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summerwritesfics · 1 year

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💥And I Know You Won’t Remember Memories In Ember, Chapter 1 - I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me

Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang Length: 4228 Words Rating: Mature Warnings: Canon Divergence (Takes place instead of the MKX comics Kamidogu saga to be exact), Gaslighting, Whump, Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Abduction, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, NSFK (Not Safe For Kuai), Like really not safe for Kuai, He will be suffering.

And I Know You Won’t Remember Memories In Ember Masterlist

Notes: Hng, finally managed to get out one of the requests from my winter giveaway. Holy shit lol. This one is for @thetrueweaveroffate who requested a first chapter to a WIP I’ve previously posted on my personal tumblr. The WIP’s were originally posted under the working title of “Hanzo’s Dad”, so if you’re impatient for the next chapter feel free to dig through my WIP tag and see if you can figure it out lol. I will note however I pretty much intend to completely rewrite everything already posted so ^^;; I’m also trying out new techniques for editing with this one so hopefully it’ll be a little easier on me lol, and there won’t be as many typos :) Title is from “New Cydonia” by Starcadian (Altho I will admit I am VTuber trash and was actually listening to Vox Akuma’s cover when I chose the title lol) and the title of this chapter is from “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell.

Kuai Liang could not escape the intense feeling of unease that seemed to be following him everywhere he went.

It had started subtly enough that he believed the feeling to be completely irrational. Even while on the run from The Lin Kuei, he shouldn’t have been feeling like something or someone was constantly following him. Because The Lin Kuei wouldn’t bother quietly stalking him, they’d lock onto his location and immediately begin their assault.

So, initially he had no clue why he felt something was so wrong. He couldn’t see anyone at first, not even out of the corner of his eye. Until he walked into a town one day and spotted a man in a black suit. Anywhere else in the world, he wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at that. But in the middle of a rural Chinese town, where people generally wore more casual or traditional clothing?

The man stood out like a sore thumb.

And after that, he kept seeing more.

In every village, town and city, there was at least one person in a suit. Out in the wilderness, he would spot someone standing off in the distance. He even started to recognise some of them too. One was a long haired blonde white man who almost looked like he’d be at home in one of Johnny Cage’s movies. Another was an Asian man with a very notable birthmark on his neck. There were so many of them, of all different races but they all had at least one unique feature that he picked up on. A lip ring, a tattoo, an unusual hair colour, freckles.

It was getting to the point that he was starting to tally how many times he saw each of them.

And the fact the numbers were starting to get into double figures was concerning.

They never did anything to him, never actually approached him, but it was so obvious that he was the one they were watching. Even behind the dark sunglasses they all wore, Kuai could feel their gaze on him, watching his every move. He didn’t know what they wanted, if they were friend or foe, but either way, it was beginning to weigh on his mind, making him increasingly paranoid.

As he entered the threshold of the latest village, he kept his head low, even as a couple of the locals gave him distrusting looks. Still he made his way down the street, trying to get through as quickly as he possibly could. He hadn’t been able to take a rest in a few days however, so he decided he’d need to stop somewhere. In the distance he could see a sign that read “Inn”. Maybe I should stop for the night? Get an actual good night's sleep for once.

As he passed by an alley, from the corner of his eye, he saw the familiar black suit.

He paused in his tracks, head snapping over to look directly at the man. It was the Blonde man, standing and staring at Kuai with his hands hidden behind his back. Even with the man’s eyes hidden by large sunglasses, Kuai was sure they were making eye contact. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, feeling bile rise in the back of his throat.

He couldn’t keep going on like this, feeling like he was constantly under surveillance.

He turned himself to fully face the man, staring him down as best he could. He could have sworn the asshole actually smirked at that. He clenched his fist, just barely stopping himself from encasing it in ice. This is it, he thought as he began to storm towards the man. He’d either get answers or at the very least confirmation on if he was really being followed.

To his surprise, the man didn’t react much to his approach. He didn’t begin to run, or otherwise attempt to avoid the incoming confrontation. If anything, he just looked incredibly amused. When Kuai actually got close enough to be standing directly in front of the man, he realised he had no idea what to do. If the guy had run, he could have pursued, he hadn’t anticipated the man not reacting at all.

“Can I help you?” The man asked him smoothly, although the tone slightly condescending, like he was addressing a child rather than a grown man in his 30’s.

“Why are you following me?” He growled, desperate to seem dangerous, but it didn’t seem to be working.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. You and your little entourage of suited pricks.” Without really thinking he reached a hand forward, grasping the black fabric of the man's clothes in his fist. “Why are you following me?”

The man smiled slightly, “a coincidence, I’m sure.”

Kuai grit his teeth, his grip getting ever so tighter.

“I don’t believe that for a second,” he bit out, pulling on the man slightly but finding he barely moved for it. “You and the others have been there at every turn. Every path, every village, you have been there, watching me. I demand to know why!”

Kuai was suddenly aware he was standing on his tiptoes, desperately trying to get in the man's face despite their height difference. It must have looked ridiculous to anyone who happened to be watching him. The man smirked down at him, looking like he was seconds away from just laughing in Kuai’s face.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The man tilted his head, and switched the tone of his voice to faux concern. “Are you okay? You appear to be experiencing an increased level of paranoia currently.”

Kuai laughed. A loud bitter angry laugh right in the man's face.

“Maybe you should take a rest, hm?” The man continued to suggest, as Kuai’s laugh quietened. “I hear the inn in this town is lovely.”

Kuai swallowed, there was something unnerving about that. Like this man was extremely invested in Kuai going to the inn.

What do these people want?

He wasn’t going to get answers, at least not like this. He knew well enough by now to pick his battles wisely, and this was one he had no hope to win. Releasing his grip on the man, he took a step back.

“I will be fine, thank you very much,” he huffed. Now this man had mentioned it, there was no way he was entering that inn. Something was going to happen to him if he went in there, he could just feel it.

As he turned away, he heard the man call out to him, “I really think you should reconsider, Sub Zero.”

Kuai paused in his tracks. Slowly looking over his shoulder, he saw the man wearing a smug look. Kuai had not used the name Sub Zero around this man. Hell he had barely talked to anyone during this entire journey, let alone tell anyone either his real name or codename.

They stared at each other for a long moment, Kuai feeling a twisting in his gut. That was it, the confirmation that these men really were following him. Yet it felt so strange. What did the man get out of revealing it in this way? Other than to mess with him?

So… Did he just say it by accident?

“I never mentioned my name,” Kuai said lowly, hoping maybe to see a look of surprise, like the man hadn’t intended to say that. But no, he just continued to smile at him. He’d definitely done it on purpose.

What exactly could he hope to accomplish by doing that?

“Maybe you didn’t,” the man replied, reaching up to his glasses to pull them down slightly, now squarely meeting Kuai’s gaze. “Maybe I just overheard a conversation, or maybe I’ve been sent by The Lin Kuei to find you, or… Maybe the Shirai Ryu? You have many enemies, right, Sub Zero? I could be anyone.”

“You aren’t with The Lin Kuei,” Kuai spat, fully turning on the spot and concentrating on the words rather than the implications that this man knew far more about his life than Kuai would care anyone to know. “Or the Shirai Ryu. Even if they were still around, if you were with them, you’d have tried to kill me before now.”

“Ah, I suppose that is true,” the man hummed thoughtfully, pushing his glasses back into place. “Then, maybe I truly am just a passerby, hm?”

Kuai didn’t know what to say to that. He was far too freaked out by this conversation and the almost-but-not-quite confirmation he was indeed being followed. Unsure if he could cope with this much longer, his only option was to just walk away, lest he let it eat away his sanity.

He turned his back on the man and began to storm off, hoping to get away as quickly as possible.

Behind him, he heard the man chuckle and shout to him, “you should really consider what I said about resting.”

Like fuck am I going anywhere near that inn.

Yet at the same time, he absolutely needed to rest. He’d been on the go almost constantly and even if his current fears were valid, it absolutely wasn’t helping how tired he was. He reached into his pack, taking a quick look at the handmade map he’d scribbled on a scrap of paper so he’d have some vague idea of where to go. He was sure he’d marked another inn somewhere in the vicinity of this village. There was one, it’d take another hour or so for him to trek to it, but it seemed like the safer bet at this point.

He shoved the map back into his pocket, heading off in the right direction. He didn’t bother to look back at the man, because he knew if he did it would reveal just how affected by this he was.

The sooner he got to the Inn the better.

As he had anticipated, it had taken him around an hour to get to the inn on the outskirts of the town.

And so far everything looked normal. He hadn’t seen any more of the suited men, or anything else really off. The nagging at the back of his mind told him to keep alert. If he really had thrown off their plans by going to a different inn, their stalking would only get more aggressive than it already was.

He paused outside for a minute, leaning against the building and glancing around. There was still no one else around.

So why did something still feel wrong?

He clenched his fist, grinding his teeth as he continued to survey his surroundings. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. Just anything odd, anything that didn’t belong or stood out as strange. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Somehow, that didn’t do anything to quell his fears.

Had he made a mistake coming here? Maybe he should completely forgo the inn and continue on?

He ran his tongue along his teeth, his mouth was so dry that if he didn’t at least stop to get a drink he’d run the risk of dehydration. He sighed, and lent back against the wall. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his map. A glance told him the next closest inn was over two hours away, and he knew for a fact he did not have the energy levels to reach it.

He looked up at the inn, the sign so weathered he couldn’t make out the actual name. Just a drink of water won’t hurt, will it? He went towards the door, gently pushing it open, and peering inside. The place was mostly empty, with just a handful of people sitting around one table, and someone behind the counter. No one was wearing a suit, and none of the people looked like the men he’d seen previously.

Just a quick drink, in and out. That’ll be fine.

He steadied his resolve and stepped inside. The men at the table stopped talking to stare at him for a second, before deciding he wasn’t that interesting and returning to their conversation. He swallowed, adjusting his armour. Just because they didn’t care about his presence right now, didn’t mean they wouldn’t find something to take exception to later.

He made his way towards the counter, the lady behind it looking up as he did. She smiled brightly but it wasn’t a natural one, it looked extremely forced, but Kuai supposed he couldn’t blame her for that. If he had to stand behind a counter serving people drinks all day, he’d probably have to fake a smile too.

“Hello,” she greeted, putting down a glass and focusing a little too intently on Kuai instead. “What can I get you?”

“Just a glass of water, please,” he muttered, reaching into his pocket to find the little money he had left.

“Are you sure?” She asked, tilting her head. “You look like you could do with a meal of some kind too.”

“No, just the water please.” He could stand another couple of days without food, water was far more important.

