#wowie me making art for time's travels??

[tsukinoshinjiu]

It would be a mercy

⚠ CW: Monochrome blood, Temporary MCD, Graphic violence

An old messy sketch for @sky-squido's Time's Travels fic series! This is from back in march. I had plans to making some pencil sketches for my bookbind project but due to time restraints and severe skill issue I ended up deciding against it. Looking back though, this one seemed cool enough to post! Poor Sky and Twi 💔I still love that fic, super recommend :)

[2-dsimp]

I was thinking after the yandere genshin school, maybe you can do another otome Yandere genshin, but Fantasy AU. Readers are addressed as your majesty/your highness; all the Yandere characters are their subjects, workers, or nobles/royalty from another kingdom. Ex. Albedo's a mage, Xiao's your royal guard, Zhongli's a king/potential fiancé, Heizou's a private investigator of the royals, the Kamisato are government officials of the Raiden Shogun kingdom, Traveler/Lumine is traveling adventurers, Venti's a bard/musician or secretly the runaway wind prince, Bully is the son of a tyrant, etc.

The goal (besides surviving and not getting the wrong end) is to escape from her royal family because the reader is either the first, second, or other in line for the throne, making readers vulnerable to many yandere and greedy nobles. However, the reader doesn't want to be a royal instead, to live peacefully as a commoner working their dream job, but they know if they told anyone that they'd use it against the reader. So the reader has to build up their runaway funds and create a plan, without anybody knowing because they know that their loyal(obsessed) followers would convince them otherwise. Reader has to also avoid getting engaged/betrothed to anybody because it would hinder their plan and if they're married they can't escape.

With the otome genshin game school au, there will be the same different types of yandere and build a reader, like kindness or seduction. Readers can also learn spells or defense if they can convince a yandere to teach them. Maybe some bad ends would be for Zhongli, a royal portrait of Zhongli, and Reader with their kids, however by reader's feet, you can see a chain including the reader's eyes look hypnotized because Zhongli gave Reader a potion so that they wouldn't escape. This wrong end would be called Picture Perfect Family (or something else I stink at this). Another would be called a perfect doll, where Raiden shoguns happily combing the reader's hair, but the reader has a blank look, also there's chains on both of their arms. Another would be loyal till the end, where Kazuha (a traveling knight) is in front of reader holding the heads of all of the 'evil' nobles that dared to hurt/mock reader. Kazuha states that he's showing his loyalty to his kingdom and hopes reader wills how the same.

You'd be able to do this with your unique skill in both writing and art! Sorry if this is long, kudos if you read the entire thing. Also, I'd be writing more because this is my first time writing to someone about this so I'll address myself as NightFlurry! Bye thanks!

Wowie o(^▽^)o

That’s a great suggestion!

Especially the bad endings 👀

However, I’d have to put up a poll to see what kind of genre/AU all the other players would wanna try out once the last life in this game has been lost.

But do feel free to hit me up if you have anything else you’d wanna share, I’m all ears!

[minimoll7]

Tagged by @commanderfishtits wow I was tagged by a n e r d

rules: answer 20 questions and tag 20 blogs that you would like to get to know better

nickname(s): Moll, MolMol, Molleth, Mowwy

gender: Female

star sign: No idea, don’t care lol

height: 5′2′‘ I am of average fahmail height

time: 12:12 pm

birthday: October 24th oh yeah baby

favorite bands: Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Hollywood Undead oh yeah

favorite solo artists: MandoPony

song stuck in my head: Astral Coal, that cool dream song from Night in the Woods (was just playing the game lol)

last movie watched: I honestly don’t really remember? Maybe one of the Tiny Toons movies? Idk lol

last tv show watched: Adventure Time I believe, I watch a lot of stuff in one go ha

when did i create my blog: Way back in February of 2013 wowie

what do i post: Video games, dank memey posts, aesthetics, cute animals (especially cats), asmr sometimes, more video games. Pokemon to. Mostly Nintendo games, I should’ve probably stated that

last thing i googled: Bogs lol looked it up for a certain friend of mine who’s Polish and doesn’t know some English shit ;) ;) ;)

do i have other blogs: Oh yeah baby I sure do. There’s my toons blog, @mollytoons I blog about cartoons and anime mhm. I used to actively reblog cartoons and stuff on my main here, but I decided I wanted to make a blog dedicated to my main interests and have it more organized. I do sometimes reblog toon stuff on here, but that’s mostly towards things I’m interested in but haven’t actually gotten into it. And there’s @mollydrawssomeart, my art blog. I’ve been.. dead on there. I love to draw but I’m also lazy so I’m not always super active on there lol

do i get asks: Rarely, but sometimes I do. Wish I got more, I like being asked stuff lol

why did i choose my url: This wasn’t my original url, but I changed it to what I have now due to the passing of a pet of the same name. I did explain this like a hundred times in previous posts, so I won’t go into anymore details lol

following blogs: 861

followers: 588

favorite colors: Green, purple, blue and pink

average hours of sleep: Uhh well jeez wish I knew. I barely sleep foishnrjdfeiahflej

lucky number(s): I don’t have any lol I don’t believe in lucky numbers honestly

instruments: I don’t play any but I’d love to someday learn how to play a piano, if I wasn’t so lazy ha or even a violin! Those are my 2 favorite instruments aahhh

what am i wearing: A black t-shirt with a cat on it and really soft sweatpants oh yeah

how many blankets do i sleep with: Differs. I usually have at least 2, my bed’s blanket and my cat blanket which is basically falling apart. The latter doesn’t keep me warm anymore, but I use it due to texture, I literally cannot live without this blanket. It stresses me out when its away from me lol if a night isn’t to warm, I’ll use my Care Bear blanket to keep my legs warm. If its not to warm and I’m particularly stressed, I’ll use my weighted blanket but in turn won’t use the Care Bear one. So usually 2 or 3. (fun fact: the falling apart cat blanket and the Care Bear one was hand made by my aunt!)

