#took a few days to make but it was fun making animatics again

[gree-gon]

[saphirace tlou au]

archer's nightmare

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @mimimar

Hi! I’m Michelle (Mimimar), an illustrator born and raised in Venezuela, currently based in Italy. I enjoy making colorful illustrations that reflect the things I love: fairy tales, fantasy, tenderness and queer (especially sapphic) stories. Occasionally, I also make paper dolls, comics and animatics. I have a lot of interest in book illustration and I’m currently developing my own stories that I hope to share as an author-illustrator someday!

Check out our interview with Michelle below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

I always enjoyed drawing when I was a kid, but it only became a hobby that I did almost every day when I was around 11. At first I only used traditional mediums, but I decided to make a serious effort to learn how to draw digitally when I was 15, and once I got the hang of it I never stopped!

I didn’t go to art school so all of my learning was done through studying the tutorials and resources that other artists generously share on the internet and lots of practice / trial and error.

How do you want to evolve as a creator?

I want to do many things but what I want to do the most right now is work on books! I want to make art for other authors’ stories and also my own stories as an author-illustrator. I want to grow as a storyteller and create art and stories that will really resonate with people emotionally. I’m always striving to improve my skills as well.

I also really love dolls, so working on doll box art or as a doll designer is something I would love to do someday. I actually have been designing paper dolls on my Patreon for the past few months, it’s been a fun project that is still ongoing right now!

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

Probably using a lot of purple! It’s my favorite color so I find myself using it a lot. If I can find a way to sneak a little bit of purple into an illustration or a character design then I will.

Congratulations on finishing your Ivy Comic! Did the outcome turn out like how you expected or were there some unexpected bumps along the way?

Thank you! It’s a project that I worked on very slowly in between other art because I wanted to really take my time with every spread and make each of them a fully detailed illustration. I thumbnailed the full comic before starting but I kept changing the sketch for the final spread until the very end! Overall I’m really proud of the end result. I sprinkled a lot of hidden details in every page that I hope some of the readers will notice. For example: the meanings of the flowers in each page represent what the characters are feeling in that moment, and the colors of their wardrobe become gradually lighter as the story progresses to represent their emotions, as well as the changing of seasons.

We’ve noticed that you have created some amazing cover art for TGCF. Is there another series you would like to do something similar with? 

That was another passion project that took some time to complete. Initially, I didn’t intend for them to be specifically covers, it was just a series of illustrations based on the 5 books/main arcs of TGCF. But since they were well-received and I had people telling me they wish they could use them as covers for their books, I decided to rework them into dust jackets for the english translation of TGCF!

I haven’t thought of any other specific series but I love doing cover art so maybe I’ll do something similar again in the future!

What’s your favorite part of your style? Why?

I’ve heard from other people that there’s a delicate quality to my art, this is something that I like a lot! I like pretty things, fairytales and vibrant colors. I think all of these things probably reflect in the art I make as well.

If there is one thing you want your audience to remember about your work, what would it be?

I hope that they remember how it made them feel. Feelings and colors are the two things I give priority to in my work. Most of the time I like depicting tenderness, softness and emotional intimacy. If that could reach the viewer and stay with them it would make me very happy. 

I make a lot of art with queer (mainly sapphic) themes because they’re the kind of stories I personally like and want to see more of, so whenever people tell me that my art has helped them in their journey to discover and accept themselves, or that they see themselves and their partner in my art, it is always extremely meaningful to me. When art that I made to give myself comfort can provide comfort for others, no matter how small, it reminds me once again that despite any hardships art is genuinely worth pursuing.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

So many artists! To name a few:  I love @sakizo’s amazing eye for fashion and detail,  @paneeps’ gorgeous style and striking colors,  the sweetness of @bevsi’s art,  @vickisigh’s pretty colors and concepts,  @idledee’s warm and heartfelt art,  @littlestpersimmon’s dreamy wonderful art,  and @loish has been an inspiration for as long as I can remember.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Michelle! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @mimimar.

[mjbarrosart]

My Dragon Prince Boards season 6, episode 608

Hello, everyone!

Finally I have some time to write this! You can not imagine how demanding is to work making television shows, everything is for yesterday, haha!

Complains about work aside, it is time to talk about my last episode of season 6, episode 8. This one was... special.

I can say without a doubt that this was one of the most emotional episodes I have ever worked on. I cried every time I watched the animatic, and I cried again watching the final episode a few days ago.

I think is a lot of things together: a lot of important things happens, characters die, Katolis is destroyed, one of the quasars is fake! Aaravos!!! ... but also because I witnessed my team bring together their A game, telling this story in such a beautiful way.

I learned a lot from this episode, specially from my Unit Director, Mike Jones, who was in charge of boarding the "Hearts of Cinder" spell sequence; what a masterclass of emotion, storytelling and cinematography! I love Jason Simpson's performance during the show, but in particular in that sequence, and I think the boards took everything to a new level.

Now, let's go back to my sequences.

My first one was Soren going down to Viren to ask him to perform the spell. It was good to have this last interaction between both of them after all the work I did with the characters in 605.

There is a lot of subtle staging in this one. The way the light is hitting over their heads, how present in the screen the staff is; Viren's hesitance is something that I remember was important for me to portrait properly.

One of the things we talked a lot during this sequence was in how to use the light as narrative element. I was not interested in the classical reading of going into the light as "good" and shadows as "bad".

But light as hope, options, forgiveness, etc.

Viren walks away from the light when he gets offered the staff not because he is going "bad" but because he doesn't feel capable to do what he is being asked to do.

Soren is coming directly to him, removing his chains, giving him back his staff, asking him for help. But Viren hesitates.

And I think that that was a genius think for the script to call. Viren is not a man looking for the first chance to "redeem" himself. I am not even sure that he believes that he deserves that possibility.

But they are running out of time. The situation is dire, and as the light get blocked by the falling debris, the options are becoming clearer. Hope is dim, but there is something to do: Hearts of Cinder.

Viren, still full of doubts, explains to Soren why the spell is so hard to perform: the price is a human heart. A price that the Viren of the past would have pay with not second thought, but not the current one, no the one who understands the weight of dark magic.

But Soren has no doubts: "Take mine" I still have chills listening to the delivery of that line. And I think here is the moment Viren decided to sacrifice himself. While he is being consumed by doubt and fear, his son will is clear, Soren will do the right thing, even if that cost him his life.

And that is what Viren never had before. The willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good. He looked at his reflection in Soren's golden heart and saw and answer, saw love, hope.

I just think is beautiful that Soren's conviction gave him the chance to do the right thing for once. Soren taught him the ultimate lesson.

I love this two so much.

My next sequence is a simple one, Terry and Claudia arriving to Katolis. I liked to draw Claudia's new hair. I wish I had more sequences with her in this season.

After this is Moon nexus time!

After all the drama with Viren and Soren the massage sequences felt a little silly, hahaha. but was fun to make.

I added the little detail of Rayla having issues landing, while Callum is just so good at it, haha. Fun to have their roles reversed for one, and Rayla being the clumsy one.

I like the moment when Lujanne ask them if they are a couple again and they exchange this nice look. I know that Rayllum is a huge thing in the fandom, and while they are not my type of ship (I am into the sapphics, you know) I think that they are pretty cute together, and Is always fun to make moments between them.

I just wanted to share with you this silly face, lol. Sometimes you draw things in boards that don't translate that well into the final show, but It is fun anyway, you want to inspire the animators to push the performance as much as they can.

Back to serious business. I love the shift when our heroes realized that there is only 2 quasars and 3 coins. Callums turn into Raylla knowing that this will destroy her. I really enjoy how the use of the lens to blur Lujanne in the Background creates this efect of hyperfocus on Callum and Rayla.

She is facing a terrible decision, who to save. So we move the camera to focus only on them. Is an intimate moment.

I like this framing, Rayla is in pain, crying, Callum is listening, but by the framing we can se that he is holding her. Callum is there for her, always.

And that is how I finished my last sequences of season 6, with Rayla crying.

Working on this season was one of the honors of my life. And I can wait to share with you how was making season 7, because was... A LOT, for sure! hahahaha.

Hope you like this! And feel free to ask if you have questions about the storyboard process!

And thanks for all the notes, comments and support! It is truly appreciated!

A little bonus:

Look a the cool crew jacket that Bardel gave us when we wrapped seasons 4 to 7! (Finally I can show it without making it an spoiler of the name of season 7!!)

[yumeka-sxf]

There were two panels related to Spy x Family at Anime Expo this year, with the first on Day 1 being Toho Animation's panel featuring both Spy x Family and Kaiju No.8.

The panel started with the SxF portion, with the special guests being the series director, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, and the CODE: White director, Takashi Katagiri. They also had the six SxF ThreeZero figures on the stage with them 😀

The MC asked them some questions, like what their favorite scenes were from their respective works and who their favorite character is. They also showed behind-the-scenes footage of both the Loid/Fiona tennis match in season 1, and Yor's fight scene against Type F in the movie. We got to see both of these scenes in rough animatic sketch form and then in line art form, which was pretty cool (it wasn't clear if photo/video was prohibited at this panel, but I didn't want to risk it by being caught blatantly recording these exclusive clips, lol). Then they showed off some of Anya's unused outfits from the movie.

At the end, they showed this original illustration by Kyoji Asano, made specifically for this event 😁

And that was it for the SxF part of the panel before they moved on to Kaiju No.8...and to be honest, it kinda overshadowed the SxF part, mostly because it featured two of the main Kaiju No.8 voice actors, one of which was extremely hilarious and charismatic. Plus there were a lot more segments compared to the SxF part. The interview with the guests seemed longer, they did three live voice overs, showed a pre-recorded special message from the band that performs the Kaiju No.8 opening, and then they took a group photo with the audience (and maybe something else that I'm forgetting). It seemed like the SxF part took up about 35% of the panel's time while Kaiju No.8 took up 65%. Not sure why it felt so unbalanced, but it was still fun.

Next was the panel on Day 3 for Production IG and their related studios WIT and Signal MD. Heads of each studio were there, including George Wada from WIT. Photo/video wasn't allowed once the panel started, but it basically consisted of an interview with the different guests, then trailers/teasers for their upcoming projects, then a Q&A session.

