#this is my first inktober so I hope it’s okay

[general-bear]

Inktober Day 2: Spider

[im-jesus]

My Inktober Day 1 Contribution, plus a microfic: Backpack

I've never drawn people kissing, I hope it's okay lol. full disclosure my first idea was a motorcycle backpack, but I started overthinking it and did this instead lol

Word count: 444 Warnings: edited and written by a dyslexic (i'm sorry), pure fluff, University student!James, Fiancé!Regulus

James was rushing to the car, murmuring that he’d forgotten something and sorting through the keys on his ring. He was late, as per usual, but Regulus had just looked so pretty and his arms had been so comfy that he couldn’t force himself out of bed. He tried, he really did.

Who is he kidding? He took one look at the love of his life and couldn’t bring himself to look away, which led to this. Again. He smiled anyway, just the thought of Regulus setting his heart racing.

“Jamie, James, come back,” Regulus called from the door, rubbing his eyes sleepily with the heel of his hand. James whirled at the sound of his fiancé’s voice, surprised to see him up so early.

“Reggie, baby, why are you awake?” he asked, rushing back to the door. Regulus just held up James’ backpack, and James let out a groan. “So that’s what I forgot. Thank you, my love.”

James took the bag but couldn’t help looking over Regulus appreciatively. He looked a mess; eyes half bleary with sleep, his hair sticking up in every which direction, wearing James’ pants. James thought he looked stunning.

“I love you, you know that?” James said, pulling his love in by his waist.

Reg smiled blearily, still tired, and murmured, “and I love you.” He rested his arms on James’ shoulders, still holding the backpack, and pressed his middle against him. James took full advantage and let his hands travel to Regulus’ back, holding him even closer.

Regulus leaned in to kiss James’ cheek, but his fiancé seemed to have other ideas. He turned his head at the last second, capturing Regulus’ lips with his own in a loving, passionate kiss. Regulus pulled him closer and James groaned happily, sliding one hand into Reggie’s hair. 

It took a minute, but Reg broke the kiss first, panting softly and pressing his forehead against James’. “You really ought to get to class,” he whispered reluctantly, but he was smiling. James sighed and let his hands rest on Reg’s hips, knowing that he did indeed need to get to class.

“I love you,” he murmured again, pressing one last quick kiss to Regulus’ lips before pulling away. Regulus smiled and let his arms drop down to his sides.

“And I love you,” he said, resting his shoulder against the door frame and watching James rush back to the car, even later now. He watched with an amused grin as James unlocked his car, but froze as he opened the door. James turned with a sheepish grin and trudged back up the steps to where Regulus waited.

“I forgot my backpack.”

[starrieisdelusional]

As Merlin moved the seemingly endless sacks of potatoes into the kitchen, Arthur’s mind began to wonder. Is Arthur seeing things? Did Merlin actually get buff?? When did it even happened?? There’s no way right?? What else did he do besides drinking his brains out at the tavern?!?!

=====

MerlinkTober 2024

Day One: Sack

Hello guys so you know how i said i was going to contribute only one piece?? Well guess what i lied to you and to myself ☝️☝️☝️😎😎😚😚🤗🤗

Okay so I actually speed-run all of the prompts in a few days, right now only 7 prompts are finished so you will see inconsistent post from me, because i don’t have enough time to post for a month (i have a final exam at november 💀). I will only ink because it’s INKtober and i cannot color yet and it is the most efficient method 😇😇😇😋🤗

Okay finally talking about the art itself: IM SORRY MERLIN ISNT ACTUALLY BUFF 😭 i mean i tried okay but i failed and it’s because i rushed it ngl i kinda went for the inking without checking the proportion first 😅 oh yeah and i forgot to mention, since this is a bit of a speedrun there will be flaws here and there but despite that i will try my best and i hope to entertain you guys during this october spooky season 😇

Masterlist

[nectorbruise]

DAY 6: Underwater

Okay, I think this is the first of any of these drawings that I truly like. Ep 3 of the amazing digital circus was fantastic and I am now rotating it in my skull. Im desperate to improve, so I hope I see some artistic progress in the next few weeks. Wishing everybody who’s doing inktober luck. Also, all of this is digital and I like color so screw the rules.

