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works-of-fanfiction · 3 years

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“He’s the Best.” - 90s!Graham Coxon x Reader

Summary: Graham struggles with his self-esteem within the band and the reader tries to cheer him up.

Requested by: Anon. I hope you like this <3

Warnings: Swearing (literally once).

Word Count: 3.3k - a bit of a longer oneshot from me! I didn’t mean for it to be this long.

A/N: I’ve been writing this and putting it off for days because I just don’t know if I like it, but I don’t want to restart it. Argh… I hope someone enjoys this cheese fest.

* Gif credits to the linked creator

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No one in this life is born ‘better’ than anybody else. It’s not a competition or a game of comparison. Every single human on this planet has their own unique qualities that make them interesting and most importantly, worthy. However, humans sadly aren’t wired to see those qualities in themselves. They spend the majority of their lives obsessing over others; wondering if they’re as talented as the next man, or if they’ll ever look as good as whatshername. Sometimes, it gets to a point where even the deepest of friendships can become strained due to one or more parties comparing themselves to another’s achievements.

And seeing Graham go through exactly that, has been killing me. There was a time when everything Graham and Damon did together, was truly that - together. Every single melody, riff, lyric - it was theirs. Neither one did more work than the other, neither was more musically talented. They were both kids crammed inside a Portakabin with their very first instruments, strumming and plucking and making probably rather bothersome noise. They had no idea what was to become of their lunchtime jam sessions and after school practices. Both were just excited to have a friend that liked the same things as them, and enjoyed the noise the other was making.

But Graham has since become a shadow of who he once was around Damon - he’s become Damon’s shadow. Or so he thinks.

Being in a band with a boisterous frontman like Damon was bound to become hard work for the other members at one point or another, but I never thought it would affect Graham like this. It’s getting harder to communicate with him, and I know it’s not his fault but I’m running out of things to say to fill the silences. There’s only so many times I can ask if he wants a cup of tea, or tell him about the encounter I had at the bus stop earlier that day. I’m sick of hearing my own voice, so I can’t imagine how he must feel. The silence seems to be the only thing he wants; he doesn’t write anymore, he hardly plays guitar outside of work commitments, and he hasn’t picked up his sketchbook in weeks. He just seems to stare at the TV or sit on the sofa with his head buried in a book that’s stuck on the first chapter. I watched him the other day and in forty-five minutes, he turned the page once. I bet if I asked him about the story he wouldn’t be able to recall a single character’s name, never mind the plot.

Watching him struggle with his self-esteem is crushing, and I don’t want him to live another second feeling the way he does. I know it may take a while for him to find himself again, but if I can do anything to help move things along, it’s worth a try. I’d drop everything for Graham in a heartbeat.

“I dropped those music stands off today. Did you get them?” Dave asks, his voice a little crackly on the other end of the phone.

“I did, thank you!” I chime, balancing the phone between my shoulder and ear as I assemble the very same stands.

“Oh, good. I was a little worried about leaving them outside. I thought somebody would take them… What do you need them for anyway?”

“That’s something for me to know and you to find out, Dave.” I laugh, tightening one last knob on the second stand and straightening it out. I stand back and admire my handy work, smiling at the prospect of what they are to become.

“Alright, alright. Well, I hope they come in handy! I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks again. See you next week!”

We both hang up and I grab the stands, climbing up the stairs and into the spare room, placing them in their desired places. Grabbing two pieces of sheet music, I slot them onto the stands neatly and adjust them until they’re perfect. With one last thing to check, I turn on the projector I borrowed from an old university friend and let the film play out on the blank wall opposite. I mess with the sound a little, making sure it’s loud enough before rewinding the footage to the beginning and turning it off until later.

Standing in the middle of the room, I turn around and admire everything on the walls. Everything from lyrics to old album art concepts, to still life paintings from Graham’s time at Goldsmith’s. Beside the music stands, there’s crates filled with records, decorated with lyrics scribbled onto scraps of paper, some in Graham’s handwriting and others in mine. I of course, couldn’t resist writing them out in various colours and covering them in star-shaped stickers. The finishing touch is a large beanbag against the wall for us to sit and watch the projector from. I fluff up the beanbag for the thousandth time before heading downstairs to wait for Graham to get back.

It takes around two hours for Graham to arrive home. As soon as I hear his taxi pull up outside, I jump up from the sofa and head into the kitchen to flick the kettle on. Nerves bubble through me as I anticipate his entry. It’s impossible to predict how Graham’s going to be feeling on any given day. He could come through the door and speak to me as normal, or he could disappear into his studio until he’s tired enough to head to bed. Through the rumbling of the kettle I listen out for the door, fingers impatiently tapping on the counter as my gaze fixates on a magpie outside, shakily balancing on the washing line. A second joins it and I smile, muscle memory taking over as I pour the boiled water into two cups, not taking my eyes off of the birds.

“Hi.” Graham’s voice peeps behind me. Putting the kettle down, I turn around with a warm smile on my face. Despite everything Graham has been going through, seeing him come through that door every day is still my favourite sight. Having him come home to me will simply never get old. I don’t know what I’ll do when he has to go out on tour again in a few months.

“Hey.” I breathe, the sides of my face already beginning to feel sore from the ridiculous grin stuck on it. He smiles back, the expression not quite reaching his eyes but I know he means well. He’s trying. “You go and sit down. I’ll bring these in.” I gesture to the brewing teas on the counter and he nods, hanging his bag on the nearest kitchen chair and leaving the room without another word. I finish the drinks as quickly as possible, grabbing the stack of takeaway menus from the junk drawer and bringing them with me, the pieces of paper clamped between my teeth as I concentrate on carrying the two steaming hot cups in my hands.

Setting the cups down on the coffee table, I toss the menus onto the sofa next to where Graham is very aggressively, trying to pull his Docs off. “Need a little help?” I ask, laughing as I kneel down and bat his hands out of the way. “It would help if you untied them.”

“It’s easier to leave them tied.”

“Oh, really?” I scoff, gesturing to his feet still stuck in the cherry red boots. The laces are a complete mess with three bulky knots in them. I sit down cross-legged on the carpet, carefully plucking and unravelling each knot whilst Graham buries his head in the takeaway menus. “How do you even - “ I struggle, pulling at the frayed shoelace whilst trying not to damage it further, “- get these things on?” With one last tug, the first lace loosens and I’m able to slide the boot off with ease. Graham’s face pops out from behind the menu, a side-smile plastered onto his lips and a cheeky glint in his eyes. I know he wants to laugh.

“Shall we get Indian tonight?” He changes the subject, flipping over the tatty piece of bright orange paper as he squints at the options. He always orders the same thing, yet still insists on reading the whole menu front to back. He does it for every restaurant.

“Indian sounds good.” I nod, pulling the second boot off and shoving them to the side. “I’ll call them now.” Jumping up to grab the phone, I type the number in from memory and hold it up to my ear.

“What’s the rush?” Graham mouths and I hush him when somebody answers. I order the usual along with some extras and give them our address, despite them not even really needing it anymore. The phone call is no longer than a minute and Graham sits staring at me, nose scrunched in confusion. “Are you going to tell me what’s going - “

“Follow me.” I blurt out, stretching my arm towards him and rising onto my tiptoes out of excitement. He stands slowly, shrugging off his jacket and leaving it on the sofa. “I was going to wait until we’d had our food, but I have to show you now.”

“Show me what?” He asks as I grab his wrist and drag him up the stairs. We squeeze up the narrow staircase, almost tripping each other over a couple times until we stop on the landing, feet overlapping one another’s on the small square of carpet.

“I know you haven’t really been yourself lately.” I start, my fingers slipping from Graham’s wrist to entwine with his. He looks down, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth. His eyes watch our hands as I lightly stroke the back of his thumb in an attempt to relax him. He has a habit of tensing up whenever I broach the subject. “So I wanted to remind you just how great you are.”

I watch his face intently, the corners of his mouth twitching and trying to smile. With my free hand, I open the door and flick the light on, pulling Graham into the room with me. His hand slips from my grasp and I back up to stand against the wall, watching as he takes in the room around him and everything in it.

He walks to the music stands first, fingers tracing the notes on the pages, flipping them over then back again. He walks towards the canvas on the back wall - a woodland painting he’d won a prize for back in college - running his hand over the textured patch of paint that forms the trees. I nervously bite the back of my thumb as he kneels down to sift through the records in the large black case below, flicking through every Blur album and single released to this day. My favourite lyrics are scattered on sheets of paper all over the ground, and he picks up the second verse from Coffee & TV. “You’ve always loved this one.” He says, turning to me and smiling.

“I happen to really like the guy who sings it.”

“He must be pretty good then.”

“Oh, he’s the best.” Resting my foot against the wall, I kick my body forward and stand straight, joining Graham beside the projector.

“What’s this for?” He asks, hands hovering near the buttons but not daring to touch anything. I take his hands in mine and give them a loving squeeze.

“Sit down and I’ll show you.” I chirp and he sinks down onto the beanbag. I mess with the projector until the sound starts to creep in, stretching over to switch off the light. Graham shuffles to the side to make some room for me on the beanbag and I flop down beside him, nestling into his side.

The image from the projector is surprisingly clear against the wall, although could’ve been improved had I borrowed a screen from somewhere. A variety of different clips play out in front of us, ranging from Graham performing onstage to snippets of his band members talking and praising their guitarist. I try my hardest to focus on the film in front of me, but I can’t help glancing over at Graham to see his reactions. His brows are furrowed, but not necessarily in a bad way - he’s focused, fully concentrating on everything he’s seeing and hearing.

I fidget with my hands, twiddling my thumbs and quietly cracking my knuckles. Graham notices this and grabs my left hand, squeezing it tightly and bringing it over to rest in his lap. Laying my head on his shoulder, I press a kiss onto his sleeve, rubbing my head against him and breathing in his familiar scent. He lays his head on top of mine, but never looks away from the video playing on the wall. Absentmindedly, his fingertips dance on the back of my hand, the drumming following the beat of Song 2 as it plays from the projector. I too can’t help bopping along to the beat, my foot tapping softly on the carpet.

The video closes with one final clip, a message I recorded for Graham. Too embarrassed to watch myself, my focus stays on him as I squeeze his hand a little tighter and snuggle up as close as possible. The picture begins to fade and the sound plays out until there’s no footage left, and the whirring of the projector becomes background noise in the room. Graham doesn’t say anything at first, but as I try to stand to turn the projector off, he pulls me back down onto the beanbag and rotates his body to face mine.

“Hey.” I whisper, my right hand supporting his cheek as he leans into me, his eyes closed and lips pressed into a line. Our bodies slot into one another’s on the beanbag, the very little space between us growing warmer by the second.

Graham releases a deep breath, his eyes slowly opening again with a small smile spreading across his face. It’s hard to see him properly in the dimly lit room, but I could never mistake those big brown eyes staring at me. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me.” He says, his voice low as he leans in close to speak like we’re the only two people who matter inside a crowded room.

“I wanted to show you how incredible you are. You’ve been so hard on yourself and I just - “ As I speak, tears start to well up in my eyes and I look up to the ceiling to try and stop them from falling. I’d already told myself earlier that I wouldn’t cry, because I don’t want Graham to think he’s upset me. I press at my eyes lightly with my fingertips in an attempt to push the tears away. “I can’t stand seeing you this way because you don’t deserve to feel like this. If it wasn’t for you, Blur wouldn’t exist! Everything you’ve all achieved wouldn’t have happened.” My voice begins to shake and I feel Graham’s hand on my arm, rubbing it gently to try and calm me down.

“Y/N.” He starts, before reaching up to turn on the light. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust, before my gaze falls to the ground to avoid his. If I look at him properly, I know I’ll start bawling. “Look at me. Please.”

“I can’t. I can’t because I’ll cry, and then you’ll get upset and I don’t want to make you feel any worse than wha - “

“You won’t upset me. Y/N, I’m sorry I’ve - “

“No, Graham. Don’t apologise.” I grip onto his shirt tightly, my fingers tangling in the fabric. Graham bows his head and nudges it against mine, edging closer until he pushes my head up with his and our noses are almost touching. We both open our eyes, our faces too close that my vision is distorted and I’m seeing double. I pull back, sniffling once and dabbing at my eyes again, still not allowing any tears to actually emerge.

“I’m sorry,“ he starts and I sigh at his words, but he hushes me by holding his finger up to my face, “for putting you through this. I was so caught up in my own head that I didn’t realise how it was making you feel.”

“Graham, this isn’t about me.”

“But it affects you. Bloody hell, if I had to live with this miserable twat - “ he points to himself and I scoff, slapping the back of his hand playfully. “ - I’d have given up by now.”

“I would never give up on you.” My voice is barely above a whisper, the lump in my throat making it difficult to speak. Graham goes silent again, staring down at our joined hands and moving his thumbs around. I nudge his head with mine in the same way he did previously and he sniffles, his chest rising and immediately falling again. “Graham?” I bring my hand to his chin and push his face up to find his eyes watery, and cheeks significantly more red compared to a moment ago.

“God, look at me. What the hell are you still doing with me, ay? I’m a bleeding mess.” He sniffs, roughly wiping tears off of his cheeks with the backs of his hands.

“Because I wouldn’t want to be with anybody else.”

“Not even - “

“Ah! Stop right there. There’ll be no more of that.” I take his hands away from his face, holding onto them loosely. “Graham Coxon, you are the best thing to ever happen to me. And I’ll give you a free pass to slap me silly for being so cheesy.” I laugh, his grip on my hands tightening as he awkwardly slides closer on the beanbag, his body sinking into it at a strange angle and pulling me with him. “I love you.”

Within a second, Graham’s hands are on both sides of my face, pulling me in for a kiss; the kind of kiss that feels like the person is pouring their entire heart out to you. Like the kiss between the main characters of a movie, when they’ve just ran across a field or a busy road to collide with another at the centre. His lips messily press against mine and I can feel the stray tears running down his face as they dampen my cheeks. My hands rest on his legs, holding on firmly as his thumbs dig into my face a little. It doesn’t hurt, but he soon pulls away and swipes at my face softly as if to apologise for it. He uses his sleeve to dry my face and I do the same for him, small gasps of laughter exchanging between us.

“Thank you for doing this. If you can’t tell, I really love it.” He says sincerely with a genuine smile, the biggest smile I’ve seen from him in weeks. The expression is infectious and I can’t help mimicking him as I grin back like the Cheshire Cat. The faint sound of knocking from downstairs pulls us out of our romance film-esque daydream and we both clamber to our feet.

As we approach the stairs, Graham stops and spins me around, pulling me into him. I land against his chest with a huff, before adjusting my hair and looking up at him. “After we eat, can you show me the film again?” He asks, his hand meeting mine to help me fix the loose hairs falling in my eyes.

“We can watch it as many times as you like.”

#graham coxon #graham coxon x reader #oneshot #blur #request #anon request

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elliotoille · 4 years

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Do you have any advice for understanding hands better? I’ve been practicing them for years but feel like compared to other aspects of anatomy it’s the one thing I haven’t seen much improvement in. I draw both from life and images and draw nearly everyday but nothing I’m doing seems to help

I personally get by mostly from remembering poses that I’ve already practiced a ton, like I figure out how to draw it once and am able to file that away in my brain and use it again later, and tweak bits of the pose or the level of simplification to suit what I’m drawing.

I’ve paid special attention to drawing hands for like.... most of my life so I have a LOT of poses I’m easy comfy with now, but when I need to figure out something complicated or new, I can usually work it out by breaking a hand down into shapes, remembering a few key points/”rules” from what I’ve learned about hands in order to help me break it down in a way that makes sense. And if that’s not enough either, then I take photo refs.

^^^ here is a pose I use a ton. I have a quick way of drawing it from various angles. the first time I had to draw a pose like this, I had to think and figure it out, but in drawing it a bunch of times and having to use various angles like this, I’ve eventually come up with a quick, reliable way to draw it from a few of the most common angles that fits the style I like to draw in. I’m blessed with a good memory for observations, so when I see a beautifully posed hand, I can usually really quickly analyze what I like about that pose and why, and that helps me absorb it so I can recreate my saved impression later. But I know not everyone thinks the same way. it might benefit you to quickly scribble down a study in a sketchbook when you see a pose you find beautiful and want to learn from for later.

^^^ here are some poses I had to stop and spend time figuring out, calling up the “rules” for how hands are built to kind of logic-out how they should look from angles I’m less familiar with. results can be mixed, but... if I end up with something expressive that fits the style of the rest of the drawing, I’m usually really forgiving of fudged anatomy or slightly wonky proportions. as long as the thumb is on the right side and there aren’t too many fingers, that’s a great start lol.

^^^ and here are ones I had to take reference-selfies for. I try to use this as a last resort because 1) it’s a lot of trouble 2) interrupts my drawing and 3) if I’m not careful I stick too close to the reference, and the drawing ends up with the hand looking referenced and the rest of the pose not, which is jarring to me. not to mention I have tiny manlet wrists that without fail, look horrific and emaciated in photos, and the lens distortion makes my fingers look scary too... ugh, photo reference has definite flaws. I actually don’t like the look of drawings for which I can Really Tell the artist drew from photo reference, because most often that means they’re taking the ref too much at face value and incorporating ugly lens distortions into their drawing. so I have to think extra hard not only about interpreting the ref, but also might have to make multiple passes just to get the hand to look normal, AND match the style of the rest of the drawing.

Anyway, here are some of the ““rules””” I mentioned earlier that I fall back on to help me figure out more complicated poses:

1. probably seen this before, but basic proportions. the palm is usually half the total height of the hand. obviously you can mess with this purposefully.

2. I think of joints as like, ball joints or hinges. I find that easier than trying to remember bones & muscles. here’s a drawing of the wrist as a hinge. note that when you’re thinking of it this way, it’s a shortcut, but a shortcut is only good if you use it with precision. notice the pin for the wrist hinge is not just halfway, it’s closer to the top of the hand. being precise about that is what allows this shortcut to work. the heel of the palm juts out, while the top of the hand transitions into the wrist quite smoothly.

3. simplified planes. planes are important yo. in super simple terms: top is flat, bottom is round. this works on the fingers too, actually. the tops are bony and tendony, and the bottom is where the fat is, so it’s rounder and soft

thinking of the hand as abstract shapes REALLY helps simplify the task of drawing hands, and is just as helpful even if you are drawing from reference. I can say “the palm is a box” and obviously the palm is not really as simple as a box, but if I think of the palm, wrist, and each finger joint as various shapes of box, then all of a sudden, psychologically, my task is SO much easier. I’m not drawing a Hand, which is hard, I’m drawing boxes, which is easy.

4. that prominent knob some people have on their wrist? that’s on the pinky side.

1. the knuckles aren’t really a flat row on top. the hand is like a cup right, so your palm can hold water and things. so we can think of the hand as a box to make figuring out the pose easier, but when it comes down to it, you’ll want to make it more of a curve. this curve is why you can see multiple fingers in a side view

2. when curled up, the fingers nestle together. the fingernails also turn slightly toward the center. even if I’m simplifying the hands significantly, I usually still draw the fingernails because they are SO useful for communicating the pose of the hand effectively.

