead. This man encourages the most relentless rauchy unending stream of fucking bitches from his 18 year old son. Literally morning noon and night boning down. It sounded like a passage from Alpha breeder. Unbelievable. Why doesn’t this show have more fanart?

6.

A kind of gymbro failure story which makes me sound like a bit of a douche but i also don’t care.

I’m pretty regularly one of the bigger guys in the gym at any given time. Not always. And that’s not really a compliment to me and more of a dunk on the kind of establishment that my gym is. So this one dude has kinda latched onto me as his story for hope cause of all the weight i lost and how much i’ve grown. I think he’s convinced i’m going to give him the secret formula and not just tell him “Just keep training and eat properly.” He came up to me this week and asked if he could come and workout with me another day. Gave some spiel about needing someone to motivate him and keep him going. He’s another immigrant too. So I commiserate with that and I told him sure, even tho i don’t particularly like training push with other people. But then on the day he was supposed to come at the time we had set up he just…didn’t show. Which makes sense. I tried telling him, motivation should be internal. Consistency comes from discipline. But he didn’t want to hear it. And so the outcome made sense. I wasn’t super broken up about it, Just meant i got to train push on my own in peace and quiet.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Amelia's Zelda Calamity Quintet Resource List

Hi there, I'm Amelia (she/they). You may also know me as Hart or Echo (my old handle was echosound). This is a master post of links for my works as well as all the tags I use on this blog. This post will be pinned on the blog and I will update it as needed so check back if there's something new.

You can find my profiles here: AO3 - Wattpad

Expanding Hyrule Community Discord (16+)

Quick FAQs

Is this a main blog? This is a side blog, my main is @amelias-hart. To keep this blog mostly to fic updates and as a reference tool, I reblog LoZ stuff on my main, to include art and fics.

Can I draw fanart of your characters? Yes, absolutely. I should clarify. You are more than welcome to draw art based on the descriptions in my fics and the resources I put out for them. I work with other artists though for most of my character art. If you are going to use those designs, make sure you're familiar with their opinions on fanart.

What kinds of LoZ fics to you write? All of my fics are fully original legend and long form stories. My average chapter length is 3k and the shortest of my fics (not in a series) is currently drafting to be like 100 chapters.

How adult/mature are they? It ranges, but typically it's pretty tame. I don't really handle gore and explicit scenes, and I'm not a fan of dark fantasy generally as a writer. If fics are rated adult/mature, it's typically because the characters are largely adults.

Is there romance? We're on that Zelink train, absolutely! There are no explicit scenes, again, so the range here is fluff (GoS, RA) to some more mature flirting with some innuendo being about the most serious content (DAD). Maybe a more intense kissing scene once the slow burn gets through to that (MoaH).

How do you write so much? Autism baby. Got that clinical hyperfocus going.

Do I need to read your fics in a certain order? No, all of them are stand alone but they do share a linked timeline in the following: GoS -> MoaH -> RA -> CoL -> DAD (And honestly it's really just GoS and MoaH with any "serious" timeline lore connections)

What's the Convergence? To the previous point, it's referring to GoS any time it comes up. Really only a thing in MoaH and MoaH does try to explain it within the text.

Will add more as they come up. If it's not here, it's probably below. If not, send it as a reply or an ask and I'll add it!

Other Custom Tags List

#originallegends/#lozoriginallegends - Pending community tag for Legend of Zelda fics about original iterations of Hyrule. Check out @expanding-hyrule for more details.

#moahmemes - This is for memes and quotes redone with the MoaH cast for fun, mostly for character exploration and cause it's funny.

#moah worldbuilding - In character worbuilding snippets about various topics for the MoaH era of Hyrule.

Open Ask List

I'm always open to asks, but I have a few prompts I figured I'd throw out if y'all want ideas.

Web: Asks for an update to the MoaH Obsidian web

WIPWednesdays: I'll post a snippet of MoaH, very likely will contain spoilers for a later part/book than is out.

Star: I'll give ya a random factoid about something in one of my fics, you can add fic tags if you'd like a specific.

Q: Check to see how far updates for MoaH are queued out

Character asks: I don't have art, but you can absolutely send in character asks for the cast. I love these, they're great character voice practice. Please keep to one question per ask, but you're welcome to send as many as you like.

Fic List

Goddess of Secrecy (Complete on Wattpad, New Edited Chapters On Wednesdays & Saturdays To Both) - #goddessofsecrecy, #gos, #gosspoilers

Hyrule has only ever dreamt of an end to the resurrection of Demise. With the returning of an ancient power, that dream could finally be fulfilled. Can the Hero of the Fourth Goddess save Hyrule once and for all?

Fic Links: AO3 - Wattpad

Mark of a Hero (Updates on Tuesdays & Fridays, 1 of 9) - #markofahero, #moah, #moahspoilers

Hyrule is at peace, or so the Royal Family would have its people believe. Something is afoot in the kingdom, and someone needs to do something about it. Least likely would be Marksmen Link Sayre- a mercenary and monster hunter doing his best to get by. Until a job goes wrong, and he gets roped into the secret plans of Hyrule's princess. Now Link must play the part of the Hero to dive deeper into the mystery, and maybe stumble into a legend of his own.

Fic Links:

Book 1: AO3 - Wattpad

Book 2:

Book 3:

Book 4:

Book 5:

Book 6:

Book 7:

Book 8:

Book 9:

Series Links: AO3 - Wattpad

Arc Progress & Spoiler Reference

Character Reference Page

General Setting Resources Page

Restoration Age (Hiatus) - #restorationage

Hyrule has grown. The fairy tale kingdom that has endured for eons is no more. And while historians argue over what history needs to be preserved, Hyrule endures and thrives in the modern age. With the proverbial guide book gone, where will the kingdom go now? And what would a Hero mean for a country that no longer needs a Hero?

Fic Link: Wattpad - Not yet imported to AO3

Cinders of Life (Hiatus) - #cindersoflife

Hyrule has burned. No more is the vibrant kingdom that was once protected by the Hero. Now is the reign of evil, an evil without end. Hope is a word used without meaning, and hero is all but lost. Could one even stand if the people of Hyrule don't even know what they would be calling on?

Fic Link: Wattpad - Not yet imported to AO3

Day After Destiny (Hiatus) - #dayafterdestiny

Hyrule is beginning its new golden age. The king and queen prepare to hand their crowns to their daughter and her husband. It is a union out of legend, though legend is far from anyone's mind in Hyrule. For who would call upon ancient war heroes in a time of peace? The wars for Hyrule have been won.

Fic Link: Wattpad - Not yet imported to AO3

[agent-felix]

WELCOME!!!!!!

Welcome to my little corner of the universe!! Happy to have ya!!

My name is Felix! Short for Felixian, long for Ian. You can call me any of the three, but I'm most used to Felix. I'm a trans guy who uses he/they/it pronouns!!

My persona (and IEYTD fan character) is Agent Felix! He's an agent-in-training with no handler, and is mostly working at solving stuff without using technology. He used to work for Dr Zoraxis in that field, not really caring if he got paid or not since he was doing what he loved. Eventually, he turned to be a reformed villain after hearing about Agent Pheonix's work. He's pretty gullible, and could switch back to the evil side if persuaded enough, but since he constantly wears an agency t-shirt he'll stick with the agency for a long time. (The agency knew they could manipulate him into staying for that reason.) He doesn't have a handler- in fact, he's been mostly self-training since everyone's kinda scared of him. (He has REALLY sharp teeth and can't bite anyone because of that. He has bit people in the past out of reflexes. He's working on it :D ) He's startled really easily and can barely remember simple things- he jumps at any loud noise, forgets where he puts his shoes, etc., yet somehow he remembers where people leave their stuff and forget. He's really helpful like that. He's always loved helping people, good or bad. He doesn't have telekinesis... yet. He's trying to replicate the kinesium device implant so it can be used for new agency members like him. He's also trying to figure out a safer, less terrifying way for it to be implanted.

By the way, if Felix hugs you then you are special to him in some way!! He loves hugs but is generally touch-repulsed UNLESS he really wants to hug the person. So it's really rare for him to hug anyone. Congrats to anyone he's hugged already!