dream job: What’s a job

dream trip: I don’t like traveling honestly and so I don’t have a dream trip exactly, but I’d so totally visit all my internet nerds ioghuernjfwemfk hi Zanky

favorite foods: I would kill for pizza

nationality: American oh no

favorite song right now: HHHHHRRRRRRMMMMM I think its probably Sharp Edges by Linkin Park, I just really like that song ha

I don’t like tagging people hhnnnn hi if ya’ll wanna do it, go ahead and just say I tagged you lol

[gravitymirage]

Wowie! Hmm I'll like to know more about the Mutant Youtuber idea ya have it seems really interesting

Alrighty! As I said long, very long, but I’ll fit down some stuff! I made it a while ago, like years ago, so some people I might leave out just out of respect? I’m not sure exactly. But I’ll give a ‘taster’ haha

Well obviously it takes place in the idea of mutants, already with the hope people will know some of that stuff. But I’ll list a few of the powers and small backstory stuff I suppose. This will be long, despite being a short description of each i wanna include haha.

So Mark had fire powers, which was relatively traumatic for him. Burnt a lot of stuff down and wound up a sort of lone wolf. Found out about mutants a while after and searched for others like him, got caught for experimentation, since they figured out he was mutant but he relented against basically torture and hid his powers. Eventually led to him getting an opportunity to burn the facility down, as they didn’t have him in appropriate containment, which could be considered a good thing but it led to the death of almost everyone inside. He didn’t have enough control over it to stop it, and while he was burn resistant he could still choke to death on the smoke. While escaping he found one of the mutants who he had been captured with, who had wings, and escaped. Became friends although said person later died. Later started his channel, where few YouTube he met other mutants. There’s obviously a lot more details in there but that’s the basics, also there was a Dark sort of thing, who was surprisingly in character despite me knowing nothing. Perhaps more violent though. Also Mark did this thing where he shot rude fingers and set them on fire. My most brilliant moment lol.

Jack had energy sort of powers. He could take on an energy form which would obviously electrocute people, as well as this he could phase through walls and I think travel through electric currents. He was incredibly energetic due to this, also healing faster. However, this led to issues, as since he had so much energy he couldn’t sleep, which started out as a good thing although he quickly discovered it wasn’t. Sleeping pills and such didn’t work very well, as he processed them very quickly, and later took to things such as knocking himself out. This was later resolved, bit screwed up with me taking 'Sleep is for the weak’ a bit too literally I guess haha. He was isolated from a lot of the mutant stuff, still later on with YouTube, although powers were kept secret from the fans (in the case of everyone), he met friends, such as Mark, who were mutants.

Amy could see the past of a person through physical contact, as well as glimpses of the future. She worked in graphic design and such online, and avoided contact with people, not wanting to have much chance to see their past and such, often finding it traumatic. However this later wasn’t the case, as after an argument Mark had pretty much stormed off around to same time she had been forced to do a quick grocery run. She’d forgotten gloves in her rush, ran into Mark in his rush, and such saw a very big glimpse of his past, quickly finding him to be a mutant. Since she had almost fainted in front of him they met, and Mark wound up wanting to see them again. She hid being a mutant for awhile, meeting the 'gang’ who hid from her. Knowing Mark was a mutant, and having seen the others in their past, she admitted to being a mutant, and she joined the group, later obviously becoming Mark’s girlfriend.

Signe could control ink, which was really badass. She couldn’t create ink, just bend it to her will, which led to a list of different things. From forging things or creating brilliant artworks, to weapons and constructs of ink, as well as being able to change the colour and such she could basically make like, moving 3D models of things and such. It was really cool. She had a hard time controlling it at the start though, doing art and such. She watched the Youtubers and such before she met them, being kinda recruited into the mutant 'team’ if you will. Bit of a shocker for her when she realised a lot of them where the said Youtubers she watched, and she met Jack.

Ethan had ice powers. No real specific thought behind that, and nothing to do specifically with contrasting Mark or anything. But because one, ice powers are really cool, and two, I imagined all the jokes based on a Frozen he received from the others. He was apart of it later and had no specific backstory, but I feel his was pretty chill. That pun wasn’t intended but continuing. He kept his powers hidden mostly, occasionally using it for tricks and such, and later when meeting Mark and such thing sorta worked out, they figured out they were all mutants, and joined stuff.

Tyler was Mark’s friend, and they got separated a while with everything, both concealing from each other their mutant nature. He had reactive adaptation, which is hard to explain. Like, growing gills underwater, or skin toughen when being hit? That sort of thing. Met up with Mark soon after his escape to help with stuff, realising they were both mutants. He went away awhile again before inevitably joining up with Mark again.

Felix sorta started the whole group of mutants thing. He could manipulate technology, and used it to track other mutants once he discovered that there were others. He started off in a group against humans specifically, but later decided that wasn’t the way to deal with things, after meeting Marzia, who was mutant but very much against the whole ideals of 'superior race’ and such. He wiped his criminal record and started fresh, hoping he could get somewhere on YouTube. Met a bunch of mutants through that, as well as finding others based on information in the news and what not, and brought them all together. Also his powers were great for pranks, he kinda set up a lot of the relationships as an unwanted wingman haha.