WIT is the studio that makes SxF, so I was hoping for any news about season 3, specifically if WIT would be more involved with it than they were with season 2. For those who don't know, season 1 of SxF was made by both WIT Studio and Cloverworks. But when they decided to make both season 2 and the movie in 2023, they split up the work, with WIT focusing on the movie while Cloverworks did pretty much all the work on season 2 (which is why the animation in season 1 and season 2 looks a bit different). According to this tweet, the official staff listing for season 3 is the same as season 2, meaning WIT will once again have little involvement. But despite this, they had a slide during the presentation with the season 3 promo image (preceded by the CODE: White teaser trailer, which made the crowd go wild - glad there were lots of SxF fans in the audience!) George Wada also said in regards to season 3 that they're "working hard on it."

I wanted to confirm during the Q&A if WIT would again take a backseat during season 3's production as well, but unfortunately the panel only had a few minutes left when it was close to my turn, and then they opted to pick a few random people in line for their last questions (which I thought was kind of unfair). Guess we'll just have to wait and see if anything changes with that staff listing once we get closer to season 3's release.

Overall, while Takuya Eguchi's appearance at last year's AX was more fun, it was still cool to attend this year's SxF-related panels as well. Hopefully season 3 will either be airing or close to being released at next year's AX, so we'll have even more SxF events!

[goingferalapparently]

Do you want to hear me talk about The Animatic? No? Well that sucks because I'm talking about it anyway.

I don't know what made me suddenly want to make a full length animatic, but the urge descended upon me and I did anyway, despite my horrible horrible track record.

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I'd actually had a couple voice clips cut out since July (because that's when I started Jealousy), but the bulk of it was done 15/16 August. And! This song (Pentatonix's God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) is actually the second one I tried piecing together.

The first song was AURORA's Runaway! I swapped songs pretty early on because

Runaway was 4 minutes long and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen was 2.5 minutes long

3 minutes in, I ran out of voice clips.

I used a lot more voice clips for Runaway than God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, not just because it's longer but also because the song is significantly slower and thus easier to fit voice clips in it. Not just more voice clips, but the voice clips were longer too.

(God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen had 9 source clips. Runaway had 15.)

Hindsight is 20/20 though, because due to the slow-paced nature of Runaway in comparison to God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen would have resulted in far less frames needing to be drawn, or precise cuts or-

Well, you get the point.

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I have two files for this project! Yes, it was pure Medibang. The reason for the two files is that there were so many layers that the first file was lagging to hell and back and I couldn't even draw a straight line because of how bad it was.

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This was the actual first frame I ever drew for this! If it looks familiar, it's because I was mirroring this. It's my first ever fanart for QSMP.

At the time of starting this, I had maybe 3 pieces of QSMP fanart and was super uncertain of what I was doing, so it definitely happened again - mirroring a piece of fanart into an animatic frame.

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This was the first time I ever drew Cucurucho. I had an idea and it was simple to execute but over time I forgot about the voice box.

This, on the other hand, was the last frame I ever drew. The Cucurucho designs are largely the same, with some minor differences (bigger eyes, more stitches, no voice box, thinner tube).

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This was the first time I successfully drew Cellbit. Emphasis on successfully because even this one bit took me forever. I never really had to redraw any frame once I drafted it, but this. This took me 5 redraws. It was my greatest nightmare.

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I've said it before but these two frames side by side?

It was my favourite part of the animatic for the longest time. Hands down, no debate, I adored it.

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You may notice that most frames had the subjects coloured in a lighter colour, but a couple didn't. Some were intentional, to better show off lighting and backgrounds and depth and stuff.

Some.... were not.

(Oops.)

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Some of my other favourite frames include:

Which would have been better if I hadn't messed up the shading.

Because this was so many characters. And Cellbit.

And the Bagheras, which I really had a ton of fun drawing near the end. Because these two were drawn at the end. The same day, actually. The first one did have a draft already, though.

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Some little details:

Between these two frames, BBH and Cellbit pop up in the background. There's a flash of white immediately after, which is supposed to be the camera flash when BBH takes a photo.

••●••

Jaiden (and Roier) in the early scenes have perfectly normal eyes.

This changes immediately after Bobby's death, albeit rather subtly.

By the time the beginning of the Cucurucho tasks rolls around, the shadows under their eyes have had time to develop and become more prominent.

••●••

Roier does a little rooftop espionage.

••●••

Similar/Similarly located scenes have similarly coloured backgrounds!

It's most prominent with Bobby Fields' Rose/Lavender palette, with a few (not all) examples.

(The words associated with this last image are actually from when Jaiden got stuck on a ladder on her way down from the sunset tree while trying to chase Cucurucho. I just found that funny.)

But the colour thing is also key with Baghera and Jaiden's conversation with Pomme's non-canon death.

The colours used for 1) the gradient background 2) the lineart and 3) the subject base colour are identical in both images, even if they're a third of the video apart.

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Anyway, this was made with Medibang and iMovie, even if I do have Krita and DaVinci Resolve and FlipaClip and-

.........Yeah.

Tried and true basics, I guess.

(Krita and DaVinci both cause my laptop to overheat. I struggle with Krita so incredibly badly, even though I have friends who swear by it.)

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Also I maxed out the image count on this post.

[thegoldenshi-shi]

I..may have figured out Sunny Anon’s Discord on the Jazz/Prowl server..? I am unsure but I may have, everything points to it to being them to me but I will not worry about it too much.

But anyways, I hope you are doing well Shi-Shi. I am having a few days trip for school in two days so I may be out of data, and I will not be back until I get to the hotel or Tuesday next week late that night. Then another week after that I am going on a 10-12 day trip with my family. I am going to have a lot of homework when I get home, unfortunately. I am not ready. @^@“

Before I go, I will also say that I absolutely love the animation you made a couple days ago, Love and War. It was so beautifully made and you can clearly tell every frame that was there, effort and creativity was put in it to make the story come together! I wish it was longer as it was gorgeous. I may not know the characters or the storyline very well, but it was very well done and extravagant! I wish I had more words to describe it, but alas, there is only a few English words that would truly describe what I am feeling, Shi-Shi. I hope I can speak again soon, sometime next week I am sure, if not, I shall just be looking at your page and liking your posts even though I am not speaking.

I hope you have good days and nights filled with good luck and happiness, Shi-Shi, have a good day/night.

-Meister

Thank you!

I was so nervous about making the animatic I may have gone overboard with the details, but I am so happy to know that you noticed~

Lack of appropriate English vernacular or not, I'm so grateful that you took the time to send in your thoughts. (although this ask did make me all squirmy and embarrassed). You may get your wish about it being longer too, since I'd also like to do the whole song.

I hope you enjoy your school trip and subsequent family vacation. Not sure about the school trip, but a nice trip somewhere with family/close friends is always a fun time. I also wish you good luck with your future homework backlog hehe. Too much homework left waiting on me always gave me anxiety.

I hope you have a good day/night Meister anon, it's always a pleasure.

[jayyokayy]

Is there a word for positive ranting? Because ima do that. A while ago, probably a few months, a made a little animatic. By little a mean minute long.

I have a habit of never finishing things, but lately i've been trying to break that habit. I start things then get distracted and do other things, or i get a decent way through them and then decide 'if i can't make it perfect i shouldn't make it at all'.

which is silly.

So i figured i'd never do anything with the animatic. Then a month later i made all the backgrounds because why not? I had fun making them, too. turns out snow is kind of fun to color.

Then i left it alone, then a month~ later i picked it up again and animated it all. I actually animated it! Then i carefully left it alone for a few days before coming back to render it.

I could go on a rant about rendering. At first a rendered all of the pieces in a few parts because i thought i could do transparent layers and separate effects on each layer, but blender didn't like that, so no.

So i had to re-render EVERYTHING and slap that together and render it, because for some reason i really had it planned to render everything in parts? Probably for effects and stuff but it still didn't work.

Anyways it took a few days, and i genuinely pondered how many people, like i had, stared at a screen in dismay solely because of compositing.

But i rendered everything and added in the effects i wanted, which was hard because i had to learn the basics of compositing and GOD it took so long to render! I just left my computer on and went to bed-

But i finished it! Sure it took months of on and off work but i did it! I finished something and i'm so proud of it. If i could, i'd hang it up on my wall, but alas, you can't capture the beauty of animation in a single frame.

Here it is, it's infinity train :)

[just-a-mod]

can you share more about Borres's D&D story? :O

OH BITCH CAN I??

unfortunatelly there is some amount i cannot share because it would spoil some things for the DM who has him as a guest and NPC in her campaign uwu but i can share the amount i have already!

so! first off, Borres in D&D is a kaldashar/fey mix! which was something i hammered out as of recently!

when he first got to play, it was during one of my dearest friends Halloween one shot!

he is a druid, i believe of dreams. and he got to go to a haunted house that had trapped people in it to terrify them forever! it was great!

ad i had SUCH a blast, my friend and i began discussing what if he appeared again, asa kind of guest? (the campaign is very fully, so there is no way i could join it xD)

so he ended up making friends with two lovely Ladies named Max and Val! a plant lady with a skeleton inside of her, and..whatever Max is : D

so! during that session, he helped to SCARE THE SHIT out of the party who had more or less come into Val and Max's house uninvited : D and then proceeded to scare, unnerve or else wise make intrigue with the rest of the party

after that, my friend and DM and i have discussed what Borres is doing as an NPC in her world, which mostly seems to manifesting as traveling uwu

though he has become a WONDERFUL THREAT against one of the players in the campaign, since he took a rather curious interest in him

im so sure there is nothing to be worried about :3c

so honestly most of the time, Borres is just a fun thought we like to play with and perhaps even find a way he may some day speak to the players again :3c

in the mean time, i ended up figuring some things out after making this animatic about his background!