The woman hummed, sounding strangely disappointed by this. Kuai told himself she was just disappointed she wouldn’t be getting more money out of him. Still she picked up a clean glass and turned her back to him. He couldn’t see what she was doing, but he could hear the rush of liquid filling the glass. Seconds later, she was back to facing him, putting the water on the counter.

Kuai placed down a couple of coins to pay for the drink. The woman accepted them, pushing the water towards Kuai.

“Thank you.”

Kuai took the glass in his hand, just observing the water. It was perfectly still, clear, and looked like a normal glass of water.

So why was that creeping feeling of unease catching up to him again?

He gave the inn another glance, even in the low light, no one was paying him any attention. In fact it almost felt like everyone was making a point to not look at him. If anything, that just made the feeling even worse.

“Is everything okay?” The woman asked, making Kuai turn to face her again. She still had that fake smile on her face, and the more Kuai looked at it, the more anxious he felt. “You seem a little worried by something.”

“Yes,” Kuai muttered, finally picking up his glass of water and bowing slightly to her. “Yes, I am fine.”

He didn’t give her chance to ask again, as he took his glass and walked off. Making his way through the room, he went to a small table in the far corner. As he sat down, he made sure he was directly in the corner. No one could come up behind him that way. He could also see the entire inn, so if one of the suited men walked in, he’d see it immediately and have a better chance to make an escape.

He didn’t even drink for a while, just sat in silence, watching the group at the other table. They were too absorbed in whatever they were talking about to take any note of Kuai.

But his eyes slowly drifted over towards the woman behind the counter. She was trying so hard to make it look like she wasn’t looking at him. He gave her credit for effort but even from afar he could see that while her head was down towards a glass, her eyes were in his direction.

Maybe she was keeping an eye on him for a reason. Or maybe he was just a strange man who’d walked in, asked only for a glass of water and that had made her suspicious of him. In the mists of his own distrust, he never stopped to think about how his behaviour might come across to other people.

Well, I might as well use this opportunity to figure out where I’m actually going.

He took a quick sip of his water, before pulling out his map again. At that moment, he didn’t have a final destination, as such. His only real aim was to get out of China. It felt bitter to think such a thing, he loved his country dearly, but with The Lin Kuei looking for him, he didn’t feel safe staying any longer.

Considering where he currently was, his best option was to try and catch a boat to South Korea first. Then, possibly Japan, even if that idea made him anxious. The Shirai Ryu were no more, in theory it should be safe for him to be there. From Japan, he wasn’t sure. Now that he thought about it, Japan didn’t have many places close by that he could get to. He had possibly gone in the completely wrong direction if he wanted to quickly get as far away as possible.

Maybe when I’m in Japan, I can find a way to get a fake ID and take a plane to America? It sounded like his best option. That or maybe, just maybe, he could find a way to contact Special Forces. Johnny Cage was annoying, but many moons ago, during the tournament, he’d offered Kuai a home. Kuai had turned it down at the time, and then he died, so it turned out to be a moot point anyway. Maybe the offer would still stand, or at the very least, Cage would help him find somewhere to lay low.

He took another larger gulp of his water. Yes. A plan was starting to come to him. First, he needed to get to South Korea. There would probably be some merchant boats he could stow away on. He looked at his map, grabbing a pen from another pocket as he circled a dock a few days away that would be the closest place to go from.

He began to work out a new path. He wanted to conserve as much energy as he could, so he tried to avoid too many mountainous or potentially dangerous paths. Between every couple of lines he drank more of the water, using that time to think over the path he was taking, and changing things if he thought it needed too.

Then, for a fleeting second, he felt dizzy.

He closed his eyes, trying to let the feeling pass. It thankfully did, fairly quickly at that. He was possibly more tired than he had initially believed, or a lot more dehydrated. He drank the last of the water to be sure, and considered briefly if he should order more.

He turned his attention back to his map, but when he did, he realised there was something wrong.

The writing on the paper was blurry. His breathing hitched as he looked up. It wasn’t just the paper, the whole room was blurry.

He blinked rapidly, hoping somehow that would clear his vision but it did nothing. The dizzy feeling came back, stronger this time. He closed his eyes, his head was absolutely spinning. He could feel himself slowly swaying on the spot. When he reopened his eyes, the world was warping around him, almost like he was on a boat being rocked by the sea during a storm.

“What?” Kuai whispered to himself, beginning to feel so very hot.

He needed to get out of here.

He braced his hands against the table, trying to push himself up and onto his feet. He stumbled slightly, only stopping himself from falling by tightening his grip on the table.

The entire world felt unstable, like he was about to fall through the ground at any moment. Yet he still tried to push forward, stumbling over himself as he tried to get away from the table. The heat was getting unbearable, he needed to get outside to cool down.

He tried to move across the room, but found himself very quickly losing his balance. One second, he was upright, then he blinked and the next second he was face to face with the wooden floor.

He desperately clawed at the ground, trying to pull himself along. Why had no one come to see if something was wrong? Surely someone had noticed that he needed help by now, right?

The sounds around him seemed to echo, especially the sound of the Inn’s door opening and several pairs of footsteps approaching him. He was still trying to pull himself along when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Seconds later, he found the world flipping around, and he was staring up at the ceiling.

A face came into view, but Kuai could not make out who was looking down at him.

“Well, well, well,” the person said, and Kuai felt his blood run cold. That was the voice of the suited man from earlier. “I did tell you that you should have gone to the Inn in town, now didn’t I?”

“Y-You…” Kuai didn’t have the brainpower to voice his despair.

This had been a trap, and like an absolute fool, he had fallen for it.

The Grandmaster was right, he really was stupid, wasn’t he?

“N-no,” Kuai croaked out with a sob, trying to push himself back onto his stomach. He needed to get away, even if he had to crawl.

“Now, where exactly do you think you’re going to go like this?” The man cruelly chuckled, moving so that he grabbed Kuai under his armpits.

Kuai felt himself being lifted into the air, realising that someone else had taken hold of his feet as well. He weakly slapped his hands against the arms holding his top half back, trying to conjure his ice only for a few flakes of snow to escape his fingertips. His head began to feel light, eyes so heavy he couldn’t keep them open. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be awake for much longer.

He heard more doors open, and seconds later, he was being placed down somewhere. He felt something metal clip around his wrist and neck. Just about managing to reopen his eyes, he saw the suited man staring at him with a predatory grin.

“Agent X is going to be so pleased we finally got you.”

Kuai didn’t have a chance to compute those words, as a door in front of him was slammed shut and his eyes closed one final time, darkness enveloping him as his conscious thoughts slipped away.

“Alpha team,” Agent Y announced into a microphone, “the target has the drug in his system, he will be ready for pick up in around 5 minutes.”

“Roger that,” the voice on the other end replied.

X sighed dramatically, it had taken a lot to set this plan into motion. Kuai Liang was not an easy man to keep track of, let alone predict his actions before he did them. But it was almost over now, and soon he’d be in their grasps. He had to give Agent Z her due, her plan worked flawlessly. The trick to get him into the right inn by using his own paranoia against him was inspired, and he was honestly surprised that Kuai Liang had actually fallen for it. X was certain Kuai Liang was smarter than that, but he supposed lack of sleep could make an idiot out of even certified geniuses.

“We are still in agreement that I will be the one to torture him, correct?” X questioned, watching on the screen as Kuai’s head started to droop slightly. He swayed, pushing to stand up on very unsteady feet.

“Yeah, yeah,” Y replied in an annoyed tone.

“And that once we have the information we need out of Hasashi, I get to keep him, right?” That was the agreement, and X needed it to be kept to. Kuai Liang was an absolutely fascinating subject, and by the time he was done, X would understand every part of him.

“You’re a really weird guy, you know that X?” Y snipped at him, but X just rolled his eyes.

No one else understood his fascination with the man, and no one else shared it. To them, Kuai Liang was just another magic user in a world overrun with them. But there was something that stood out about Kuai Liang, at least to X anyway. He truly was as like a snowflake as his powers suggested, unique from everyone else in the world, even amongst those that shared his particular skill set. X found himself drawn to him, and when X was drawn to something, he needed to know everything about it.

Regardless of what it took to get the information he desired.

“Once we get the reply from Hasashi, he’s all yours,” Y sighed in defeat, clearly not wanting to stoke the flames or get into whatever was going on in X’s head.

Good.

X turned his attention back to the screen, watching as Kuai stumbled around, struggling to stay upright. Soon, his legs gave out under him, ending up on his knees. Seconds later, he was face down on the floor.

As Alpha Team closed in, manhandling the barely-conscious Ex-Lin Kuei into the back of a truck, X smiled to himself, knowing soon he’d be able to start his research.

He’d been waiting for this chance for far too long, and he was going to make the most out of it.

≛❀≛ Next Chapter ⋟

#mortal kombat #kuai liang #sub zero #hanzo hasashi #scorpion #subscorp #💥And I Know You Won’t Remember Memories In Ember

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maxwell-grant · 2 years

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By no means do this now, but if you ever get the time recommending some good shadow fanfiction would be cool?

(Art by Michael Walsh)

Because fanfiction can be a touchy subject, I feel like I need to add a big caveat upfront that I don't endorse or necessarily agree with every single aspect of a fanfic take on the character, nor do I expect others to agree with mine for that matter. I've written Shadow fanfic and taken liberties aplenty with the material, and will probably take more if I get back on that saddle. This is just par for the course when it comes to fanfic. I’m not trying to be judgmental, I just wanna put this out here to try and prevent misunderstandings if possible.

There’s really not that many Shadow fics out there to begin with (especially not after the Conde Nast webpage purges of the 2000s) and not that many that I’d even particularly recommend, I’ve read pretty much all of them still available online as is. I’m gonna leave out some things that could reasonably be called published fanfiction, like the Tales of The Shadowmen stories featuring the character, and stick purely to what you’d find online. So here goes some of my recommendations

Works written by Cryptix / @oldschoolcrimefighters: I've said this before and don't think I can say it enough, but @cryptix23's posts on The Shadow's pulp magazines were one of the biggest deciding factors in making my liking for The Shadow turn into, *gestures at that masterpost on top of my blog, this. I owe her a debt I can never really repay for showing me the heart of this character in a way nobody else had, just by pointing out what was in the source material all along, and particularly regarding info on the agents where there was nowhere else to be found. I still greatly enjoy reading her own fics for the character and how she depicts the dynamics between the agents and The Shadow, and how much color and life they inject into these adventures.

The Nexusverse Shadow / works written by evillurks: You can find some of the prompts written via their Deviantart account Shadowtricker. This one is a lot harder to find in it’s entirety and I think some pages for it are non-existant outside of the Wayback Machine, I compiled as many as I could find in a couple of Word docs for personal reading and probably missed several. It’s on livejournal and comprises a couple hundred (maybe over a thousand) posts of a Shadow RP blog, based around the idea of a somewhat aged-up version of The Shadow still living and active in the 1980s, interacting with an AU version of Myra Reldon (the protagonist more often than not) as well as other characters and worlds through a sort of multiversal crossover dimension thing.

