#they call me mr artblock

[hitracks]

getting older !

[kenandeliza]

Some compilations of scenarios I thought of Bruce being Billy's Bio Dad

1. Journalist conference

Billy was appointed as the speaker for the national journalist convention and Lois-Clark are wondering why a poorly disguised bruce wayne is there with a camera acting like a proud dad watching his son on a talent show, bruce would then place those photos of Billy speaking at the national journalist convention on his fridge along with his other children photos

2. Mary

Billy:”oh hi mr wayne, meet my sister, Mary Batson”

Bruce:”..”[he has a contemplative look]

Billy:”Oh stop it with that hopeful look, she’s already adopted” Billy chuckled

3. Grandpa Batman and grandpa Red Hood

Bruce is having a family dinner with Billy at his manor

“Billy, why did you name your sidekick Junior?”

Billy:”Ohhh that, Freddy is shorter than me, so he’s junior-sized!”

Bruce:”You haven’t thought this through haven’t you?”

Billy has a clueless expression

Freddy:”Let him have his moment Mr Wayne”

-later-

Freddy:“Since i’m technically junior, and people mistakenly think cap’s my ‘dad’, does this means you’re my grandpa? You adopted him after all”

Bruce is flabbergasted

Junior would then call everyone in the batfamily uncle, except for jason, he’s called grandpa by junior as an inside joke because of his hair, but with his voice filters, everyone just thinks red hood is a really buff grandpa, although jason likes that nobody knows his age, he is miffed about being called grandpa anyways.

4. WHY ARE YOU STILL WORKING AT WHIZ STATION!?? I COULD PROVIDE FOR YOU ALREADY!

Billy has a job and Bruce has to additionally try to get him to quit because he’s supposed to be helping him financially. [Bruce lowkey considers breaking his killing rule after that [added comment by @the-brash-spud ]

It doesn’t help that he’s a popular radio host who has fans all over fawcett city and would riot if their favorite boycaster quits.

Mr morris:“I don’t know if you should do it Mr Wayne, it’d be bad pr for the wayne business”

Bruce:”He’s a child!? Why do people want him to work!!!”

he thought to himself as he tried to buy the rights to the station but Mr Morris refuses any money no matter how ludicrous.

Those are all the ideas I have, these conversations are inspired by the ones i have with @the-brash-spud. I'm still having artblock so I cant draw all of these yet, but I can make scenarios for now.

Thank you for reading

[kaissauce]

How I created my oc Hearts (and Bloo)

this got so loooong

so it all started with a thing i like to call “sans time”. Basically it was a drawing challenge that i came up with so that my friend and I could get into the groove of drawing more often (more like helping my friend out of artblock through sans). and my plan was to draw a different sans each day and use a random generator.

First day was classic sans ofc and then the second day was where the fun began. At first i used a random letter generator to determine which au and i got “L” and i was like “uhhh which au has an L i don’t think there is any-oh shit” and it took a lot of hyping each other up to draw the monstrosity (we REALLY didn’t like lust sans cus ofc originally just a pron au).

What i also like to do besides just drawing the sans is researching the au. i learned that there is an actual plot which is quite sad (the reason all adult monsters are like that is because fertility was low because morale was low and monsters were going extinct so mr scientist man had the fantAstic idea of being like “yo check it out this human soul’s trait is Lust if we use it to make a ‘lust serum’(orwhateveritwascalled)  and give it to all monsters of age we might be able to save monsters from going extinct” uhh spoiler alert no it didn’t work. cue the human falling down and teaching the monsters that love is more important. hoorah

“ok but what the fuck does this have to do with hearts?”

y’see my dumb dumb brain of mine really just liked the aesthetic of lust’s appearance (the og design is meh but some people draw him in such a neat way) and somehow saw potential in him.

I also really liked (and still do) Underswap sans, whom of which Bloo is based off of. Then i decided “imma make my own outcodes for shits and giggles”. Thus Blue and Hearts were created.

because i don’t really like the name “lust” for underlust sans since it’s just demeaning (even tho he’d totally chose it as a nickname cus he’s just like that) I gave him the nickname “Hearts”.

Hearts and Blue were two sanses that were stuck in their respective aus that were on aborted genocide routes that the human abandoned. Blue was the first to escape his timeline with the help of Error (im too lazy to explain this part just go with it) Ink also met Blue and he was very curious about him because normally outcodes have crazy strong magic and can hop through aus on their own but Blue didn’t have either of those. so Ink gave him a motorcycle that can travel through aus for shits and giggles, then Blue eventually found Hearts’ timeline where hearts was just vibin in his room trying not to lose his shit. Once he saw Blue he thought he did lose his shit.

blah blah time skip they’re buddies and roommates dependent on each other because it’s hard to talk to alternate versions of people you know have died. they’re also “friends” with ink and error but end up cutting ties with Ink for reasons

By fleshing out Hearts as a character and basically treating him like my own oc underlust sans became a comfort character to me somehow (but only Very specific interpretations like mine)

eventually i realized that Hearts and Blue are basically just ocs so i redesigned them to not look like sans and changed Blue’s name to Bloo since Blue seems too simple and the vibes of Hearts’ redesign ended up being way different than his sans outcode design so his personality was tweaked a bit

i like flamboyant characters ok

[judedeluca]

Titans: Cakes and Confessions (RoyXDonna)

I’ve been trying to type something for #royharperbdayweek for the last few days, but I’ve been artblocked. I finally busted my ass and spent most of last night working on something I felt comfortable enough to finally post on here.

