#why is it so important to them that some sonas just look different?

[goldyluna]

Just thinking about all those comments and posts on tiktok that your sona — a character that is a representation, an interpretation of you on the internet — should look exactly like you. That you can't make your sona look prettier than you, make them perfect and give them everything you want.

But art is all about creativity and fun. Why restrict ourselves? Why spoil fun of others? Why should we limit our artistic crearivity and freedom just because someone doesn't like that we and our sonas don't look realistic.

It is not a self-portrait. We don't draw ourselves in realistic styles so it is just us but on paper or screen. Art is for us to use it how we want. Do you want to make your sona as pretty as you want? Do you want your sona to have some animal traits? To have crazy hair or cool outfits? You think this will show how you are? How you want others to perceive you? Then go for it! If you have fun with it and in the end, you are satisfied with the results, it is all that matters.

So to everyone that feels like they should change their sonas or can't use them or anything, just because some people can't take others having fun... It is not their characters. They are not you, it is not them drawing your sona. You know the best what you want to represent and how you want to look. Don't let them take from you the joy of drawing anything.

[genderqueerdykes]

it’s unbelievably comforting to know that you’re therian/otherkin as a younger person who’s identified that way for years as well. people like you are ones i look up to for being my most authentic self and you remind me that it’s not a phase and i’m ALLOWED to be who and what i am ^_^

aww thank you! and hey of course, that's why i try to talk about it so often. i've identified as nonhuman since i was a child, but i've been a part of the online nonhuman community since 2010. i first joined the furry community as someone who genuinely identified as their sona, then the otherkin/therian/etc. communities when someone i followed on here came out as a dragon otherkin.

over the years we've realized a few nonhuman identities. we're not all one person so some of these will only apply to some, but we state that we collectively identify as a wolf, coyote, dog, & horse therian, and we have a lot of elf and dragon otherkin in our system, as well as other identities that are less common but important to the individuals who have them! many of us are undead, some are angels and demons.

i instantly became very involved in the community! i became staff on many different forums over the years and tried to help out when and where i could. i was very active under a lot of different usernames due to our DID, but i've tried to interact with others and help people understand that identifying as nonhuman isn't a bad, scary, or dangerous thing. it's not a problem. it's just how that person experiences their life and how they see themselves!

you're not doing anything wrong by identifying as a nonhuman. this belief is held across many cultures, all throughout human history. it's been well documented and recorded over the course of human history on every continent we've lived on and it's not going away any time soon. we are meant to be in nature. we are meant to be around other animals. humans ARE a species of animal- we are not above the animal kingdom, we are a part of it. it's only natural to relate to other animals.

you're perfectly fine being your authentic nonhuman self! i'm glad i can help you feel more comfortable in that. you are genuinely not harming anyone, that is a them problem if they have any issues with it. you are just being yourself! :) take care, stay safe, feel free to stop by again!

[stringlessau]

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

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

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

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

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

Didnt mean to make swatchton, made it anyway lmfao

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THANKS EVERYONE <3

-Nick

[tearsofthekabak]

The Yona Rant.

Some people will say that this game came out months ago already, and everybody is over it, and even kinda like her now, and to that I answer 

First of all, I would like to remind you, reader, of the old texts. *blows into the sacred n64 oot cartridge* 

The Zora royal line have proven itself to be very obviously Linksexual. If you haven’t played, Ruto proclaims herself Link’s fiancée, the spiritual stone of water being a litteral engagement ring. It is clearly brought into BOTW, with Mipha actively making him an engagement present according to current Zora tradition.

Sidenote: Link accept both gifts, and as the player you never get to clear it up or refuse. Make it what you will. 

Why am I mentioning this? 

She’s Link’s Zora-sona.

(((If you want to bring gender into this, BORING. Link is canonically nonbinary. (neither male of female, able to be related to by anybody, those are things expressed multiple times by the creators))))

Everything about her that is different from the other Zoras is intended to be Link-like. 

The way she has the droopy sleeves instead of the shoulderpads 

The purple ribbon cutting into her silhouette in the same way the straps of his outfit do

The golden jewelry instead of Domain Silver

The horns simulating the spiky Hylian ears

Her head-tail is smaller and pointy, way closer to the shape of the classic hat

GREEN. A specific shade.

Babyfaced she-twink

She is the PEAK of Zora beauty standard, how silly of you to judge her with your human beauty standards. Yona is a bimbo, a barbie, everything hot under the sea. Literally evolved to be Link-like. She’s a trophy wife, a sex symbol, an idol. She has a dedicated Zora entourage simping for her.

Now, the way she suddenly shows up, without having being mentioned in BOTW… how do yall feel about surprises? I don’t think there would have been any moment in the game where it would have been natural for any Zora to bring her up, with the crisis happening, and the feelings about Mipha being so fresh to them. It made me feel like it was a world that was alive! Sidon is a hundred years old but you expect to meet everybody important to him in the first game he appears in? 

Also, I do think Yona’s existence was hinted, with Muzu there, and every other Zora looking like they could be Sidon’s sibling or child… I personally really felt like the Domain looked inbred in comparison. Was the only other option blue Mipha? Lame.

Can you imagine a young Muzu? Vibrant green, chibi-headed, Dorephan's very own "best friend". Come on.

Sidon is just like his dad fr

What about not getting married at all?

The thing with kingdoms, is that it specifically depends on a royal line, especially in Hyrule where abilities are given from parent to children. There was always going to be a need for a Zora Queen at some point.

What was the other option, simply not meeting Yona? Not addressing it? How tragic to imagine her absence, a lonely King with an elderly father, no mother, no sister, just a monogamous mass of subjects. And Muzu.

No, there needed to be a fiancée, a weird Link-like gremlin, who was there to accept their love. I don't believe Sidlink could have a better happy ending than this, given nintendo.

SQFD: If Sidon was to marry anybody to continue the royal line, it’s Link’s Zora-sona of course. Which is Yona. 

[its-a-me-mango]

Hey Mango!

I have two questions

*turns into an interviewer*

Is Mango your sona and if he is, how did you choose him? Does he have lore?

-someone who really struggles with their sona

Og my god an interview, hey mum look I'm being interviewed!!!

Yes Mango is my sona! He's my SMG4 Sona, so I have other sonas that I use for non SMG4 stuff but he's the only one I use for here! My main sona is a horse demon lol.

When it comes to why I made him, I wanted someone different to use for SMG4 content because when I first got into it, I kinda didn't want anyone to know I liked SMG4 lol. Idk it felt way too cringy to me as a 25 year old being into funny online Mario show so I wanted something different that I could make a separate space with. Now I don't care lol I got over that anxiety real quick, but I still kept Mango because I like him a lot!

Designing him was easy, I just took a character that could fit in the SMG4 universe that I like and can easily project onto (Dr Mario) and I just played around with that until I got Mango! There was a lot of just picking out things I like and smashing it onto him, sonas don't have to have super deep meaning or anything, they can be as simple as making a design with things you like in it.

Designing sonas is a lot easier if you have some kind of "base" to work with, I think kinsonas and inspired designs are so cool I love seeing how people remake a character into their own, its so awesome. I know it's not for everyone but I think it's epic, there's so much to be inspired by and work from in the SMG4 universe so going wild with it is great fun!

Mango does have lore, I made it up after I made him, I designed him first as a MLP hybrid and then I had to figure out how he became one, was a lot of work lol.

His very basic lore is that he comes from a universe where MLP is brought into the real world, however people can't be normal around the ponies so doctors around the world are tasked with creating a "cure" to make people behave around them. Anyway Mangos one of them but he fucks it up and gets turned into a MLP hybrid. He gets his medical license revoked, gets expelled from society and ends up being taken by the government to keep him contained alongside the other MLP ponies. They experiment on him a lot and all that fun stuff but he's besties with all the ponies in there so who cares, then one day he suddenly gets teleported to the SMG4 universe where he gets his license back and now works as a doctor in the SMG4 universe!

See, character lore can be whatever the fuck you want it to be, I wanted Mangos to be just as dumb and over the top as him, its important.

If you're struggling to design a sona, I guess my only advice is just make something you like! There's no limit on how many sonas you can have so you can spread around your interests and likes across multiple characters. They don't have to be wild and exciting or have deep intricate lore or anything like that, they're just whatever you use to represent yourself, just start with something you like and go from there!

Enjoy my rambling, my brain is a pile of slime rn :3

[moltenraider]

Fortnite mains

Having a main on Fortnite is something special, loving and caring about a skin that has little to no story and yet playing as them everyday really is different than the normal fandom brainrot experience

And today I want to talk about the character that was my Fortnite main

This is Sig

He was introduced on Chapter 2 Season 2, the Spies! Season (known to be the Midas Season and one of the best season)

I have NO IDEA why I started liking him, looking back at his design, he is pretty boring(? Nor even handsome, I do think his model was used for more skins(? Maybe to ones with the face covered. But as you can see looks weird

I really don’t remember why I just connected with him, not even with the first time he came on the item shop, it was later because I remember I waited for months for him to come again, and man, the day I bought him, since that day I used him non stop until I quit playing fortnite on chapter 3 season 3

Naturally, I also drew him a ton

And a lot of things happened since then, I created lore for him, I named him (his name is Sig, in my head his whole nickname was “Signature” and his real name was Edén)

I remember I used him to roleplay, which was what really made me create a deep story and give him characteristics. For example, I explained his white hair and skin by him having albinism (which is not that creative lmao) I also explained that he is always wearing dark glasses because his eyes are very sensitive to light, he was mainly a hacker. And probably one of the most important things I HC for him is that he loves frogs

This was before Fortnite added animals, and when the animals came on the Primal season I WAS SO DAMN HAPPY LMAO

So then, that I made this drawing of him as a frog

And I continued using him, playing with friends, having fun, all while I was going through some hard stuffs on my life (pandemic included)

So Sig really became a HUGE comfort character for me, it’s probably the character that I’ve feel more comfort with, and when I think about him to this day, I still smile by just remember the good times I spend while wearing him on Fortnite.

Of course there was some shitty things happening (like people calling him one of the ugliest skins hfjfh. I mean, kinda) but honestly I don’t care anymore haha

At the time I was so pissed tho, but I understand now.

When I had my 20 birthday I even asked a frog to be drawn on the cake, and it was because of him. I don’t have a pic of that, but that happened fr.