Borres is very, very, very old. by the logic of that world, he has survived at least one or two ends of the worlds. one of which he was an active part in escaping, the other he just sorta...missed

a lot of his goals rn to the players aren't known, but he seems to be very interested in this world and precisely why it's set up the way it is. he is also very protective of his friends, both old and new ones. i wouldn't be surprised if that comes to some kind of head :3c i wonder what kind of friends he could have?

i wonder who is old enough to know him?

i will admit, i try very hard to make sure he's not SUPER MEGA IMPORTANT, and if my DM didn't want him in there, it wouldn't hurt or hinder her story in the slightest. but so far she's been enjoying his presence and what he's done for her narrative, so we just keep on trucking owo

plus i will admit, i LOVE his friends. Amia, Val and Max and a few other fey in the feywilds! he's really branching out and it's one of my favorite things to see in D&D

oh! and because of his half blood, he has three different forms! i spent some time figuring them out

noraml

fey

and Kalashtar

i even added it to his form that i posted a bit earlier in this post!

honestly, i think it suits him well :3 he looks beautiful

i am genuinely excited to see my friends story progress. you wouldn't BELIVE the things shes done, planned and has in store

and if you are curious, go ask her yourself 83c @honeycomb-cacube

[mdhwrites]

Can we still send toh related asks even after the show is over?

Can we also send asks about other medias you're familiar with?

Absolutely yes to the first question. If TOH had stayed solidly in my heart, you'd probably still have me writing for this fandom for years to come because I'm stubborn like that. I am not the sort to join a fandom only while it's airing. Things I write as much fanfiction as I have for TOH aren't fleeting fancies for me. Hell, just because I love Luz, Amity and Boscha so much from my early days of writing them, I'll likely still keep making fanfiction of them or having my original works inspired by them going forward. It's who I am. As for other media: OF COURSE! You can honestly ask me asks of anything. I am admittedly slowing a little to doing one large ask a day I think, in part to just let some of the statements get to be seen more easily by more people. Also because I still don't get that many asks. I would also encourage not to just ask about media I'm familiar with because unfortunately that amount is pretty small, especially in the past decade effectively. But if people let me know they're interested in my thoughts on a property, it can help motivated me to watch it. Frankly, I'm just bad about watching scripted content because it makes my brain go brrrrr in ways that things like Youtube videos or livestreams don't and that can be... Rough sometimes. I have so many ideas already that I'd love to work on and getting more inspiration can be painful when I'm stuck in a slump like I am now where I'm struggling to write. Hell, despite wanting to be able to claim I did a chapter of a thing on an ask tomorrow (which does mean tomorrow's blog got changed by a new ask that I immediately wanted to answer), I'm answering this because my brain doesn't want to let me write still despite the fact that I am getting my energy back. Just need to do more than take walks with it. But yeah, after I moved out of my parent's house eight years ago now, I kind of stopped watching most television. One of the last cartoons I really kept up with before The Owl House was Randy Cunningham Ninth Grade Ninja (good show. Not perfect but a TON of fun and great for kids). Voltron, She-Ra, Paranormal Undead Park, etc. like that have just skipped over me. If not for my nephew, I'd likely have never started watching The Owl House and even then, I stopped somewhere around Adventure in the Elements with him. It took THE Lumity animatic for Little Miss Perfect (which the animator later took down... just like the creator of the popular Ordinary listed hers as private... Boy were those not fun moments for me as I started losing my ability to write again) to get me into the fandom and into the show proper. Honestly, one of these days, and probably sooner rather than later, I should do a Post Mortem on The Power of Love to talk about what inspired that story, what the goal was, all of its twists and turns, etc. like that because that story means SO MUCH to me and it could be fun to gush about it. Anyways: Yeah, send me your asks on anything, I don't care much about spoilers as I'm still enjoying Amphibia despite knowing how it ends and the like (my next episode is The First Temple and honestly there's a few blogs I could already do about how great Amphibia's writing is) and maybe it'll finally get me to watch some of these great shows I've missed!

[spectra-bear]

I loved your Submas animatic! The song was so choice and all the expressions were *chef kiss*, how long did it take for you to make it? Do you have other ideas for animatics in the future? Or just good song recommendations?

God i had to retype this entire thing bcz tumblr didnt DRAFT IT AUAGAH, anyways

ok so, first off! THANK YOU!!! im still shocked by the ongoing feedback, its honestly amazing, and im very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to share it with yall <33

It took me 2 days (as clarified in the caption lol), i spent the first day experimenting with how it would look, since creating an actual animatic for a full song wasnt smth ive tried before, and had a bit of doubt on my abilities, but i went for it anyway bcz i was "in the moment", when i finished the first part (ingo waking up and not realiIng where hes at and the scene cutting off), i worked on the next part the day after and stayed up late bcz i didnt want the project to drag on or else i wouldve gave up on it entirely and gotten demotivated (thank God i didnt). I was simultaneously drawing each scene that I had planned for each moment of the song and editing them in to get the gist of the timing and pacing etc etc,

Second, whether the animatics are submas related or not, I do in fact want to try making more in the future! theyre fun! they make my art seem more alive, so heck yeah i wanna try it again, Ive just been wondering whether or not ill need to use other programs that are available on pc (which i dont have, since i mostly draw on my ipad and edit things out on my phone), or just keeo creating things from scratch (which'll take longer and the results wont be as perfectly matching with what i had in mind). Either way, I wont be creating anything right now, but! i do have a few ideas for the future, but when im motivated enough and have time :)

Third, i do have a few song recs, it depends on what genre you're looking for! These are my favs so far:

Hollywood - RAC / Good for you - dear evan hansen / flying - cody fry / love somebody - cody fry / Phone call - Washed out / Metamodernity - Vansire / Central time - Vansire / Pull it together - the Great Committee

[words-with-wren]

what is grief if not love enduring?

not me blasting sad songs and writing for an hour before retreating to youtube to watch animatics of funny bits to Cope.

The last part was written very soon after Tommy’s stream, the rest was written after the streams yesterday/before Tubbo’s one today.

Basically me just being emo and writing everyone’s pain!

______

The corridor of the prison stretched into darkness but Sam didn’t stop moving. His grip was tight around the trident he held, his pace brisk and quick and sharp. He moved down one long, endless hall, and then another, and then another. 

    How long he had paced through the cold, dark halls he wasn’t sure. Again and again, looking for clues he knew he wasn’t going to find. Sometimes he dove into the dark depths of the water surrounding the prison (the tomb). Sometimes he ventured into the painfully bright of outside, stood on top of the prison, covered every inch of it again and again and again. 

    “Sam - Sam please!”

    The ghost of a boy’s voice chased him endlessly. The desperate pleas of his final moments. The words Sam had ignored.

    “You’re going to have to trust me.” 

    He had asked for trust. Asked for faith. Asked for so many things and he had failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. 

    And Tommy had paid the price. 

    “You remember when you visited me in exile? This is worse than that.” 

    Tommy had been desperate. Afraid. So, so very afraid. 

    Sam knew why. And yet he had stilled ignored Tommy’s frantic attempts at help. He had ignored Tommy’s lowered guard, a guard he only lowered when he was desperate. 

    “He was mine! He obeyed me immediately. I didn’t even have to ask him to destroy his armour by the end. It was almost too easy. Too fun.” 

    Dream’s laughter echoed through the corridors. 

    No matter how much he tried to convince himself it had been necessary, Sam couldn’t rid himself of the guilt that ate him alive. 

    The halls were cold. 

    Sam kept walking, searching for a culprit even though he knew who was really to blame.

~*~

His cheeks were burning. A fire that still wasn’t as bad as the ache in his chest, a stinging that was worse than any physical pain he’d felt in a long time. 

    It hurt, but he couldn’t stop the tears from flowing, even when he pressed his sleeve to his face to try and dry them, to relieve the pain even a little. 

    Ranboo trudged through the snow, a few flowers still hanging limp from one hand, the other pressed his sleeve to his face. 

    He felt… numb, in many ways. The ache was strong, threatening to overwhelm, but so was the desire to just sleep. 

    He should have done more. 

    The cottage came into view and Ranboo looked up, blinking his eyes, and taking a shaky breath to keep back the rest of his tears. 

    He’d forgotten how much it hurt. 

    Fitting, really. 

    He’d almost made it past the house when the opening of a door caught his attention. He dabbed at his cheeks again, trying to stop them stinging, to hide the fresh scars that were no doubt noticeable. 

    “Hey mate!” Phil called, stepping out of his house and leaning on the edge of the bridge between buildings with a grin that Ranboo suddenly wanted to punch. He balled his fist, the flowers in his hand drooping. When he didn’t respond, Phil’s expression flickered. “Everything alright?” 

    “No,” Ranboo said, his voice catching slightly. “No, not really.” 

    How could he explain? 

    “What’s up?” 

    Phil’s concern seemed so genuine and Ranboo couldn’t help but feel so angry. Angry at everyone who only cared after it was too late. Angry at everyone who hadn’t done anything, himself included, who had let this happen. 

    “Tommy’s dead,” he said, and the words felt heavy as he spoke them, like a finality. 

    (The flower sat on the path, limp and forlorn and nobody came). 

    “What?” Phil’s voice was almost amused, as though he were holding back a laugh. Ranboo balled his fists tighter, not caring that he was probably cutting into his palms. 

    “He’s gone,” he said. “He was trapped in the prison and Dream…” He bit his lip. It was better than the burning cheeks. 

    “Oh.” 

Phil’s expression barely changed. He was silent for a long moment, knuckles white on the railing the only sign of his emotion. “I see.” 

    Then he turned abruptly and returned inside, shutting the door behind him. Ranboo swallowed thickly, determined not to cry anymore. 

    He hurt enough already. 

    “So Theseus finally fell.” 

    He started, turning to see Techno standing behind him, arms crossed, axe in one hand, Steve’s lead in the other. Ranboo nodded, swallowing again and taking a shaky breath. 

    “What happened to your face?” Techno’s voice didn’t change, still as steady and monotone as always. Ranboo blinked. 

    “When… when I cry. My tears…” It felt silly to say. 

    Techno didn’t answer, just gestured with one hand for Ranboo to follow him. He did, suddenly wanting to bury his face in the polar bear’s fur and cry without it hurting. 

    It wasn’t fair. 

    “I don’t even know why,” he said quietly, barely aware he was speaking. “I mean… he was always mean to me… I…” he trailed off, realizing Techno wouldn’t want to hear his rambling. 

    Techno didn’t answer for a while, setting Steve up beside the fire before opening a chest. Ranboo stood near the door, fidgeting nervously, spinning the flowers in his hand. 

    “Loss is funny like that,” Techno said finally. He glanced up from the chest, withdrawing a potion and holding it out to Ranboo. Ranboo took it, offering him a small smile. 