Tomorrows prompt is mud

[kellycataclysm]

To be by Your Side

Finally finished Echoes of Autumn, my Inktober/Kinktober collection for Lyra and Harvey. A couple of weeks late, but The Real World has been putting a great deal of Life in my way lately.

The final chapter, like the penultimate one, was based on the prompt Happily Ever After, and directly follows the events of chapter ten.

Honestly, I have little excuse for spending the last few days writing 8k words of comfort smut, but I guess the muse thought I needed it.

I hope you enjoy it, and as always, thank you so much for reading. I truly appreciate it.

Thank you to @saradika-graphics for these lovely dividers, used for this series.

Next, I've got a couple of new things to work on, my very first Shane fic as a gift, possibly another gift exchange, and maybe even that spicy angst fic I have sitting on my wip list.

Lyra and Harvey will be back soon though. I still have three one-shots to write for them AND my long fic to finish...

Oh, I also have a couple of really lovely commissions in the works that I'll be super excited to share when they're ready!

In the meantime, there's a little snippet of this last chapter below the cut.

‘Honey, I think you broke me.’ Lyra smiled, gasping between words, as he placed gentle kisses along her inner thighs. His hands swept up her legs to her waist as he pressed his lips to her stomach.

‘Then let me fix you...’ Harvey offered tenderly. ‘Kiss you better…’ She sighed softly, opening her eyes, her smile widening, taking in the sight of him as he rose to his feet.

He was flushed, hair damp at his temples, his thumb sweeping across his chin, glossy with her release, his cock, heavy and throbbing, tip leaking. Her mouth watered. He grinned as he smoothed his fingers over his moustache, sucking the taste of her from his fingertips. She felt her face warming as he licked his lips, laughing quietly at his satisfied smile. He was wonderful.

He bent a knee to the mattress between her thighs as she moved slowly back up the bed. He climbed along with her, taking his glasses, placing them safely out of reach. As she laid her head into the generous pile of pillows, excitement coiled through her body at his hungry gaze.

‘Hi handsome.’ She broke the silence that burned between them.

‘Hello lovely.’ He moved closer, leaning in, towering over her, pressing his lips to hers, smiling gently as he pulled back. He shook his head lightly, looking down at her as if she were a dream, even after all this time. ‘You’re too good to be true.’ Her heart almost leapt from her chest.

‘I could say the same about you.’

Lyra felt sparks at his touch, arching her back as Harvey smoothed his hands over her body, gliding over her curves as he knelt between her legs. Skating his fingertips down her arms, he took her hands in his, delicately intertwining their fingers. She sighed, watching his eyes close as he brought her hands to his lips, kissing her palms softly.

He opened his eyes as he moved on top of her, pinning her hands above her head. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved into position, giggling as he kissed the tip of her nose.

‘Are you okay?’ He smiled, his cock nudging against her entrance.

She smiled, dazed, her face flushed, eyelids heavy. ‘More than okay.’

‘Do you still want me?’ He whispered against her lips.

‘More than ever.’

[bryan360]

Before I can get started my Inktober share today, I want to tell you back at Tuesday this week after my program's movie theater trip. Unfortunately, it wasn't the Wild Robot movie I was hoping. Instead, me and my friends went to watch the Transformers One movie as another option. Regardless not interested in its toyline franchise or their live action films, It was my first experience for watching its 3D animated film. Taking place before Optimus Prime and Megatron's rivalry, I finding okay for this film despite had less acknowledge for their lore/story with giant alien robot fighting each other. Though given the voice actors and its action moments, It was pretty decent at least. I'm not a Transformers fan though so I'm good. 👌

Tagged: @murumokirby360 @shadowredfeline @alexander1301 @sammirthebear2k4

[zettaflake]

Phew! My first original post in a while. I've missed seeing you all, and I hope you've all been well. Since starting college, I've been learning little by little in both academics and life, teaching myself to do my best while enjoying myself along the way.

