#these two were really hard to draw but also really fun
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newtsniffles · 18 hours ago
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BETWEEN YOUR EYES
the jackal x oc
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chapter one
WARNING: this fanfiction will contain mature scenes, violence, and coarse language.
word count: 1.6k, a short set-up chapter. enjoy!
if you enjoy this fanfiction, please don't forget to interact.
CHAPTER ONE: ONE SHOT, ONE KILL.
Grace McCarron loved the smell of coffee. Especially in the early mornings when the sun hadn’t risen and the streets were still wet with last night’s rain. It irked her though, how people could be so loud at such an early hour. Couldn’t people just be quiet? Talk at a normal volume, it was only the hour of six. 
The blonde’s fingers rap against the counter in a steady rhythm. Her expression reads neutral as she watches the customers enjoying their breakfasts, discussing work projects and gossip. It was all so mundane, every word they said was capable of drawing a yawn from her lips. Nobody is interesting this morning.
With a sigh, Grace reaches under the counter for the remote, flicking on the television in the corner. Her head tilts, blue eyes sparkling with intense focus at the headline written across the lower third of the screen. 
Manfred Fest assassinated.
Grace’s eyes narrow, something interesting. Her attention is only being drawn away by the sound of a customer waiting to order. A young woman, brunette, she’d be mid-twenties. 
‘It’s horrible isn’t it?’ The woman says.
‘I’m on the fence,’ Grace admits. ‘What can I get for you?’
‘A latte, please… You don’t think it’s bad?’
‘That a fascist offended somebody and got himself killed? Not really.’ Grace presses the coffee, clicking it into the machine before foaming the milk. With practised expertise, she fills a takeaway cup with the espresso and milk, creating lines of art on the top. 
‘I don’t know much about foreign politics,’ the woman taps her card.
‘Take it from me, be glad he won’t be the new German Chancellor.’
Grace’s attention is brought back to the screen as the customer walks away with her latte. A single sniper shot from a distance of over three kilometres. Impressive. More than. The corners of her lips tilt into a small grin, leaning back onto the counter with crossed arms, she watches the news report.
It had started raining again, like it usually did in London. The sound of tires driving over the slick roads was comforting to Grace. Red brake lights reflected in the puddles by the footpath, headlights and street lamps casting a warm hue despite the darkening sky. She loved the rain, the sound of it pattering against whatever surface. However, it did make it hard to get a decent line of sight. Her lips quirked slightly, a lover of challenge. One blue eye closed, a glint of thrill in the other as it stared through the scope of a personalised sniper rifle. 
Sleeping with the blinds open, Grace could never understand it, but it certainly helped her in this case. The target laid across his bed, his thumb scrolling across the screen of his phone. The lights in his apartment were on, everything visible. He was so stupidly vulnerable. She could’ve shot six times over by now, but would there be any fun in that? Her finger taps against the trigger as she recalls the deviance of the sleazy man. The world would be better off without him.
BANG. One shot, one kill.
Grace pulls her head back from the sniper, standing up, she starts to pack down the rifle. Her eyes don’t leave the window of the now-deceased target as she unscrews the barrel, packing it all into a case. She hurries downstairs, unlocking her car and driving off swiftly. Chances are nobody would find him until morning, but it is still safer to get away as quickly as possible.
The internet cafe was practically dead at this hour, a lone stranger or two.  It had started to rain outside again, Grace could hear it on the roof, see it on the windows. It was also a Wednesday, unlikely that it would be busy. She plugs a USB into one of the many PCs, accessing Dark Core.
Access Chatroom:
Username: xxxfOxTROT22971x$
Password: ************
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___ job complete.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___he will not bother you anymore.
FPOxENT779X___thank you.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___yes.
CRTVDSTRYR*1908 one new message.
CRTVDSTRYR*1908___Big admirers of your work. Have project we think will interest you. Superlative remuneration.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___i don’t work for money.
CRTVDSTRYR*1908___What do you work for?
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___enforcement of consequence.
CRTVDSTRYR*1908___There is a man who needs to face consequences.
CRTVDSTRYR*1908___Can’t talk here.
CRTVDSTRYR*1908___Will you meet in person?
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___where?