This takes place in a post-Rise of Arsenal, post-New 52, and post-Rebirth world where the DCU has started gaining a semblance of their real lives back after getting free of Dr. Manhattan’s brainwashing. It involves Roy, Lian, and Donna dealing with some emotions left over following Lian’s death and what Donna went through in Blackest Night.

There’s mention of Donna’s kids and Lian’s baby brother, and some chubby!Roy stuff.

Really hoping to hear some thoughts and inputs on this since I don’t normally write fan fics as long as this in one sitting.

It was a nice looking jack-o'-lantern. Not an angry or scary looking one, but not a silly, dopey-looking one either. Lian wanted to feel proud, but she had to get a second opinion. "Does it look okay, Donna?" Lian Harper asked her surrogate aunt, Donna Troy, as Donna finished cleaning the bowls and cups they'd just used. Donna wiped her hands on a dish towel before joining Lian's side. On the kitchen table there was a triple layer cake, covered in rich chocolate icing. Lian had just finished decorating the top of the cake with orange, green, and yellow butter cream frosting to make a pumpkin face. It smiled up at the young and younger women. "It looks wonderful, Lian." Donna said, patting Lian's back. "But it does look like a pumpkin, right?" Lian was unsure as she looked into her aunt's eyes. "You're not just saying that?" "You won't be getting false praise from me, honey." Donna commented, then kissed Lian on the top of her head. That made Lian believe Donna was speaking true. "I bet Daddy will love it." Lian mentioned. "I hope he does too." Donna added, as they had spent most of the afternoon baking the cake for Lian's father Roy, while also keeping an eye on Lian's baby brother Tommy. This weekend, Donna's ex-husband (Terry or Jerry or whatever his name is) had custody of their son Robbie and her stepdaughter Jennifer. So Donna convinced Roy to let her watch Lian and Tommy for the afternoon feeling he'd been doing a lot lately and could use some time to himself. It was entirely transparent she wanted time with Lian to do something for Roy while he was out of the house, but no one said anything. Tommy had just been fed and put down for a nap while Lian iced and decorated the cake. She insisted on doing it by herself to prove she could. "Well we both love all the other cakes and stuff you've been bringing over." Lian reminded Donna. "But thanks for letting me help with this." "It was my pleasure having you as a baking partner." Donna hugged the young girl. "I'm gonna go check on Tommy." But before Donna could leave the kitchen, Lian had a question she wanted to ask. A question that had been on her mind for a while. "Donna?" "Yes, Lian?" Donna stopped and turned to face Lian again. "Is everything okay?" Lian asked, a look of concern on her face. "Huh?" The question sort of caught Donna by surprise before Lian began talking. "You've been coming over a lot lately," Lian explained, "And I know you and Daddy aren't together-I mean, 'Together' together anymore. Are you alright?" "Don't worry about me, honey. I'm fine." Donna smiled. But Lian wasn't fully convinced. "Is it cuz of all that stuff that happened when I… you know." "No, Lian." Donna replied. "Well, how come you're over so much?" Lian continued. "Do you want me to stop coming over?" Donna asked. "No! I love having you over. And so does Daddy and I'm sure Tommy does as well if he could talk." Lian emphasized. Donna laughed a little before she spoke. "I just liking spending time with you guys, and I like cooking for you guys." Donna explained. "I'll say." Lian smirked, thinking about all the homemade sweets and stuff Donna had been leaving for Roy at their house, and at Titans Tower, and at Donna's place. Her dad especially seemed to really like them. And it was starting to show. "I'm gonna go check on your brother before your dad gets home. Okay?" Donna smiled at Lian. "Okay." Lian smiled back. But as Donna left the room, Lian's smile faded and the look of concern returned. She wasn't convinced at all. … "I'm home!" Roy called out from the front door. "Any wild and crazy parties or dead bodies better be taken care of by the time I step over the threshold!" He held two big bags of groceries in his arms, and one plastic bag containing takeout hanging around his wrist, as he entered the house when Lian came running out of the living room. "Daddy!" She threw her arms around her dad's waist and squeezed. "Etai Yazi!" Roy called back, which was Navajo for "Little Girl." "Gimme a sec," he said as he tried to place the reusable bags down on the side table in the hallway. He then kneeled down to Lian's level and gave her a big hug and kiss on her cheek. "Missed you." "Missed you more." Lian replied, kissing Roy's scruffy cheek. "And you didn't burn the house down while I was gone." Roy whistled. "I'm impressed." "Well I can be trusted not to burn the house down. Unlike some people." Lian folded her arms and gave her dad a pretend angry glare, referring to a certain incident Roy had while Lian was… away. "True, true. You're certainly more trustworthy than I am." Roy conceded as he stood up. "We all know you're the responsible one, though I don't know where you get it from." "Oh and, guess what?" Lian asked. "What?" "Boop." Lian poked at his belly button, sticking out after his shirt came untucked. "Hey!" Roy shooed her off as he tucked his shirt back in. "Well it's your own fault for getting fat." Lian smugly informed him. "I know, I know," Roy smirked. "I'm gross." "Nah, you're not." Lian hugged her dad again. "Whatdja do while we were here?" Lian asked. "I took care of some stuff at Titans Tower, then I did some shopping. No big deal." "Come look what me and Donna did while you were out!" Lian began to pull her dad into the kitchen, bumping into Donna who was coming out of the first floor bathroom. "Hi Mr. Speedy." Donna said as she hugged Roy. "Hi Ms. Wonder Girl." Roy replied. "You guys have fun?" "Always." "Surprise!" Lian practically shoved the cake in Roy's face. "You guys made this together?" Roy asked as Donna took the cake from Lian. "Does it look good?" Lian asked. "It looks great!" Roy messed up Lian's hair before turning his attention to Donna again. "But what's the occasion?" Donna shrugged, acting like it was no big deal. "No occasion, just wanted to do something nice while you had the day to yourself." Was the convenient explanation she gave. "I did the icing myself, and I put the pumpkin on it since it's almost Halloween." Lian revealed. "It's chocolate and spice." "I really don't know what I did to deserve you two." Roy kissed Lian on the cheek and then Donna. "You're spoiling me." "I can put these away if you wanna check in on Tommy." Donna offered as she set the grocery bags on the kitchen counter. "It's cool, I can do it." Roy reached over, but Donna playfully slapped his hand away. "No no, go see Tommy." Donna insisted. "He wasn't any trouble today, was he?" Roy asked. "Not at all." "I'll