    “Thank you,” he said quietly. Techno grunted, and Ranboo took that as his cue to leave. 

    As he did, he heard Techno muttering something under his breath. He wasn’t sure exactly, but it sounded like “... I know… be patient. I won’t let him get away with this.” 

    The door to Phil’s house was closed and his windows dark.

~*~

It felt almost wrong to sleep in a room that he had effectively stolen from a dead man. Jack couldn’t sleep, staring at the ceiling, trying to stop thinking. 

    Somehow, he kept thinking of L’manberg. Specifically, a day a few weeks after he had joined the country, while he and Tommy were standing on top of the wall and they were laughing. 

    He couldn’t even remember why - maybe it had something to do with something Tubbo had said or done. 

    He just remembered laughing. Remembered the sun on his back and Tommy’s eyes sparkling with mirth and his loud, obnoxious cackle and laughing so hard his sides ached and he had tears running down his cheeks and he couldn’t breathe. 

    He curled onto his side, shutting his eyes tightly. 

    He remembered lying on the van with Tubbo and Niki and Tommy, pointing out stars and making up constellations. 

    He remembered standing over a cold crater, annoyance mingling with simmering anger and Niki’s frustrated and furious expression. 

    When had it all gone so wrong? 

    Finally, he threw the blankets aside and stepped outside onto the balcony, looking out over the land. It all felt so… empty. Just yesterday he looked out here with pride and excitement - part of him was looking forward to the challenge of keeping this hotel from Tommy’s grasp when he returned. 

    And now he was never going to return. 

    A glint of light caught his attention and he glanced down to see a figure standing in the moonlight. 

    Sam Nook. A silent sentry. 

    Jack wondered how long he would stay there, waiting for a boy who would never return home. 

    He gripped the edge of the balcony, feeling the cold wind and stared at the tree and the bench just across the way. 

    He didn’t care anymore. 

    He just wanted his friend back.

~*~

“I’m sorry.” 

    Puffy sat on the edge of the crater, staring down at the glass that reflected the stars and the pit that lay underneath. 

    “We all really let you down, huh?” 

    L’manberg was so quiet now. It had been for a long time, but Puffy refused to let its memory fully die. 

    Now, she felt like it had for good this time. 

    “You shouldn’t have had to go through that alone. You shouldn’t have had to go through that at all.” 

    She held a bundle of flowers - white and red, like the ones Ranboo had been collecting. Somehow it felt fitting to sit here, over the land he had created. 

    “I let you down. I failed you. Even before you went into the prison. I should have visited you more in exile. I’m sorry.” 

    She pressed the heel of her hand to her eyes, taking a shaky breath and shaking her head. 

    The words felt empty. 

    Nothing she could do could make up for what had happened to him. 

    She just had to make sure it didn’t happen to anyone else. 

    Taking a deep breath, she stood. Carefully, she held out her arm, opening her hand to let the flowers drift down to the glass that covered L’manberg. 

    “I heard there was a special place,” she began softly. “Where men could go and emancipate.” 

    The moon was cold as it shone on the lone woman, singing softly in the rubble of a home.

~*~

He paced the halls, the halls that felt more empty than ever. He’d barely unpacked from his travels, barely settled back in and now all he could think about was the pit in his chest and the ache in his bones and the lingering guilt he had carried for months. 

    Eret ran a hand through his hair and let out a long breath, stopping in front of his throne. 

    Realistically, he knew he couldn’t have done anything. 

    Part of him wondered if this would have happened if he’d come home just a little earlier. 

    Part of him wondered how different things would be if he hadn’t let greed and naive foolishness blind him a long time ago. 

    He began pacing again, aimlessly moving through the halls of his castle. He missed them. He had missed them all for such a long time and he had only just been starting to rebuild those relationships. 

    Without meaning to, he found himself leaving his castle, walking the prime path, feet leading him aimlessly up the path. 

    He stopped in front of the shrine Puffy had made earlier that day. 

    Tommy had forgiven him. Tommy had been the first to forgive him, when Eret had long ago given up on any chance of that happening. 

    Tommy had given him hope he could be forgiven. Given him hope he could redeem himself, could rebuild the relationships he had broken. 

    With a long sigh, Eret reached up and took off his crown, glasses slipping down his face to reveal his white, white eyes. 

    Clutching both to his chest, he lowered his head, closing his eyes. 

    “Thank you,” he said softly.

~*~

Snowchester was cold. 

Tubbo pulled a blanket over his shoulders and sat in the corner of the room, Micheal’s chicken sleeping on his lap. Micheal was asleep as well, curled in his boat across the room and Tubbo couldn’t help but be glad. 

    It was cold, and no matter how many blankets he pulled around himself, no matter how hot he cranked up the fire he knew he couldn’t drive all the cold away. 

    Part of him wondered if he’d be cold even in the depths of the Nether. 

    Part of him didn’t care. 

    It wasn’t true, surely. 

    Sam was just playing another prank on them. A cruel one, one that was Tubbo’s biggest fear, but that had to be it. 

    Right? 

    But Sam’s voice had been shaky and his eyes wet and deep down Tubbo knew. 

    This was worse than last time, somehow. Last time they hadn’t had a proper goodbye, last time Tubbo blamed himself, last time it hurt so, so much. 

    But Tubbo had had L’manberg. He had had to keep pushing forward. He had things to distract him. 

    Now he had nothing. Nothing but the cold shell of a house that had no heart, no soul. 

    Because that was always Tommy’s job, wasn’t it? 

    It was always Tommy who made a house a home. A nation a place to be proud of. 

    They had won and somehow that made it all so, so much worse. 

    They had won, and Dream had been locked up, and they had been able to go about their lives how they wanted to. They had won, and that should have been the end of the story. The book should have closed, the song should have finished. 

    Happily ever after, right? 

    Tubbo pressed himself into the corner, burying his face into the feathers of the chicken in his lap and fighting down tears. 

    He couldn’t do this. 

    Not again. 

    Why did Death favour Tommy? 

~*~

Tommy woke with a chocked gasp, one hand flung above his head, shaking violently, a plea still on his tongue. 

He shuddered, breathing deeply, shutting his eyes and regaining his breath as he slowly realized he wasn't in immediate danger. 

It was warm, but not the blistering heat of the Nether, or the wet, unpleasant heat of Dream's cell. It was a pleasant warmth, like sun shining down on him. 

The ground was soft as well. Not hard and uneven like the floor of the cell, but soft and comfortable, what felt like grass tickling his arms. And wind blew softly over his face, a slow, lazy breeze that made Tommy relax more. 

Then he opened his eyes and stared up at the blue sky above him. A few stray clouds drifted across the sky and despite the still aching of his arms and head, Tommy smiled softly. 

He was out. He wasn't trapped any more. He could feel the wind, could see the sun, could hear the trees rustling nearby. He was out and he was finally free. 

(What had happened? It had been dark and hot and terrifying and Dream had been there and he had been violent and harsh and…) 

He didn't want to think about that. With arms that were still shaking slightly, he pushed himself up and looked around. 

A few trees dotted the area, a river flowing lazily past. Hills rose around them and standing a few meters away, his back to Tommy, was a figure. 

He was tall, wearing a coat that flapped slightly in the wind. A beanie was pulled firmly over his hair, and his shoulders were more relaxed that Tommy ever remembered them being. 

"Wilbur?" he called, unease and excitement mingling, together. His voice shook slightly, the panic not fully faded. 

The figured turned, revealing a familiar soft smile. It was strange, seeing Wilbur like this. Wearing the clothes he died in (he was dead how was he here?), a bloodstain across his chest, but smiling. Eyes soft, proud, sorrowful. 

He looked at Tommy the same way he had when Tommy claimed independence. 

"Welcome home," he said softly. 

Tommy blinked up at him, suddenly aware of the hand Wilbur stretched out to him. He took it, letting Wilbur pull him to his feet and swaying slightly. 

Everything felt off. He was aching, pain pounding through him, but it didn't feel real. It felt as though someone else was hurting, but when he looked down at his arms he could see the bruises, could feel dry blood in his head.

"What happened to you," Wilbur said softly, cupping his chin and lifting his face. Tommy felt a lump in his throat at the softness of the touch, despite the involuntary flinch the action drew from him.

What had happened. He didn't remember exactly, everything felt like a dream. One that he didn't want to wake up from. This open field and Wilbur soft expression were far better than the nightmare of the last week. 

"I-" he began, looking down. Wilbur's hand drifted down to his arm, gently holding his elbow. Tommy followed the movement, seeing the bruises that littered his arms. 

(Dream standing over him, eyes blazing. Fists clenched, bloodied with Tommy's blood. He was holding his arms above his face, tears in his eyes, blood running down his cheek.)

He shuddered, despite the warmth of the afternoon. Wilbur lifted his hand hesitantly, pausing a moment before returning it. 

"Take your time," he said quietly. "It takes time to adjust." 

"Adjust to what?" Tommy asked, and he hated how small his voice was. "Wilbur where - where am I?" 

Wilbur glanced up, and Tommy did as well. His heart skipped a beat, his breath caught suddenly in his throat. 

He knew where they were. This was home. This was L'manberg's land, the foundations she was built upon before war and death had stained her soil. 

If L'manberg was here, unbroken, unspoiled. And if Wilbur was here, alive… 

Was Tommy? 

"Wil- am…" He trailed off, breath catching. "Am I?" 

(Dream was angry, more angry than Tommy had ever seen him. And the lava seemed to be laughing at him and the walls were closing in around him and -) 

He was breathing quickly, shaking his head, heart bounding. 

"No," he said softly. 

"Tommy-" Wilbur began but Tommy stepped back, pushing Wilbur's hand away. 

"No. No. I - I can't… what about my hotel? What about Tubbo. I can't leave I can't be… I was going to leave him behind, I was going to be done with him this was going to be the last time." 

He couldn't breathe. He shuddered, wrapping his arms around his chest and collapsing to his knees. The ground was hard underneath him and his breath was short, sharp, panicked.

"I'm not dead," he whispered. "I - I won. I can't let him… I left him behind. I - I'm finished with him he can't… he can't win." 

