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amerricanartwork · 6 days

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Hi! I just wondered if you've played Hollow Knight based off how much you like Rain World. I'd be interested in any thoughts you had on it. :)

Thanks for the ask! No, I have not yet played Hollow Knight, BUT my interest in the game has been piqued! However I still have to see if the gameplay itself seems up my alley, or get invested enough in the characters that I want to discover more than I've already found out (and I have spoiled quite a lot for myself) before I actually decide to buy the game.

Regardless, from what I do know it does seem like an interesting story, albeit one far more tragic than Rain World's in my opinion. The characters I've seen are also pretty cool, both in design and personality. In fact, it was some ship fanart I found a few weeks ago that got me interested in diving deeper into the game once I realized it was where the featured characters were from, especially since one of the characters I had remembered hearing about before.

Here's a little sketch of some characters I was thinking about and whom I've been meaning to draw for a bit! Hornet because she's very Shaped™, Quirrel because from what I've seen he's quite wholesome, and Tiso because he was the first character I heard about and I think he's kinda silly!

Also, some more comparing/contrasting thoughts about the game below:

Firstly, I like how the premise of Kollow Knight involves anthropomorphic insects! It's something I never realized until recently despite being aware of HK for at least a few years, but I usually tend to take interest in stories starring non-humanoid creatures, so it's a plus! I also enjoy the more gothic/Victorian-looking magical high fantasy aesthetic, though it's pretty different from Rain World, which I'd consider far more sci-fi and specbio-esque in its aesthetic.

Now to get into themes, so far Hollow Knight seems to share Rain World's theme of lost/dead civilizations, which is also a very interesting premise to me! However, HK seems to have a greater focus on interacting with the people of its dying civilization and as such you get far more definitive knowledge about what happened to cause it to collapse. The player character seems to take on more of a classic epic hero role, because from what I've heard about the lore and endings, they end up directly influencing the fate of Hallownest, even potentially destroying or defeating the force that caused its ruin. The visuals have this very dark, cool tint overall to sell that gloomy, mournful vibe, and the structures, while presumably old, are still mostly smooth, ornate, and not super deteriorated, with these castle or manor-like appearances more similar to real-life buildings or things in other high fantasy works. Then, the orchestral music I've heard alongside all of these elements really creates this impression in me that it's aesthetic and overall concept is more akin to a high fantasy epic tale, albeit a rather tragic one.

Meanwhile, Rain World seem to have the player take more of an anthropologist role, observing and trying to piece together the story of vast remnants of its dead civilization, which seem alien and impossibly complex because so much of the history they're from has been lost to time. One of the core themes is being very small compared to these long abandoned structures, to really sell the idea that this history is so much older and more intricate than you'll ever know. The colors of Rain World are often warmer, which can be associated with old things, and the structures are far more weathered and broken down, with the only living survivors of the people who made them being the iterators, whom we only get to hear directly from two of. Combined with the focus on simulating an ecosystem, the more directly religious ideas within, the themes of natural cycles and an entire civilization evolving, changing, and ultimately disappearing over deep time, and the overall alien, sci-fi industrial designs of the architexture and strange creature designs that look like things out of "Of Rust and Humus" or some other alien speculative biology worldbuilding project make RW fit well in with that genre of fiction in my opinion.

Sorry if I seem like I kinda took a sudden shift there, but I wanted to talk about this contrast in artistic aesthetics and story genres for a moment because the "lasting impression" an art piece creates something I've recently concluded is pretty important overall in works of art, at least for mine!

But anyway, I hope these thoughts were satisfying for now! Thanks again for the ask!

#ask #inbox #art #artwork #drawing #sketch #digital #digital art #fanart #hollow knight #quirrel #hk quirrel #hornet #hk hornet #tiso #hk tiso #quetzalli draws #quetzalli answers

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minty-mumbles · 9 months

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Linked Universe Survey 2023

The long awaited results of the survey. Sorry it took me forever, making graphs is hard.

There were 452 responses to the survey as a whole, which is almost double what we got last year, so thank you to everyone who participated!

If you want to see the raw data, you can find that here. I had thoughts about the data, but compiling that into another post would be too much of a hassle. Feel free to send me asks about it though!

The rest of the post will be under a read more as it it large

Demographics

Other: Demigirl (4), Transmasc (3), Grey genderfluid, Unlabeled, Demiboy, Demiagender

Other: Omnisexual (4), Poly (2), Trixic, Abroromantic or Bellusromantic, Demisexual

General Questions

Other: Quotev, Discord, their own google docs

Other: Discord, Variations of "I haven't posted yet, but I pan to" and "I haven't posted my fics in ages",

Other: Wattpad, Deviantart, Discord

Other: Crochet dolls, Custom dolls, Roleplay blogs (2), Fan translations, Headcanons (2), Piano music

The purple section in the “Warriors vs Warrior” chart is supposed to read “Warrior.” I made a typo.

Favorites and Least Favorites

Selected Free Response Answers

im sorry warriors i just can't play your game (it is very very hard. i am stuck very early on in the game)

I love cats meow meow meow

was extremely tempted to put twilight for least favorite. unfortunately he is my favorite to write from the perspective of (he has taken over most of my wips. help) and that probably counts for something. WILD on the other hand. hooo boy how the hell do i characterize this gargoyle. why is he Like That. least favorite it is

Twiddy

very good fandom to be in :) everybody is very nice

It's a straight up crime that Wars lost the aesthetics poll so quickly. He has such a peak Link design with the best colors. Ugh I'm getting wistful.

FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS.

I will fight Hylia herself and the next person who implies Twi can't handle spice. If we're going to lean into him being southern/Midwestern, which is an alright stero type for our rancher, please keep in mind the culture you're basing him off. The south and midwest can handle their spice, I assure you. Have you ever had authentic Louisiana gumbo? It will melt you tongue off. Or some good old fashion spicy fried chicken? I promise the real stuff has quite a kick. (In all seriousness, though. It's more important that you're having fun. And even I can admit the idea of Twi being an Ordonian who can't handle his spice is more than a little funny.)

I am an OoT Link edgelord and have been since early 2017. So, in September of that year, when an artist by the name of jojo56830 puts out a lineup of nine different Links and the Hero of Time is there – the oldest, no eye, Hero’s Shade armor? I saw that one sketch and just thought “oh this is gonna be bad.” Yeah of course he has the coolest design. By the way, it’s only a matter of time until Fierce Deity shows up in the comic and I have reason to believe it could be this current Dawn arc. Dawn … Dawn of a New Day … and who brought about the Dawn of a New Day? Fierce Deity. Twilight is recovering but still injured and what will happen if he falls again? Fierce Deity is coming and we need to be prepared. In this essay I will—

Remember that time when someone put the whole script of the bee movie in here? I’m not that dedicated, and I don’t have that time, but let us remember and hope someone else does it again this time. Cause someone is bound too. We’re all crazy enough to do it. Alright, love you and stay hydrated pls!

Hi! I joined this fandom really recent but i’ve always seen LU stuff on pinterest and elsewhere. Only recently have i actually took the time to understand the fandom and get back into LOZ stuff and i adore the characters and story! The more and more fanart, fanfics, and comics i see about the different Links the more i love them all. It’s such a pain to pick just one i like or one i don’t like because they’re all so unique. I love this fandom and hope to get more involved!! Have a wonderful rest of your day :]

Epona is an underrated queen

your mom

I really don't get why Zelda is called Artemis. Athena makes more sense???? It perplexes me

Anyone seeing this should check out Breanna’s E!Wild AU

Something something queer every Link into oblivion!

#linked universe #lu survey 2023 #lu wild #lu twilight #lu time #lu warriors #lu legend #lu wind #lu hyrule #lu four #lu sky

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factual-fantasy · 1 month

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10 asks! Thank you!! :}} 🌞

AHEHEHE KICKING MY FEET AND GIGGLING LIKE A DORK AT THIS 😭😭💞🥺💖💖 THANK YOU SO MCUH!! I DO MY BEST TO MAKE THE EXPRESSIONS KF THE CHARACTERS READABLE AND DRIPPING WITJ EMOTION SO IM GLAD ITS WORKING!! :DD ✨💞✨💖✨

@gummysusie

Oh there's lots I'd be willing to eat if I had to! XDD

My memory ain't the best but off the top of my head-- I'm sure eating miltank meat wouldn't disturb me so much! :0

I like fish so there's a lot of those I'd be willing to try! Magikarp, uhhh those two grumpy fish that are either green/red or green/blue! I forgot the name..