Dan had telepathy, hearing people’s thoughts, and I think seeing memories also. Obviously went through depression, and dropped out of University. On YouTube, he met Phil (also a mutant explain later) and later the pair joined Felix in his little group of mutants.

Phil had empathy, so feeling and influencing emotions and but extents lies and such, and able to see dreams I think. Didn’t really realise he was a mutant till later, just thought he was sensitive. Eventually found out otherwise. He was on YouTube and obviously met Dan.

Well, that’s probably enough for now hoo boi that’s a lot. I wrote lots of one-shots and stuff that are shit to look back on now, but fun regardless. Might even continue some of these ideas tbh it was fun. Other people included PJ, Matt and Steph from GT, there were the Game Grumps, Natewantstobattle. That’s all I can remember right now.This is literally so much I’m sorry oml

[darkhymns-fic]

One-on-One Extra Training

Papyrus' very first training lesson with Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard (and accomplished pianist).

Fandom: Undertale Characters: Undyne, Papyrus, Mad Dummy Rating: G Mirror Links: AO3, FF.net Notes: Yes, pianos are involved.

The guy had been knocking on her door for six hours straight.

Undyne grumbled out of bed yet again, red hair all frazzled, grinding her teeth to even sharper points. She stomped to the front door, its own angry grimace design matching hers. It swished open, sharp fangs opening to reveal her stalker.

“NYEH HEH HEH! HELLO AND GOOD MORNING.” A skeleton waved one arm, his joints creaking and clacking against each other. Despite how dark and dim-lighted Waterfall was, the other’s wide smile was so painfully bright that it threatened to burn through her eye patch. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS.”

Undyne slouched, still very sleepy. “Yes. I know. You texted me that just five minutes ago.”

“OH! I WAS WORRIED MY MESSAGES WERE NOT GETTING THROUGH.”

An understatement. Her phone was completely full with the guy’s text messages. It was even putting her phone’s infinite storage space that Alphys had installed for her to the test.

“It’s four in the morning,” she told him. Usually she’d be shouting the monster back into his place, but she was exhausted. “Why are you still here?”

“WHY, AS I HAVE SAID THE LAST FORTY-FOUR TIMES WE HAVE SPOKEN THIS MONTH, I WANT TO PROVE MYSELF TO YOU.” Papyrus put a hand over his chest, body straight and rigid, eye sockets sparkling as the red scarf he wore billowed out from behind him. This guy and his dorky clothes. “I WANT TO ENLIST AS PART OF YOUR ROYAL GUARD-”

“No.”

“AND HELP CAPTURE HUMANS FOR THE BETTERMENT OF MONSTERKIND-”

“I said no.”

“FOR I WILL BE THE RADDEST DUDE TO EVER WORK ALONGSIDE THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST IN THE UNDERGROUND-”

“Ngaah! Listen here, punk!!” Undyne lobbed a glowing spear at the skeleton’s feet. She missed, still too tired and too weak in her depth perception to actually hit him. Either way, it made him stop in mid-speech. “I already said we don’t have any openings in the Royal Guard and that’s that!”

She hoped, like any normal monster, that the skeleton would take the hint and get out of her face already. Papyrus’ head looked down at the spear, just an inch away from his bright red boots. She was disappointed to see that his skull showed the opposite of fear and apprehension. (Well, as much as she could tell). In fact, he looked downright giddy.

“OH!! IS THIS A TRAINING EXERCISE?! DOES THIS MEAN YOU WILL BE TRAINING ME?”

“What? Are you stupid-”

“I GLADLY ACCEPT! WOWIE!” Papyrus placed both hands over his cheekbones, blushing red and eyes as wide as black, empty saucers. “TO RECEIVE TRAINING FROM THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! WHAT AN HONOR!”

Undyne placed a hand over her face, sighing. What a long night it’s been. “If I train you, will you go away?” she hissed. “Like, right now?”

“IS THIS PART OF MY TRAINING?” Papyrus asked, eye sockets still sparkling.

“Sure,” she said, eye lid twitching. “Why not? First lesson, to test your patience. Go home and let me freaking sleep!”

Papyrus instantly did a salute to Undyne, nearly cracking his own skull with back of his hand. “AYE AYE, CAPTAIN! I PROMISE TO UPHOLD THESE ORDERS AND EXCEED YOUR EXPECTATIONS. AND I WILL DO SO KNOWING THAT YOU BELIEVE IN ME!”

Undyne was scratching her behind, eye half-lidded, and still grimacing. “Great.”

“I WILL REPORT BACK LATER FOR OUR NEXT LESSON. THANK YOU FOR THIS AMAZING OPPORTUNITY.”

“Swell, now get out of here.”

“NYEH HEH HEH!”

It took an extra five minutes of her prodding before the skeleton finally walked off, doing little skips in the air to show off his enthusiasm. Undyne slammed shut the door before she could see him off.

What sucked was that tomorrow was Saturday. There goes that planned visit to Alphys…

Of course, Papyrus was back four hours later.

“I AM HERE AND READY TO DRILL!” Papyrus said, once again on her front steps. She was at least dressed more properly now, decked in her armor sans helmet. The skeleton was still in his costume that, while she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing, he was really pulling off rather well. “AND BY DRILLING, I MEAN PARTICIPATING IN THIS TRAINING DRILL THAT I AM CONFIDENT THAT YOU HAVE PREPARED US FOR. I CANNOT WAIT TO EXPERIENCE ALL YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE IN THE ART OF BATTLE!”