I took on an ambitious set of classes right away, and it expectedly asked that I spend more time to focus on schoolwork and managing my own life, therefore getting the most out of this major step in life.

Even so, my friends, family, and professors all reminded me that it was important to recognize that life is long beyond these 4 years. There are still so many days ahead of me to discover new things and just smell the flowers. It's okay to make mistakes. Learn from them, then learn to let them go, for that is the best outcome.

Ever since my experiences at college shaped a new perspective to take things one small step at a time, therefore clearing the mental clutter that comes with so many challenges presented at once, I've never felt so much better about my well-being, even as I was setting aside hobbies such as my art, game dev, and even interacting with everyone here and sharing creativity. When you forget about everything else just to walk with what's in front of you, you feel so much more capable as you fulfill your wants and needs and watch them fly by.

Now that I'm back home, and that I've finished schoolwork for now, I want to set my focus to my art once again, and perhaps that includes more updates on my game dev journey as well! I'm looking forward to exchanging ideas with you all, and I can't wait to share more about my projects!

Stay tuned for Day 17-31 of Inktober 2023, as well as Indie Tourney III updates on @indietourney. I'll likely be bringing more of my characters official reference sheets too! Please share your recent favorite things to do and what you've painted recently! I'd love to talk w/ you :)

[ickmick]

INKTOBER DAYS 30 AND 31!!

getting immediately into this- the acronyms key, past weeks posts, and rambling afterwords are under the cut!! drawings on full display today!!

Day 30

gore: undead

we have a miss cleo!! look at them!! so very cool, I'm actually very happy with my first real attempt to draw her! the hair was fun too, ehehe...

Day 31

wh: so below

hc: halloween

GRIANS COSPLAY OF CROWLEY!! WHO CHEERED?? 🎉

he looks oh so smug and cool, I really love this drasing of him! that face! and I took a worth while risk on the pose!!

(I have moved the next 2 paragraphs to under the cut, to make sure this isn't too long to scroll through if you only want to see the art!!)

as for the second sketch (which has two photos so you don't have hold you device upside down LOL) I had the idea of secret life grian and (SL)watcher grian! a reverse, mwahaha... I really only meant to draw the crowly one, and didnt think I had the energy for more... but brain rot!! it is so strong!!

so of course after that I finally rectified my lack of clothes design for watcher grian lol... now i have to draw a SL design too!! eventually... eventually... I didnt make a note of it, but I think he just... wouldn't wear shoes LOL... watcher grian, I mean. let those lil talon feeties free, or whatever pffft...

week one, two, three, four and 5.1s posts!!

I'll only list the prompts I used that day, but here's the key for acronyms n such;

wh = welcome home

hc = hermitcraft (I have 2!)

ink = official inktober

gore = goretober

(actual gore will be triggerwarned! so far none has any blood or violence!)

Oh boy- okay! so I swear I didn't forget, its just that art block came and smacked me in the face for a short period. Thankfully I came out of it with two drawings I really love!! And some pretty good doodles too, haha...

I do think I still want to do a weekly novelember drabble... and of course a related drawing. we'll see! check in on sunday! i wont just disappear now that inktober is over!!

but also, maybe come back tomorrow if you're interested in a certain very tall persons birthday. yknow, the one with a new vtuber model! yeah! them! /silly

(Im talking about Ranboo, haha!! Im hoping to finish a drawing for their birthday tomorrow!!)