Grace sits back in her seat, her finger traces her bottom lip as she waits for a response. This was an odd one, but they seem insistent. For them to know of her work, they had to have communication with sources she had helped in the past.
CRTVDSTRYR*1908___Will make a transfer of good will. Location attached.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___tomorrow morning.
Logout.
A sum of $10,000 has been transferred to your account.
A transfer message has been left.
Grace shuts down the computer, taking out the USB, she packs it into her handbag. Her lips quirk as she exits the internet cafe. Something new, something interesting, a potential challenge. This calls for a stop at that delicious dessert bar down the road from her apartment, a nice meringue or maybe some ice cream would do.
For once the sun was out in London, albeit only slightly, but it did still make Grace look less ridiculous for wearing a cap and sunglasses. She notices a woman sitting on the park bench, must be her. Her black coat flutters behind her in the wind as she sits beside the other woman.
‘Who are you?’ Grace asks.
‘Irish?’ The woman responds with a question.
‘And you’re American.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why am I here?’ Grace leans back against the park bench, crossing her legs. ‘What did he do? Was it assault, did he hurt the kids…?’
‘Ulle Dag Charles.’
‘UDC… the River man?’ 
‘Yes,’ She answers.
‘I don’t see how exposing the rich is a crime,’ Grace grins. ‘Please don’t tell me you’ve wasted my time.’
‘If he releases River, it’s not just the rich who fall. All secret networks will be exposed, you’ll be discovered.’ The woman turns to face Grace, trying to get a look at her expression. She quickly realises it’s impossible with the cap and the darkly tinted glasses. ‘You’ll go to prison for a long time.’
‘If that’s the case, hidden networks of paedophiles, rapists… it will all be exposed. You think they’ll go after little old me?’
‘I think even after exposing the rich, they’ll still have the power, and they’ll still be protected.’
‘You’re very insistent,’ Grace observes. ‘Why me?’
‘Because you always get the job done.’
Sighing, Grace looks up at the cloudy sky, the sun peaking out slightly. She sucks in a breath of the fresh park air before responding. ‘This job is a bit harder than the others…’
‘Which is why we’ve hired a second… professional, such as yourself.’
‘First, you ask me to eliminate a man for wanting to expose the rich, and now you tell me I’d have to work with another person?’
There is a silence that passes momentarily between the two women as they stare each other down.
‘River is good for nobody. You will go to prison.’
‘No, I won’t.’ Grace smirks knowingly. ‘Who is the other person?’
‘He is one of the best, alongside yourself.’
‘Who is he?’
‘I don’t know his identity…’ She answers. ‘He took out Fest.’
‘Ah.’ Grace’s lips immediately quick upwards, a grin taking over her expression. She stands up, hands in pockets, she stares down at the woman still sitting. ‘And what do they call you?’
‘Zina.’
‘Zina… I don’t kill innocent men. Give me one good reason to take this job, and not because of River.’
‘...’ The American woman sits there contemplating for a moment, her mind working a million miles an hour. ‘You don’t have to take the shot. We need you to… babysit.’
Grace lets out a loud chuckle, ‘babysit?’
‘It seems our other hire is caught up in a few… troubles after the fest situation. We need you to ensure he gets the job done, and if he fails to, you step in and finish it.’
‘Well… let’s hope he doesn’t fail.’
‘Is that a yes to the job?’ Zina sits up straight.
‘He is aware, I assume?’
‘He will be made aware.’
‘Get me in contact,’ Grace turns around and walks away, her coat once again billowing behind her.
It was another early morning, three days after Grace’s meeting with Zina. She sat behind the counter at the cafe, it was a very quiet morning. A Sunday morning, not many were up and about. She opened her laptop, plugging in her USB.
Access Chatroom:
Username: xxxfOxTROT22971x$
Password: ************
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___who are you?
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___should i not be asking you?
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___i do not need babysitting.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___ah.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___the other ‘professional’
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___nice shot.
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___refuse the job.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___i don’t think i will.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___i get bored sometimes.
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___then stay out of the way.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___i do the job i’m hired for.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___don’t get into trouble, and i won’t have to step in and clean it up.