Agent Felix is basically just me as a goober agent!! So please be nice!! If you're mean, we'll probably take it as a joke or something-

Oh, and feel free to be weird around me! ...Not like. Sexual weird or anything- I'd like to keep this PG/PG-13 :'D (Horror stuff is accepted!! I love that stuff)

Fanart is also highly appreciated and encouraged!! You have no idea how much my day gets brightened up when I see that stuff. (It's like anti-depressants for me haha)

Asks are accepted!! You can ask about anything as long as it follows the rules!!

Rules:

-Nothing sexual (Flirting is ok but there's a good chance it'll fly right over my head)

-Nothing that is like. Super weird (simping is- well- I'm not sure?? I've never had it happen before so...)

-Be nice!! No bullying!!

-Don't be LGBT-phobic because I'm trans and bi + ace and so is Agent Felix!!

-Don't like.. ask for art because I'm very tentative about it and only doodle what I really want to doodle unless I get something in return (Art trades are okay sometimes!! Just ask!!)

Felix reference!!!

Please don't steal like actually I will start sobbing

If you need to contact me more efficiently my username on Discord is telekinesium !!

random Agent Felix facts under the cut hehe

-He's a teenager, but the agency has no idea. He was known by Zoraxis and his operatives as the Teen Prodigy. Sometimes used as a compliment, the rest of the time used as a spite name.

-Self-taught in everything he believes he needs to know- science, math, art, English and Spanish. Science includes all forms of science but mostly geology, technology and psychology. He loves researching mental disorders, for some reason. (Some of the things listed were taught by Zor himself.)

-He also loves playing piano! He overheard someone playing it when he was about six years old and managed to convince them into giving him lessons.

-He's very sensitive to sound so it's likely that if an alarm goes off he'll just be stuck there covering his ears.

-He loves singing, too! His voice is high-pitched and gives him disphoria pretty massively, so he sings to relieve it. (He loves his singing voice!)

-The Death Engine actually traumatized him. He refuses to talk about it :')

-He's very weather-sensitive. As soon as it gets colder than usual he'll be wearing clothes for winter while it's only fall. He'll keep that outfit for a few months then switch to something less heavy. Same for summer- as soon as it gets hot he'll be in short sleeves and shorts, maybe flip flops if it's 5⁰ above normal. Then he'll ease back into regular clothes.

-He's the reason why Dr Zor is evil

[sixosix]

haiii pookie snukums muah muah cherry pie :3 idk i just wanna give thoughts (and maybe recieve some from u too 👉👈) from the new trailer bc im bored and i feel like im being toasted alive... mainit

FREMI💀 no bc he looks like he can be blown away from a lil breeze. like a sneeze can turn him into dust💀 BUT BRO BLOCKED A WHOLE ASS HIT FROM ARLECCHINO WHILE ALSO HOLDING LIKE A 30 KILO CLAYMORE💥 HOW BUFF IS HEEEEE😭 (lyney at the side like a damsel)

speaking of lyney,,,,i saw somewhere, idk if its canon or not, but i read that lyney is canonically weak. not weak as in "cannot fight", more like, "brains over brawn" type of weak. his main strength comes from his big fat brain and i think thats hot (lyney as brains, thawed!mc as brawns. an unstoppable duo if i do say so myself)

Im just gonna say, arlecchino DID NOT MISS❗❗ when she chose lyney as the successor. bc think about it, the house's main objective is to adopt kids to make them into soldiers(or other stuff). so why are the children not doing anything about it? because they are blinded by father's "love". they've been provided a home and a family that they can love, ofc theyre going to do whatever they can to repay her kindness. i say "blinded by love" bc its most probably not genuine. arlecchino will only do things if it benefits her. so, in short, the children are being decieved into loyalty and submission.

and what is one of lyney's biggest/ most prominent trait? being able to decieve others very easily. he's a magician ffs😭😭 (this is probably why thawed!mc is hesitant/ doesnt believe him whenever he does something bc she knows that its probably not genuine. and bc of this, they're both miserable.💀)

like, he may not be physically strong, but that brain and charisma can bring you to your end in a snap. and that hot.

i only heard childe's voice but i feel like he's important to the lore. my manz been to 3 countries, and hes hasnt retrieve a single (1) gnosis😭 pack up boy ur no harbinger all u do is look pretty and get your ass handed to u THRICE😭 (i love him tho muah)

WIDNTRACE omg windtrce FINALLYY😭😭uueuedhhsuwh

ur so cool bc i just saw the ask asking if theres thawed update tmrw, and ur gonna do RESEARCH???? this is why i love u. marry me. pookie idc how long it takes, everything u write is so delicious. quality over quantity is so real ily. and i dont want thawed to end so soon....

i think thats all of my brain barf today. congrats again on 5k!!! ily muah♥️

HI AKAAGIIIII i did. i did see. i watched it from zy0xs livestream. first of all, ARLECCHINO IS SOOO COOL her presence… unmatched….. the lore ?! im so excited as a player and as a thawed writer!!!!

I KNOW FREMINET WAS INSANE THERE HAHAHAH the way he didnt fall back.. King. king behavior. LYNEY TOOOO HELLOOO THE LORE BOMBBB the throwback to him being chosen as the next King AAAAAA my brain was going overdrive (thawed!mc being brawns shes so stupid i love her)

and yes!! your thoughts on lyney and arlecchino are so true. arlecchino picking lyney makes sense in her perspective but the fact that lyney doesnt want to do it says so much about his character! lyney is such a well written character im so in love

i was so surprised to hear childes voice i was like oh gosh the thawed is writing itself?????

AND YESSS RESEARCH AAA i rlly rlly want to wait and see what the House lore is all about before i write thawed because i think i could really use it. not only for ideas but for keeping it feel like it could easily be an actual genshin quest.. TY AHAHHAA ILY TOO we shall have a spring wedding, like taht post about artists asking permission to draw fanart from writers (thats me)

[crackinglamb]

hi on one of ur reblogs u said u use a private server on discord and i wanted to ask how u organize it?? i have my own as well but i think i have no idea how to really use it to take full advantage :/ any tips?

Sure! Short answer: I make a new channel for each subject I want to keep organized.

Okay, some more detail. You start off with general channel when you make a server, so that's where I put things like my daughter's school schedule and my word totals when I'm keeping track for year end roundups. I have a few recipes in there too, so I can see them wherever I am and don't have to carry a cookbook with me (long distance relationships have interesting logistics, lol). But I also have channels for NaNo, links to interesting stuff or playlists, pics, fic ideas, separate ones for headcannons and snippets (this is where notes to myself go). My active OC's all have their own channel too, where I can keep anything referring to them in one place. Ideas, screenshots, general stats, any fanart I might receive, that sort of thing. I even have one for jotting down gift ideas for friends and family so I don't have to remember what people ask for.

Basically, I think of each channel as like a file folder. Everything related to the name of the 'folder' gets put there. I generally pin the first thing in the channel so I can get to the top really quick instead of having to scroll through it. I've had my private server for years now, so some of the channels are pretty full. I'll pin the items that I know I'll be referring to later too (for instance, the names of the people in the DAFF crew list for tagging in reblogs). I keep the channel names simple so I don't get confused by my own organizing system. I've never bothered to break up the channels by subcategory like you see in big servers, since I'm the only one using them.

Now, all this said, I'm primarily a desktop user. I honestly don't know how hard it is to do all this on mobile, since I rarely actually use it on my phone unless I'm sending myself a note or am in a voice chat. But I hope this helps, or at least gives you some ideas of where to start. Thanks for the ask. Happy organizing!

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #25 | 11.28.22

Hi everyone!

How have you all been? We are slowly approaching holiday season, so hope the end of the year has been bringing some moments of rest and connection with loved ones <3 We are back with another devlog, so let’s get into it! 

Writing

Writing has been where the bulk of my time has been spent this past month. I’ve been working closely with Wudgey, our developmental editor, to flesh out routes, endings, and information cohesion between everything. We’ve officially finished the route summaries for each character, and I’m quite happy with how the lore, endings, and character development has turned out! I think the magic, backstories, and characters have really come to life after talking with them, so I’m eternally grateful <3

Aside from that, my big, big focus has been Kayn’s route. I’ve begun writing the actual script for their route based on our outline and am currently sitting at ~25k words. At first, I was beating myself up a lot with the progress --- I felt like I wasn’t moving fast enough. But now that I’m actually seeing that number and realizing that’s from one month’s work, I’m pretty proud with myself, haha! This is just a rough draft, and it doesn’t include fleshed out choices, the fun characterization scenes where we get to just have fun with the LIs, etc., but I’ve written up most of the basic plot (I’d estimate about 80%). I anticipate this first draft without fleshed out choices and extra characterization scenes will end at around 30k-35k words, so almost there!!!