go with you, Daddy." Lian joined her father. The two Harpers headed upstairs to where Tommy Harper, nee Blake, the youngest member of the family slept. Roy quietly opened the door and stuck his head inside to see Lian's baby brother sleeping soundly in his crib. "I hate leaving him alone." Roy sighed as he closed the door. "It's cool dad, we had fun with Donna." Lian explained. "But, um…" Roy saw the look on Lian's face and knew what she was referring to. "She didn't tell you what was wrong, did she." Roy guessed. Lian sighed. "No." Lian shook her head. "But she's sad about something, Daddy. I saw it when I asked her what was wrong. It was like when you used to tell me you were okay, even though you weren't." "Damn it." Roy muttered to himself. "I'm sorry." Lian apologized. "It's okay, peanut. You didn't do anything wrong." Roy reassured her. For the last couple of months, Donna had been acting strange. But then it had been a strange couple of years for a variety of reasons and they were only just returning to a semblance of their old lives. Their REAL lives. Probably the strangest things had been how Roy was brainwashed into thinking Jason Todd was his best friend, and Donna had been replaced by a doppelganger who then gave her life to save Donna. With Roy and Donna back on the Titans with their friends Dick, Wally, and Garth, things felt real for the first time in a long time, even before the world had been gutted inside out. It was like someone had engineered a string of tragedies to make them as miserable as possible before killing them. Now they were all alive and healthy, and so were their kids and loved ones. Yet Donna had started becoming… not clingy, but, was motherly the right word? Overeager? It seemed that way to Roy and Lian, and to a lesser extent Tommy. Admittedly, he was a new addition to the Harper household after Roy learned of his existence and rescued him from Tommy and Lian's mom a few months ago. Donna seemed to worry a lot if Roy was eating enough, and had been showering father and daughter Harper in a variety of baked snacks and treats. Cakes, cookies, pies, even these delectable pomegranate pastries Donna learned of from her sister Diana. Roy was certainly enjoying them more than Lian was, since Donna saw more of the older Harper than the younger one. If he had to stay late at the Tower, she had food ready for a late night snack. If he was arriving early in the morning, there was breakfast in case he skipped the meal. It certainly explained how Roy had put on such a significant amount of weight and developed a noticeable belly on his large archer frame. Roy could sense SOMEthing was bothering Donna, as this type of behavior was new. Oh sure, Donna had long doted on Lian as if she was her daughter. But baking and preparing meals hadn't really been something she was interested in. Roy and Lian weren't ungrateful, but they wanted to know what the problem was. He kept trying to ask her if she wanted to talk, but she smiled and said she was fine. The way she said it, Roy could recognize a slight trace of sadness. Then she'd hurry off to do something else, a mission or monitor duty or something with her sister Diana and the Amazons. Lian recognized it too, but she was always a perceptive child and probably noticed before Roy did. They began to feel guilty that Donna was doing all this for them and asking for nothing. Maybe they were imagining things and she was trying to be friendly. But maybe not. That was why Roy had caved in so easily when Donna suggested he take a day for himself and let her watch the kids. He'd agreed with Lian that she would try to ask Donna what was on her mind without him in the vicinity. "What are we gonna do, daddy? I hate seeing her like this." Lian admitted. "I should've gotten Dick and the others to help," Roy said more to himself, "but I didn't want to put her on the spot in front of everyone." "But she hasn't been acting weird with them, right?" Lian asked. "It's just us, for some reason." "Yeah…" Roy furrowed his brow, trying to think. … Downstairs in the kitchen, Donna had finished putting away the rest of the food in the fridge when Roy tapped her on the shoulder. "What'd you pick up for dinner?" Donna turned and asked him. "I got some chicken and rice with plantains from this place near the supermarket." Roy explained. "But hey, before we eat…" "Yes?" Roy sighed. "Donna, I want you to please tell me what's wrong." Roy asked his teammate and best friend. "You sound just like Lian a little while ago." Donna laughed. "You guys worry too much. Can't I do something nice for one of my best friends and his daughter? Is that so strange?" "No, but I mean," Roy scratched the back of his head as he tried to come up with the right words. He should've been direct to begin with, but feared he was over thinking things. He trusted Lian's judgment, though. "I remember you don't like it when everyone expects you to act like their mom. So Lian and I, we were both wondering if you're really okay doing all this. The baking, cooking." "Roy-" Donna was about to begin before Roy cut her off. "Hey, I'm not complaining or anything. Aside that I'm gonna need some bigger clothes, of course." Roy smiled and patted his new belly. "I appreciate all the stuff you've done and how you're trying to look out for me and my kids. But I feel like I'm taking advantage of you, and that isn't even the main thing I'm worried about. Donna, Lian and I both think something's going on with you. Please, if something's wrong I wanna help. We both do." Donna wasn't sure what to say, Roy's green eyes locked on her blue ones. "Please? Tell me what's wrong?" Donna hesitated and looked away from Roy and Lian. She scratched her arm. "It's… it's silly, really." There was a little tremble in Donna's voice. "Well look, why don't we eat dinner first, and then you can tell the two of us what's on your mind over that cake you and Lian made. Promise?" … Donna wasn't sure whether or not to look forward to the talk after dinner, which was something of an event when Tommy absolutely refused to eat unless Donna was the one to feed him. Roy had barely eaten anything as he struggled to get his stepson to budge a little on the subject of mashed carrots. Lian was happy to get dinner AND a show, until Tommy swatted his food in Lian's direction. After Tommy finally settled down, had his bath, and was told a Navajo legend to get to sleep, Roy, Donna, and Lian sat in the living room with coffee and cake (and milk for Lian since she didn't need the caffeine AND sugar). Roy sat in the middle of the couch with Donna and Lian flanking him on both sides. "So, tell us what's bothering you, Donna." Roy got straight to the point. "Am I gonna have another baby brother, Daddy?" Lian wondered. "Is that why you're so unhappy Donna?" Donna practically choked on her cake. "Ahaha! No, Lian, nothing like that." Donna assured Lian. "I figured," Lian sighed, pinching her dad's side. "But I was hoping he was eating for two." "Hey now-!" Roy