And another important thing about Sig is that he was actually the character I used to learn how to draw nsfw and suggestive stuffs, which to me is REALLY important, cuz this might sound crazy but learning that helped me improve my art an insane amount (just think that at the time I didn’t practice much naked human figure. And when I started doing so, my anatomy learn when to a peak. Yes, drawing nsfw helps with learning anatomy)

So he was also important to me artistically speaking

And while writting this I just realize how important he really was to me in so many ways, and for a character that only has a name and one stupid sentence for description, that is…

Crazy

At last, when I was stepping away from fortnite for personal reasons (and also because my switch was dying) I really wanted to keep Sig in some way

So I made this character, which is clearly based on everything I did with him so far

His name is Caesar, he is a frog

And he was going to be just that, but after all this and him carrying everything that Sig means to me. He is not just a frog character

He is my sona, my second sona to be exact, being the first one The Vicepresident

And that’s the story of how a fortnite skin became so important to me that I made them an actual original character

Right now, playing fortnite again… it might sound weird, but I don’t use Sig anymore, it doesn’t mean I don’t love him anymore, I still do. But his period as my main skin ended years ago, and I don’t want to ruin those beautiful experiences I had with him back then

That’s why he was my main, and now, I’ll wait for other skin to come and be my new Sig.

[cordate-chordata]

I apologize if you’ve moved passed this

But I am a bit curious and would like to know more about your Old Beelzemon Digisona

His personality, his life, anything you can remember. I like to hear these types of things :3

(Especially me being a Beelzemon collector.)

Hiya!! Sorry about taking a while to react to this. I kept getting distracted with other things.

Definitely not moved past the sona. Well, mostly moved past it being a Digimon sona, but not moved past it in itself. I draw it as a general non-digimon sona sometimes! It's a pretty personal thing. This mind sound pretty whacky because of that

Cont. under cut

I've had dreams in which I am a Beelzemon, specifically Blast Mode without the guns. I still have those. They're super random because they usually happen without me having thought about it or Digimon in a long while. They most prominent part about them is having wings and flying around, but the Beelzemon appearance is also really a thing in them, not just an assumption. More rarely I'm some other creature/person with wings. The difference is possible to tell.

So that's why I have that sona. There's not a huge narrative attached to it. If I had to spin a Digimon story from it, I would say it's a tamerless Beelzemon Blast Mode that looks fairly divergent from the usual appearance - two blue eyes, third eye… changing a lot, brown hair, usually without a jacket, maybe no guns and def a preference for punching and clawing, and with a bit of shapeshifting. The last point is because I can never decide on what the feet should be (I NEED them to be similar to woodpecker legs, but I also want to be able to wear normal shoes and have human feet sometimes yaknow?), and I also get dissatisfied with other design elements sometimes and change those around about. Sometimes just two wings, more rarely the canon four wings. So the sona's appearance is more or less fluid. Behemoth is still a thing. Demon Lord of Gluttony is still a title, but I wouldn't spin a story where I'm the only Beelzemon. Just one of 'em, and not a particularly important one. Want my peace and quiet. Just an edgy guy passing thru.

OH. Transmasc. Digimon with GENDERISM

Oh and also the "mask" can't be removed. That's part of the biology. Beak material that's not super hard around the eyes to allow for movement, but hard at the edges.

Digivolution line is Pomumon, Kiwimon, Taomon, Beelzemon because chaos we ball :p

Thanks for asking!

[ghostydrawsstuff]

Alright so since I can't really draw anything I thought I'd get a little something else outta the way.

How my Sona meet the Slender brothers and why I'd be staying/hanging out with them! General warning for a lotta self directed hatred and poor mental health!

But with no further ado, let the story begin :)

I sat under the willow tree, its low hanging branches and the vine-like leaves hid me enough so that I allowed myself to curl into a sort of ball and cry. I just wanted- no I needed to let it all out, I'd be able to properly compose myself afterwards and continue on with my shitty day. Just as always.

But something felt different, it was probably just because of my surroundings. I couldn't remember the last time I had cried in the forest or perhaps it was just an animal, watching from somewhere close by. I was washing away the tears when they came, even if it was useless, they just kept coming. It was my fault, I could've been better, I shouldn't have forgotten about something so important. Not again, not ever.

I felt so useless, but also angry, like I could just scream or punch a wall… or myself. I would deserve it. I need to be punished, need to learn, need to be better. Make no mistakes, be perfect. Be worth something. I hiccuped as my crying got worse, I could barely even see, but then suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was warm, almost comforting and it was big. I felt my heart skip a beat, no, no, no, no one can see me like this! This can't be happening.

I felt shame burn me from the inside as I held my breath, just don't cry, don't cry, you'll be fine just don't fucking cry. “Hey, are you okay? Do you need someone to talk to?” A soft, gentle voice, it was like a melody, intruding my mind and calming it down. It was… strange, but nice. I let go of the breath I was holding, sucking in air before I could even try to speak.

“I-I’m fine, just… leave me alone.” I said, I didn't mean how harsh I sounded, of course I messed that up too. He was just a concerned stranger and I was being rude, I already made him notice me. I should at least be nice, but noo of course I can't even manage that.

I sighed deeply, digging my fingernails into my arms, the slight twinge of pain almost felt like nothing, but it reminded me that I was here, this was real and not a dream. “Ugh, I'm sorry fo-” I apologized, but my voice caught in my throat when I looked up. What I saw made me doubt if this was actually real, how could he be here? Right before me? He was fiction. A figment of imagination that got popular on the internet.

And who was he exactly? Splendorman. His smile was soft, concerned. I made him worry, he shouldn't worry about someone like me. He was almost kneeling before me and he was still about two heads taller than me. “It's fine, don't worry about it.” He assured me and squeezed my shoulder gently.

I looked back down to the ground for a moment, feeling the ember of embarrassment again. "Can… Can I hug you?” I asked quietly. It felt dumb asking for something like that, but I needed comfort and I knew he'd be happy to offer it.

It almost seemed like his face lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. “Of course!” He said and quickly wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close until my face was against his chest. I drew in a sharp breath, but relaxed just as quickly. His comforting warmth engulfed me, calmed me, made me feel okay, like maybe it wasn't all too bad. Maybe, just maybe it would be okay.

I closed my eyes and hugged him back, I tried not to cry, but I hadn't realized how lonely I felt, how much I wanted to just be held, how much that aching hole in myself ate away at me. It was so nice, I wished it could've lasted forever, but after some time he pulled away.

I tried washing away the rest of my tears before looking at him again. “A little better now?” He asked and I nodded. “Thank you.” I mumbled and his smile grew wider. “Are you okay enough to go back home?” He asked and I felt another sting of sadness. That fight had been way too intense, I doubt she would want to see me again.

I looked away and hugged myself, it felt like coldness was creeping into my body and numbing me from the inside out. “I don't think I'm welcomed there anymore.” I answered honestly, even though it hurt, badly.

He patted my shoulder and stood up, for a moment I thought he would just leave me as well, but he extended a hand to me, offering me to take it. I didn't hesitate, honestly right now just being with him would be a thousand times better than anything else I could think of.

“You could come with me, I don't know if it's the best idea, but you could meet my siblings.” He said after a moment and I thought for a moment. It would be nice and where else could I go anyways? Besides I did kinda wanna meet them, I never thought they'd be real, but now I had the chance to literally hang out with them.

I felt almost buzzing with excitement, even if I still felt the emptiness it tried to cover up, I just tried to ignore it. At least for once I could enjoy something good and not feel like I didn't deserve it. At least that's what I hoped for. “Sure.” I said quietly, I wanted to say more, but I would definitely stumble over my words and embarasse myself in front of him, then he'd just go away. And I'd just be alone again and it would all be my fault and-

Suddenly I felt like I was falling into a void, filled with thousands of tiny needles, prickling my skin. It felt like the sensation when you sat on the toilet too long and your legs had fallen asleep. But just as fast as the feeling started, it stopped and I was in a different place.

It looked like a sort of foyer, I saw dark red wallpaper and a hanger for coats and other jackets nearby. I noticed the soft, muffled noises of a conversation in a different room. Splendorman turned to me and told me to stay here while he told his siblings that I was here now. I nodded, he went away with a little pep in his steps and I saw a red cushioned chair to my left and decided to go over to it and take a seat.

Then I decided to try and overhear the conversation. There was a set of a double door opening to another room, which judging by the muffled conversation was the room they were in. I strained my ears and it worked somewhat, I could understand some words, but not even half of what was being said.

“Why… bring… You know better… what if… something… wrong… is even… name” the last part sounded like it was part of a question. I lightly shook my head to redirect my focus again, I wanted to know what was being said, especially since it was about me.

“Are… sure?... Responsibility…on… I… mind… Bring… in. Okay.” Then I heard footsteps and silence. He peaked in from the double door and motioned for me to come to him.

I felt a little nervous, but followed him as he turned around and walked into a living room. On the other side of the room was a couch along with some sort of pillow like stools, they looked cute. Well I did notice the three other extremely tall beings in the room. And of course I recognised them pretty much instantly. Both Slenderman and Trenderman were sitting on the couch and to my left was a wooden table, Offenderman sitting on one of the four chairs with a glass of something. Probably wine or another kind of alcohol.

A shiver ran down my spine as I felt like I was watched very intently by all four of them. I stepped closer to Splendor as my anxiety was rising like crazy. God I hated being watched, I would do something wrong, make a fool of myself, ruin my opportunity. Luckily he extended his arm and I grabbed his hand, holding it like it could somehow save me.

What had I been thinking? It wouldn't be easy or anything to meet them, fuck I had probably made just another stupid mistake. He leaned down and quietly asked me to introduce myself. I felt like I was about to explode, I honestly just wanted to turn around and run away or conveniently melt into the ground.

And then I took a deep breath, I could use a nickname I like much more than my actual name, that was at least something good. “H-hi, you can call me Fin.” I say, feeling a light blush burn at my cheeks, goddammit I stuttered. They'll think I'm stupid now, why can't I ever do things right?!

I heard a dark and amused chuckle that made me wanna curl up and die of shame. “Sure cutie, I'm Sexual Offenderman, but ya can just shorten it if you want.” He said and I glanced at him for a moment, how could someone be so confident and just… relaxed?!

“I am Slenderman, and please if you must shorten it, just use Slender.” Slender introduced himself with a hint of a sigh at the end. I caught myself just in time to not snicker, sounds like he's had some interesting nicknames. “I'm Trenderman, welcome, I like your clothes.” My gaze shifted over to him.

Suddenly I couldn't remember just what exactly I was wearing, I tried to subtly glance down and for the second time wanted to just die on the spot. Of course this sort of thing happened when I was wearing my most emo stuff, if I wasn't blushing before I sure was now. “Thanks.” I muttered and looked away, rubbing the back of my neck.

I felt Splendor’s hand I had been holding onto move to my back. “Well I hope you'll enjoy staying with us for now!” He exclaimed happily, his joy was almost infectious and I caught myself grinning, maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

That was it for now, hope y'all enjoyed it. I'll be back home so then I can work on getting my asks done :3

[mia-solastasia]

Anatase: Diamond Dog Sona [Jun 28 2015]

This piece is outdated, made for a defunct project. The information bellow is also obsolete musings.

I would like to describe to you the achievement I've made with this, and why this is. This is a lot of overthinking, by the way.