3. lots of people suggest to think of the hand as a mitten, grouping the pinky/ring/middle fingers and singling out the index finger. this works great, the index finger is more independent from the other three. on the flip side, those three are really stuck together; if you’re drawing the pinky curled up all the way, then you better not draw the ring finger sticking straight up, cause that would HURT. anyway, singling out the index finger leads to more interesting poses in my experience.

1. this is another illustration of top = flat and bottom = curved. this is a really easy way to organize your line quality. straight lines and sharper angles where there is bone, and soft gentle lines where there is muscle and fat. your drawing as a whole will read very clearly if you find some guidelines like that to stick to, as it means all your lines are intentional and thoughtful.

2. this one’s about overlaps. when forms overlap, it makes a crease, and when you draw that crease you’re communicating which form is in front of the other. in the second drawing I reversed all the creases, and it looks.... messed up. think about how pieces connect.

so when you’re trying to make up a pose without using specific reference, I think it’s good to think about the.... flow of energy through the pose. honestly, I know it’s really abstract, but if I have an ability to make interesting poses that communicate weight and movement, the things that make people say your character feels ALIVE, like they really EXIST in a space... it’s because I started to think of poses this way. imagining streams of energy bouncing through the body, flowing down the limbs and out through the fingers. this is why hands are so important to me, cause they’re where the kinetic energy of the pose ultimately ends up. I talk about it when drawing the torso and arms and legs, but an interesting drawing has a bounce back and forth between opposites: for every curve, an opposing straight line, alternating back and forth down the entire body. if you’re sensitive to the energy of the pose, then even very simple poses will be interesting to look at.

anyway, with regards to hands, I imagine the energy getting sort of cinched in as it passes through the wrist, and then emanating out through the fingertips. I hope my drawing at least SORT of communicates this imagery. it makes sense because that’s BASically how the bones in the hand are anyway. and then the right side of the image above is just demonstrating some highly simplified gestures. see how the fingers fan out and curl in, rarely parallel to eachother. when you’re figuring out the pose, using a line to stand in for the row of knuckles is super valuable.

aaand finally, here’s two hands where I intentionally neglected correct anatomy and proportion because I felt it worked better for the style of the whole drawing. Left side: since this is a really simple and cartoonish style, I was thinking back to kids’ and shoujo manga I have read where the style was very solid and distinctive, but definitely NOT overly concerned with correct anatomy, or even really drawing hands, uh, “well” at all. to me, that sort of approach has a Look that I like to invoke sometimes, since for years I felt like I learned a bunch of anatomy and proportion and drawing from life actually in detriment to the liveliness and appealness of my drawings. this hand is mushy and makes very little sense, but it turned out as intended. Right side: sometimes I like to pretend fingers only have 2 bones in them, cause i am a Queen and i do what i want

and there you go. I hope that helped, like, at all? Look at real hands and photos of hands and hands in motion, but also look at drawn hands as well. find what you like, and work towards expressing that yourself. and remember the hand is part of the whole drawing. not only in the art style like I’d been talking about, but because the angle and placement of the hand is reflected in the angles of the arm, which in turn reflects on the angles of the shoulder, which affects the whole torso, etc etc etc. and the techniques you can use to understand and draw the rest of the body, works on hands too. as you improve everything else, your hands will improve as well.

DISCLAIMER: I whipped up these diagrams quickly, they’re not meant to be good drawings or accurate refs, just diagrams to illustrate my thought process lol