"Tommy." Wilbur's voice was soft, even, full of hurt. A hand lay gently on Tommy's back and he stiffened, remembering the past week of Dream's casual punches. But Wilbur's hand was steady, comforting and Tommy leaned into it despite himself. "I'm sorry." 

Wilbur's voice was so genuine, so full of regret that Tommy felt tears prick his eyes again. 

He was so tired. 

"Wilby, I-" 

He was tired. Tired of being afraid, tired of nightmares. Tired of not being normal, of freaking out over the smallest things. He was tired of Dream's shadow that never seemed to leave. Tired of losing again and again and again. 

"I know," Wilbur said softly and drew Tommy into a tight hug. Tommy didn't resist, curling into Wilbur's embrace, sobbing softly. 

"There - I had a hotel," he whispered. He wanted to do so much. He wanted to prove he could. He wanted to become someone, to prove that Dream didn't control him. Didn't own him. 

He wanted to do so much. 

He buried his face in Wilbur's chest, shoulders shaking, weeping for his lost childhood. 

At least here, maybe he could rest. 

[residentanchor-writes]

Downside Ch. 2

Summary: Clyde tries his hand at ‘robbing’ a bank. << Chapter 1 Watch the animatic here. Check out the Downside au @robinsdownside! TW: Cursing, mental manipulation

Clyde was anxiously sitting in his trashy car in front of the bank. He wasn't too sure of the thing he was about to do. But he needed the money and he couldn’t crash at Remy’s place forever.

Checking his face in the rearview mirror again, he gladly noted that the makeup still hid his scales that seemed to like to appear more often on his face than anywhere else now. He also let his hair grow out quite a bit to hide them a little behind bangs that fell over the left side of his face. By now he nearly looked like an emo. Working with that style, he wore a gray scarf that hid the scales that had appeared on his neck as well.

Looking down on himself he wondered if his yellow shirt and black leather jacket were casual enough.

Yeah, probably. He was thinking too hard about this. Or not hard enough.

Breathing in through his nose and letting the air slowly out through slightly parted lips, he got out of his car. He could see his breath in the air in front of him. It has gotten pretty cold since he left his parents with the most valued things he had, including his pet snake, a few weeks ago.

With a faked confident walk as he squared his shoulders, he got closer to the glass door and stepped into the building.

He was extremely lucky, there were only three other people inside. Two women who worked there as the tellers and one man who was talking to the woman on the left, so Clyde went to the other teller on the right.

“Hello, sir. What can I help you with, today?” the brunette in the white blouse asked with a sweet smile.

Clyde put on as much charm as he could muster as he smiled back. “Hello there, I hope you're having a lovely day. I'm here to make a withdrawal.”

He was good at pretending to be a more likable person than he actually was. He always wanted to be an actor, but never went to any auditions for school plays because of his social status as one of the “cool kids” that smoked and drank alcohol behind the school. The entire thing was an act in his school days, but he was good at adapting to change.

“Very well, your name sir?”

“Oh, no.” He chuckled “I was under the impression that you just wanted to give it to me,” his smile widened a little.

The woman gave him an amused sound, taking it as a joke. Out of the corner of his eye, Clyde could see the other man leaving the bank. It was just him and the two tellers alone, now.

“Good one, sir, but this would be easier with a name,” The woman spoke with a chuckle. The other teller woman went into a back door and slipped away for the moment. Perfect.

“Well if you want to call me something, I think you could just go with Deceit,” He spoke with a calmness he wouldn’t have thought he could muster at this moment. He felt his hands shaking and start to sweat as he held down his nervousness.

The woman’s smile faltered a little. “Excuse me?”

Clyde looked back over her shoulder to make sure the other girl was really gone. Then, he looked back into the sweet face in front of him which got more confused by the second.

The perfect opportunity.

He looked in her deep blue eyes.

“You wanted to give me $50,000, right? That’s why I’m here.”

His left eye shimmered and glowed with a light yellow and he noticed the familiar sensation of an itch on his left forearm.

He still looked at the woman who stared back with a face he couldn’t quite put into place. It was nearly blank but still a little puzzled at his words.

That happened every time but he always felt the nervousness at that moment again and again. A million thoughts rushed into his head, like what if it didn’t work (again) or what if he phrased it wrong? Happens to the best, and this scenario was new to him.

This was the first time he did something really bad. Usually, he used his powers to get out of trouble for smaller things or to get free booze, but stealing $50,000 directly out of a bank, in bright daylight? That was insanity!

He had felt a weird sensation in his gut since he began ‘planning’ this. Honestly, this whole ‘rob a bank’ thing was an idea he and Remy had the night before while they were balls drunk in the basement of Rem’s parents. His parents that had no clue Clyde was even hiding there.

Rem was two years younger than him but was a pretty chill dude he had hung out with in school. He was the only one he could count on that wouldn’t snitch him out to anyone about his powers and where he was, because, well, he had powers too. Powers Remy’s parents weren’t very fond of, so they generally stayed away from the cellar.

The woman blinked as she awoke from a daze. The moment surely wasn’t longer than a second, but to Clyde, it felt like years.

The brunette locked eyes with him again and put her smile from the beginning back on.

“Of course, I remember now. It will only be a second, Mr. Deceit.”

--------

“Fuck! I did it!”

Clyde opened the basement door so fast he nearly broke it out of the old, rusty hinges. A very startled Remy, who looked like he had just been woken up, fought his way out of the blanket that had been lying on him.

He had been sleeping on his disgusting makeshift bed, which was made of just two stacked mattresses on top of the cold concrete ground. The basement looked like it should have been finished years ago but no one ever bothered to finish the job. At night, they took one of the mattresses off and slid it onto the floor next to the other so that Clyde didn’t have to sleep out on the bean bag. They had tried that the first night, but it resulted in a stiff back and a very grumpy Clyde in the morning.

Clyde-- er, Deceit moved a few steps forward, to click on the floor lamp that only had an old light bulb screwed on top and no lamp shade. The lightbulb was a normal, fluorescent bulb which somehow exclusively produced greenish light. Clyde had asked about that the second day he had stayed here but Remy too didn’t exactly know why either, not that he cared.

With the light, the messy room had become a little more visible. It was even dirtier than Clyde's old room had been, especially since he had moved in. They both didn’t really care enough to clean all the filthy clothes of the ground except when they ran out of fresh clothes, in which case Remy had to go upstairs with a decent sized pile that was unsuspicious to his parents since they didn’t have to know about Clyde’s existence in Remy’s room.

If they found out about the other kid with powers in their basement? That would mean massive trouble for both of them.

Remy’s guardians were already not on best terms with their son since he had intruded their dreams by accident on more than one occasion. They didn’t hate him but Remy had sometimes messed up their sleep so much that they were first confused what was happening, then they screamed at him to stop and at last, they started to get him out of the way.

He was ok with that. He was just in his basement room, enjoying his life without the worry that his parents would storm in.

But if they knew that he invited someone else to live at their house without their knowledge, they would be very mad. They would probably scream at him again and would call Clyde’s parents, even though he was actually old enough to live on his own, as a 19-year-old. Clyde just didn’t have the money to live on his own. He had been fired a few months ago from his job at the pet shop.

He had to leave his home weeks ago in order to hide his powers from his family as the scales became more and more obvious, so he came to the only one he knew that would at least understand.

It wasn’t much fun sleeping next to someone who had the ability to go into your dreams whenever both of them slept at the same time. Rem didn’t do it on purpose of course, the closer you sleep next to him the more likely it is that he just stumbles into your dream by accident. That's why he had to sleep in the basement, while his parents slept on the third floor. They simply wanted him as far away at night as possible.

What the two did all day now was lying around in the dirty cellar on the green bean bag and the mattresses and talked about everything and nothing. Somedays they played games on the old arcade machine Remy had or they had matches on his kicker, all while smoking pot or drinking beer Clyde brought back every time he went out.

But not this time. This time he brought something better. Money. And lots of it.

Remy tried focusing on the guy with the weird scales in front of him as he blinked the sleep from his eyes, “Wha-?”

Deceit ripped away the blanket and threw a full plastic bag him. It hit him in the chest, where you could read ‘Never SLEEP again’ on a gray shirt, and caused him to lay down again with the bag sitting on top of him.

“I said I did it! I actually did it, I stole the money!” Deceit stood proudly next to the ‘bed’, hands on his hips, with the broadest smile Remy had ever seen on the guy. It kinda creeped him out, to be honest.

Then the bank robber turned around into the direction of the old foosball table and lifted his arm triumphantly into the air and tilted his head back so he looked at the ceiling.

“Oh my god! I feel great! This was way better than drugs!” he screamed in euphoria.

Remy leaned up on his elbow and let the bag fall next to him on the bed.

“Flippin’ shut up, man! You're gonna wake the whole street shoutin’ like that.”

Deceit turned his head back to his friend, puzzled.

“It's 5 in the afternoon?”

“Oh really? I'm up early,” the sleepy head grinned.

Deceit made a face at him that could only have meant ‘you fu**king serious?’

Rem's eyes fell on the plastic bag next to him. With one hand he lifted a handle and looked inside. His eyes widened, only now had he realized what Deceit had actually done. He shot up straight on the mattress and put the bag on the ground so he could take a bundle of hundred dollar notes out. He ran a finger across the stop slowly as the reality of the situation began to sink in.

“Jesus Christ, you actually did it?!” he looked up shocked at the criminal who now faced him again. With the head movement, the green shade sunglasses that had apparently been lying on his purple dyed and messy hair the whole time he slept, fell onto his nose.

“Hell yeah, I did! And it was so easy too! Like stealing a lolly from a baby.”

The seventeen-year-old sitting on the mattresses gathered himself enough to get a little of his sass back.

“Cliché.” He looked back down to the pile of money. “Jeez, how much even is this?”

“50,000 bugs,” Dee’s eyes sparkled saying that.

“Holy shit. Holy shit, I can't believe it! I thought we were just joking around yesterday! We were drunk for fucks sake!”

Remy would have never thought that Clyde would actually do something this incredibly stupid. They just talked like idiots about how they could have anything they wanted if they used their powers more, not that he ever actually considered doing so.

“Come on, just imagine what we can do with that much money!” Deceit stepped closer to him, gesturing with his hands.

“With the stolen money.”

“No one knows that!”