Undyne summoned another aqua-blue spear, casually balancing it in her hand. “Prepared? Tch. Nah, punk. When it comes to battle, nothing can prepare you.” She grinned wide. “That’s why I’m going to teach you how to fight head-on! No hesitation! No doubting! Punch first, ask questions later!”

Papyrus looked absolutely stunned, and overwhelmingly happy. “WOWIE! THAT… THAT IS SO INSPIRATIONAL!”

Granted, she had come up with that on the spot. But Undyne was at her best when she was winging it, and she was winging this impromptu training lesson so much right now. Adrenaline was already coursing through her veins. She was going to train the hell out of this guy.

It may or may not have to do with how the skeleton had kept her up for the whole night, leaving her a little sleep-deprived. Or how he left numerous voicemails on her phone. Or how he seemed to always invite himself to a private chatroom she made for her and Alphys in the Undernet. Either way, Papyrus was getting what he wanted.

“Now for your second lesson! To test your endurance!” Undyne lifted her arm, her grin wide and manic. “Let’s see how tough you really are!”

“OH!” Papyrus clapped his hands in awe. “ARE YOU GOING TO TEACH ME HOW TO DODGE AN INCOMING DEADLY ATTACK FROM MY ENEMIES?”

“No! Dodging is for losers!” Her arm muscles bunched. “A real monster faces danger head on!!”

“AHA! I SEE-”

The spear hit him square in the forehead.

Undyne was mildly impressed. The skeleton didn’t even fly back from the force. He remained in place, shouting another ‘NYEH!’ from the blow, but otherwise was still very upright. There wasn’t even the hint of a bruise on his skull.

“Ha, guess you’re pretty tough, huh?” At least this training session wouldn’t be a total waste of time.

“WHY THANK YOU!” Papyrus nodded jubilantly, then puffed out his chest, trying to mimic Undyne’s tough stance. “MAY I HAVE ANOTHER, CAPTAIN?”

Another spear was already in her hand. “You get what you asked for, punk!”

While there was nothing more satisfying than having target practice with an overly yelling opponent, Undyne knew they couldn’t do this all day. Well, okay, they could, but training was all about variety. And even if she hadn’t meant to go full out for this, the sweat on her brow and the burn in her muscles let her know that this was all turning out to not be such a bad idea.

She had lobbed her 648th spear at Papyrus, his ‘battle body’ scraped, though his scarf luckily free of tatters. He still had that dumb smile on his face, hands on his hips, not at the least bit perturbed by Undyne’s past feats of strength. “THANK YOU, CAPTAIN! MAY I HAVE ANOTHER, CAPTAIN?”

“Later! We’re switching off!” Undyne stomped the ground so furiously that it cracked underneath her feet. “You’ve shown that you have the endurance! And the patience! But do you have the power?!”

The force of her words reverberated across the stone walls, bounced off the water, traveling far across the area until it even reached Hotland. A certain little lizard monster jumped at the shout, looking all around her laboratory to see if her friend had made another impromptu visit.

Papyrus didn’t seem to be affected by the shout. He still stood there with content, almost daring in a way. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS VERY POWERFUL INDEEED! MY BROTHER SAYS SO, AND I BELIEVE IN HIM! AS I BELIEVE IN YOU! AND HOPE THAT YOU BELIEVE IN ME, TOO!”

That was a mouthful, but Undyne was able to parse through it while her fingers twitched. She had come up with the perfect test. “First you have to prove your worth!”

From behind her, she pulled out a little table, carved with cute little fishy patterns on the wood. She planted it squarely between her and Papyrus, making further cracks into the ground.

Fist clenched, she placed her elbow on top of the table.

“By beating me at arm-wrestling!!”

Few ever took on Undyne’s challenges. Even her own Royal Guard would balk at the idea of trying to beat their boss, resulting in sprained wrists and plaintive whines. (The last who did had been Doggo, and he couldn’t see her to understand what was happening at the time). But she was starting to like this Papyrus, who met her outrageous and slightly cruel demands with the utmost enthusiasm.

“I HAVE NEVER TRIED THIS WRESTLING AT THE ARMS BUT I WILL DO MY BEST. AS I AM SURE YOU WILL. LET’S BOTH DO OUR BEST!”

“Hey, you’re testing my patience now! Let’s go!”

Papyrus mimicked her stance, his own bony arm looking so thin and breakable to her bulging scales. His mitten-covered hand met hers in a fierce clasp. “OH! I READ THIS IN ONE OF MY HOW-TO MANUALS! IF I RECALL, WE SHOULD HAVE FRIENDLY PRE-COMPETITVE BANTER TO DEMONSTRATE OUR SPORTSMANSHIP TO EACH OTHER AND BE SURE THERE ARE NO BITTER EMOTIONS BETWEEN US!”

“Boring! 3 2 1 go!”

Her zeal for the sport had caught Papyrus off guard. The poor skeleton went flying off to the side through the sheer force of her grip. He lay flat on the ground, eye sockets bulging as he tried to make sense of what happened. But by the looks of it, he had no broken bones anywhere, which spoke to his previously-tested endurance.

“That’s why you have to be prepared!” Undyne flexed, and karate-chopped the table, just because she could. “You never know when a stronger opponent can overwhelm you! And so you have to raise your own potential! Until one day you can beat your enemy to a pulp!”