#god im long winded as usual #Anonymous

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liquid-luck-00 · 4 years

Text

Habits

Bio!Dad Bruce

Day 4: Habits

@biodad-bruce-month

First ~~~ Previous ~~~ Next

~~~~~~~~~~

The bat boys went out of their way to make Marinette feel included into the family. However she seemed to always get lost in the manor. Little did they know that she was using the horse miraculous to travel to and from Paris and still hasn't had enough practice with Kaalki.

Yet when they do happen to find her she seems to always be lost in thought while sketching or designing.

They had noticed early on that they could still hold a conversation with her and she would respond and remember the conversation.

---

Marinette hadn't been at the manor for two days when the first incident occurred.

It was Jason who first caught her completely focused and to say it was a shock was an understatement. He had walked into the living room, trying to find her and Tim to play Mecha strike, so when he saw she was designing and Tim was sitting on the other couch reading.

"Hey Replacement, Bluebell who wants to play UMS III?" Jason asked the room.

"I'll play," Tim responded looking up from his book. Both boys then looked at Mari, who seemingly didn't hear them. Tim got up and walked over to her along with him. While

Marinette seemed to be hyper focused on her design that she didn't respond when Jason asked her again. So Jason decided it would be smart to tap her on the shoulder to get her attention. That was a bad idea. . He had snapped her out of her thoughts, but as he did she glared at them.

"Holy Fuck" Jason screamed as he backed away from her.

"What is wrong with you. You break my concentration and then scream. Like seriously Jason." She was holding her head covering her ears while glaring at him.

That was when Tim seemed to find his voice again. "Well if genetics hadn't proved you were Bruce's daughter, you giving Jason his signature glare would prove it."

"Well I guess that explains a few thing now" she hummed.

"That is all you get out of this?" Jason asks.

"What else was to get out of this?" she asked tilting her head, "so what did you guys want anyways?" she went back to her sunny personality.

---

The second incident occurred later that same day but with only Dick. He had gone to find her for dinner, so he went to her room. He had heard from both Jason and Tim that she could pull out the Bruce 'Batman' Glare so he did the smart choice of first knocking on the door.

"Come in" was her only response.

She was sitting at the desk staring at one of her sketchbooks. Her chin was resting on her arm her nose was scrunched and eyebrows furrowed concentrating on the image in front of her.

It wasn't the Batman Glare but she looked just like Bruce when he was in deep concentration.

"Dinner is almost ready" he answered after entering the room.

"Dick thank goodness" She snapped her head up and looked at him with her full attention. "I can’t decide on a color for this blazer. It would look nice in an emerald or in a sapphire blue. I know I want to use gold as an accent around the main part that is black stitched with holographic music notes but I don't know maybe"

"Mari" he interrupted her. God she even over thinks like Bruce, that was why he had stopped her. "Breathe please. Now is this for a certain person or no one in particular?" He asked breaking her slight panic.

"It is for a commission so a certain person." she answered calming down.

"So would the person's hair or eyes clash with those colors" Thank god Barbara always dragged him shopping and complains how certain colors clashed with her hair.

"Neither would clash necessarily, but the sapphire blue would complement his hair and skin tone better" she finished writing something in on the page.

"Okay now that, that is settled why don't we go down for dinner Little B" Dick gave her a smile.

"Little B?"

"Little Bruce" be elaborated, really be meant little bat, but she doesn't know that yet so he improvised.

"Why?"

"The way you scrunch your nose and eyebrows when concentrating is just like him. That and completely overthinking and over analyzing things is just like him"

"It's a habit I've been trying to break" she answers sheepishly.

"Don't, just ask yourself questions to not get sided tracked, it is one of the best qualities a person can have" he answered honestly. "God only knows Bruce wouldn't come up with half of what makes up WE if he didn't overanalyze every little thing" she seemed to cheer up a bit at this and he is glad he could help his little sister.

---

The third incident happened with Tim to say he was surprised when he saw her awake in the kitchen at 3 in the morning as he came back from patrol was shocking.

Honestly the only people awake at that hour were either the Bats, criminals, or him well him or even Bruce who would still be working. But here she is completely awake making, wait is that.

"Is that coffee?" He ended up asking out loud.

She turned to face him "Yes. Want some?"

"Please!!" he practically begged.

"Fair warning this is my special blend, I haven't found anyone else who could handle it" she warned him, but he took it as a challenge.

"Try me" and she did, she set a cup down in front of him and also poured herself one. After the first sip he realized it was strong, much stronger than his usual, and that usually had an entire cup of espresso. "That is good. You are making this again if you don't give me the recipe" she giggled.

"Let's see if you can handle a cup and make it to breakfast." she countered and she left to her room.

When morning came he was still wired in fact he was practically bouncing in his seat while having breakfast and everyone was staring at him. Granted he was usually a zombie in the morning so this was new, actually functioning properly that is.

"You okay there Timmy" Dick asked him, and that was confusing.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Tim asked.

"Now your beginning to scare us. Wait did you actually sleep, Replacement?" Jason asked him.

"I don't think he did Jason" everyone turned and stared at Marinette. "Half a cup" she said staring at him.

"Care to explain Bluebell."

"So turns out I'm not the only one awake late. Someone" she stared at Tim, "caught me making coffee last night, drank a single cup and still seems to be wired" she shrugged "so half a cup next time Tim"

"Wait, he is the most awake he has ever been in the, almost six years I've known him, and he hasn't slept." Damian stated bored. "what did you put in the coffee?"

"Nothing much, but if you know how to roast the beans right anything is possible" she rose the mug she was holding. That was when they all noticed the mug in her hand.

Out of concern, he is guessing, Dick and Jason moved to take the mug from her. They turned around to face each other with a smirk and they saw that they were both holding identical mugs to the one in, wait Marinette still has a mug.

"Enjoy the cocoa" she smiled as she took a sip from her cup.

"You really are Bruce's daughter if you can pull that with little to no sleep." Tim replied. Her only response was a head tilt. "I swear not sleeping and still being able to function absurdly well is genetic. You, Damian, and Bruce are alike in that."

---

The fourth incident happened and was witnessed by Damian. He was sure that he would be able to have the gym to himself as everyone was out on patrol but he was mistaken.

There was Marinette a headset on, with her hands wrapped moving between punching a bag and a sequence of movements. He watched her until she seemed to finish her set. She looked up and when she noticed him he walked towards her. She wasn't being her usual bubbly self, in fact it looked to him that she was upset.

"I didn't think anyone else would be in here" he stated."

"Oh, really" she answered lowering her headset ”I won't be a bother and did you want to take the punching bag." she said a slight frown on her lips. Okay he may not be the best at dealing with emotions, but he was extremely good at perceiving them on others.

"Something is bothering you, isn't it?" he was blunt sure but he wasn't expecting her to freeze and look around before taking a breath and schooling her features.

"No, everything is fine"

"It. As if I would believe that"

"Really now why don't..."

"Either you talk or we spar" he cut her off. He was expecting her to speak not take off her headset completely, set it down, and take a stance. The two began to spar and after almost two hours they were both lying on the mat exhausted.

"Thanks Damian, I needed a good spar"

"Any time you need, ask" he got up and began walking back to his room.

If he didn't already know she was a Wayne then that would prove it. Only a Wayne would rather not face their emotions and would rather fight.

His sister was his and he would be damned if he didn't at least help her. Albeit it he wasn't the most mushy of the family but she already was the most bearable of his sibling. Maybe he'll teach her to sword fight, then maybe someone would be an actual challenge for him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list:

@mochinek0 @justafanwarrior @abrx2002 @ranger-gothamite @fantasiame @moonystars14 @mochegato @bigbeautifulandfullofsugar @maribat-is-lifeblood @iglowinggemma28 @miraculous-ninja @talutah0 @vixen-uchiha @danielslilangel @witchsblackfox @pawsitivelymiraculous @lizziejay @marinettepotterandplagg @colorfulmongerpsychicranch @dast218 @sassakitty @miyla-lokidottir @lilkymilky @tazanna-blythe @tired-butterfly @lozzybowe @smolplantmum @queencommonsense @loopingtangent @chez-pezeater @paintedhope7 @technicallyburninggarden

#bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #bio!dad bruce wayne #b ! dbwm2020 #bruce wayne #maribat #marinette dupen chang #miraculus ladybug #dc x miraculous #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #miraculous x dc #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne

572 notes · View notes

sly-merlin · 3 years

Text

T h e E n c h a n t e d C a n v a s

Pairing :: doyoung x reader ft simmi and her moots

Word count :: ~4k

Genre :: Hogwarts soulmate strangers to ?? Fluff

Synopsis ::

Y/n , a muggle is called to Hogwarts not because of her exceptional talents but due to the fact that her soulmate is a pure/half blood studying in Hogwarts. Her destiny takes her from an average household to the enchanting world of spells and charms. Would she found the one she sought? or sh’d end up losing herself in the new world!

A/n :: this is a Christmas gift for lovely nini - @dvrlingrenjun under @neoculturechristmas event. Thank you admins for letting me talk to her. And nini!! I'd be happy if you enjoy this even a little bit. I hope you can get some time out from your responsibilities to relax and then we can cry over twice's beauty!! MERRY CHRISTMAS NINI.

With love ,

From simmi(stocking anon)

tagging :: lovely @danishmiilk ( warning :: donot expect too much) @astroboy-lele (oops! i opened discord and just remembered i was supposed to tag you furou! sowy)

networks :: @neowritingsnet @kafenetwork @nct-writers

thank you aria @adamfoolcry for hyping me up!!!

"A MAGIC SCHOOL?DO I LOOK LIKE A FOOL TO YOU?" you screamed at your parents, their pleading eyes instantly making you guilty.

"Darling! That woman showed us what she's capable of. You can go and learn and it's not like you have much of an option." Your father said, caressing your arm.

They were right. The woman, who called herself the professor of Hogsy or something school, had explained to you the two tier unscripted path of your future. The first thing being that you were invited to study at an elite magic school, the evidence of which was provided by summoning your sketchbooks from your room. Second being, your soulmate was a boy of the magical community so you,inevitably, were a part of it and there was no escape from it.

"I don't want to leave you alone!" Tears threatening to fall, you requested your parents.

"Please sweetie. Don't make this harder than it already is. We do not have enough money to provide you with quality education. At least you are getting a chance to improve your life. Do not let this chance pass because of us. Besides it's like a boarding school. That lady did say you'd be visiting us twice a year and that too for two whole months! I see no harm sweetie. You possibly cannot refuse your soulmate right. They need you as much as you need them. So go and live your life. Make your parents proud!"

Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry,

Year - third

"Then the battery is placed in this small compact space in a very specific way to make the clock work. This small cylindrical unit called battery has very complicated working so we'll discuss that next week. And this week,I won't be bothering you with any homework so go and enjoy. Have an enchanting day." Your professor dismissed the class with a brightening smile.

"Y/n" she called as you were packing your bag.

"Yes mam?" You asked her, hands respectfully crossed in front of your skirt.

"I just wanted to say thank you so much for the automated battery clock that you got. The ones we have are very old and it's a long and tiring process to ask for new ones. Do know how delighted i am to have you in my class. I'm glad you chose muggle studies as elective." She smiled at you and you bowed just a bit to show your gratitude and walked outside for your other classes.

Being a ravenclaw was all about wisdom, intellect, being sharp minded and laced with logic and creativity or this was what the book that prof McGonagall gave you read. The almighty sorting hat, the pillar on which walls of Hogwarts stood, had placed you in ravenclaw. Though the hat did contemplate between every single house, you ended up with ravenclaw. You believed neither in the semi-animate object nor the popular saying that Sorting hat knows you better than you do yourself for you failed to find your own kind. The smart ravenclaws were too bright for you. It didn't help that you were the only muggle in your year. You weren't able to keep up with them and if it haven't been for willy, your only friend in ravenclaw, you'd have ended up going home,without finding your destiny. Not that you were any better at the moment but life was fun with willy and aria, your hufflepuff friend.

But nothing remains stationary right!

“How are you here already?” you questioned lazily.

“Arithmancy professor fell sick this morning. I've been free since then.” said Aria. You turned to William, who was busy toying with his alligator bracelet. “And you willy?”

“Huh?” he mindlessly asked.

“I asked, did you run away from divination again?” you repeated the question, changing the words to suit his ears.

“Oh no! We just had a small accident in class today.” he giggled, his glasses falling off as he doubled over with laughter.

The potion classroom was soon jammed with third year fellows, all chatting in their own friend groups, enjoying the few minutes before they would be bombarded with over expectation of brewing a girding potion. At the precise moment, the door was closed shut.

“STOP THE USELESS GOSSIP AND SPLIT INTO YOUR BREWING GROUPS. NOW!”

Prof. Snape thundered as all the students, without a second wasted, dispersed and settled. “Mr. brown.” he called a hufflepuff, “collect the ingredients and mr. kim, care to move yourself and help him.” he instructed two students who complied immediately. “Not that i expect any from you little incompetent students, you shall not prepare more than two vials of the potion or else i won’t hesitate to make you do your laundry in the same foul liquid. Understood!” his warning earned silent gagging from several students at the mention of the awful smell, of which you were not excluded.

As you got busy in discussing the recipe, noise of shattering glass and a shrill cry pierced through your ears. Before you could raise your head to witness the happening, your left wrist burned as if it was set on fire. Knees buckling, you fell on the floor as sudden inflammation blocked your senses, heart wrenching screams leaving your throat.Your wailing alerted your friends as William instantly unbuttoned your sleeve to view the reason of your pain and gasped at the damage.

“Prof. snape! Her soulmate mark is burning.” he shouted but your ears were too clogged due to choked sobs to feel the distress in his voice. You slowly opened your heavy eyelids as your wrist was pulled swiftly. With blurred vision, you saw prof. casting a spell,his wand releasing a blue light circling your mark which entered your wrist, momentarily soothing the pain. Your cries softened into tiny sniffles as the spell did it's work. You lifted yourself up with Willy's help while sloppily rubbing at the darkened spot.

“Oh yes, it’d leave some itching and for the spot and further treatment, you need to immediately go to the hospital wing. Ms. y/l/n and mr. Kim, you both are excused and for your foolishness, 100 points from slytherin.” Upon his command, your head snapped towards the man standing across the room in dishevelled state,probably matching your own,his hand clutching his wrist, eyes holding your gaze.

“Out!”

Nodding your head, you made your way out, the male following after you.

Either you were too slow in your steps or he was too brisk, but he seemed to be way ahead of you. Gripping your tingling and heavy hand, you were tracing his path when a pair of shoes met your vision, halting you in the middle of the corridor.

“It’s stinging y/n. We have to run!” and before you could reply, he was sprinting for the stairs, taking you with him.

“You both are in the same year?” the nurse asked, examining the burnt swans on your wrists.

“Yes” you both replied in unison, eyes meeting for a second before you averted your gazes. The head nurse noted something in her register before she went to extract some bandages and potions.

“is the skin still burning?" The nurse queried, taking doyoung's hand but he pulled his hand and pointed for you.

"She's more hurt. Check her first please" he mumbled, noticing your incessant scratching and ragged breathing. She shook her head and proceeded with the treatment.

"Why were you playing with the potions?" She scolded Doyoung while applying the healing potion.

"I wasn't!" Doyoung retorted as he straightened his back in defence. "It got spilled by mistake when I was finding seaho-RSES!" He screeched as the medicine stung.

"Seahorses are kept in see-through containers mr. Kim and don't you nincompoops know that golden marks are sensitive to heat. Why were you wearing a folded shirt in a potions class when clearly you were exposed t-

"The temperature madam!" Your eyes never left his face as you witnessed the misery he went through in the past few minutes and which you were going to experience in a few seconds.

"Give me your hand miss y/n"

The liquid ignited it again but as she massaged on it, the skin felt cooler than before and when she wrapped the white bandage, the sharp needles alleviated into cold jingling. You carefully glanced at doyoung through your peripheral vision only to find him staring at you with wide eyes. Saving yourself the humiliation, you tried to hide your face into your neck which only annoyed you further due to the wetness of your fresh tears mixing with sweaty moisture, creating what felt like a puddle but you endured it, calculating the weight of the outcomes.

"Do stop by every day for a change of bandage unless you want to live your whole life with black wrists which I clearly don't have any problem with kids!" She jested before leaving for her office.

You stayed seated beside doyoung, the newfound soulmate, wondering if he was as nervous as you were. Fisting your clammy hands, you mustered all the courage you could, ready to introduce yourself but the greeting travelled back through your throat when he hopped off the hospital bed and departed without uttering anything.

Your recently dried eyes were sprayed again with his callous action as millions thoughts ran through your throbbing head, heart constricting under the weight of silence.

Did the man for whom you deserted the whole world for, rejected you?

"HE DID WHAT?" Aria hollered and looming forward, slamming her hands down on the table. At her reactions, you felt your own anger bubbling again but the disorder generated by the recent incident and William's reasoning, you stopped yourself from forming any conclusion.

"Will you calm down."

"No willy, don't you want to rip that sly boy apart. How dare he! I’m going to- wait you told him before me! That's not fare." She whined, diverting her own attention.

“stop shouting aria. Let people eat in silence. An-and we don't know why he left. It could be--maybe he wanted to use the washroom or he wanted to hide his pai-

"Stop defending him willy or I'll pour this porridge over your head" willy pouted at her remark and slided down his chair to avoid her.

"Stop bickering and tell me what should i be doing now! I have a soulmate for god's sake!"

You had finally found the reason for your presence in the castle, your soulmate, kim doyoung and you didn’t know how to proceed.

"I guess wait y/n and at least you were saved from the awful odour of the gird today. Sicheng almost fainted in front of professor but that was a hilarious sight girl. You missed it" you saw rolling her eyes at the mention and you mirrored her reaction,resting your head on the table as Willy's ironic statement only intensified the pounding.

Wait! But for how long?

"YOUR FROG BRAIN DID WHAT?" Simmi jumped off the bed to face doyoung, her hand reaching for the transfiguration book.

"I-i- i got nervous!" He whined and cringed at his pathetic excuse. He was busy folding and unfolding his poor ear,apparently in nervousness, when his best friend thwacked his bicep with the heavy book.

He cried out loud, grasping his arm with one hand, “do you want to die!” he glowered at her.

“How could you miss your soulmate when she was right there in front of you for two years." She said before working on his arm again.

“I’m not the only one! She also missed me.” he reasoned, holding his hands up in refuge from her neverending attacks. “Wait!” he exclaimed, pondering over his words. “How could she not know I was her soulmate when almost everyone knows I've got a gold swan embroidered.” his face fell in despondency and the horrible and hurried conclusion his thoughts took him to. “Simmi what if she- what if she never wanted to find me and that-

“Merlin’s beard shut yourself up and mail your family. They need to know their baby boy is all grown up now!”

He nodded in acknowledgement of the suggestion but his wandering mind refused to rest until he was sure of his qualms.

Maybe he should wait! But for how long?

My love was sleeping, but there was fragrance in the air

Doyoung roamed around in circles, his heart unevenly drumming, body so warm under the strain of muddled thoughts that the moisture was seeping through the bandage. The response of his parents, lying on his bed in the form of a letter, had relieved him of the worries of any prospective opposition. Not that he didn’t know his family, he wasn't too convinced how their family would address the sudden revelation of his soulmate being a muggle. You were going to be the first muggle in his family and the first ravenclaw after his great grandmother. The first line of the letter “we are elated to know that your soulmate is a human and not your piano” had eased him for the remaining part. Now that the dragon was out of the dungeon, the subsequent troubles were giving him splitting migrains.

In the past week, he had tried to approach you after a painful shove from taeyong and simmi but he had to retreat due to your very malevolent comrades. The mental conversations he had with you continued to be in the confines of his head but nothing arrested him from searching for you in the crowds. You had always been there, in the same classes, in the great hall, in the corridors but you were nowhere when his eyes sought you. Just a week has passed and he found himself getting more and more conscious of your presence. He wanted to hijack and become a part of your convivial life yet he lacked the needed courage.

So he resorted to wearying his legs by moving around. Maybe Some blood rush from his branches to brain would give him some clarity.

By degrees, the thumping of his spirit corresponded to the swooshing of the sea creatures.

He might have been too young to fall in true love but slowly, he knew, he was falling for that little golden swan.

Hidden from the rest, you were completing your assignment when the chair besides you was drawn out. You raised your head with the intention of getting the chair vacated for your friends but watching the Kim doyoung occupying the seat, you shot up instantly,ready for your escape. Fumbling with the ink and books, you whirled around only to be stopped by the boy.

You glanced at him for a moment before pulling your hand ,which he was tugging at , back.

"Stay. Your friends won't be coming today. I won't say anything. Please" he requested with his doe eyes looking up in a hope to catch yours.

Wordlessly, you sat down.

He kept his promise.

No word was spoken that day or the next day or the next week.

The intense silence that engulfed you that day soon morphed into a tranquil one. The one of the familiarity, of the silent exchanges and of the growing unbreathed bond.

By the end of the month, the green leaves sacrificed themselves for the birth of fiery red ones as the days became shorter, the sun became mischievous and the gold on your wrists started gleaming more than ever.

One month later

“Gamps’ law of transformation? Didn’t we read it last year?” doyoung asked perplexedly, taking the reins of the conversation, again.

“Prof. told me to prepare an assignment which would be used for the younger students.” you replied sheepishly, dipping the quill in the ink.

“Pure ravenclaw” he muttered, looking lovingly at you. These days, he did it more often than he could count. He wanted to say more but the fear of your refusal always held him back.

“Not so much”

you heard his muttering! He wanted to pry further but saved it for a later discussion.

He shifted himself towards his own chair and worked on his sheet as the ticking of the grandfather clocks muddled with scratching of the quills filled the empty corner.

It wasn't home but it certainly felt like one!

Two months later

“Give us our y/n back” aria whisper yelled to taeyong.

“She’s doyoung’s soulmate, doyoung is my best friend hence she is my best friend as well.” taeyong retorted, dramatically flaring his nostrils.

“Don’t forget we live at the same place taeyong and simmi won’t be there to save you baboon face.” amused smiles adorned everyone’s faces as they saw both of them quarelling. Some things were always constant.

You sipped on your hot chocolate that warmed you up as you and doyoung went through the revision for the last exam. Without being asked, he helped you with his encyclopedic knowledge. you were grateful for his assistance but never said anything for you felt like the feather silence between you was too delicate to breach.

So you spoke through your eyes.

And he never failed to hear you.

Wrapping the scarf around your neck, you sprinted for the dining hall, tightly holding onto the white chocolates tightly.

At the end of the hallway, you saw another figure running over in the same state as you.

