#yeaahhh so i made him a little silly... and what of it?

[drawtime-itive]

jrwi riptide ep 109 onwards spoilers

dead as hell chip design + doodles

[triglycercule]

i love characters with barely elaborated on personalities and traits and all that. dust sans??? absolute perfection i can do whatever the fuck i want with him. headcanon anything i want as long as it fits the framework that askdusttale has given me. nightmare??? his one main trait is that he's bad do you know how amazingly vague that is. i have even MORE freedom with him than anyone else. there are various different types of bad guy and i can make nightmare all of them and none simultaneously because he's simply not all that elaborated on. once i lose that creative freedom i lose all will to do anything with characters

[play-on-skinners-box]

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER FIVE OF RAINCODE(And a LARGE amount of text)

I wanted to do more Raincode furries cause they're honestly so fun and are really good practice because I'm kinda rusty in general. I only did Yuma and Makoto this time just cause it's a more manageable workload and they are some of the last ones I'm especially passionate about.

OKAY, BUCKLE UP BABY, THESE CHOICES HAVE LAYERS TO THEM. L A Y E R S

OKAY SO, at some point scrolling on tumblr I saw this post by Nadox showcasing a piece of Yuma's concept art, and in the art he was depicted with long hair. They theorized that this was what Number One originally looked like and he sheared his hair into that wimpy fresh almost bowl cut so he could pass as a trainee, AND I L O V E THAT. I herby declare it as correct on the grounds of I said so.

Going along with this idea, Yuma is a young wolf that has a lame haircut so everyone THINKS he's just a dog. I know a wolf in real life would be a lot harder to reasonably pass as a dog, so this requires a bit of anime logic tomfuckery, but I'm fine with that because Raincode already deals in its fair share of logic jank. I am simply being true to game in that regard! The way I drew him already isn't super wolf-like cause I made him all squishy looking like human Yuma, and made the veerrryyyy tips of the ears flop over because the pointy ones just didn't feel quite right. I know real wolf ears are only ever depicted as pointy but it was for the VIBE. Yeaahhh in hindsight I might have taken a few too many liberties. I suppose to make it a little more sensible you could say he's a wolfdog and not full wolf or something. Other than the logic I really like this choice because everyone would naturally assume Yuma's just a pathetic little puppy dog when his real identity is hiding in plain sight!

I went back and forth on alot of the fur aspects. How smooth is too smooth? How much of it should just look like blunt cuts? Should I even give him his human hair? Usually I don't like giving my furries human hair in general because I want them looking a lot more like animals rather than people, but for Yuma his hair is such an important part of his design that I ultimately decided to keep it on both him and Makoto.

MAKOTO IS A WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING AND THAT IS SO FUN, SO SILLY, SO GOOFY, HOOOORAY(Specifically a dall sheep cause they have those big curly horns). In theory, the hardest part of choosing an animal for Yuma is that whatever his animal is needs to tie into Makoto, and also be able to be implemented in a way where their connection isn't obvious. Makoto having a mask helps of course, but if you pick a really distinctive animal for Yuma you'll have to come up with better ways to hide it. Others have gotten a lot more creative with how Makoto hides his species, but I didn't do that and went in the full direction of just giving him a disguise. Its a littlllleeeeee lazy but I'm too smitten with the idea to care. I was a little confused on what to do with the tail. I considered just chopping off the majority of it to make it look like a short little sheep tail and put the justification for it in his suuuuppper tragic past(Though I honestly don't know if homunculi can regenerate like lizards). Luckily, the pose makes it so you can't see it anyway so I don't have to grapple with the responsibly of weather or not I need to brutally amputate one of Makoto's body parts. I consider this a win.

Disregarding his actual animal, I think the sheep is also weirdly fitting because of some of their associations. When I met Makoto I wasn't sure what to make of him besides being cautiously optimistic about him not letting Yuma die(What a fool I was), and sheep/lambs/rams and animals in that ballpark can vary wildly in their depictions from literaly the devil to good little fluffy guys!

For his actual look I wanted the sheep parts to look costumey sort of. I was going for a similar effect as the blood in chapter 0, where it's very noticeable but you write off the weird things about it because it's not immediately relevant. So, the mask has fake horns attached. The hand hooves are just little caps over the paw fingers, and there are two gold and silver caps to mimic his rings and point to their artificiality. The feet are also fake and are suppose to look a little clunky like Makoto's actual shoes. His hair is also much more full looking, a little less limp; because his actual ears need some place to get tucked away. I think the main problem with this design is it'd make for a really awkward reveal, cause when he dramatically gets the mask taken off then he'd just be a canine with hooves.

For both of them I think wolf works very well in terms of their characters and their shared forte. Yuma spends most of the game struggling with needing to rely on others, and Makoto has been carrying the weight of Kanai Wards secret on his shoulders alone for like three years. They also both have the Coalescence forte, which by it's very nature requires the help of other people, and at the end of the day being with others and working together is what brings them farther then they could do alone(even if some of the themes get muddled at the end and arn't really as clear as I'd personally like I find that Kodaka's games can have some not so rock solid theming with shakey conclusions but this is what I chose to take away from it)

These aspects of their characters fit perfectly with the stereotypical idea of a strong and stoic lone wolf in contrast to real wolves being pack animals that work together to survive!

I thought I'd like Yuma's design more by a landside cause I've grown really fond of his human design, but I actually really love this version of Makoto. I guess any designs with horns or hooves just appeals to me in a way that paws don't. Still really happy with these two. They could most certainly be worse! I think they're both cute little guys though and I learned a lot about how to like, render from this so that's a bonus!