Art

Last time, I showed you all one of the BGs Vui had finished. And honestly, most of the art development process has been on Vui’s side since I haven’t been spending as much time on Alaris art (((you will see why below LOL))). Above is the most recent background I got back from them, and I’m honestly blown away by how it looks. I find it so unbelievably stunning and can’t believe it’s going to be featured in the game. Hope you all like it as much as I do and are just as excited for future BGs Vui cooks up! 

I have been working on some CGs, but I’ll be keeping those a secret for now hehe ^^

Additional Features

Finally, the sound and music! I’ve already started receiving some of the voiced lines back from the VAs for the demo portion. I haven’t gotten a chance to review them yet since I’ve been preoccupied, and they’re not ~as~ time sensitive. But I’m hoping to start reviewing the lines next month and hope to have a better idea of how the characters are sounding! Regardless, I’m very excited to give them a listen <3

I’ve also been working with Peter for song composition for the soundtrack. We have three songs complete, specifically the main theme song, romantic/tender track, and the tense track. I’ll be previewing them in the near future, so be on the lookout!! 

"Market Research” 

I’m going to have to start unironically having a spot for fanart highlights, haha! Lately, I’ve been trying to improve my rendering and other aspects of my art that I don’t have as much comfort with. Because I don’t want to only draw Alaris all the time, I use other works as a way to practice my art, so that when I work on CGs and sprites, I’ll be able to use those new techniques to hopefully deliver a better visual product for you all! 

I was quite proud with how all of these came out. This month, I took a dive into Mystic Messenger and Blooming Panic, two games I’ve heard so much about but have never gotten the chance to play. I felt so inspired with both of them since I have little exposure to chat-based games and fell in love with the GUI (the discord layout of Blooming Panic is especially creative!!), characterization, and voice dynamics between the cast. 

While playing games doesn’t seem directly related to game development, it helps me see what’s out there and improve on things to bring to Alaris. I’ve already gotten a lot of ideas floating around that I hope to implement, so I hope you all look forward to it! Until next month, and I wish you all an early safe, warm, and happy holidays!!! <3

[feyhunter78]

Targaryen Inc (4/?)

Description: Alyra calls the owner of Cherry's, her and Aegon watch Sarah leave, and Alyra tries to keep her cool while attending an award ceremony with Aemond.

Check out the amazing and hilarious fanart the wonderful and talented @gracielikegrapes made for this chapter here!!!!

“You’re saying Mr. Hightower is going to spend what my girls make in two months in one night, on multiple girls?” Benny, the owner of Cherry’s was flabbergasted.

“Yes, but only if you turn off your cameras and make sure no one else is recording him. Put him in a private room, take up phones, I don’t care. Just make sure there is no video or photo evidence of his actions.” She stressed, hoping the finality of her tone would get her point across.

The sound of a palm slapping against her window made her jump and she glanced up to see Aegon who had stuck a piece of paper that read ‘Cherry’s?’ on it to her window.

“Ma’am, I’ll even turn off my own phone for that kind of business. Will you express my appreciation to Hightower? I just opened this place in honor of my recently deceased dog, and his business would really help us out.” Benny said, a genuine tone of gratitude in his voice.

“I’ll pass on your sentiments, and a security officer will be joining him tonight. He’ll check the cameras and watch over Mr. Hightower.”

“That’s no problem, hell, the security guard can get a lap dance, on the house.”

Alyra pinched the bridge of her nose. “That won’t be necessary, but thank you, Mr. Benny.”

“No, thank you, ma’am.”

They said their goodbyes and she waved Aegon in.

“So? You coming to Cherry’s with me tomorrow?” Aegon said, flopping down in his usual seat.

“Again, never. But the owner had agreed to cut the cameras and wanted me to convey his sincerest gratitude for your patronage.”

Aegon smiled, “what can I say? I’m a man of the people.”

The sound of yelling made them both turn.

“Is that Sarah?” Alyra got up from her desk and swung out of her office, hanging onto the door frame with one hand.

“Who?” Aegon asked.

Alyra covered his mouth with her hand and strained her ears. While each of their individual offices might be big, the space between all of them was not.

A door slammed and Alyra scurried back into her office, pulling Aegon with her. Sarah stood by the elevators, arms crossed, her foot tapping the floor angrily.

“That’s Jace’s girlfriend.” Alyra whispered.

Aegon peeked his head out, scanning the woman. “I thought he was into blondes?”

Sarah had shoulder length dark brown hair, with dark eyes, and pale skin, that looked as if she’d never seen the sun. She was beautiful, in a severe way. Like a high fashion model, with their long legs and sharp edges.

“He is—Sarah is an exception. They’ve been on again-off again for a year or so now?”

“Waste of time if you ask me. Just breakup and find a new girl.”

Alyra elbowed him. “Some people can’t move on that quickly, some of us have feelings.”

“I have feelings, I just like to over them, or under them, either works.” He shrugged, a teasing smile on his face.

The elevator dinged and Sarah got on. Alyra waited till the doors closed to push Aegon. “Alright, get out of my office. Mara sent me the mockups and I need to give them to Aemond.”

She’d gone over the mockup a few times, adding in a few ideas, and correcting some of the numbers before she brought them to Aemond’s office.

She pushed his door open, papers in hand. “Here are the mockups, Mara and Arryk did a great job, I’m really proud of them.”

He held out one hand for the papers, his eyes focused on his computer.

“Is everything alright?” She asked.

Aemond set the papers on his desk and sighed. “I’ve been nominated for an award. Some nonsense about being young and successful in finance”

Alyra tilted her head in confusion, an award was usually a good thing. “That’s amazing, congratulations.”

He shook his head. “No, because now I need to attend the dinner, and write a speech for if I win, and mother will insist I bring a date to maintain our image.” His eyes flickered to her. “Are you busy next Saturday?”

Aemond was always punctual, something she knew, and yet it still caught her off guard. He knocked on her door at precisely six o’clock, and she was still slipping her shoes, on her necklace in one hand. She flung open the door, and hobbled over to her couch, leaning against it as she adjusted the straps on her heels.

“Are you ready for a night of pompous rich men, and their trophy wives?” She asked, once she had both shoes adjusted. She stood in front of the hall mirror trying to clasp her necklace.

Aemond came up behind her. He was always taller than her, even when she wore heels like tonight, but at least now they were almost the same height. At least now, she felt a little less flustered when he cast his crystalline eyes down at look at her. He swept her hair to one side and took the necklace from her, clasping it gently around her neck, his fingers brushing the sensitive skin, as he straightened out the delicate golden chain. “As ready as one can ever be.”

He held out his arm for her to take, leading her out of her apartment and towards the elevator. She admired him as he watched the numbers drop. His hair was pulled back like normal and fell across the shoulders of his black suit. Gods, he looks good in a suit.

Alyra herself had worn a maroon evening gown to match his tie. With a halter neckline and a slight leg slit to make walking easier.

The drive to the award dinner didn’t take very long, definitely not long enough for Alyra to realize that people were going to ask who she was, and what they were.

“How are you going to introduce me?” She asked him quietly, clinging to his arm. She was head of PR she talked to people all day long, but she still got a little nervous entering new situations.

“As my co-worker?” Aemond replied, looking down at her in confusion.

“Oh, okay, I just didn’t know if you were going to say we were friends, or if you wanted me to pretend to be your fiancée…”

Aemond chuckled lowly, “you’ve been watching far too many of those ridiculous romance films with my sister.”

“They’re good movies!” She protested, giving him an exaggerated look of disbelief as he handed their invitations to the man standing at the door.

“Table twelve, take a right, and it’ll be the fourth table.” The man said, gesturing in the direction of their table.

They both thanked him and found their seats.

“There’s a lot of people here.” Alyra commented, before looking over the paper menu laid atop her plate.

“Far too many, I was hoping this wouldn’t take too long.” Aemond drawled, glancing at his watch.

“Why, you have a date?” She teased.