Any depiction of myself is ridiculously important to me. It doesn't matter if it's for MLP or Pokemon or my own original projects. I work hard to ensure I get the best depiction possible. Sometimes I focus too much on the negative and uglify things more than I should, so I have to try to balance that out with positive. But at the same time, I don't want to merely show in a 'sona what I want to be, but who I am. I'd honestly rather she have red eyes or some more interesting color rather than brown, and I was truly tempted to go through with it. My streak lately has been on stylizing and prettifying the bumps in my appearance. (Mostly my hair, which has gradually gotten less curly in my depiction and now depicts me with bangs I don't actually have in real life and would likely find a pain in the ass) Not just because I dislike them, but because it's sometimes necessary for my sanity in creating the art. Simplifying things like hairstyle to make it easier to draw is just as much of a concern. Not only that, but I don't want to prefer the appearance of any other character and come to prefer the too much to represent me. I tend to be extremely fickle in that regard. Something has to be pretty enough to represent me as well, and I won't accept things bellow a certain very unpredictable level of aesthetics.

So a balance must be achieved. Between depicting myself as I am physically, and depicting beauty that is easier for me to draw and something I want to attach myself to. One thing I'll probably never try to go as far as is to remove the color of my hair and eyes. These traits are recognizable, and whilst I think they're so plain and ordinary, they stand out in a sea of people trying to be special with crazy colors. Also, it matches the color scheme a lot better.

Why a Diamond Dog anyway though?

At first, I tried redrawing yet another redesign of my ponysona. I liked it at first, but then... something felt wrong. I've drawn so many ponies over the years and it just seemed... like even though I think ponies are really pretty, my appearance could not be applied to one properly to both appeal to my beauty and be semi-accurate. I struggled with a lot of thoughts of color schemes, accessories, and most of all, hair-style. Whilst I like ponies in accessories, they honestly look better with very few. However, distinguishing me requires several accessories that are red, as I was not willing to make the main body red so as not to kill my eyes.

o I went somewhere completely different. I thought about other species in Equestria that might fit me, and this was the best I could get to. A bit flimsy due to the fact that they've only been depicted in one episode as a bunch of Diamond-stealing rogues and ruffians, but the concept was sound enough. A canine-like creature with gigantic pawlike hands and a penchant for the crystalline and jewels. I have identified with canines a lot over the years and haven't quite shaken that yet, and also think they're more fitting than an equine (even an extremely stylized cartoon equine) after doing some re-thinking. And I have a penchant and flare for crystals and gems. Also, the large hands fit me as I am very VERY hand-oriented, and I could not imagine life with the hooves of a pony, to be honest. I love being a biped with hands. It seems like unicorn magic just wouldn't be the same as the sensation and fine control of a pen in my hand to do my art.

Also, Diamond Dogs wear clothes and accessories by default. Also very fitting.

Of course, I had to do some... guesswork and modification to make a Diamond Dog fit my specifications of beauty whilst keeping the design looking like it would reasonably be fitting of a female. In case you're unsatisfied with that though, she comes from a different clan of dogs than the Diamond Dogs, so some differences in their appearances make sense. (More on that later, as I said.)

And the design is symbolic of how I feel in the brony community. Just kind of like I'm a part of it, but I'm still pretty damn different from a lot of others I see. I'm not a pony at heart, and I don't feel like I'm a huge fan of the show, but I'm still here, making this art, and caring about what's going on in the community and show. The ponies keep drawing me back in, even though I'm essentially a different species, and I guess that's because there's just something about them I can't resist. It's perfect.

Overall, I have unintentionally hit a cord with this design. A very strongly resonating cord. Unlike any ponsona I've ever had or even the Valstaens I've tried to design, something about this feels... correct. It feels right.

I hit all the right marks and created something that will be easy to redraw whilst still appealing to me immensely. I think part of the reason is because this style and this particular design reminds me of one of my most played and cherished games, Final Fantasy IX. It fits its aesthetic very well.

Honestly, I'm contemplating switching my default style to a more chibi-ish style or something similar to my MLP style except with shading. I think part of the reason it resonates with me so much is because this wasn't even that hard to draw, and other than many distractions along the way, it didn't take long to complete on its own. It flowed naturally, something that hasn't happened with my attempts at my "real" art style in a while. I guess I should just consider MLP my default style. Just kind of give it up, and let it happen. I enjoy drawing in MLP-style. It's immensely appealing, and whilst it sometimes takes me a long time to imitate vector quality lines (if I get too obsessed, like I do sometimes), the way it looks is just not only really good, but it's... something I can manage without wanting to tear my head off. I think I'll stick with this. And I'll probably base my Valstaen heavily on this design. I already had a design for her before, but it's probably going to be changed now that I've let this happen.

This piece is just so beautiful to me. Not because it has the biggest amount of effort, or my best anatomy, or even my most dynamic pose. But because of how it resonates with me. I look at it, and that feels just like me. And that is not something I've managed to achieve in a long time, and not ever to quite this intensity. I can't explain it. It it just my best work because out of all my works, this one comes from my heart, and this one says what's in my heart because it wasn't a slog or a huge effort. This flowed from my fingertips so effortlessly and wasn't something I constantly revised, but something that I drew on the first try, fixed up a bit, and then went straight to coloring. That is very rare for my depictions of myself. All that sounds stupid, I realize. It doesn't have to make sense to you. All that matters is that it is, and I'm happy about that.

[tinyfantasminha]

This comes from a place of genuine interest, but I'm afraid it'll come off negatively, so feel free to ignore

How did you make a sona/character without slipping into cringe territory? Like seriously, vic is charming and pretty but doesn't feel like your typical self insert mary-sue, and id love to indulge in my own but worry about unintentionally falling into the cringe pit

How do you avoid it so well?

Hii! Don't worry, I can see what you mean but the way you phrased it came off as very judgmental so here comes a bit of rambling;

First, why does cringe bother you? Why does it stop you from doing what you want? Are you worried that you might dislike your own creation or are you worried that people are going to poke fun of it?

For a long time I've also felt ashamed of sharing my OCs with other people, or just some silly things I do because I was so afraid they would be called cringe, and it sucks when people (esp if they're your friends) won't support your likes or your creations and call it ''cringe'', it makes you self conscious and it makes you want to give up on that thing. That silly thing that brings you happiness. Shortly after I got in the twst fandom I remember how amazed I was that so many people would draw Yuu in their own way, be it different genders, appearences completely out of the ordinary, OCs for each dorms, and I was like ''wait, we can do that?!'' because it's been so long since I've been in a fandom enviroment where OCs and self inserts are widely accepted. I wouldn't have made an OC if I hadn't seen other people doing it too. It made me realize it was ok, that I wouldn't be judged, that I wasn't alone. And I also realized that your OC doesn't need to have a super complex writing for them to be likeable or accepted; not gonna lie, I often don't find many OCs interesting. I also dislike mary sues, and sometimes I've come across some and thought ''this character is too bland'' or ''this could use some work'' but then I realized one very important thing; Not everyone makes their content for clout - some people just want to self-indulge and make content for themselves, and that's ok!

Other content creators literally owe me nothing, and if they want their self insert to be a uwu bean baby and also the strongest magician ever and also loved by all the characters in the school, then they're on their right! I'm also on my right to not find this type of character interesting, so I just keep scrolling. I think everyone has seen at least once a OC who just don't click with their tastes, and there's nothing to do about it. Some things just aren't for everyone.

What's not okay however is being rudely vocal about how you dislike someone's creation; it doesn't matter if the OC looks like it was drawn by a 11-yo in MS paint on early 2000s deviantart, or if the writing it just bland or terrible; it still gives you no right to shit on other people's creations that they're proud of. They're not harming anyone, they just want to have fun, just like everyone else. Not everyone starts off as a great artist or writer, and if they want to get better they need to start off somewhere! You will never grow if you don't dive it in and try, even if it looks terrible at first.

Cringe culture makes so many people self conscious about self-indulging and just doing what makes them happy and honestly its so saddening………. So the solution is, fuck cringe culture. Fuck it, make your self insert, make your favorite characters fall in love with you, make catboys OCs and show them to the world! I swear, once you stop thinking ''what if it's cringe'' and just do whatever you want to do you will feel great. 80% of my content is purely self-indulgent, sometimes I feel insecure as well but most times I think ''nah this is my blog, if somebody is gonna dislike it then that's their problem'' and after starting to think more like this I realized this is the happiest and more comfortable I've been in making content for a fandom in AGES. It's so fulfilling and it brings me immense joy and comfort, even if the fandom unfortunately had become very toxic.

…That was a lot of text sorry 😅 now finally talking about my OC, I'm glad you like her! It struck me how some people say how ''unique'' she is even if she has a generic design 😂 she's got that charm that draws people to her and honestly I wasn't expecting that would happen asdkjdskjjkfsjk Now I don't think it's right for me to say how to not make a OC ''cringe'' because that would make it seem I'm belittling every other OC that doesn't have the same qualities as my OC, and that's not it - every oc is unique in their own way because their creators poured their heart on them. I can however pinpoint the ways on how I build her character uniquely, and (maybe) the reasons why people got attracted to her character; ::A disclaimer first is that none of these traits are definitive qualities in making a good character, this is just my own personal point of view::

Well the first thing I can think of is that when I make characters especially if they're self inserts is that I don't take them too seriously. I don't try too hard into making it seem it's an ACTUAL character from that fictional universe - They don't need any obscure motivation, fantastical habilities or a anime-personality trope, I just want them to be them. Just like you said, I wanted to avoid running into the mary sue archetype, and for that my character NEEDS to have flaws. I allow them to have awkward and embarrassing moments. I allow them to be expressive. Lots of people when creating an OC or a sona uses fiction as reference; fictional characters to base them on, and they're right they should use references; however when using exclusively fictional reference such as anime and cartoon, I don't think you can convey a truly relatable character. It's VERY important to take inspiration from real life too; Use your real life experiences and apply them to your character. How do you feel about a certain thing? How do you act in this certain situation? Or if you don't want to use yourself as reference, maybe use somebody you know or that you've seen - Take inspiration from your experiences and the real world. The character will come off much more natural and human, and that will naturally attract people to them; because they're truly relatable.

The other thing is cartoonish exaggeration - now this applies for my case, but I believe making your character expressive in lots of funny ways is also a certain way to make the character charismatic! For example when I draw Vic I either make her ''normal'' or make her a small squished gremlin 😂 and I didn't expect the chibi Vic to get so popular but ppl love her I guess lol so it's important to have a balance between the ''human and relatable'' side and the ''silly cartoon'' side!

---------

so this is it omfg thats a huge fucking post but I hope this enlighted you more about how you shouldn't give in to cringe culture and how I make my oc not be a mary sue, hope this helps!

[pianostarinwonderland]

ok so hi, i'm just passing by here, thoroughly confused and scared.

"It’s fine to be uncomfortable about shipping Malleus or Leona with the younger students. I respect the opinion. "

isn't it common sense to be uncomfy with adult x minor ships? 😭 it's not just an opinion because in what world or country think that, for example, a 14 year old and 18 year is ok? they're in different stages in life, what do they have in common?