I haven’t had time to read all or even most of the long-form RP stories published but I have read most of their short snippets and I can definitely recommend them. These feels the most like Shadow pulps out of any of these I’ve read, there’s certainly a case for this to be the best version of Myra Reldon (taking everything that worked about the pulp version and doing it better) to the point I kinda default to this as my frame of reference for Myra at times, and though it’s not a high bar to clear, it’s the best take I’ve seen on a “The Shadow in modern times / out of his own time” concept, letting the character age and adapt to different times for better or worse, and still remain recognizably distinct and fiercesome.

Kimberly-Murphy Smith’s Shadow saga: Quoted this one briefly in another post. Will reiterate that, yes, there are aspects about this take on the character that I do find very disagreeable to the point I feel the need to point it out, but all in all: This basically takes the movie version of The Shadow and thoroughly combines with the radio, pulp and comics versions, as well as the other iterations of the movie story such as the James Luceno novelization and the Kaluta/Goss comic, and somehow makes it work.

It’s the best take there ever was on specifically the “movie” version of The Shadow because it’s structured entirely around making the inserted movie changes into a fleshed out character and universe for these things to be in. It did maybe the best job anyone had ever done, until Matt Wagner, of combining and editing all the separate takes on The Shadow into something cohesive and entertaining, as well as making his relationship with Margo work. I like it enough that it even went a long way in redeeming the movie characterization for me. It also did the one thing I absolutely think Shadow fanfics / modern works should be doing, which is introducing new agents aplenty to the fold that don’t overlap with the established supporting cast.

Der Dunkle Adler by Keith Holt: A short one, it takes place in a German tavern in WW1 with soldiers sharing stories about encounters with the mysterious flying ace with a boogeyman reputation. Really good premise, really good execution, solid ending, this is the one that inspired me to do my own take on The Shadow’s war years (although not how I’d “canonically” handle it, for the most part).

Identities and the 8th Wonder by Matt Dennion: It’s The Shadow vs King Kong told through the perspective of his 3 main identities, as Lamont Cranston shows up to Carl Denham’s exhibit, The Shadow frantically struggles solo to save people from Kong’s rampage despite being completely powerless to do anything but temporarily distract Kong, and then, as The Black Eagle, he works alongside G-8 and his team to put down Kong for good. Not the only time I’ve seen this premise done and usually this kind of “spot the cameo” exercise bores me, but this one stuck with me for a long time as an excellent display of The Shadow fighting despite being hopelessly outmatched in a way he’s never been before, spinning plans and traps on the fly against an unsurmountable menace destroying his city, making mistakes (even fatal ones) in trying to save lives, and finding a way to overcome the odds and help save the day, to a grim resolution unusual for Shadow stories. It’s a little The Spider-y and in a way that works really well for me.

Never to be Cheated by @saphura: Another short one. I like the premise, I like the prose, I like the characterization, the concept’s intriguing, very solid all-around and I tend to appreciate the more explicitly supernatural takes on The Shadow that emphasize the ring and it’s weird significance.

The Life of an Agent series by Greg Daulton: This one sort of provides a bit of backstory for the main agents by showing how they could have met and joined The Shadow. I don’t have much to say about it but it’s pretty allright, more interesting as kind of a shorthand to get to know the agents a little better.

Lineage by Matt Dennion and Tom Kurtz: It’s The Shadow, Batman, and Zorro (both the original and a descendant) battling across four decades to foil Ra’s al Ghul’s master plan. It’s this big epic that does a couple of things I do find interesting, namely 1: I think Ra’s al Ghul being the arch-villain of several different established characters (and even killing one of them), with big names and legacies in their own right across the decades works pretty well in selling him as a big immortal threat to the world at large, 2: I kinda like the idea of Shambala being presided over by god-like figures from different mythologies, I mostly hate Shambala conceptually and in entirety to begin with so anything mildly interesting for it is a plus

In His Shadow by JanEyrEvanescence12: This one falls more on the “very loose reinterpretation of a lot of things and plenty of concepts I find brutally disagreeable, but it does some things interestingly enough that I still think it makes for a pretty allright read to go back to, and because it’s fanfic it’s easy to look at it more for what it is” side of things. It’s unfinished and I wouldn’t even particularly recommend it for it’s story, more so for it’s imagination and some of what it’s doing to reinterpret the character.

Strange Bedfellows by Zath Chauvert: Cute, simple, conceptually pretty funny, and I’m giving away the twist here as is, but the Phurba becoming sort of Lamont and Margo’s weird dog monster, that likes Margo and still kinda hates Lamont, is pretty great.

#replies tag #the shadow #pulp heroes #fanfic #opinion #gonna be upfront here and say that #the people who write Harry Vincent-centric fics usually get it right over 95% of everyone else writing Shadow content #and I'm including myself in those 95%#official and non-official alike #there's like 4 of you but you Get It #well 5 actually but one of them hid his tracks more neatly

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alfredsolos · 1 year

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I definitely agree with your repost about people having the right to prefer fanon because canon sucks sometimes but i find it concerning that there is a growing subset of writers that like to flaunt the fact that they’ve never read the comics and then have the audacity to say that they’re “fixing” canon. These writers then proceed the most out of character and stupid stories I’ve ever read. It’s one think to prefer fanon Jason over canon Jason, its another to say that Jason is treated unfairly and is a poor misunderstood meow meow when you’ve never read the comics and don’t acknowledge the fact that Jason has committed some pretty heinous acts (of his own volition, mind you, that pit madness stuff isnt canon). Canon and Fanon are interchangeable to me in quality because Ive read great canon stuff and awful canon stuff, but i’ve also read great fanon stuff and awful fanon stuff. I think it’s more nuanced that the op says it is.

You are right in every way.

What people need to understand is that canon and fanon is and should be connected to each other.

Because there wouldn't be a fanon, if there were no canon.

And the reason why people try to 'fix' the canon is that because they don't want to see their beloved character have flaws or make (big or small) stupid mistakes.

They see these characters as comfort characters. So acknowledging their fuck ups can be hard for some of them.

That doesn't mean that they can't change the course of the storyline because they did not like it. I mean that is the point of having a fanon. Because they either want to change some things or they want more stories of their favorite characters.

But this can be misleading. Because I'm sure that there some people that think, a certain plot that was written in a fic is actually canon.

And yes, getting into comics is hard. I tottally get that. There are too many issues, too many retcons, too many deaths.

But I think a simple google search, or even asking a friend/mutual about a certain topic is a good way to learn.

I don't like gatekeeping or see other people do it. And whether you want to read a comic or not is up to them. But there is also something that I don't tolerate.

Which is whumpify or demonizing characters.

I will give an example of this by using Tim Drake (which I love very much). Personally, I think that Tim is the character that is whumpified the most. And some writers really go out of their way to make the supporting characters OOC and antogonize them for 'making' Tim depressed. Turning everything into their fault. Even if they haven't done anything wrong in the first place.

This example can be applied to every fan favorite character.

I would also like to add that this increase in 'fanon-izing' characters, are mainly due to DC writers.

Because they, themselves, also tend to write OOC or disregard previous media. They, too, have favorite or least favorite characters. And you can see their intentions while reading their comics.

So it kinda goes both ways.

Anyways, thank you for your input!

#dc comics #batfamily #batfam #tim drake #jason todd #dc

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ghoulical · 11 months

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Notes on FDA

A list of notes and possible FAQs about certain decisions and ground rules I’ve made throughout the writing process. If you do have any other questions, feel free to shoot me an Ask or a DM, and I'll try my best to answer!

Canonicity

Establishing the canon for this story, and this series as a whole, is difficult, to say the least. For one, while most of the Slenderverse series share a canon universe, Marble Hornets does not. I also did not follow the ARGs as religiously as other fans do when they were at peak activity, so I might be missing details from there. As of editing this in 2023, the canon comic sequel series to Marble Hornets has introduced new lore that makes it even more difficult for me to fit it into everything I've established with this work so far (the Ark sequence was cool as hell but it sure threw a wrench to my plot planning).

Obviously, add in popular creepypastas like Eyeless Jack and Jeff the Killer into the mix, as well as a pinch of SCP Foundation, and it is, indeed, a horrifying amalgamation of something.

That being said, I still want to make this work, and to do that, I do need to bend, or even break, a few rules. I will try to be as faithful to the original material as much as possible, but to find a way to connect everything in a way that ties the most loose ends and makes the most sense with what bits of lore and information from each series, it may mean that I will have to omit some things and change others.

If you don't like it, don't read it, and don't come at me with torches and pitchforks. Make your own thing if you want. I am but a simple fan-fiction writer trying to make something that made me happy once.

Time & Setting

I first wrote this story in 2017, hence why the story is set in 2017, because up until that point, I was still pretty much up-to-date with what goes on in all the fandoms attached to this story. 2017 also happened to be the year that everything sort-of started to die out; EMH, which was the only series with some activity back then, was in "full ARG mode" as I was told, and I did not participate in any of it because I had IRL things to worry about.

During the 3-year hiatus I took in writing, I did work on the timeline of this series—a lot—and I can safely say that it is better for this first book to be set in 2017 rather than present time, considering most creepypastas were set/created in the early 2010s. I also did the math, as best as I could with what little information I have, for when all the pre-story events would have taken place (including canon events) and it's all conveniently lined up if I had the present story set in 2017.

As for location, “New Haven” is indeed the name of several real-life locations in the United States. But none of them are the actual setting for this story—I really just chose a generic town name that's nice and possibly has a metaphorical meaning to the story, but don't sweat trying to look into it. Other named locations would be established canon settings (e.g. Alabama for Marble Hornets), or derived connections to other canon settings (e.g. Skye, Jack and Toby are from Denver, because Toby was canonically from Denver, so story-wise it would make most sense if Skye and Jack were too).

Theme, Content, Genre

You won't find fluff here—not technically, anyway. The reason I say this is because I want to clarify to potential readers that this is not the type of fan-fiction where everybody knows each other, everybody’s friends with each other, and they all live in a giant mansion in the middle of the woods. This story is about as real as the ARGs would be, where not everybody is guaranteed to like each other. Really, it's more likely that they don't.

But I don’t often see creepypasta fan works that focus on the humanity and psychology of these characters. I know the more monstrous ones technically don’t have humanity, and they don’t have typical psychological processes either because they’re monsters and they’re not real. However, I as the author, and as someone who enjoys and majored in Psychology, am very much interested in these topics and how they would apply to these characters, if they ever exist. These people, their characters, and their relationships—it’s what drew me to the ARG series in the first place. I want to explore that more throughout this story, as much as I can.