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___i don’t need anybody to clean up.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___a little birdy told me otherwise.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___i am not the enemy.
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___i don’t work in teams.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___there is a first time for everything.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___i’m not here to steal your job.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___i’m here to cover your ass so you can get it done.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___you said you don’t work in teams, that means you have no connections.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___you will fuck up, you will go to jail.
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___Munich.
**&525marTinGuerrE^$___i will send the hotel details.
xxxfOxTROT22971x$___see you there.
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enjoy? consider a tip. https://ko-fi.com/newtsniffles
taglist: @ysabay @blue-and-yellow-jjk-pjm @fawkes5050 @our-future-is-up-to-us-2 @itszara-theurbanwitch @wintercrows @rosie-read-that @kpopgirlbtssvt
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phantom-nisnow · 10 months ago
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LA DANSE MACABRE
--
Timelapse video here!
EDIT: I have prints also here!
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ryssbelle · 7 months ago
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Drew a bunch of Marinettes in a bunch of different artists styles it was a lot of fun!!
Artists who's styles I mimicked: @buggachat @hamsternamedmarinette @ladybeug @sabertoothwalrus and @anna-scribbles all epic artists 🤟😎
#my art#marinette dupain cheng#miraculous ladybug#miraculous fanart#style mimic#sorry for the @s btw#yall should go follow those artists if you dont already also#this was sort of inspired by a post the three artists on the top row made#i think they all got together and drew with one another#which is really cool#but i was genuinely confused because i mimic styles a lot#and ive seen others do it too so i was just like#wow they really know each others styles really well#until i thought about it and read their posts some more#style mimicking is really freaking fun and i think its really good practice#and a good way to explore other ways of doing things#like you really have to learn new techniques and get out of your comfort zone#also anna scribbles i could not find a recent pic of marinette in her main outfit#so thats the only marinette i drew in different clothes cuz i couldnt find a more recent ref of you drawing it#anna scribble marinette has privileges thats the others dont#but ye#i also threw my own style in there as a frame of reference to what me draw like#ive drawn marinette before just not in a loooong while#sabertooth walrus was the hardest for me to mimic cuz they have a broad range in their style#so its like which sabertooth do i wanna be in this pic#Buggachat has such a distinct style thats very clean and consistent which is amazing so they were easy#being easy or hard arent bad things either it also has to do with like styles meeting up with one another#buggachats and mine arent too too different in some shapes and aspects#so yeah itd be easier plus they drew marinette like 3 sec ago so i have more recent of a ref#as opposed to sabertooth who i have a recent ref of ladybug but not marinette so we got two diff styles in one
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tarufai · 9 months ago
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bacchuschucklefuck · 5 months ago
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dreaming abt sophomore year class swap bard!riz
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#fantasy high#fantasy high sophomore year#fhsy#riz gukgak#ft. kalina#fh class quangle#tbh Im not suuuper happy with the bones of these designs yet#but also its just a bit hard to measure up to how strong ''kid who wears suit to school'' is#I kiinda gear the sophomore year design specifically towards like. cameraman-esque aesthetics#kind of dude who's working the light rig And the audio at the same time. dude who's running inbetween two huge tripods#theres also a thing with the freshman year arcade scene that I wanted to draw but just do not have the energy today#maybe in the future! if I can be bothered to draw biz lmao#I wanna draw something for cleric!gorgug first anyway... specifically his death in freshman year#man I'm so glad I tossed bard!riz into investigative journalism that is SO annoying. exactly what I set out to do with my classswaps#can you imagine going to school with that guy. can you imagine going to school with tintin#this also makes kipperlilly vs riz even funnier like influencer vs journalist? it'd be the Worst#man thinking of it I should rework gorgug's design too. currently his sophomore design is really zac core lmao#and zac can pull it off but character design wise its. really nothing. laughs#his junior year design is full aerith at least so that one Im very happy with. what if I tell u cassandra is the deity of#the inbetween spaces in this class swap thingy. and gorgug offers her domain as a stop for folks fresh out of a faith to gather themselves#that being transgender as fuck is kinda coincidental lmao. but well I stand by it I like that#nobody's design has jumped out to me like riz and gorgug yet. adaine I have a prreeetty good idea for#mostly bc shes the hoodie kid this time round lmao. gamer adaine true believers rise up#we take it easy! we take it easy as we go. these comics-lite were real fun to do. I should do that more
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peridots-pixiwolf · 1 year ago
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sketches from @mipexch 's whiteboard a couple days ago!!
