#theyre so weirdly shaped it took so long for me to get it right but still loving them

[bucket-of-amethyst]

BORZOI PORL or as Bdubs would say "Santa Perra!"

With the return of pointer Pixl and the introduction of wolfdog hybrid Ren!

i have commissions open! :D

More puppers:

Pixl

Jog

[stringlessau]

IT'S STRINGLESS' 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY (+ early concept art compilation)

Posting this dumbass little video to start off the day since we have a lot of little gifts for our awesome community today.

One of those things is something i've been wanting to do for a very long while: posting a lot of the original concept art for stringless (since ive always enjoyed seeing other people's early concepts) some of these i have posted massively before, some are completely unseen, so it'll be fun

This one is the page that started it all, his design is at the same time largely unchanged and also completely different

All i have to say is that it originally said (regarding spamton and swatch) "they bicker like an old married couple" but then i thought about it and i changed it so theyre literally just married

Didnt mean to make swatchton, made it anyway lmfao

Right after that, i got working on neo designs, I wanted to make him really scary looking, the original concept was to make him look skeletal and generally for him to look insane and like he had been reanimated from the dead, but a lot of people had told me over time that they didn't really like the design, I was very defensive over it but I ended up taking criticism and i actually really like the new neo, it balances the uncanniness of the original design with the sleekness of my new art

Payton was a natural next step, without someone to sell the thorn ring there'd be no neo, so although his design visually stayed almost the same, he went through a lot of color revisions (thanks mostly to @maskedalterego, who helped me to nail his final color palette), he suggested the gloves, and helped me to balance the saturation of the design since really I've never had a good eye for color.

His final design, color wise, was just me experimenting using the colors of my sona at the time on him, which I was hesitant to do but was so happy with the palette that I kept it.

It's interesting that he was originally intended to be the pink addison (since he sells one of the snowgrave required rings), and the reason he ended up being the blue addison was corey beepington (and the eviction notice short which I have taken one too many concepts from), this still influenced me to make his outfit pink initially, which still is a huge part of his character design

That exact same night, I created concept art for Raster (weirdly, I was sure I created them before Payton, but it might be because I was generally uninterested in Payton earlier on), their design is also largely unchanged, I just got better with shapes and color, I also ended up changing their cheek markings after seeing some swatchton fanchild art by ne0nbandit

A first until now, the first concepts for payton neo were made on paper

I took very long on this design, and I only updated it every few weeks to make tweaks because I felt the concept was too good but my execution didnt make it justice

I'm very proud of how the design looks now, as of the latest neo redesigns, I feel I could finally make this idea justice

Swatch's design went through some last minute changes, I wanted to use this color palette for swatch to contrast with spamton, but decided against it, then i changed their hair to be longer, to make their Stringless design distinct from their regular Deltarune design

Historically, these two are pretty important, the first pieces of art I ever made featuring Rakhin's old design, when he wasn't part of stringless and I was just befriending rope (he made me Payton fanart first, fell in love with his style), the contrast is beautiful

Now to finish this post, here's some unseen Snowgrave route art I made over the time Stringless has been in development, they're all pretty quick sketches, but i love them nonetheless

Thanks everyone for the insane reception this AU has gotten, I haven't been feeling very good this whole year for a huge amount of reasons I can't get into, but Stringless and its community always helps me to remember why I do the things I do

Thanks for everyone's comments and everyone's kindness, thanks especially to @theropeaaa , for being the literal other half of this AU, without whom I couldn't have ever done the Stringless pages, @maskedalterego for helping me and listening to my ramblings since the start, @scamp-boxx for being this AU's biggest hype man (the first ever comment on the first spamton concept art was by them, and they helped me nail so much of the snowgrave route), @boykisserwoah and @weirdohno , for also being here from the start and making an absolutely insane amount of fanart oh my god, @gutamajunk , for motivating me to create Raster, and writing several story outlines on the first days of stringless that were the foundation for the pages, and diaryous milch and rory, our friends that have helped with character designs, story ideas, voice acting and have generally been instrumental to what stringless is today

THANKS EVERYONE <3

-Nick

[writesowhatnext]

with all due respect // remus lupin

Summary: Remus and the reader are best friends and that’s it and it’s so absurd that Remus keeps insisting that they’re anything more, right?