Of course all of the food themed ones would be relatively no problem. Fidough, Milcery.. There's some bird ones that wouldn't be too upsetting too! XDD

As long as my brain relates them to earthly animals, I'm not too disturbed by the thought of eating them XD Im sure they have to eat pokemon in the actual pokemon universe! Where else do their meat based dishes come from? How else do they feed their carnivorous pokemon??

@girlsackthing

Not recently :(( but I'd like to pick it up again someday once I'm feeling better! :}}

@illogically-austere

Hey thanks for checking in, that means a lot 🥹

I'm hanging in there as best I can. I haven't eaten much but am getting plenty of water and rest! I'm hoping this horrible health trial thingy I've been going through is over soon <:}}

@sussyhahag

y a l i k e j a z z ?

@littlelightfish

Hey pal, I hope You're doing alright! Hang in there.. <:}}

I haven't worked much on Tuna's backstory recently.. but I imagined that his blood family was gone.. he lived on a ship with a real rotten crew that was horrible to him.

As for how he joined Seafoam's crew, I imagined that the crew rescued him somehow. Maybe Tuna's old crew attacked Seafoam's crew but he kicked their butts. Perhaps in all the chaos Tuna was left behind by "mistake", only for Foam to welcome him aboard?

Maybe his old crew got too intense and he ran, somehow running into Seafoam and he offered shelter? Or maybe his old ship sank and he was found by Seafoam..? Something along those lines-- XD

Anywho- thank you! Things are starting to look up for me, I'm hoping this journey is almost over! <:}}

@raven-bearden-the-interviewer42

"Seafoam's heart 🥰..... Metaphorically I mean-"

I would assume so! :0 Maybe a cookie like that already exists in the games!

Well that's hard to say.. I usually draw comics all in one pass. I sketch out the entire comic, and then I go back and draw all the line art, and then I go back and color it all in..

So in that sense 1 drawing for a comic could take days to complete. But if I were to focus on just one panel/drawing? I would guesstimate about 10-15 minutes :0

Now my name! My memory is a little foggy.. but one of my favorite things to do in drawing is to apply logic, reason and explanations for things.

For example, Captain Barnacles! He's a polar bear wearing a full suit and lives out in the Pacific Ocean. Obviously there's a lot that doesn't make sense about that- but mainly the fact that Barnacles would be way too hot!

So I remedy this by making my version of Barnacles have very short fur, a special diet that thins out his blubber, and a special suit that helps keep him cool! It's not perfect obviously but it helps make him living out in the Pacific seem more reasonable. Which is what I love to do, and how I thought of my name! Applying fact to fantasy, Factual Fantasy!

Hm, Bibi's worst fear.. that would have to be something bad happening to me or any of the fam I'd assume <XD

Nothing bad actually happened to Red, that nightmare just manifested because she loves/worries about him so much 🥺💞 Like a mother having dreams about their children getting hurt. Nothing exactly happened to cause it, but they just worry about their babies so much that those dreams happen sometimes..

And lastly, thank you! It's looking good that I might finally get out of this pit. So my spirits are high! :}}

@beryl-shade (sorry for the late response! <:D)

He typically will not allow it 😅 I originally had a drawing idea for this ask but I dont have the strength to get to my PC so I can just explain it!-

I imagined Octo and some of the crew all tied to chairs with some other pirates taunting them. Octo looks very bored and very unintimidated.

Well one of the pirates makes the mistake of grabbing one of Octos tentacles and twirling it around. Octo immediately reacts and uses the other tentacles on his head to restrain his hand and start choking the guy-

The rest of the crew is just laughing and calling that pirate an idiot while he continues to struggle to get away from the angry Octo 🤣

Now on the other hand, if he gets a joking pat on the head from Seafoam? Or if Red is up on his shoulders and he pulls on Octo's hair by mistake? Eh, whatever he doesn't mind much. : '

#my response #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #cookie run ocs #my ocs

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eoieopda · 9 months

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[visual content blog recommendations]

we see fic recs all the time, but i don’t think i’ve ever seen rec lists for visual content (gif/art/gfx/etc.) creators! they’ve been dealing with a bunch of shit lately between reposts, tumblr garbage, etc., so i wanna shout-out some favorites. thank you for keeping us fed!!

disclaimer: this is not an exhaustive list!! if you have recommendations of your own, please feel free to expand on this yourself and/or drop some of your faves in the replies for others to see. self-promo is always welcome here, too ✨ p.s. some of these are recent finds for me, so pls expect to see more of them on my blog. eta: i will be adding more as i go!!

[bts]

@yooboobies — réka’s gif sets are *chef’s kiss* and the ART? omg. the talent!!! 😭 we simply have to simp.

@cordiallyfuturedwight — apart from being one of the coolest/funniest people i’ve found on army tumblr, i am a kayla stan because the niche themes for her gif sets (ex. bangtan turtlenecks series) feel like they’re made 👏🏻 for 👏🏻 me 👏🏻 even though they absolutely aren’t, lmao.

@hopeinthebox — the bts as reductress headline + incorrect bangtan series are probably my favorite pieces of content on the entire internet??? also, lizzy is absolutely gd hilarious. tags are 11/10. a blessing upon my dash.

@kimtaegis — i’m not visually artistic enough to say this in a way that makes sense, but annie’s gifs are just… stunning? like, the colors? idk about the process that goes into that, but i imagine it takes a lot of time/finesse to be this vivid.

@kithtaehyung — ryen is the renaissance man of army tumblr, fr. not only can she write (like!!!) but she’s multi-faceted and insanely creative with her graphic design. i want her to tutor me, lmao.

@raplinenthusiasts — ooohhhhh my god. the coloring of their gifs makes my brain go brrrrtttt. this bts x the office set is on my “always reblog” list; i’ll share it every time i come across it.

@heybaetae — this set in particular is on my “always reblog” list, no matter how many times i’ve done so already. also, idk how to describe this, but kelli’s gifs are just…. crispy 🤌🏻 like, so satisfying with the…. texture? filtering? contrast? i’m an idiot re: editing terms, but go peep them and you’ll know what i’m trying to say.

@kth1 — literally who could ever forget maggie’s 100 days of (member) series??? the amount of work that had to go into that? unfathomable.

@jeurias — i want to wallpaper my house and office with their gfx. i’m deadass.

@jinstronaut — emmeline has been doing her “a jin a day while he’s away” series for OVER 250 DAYS NOW. i have never been nor will i ever be able to commit to anything to this level.

[multi/skz/atz/svt/etc.]

@starryoong — do not get me started on starry’s paintings, sketches, etc. because i will never shut up. ever. j’adore 🫠 is also a five-star human being.

@irlvernon — my queue is probably 80% max gifs at any given time. god-tier, fr. a must-follow for carats, as far as i’m concerned.

@vcrnons — incredible gifs, lovely human, and also the writer of some of my favorite svt fics??? we stan.

@yelhsaart — i don’t have any words for how much i love their art so please imagine guttural screaming instead. asdfghjkl!!!

@hizuillu — ……breathtaking. legitimately stunning skz art. like…… i have heart palpitations.

@snug-gyu — THE USE OF COLORS. i’m always a simp for pantone-inspired sets; they just scratch an itch in the back of my brain, and BOY HOWDY, is my brain satisfied 😵‍💫

@yunwooz — again, i have no idea what i’m talking about when it comes to the gif-making process, but the colors!!! the COLORS!!! like, taking a mv that’s not super vivid/is fairly greyscale and bringing it to life? ya know????

@booskwan — you want incredible gifs? they’ve got em. you want stunning gfx? they’ve got em. seriously, idk what to tell you except “pause right here and go follow immediately”.

@haechannabelle — listen……. annabelle’s art style is 😗🤌🏻 (that’s a chef’s kiss). the use of color, and the technique, and and and — ! ALSO, i must mention that she took, like, 50 hours to compile a boycott-friendly k-pop playlist. their vibes are simply impeccable.

rev. 4/10/24

#bts #skz #atz #svt #gfx recs #gif recs #art recs #jade speaks

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deprivedreality · 10 months

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𝗦𝗬𝗠𝗕𝗜𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗦 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 neteyam x human reader

word count: 1.7k ➤ might make part two

synopsis: as the day of neteyam's crowning ceremony nears, the more you realize of the sad truth of being loved and loving someone who's from an entirely different species.

content & pairing/s: forbidden love. neteyam x human reader.

Neteyam and you have withheld your relationship for more than six years. It has come clear that the two of you adored each other and would kill for one another. It didn't come as blurry, since Neteyam proudly speaks of his human mate with his entire clan even though it changed his image greatly amongst the elder na'vis.

His mother, Neytiri greatly disapproves of such thing that his son believes is what is for him. For her, you will always be human. One of them. The people who hurt and killed na'vis. A race that burned down her home and killed her father.