Please say no. If you say yes, I'll cry,

“No, I just like to keep Vhagar on a schedule. She gets upset if we don’t go on our nightly run at least an hour before she goes to bed.”

“Understandable, Ziras always starts whining if he doesn’t get to cuddle with me for at least an hour a day.” Aemond nodded, not dismissing her statement, but not verbally responding.

Nice going, compare a regimented schedule to laying on the couch with your dog, totally the same thing Alyra. She internally smacked herself. She’d worked with Aemond for over two years now, she should be over this schoolgirl crush.

 “How is he doing?” Aemond said, scanning the wine list.

“Ziras?”

He nodded.

“Oh, really well, we’ve been working on some tricks, and I’ve been brainstorming Halloween costumes for him.” She said, digging her phone out of her purse to pull up photos.

Aemond chuckled at the costume ideas, pointing out the dragon costume with the tiny rider attached to it. “I like that one, maybe I’ll get one for Vhagar.”

“I can send you the link, if you want?”

“Please do.”

They placed their orders and began chatting about work, going over the budget for the charity ball.

Their food arrived, and they ate as they conversed with the other people seated at their table until the plates were cleared away and the lights dimmed.

The urge to pull her phone back out was strong, but Aemond seemed actually interested in the categories being announced, and she didn’t want to be rude.

Aemond leaned into her, “they’re announcing my category next.” He whispered.

“Exciting.” She whispered back, giving him a bright smile and two thumbs up.

Aemond sat stone still, and Alyra held her breath until finally she heard his name being called.

He stood, a radiant smile on his face, and she stood as well throwing her arms around him and giving him a quick hug before she pulled back, realizing what she’d just done.

Aemond surprisingly just turned that smile on her and made his way up to the stage.

He made his speech, an also surprisingly heartfelt speech about his father, both of them, and how much he enjoyed working at Targaryen Inc. When he sat back down plaque in hand, she pulled out her phone.

“Smile, I’m putting this out on our socials.” She smiled as he adopted a more neutral expression, and she quickly typed up a caption and mass posted it.

Aemond let her post the photo then grabbed her hand, kissing it quickly, before saying his thank-yous to their tablemates.

Alyra froze, her hand still in his. Sure, she’d seen him kiss Helaena’s hand, his mother’s hand, and Aegon kissed her hand all the time, but this? This was different.

Aemond looked back at her, a small smile on his face. “We can leave if you’d like, I only wanted to stay and see if I’d win.”

Alyra nodded and grabbed her purse.

He walked her back to her apartment, before bidding her goodnight and heading down the hall to his own apartment. Alyra unlocked her door then closed it sliding down until she was seated on the floor and screamed into her hands, her face hot with embarrassment and excitement? Delightful nervousness? She couldn’t put names to all the emotions she was feeling.

Ziras, her ever faithful companion came bounding up to her and began to lick her hands until she dropped them and scratched behind his ears.

“Oh bubba, I’m so screwed.” She groaned, patting his side, and standing up to get ready for bed.

Tag List: @nyctophilic0vitnir, @svtansdaddyx

[queenofcats17]

So...I’ve been....very invested in @hlvrai-twh lately. And I had an idea...

This is absolutely going to make me emotionally compromised and if I must suffer so shall you

Also, I’m probably being far more generous to Benrey than he deserves

Edit: Now with fanart!

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

Benrey removed the VR headset with a contented sigh. He’d done it! He’d gotten out of the game! He was finally free!

He looked around the room, excitement bubbling up in his chest. He was in what appeared to be a home office, sitting at a desk with a large monitor on top and a keyboard in front of it. Under the desk, beside his legs, a PC tower hummed away. It was nice. Gordon had built it himself, the body’s memories supplied.

The game was still running, so Benrey closed it out, taking a moment to browse Gordon’s Steam library. It was a lot of first person shooters, a few retro games, Tetris. Maybe he’d try one or two of them out sometime. Once he was sure he wouldn’t get sucked back in. He couldn’t be too careful. He didn’t want to lose the second chance he’d just gained.

Benrey pushed back in the swivel office chair, standing up and stretching, reveling in the way his new body protested at being seated for so long. He was sore, but in a way he knew would go away, not like the constant pain he’d experienced before. This body was his now. All his.

All of this was his, he thought with a giddy smile as he surveyed the room. The books about coding, which he would have understood even if he hadn’t gained Gordon’s memories, the pictures of Gordon with Joshua, the little art projects that Joshua had made for Gordon that littered the shelves, the video game memorabilia.

It was all his now.

Speaking of Joshua...He should probably check on the kid. Make sure he hadn’t seen or heard anything. He wasn’t about to hurt the kid, it would just be easier if he didn’t have to deal with an upset child who knew this wasn’t his father.

He headed to the door, opening it to peer into the darkened hallway. Gordon’s body provided the memories of which room was which. Joshua’s was at the end of the hall, right next to Gordon’s bedroom. The door was partially open, letting some of the light from Joshua’s nightlights spill onto the floor. They were all cowboy themed, of course. His favorite was one that looked like a horse with a cowboy hat. He kept it right near his bed.

As he stepped into the hallway, though, Benrey paused. He definitely wanted to check on Joshua, but there was something he wanted to do first. Because the bathroom was right next to the office. And he wanted to fully take in what he’d gained.

Benrey had never really cared much about his appearance while he’d been in the game. He’d been a low poly guard model. What was there to be interested in? But now? Now, he was practically preening in front of the mirror. Gordon was a good looking guy. Beautiful hair, decent beard, cute freckles, lovely eyes. Benrey couldn’t believe this was his now.

“Can’t believe you traded this away, Feetman,” he murmured to himself, enjoying the feeling of his voice rumbling in his chest.

Of course, Gordon hadn’t known Benrey wasn’t going to give the body back, but still, if Gordon had really wanted to keep this body he never should have agreed to switch in the first place. He had no idea now lucky he was. Well, he’d probably realized it near the end. He’d known exactly what he was losing because he’d agreed to Benrey’s trade.

Benrey felt a twinge in his heart, his giddy smile dropping. He hadn’t wanted to do this. He wasn‘t happy that he’d betrayed his friends. He wasn’t happy that he’d killed someone else to ensure his safety. But he’d had no other choice. He wasn’t just going to stay and let himself get deleted. He’d had to get out.

He looked down, hands gripping the edges of the sink so hard his knuckles turned white. Tears welled up in his eyes, even as he bit his lip and willed them to stop. He could taste blood, acrid and coppery. His whole body shook as his breath began to hitch. He kept his gaze firmly on the drain off the sink.

He couldn’t look at his reflection. The reflection that had brought him so much joy mere moments ago would provoke only increased guilt now.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “It had to be this way.”

None of them had understood. Not Tommy, not Coomer, not Bubby, not Gordon. They all thought he was some kind of heartless monster. They didn’t understand! He hadn’t wanted to do this! He didn’t want to die! This was the only way!

None of them understood what it was like to feel yourself slowly being erased from existence, molecule by molecule. They all belonged somewhere. They never had to worry about being purged like some kind of vermin. He deserved to belong somewhere too! He deserved to live! He deserved to-

“Daddy?”

Benrey’s head snapped toward the doorway. Joshua stood there in his cowboy footie pajamas, rubbing his eyes sleepily with one hand while the other held a stuffed horse wearing a cowboy hat.

Benrey forced himself to smile. “Hey, bud. Sorry, did I wake you?”

It was so much easier to slip into Gordon’s mannerisms now. It still didn’t quite feel natural, but he was sure he’d get used to it. He had to.

“Why’re you crying?” Joshua asked, looking a little worried. Of course he was worried, he’d come in on his dad crying in the bathroom late at night with a bleeding lip. That had to be...pretty terrifying for him.

God, how did he answer that question without lying too much?

“I...had a fight with my friends,” he answered after a long pause.

“Oh....About what?” Joshua tilted his head to the side.

“Just a lot of complicated grown up stuff,” Benrey said, leaning down to scoop Joshua up in his arms.

“What kinda grown up stuff?” Joshua asked as Benrey headed back to Joshua’s room. He had his arms wrapped around Benrey’s neck.

“We had some...differences of opinion,” Benrey said, setting Joshua down in his bed and pulling the covers over him. “It’s a really long story, bud.”