“Did you get shorter?” he said, grinning ear to ear. Glancing up at him, you scanned through his features, in case you had forgotten in the christmas holidays.

“This is for you!” you both said simultaneously, extending your hands

“Open it for me!” you requested.

Under the emerald covering was an elegant and vintage fountain pen, engraved and decorated with turquoise stones. “This is so beautiful.” you told him before taking it from him. You traced over the name kim carved onto the nib of the pen. You raised your brows in question to which he responded quickly , “it’s my great grandma’s. This is your Christmas gift from the Kim family. I know it’s small but you are invi-

“It’s precious. You are giving me a family heirloom when all i got are some homemade milk chocolates for you.” your smile faded as you avoided his sight.

“How did you know white chocolates are my favourite?” he exclaimed, a bit too loudly.

“Mom said you’d l-

Before you could complete your sentence, he prised the chocolate box out of your grip, sprinting for the great hall.

“OH KIM DOYOUNG! GIVE ME MY SHARE!”

YEAR - FOURTH

“Why are you always so quiet?”

“I’m never!” you defended yourself.

Doyoung didn’t know why he was talking about it now and here, out of all places, in front of whomping willow.

“Tell me!” he pressed.

“I talk to a few and it’s enough.”

“Do you know you are intimidating?” you raised your chin to scrutinise the sincerity in his words.

“I am not!”

“To those you don’t know you, you radiate passive energy. My slytherin friends wanted to introduce themselves but they got scared and ran away. Honestly, i was also a bit-

He trailed off, slouching on the bench as your eyes bored into his. His head hung low in apology for he knew, he must've crossed the line but for the first time, you decided to show him your dauntless side.

“Hogwarts did that to me.” you said, wearily. “I was happy with my parents, drawing and colouring in my art books when suddenly i was told that i’ve been living in a wrong way. That there is a secret magical place where i have a soulmate. I was angry because i had to leave everything behind. And then i was sorted into ravenclaw. And i was distorted when i found out that i wasn't smart enough for them. I couldn't solve the riddles! William was the one who showed me how to do it properly. It felt awful knowing that the only place that was supposed to be my home for next seven years wasn't the place where i belonged to.” you spoke calmly but doyoung felt your distress and let you continue without any interruptions.

“I was an eleven year old. I never wanted to fend for myself in a place full of strangers. I -i imagined my life to be a canvas full of colours that i wanted to design for myself. The borders, the paint, the drawing, i wanted to design it for me. But then an owl screeched and i felt like someone had shortened my canvas and after all these years, i feel it’s completely disappearing.” it sounded like someone snatched the life out of your voice. But your visage remained soft, drawing doyoung in.

“So you like art.” he asked with curiosity.

“Yes. i love art.” you said, eyes fixed at the movements of the branches of whomping willow.

“Can you please teach me?” he urged and within a second , the air filled with the fragrance of your happiness.

“ why wouldn’t I. what do you wanna do in future doyong? Aria wants to arithmancer, william would be a healer and sicheng, he would be a star quidditch player.”

“I don't want to worry about it right now. Let’s just live in today.” he answered back, smile gracing his lips at the thought of a future with you.

You both relished each other’s company until the temperature froze the both of you.

Removing a snowflake from your lashes, he made a promise to himself that he’d help you find something that’d put ice on all the bitter memories you had.

YEAR - FIFTH

THE GREAT HALL

“Doyoung’s got a howler!” yuta and simmi fist bumped each other, already too excited for the letter to be opened. Of all the howlers they have received, doyoung and yuta’s were record establishing and they expected mrs. kim to maintain the status quo this time as well.

The howler jumped in the air and as the seal opened, doyoung’s heart dropped at the voice. It was not from his mother but his sister and it shouted humiliation, if he was being polite towards her.

“MS. Y/N!”

You choked on the juice as you heard your name.

“MY DEAR TO-BE-SISTER-IN-LAW, HELLO! I’M IVET, THAT DENSE DUDE’S LITTLE SISTER. MUM HAS SENT YOU SOME ART SUPPLIES AND SHE WANTS TO KNOW IF YOU COULD PAINT HER SOMETHING TO DECORATE THE EMPTY WALL IN HER ROOM. SHE’D BE DELIGHTED AND IF YOU GET TIME,PLEASE DRAW SOMETHING FOR ME TOO. AND DOYIE BRO! BRING ME CHOCOLATE FROGS FROM THE TRAIN! SHOP FROGS DOESN'T TASTE THE SAME. FORGET THIS TIME AND I’D MAKE SURE YOU REGRET YOUR EXISTENCE. I hope we can meet soon ms. y/n. By.”

The howler exploded and so did the whole room. Several snorts, chuckles, happy curses were exchanged as doyoung lowered himself under the table to avoid the shame.

You checked your paint supplies attached with the howler and as your lips curved up, he knew what he was going to pursue in his life.

Your happiness and immortality.

When i found you, there was magic

“Mr. kim if you wish to ogle at ms.y/l/n instead of paying attention to my words then i’d suggest please fail your o.w.l.s so i don’t have to face your affection filled face from next year.” prof snape growled, throwing the head of vial on doyoung’s face.

He was going to fail potions, you thought gesturing him to apologise.

“And 20 points from slytherin and 10 points from ravenclaw!” you both ducked your heads in an instant, forcing a poker face to save yourself from further trouble.

When i found you, rain smelled good

YEAR - SIXTH

When i found you, desires awakened

“No simmi! This is a slytherin dungeon. I cannot go inside!” you warned simmi, who, all of a sudden was adamant on showing you her room, at midnight.

“I love you but please don’t call this a dungeon.” she held out her hand before you could correct her. “Yes i know this is practically a dungeon but we call it seascape. Close your ears, you don’t wanna hear the password. You nodded, palming your ears.

“Yutaisthegreatestbeingintheworld” you snickered as she recited the words.

“Our prefect is a dung brain so please excuse.”

Door opened to darkness but a dim light slowly floated towards you as you walked inside “Nox” your wand rose high up in the air. You made out doyoung’s figure and before you could calculate, the whole room resonated with a syncless birthday song.

And you knew, you were enthralled by this boy.

You heard my prayers, you answered my heart’s call

“I love you aria. Would you give me the honour of being the snitch of your life?” sicheng, aria’s ravenclaw soulmate confessed to her with a promise ring.

“The ice prince finally melted!” You and william, hands joined, jumped in joy as you watched aria’s eyes glistened with glee.

You rushed upstairs to find doyoung as you forsaw the end of your wait.

Panting heavily, you dragged doyoung out of prof’s room, his step gracefully flowing with yours in a instant.

“What are yo-

“What do you smell in amortentia?” you stopped abruptly and asked him, gasping for air.

“Wh-a-t” he giggled nervously, his hand patting his chest to control his own breathing. “What has gotten ov-

“Answer me kim doyoung.” you whispered, strictly.

He was quiet but you understood the stillness of his heart veiled by the thumping and you felt him losing his composure when his hands cupped your face,

"I-i smelled white chocolate, lovely lillies-

"Hurry up Kim." You hit his chest with your fist with requirement of the answer.

He chuckled, his bunny teeth enlightening his chiselled face while he looked at you like you were something special to him and you no more just wanted to feel it. You wanted him to say it, express it like he did when he read the poetry from your book or like the random scribbles on his notebooks. You wanted him to move on from the shy glances and profess that you were his and he was yours.

he licked his lips as he gulped harshly before continuing,

"And you. You-your hair. Your lavender scent. Your innocence. Your d-dreams. Your colours. Your paints yo-

Pulling him by his tie, you placed your lips on his soft ones, leaving them with a smack. His hands wrapped around your waist to embrace you in the warmest hug you'd ever received from a loved one. As your head laid on his chest, you heard his heartbeat for the first time, making you feel closer to him than ever.

"How would i ever requite your love Kim doyoung" you asked, closing your eyes.

"Maybe a portrait would do!"

Kim doyoung became the canvas of your life,giving you the liberty to paint him in your colours and your love and you became the smudged ink to his enchanted diary, without whom he would've failed to fill the pages.

You'd grow old but the swans born out of you would tell the stories of the years gone by.

#neowritingsnet #nct-writers #kafenetwork #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct x reader #doyoung fluff #doyoung scenarios #doyoung imagines #nct fluff #doyoung soulmate au #nct soulmate au #doyoung x reader #nct dream #nct hogwarts au #hogwarts fanfiction #doyoung hogwarts au #nct angst #doyoung angst

208 notes · View notes

spencessmile · 4 years

Text

Trinity House

Pairing - Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary - You and Spencer visit a bookstore that’s close to both of your hearts.

Warnings - Fluff

Word Count - 2216 words

And all imagines/fanfics/blurbs are written solely by me so please don't steal my work and post it without my consent. Happy reading!

A/N - Went to a bookstore earlier today and thought about this cute concept. Gah, I would do anything to be able to go to a bookstore with Spencer.

Requests are open!

Spencer sat across from you in the living room. He was seated near the fireplace, case files surrounding him.

You were on the couch, a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream in your left hand as you doodled in your sketchbook, feeling snug in his blue sweater that was over-sized on you.

"How are the drawings coming along?" Spencer asked, looking up at you.

"It's getting there," You said, going over the lines to give your drawing a messy look.

"We don't have any plans for the evening, right?"

"Well, I was planning on finishing this drawing and then starting my next one because I have a crazy idea for it."

"Mint chocolate chip ice cream and drawings, the two things to keep you happy in life."

"Make sure you never run out of mint chip ice cream or sketchbooks."

"Wouldn't dream of it babe," Spencer blushes.

"If I ever came home and our freezer didn't have any more mint chip ice cream or your desk didn't have piles of my favorite quality of sketchbooks, I would run away."

"I wouldn't let you run," Spencer responds.

"Good." You said, looking back down at your drawing.

You and Spencer continued to quietly work until you felt his eyes on you.

"Your staring at me," You said.

"I'm admiring."

"Well," You said putting your sketchbook down and walking over to him. "You're distracting me." You sat down beside him, flipping over his case files not wanting to see whatever he was working on. You had huge respect for what Spencer did for a living but you made it very clear to him to keep his case files feets away from you. You chose to see the good in the world but you knew that as you looked into one of those files you would lose all faith in the world, you didn't want that.

"Let's go to Trinity House," Spencer smiles.

"Really?"

"We haven't been in so long. Come on," Spencer helps you off the ground and races down the hall to grab his satchel.

"Can I at least change?" You ask as Spencer walks back out.

"Why?"

"Because I look a little messy," You motioned down to your clothes.

"I love when you look messy," He replies, pecking your lips.

Spencer held your hand as you drove passed down familiar streets. Spencer and you loved Trinity House in words you couldn't describe, maybe it was because it's where you first met Spencer and fell in love with a nerd who had the perfect golden brown eyes and a smile that made you melt.

"You know who's going to be really glad to see us?" You asked.

"Jess," You both said at the same time.

Jess worked at Trinity House for longer than before you and Spencer ever meant but she was the one who always teased you about Spencer whenever you would come in. It was the push from Jess and your lucky stars that you mustered up the courage to ask Spencer out one day when he walked in the bookstore.

"How long has it even been?" Spencer asked and you shrugged.

"It's been way too long."

"It's been far too long since we've come here," Spencer said, parking right in front of the bookstore. He unbuckled his side and helped you out.

"Thank you," You responded, kissing Spencer's kiss.

Spencer opened the door for you, stepping in you took in the smell of books and coffee.

"Y/N!" Spencer!" You turn to see Jess running towards you, hugging you tightly.

"Hi Jess," You said, as she pulled back and waved at Spencer. "I'm seeing you both after so long. I thought you forgot about this place." She exclaimed.

"I don't think that's possible," You said.

"Jess, how have you been?" Spencer asked.

"I've been good," She replied.

"I see you did some renovations," Spencer said, pointing to the several new paintings and remodeling that was done.

"Yup, wanted to give the place a more comfier feel? So, how does it feel?"

"Comfy," Spencer replied and she nodded.

"So?" She raised her eyebrow at you and Spencer. "How have you two been? Married? Any cute little genius babies yet?"

"Not yet," Spencer shook his head. "But I did ask Y/N to move in."

"Oh, did you say yes?" She said, looking at you.

"I couldn't resist," You reply. "He's just too pretty to resist."

Spencer blushed as he playfully pushes you away. "Go look for your books," He said. You walk away as you notice Spencer continuing his conversation with Jess.

You stare at all the new books that were apart of the Trinity House and you wanted them all. But you needed to control yourself because Spencer and your's apartment literally looked like a bookstore. There were books everywhere; left, right, in every corner of the apartment.

As you continued to gaze at all the books, Spencer and Jess watched you.

"She has the most incredible taste in books," Jess spoke.

"I choose from her side of the bookshelf more then mine," Spencer admitted, truthfully. "I thought nobody had better taste than me in books but she takes the crown." Jess laughs.

"She's always had an eye for the best," Jess said, and Spencer blushed. "Go find your books, I'll be in the back whenever you two love birds are done."

Spencer walks over to you.

"Find anything you like?" You looked up from your book to see Spencer.

"Is it bad that I want to buy this whole section of the shelf?" You pointed the left side. "They all are calling me name."

"Then add them to the pile baby," Spencer said, looking through your large stack of books on the small table.

"Did you find your book yet?" You asked.

"Is it weird that I'm nervous to look?" Spencer asked.

"Do you want me to look for you?" Spencer nods and took his hand and walk towards the R shelf. Spencer has been wanting to get his hands on The Essential Rumi book for months now and he only wanted the older version.

Your eyes quickly scan all the book titles until your eyes catch the book you're looking for. "Spence." You say, looking at him as his eyes were scanning another book from the shelf.

"Hmm," He responds. You pull out the book and put it in his reach of vision.

"They have it!" He whisperers, taking it slowly out of yours like it might fall into pieces if he grabbed it any quicker.

"They do," You smile as you looked at him admiring the book. "Babe, add it to the pile."

After another two hours or so Spencer finds you in the N section.

"Hey baby," Spencer called out for you.

"Hii," You respond.

"You already know that I love you but this book," Spencer grabbed it from you and ran his thumb over the cover. "Is heartbreaking." Spencer goes to put it back on the shelf but you stop him.

"I want to read it," You say.

"I don't want you reading this," Spencer said softly.

"Why not?"

"Because it'll make you cry."

"So?"

"You know it's breaks my heart when I see you crying," You lightly smiled at his response.

"I'll be okay my love," You said, kissing his cheek.

"Nobody is okay after reading this book," Spencer looks at you and you could tell this book hit Spencer somewhere deep. Spencer read thousands of books and remembers all of them but you remember Spencer telling you that there was one book that he'll never recover from and today you found which one.

"How about we buy it but I only read it when your home with me?" You ask. "So that if I do start crying you can be there to comfort me and tell me everything's going to be okay?" Spencer looks at you for a couple of moments before pulling you in for a small kiss.

"We can do that," He nods. "You ready to check out?"

"I think we got more than enough."

"You can never have enough books baby," Spencer said, carrying the basket full of books to the counter where Jess was waiting for you two.

You stand the shelf watching Spencer pay for books as you just simply admired him from afar. Spencer noticed you weren't beside him and he made grabby hands at you. You walked up beside him and laid your head on his shoulder.

"When will I see you two lover birds again?" Jess asked, slipping Spencer a receipt.

"As soon as we finish these," You pointed to the four bags on the counter, filled with books. You reached for a bag until Spencer smacked your hand away.

"No," He said, grabbing all the bags. "I got them." You smiled. "Thank you, Jess! See ya soon."

"I need to talk to Y/N Spencer," Jess said, holding onto your arm. "She'll meet you in the car in a couple of minutes."

"Everything okay?" Spencer asked, looking between you and Jess.

"Yup, just some girl talk."

"I'll be there in two minutes babe," You said and Spencer nodded. As soon as he was out of your and Jess's sight, she quickly grabbed a bag and handed it to you.

"When the book arrived I nearly cried," Jess said as you pulled out the book from the bag and looked at it. "He's going to love it."

You called Jess a couple of weeks back asking if she could track down a book for you that Spencer's wanting to get his hand's on for two years now.

"He is," You smiled, slipping her the money. "Thank you for doing this. I don't know how I'll repay you for this."

"You can repay me but having dinner with me. It's been way too long and we need to do some catching up."

"Yes. Definitely!" You say. "I'll see you real soon." You said walking out and getting into the car.

"You got another one?" Spencer questioned.

"It's the most important one," You said.

"Can I see which one?" He asked, curiously.

"I'll show once we get home."

"Okay," Spencer nodded. "Your cute." He added, kissing you.

"Your cute too."

"Not as much as you."

"I beg to differ."

Back at the apartment, you and Spencer stand on your separate sides of your huge bookshelf and organize your books with soft music playing in the background.

You were so concentrated in your books you didn't notice Spencer's hands wrap around your waist pulling you away from the bookshelf.

"Can you show me the last book you got?" Spencer asked.

"You really want to see it, huh?" You laughed.

"We always share our books with each other," Spencer spoke, he was right. You and Spencer always shared books.

"I can only get the book if you let go of me, my love." You say as Spencer let's go of you. You grabbed the bag and walk back up to him. "As I said earlier, this book was the most important." You held the bag in front of Spencer. "Open it." Spencer looked at you confused. He slowly opened the packaging.

You heard Spencer gasp as the cover of the book came into his vision.

"Y/N, you didn't," Spencer said, looking at the book in his hands.

"Oh but I did," You said, grabbing on his arm.

"Where did you find this book from? I haven't been able to get my hands on this for years!"

"I pulled a few strings." You smiled as Spencer looked at the book.

It was the book 'Between Shades of Grey' by Ruta Sepetys. Spencer had mentioned it several times he wanted it to be apart of his shelf more times then you could remember so you knew that you had to get it for him.

Spencer put the book down on the desk and looked at you.

"What's wrong? Is it the wrong one? If it is I can get it chan-"

"No, no, no," Spence shook his head. "It's the one." He said.

"Then what's wrong?"

"What's your favorite thing that you've found at Trinity House?" He asked, his voice soft.

Spencer's words put you in deep thought, you had found many things at Trinity House at were your favorite, you'd have no idea where to start.

"Want to know my favorite thing that I found at Trinity House?" He asked.

"What?"

"I found you at Trinity House." Your eyes began to water. "I found the most loving and adorable person there and I'm so thankful."

"I love you so much," You hugged Spencer as he rubbed your back. "And I thank my lucky stars for you every day."

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are - Mason Cooley

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid angst #spencer reid fluff #BAU #criminal minds

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nicomacheannothing · 4 years

Text

Wow, I’m Doing the Thing

Today (technically yesterday. I wrote this post yesterday.) marks one month since I’ve started PersonalBlogging again! I’m pretty surprised I’ve been able to keep up with it this well. Admittedly, this month has gone by pretty quickly.

I was thinking about it the other day and I realized that I don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t keep some sort of journal. Even before I could write well, I would scribble my thoughts into notebooks. I haven’t always used the daily diary format, but I’ve pretty much always done something. On Saturday, when Austin was over at my parents’ house, I showed him the chest where I keep pretty much every journal and sketchbook I’ve ever used. Well, the ones I know still exist, at least. It’s packed. I’m glad I kept good records, though. I have pretty vivid memories of many parts of my life that most of my friends and family have forgotten... The other day, my parents were having trouble remembering the detail of a trip we took when I was in middle school. I clarified things for them by reading from my 8th grade journal.

Blogging is kind of a weird thing though. I’ve had a public blog of some sort since I was 11 and I used to write “updates” on my personal website. Actually, I recently discovered that there are still some vestiges of that website left, saved in the Wayback Machine:

Why though? Why do I feel the need to make my thoughts available to others when I could just record them privately. Because I’m an attention whore! Duh!

Just kidding. Sort of haha. I think everyone who regularly uses social media is a bit of an attention whore. That’s not bad; we should all just embrace the fact that we like getting validation from people. It’s cool. I think there’s more to it for me, though.

For one thing, I’ve always loved reading other people’s blogs. They belong to friends, family, friends of friends and friends of family... I’ve spent way to much time in my life binge reading online journals. I don’t know why, but observing people’s meta-thoughts on their own life is neat, especially when it’s a person that I already find interesting. I think writing my own blog is my way of contributing to the collective blogosphere that’s given me so much inspiration and entertainment over the years. There might be other people like me out there who might want to read my blog. Or maybe not! Either way, I’m paying it forward.

My feelings about blogging are a bit more abstract then that though... I remember once Mady told me that the reason she rushed to self-publish her novel (something that’s not generally recommended) is that she just really wanted to share it with the world; like it’s just not satisfying to make art only for herself. If it’s not collective in someway, or just doesn’t feel right. I suppose I feel a similar way. It took me a long time to feel like I had a “self”. Even now, when I examine my habits and qualities, my first instinct is to attribute them to how I was raised, my current environment or my culture. I rarely ever think of myself as having features that arise independently of the collective whole that I’m a part of. How can I be satisfied doing things just for myself when it’s hard for me to even understand what it means to feel like a “self”? (To be clear, I’m much better at being my own person these days, but it took work to get there!😝) Blogging publicly means that I’m public. I’m no longer just a person on my own; I’m a small piece of a larger whole. That’s just the way I tend to be and think, I guess. Weird, I know. It’s so the opposite of my brother and Austin. Mady gets it, though. She still doesn’t put herself out there in social media form as much as she used to when she was younger. I think it’s because she’s less of an attention whore than I am. Let’s not forget that ultimately, I can meta-analyze myself all I want, but at the end of the day, I’m still an attention whore 😝

Soooo back to avoiding Star Wars Discourse!

#personal #personalblog

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arbeaone · 5 years

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ShellsuitZombie Magazine Issue 2 Published on July 26, 2011

[ View larger version here ] Text from the article can be read below. (There may be some errors.)

I, BOLLO

One spectacularly sunny lunchtime, ShellsuitZombie managed to hunt down a rare Gorilla only common to Clerkenwell London. Dave Brown, most famous for his role as Bollo in The Mighty Boosh, spends most of his time as a designer and photographer producing (alongside Boosh work like 2008s spectacularly successful 'The Mighty Book of Boosh') beautiful printed staff for clients like Universal and the BBC, as well as of course the odd performance to tens of thousands on arena tours around the country. It's safe to say we were feeling pretty smug about trapping him in a pub in Clerkenwell (which happens to be just below his studio) for a pint and a chat about Design, the future of Boosh, Noel's new book and photographing Julian Barratt and villagers in Ghana.

SSZ: So Dave/Bollo, what would you consider to be your main job?

Dave: I guess I consider myself to be a creative, the Boosh started as something I did with my mates as a laugh and it blew up into something huge. I've always had to juggle the worlds of and Design, quite often for me they overlap, obviously when you're out on tour it's all consuming but even then I've been known to be sat in my hotel room on a squeezing the odd freelance job in.

So you've always been freelance?

I couldn't be full time, in the early days I needed the freedom to be able to drop everything and get involved in a Boosh project at the drop of a hat, so freelance was perfect, then just before the first live Boosh tour in 2006 I did something I'd always wanted to do and set up my own agency, aptly named Ape, with a mind to be more of a collective of creatives rather then just a sole trader It allows me to get all the amazing creatives I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with over the years involved as and when I can on all kinds of creative projects.