And you take her son greatly angered the tsakarem. Neytiri wanted to rid you so badly and because of it, it had ruined her relationship with her firstborn.

Jake, however, has no problem whatsoever. He wanted his son to have the best of the best. But recently, there's been many speculations that you were a great cause of his son's probability of losing the title as the next Olo'eyktan. Mayhaps that was the only thing that Jake needed to talk to you one faithful noon when you were exploring the forest alone.

You were in the middle of sketching a crimsysoraus─ as you hid your small human body behind the bushes and camouflaged under the various colors of your clothes, you were heavily focused on the creature. However, from a sudden movement behind you, the primitive animal had run off so easily that you stood up in disappointment.

As you hear steps coming from behind you, you were quick enough to see who it was and your eyes lightened up at the sight of Jake Sully─ the mighty Toruk rider. He smiled slightly at you and seemed eager to say something, which heightened your curiosity.

"Jake, I can't say I'm glad to see you." You sighed as you greeted the familiar man that towered over you. Jake was thrice your size, he was slightly bigger and taller than Neteyam but you grew accustomed to this kind of physique that it didn't really bother you. Besides, for a quarter of your life, Jake stood up as your father.

When Jake noticed that you were starting to pack your things, that was the time he mustered up the courage to say something. So in an attempt to get your attention, he grabbed your small shoulders and leaned down. "Kid, listen, we need to talk."

"About what?" You said. You had no clue what was about to go between you and your peaceful life and because of it, you had a clueless expression on your face. "Can't we talk about it in the lab?"

"No, it has to be now," Jake claims, a deep sense of urgency in his voice and you acknowledge it. It freaked you out a little but you listened to every word he said next. "It's about Neteyam. You have to break it off with him, it's not happening, kid."

Suddenly, your mind went a bit blank and your expression started to fall into a confused one. You ushered Jake's hand away from your shoulder and continued looking at everything other than Jake's gaze. You started to feel slightly anxious as every second passed and you didn't speak. But you listened to every word the man said.

"You know back then when I said that as long as you make my son happy, I'm okay with all this. But y/n, right now, Neteyam is struggling as the heir of Omatikaya and I can't help him. It's not that I blame you or him for being connected! But Neteyam─"

"So you mean to say that he won't be Ole'eyktan so long as he has connections with me?" You could feel your heartache from saying such words, but you were observant of Jake's movement. He was serious and you understood what he was making it out to be that you easily got the point.

The man knew you your entire life, he's been there from the moment you took your first step alongside his firstborn. He's witnessed the comfort his son receives from you. As well as the happiness, entertainment, freedom, and the love Neteyam got from you.

Even if you were human, and he was Na'vi. As far as he knew, his son reminded him of himself back then when he was lost and hadn't been able to familiarize what love is until Neytiri came around.

Jake deeply disliked having to be the one to break the bond you had with his son. And he knew he would never let his wife be the one to stop you and Neteyam, or else Neytiri would be hated most by their son. So Jake hesitated to answer your question, but he nodded his head. "The people, the entire clan do not understand the bond you two have, and we can show them that you and Neteyam are─"

"I get it, Jake. You don't have to break it to pieces, I've known from the very start." You spouted, a single tear dropping from your right eye. You looked at Jake's sincereness and your breath started to hitch under the mask you were wearing. "Why are you the one to tell me this, It's so embarrassing."

Your lips trembled and from a split of a second, you looked into Jake's eyes. A huge wave of jealousy came washing over you. You knew his story, his life. How he too was human, like you. And he fell in love with a Na'vi, like you. He loved someone from a different specie who loved him back, like you. But unlike you, you weren't an avatar.

So the people of the man you loved hated you more than the hate Jake received from the time when he stood in similar shoes as yours. That thought alone made you think of Neteyam. Would it really be the right choice? Even if it probably is, only eywa knows how things would've gone if you never even formed something deeply intimate with a creature of purity.

That's right. You were human, and he was Na'vi. A man from a different specie like him ought to have never developed any sort of feelings for you. You were human. A colonizer. An invader. A demon to the eyes of the other Navi people. You were a nuisance to the prince of Omatikaya who... loved you.

"We should stop this. It's weird... We're weird." Even though you were hurting, you managed to say it anyway. And what pained you more was the fact that he looked into your eyes as you said it like your entire relationship was a joke.

Neteyam loves you. So hearing every syllable of every word you say fell on his ears like a flashback of the times he was in war. His amber eyes stared into yours and confusion erupted from his face. You had invited yourself to his private space in the home tree where all the Omatikaya lived.

You knew you weren't welcomed by the clan with the current issue you stirred up because of your interest in their prince and the only ones to welcome you were no more than Neteyam, siblings, some na'vi kids, and Jake.

Neteyam, the poor boy, had expected that you came for a visit per usual. And for you to come to him with awful remarks, they were venomous to his fragile heart. "Why... W-what? What are you saying...? What- why are you saying that!?" Neteyam stood up in disbelief, his words were laced with pain and his voice cracked. He looked at you, and you simply smiled apologetically.

That's right, Neteyam loves you. The Neteyam you used to laugh at for being slow, the boy you would cuddle when he was mad at his parents. The boy you would bully into thinking it's his fault you were smaller than him. The boy who would protect you, and in return, you would be by his side─ loving him as though you two couldn't differentiate the obvious difference you two had to be born with.

And from the way it played on Neteyam's mind, you love him too. You and him were in love, so why would it be weird? Is love weird? So why were those words he dreaded to hear spewing out of those pretty mouths of yours that he swore had lathered him with the most comforting and loving words he's ever heard in his life?

"Neteyam." His name fell from your mouth so gracefully, as if he was named only to be spoken by your voice. So why were you saying any less than what you had to?

"I'm serious. You and I are not fit together, it's not gonna work. Your clan will never allow you to be with me. Never!" You stood up as well to say your stance, but Neteyam fell to his knees and held your small hands as if pleading with you to stay.

"No, don't care about them, y/n! Yawne- My y/n, I will do anything to make them believe─" He cried, desperation so evident that you had to look away or else you'd slap him and say you love him back. And you weren't supposed to do that, you promised his father something.

That's why you'd leave him.

"Make them believe what exactly? No matter how many reasons you give them, they will never accept whatever we have!" You grabbed your hands from him and you walked off, and as you looked at him one final time─a grimace on your face that hid all the pain.

"Na'vi and Humans should never be together." You whispered before disappearing from his sight.

And the last thing you see was the betrayal Neteyam has in his eyes, the tears falling down from his cheeks and down to the hand that tried to reach out to you, pleading you'd come back.

ᓚᘏᗢ @deprivedreality 2023 | do not copy my works!

#deprivedreality ─ oneshots #deprivedreality ─ blogs #avatar the way of water #deprivedreality #neteyam #jake sully #atwow #neytiri #avatar neteyam #neteyam x human reader #neteyam x female reader #neteyam imagines

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tainted-liquor · 9 months

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'Swing By Anytime˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚

Earth1610!Miles Morales x BlackFem!Personal Seamstress!Reader Ingredients: sugar, kisses, and a lil bit of smiles! TWs: cursing, you being Miles's M.J., Reader being mean as encouragement (you'll see babes trust) W/C: 1.1k? A/N: Purely for the sake of the plot, miles is like 18-20. NOT SMUT!

"Gorgeous! You're so pretty, girl! Alright, the changing room is to the left, you can put it on the hook. It'll be ready for you tomorrow when I finish making all the proper altercations." You squealed in pure joy. Since you had been a fashion major, outfits had just poured out of you like run-off. Of course every now and again there were people who wanted things custom ordered, which made you extremely happy. But you knew who your favorite customer was. And, speaking of your favorite customer, he should be here right now. There was a muffled tiny 'thwip' noise that you would have missed if you weren't straining to hear every individual sound over the beat of 'Shirt' By SZA in your studio.

You sighed with a small smile, walking to your studio's window. "Darling, I keep telling you this, I have a door, just strut through it whenever you want" you giggled as you lifted the window pane, coming face-to-face with the one and only Spider-Man. "Whatcha got for me today, my dear?" you asked as you beckoned him inside the studio, taking a set in front of the many vision boards you had pinned down to your desk. "Hey! sorry, snips, I'll use the door next time. And I brought this design plan, actually." He hummed with a smile that was hidden behind his mask. He had a habit of calling you snips due to always seeing you with some sort of scissors, not that you minded anyway. He walked up to you and handed you a folded-up piece of paper, which had a plethora of sketches for a new Spider-Man suit.