Request: hii! idk if you’re busy w requests, but if you’re not - i was thinking of a remus x gryffindor! reader where theyre best friends and they both like each other but reader tries to ignore her feelings since they’re both prefects and she doesn’t wanna need any distractions, but remus really really wants to be something more and it’s just him trying to get her to confess and the entire imagine is just built off of the line “friends don’t look at friends that way”

A/N: I LOVE this request ok & it took everything I had not to just say “respectfully, you’re full of shit” but I'm not completely sure if I like this

Reader: unspecified, prefect

Warnings: firewhiskey, swearing

The six of you were sitting in the boy’s dormitory with the sunlight of golden hour pouring through the windows just before it disappeared over the horizon, just laughing together. It was a Friday; the best day of the week for late-night conversations, playfighting and stupid dares. James was leading the charge that night, making sure none of you would forget the consequences of Sirius’ most recent romantic endeavour.

“So, he sees her coming up to him and he’s just beaming, right,” James began, directed mostly at Lily, who hadn’t been there at the time. He was thriving off of Sirius’ misfortune, as proper friends do, and enjoying his groans and Peter’s rambunctious laughter in equal measure. “But then, she stops right in front of him and just smacks him right round the face.”

“What did you do to her?” Lily turns to Sirius, a dry look in her eyes and a smile on her lips. You laughed at her expression, meeting Remus’ eyes across the circle. His smile widened and you found yours doing the same.

“I did nothing!” Sirius insisted, his hand smoothing over his cheek, a phantom bruise to his ego.

“He slept with her brother,” Remus said into his mug of hot chocolate, hiding his smile. His eyes crinkled as everyone laughed and Sirius shoved him to the side, muttering about not being able to keep a secret.

“Blimey, Pads, you’re sodding awful with girls,” James said, perhaps unwisely given his track record.

“Pot calling the kettle black there, Prongs, don’t you think?” Remus had a twinkle in his eye as he spoke and you couldn’t help the snort that left your nose at his words, biting your lip to hide your grin. The room erupted into laughter and cheering at James’ indignant protests. Everyone teased him as he pouted towards a completely unaffected Lily, but you found yourself distracted from the chatter, too busy staring at Remus.

All he was doing was sitting cross-legged opposite you, but you couldn’t deny how warm you felt. The sound of his laughter stirred something inside you and the way the light hit his face tightened your chest. You just sat there, admiring, struck by the unfamiliarity of the feeling. Your eyes trailed over the dusting of freckles across his nose and traced down his smooth jawline, watching his Adam’s apple bob as he laughed, peaking above the loose collar of his shirt. His sleeves were rolled up, a good look for him, and his Gryffindor tie was strewn around his neck. You followed the shiny pink scars up from his neck to his cheek, disappearing into his hairline, his bird’s nest. He was grinning brilliantly and as you made eye contact, your breath caught in your throat and your smile died on your lips.

For a second, you felt like it was only you and him in that room and even as his grin faded into something a lot less toothy, his expression pulled at your chest. The feeling made you weirdly nervous, something you’d never been with Remus, one of your best friends. His eyebrows drew downwards, knitting together as you stared at him and for a moment, you couldn’t bring yourself to look away. But then, you noticed Lily turning towards you from the corner of your eye and you swallowed, smiling at Remus again and casting your eyes to her. Judging by her face, she had no idea of what had just transpired, and you were glad for it. When you looked back Remus, all but a second later, he was already laughing with Peter and part of you felt oddly disappointed.

You’d forgotten all about that night by the time the Gryffindor Christmas Party rolled around. Repressed was a more apt word, but you were in the business of lying to yourself when it came to Remus. The party, which you had expected to be horrible, was full of students from other houses and presents and lights and, most importantly, firewhiskey. You cherished the warm thrum of it in your veins and as you looked around from the corner of the fireplace, it seemed like many others did too. You saw Remus over the crowd, on his own by the stairs to your dorms and a strange determination overtook you. As you breezed past the guests to reach him, for what you didn’t yet know, you slid past a few couples making out in the corner, Lily and James included. You rolled your eyes at them, smirking a little. Your distraction, though, appearing to be fatal as you rushed straight into a taller Hufflepuff student. He was apologetic at the decent-sized firewhiskey stain on your jumper, but you just shook your head with reluctant forgiveness. You’d just have to change.