Papyrus instantly sat up, once again in awe and wonder. Probably impressed by her biceps, no doubt. “W-WOWIE. I FEEL LIKE I AM LEARNING SOMETHING SO VALUABLE. BUT, UM…” He looked to the now broken table, and his own position on the ground. “DOES THIS MEAN I HAVE FAILED THE LESSON?”

“Are you kidding me?” Undyne stomped the ground again, his sharp, bright smile growing ever wider. “You don’t fail unless you quit! Are you a quitter?” She crossed her arms, feeling the soft breeze that sometimes blew through Waterfall lift up her hair. “Is the so-called Great Papyrus a quitter?!”

That seemed to set something off in the skeleton. He jumped to his feet, facing her head on! “THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS BY NO MEANS A QUITTER. I ONLY QUIT AT QUITTING. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS A MASTER OF ONLY QUITTING QUITTING.” He paused. “YES?”

Undyne laughed. She hadn’t expected that, but she liked the guy’s style. “Alright! Then we keep going then! You still have to show me your power! But instead of puny arm wrestling, let’s do something better!”

She uncrossed her arms and widened her stance. Her sole eye, by the dim light of the cavern’s glowing rocks, seemed to shine. “Some good old-fashioned regular wrestling!”

“OH! YOU MEAN LIKE ROUGH HOUSING? I USED TO DO THAT WHEN I WAS JUST A BABYBONES-”

“Ngaahhh!”

Papyrus didn’t get to say much more as an armored, manically laughing fish lady tackled him to the ground and threatened to break his spine.

“Fortitude!”

She stacked boulders atop Papyrus’ shoulders, impressed as he held them aloft with those scrawny arms of his.

“Speed!”

She whistled as the skeleton somersaulted through the air on the snail racetrack for their quick sprint. Not even the fastest of the speediest snails could outdo him! He had to work on his stopping action though, and had nearly cracked his skull on the stone walls. “I’M OKAY!” he shouted after several trips through the dirt.

“Cherishment!”

She nodded in approval as Papyrus gently let the duck fly him over the gap, then patted the duck’s head in gratitude. “I BELIEVED YOU COULD DO IT! AND I BELIEVE YOU CAN KEEP DOING THIS FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT! FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!”

“Creativity!”

Undyne kind of wanted to ask how Papyrus was able to make a buff snowman of himself just in front of her house… with no other snow in sight. Still, she had to commend him for his ability to gather resources. And good use of design and sculpting capabilities.

“WHAT NEXT, CAPTAIN?”

The guy was just breezing through her tests. Why was she doing this in the first place? Eh, who cared? Time to wrap this up! Maybe this guy really could join the Royal Guard after all!

“Now the last test… your killer instinct!”

“YEAH, MY- WAIT WHAT?”

She dragged out a stuffed dummy from the far-right cavern wall, bringing it to the middle. It twitched slightly at being man-handled by the fish girl, but was otherwise obediently still as it stared its unassuming eyes at Papyrus.

Undyne pointed a threatening finger at the dummy. “Now beat that thing to a pulp!”

Papyrus looked from the cotton creation to Undyne, somehow quite confused. “BUT. THIS DUMMY LOOKS RATHER HELPLESS. IS NOT THE ROYAL GUARD SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECT SAID HELPLESS?”

“Hey, buddy! You got a problem with me?” The dummy faced Papyrus, no longer looking so meek and lifeless like before. Its once dead and black eyes turned furious. “Think I can’t take a punch? Think I’ll just fall over like a stuffed toy?! Foolish! Foolish! FOOLISH!”

Undyne clapped a hand over the dummy’s red-fumed head. “This little guy can’t even be hurt! Because they’re a ghost, they’re incorporeal. Which means you can give it your all without any of the consequences!” To demonstrate, Undyne grabbed the dummy by the neck, then bench pressed them over her knee. The cotton body was flexible under her strength, but was once again standing upright, with not even a strand loose from its body.

“See? See?! SEE?! I can’t get hurt, no matter what stupid attacks you throw at me! Now hurry up and try to demolish me! You dummy!” The dummy then grew quiet for a second, black eyes shifting. “Wait…”

Papyrus nodded along to both Undyne’s and the dummy’s remarks. Still, he looked hesitant, and even raised up his hand a little feebly. “OKAY. I UNDERSTAND. BUT ISN’T THIS A TAD…VIOLENT?”

Undyne narrowed her eye. “Well, yeah!! The Royal Guard’s all about violence!!! That and helping people! But mostly violence! And helping people with violence!”

“OH.”

“Now hurry up and break this dummy’s face!”

“Yeah!” The dummy jumped up. “And it’ll be futile. Futile! FUTILE!”

“Prove your worth, Papyrus!” Undyne shouted. “Now kill ‘em!”

“Yeah! Kill me!”

Papyrus was no stranger to loud noises and yelling. He was a professional at reverberating his voice across the plains of Snowdin. He’d had to, so that he could call out to his brother whenever the need arose. (He could never depend on the lazybones to remember to charge his phone). Yet somehow, the fierce yells of bloodthirsty motivation were quite intimidating. He looked down at the dummy, who was quivering in rage.

“Hit me. Hit me! HIT ME!”

Undyne clenched her fists. “Come on, Papyrus! Show me what you got! When a human comes by, you have to be ready to take their soul!”

“AH. YES. I KNEW THAT.” Papyrus tapped his gloved hands against one another. “BUT WHAT ABOUT ANOTHER STRATEGY? COULD I JUST MAYBE… ASK FOR THEIR SOUL?”