Joshua pouted a bit at the lack of a satisfactory answer, but still snuggled under his blanket. “I hope you can make up with them. I don’t like fighting my friends.”

Benrey’s already forced smile grew a bit more forced. “I hope so too, bud.” He gently ruffled Joshua’s hair.

“Goodnight kiss?” Joshua looked expectantly up at him.

This got a more genuine smile out of Benrey. Looking at Joshua...He was sure now he knew how Gordon had felt about his son. When he looked at Joshua, he felt such love and tenderness welling up in his chest. He knew he would do anything to protect Joshua.

“Alright. But just one. Then you need to get back to sleep. You’ve got school in the morning.” He quickly wiped his lip on the back of his hand and leaned down to kiss Joshua’s forehead.

Satisfied, Joshua buried himself under his covers, closing his eyes. 

Benrey turned and left the room, heading to Gordon’s- no, his room where he collapsed face first onto the bed. He could do this. He could be Gordon. He would be the very best parent to Joshua that he possibly could. He would be the best employee he possibly could.

No one would even know Gordon was gone.

[dailyiyozane]

64 Reasons You Should Vote For Iyozane In The Next Popularity Poll

Someone on Discord said they'd vote for Iyozane if I came up with 64 reasons why they should. Naturally, as the number one Iyozane fan of the fandom, I took up that challenge. Of course, I couldn't come up with all of these reasons on my own! I also had some help from some discord buddies. Their names are BlueKirby, Tree, snaa, my man, and showtime. Now, let us begin~

They're pathetic.

They say "heek!" sometimes and I think if they had voiced lines that particular line would be cute.

They have so much audacity (based on "Well I'm related aren't I?" in response to Tsugumi's shock at them being the former crown prince).

Sometimes they say shocking things and don't elaborate (based on the entire New Emperor Brilliant Route).

They seem too stubborn to give up on things, even when they probably should (this is based on them still boating people across the strait despite the capital getting a ferryboat and sticking with Fumikado despite the plan failing).

They want to be a pirate (pirates are cool).

Despite not being a proper pirate, they have a spell card named "Great Pirate Iyozane" (it's hilarious).

They're friends with ghosts.

Their ghost friends are adorable.

In BoTC their ghost friends spin (this is FanBOX exclusive content as of now but trust me it's adorable).

They're cool.

They can play many instruments.

They carry around a flute in RMI.

They carry around a paddle in BPoHC.

They have a tragic backstory (perfect for angst).

They used to be the crown prince (come on, I know there has to be at least one monarchist in this fandom).

They used to be stuck inside all of the time (as a user of the Internet, you should be able to relate to this, no?)

They managed to recover from their tragic backstory enough to say they have a pretty good life.

They get an extra point for saying this while elbow-deep in debt with Kuroji.

Their backstory also makes their involvement in RMI so funny in retrospect.

They're pretty.

Their hair looks fluffy.

Their hair also looks like it's taken care of well.

They have a cute side ponytail.

They have a boat (boats are cool).

They probably have arm strength from paddling said boat so much.

This implied arm strength also implies that they are toned.

Their ability to cross over waves means that you probably won't get seasick on their boat.

Their smile is adorable.

Their frown is adorable.

Sometimes they open their mouth a little like :o and that's adorable.

They keep Fumikado from doing stupid things.

They think they're above getting involved in stupid things despite very often getting involved in stupid things.

They can wear a coat on their shoulders without it falling off.

This coat also stays on while they're flying.

This coat also has a special compartment for their paddle (if you check their player sprite in BPoHC).

They're good at making chilled tofu.

They're good at making chilled Chinese noodles.

Their soul is drinkable.

They have a specific portrait for getting their soul drunken (JynX is really dedicated~).

They came back to life, which if you think about it makes them kinda like Jesus.

They're siblings with Mitori and Sanra, which means you can draw cute family fanart with them.

You can ship them with many characters, such as Fumikado, Kunimitsu, Tsugumi, and maybe even Kaoru if you try hard enough.

Their design isn't too complicated, which makes them easy to draw.

Their color scheme is calming.

They look like they taste like candy.

Their last name, Fujiwara, can be translated to "Wisteria Field", and wisterias are very pretty~

Their RMI theme slaps.

Their BPoHC theme slaps.

Sometimes they say "yousoro" and I think it's cute (which is translated as "steady as she goes" within Len'en, but I like the way "yousoro" rolls off the tongue better).

According to Mitori, Iyozane is good at playing dumb (imagine the implications for their characterization).

Despite having the desire to be influential, Iyozane has no idea what they're going to do with said influence once they achieve it. (I think it's funny.)

Their spell cards are filled with cool references to boats and the afterlife and whatnot.

They throw lanterns at you in one spell card.

They also have a boat in one of their spell cards.

In a couple of their spell cards they have spirits. These spirits look like flames and it's very cool.

Their spell card background is pretty.

They have consistent safe spots.

Their bomb sounds cool.

Their clothes look soft.

Some of their clothing articles are shiny.

They have big poofy sleeves, both on their shirt and their shoulder jacket.

They don't wear shoes.

Their defeated RMI portrait makes their flute look like it has a bandage on it (I think it's funny).

[mrsketchy]

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

9. What are your file name conventions

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

12. Easiest part of body to draw

Sorry for the wait! Here goes~

Long Post inbound!

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw?

Fanart is very intimidating, especially when it comes to complex designs with lots of details. Currently I'm a big Genshin fan but all the characters give me grief.

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in?

Going way back to Deviantart, I started a roleplay worldbuilding project with a friend called DNAnarchy.

Unfortunately, it was too ambitious for our skill sets and attention spans. A lot of the characters still live on, either recycled or redesigned to better suit our new aesthetic preferences. I still have the Lore sitting in the back of my mind, but I doubt I'll do much with it.

That's not even starting to touch upon the comics I'd love to make.

9. What are your file name conventions

For the longest time, I would use keysmashing ie: asqwerkljn.jpg.

After a few unfortunate computer crashes or reformatting, I eventually sucked it up and sorted everything into folders based upon original characters/fanart/roleplay.

File names that would be a combination of Character name/Pairing name + verb/noun and usually with some janky spelling to stop accidental duplicates of the same subject manner.

It took a long time to relearn this new system, but now it's so much easier to find anything in a pinch.

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

The easy answer would be shoes/boots, they're always challenging and fun to design!

A more in depth answer would be:

There are a lot of repetitive shapes/angles in my drawings. If you know what to look for, you'll find them everywhere. My favourite bits usually involve this specific squiggle S shape that can be found in zippers, ribbons, frills, shoe laces, tassels, etc.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

Most of the time I'll listen to a variety of true crime podcasts/youtube videos. So long as hosts have a voice cadence that I can follow easily without subtitles/video (since processing what people are saying is a difficulty for me)

On the other hand, I also enjoy Distractible, video game long plays or media analysis (youtube video essays). Essentially, just having people ramble on helps me keep focus.

12. Easiest part of body to draw

A cool stylistic trick I use is solid shadows to block out shapes, this means I can essentially cheat by technically not drawing certain body parts at all and your mind fills in the rest.

Most commonly I use this for under the jaw, and it will very quickly make a face pop out.

Thank you for your questions!

If you've enjoyed these, please check out the original post below

feel free to ask something off script too~

Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game

Support me on Ko Fi

[mrspasser]

6. Paper I

Gavin and Nines return to a crime scene to get one last look. They are not the only ones who return and things go south.

Cover made with fanart by @donlemefo

Gavin has been staring at the evidence for what must be over an hour now. It is all there, neatly displayed in the evidence room. Every little thing tagged and put into the system before it was hung up on that wall. He knows everything that’s up here, because he had been staring at the files at his terminal earlier today. He hoped that coming down to the evidence room gave him some fresh insight, some new ideas. He was missing something. Some tiny fucking thing that would tie everything together.

It isn’t there.

He groans, tipping his head back and running his hands through his hair. “Fuck. I need a cigarette.”

“Smoking is bad for your health, detective.”

Gavin curses loudly, grips his shirt at his chest and turns around to the source of the voice. “Damn it, tin can! The only thing bad for my health is you ! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

His partner tilts his head slightly and looks at him inquisitively. “Your heart rate is elevated and your stress levels have shot up. However, there is no direct risk to your health. I advise taking a few deep breaths to help you calm down.”