So yes, relationships exist, but their nuances are much more complicated, and that's personally the best part about writing this story.

Ticci Toby

So about halfway through the book, Toby Rogers (F.K.A. Ticci Toby) has like one actual appearance, and only mostly mentioned or referred to by other characters, despite originally being billed as one of the main characters in the story. This was done on purpose.

In the time I've worked on this story, Toby's creator grisgrisdoll (F.K.A. Kastoway) has publicly stated that they are distancing themselves from the creepypasta community, and wish to move on to other non-pasta-related art projects. Presently, their new concept of Tobias Rogers has no affiliations to Slender Man or creepypasta. All in all, the character belongs to them, so I want to respect their wishes as much as I can.

My original plan was for Toby to have a larger role as we go along (think recurring character getting promoted to series regular). He does still have a pretty big part in the plot of the first book, and frankly, a big part in the background story preceding the book's written plot, especially Skye's background. Because of this, while I can eventually remove him from the plot in future installments, it's impossible for me to remove him completely from the first book, without pretty much completely overhauling the entire damn thing.

So instead, what I can do is minimize his appearances for as much as possible, and only writing him into scenes when absolutely necessary. In the meantime, I'll also be taking caution in staying true to the original material as much as possible, as I do with almost all creepypasta I include in this story.

Tr*beTw*lve

If you've been here a while and read the story in its previous iterations, you would know that Tr*beTw*lve was originally one of the series this story was heavily referencing from. It was also one of the bigger contributors to the Slender Man mythos and lore in general, most notably expanding the concept of proxies.

In 2020, it became apparent through multiple allegations that the series' creator has done terrible things that I personally condemn and do not condone, and as such, I will no longer support anything from him, nor do I want this dear project of mine to be affiliated to anything derived from him in any way, shape or form.

Since then, I've worked to remove all references to TT from this story, and changed all the plot-relevant details that were derived from TT, to tie in more into either Marble Hornets or EverymanHYBRID, or more original ideas (yeah, I have those too). There are some previous drafts that are still currently available to read that still have some references, but in the future these will likely be rewritten, and these references will be removed as well.

It was fun while it lasted, but hey at least my brain spawned another couple sequel ideas because of this development, so it really did work out for the better for me.

More to be added in the future!

#ghl: averno #ghl: fda #facilis descensus averno

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kromabelle-art · 2 years

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Flufftober 2022 Day 18: Soulmate AU

OCs: Luken Roth & Lilika Adler

fluff2022-accidents don’t just happen accidentally|fluff2022-wearing each other’s clothes|fluff2022-shooting stars

Ever since he was a kid, Luken had a tendency to find things. Usually small stuff, like pens, and markers, and half-done origami that he’d try to finish. Up until his parents asked him why he had a girl’s hairbrush in his room, he’d accepted it as ordinary. But then, his parents excitedly told him he was among the lucky few who had a soulmate. Anything he lost, would end up with her, and everything she lost, he’d find. Immediately, he wrote a letter to his soulmate, and tossed it out the car window while his parents drove him to church. He wrote,

Hi! My name is Luken. We’re soulmates! What’s your name? Do you have my action figure I lost last week? Could you please return it by losing it again? Unless you like it, then you can keep it, I guess. I can always get a new one. What kinds of toys do you like to play with? Do you like comics or cartoons better? What’s your favorite cartoon? What’s your favorite food? I like mac n cheese! What’s your favorite animal? I really like dogs! And cats and bears and wolves and lions and dragons! Write me back pretty please!

It was a week of nervously waiting for Luken, until an envelope, covered in stickers and doodles of flowers, appeared on his bed. He turned it over, and saw scrawled on the back, TO: LUKEN. FROM: YOUR SOULMATE. Next to it was a barbie doll, dressed fashionably, but covered in dirt and with its head caved in. Eagerly, he opened the letter as quickly as he could without ripping the drawings, and read it.

Hi Luken. My name is Lilika! I had to ask my parents what soulmates were, but usually I’m really good at keeping secrets, I promise! I have your action figure, and I’m keeping it. Please accept this barbie of mine in return. (I’M SORRY IF IT’S MESSED UP. I THREW IT OFF A CLIFF!) I like barbies, and things, but I really like to draw and paint and make things. And I like playing outside. I’ve never read any comics, but I like cartoons. I don’t have a favorite. I like cupcakes and I love all animals. I like the woods. Do you like the woods? Do you believe in magic?

Luken was over the moon for days. He wrote to her again and again, and she always wrote back. She started including little gifts she’d made, which excited him at first, but then he got worried. His parents quickly noticed and pestered him until he confessed, he didn’t know what to send back.

“You could send her some art supplies,” his mom suggested. “We’ll buy some. She’ll appreciate those.”

But that wasn’t enough. He wanted to make something himself, and give it to her. Problem was, he didn’t feel he could make anything. And then he came home from school one day to find another half-done origami creation on his bedside table. Inspiration hit him immediately. He’d been learning the craft both from her, and on his own. Carefully, he unfolded the paper, wrote a message on it, and turned it into a little swan, making sure part of his writing was visible.

Dear Lilika, it said. Let’s send each other notes like this!

Lilika took to the idea immediately, and it wasn’t before long that he’d find a pile of little boats and birds in his room on a weekly basis. Over time though, they stopped talking so frequently. They were growing older, and being faced with bigger problems and more intense schoolwork. Sometimes, they’d write essays on their life’s hurdles for the other to read. And sometimes, they’d go months without speaking. Each of them had gotten to the point, too, where they never lost things unintentionally anymore. Lilika had even seemed to stop making origami, only sending him regular notes. He worried if maybe she didn’t care much about him at all, anymore.

And then one day, he stepped inside his house and realized he’d accidentally forgotten his sweater at the bus station. Hurriedly, he scrawled out a note.

Lilika. I lost my hoodie, I need you to return it to me right away, please. I had sixty dollars in that pocket.

No more than a minute later, he found sixty dollars on the kitchen counter, attached to a note that said, with a heart beside the name,

No. -Lilika

A few years later, Luken’s parents told him they were moving to some blink-and-you-miss-it town in the mountains. He didn’t expect much of it. He definitely didn’t expect to pull up to his new house and see one of his new neighbors, a shorter girl with a bob of soft brown hair, wearing his hoodie.

“Lilika?” He called out to her, opening the car door and stepping out before it was even parked. The girl whipped around to look at him, her eyes wide.

“…Luken?”

@flufftober

#flufftober2022 #day 18 #soulmate au #oc #my oc #my ocs #luken roth #lilika adler

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threewaysdivided · 2 years

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So I’ve read your Vlad analysis from a few months ago and I really enjoyed it, but if I’m going to be frank it does come off as…slightly ableist in a sense? “Malignant narcissism” isn’t a real thing, same with the other supposed “subtypes” of narcissism, there’s only NPD. And while I’m incredibly sorry about your family situation and can absolutely relate, please don’t claim they automatically have NPD just for being mentally and emotionally abusive. It’s a very harmful stereotype.

[In response to this post]

That’s a good point. Mental health is a complicated topic and I didn’t necessarily phrase everything in that post with as much delicacy or nuance as I could have.

However, anon, I think you may want to re-read because I did say something to that effect:

Now, on its own this wouldn’t be a consignment to villainy - there can be narcissistic or egocentric hero characters (early MCU Tony Stark is like this, and it’s basically Neil’s whole bit in Class of the Titans) - but Vlad combines it with a bunch of significantly nastier traits.

I used the term “malignant narcissism” not because it’s an official sub-class but because I wanted to single out a set of toxic behaviours that are sometimes associated with some narcissists, rather than generalising Narcissistic Personality Disorder as a whole. Having NPD (or BPD or ASPD) does NOT automatically make someone a bad person. Empathy is a skill that can be developed, and even without it people can make the choice to behave in considerate, compassionate and respectful ways. What matters is how we all choose to act, react and respond to information. Which is also something I said:

He has needs and desires, and on some level he has the capacity to change and choose better, but until he learns to care about people for their own sake and to treat others with consideration and respect he will always end up driving those things away.

Now, as for “don’t claim [my own family members] automatically have NPD just for being mentally and emotionally abusive” I am going to gently ask you not to presume. You don’t know my family’s personal experience. You don’t know the nature, severity or duration of the abuse; you don’t know the direct, ongoing physical and psychological trauma it caused to the immediate victims, the generational impact it had on their partners and children (myself being one of them) or the schisms it created on both sides of my extended family. You also don’t know whether we sought out behavioural information and input from therapists in order to understand and cope with what was happening (which we did).

And look, I don’t blame you for not knowing this. There was literally no way you could. Even for people who actively follow my blog, I’m pretty private about my personal experiences - it's an important part of shaping who I am, but that’s not what I want this space to be for (especially not on a public forum). And there are parts of the internet that are obsessed with pathologizing everything; that love to assign labels and line up to prescribe armchair diagnoses for real people who they’ve never met. In isolation I can see how that post would have given the wrong impression.

I’m going to interpret this as being sent with good intentions, and take it in good faith. However, with the extra context you might understand how your ask could come across as - to put it mildly - a little condescending.

There is a more nuanced conversation about mental health to be had. But a fandom meta-post about the characterisation of a half-ghost cartoon villain inspired by a Marvel-comics vampire is perhaps not the place to find it.

#responding to this for clarification #Hopefully this will be enough #I can hear the distant whinnying of the Disk Horse on the horizon and would prefer not to continue #I’m sorry nonny but I don’t really know what you want from me #I cannot speak to your experiences #(literally. You sent this anonymously.)#I am sorry that the Vlad post has upset you and/or made you uncomfortable #but please do not presume my intent #(I am also not the best person to have that more in-depth conversation)#(My history gives me more experience than some. And I know my writing style can sound quite authoritative)#(but I am not a psychologist/ psychotherapist.)#3WD Answers #3WD Responds

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shatterthefragments · 1 month

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10, 16, 53, 95 for the 101 asks!

Alright here we go!!! *cracks knuckles*

Thank you for sending these!!! 🥰💖

Apparently I had a LOT to say and am feeling chatty and lovely so:

10. What’s your boring hobby (that you still enjoy anyway)?

One thing about me is I Will Enjoy It Anyway. Even if it’s “cringe” (cringe is dead let us live) or I have to do it alone (which I PREFER a lot too)

…well. One could argue that most of my hobbies are boring, truly? (Or at least Certain People in my life do anyway :P) (I suppose I’ve picked up some more interesting hobbies in more recent years though ahaha)

A lot of art I do (or at least do in theory) is slow and tedious. Printmaking, painting, drawing, calligraphy, bookbinding, cross stitch bookmarks (I have never used a pattern and idk if I ever will I just like doing bookmark designs but it’s been A While), sort of learning to sew?, I intend to start quilting and maybe making paper and a few other things. I used to do origami. And I can still fold a crane from memory as well!?! I discovered a month or so ago when I thought I’d try making one while in a meeting bored!