“Come on. Humans are vicious creatures! With their space princesses and giant swords, they’re a force to be reckoned with. What else could you do against them?”

“WELL… HOW ABOUT OFFERING THEM SOME PUZZLES? OH!” Papyrus clapped excitedly. “I COULD EXHAUST THEM THROUGH CONVOLUTED PROBLEM-SOLVING AND REPETITIVE WORDPLAY. IT EXHAUSTS SANS ALL THE TIME.”

She didn’t know who this Sans guy was, but she wasn’t ready to use a stranger as proof of something. “As if. Puzzles, no matter how annoying they are, can’t be killer like good old-fashioned violence!”

It looked like the skeleton was at a loss. He swiveled his gaze from Undyne to the still raging dummy. “OKAY. I… I WILL COMMENCE THE VIOLENCE.” In his hand, a long fibula appeared. “OKAY. GET READY FOR MY SPECIAL ATTACK!”

“Hurry up!” The dummy spattered out their rage “I ain’t got all day!”

Papyrus’ plastered smile now looked like a grimace. Though he held that bone tight, Undyne wasn’t fooled. The sheer passion she felt from Papyrus, the frantic determination to meet all of her standards, and his natural toughness to face it all – where did all of that go?

From beneath the ground a row of bones suddenly appeared. Their ends were blunt and lifted the dummy up by several inches. Papyrus still held up his fibula as this happened, and then the dummy was suddenly dropped back to the ground.

“Hey! You tricked me!” The dummy shook and frothed at the mouth. “Cheater. Cheater! CHEATER!”

“WAIT. THAT WAS JUST A WARMUP. NOW FOR MY NEW AND COOL SPECIAL ATTACK.”

Suddenly! A flash of light! Undyne even had to close her eye to withstand its brightness. When it finally faded…

Papyrus was carefully, and very gently, setting up a bone on a skateboard. It had on a pair of sunglasses, a baseball cap, and buff shoulder pads on its non-existent shoulders. Papyrus then nudged it to the dummy, and it cruise controlled its way to the dummy to meet its fate for battle.

What.

The bone on the skateboard instantly fell over after hitting the dummy for negative one damage, as the dummy couldn’t even be damaged in the first place.

“Hey. Hey! HEY! The heck was that? Are you making fun of me? Do I amuse you?!”

Papyrus looked unfazed by his tiny attack, instead giving a suave wink and posing for the dramatic wind that blew through the underground – the same that would seem to follow Undyne whenever she felt heroic. “THAT WAS JUST THE PRE-SPECIAL ATTACK TO MY SPECIAL ATTACK.” He paused again. “IT, UM, WILL BE HERE ANY SECOND-”

Undyne couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“Are you making fun of me too?!” The dummy turned to her with an expression of pure betrayal.

Undyne had to catch her breath, but she did so soon enough. With her hands, she called for a time-out. “Alright, you know what? Let’s take a break. And you!” She pointed to the dummy. “I’ll spar with you tomorrow, so don’t get too impatient!”

The dummy grumbled and muttered underneath their breath, but they complied, going back to their usual spot by the far-right cavern wall. It was a living, after all.

She gestured for Papyrus to follow her. “Come on! I’ll make you something to drink.”

“ARE… ARE YOU INVITING ME INSIDE YOUR HOUSE?” Papyrus clapped his hands to his skull, eye sockets once again shining as bright as the fake stars in Waterfall. “HAVE I FINALLY HIT THE FRIEND ZONE?”

Undyne’s smile never faded. “Heh, guess so. Now come inside already!”

After some thorough swiping of his boots on her welcome mat, he finally went inside with her, the gaping fish maw door closing right after him.

Few knew this, but Undyne could make a super fine milkshake if she wanted to. Sure, the milk was always way too hot, and it was 60% foam, but Papyrus was a grateful guest and accepted her treat as he sat at her dining room table. He commented on the cute fishy patterns on her tablecloth, and then lamented that her never got her a housewarming gift! Despite the fact that she most likely got this house before he even knew Undyne existed.

She sat at the table with him, holding her own goldfish-shaped cup in her hands. The tea was boiling hot, and it scorched her throat as she gulped it down. No pain, no gain! Except for some possible first-degree burns.

“Alright, guy, let’s discuss your training results,” she said, interrupting Papyrus as he started to relate the intricate patterns (not really) of her tiled floor.

“OH, I AM SO EXCITED!” His feet tapped excitedly. “DID I PASS WITH FLYING COLORS? AM I READY TO JOIN THE HONORED RANKS OF THE ROYAL GUARD AND EXERT MY AUTHORITARIAN WILL ON ALL?”

This was harder for her than she thought possible. She tapped her claws against the cup, its heated surface comforting her. “You did more than good. You did great! I haven’t had anyone take so many spears to the face and still want them coming!”

“THANK YOU! I AM ALSO GLAD TO HAVE TAKEN YOUR ABUSE.”

“Now considering all that…” Papyrus was smiling; wide, enthusiastic and innocent. She reminded him of Greater Dog, in a sense. Except he could speak full sentences and didn’t slobber all over himself at the worst opportunity. “There’s something missing from you… that you need to become part of the Royal Guard.”

She saw Papyrus’ smile fade slightly. The light from his eye sockets dimmed. She… was feeling guilty? “MISSING? IF I AM, I PROMISE TO RETRIEVE IT IMMEDITATELY SO THAT I CAN FUFILL MY LIFE-LONG DREAM!”