Thanks again for all the support!! 💜

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

Title: My "Baggy Cloth-Ober" Day 21: 🐶🏎️

Hello, October! 🎃🦇 My daily "Baggy Cloth-Ober" continues with our next daily Inktober! 🧢👕🧤👖🧦👟😊

If you haven't seen my previous related post, then please click these: ↓

• Day 1: Maxwell 🐰🖌️ • Day 2: May 🐰👊💥 • Day 3: Sam 🦊⚽ • Day 4: Mikey 🐱🎧 • Day 5: Brown 🥜 • Day 6: Choco 🐰🍫 • Day 7: Stripes 🦝⚾️😴 • Day 8: Leo 🦁🖌️ • Day 9: Wilson 🐶 • Day 10: Foofie 🐩🌸 • Day 11: Jumbo 🐘 🎮 🧹 • Day 12: Jo 🐆 • Day 13: Emme 🦌🌼 • Day 14: Ziggy 🦨 • Day 15: Jazzy 🦨💃🎵 • Day 16: Todd 🐑📚 • Day 17: Bearo 🐻🎒🚗 • Day 18: Joey 🦘 • Day 19: Katie 🐨 • Day 20: Batty Midnight 🦇🌙

DAY 21: Spot Speedster's A/W Clothes 🐶🏎️

• Now, that I'm done with A-Pal's OC list let's moved on to other OCs, starting with MY OCs! 😁 The first member of the Speedster Family tree 🏎️🖼️🌳 is Spot Speedster 🐶🏎️, who needs a little introduction. A Puppy-Cat hybrid creature (mostly he's a LEGIT CANINE 🐶🦴) who still labelled as "Driver Apprentice", and his dream is to become a legendary racer in the motorsport history. 🏎️🚘🏁 However, you've already know that the Speedster's kids (including Spot himself) loves to wear comfy clothes in baggy sized and stuffed into large pillows from not just their wardrobes but also their friendly neighbors, and other friendly random character(s) (both fictional and other OCs). 🥰👕👖🤗 Reason? Just for fun! ☺ And they become a sort of hobby/interest outside their career, beside driving exotic/JDM cars 🚘🚗, automobile related stuff 🔧🏎️, tech stuff 💻🖥️📱, food 😋🍕, and video games 🎮📺. 🙂 Speaking of wardrobe, this is his current A/W Clothes. Now, they are some iterations for Spot's "3rd clothing", which was used to be called, so far this is his current A/W clothing that he usual wear for the coldest season 👕💙🤍. There's another hoodie, though albeit a different blue shade of color 👕💙🩵. Otherwise, a same blue hoodie with a yellow beginners symbol. 💛🔰 Here's hoping, that you'll see him wearing two different hoodies, in my upcoming artwork(s). 😉

Well, that's all for now. More daily "Baggy Cloth-Ober" artworks to come, until the end (of October)!😊

Spot Speedster's A/W Clothes - created by ME!

[thecosmosdefys]

hiii!! just read your Simon blurbs and i'm IN LOVE!! so soft and cute🥰😭 you write beautifully, keep up the good work and i hope you have a nice day/night♥️

Okay okay I literally can not thank you enough- First of all you are my FIRST ANON which is really cool and THANK YOU SO MUCH FISBDISH I literally squealed when I saw this- If you end up paying attention im actually doing Inktober but in writing instead- I plan on posting at least once or twice tonight- But literally thank you so muchd dhwuegsisnsk

[bebeeart]

Inktober day 1: Dream

I decided to participate in inktober for the first time, so this is my first drawing following day 1, with the dream theme.

I found this initial theme very open to interpretation, and I followed the first thing that came to mind, like a tarot card representing the dream but with a Halloween touch to mark the beginning of October!

Drawing made in my sketchbook with ink pen, I hope you like it :)

(I forgot to put my signature, but that's okay. I trust you, friend)

[bvannn]

Weekly Update September 22, 2023

I’ve been all over the place this week but I think? I’m getting myself back together? Obviously the big news was that internship, I’m very excited for it, but because it’s next semester and not this semester it does leave me in a weird waiting game position. I was really hoping I’d be able to drop my bio course this semester because I’m terrible at bio but it is what it is, and if I have to get through one kinda crappy course to get the the internship, so be it. I also got the okay to go donate plasma again this week, so I can earn some more passive cash. I’m hoping to earn a spot at the chem stockroom too, but the delays with the internship may have cost me that opportunity. I’m still doing what I can though.