also feat. a very small reference to @onlineviolence :]
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morningmask27 · 26 days ago
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Honestly I'm also not fully happy with what they did with Whis this book
#morningtalks#asc spoilers#Not like they gave Whistlepaw a lot of screentime at all despite how relevant WindClan was all of a sudden#(nooooo that had to go to Crowfeather. Not like he's got enough attention with TNP + PO3 + his super edition + deputyship + TBC#+ Changing Skies now too. Noooooooooooooooooooo we really can't have a single other cat in WindClan be important)#At least Whis had an excuse. Making Additional Content for another book that readers have to buy and be USELESS in that book#But Whistlebreeze?#Out of all the fun names you could've chosen. Whistlebreeze?#At least it's not Whistlepelt or Whistleheart#But really? Whistlebreeze?#I find it boring honestly#It's obviously a me thing. I'm obviously going to take Whis' name more seriously than most because I draw that damned cat Every Single Day#But there were so many possibilities for really poetic and pretty names#But they stuck with the simple option. Whistlebreeze#I obviously wanted Whistlebird#But with Ivypool's Therapy Session you could've made an argument for Whistlestorm#Even if it doesn't sound good at all. The two 't' s really don't make for a good name#But it would've been better than Whistlebreeze as far as I'm concerned#-breeze as a suffix can be cute and I like it but it has little to do with Whis aside from WindClan#Whistlebird neither but it sounds fun and has a rare suffix#Obviously Whistlefrost would've been hilarious#Heck. I just thought about Whistlecreek. Kinda odd but could be a more discrete hommage to Frostdawn as a RiverClan cat#(Frostdawn is a good name tho. Pissed she's back to being a healer but Frostdawn is good at least)#I also love the -berry suffix but with Berryheart just being a nuisance it would've been a very stupid decision here#But I'm just annoyed that they went with Whistlebreeze. It's boring. It's kinda pretty yeah but it adds nothing#It says ''Whis is a WindClan cat.''#Whistle- is a hard prefix to work with. The 't' and 'l' at the end makes it nearly impossible for a good amount of suffixes#Because they wouldn't sound good. (Any occlusive or lateral would've been horrendous. That's why Whistlelight sounds bad. Too many L's)#Whistlebreeze does sound nice at least but again it's bland and I am disappointed and really they could've done so much#With this name. Whistle is a difficult prefix but it offers so much poetic potential
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b4kuch1n · 2 years ago
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been scribblin with the dip pens to prepare for inking the next comic (yuuto⏫’s “origin story” kind of basically) and wow turns out I can do anything I want forever
yuuto’s new friends names of amy and linh >:]c
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arolesbianism · 24 days ago
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Just realized I forgot to post these
#keese draws#oc art#oc#ocs#these guys are from the same story as the grape twins btw#root beer is their cousin and one of the four main characters#dragons beard is merlot's boyfriend and fellow antagonist#and lemon taffy is the older sibling of one of the other main characters who spends most of the story 'kidnapped'#and by kidnapped I mean the super villain polycule asked them if they could help them with some tests and they went 👍#important context! lemon taffy (and their two siblings) are the kids of three superheroes and merlot and fox grape are the kids of four#supervillains both of which are mostly absent for the main story (although the supervillains at least get to be more of side characters)#the heroes are off in space dealing with alien political drama that doesn't matter to the main plot#the two groups have a fairly casual rivalry but they still have genuine beef#merlot and fox grape were left home alone after their parents set out to work on some big project and merlot took the chance to go fuck#off and get a boyfriend to do crime with leaving fox grape desperately trying to find them and get them to come back home#and for the other side root beer was roped into helping rescue lemon taffy by their two younger siblings pop rock and jelly bean#he and pop rock are the main duo on that side with jelly bean being their guy in the chair#merlot and dragons beard are mostly antagonists to those three with fox grape and the other main guy cayenne pepper chasing after them#cayenne is dragon beards childhood friend and I have never drawn him before despite adoring him 😔#hes such a piece of shit I love him#in my old original concepts for him he was going to be an incel but then my brain went but what