There was a reason why she had the mad dummy face off against Papyrus. Abrasive, aggressive and always ready for a fight, that dummy was one of the best training partners she ever had. Reading all about the tough humans in Alphys’ history books, that dummy could very well act as violent and merciless as those humans could be. No human would ever be nice or peaceful, not when they stood in front of everyone’s hopes and dreams. Asgore had taught her that, too. The humans were their one obstacle, and they needed to get their souls at any cost.

That was what the killer instinct was – to fight for their goal, no matter what, even if it meant to take a life.

Papyrus didn’t have that instinct. Sure, he could take a punch, he could run fast, and he was more than able to help out other monsters and do all that boring charity work that the Royal Guard was kinda not really required to do anyway. Maybe he could beat people up good enough, like he almost did with that dummy. But still, there was that hesitation.

She imagined Papyrus going up against a vicious, merciless human, and how his smiling face would be torn to bits. And even if he ever had the chance, he’d never land that finishing blow.

Could she really allow someone like that in the Royal Guard? Someone that would get hurt like that?

Undyne thought it over, amazed at this guy who went from a nuisance to an okay monster. It didn’t matter who they were – the job of the Royal Guard, along with getting the human souls, was to protect all monsters of the Underground.

If she took him in, she’d be breaking that rule straight off, wouldn’t she?

“A hobby.”

She’d blurted that out with no forethought, and going by Papyrus’ blank expression, he hadn’t expected that either.

“A WHAT NOW?”

“A hobby.” Then she nodded, slowly growing pleased with what she said. “That’s it. That’s what missing. You need a hobby.”

“OH, I SEE. BUT SOLVING AND CREATING PUZZLES ARE A DEAR HOBBY OF MINE.”

“A good hobby!” She slammed a fist on the table, then stood up. The idea created a fervor in her head. She couldn’t let go of this sudden bout of inspiration! “A hobby that will take all your creativity, your power, and your passion! Something that will define you as a real person!”

Papyrus nodded his skull. “I THINK I UNDERSTAND. BUT… WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY THEN, CAPTAIN UNDYNE?”

“That’s easy.” She pointed to the other side of her home, just a few feet away from the kitchen area. “I play the piano, and I’m freaking amazing at it!” Then she pounded the table again, splintering it dangerously. “Want me to show you?!”

“YES!!”

Nothing was better than having an audience, so Undyne rushed over to her grand piano. She cracked her knuckles, flexed out her wrists a little, and took a seat before the giant instrument.

Papyrus crossed his legs, placed his hands neatly on his bony lap, and waited.

Despite her fevered glare, Undyne tapped her fingers against the keys with gentle strokes. A small crescendo here, a high allegro there. She worked the piano until the tones resounded against the ground – it was the sort of music that many a passerby in Waterfall would hear on their walks. It meshed well with the sometime melancholy air of Waterfall; this place of lost wishes, dark hallways and whispering flowers. The sharp notes of the keys floated through the air, that even Papyrus was breathless (well, more than usual). Undyne’s back was straight, and her movements were natural. Her feet pressed against the pedals on the bottom, controlling the piano’s sounds with utmost dexterity.

Then she hit the part of the song where she, without fail, got freaking pumped.

Undyne smashed the flat of her palms against the keys, hitting all the notes required. It still sounded melodic, but now she was going fast, playing the tune to its utmost limit. Her fingers moved fast, the pedals underneath threatened to break from the sheer force. If one heard closely, the piano parts inside it were reaching their breaking point.

Also, Undyne was totally singing.

“Da na na! Dah na! Yeah! Na na na NA!”

Papyrus was moving his bony body to the rhythm. “THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART!”

Then Undyne finished her mini concert by smashing her fists into the keys until a few chords broke. The piano’s now-splintered legs wobbled, but their musical notes still resounded in the air in their finality.

“NGAAH!” She faced Papyrus. “And that’s how you hobby!”

He clapped his hands, completely and utterly amazed. “I AM COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY AMAZED. SUCH MUSICAL TALENT. THIS IS THE TRUE POWER OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD.”

Finally cooling down from musical workout, Undyne grinned. “Yeah, I’m a pro. I even teach piano lessons to some monsters around here!” She looked to the now demolished piano. “Man, I need to have Alphys fix this again…”

“I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE SUCH A MUSICAL TALENT OF MY OWN. BUT, I HAVE NEVER TRIED AN INSTRUMENT.” Papyrus’ skull furrowed like clay. “MY BROTHER IS THE MORE MUSICALLY-INCLINED OF THE FAMILY. HIM AND HIS…” He sighed. “TROMBONE.”

Undyne was already working her brain to figure out what to do next. “Well, besides dumb puzzles, what else do you like to do?”

“OH, LOTS OF THINGS. I LIKE SURFING THE UNDERNET, AND RIDING IN MY RACE CAR BED, AND WATCHING MY FAVORITE STAR ON TELEVISION, AND COOKING AND-”

She waved off the rest. “Back up. Cooking?” That’s it. Time to wing this. “Well, that sounds like a hobby waiting to be nurtured the heck out of!”

“R-REALLY?” Papyrus was once again surprised. “BUT I HAVE NOT EVEN TOLD YOU WHAT I COOK-”

“Who cares!?” Undyne went to the cabinets, and pulled out the first thing she found. A torn box of store-brand spaghetti.

She wouldn’t let this guy be hurt by joining the guard, but she could do the next best thing. Stall it to hell and back.