I’ve got a few drawings done this week, I want to do more but I am still battling exhaustion. I’ll try to get more done passively but I’m hitting a bit of art block in the way of just drawings, unfortunately. Maybe I’ll take a crack at inktober, but I don’t really know if dragging out my old ink pens and brushes would be worth it. I could do a non ink based one like artober or whatever but that just kinda feels like a copout. I’ll try to either pull together a comic or something in the way of OCs maybe, but I’m still prioritizing other projects.

Took another crack at music today, got the start of some drums and a guitar bass going, I’ll need to add an actual bass guitar and figure out some song structure but I’m getting close to going somewhere. Whatever it is probably won’t be very good because it’s a first try but once I get good and find my style I can always remaster it or whatever. Once I’ve built up some confidence I can take a crack at the other project I want to do. I don’t know if what I was doing on drums was even right but I can look at another little feature with komplete kontrol later to see if any of the samples there would help. I can also redo stuff as I go. Or maybe I’ll celebrate being able to donate plasma again by buying one of those fingertip gloves they make for archery, but instead I’ll use it to play guitar without slicing my untrained fingers. Or one of them grip training things, so I can learn those Van Halen style hammer ons. I need a fidget thing for plasma donation so it’s be useful there too.

Animation is going well. Jon is done for shot 1-3, Emile is almost done. Only reason I’m not finishing him tonight is because I’m tired. I forget if shot 1-4 or 1-5 or which one was the super prop heavy one I’m not looking forward to but it’s probably fine. Really I’d like to do an animation clip or something with my OCs after getting some music done but that’s a ways off. That’s why I want to do more with music but we’ll see how much time allows for that.

Waiting for internship and surgery is hitting hard so I might be in a bit of a slump for a while but I’m going to try to keep getting stuff done.

[tazmilyduster]

October 4, 2024

It's overcast and slightly windy today. I've taken so long to post an update that fall has arrived. I'm still trying to find a job. Still trying to fix the house and still trying to get sober. My last attempt failed and resulted in a two week backslide, but I've been back on track for the past few days, at least in terms of medication crap with the pharmacies.

I've been trying to just locate and address the things that bother me to try and better maintain my stress levels. I started with backing up a lot of the files on my computer so I can feel a level of security after having my hard drive wiped twice in the few years, the first of which took probably over a decade of photos and video that I had taken around the midwest of nature paths and wildlife.

I used to be more routine about posting photos on a social media, but the pace of trying to keep up with everything and everyone while getting limited returns started to exhaust me.

When things are really bad, it just feels like I was just posting obligatory health updates to my friends/family to let them know that I still exist and am the bare minimum of okay. Or, wow, he must be doing great, they just posted a nice picture of their cat. But usually, the situation is like, three things are broken, I have a plan to fix two of them, and I'm desperately hoping nothing else goes before I can get to the third, but it probably will.

I did complete a drawing as part of the curse relics series (an alternative to Inktober that's 3 drawings/week rather than 1/day) but I'm sort of disappointed in both it's quality and originality tbh. It's like the scene in The Fountainhead (horrible book) where the main character catches his sculptor friend making something like shitty derivative precious moments figure. Most days I don't even feel like an artist anymore, I just feel like someone who pretended for too long. Anyways, it's time for lunch now.

[cveem]

Is Story-Tober a thing? Like InkTober? Because I saw a post with the prompts and immediately sat down and wrote a short story based off of it. So maybe I’ll keep going and do one a day?

Anyway, here’s

Backpack

“It’s so quiet in here, I wasn’t expecting that.”

My voice echoed in the cavern, bouncing around the large space. It was eerie.

“How do you not expect it to be quiet in an underground cave, Maribella?” my cousin Franco asked, not trying to hide his sarcasm.

I shrugged, knowing he couldn’t see me.

“Guess I thought the stories would be true,” I answered casually, letting him wonder what I meant.

We continued into the cave, carefully picking our way across the loose rocks and shallow pools of what I hoped was water. He stayed silent just long enough for me to think he wouldn’t rise to my bait.

But then, from behind me, “What stories?”

He tried to sound skeptical but I could hear the curiosity lurking not far below the surface.