"However, there have been instances where people who have shipped those two with younger characters have been harassed. There have been people who have shamed those shippers. It doesn’t just go for shipping third years with first years."

while yes, i understand that harassing them is wrong, they need to be informed that their ships are questionable and wrong. and if they dont like what they hear, welp, some people dont take it well 🚶‍♀️

"More often than not, people have shamed adults in their 20s for shipping themselves with the students."

now i am not going to sugar coat this, but what the actual fuck? 😁 what do they want from 16-17 year olds? i would be ok if its with lilia or malleus and the other 18 yr olds to an extent but WHAT? why do ppl in their 20s wanna be in the woohoo stage with kids? 😭 i'm 17 and i cant even look at a 15 year old in a romantic light. it's creepy, dont even say its ok.

so yes, here's my point of view in the issue, i am not intending to sound arrogant but this needs to be said 😭

[Reply to here!]

Hi anon! I thank you for the honesty in the ask. It’s well appreciated!!

First of all, the whole point of what I said was to point out the hypocrisy of those people who say “first years x third years shouldn’t be shipped together” but then pair their 16-year old first year OC/sona to a third year.

Secondly, I understand being uncomfortable with shipping adults and minors. In real life, shipping real people in general is a big no-no, as it really hurts the people involved in the ship. But I want to take this time to respond to your concerns and share my views on the topic, not because I want to argue with you, but because I think this is an important discussion that needs to be brought up. You’re free to disagree with me even after you read through this.

I’ll begin by clarifying: For the whole people over 20 ship themselves with the characters, I think I should rephrase that because that was not worded well and I’m sorry about that. 😅💀 When I said that, I meant that people would create self-inserts of themselves or OCs as students in NRC to be with the other students. It’s not older people preying on minors irl >_>

That would be them exploring the world of Twisted Wonderland. What sort of interactions can they have with the characters? How would this character react to their sona or OC, etc? And this is okay.

In fiction, there’s no real harm done to anyone because the people in the ship are just pixels. Sure, you can come at me and say, “But that’s going to make you think that it’s okay to be lewd to minors, and it’s going to validate p*dos! Fiction does affect reality!” But in truth, it is on the responsibility of the individual to distinguish what is fiction and what is reality. It’s the individual who decides to have the kinds of mindsets that they have. Take the classic violence in movies example: people can watch and enjoy movies that have violence and gore in them and still speak up against actual violence done to real people in real life.

Think about all the novels that are on the shelf, the movies being sold, the shows on Netflix. Most of the stories are written by adults. They could be stories depicting violence, stories depicting high school life, so on and so forth. There are going to be stories that would depict “bad things” to you. Does that mean that those writers advocate for violence or being naughty towards kids? No. Fiction is always used to express and share something. Share a story, share a lesson, share something that is part of human life, share the fantasies in people’s heads. Of course, it’s important to note that we should not glorify things that are immoral. Like, we’re not going to say yes to murder because that’s a no-no. But glorifying is different from sharing or expressing.

Fiction isn’t going to just make people p*dos or murderers. If they have that mindset of “oh it’s okay to kill people” or “oh it’s ok to sexualize minors”, that’s already a mindset that they possess, not something that fiction caused. If people are going to copy the fictional thing into their actual lives, then either they are that impressionable or there is something wrong with the way they think. If able to, it’s recommended that they seek professional help.

I think it’s important to say here that just because 18 is the legal age, that does not mean you now have to be an adult, be a caretaker of a bunch of 17 year olds and younger, pay your bills, do important adult things like finding the best laundry machine. No, if anything, having the mindset that “oh an 18 year old shouldn’t get together with a 16 year old even in fiction” can feed into the bigger mindset that you now have to be an adult who can’t have fun because you’re putting this barrier between being a child and being an adult.

Also, I don’t know if 14 year olds are middle school age or high school in some countries, but here in the Philippines, 14 and 18 year olds are in high school (Grade 8 and Grade 12 respectively). And people in high school get into lots of things. 😂 Like one time, there was an incident in my high school where two highschoolers of those ages were making out in school. Not to say that I condone making out in school, I’m just sharing this because stuff like this happens in real life, and we have to accept that things that we don’t agree with do actually happen. And while in real life, there would be consequences, at least in fiction, people can safely explore these types of topics without any repercussions.

About telling people that their ships are “questionable and wrong”, pretty much most of what I said in the above is already a reply to that. But I’ll be frank with you. That in itself is already a form of harassment. Think: you’re going up to a stranger just to tell them that them shipping these two characters is wrong. It’s rude, and people need to be aware of that.

Reminding people to not ship actual people is okay because countless people who have been shipped have voiced out that they have been harmed by it, and we need to respect that. And I say remind because you shouldn’t just go “oi you’re being gross by shipping these two people, gtfo” because that’s rude. But to tell people not to ship two characters just because it’s “wrong or questionable” in your eyes can be harassment, especially if you call them disgusting or spread word that they are disgusting people for supporting the ships you disapprove of. To add, people may have their reasons for diving into such ships. Maybe they use those ships as a way to cope with or express something that they went through in their life, or they use those ships as a way to explore the thought processes of these characters in such a situation. We can’t judge why people ship those ships, and as long as no one is hurt over what they do, just ignore those people if you don’t like what they do.

I hope this clears up confusion. 😅 I don’t know if I ever quelled any fears, but this is my point of view on things, and I hope you understand. I respect your opinion on the matter, and I’m glad you didn’t attack me for what I wrote. You’re free to disagree with me, even send me an ask in reply, but I won’t change my stance on this topic.

[alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer]

all gone, all gone, all gone

part 2: the two of them are always walking me into the stormy weather

CW: discussion of a suicide attempt, implied emotional abuse, grief

This wasn't in my original outline and doesn't really further the plot but it's here for the angst. there's a tiny relevant plot detail if you squint. but if you skipped this one, you really wouldn't be lost.

Part 1 | AO3 | Masterlist

Cordelia’s heart raced as she entered Alastair’s bedroom. It felt like a terrible invasion of privacy, but the others were right: if there was any evidence of what he was doing with Belial in this room, she needed to find it. She made the trip over and told her mother and Risa a quick lie about him being pulled out of the city for Shadowhunter business. If the time came that she needed to tell them the truth, she would deal with it then. Slipping into his bedroom afterwards was easy enough.

Her anxiety was eased by the fact that it didn’t feel like her brother’s room. She could recognize all of his things: his small collection of political theories, his brilliant dagger collection, a single tapestry on the wall. However, it was quite rare to see a thing out of place in his room. He’d always kept things very tidy, almost unnaturally so. So perfect that it did not seem real. Now, his desk was a mess, there was some clothing strewn on his armchair, a book left on his nightstand.

It was wrong. It was all wrong. This wasn’t his room. It didn’t feel right, and if her mother or Risa came in, they would know it, too. She got started, first picking up the clothes around the room, then straightening the belongings he kept on his dresser. When she moved onto his desk, she remembered what she’d come to the house for in the first place. The reason James was outside, waiting for her in the carriage. She heaved a sigh and began to sort through and organize the papers on his desk. There were financial documents, a few letters of condolence, even an unopened letter from Charles Fairchild, who clearly still had not given up. Nothing that gave any hint of what Belial might be planning.

As she tucked the papers away into the drawer, she felt a note stuck to the underside of his desk. She pulled it away, finding an envelope with nothing written on it but her name. Her hands shook as she tore it open, her heart beginning to race again.

Dear Cordelia,

If you are reading this letter, I assume it means that I am gone. Unless, of course, you were snooping again, in which case I am bound to be quite upset with you. In the case of the former, however, I must apologize for leaving you so soon. I hope there will never need be a day that you read this letter, but this serial killer business is dangerous at best, and I cannot in good conscience risk my life without some hope that in the event of my death you will read this and heed my words.

She skimmed through the rest of the letter. In it, he detailed all of the things he’d never told her: the full truth about their father. He told her the things he did to him, the things he did to her. He explained Elias’ actions that he was not able to protect her from, though she’d never realized they’d happened at all. From Alastair’s perspective, he could see what she could not: how her father seemed to fall ill most often when she was happy, when she’d begun a new project, when she’d started to make a new friend. He never truly needed her help at all.

He explained it to her and told her that it would be her responsibility now to protect their sibling in ways that he would not be able. He told her what to do, what to look for, how she might be able to help. He apologized for this now being her burden to bear.

Why was it ever yours? she thought, tears springing to her eyes. It didn’t make any sense. This letter was clearly written before their father had died, and she was sure that Alastair’s deal was after. Not that Belial’s Alastair would ever leave a note, anyways. It was not written as someone who welcomed death but as someone who feared it. How was he even connected to the serial killer? How was he risking his life? Why?

She heard a noise from behind her and quickly tucked the letter away.

“What are you doing in here?” she heard in Persian.

She spun around. “Nothing, Risa,” she quickly replied, blinking away her tears. “He simply asked me to retrieve something for him before he left.”

Risa raised an eyebrow at her and shut the bedroom door. “Cordelia joon, what’s really happening? We used that ‘Shadowhunter business’ lie enough times on you when your father disappeared for days at a time; I know how to recognize it.”

Cordelia thought of the letter tucked in her pocket. She exhaled and sat down on the edge of Alastair’s bed. “He-” Raziel, could she actually say these words out loud? “He tried to kill himself. However, a Prince of Hell intervened, offered him a deal. He took it. He’s being controlled by him now, in some way, I think.”

“I see,” Risa responded. She’d been staying with Sona at Cornwall Gardens ever since Elias’ death, and being able to speak in her mother tongue again was a small comfort to Cordelia. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it.

“Are you… surprised?”

“I certainly did not expect it, but I am not surprised, either. What are you trying to ask, truly?”

“I just want to understand why he would do something like that, why he would- Right after our father’s death? Hadn’t we experienced enough tragedy? Shouldn’t that have been a good thing, for him? With Baba dead he could finally move on, be happy? Why would he-”

“Cordelia joon,” Risa said slowly, sitting beside her and placing a comforting hand on her back. “Your brother is a troubled person, he has been for many years. Not in the ways your parents spoke of it. He did not carry the stress of a boy becoming a man. It was different, it was the weight of many decades that could crush the strongest of shoulders, and his were very small at the time it was placed on his. Do not attempt to enter his mind too much; it will do you no good. Just know there was nothing in this world more important to him than you. Whatever led him to such a decision, he would not have made it without believing in some twisted way that you would not be affected by it.”

Cordelia began to protest, but her words were caught in her throat.

“I know. But we do not always think rationally.”

“He does.”

“None of us do, azizam. Not always.”

Cordelia thought of the letter in her pocket. “He didn’t need to protect us anymore,” she realized. “Not me, not the baby. Not with Baba gone.”

“Maybe,” Risa responded, “but you will drive yourself mad attempting to understand this. Perhaps you will be able find a way to break this deal he made with this Devil, and only then will we attempt to understand what happened, if only to keep it from happening again. And if instead we need to tell your mother the truth, I will be by your side.”