Does Floor Time count as a hobby? Idk. But I need some Floor Time sometimes. Like. There was a post at one point where it’s like Angry at Everything? Treat Yourself Like A Toddler! Have some food and water and have some tummy time and maybe you’ll feel better? And I try to incorporate that into my life. So I have a yoga mat (that *should* be used for stretching at least) that I sometimes lay on. Sometimes it even helps. Or at least helps me feel a bit more grounded when I’m floating away.

Ah. I recently picked up Candles? And I enjoy candlelit showers very much :)

Reading? (Though I haven’t read any new unread books in a long time… atm I mostly just reread Martin Wilson’s What They Always Tell Us when the Desperation truly takes hold to give me a little hope :))

I… don’t think cooking is a boring hobby.

Boring is such a subjective opinion anyway 😁

Laying in bed snuggling my stuffies! As I am doing rn as I try to format this from where I pasted it in from my notes!

16. Romantically, do you prefer men, women, both, any/don’t care, or are you aromantic?

~ everyone ~

I mean. Sometimes I prefer men or women over the other or like a certain area of the spectrum? Anybody (especially those of a similar gender fuckery/nonbinary/etc to me or varying wildly from me…) is pretty much always like 10000/10 for me though like? Being able to be who you are 😘 idk how to phrase it right now I need to get ready for bed like sometimes I just. Fixate on certain genders more than others??. But like:

Generally though just. Anyone/don’t care 🥰💖😘

There are some other tangled thoughts I have about how previously I thought I could love anyone and everyone (I still have a crush on at least one of a trio of siblings I used to work with (I used to have a crush on all of them) tbh but it’s been years since I’ve seen any of them in person) (and let’s not talk about proximity crushes and how they always die for me) however nowadays I… well. One. I know now that I do in fact have a few standards/requirements. And like there’s a phenomenon where the closer I am to you and the more I love you the more I do not want to fall in love with you? Like I had a crush on several of my friends and also a sailor friend and like a couple coworkers I guess bc of the proximity? And previously I thought “I could love you. I would do everything I could to be perfect for you if you wanted me”? but now it’s like. Yeah no I don’t think we’d be good together and I don’t want to date you and I love you so much but I am not in love with you. Or maybe it’s just growing up? Or maybe something is just wrong with me and it manifests this way where I don’t want them to discover that I’m misaligned? ANYWAYS. not going there…

And I definitely do NOT consider myself aromantic. I do remember a comic from a while back about an aromantic person who was so in love with the idea of love and how it would always be out of reach for them that really resonated with me. But I don’t want to derail it. (In my own personal case maybe the answer is just to date someone for the first time)

Maybe the 25 years single are just. Making the Yearning pretty strong. Idk. (I’m made of “I Love You” I love you I’m not sure if I’ll ever be In Love but I love you!!)

53. What’s the most annoying thing that happens to you on a regular basis?

…can I say customers? Customers.

Or just like. Being out of something that should’ve been refilled when it was emptied out I guess. Lots of little work annoyances.

Outside of work: when I’m wanting alone time to decompress bc I’ve had to be On all day and people at home want to Interact but I’m just Not Having It.

Ah also gagging. On like. Everything. Scent? Texture? Moved wrong? Tried to do something while or after eating/drinking? Gag. Annoying as shit. (I took off traffic from here bc even though I hate it I have Bluetooth now and WILL sing along and enjoy the car speakers :))

95. Can you remember the last time you made a deep personal connection with someone?

Hmmmm how deep are we talking? I love my friends deeply? 😘💖🥰

I met a very close friend here after we started talking because I commented on her stories all the time 💖

And probably one of my beloved friends that I met when we were both part of the college’s student society (of which I still currently sit on the board of) is my closest irl friend?

And then there’s like. Is it reciprocal? I know she loves me back. And it’s one of my more reciprocal relationships though it’s more equitable than anything in my own opinion when it’s mentioned that maybe it’s not fair but uh. Actually. Im going to stop there. I love her so much and she loves me so much!

(Unspoken things don’t exist and I can’t let my mind make up falsities that are only there to hurt me this isn’t super connected though)

And I met another artist close ish to my age on my first sail training trip and we’re friends now and they’re awesome and I think we bonded. But even though I know they struggle to respond which is fine. It’s sometimes just. A bit difficult when they don’t respond for months and months at a time even though he’s local and I feel like literally being pen pals where I drop off letters would be more interactions than we currently do (which isn’t to say it’s not possible I have another one of my best friends local and we don’t really talk all that often most of the time but I love her very much!) and I also understand that my nearly frenetic energy when I’m riding the high of something is a bit high key for this friend sometimes bc he needs space to be able to think and be allowed to just simply exist. It’s just also easier to create that space when I see someone more regularly than when I feel like I have to do a Once A Year Catch Up type thing. Was hoping to foster that while we were on the same campus this semester but. Whatever. We’re friends and one day they’ll respond again and that’s enough :)

I always am. Uncertain if my perception of a relationship where I think we have a deep bond is actually true or not. But what’s that thing? “Subtext doesn’t exist just tell me straight out for my own sanity” or something. Bc that.

So: answer: yes! My friends!! Both irl and online ILU!!!

101. What’s been going through your mind lately?

Lyrics. Both my own and other peoples’. “Oh god I need to work on this the deadline is soon”. “I wish I had time for”… “am I doomed to get sick or can I still avoid it?” Need to sleep. SO MANY PROJECTS I WANT TO START!!!!! Ah yes I AM FARMER WHISPER LET ME PLAY~ is this my Emily playthrough? It might be bc I made my farmer with blue hair (I might dye my hair blue next too!). Go the fuck to bed. I want to- I need to- don’t- just go for it- and to quote my header (bc it’s. so fucking true): ready? No? GO. (Just go for it!)

…maybe I need to stop looping songs I sing along to bc it is kinda starting to be A Lot to be singing along so much when my vocals can’t take it. Currently fine though bc it stopped playing when i accidentally closed it. (Perhaps having Blood Sport repeating for two days straight so far isn’t the best idea to begin with though… Abelha here we come?!)

Hopefully goodnight!!! I need. To sleep.. soon.. I hope I can brush my teeth soon…

#ask game #ask games #shatters’ fragments #rambling #thank you!! I really enjoyed getting to ramble on!!#probably stream of consciousness style tbh ahaha but I guess it’s the lore behind shatters (bc I really love how ST tumblr is calling itLORE #should I try to make it a tag?#shatters’ lore #idk #this was fun for me hopefully it’s fun or not too much of a mess for you ✌️✨💖

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sohotthateveryonedied · 3 years

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so i’m trying to write duke and i don’t think i’m writing him right. how would you describe his personality because with don’t trust fanon lmfaooo

(this was only supposed to be a paragraph or two i swear to god)

1. first things first, duke is a hardcore gryffindor. don’t let the yellow color scheme mislead you, okay. and while most of the time he’s depicted in fanon as “omg this family is crazy and i’m the only sane one,” it’s actually pretty much the opposite? if anything, i think the other batkids would be like “oh finally, someone who can match our level of chaotic energy. HEY DUKE WANNA BUNGEE JUMP OFF WAYNE TOWER—” and an hour later they’d all be in the batcave getting lectured by bruce for leading poor sweet innocent duke astray when really he was already planning on doing that this weekend.

listen, this is the kid who once jumped off a bridge to escape police. this is the dude who decided to fight criminals while they’re still eating their wheaties at 6am in a bright yellow suit. and while duke seems to be the best at following bruce’s command at the moment due to having been trained by him most recently compared to the others and is still figuring out how to be a hero, i’m positive that if bruce weren’t here to guide him, duke would be running around gotham taking down criminals anyway. i mean, he literally did do that with the “we are robin” kids. plus there was the whole thing when he was like ten years old and decided “i am going to singlehandedly stop the riddler in my light up sketchers and pikachu backpack. try and stop me.”

duke is headstrong and has a strong drive toward heroism. he’s an extremely enthusiastic and passionate person in general, and i try to capture a little of that when i write him, even with mundane things like trying to beat his siblings to the last cupcake.

2. another thing i noticed is that duke swears like a sailor in comics? seriously, this boy could give jason a run for his money with how many “@#!%” speech bubbles there are. i don’t know if this is just a trend the writers added in the comics i’ve read of him, or if it’s a genuine trait throughout every comic he’s in, but that’s something to make note of when writing dialogue for duke. after all, he did grow up in the narrows, so it makes sense that he’d use a lot of swearing and slang in his everyday vernacular.

3. i would also make a point of noting that duke is fairly young compared to the rest of the batfamily, being the second youngest after damian. duke is still a teenager in high school, and he acts like it. he’s got homework and friends and is eager to make a difference in gotham, trying to juggle everything and make it all work somehow. he’s stubborn and doesn’t give up easily, so it’s important to write him as someone who is trying to save the world while also struggling with finding time to study for his next math test. he's human. he doesn’t get to dedicate all of his time to fighting crime like cass or jason might be able to, since duke is still a mostly normal teenager with teenager problems.

4. and don’t forget that unlike the other batkids, duke still has two living parents. sure, they’re jokerized and might not ever be the same again, but they’re alive and that’s what holds him back from letting himself get as close to the waynes as he wants to. duke won’t be calling bruce “dad” anytime soon, and i think he’d have some internal struggle over stuff like holidays and birthdays with the waynes, remembering what his parents are missing out on and wondering if joining the wayne family is a betrayal to them. duke is very conflicted over this, even if he doesn’t say it directly. stuff like ducking out of movie night early or feeling a bittersweet pang during thanksgiving dinner makes sense for someone in his situation.

(i usually ignore that aspect in my fics because i want duke to just be adopted and part of the family already, but not everyone does that, and that’s perfectly fine.)

5. honestly, duke is such a caring individual and we as a fandom need more of him being a shoulder for people to lean on because he’s?? so soft?? duke can be so sympathetic and rational when it comes to emotional problems. it seems like duke internalizes every bit of advice he gets from the people around him and uses it to inspire others and help them through their own problems. as tough and hotheaded as duke can sometimes be, he really is good when it comes to emotions.

6. duke is a smartass. he will 100% use sarcasm against any and every authority figure he meets, usually just for the hell of it.

7. he’s very frank in general, usually the first to be like “okay full disclosure, we’re about to die right now. that sucks. anyway—” in a situation. he’s honest and tends to be upfront about his fears/anxieties, usually for comic relief, but i think it still counts.