almost dropped his plate as he squirmed. "It's cool daddy, I like you better this way." Lian giggled. "You make the best pillow when we stay up late watching movies and you're a lot happier than you were before." "True. So thanks for that, Donna." The three of them set everything down on the coffee table before they began to really talk. Donna looked down at her hands, folded in her lap, as Roy and Lian aimed their attention solely on her. "I know my behavior has been bizarre lately-" Donna started. "I wouldn't call it 'bizarre'-" Roy added. "But with all the ridiculousness of the past few years and how badly things went for all of us," Donna began to list the horrible things everyone went through, "Prometheus, the Black Lanterns, the Villains for Hire, and then the time Barry Allen and Dr. Manhattan stole from us, I've been feeling… I-I guess I'd call it regret." "Regret?" Roy was confused, wondering what she was referring to, "For what?" Donna looked at Lian before she spoke again. "Lian," Donna felt uncomfortable just remembering what happened, "You know about what happened after you…" "Died?" Lian finished. Roy and Donna both winced. Her death. One of the most painful moments of Roy's life. A senseless accident that was a harbinger for what felt like an eternity of unhappiness for both the Harpers and their extended family. "Um. Yeah. I-I do." Lian reluctantly confirmed. "The last time your dad and I spoke before things got really bad, at your, um," God Donna hated everything right now, "Funeral. It wasn't great." "I know about that too." Lian revealed rather somberly. She knew about the awful things her father had screamed at Donna regarding the deaths of her own children. How he'd accused her of "Whoring in space" with Kyle Rayner while her son died in a car crash. Which absolutely wasn't true, by the way. "Looking back on it, I've felt, yes, what your dad said to me was really out of line, but I shouldn't have let that stop me from trying to help." Donna was now referring to how almost everyone in Roy's life had completely, utterly failed at trying to help him deal with Lian's death. Even with how aggressive he'd turned in the most recent days after Lian died, the lack of empathy most of Roy's friends had given was astonishing. It hurt worse because it turned out more had been going on than everyone assumed, which they would've noticed had they really paid attention to Roy's behavior. "Donna-" "No. Please let me get this off my chest." Donna stood and seated herself in a chair away from Roy and Lian, so she could get a better look at them as she spoke. "I've been wondering about if maybe, if I'd tried harder to reach out to you Roy, when you started slipping, then maybe things wouldn't have reached the point they did. I've seen how much you've worked towards making it up to Lian, and how hard you've been trying with Tommy. I feel like if I'd been more help back then, you wouldn't have needed to work so hard now." "I didn't 'slip,' Donna," Roy firmly told her, owning up to his actions, "I did drugs, called you a whore, tried to kill Dick and Mia, and joined Deathstroke's fake Titans because I was angry and using Lian as an excuse to justify all the crap I pulled." "I'm not trying to absolve you of the stuff you did Roy-" "He's been doing his best for me and Tommy!" Lian interjected, almost pleaded, to Donna, to immediately make her feel better and end this unbearable moment. "And I help with Tommy too! Plus I already forgave him for all that, a-and he apologized to Uncle Dick and Mia, anyway!" "It's alright, Etai Yazi." Roy tried to soothe her. "I'm sorry, is what I'm trying to say. I didn't do enough to help after Lian died. When Robbie and Jen passed away, I-I don't even want to get into some of the stuff that went through my head. You wanna believe part of me hated you, Roy? Because you still had Lian and I barely saw Robbie at that point after the divorce? I should've been more forgiving after that argument." "And so you've been worrying so much lately, doing all that cooking and baking…?" "I wanted to do something more tangible to show I care and that I wanted to make up for it." Donna finally admitted. "I've been trying to pay attention. It's easy to say stuff about doing everything I can to help, but I figured this was the best way to show it." Roy and Lian looked at each other and then looked at Donna. "Well, I've been trying." Donna sighed and sank back in the chair. No one said anything for a minute that seemed to last hours, before Roy stood up. "Donna, can you stand up please?" Roy extended his hand towards her. "Huh?" "Come on, up and at 'em." Roy said. As Donna took Roy's hand, he pulled her into a tight embrace as Lian stood behind Donna and placed her hands around her waist." "Listen Wonder Chick," Roy began, "you've got nothing to be sorry about and nothing to apologize for. I heard about what happened with the Black Lanterns, and you'd have been totally justified for taking my head off after what I said." Roy referred to the nightmarish ordeal where Donna encountered a zombified version of son, whom she tried to kill in order to stop. It didn't work, and what she did continued to haunt Donna even though Robbie was alive again. "Yeah, I would have and he's my dad." Lian agreed. "Even before I found out, I didn't blame you for anything. You didn't do anything wrong. It's not right for you to blame yourself when you needed help too after what you went through. And I'm sorry I made you feel like you had to make it up to us." Donna wasn't sure what to say. "Come on, I hate seeing so unhappy. What can I do to make you feel better?" "Yeah, what can WE do?" Lian corrected. Donna relaxed, and smiled. Roy and Lian let go and she sighed, a sigh of relief instead of unhappiness. There'd been too much sighing today. "For starters, next weekend you can make breakfast for me, Robbie, and Jen when she visits." Donna joked, then sniffed and wiped away a tear from her eye. "And then the six of us, Tommy included, can spend the afternoon baking at the Tower." Donna mused. "Snickerdoodles, peanut?" Roy conspired with Lian, taking Donna totally seriously. "Roy I'm ki-" "How about something with macadamia nuts?" Lian wondered. "No good, Jen's allergic to nuts." Roy surprised Donna by mentioning that since she wasn't aware he knew of her children's allergies. "Okay then snickerdoodles!" Lian declared. "Does that help?" Roy asked Donna, mock pouting with puppy dog eyes. "Snickerdoodles?" "You're both such dorks." Donna held his hand. "Well, DUH." Both Harpers said. "Besides, I'm the Titan who's supposed to be constantly ashamed of themselves." Roy joked. "It's kind of my whole shtick, in case you hadn't noticed." "Yeah, stop stealing my dad's shtick!" Lian ordered. "It's all he has going for him. It's bad enough you made him fat!" "Yeah, it's bad enough you made me fat!" Roy parroted his daughter. That was too much for Donna and she started to laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