I smiled.

“You haven’t heard the stories about this place? I thought everyone knew about them.”

He sighed and I knew I had him.

“Years ago, before you were born, there was an accident here,” I began.

My eyes had adjusted a bit so I could start to make out the shape of the cave. It was truly huge. The sides were wet and mossy. I wondered how far it went into the mountain, knowing we wouldn’t be going that far. This was just a scouting adventure, getting the lay of the land.

Franco had grown quiet next to me. He was interested but, as only a teenager could, he was acting indifferent.

I waited just long enough for him to finally ask, “What kind of accident?”

“A bad one,” I answered. “There was a girl, not much younger than you. She was known in the area for being an adventurous sort, always going off to look for new experiences. No one knew where she came from or why she came here, just that she liked to explore.”

“What was she looking for here?” Franco asked, completely giving up the pretense of not caring.

“No one knows,” I said, pointing my light at a deeper puddle. “Watch out there.”

Franco and I stepped around the puddle.

“So, what was the accident?” Franco asked. “Did she die in here?”

I shook my head, “No, but it was still bad.”

“Bad how?”

I turned toward him slowly. “She disappeared in here for three days. After it was discovered she hadn’t come out, a whole bunch of people came in, to find her. But there was no sign of her. Not even footprints.”

Franco was less confident when he next spoke. “Just how big is this cave? How could she be lost for that long?”

“That’s the weird part,” I said. “The people searched everywhere and never found anything. Then, on the third day, as they were just about to give up, they heard a noise.”

“What noise?” Franco asked, letting the first glimmer of fear into his voice.

“It was just a faint humming at first, but it grew as they walked further into the cave. And then there was the light.”

“What light?”

I lifted my light, illuminating the walls around us. They were closer now, indicating we were nearing the rear of the cave, which surprised me. How long had we been in here?

”What light, Maribella?” Franco asked again. I’d gotten distracted and he wasn’t happy about it.

“There was a glow that accompanied the humming, like pulsing to the same rhythm. It was like ‘mmhmm, mmhmm.’ The people followed both deeper and deeper until finally, they saw the girl.”

Franco exhaled loudly. “So she was okay?” he asked.

“I mean, she was almost starving and pretty dehydrated, but she was alive,” I answered.

The pools of water had dried up back here, I noticed. And there wasn’t any moss on the walls anymore. In fact, the walls looked so dry they had cracks in them.

“When they approached the girl, the humming grew louder and the people were concerned. Was it her humming? They didn't think so, she looked unconscious.”

“What was humming?” Franco was now holding onto my arm, walking close by. It now seemed more like we were walking through a tunnel than a cave.

“They didn’t know until they got right up next to her. She was laying on the floor, using something as sort of a pillow. When one of the men bent to pick her up, the humming stopped. They lifted her and then things got really weird.”

Franco surprised me then.

“Can you just tell me what happened?” he barked, showing his frustration but also more fear than he probably intended.

I thought I’d been stringing him along perfectly, but evidently he was tired of it.

“Okay, fine,” I said. By then we were walking single file and I could feel both sides of the tunnel at my shoulders. We’d come further than I’d intended.

“She remained unconscious but a voice was suddenly heard loud and clear throughout the cave. The people were so startled they started running out of the cave, carrying the girl.”

Franco sighed. “And now you want me to ask what the voice said.”

“I do, yes.”

“What did the voice say, Maribella?”

“Backpack, backpack.”

“What?” Franco’s voice went back to skeptical quickly.

“That’s what the people heard, ‘backpack, backpack, ' repeated over and over. They didn’t understand it, but it frightened them enough to keep running until they got back to the entrance of the cave. They got the girl medical help and she recovered, but she never spoke again.”

We’d reached the back of the cave, suddenly. The walls were cracked everywhere and the ceiling was inches from my head. Franco was hunched over behind me, his extra inches causing him problems.

I turned around, “Time to go back,” I told him. “Your turn to lead.”

He turned but didn’t move.

“Franco?” I asked. “You going to go?”