It's been pretty full on since to be honest, so full on in fact that I haven't even had time to launch the website! It always gets pushed to the bottom of the to do list when I'm busy and then when I find the time to get back to it I've gone off everything I've done and start again. There's a holding page up at the moment that says 'Gorillas can use up to 52 different tools.They're currently using those tools to build this site'. Well they're obviously rubbish at using them because it's taking them bloody ages to finish!

Would you say Boosh has helped the rest of your career?

I guess so, although you could also say it's got in the way. I am doing a lot of books now as a result of the Boosh book but many of my clients haven't a clue who I am. I've done work for Feame Cotton, Ben Brooks, James Rhodes, Nick Cave and recently comedian Tim Key as a result of the book and Boosh work in general. BBC books actually just rang and asked me if I'd be interested in designing this years Top Gear guide to Christmas book! They've approached me because they said they loved the Boosh book and would like my take on things. Will be great if that's true but I'm not counting my chickens just yet. I recently did an interview with Radio 4 where I went on a massive rant about Jeremy Clarkson's stonewashed pumpkin arse not fitting into my Morris Minor so if they get wind of that it could be off ! (Ed.- Since doing this interview Dave has stepped away from the Top Gear job due to, shall we say, creative differences)

It sounds like books are your bread and butter. How do you go about designing a successful book like ‘TMBOB’?

I don't have a process, I approach everything from an idea, every brief is obviously different and I design to that, so it's a bit worrying when people say 'I love the Boosh book, can you do that for me?' - I interpret that as can you adopt a similar way of approaching the brief rather than making it look exactly like the Book of Boosh. The Boosh book was designed around the characters really, the style and feel of each page born from an idea in the writing and from the vibrancy and diversity of the show, a 4 column grid with a consistent type style was obviously never going to work!

The Boosh book sold incredibly well, largely due to the popularity of the show, but we were also very keen to not just make it a standard off the shelf spin off shitty annual like most TV show books. Like all Boosh product, we're very hands on, mostly doing it ourselves and we dedicate time and effort to make sure the final product is worthy of the show. That's pretty unique to be honest I think this attention to detail and quality control is what makes our fans so insanely loyal. We haven't done anything new in ages but the books and DVD's are still selling, purely down to the quality of the design of course!

Surely not everyone just wants you for your Boosh?

No, like I said, I have a fair few clients that don't know I'm in the Boosh, in fact, awhile ago when I was still freelancing, one client left me in charge of their studio before getting on a flight to New York, on the flight they watched a Boosh ep and saw me playing Joey Moose in the first series. They were like 'Is that the guy we just... what the fuck?'

Bollo has played to some huge crowds...

Yeah the last tour we did was insane, Wembley Arena, multiple nights at Brixton, selling out the 02 two nights on the trot, it's been a crazy time and I'm so lucky to have had those experiences, it is hard after a touring sitting back at a computer designing but I get my kicks out of the creative and I still keep a toe in show business with a bit of directing, writing and the odd gig here and there. To be honest it's hard trying to keep it all up and sometimes I wish I just had one job to do. Design isn't exactly a part time job is it! and I've also just had a baby girl, so lets just say I'm pretty tired and exhausted at the moment, I'm smiling though, honest.

What are you up to at the moment?

At the moment I'm working on a book with Noel called The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton, not Boosh related, it's basically a book about Noel’s art and writing and I'm design and compiling it. There's also a lot of my photography in it. It's a visual bombardment of Noel's mind really, paintings, sketchbooks, scribbling, it's looking amazing. He's pretty prolific, such a huge body of work. He's been painting for years, unlike some famous freaks who get a set of colouring pencils for Christmas and decide through boredom that they're now an artist. Noel can actually paint his tits off and does so every moment he gets and has done for years so at the moment I'm trying to get 530 pages down to 320! What's really interesting about the work when you see it all together is that you can see how he writes to inspire his painting and he paints to inspire his writing, I know I'm biased but I love his stuff if you haven't seen it think Basquiat, Haring, DeBuffet, Magritte, Hockney, Aubrey Beardsley...

So are there any plans in the pipeline for the Boosh?

Well everyone's working on separate things at the moment Noel is busy doing his own show 'Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy' and Julian is doing a Russian play at the Young Vic 'Government Inspector'. Those two have pretty much become Howard and Vince.

The last thing we were working on was the album. I was told when I last heard it about 3 months ago that it was 90% done and it sounded immense then so no idea what's going on! It has all the tracks from the show reworked, longer and better as well as new ones written for characters, I reckon they all stand up in their own right, even if you'd never seen the Boosh I still reckon you could get into it, the new Crack Fox track is incredible! It's a great album, people should have it in their ear holes right now.

People always ask if The Boosh have split up, I guess it’s inevitable when nothing new has happened in a while but we haven't and stuff will again, Noel and Julian do things when they're ready, they've produced so much material over the years, they're just having a break at the mo. There's still loads of stuff on the table that's never seen the light of day, but they'll do it when they're ready and when they do it will be great. They just need to find out where that table is...

Is the passion still there?

Yeah of course, always will be, for them and for me. You always come back stronger after a holiday, just maybe a little sunburnt, haha.

So I hear you're involved in some charity work. Fancy talking about that for a bit?

Yes, I love talking about it! I have just become an ambassador for afrikids.org, A freaking ambassador! Afrikids is a charity focusing on child rights in Northern Africa - They've been an absolute joy to work with, I've done some fundraising for them as Bollo, I've rebranded them, not as Bollo, and I even got the opportunity to spend some time in Ghana last year seeing their projects firsthand. I was filming and taking stills for their library, it was an incredible experience - it sounds clichéd and worthy saying it was life changing but it was. The Upper East region of Ghana is an amazing place, the people are beautiful, many of them have next to nothing and yet they're so welcoming, so happy, so positive and an absolute joy to photograph. From a portraiture point of view it was incredible. You expect a certain amount of shyness or self awareness from someone when you stick a big camera in their face but everyone there was so natural and un-effected. They would just look right down the lens without a hint of embarrassment or effect. I couldn't stop taking pictures. I need to go back, there's a chance I will be involved in an ambulance convoy driving donated medical vehicles and equipment from Southampton to Bolgatanga in Northern Ghana next year, imagine the photographic opportunity there! There's a book in that... If I could do anything I'd be travelling the world taking pictures

How does that compare to shooting backstage on tour?

Worlds apart in terms of there being more more booze, hairspray and ... erm ... humous but actually not that different from a photographic point of view, it’s still about getting yourself in the right place, sensing when to be anonymous and when to get in amongst it. I'm lucky with the Boosh obviously because I'm an insider, it means everyone acts as if there wasn't a camera around, except Rich of course who turns into a complete psycho, nutjob, showoff whenever any recording equipment appears. He's a shy introvert mouse normally!

The trouble with me taking all the backstage Boosh shots is that I'm never in any of them, but then when we get photographers out on tour to shoot us I always feel for them because they usually get nothing! Especially when they're big personalities and act all crazy and hyper like that's what we react to! I always smile to myself and think 'you're not going to get anything here mate, especially from Julian' He rarely gives me anything photographically let alone a strange cool cat called Moses in his silly hat and mad trainers wondering why in every shot he has of Julian he's talking or eating!

I can imagine him being a pain in the arse

Not at all, well, maybe just a little every now and then but aren't we all? He's also the most truthful loyal down the line no shit guy you'll ever meet, he's also fucking hilarious and one of the best comic actors out there.

How did you meet?

Me, Noel and Nige (Boosh animator and co creator of Noels new show) went to see Julian do standup at uni - he was fucking amazing. Noel had wanted to go in for an award which Julian had won the year before, the daily telegraph open mic award, so thats why we saw him ... I think ... but then they met in Edinburgh and both got signed to the same management company and started writing together. Then they did three years in Edinburgh before the radio and TV shows. Being there from the off means I have photography all the way back to the source, I plan to do an exhibition and book some day of the lot, maybe next year, I think it’s 10 years since the first series? I may be wrong, my mind is mash, too much humous on tour.

OK We have some questions from ShensuitZombie readers. Graeme asks: Where are you keeping the severed head of the honey monster*?

* After a Sugar Puffs advert used a similar crimping style to the Boosh, Bollo exacted his revenge on the brand’s iconic beast live on tour.

Ha, I don't know where that is. It's probably behind a bin backstage somewhere in a Scottish theatre. The last gig on our last tour was in Aberdeen, I don't know whose fucking idea that was. It was a great gig and the people were amazing but we it did feel a bit of anti climax, although the journey back to London was ridiculous, it felt like it was half an hour! The honey monster head, I don't know, it's probably in Peter Kay's bed, discuss.

Holly asks: Do you find yourself grunting and acting like a primate after being onstage?

It's the most powerful thing to be in that costume, and acting it - especially in real life situations, I've found that out when I've been doing charity work, fundraising in banks and stuff, getting in lifts and acting nonchalant amongst business men and women. Some people react well and have a laugh, embrace it, others desperately try to ignore the fact that they're standing in a lift with Gorilla, others have massive heart attacks and die at my primate feet. It's weird for kids because they either run up and cuddle you or freeze, have meltdowns and are forever scared.

A friend recently did a film with John Landis [Director of American Werewolf in London and Thriller] who is apparently obsessed with monkey impersonators. He has a room in his house dedicated to all the monkey actors of the world and reckons he can tell who is in any monkey suit in any film anywhere. So he asked my mate for a signed photo of Bollo and I had to send him a strange signed shot like those ones you see in New York dry cleaners. Still, now I know I'm in John Landis's monkey room I sleep better at night.

John asks: In the Bollo Cadburys ad parody is it you in the suit*?

** If you don’t know what this is referring to, look here: tinyurl.com/bollocadburys

Of course it is, how very dare you suggest otherwise...

Which is your favourite episode?

Milky Joe is awesome, I love Nanageddon and Old Gregg and in series 3 it's got to be Eels. It’s tough to pick a favourite, I genuinely piss myself at most of them even when I watch them back now.

Is anything ad-libbed?

Yeah, have you met Rich? Ever tried to get him to say the same line twice! It's always where the best stuff comes from, harder in TV land but on tour it’s encouraged and is always where the gold comes from, also keeps you alive, when you're doing 6 shows a week for four or so months you need to keep it fresh.

In fact, there was one thing that Bollo had to do in the live show, rolling a big prop offstage. One day the caster caught and I stacked it, incidentally ripping my leg open in the process. It got the biggest laugh of the night so I carried on doing it for the rest of the tour!

Thanks Dave, it's been sweet.

No worries, nice to meet you.

And with that, like an ape in the woods, he was gone.

Check out Dave's site - www.apeinc.co.uk

Dave took hundreds of photos of Ghanaians on his recent trip with Afrikids, a charity for whom he is ambassador.

#Dave Brown #Noel Fielding #Julian Barratt #The Mighty Boosh #ShellsuitZombie #ShellsuitZombie Magazine #`❦

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dehvastation · 5 years

Text

Disobeying Orders, Making Friends

Tori: +Once more she found herself out in the night. Blue hair tied back and out of her face as she shrugs into the oversized hooded sweater. Tonight was all about comfort. Keeping her bag with her sketchbook and wallet in it secured to her side she decided to do the food thing. A little diner that catered to the 24/7 crowd was her destination. But not before she stopped in her garage to grab the commissions. Securing the paintings for delivery she heads out at a brisk walking pace. The cool of the evening soothing to her frazzled nerves. She would once more need to hunt. But her thirst was under control at the moment so she would be ok.

Walking the couple miles to the diner was always fun. The deserted night perfect for her to meander. Because she was carrying merchandise she hurried her pace a bit. Not enough to actually make her breath catch, but just enough that it was clear it wasn’t a stroll in the early morning hours. As she walked she quietly let’s her mind wander. Eyes of light blue heavenward, the stars were lovely and bright almost ethereal in their look. She idly wondered what it would be like to believe in the stars. To be human and unaware of the danger all around them. To be lost in the stars, believing in angels and heaven. Shaking her head to clear it of its thoughts a small contented smile lit her face. Her fangs just barely peeking out of pale pink lips.

She hadn’t bothered with makeup. Not tonight, she wasn’t out to impress anyone. No, she was just delivering the paintings for the diner and partaking in a late meal. Something that would settle her stomach and wasn’t blood. Even if the want of the stuff was there. She could technically go another two nights before things got dicey. And because of her aversion to all things hurting humans. She knew what her limit was having pushed herself to that point a few times in the last few months.

Entering a better lit area she walks past the storefronts. Pausing every so often to check her reflection. She wasn’t what she viewed as a classic beauty, rather her looks were average. Her hair and eyes being the focal point. Always a different shade of blue. Her hoodie was black and huge, stolen from one of her male friends from before the change. Her jeans also black cling to her body. Giving her definition and the blue runners completed the relaxed look. All in all she looked like a college kid with a package. Unassuming and easily forgettable. Which is exactly what she wanted.+

Dehv: ~ I still wasn’t able to see as much as I’d like to, but I could see enough to get out of my place and take a walk. Maybe even grab something to eat and a nice coffee to cheer up my sour mood. Qhuinn had been pulled into patrol that night and that meant that I got to tie up loose ends with my business and set up some new clients for the coming months. It also meant that I was trailing around like a lovesick puppy and it was fucking annoying me. So instead of stew a minute longer, I was going to go and get a good meal, with some kind of horribly chocolaty dessert and then crack on with plans for the upcoming months. Well, plan the best I could with not having any kind of rota for patrol for another week or two at least. I pushed away from my desk and locked up everything so that it wasn’t easily accessible in case there was ever a break in. Unlikely with Vishous’ various safeguards, but I would prefer to be safe than sorry. Then I went upstairs to my sanctuary. It was small enough to feel lived in being there on my own, but big enough to host people should anyone need a room or came to visit. Rarely happened, and Qhuinn didn’t need his own room. I loved it though. A kitchen fully stocked for when I had time to indulge my chef side. Plus a sofa more then long enough for me to lie out on, or for both me and Qhuinn to occupy at the same time while watching whatever TV show or film we’d gotten addicted to that month. The colours were warm, and hopefully inviting. I’d never heard anyone complain. It was a little eclectic, but I liked it. Best thing though, I knew it by heart, so I didn’t have to see anything. Which was great with my eyesight still phasing in and out and the constant unfocused quality to them that meant I couldn’t really focus on anything yet.

I grabbed my boots, phone, keys and coat before heading back downstairs again. I laced the boots as quickly as I could and then pulled on the light coat, tugging the door closed behind me. It locked automatically and I used the app on my phone to get the security set up properly before I started down the street. It wasn’t busy, and I found that I could let my mind wander without paying attention to where I was going. Autopilot allowing my eyes to glaze over while I walked. It was a nice break for them, as I spent most days forcing them to work well past what they should be at this stage of healing. I just knew they were improving day by day, kind of, and that was enough to know that I was doing the right things, even if I still wasn’t fit to fight properly and was stuck on a go slow when it came to training. I had to roll out my shoulders to dispel the tension at that thought, and was happy to see the lights beckoning me in to the warm interior of one of my favourite 24/7 cafes. “Evening.” I smiled at whoever was behind the counter. Unable to make them out properly until I got closer. I kept smiling anyway, since I knew all the staff in here. I kept moving, hoping that soon enough their face would come into view and I’d be able to be polite before finding a quiet booth to sit in. ~

Tori: +Passing one last window front she pauses to critically look at herself. The hoodie obscuring the fact that she was underweight. It had been over a week since she’d eaten food. Well more than a handful of crackers she’d managed to stomach. She hadn’t felt like eating. Shrugging and adjusting the package she continues on until she came to the diner. Slipping through the door she takes a moment to look around. Noting few people before her attention was pulled to the counter.

“Where you been kid? We missed you. You finished them?” She offers a smile and a nod before handing the paintings off. “Hey, haven’t felt like coming out.” Her own words tinged with amusement before she waves to the others. She wasn’t about to dwell on the panic and the fear that kept her hidden. The loneliness of having no family to support her. Turning to continue her conversation with the staff who had approached her in greeting. Taking the moment to be there and present before their duties called them back.

Once they were through she made her way over to the booth closest to the man who had caught her attention when she walked into the diner. Sliding into the booth and closing her eyes as a wave of hunger swept through her. Once the bloodlust had passed she opens her eyes again. Her gaze on the stranger. Fingers twitching unseen as she fought down the urge to sketch him. It would be rude to do so without permission. Plus he gave off a slightly more.. well more in his aura. She couldn’t quite identify it. He didn’t seem to be dangerous, but she was hyper aware of him her senses were stretched as she studied him. Was he like her? Like her cousin? Perhaps.

Looking down once more she grabs her sketchbook and pencils, opening it to a blank page and staring down at it. She shouldn’t have come out, it was a mistake. But she was here and she would in turn force down some food. Perhaps her body would stop fighting her then. But first, coffee. +

Dehv: ~ I recognised the female at long last and exhaled a breath, “Evening Charlotte, I am still healing, so my vision is a little shot. Apologies for taking so long to recognise you.” I shook off the sympathetic words and questions of what had happened. Just shrugging and saying it was a freak accident, my own fault, and that it would heal up soon enough I’d been assured. I just needed to keep my energy levels up, feed well and lots of liquids. Of course the blood diet I was also on wasn’t at all what I was talking about. I took a menu when it was offered and then moved to a booth where I could sit with my eyes on the door, and my back to a sturdy wall. Not that I could really make out much of the door, but I was trained well for these things. And now not being able to see all that clearly really impacted my ability to get by in a fight. So I hoped tonight was quiet and uneventful. At least Qhuinn wasn’t with me, or we’d have been guaranteed to be ambushed on the way home. I tried to look over the menu, and when I looked up I noticed another of my kind enter, mostly by scent, and then move to sit nearby. I’d have smiled if I had managed to figure out if she was looking at me. As it was she sat and my server popped up before I had a chance to really connect. “Could I please have a coffee and…um…so many choices.” Charlotte laughed and pointed at a few things on the counter, talking me through the various sweet treats that were still on offer for the night. I was quick to decide on pancakes with syrup and then some lemon tart after that. I didn’t always have a sweet tooth, and would have gone for a full meal. But I wasn’t all that hungry and I just fancied something specific. I waved Charlotte off and then stood to place the menu back on the counter. As I did I noticed that the female that had come in was paused over a book I recognised, I smiled. At war with myself about making myself known. I moved back to sit at my booth and hoped that I’d seem less intimidating if I was sitting than if I towered over her where she had little chance of escape. “Hey there. Are you an artist?” I nodded towards what she had in her hands and then looked back up towards her face, smiling openly in the hopes that she could read people even just a little. I got the impression that she needed a good meal, and not just of the food this diner provided. Though that wasn’t my place to speak. I’d offer advice when asked, I wouldn’t accuse or judge. I remembered being out of my depth, and it was hard to find what you needed in a society that seemed to turn its nose up at everyone who wasn’t mated by the time they went through their transition. I waited patiently, turning away briefly to thank Charlotte for my coffee and ask for more sugar than the two sachets that they provided. When I looked back, I smiled again, eager to know if I’d found a like minded individual randomly at my favourite cafe. ~

Tori: + She was acutely aware of his movements. It wasn’t intentional, rather a survival tool she’d had to use in the past. Glancing up she watches him stand kinda surprised at how tall he was and making another note that he filled the space. She wished she had that kind of presence. Men would leave her alone then.

Glancing down at her sketchbook she was caught off guard when he spoke. Looking up once more and looking around to see if he was addressing anyone else. She knew on a more unconscious level that she was the only one close enough but she still needed to check.

Clearing her throat nervously she looks to the side as Charlotte brought her own coffee. Thanking her softly before she focused on him once more.

“Apologies, yes I guess I am an artist. It’s.. a hobby. Not the career I chose. And yet I seem to find myself sketching more than interacting.” She offers her own smile. Trying not to be awkward. No one had covered social niceties after transition. Hopefully he wouldn’t think her too weird.

It wasn’t his fault, that she was so nervous, uncertain. He certainly had done nothing but start a general conversation. One that she could easily talk about if she hadn’t been so jumpy or awkward.

“Do you… is art a hobby of yours?” Well that could have been phrased better. She glances over as another one of the staff approaches her table. Speaking softly to her. Nodding once and ordering toast and more coffee she waits until they were away before she leans forward slightly. Interested in his potential answer.

He had purposely sat in such a way as to not intimidate her. She wondered why that was, for a brief moment anyway. First she wanted to know who he was, why he was here. Unless of course this was a usual place for him. Confusion crosses her face as she tried to remember if vampires were territorial. Was she in his territory? Would he tell her to get lost?

She drops his gaze. Focusing on the table as she tries to still her now racing heart. The last thing she wanted was to insult someone. It would be unbecoming of her.+

Dehv: ~ I started to answer questions when Charlotte moved over and offered up a coffee to the female. I smiled at her and blinked again. My eyes were still drier than they normally were, and while I could see in focus more and more, I was still struggling to do so for lengths of time. Qhuinn was being amazing about the flickering in and out. I’d wake up blind still some mornings, and then it’d come back as the day went on, sometimes it went the other way. The Doc was intrigued as it wasn’t often there was sunlight damage, so the actual effects were pretty unknown. I was over it, and yet here I was starting a random conversation with a female who looked like she wanted to melt into the table rather than talk. Maybe. Well, she seemed ok talking. Little awkward, but I was the same at times. But something changed between her answering me, ordering food and offering up a question of her own. I couldn’t really tell what. Why wasn’t someone here who could read people, I wasn’t awful at it, but normally I was doing it through a screen so it was a little easier.