if. aro. and I instantly hard committed#hes a bitchy asshole who's made all the more annoying by the fact that his anxieties are low key completely justified#hes a sad wet cat abandoned in a cardboard box all alone 😔#oh yeah also worth noting that root beer is a vampire who has a strained relationship with his adoptive dads#oh and dragons beard's parents are a dragon and a royal fae so he has a lot of power that he doesnt know how to use lol#lemon taffy is like. sort of part dragon in a very distant way? their grandma was a failed revival of an old god who was a dragon who made#their dad out of her own magic which included that same magic from the dragon god who was basically made of magic#so he was also sort of part dragon but not really? idk its complicated#merlot and fox grape are miraculously not part dragon somehow despite my track record of making too many ppl dragons in this world#they are however vampires and also directly decend from a god so thats fun
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descendant-of-truth · 10 months ago
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I was messing around with an earlier design for Sonic that I made and thought people might enjoy these
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evilmagician430 · 1 year ago
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hey guys i found this weird discontinued doll line from 2014, seems like the gimmick is each doll comes with a pet, except the pet is just an entire dude? so theyre mostly sold in two-packs, technically. i cant find much information on these except a weird tie-in comic on neocities, but i cant tell if its official or fan-made. can anyone let me know if they find more pictures of these? thx
#hey i combined 2 things im hyperfixated on again but this time the two things were ranfren and fashion dolls just like in general.#i currently do not really have proper supplies to make good doll customs of them#so for now the sanest course of action was to literally draw them as little dolls in their boxes for sale#i bet these bitches only got 5 pts of articulation /j#randal would have kanekalon hair. sebastian has polypropylene. i drew it like rooted hair but lets be real luther has molded on plastic hair#luther gets 2 releases because his hair color is inconsistent and he wears different color shirts sometimes#i think im going to draw a third release of him with nana.#a playset of the house would be fun but i am NOT drawing that....#the only ones i would want out of the ones ive drawn so far would be the randal and sebastian pack tbh.#not that i dont like luther and his catmen but their fashion isnt as interesting. which is why it was easier 2 draw#i had fun with the accessories though. i also like how i put a coffin shape behind randal and didnt do that for all the other boxes cause#it was too hard#anyways i wanna make more of these when i have the time... i wanna draw nurse randal and i want a release of satoru with camio(?spelling)#unreality#<== jic. mostly cause of my fun little caption#images that are horrid to see and look at#mspaint#dollblr#fashion dolls#ranfren#randal's friends#randal ivory#randal von ivory#sebastian de tomato smith chicken legs#luther ivory#luther von ivory#nyen catman#nyon catman
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atlemist · 2 years ago
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super super express explosion!
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phoenixiancrystallist · 4 months ago
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Month 7, day 28
Marble!
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attleboy · 11 months ago
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i thought too hard about insect motifs got a little silly and made... a lot lmao these versions of the characters are from @sm-baby's amazing digital carnival au!! full images and rambling about insect choices are gonna get stuck under the cut... it'll be a bit long and i will be putting photos of real bugs down there so be mindful
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pomni: "butterfly"
inspirational species are black swallowtails mostly for the shape, and malay red harlequins mostly for the pattern
carnival pomni's actually the one that kickstarted this whole set... i drew her hat in a way that reminded me of butterflies, went "wait...", then i fully leaned into it :)
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jax: "centipede"
there was no specific species for jax. without being able to use color, they were too similar to pick any out... i have included a giant centipede just for reference though since it was mainly larger centipedes i used for inspiration
anddd there's a little bonus sketch for how pre-sentience jax might've looked with a centipede outfit... he gets a bug scarf and some goggles!