8. okay i have to add that duke is also kind of a punk? he and jason have a lot in common because of this: they both grew up in one of gotham’s worse areas (jay in crime alley and duke in the narrows) and they’re both highkey deliquents. duke has no problem getting into fights or talking back to authority figures, and it’s gotten him in hot water on more than one occasion. it’s why he kept getting moved around the foster system before bruce took him in because no one wanted to keep him.

9. he’s also gotten so close with the other batkids and we love to see it!! duke calls cass “sis” and treats damian like the annoying little brother he never had and i adore every second of it. we haven’t gotten a lot of interactions between duke and the others aside from training and stuff, but he and jason have the whole “punk kid who got adopted by batman and is baffled by how rich people live” going for them, so they can bond over that. and duke is a thinker like tim, so they can hang out and do puzzles or play chess or whatever it is that smart people do. (and duke and steph are BESTIES i don’t care what anyone says.)

10. most of all, duke is still learning how the whole hero thing works. he’s young and he’s trying his best, but he also makes mistakes. he will be impulsive and screw up, and he’ll try and merge the lessons batman’s taught him and that his parents taught him and that other heroes teach him until it all makes sense in his own mind. duke isn’t experienced like dick or even damian, so he’s going to be lagging behind for a while until he grows until the role he’s made for himself.

other miscellaneous details to include:

- duke is dating izzy, who used to be part of the “we are robin” gang with him - he used to live at the manor and now lives with his cousin jay, but honestly i just have him living at the manor in everything i write because i like it better that way - he can control shadows and light now! what a king! - duke secretly writes poetry and is good at creative writing in general - this:

- duke is super smart?? he figured out that agent 37 was dick grayson without even trying?? i’m so proud of him - his biological father is this supervillain called gnomon so now duke has got four parents: his mom, his dad, his supervillain dad, and bruce (plus selina if you count her as the batkids’ stepmom, which i do) - jason calls him “narrows” and i love that

- and, lastly, the most important panel in the history of comics:

2K notes · View notes

grapesodatozier · 3 years

Text

so close to the real thing (closer than you think)

rating: explicit

word count: 6.8k

summary: Eddie's been pining over Richie for as long as he can remember. He loves everything about Richie; especially how much Richie loves touching him. It's a little inconvenient, though. Eddie copes with his pent up sexual tension by constantly checking a porn blog he's obsessed with on tumblr. This guy has the same type of body as Richie, he talks like Richie, his name is even Richie! It makes it all too easy for Eddie to pretend it really is Richie while getting himself off to all of the blog's content.

You'll never guess what he finds out when he starts sexting this stranger named Richie from his anonymous porn blog.

tags: friends to lovers, porn with feelings, love confessions, dom/sub dynamics, bi dom top richie, gay sub bottom eddie, the most oblivious pining idiots in the world lol we love them

notes: this is one of my more ridiculous ideas but I had so much fun with it lol. also as a note you probably should not approach people on the internet the way they do in this fic, but they're just v enthusiastic and everything here is v consensual!! still tho definitely don't take this indulgent fic as a guide on how to approach real people online lmao. okay have fun!!

read on ao3 or below!!

notsfw under the cut

Eddie Kaspbrak’s friends were his entire world; time spent with them meant everything to him. But he also really valued his alone time. He’d always been the sort who needed time to just sit on a grassy hill and watch the trains go by, to catch up on comics in his room, to get lost in Netflix shows or even just his thoughts as he moseyed around his apartment—one he live in by himself, for when these moods hit. He needed time to himself to unwind. And sometimes he unwound by scrolling through some porn blogs on tumblr with his hand in his pants.

There was one blog that he was particularly fond of. There were other blogs more catered to his personal interests, namely blogs that didn’t feature women like this one did. But there was a good balance of genders represented, so Eddie figured he could just scroll past those posts. This guy was worth it. His pictures were ridiculously hot, and his dirty talk was even hotter.

Also, his name was Richie. Which Eddie refused to acknowledge as part of the draw.

It was harder to ignore tonight. He’d been out with the losers, and Richie had just been so touchy. And there was something about the way he'd been talking; his voice was lower than normal, slower in a way that made Eddie’s stomach flip. And his touches had lingered, his hand squeezing Eddie’s hip slow, then lazily brushing against his ass as he dropped it. Eddie could hardly take it. He brushed it off as Richie just being tired from work, but god, Eddie wanted it to mean more. The hardest part was hiding how much he wanted Richie to keep doing it.

There were so many things Eddie wanted Richie to do to him. He wanted Richie to touch him harder, to grab him by his hips with both hands. Richie’s hands were so big; Eddie just knew Richie could manhandle him so easily, so roughly. He wanted to know what it would feel like to have Richie’s hands all over him, grabbing at his ass and his thighs, holding his wrists down, making him feel so small. While Eddie would never admit it, huffing at every short joke Richie made, but he loved being shorter than Richie. He loved how safe he felt when Richie held him. And he was dying to know how small he would feel with Richie looming above him, or sitting in Richie’s lap, bouncing on his cock. He wanted to hear Richie talking to him in that low, slow voice, with that condescension Eddie did his best to pretend not to be affected by. He wanted Richie to whisper in his ear and call him all those pretty names he always dropped so casually, all those sweet ones and also ones that were a lot meaner. He wanted Richie to want him.

But it was easier to think about it than to ask for it. He knew Richie had way more experience than him. Well, okay, maybe not way more necessarily, but they were starting their third year of college, and he hadn’t wasted any time. Eddie, on the other hand, hadn’t done anything more than hand stuff with someone else. The guys he’d hooked up with were nice enough, and hot enough, but they just… weren’t Richie.

He supposed this guy on tumblr wasn’t Richie either, but at least he was everything else Eddie wanted. None of his hookups had been so, well, dominant, and that was this guy’s whole thing. He was dominant and a top and into guys that looked like Eddie. He even kind of talked like Richie, and he was apparently pining over his best friend, just like Eddie was. It had him completely smitten. Plus, internet-Richie’s crush had brown eyes like Eddie, and he ran track, just like Eddie did. Internet-Richie had posted once about his dick getting hard watching his friend at his track meet, and Eddie had come so hard that night, his track shorts around his ankles, imagining his Richie thinking those things about him.

Eddie was in bed now, in nothing but his boxers and one of Richie’s old shirts that had been Eddie’s for a while now. Still reeling from the way Richie had been acting that night, he logged into his porn account on his phone and scrolled through his dash for a grand total of thirty seconds before going immediately to internet-Richie’s blog. A thrill went through Eddie’s body when he saw that he had just posted. He’d written, “god my friends gonna fuckn kill me with that ass, i wanna plow him so bad” then reblogged it and added, “reminder that my asks and dms are always open if any pretty needy little subs need help getting off. please come be sluts in my messages.” Eddie’s breath caught in his throat when he saw that there was a picture, too, one of him gripping his hard cock, his boxers pulled down just enough for Eddie to see the dark hair around the base of his cock. Eddie moaned at the sight. His cock was so nice, so long and thick and pink. And fuck, his fingers. They were so long and slim, almost as nice as his-Richie’s.

Eddie scrolled a little farther down, his heart racing. There were a lot of reblogs, but some original posts here and there, things like, “what i wouldn’t do to have a pretty guy drooling all over my cock rn,” and, “in the mood to get someone dick drunk. wanna fuck a someone so hard they forget their own name.” One that made Eddie nearly choke said, “want someone i can pump my come into whenever i want, over and over again. want a sub i can keep full of my come all the fuckn time.” That post had Eddie getting out his lube.

It also had him thinking about internet-Richie’s most recent post, his post about his DMs being open.

Eddie bit his lip and thought about it. He’d sent internet-Richie some asks before from his porn blog (his blog didn’t have his name on it, just the teddy bear emoji, since he privately thought the teddy/Eddie rhyme was fun and clever, and also it was cute), and he’d seemed plenty happy enough to respond then. Still, it felt like a much bigger step to DM him, to talk to him just one on one. But the more he read his posts, the more he thought about his-Richie and how he’d touched Eddie that night, the easier it was to convince himself to shoot his shot with this stranger.

Eddie just messaged him a simple, “hi,” with a heart emoji. It was innocent enough, but his heart was still racing.

Internet-Richie responded a lot faster than Eddie was expecting. Honestly he hadn’t been expecting a response at all. But he said:

hiya cutie (; ive been hoping youd message me

Eddie flushed. He couldn’t help but hear cutie in his-Richie’s voice—especially given how often Richie used the nickname. really? he typed back.

fuck yes, ur cute little messages make me so hard. i can tell ur a pretty little thing just from the way you type

Eddie was blushing deep. Pretty little thing. That was hotter than it should’ve been. He wanted his Richie to talk to him like that, in that deep, sleepy voice.

there’s no way you can tell that from some messages :P, Eddie sent.

His heart stopped at the next messages internet-Richie sent.

oh, u dont think so?

why dont u send me some pics to prove me wrong (;

Oh my god, Eddie thought, his breath coming short. His head swam at the thought of sending this guy nudes, of showing himself off to someone who clearly wanted to see him, who would know how to take care of him and fuck him the way he liked, a guy with his crush’s fucking name and body type and hands. It had Eddie’s cock hard and leaking, and he slowly slid a finger inside of himself.

But just because the thought turned him on didn’t mean he was gonna send this stranger what he wanted so easily, even if he desperately wanted to.

you’d like that, wouldn’t you?

He fingered himself open as he waited for a response, working his way up to two fingers. It was nearly impossible to ignore his cock, but he didn’t want to come before the conversation even had a chance to start.

fuck ya i would, internet-Richie responded. Then, in a second message, whats wrong baby? you shy? ill show u mine ;)

Eddie's breath caught. God, this guy even made stupid shit sound hot, just like Eddie’s Richie. This was unreal.

i’ve seen yours, Eddie pointed out.

ya and you musta liked it if ur messaging me rn

Eddie bit his lip. ...maybe

aw thats cute sweetheart. u know i can see all the needy little tags you add when u reblog my stuff right?

Eddie blushed. He’d kind of always hoped he’d read them, but he never thought he actually did. i didn’t know you read those

oh ya, read them, jerk off to them. bit of a size queen, aren’t you? ;) it’s cute. makes me so fuckn hard when u talk abt how u want me to fill you up

Eddie whimpered out loud, sliding a third finger into himself. Fuck, he wanted that cock inside of him so bad. But right now one of his toys would have to do, once he was stretched out enough. He sped up his fingers, getting impatient. Gathering up all of his horny courage, he sent, show me.

what, no please? only good boys who use their manners get dick pics babydoll

Eddie pouted and whined to himself, making quick work of sliding his hot pink vibrator inside of himself—well, as quickly as he could without hurting himself. He moaned as it filled him up, making pleasure spread deep through his body. Slowly pumping it in and out, he reached for his phone. please, he typed, please let me see? wanna know what to picture while i fuck myself with my vibrator. He even added the wide eyed pouting emoji to really milk the whole begging thing. He knew he’d been playing a little coy, but now with the way internet-Richie was talking to him he was getting desperate.

well fuck baby since ur begging ;)

Eddie held his breath as he waited for the picture, slowly rocking his toy in and out, savoring the feeling. He wished it was Richie doing it, wished it was his cock. The lines between which Richie blurred; he wanted to get fucked by either of them, both of them.