[flyswhumpcenter]

Turquoise Puddles Under Our Feet [Fever February Day 15: Keep Me Warm]

FEVER FEBRUARY INDEX

Summary: After they manage to run away from one of the most dangerous bounty hunters of their city, Kaede and Shuichi have a small talk about school and their duo as a whole.

Fandom: Of Shells and Spells (original work with Danganronpa cameos) Relationships: Saimatsu (Kaede/Shuichi)

Word Count: 1.8K words

Notes: I never specified the prompts had to be whump, did I? Have a nice, exploration oneshot for the reboot of my magical girl(...ish) series Oh Shells and Spells. I've been in an OSAS mood lately, and that's what's breaking that artblock I put myself in. In case you ask why this is such a mess, OSAS is an original magical girl-ish story based around my own original universe, but with other characters thrown in for maximum potential memery (and fun). I had originally planned for only Makoto and Kyoko, but these two entered Shipping Hell lately. There's also gonna be Magical Dads and some other characters. This is set rather late in the story I'm planning, though. The two aren't supposed to know Annabelle from the get-go of OSAS book I, but oh well, this is mostly a test run more than anything.

AO3 version available here.

In the middle of night-time Hellesimbault, run two teenagers dressed in pinks and blacks. Behind them are ever-growing puddles of turquoise water, gaining space, eating away the paved roadway and dark grey sidewalks. There are waves of chills going down their spines and an urge to flee as soon as possible from the source of these waves.

The dark streets allow for two things: not being directly spotted by the bounty hunter running after them, and not seeing her face as she attempts to annihilate the both of them.

“Come back here, young mages,” an eerily calm voice calls for them, flat tone filled with unspoken rage.

They don’t reply. The witch’s waiting for them to say their position aloud so she can track them through their voices. That’s the last thing they need, so they keep quiet, as quiet as they can be when they’re running and have to breathe as they hurry to a possible shelter.

The blonde girl grabs her friend’s arm and pull them both into a corner, her other hand on his mouth to retain a surprised yell trying to exit his body. They see the with walk past them, violent tides coursing through their entire beings, puddles upon puddles of turquoise water where her feet were. An intense cold run through the street, sparing nothing in its path, her red hair flowing gracefully along the waves she emits.