His eyes were large as he turned back to me. “Do you hear that?”

I couldn’t hear anything. “Not funny,” I said, poking his side. “Let’s go, there’s nothing else to see here.”

He looked serious and asked, “You really can’t hear that? He sounds like…humming.”

I leaned as far to the side as I could, struggling to hear what he heard.

Nothing, and then, faintly, I heard it.

It was humming.

“Umm, can we just go now?” I tried to get my fear under control so as not to frighten him, but a cold shudder ran through me.

He nodded and finally started walking. The humming got louder.

“It’s closer,” he said.

“It’s just the wind,” I answered. There hadn’t been wind before but I was trying to convince myself differently.

“Can you see the light?” he asked, switching off his own light. Mine was still on, but I could still see a faint glow from in front of us.

“Yes.”

“What do we do, Maribella?” Franco and I had grown up together but I suddenly felt all of my two extra years. I was the grown up here.

“Let me pass you,” I told him, scooting up against the wall. “I’ll go first.”

He didn’t put up a fight.

“It’s louder,” he whispered.

“I know,” I said. “Just keep going straight ahead quickly. It should open up here soon.”

Just when I said it, I could feel the walls separating around us, and I breathed a little easier.

“See, we’re basically to the main part of the cave now.” I glanced over my shoulder, expecting Franco to be right behind me. But he wasn’t.

“Franco??”

“I’m here,” he said. I raised my light and saw him kneeling a little ways behind me. He was staring intently at a crack in the wall, low to the ground.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The humming is coming from here,” he said. “It’s weak but I can feel it.”

I bent down next to him, and he indicated I should turn my light off.

The glow emanating from the crack was bright enough to illuminate both of our faces. And it was clearly pulsing to the same rhythm as the humming.

‘Mmhmm, mmhmm.’

‘Mmhmm, mmhmm.’

And then, faintly, ‘Backpack, backpack.’

Franco pulled a small pocket knife out of his pocket and began using it to dig into the crack, clearing out the loose pebbles and dirt.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “Is that a good idea?”

Franco didn’t answer, he kept digging until the crack was wide enough for him to reach in.

“Maybe,” I hesitated. “Maybe we shouldn’t see what’s in there?”

“We have to, Maribella, I think it needs our help.”

Franco had been a very sensitive kid when he was younger, I suddenly recalled. He’s always wanted to help injured animals.

“Okay, let me do it.”

He shifted over, giving me space to peer into the crack.

“I can’t see anything, just the light. But there’s something in there for sure.”

My fingers suddenly made contact with something and I recoiled.

“What?” Fracnco asked, concerned. “Did it bite you?”

I inspected my fingers, seeing no sign of a bite or scratch. I shook my head. “No, just scared me.”

I reached back in, prepared this time. When I felt the rough texture, I didn’t recoil. I pinched my fingers together, hoping to snag whatever it was. “Got it.”

It was bigger than I expected. The crack wasn’t wide enough to pull it out, I realized.

“Can you make this wider?” I asked.

Franco nodded and began scraping the sides.

The wall fell away quickly since it was so dry. In no time, I was able to pull my hand out, and was shocked by what I was holding onto.

It was a backpack.

And it was glowing.

And humming.

Franco and I made eye contact as we tried to understand what we had found.

The backpack meanwhile, pulled itself out of my hands, stretched somehow, and sighed.

“Backpack, backpack,” it said, quite clearly. “I'm the backpack loaded up with things and knickknacks too. Anything that you might need, I’ve got inside for you.”

Then it collapsed.

We took it with us, obviously, but it never spoke again.