Your eyes widened with joy as you took a scan of the paper. Next to the various drawings, there was one circled design with many notes jotted down next to it with measurements, material, color shades, and substitute color shades. It was the most solid suit plan you had ever seen. You turned the paper around to see more notes, and the smaller parts of the suit enlarged. It was perfect from top to bottom. Everything you needed to know was on paper, which made your job unfathomably easier.

"You know I love you for this, right?" You squealed with a wide grin. "Fuck you! How dare you bring such perfection into my studio!" You joked, giving the Spider a tight hug. He chuckled quietly, muttering, "Had to make it easy for my personal seamstress! C'mon, snips, I'd never do that to you." he added as he gave you a pat on the back. Miles usually came into the studio to fix tears or rips in his suit, get patched up, and then swing back out. But recently, he's been talking about reworking his Spider-Suit. So, like a good 'friend' you offered to help him with his project. Of all your clients, only he had given you such a thorough and precise outfit plan.

He began to recall some of his adventures as his alter-ego, letting his mask hook over his nose as he ate some of your cookies on the ceiling. You listened to his experiences as you plucked each corresponding fabric from the fabric closet, placing them next to each other on the ground. You traced each required pattern with a white chalk pencil, referencing the measurements documented on Miles's paper and keeping seam allowance in mind. "Damn, that's crazy...so what'd you do next, B? You had to web her?" you replied as he raved about some Doc-Oc he caught on his way here. "Yeah, I got her in webs and turned her over to the police. She was dead ass putting up a fight too." He spat as he took the final bite of his cookie.

"That's insane...C'mere I gotta make sure I got this little web design right on your mask," You said as you beckoned him to come down from your ceiling. He zipped down, landing on both of his feet within seconds. You held up the small fabric sheet, allowing him to examine the thin markings where his web design would go. "Nice! Looks amazing. Wouldn't expect anything less from mi Costurera personal!" He exclaimed. You smiled delicately as you continued cutting out the patterns, leaving the spaces he wanted to spray paint on blank.

You spent the next 9 hours talking as you finished his suit and mask. He leaned back on your desk, arms crossed against his chest as you explained color theory, why you were sewing his suit inside out, and why you outlined the pattern with white chalk. It was getting dark outside, and you felt slightly drowsy as you finished the last stitches on his mask. "Alright, love, here you go. I'm pretty sure it's the right size, but put it on when you get time and come back if it's too small." you smiled as you hand him the mask. "Oh, dope! Bet." He says as he suddenly pulls off his mask, releasing his fluffy hair from the tight confines of the spandex. Your eyes widened as you slowly realized Spider-Man had casually taken his mask off in front of me.

You didn't hide that you were staring at his entire face, analyzing his features as soon as the mask came off. He chuckled as he put the other mask on, looking in the mirror on the wall to check out his new mask. "It's perfect! It's exactly like how I wanted, you're a literal angel!" he fanboys as he poses like a dork in my mirror. "How much do I owe you?" He asks as he turns around, fidgeting with the gloves of his suit as he pulled out a wad of money from seemingly nowhere. "Pshh, bitch you look amazing. Just take the suit. It's free." I insisted, leaning back in my chair and placing both feet on my desk.

His eyes narrowed as he advanced to me, grabbed my wrist, and firmly placed the money in my hand. "That was 10 hours of work. I'm NOT taking advantage of your labor." He stated, pulling off his mask purely so he could give me the most serious, slightly-offended look of his life. I nodded slowly as I put the money in my bag cautiously. "Good. Thank you, mi angelita!" He added, pressing a small kiss to my forehead. "C'mon, I'll swing you home. I know your studio closed hours ago" he reasoned as he scooped me up from my chair, throwing me over his shoulder and slipping his new mask back on. "Spidey, c'mon its really no trou-" I began

"Miles." He corrected.

I sighed as I packed up his suit, gently wrapping it in a cute little box and signing it with my infamous signature, "M.J." before wrapping both arms around his neck gently and giving him a small kiss on his temple, mentally preparing myself to swing through half the damn city at inhumane speeds.

Miles's eyes widened at the small detail, turning to look behind him slightly with a small smirk.

"M.J, huh?"

#across the spiderverse #atsv #into the spiderverse #miles morales x reader #miles morales #miles x reader #miles morales headcanons #miles molares #across the spider verse #spiderverse #earth 1610 miles morales x reader

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captain-mj · 1 year

Text

Vampire Part 4

The plot thickens and Ghost takes off his mask

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Soap had a hard time sleeping after getting all of his housework done. All he could think about was Alejandro’s offer and the way the two men looked intertwined. He thought of what it might be like to be between them. Threesomes had never been high on his fantasy list, usually it was bumped down by the numerous fantasies about vampires. Being bitten, biting, being picked up, being fucked in front of a mirror. Blasphemy and heresy in equal measures.

But a threesome just climbed higher on his list. His little crush on Ghost also just got a lot worse. He had never seen Ghost’s mouth not soaked in blood before. His lips were so red. His fangs poked into his bottom lip and he was so pale. More than that though, his throat had recent bite marks. Meaning Alejandro or someone else bit him often.

Soap’s heart fluttered in his chest and he ended up sitting up, needing to do something with his hands. He grabbed one of his sketchbooks and started to draw Ghost again. This time, he managed to get more of his face. Connecting it with the eyes he knew so well, he tried to piece him together.

He put music in and made sure his alarm was set. He tried his best to sleep most days but sometimes his circadian rhythm just wouldn’t let him. Between that and the adrenaline from earlier, he knew it was likely a losing battle.

Soap drew those fangs dripping in blood, his to be specific but you couldn’t tell from the sketch, and then tried to figure out what Ghost’s nose looked like.

Turns out even adrenaline wears off because he woke up to his alarm while drooling all over the sketch. He sat up slowly and his neck cracked.

“Fucking hell.” Soap stretched and wandered up around the house. He checked that there was a party nearby that the vampires could snatch people from before going up to his Ghost. In the morning, he’d go to the pack house to meet up with Farah, but for now, he’d hang out with Ghost. Like every night.

Soap smiled. When he became a familiar, he didn’t realize he would be a paid friend.

The door was locked.

The door was never locked.

“Ghost?”

“Go away.” Ghost sounded strained, like he was in pain.

Soap panicked. “Sir, are you okay? Is something wrong?”

Ghost didn’t respond.

“Sir, please.”

“Johnny.” Ghost said coldly and sternly. “I am fine. Just… come back later, please.”

Soap sighed. “Okay…” This was the second night this week that Ghost didn’t spend with him. It was selfish of him. But Soap was getting worried that Ghost had gotten… bored with him. He was immortal but he had long learned that didn’t mean much. They grew tired and bored of things quickly if they weren’t just right to catch their fancy.

In the room, Ghost felt like he was dying. His body ached all over. His ears kept ringing. His mouth had been stuffed full of cotton. Ghost hadn’t needed to breath in so long but he needed to right now.

The ski mask Soap had given him was ripped to shreds on the floor as Ghost gulped for air, but it just… wouldn’t go into his lungs. Nothing he did gave him relief from the suffocating feeling.

Something seared in his chest and there was a sharp pain growing.

Bloody tears ran down his face until his vision was red.

It didn’t stop until midnight and Ghost reluctantly knew when it was. His birthday. Technically, the day he turned but he didn’t know what his actual birthday was anymore. These days were always awful but never this bad. Usually there was just an uncomfortable feeling so he had no clue why his body decided to remind him what pain was.

He slowly ran his hands through his hair, feeling… something.

No.

NO.

His denial could only do so much though. His ears were pointed. And from the way it felt, rather long. Even if his mask wasn’t destroyed, there was no way it would cover them. Ghost looked at his nails, noticing they were longer and sharper, as well as a nice obsidian color. He’d be glad he no longer had to paint his nails if not for the growing hate in his soul.

Sometimes, when he was selfish or lonely or sad, he’d pretend he was human. Just… for a bit. It was easy if he didn’t look in mirrors or run his tongue over his teeth.

But the hands in front of him were not human. The way the hair tickled the tips of his ears was not human. Even his fangs fit differently in his mouth.

Ghost scratched at the flesh on his wrists, watching the darkened blood cover his nails. He felt sick. He’d need to eat soon. Soap had gotten him used to nightly feedings but… he couldn’t stomach going outside.

Rudy, the fucking psychic Ghost swore, knocked. “Simon, are you pouting about your lover again?”

Ghost tensed. “Don’t come in.” Mist was already pouring through the door as Rudy appeared in front of him. His face fell.

“Simon. It’s nice to see you again.”

Ghost looked away. “I can’t let Soap see me like this. Please don’t let him see me like this.”