[keicordelle]

The Adventures of an Inconvenient Au Ra: Fall Guys

It looked like a kid's candy-coated dream had vomited in here. Bright pinks and blinding greens assaulted Keshet's senses. Colors from every part of the spectrum were splashed about in what appeared to be some semblance of order, if your standards for "order" aligned more or less with those of a pixie from the First. Where in Nhaama's name Godbert had found those round-bodied monstrosities, Keshet could not even begin to fathom, but judging by the number of people currently gathered in the color-vomit room, he had to assume they were a hit.

It was all a little bit too bizarre for his tastes. The Gold Saucer was always loud and obnoxious, but this really reached a whole new level. But he was here, and much as his scales crawled to so much as look at the weird pink nuggets scattered around the room, he might as well give the game a shot.

And so he found himself waiting patiently - or as patiently as he was ever capable of - behind the starting line with twenty-three other people, all of whom were far too focused on the imminent death match- er, obstacle course, to even realize who he was. (And thank Nhaama for that. The bright pink sweater they'd forced him into made him feel rather like he wore someone else's skin, all awkward and ungainly. He felt weird with his skin all covered up, and even if he had ever felt compelled to don something other than his tribal garb, which he most certainly had not, this would not have been his choice. So much the better if no one saw and recognized him in it.)

"START!"

Keshet took off along with everyone else at his sides, careful not to trip over the diminutive Lalafell to his left. He took advantage of his longer strides, pulling ahead early. First jump, easily cleared. This wasn't so hard after all, what had everyone even been complaining abou-

There was no ground beneath his feet. Keshet didn't even have the breath to scream as he free-fell, wind whistling in his ears. Then, just when he was very certain this was it for one unfortunate lizard, he found himself back at the starting line, so suddenly he nearly tripped over his own feet and fell on his ass. He blinked, his brain swimming to try to compute the sudden change.

Okay. That was... Unexpected. He had no idea how that worked or why, but what he did know was that the rest of the racers were now a fairly significant leg ahead of him, and if he didn't want to get left in their dust, he was going to have to get his tail moving. He gritted his teeth, charging down the path once more. I will not lose!

It was just a silly game. Not something to get so worked up over. No one's life relied on this battle - at least, not now that he knew falling to his death was not in the question. And yet that same fire that raged through him when he faced off against an insurmountable foe burned though his chest, backed by grim determination.

The exultation that he felt when he caught up and then pulled ahead was as fierce as any combat victory, searing through him like the adrenaline that surged through his veins. Yeaahhh!! Let's goooo!! Each setback was met with a lashing tail and virulent hatred, grumbled curses muttered under his breath (when he could find the breath to spare). It was not as easy as he'd expected, to pull ahead and take the lead. Those stupid soft hammers kept bashing him upside the head, and he was so dizzy from spinning that it was a wonder he didn't fall straight of the edge. But he was doing it, he could make it, he could win!

Until a voice sounded through the space, feminine and excited: "And the winner is Leodaire Ferdillaix! Congratulations, and best of luck next time to the rest of our contestants!"

What?

He- He lost. How had that happened? When had that stupid elezen made it around him? He hadn't even seen him! Damn it! If only he'd pushed himself harder, if only he hadn't fallen!

Next time, he promised himself, teeth gritted and tail lashing. Next time, he'd win. No one would beat Keshet of the Dotharl and get away with it! 

-

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[fallow-foot]

Stars in a Darkened Sea

Origins Jack and Niki have a small talk in which Niki talks a bit about her past and someone in it.

(This is my first time ever really writing a fic so uhhh please be nice I have no idea what I’m doing.)

“You know your not the first blaze I’ve ever met.”/Niki quitetly said her blue and pink tail floating lazily in the river behind her.

“Is that really so?” Jack exclaimed the rods around him glowing ever so slightly brighter. “I didn’t know you knew anyone really besides our group at the pub(e) let alone another neather dweller like myself.”

“Yeah… yeah I did…” she said eyes glowing with sadness as if she was remembering a time now far gone. “He was truly someone special… his name was Ori and from what I can assume you and him are the exact same species.”

“Is that so?” Jack said giving her an incredulous look.

“Yeah… yeah you are…” she said looking off into the distance and holding a piece of what looked to be yellow glass tied around a loosely made necklace before adding. “Him and I went through quite a lot together. I got him out of the nether and we both ended up learning quite abit about both the over world and even the nether that one time he took me.”

“You went to the nether!?” jack exclaimed

“Yes I did!” Niki laughed. “Now let me finish my story!”

“So anyways him and I went and explored all we could finding many a things before well one day him and I got into a pretty big fight that stars knows now what was about and he got upset over it and just left…”

“Wow” jack said eyes burning a deep red. “How could he just get mad at you over a silly little thing that you can’t even remember and just leave like that! Not even a goodbye!”

“Yeaahhh…” niki hesitatently said. “Though now that I think about it more I never think he was mad at me… I think he was just mad at himself and just in the end never knew how to communicate his feelings with ether me or himself…”

They sat their in silence for a long while before she finally said.

“You know if he’s still out their I hope he’s finally happy. I by the stars I hope that one day our cross roads will join together just at least once more so I can tell him that whatever he’s done he’s done amazing and I bet Shy would be proud of us both…” niki quitely said looking up at the stars clustered in the cool night sky.

Thousands and thousands of blocks away a lone blaze born crowned in only the light of their halo of blaze fragments clutching something hung around their neck glanced up at the sky and with a quiet chuckle whispered “hope you happy Niki… I truly do…” before glancing back down at the chicken quietly sleeping in his lap.