Once she’s past them, the girl gives a quick look, and invites him to exit their improvised hiding spot. With a swift hand, she removes her butterfly-shaped mask, revealing pink irises.

“Are you alright?” she asks him, a gentle smile on her face.

“I… I’m fine,” he replies with a shaking voice. “It sure was scary.”

A small giggle escapes her lips.

“That’s why she’s called The Witch, isn’t she? She’s one powerful mage… Anyway,” she changes in tone, “why not make our way back to Anna’s? It’s getting late.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

The Witch. She’s one of the most powerful bounty hunters of Hellesimbault. She got to know her exact pseudonym through some research: Rei, the second-in-command of the Fragmenta Guild. Rumours say some of its members are teachers in their school, but that never got confirmed. For now, they take the opposite direction, to go back to Annabelle Moinot’s place.

“Kaede?”

“I told you to call me by my alias when we’re on a mission.”

“Sorry,” he blushes as he apologizes, “I thought we weren’t on a mission anymore…”

“How many times did I tell you to stop apologizing for nothing, Shuichi? Well, it’s not that important. What matters is what you wanted to ask me.”

He gets his mask off but lowers the bill of his hat with his other hand. Better stay transformed in case any bounty hunter other than Rei comes their way. Those rascals must know about her trying to find her missing sister by now.

“Don’t you think it’s getting cold in there?”

Shuichi is rubbing his arms together, blushing, white smoke coming out of his mouth.

“It’s because of Rei’s magic. You seem to be freezing, though… You’re sure you’re alright, Shuichi?”

His teeth are slightly cackling now. This isn’t reassuring.

“Maybe not sure per say, I’m just cold. I guess I’m more sensible to temperature shifts than you, Kaede.”

The music prodigy’s face softens, looking a bit away, then back at him.

“That’s true, Fire elementals are always feeling temperature more easily… Isn’t it Mr Parillot who keeps being cold because he’s a Fire elemental too?”

He nods in agreement. “That’s probably why I’m feeling hotter than you all of a sudden…”

“Excuse me?”

A heavy silence settles between them. Shuichi feels both cold and hot sweats running down his temples and back. An even huger blush installs itself onto his face. He tries to hide even more of his face with his hat, eyes looking away.

“We’re out of the zone Rei has frozen,” Kaede says in a slightly snappier tone, “but it’s still the cold of the night.”

She puffs, crosses her arms, and attempts catching his glaze.

“Shuichi, you’re sick and trying to hide it again, aren’t you!”

The boy flusters even more, and his hat eventually falls down. She catches it with her hand. His entire face is both blushing and flushed.

“I told you before, you shouldn’t go out with me if you’re sick… I’m saying this for you! I don’t want you to get killed because of me!”

“N-no! I’m always here on my own wish, Kaede… I didn’t feel bad enough not to come. It’s just a tiny fever, those happen sometimes…”

Kaede squints her eyes.

“Yeah, sure. For now, let’s go back to Anna so you can have a nice blanket to roll around in. I’m sure Mr Moinot is worried sick for us right now!”

“You’re right, let’s go home before you get sick too.”

She deadpans but smiles afterwards.

“That’s so nice of you to think about.”

On the way to their “headquarters” (Kaede likes the ring of that, it gives it that extra special touch she strives for), they talk about school again. Being a tenth year, a high school freshman feels like being both old and young, in a way. They talk about Mr Parillot again, remembering his weird shenanigans, his movies and his tendency to insert English in every sentence he spews out.

His shivering doesn’t seem to stop. That worries her, because he shouldn’t feel so cold, even if she herself feels some chills from the night temperatures. She has to find a way to make him feel better before they reach the Moinot house.

Kaede casts her battle outfit away, to his surprise.

“The way is clear, so I thought it would be nice to change back to my regular clothes.”

“You’re probably right, but...”

“I know what you’re going to say,” she interrupts him with a smile. “You can remain in your battle gear, Shuichi, if it makes you feel a bit warmer. I wanted to switch back because I have something which could be of some use…”

She feels the weight of her backpack again, which she opens to get a blanket out of.

“I brought this with me in case we stayed very late in the streets and had to find a place where to rest for a bit. It may be a bit too small for that, on second thought, but I’m sure it’ll be useful for you!”

“That’s not necessary, Kaede… You should use it for yourself…”

She wraps the blanket around him, and despite a face of refusal, he clutches it around him and sniffles noisily.

“You always think of me, Kaede… Sorry for being such a burden, you shouldn’t have to always get something for me…”

“Pssh, nonsense. We’re best friends, that’s what best friends are for, right?”

“S-sure, but I can’t ever give you something in return, and you’re usually the one good in battle too… You’d probably be better off with someone better than me, like Rantaro or Kévin…”

Kaede pouts again, barely noticing the fact he clutches his heart with his right hand and the blanket with his left.

“Shuichi! If I wanted to go on such crazy misadventures with them, I would have asked them! Stop putting yourself down like that! I’m sure you would be more powerful if you trusted yourself more.”

He slightly looks at her.

“Thanks for putting up with me…”

She beams him a warm smile.