She only nodded in response. “I should- James is waiting for me. I need to finish cleaning, if Mâmân comes in, she’ll know something is wrong-”

“I’ll help.”

Both her and Risa took the next several minutes and tidied up Alastair’s room. Cordelia attempted to discreetly peek into the pages of his books and looked into his drawers, but she still found no sign of anything Belial-related.

As she readied herself to leave, Risa offered her one last thought. “Good luck, joonam. You are so strong, and as is your brother. Remember that.”

Cordelia gave her a sad smile. “Thank you for your help.”

She bid her goodbyes and hurried back to the carriage.

“That took a while,” James commented. “Did you find something?”

Cordelia thought of the letter. “No, not really. I- I had to clean his room.” Her voice broke with the admission. “That sounds so stupid. He just- He never leaves his room like that, or he didn’t, before-”

“It’s okay.” James signaled for the driver to take them back to Curzon Street. “Are you alright?”

Cordelia shrugged. They spent the ride in silence. When they arrived at the townhouse, the rest of the Merry Thieves were already waiting for them.

“Did you find anything?” Matthew asked.

She thought of the letter in her dress. The whole of it was solidly unrelated to the matter at hand, but the serial killer- “There was one thing. A letter. It’s not- He wrote it before our father died, but it mentions something about the serial killer.”

“Can we see it?” Matthew asked.

“No,” she said a little too quickly. “It’s not… There’s just the one line about it.” She sighed and pulled out the letter. “It says ‘this serial killer business is dangerous at best, and I cannot in good conscience risk my life without some hope that in the event of my death,’ etcetera, etcetera. That’s the only line about it. It was clearly written before our father died, but… I don’t understand. He wasn’t involved in the serial killer investigation at all.”

“Perhaps he was already working with Belial by then?”

“He wasn’t. He wouldn’t- He wouldn’t have worked with him before the deal, and this was certainly before it.”

Thomas seemed like he was about to speak, but Matthew spoke first. “There’s still a possibility,” he said gently. “If we could read it, perhaps-”

“No! I already said that you couldn’t! And it doesn’t make any sense for him to have been working with Belial before my father’s death!”

“We’re only trying to help, and it’s not helpful for you to be hiding-”

“I’m not hiding anything! It’s a letter he wrote to me about our father and what I would need to do to protect our sibling from him in a world where he was still alive and Alastair wasn’t, alright?” She didn’t know when the tears began to fall. “So, no, you can’t read it, and, no, I don’t think he would have risked his life, and our sibling’s safety, without sufficient motivation. There must be another explanation.” She folded the letter again and put her head in her hands.

“Perhaps you should go,” James suggested to the others. “We’ll meet tonight at the Devil and decide where to go from here.”

She listened to them leave, but she didn’t look up.

I'm finishing my finals this week & next so hopefully I will updating my fics more frequently once that's over! i've also made a playlist for this fic! it's here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4KaoQmHAoEFMkZH5Fd23gM?si=1357d801920f41c5

taglist (lmk to be added/removed): @jem-nasium @fortheloveofthecarstairs @littlx-songbxrd

Part 3

[charliemidnightisded]

Deviantartober – The "Hey, you’ve been too long on DeviantArt" shitpost challenge

#deviantartober

DISCLAIMER:

These prompts are supposed to be shitposts, so drawing them should not take longer than 15 minutes each day. Picture them as a fast warm up doodles you can do every day.

Bonus points for extra crappy art or for using software like MS Paint or very poor grade traditional materials.

THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK GOOD. We just want to have fun and loosen up about art, like our 14-year-old selves on DA used to. Don’t be a perfectionist – have fun creating something really bad and unwind!

About the badly tracing prompts: Don't get me wrong: These are shitposts, so please don't actually steal some artist's work and claim it as your own. Credit the company you took it from!

Feel free to share your results via #deviantartober

Most important of all: have fun!

Draw either yourself, your sona or your OC in MS Paint style (if you are a traditional artist, use low quality crayons or something like that).

Draw a traditional piece of either yourself, your sona or your OC and share it by taking a low quality, out of focus picture of your drawing.

Create a Sonic OC. Explain their powers.

Now use the Sonic Dollmaker to make a better Sonic OC, cuz drawing is hard: Male character dollmaker Female character dollmaker

Draw either yourself, your sona or your OC as either a wolf, lion, dragon, cat or horse. You may badly trace over Disney art.

Make that wolf/lion/dragon/cat/horse look even sparklier.

Write an excuse about why you couldn’t post today.

Take some official and well-known cover art, trace over it badly, color it with the bucket tool and claim it as your OCs. (for traditional artists: just lazily trace over it and take a pic)

Draw a character from a cartoon and add some obvious erotic undertone.

Draw an animal, paste it a few times and color them differently. Congratulations, you are an adopt artist now.

Combine an animal with a piece of food and create your own original adopt species.

Take an out of focus picture of your pet or some random merch. It is art now.

Draw something with wonky anatomy and claim it as a STYLE.

Draw either yourself, your sona or your OC overly cute and put 90% of the work into making the eyes look sparkly.

Draw an OC with uncomfortable sexy undertones. Wonky anatomy, like gazillion abs or balloon boobies are welcomed.

Ship yourself, your sona or your OC with a canon character and make them seem madly in love. You may draw your character into a screenshot, cuz again – drawing is hard.

Come up with some overly random ship (Like Mordetwi, etc.) and create a shipping name for it.

Create a DA stamp for one of these ships. (These are stamp shaped gifs, that show support of your amazing ship.)

Draw a weird DA fetish of your choice. The weirder, the better. (Honestly just browse “Newest Deviations” for a few minutes if you need inspiration)

Go on hiatus and leave a hiatus post.

Post a screenshot of a random game you are playing and pretend it’s 3d art.

Draw some edgy cats fighting – don’t use any reference!

Post some overly dramatic vent art. You may be vague about the issue and make it sound worse than it actually is. Sympathy fishing is welcomed.

Add some Linkin Park or Evanescence lyrics to a piece of art.

Create a fursona, but it’s actually just a Pokémon with different colored eyes.

Make either a My Little Pony, Homestuck, Creepypasta, Undertale, Lion King, Warriors or Balto OC. You may use free bases or lazily altered screenshots, cuz drawing is hard.

Make a new OC by copy pasting an existing OC and changing their colors into a gothic look.

Take a stock photo of a person/animal resembling that OC and badly paint over it, to make it look like your OC. Lazily altered Twilight screenshots are not forbidden.

Create some art using any sort of FREE base art.

Take some of your artwork, you did during this challenge and turn it into a blingee -> https://de.blingee.com/

It’s the final day and it’s Halloween and you don’t feel like drawing and you are artblocked, so fuck this. (You may also draw your OC being sad about being art blocked – or you may return to your normal life, because I definitely will do so)

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Chain of Iron theories: the adopted baby

Here is another hot discussion topic in the fandom. CC has hinted that their will be a special baby, and that they will need to be adopted. So Questions, who is giving a baby up and why? I am assuming that this is a Shadowhunter baby. I cannot see either Hypatia Vex or Kellington who party, operate a secret saloon, and take pleasure in seducing interesting artistic individuals deciding to devote themselves to parenthood. Woosley Scott is set to show up, but their is no way he wants to adopt. Every other downworlder has appeared in the future and never made reference to having raised a baby. So which shadowhunters in this series of so many parents, children, and would be couples are looking to adopt? We know that shadowhunters adoption program isn’t perfect; Ariadne being adopted by an elderly white couple who know nothing about Indian culture and Tatiana somehow being allowed to adopt Grace despite the fact that she is aggressive, clearly insane, and famously unable to care for the one child she gave birth to. But I want to hold on to hope that whoever this little baby is their story will end happily with being given a nice home and family. My Theories

Anna and Ariadne  adopt Eugenia’s baby. (retracted)

  This was my original theory. In COG2 we learnt that Eugenia temporarily left home because of some scandal no one really wants to talk about. It apparently involved her and some guy being caught in a “compromising position” after which said guy could have saved things by asking to marry her but did not? ??? This led many people to believe she and this guy had been immanent and that she might now be pregnant., but unable to raise the baby on her own. So she would give it up for adoption. Eugenia’s older sister Barbara had an understanding with a very nice gentleman named Oliver and kept trying to get Oliver to purpose. I wondered if maybe a reason Barbara was in such a rush to marry is she was hoping for her and Oliver to adopt Eugenia’s baby and pass them off as theirs. Now that both Barbara and Oliver are sadly deceased Eugenia would need to look into finding new  parents to take he unborn child. Well spoilers relating to Eugenia state that despite having different interests and hobbies, she and Anna get along well. She also is set to become friends with Ariadne. Ariadne who really wanted to be a mom. So I thought that if Eugenia was pregnant and looking to give her child up for adoption then maybe she would ask Anna and Ariadne to adopt her baby. That had the potential to be sweet.

  But we have gotten more information now, and surprise surprise, people jumped the gun to quick on what happened with Eugenia. While we still do not know what the scandal was, it is hinted to have been way less extreme/serious than premarital intimacy, and she is very unlikely to be pregnant. I am now hoping that her ex got into a fight with some other guy, she stepped in to hit the other guy with a parasol, and her ex got embarrassed about having to be saved by her and broke up with her. Something that shows the guy was a real loser.

Elias puts Baby Carstairs up for adoption

  In COG2 we got a huge surprise that Sona was pregnant with her third child, unexpected as the family tree only lists her and Elias as having two children. Well actually actually the Carstairs family line is tree has parts of it that “Were lost to time”. So something clearly happened. Jem was clearly hiding something.

   This pregnancy was clearly unplanned and does present some worry’s. For starters Sona is well past the age where it easier/safest for women to give have children. She was already starting to have a difficult time with it during COG2 when she finally confessed to Cordelia that she was about 3 months along. This means that she will be about 7 months along (almost ready to give birth) when we pick up again in COI. Well in the early chapter read Alastair said that his mother has been put on Bed rest with her husband staying by her side and silent brothers monitoring her. This does not sound good. Several people have theorized that even with the brothers help, she will not make it through childbirth. Now lets talk about the babies father Elias Carstairs. Elias Carstairs is even older than his wife. He spent his youth traveling the world (I read a tweet that said he has even gone between dimensions before) leading special expeditions and hunting rare and powerful demons. This sounds grand, but it was a grueling life that left him physically and emotionally scared. Tragically the Clave does not recognize mental health as a need, so they do not provide any kind of therapy or treatment for those who become traumatized. Like many poor soldiers throughout American history Elias was there for the Clave when they needed his help but it that help was not reciprocated at the end. The only comfort he found was at the bottom of the bottle. It took Elias until he was already in his 40′s to start a family, and he has struggled with being able to take care of himself enough to act as a father to the two children he and Sona have already raised. Elias is 63. He is sad and tired, and struggling to keep a handle on his sobriety. This child was unplanned. I have read tweets that show he is at least trying to support Sona, but CC reveals he is questioning if or if not he can really do this a third time. If Sona dies there is no way Elias can raise this child himself. I won’t fault him if he makes that choice, it might be the most loving thing he can do.