Rudy sighed and knelt in front of him. “He’s into vampires you know. I don’t think he’d care if you look a little less human.”

“I don’t want to be less human. I feel like I’m pretty inhuman as it is.” Ghost let Rudy take his wrists. “New nails.”

Rudy hissed and shook his head. “You’re not healing thanks to the little transformation you decided to have. Used everything you got.”

Ghost didn’t like the implication that it was on purpose but he let it slide. “I’m not going out there. I don’t have my mask. And Soa-”

Rudy covered Ghost’s mouth to quiet him. “I know. I get it. Look, I just came back okay? You can have a nibble off me and then we’ll figure it out.”

Ghost relaxed and mumbled.

“What was that?” He mumbled again.

“Simon.”

“I said thank you… Also stop calling you that.”

“Would you prefer batling?”

“Nevermind.” Ghost pulled Rudy in his lap easily and nosed at his throat. He took a deep breath. All vampires smelled a little too sweet and Rudy was no exception, but he could also smell fresh running blood under his skin. He sank his teeth into Rudy, feeling him tangle his fingers in his hair. His eyes closed as he drank, holding his body even closer.

A simple tap on his shoulder and he pulled away, swallowing. Rudy leaned in and kissed him before licking the blood off his lips. “Not as good the second time around.”

Ghost nodded and kissed him back, feeling slightly less terrible. “How can I hide this?”

“You could just… not hide it? There’s no reason too.”

Ghost didn’t understand what Rudy meant. He was covered in scarring. He looked like the dead.

“You’re handsome.” Rudy smiled. “Even if you look a little older now.”

Ghost cupped Rudy’s face, examining him. He was perfect. Everything a vampire should be. A perfect predator.

Ghost was that when his mask was on. When no one could see.

Rudy pulled away and lightly kissed his cheek. “Do you need anything, handsome?”

Ghost laughed softly and smiled, his new fangs biting into his lip a little. “I’m fine.”

Rudy paused and softened a little. “You have a nice smile. You really should let people see it more. I know Soap would love it.” He teased but it was good natured. Gentle. Like he knew just how fragile Ghost was in this moment. His hand ran through Ghost’s hair. It was long and went to his shoulders, a nice soft ginger.

“Thinking of bleaching it.”

“Why?”

“It’s going to have to be seen more. I don’t know. Just think it might be smart.”

Rudy patted his head. “I’m liking the implications. Think you’d make a cute blond.”

Ghost was glad he was not well fed enough to blush. Rudy would tease him “Just… give me a little time.”

“Not too much though, you understand?” Rudy glared. “I don’t want you to get lost in your own head again. Does no good for anyone.” He did leave him alone though.

Interviewer: So why did you come back?

Price: Well, I know Simon’s birthday of course! This is the year when he goes through some changes. You’d think this stuff is gradual since we live forever but our bodies change fast, just spread out.

Interviewer: Interesting. Like phases?

Price: Precisely. First year, a vampire is a fledgling. They require a lot of care in those states. Especially if they were like him and unhappy about the change. You have to keep them fed, keep them from going into the sun, teach them what they need to survive. Then, when you reach a century, some vampires get gifts. Turn into a cat, turn invisible, stuff like that. Extra things that don’t always come with the package. And today. His 800th birthday. When your ears come in. He’ll finally be a grown up.

Interviewer: Did you warn him?

Price: I was going to but it seems I was a tad late. Didn’t want to interrupt him.

Interviewer: Right… Well, what was Ghost like as a fledgeling?

Price: This interview is over.

Soap was on the other side of the house, stressing about this decision. He finally decided yes, he did want to take Alejandro’s deal. So he found him.

Alejandro was lounging on the couch, clearly waiting for something. Soap was pretty sure it was Rudy.

“Alejandro, sir.”

“Yes?” He sounded mildly irritated to be interrupted in his lounging but he sat up anyway.

Soap sat next to him. “I… Your deal.”

Alejandro looked intrigued. “Yeah. The deal. You keep quiet and if you want, I show you what Ghost kisses like.”

“I want to know.” Soap said softly. Despite everything else he had done, sleep with Rudy, get felt up by Alejandro, watch Alejandro and Ghost do… things, for some reason, this made him nervous. It was just kissing.

Alejandro touched his face carefully and had him face him. He held him so tight Soap could barely move. Soap parted his lips to speak and Alejandro leaned in, kissing him softly. His eyes stayed open and so did Soap’s. It felt too intimate. Too much. Soap quickly closed his eyes. The kiss was… gentle. Not really what Soap had been expecting. He couldn’t lean into it thanks to the hands stopping him.

Alejandro pulled away too soon. “I’m rooting for you, little buddy. I think you two could be good for each other.” He smiled.

Soap was out of breath and flustered. “Thank you…”

Alejandro shook his head. “You’re cute. It’s endearing.” He stood up. “Rudy and Ghost seem to be busy. I’m bored.”

Soap hummed. “I had a party invite? It was so you guys could grab something but you could go there?”

Alejandro nodded. “Thanks Soap. Bat.” He turned into a bat and flitted off before Soap could respond.

Soap checked the time and since it was only a little bit after midnight but no one needed him, he caught up on the sleep he missed. It felt weird, but he decided that was better than trying to find out what Ghost and Rudy were doing together.

Gaz woke him up at 5:30 sharp. “You still going to the pack house?”

“Your boyfriend tell you?”

“Yes. I’m going to tell them I had you run errands for me so they don’t want to know where you’ve gone.”

Soap stretched and caught Gaz up on what little he knew about Ghost refusing to let him in or leave his room. Gaz looked a bit concerned. “I’ll talk to him. He has a soft spot for me.”

Soap knew that to be true. He had seen Ghost pick Gaz’s sides in house arguments he wasn’t even involved in and terrorize half of Gaz’s boyfriends. They acted more like siblings than roommates half the time. Made sense Gaz had Price as his adopted Dad. “Thanks, Gaz. I just… worry, ya know?”

Gaz was clearly trying not to make a face. “Sorry, your worry is just really sour and bitter. Trying not to breath too much.”

Soap laughed and got up. “Let me figure out what these werewolves want, yeah?” He fist bumped him and followed the directions to their house.

It was nice. A little smaller but with an actual car and a giant backyard. Three dogs were running about in it.

Soap knocked and all three dogs stood up.

Oh. Not dogs. Definitely not dogs.

They walked on their hindlegs over to him and he tried to not let the intense feeling of uncanny valley and nausea distract him.

Now that they were closer he could see their size and could pick out Alex. Alex waited until his front paws were on the fence to shift back. It meant Soap wouldn’t see him naked. Well… His lower half at least.

“Hey there!” Alex smiled. “Glad you could come.”

The other two werewolves grabbed blankets to wrap around themselves before joining. One was an older lady with blond hair and the other was Farah.

Farah rushed forward, careful to keep the blanket around here. “You’re early!” She smiled. “So here’s the deal. I need your help rescuing someone from a vampire. Once it’s sunrise, we’re going to sneak in and steal her.”

“And you need me why?”

“In case the vampire shows up of course! You’re The Ghost’s familiar. None of them are going to touch you.”

Soap hummed. He supposed there was a sliver of truth to that. But anyone who knew Ghost well enough, knew that Soap was not something he’d kill for. He liked the vote of confidence though. “Alright. I’ll come with you.”

Farah smiled. “Thank you so much. This really means a lot to me.” She went inside, presumably to get dressed. The other lady had switched to a robe while he was distracted.

“My name is Kate, but most people call me Laswell. It’s nice to meet you.” She shook his hand and smiled. “Farah has been really worried about her girlfriend.”

Alex leaned in. “Just friend. Hasn’t asked her out yet.”

Laswell frowned. “Seriously?? Still? Jesus.”

Soap blinked at the word, pavloved into expecting a hiss or sizzling sound from one of his companions. There was nothing.

He missed his vampires all of sudden.

God, maybe he did need to get out more.

Farah came out and started to lead the way, ironically towards his house meaning they could’ve met up at his house and saved Soap walking at 6 in the morning but whatever. The other werewolves didn’t come with.

“So. This friend.”

“Her name is Malika. She’s been being controlled for who knows how long!”

Soap noticed she wore a choker around her neck. It looked odd with the rest of her outfit. It was plain, not made to draw attention but then she had black… lace? Satin? He didn’t know fabric. But it covered most of her skin.

“I have scarring.”

Soap quickly looked forward. “Oh. Sorry, didn’t mean to stare.”

“It’s cool. Better than when a vampire asked if I liked being collared. Or you just asking. But yeah, I have scarring.”

“What from?”