“It’s okay!” you swore, walking backward towards the staircase, now out of sight from the party. With a sigh, you turned around, only to bump into someone else, Remus this time, the man you’d been looking for.

“Hey,” you breathed, a smile immediately growing on your face. He was surprised at first, his eyes wide, but then he relaxed as his hands braced on your elbows.

“You alright there, Y/N?” he asked, a smile playing on his pinked lips, amusement in his eyes. As you looked at him, you noticed the golden shades in the green of his eyes and the way his freckles were actually scattered all over her face, not just his cheeks and you bit your lip at the sight.

“You seem a little…” he trailed off, tongue poking between his lips. “Tipsy.”

“I’m excellent,” you grinned, happier still when he matched your expression. “I was looking for you!”

“Me?” he frowned a little, his lips still curved upwards. You nodded, suddenly very aware of how close you were. You were grateful at the firewhiskey for taking the edge off, not sure you’d be as carefree in this situation if you were sober.

“Remus, you’re very pretty.”

His eyebrows shot up at your words and his mouth, you were sure, you’d been staring, morphed into an ‘o’ shape. You smiled. Slowly and surely, you leant forward, close enough to feel his breath on your face, your noses centimetres from each other. You bit your lip, looking up into his eyes.

“I think you’re very pretty too,” he said softly, each syllable a breath of air on your skin. The shock had drained from his features and it left behind something else entirely, you thought, as you noticed the gentle curve of his lips and the strange look in his eye.

“I’d like to kiss you,” he said, his fingers curling around your elbows.

You opened your mouth slightly, leaning forward again, feeling all the confidence three shots of firewhiskey had given you.

“I wish you would.”

Your lips barely even brushed his when you lurched backwards, panting in shock.

“Mooney!” Sirius yelled, very obviously worse for wear. He turned to you, clearly unaware that he’d interrupted anything, and his smile grew. “Y/N! What are you two doing here?”

You licked your lip, blinking away whatever haze you’d been in, avoiding eye contact with Remus, who you felt staring straight at you.

“I just- I need to- I should change.”

With that, you disappeared up the stairs and into your room, not really listening to Sirius’ loud shouting as you slammed the door behind you and rested your back against it, huffing a little. You rocked your head back to rest against the wood and screwed your eyes shut. Had you been about to kiss Remus? Had he been about to kiss you?

Remus didn’t bring it up the next time you saw him, and you told yourself you were grateful; you were a prefect, and there was a war starting, and the last thing either of you needed was to be distracted by feelings you weren’t sure of. You hoped he’d forgotten about it, but when he ended up casually playing with your hair, you were hard-pressed to convince yourself otherwise. You’d been sitting by the Black Lake, soaking in the view of Hogwarts together before your Christmas holidays, all six of you in a circle. Somehow, you’d landed with your head nestled in Remus’ lap. Before the incident, that would’ve been a common occurrence, but now, now it felt different. Especially when, between long, delicate fingers, he started playing with the strands of your hair, plaiting them gently together.

Your eyes fluttered shut at the sensation, enjoying yourself far too much. When you opened them, though, Remus was staring down at you with an unreadable expression. His cheeks flushed at being caught but neither of you looked away. The familiar lump in your throat returned as you looked into his warm eyes and you realised that you wouldn’t have been able to say anything if you wanted to, the words catching on your tongue. He opened his mouth to speak and you felt a strange amount of dread; whatever he was going to say wouldn’t be good for your denial or your friendship. And so, you did the only thing you could think of. You sat up abruptly, heaving yourself to your feet and then you all but ran off, sending a half-hearted excuse to your friends behind you.

To say the whole situation was killing you would’ve been dramatic, but not actually an understatement. You sat there at a desk in the library, rubbing your eyes as you tried to concentrate on your Charms Through the Ages textbook. Unsurprisingly, your effort seemed to be proving futile. You just couldn’t shake the idea of Remus and you nearly kissing from your mind, or the way he’d looked at you by the lake. The chair opposite you dragged out loudly, quickly, and had it been anyone else, you would’ve been grateful at the interruption to your daydreams. Just your luck though, you looked up into soft green eyes and an almost frenzied expression.

“Why are you avoiding me?” he asked, forgoing small talk with a frown. You blinked.