   Who would adopt the little guy. Well the most common theory is that Alastair and Thomas would become his new dads. Now the family tree does suggest that both Alastair and Thomas are dads in the future. It also doesn’t list the names of either of their spouses (I am guessing neither had wives) so their is nothing to suggest that they do not live together raising a group of adopted children. Given the way the Cave feels about homosexual parents that could also be why Jem “lost” the records. I will not deny Thomstair becoming adopted parents is plausible, but I am not completely sure that baby Carstaris is who they will adopt. Babies are hard, they are a lot of work, and I am not convinced either Alastair or Thomas will be up to it. Look at Alastair. He is not exactly in a good place at the start of COI, and whenever fans ask CC if Alastair will make any friends she always reply that he won’t until he learns how to speak nicely to people and to be there for them when they need him. Honestly that is a thing he struggles with. He obviously loves Cordelia, but he totally pulled an  Queen Elsa on her where he shut the door and shut her out for roughly 7 years of their lives, leaving her as alone as Anna was. He claims to have loved Charles but the pair spend most of COG arguing because Alastair wants Charles to spend all his time with him and Charles is struggling to balance his promotion, his public reputation, and Alastair (Important I am not saying it was wrong for Alastair to be upset about Charles engagements or to break up with him. I am just saying it seems like Charles did try to see Alastair as much as he could, and Alastair trying to pin all his emotional needs on one person, who already had so much going on, was unfair). On Thomas side well lets just say he has a lot of mixed up and complicated feeling of his own he needs to work out before he will be able to be in a healthy relationship let alone raise a child.

  If Thomstair aren’t able to take care of Baby Carstairs I bet I know a long time married, long time Carstairs loving couple, who would be happy to take the little guy in and have enough resources, experience, and love to give him a great life. Hey in the future Tessa says she has kept watch over three families: the Herondales, the Carstairs, and the Blackthorns. The Herondales and the Blackthorns are her and Will’s grandchildren. If she were watching the Carstairs because they were once her friends wouldn’t she also watch out for the Fairchilds and Lightwoods?

Blackthorn Babies with Mundane and Shadowhunter mommies and daddies

  (Okay this is one will involve some hopping around and several references to the family tree, so stay with me people, stay with me.) We aleady know Jem made some changes to this line. Lucie is not 12, she is 16. Tatiana is probably not going to live another 15 years. Also the tree said that Jesse dies 59, yet he actually died at 17. But future wife Lucie wants to resurrect him... which is highly illegal and should she be successful she will probably face terrible repercussions. Jesse also might not be able to live as a shadowhunter after being brought back. So even if we don’t want it, for the sake of this theory lets assume that upon Jesse’s resurrection both he and Lucie are banished and become a mundane pianist and writer. Let’s assume they also get married and have children. In order for the TDA Blackthorns to be shadowhunters at least one of Jucie’s kids would have to become a shadowhunter and move to the shadow world. I feel like Luce and Jesse would be willing to let their kids go in that case. That was all Jesse wanted growing up and Lucie is Will’s daughter. The children would just need someone they could stay with.

  Now lets hop to the Lightwood family line. According to the tree Christopher and Grace get married (Grace is also listed as a Cartwright so was her adoption overturned and she rejoined her bio family?) and continue the Lightwood line down to TMI. Grace and Christopher are set up to bond  (over science) and many fans are willing to believe that they are an endgame ship. But fans are also doubting that they are the ancestors of the TMI lightwoods.  For one thing Christopher is heavily coded to be asexual; and Grace herself seems to have a very.... twisted and warped view of physical acts. So now lets say Grace is somehow saved from punishment over Jesse’s resurrection or because of her past trauma is given a lighter sentence. Lets say Gracetopher really do get married. if they got married they probably will apt out of having children; at least biological children.

   Christopher has a younger brother , Alexander Lightwood, who seems like a much more likely candidate to continue his family line. Alex has been noted to have those dark blue eyes that while once a Herondale trait later become a Lightwood trait. He shares a first name one of TMI’s most prominent characters, and that is just about the only way baby Alex could have relevance to the story given that he is way to young to help out in the war. If Alexander Lightwood the first is one who carried on the Lightwood line why are his descendants listed under his brother and sister in laws names?

   Well way back before the CC launched TLH I remember her posting a tweet that said Grace could become an ancestor of either the Herondale or the Blackthorn line. This upset a lot of people who thought that it meant that Grace may have a baby with either James or Jesse. (No, just NO!!!) But what if instead of Grace having a baby with Jesse, She and Christopher adopt one of Jesse and Lucie’s babies so that that baby could be raised as a shadowhunter? I could see Grace and Christopher doing do: they each love one of the respective parents and are set get to know the other. The only good thing about Tatiana adopting Grace was she got Jesse as a brother. Should she ever recover from having Tatiana as an adoptive mother I could see her becoming very critical of other adoptions and refusing to allow Jesse’s children to potentially end up like she did. I am in love with a head cannon I have that Christopher will become a science professor at the academy. If Lucie and Jesse have to leave the shadow world, and they have to give up their children then I want to imagine that child living in Malec’s future academy suit with Shadowhunter mommy and daddy Gracetopher while they secretly get gifts and send letters to their mundane mommy and daddy Juice. (It is the least CC can do for the pain reading about that potential exile would cause me.)

[silverwhiteraven]

Wings of Broken White - Ch. 3

Tag List: @marichatmay

[ Posted on Ao3 ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 2 ] [ Chapter 4 ]

[ Summary: Literal and Metaphorical dirt. ]

Hawkmoth had learned the lesson Monarch did not. Do not mix the positive power of a Blessing with negative emotions. Instead, enhance those negative emotions with the power of something else. Let his Champions be fueled by the opposite of a Blessing, something that haunts and feasts on darkness.

Give them Demons; give them an Akuma.

But still. He knew that he had to pick carefully what emotions he harnessed and the people behind them. Hawkmoth couldn’t afford to lose control of another Champion. And Gabriel refused to risk his son.

So he bided his time, researching and studying whatever he could. And while he waited, he built his public empire, funding his underground renovations and the care needed to keep his wife healthy.

Still alive, Emilie was kept that way in a chemically induced coma to prevent further deterioration. To the public, she was missing. In private, she was under the care of doctors from the world’s best medical center, Mayo Clinic.

Adrien would have been aware of her whereabouts were it not for the mistake and loss of control over Monarch’s Blessing. Gabriel had delayed telling his son the truth, and now there was no way to tell what would happen if he knew; what powers White Rose had truly gained beyond what was originally planned.

The thing is, Hawkmoth would have never surfaced if Gabriel could have prevented it. He was ready to let his wife go. But he still needed to find a way to remove the Blessing from Adrien, so he continued to use the Butterfly Miraculous, continued learning about it and the others.

But Adrien just had to go missing one early morning, barely before the sun had risen. Gabriel couldn't find him, neither could Adrien’s ever-present bodyguard. So in an act of desperation, Hawkmoth was brought to be. He then Akumatized the worried and protective bodyguard, granting him an ability to track down their shared ward.

This only furthered things along and also put them to a grinding stop.

The wielders of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous arose to combat Hawkmoth’s Champion. Rather than admit why he was using the Butterfly in a dark way, he decided to reveal his last-ditch plan that he thought he would never bring himself to use, anyways.

He demanded their Miraculous. He was glad they refused, because he would not trust anyone so willing to give up such dangerous powers so easily instead of using them to protect.

So while plans to experiment with the use of Akumas were furthered, it was the mix of one Blessing and one Hero that halted everything.

Paris had very few albino citizens. It would be almost too easy to track down the potential civilian identities of Chat Blanc. But those white wings tipped in blue, so similar yet so contrasting to the black Starling wings of a younger Adrien? There was no way to deny such a similarity. And the Black Cat Miraculous itself would not change it’s own color scheme on a whim, either. Monarch himself had experimented with designs and color palettes, learning that only significant enchantments and magical interference could cause anything even a noticeable difference, not to mention such an extreme as turning Black to White.

The last nail in that theory's coffin was how Hawkmoth could feel the whispers of the Blessing influencing Chat Blanc. Certainly, it could have been a much older Blessing from a previous Butterfly Holder, but Gabriel highly doubted such coincidences could stack like this.

So, Gabriel accepted the facts. He felt heartbroken for his son that had to fight him, even if Chat Blanc didn’t know who he was fighting behind Hawkmoth’s mask. But he was so proud of him, too. Monarch’s Champion White Rose was doing what he was meant to; protect others from the harm of the Miraculous. And Gabriel’s son Adrien was free to be happy, as happy as he never was when inside the Agreste mansion, even when Emilie was still walking its halls. So Gabriel and Hawkmoth did nothing more than play his part as the fatherly villain.

He really didn’t mind how long it would take for it all to come to a close.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Despite her semi-disastrous first time as Ladybug, Marinette rather enjoyed the side-job.

Akuma’s were few and far between, and oftentimes could be talked down instead of fought head to head. Their abilities oftentimes got dangerous, yes, but Ladybug and Chat Blanc, not to mention the rest of Paris, were more than thankful that their Supervillain seemed to have at least some sort of moral code. He would prevent Akumatized villains from causing mass amounts of damage. Once, he had even taken back the powers and the Akuma that granted them, all because the Champion he had made was being unreasonably dangerous to innocent civilians.

Sometimes, she swore Hawkmoth would Akumatize students just so the whole district would have to let school out early due to the emergency. Maybe he had a soft spot for kids, maybe a child of his own? Either way, she appreciated the breaks.

Soon enough, a whole six months had passed since Hawkmoth first appeared.

The most recent attack had been earlier that evening. Marinette had to distract her Akumatized friend Nathaniel. He was akumatized because of Chloé. She had made fun of his art, at first. Then, to make things worse, she told him that he was right to have his and his boyfriend Marc’s hero-sonas to both be wingless, because the ones Nathaniel had were ‘wasted on his talentless existence’ and ‘if Marc wasn’t already wingless, then they would be utterly useless on him, too’. In general, it was a rather nasty scene.

Marinette had been quick to tell her to back off and leave Nathaniel and Marc alone. Adrien has sprung up right after her, telling Chloé not to talk to his friends like that, and even if she is his oldest friend he wasn't okay with her actions.

Marinette was proud of Adrien for standing up for others in the face of someone important to him. It was brave.

Unfortunately, their combined efforts didn’t prevent the Akumatization. Luckily, Evillustrator wasn’t a bad villain, he just really wanted to mess with Chloé with revenge-pranks.

Marinette got herself caught up in it by distracting him with other ideas. For example, using his power to create objects to set up a date with Marc. Chat Blanc had shown up part way into the setup of said date, and as a way to prevent Evillustrator from starting a fight, she had roped him into helping with the decoration ideas and music selection. He turned out to be a natural with romantic set-ups, and an even smoother talker, convincing Evillustrator to hand over his Akumatized item in exchange for them escorting Marc to the date’s location.