“I just said I didn’t like being asked.” Farah huffed, but there was a lot more bark than bite to the words. “I didn’t always have a pack and people are cruel.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You got anything like that?”

Soap sighed. “Growing up Scottish in Britain was certainly not ideal. Neither was being gay. Can’t say I have any scars from it. Least not physically.” He grinned at her.

“Must have a ton of mental ones if you want to be a bat.”

“Hey, they’re cool. Live forever. Turn into a bat and fly.”

“Watch everyone you love die. Kill people nightly.”

Soap hummed. “Only bad people.”

“You think every vampire follows that?”

“Mine do.” When Soap was the one in control, but he didn’t let that slip. That night at the bar was different.

Farah didn’t seem to buy it. “Right. Well, we’re here.”

The house was disheveled and held together by tape. The windows were boarded up and Soap didn’t see how anyone, let alone a vampire lived there. They tended to be high maintenance with high standards.

“You sure?”

“Yep! Malika is in there and I have to save her and you’re going to help me.”

Soap sighed. “Yeah, alright.” He grabbed one of the wooden stakes that marked the fence and handed it to Farah before grabbing his own. He checked the sun to see it was well over the horizon. “Alright, they should be sleeping. If Malika is injured or anything, do you have medical supplies at your house?”

“Basic stuff for when we shift.”

“Okay, good. My house is closer but we’ll only go there if there’s an emergency okay? My vampires may also be asleep but its better if we can just bring her straight to your house.”

Farah nodded. “Agreed.”

They both snuck into the home through the front door. It was weird, not needing an invitation. Or having to invite them in behind him.

All these years had started to fuck with his brain and Soap was just now putting together how much it was. When he got irritated, his first instinct was to hiss. When he smiled, he rarely showed off all of his teeth anymore, as if he himself had a pair of fangs to hide.

It was occurring to him now that if for any reason Ghost changed his mind and refused to turn him, Soap would still be very different. Not only because a good chunk of his life would have been waisted on a pipe dream, but such deeply ingrained habits would haunt him.

How could he live as a human when open windows give him anxiety because what if sunlight comes in? When he knew what the wind through his hair from over a 100 feet in the air felt like?

Soap wandered further into the house. It was incredibly dark which not a good sign. The vampire may be a light sleeper.

Farah sniffed the air and started to lead again. She stayed quiet and moved slowly so Soap could keep up even in the pitch black areas. Soap felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he started to reach for Farah. But Farah gasped and rushed forward just as his hand touched her shirt.

“Malika.”

The lady was pretty, but that wasn’t the focus. The focus was the wound on her throat. Several bite marks, none of which were healed. Barely any blood dribbled out and she was so pale.

Farah scooped her up gently.

“My place.” Soap whispered. “Trust me, i-”

Something grabbed him by the back of his hoodie and yanked him off the ground. He felt weightless right before he smashed into the floor. The wooden stake slid towards Farah but she had her hands full with Malika.

“Just go.” Soap yelled before managing to get up and start running in the opposite direction. He made it down the hall before he felt it grab his feet and start to drag him further down.

It was big and clearly old. Very, very old. Soap wondered how many children it had. How many of those children had children. Poor thing, living like this. A vampire this old should have help.

Soap kicked it in its nose though because his survival comes first. He scrambled further away and it gave chase.

“Ghost! I’m Ghost’s familiar!”

It didn’t even understand him. It just kept coming.

Soap couldn’t find the exit. Every room looked the same. Luckily there was nothing else there.

He saw a loose board covering a window and yanked. The sunlight would keep it at bay long enough for him to get it open and get out.

“Ha. Bitch.” Soap grinned right before it lunged straight at him.

Straight into the light.

He watched it set alight. Watched it burn alive.

He didn’t want it to die.

Soap quickly tried to push it out of the light but it was too late. It hit the floor and shattered like porcelain. He stood there, frozen for a while.

“Oh no. Oh no no no.”

Soap reached into the dust, hoping to find something. Anything. A way to know its name.

He’d have to ask Malika. Hopefully the poor thing had enough intellect to tell her.

Soap wanted to cry. It had been an accident. He swore it was just an accident.

He started to head home quickly, wanting to leave what he had done behind. Maybe Ghost would be up. Maybe he could just ask him to sit with him while he buried his head in the blankets and pretended this never ever happened.

Soap closed the door behind him.

“Will you just shut up and let me help?” Alejandro hissed behind him.

Farah growled. “I’m not letting you feed off her.”

Rodolfo sighed and it was clear this was an ongoing argument. Soap wondered once again how long he had been out there. “Our saliva has healing abilities. She’ll bleed out at this rate.”

“It’s true.” Soap backed them up.

“Oh. Thought you were dead.” Alejandro said it so flippantly. Like it really didn’t matter.

Soap wanted to cry again and he blamed it on the already emotional day he was having.

“Glad you’re not?” Alejandro added awkwardly. “But anyway, let me help the little familiar. Don’t want her dying on my watch. Her master can be mad at you, not me.”

Farah snarled but Malika was getting paler and still was dead asleep, so she relented. She gently let Alejandro take here, stepping back just a tiny bit so she could still watch. Alejandro’s tongue flicked out, licking the wound just once. The skin started to stitch back together, but Alejandro didn’t give her back.

Instead, he turned to Soap. Both he and Rodolfo did. Price was on the couch, casually sharpening a blade.

“What happened?”

Farah hit his shoulder. “I told you what happened.”

Rodolfo sighed. “And we believe you, but we mean after you left him alone. You’re clearly fine. Any vampire worth their fangs would’ve ripped you to shreds for theft.”

“Told them I was Ghost’s.” Soap lied, hiding his ash covered hands behind his back.

“Ah. Makes sense. We can’t just… Soap, you can’t just do that!”

Soap winced. “Look, I’m sorry. I just wanted to help. Look at the condition she’s in.”

“It’s horrible but you can’t…”

Footsteps. Unsteady footsteps.

Soap heard Ghost’s voice as he stood on the steps.

Unmasked.

Ghost was unmasked.

He was blond.

He had bleached blond hair from the looks of it.

And freckles.

And pointed ears with little piercings.

And the soft ruby lips Soap thought about all the time.

“Don’t scold my Johnny. That’s my job.”

Price hummed. “Nice to see you again, Simon.”

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frokenkeke · 17 days

Text

Making of Ashes to Ashley

Recently I posted my comic Ashes to Ashley, and got such a tremendously kind and loving response that I felt like sharing a little bit more about where it came from.

The story is about a transgender awakening, where the quiet and somber Ash explodes out of the closet as the loud and colorful Ashley. This was always the plan, however the details changed along the way. Quite quickly I realized that I was writing about myself and my own trans journey. I never played in a band and I don't imagine I'll ever grow bunny ears (sadly), but still Ashley is undoubtedly a reflection of myself. I just allowed life to become a stage and gender performance a rock concert.

Above are the first idea doodles I drew late at night in early April. I quite enjoyed giving Ashley lipstick and prominent eye shadow, since I hadn't ever done a character like that before. The idea was a bit of exaggerated femininity that accidentally becomes raw punk expression. One or two people have pointed out the Um Jammer Lammy similarities, and they are absolutely not coincidental. Initially I imagined Ashley would've been more reluctant about her transformation, which is why she looks a bit more annoyed in some of my sketches, but the story became more bright and funny if it was made immediately clear that this all happens off of her own volition.

Some method and color tests. My girlfriend suggested I instead go a lot more raw with it, which is why I ended up adamantly using an ugly sponge brush built into Photoshop. Sapphic Disaster are some form of punk-shoegaze band, so combining rough pencil linework with crunchy texture coloring felt like a fitting visual representation of them. This also side-stepped the biggest problems I've always had with drawing comics – dealing with inking is a boring waste of time, and working digitally always makes me fixate on perfection. By just using pencil on paper I had to stick with whatever errors couldn't be saved by a regular eraser, in fact I dedicated myself to only using an old worn down Bic mechanical pencil and embraced the idea that the comic would consistently look a bit off and amateurish. Of course I allowed myself the luxury of cleaning up my drawings digitally before coloring, but that can only take you so far. This way of working helped me make fast progress and kept each step engaging, I've never had as much fun drawing a comic as I had with Ashes to Ashley.

Here's a before and after from initial scan to finished panel. I often only tidy up around focal points like faces or hands, and allow the rest to remain as it is, usually parts like the legs or Ashley's ears.

Character references and my initial color picks, they went through small changes as I went along. I liked giving all the band members different sorts of rabbit ears to make them all look distinct from each other.

Here's some ideas for the Sapphic Disaster band logo and the comic's color palette, notice how Ashley is more vibrant than Ash.