Instead of moving closer, which I sort of thought would be the wrong more. I smiled and picked up my coffee cup, trying to appear as approachable as possible. Because that’s totally what I serial killer wouldn’t do! “Um, yes and no. I started a small business years ago and it’s grown. I can now basically draw doodles day in and day out if I want. But I love designing, well, pretty much everything. Buildings, parks, boats. I love the raw structures that show through on the outside, and then the way you can make it totally different on the inside should you wish. That you can make the most uncomfortable of professions feel more inviting and calming if you really think about what you’re doing. I haven’t ever got the hang of drawing people though. I wish I could, and maybe that should be something that I could work on. If I wasn’t busy training every minute of the night I have free.” I chuckled and rolled my eyes playfully. Hoping that I could catch the female when when she was looking up so she could see my tease.

I then jerked slightly as I realised I was a dumbass. “I’m so sorry, I’ve Dehvastation by the way, but please just call me Dehv.” I reached between the two booths to offer my hand to the female. Nodding and smiling as my food arrived at the same time as the toast. I cleared my throat again and looked around. “I’m not being rude, and please ignore me if I am jumping to conclusions, but you look a little like I must have years ago when I first wandered into an unknown town. Would you like to join me and I’ll do my best to help? I don’t know as much as some.” I lowered my voice a little so Charlotte didn’t overhear, “I was raised in the human world.” I nodded and smiled again, “But I know more now, and I’m willing to share. But again, don’t feel you have to. I can just go back to my overly unhealthy snack and leave you to it as well.” ~

Tori: “it’s nice to meet you Dehv I’m Tori” +manners. Manners were important. Taking his hand in hers she noted the rough feel of the hand. It soothes her, irrational but rougher hands meant hard work. She also filed the training bit in the back of her mind. It meant nothing to her at this moment. Making a decision she gathers her things and her food and moves to join him. Sliding to sit across from him.

“It’s.. you’re an architect then? Sorry, I seem to have forgotten how to hold a civil conversation. When I get annoying you can tell me to bugger off.” She partially teases. Still nervous but doing slightly better. He had offered to help, which she thought was genuine. Hoped was genuine, last thing she wanted or needed was more trouble.

“I transitioned only a few months ago. Art has grounded me. It’s sometimes nice to just draw and see what happens. Give Charlotte and the gang a couple days and some of my artwork will be hanging here.” It was an odd thought, people wanting to display her stuff. A shake of her head focuses her once more. “I have a ton of questions. Are you sure you want to answer them?” She had to be sure, otherwise they could be here till almost sun up. And with her using the shoelace express she needed to be home at a reasonable time.

Now closer she took time to look him over. In awe of his body size. She’d never seen anyone who looked like him. Her father and Leif were smaller, shorter. She wondered if he was mated. Not because she was looking but someone that good looking.. well it would be criminal if he was still single. Again she pulls her attention back to the present. Offering a grin as she awaited his answer.+

Dehv: ~ I smiled at the female, Tori, and shook her hand. I found myself smiling wider when she obviously made the decision to trust me a little and move over to my booth. I should have asked to join her, save her the trouble of moving the coffee, plate as well as her drawing things. But I was still glad that she was moving and I hadn’t scared her off. Frankie would be so proud of me, and Qhuinn would be rolling his eyes at my ability to talk to randoms. I chuckled at the next words out of her mouth and shook my head. “No need to be sorry. If a random stranger started talking to me, it’d take me a minute to catch up. I am an architect, among other things. The business has been going a long time, so I get to dabble in other areas since we’ve branched out. It’s quite fun.” I grinned and used the side of my fork to cut into one of the pancakes. Stabbing the resulting sliver so I could eat without needing lots of time to chew before speaking again. I really didn’t want Tori to feel intimidated or like she had to fill silence if I could help it.

I felt my brow rise in surprise when she mentioned her art work being displayed in the cafe and I naturally leaned forward to hear, and try to see, more. “That’s amazing. I have seen some works here before, sculptures and paintings etc. But I wasn’t ever sure whether they were local artists or just pieces the owners had seen and liked over the years. I will look forward to seeing your work in here. Might even purchase some of it to put in my office if it strikes me.” I knew she’d understand what I meant. A painting or artwork spoke to the person who was meant to own it. Invoked a reaction that drew them in every time they looked at the piece. I had no doubt something would do that for me, but I wasn’t about to commit until I’d seen them.

I had to laugh when she checked with me again on the questions. I’d done the same with everyone I’d come into contact with when I’d first asked every question under the sun. Then found out things I didn’t even know I needed to know. Frankie had been a godsend, not to mention Phury and the rest of the Brothers, and then Qhuinn came along and introduced me to not only my own kind, but also a million other races of demon, vampire and monster. The whole thing still blew my mind a little. In answer to the female I shook my head and finished another mouthful of my pancake. “I honestly don’t mind at all. You can ask me anything you want and I’ll answer the best I can. If I can’t answer for whatever reason, I’ll let you know that. I’ll give you my card as well so that you can contact me if you have any questions after today too. So the floor is yours.” I grinned widely and gestured dramatically with my hand across the table as if I were introducing the female to an audience. I hoped she’d take my humour as a way to calm any nerves. I was happy to answer what I knew, and find out anything I didn’t. ~

Tori: +she laughs, shaking her head at his antics. Really he didn’t have to do that but she appreciated it none the less.

“I do commissions. And I’m really surprised they wanted some but Charlotte and the others seem to like what I do. It’s a mixture of people and landscape. Here.” She flips to her latest sketch. Two pages back. Her family on full moon nights when she was a child. “It’s a work in progress but this should give you an idea.” It was odd that she so willingly shared her work but at the same time she hadn’t been able to show anyone in months.

Nibbling on her toast she tries to get her thoughts on some semblance of order. It was hard to do, not because she had too many questions but because she didn’t know where to start. “I’m not.. intruding on anyone’s territory right?” The question asked quietly so as not to arouse suspicion. It was one of the few things she remembered her father saying. She couldn’t tell anyone what she was.

Finishing her toast she leans back in the booth. Giving herself a moment to be. “Are there rules? Things that are ultra important to know.. other then the obvious I mean” She felt dumb asking but she’d get more specific as time went on. This was easy, and he’d mentioned giving her his card so she could contact him if she needed to. She didn’t have a cellphone yet. Couldn’t afford one, so hopefully he was good with landline phones. It came with the house and she rarely If ever used it. But she knew she would be talking to him. He seemed so genuine.+

Dehv: ~ I smiled and then leaned forward to try and focus in on the sketches in the book. I could see that it was beautiful, but otherwise I wasn’t able to make out much of the detail. I smiled anyway and figured I’d offer up an explanation when the first question asked threw me through a loop. Territory. I blinked a couple of times and started shaking my head before I even knew what was happening. “No, no of course not. There’s no territory. I mean, I’d not go walking into someone’s house uninvited, but that’s just common courtesy.” I chuckled and gestured around us, “The Brotherhood patrol this area, and they try to keep everyone safe. But there’s a lot of civilians, and there’s a lot of the enemy as well.” I took another few bites of my pancakes, letting them soak in the syrup before enjoying the sugar bomb.

I swallowed hard and remembered back to my lack of knowledge, and how I’d been lucky to find some of my own kind of help me through my transition and then help me navigate the world a little. But it wasn’t until I’d hunted down Phury that I really started getting answers. I licked at my lips and leaned back, wondering where I should even start. Was there specific things that were more important than others? I figured I’d start with something more recent and then see if she could narrow down my education parameters. “So, ok. That’s a huge topic. I’ll tell you a little about me, since you’re stuck with me, and then maybe that will give you time to have something specific for me to start. If I start from how I understand it and move on, I might miss things, or tell you things that aren’t in any way relevant. I train with the Brotherhood. They’ve started the trainee programme, before that it was just certain bloodlines and things. I think. Don’t quote me on this.” I laughed and shook my head. “I was injured recently, which is why I know your drawings are beautiful, but I can’t really see them, or you as you can see me. So I’m sorry about the blank looks or over compensation. The rules run about as you’d expect in terms of respect and things. I can’t really stress enough about feeding though. There’s the elite, the glymera, they have a few ideas on what is proper and tend to get a little nasty when you don’t fit into their circles. As a civilian, you’re likely to hear of them or run into them in your travels. After transition they’re big on being mated soon after for feeding purposes. Or so I found. But many in lower classes don’t, can’t or won’t.” I inhaled slowly and then reached into my coat pocket to get my wallet, the card in the side held my phone number, name and business name. I quickly scribbled my address on the back. “This is for you just before I forget. Feel free to pop in when the office is open, or phone first if it’s outside business times. I’ve got a landline and a mobile there, though the landline will probably take you straight to my answer machine, I will get back to you.” I grinned and nodded again. “So, any specific questions I can answer for you? I don’t want to waffle.” ~

Tori: +She nods slowly. Listening intently as he speaks. Putting the sketch book away. “I’ll show you these when your eyesight is better. And I do feed. Three sometimes four times a week on humans because I don’t..” She glances down a moment. Struggling to find the words she needed. Taking his business card and tucking it away. “My parents died about a month before I transitioned. My cousin.. he helped me through it but he.. one day he never came back. I have no idea what I’m doing or what I’m supposed to do. I moved here because it’s supposed to be safer, but I have very little clue who the Brotherhood are. Or the Glymera. I know mahman mentioned them but I can’t recall exactly when. I’m used to not fitting in. It’s sorta my thing.”

She pauses and nods as Charlotte brings more coffee. Thanking her softly. Her attention back on Dehv. “You mentioned training. You fight then?” Safe ish topic, she’d ask more in a moment. Once she’s wrapped the rest of what he had said around her brain.

“You mentioned f.feeding. Is there a safe place to do that? From someone other then.. because I really hate feeding from humans. I went to school to be a nurse, and it goes against my oath but the bloodlust is ridiculous and I just realized that I’m rambling I’ll shut up now.” Her jaw clicks shut with an audible snap as she regains her normal breathing pattern. The rushed breath of her last statement leaving her anxious, afraid of his response almost.

She couldn’t help the smirk when he spoke about common courtesy. “Well no, I’d expect not but I was actually serious. Anything I’ve read about our kind I take with a grain of salt but some of it has to be based on fact. Hence that question.” +

Dehv: ~ I grinned widely and looked up to the female’s face. “I really am interested. Once I’m back to 100% I’ll be taking you up on seeing those sketches, AND insisting you give me some instruction on how you sketch the people. I just can’t seem to get them right.” I chuckled and shook my head. My fingers drawing imaginary images in front of me as I speak. Showing that I wasn’t exactly an expert at the whole face recreation. I could do incredibly close up, or I could do more abstract. But once you get me to try and do a nice little family portrait, I struggled more than I’d like to admit. I also just really liked learning new techniques and how others saw the world. Seeing the transition from real life to paper, or mind to paper always drew my interest.

I had no clue myself really when I moved here. I knew nothing at all, and I’ve learned a lot since. The Brotherhood are working really hard to protect our race against lessers. They’re a whole other level of brute.” I laughed and shook my head. “They’re all honourable, they fight every night to ensure some kind of safe passage for our kind. Caldwell isn’t without its problems, but we’re all working together the best we can. They’ve got a trainee programme so that civilians like you and I can train to fight should we wish. That’s pretty new. The glymera have a lot of outdated ideas from what I can tell. They like to play judge and jury for anyone who isn’t at their level. And literally no one appears to be on their level. Even the Brotherhood, or maybe especially the Brotherhood. Our King isn’t like any before him, so they’re a little rattled. Some more than others.” I nodded and then took another mouthful of my pancakes, finishing what was on my plate before swapping them over so I could get personal with the next in line. “I am part of the training programme. So I am training to fight, I go out on patrol and I do all the various theory work that goes along with that too. Qhuinn, my male, is one of the trainers on the programme. He’s in the Brotherhood and it amuses me greatly to see how much I can push his buttons when we train. I have a few friends on the programme who go to great lengths to use the most abstract and weird objects offered in case we’re ever jumped in a random public toilet or something.” I laughed at the visual images of bog brushes and spatulas in a fight. It was unlikely to ever happen, and yet we loved the challenge. As well as the rolls of Qhuinn’s eyes when he watched us beeline for those kind of weapons time and time again.

“Um, feeding wise I can certainly help you with. There’s a club that we meet at the first Friday of every month. I can give you the name. You can’t miss the group that go. It’s a little uncomfortable at first, but they are all there to feed and nothing more. Normally wrist, but depending on how crowded it is, you can take from the throat if you’re dancing close enough for others not to notice. They have bathrooms out back that the humans use to have sex, but you can use to feed as well if you want to. It gives privacy if you’re not feeling secure. Though it can also be misconstrued if you’ve not been entirely upfront with what you want. As I said, most go just for blood, and we get new comers all the time as single civilians transition but aren’t mated. I think the Glymera and the families just turn a blind eye to it and assume it’s being handled.” I snorted and rolled my eyes at the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy that came with most of the Glymeras. I was glad that the Brotherhood as a whole were far more vocal about their thoughts, wants and acceptances. I smiled and cocked my head. Hoping that I’d managed to answer any and all questions asked. Without scaring or throwing too much at her. “Was that ok for information? Anything else? I remember when I started learning all this stuff. It was basically a full hour of me questioning every single thing. I feel for Phury. He didn’t try to choke me with the hot dog I was eating at the time.” I grinned and winked, then focused in on my pie again, ensuring I cut a proper sized piece and didn’t embarrass myself getting it to my mouth. ~

Tori: “a club? A legit club for this stuff. That I wasn’t expecting. Who is Phury? I’m sorry, I really have no idea about much. We have a King? So the monarchy is actually a thing and not just rumour.” +She leans back. Grinning as he drew with his hands. She’d love to teach him. Although finding the time might be difficult. Taking a sip of her now cold coffee she pulls a face before she sets the mug down. Taking that moment of silence while he ate to gather her thoughts.

“The Lessers. They are the baby powder scented people aren’t they? Or they smell sweet.. Papa warned me about that scent. I’ve smelled it a couple times that I’ve been out walking. And you actually answered a question I was afraid to ask. I didn’t want to seem more awkward potato then I am” she laughs. Nodding as Charlotte refilled her coffee, thanking her and ordering a slice of pie for herself. It looked tasty.

“Does this training.. you said anyone could do it? Is there just a self defence portion of it? Before I transitioned I did self defence courses with friends but.. I kinda sorta went from like five foot five to like I think I’m five eight flat footed. I’ve literally had to relearn basic movements. And anything including toilet paper can be used as a weapon. Or so the movies say” she teases. Taking a small bite of her own pie as it arrived. Humming in satisfaction at the taste.+

Dehv: ~ I shook my head at the female and chuckled. “It’s not a club for it specifically. It’s a club, but we have an silent agreement that if we need to feed and we’re not mated we can turn up there. You can then find your own kind by scent or sight, then it’s up to you how you go from there.” I nodded and carried on answering questions. “Phury is one of the Brotherhood. They protect the King, Wrath, and protect our kind from the lessers. Who are the baby powder smelling people. You are correct on that one. You want to move fast in the other direction if they come anywhere near your vicinity. They won’t hesitate to kill you, or worse. Normally you’ll be more than fine wandering around, but they are a threat and you’d do well to just be knowledgeable about them.” I smiled and took a drink before having another mouthful of my cake, savouring every bite with a little hum of satisfaction. I then almost choked as the toilet paper was mentioned. I laughed and cleared my throat before speaking. “You are correctly, anything can be seen as a weapon. It just depends on how you use it. Toilet paper might take some preparation to be deadly, but I have no doubt you could brain someone if you tried hard enough, or choke them.” I grinned and took a second to try and imagine what that might look like. And who might manage to do that kind of thing. It had me thinking of asking Qhuinn to get some toilet paper as a weapon in the next training sessions, see who’d be brave enough to pick it up.

I laughed again before speaking. “It’s a full training programme. I believe there’s self defense classes for the civilians that are run locally though. I can find that out for you? Then you can figure out how to use your limbs now that they’ve grown along with the rest of you. You can imagine how much fun it is being our size or worse, and starting much, much smaller.” I chuckled as I remembered the way I was when I’d transitioned. The bambi on ice impression was a sight to behold. I smiled as I watched Tori enjoy her food. “Can I get you anything else, or answer any more questions?” ~

Tori: “I’m good food wise. I’ve actually eaten more then I have in a long time.” +she nods slowly.+ “I would appreciate if you could help me find a local self Defense group. More then you know. So the owners are in the know then? How do you recognize one of us? I mean I didn’t actually know if you were at first..” +she hides behind her hair in embarrassment.

He made some good points and she would be taking them to heart. She also pauses to think about his statement about growth. She couldn’t imagine being shorter again. This height suited her, when she wasn’t being a gangly oaf. Somethings, like stairs and gaging distances at times still needed work. Luckily when she usually fell up or down the stairs she was alone. “If you don’t mind a couple personal questions… how long have you and Qhuinn? Been together? Is it easy or hard to have a relationship given your schedule?” +

Dehv: ~ I smiled at the words, unsure as to why it made my chest ease slightly to know that the female was actually eating something. I found myself nodding happily, I knew a few places, but I knew that Qhuinn might know of some others. So I’d ask him for his recommendations as well. It might be that Davidson wanted his sister to get in on the action too, so I could see if she might go with Tori, or meet her there and that would give them both something to do, and allow Tori to make some friends around here. I then coughed out a laugh. Remembering when I was so new to this too, though at least I’d had some education. I leaned forward and placed my hand on the table, brushing crumbs away from where we were sitting. “I remember so many of these questions when I first really found out about things and moved further out of the human world. I’m glad you’re eating, it’s important to keep up your strength. Before any kind of defense class can help you, being strong is important.” I nodded and exhaled slowly, my vision blinking out before I knew what was happening. I curled my hands into fists and swallowed down the panic that came with that. Knowing that one time it might just not come back. Sometimes it came back really quickly. I just had to wait it out and I was safe enough here. “Um….so we small different, look different and most times you’ll get a vibe from them. Civilians not as much as Brothers, or those with that bloodline.” I nodded and blinked again, willing my eyes to work. I hoped it wasn’t too obvious that my heart rate had increased ten fold while I tried to keep my voice level. “If you try to see if you can see the differences between say me and…..is that dude still sitting in the corner? Size for a start, but we also will just give you a gut feeling. Just like you know when the sun rises and sets. That tingle down your spine. That will tell you all you need to know.” I nodded again and then smiled openly. The thought of Qhuinn, probably off teaching a training class I wasn’t allowed to go to yet had me both happy and sad. I wanted to be there, I wanted to be able to train with everyone, but I also wanted to have his back with the idiots being back in the programme. So I took a minute to just appreciate talking about my male. “Well, it’s a bit of a complicated story. But properly, we’ve getting on about 7 months or so now. But it works a little differently for us than humans. I’m sure you know, bonding and things. Once it happens, it takes a lot to break it. And I’m not sure I’m strong enough to survive that kind of heartbreak.” I smiled and shrugged. “He’s a tutor for the trainee programme, so I get to see him then. But honestly, he’s like a trouble magnet, so even when we get a spare five minutes he’s pretty much guaranteed to have shit hit the fan.” I chuckled, knowing that if Qhuinn was here I’d be getting kicked under the table and Tori would be getting told just how much of a magnet I seemed to be right along with him. But as he wasn’t, I could totally spin a little story in my head. “So yeah, it is hard, but nothing that’s not worth it. I’d do it all a hundred times over if it got me to this point again. Though with working eyes would be a bonus.” I then quietened slightly before leaning forwards again, hoping I was in the right direction. “I had a question, I have a friend I train with. His sister is a civilian, and I believe she goes to the club as well as self defense classes. Would be adverse to me asking her the ones she attends and perhaps that would give you someone you could meet and show you the ropes? You’re welcome to say no, or no for now. The offer isn’t going to expire just because now it’s overwhelming.” I patted the table and settled back in my chair again. Knowing I’d just downloaded a whole lots of information to digest. ~

Tori: +if she hadn’t been sitting across from him her brain most likely would’ve been goo with the amount of information he had given her. Shifting slightly she frowns as she watches him. The itch to help being suppressed until after she had a moment. If she hadn’t known what to watch for, she never would’ve picked up the fact he was anxious. Taking a moment to sweep her gaze around the cafe. Noting the patrons and staff. Nothing seemed out of place. But clearly, well clear to her something was wrong. Biting her bottom lip she begins to assess him on sight. Her brain literally going back to nursing mode.

He had of course asked a couple questions and once she was satisfied visually that he was ok she would answer him. It was strange really, she was comfortable with this male even though they had technically just met. Maybe it was the fact he was already mated, maybe it was because he was approachable enough. Or maybe, it was because he reminded her of her cousin. Whatever the reason she found herself alert but relaxed. Not worried about making a mistake or saying the wrong thing.

“I forget to eat most days. I’m just not hungry. Probably something to do with losing my parents, transitioning a month later and losing my cousin a couple months after that but I don’t know. I.. I’d be ok if this friend of yours uh sister was it? Went with me. I mean I need to meet people somehow.” She does another visual sweep of the area before she listens intently. “Don’t take this the wrong way but are you ok? You look.. anxious. Do you need help? I am a trained nurse.” Ok, she was also nervous and babbling slightly but she was concerned about him.

Clearing her throat she leans back. Against the chair. “I actually know very little about bonds and that. What I do know is that they are intense. Now I think you are stronger than you seem but I wouldn’t wish for you to ever find out. So you see him on a professional level? Please tell me you two get to go on dates once in a blue moon..” yeah ok. Maybe she was a secret romantic. The very idea that they didn’t get to do anything outside work disturbed her. She just hoped she wasn’t overstepping her grounds.+

Dehv: ~ I felt the tension creep back into the female across from me. My eyesight still hadn’t returned, but it was something you could feel. The atmosphere changed and I listened harder to ensure that she was reacting to me and not ot something else in the cafe. If I had to protect her, I would, though I’d likely be getting a beating from Qhuinn when I got home for coming out on my own at night and getting into a fight when I was blind. Something seemed to suddenly click though, because that unease gave way to something else, I wasn’t sure what exactly, and the tension didn’t go entirely, but it felt almost like a mask was being put on, something familiar, like I would if I went into the training centre. I was still me, but there was focus and drive at the forefront rather than the architect that my clients would meet if they came to a meeting. It was how I imagined people saw Wrath when they met him, not as the male the Brothers got to see, but as the…slightly less than conventional King of our race. One of the many hats we wore in different situations. I almost smiled when my body registered that understanding and started to relax again. Despite the agitation with my eyes.