What Eddie received when his phone lit up was not a picture, but a video. It was short, just a few seconds of Richie’s hand dragging wetly, smoothly over his cock, but it had Eddie drooling. The room was dark, so he’d used a flash, and it made the mix of what Eddie assumed was precome and spit glisten as the swollen head of Richie’s cock disappeared and reappeared from behind his fingers. Eddie must’ve played it at least five times, fucking himself a little faster, before remembering to say something back. And to take a video of his own. fuck, I want you so bad, want you to fucking ruin me, he wrote back. A part of him couldn’t believe how openly desperate he was being, but he found that he liked it; he liked the way it made him blush, he liked the way it felt to beg, to ask for what he wanted.

Richie’s response came fast: show me kitten. show me how you want me to fuck your pretty little ass.

Eddie moaned at the pet name; casual little nicknames were such a weakness for him. He was already so far gone, just picturing Richie’s cock inside of him, picturing him stroking his cock to thoughts of Eddie. The attention had his cock hard and leaking as he thrust his vibrator even deeper inside of himself, pumping it in and out a few more times before rolling over and getting on his hands and knees. It was hard to take a video from this angle, but he wanted to show off his ass and hide his face. Plus, there was something so hot about having his ass in the air and his face shoved in his pillow, looking like the perfect image of someone desperate to be fucked. He loved the way it made him feel, loved the thought of being so open for someone. For Richie.

He ended up shooting a short video as well, about ten seconds of him sliding his vibrator slowly in and out of himself, letting out soft little moans. He was pretty pleased with the way it turned out, his hole pink and smooth and wet as it stretched around his toy. The angle was a little weird, showing a lot of his room once or twice when his hand slipped a little, but overall he thought his ass looked amazing, if he did say so himself. He sent it and said, feels so good. do you want me to go faster?

As he sent it, he got settled on his back, forcing himself to go slow as he fucked himself while he waited for internet-Richie’s response. It was taking longer than before, and Eddie was getting antsy; it was so hard to drag it out, to not get ahead of himself. But whatever Richie was doing, Eddie knew it would be worth the wait. Still, he pouted as his cock ached, begging for attention.

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a knock at the door.

He groaned to himself and stayed put, fucking himself even slower as he waited for whoever it was to leave. But then the knocking continued, loud and incessant and obnoxious, and Eddie knew exactly who it was. He also knew he wasn’t going to go away any time soon, which honestly made him smile and blush. Richie had terrible timing, but Eddie would never be upset to see him.

Reluctantly, he slowly slid the toy out and pulled on his shorts, leaving his shirt off. He still had a pretty obvious boner, but his horny brain did not mind the idea of Richie seeing it. So he strode lazily down the hall, shouting a performatively annoyed, “I’m coming!” Finally, he opened the door, cocking his hip to the side and giving Richie an expectant look. “Can I help you?” he asked, a small smile dancing around the corner of his lips. He had to fight off a smirk at the wide eyed look Richie gave him as he ran his eyes over Eddie’s body.

“Fuck,” he muttered lowly, his eyes trained on Eddie’s cock, which was getting even harder the more Richie stared. Eddie bit his lip and grinned a little, making doe eyes at Richie. But Richie didn’t meet his gaze—instead he brushed past Eddie, his mouth still hanging open as he made his way urgently toward Eddie’s bedroom.

“Richie?” Eddie asked, a little let down that Richie’s hands weren’t all over him right now. But hey, if he was heading to Eddie’s bedroom he figured that was at least the right direction. He closed his front door and followed Richie into his room, where he found him staring at the bright pink vibrator on the bed. As confident and horny as Eddie was feeling, that still made him blush. He was only human. Crossing his arms, he said, bashful now, “I was kind of in the middle of something.”

Richie looked over at him, his cheeks bright red under his freckles. Then he got a glimmer of that trademark shit-eating grin on his face. “Eds, you fucking slut,” he said, sounding both delighted and breathless. “You are so fucking hot.”

Eddie flushed and tried not to squirm, but he couldn’t help but press his legs together, his eyes brightening. Fuck, was this actually happening? Shit, he needed to think of something witty to say. “You gonna do anything about it?” Okay, that kinda sounded like a corny porn, but he had to give himself credit for even being able to form words just after his lifelong crush and personal wet dream had just admitted his attraction to him.

“I think I already have been,” Richie said, still grinning.

Eddie cocked an eyebrow at him. He couldn’t help but smile back. “Oh yeah? How do you figure that?”

Eddie was expecting a confession. He was expecting something along the lines of you think I don’t notice how you look at me? or did you really think those were casual touches earlier? What he was not expecting was for Richie to unlock his phone and hold it up, showing Eddie the video he had just taken, the video he’d sent to internet-Richie.

Oh. Oh. Oh fuck.

“Oh my god, that’s you?” Eddie cried in disbelief.

“You’re telling me you didn’t recognize this dick?” Richie asked, swaggering over to Eddie, clearly enjoying himself.

“How did you recognize it was me?”

Richie nodded toward the Thundercats poster on Eddie’s wall, then to the model train that sat on his dresser. “What other guy has decor like that and the ass to match?”

Eddie grinned and shook his head. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Well pardon me for not being especially eloquent when I’ve just learned that the guy I’ve been masturbating to since I learned how to and been in love with for even longer has been masturbating to me too.”

Eddie’s eyes went wide, all thoughts of getting fucked leaving for a moment. “You’re in love with me?” he asked, his voice as soft as his smile.

Richie was not a bashful person, but the little laugh he let out just then was close to it. “Have been my whole life, but thanks for finally noticing.”

Eddie shook his head and stepped closer, until he had to crane his head up to meet Richie’s gaze. “I love you too.”

Richie’s eyes widened behind his thick frames. Eddie had only seen that look in Richie’s eyes a few times before, but he never wanted to lose sight of it again. He always wanted Richie to look at him like that. But then Richie was closing his eyes and leaning down. It only took Eddie a second to get with the program, drinking in the moment just a little longer before letting his own eyes fall shut as he pressed his lips against Richie’s.

It started gentle enough, if deep and passionate and intentional. But then Richie’s hands were on Eddie’s bare waist, skin against skin, and Eddie was gasping into Richie’s mouth, his hands coming up and resting against Richie’s chest. He curled his fingers into Richie’s shirt as Richie ran his tongue over Eddie’s lips, just before pulling away. He laughed at Eddie’s indignant little whine.

“Oh, you mean you don’t want me to take off my shirt right now?” he smirked as Eddie tried to pull him closer by the offending fabric. Huffing, Eddie conceded and let go long enough to let Richie pull the shirt off over his head.

“Oh,” he said softly, his voice a little, awed moan as he drank in Richie’s chest. It wasn’t like Richie had never been shirtless in front of Eddie before, but Eddie had never felt like he was allowed to really look at Richie all those times. But now he could; now he could touch. And he did, running his fingers over Richie’s smooth, warm skin, over his acne scars and blackheads and freckles. “Fuck, Richie,” he sighed before pressing his lips to Richie’s collarbones, trailing them all over Richie’s beautiful chest.

Richie gave a breathless, almost shy laugh as he stroked Eddie’s hair. “Damn, Eds, never pegged you as a tits guy.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Eddie giggled, bringing his lips back to Richie’s. They both smiled into it, getting lost for a moment as Richie’s hands slid slowly down Eddie’s sides. His hands lingered on Eddie’s hips for a moment before he slid them further down and grabbed at Eddie’s ass, making him gasp.

“Is that any way to talk to the guy who’s about to rail you ‘til you can’t walk?”

“What’re you gonna do about it?” Eddie asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Spank me?”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Richie smirked. He gave Eddie’s ass a playful smack, making Eddie gasp again and fall into him, needing more. Richie’s voice was dripping with adoration as he purred, “Little brat,” and pulled Eddie against him, kissing him again. Eddie went with it easily and happily parted his lips to let Richie lick into his mouth. Richie had one hand gripping Eddie’s jaw and the other on his ass, touching him in a way that exuded a command Eddie was desperate to follow. God, Eddie knew Richie had big hands, but they felt huge on him like this. It was dizzyingly hot. And the way Richie’s tongue was teasing his had Eddie’s knees going weak. His dick was throbbing in his shorts, aching to finish what he’d started, what had been interrupted. When he thought about it all—about playing with himself for Richie, about the video Richie had sent him, about all those things Richie had said about filling Eddie up—he felt himself clench down on nothing, desperate to get fucked. Desperate to feel Richie’s cock so deep inside of him.

“Richie,” he whined into the kiss, pulling on Richie’s belt loops, “please.” He pressed himself urgently against Richie and rutted shamelessly against his thigh.

“Fuck, you’re a needy little thing, aren’t you?” His voice was cocky and teasing, but there was an apparent undercurrent of wonder there as well.

Eddie shoved his face into Richie’s neck and whined, grabbing onto Richie’s wrists without even knowing what his goal was. “Richie,” he whimpered, sounding pitiful and ruined already.

“What do you want, baby?” Richie’s voice made it clear that he was enjoying seeing Eddie this wrecked, and that just made Eddie even harder. “Come on, tell me, use your words.”

Eddie squirmed as Richie held him close, but still not touching him in any relieving way. “I need you inside,” Eddie said, his voice high and soft as he squirmed in Richie’s grip. “God, please, Richie, need you to fuck me. Fuck me so hard I can’t even think. Fuck me like I’m your little toy.”

Eddie could hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth, and judging by the gasp he heard Richie let out, he’d caught Richie off guard too. But if the hard bulge in his jeans that brushed up against Eddie was any indication, he was apparently just as turned on as Eddie was. Besides, Eddie knew from his blog that Richie was really into that sort of thing too—and, apparently, really into the idea of doing those things with Eddie. The realization that Richie had been saying all those filthy things about him had him grinding against him with even more fervor, kissing his neck with a heated confidence. Richie moaned, and Eddie could feel the warmth of it spreading through him. “Yeah, sweetheart? You want to feel me inside you? You think you’re ready for me?”

“Yes,” Eddie sighed, looking up at Richie with wide, desperate eyes. He shivered at the new look in Richie’s eyes, the blue nearly entirely eclipsed by how wide his pupils were. He looked hungry for Eddie; Eddie wanted to feel it. “‘M ready, Richie, please, so open for you.” He looked to the toy on his bed pointedly, but Richie only gave a deep laugh.