Gavin moves his lips soundlessly, for the moment unable to voice his frustration with his android partner. Sneaking up on him with his fucking stealth mode, scanning him when he knows how Gavin hates that, bugging him about his smoking and doing it all while looking perfectly calm and collected. Mr. Plastic Fantastic.

He glares at the android, who stares back with a hint of smugness. He did it on purpose, at least the part of sneaking up on him.

“Fuck off, Nines,” he eventually spits out. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“The evidence is inconclusive,” Nines says in that matter-of-fact voice of his. “The crime scene will be released tonight, I thought you might like to take one last look at the scene.”

The android ignores the harsh words, like he usually does when there’s no real venom behind them. He calmly looks at Gavin, hands clasped behind his back. He’s wearing his usual ensemble of charcoal grey slacks and a black turtleneck; the brown leather straps of his shoulder holster stick out against his dark clothes, giving him a classic detective look. It looks good on him.

Gavin favours wearing his handgun on his hip, where people can see it, along with his badge. Nines prefers a more concealed carry, the gun hidden under his white jacket in most cases. Some people still get nervous about androids carrying a weapon, no matter whether they are police officers or not, so the concealed carry makes sense. The android gets enough shit as it is already.

“Fuck, why not?” Gavin presses a few buttons on the terminal to lock the evidence in front of him away again and starts for the door. “Maybe I’ll get some fresh ideas there.”

“How’s your new apartment?” Gavin asks, swallowing a bite of the pretzel.

The RK900 drives them to the scene, an abandoned factory building. The last owner was a printing company, it’s main business printing newspapers. No wonder it went belly up: who the hell reads newspapers anymore?

It’s a twenty minute drive from the precinct, twenty five because they make a stop at a drive through for coffee and a pretzel. Detective Reed can’t think on an empty stomach.

“It’s adequate,” Nines answers, keeping his eyes on the road. Not that he really needs it: Gavin suspects the android can drive with his eyes closed and still not hit anything or anyone.

“Anything with four walls and a roof is adequate,” he scoffs, shaking his head a little. “That depressing android storage room at the precinct was adequate . I should hope having your own place is a little more than that!”

Nines doesn’t comment on that, his face blank as always. “Connor gave me a Monstera. He told me a plant is a typical housewarming gift among humans.”

“And he gave you one called Monster?” Gavin scrunches up his face.

“I believe it’s called like that because of its large leaves,” Nines answers. “It’s actually quite nice to look at. And it purifies the air.”

Gavin chuckles. “More clean oxygen for you to breathe in. How thoughtful of your tin twin.”

Live pets were not allowed in the highrise, so Tiny still lived with Gavin. Nines visited her a couple a times a week, often staying over for the night. Gavin was already used to seeing the android in his home first thing in the morning. Although this morning had been a little different, as he woke up earlier than usual and walked in on Nines still in stasis. Other times the android had been milling about his kitchen, the coffee already brewing and the cats fed. This time Nines was stretched out on the couch, one arm behind his head and the other resting on his stomach. His feet rested up on the armrest, crossed at the ankles. Tiny was curled up on his chest, tucked in the crook of his arm. Gavin will not admit to anyone that he stared for a couple of minutes, before bustling loudly into his kitchen, making noise on purpose so the android would wake up and not look so… innocent and human anymore.

Earlier this month Nines finally gave in to Connor’s pressing - and Gavin’s, to be honest - and found himself an apartment in a complex that was specifically catering to androids. That meant having a small kitchen and bathroom, mainly for any human guests that might come over, and large open rooms with a smart home system that allowed the occupant to control everything digitally.

Gavin dropped him off at his new home once: it was a white highrise, looking very slick and expensive. Made sense, because androids saved money on groceries and their utilities bill, leaving more for rent.

The entrance to the factory lot is closed off with holographic police tape, a single android officer keeping watch at the gate. Nines stops the car and makes the window go down to show their badges, which is probably only to show Gavin’s badge, the rest of it is only a matter of being polite and acting human. Gavin is pretty sure the androids send some data back and forth. The officer informs them the forensics team just left, giving them all the space they need to take a look.

It is raining, making the November day darker than it already was. Behind them the android officer deactivates the holographic tape with their permission. There’s no point in having the guy stand in the rain for nothing, he might as well go back to the precinct. Nines parks the car close to the backdoor and they quickly enter the building. It’s a factory like most others: large spaces, high ceilings, obsolete machinery and some random inventory left behind. This factory has some offices and a breakroom at the second floor, metal walk bridges crossing the empty space above the machinery. The printing presses are large, their height an easy three or four times Gavin’s length and each one taking up the space of a classroom. There are some giant rolls of paper stacked to one side of the room, like enormous rolls of toilet paper.

The break room is their main destination: it was there that they had discovered the remnants of four different androids earlier this week, not enough of everything to reassemble even two androids. Every component was drained of the last drop of Thirium. A fifth android was found in the storage closet, her memory so badly damaged they couldn’t even access it. She still had some Thirium left in her body, though it was hardly enough to be able to reboot her. One of the offices was used as a storage space for the collected Thirium, the blue liquid now all safely stored away in the evidence room of the Central Station of the Detroit Police. Traces of Red Ice had been found on several spots in the offices and the break room, making it an easy guess why the perps had been draining androids.

The forensics team has taken everything with them, there are no yellow evidence markers left and all the portable bits of evidence are taken to the precinct. Finding something here is like looking for a needle in a haystack, yet Gavin wants to give it a try anyway.

He slowly walks around the spacious break room, remembering where everything was and what it looked like. Nines stands in the door opening, watching him for a moment before telling Gavin he’ll be taking a look at the loading dock downstairs. “I want to review my reconstruction of their supply route.”

Gavin waves him off. “Sure, go do your thing.”

The rain patters loudly on the roof windows outside in the main factory hall. The sound is more muffled in the break room, making it easy for Gavin to drown it out and focus on his thoughts. Fact is that a criminal group took androids off the streets to drain them of their Thirium for the production of Red Ice. Gavin suspects they have encountered this group - or members of it - before, although there is no hard evidence pointing in that direction. In fact, there is no evidence at all that helps them find out who is behind this shit. All he has is a hunch, nothing he can take to court, not even something good enough to get a warrant.

Gavin opens the door to the storage closet where they found the fifth android. It doesn’t make any sense that she was there. All the other androids were disassembled, their parts tossed together without regard for their respective owners. Something tells him the android girl was not taken off the streets for the purpose of draining her. There was no missing persons report on her for one, and they found traces of Red Ice in the seams of her plating. It really is a shame her memory was so fucked up. The tech department was still trying to find a way to retrieve it, though they had no luck thus far.

His phone beeps at the same time as there is a loud ruckus out in the hall. A clanging of metal, some unintelligible shouts and above everything the booming voice of Nines: “Halt! Detroit Police!”

Gavin takes a quick look at his phone. There is a text from his partner, informing him of the presence of two suspects, one human, one android. A second text comes in: Human suspect is armed .

He pulls his gun and moves towards the door of the break room, staying away from the windows. If he can get a clear look on the suspects downstairs, he might be able to get a shot on them.

A shot fires, the sound ringing through the mostly empty factory hall.

Nines!  

He takes a risk, counting on it that the android isn’t carrying a gun since Gavin hasn’t been shot at yet and runs across the factory hall over the walk bridge. If he pushes himself, he can just intercept the android who has to take the long way to reach the roof exit. Last year he wouldn’t have thought he would be able to outrun an android, yet having the RK900 for a partner made him want to train harder, to be better. He wouldn’t be able to outrun an RK-model, Connor and Nines are far too fast, but this suspect is likely a domestic model. Gavin has a chance.

Gavin feels his heart skip a beat when he spots his partner’s pristine white jacket. He’s pretty certain the perp was the one who fired, the android only fires his gun as a last resort. Luckily the perp is a lousy shot. Nines is in pursuit, obviously going after the gunman first. The other suspect, the android, runs off in the other direction, taking the stairs to the second floor. There’s an exit to the roof in the corner of the building, that is probably where he is going. With the gunman and Nines out of sight, Gavin runs over the nearest walk bridge. He can’t prevent the sound that his boots make against the metal, alerting the suspect of his presence.

“DPD!” he shouts. “Stop!” He points his gun for emphasis, yet the suspect is not impressed. The android glances back shortly and carries on running.