“To be part of the guard, you need some extra training in your hobby!” She held up the spaghetti box to Papyrus’ face. “And I’m going to train you how to cook the best spaghetti there is! Now let’s start!”

Papyrus got to his feet, already saluting her. “YES, WHATEVER YOU SAY, CAPTAIN.”

“Come on, come on! Don’t waste all this hot water we got going!” She cranked the heat up on the stove, and poured water into a pot. It boiled in no time flat. “Now start dunking the pasta in here. Show it who’s boss!”

If Papyrus was anything, he was a great student.

“NYEEEH!” He threw the spaghetti into the pot, the strands flying everywhere, with some hitting his eye sockets. He paid them no mind.

“Now the ingredients! And the meatballs! And the mushrooms! You ever had spaghetti with both meatballs and mushrooms!? It’s the freaking best!”

If any passerby had walked near Undyne’s home in Waterfall, they would have hurried it the heck out of there, thinking that a terrible battle was being waged, and wanting to steer clear of any collateral damage.

After Undyne’s house burned down again for the fifth time that year, she and Papyrus stood outside, a little blackened by soot, but otherwise all smiles.

“DID I DO GOOD, UNDYNE? I MEAN, CAPTAIN UNDYNE?”

She clapped a dirty hand on his back. “Just call me Undyne, you dweeb.” She grinned wide. “You did great!”

“WOWIE! SO… DID I PASS?”

“Hm, I think a little more training would help you right out. We need to take in the very best, you know!”

Still, she couldn’t help but throw him a bone… so to speak.

“After all, we do have positions open for sentries…”

[blue-line-pony-express]

A,

“A rat from the city” I love

Yeah, I’ve been in the Northeast/Midwest for a while and it’s been COLD and then we got here and was literally 74 today like what

I love your positive outlook on life, that’s so refreshing. I hear a lot of cynicism from millenials and it’s so tired. Optimism is IN

Was the coworker you saw the movie with the boy....? (insert eyes emoji here)

Big wowie, I love that you took a picture of that moment that you found meaningful that’s so fascinating, I would never think of doing that.

Chicken salad sandwich with cheddar cheese that’s such a Berlin meal ;-; I love it

oh my GOD i feel you about the art and the peeps boy golly do I.

1. Work work work work work. I’m trying to get this fuCKing buzzer manufactured but it’s like I’m just sending emails into the void and they don’t get back to me it’s a real bummer, I’d really like to start making money at some point y’know

2. ;-; I miss her every day. 

I was just remembering yesterday how, before I moved here to Spartanburg, when I was considering if I should do it or if it was a crazy dumb idea, I thought I would use this time in my life, this time here, to relax, have fun, make art, and figure out what I wanted for the next phase of my life before I got a serious job. But I was never good at that. Almost right away when I got here I got two jobs, and took them both very seriously. I picked up extra side gigs, not because I really needed to, but because opportunities to walk dogs and watch houses came my way, and I’ve never not one day in my life really known how to take on just the right amount of work. I was supposed to be in Spartanburg to mess around and have fun, and here I am two knuckles deep in being a business owner, forever balancing on the tantalizing edge of risk and potential. I keep saying this, but I’m so close to getting what I want. As soon as we get an investor, and I get this buzzer shit going, I can take a breath. Nick was asking me the other day about what I want for the next year. If we can get through this year and get an investor, I might have some options. I could sell my company to the investing partner, or to ACE, keep a small share, remain on the board (lol what? this is my life now?), but no longer be involved in the day to day. I could take my money and start something new. I might have told you this before, but I think I’d like to work for Girl Scouts. It’d be nice if I had some money saved up, and could chill making art in my spare time and working at summer camps or something.

Alternatively I could stay on doing this, hand off the tech management to someone else, and choose a smaller range of tasks to run. I think I might really enjoy being involved in the booking aspects of our big event if I wasn’t worried about everything else too - traveling, staying in big cool hotels and finding sponsors and artist/contributors for the entertainment side of our events, even doing some of the hiring. 

Anyway I wrote a novel here, that was less about art, and more about me trying to find the time to do art. Because, the point of all this is to say, I am not good at giving myself permission to do art and really focus on it. The nerves in me want to be working, and I feel like I’m constnatly trying to find situations in which I can trick myself into relaxing and really enjoy doing art. Columbia was so good for that! My whole job as a student was to focus on writing, think about my writing, and write, that the metric by which my success was judged. I do miss that. 

3. I was going down the stairs while looking at my phone like a basic milenial fucking moron

4. Two pups with little flannel shirts? Didn’t think I’d forget that one did you? I would love a pup.....

So now that I wrote you half a novel....

1. I was just thinking the other day about how, other than weird facebook client research, I don’t really know what you do at your job. What do you do at your job?

2. What was the most recent book you read, and did you like it?

3. What’s something you’ve been thinking about lately?

4. What is your bedtime routine like? Do you go to bed at the same time every night? What time? What do you like to do to wind down before you go to bed?

5. Done any art yourself lately?

Also, just fyi I’m going to be at home by myself the next couple days.....might you have some time free for a call? I miss talking to you ;-; Anyway,

- B

P.S. while I was writing this to you nick was watching Steven Colbert, who was having an interview with Zachary Levi. I was kind of listening and I was like, why is this dude’s voice so familiar?? Who is he?? And then I realized...he’s Flynn Rider..............I’m such trash I’d know Flynn Rider’s voice anywhere Disney owns my soul