“I’m not-“

“Ever since,” he blushed, “the Christmas party, you’ve been avoiding me.”

“That’s not true – we were on the grass together.”

“And then you ran away.”

You sighed at his deadpan look, rubbing your eye again.

“The party was a mistake,” you lied.

“No, it wasn’t.”

Your eyes snapped to his in surprise, watching his determined scowl closely. You weren’t used to Remus being so assertive; not to say that something didn’t stir at his direct tone.

“I thought it was to you,” he nodded, swallowing. “I really did, because why wouldn’t it be, I’m just your friend. But then, then, you look at me like that and I know you feel it too.”

The blood rushed from your face at his words. Were you really that transparent?

“Remus-“

You made the mistake of looking into his eyes and your mouth went dry. A shudder ran up your back as you coughed quietly, looking down.

“Remus, we’re just friends-“

He huffed, crossing his arms and leaning forward on the table.

“Respectfully, Y/N, and I mean this respectfully, that’s bollocks and you know it. Friends-“ he exhaled shakily. “Friends don’t look at each other like we look at each other.”

“Remus…” you pulled your top lip between your teeth, knowing he was right and not being able to stop yourself. “I don’t think of you like that.”

“We both know that’s not true.”

“Rem.”

You bit the inside of your cheek.

“Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t.”

You thought for a second about things you shouldn’t do. You shouldn’t hurt your best friend. You shouldn’t distract yourself from your duties. You shouldn’t be talking this loudly in the library. You shouldn’t say what you were about to.

“I don’t like you, Remus. I don’t know why you think I would.”

To think, your heart broke at your words, and so you could only imagine what happened to his. An almost pained expression took over him before he resigned, nodding and leaning back. He clenched his jaw once and turned to face the side. Both of you knew it was a lie, but that didn’t matter. You’d already hurt him. He shot you one last look, a hurt glance before he stood up and walked out, leaving his chair out and you on the brink of tears. You let yourself sit there for a few moments, your chest uncomfortably tight, before you wiped your eyes and got back to your Charms textbook, not entirely focused.

Your logic, it seemed, had been monumentally flawed. Whilst being with Remus would probably be a distraction to your studies and duties, not admitting your feelings and losing your best friend was even more of a complication. The others probably knew something was up with you two, despite the façade of normalcy: you and Remus had always had an easy chemistry, a precursor, you guessed, to your feelings, and now it just sort of seemed empty. You talked to each other, barely, but there was none of the usual spark between you and it was slowly but surely draining the life out of you. The dynamic of the whole group had been thrown off and it felt like nothing could actually make you feel better. You’d been stewing on the catastrophe of your situation all day when you spotted him in the corridor, alone, no doubt preparing to leave for Christmas. Only after you’d shouted his name did you consider that maybe a plan would’ve been a good idea. You were tired, though, of planning ahead.

“Remus!”

He turned around, eyebrows raised and lips parted.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his face sinking when he remembered that ‘you and him’ weren’t actually ‘you and him’ right now.

“No, not really.”

You had no idea where you were going with it, but there was a burning sensation in your chest you needed to get rid of.

“You were right, actually.”

He frowned.

“We’re not friends.”

Not your finest word choice.

“I don’t know if we were ever friends,” you persevered, regardless. “Because I wake up, and I think of you. And I go to bed, and I think of you. And I thought telling you that would complicate things, but-“

You exhaled, grateful to be seeing a soft smile on his face.

“There’s nothing complicated about us. It’s always just been us.”

You swallowed, somehow both impossibly nervous and impossibly relieved at your confession. He didn’t reply and your stomach sank; your head flooded with ideas of missing your chance and your cruelness ruining things.

“Remus, I-“

You didn’t get to finish. His lips were suddenly against yours and your words were trapped in your throat as you tried to process just how right this all was. You relaxed into him, hands lifting instinctively to cup his jaw. He pulled away just as quickly as he’d leaned in, your lips following him to prolong the contact. He wet his lips as you felt him grin beneath your hands, his palms reaching forward to rest on your hips lightly.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time,” he admitted, his cheeks turning rosy.

harry potter tag list:

@creator-appreciator

@loveisblindness​

@decadentwastelandtrash - it won’t let me tag you :(

@xinyourdreamsx​

@brainlesspasta​

@hariosborn​