Marinette had managed to step away long enough while Blanc went to find Marc to transform into Ladybug, and called for her Lucky Charm just in case. It was nothing more than a red rose and she laughed happily to have a simple item with obvious intentions.

When Blanc returned, she showed herself and offered the rose to her partner, trying not to be flustered by her own romantic gesture. “Hold this for me, Kitty? I need to make sure their date goes well, and that means Nathaniel has to be here for it. Don’t want yours and Marinette's efforts to go to waste, now do we?”

Then, she took the Akumatized item from Blanc and broke it, purifying the butterfly within.

“What about the Lucky Charm?” Chat Blanc looked a tad confused. “As soon as you call for Miraculous Ladybug, everything Evillustrator made will disappear. Their date will go poof!”

Ladybug smiled knowingly. “Already thought that through. You hold on to that rose, okay? Or maybe let Nathaniel hold it? As long as I can find it again later, just make sure it’s safe. I’ll use Miraculous Ladybug long after their date is over, so nothing will get spoiled. Gotta go, Bug out!”

She returned to the scene as Marinette once more, finding a de-Akumatized Nathaniel on a successful date with Marc, and Chat Blanc still watching over them, happy for the couple. Satisfied, she made her way home, away from the setting sun.

Now, it was completely dark out and Marinette was drinking a thermos of hot chocolate on her balcony, wrapped in a warm blanket. The quiet night got interrupted by a shadow moving over the rooftops, followed by white boots lightly thumping onto her balcony. She sat up, surprised to see Chat Blanc still lurking about the city. He bowed theatrically with a gentle smile.

“Princess, what a lovely evening to see you! I presume I have found you safe and happy in your tower tonight?”

Marinette couldn't help but laugh. “You saw me maybe two hours ago, pretty-gryphlet, you know I’m perfectly fine.”

“True, but as your loyal, trustworthy, and handsome White Knight, I am obliged to check on you anyways.” He had bowed again and taken her hand, kissing the air above her knuckles ceremoniously. She had to fight back both her blush and her wing’s desire to flutter bashfully where they were hidden under the blanket.

“Silly gryphlet,” she smiled, before noticing his gloves were stained and had left some of it on her fingers. Then she noticed the dark spots on his boots and knees as well. She frowned in confusion, inspecting what was on her hand. “Why are you covered in dirt?”

“That dirty little secret,” he deflected the question easily with his pun and a cheeky smile, “I will explain soon. But first, I gotta ask, why do you call me ‘pretty Griflet’? I already know I look amazing, but is Griflet a reference to one of the knights of the Round Table? If so, I am honored to have such recognition.”

Marinette laughed and shook her head. “No, not a knight, a gryphon. You know, a mythological creature with the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle? You’re a cat, and you have wings, hence, gryphlet!” She explained proudly, before realizing how embarrassing it was to nickname one of the local Superheroes and retreated into her blanket.

Chat Blanc blinked owlishly at her explanation, but soon a smile bloomed on his face, and she could swear he was blushing under his mask.

“I like it,” he said softly, looking gentle and earnest.

“S-So anyways! Blanc Chat, I mean, Chat Blanc, I uh, You say were? Were saying? About the, uhm, dirt?” She turned away, grabbing her thermos to keep her hands busy.

“Oh! Right!” He brightened even more, his eyes starting to look like that of an excited kitten. “Come with me somewhere, Princess? I know it’s cold out so I won’t keep you long, but I wanted to show you something.”

She nodded, standing up and setting the thermos aside. Then she hesitated, once more remembering her wings. “I...Blanc, can you keep a secret for me?”

“Of course, what is it?” He looked curious and just so innocent. She couldn’t do it.

“Uh, never mind, next time, okay? I don’t think I’m ready. To say anything, I mean, not that I don’t want to see what you want to show me, but also I’m not ready to go yet for that either, wait, i meant-!” She closed her mouth with a snap, sucking in a breath and letting it out slowly. “What I mean is, let me just get something from my room real quick? I should really put on shoes and something warmer than pajamas. Then we can go!”

“Of course! I’ll be here when you’re done.” Oh Kwami, he was so patient with her, and understanding, too. Could he get any nicer, she wondered?

She fumbled her way back into her room, swiftly putting on a wing-binder, thick white leggings, and a warm long-sleeved baby blue dress. She remembered to grab some shoes, too. As she climbed back up to the balcony, she tried to ignore the fact that she had chosen to wear colors close to Chat Blanc’s. From the look on his face, he was probably trying not to think about it too much, either. “Ready, Marinette?”

“Ready. So uhm, how are we going to get there?” she shuffled on her feet, hands fidgeting.

He grabbed the thermos she had set down and put it into her hands, warming them, and subsequently her cheeks, too.

Politely he asked, “Permission to carry you?”

“Granted? Wait, carry? Like, on your back carry or- Woah!” He answered by sweeping her into a classic princess carry. “Uh, works, I guess, this does? I mean- Okay,” she finally squeaked out.

He chuckled and held her securely, but gentle. “Let’s not waste time. Hold on tight!”

She didn't scream dramatically when he jumped from her balcony, but she also won't admit she might have squeaked again from the unfamiliar feeling of jumping over rooftops while untransformed, let alone while being carried.

But the trip to their destination really was rather short, as only a couple minutes later he was setting her back down on her own two feet.

The rooftop was surrounded by decorative iron fencing. Candles, protected from the wind in glass jars, lined the top of the railing and between the bars. What really caught her eyes, however, where the Lily-of-the-Valley flowers spread around decoratively. She couldn't help but gape at them. The scene was gorgeous, and she wondered why Chat Blanc had brought her here. Did he do this? Was this why he was covered in dirt? She turned to him where he stood looking almost nervous for her reaction.

“Chat...It’s beautiful. Did you set this up? Did you get these flowers yourself?”

He perked up, glad to see she wasn’t reacting badly. “I did. I also learned I’m a really bad gardener,” he chuckled, and she smiled, amused. “And don’t worry, I didn’t steal any of this stuff, it was all mine already. Well, sort of. The candles were my Mother’s, and I use them sometimes. The flowers came from our yard- They would have died soon anyways, the brief warm spell this week made them bloom too early, so I thought I might as well put them to use. So, you like it, Marinette?”

She giggled and nodded, looking away shyly. “Why set all this up, anyways? Special night?”

He nodded, his own gaze shy as well. “Sort of? Ladybug trusted me with something. And earlier today, this amazing girl I know helped me take down an Akuma. So I wanted to prove I can be trusted with Ladybug’s thing, while also getting to show that amazing girl how much I appreciated her, even if it is only for a little bit. Here,” he stepped to the side, bringing Marinette’s curious gaze to a small table she hadn't noticed before.

It had a few more candles and flowers on it, but there was a delicate vase in the center. She quietly gasped as she noticed the red rose, Ladybug’s Lucky Charm, sitting in the vase. Chat Blanc plucked it from its place and held it out to her.

“For the most creative and wonderful Princess in all of Paris,” he smiled, bowing as he presented the rose. He chuckled sheepishly, then, “Well, you can’t keep it forever, because it is Ladybug’s, but I figured that if anyone was worthy of keeping it safe until she needed it, that person would be you.”

Dumbfounded and flustered into silence, Marinette accepted the rose with her free hand.

“Well, I guess I should take you back home now, huh?” He asked awkwardly.

“O-Oh, uh, sure,” she agreed, still distracted as she held the red rose close to her chest.

This time, she was prepared for him to lift her, and she stayed quiet on their way back to her balcony. This time, she noticed how warm he was and just how easy it was to trust him even as a civilian. She wouldn't admit to being sad when he set her down again, though.

“Until next time, Princess; I hope to see you again,” once more he took her hand and gave the air over her knuckles a kiss, but before he could let go, she clutched his fingers tight, pulling his attention up to her eyes.

“Uhm- It’s cold out, and I barely touched my hot chocolate anyways.” She turned his hand over and set her thermos into his palm. “Take it with you. You can return it, next time we meet.”

He beamed at her and nodded. “It’s a date,” he winked teasingly, and she giggled. “See you later, then. Have a goodnight, Princess.”

And just like that, he was gone, and Marinette was left a blushing mess on her balcony until Tikki finally came out and told her to go to bed.

In the morning, the red rose was still where she left it on her desk, proving the night before was no dream. Tikki then informed her that it had slushed a bit while she slept, so she should be careful when she goes outside.

Ladybug went off in the early morning to check on Evillustrator’s reactions, only to find that they had been washed away by the sleet. It seemed that just like all other forms of art, even the magical creations of an Akuma were susceptible to the natural elements when exposed long enough.

So that morning, Ladybug returned an intact Lucky Charm to Marinette’s room, and Marinette got to keep the gift of an everlasting red rose.

[purplebass]

Dark Light Ch. 4 // Blackdale

Couple/Characters: Blackdale, Lucie Herondale and Jesse Blackthorn Rating: T

✨  You can also find it on AO3 ✨

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3

4.

“I thought I locked this door.”

Jesse’s reflexes had been sharp, unlike hers. He had pulled her down to the floor just in time for the door to open, and Tatiana got in. She knew it was her. No one else lived there. Lucie wondered if she had heard their steps, but then she remembered that she had traced a stealth rune on Jesse. They had been silent. She was just doing her routine nightly rounds.

Tatiana’s steps were closer. They were heavy, but calculated. She was taking her sweet time. Lucie was curious to know how she spent her time, but this wasn’t the right moment to wonder about that. She could feel Jesse’s hand on her wrist. He hadn’t let her go, and she was grateful. She was impulsive at times, and she might have acted without thinking. 

The lights were still off, but Lucie could see a flickering orange color moving with the steps. Tatiana was holding a candle, she believed. Jesse tugged her closer in the small opening under the desk. She tried not to gasp when her shoulder bumped him. Her heart raced. She wasn’t sure whether the reason was this sudden touch or the fear that his mother might catch them there. Her brain was already trying to make up excuses, which meant her brain hadn’t gone in full emergency mode.

Tatiana went closer to the shelves where Lucie had just placed the Black Volume, but it was short lived. She walked out and closed the door behind her, leaving the room in the dark.

Lucie finally breathed, but Jesse shushed her. “Still not safe,” he murmured. “Let’s wait five minutes.”

She nodded, but she bumped her head on the back of the desk. “Ouch,” she lamented.

“Careful,” he warned her. He came out of the hiding place first, and offered her a hand. “Mind the desk.”

Lucie wanted to laugh hysterically at her clumsiness - she wasn’t usually clumsy - but held her tongue. At least, he couldn’t see her blushing cheeks in the unlit room. She accepted the hand with glee, and they were out of the door.

She followed him, since the panic of being discovered had messed up her reasoning a little. When they were out of the servant’s door they had used, she stopped to take a breath. 