While working I filled up numerous papers with doodles trying to workshop panels and layouts. It's too much to show all of them here, so I composed a few collages of my favorites.

It was pivotal for me that Ash would always look painfully cute. The sketch of the table scene with Floyd shows a rare out-of-character confident and laid-back Ash. In the presence of Floyd?! Never!

I was very concerned about the reader recognizing the old Ash when first seeing Ashley. She may be all excited about being a girl, but her nervous cluelessness remains. I ended up going back and redrawing two panels in Ashley's introduction to strengthen this impression.

For those not in the know, shoegaze is a rock subgenre that centers around noisey guitar textures, typically achieved through heavy use of effect pedals at the musicians feet; hence the name. When Ashley plays her guitar she produces a cacophony of strange sounds, the reader will have to imagine what they actually sound like, but I always imagined their opening number "I Wanna Be a Girl" to sound like a couple of amateurs trying to recreate Lush's Blackout.

The page where the band go around looking for Ashley while she's receiving her makeover was shoehorned in at a later stage for pacing purposes. That's why Gabriel is suddenly back to pulling cords after previously claiming they're all set, oops!

One of the core rules to this story is that everyone is always overly supportive of Ashley's transition no matter what. This is what makes the otherwise stern and serious Floyd especially funny, my girlfriend was pivotal in sprucing up his dialogue, adding bits like "have you seen the health care waiting lists?, "I know an endocrinologist who owes me a favor or two" and "give me 35% more danger"

Towards the end I discovered that Ashley and Debbie dancing was apparently the most important panel in the entire comic, judging by how much I tried to perfect it. (For the record, my favorite panel is when Ashley screams into the microphone that she wants to be a girl.) Maybe Ashley and Debbie dancing should've replaced the final full-page panel? Well, we got a lot of cute doodles out of it regardless. Just kiss already!

Initially I imagined Ashley to be standing alone in the "could this be the real me" final panel, but I realized her odd family of friends was equally a part of the real her. She was always right where she needed to be, she just needed to find herself within that place. (I ended up giving Ashley a cigarette because otherwise it looked like she was praying.)

Here are some ideas for the cover illustration, of course in 1:1 format to look like an album cover. Up until last minute I planned for the comic to have You Made Me Realize as its subtitle to distinguish it from eventual follow-ups, which is why the You Made Me Realize EP cover art is paraphrased in the top-middle. I ended up just going with Ashes to Ashley to keep it clean and simple. The title Ashes to Ashley was blurted out immediately by my girlfriend when I first showed her my concepts for the story. It's perfect, she's perfect.

I drew two Ashes and two Ashleys for the cover art and let my fingers smudge all over the latter. While most obviously riffing on the cover for My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, it's equally taking from the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa's Pigment.

And there you have it.

However I never intended this to be the full extent of Ashley's story, just a satisfying and complete end of a chapter. I've already finished writing the next story, Today Forever, and I hope I can get it out to you all soon enough. Your love for Ashley keeps me going.

/Kiki

#ashes to ashley

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 9 months

Note

AITA of I want art trades to be of equal time/quality?

this is a weird one but I had a spat with someone recently because they wanted to do an art trade, which i was open to do, but we hit a weird impasse. When I do art trades I like to put forth as much effort as my trade partner puts forward first, and would prefer that if i put art first that my partner reciprocates the same amount of time and care.

Art style, quality, experience, follower count means nothing to me in the exchange, just the level of effort. It feels unfair to me that I would put in hours/days of work on a painting to only receive something done in less than a few hours, especially since that would basically be doing a free commission. I'm willing to give smaller/newer artists with less experience or cheaper software more effort in my half on the account that I trust they're doing their best with what they have. It's meant to be fun!

This is not an instance of that. I've checked this artist's gallery and they were perfectly capable of producing extensively detailed pieces, so I agreed to do a more detailed piece, as long as they do the same.

This is where things get weird. They were perfectly fine with me doing something bigger and were very excited, and I brought up that in my listed art trade rules, I'd like them to do the same. They agreed, and we both went to work. I'm a slow artist, so it's been taking me some time, and I'm well into working on colors and rendering. in the middle of this time is when I get my half. it's just lineart with some shading. it was very beautiful, and I'm grateful! but it's not necessarily a level of detail that we agreed on. So I kiss my flat colors and rendering goodbye and just quickly rendered the lineart to match.

They get excited and ask when the final of my half will be done. Confused, now assuming what they provided was just a WIP, I say when they finish theirs. They go "oh but this IS my final :)" and I am... still very confused.

I brought up our agreement to do equal effort and they go "but I did that, this took me a long time" to which I point out I've been working for a few days now to produce a fully rendered painting, which wasn't even finished by the time they posted theirs.

They start getting defensive saying that exertion of effort varies from person to person which I fully agree as a chronically fatigued person! but I still feel really scammed that I'm putting in all this work and they can only provide what their commission form claims is a "colored sketch" (and on the cheaper end too.)

They keep getting weird and defensive and I decide to just call the whole thing off, giving them the art I did and that it was final. They get pissy and call me an entitled asshole for wanting to "break their back" over a free art trade.

I would be perfectly happy getting a rendered sketch, if that were what we agreed on in the first place!

I don't think I'm the asshole here, but being called "entitled" really got to me, especially considering we WERE doing work for free. So here I am. Am I the asshole for wanting equal parts effort? Or am I just being entitled? I'd share the art pieces we did here but I won't out of privacy for both me and the other artist.

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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theelvenhaven · 11 months

Text

Muse

Caranthir x Reader

k words

Request: Ohh I've been in bit of a Caranthir kick recently, thanks to you 👀 So for request... Thinking about artist reader and their muse Caranthir. Be it sculpting or painting they're always eager to pester him a little to be their model and praise him along the way. Or perhaps a quiet moment in the evening and he catches them doodling him in their sketchbook? 🥰

A/N: I totally understand the Caranthir kick, I get that way too lol. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

It was hard not to be captivated by your partner and all the things that made him… well him. What wasn’t there to love about Carnistir?

He had a tender heart but kept it guarded though those walls had slowly come down under your careful cultivation and love that you gave him. He was strong emotionally, and his temper while fierce wasn’t as easily triggered as most people suggested it would be. Carnistir used an amazing amount of restraint to keep from being so irrationally angry and with you he was always the epitome of gentle and caring.

Not to mention the great intelligence and skill Carnistir had. He was a wonderful conversationalist despite his reserved nature, and always were conversations full of variety and interesting topics. All that he seemed to have knowledge on somehow or another. Not to mention how excelled in banking and finance and even in diplomacy. You supposed having six other brothers would make you quite the diplomat when they were out to annoy and set your temper off.

But not only was a fine politician, but when he had shared with you his artistic abilities you were impressed with his gifts. It was hard not to be when you first laid eyes on a heavily embroidered piece of fabric that he was going to use to make himself a new tunic. Nor did it fail to impress you when you were gifted with a heavily beaded and embroidered article of clothing as well. Proudly did you wear it, and still wore it.

Carnistir inspired you to create, as an artist how could you not be inspired by him?

If anything you found yourself to consider Carnistir your muse. At first in the fact that he always seemed to give you great ideas on what you could sketch or paint next, painting some of the finest works of art he had ever laid eyes on.

But the more time you spent with Carnistir, the more you wanted to draw him and his beauty.

Carnistir was the most handsome ner you had ever laid eyes on. His dark hair complimenting his reddened complexion and freckled body, with bright silver eyes that stood out and pierced right into you. His lips full and perfectly kissable- you would know- and his jawline was strong, nose hooked.

He was beautiful to you.

But despite all of your praise on his beauty and how much you adored him, you knew Carnistir wouldn’t let you sketch or draw him. That he’d be too self conscious for you to do such a thing, so you took to doing it in secret.

Finding places to perch with your sketchbook out of his sight, sketching his strong Feanorian features, and spending copious amounts of time to make sure it looked just like him and was perfect. At first not all of it was identical to him, it took some time to fine tune everything and get it just right. Especially working with a moving figure and basing it off memory.

But eventually you managed to nail down how to draw him and that intensely handsome face of his, always keeping a red colored pencil on you to shade in his reddened face to tie it all together. You adored all of his expressions, no matter how dead panned or softly expressive they were, you took to drawing all of it.

It even got to the point where you could sketch him being in the same room with him, while Carnistir stitched and embroidered something. He was too busy to notice that you were sketching him, hyper focused on his own work never minding that you two were creating with him. It made him feel good to know that you wanted to spend your time creating with him too.

Tonight was no different, as you sat on the sofa, your back leaning against the armrest and with Carnistir at the other end of the sofa. The two of you sitting in a comfortable silence as he continued to stitch, the sounds of the hearth popping in the background, paired with the scratching sounds of your pencil lead against the paper.