I frowned at the list of things that the female had gone through in such a short time. Transitioning was bad enough, the threat of not only feeling like you might die, but also knowing you could, really did a number on your head. Then to have all that happen around it, it really was a miracle that the female was still sitting across from me. I licked my lips and inhaled slowly before I spoke. “That’s awful. And I really am sorry all of that happened to you, at all, but especially so close together. I lost a lot of my family when I was still young, but the hurt never really goes away entirely. Please know that you’re somewhere with others of your kind who will understand and support you. Do lose parents and a cousin so close together, was that Lessers?” I frowned and leaned forward again. I’d not heard of raids outside of the city, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. I didn’t want to dwell, but if that was true, I’d have to feed it back to the Brotherhood.

“And as much as eating probably feels insignificant, it really is something you need to remember. It’ll strengthen you before you can push your body with other things. Davidson is my friend, his sister Rehbecca is who I am speaking of. She’s older than him, and won’t let him forget it. She does self defense weekly, and as far as I know isn’t mated and has no intention of being as yet. I’m not sure the entire story or the ins and outs of where she trains, but I’ll find out for you and then if you contact me again, I can pass on everything to you. My actual office is also just up this road. Turn left out the cafe. The name and things is on the card I gave you.” I smiled and nodded again. Then I laughed. “And I am fine, yet. I’m not hurt, well not physically any more at any rate. I got into a little trouble on a routine call out not long ago and it’s resulted in some damage to my eyes. I had to look through concentrated sunlight, and it’s done some damage. And since our kind don’t routinely expose ourselves to the sun, it’s not really known what can be done about it. I was entirely blind until I fed just after I got back to the training centre. Now it comes and goes. I could see when I walked in here, now I can’t. I’m sorry if I panicked you. I should have said as soon as it happened.” I smiled again, my eyes still sightless as I blinked away the dry feeling that always came with the bouts of blindness. I seemed to forget to blink regularly and that just caused more irritation.

I laughed when I thought of Qhuinn though, the word professional wasn’t something I really associated with him. He was great at what he did, as our trainer and kickass in a fight, but he never used conventional methods. “Bonding is sort of new to me too. I grew up around humans, so I had to ask a lot of questions, and unintentionally hurt some close to me when I got those questions wrong. But yeah, bonding is a connection that you just know when it happens to you. It’s like you can’t breathe without the other person being safe and well. Or as well as they ever are, since Qhuinn is prone to just as many incidents as I am. But we’ve been doing a lot of running around the last 7 months, it’s been one thing after another. Ever date we’ve tried to have got interrupted. Though now we’ve been given permission to tell anyone we want about us, it’s going to get easier to find time with each other. I hope.” I winked to show that I wasn’t worried about the lack of time. I was secure in where I stood, and wanted the female to feel relaxed while we finished up the last scraps of food and finished talking. ~

Tori: +She let out the tiniest sigh of relief, glad she hadn’t overstepped her bounds, interacting with anyone on a social level had been hard. Really hard, even pre transition. She just didn’t gel well with people. It had actually been a standing joke in her family at how poor her social skills could be. She couldn’t help the smile when he spoke of his Male. They were both lucky to have found each other. Oh she was a hopeless romantic at heart but didn’t tend to dwell on that or think too much. She just wanted everyone to be happy and healthy. The smile changes as he speaks about incidents, especially about the eye thing. It made her uncomfortable, not in the traditional sense because the sun could be, read that as was bad for them. But the idea of losing her eyesight, even for brief periods of time, it terrified her. Leaning forward she nods, aware he couldn’t see her. “That.. routine call huh? Were you alone? Are you sure you are ok? Is there such a thing as like doctors and nurses to help you guys?”

She kept her voice low, glancing around to be sure they wouldn’t be overheard. She also made a note of the directions to his office, she’d be stopping by if she had time after sunset. If he allowed it. “My parents were killed in a car accident in Europe. I don’t know exactly what happened but I suspect that one was trapped and the other refused to leave and the sun killed them both. My parents.. The love they had for each other. I’ve never seen anything like it. My dad worshiped Mahman, the very ground she walked on. If I am ever lucky enough to love or bond with anyone I hope I can have a bond even half as strong as theirs was.” Realising that she had been gushing she shifts slightly embarrassed. Normally in public she didn’t gush like that. “As to Leif, my cousin. I don’t know. We were supposed to meet up in the city but he never showed. I waited about a week and then took off. I suspect that it was Lessers but I wasn’t there so I don’t know.” Her voice cracked at the end, catching herself she breathes deeply, bottling her emotions up once more.

She was surprised they had kept it secret, then again he was a warrior. Maybe they did things differently. “I’ll call the number on the card when I get home. That way you’ll have my contact information. Are you not training because of your eyes?” +

Dehv: Dehv: ~ I licked at my lips and tried not to blink too often to clear the blindness. It seemed to take it sweet time to come and go. Occasionally it’d flick in and out like a TV trying to find a station. Other times it’d click in and I’d have hours to enjoy. More than once I’d just felt relief that it was back, and then it’d blink out again, mocking me and my enthusiasm. Though I could hear the worry in Tori’s voice when she spoke to me. And I found myself having to take a moment. Where had her family grown up for her to not know about our doctors or hospitals. I shook my head and brushed my hands down my jacket, hoping that I looked like I was checking for crumbs and not like I was as nervous as I felt. “It comes and goes. I sometimes think I have it back before it blinks out on me again. But I’m doing ok. I might have to get you to lead me out this place and point me in the right direction though. If you’re ready to go, if not could you shuffle me out regardless?” I chuckled and straightened in my seat a little before broaching the subject of our race. “We have basically everything humans have, sometimes more. Since we have to do more investigations with the inability to have blood transfusions and the fact we’ve got six chambered hearts etc. But we do have whole medical centres dedicated to our kind only. They are kept under wraps in the same way that we might keep other homes out of the prying eyes of humans. Though typically we don’t play around with sunlight, so I’m not sure whether this is any kind of injury they’ve seen before. I’m hoping that the Chosen blood, and Qhuinn’s blood will enable them to heal properly. I’m feeding far more often than I was in the effort to reverse the effects.” I nodded and sighed. I hated talking about the what ifs of the situation. There was a very real chance my eyesight would deteriorate until I couldn’t see at all. Which was terrifying. I nodded at the other questions. Knowing I could only answer so much of it without giving away too much of the Brotherhood. “I was with a Brother. He got the call on the Brotherhood emergency line and I was free for the evening. We partner up just like we’re told to.” I smiled at the thought, because not ever Brother partnered up, and as a trainee I was normally far more than partnered, we normally went in groups of four. But yes, other than my eyes, I’m more than fine.”

I smiled and then frowned hard as I listened to the story. I’d have done the same if I was stuck in a car with the sun coming up and Qhuinn wasn’t able to get out. There’s no way I’d walk away from that. Regardless of how much he cussed he out for it. And I had no doubt there would be nothing other than swear words coming at me if that were the situation. “I’m so sorry about that. Your parents sound to have a wonderful connection, and you are correct, once you are bonded it’s a love like nothing else. I would do the same for Qhuinn. No, that’s not true, I’d likely want to do that for others if I was in that situation, but I’d be unable to do anything else if it was Qhuinn. The choices isn’t there, it’s a physical need that it’s easily overridden. Family are the same, so I am hopeful that your cousin was kept away. Though you are right, it doesn’t sound good. If he was willing to support you through your transition then he cares about you a lot.” I smiled. Hoping my words were of come comfort when I knew there wasn’t much to offer.

I exhaled slowly and pushed to my feet, really hoping that my hearing was up to scratch so I didn’t bash into someone by mistake. I pulled my wallet from my pocket again and held it out. “Could you pull the right money out of there so we can pay? Yours and mine if that’s alright with you? Call the number on the card any time. If I’m in a meeting or whatever I’ll call you right back again. Once we’ve paid, would you please help me outside and across the road then point me in the direction where the door to this place is on my left?” I smiled and waited. Hoping that the female was as trustworthy as I thought she was. ~

Tori: +She listened intently as he spoke. Nodding even though he couldn’t see it. She wasn’t all that surprised that they had places and clinics. It made sense, even though they were different they still got hurt. The need for treatment was universal. As he rose and held out his wallet she blinks in surprise before responding. + “Of course, uhm, thank you.” +She moves to take his wallet. Paying for their meals and handing it back to him as soon as she was done. Slipping out of the booth she stands beside him as she gathers her sketchbook and bag and looks around to be sure they both had everything they needed. Satisfied that they weren’t leaving anything behind. Clearing her throat slightly nervous she takes him arm. Making sure to make it look like he was escorting her out of the cafe and not anything else.+

“We lived off the grid, Mahman took care of everything at home. Hence my lack of knowledge. Papa said that it was too dangerous to be seen or known. I got my first real taste of civilisation when I went to College. It was an adjustment, people thought my parents were Amish. I just went with it.”

+Leading him out the door after waving farewell to the staff she followed his instructions. Looking around to be sure they were alone before heading across the street.+ “You said left correct?” +The question falling fairly easily from her lips. It was nice to have a conversation with someone, even if she did ask a fair few questions. Once stopped across the street she drops his arm and chews on her bottom lip, trying to decide if she had any last questions before they parted ways.+

Dehv: ~ I was glad when the female took my wallet without complaint. Paying for our meals and then handing it back to me. I was able to put it in my pocket before I felt her hands settling on my arm. I needed to know I was being led out safely, and there was nothing I wanted less than to bump into one of the numerous tables that scattered the open floor. I hadn’t managed to get a mental picture of the place, since I was ridiculously optimistic in my assumptions that my eyesight would just switch back on and not go off again. Of course, so far that hadn’t happened. So I needed to start actually giving myself something to work with and ensure I was prepared in these situations. It wasn’t unlike my training to watch my back. Check out the exits and ensure I was aware of my surrounds at all times. Now that was limited, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t go ahead and add in another habit. Even if my eyesight did come back, it wouldn’t be a bad skill to be able to have an exit strategy right along with an actual door. Saved anyone bumping into things or gave ideas for hiding places. I was sure it would come in handy at some point. I moved right along with her, smiling so that I didn’t look terrible until I felt the air from outside hit my face. At that point I exhaled and then spoke. “Yeah, to the left please. And I think we all do what we can to survive when we’re not the norm. I had to do the same when I transitioned seemingly over night from a normalish size to this. It wasn’t easy to explain. I got lucky that I could avoid some for a while and pretend I’d just bulked up. The height wasn’t so easy, and I ended up moving around a little. You’ll find your place, and you’re in a good city to do that. There’s a good network of civilians and Brothers here. We have medical services and strategies in place to ensure we can own our own homes and such. So just ask questions, speak to everyone you can and be safe. Lessers are something to watch out for and you want to keep yourself self.” I smiled and squeezed Tori’s arm where she was still holding mine. I could feel the tingle in my vision that told me I’d be able to see again soon. But probably not before I got home. I kept myself facing the way the female had faced me and then took a step back. “I look forward to hearing from you and I’ll get those names and numbers for you.” I bowed my head slightly and then started walking down the street towards my house, fingers trailing over brickwork to ensure I knew when I’d reached home. If I got lost this close, Qhuinn would likely murder me where I stood. ~ #DisobeyingOrdersMakingFriends

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punchmedanny · 6 years

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How I Make My Edits

because @lesterluminous asked

First off, I have the most convoluted process ever because I use free/cheap apps on my phone for reasons. So, I'm not really the best example to follow, but here you go~~~

These are all the apps I use. The pink I use for almost every edit, the blue I use for color correction, and the purple are my go tos to make pics look cool. Everything else I use less frequently and only if I want a specific look

Here’s what I use each for

8Bit Photo Lab: easily my fave app for glitch effects

Afterlight: the best basic photo editing app I’ve found on android. Good if you’re in a hurry and just want like a filter. I rarely use this because I’m rarely in a hurry

Background Eraser: (from handyCloset Inc.) the best app of its kind I’ve been able to find. Very easy to use, minimal ads, and doesn’t lower the quality of your photo. I use this anytime I want to get rid of the background

Facetune: I mainly use this when I’m having trouble getting the coloring of the pic right in snapseed or if I want to color correct only part of the photo. The makers of this app have another one that is phenomenal called Enlight and it’s my absolute favorite editing app, but it’s not available for android

Glitch!: another cool glitch effect app. It can do some things 8Bit can’t, but it’s more random and I like ~control~ I mainly use it for GIFs

Glitcher: this one is ultra random, so I hardly ever use it. But, it’s good it you want a glitch effect, but don’t want to spend much time on it. Again, I mainly use it for GIFs

Layout: sometimes a bitch just needs a basic collage okay???

Snapseed: the first app I go to when making an edit. A lot of times the lighting in the boys pics isn’t great (especially in ig stories), so I use this to color correct and. It has the ability to edit using curves which is the best thing ever once you get the hang of it. It also has a bunch of features I never use, but they look neat. Also, it’s completely free

Autodesk SketchBook: tbh I never get around to playing with this, but it seems like it’d be good lol

ibisPaint: omg this app is sooo underrated. I use it for almost every edit and I also use it for drawing. It’s intended to be a drawing app and not an editing app, but it has so many features that are FREE. You can make a one time payment that gets rid of ads, allows you more layers than you’ll ever need, and gets you more brushes, but you don’t necessarily need that stuff. I’m honestly so shocked it’s free because it’s so, so good. It also has a monthly subscription with more stuff but I aint got a spare $2.99/month

MediBang Paint: I literally only use this to make gradients. I’m sure it’s perfectly good, but I like ibisPaint so much more lol The only thing ibisPaint can’t do that I wish it could was make gradients haha

GIF Maker: (by GIF Maker & GIF Editor & Video Maker) sometimes I make extremely shitty GIFs that may or may not work on desktop. This is what I use. It’s the least sketchy GIF making app I’ve found, has minimal ads, and plenty of features

Cute CUT: (by MobiVio Solutions) this is the best video editor I’ve found on mobile. I sometimes use it for editing video to turn into gifs and sometimes to work around the dumb way other apps do thing that’s too complicated for a basic overview haha

Glitchee: this app is really not user friendly, but it has some cool glitch effects. Good for GIFs because it allows you to edit/save video and not just pictures

DU Recorder: This is the best screen recorder I’ve found. Very reliable, non-invasive ads, etc. I use it to capture video I want to use for a GIF. I also used it to record my M&G

90s: (by ryzenrise) this has a lot of really cool retro and glitch filters, but it ONLY lets you edit video. I hardly ever use it, but it’s good for GIFs. I’ve also used Cute CUT to make a video file out of a picture as a work around

Easy Poser: for drawing, not edits lol

HUJI: for taking dumb photos, not edits

Kuji Cam: my fave for making pics ~aesthetic~ It’s free to download, but worth paying the small amount for full features. The filters are so good and I use this very, very frequently. If I’m still having trouble with color correction after Snapseed and Facetune, this is often my saving grace

Pixel Brush: for drawing, not edits

Spark Post: this seems like a cool app if you want to make edits, but would rather have something simple than mess around with a ton of tools. But, the best thing about it is that it has easily searchable free photos! I just use this to find a photo for the background of an edit then save it so I can use it in other apps that I like better lol

My workflow

So, I am not a good person to emulate if you want to make pretty edits. But, I’ve never claimed to be a good example, so I’ll tell you anyway lmao

To begin with, I have a Galaxy Note8. This is important because 1) the screen is huge af so I can actually see what I’m doing and 2) it comes with a pressure sensitive stylus. I literally chose this phone for these reasons. These combine to make my phone pretty similar to a drawing tablet which allows me to be a lot more precise than if I were just using my finger.

I download pics and video directly off Instagram because I want to know I’m getting the best quality possible I use StoriesIG for their stories and DownloadGram for their pics posted on Instagram (or i download from Twitter if the boys also put it there). I haven’t found a way to download photos from a photo set after the first one besides just screenshotting then cropping them.

From here, I color correct in Snapseed and Facetune, sometimes going back and forth between apps before I get it how I want. Then, I add any filters and/or effects I want. Next, I use Background Eraser to get just the boys. I determine what sort of background I want and I prepare that. I open a new canvas in ibisPaint and add any pics I want. Then, I get all creative combining everything together and making it look pretty instead of just slapped together (unless i want it to just look slapped together for a shitpost or something lol)

As for GIFs, I don't know how people who are actually good at it do it, but I acquire my video, use Cute CUT to up the contrast and saturation and mess with the color a little. Then I chop in into pieces that are about 3 seconds long and save each as its own video. Then, I put those into GIF Maker and maybe mess with the color again in there. Then I save that and pray to the patron saint of editing, Philip Lester, that I got the settings right and my file is small enough to upload. I rarely make GIFs because, using this method, they turn out very, very atrocious :)

And that’s it!

If anyone is curious about how to do specific things or get certain effects or there’s anything else you want to know, feel free to send me an ask or message and I’d be happy to try my best to help

#tutorial #i guess? haha #not ph*n #punchmedanny

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georgesmithunit1 · 6 years

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Final Evaluation

25/06/18

In this evaluation I will be sharing my thoughts and opinions on my final animation as well as the process I went through to create my concepts and illustrations.

Concepts & Illustration Process

The assignment brief required me to create an animation that simulates a point and click game. I had complete creative control over the concept. I needed to create a minimum of one animated character, a digitally hand drawn background, elements of the background that are animated, and the whole sequence was to be a minimum of 10 seconds in length.

I adhered to all of those points except for one, which I completely forgot about - which was to have an element of the background moving, to be fair, I had planned on it only being minor in the first place (the rotating ventilation thing in the first scene). I came up with the idea of making a fighting-orientated scene for my animation, because I really just wanted to test out some animation techniques that I’d learned before, and also because I thought that it would be fun to animate, as well as entertain the audience. I wasn’t particularly inspired by anything to create a fighting scene, I’d wanted to do an animation like that for a while, so I thought it a perfect time to demonstrate what I could do. I had a lot of planning to do before I even created my background scenes. First of all, I needed to conduct some thorough research on point and click games, as well as anything else that seemed appropriate. I researched a number of intriguing titles which caught my eye when I first saw them, as well ones that I’d already heard of, and even played in one case. Researching those titles was really insightful and helped me with coming up with a solid visual style for my animation. After the research, I was required to come up with an entire 300 word plot for my animation - of course, this didn’t impact the animation itself, but it did help throughout the project as a whole, as it gave me a better understanding of my own story.

After finishing the plot, I needed to establish a clear visual style for my animation. I had already established one before getting to this point to be honest - and that was thanks to a game by the name of ‘Night in the Woods’. Luckily, I stumbled upon this game while I was researching point and click titles, and was immediately captivated, and even more so after I researched it further. I will share my thoughts on this game a little later on in this evaluation. Anyway, After I’d finished establishing my visual style, which would take inspiration from Night in the Woods, I needed to write about my main character complete with his very own backstory. This was similar to the plot in which it didn’t impact the animation at all, but did help me to get a better understanding of him and add some character depth. After all of this written stuff followed a series of pages in my sketchbook devoted to sketching out ideas of a character design, which adhered to my character description, as well as some sketches of the main enemy of the fight scene. Among these sketches was a character turnaround sheet, which would essentially showcase my main character’s appearance, whose name is Ace by the way, so I’ll refer to him as that from now on. The character turnaround sheet was pretty useful I think, as it helped serve as a reference for whenever I needed to draw Ace. Finally, I sketched out some initial ideas for a background scene for my animation, which mainly included cyberpunk cities etc. There was a lot of planning, which I believe was very necessary.

Now back to my main character, Ace. He is a very important character to the overall plot of the story, and so I wanted him to look intimidating, powerful, I wanted him to have a strong presence, so that’s why his colour palette ranges simply from white to black - I thought it best to have him wear a trench coat type of thing, because I wanted him to look professional and serious, so I thought this attire conveyed that perfectly. In that sense, I think Ace successfully communicates my intentions of having a strong-willed, physically strong and intimidating character. As for the style, I went with the anime/manga style while I was drawing him, since that’s pretty much all I can do somewhat decently, though I’m completely fine with that. It kind of translated over to the animation, though his design had to be dramatically compromised, since it would’ve taken so long if I’d have animated him exactly according to his illustrations, and maybe I wouldn’t even be done with the animation by now if I had been doing that, since I only finished it on 23/06/18, so a few days ago, at the time of writing.

Back to the backgrounds again. First of all, I mentioned earlier that my main inspiration for my background came from ‘Night in the Woods’. I really liked the visual aesthetics of that game, the graphics were really pleasing to look at in my opinion. They look as though they were all created in either Illustrator or Photoshop and given effects and textures according to the scene. I think that aspects of Night in the Woods are visible in my first scene, but definitely not in the final scene of my animation, since there’s a lot of details and effects that I used. For my scenes/backgrounds, I chose to use Photoshop alone, no Illustrator or scanning in drawings, since I believed that Photoshop was the best option for creating these scenes, and I still stand by that, as it offers many effects and is much more versatile in my opinion, I do end up using Illustrator later on however, since I needed to create two assets for my scene, which was the green arrow which appears at the end of the animation to tell the player that the character can move on, and the mouse cursor which was very important and a good detail in my opinion, as it makes it look like an actual point and click game. Of course, Illustrator is far superior to Photoshop when you need to create complex shapes which can’t be made in Photoshop in a short amount of time however. I also used Adobe After Effects to animate my ‘Start Game’ scene, as the background was created entirely in Photoshop and could only be animated in After Effects, given what I had planned to do. Back to my scenes, I chose to create them in a somewhat simple visual style as I knew that my animated characters would be excessively simple, and turns out I was right. I do think that all three scenes that I created all adhere to the same general theme of being futuristic and cyberpunk, and certainly communicate my intentions and the atmosphere of my animation.