“Babe, don't you think 50k will be missed? Where did you even get that from? The bank like we said?” he took his shades with his forefinger and thumb on the rim of the glasses and slid them down a bit so he could look into Deceit's eyes.

“Yeah and no, no one knows I took the money. I made sure the woman was the only one there and I just made her give it to me.”

“50k in cash. Someone will miss that! They’re going to notice that much missing! Did you think of the cameras?” Rem’s eyebrows furrowed as he put his shades back on properly.

“I do not like to repeat myself. She just handed it to me! It looks completely innocent on camera. And as far as she knows, that money belongs to me.”

Deceit got frustrated with his friend. Just the night before he also loved the idea and now he was lecturing him?!

“You can't keep the money here, babe. I'm not ok with that much stolen cash under my roof!”

“It will be gone soon anyway.” He tried again to reason. This was a good thing, why couldn’t he see it?

“You need to leave,” The voice sounded monotone.

Deceit’s shoulders fell. “What?”

“Clyde, sweetie, don’t get me wrong. I'm totally up for all kinds of stupid shit but that's a bit too far man and I really don't want to get in trouble because of you.”

“So, you're throwing me out?”

“You have enough money to rent a hotel room,” he said gesturing to the bag at his feet.

Deceit looked with disbelief into the green-tinted sunglasses that hid Remy’s emotions pretty well.

How could he just throw him out? He thought the other would be happy about the money. He would have even shared it with him for letting him stay here, but now…

He growled “Fine. I'll leave. I don't need you anymore anyway. I can do whatever I want without you. Just don't come crawling back to me when I'm ruling the city.”

“Sure thing rip-off Disney villain.”

“You've seen the last of me.”

With that Deceit took his luggage, bound the bag of money to it and lifted a small terrarium with Terrence in it under his arm and left the basement.

Remy let out a shaky breath into the stifling air of his room.

For a second there, he had been afraid that Clyde- no, Deceit would use his powers on him.

---- Chapter 3>>

[haloshornsinkstains]

Other Side [Songfic, slight Dabi x F!Reader]

While I’m working on Kinktober stuff and my head is a mess, here have a songfic that wouldn’t leave my damn brain for the past few weeks after I saw an animatic based on this song (The Other Side from The Greatest Showman). It just works? Also, apologies on the quirk, I was rewatching Bungou Stray Dogs and <3

CW: Female reader, alcohol, swearing, mention of unwanted groping, Endeavour is a dick... otherwise, pretty SFW

You groaned, pressing your head against the bar and gesturing to the bartender for your usual. Hearing the glass set down beside you, you looked up and smiled, taking a long drink. “Thanks Ryu.” The bartender smiled sympathetically. “Boss still a dick?” “The biggest flaming dick in Japan.” You grumbled. “They’re still keeping me on office duty. I break one creeps jaw and they trap me inside. Mirko punched a reporter and she’s still a top hero.” “Hey, it could be worse. You could be not working under the number one hero.” “No, that makes it worse.” Ryu frowned. “How?” “I hate him. I always hated him.” “Then why don’t you just leave and work for someone else.” You scowled at your glass, left hand leaving dents in the wood of the bar where it rested. “Not allowed.” “Bullshit. And stop denting my bar.” “Truth. Believe me, I’d leave if I could. But I can’t.” You sighed, lifting your hand from the wood apologetically. “Sorry Ryu. If I left I wouldn’t get to be a hero any more, even if all I do is paperwork I worked my ass off for this.” Ryu shrugged, spotting another customer signalling him out of the corner of his eye and smiling apologetically. “Sucks I guess. I’ve got people to serve, shout if you want a top up.” “Believe me, I will.”

You heard a glass set down next to you, the unmistakable heat of a body taking up the seat to your right. "Hey there princess." The voice was gravelly but so familiar. "Nope. I've had more than enough Todoroki bullshit for one day." You growled, staring daggers at your drink.  "Sorry, you must be mistaking me for someone else." You turned, narrowing your eyes at the man sat next to you. "Dabi. You remember I've known you way too long to fall for your bullshit right? And I am so not in the mood." Dabi went to lift his glass, only to find it stuck to the bar, your skin giving off a faint red glow. "Come on princess, I only want to talk. We can bitch about that asshole like old times." You sagged a little, the glow fading and his glass suddenly much easier to lift. You knew he wanted more than to just talk, Dabi's talks always came with attempts to recruit you into the league or, if he was drunk or high enough on adrenaline, his bed. But he was an old friend, and one of the few people more than happy to join your Fuck Endeavour and Fuck The Hero Commission rants. Shaking your head you gestured to one of the darker tables in the back, this might have been a very shady bar but Dabi was well known enough now that even here someone might be dumb enough to try to call the pros. And you liked this place too much to see it turned to ash. 

  You both settled into your seats in the back, you nursing your whiskey with a frown. "So what did dear old dad do today?" "Existed?" You huffed. "Bitched me out for not downplaying the damage caused in one of his 'rescues' while I was writing his reports for him. Which turned into more general belittlement of my attitude, abilities as a hero, quirk… basically he covered all the bases." "You know they'll never let you leave there right? You'll be doing paperwork until you die." Dabi drawled, you glared at him. "They're keeping you there because you're too dangerous to them, you know too much and you were caught sympathising with a villain. He hates you, he won't hesitate to put you down at the first sign of defection. You're trapped." "I didn't sympathise with a villain. I just didn't disagree with all of his ideas regarding the behaviour of heroes. I didn't exactly agree with his methods, I liked Ingenium plenty thank you very much." You grumbled, swirling the amber liquid in your glass. “He was friendly, and fun.” "Still… you hit like a truck when we were kids, I'd love to see what damage you can do now." He hummed, eyes flashing bright for a second. "You could be very dangerous. So they lock you up in an office doing filing for a man that hates you like a good little minion." "You're alarmingly eloquent today." You took another sip, setting the glass down and closing your eyes with a deep sigh. "I worked my ass off to be a hero, why would I want to throw that away?" "Oh, so you enjoy being his little secretary?" Your eyes flashed, skin glowing red as his chair creaked under the sudden strain of the gravity increase. Dabi just smirked, that stupid smug look that told you he knew he'd won. "Just listen to my proposal?" You sighed, the oppressive pressure dissipating in an instant as you waved at him to continue. Maybe he'd put a new twist in the spiel this time.

"Right here, right now I put the offer out I don't want to chase you down I know you see it"  “We do this on a near weekly basis, you have quite literally stalked me to this bar, if that’s not chasing me down what is?” You scoffed and shook your head, eyes flicking to the bar while you debated how many more drinks you were going to need after this. "You run with me And I can cut you free Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in So trade that typical for something colorful And if it's crazy, live a little crazy" "Well at least you acknowledge your league is entirely batshit." "You can play it sensible, a king of conventional" "Conventional? Really? I'm wounded." "Or you can risk it all and see Don't you wanna get away from the same old part you gotta play 'Cause I got what you need, so come with me and take the ride It'll take you to the other side 'Cause you can do like you do Or you can do like me Stay in the cage, or you'll finally take the key Oh, damn! Suddenly you're free to fly" You drummed your fingers on the table, honestly the bird metaphors were a bit weird but he was starting to sound like he had a point, which was…. Alarming. You needed to shut this down fast or you’d break.

  "Okay, my friend, you want to cut me in Well I hate to tell you, but it just won't happen So thanks, but no I think I'm good to go 'Cause I quite enjoy the life you say I'm trapped in" Dabi scoffed. "Really? Didn't sound like it five minutes ago." You shot him a glare. "Now I admire you, and that whole show you do You're onto something, really it's something Don't you know that I'm okay with this uptown part I get to play 'Cause I got what I need and I don't want to take the ride I don't need to see the other side So go and do like you do I'm good to do like me Ain't in a cage, so I don't need to take the key Oh, damn! Can't you see I'm doing fine I don't need to see the other side"

Dabi laughed, gesturing at the dingy bar and the glass in your hands with possibly the most judgemental look on his face you’d seen in years.  "Now is this really how you like to spend your days? Whiskey and misery, and parties and plays"

You sighed again, but your shoulders were sagging now and he knew he was winning. You couldn't pretend you enjoyed this any more, restrictions and abuse breaking you down into someone much easier to tempt and mould.  "If I were mixed up with you, I'd be the talk of the town Disgraced and disowned, another one of the clowns"  You huffed, waving a hand vaguely in his direction.  

"But you would finally live a little, finally laugh a little Just let me give you the freedom to dream And it'll wake you up and cure your aching Take your walls and start 'em breaking Now that's a deal that seems worth taking But I guess I'll leave that up to you" He stood to leave only to find the gravity of your quirk forcing him back down. He knew then that he had won, they'd turned a hero. Shigiraki might take some convincing but that didn't matter right now. Your resolve was crumbling.

"Well it's intriguing, but to go would cost me greatly So what's in it for me?" "Freedom. You want to punch the next guy who touches you inappropriately through a building? The League won't question you for a second, and there's no paperwork." You shook your head. "You'll have to raise the price a bit more than that." "Its a big fuck you to Endeavour?" "That was weak even for you. Dick has hated me since I was, what, five? All I’m doing is giving him an excuse to come after me. He'll be after my head as soon as I leave, and as much as I’m loathe to admit it we both know he's powerful." "You get to spend all the time you want with your favourite childhood friend…" his smirk turned wicked and knowing. "No one to stop you, no questions, no hiding in the corner of a dingy bar. And I guess Shigaraki is okay.” "You play dirty, you know that right?" "Well, I am a villain." Rolling your eyes you knocked back the last of your whiskey and stood, holding out a hand to him. "Well, guess I'm pissed off enough not to care any more. Congratulations Touya, you win." Grinning Dabi took your hand, ignoring the use of his old name in favour of pulling you in for a hug. “Oh, you’re going to be amazing Princess.” “I’ve always been amazing.” You chuckled. “Take me to your leader before I change my mind.” Dabi grinned. “As you wish.” “And no burning down my favourite bar!”