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ragatha: "ladybug"
inspirational species was the twice-stabbed ladybug chosen because the inverted color scheme looked the best out of all the ones i tried, and also because it's a metal name and we know ragatha's good with a knife... stabby stab... i did add more than two spots to the dress though, it just looks cooler lol
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gangle: "spider"
inspiration was the spinybacked orb weaver which i was absolutely ecstatic to find because come on that is the perfect spider for gangle like look at it!! it looks like her mask, it's got red, it's got gold on the limbs, literally twinning
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zooble: "mantis"
inspiration was the spiny flower mantis which, like with gangle, i feel is pretty much perfect for zooble... they come in many colors (including pink), have abstract patterns, and it gave me the excuse to cover zooble in spikes :D fun
and no kaufmo because i'm lazy and he's dead (sorry kaufmo fans but am i wrong), and the rest don't have bug names that i know of?
i still want to draw the carnival characters in their regular looks sometime, i just got really really inspired by the idea of secret skins and bug-themed outfits and went a liiittle haywire :P
anyways if you read all that you're a real one and you've got too much time on your hands... if you didn't, i understand, i get wordy, sorry :'D okay i think that's all byeee
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voxlvrr · 10 months ago
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✩°。⋆⸜ Adam with a s/o who sleeps a lot ✮
♡.・✩°。⋆ a/n : petition for more Adam fics, and thank you all for 22 followers ! 💗💗💗 also apologies for not posting for 2 days :)
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ꕥ ; Honestly Adam Doesn’t really Care That you sleep a lot most of time, but he does get a bit pissed whenever he doesn’t see you for the entire day but then he finds you locked away in your room dead asleep, he also loves to wake you up in the most craziest ways, He randomly would blow a air horn in your ears, or just randomly stand over you and lean in till you awake and he just says “sup.” before you literally scream, or he likes to use his wings to make a gust of wind to knock you right off your bed! obviously not too hard to the point where you end getting hurt, it’s just harmless fun!
ꕥ ; whenever you both are in the city whenever it be shopping,walking,or just simply sitting down and talking. you always manage to drift off somehow! you and Adam were sitting at a random spot in one of heavens parks while he was eating and ranting about his day,while you slowly drift off to the sound of his voice. he suddenly pushes two fingers on your forehead before saying “jeez babe! don’t fall asleep yet!” then goes back to ranting about his day, he still makes sure to pay attention to you making sure you don’t fall asleep once again.
ꕥ ; when you and Adam are at the angelic courthouse listening to little princess morning star rant about her kindergarten bullshit in Adams words, he wouldn’t mind if you fell asleep on him. he would just let you either lay on his shoulders or lap, or he would just wrap his wings around you kinda using it as a pillow for you to lay on aswell. he doesn’t pay attention to it much but when people stare at you two he’s like “what the fuck are you all staring at? never seen a couple before in your lives?” and then obviously people just draw their attention away.
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wasyago · 16 days ago
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Falls in, i would love to hear about this decked out/failed cave exploration au pls pls pls already i am Bewitched
hehehe [in tango's voice] sighh i suppose...
really im very tempted to just let it sit and not tell anything, because it's so fun seeing people theorize and point out details in the notes. but yeah i guess i shouldn't gatekeep it, its a fun au!
i do want to state in the beginning that it was a one-off thing and i have no plans on continuing it or drawing more for it. if you do tho? feel free! (not asking for fanart by any means, but giving the green light if anyone was wondering)
well
-------
Pet crew were a group of cave explorers. They're no experts by any means but they were no amateurs either! (ignore the fact that they're not wearing any PPE, i didn't want to draw it, ok--) And recently they've been excited about mapping out a new cave system they found, completely unexplored according to their research.
Tango, always a big lover of his plans and spreadsheets, presumably decided to go in alone ahead of time to sketch out at least a rough draft for a map, so they had an idea of what they're going to be dealing with.
But see, this cave is not an ordinary cave, no matter how pristine and untouched it looked. It is one gigantic organism of unknown origin, and a hunrgy one at that, the air inside it is filled with little cells or spores that, when inhaled enough, start taking over the body and corroding it to the cave's will. Killing the host in the process.
So, obviously, after spending some time in the cave by himself, Tango did get some cells in him. Not enough to be noticeable, but enough to give him a headstart on the corruption when the group went in for a proper dive some days later.
The first symptoms of undergoing the change are pretty standard: light fever, weakness, dizziness — easy to mistake for a flu.