“We need to leave at once,” Jesse said, stopping in his tracks when he saw that she hadn’t moved from the exit. “Are you good?” he asked.

Lucie dropped the hand she had put on her chest by her side. She hoped he hadn’t seen her. She managed a smile and walked briskly towards him. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“Let’s find the carriage.”

…

“Lucie. Lucie, wake up,” a voice said, and Lucie opened her eyes abruptly.

She was in the carriage, and it was still dark outside. That much, at least, she remembered. But she couldn’t remember falling asleep during the trip back to the Institute. 

She put a hand on her throbbing forehead. “What happened?”

“You fell asleep,” Jesse said, adjusting himself in his seat. “We’ve just arrived.”

Lucie cleared her voice and opened the door. “Let’s hope we don’t have to run to my room,” she joked, and got out of the carriage. 

Jesse went out shortly after her, and they walked in silence towards the Institute. 

...

Lucie was already up and running the morning after. She was calm, happy even, and she had several reasons to feel like that. They had safely returned the Black Volume of the Dead the night before, and there was no more proof that she could have used it. What made Lucie cheerful was the event that would happen in the evening: her parabatai ceremony with Cordelia. 

She had last seen her friend the day after she revived Jesse. Cordelia had come to the Institute other times, but it was to meet with James and discuss their sham marriage. Lucie was grateful that she had to take care of those matters when she visited, because she wouldn’t have had the time to be with her, as much as she wanted to. 

She was still keeping Jesse hidden from the world, and even though Cordelia was a trustworthy friend, she didn’t want to tell her about him. Revealing Jesse to Cordelia would raise questions she wasn’t sure she wanted to answer. She wasn’t sure which answers she would give herself, either. 

No one had been around when they got back the night before. The drawing room was in the dark, and Lucie suspected that James might have been asleep or at the Devil’s Tavern with the others. In any case, she internally thanked him for not being there. She had already been shaken by the close encounter with Tatiana, and she didn’t want another, although meeting James wouldn’t have been as bad, would it? He would have asked questions, Lucie thought. It was better to wait before introducing Jesse to more people. 

“So, you’re getting a parabatai today?” Jesse asked from her desk. He had taken residence in her room, and he had spent the last few hours reading. It wasn’t a leisure reading. Lucie had tasked him with finding information about his current state, and if they could do something about his lost memories. She believed he would oppose, but he accepted the job with a smile, claiming that he also wanted to find out more about his death and the killer. To do that, he must regain his memory first.

“You don’t ‘get’ a parabatai,” Lucie pursed her lips. She had been checking herself in the mirror in the last few minutes. “A parabatai is like a brother, or a sister. It’s a vow as important as marriage,” she underlined. 

He nodded and made a face. “As long as it makes you happy,” he commented, and she could see he was watching her. 

She could see his expression in the mirror, but he couldn’t see hers. She smirked. “It makes me immensely happy to become Cordelia’s parabatai,” she said. “It will make us tighter, although I think we already are tight.”

“Yet, you didn’t tell her about me,” Jesse remarked. 

Lucie huffed audibly. Damn. She schooled her expression before she replied. “I trust Cordelia with my life,” she said. “This is why I want us to become parabatai.”

“But?”

Lucie bit her lip. What was the reason? “I’m not ready,” she admitted. 

“Ready for what?” he wondered. “Wait. You don’t have to tell me. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“I’m just -” she began, unable to find the words. “I’m just not ready, that is all.”

“I understand,” he said, and the conversation died. 

It was then that Lucie realized what was stopping her from telling Cordelia about Jesse. If her friend would find out about Jesse, Lucie wouldn’t be able to stop herself from revealing her true feelings about him to her. She just knew it. She would rather hide him until he was safe than face her heart. Was it love, though? Or simple affection? She wished she knew the difference.

Lucie’s carriage left the Institute after the sun had set. Her family was with her, and the vehicle seemed smaller than usual. It wasn’t usually crowded. She was on edge, and she was content to travel to the Silent City with her brother and her parents. They offered her the diversion she needed.

“You must be excited,” Tessa told Lucie. Her mother had probably seen her twist her hands into her lap for the umpteenth time.

“Of course, she is,” Will interjected, grinning at his daughter. “She’s about to be bonded to her dear friend, who will also become our dear daughter-in-law.” Lucie stayed silent, while James cleared his voice.

“You seem more eager than her, though,” his wife commented. “We don’t know if he’ll be there, Will,” she said, and Lucie knew they were talking about uncle Jem.

Will snorted. “He wouldn’t lose it for the world,” he declared with confidence. 

“At least, this time you won’t have to make up an excuse to see him, papa,” James affirmed, and everyone laughed.  

Will and Tessa exchanged a knowing smile, and Lucie had to look away. 

She thought about Jesse, alone in her room. Alone in the Institute. Well, probably not completely alone, since Bridget would be there. She was sure Jessamine would also come to take a look at him. She hadn’t seen her for days. 

Lucie told him that she would be back by night. She didn’t have to warn him not to wander around the building. She presumed that everyone of her friends and parents would be at the Silent City, but she couldn’t be entirely sure if a visitor could turn up on the Institute’s steps.

Once they arrived and the carriage stopped, Lucie ran out to find Cordelia. She found her friend by the corridor of the hall where the ceremony would take place. A little crowd had formed and she greeted some of her uncles and aunts before hugging Cordelia.

“I can’t believe this day has finally come,” Cordelia said, taking Lucie’s hands in hers. She was brimming with excitement. “We’ve waited too long for this.”

“We did,” Lucie agreed. Her hands started trembling, and she let go of Cordelia. 

“Are you okay?” her friend asked, her voice filled with worry and apprehension. “You look very pale.”

Lucie tried to smile, but she sighed. “I’m nervous,” she admitted. “We’ll be under everyone’s scrutiny tonight, and what if something goes wrong?” she wondered out loud, shocking herself. She was rarely a pessimist, but it wasn’t a secret she had been preoccupied these days. She thought she was managing it well, but the feeling that something could ruin this moment wasn’t leaving her. She had been feeling nauseous after they took off the Institute.

“I’m nervous too, Lucie,” Cordelia reassured her. “I couldn’t sleep last night, thinking about this.”

“You couldn’t?”

“No,” she said. “Something was bothering me other than this.” Cordelia looked away for a moment, as if embarrassed.

“Oh,” Lucie replied, but she couldn’t ask what had bothered Cordelia, because they were asked to prepare. 

The crowd started entering the hall. The last people who stayed behind were Lucie’s and Cordelia’s families. Cordelia’s mother touched her daughter’s arm before disappearing inside with Tessa, who also smiled kindly at Lucie. Sona was pregnant, and Tessa had waited to get in so she could get to their spots together. They were to become in laws soon, even though Cordelia’s marriage to James was not a marriage based on love. Sadly, because they would make a nice couple, Lucie thought.

The last one to enter was her father, whom she had seen talking to uncle Jem. Of course, she rolled her eyes. But it was cute. She hoped that she and Cordelia would be like them, twenty and more years from then. She thought she had seen uncle Jem smile at her. Although he was a Silent Brother, she knew he probably did. 

The ceremony is about to begin, Jem told them. Please, arrange.

Cordelia squeezed Lucie’s hand, and they stepped in the room. James and Alastair followed them. To Lucie, this was another sign that they had to be parabatai. They had both chosen their brothers as witnesses. 

Everyone took their place. Lucie stood in the ring of fire and Cordelia smiled at her, probably trying to give her strength. The fire became taller, and they started to say their vows.

Entreat me not to leave thee,

Or return from following after thee—

The shriek of a door opening in the furthest side of the hall, made Lucie stop. It must have been someone who was late, she told herself, and prompted herself to continue with her vows. 

“Stop this charade!” someone said, and Lucie looked up to see Tatiana Blackthorn approach them from above. Everyone turned at once. She was descending the stairs like a madwoman, and perhaps she was truly mad. Or angry. “Stop, you.” Lucie’s heart skipped a beat when her eyes met Tatiana’s. 

You must leave at once, Tatiana Blackthorn, Jem ordered her. You are interrupting a significant ceremony. 

“I don’t care,” she replied harshly, placing herself not too far from Lucie and Cordelia. “You’ll call off this ceremony when you’ll hear about what these teeangers did,” she pointed her finger at her, and then at James.

Lucie’s blood turned cold. This was it. Everyone would know about what she did. She wanted to run, but she couldn’t. She was still in the ring of fire, and it would be suspicious if she did. She had to keep calm. 

Jem glanced at her for a moment, then he casted a severe glance at Tatiana. The fire around her and Cordelia vanished, leaving her exposed and unprotected.

“What are you trying to accomplish, Tatiana?” asked her father. “You have no business being here.”

“You,” she said, ignoring Will and setting her eyes on Lucie. “And you,” she glanced in James’ direction. Lucie could feel her brother’s presence by her side. It somewhat comforted her, but she didn’t know why Tatiana was calling him out. “You were on my property last night,” she said coldly.

Lucie paled, because she knew it was true.

“With all due respect,” James began, “I think you’re mistaken, Mrs. Blackthorn,” he said with confidence. “I haven’t left the Institute at all, and my family can attest to that.”

Tatiana raised an eyebrow. “I clearly saw you, though. The both of you,” she insisted.

“Then you saw wrong,” Will said from his spot. 

“I believe your children know how to talk,” she admonished him with venom. “I know what I saw. I clearly spotted a girl with brown hair and a boy with midnight hair running away from my house. My property.”

“And you believe it was me and my sister?” James wondered with a chuckle. “Tell her, Lucie. Tell her that it wasn’t us.”

Lucie couldn’t move. She had to talk, unless she wanted Tatiana to be more suspicious. “It wasn’t us,” she drawled the words out, her voice low and trembling. “I assure you, it wasn’t us,” she repeated.

“Then why are you wearing my family heirloom, little girl?” Tatiana smirked, and advanced towards her. “And also... The Black Volume of the Dead, something that has been in the Blackthorn family for centuries, suddenly reappeared last night. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Lucie gasped, and her hand tightened around her necklace. “Someone gave it to me,” she confessed. “I didn’t steal it.” It was an answer that could fit both questions, but Lucie only responded to the first one. She needed to save herself. She never thought...

“This was around my son’s neck,” Tatiana said, her face didn’t betray any emotion. “Around the neck of my son whose body is not where it used to be anymore,” she sneered, almost with annoyance. She looked like someone who had just burnt an egg, rather than a mother who grieved her son. 

“Tatiana, I think you should stop,” uncle Gabriel said from his spot. “This is not the place, nor the occasion -”

“It is the perfect occasion!” she cried out. “These two brats invaded my property and disposed of my son’s body on purpose!”

“Wait, wait,” Will interrupted again. “How dare you make such unfounded accusations against my children, Tatiana? You have no evidence to justify your claims.”

“He is right, you have no proof,” a new voice said from the back of the room. Everyone turned in the direction of the newcomer. Someone gasped.