The large printing press is right beneath him as Gavin sprints across the metal walk bridge. Just one more push and then he’ll have the fucker. With a grunt he collides with the android, slamming them both against the rail of the bridge. A human would’ve been hurt by the force, hell, Gavin’s teeth knock together from the impact. The android is made of sturdier material and he pushes the detective off him, trying to run again. Gavin grabs at him, there is a struggle and with a loud curse the detective topples over the railing. One short second he sees the floor coming at him and then an all consuming pain shoots through his hand, arm and shoulder. His body turns in the air, swinging by his arm on the edge of the walk bridge. The pain is too much, he has to let go. It’s not a conscious decision, there’s nothing he can do. His arm goes limp instantaneously, gravity taking over.

“Gavin!!”

The floor is closer than he thought, the air rushing from his lungs as his back hits a hard surface. Everything goes black for a few seconds, his vision only returning with white and red streaks of pain shooting behind his eyes. He’s alive. Everything fucking hurts, but he’s alive. Short, shallow breaths. His left arm hurts like a motherfucker, especially his shoulder. His right arm is hanging down, dangling in open air. So is the lower part of his right leg, his knee bend and something solid pressing against the side of his calf.

“Gavin! Don’t move!”

With some difficulty Gavin can locate the voice that is coming from above him. A white spot in his blurry vision, a blue glowing triangle.

“Stay still, Gavin! I’m coming!” The white spot moves up and with another blink Gavin can see how Nines climbs the rail of the walk bridge.

The android is seven or eight feet above him, ready to jump down. His LED is circling red. “You’re hurt. You need help.”

“No!” His voice croaks and it’s nowhere near as loud as he wanted it to be, yet his partner hears him anyway.

“Get… suspect.” Gavin coughs, trying to get some more air in his lungs.

“Can wait,” Gavin grunts. “Catch asshole first.”

“You’re hurt,” Nines states again, his brow furrowed.

“You are most definitely not fine!” Nines is angry. “You are in need of medical assistance.”

His surroundings start to make some sense to Gavin. He is lying on top of one of those giant rolls of paper, his arm and leg dangling off the side. With a groan he pulls his right arm in, letting it rest across his stomach. He doesn’t want to roll off the side, where another 8 foot drop is waiting for him.

“I’m fine,” he tells his partner.

“Fine, I’m not fine!” Gavin coughs again, his lungs still recuperating from the fall. “But I can wait until you catch that fucking waste of plastic first!”

The LED on Nines’ temple spins furiously, first red and then turning yellow. His jaw sets and then he steps back over the railing. With one last look down at Gavin he turns and then he’s off.

Gavin lets his head fall back against the roll of paper and screws his eyes shut. He almost pities the android that now has the RK900 hot on his tail. Almost, because he actually pities himself more. Fuck, this hurts.

He is distantly aware of the weird angle his left arm is lying in. He knows better than trying to move. Nines has probably already alerted the emergency services. Help is on the way. In the meantime he tries to focus on his breathing to keep from hyperventilating.

Gavin pulls his face in a pained smirk. “What, no Gavin anymore?”

Sooner than expected, there’s a loud thud from closeby. Gavin feels more than sees that Nines drops to his knees next to him. The large paper roll moves a bit, but remains stable.

“I’m gonna scan you, detective,” his partner says, voice low and concerned.

“Shoulder, arm,” Gavin breathes out. “Head too. My back a little.”

“I see your amazing personality didn’t suffer from your fall,” is the quick answer and Gavin huffs out a laugh, ending in a groan.

A warm hand closes around his own on his stomach, squeezing reassuringly. “Where does it hurt?”

Nines nods. “You have dislocated your shoulder and there’s a high probability for a concussion. Your back and spine seem to have suffered no real damage, except for some heavy bruising.”

“I’ll walk it off.” His lame joke earns him a firm squeeze in his hand, bordering on painful. “Ow! Careful there, terminator.”

“I’m gonna have to set your shoulder,” Nines says. “The longer we wait, the bigger the risk for permanent damage.”

Gavin nods and grinds his teeth together. “Do you know how to do it?”

“I’ve downloaded the necessary procedures,” his partner answers and removes his hand from Gavin’s to inspect the detective’s shoulder.

Gavin curses when a new flare of pain shoots up his shoulder. The RK900 is not a medically trained android, though he has the basic knowledge to provide first aid. However, he also delivered a baby on the side of the road, so it’s safe to say setting a dislocated shoulder is not beyond his abilities.

Nines says some quiet words about Gavin not being in the ideal position but not wanting to move him too much in fear of his other injuries. He also brings Gavin’s right wrist up to his face, pushing the sleeve of his leather jacket up to his lips. “I advise you to bite down on this.”

The moment Gavin bites down firmly, the android pulls on his left arm and Gavin feels bones and muscles grind against each other. He curses up a storm and doubles over, colliding with his partner’s chest.

It’s an awkward position, Gavin hunched over in Nines’ lap, with the android supporting his repositioned arm to prevent the joint from coming out of the socket again. He can’t bring it up to move himself away just yet, panting harshly to breathe through the pain. Gavin fists the white CyberLife jacket in his good hand, digging his nails in. His forehead rests against Nines’ thigh, the fabric of his slacks soft against his skin.

“Fuck you,” Gavin answers, not really meaning it.

A gentle hand strokes his hair. Once, twice, a third time in time with his breathing.

“So far for not moving you too much,” Nines says with a hint of amusement. “At least we now know for sure you have no damage to your spine.”

“You’re welcome.”

Gavin chances a look down. They are on top of three stacked rolls of paper, too high for him to jump down, especially in this state. He’ll probably hurt his ankles or fall on his injured arm.

Gavin punches the android lightly in his side, still clutching the jacket. He only holds back to prevent hurting his own hand: Nines his plating is really hard.

He carefully sits up, sliding sideways a little to not put too much pressure on his painful limbs. Nines moves with him, supporting his arm until Gavin can take over. The android removes his thin jacket and folds it to form a makeshift mitella. It’s not ideal, but it’ll work for now.

“We can get down on the other side,” Nines says, guessing his thoughts. “Or we can wait for the fire department to get you down.”

“No fucking thank you.” Gavin already finds it humiliating enough that the android has to help him to his feet.

Nines keeps his hand on his elbow, guiding Gavin over the stacked rolls to the other side, where there is one roll next to a stack of two, making a giant stairs.

“I’ll go first and then I’ll help you down,” Nines says and lightly jumps down to the lower roll of paper.

“Medical support is here,” Nines says. His LED blinks yellow as he communicates with the ambulance personnel. He guides Gavin to sit on the floor, sitting on his haunches in front of him.

Gavin has no other choice than to shove forward on his butt until his legs dangle of the edge and Nines can reach up for him. His partner keeps a firm grip on his hips as he lowers him, Gavin grabbing the android’s shoulder with one hand to steady himself.

They repeat the process until they’re on the floor, with Gavin out of breath from having to grit through the pain.

“I secured them for our uniformed colleagues,” Nines answers and there is something about that statement that sounds a bit off to Gavin.

Gavin leans back against the giant toilet roll, wishing it was as soft as real toilet paper. He closes his eyes.

“What did you do with the perps?”

He has no time to ask about it though, because the ambulance is coming in through the loading dock and so are three patrol cars. Gavin is happy to see his friend Tina getting out one of the cars. She hurries over to them, already calling out from a distance. “What the fuck, Reed?! Who told you base jumping was a good idea?!”

He gives her a one-sided shrug, grimacing when even that hurts. “You know me, always eager to try something new.”

“Bullshit,” she laughs. “You don’t even want to try the chef’s special at Roasty’s!”

He bickers with his friend, grateful for the distraction. In the background Nines is interfacing with one of the medical androids, no doubt filling her in about what happened.

When he is done he steps closer to them, watching Gavin. “Officer Chen can stay with you. I’ll go assist the other officers to retrieve our suspects.”

Nines looks confused. “I don’t understand?”

“No, you stay with Gav. I’ll fetch those guys.”

Nines looks like he wants to argue with her, yet she is adamant.

“I have wrangled him into getting his shots twice already. You’re his partner now, it’s your turn!”

Tina smirks and stands up to whisper loudly in the android’s ear. “Our boy here is terrified of needles.”