The pair of you stepped outside, Dabi sending a quick message on his phone that was shortly followed by the appearance of a swirling black void. "No wonder I've never seen you on the subway." You joked, though your fingers tightened anxiously around his. "Time to move up in the world princess." He chuckled, tugging you forwards into the void. "You know I don't like...holy shit." You stepped out into a different dingy bar, several faces snapping up to look at you as you appeared. Dabi was a comforting presence at your back. “No more corners of dingy bars huh?” You murmured, shooting him a sideways glance. "Hey Dabi, what's with the midget?" You bristled. "I am not a…" "Shit, that's a pro!" The villain speaking launched at you, intent to kill flashing hot in his eyes. Already irritated and more than a little on edge you activated your quirk, watching him fall flat on his face as overwhelming gravity pulled him down. Dabi had crumpled to his knees behind you, the others struggling to move.  "Princess."  You just growled. "She's with me, with us." Dabi continued. "Princess?" With a huff you released your quirk, watching warily as the villain who'd gone to attack you pushed himself to his feet. Dabi's hand on your shoulder made you flinch but his grip was strong, somewhere between restraint and support in case wide scale use of your quirk had taken it out of you. It was hard not to appreciate the gesture, even if you felt fine. "Meet Graviton. She's… an old friend." "I didn't know you could make friends." Your head snapped around at the sound of the voice, focusing in on Shigaraki sat at the bar, watching you from between the fingers of the hand on his face. "I've got more than you creep." Dabi snapped back, fingers digging into your shoulder. You tipped your head back a little, raising an eyebrow at him.  Shigaraki scratched at his neck, eyes never leaving you. "Why is she even here? She could be a double agent."  You couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled out at that. "Hah, no." "Why are you here?" You were glad for the dim lighting, the constant attention making a blush rise on your cheeks. "I had a really bad week, and Dabi asked nicely. Even said please." As much as you tried to be nonchalant you couldn't hide the slight tremble in your voice. Shigaraki scoffed and you finally looked away from him. "I'm sick of being stuck doing paperwork because the Heroes say so. I worked hard to get my license only to be told I'm not allowed to do anything except sit in a cage with someone I hate. Guess I finally had enough. I was told you'll let me use my power." "And she really wants to punch Endeavour in the face." Dabi added cheerfully. "Oh yeah, that too." "I trust her, and you should know by now I don't drag in just anyone." "Shigaraki, she could be useful. She has inside information and that power was impressive." The black void behind the bar spoke, startling you a little and pulling a quiet chuckle from Dabi.  "Fine. Make yourself useful, if you try to betray us I'll kill you." Shigaraki huffed, standing from his seat. "Kurogiri, I'm going back to my room." "Welcome to the League [name]."

[roninreverie]

2020 Creator’s Self-Love Extravaganza!!

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 8 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Thank you @findswoman for the tag! 

Let’s see... 2020... what am I most proud of from this year???

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1.  Jacen Syndulla Sketch Dump #1 (January 25, 2020)

[Link]

The first of 5 massive sketch dumps for Jacen Syndulla. I used so...many...references... but it really helped me figure out my colors, shadows, and anatomy, plus I got really good at drawing hair even if his nose is different in every other panel. Plus, it’s just fun to have a little more Jacen out there since SW hasn’t given us any crumbs to go off of for like... 3 years.

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2.  She-Ra Mini-Comic (May 29, 2020)

[Link]

Right after She-Ra ended, I had this idea/ dream about Queen Angela and time travel, plus I like drawing Hordak, and thus this comic was born! It was well received which made me SUPER happy, plus I did all of the backgrounds from scratch which is something I usually Frankenstein together, so I am especially proud of that.

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3.  Keston John’s “Kiss the Girl” Hordak Animatic (June 21, 2020)

[Link]

Still running high on She-Ra finale fumes, I discovered Hordak’s voice actor, Keston John, had a Youtube page where he sang a few songs from the Little Mermaid. Well... my Entrapdak shipper ears heard a great animatic video, and thus weeks of drawing frame by frame on a Photoshop timeline ensued!  I spent so long making this, and it was also well-received making it all worth it! I love how complimentary She-ra style is to my style and I was able to play with so many hairstyles for the clones! This was my first-ever music animation and will always have a special place in my heart! (Plus I posted it the day before my birthday, so reading all the tags and comments the next day was really nice!)

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4.  Relaxing Beach Day (July 17, 2020)

[Link]

After the Jacen Sketch Dumps did so well, I  eventually ran out of ideas and asked some of my closest mutuals for more ideas. This is when @the-porg-apprentice mentioned a “beach day”. This was the first fanart I did with a new shadow/ light combo, and a color change over all the black lines. I was really proud how it turned out. I did a few more pieces like that, like the Tharin/Ezra piece and the Ash Dispersal Pattern band art. 

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5.  “A Burden Worth Sharing” (August 26, 2020)

[Link]

I wanted to include at least one fanfiction in this list, and I think my first Zouxie piece beats even the “Uncharted Stars TROS bonus story” because not only did it do REALLY well, but I received so many lovely comments, one even coming from Tenyai herself, which sent me on an adrenalin fueled stupor for all of work that Friday.  

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6.  Douxie’s Scar, Mini-Comic (September 13, 2020)

[Link]

The thousands of questions left inside me after watching Wizards sent me on a TOA binge HARDCORE! So hard in fact that I made an ENTIRE COMIC based on one theory I had on how Douxie got his scar, mixed with a line from the Trollhunter’s artbook (that I don’t even think made it into the show?). I tried a new style for this comic without using outlines at all, and I like how it turned out, even if I am not 100% sure I like how the text bubbles fit in. Adding text is like the worst thing I can do to myself and I usually never like how I do it! 

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7.  The Hex (Tech) Girls (October 12, 2020)

[Link]

Another wordplay correlation in my brain sent me on a days-long animatic project again in the Photoshop Timeline. This one got less views than I had hoped, but I still watch it from time to time and am still pretty proud of it given the limits I had with frame by frame and the fact I suck at drawing guitars. It gave me a lot of practice drawing Zoe at least, and that really came in handy for future projects.

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8. Douxie’s Guitar (October 13, 2020)

[Link]

Posted the literal day after the Hex (Tech) Girls animation, this one was mostly a joke and only took like an afternoon to draw, but it got over 300 notes! I think that is the most notes on any of my Wizards content so far? I was really proud of how they turned out given the simplicity of the doodles, and I especially liked that it was so well-received. It kind of shaped some of my sketch dumps after that and sometimes I stick to this style when I don’t feel like coloring. 

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Bonus shoutout to the Douxie Fashion Walk Through the Centuries, which I want to do better and add more Zoe to one of these days, and also to the Ash Dispersal Pattern art (which was my first step into making TOA fanart).

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I am going to spread the love since this made me feel WAY more productive about my year, and I will tag: @the-porg-apprentice @dreamsarelikedragonflies @fandomsunderthesun @blixeon @mandaloriandragontrainer @prismarts @racheldrawsdaily and @minniethemoocherda plus anyone else who would like to reflect. No Pressure!

[musical-in-theory]

Legion’s Wrath Pt. 1

(You know that thing I was talking about earlier? Here it is!! This is based off of an animatic from @missksketch which if you haven’t, please go check her blog out! She is such a sweet and amazing person and makes awesome art! The animatic was based off of the stories written by @reverseblackholeofwords who is also super sweet and please please please go read her stuff right now if you haven’t yet. I’m really proud of this! Enjoy!)

The Void was cold incarnate. It was like being trapped within an icicle, but Legion knew better than to think that their prison would shatter as easily as that. Those that had been to the Void before thought that the crushing isolation was the worst part of it. Not Legion, though. They wished they were alone. They would have preferred it over the taunting words and unwelcome touches from the Actor. 

His presence was the most conflicting thing in their life, and that included the numerous shouted opinions from their various souls. They hated seeing him. He was a constant reminder of everything they lost as the DA. He was a temptation they couldn’t bear to give in to. He was a cockroach they couldn’t get rid of, and yet they were thankful in a way to see him by their side or over their shoulder. It meant that he wasn’t off somewhere terrorizing their family.

A while ago he left them with an old friend of theirs, a mirror. It showed them what was happening to the egos while they were trapped, much like how the Author had trapped them behind the fourth wall without letting them interact. Legion had clung to it ever since they received it. As much as they didn’t trust the Actor, they just couldn’t refuse this piece of home, this luxury they hadn’t been granted during their first visit to the Void back when they were trapped as the DA.

Legion watched as their family tried desperately to get them back. They watched as Host screamed narrations for Legion to appear until he lost his voice. They watched Mare cry himself to sleep because he “should’ve been there for them.” Even Phantom tried to bargain with the snake to open up a breach into the Void to retrieve them and broke down when it said that it couldn’t be done

“If they actually cared, they’d try a little harder to get to you. I guess with everything else in their lives, this is just too much of an inconvenience for them,” Actor whispered into their ear. Legion whipped around to try to land a hit on the narcissist, but he’d already backed up a good few feet away. He opened his arms to them and continued, “I care though. I’ve said so since the beginning. I like you. I appreciate all you have to offer, the good and the bad. I have never abandoned you just because of an argument or a mistake you never meant to make.”

Legion flinched a bit at the reminder of how Host had more or less “disowned” them. They had made up since then, but it still hurt to think about. “Shut up! Of course they care! But you most definitely don’t. You’re just the villain that’s keeping us hostage.” 

Legion had expected some sort of negative reaction, but all the actor did was smile down at them. “Am I? I didn’t bring you here. I’m not keeping you here. The Void is much like a growing room that’s locked from the outside. All you need is someone to open the door. Sadly, old friend, I can’t do that. The best I can do is keep you company and keep you entertained.” He gestured to the mirror in their hands. “Now your supposed family, however… well I know for a fact that they have the key to get you out of here. So where are they?”

He smirked as Legion brought their eyes back to the scene playing before them in the mirror. A small portion of voices within their head were screaming that he was lying, but the greater majority rang out reluctantly with, “He has a point.” Tears formed in Legion’s eyes, but they wouldn’t let them fall, not yet. Seeing that he wouldn’t receive an answer, Actor turned on his heel and walked back into the darkness.

Legion watched vigilantly over their family day after day and waited patiently for their rescue. The egos all kept trying tirelessly to find their missing Legion until one day it changed. They stopped looking. They stopped calling out or even mentioning Legion’s name. Doc was able to get the Host to start taking care of himself again, and it was like they had never existed.