[tastesliketeal]

So I didn’t finish Inktober like I wanted, but for my first one I think I did okay. :) I wanted to thank everyone who looked at or liked my art, this was a really fun. Thank you all and I hope some of you stick around. :O

[keefwho]

October 26 - 2023 Thursday

8:03am

I always jump the gun on things but this time feels different. Maybe I really did figure out the change I needed, actually letting my emotions show. Or at least on a level I haven't in a long time, Im probably not an expert on expression yet. All I know is that the dark pit I always feel inside is not affecting me. It's not gone really, it feels more like I opened up to it so now I can see it for what it is and I can see past it to a better future. It's existence is caused by repression, a lot of which comes from fear. I hide so much and it's damaging to me. Maybe I finally took enough damage that I can't put up with it anymore. I'm once again coming to terms with my own wants and needs and actually trying to assert them. I'm telling myself it's okay to have those needs and it's okay to feel sorrow or frustration when they aren't met.

I saw Daisy's repost about love not being a performance but instead an exercise in faith, knowing your significant other will always be there no matter what. I knew this at some point, I've understood this before. In my fear I've been drawn to a constant need to perform to prove myself because I struggle to see the value in who I am. I hate to admit that for awhile now I've been in a bad place that I've also been scared to speak up about. So scared that I even hid it from myself. After some time to think and confirm how I'm feeling, likely over the weekend, I know I need to have a talk about all this. It's scary but it's for the sake of moving forward and making sure this kind of problem doesn't explode into something big. I know how messy it can be to deal with all this but if I don't do it, it'll just stay the same and continue to hurt me. I feel some kind of amazing liberation finally confronting this, I just hope it all works out. Also I'm 95% certain Daisy reads this journal, or at least knows about it. If thats true then HI.

11:28am

I'm anticipating a horrible, lonely weeked. I just want it to be Monday already. Maybe even Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't want to be conscious the next few days.

I feel like I'm draining, or like I'm a burden. Especially with all these problems of mine lately. I feel like when I'm seen approaching its like "Oh boy, time to put up with this guy." I don't want to be that. If I could go back in time I might have refrained from being as outwardly emotional as I am. I can feel it taking a toll on my relationships.

I had to stop streaming so I could have a good cry. I'm trying to be aware of what exactly I'm crying about and accept those feelings. I'm sad at the uncertainty I feel regarding how things will turn out and how hard it is to feel so broken. I'm sad that I don't feel cared about in the way I want to be. Good reasons to cry.

3:44pm

I constantly bounce between feeling okay and not.

It's helping a lot to realize it's okay for things to be bad and to feel bad about them. Before I would either suppress sadness or try to justify why things weren't how they should be. But sometimes things suck and I'm valid feeling sorrow. Its way better that pretending that everything should be okay or that I should have a different response.

10:37pm

This morning I had a breakfast sandwich and brown rice. I went to the store with mom right after to pick up drinks for the weekend. She talked a lot with her coworker. It was snowy so we had to drive slow too, which was nice. I love how the first snow looks on everything.

Stream kinda sucked. I did Inktober with no other warmups. I drew the corner of my high school room that used to have my TV and laptop setup, got kinda nostalgic about it. Season 1 of Mia finished and was epic by Mia standards. Panthea's face didn't show which I expected, they must not have had the budget. He Man was good. For the group commission I line a character but had to redo it because I misinterpreted the entire pose which was my fault. I ended stream because I was sad and wanted to go cry so I did. It didn't last long and afterwards I joined David's server to finish the commission. It was nice in there this morning, I wasn't annoyed like usual.

I left them to go get lunch which was surprisingly good homemade soup. I think I had a cool little recipe going on. It took longer to cook than I thought so I was late to my afternoon productivity. I spent that time drawing something for Daisy's rats. I have a direction for it and I'm trying to make sure it comes out extremely good so I couldn't finish it today. For awhile I got into the flow of things listening to music on blast. I stopped to take a break and watch a stream. Daisy offered to Zelda and chill at one point so we did that and I wasted a bit of time looking for a beetle. I switched to dungeoning and Daisy had to leave halfway through since her mom came home. I finished the floor I was and got off to eat my usual chicken and fries dinner. While Daisy was in bed I played Cities Skylines. We talked just a little bit about feelings but I didn't wanna say too much because I need to compile what it is I really want to say because it feels like something important is happening with me right now but it's early into it. I want to be intentional about moving forward so I can hopefully break this cycle of mine.