Personal Analysis of my Final Animation

So my initial intention for my animation was to do a fighting scene, which I actually ended up with. While I was animating, I was essentially improvising what would come next, as for some reason, I never actually planned out the whole thing using a storyboard. I intended for my animation to be entertaining, whilst still trying to adhere to the project name, a point and click game. Actually, now that I think about it, I had a second idea kept in my head during the very early stages of this project, which would take more of an adventurous route, which I thought somewhere down the line afterwards wouldn’t be as fun to animate. I don’t think that counts as my final animation changing in the end, since I didn’t choose it to begin with, so if anything, it changed during the early phase, before planning. I think that my idea of creating a fight scene was kind of ambitious, but I didn’t want to go over the top in terms of concepts, so I had to limit my imagination a little there, but as I go on, and learn more and more, I’ll hopefully become more versatile in my skill set, and be able to create very ambitious animations, with camera movement etc. In terms of software knowledge, I had a lot of experience in using Photoshop, since I’d been using it a while ago, and I’d had the opportunity to learn it even more this past year, so I wasn’t limited in my background creation. In Adobe Animate, I was less knowledgeable, however, I’ve actually been animating for the past 7 or so years, on and off of course, on a software called Flipnote Hatena, which was on my Nintendo DSi, so I had learned some basic animation techniques which I developed from experimenting over on that, like smearing, it’s a technique that can be seen in my animation quite a lot - maybe I used it a bit too much, but anyway, it’s when you draw a kind of lazy-looking frame between other frames, to simulate the character or object moving quickly. I may find a way to share some of those animations at some point, I have some good ones on there. Anyway, my point is that moving from that software to Adobe Animate wasn’t too difficult a transition, especially since I’d used it in secondary school before, so I was able to adapt to it with relative ease.

Throughout this project, I haven’t particularly learned any groundbreaking new techniques or anything, though I have absolutely had the chance to develop my already existing techniques and skills. It also helped give me experience with combining different scenes together, and then animating them when they were all together, for example, it was tricky at first when I wanted to combine all of these different scenes, but, after a bit of trial and error, I manged to get them together and start animating the mouse cursor, since it was much easier to do this in After Effects. Along with this, I also used the trial and error method when it came to exporting my final finished animation from After Effects, since that was the last software that I used, which held all of my scenes together, as well as the mouse cursor movement and the green arrow at the end. I remember vividly that I ended up having to export it at least 15 times, since I had to keep messing with the quality to try and get the best that I could. I ended up getting a sub par quality when I rendered and exported at home, and then somehow, when I tried it at school, I ended up with a better quality version, which I have uploaded to YouTube. The quality isn’t the greatest and there are black bars on the left and right sides, but it will have to do at this point. I did look up a few tutorials online, but none yielded any success.

When it comes to my animation, while I’m pleased with the result, I actually believe that it doesn’t look a whole lot like a game, which is a shame, considering the amount of time that I poured into it. I think that the main problem or reason for this is that it looks too fluid perhaps, and also it just looks more like an actual animation, since the movement is so fast - I think that the mouse cursor which I implemented during the After Effects phase as well the start game screen sort of saved the whole thing from looking completely like just a cell animation. I do have an idea of what could be improved to make my animation look more like a game actually, and I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t think of this throughout the entirety of the animation process. What I’m thinking is that when the characters stop, they could kind of bounce up an down, I think that’s called an idle animation or something - it wouldn’t have been such a difficult task to do as well, so it’s a shame I didn’t think to do it. It could’ve also drawn out the animation a little longer maybe. I think that the smear frames that I mentioned earlier definitely don’t help the animation in terms of it looking like a game, though I saw no better alternative for fast movement, since it would look choppy and weird when a character moves from one side to the other if those were the only frames. If I had all the time in the world, I would’ve increased the FPS to something high, but I didn’t so I stuck with the option that I believed was best.

I think that I did a somewhat decent job at getting it to look like a game in the end. Though when it comes to time management, I started off terribly. When I started animating in Adobe Animate, the FPS count was set at 24. So me doing a completely frame by frame animation, I was drawing out these entire characters every single frame and it was taking me so long - I was getting incredibly frustrated at times, and considered completely scrapping the idea of doing a frame by frame animation. This lasted almost two weeks, with me barely getting anything done, and I was beginning to panic, since the deadline was fast approaching, and I had only done just under two seconds total. I had the idea to create a ‘Start Game’ scene, which could be considered a cop out, though I needed it if I wanted to get even close to the 10 second minimum, or so I thought. I made sure to make this screen look good visually, and so I began animating it after I’d finished creating it in Photoshop. I even added a mouse cursor that would click on a button to start the game - I managed to draw this one out to three whole seconds. I was pleased with it but I realised that I needed to go back to the dreaded 24 FPS animation.

One afternoon when I was working on it at home however, I randomly decided to look at the right hand side of the Adobe Animate document, and saw the FPS button, I decided to mess around with it and move it up and down, and when I played it at 18 FPS, I noticed that the number of keyframes in each second decreased, and the length of my animation so far was now at 4 seconds. So I played the animation that I had so far, and it actually looked better than when it was at 24 FPS, since that was way too fast for what I was doing. I decided to move the FPS down even further, and stopped at 15 FPS after playing it a few times, and realising that this speed looked so much better, the animation was longer, at about five and a half seconds. I was very happy with this turn of events, and became motivated to finish it again. I understand this was kind of unrelated from the start of this paragraph, but I just wanted to explain that as I felt it was rather important to the whole project.

Personal Opinions on my Performance & Final Work

Overall, I am very satisfied with my animation. I believe that the time and effort that I put into it payed off, though it still has its strengths and glaring weaknesses throughout.

First of all, I think that unfortunately, the negative aspects outweigh the strengths, though I think the animation kind of carries the positive aspects. Anyway, speaking of the animation, I tried to get the entirety of it as fluid and smooth as I possibly could, which may actually be considered a weakness, since that is probably one of the main reasons for it not looking like a game. But set that aside, and I think that it is one of the main good things about the animation, alongside the added effects that I added post Adobe Animate (the green arrow and the mouse cursor), since these two aspects help drastically make the animation look more game-like in my opinion. Back to the animation, I’m very pleased with how I animated the electricity emanating from the enemy, and especially when he is charging an electricity beam, and I think that it is instantly recognisable as electricity, which is definitely a good thing (then again, what else would it possibly be). The backgrounds are also a major plus of the whole thing, I think that they’re all well-made, except maybe the scene where they’re in the sky, it looks a bit strange. Though the first two scenes definitely correspond with each other, and actually look like they’re from the same thing.

As for the negative aspects of the final animation, the weaknesses, are quite prominent in their numbers, though I think as I mentioned before, the animation definitely cancels them out a bit. Anyway, one of the first negatives to take away would be the the characters in comparison to the background. They don’t really correspond to each other and look out of place, although then again, there are a lot of types of animation out there that utilise real backgrounds and then have 2-dimensional characters moving around on them. An example of this that I remember watching at one point would be Aug(De)Mented Reality, which uses real life scenarios with 2-dimensional traditional animation cels. Another example would be anime (or sometimes western animations) - they draw these often very detailed backgrounds because nothing will be interacting with them, so they can just keep them static, but go all out with the detail. A specific example would be the animated movie Your Name, which does has some animated aspects, though my point is that the background is incredibly detailed compared to the main characters (and all characters for that matter). Back to things looking out of place, the green arrow at the end definitely looks strange, no matter how you look at it, since this time it doesn’t just look weird with the background, it looks weird with the animated characters too, I don’t really see a way around it to be honest, except maybe change the colour or even hand draw the arrow in adobe animate. Something I want to point out is Ace and his attire, namely, his trench coat, which I seemed to have subconsciously changed into a cape somewhere along the lines. Finally, the last thing I want to mention is the movement and speed of actions. Essentially, while animating the mouse cursor over in After Effects, I realised I didn’t have a whole lot of time for the mouse to stop at some parts, namely, near the end of the first scene. I just think that there needed to be more pause between actions to allow for more mouse movement to be a little slower, and those idle animations I mentioned would help with this greatly.

There are a handful of things that I would do differently if I were to redo the entire project, including a couple that would have been really beneficial to me. For starters, I’ll go back to the character movement again, I really think that it’s too fast paced, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you can do a fight scene well, which I did, but I think it lacked different camera angles and movement etc. So I believe that when a character is finished performing an action, they should just pause for a bit, so that 1: I can have slower mouse movement, and 2: it won’t look solely like an animation, as opposed to a game, which is what the objective was. The other very important thing that I didn’t do for some reason, would be to create a story board, because I was improvising throughout the entire thing, and if I just drew out a few pages worth of boxes, it could’ve been a lot more structured, and I may have finished the animation a lot sooner, because I knew what I was doing. Also, this probably goes without saying, but I would have started at a much lower FPS than 24 when I started out the animation, since 24 is just way too many for a simple point and click game.

But overall though, I am pleased with my final animation and I do think that I was successful in creating an animation which adhered to the project name, and I think I managed my time fairly well, more so in the second half of the project, where I was on a roll with creating the final scene and animating once I’d figured out that I didn’t need to animate at 24 FPS. There were things that I did to speed up the process though, like with Ace’s character - he’s literally transparent, which is a decision that I decided on during the early stages of animating the first scene. He was too detailed a character, since he has different segments (clothes) unlike the enemy, which I just coloured one solid colour, along with the eye. Also, I just didn’t want to deal with the fill tool, which I had to deal with enough when I was colouring in the enemy - I kept trying to fill him in, only to find out that there were still like two or three gaps in the lines, so it wouldn’t fill. Another thing I did was near the end of the animation, I started copy and pasting frames and moving them a little bit instead of hand drawing all of the frames, which is something I should’ve done since the start, but still hand drawn the necessary frames. It saved a lot of time.

I really didn’t plan on writing 3703 words for this, I think it’s the most I’ve ever written. I guess I just had a lot to talk about.

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depressioncomix · 7 years

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Working With Creativity and Depression

For some reason this post didn’t get posted on Tumblr in full so here is the whole thing. I’m sorry about the double post, but I wanted it to be in full on Tumblr.

Recently I received a message on my Patreon about how to stay creative with depression. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been asked, so I thought it might be helpful to write this article. Hopefully, it might stimulate some discussion where we can all learn from each other on how to deal with both depression and the empty page.

(But first, a disclaimer. How I do it is currently working for me and my present state, however, depression varies and is a different experience for everyone who has it. I definitely don’t want to say this is the way it should be done, but only to state my thinking as something that has helped me and can be improved upon or even ignored based on your own situation. There might be something helpful in here and there might not be anything helpful at all, and I do not present myself as an Authority.)

Creative people have limitations. There are the obvious ones, like time, money, resources, skill, and they all affect our creative output. It becomes helpful to think of depression as another limitation. It’s not a limitation in the sense that it should stop you from being creative, but a limitation that makes us need to be more reasonable in what we can do. We have to learn to become more effective with what we have.

The first part is accepting depression as part of our work limitation. If we try to fight depression, it will win, it has control over our clarity of thought and can hinder creativity. It can make us second guess our best ideas and rid us of enthusiasm. It can make the first stroke of a pencil on a blank sheet of paper a Herculean task. There are just some days it is stronger than our will but that’s going to be a limitation we must deal with. We have to work within the limits imposed by depression, not to try to work against it.

But on the bright side, this doesn’t happen every single day. For me at least, depression comes in waves, and I know that there will days when the ideas come more easily and the work develops more naturally. Then there will be days when it feels I am made of dense rock and can barely think or create anything. This is just the way it is, and I can’t schedule it. It’s like the weather, it’s not entirely predictable when I’ll have my ups and downs.

In order to maximise productivity, I try to do creative work that fits in with my ups and downs. I separate the work into two categories: creative work I can do when I am feeling better, and more technical work I can complete during my lower phases. During my lowest phases, I may not be able to do anything at all, but this is all working within the limitations of depression, not trying to work around it or in spite of it.

UP PERIODS

When depression ebbs and I feel I can get work done, I use this period to generate ideas and put the pencil to the paper. I have two methods for generating ideas, I use Google Keep to keep written ideas and a small sketchbook for layouts and more fully developed strip ideas. I will also start the pencilling for strips and work on the dialogue. Basically I use this time to make major decisions with what I do while I have clarity of thought.

Recently I’ve been able to take some time for studying the process, reading books on anatomy and drawing skills. However, I’ve found doing this takes a lot more energy than being creative because I have to be really enthusiastic and be able to concentrate more.

DOWN PERIODS

When depression gets heavier and the ability to create or make decisions seems more distant, it’s this time when I do work which doesn’t require a lot of energy to do. I will ink strips, do word balloons, colour finished strips, do clean up on the computer and other tasks that are less intense and are more about embellishing what has been done than creating anything new. I will also do the more routine and mundane tasks such as organisation and work space area cleanup during these periods too.

There are other things I have trouble with in this period. One problem is writing and replying to E-mail. It seems to be especially hard to think of what to say and to have something meaningful to write down. My mind gets particularly fuzzy and I can’t seem to find what I want to say. Unfortunately I have a habit of procrastinating correspondence, because it’s difficult to do during down periods and it’s not something I want to spend precious up period time with.

A second problem is looking at other people’s work. When I’m in an up period, it’s easy to appreciate the work of others and try to find something to learn from it. I can see things I want to try and feel energised and inspired. However, when I look at other people’s work during low periods, I can only see what I cannot do, and feelings of hopelessness and despair start to form. The art I see only reminds me what I am incapable of and robs me of any inspiration I had. For a long time I stopped looking at the work of others because it only made me feel worse. When one stops looking, one stops learning, and one’s own art can stagnate.

REALLY DOWN PERIODS

I am really useless during these times and I haven’t figured out how to be productive. But they do occur, and I’ve found it’s best to just ride these out and let them take their course.

OTHER THINGS THAT HELP

Setting deadlines keeps me on track. It may not work for everyone, but it does give me a little push in knowing that the deadline is more important than the quality. Finishing things gives me more confidence than leaving things unfinished, even if the quality is not up to what I’d like. “I’ll do better for the next one, but in the meantime I have to finish this.” is something I quite often say to myself.

Maintaining routines helps. Having a routine will help you get through the down spells because it will be easier to switch to automatic pilot.

I try to refrain from doing the down period work during up periods. If I’m in the middle of a creative spell I need to leave some work to do for down periods. If I finish what I’m doing and after I have a down spell, I can’t use that time more effectively.

In the end, I guess the bottom line is to know your limitations and find how you can best work within them. It’s not fatalistic to admit to yourself there are limits to what you can do, as there are always going to be some kind of limitation on what we do in a creative field. But understanding them and knowing what we are able to do during them will, I believe, boost our productivity as we match the tasks to our condition.

I may add more to this or make corrections in the future, but this should be a start. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to add them in the comments or send me a message. Let’s be more creative and efficient and understand how we can work smarter within the limitations of our depression.

#depression #self-maintenance #mental illness

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torirainn · 5 years

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#DisobeyingOrdersMakingFriends

Written with @dehvastation

Walking the couple miles to the diner was always fun. The deserted night perfect for her to meander. Because she was carrying merchandise she hurried her pace a bit. Not enough to actually make her breath catch, but just enough that it was clear it wasn’t a stroll in the early morning hours. As she walked she quietly let’s her mind wander. Eyes of light blue heavenward, the stars were lovely and bright almost ethereal in their look. She idly wondered what it would be like to believe in the stars. To be human and unaware of the danger all around them. To be lost in the stars, believing in angels and heaven. Shaking her head to clear it of its thoughts a small contented smile lights her face. Her fangs just barely peeking out of pale pink lips.

Dehv: ~ I still wasn’t able to see as much as I’d like to, but I could see enough to get out of my place and take a walk. Maybe even grab something to eat and a nice coffee to cheer up my sour mood. Qhuinn had been pulled into patrol that night and that meant that I got to tie up loose ends with my business and set up some new clients for the coming months. It also meant that I was trailing around like a lovesick puppy and it was fucking annoying me. So instead of stew a minute longer, I was going to go and get a good meal, with some kind of horribly chocolaty dessert and then crack on with plans for the upcoming months. Well, plan the best I could with not having any kind of rota for patrol until a week or two prior. I pushed away from my desk and locked up everything so that it wasn’t easily accessible in case there was ever a break in. Unlikely with Vishous’ various safeguards, but I would prefer to be safe than sorry. Then I went upstairs to my sanctuary. It was small enough to feel lived in being there on my own, but big enough to host people should anyone need a room or came to visit. Rarely happened, and Qhuinn didn’t need his own room. I loved it though. A kitchen fully stocked for when I had time to indulge my chef side. Plus a sofa more then long enough for me to lie out on, or for both me and Qhuinn to occupy at the same time while watching whatever TV show or film we’d gotten addicted to that month. The colours were warm, and hopefully inviting. I’d never heard anyone complain. It was a little eclectic, but I liked it. Best thing though, I knew it by heart, so I didn’t have to see anything. Which was great with my eyesight still phasing in and out and the constant unfocused quality to them that meant I couldn’t really focus on anything yet.

Dehv: ~ I recognised the female at long last and exhaled a breath, “Evening Charlotte, I am still healing, so my vision is a little shot. Apologies for taking so long to recognise you.” I shook off the sympathetic words and questions of what had happened. Just shrugging and saying it was a freak accident, my own fault, and that it would heal up soon enough I’d been assured. I just needed to keep my energy levels up, feed well and lots of liquids. Of course the blood diet I was also on wasn’t at all what I was talking about. I took a menu when it was offered and then moved to a booth where I could sit with my eyes on the door, and my back to a sturdy wall. Not that I could really make out much of the door, but I was trained well for these things. And now not being able to see all that clearly really impacted my ability to get by in a fight. So I hoped tonight was quiet and uneventful. At least Qhuinn wasn’t with me, or we’d have been guaranteed to be ambushed on the way home. I tried to look over the menu, and when I looked up I noticed another of my kind enter, mostly my scent, and then move to sit nearby. I’d have smiled if I had managed to figure out if she was looking at me. As it was she sat and my server popped up before I had a chance to really connect. “Could I please have a coffee and…um…so many choices.” Charlotte laughed and pointed at a few things on the counter, talking me through the various sweet treats that were still on offer for the night. I was quick to decide on pancakes with syrup and then some lemon tart after that. I didn’t always have a sweet tooth, and would have gone for a full meal. But I wasn’t all that hungry and I just fancied something specific. I waved Charlotte off and then stood to place the menu back on the counter. As I did I noticed that the female that had come in was paused over a book I recogised, I smiled. At war with myself about making myself known. I moved back to sit at my booth and hoped that I’d seem less intimidating if I was sitting than if I towered over her where she had little chance of escape. “Hey there. Are you an artist?” I nodded towards what she had in her hands and then looked back up towards her face, smiling openly in the hopes that she could read people even just a little. I got the impression that she needed a good meal, and not just of the food this diner provided. Though that wasn’t my place to speak. I’d offer advice when asked, I wouldn’t accuse or judge. I remembered being out of my depth, and it was hard to find what you needed in a society that seemed to turn its nose up at everyone who wasn’t mated by the time they went through their transition. I waited patiently, turning away briefly to thank Charlotte for my coffee and ask for more sugar than the two sachets that they provided. When I looked back, I smiled again, eager to know if I’d found a like minded individual randomly at my favourite cafe. ~

Clearing her throat nervously she looks to the side as Charlotte brought her own coffee. Thanking her softly before she focused on him once more.

She drops his gaze. Focusing on the table as she tries to still her now racing heart. The last thing she wanted was to insult someone. It would be unbecoming of her.+

Tori: +she laughs, shaking her head at his antics. Really he didn’t have to do that but she appreciated it none the less.

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