“You should give yourself more credit, Shuichi. You’ve always been such a help for me, because you notice things better than I could ever do. I would be lost without you, trying to find my sis! The underground world is scary, and if you weren’t by my side, Rei would terrify me beyond my mind… So I think you should stop seeing yourself as a hassle, and more as my partner in not-crime!”

He nods timidly, the tiniest smile on his lips.

They proceed to their HQ.

[sadrien]

prince of cats

chapter six: good pilgrim

on ao3 || on ffnet 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

kind of forgot it was an update day because i have something i need to finish for a friend and i'm stressed

enjoy!!!

“It wasn’t a date,” Marinette says, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she unfolds fabric. “We sat on the couch and watched a bad Hallmark movie.”

Nino scoffs on the other end. “Mari, I hate to break it to you, but that’s basically what mine and Alya’s last date was.”

Marinette rolls her eyes. “This is the difference: you two are dating. Adrien and I are not.”

“Sure, sure,” Nino drawls.

“The intention is different,” she insists. “Anything can be a date if there are romantic intentions.”

“How do you know there weren’t any?”

Marinette puts down the fabric. “Why are we friends again?”

“Because you love me,” Nino says with a smile in his voice. “And because I gave you crackers on our first day of school.”

She hums and goes back to her fabric. “I’m still pretty sure you’re seeing things that aren’t there.”

“And I think you aren’t letting yourself consider the possibility that Adrien likes you back because you like him so much.”

She scoffs. “If you say that I’m afraid of getting hurt—”

“Isn’t everyone a little afraid of getting hurt?” Nino asks. “I feel like that’s a very human thing to be afraid of, you know?”

Marinette raises her eyebrows. “That’s very deep, Mr. Lahiffe.”

“I can be deep if I try.”

“Yeah I remember our three in the morning sleepover talks.”

Nino laughs. “Aw man, yeah those were great. We should do that again.”

“We’re grown adults,” she reminds him.

“And? Who cares. Let’s have a sleepover, Mar. Just like old times. You, me, Alya— hell, we can even invite Adrien to the fun.”

“Oh god no.” Marinette steps away from her kitchen table. “If you really loved me, you would never do that. I do not want Adrien witnessing the disaster that is me after one it the morning.”

“But after one in the morning Mari is the best Mari!” Nino protests.

Marinette collapses onto the couch. “Hard no.”

“We could play spin the bottle. Seven minutes in heaven.”

She snorts. “Okay, are we in uni again? I remind you that you have a very serious girlfriend who you love very much. Spin the bottle is very hard to rig.”

She can almost see Nino shrugging. “If some of the kisses don’t match up exactly it’s not the end of the world. It’s not like we’ve never kissed before.”

“True,” Marinette murmurs, checking her nails.

“Same with Alya. So really…to complete the square, we all have to kiss Adrien.”

“Is that what counts as initiation into our friend group?” Marinette asks. “Kissing?”

“Yes.”

She shakes her head. “If you didn’t scare him away before, you’d definitely scare him away now.”

“We were plenty nice!” Nino says. “It’s been two weeks since we exchanged names, you sure we can’t get his number or something? Alya is going to have a cow.”

Marinette huffs. “Don’t tell, Al but… I don’t even have his number.” She makes a face at the long silence.  

“Goddamn, Mari. Why not?”

She shrugs. “We live next to each other. I’ve never…needed it? I mean, would it be nice to have? Sure. But I don’t want to push him and he’s never offered so…”

“Do you need me to take on the Alya role because she’s working?”

Marinette sighs. “Is saying no going to stop you?”

“Get his number, girl!”

She clicks her tongue. “So many demands. Last names, universities, phone numbers— do you need his blood type too?”

“I’m sure Alya could find some use for that.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. We’re lucky she didn’t go into like, espionage or something. She’d be scary.”

“Are you saying she isn’t scary now?”

“No,” Marinette admits. “Alya is still very scary now. She’d just be way more terrifying in covert operations.”   

“She really would be,” Nino muses.

Marinette smiles to herself. “You love her a lot.”

Nino sighs happily. “Yeah I do. It’s a good thing I’m such a dumbass. Probably wouldn’t have gotten her attention otherwise.”

Marinette raises her eyebrows. “I’m sorry, weren’t Alya and I friends before you two started dating?”

“Yeah, but nothing really gets someone’s attention like chugging a Monster-coffee combo ten minutes before class.”

“Hm, I suppose that’s true. How did you survive lycée again?”

“A good question, my dude. A really good one.”

Marinette looks up as there’s a knock at her door.

“Is that the boyfriend?” Nino asks.

“Shut up,” she mutters. “I’m not sure, but I’ll call you back later, okay?”

“Sure thing, man. Remember all the details for, Al.”

“I always do. Bye.”

“Peace, dude.”

Marinette pulls open the door and Adrien holds out a book. She stares at it — the book, not the hand holding it out to her, definitely not — for a long moment before looking up at him. “Hi?”

“I totally stole this from you the other day,” he apologizes.

Marinette takes the book and flips it over to skim the summary on the back. “Honestly, I didn’t even know I had this book. I’m not sure if I ever read it. Was it good?”

Adrien shrugs. “It was okay. Kind of predictable ending, but it passed the time.”

“Hm. Not sure if I’ll ever read it, but I’ll keep your indepth review in mind.”