Having been so used to drawing him, you didn’t need to look up to see what his face looked like. Drawing it all from memory, you were completely lost in your own little world as you continued to sketch him, taking your time. Adding details and shading, completely absorbed in you work, so much so you didn’t notice Carnistir getting up off the sofa to walk around for something.

You only continued the task at hand, while Carnistir walked over to his desk that was just behind you. Reaching for a pair of embroidery scissors to snip at the loose thread to at least shorten it, he was going to turn around and come sit back down with them. But as he began to approach he paused to see what it was you were sketching.

Quietly he looked over the ner that was on your sketchbook, not thinking much of it at first. Curious to know who it was that had caught your attention recently that you would draw them, there was no flame of jealousy as he understood how inspiration worked. Especially seeing his mother hard at work in the past and all the nerri and nissi she sculpted that wasn’t his father.

He approached and looked harder, and felt a ripple of surprise run through him as he realized that the ner on the page in your sketchbook was him! You were drawing him? Why? He was the furthest thing from attractive- in his mind- and yet here you were putting him down on paper. Skillfully too without even having to look at him.

He felt the heat of a blush begin to rise on his face, reddening his face further. It was hard to argue that it was him when you switched to your red color pencil and began to lightly redden his face, and darken the freckles on the sketch of him. Carnistir was a mixture of embarrassed but he was also flattered… Disbelieving that you’d find him so attractive that you’d want to sketch him.

Carnistir had always concluded that you weren’t with him for his good looks, as he felt he really didn’t have them with the rubicund face he had.

“Is… that me?” He rhetorically asked, but it was more of a shock even if he already knew the answer, it made you freeze in your sketching. Slowly he watched you move to sit up and turn around to face him, and you noticed how deep his blush was and how he seemed frozen unsure of what he was supposed to do now that he had caught you.

For a moment you were quiet as you set the sketchbook in your lap, looking down at the drawing on the page of a very intensely focused Carnistir. But you began to smile, you supposed you had been doing this in secret long enough.

“It is.” You answered him simply and with a smile directed towards him, and you could see the visible shock that was on his face. This was an expression you hadn’t ever seen so clear on his face, maybe in his eyes and not like a mask that took over his whole face.

“Why?” He asked trying not to sound so uncertain, preparing himself for any criticism or shortcomings you might come up with. Carnistir loved you and you him, but he couldn’t see what you found attractive to be able to draw him.

“Because I find you handsome.” You answered and you could swear his face grew even redder, rivaling his deep burgundy tunic. Carnistir stood there stiffly, his arms at his sides with his embroidery hoop and scissors still in his hand and those intense silver eyes left yours looking everywhere but at you.

His low self-esteem beginning to shine through, you had always suspected he didn’t think highly of himself, but now it was really showing. He hesitated on what to say for a moment, whether he should argue or let you have it. You’d be the only one in the world- aside from his mother- who thought him handsome.

“That can’t possibly be true.” Carnistir said to you with a surprising amount of firmness as he finally moved to take his place on the sofa. Scooting as far down it as the furniture would allow, putting a huge gap between the two of you as he went right back to his work. Trying to forget he ever heard you say such a thing. He didn’t think you were mocking him… right? You were above that right?

But fear settled in and he wondered if you were, you were too good to be true for him in his mind. He was lucky that you wanted to be with him… He let his thoughts run rampant with “what ifs” as he sat in silence, snipping away at thread that was too long.

“It is true, Carnistir.” You said to him warmly and you watched the way he tensed up hearing it from you, how could you possibly think that? Had you seen his face? His nose was too big, his face was too red, the scowl he wore was too intense… The only thing he liked was his freckles, because they were his mothers. He truly didn’t understand what you saw in him, save maybe his personality. That he was semi-confident was decent.

“I don’t see how.” He whispered out unintentionally, meaning for it to sound a lot more confident than it did, you looked at him sympathetically. You thought for a moment before you began to scoot down the sofa to sit next to him,

“Mmm I see how though.” You said holding out your sketchbook to take, this time it was flipped to a different part of it. Another page that had many little sketches of his face and facial expressions. Carnistir swallowed thickly as he looked at it from the corner of his eyes, Hesitating to put his hoop down before finally he did.

Taking the sketchbook from you as you encouraged him too, and slowly he looked over each little sketch. He winced, did he really make all these faces?

“There’s more.” You said softly as you reached over to flip to another page, and this time it was a full body sketch of him, dressed in an outfit from a festivity that you two had gone to together. When did you have time to do this one? He wondered to himself.

He let you flip the pages and with each picture, no matter how well you captured his likeness… Seeing his face over and over made him cringe. He hardly looked at himself in the mirror because he didn’t like what he saw, yet here you drew him freely and openly… repeatedly.

“Y/N… Why? Why are you drawing me? Why are you showing me these?” Carnistir asked this time with a firmness, though the confusion was sound in his voice as he knitted his brows together in a deeper scowl than he supposed he wore all the time. There was always a scowl to his face and it didn’t stop you from drawing it.

“Because I find you to be beautiful Carnistir, if I may dare say… I think you are my muse.” Him!? Your muse!?

“There is nothing beautiful about me, you’d be better off drawing someone like Tyelko or Curvo.” He argued back immediately, one named the Fair and the other for his likeness to their father who was no doubt attractive. Many nissi and nerri certainly chased after the two- their father included though he rejected them all seeing as he loved Nerdanel.

“Who says there isn’t? Carnistir, you are so beautiful.” You said eagerly as you scooted close enough that your knees were touching, though despite himself… Carnistir relaxed at the feel of you touching him. He sighed out in frustration, because he wholeheartedly disagreed. There was nothing beautiful about him, he didn’t want to insult you… But had you seen him?

“Y/N. There is nothing about me that is attractive. My nose is too big, my face too red, my lips are full but they’re a little crooked, and my jaw is too strong. Not to mention I wear a scowl mostly, and that is wholly unbecoming of me.” He argued with you giving you full insight to all of his insecurities. You were quick to shake your head as you turned to face him, your hand coming to cup his face to try and get him to look at you, but he hesitated.

“Carnistir, there is nothing wrong with your nose it suits you, your face is red yes but it doesn’t detract from your beauty. Your lips are perfect and kissable, and your jaw is perfect for your face. Carnistir you are unbelievably handsome.” You smiled out to him as you spoke tenderly, your thumb lovingly caressing his face. For a moment there was a silence and you could see those pools of silver looking at you from the corner of his eyes.

“I’m not the only one who thinks those things of you, I have overheard many jealous nerri and nissi compliment your beauty Carnistir. Whomever has told you otherwise… They are cruel and unfair.” You said to him gently, as he slowly began to turn to look at you. His eyes were still cast down and his face was still the color of his tunic, but you smiled again.

“I love you and every part of you. Your personality isn’t the only thing that wowed me, melda.” You said to him gently and you felt him relax under your touch and sweet words, if there was anything Carnistir knew about you, was that you weren’t one to be untruthful. Especially with him, you were always honest and gave a thoughtful opinion on things.

He hesitated for a moment, shifting some uncomfortably.

“I.. love you too, Y/N… But I am… shocked you see such things in my appearance.” He said softly to you, and finally his hands came to interact with you. Coming to wind around your waist and pulling you in close. You grinned before you leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Of course I do, and you can expect to see far more pictures of yourself too. I love drawing you.” You grinned to him, and you could feel his face heat back up again. Carnistir sighed out at your words.

“I… don’t have to pose or anything do I?” He asked with a small grumble, making you laugh at his words. You shrugged,

“Only sometimes.” You winked as he looked at you, and gently he scowled making you laugh again.

“Fine… I suppose I can.” He conceded and you were thrilled with the news!

“You won’t regret it, melda.” You said with a big grin pulling at your lips before you pressed another kiss to his cheek. Making the corners of his lips tug up into a gentle smile.

“Now show me your work, we’ve seen enough of mine.” You said hoping to take his mind off the conversation you had and onto something that relaxed him. You were thrilled he would be your muse, but you didn’t want to push him too far where he stayed uncomfortable.

You loved Carnistir and couldn’t wait to show his beauty off to the world, but you’d start with baby steps.

* * *

Tags: @saviorsong @lilmelily @dicksoutformtl @fandomhoe101 @celebrimbor-telperinquar @red-riding @miriel-estelwen @ta-ka-shi-ma @nerdysimpy @thegirlwithoutaname87 @anunexpectedsideblog @spidergirla5 @eunoiaastralwings @eternalabysss @noldorinpainter

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