“I can hear you, you know!” Gavin scowls over the shoulder of the medical android who is treating him.

His friend only waves sweetly. “Might want to put a muzzle on him too. Last time he bit the doctor.”

Nines rides in the ambulance with him, staying silently by his side the whole time. There is one needle. A big one. It’s a painkiller of some sorts and Gavin tries to convince the doctor he doesn’t need it. The android nurse prepares the needle anyway and there is nothing more humiliating than failing to hide his fear for his partner and ending up in his strong arms, hyperventilating and with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Everything starts to blur together after that. Nines takes him home and when he wakes up the next morning, he is only in his underwear and a T-shirt, meaning the android must have undressed him. He also vaguely remembers getting woken up by the android repeatedly during the night, the reassuring image of the glow of a blue LED in the dark stuck in his memories.

“Like I fell from 16 feet.”

Getting up is almost impossible: his whole body hurts. He curses loudly and manages to roll over to get his feet off the bed, before he can push himself up with his good arm. There is a knock on the door and a moment later Nines appears in the door opening.

“How are you feeling, Gavin?” Nines only calls him detective when they are at work nowadays.

“That sounds accurate,” is the dry response. “Would you like some breakfast?”

“I need a shower first, I feel fucking filthy.”

Undressing turns out to be another humiliating experience. He has to call Nines back into the room because he can’t get his T-shirt off by himself. The android is gracious about it, acting like it’s the most normal thing in the world that a grown man needs help to get out of his clothes. Only once Gavin sees his eyes wander over his naked chest, the android’s eyes quickly fixating back on his shoulders when he is caught.

Gavin stumbles into the adjacent bathroom, glad to shut the door between him and Nines. The struggle to get his underwear off is a fucking nightmare and he nearly falls over. The split second thought of asking his partner for help in the shower is pushed down immediately. When he is finally in the shower, the hot water helps to calm him down and it soothes his sore muscles. He takes his time, staying in the shower until the water runs cold.

He pats himself dry with a towel, not able to get himself completely dry, yet he refuses to call for Nines. For a second he expects the android to be waiting for him in his bedroom and he actually peeks into the room to check before walking out. Getting dressed is more of the same nightmare and it takes him way longer than it should. He opts out of wearing a T-shirt and searches his closet for a button up shirt. The only choice he has besides the shirt of his dress uniform is a Hawaiian shirt in screaming colours that Anderson would probably compliment him on. He gives up on buttoning it halfway, fucking exhausted of the whole ordeal of getting showered and dressed. At least his joggers are not falling from his ass. There is a sling waiting for him on his bed and he decides to not be a stubborn ass and just put it on. The sooner his shoulder heals, the better.

“I don’t mind,” Nines says pleasantly. “Besides, you would probably just grab a cereal bar and call that breakfast.”

A cup of coffee is ready for him when he comes into the kitchen, his partner busy making pancakes.

“You don’t have to do that,” Gavin grumbles, taking his coffee from the counter.

Gavin carefully leans his backside against the counter, side eyeing the golden brown pancake on the stove. “Do you even know how to make pancakes?”

“I can follow a recipe, it’s not that hard.” The android flips the pancake perfectly. “I quite enjoy cooking, actually. It’s relaxing.”

“Too bad you don’t eat then,” Gavin scoffs.

“I didn’t fall on my ass, plastic idiot.” Gavin stiffly goes to sit down at the kitchen table. The pancakes smell good, they taste even better. He eats in silence, Nines cleaning up the kitchen.

“I could cook for you when I come over to visit Tiny.” The suggestion is made so casually that Gavin almost agrees with it. As if getting more domestic with his DPD partner is a good fucking idea in the first place.

“Your breakfast is ready. Do you think you can sit down?”

When his plate is empty, Nines collects it with a pleasant ‘did you enjoy your meal?’, like he is a fucking waiter.

“Yeah, it was good. But, Nines… you don’t have to fucking do this.”

“Woah, you can stop your whole personal guilt trip right there, tin can!” Gavin pushes his seat back and gets up. “What happened was not your fault. It was just a stupid accident.”

His partner seems to understand he means more than making him breakfast. “I stayed over because someone had to wake you up every hour to check for a concussion, otherwise you’d have to stay the night at the hospital. I thought you would prefer being at home, so I called us a cab.”

Nines washes the plate in the sink, continuing their conversation. “You got injured on the job because I was too late to spot the two intruders. Taking care of you when you’re injured is the least I can do.”

The LED circles yellow and the expression on Nines’ face is way too fucking serious. The android really seems to think Gavin getting hurt was somehow his fault.

“I mean it, Nines,” Gavin states again, getting in the android’s line of vision. “Not. Your. Fault.”

It takes a few seconds, but then Nines slowly nods, his LED turning back to blue. “All right.”

His eyes fall down Gavin’s shirt. “You still need help though.”

The android’s fingers make quick work of the open buttons, straightening out the Hawaiian shirt with a short pull at the bottom when he’s done.

Nines tilts his head in acknowledgement. “I do. I have some interrogations waiting for me.”

Gavin doesn’t think his face can get any redder. And it’s not just because he’s being dressed like a small child again. It’s more about the way Nines’ hands feel on him, like they simply belong there. He steps back, creating more distance between them.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” His voice cracks embarrassingly on the first couple of words.

Normally Gavin would have insisted to be there for the interrogations of the suspects they caught yesterday, yet now he is relieved to see the android leave his apartment. Not that he won’t be back: one of the officers drove Gavin’s car back to the precinct yesterday and Nines will bring it back to him at the end of the day.

He walks out onto his balcony, lighting a much needed cigarette. He smokes a second when he realises the android effectively distracted him from wanting to smoke yesterday in the evidence room. Nines has wormed himself into nearly every part of his life and Gavin can’t even be mad about it. The android only ever goes as far as he lets him. If he told him to go, the android would obey. The thought of what that would do with Nines is unsettling, the realisation that Gavin doesn’t want him to go even more so. He smokes a third cigarette before crashing on the couch, letting daytime tv numb his brain and make the weird thoughts go away.

At some point he falls asleep on the couch, sorely regretting it the moment he is woken up by his phone. It’s Tina, so he answers despite the pain.

“You sound like shit,” she tells him immediately.

“I fell asleep in front of the tv, shouldn’t have done that,” he explains, groaning as he pops a particularly sore kink in his back. “How are things at the office?”

His friend explains how the two suspects were interrogated, Nines being able to get valuable information from them. “He was brutal though,” she says hesitantly. “I’ve never seen him like that before.”

“Well, he was shot at yesterday,” Gavin answers. “We never take kindly to criminals who shoot at cops.”

“Attempted murder?” Gavin mulls it over. He almost fell to his death, that stack of paper rolls saved his life. “He did throw me over that rail.”

“I meant the android suspect, actually,” Tina interrupts him. “I thought Nines was gonna rip out his Thirium pump. He was fucking scary, Gav!”

Gavin frowns. Nines is usually very careful and strict around their suspects. He only uses force when he really has to and even then he is never out of line. For him to act like this, the suspect must have been really getting to him.

“Nines is trying to get him for attempted murder on a police officer. Don’t know if that’s gonna stick.”

“I know. But the guy can really do us a number if he files a complaint against Nines.”

“Why? Because he was a little hard on him in the interrogation room?”

“No, because he…” Tina pauses. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

She chuckles. “We found that android on the roof, folded up like laundry in an airco housing unit. I guess Nines wanted to get back to you quickly and didn’t have the patience to take the perp with him.”

Gavin almost breaks a laugh because of the image. The message behind it is more serious however. “That doesn’t sound like Nines. What about the other suspect, the gunman?”

“That one was chained with his wrists to one of the printing presses. He was a lot more comfortable than his friend.”

They chat a little longer, Tina telling him about the little things he missed at the office today. Gavin only listens to half of it, his mind is stuck on Nines’ rough treatment of the suspect. Slowly, he comes to a conclusion. One that is in line with Nines feeling guilty about Gavin getting hurt. One that fits in with Nines taking care of him, hanging out in his home. He remembers the question Nines asked him when he showed up at his house to apologize about getting him a new cat: ‘Do you care about me?’. And Gavin’s answer was important to his partner, because of what the android was really saying.

I care about you.

<< 6/10 >>

DBH Partners series Masterpost