He smiles. “Thanks for letting me borrow it, even if you didn’t notice.”

“Of course, what’s mine is yours,” Marinette says before realizing that may be a little too revealing. “I really like your ring by the way.” She gestures to the silver ring on his right hand. She’s noticed him wearing it before, but she’s never really gotten a good look at it before. Plus she needs to change the subject as fast as humanly possible.

“This old thing?” Adrien asks, holding up his hand. “Thanks, it’s an old family heirloom. It’s sentimental, but it’s not really worth anything.”

Marinette shrugs. “Sometimes sentimentality is all that you need.”

“Yeah,” he murmurs, examining the ring. He shakes his head. “Anyway, I have to get back to work, but I’ll see you later?”

She nods and tries not to smile too widely. “Yeah, that sounds great. Have fun at your kitchen table.”

“Always do,” he says with a crooked smile as he turns to his door.

Marinette closes the door and cleans against it, clutching her book to her chest.

She’s so gone.

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette skips dinner.

She’s been working on an idea for a new line all afternoon and her mind feels like jello. It’d probably be a good idea to take a break and let her mind rest, but she’s kind of in the zone, and she doesn’t want to risk losing it.

It takes Alya sending thirty two texts about something that happened at work for Marinette to finally put down the pencil and grab a quick sandwich and a drink while she reads through Alya’s rant.

And then she goes right back to work.

Page after page of failed design and scribbled out notes. She resists the urge to scratch things out and rip pages out of her sketchbook so she can crumple them up and throw them away. She tries to keep everything she designs, even things that she doesn’t like that much. It’s good for learning.

But when she’s low on patience, she scribbles them out anyway.

She almost breaks her pencil crossing out a pantsuit that makes her want to quit her job and return her degree.

“I hate this,” she grumbles to herself, hitting her sketchbook against her forehead.

She stands up with a sigh, doing a quick stretch and pacing around the apartment for a few minutes. Then she turns on her laptop and finds some music to listen to it and plugs in her headphones because it’s too late to blast music aloud.

She starts a dress and gets halfway through the skirt before she realizes she’s already designed this dress.

Back to the drawing board.

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette drags her hands down her face and glances over at the clock. Half an hour after midnight.

Time to give up.

She packs up her laptop and tablet and puts them into her bag by the door. She thinks about her plan for tomorrow before adding her current sketchbook and some markers to it as well.

She wanders around the apartment for a few minutes, drinking a glass of water and trying to calm her anxiety. A little bit of artblock never killed anyone. She’ll get past this hurdle and be back to designing things she’s proud of in no time.

She’s looking forward to work in the morning. She’s looking forward to having some direction. Any direction.

Marinette flops on her bed and stares at the ceiling for a long time.

Tomorrow will be better. It has to be.

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette jerks awake as a loud beeping pierces through her dreams. She didn’t know what it was in her dream, she just knew it was annoying, but now her heart is pounding and she feels like she’s about to be sick.

Fire alarm.

For a moment, she wonders if it’s a drill (do they even have those anywhere other than school?) or was pulled on accident, before the alarms in her mind start going off because that doesn’t matter.  

She snatches her phone from her charger as she runs out the door, nearly tripping as she slips on a pair of flip flops she always has by the door and grabbing her work bag because her entire life is in that bag and she knows you’re not supposed to take anything in an emergency but it’s right there.

As soon as she throws open the door, she can smell the smoke and she doesn’t know how she didn’t notice it before now. She blames the adrenaline.

People are rushing out of their apartments. Someone’s child is crying and heavy footsteps echo through the stairway.

This is actually happening.

Marinette can’t move.

She gasps as someone grabs her arm and drags her along. She finds herself looking at Adrien with terrified eyes.

“We have to go,” Adrien says, running a hand through his hair. He has his phone in his hand and his long black trench coat on, but he’s barefoot and each time he drags a hand over his hair it gets messier.

She probably shouldn’t be focusing so much on him as they follow the crowd out of the building, but he’s strangely grounding. Him, his face, the pressure of his hand on his arm.

They always say to be calm and quiet if there’s a fire in school, but everyone is running and pushing. People are screaming and crying and yelling out to others.

The smoke gets thinner as they go down, but it’s still starting to burn Marinette’s eyes. A mother next to her covers her child’s mouth with her sleeve.

Marinette gasps as they step out into the humid night air. She feels like she’s about to start crying; there’s a lump in her throat and a pressure in the back of her head.

Adrien freezes next to her. He lets go of her arm and shoves her forward. “Go!”

“A-Adrien?” she asks, twisting around to look at him.

“Just go!” he shouts.

He turns and pushes back inside of the building.

Back into the smoke.

Back into the fire.

“Adrien!” Marinette screams, her voice breaking.

The crowd drags her forward. Someone crashes into her. She can hear sirens down the street above the screaming.

Adrien is gone.

[seizuremang]

various sketches and memes I made while artblocked for like a full year. in order:

a weird dog blob i made while trying to figure out colour. it actually started as a cutebold, but I realised i couldn’t get the shapes right. ah well the next is a poppy that was intentionally garbage, i swear i call this one “anime artstyles are weird” because I was very confused as a teenager roy purdy- don’t really have to explain and the last is because someone was calling me a closeted furry so i put Mr. Hands in a closet. If you don’t know who that is, Google is your friend