At first Legion thought that maybe this was one of Actor’s tricks or that the Author had gotten his hands on some ink and paper again, but by the way Mare flinched a bit every time he walked past a mirror, they knew it wasn’t that. It hurt more than words could ever describe. They had known the sting of bitterness before all of this, and so they recognized it again as it pierced their heart now. As much as they hated themselves for it, this hurt far worse than seeing their family in pain over losing them. 

“A mere month, hmmm? Is that really all it took for them to give up on you? Even I expected better of my villains.” The Actor appeared in front of Legion, but this time he kept a healthy distance. He was immediately met with a glare that would cause the weak-willed to crumble. After staring him down for a good minute, Legion turned completely around to give him the cold shoulder.

The Actor saw what they were trying to do and let out a chuckle, “Don’t be like that, old friend.” Legion shivered slightly at the friendliness in his tone as he walked over to put his hands on their shoulders. “I just came to tell you that I have found a way out. I can help you get back to your… family.” He looked over their shoulder at the mirror. “That is, at least, if you still want to go.”

Legion didn’t give an answer. They kept their eyes trained on the mirror. The pain of what they saw clouded their mind to the point that they weren’t entirely sure what they wanted. “Conflicted? I’m not surprised. But I can help with that, too. I can send you back and give you what you need to defeat these villains.” The Actor tipped Legion’s chin up so that their gaze landed on what was within his hands. They immediately froze up as their eyes landed on the mask, their mask, sitting innocently in the Actor’s fingers. 

Legion shook their head furiously and quickly backed away. Their hands shook to the point that they nearly dropped their precious mirror. “No. No, no, no. Why- How do you have that?” Legion’s voice distorted into multiple overlapping. Panic threatened to overtake them as they remembered how they hurt everyone they cared about while under its influence. “We can’t. We won’t!” 

“Think about how good it will feel to finally have a little retribution. To give back even a portion of the pain they forced onto you. Think of how you won’t need to keep up this charade of always being fine, always being there for them and never needing anything in return.” The Actor cooed.

“No. It’s wrong. It was a mistake to put it on last time. One that we know better than to repeat.” Legion shouted and squeezed their hands over their ears in an attempt to block him out. They shut their eyes tight in a desperate hope that he’d somehow disappear.

Foreign hands wrapped around Legion’s own as they slowly guided them away from their ears. Legion opened their eyes only slightly to see the Actor with an almost fatherly expression on his face, filled with kindness and understanding. “Oh no, my little Legion. Your mistake was not in putting on the mask, but rather in getting caught. It was only when the mask was gone did you feel bad. Don’t you remember how good it felt with it on? Don’t you remember how much fun you had?” He petted and smoothed out Legion’s hair in a soothing manner. 

Everything in them was telling Legion to turn away and stop listening, that nothing good could ever come from that mask or the Actor. But they were so tired, and if they closed their eyes, the Actor could almost sound like the Host. Pain shot through their heart at that thought. Legion looked back down at the mirror and saw the Host comforting Eric.

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. And there was the Actor offering a remedy to make it all go away. The more they looked into the dark black of the mask, the less the consequences seemed to matter. They couldn’t see how the Actor smirked down at them. They couldn’t see how he slowly took his mirror from their hands or how it turned back into a piece of the Void when he did. All they could see was their own hands reaching for the mask and bringing it towards their face.

Cold washed over them just as they remembered from the first time. The hatred that coursed through their veins felt familiar. It felt right. They looked back up at the Actor who was smiling darkly back at Legion. “You’ve been gone from the story for far to long, dear Legion. I think it’s about time to cause a little chaos, don’t you?” He stepped to the side and used the Void around him to create what looked like full-length mirror. Legion nodded and stepped through it.

(This is just part 1. Part 2 soon to follow. Thanks for reading!)

[emovirgil-sanders]

Mean Girls(Guys?)

Warnings: Swearing, potential transphobia(it depends on how you see it), gossip, Deceit(tho I haven’t decided if he’s gonna be sympathetic or not in this yet). Tell me if there are any more I need to tag.

Ships: None here

Plot: I don’t really know what I’m thinking here. The only way I can think of how to explain without giving too much away is it is a reverse Mean Girls, but that doesn’t really fit it. I got my inspiration from this Animatic to ‘Meet the Plastics’ from Mean Girls.

A/N: I haven’t seen Mean Girls yet- even though I really should cause it looks good from what I’ve seen. But, anyway, don’t expect it to follow the plot of the movie cause I don’t know that. Also, the language translations are through Google, so please tell me if they’re wrong. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Logan set his lunch tray down at the table and took a seat beside at the table with two other students that had shown him around this morning.

“So, how's your first day been?” Patton- he thinks- asks in between bites of his sandwich. Logan shrugs.

“It could’ve been worse. I don’t understand the calculus teacher. And math is the subject I’m good at.” Logan explains as he pulls apart his sandwich and plucks out the ham to lay on the edge of his tray.

“Wait- who do you have?” Roman suddenly spoke as he nearly slammed his milk carton down on his tray after chugging the whole thing.

“Ms. Horton,” Logan says softly. Roman winces out of sympathy.

“Ouch. Enjoy. She never gives any student anything more than a B-. She looks over homework and tests for like a week straight just to find one little error in order to fail you.” Roman explains as he picked up his own sandwich. Logan nodded slowly as he put his sandwich back together after taking out all of the ham. He took a bite and glanced around the cafeteria as he chewed.

“Who’s that there?” Logan spoke up after a moment, gesturing across the cafeteria to a student kneeling on top of a table with two other students sitting on either side of him. He wore a black shirt with the words “Fuck Off” in white lettering under a ripped black jacket with skinny jeans and purple heeled boots. He had a choker around his neck, several piercings in each of his ears, a nose piercing, and chains hanging from his jeans. He was gorgeous. Almost too good to be real.

Patton glanced to where Logan was pointing before looking back at sighing.

“That’s Virgil Moore. He is the richest kid in this entire school-”

“His dad is a billionaire.” Roman cut in quickly. Logan looked confused.

“Then why is he in a school such as this one? It seems like they could afford a private school.” Logan says in disbelief.

“Virgil is too stupid to go anywhere else,” Roman states blatantly, causing another student behind them to snort and then try to hold back laughter.

“Don’t say that!” Patton hissed, reaching across the table to smack Roman’s arm. “Remi will hear you.” He warns, leaving Logan confused again.

“Remi..?” Logan questions. Patton sighs again and looks towards the clique across the cafeteria.

“See the kid to the left of Virgil? Sunglasses and bubblegum bubble?” Patton asks, pointing them out. Once Logan nods, Patton continues, “That is Remi Dormir. They are the gossip queen of the school. If you have a secret, they will know it.” Logan swallows hard as Patton said that. Oh no.

“And if you anger Remi, or really, any of the three of them, you can guarantee that the whole school will know everything about you the next day,” Roman spoke up. Logan nodded slowly. Double oh no.

“And.. you said there’s three of them?” Logan asks quietly. Just a little scared of them now.

“Duh. Can’t you see? To the right of Virgil. The one with the scar on his face. That is Dee. We literally don’t know any more of his name. The teachers are too scared to speak it and he never tells it to anyone. We only call him Dee because that’s what Virgil and Remi call him.” Roman explains as he points at the punk with a dyed yellow mohawk and snake bite piercings.

“They’re all rich and fake. Don’t talk to them.” Patton warns offhandedly as he picks up an apple slice from his tray.

“I’ll even bet you fifty dollars that you can’t find something on Virgil that isn’t plastic or altered in some way,” Roman says, crossing his arms over his chest.

Logan nods slowly, though he couldn’t stop from glancing over at the beautiful boy across the cafeteria. Though, when Virgil looked over and made eye contact, Logan felt his cheeks heat up and he quickly turned to look away. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Virgil leaned over and whispered something to Remi, who responded without looking up from their phone. Logan swallowed before turning back to finish his lunch.

He wondered what Remi already knew about him.

~On the other side of the cafeteria~

Virgil gazed around the cafeteria as he picked at his lunch, his black fingernails picking apart his sandwich as he reminded himself not to eat too much. He noticed someone staring at him from across the cafeteria and stared back until they looked away. Well, that was a new face he hadn’t seen before.

“Hey, Rem. Who’s the new kid?” Virgil asks after leaning over to whisper to his friend.

“Logan Sanders. Just moved here from Germany-” Remi replied without looking up from their phone.

“Ew.” Dee cut in.

“Tais-toi.” Remi snaps back, making Virgil roll his eyes. (Translate: Shut up)

“English, please, French boy.” Virgil scolds, causing Remi to elbow him in the ribs.

“Tu es une salope,” Remi comments, causing Virgil to hit them right back. (Translate: You are a slut.)

“I know what that means, Remi.” Virgil scowls, making Dee laugh.

“Anyways-” Remi cuts back in, finally looking up from their phone. “-Looks like he’s already gone with the nerds. Which means he shouldn’t be too much of a problem for us.” Remi says and Virgil hums.

“Know anything about him just by looking,” Virgil asks.

“Nope, but I did look into his school file. He used to be Ava.” Remi explains and Virgil paused for a moment.

“Wait, you mean he’s-” Remi’s nod cut off what Virgil was about to say.

“Oh my god!” Virgil laughs loudly, attracting the attention of a few nearby tables.

~Back to the other side of the cafeteria~

Logan was just about finished with his lunch, looking up as Patton and Roman got up.

“We’ll be right back, kiddo,” Patton says as they both took their trays and walked off. Logan watched them before turning back to his lunch, which was almost gone.

Moments later, two trays nearly slam down on the table and a third was set down softly. Logan’s head shot up to stare at Virgil, Remi, and Dee.

Virgil leaned on the table as Remi pulled out their phone, which had just buzzed with a message.

“Alright. We don’t usually do this, but you’re the new kid, right?” Virgil asks, waiting for Logan to nod before continuing, “How would you like to sit with us for lunch for the rest of this week?”

“I- uh..” Logan stutters, glancing behind himself to try to find Patton or Roman.

“Hey, you don’t have to thank us. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Remi spoke, glancing up from their phone to look at Logan.

“On Fridays, we wear black,” Dee said now before he and the other two grabbed their trays and walked off.

Logan swallowed slowly. Well, this ought to be fun.