Which is exactly what Tango did. Of course, going caving with a flu is not a smart thing to do either, but the group has been planning this trip for so long, delaying it even more because someone was slightly under the weather would've been foolish!
The cave started off with a big drop, requiring a rope to be set up, and then sprawled into a system of tunnels. Tango and Pearl were very excited to find an entrance to some ancient tombs a couple of hours into the dive. There were stairs leading even deeper underground, which turned out to be an entrance to a bigger cave system, with a huge frozen lake in the middle and an entrance to abandoned mines.
Further symptoms include skin turning pale, graying hair, eyes starting to shift color to red. Previous symptoms remain and intensify.
Tango had always been pale, he had blond hair too, and in the dark it was hard to notice the white streaks in them. The pink cheeks were easily passed as a result of being in the cold. Pearl did express some concerns about Tango's well-being when he started to fall back a bit, but he dismissed it as just him getting tired. By that point Pearl seemed to also have some "frost" in her hair.
After the hair have fully turned white, the tips start to switch color to an unnatural blue. Skin eventually loses color completely, turning gray. Fever intensifies as body desperately tries to fight the infection.
At that point it was impossible to deny that something was wrong with Tango. There are no mirrors underground though, so to him it was just his flu getting out of hand. Guilty of hiding his illness, yes, but nothing critical. The blue hair however were not normal, and the other two were freaking out a bit more than Tango would've hoped for.
They had an argument.
Etho snapped and hit Tango to beat some sense into his stupid head.
By that point Pearl was clearly looking bad too, and Etho's own hair were apparently turning white. They were all feeling terrible, physically and mentally. They decided to head home.
As previously stated, the cave is in fact alive and can sense when something that belongs to it is trying to escape. In an effort to stop it, the whole cave system comes to life. Old animal carcasses rise and start walking, small screeching creatures begin patrolling the tombs, the ice melts and the cave blooms in dangerous ways.
When the crew exited the mines into the second level of the cave system, it was apparent that the way back would be a lot harder. By that point Tango was struggling to stand and Etho had to drop his equipment to carry him. But the fever and the dizziness were making it hard to move fast, the changed layout of the cave was difficult to navigate even with their map, and the way to the surface was still very and very long. It was obvious they couldn't make it out....
Unless they were willing to make some sacrifices.
Etho isn't proud of his decision, but leaving Tango was their only option! He and Pearl still had a chance to escape if they moved quickly, but Tango was just too far gone, he couldn't-- Etho couldn't carry him to the exit, he was getting too tired, and if they all stuck together it would get all three of them killed! Was it not better for at least two of them to survive instead of-
They had another argument.
Pearl stubbornly insisted on taking Tango, so Etho had to lie to her and say that they will come back once they scout out the way. Etho couldn't force himself to look at Tango though, if he did he would be met with this knowing look and he just couldn't bear it. Tango cried when they were leaving.
After the body succumbs to the fever it stays dead for a short period of time, while the rest of the changes set in.
It took a miracle for both Etho and Pearl to reach the tombs, but the hard part came after. Etho did everything in his power to convince Pearl to leave with him, he said they will come back later when they're better prepared, he said it was too late to help Tango, he said it was Tango's own fault, he said many bad things, none of which were enough to change Pearl's mind. She turned back and Etho didn't follow her.
He ran through the tombs and the caves alone, losing his eye to a monster he saw all too late. It was painful and it was disorienting, Etho doesn't even remember how he got to the initial drop they went down, he was panicking and only moving forward because of adrenaline and instinct. The ascend was a fever dream, Etho doesn't know how he didn't fall to his death then.
Through the rush of blood in his head, Etho heard the faint sound of Tango's voice. Too cheery for his feverish condition, and much, much closer, a lot closer than the place they left him to die in. He did not hear Pearl. The sound stopped when it was right under him, and he felt a light tug on the rope he was hanging of. And nothing else happened...
Etho emerged from the cave into the cold night, stumbling over his own feet, too tired to run. Their van was parked over by the entrance and Gem was already waiting for him. Him — shaking, bloody and alone.
...
The body reanimates again, now obedient to the cave's will. It is no longer alive but it is not dead either, frozen, stalking through the tunnels in a mindless haze.
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