“Oh honey, that’s cute that you think that little thing is gonna have you ready for my cock.” Eddie’s breath caught; that toy wasn’t small. Before he could gather his scattered brain enough to react, Richie was scooping him up and tossing him on the bed, the toy falling forgotten to the floor. Richie moved Eddie onto his back, and Eddie went happily, pliantly. Richie’s fingers were cool against Eddie’s burning skin as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of Eddie’s shorts, slowly dragging them over his hips and down his legs, tossing them to the floor. Eddie’s cock was dripping with precome, his chest flushed a bright red as he squirmed under Richie’s gaze. Eddie been dreaming of Richie manhandling him like this for he didn’t even know how long; he couldn’t help the way he reacted. And he especially couldn’t help the pleased little sound he made when Richie murmured, “God, you’re gorgeous, Eds.” Then Richie was grabbing him by the ankles, gently but firmly spreading Eddie’s legs, and Eddie let out the most pathetic, genuine moan he’d ever heard. “Fuck, baby, you sound pretty. You like when I spread you open?” Richie asked. He was smirking down at Eddie, but Eddie could see how flushed he was, could see the thrilled awe in his dark, hungry eyes as Eddie nodded.

“Richie, please,” Eddie whimpered. “I need you so bad.” He sat up, reaching for Richie’s belt, but Richie easily pressed him back against the mattress with a large hand on the center of his chest. The confidence in Richie’s dominance took Eddie’s breath away, and he stayed right where he was, nice and obedient, as he watched Richie get off the bed and slowly undo his belt, then his button and zipper. He took his time dragging his jeans and boxers off, enough time to let Eddie’s eyes linger on the reveal of the dark hair under Richie’s waistband. Then Richie’s cock was bouncing up against his stomach, hard and flushed and fucking long. Eddie moaned at the sight and fisted the sheets underneath him. He wanted so badly to get his mouth on Richie, to breathe him in and be nice and good for Richie on his knees. But he was also desperate to get fucked; his hole clenched down on nothing at the thought, and then it was all he could think about again. “Richie,” he repeated, whining now as he reached for him. “Stop being such a tease.”

Richie laughed as he moved easily out of Eddie’s grip and climbed on top of him. Eddie gasped softly at the sight of Richie above him, his dark curls surrounding his face, his full, pink lips pulled into the most beautiful smile Eddie had ever seen in his life. He ran his hands over Richie’s chest and sides, marveling at the fact that this was really happening. Then, his eyes flickering down, he tentatively brought his hand to Richie’s cock.

“Oh, fuck,” they said, both at the same time, making them giggle together.

“Fuck, Eds, your pretty little hand looks so cute wrapped around my cock,” Richie teased in a low, rough voice. Eddie shivered; he couldn’t tell if Richie was praising him or degrading him, but either way it made his head fuzzy.

“‘M not that little,” Eddie grumbled out of habit. But he was clearly breathless. He’d never been good at pretending not to like Richie’s compliments, however teasing.

“Aw, but you are, baby,” Richie cooed, nuzzling his nose against Eddie’s and pressing a lingering kiss to his lips. “You’re so cute and tiny for me. I don’t even know if we’ll be able to fit my cock inside you.”

“I can,” Eddie whined, both indignant and impatient. He bucked his hips up, but Richie held him down. He gasped when he felt the warm, soft skin of Richie’s cock press against his stomach. Looking down, he saw that Richie had his cock lying on Eddie’s stomach, showing just how deep he would be once he was inside Eddie.

“You sure about that, babydoll?” While the teasing note was still there, Richie’s voice got noticeably softer as he said, “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

Eddie’s chest swelled at that. Cupping Richie’s face in his hands, he insisted, “I can take it.” Then he reached down and took Richie in his hand, glowing with pride when Richie let out a low moan. “Richie, please, I want you so bad.”

“Okay, baby,” Richie agreed, turning his head to kiss Eddie’s palm. “Fuck, I want you, too.” But he stalled. “Have you ever… like, been fucked before?”

Eddie flushed. “Well, not by someone else, but I have some toys. I’m not gonna break, Richie.” He huffed, but the way Richie was looking at him soothed any ruffled feathers.

“I’m your first?” His smile was soft, and while his eyes glittered, there was nothing teasing about his tone.

“I didn’t wanna do it with anyone else,” Eddie mumbled. He tried to look away, but Richie pulled him into a kiss.

“Fuck, I never thought you’d want me,” he chuckled. “Sorry, that was depressing, I just mean I can’t believe we didn’t do this sooner, you know?”

Eddie beamed, a small, giddy giggle dancing on his lips. “Well it’ll happen sooner if you stop talking so much.” But his smile, and all of the little kisses he planted on Richie’s freckled shoulders told Richie that Eddie never wanted him to stop talking.

“Alright, alright, sheesh, I know I’m hot but you don’t gotta rush me.” Eddie was still giggling when Richie kissed him, and he could feel that Richie was smiling too. “Where’s your lube?”

Eddie stretched his hand out and patted the bed for a moment, searching. After what was probably only four seconds but felt like an eternity, he finally found the bottle and handed it eagerly to Richie. “Oh, right,” Richie smirked, “you’re already wet for me, aren’t you?” Eddie moaned as Richie swiped his fingers over Eddie’s slick hole, pressing in just a bit. His fingers went in easily, and he pumped them slowly, drawing little, breathy moans out of Eddie. Richie’s fingers were a lot longer and thicker than his own, and they felt amazing, but they weren’t what he wanted in that moment.

“Richie, fuck me,” he whined.

“Aw, no please? Again?” Richie tsked and shook his head, curling his fingers against Eddie’s prostate, making him cry out. “I told you, sweetheart, only good boys who use their manners get fucked.”

“Please,” Eddie cried. He rocked his hips and grabbed at Richie’s shoulders, at his arms, not even sure what his goal was there other than to get Richie closer, to get his attention, to show him how desperate he was. “Please fuck me, please.” He sounded pathetic begging like this, but that just made him harder. And it made Richie’s pupils even wider as he slid his fingers out of Eddie and pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Good boy,” he purred. Eddie moaned and arched into Richie’s touch, but he only gave Eddie one more kiss on his cheek before pulling back and covering his cock in lube. Eddie watched, entranced, as Richie’s hand moved smoothly over his cock, glistening and slick. Then Richie was gently spreading Eddie’s legs even further and pressing the head of his cock against Eddie’s hole.

“Yes,” Eddie whimpered brokenly, grasping at the sheets beneath him. “Richie, please.” Meeting his gaze, he said softly, “I need you.”

“I’ve got you,” Richie assured him in a voice that made Eddie feel like he was glowing. Richie took Eddie’s hand in his and entwined their fingers, using his other hand to guide his cock inside of Eddie, who gasped at the feeling. God, he couldn’t believe this was happening. He couldn’t believe his first time was going to be with his favorite person. He couldn’t believe he was finally getting exactly what he wanted. Love flooded through him, warm and perfect, somehow both soothing and electrifying as he watched Richie’s face. Eddie’s mouth dropped as Richie pressed into him, deeper and deeper and still fucking deeper, until finally Richie let out a low moan and Eddie felt absolutely breathless. The stretch was intense, and he held onto Richie tightly as he caught his breath. “Are you alright?” Richie asked. His voice was strained, but the care and concern in it was clear. “You don’t have to take all of it if it’s too much.”

Eddie wanted to laugh at the remark or roll his eyes, but with how breathless and dizzied by pleasure he already was, he had to admit Richie had a point. “Just need a minute,” he gasped. Richie ran a soothing hand over Eddie’s skin, helping him even out his breathing and relax. The feeling of Richie’s cock twitching in anticipation inside of him had him letting out little moans as he adjusted, getting more and more used to the feeling until he felt comfortable enough to tell Richie he could move. Richie kissed him before he did, his lips soft against Eddie’s, a reassuring weight. Eddie breathed in sharply as Richie pulled back, grabbing at Richie’s shoulders.

Richie immediately stopped. “You okay, baby?” he asked, caressing Eddie’s face.

Eddie wanted to melt. Richie was always touching him, always jokingly flirting with him, but this unabashed concern and, well, love had previously been reserved for dire situations, like panic attacks or injuries. Eddie couldn’t help the dopey smile that bloomed on his face as he tilted his chin up and kissed Richie. “I’m okay,” he said breathlessly. “It’s just a little different from my vibrator.” They both gave a shaky laugh as Richie nuzzled his nose against Eddie’s.

“Better, I hope?” he grinned.

“Can’t tell yet,” Eddie retorted. Another snarky comment was on the tip of his tongue when Richie pulled his hips further back, effectively sucking all the air—and attitude—from Eddie’s chest. And then Richie was pushing back in, and Eddie let out a moan he couldn’t have faked if he tried, relaxing back into the mattress as his eyes fell shut. It was the best thing he’d ever felt, pleasure and relief flooding through his body. They’d been building up this tension for years; Eddie had figured it would feel good to break it, but it really felt magical, like something had just clicked into place. Feeling Richie inside of him, rocking his hips carefully, feeling Richie twitch as he tried not to lose control had Eddie’s head reeling. Eddie’s eyes fluttered open, focusing on Richie above him, on how flushed his face was. When Richie met his eye, pressing in deep, Eddie let out a small, “Fuck.”

“Yeah? Does that feel good, sweetheart?”

Richie was smirking as he said it, but there was something else sparkling in his eyes. Something giddy and awed. Something that made Eddie sigh dreamily, “I love you.”

Richie’s eyes widened for a moment before he pressed his lips firmly against Eddie’s, his hands roaming over Eddie’s body like he couldn’t choose where to put them, where to touch him. “I love you so much,” he beamed, pressing a few more kisses to Eddie’s cheeks. Eddie giggled at the feeling, but then Richie’s hips moved just a little faster, pressing him in just a little deeper, and he was back to melting under Richie’s touch, clinging to him as he rocked his hips with Richie’s. “Fuck, you’re so amazing, baby, so fucking beautiful. You look so good like this, holy shit.”

Eddie smiled almost drunkenly at Richie’s ability to ramble even when blowing Eddie’s mind. “Feels so good,” he moaned, his voice breathy and just a little bit higher than normal. He wrapped his legs around Richie’s waist. “Please, Richie, please.”

“Fuck, baby, wanna make you feel like this all the fucking time,” Richie groaned as he picked up the pace. Eddie whined in pleasure at the change, and that just spurred Richie to go faster, harder, until he was well and truly fucking Eddie, both of them moaning with every thrust.

“Oh my god,” Eddie cried, “ohmygodohmygodhmygod, oh fuck, Richie, please.” It felt so amazing, Richie fucking into him like this, but he needed that little bit more. His cock was throbbing desperately, achingly hard; he needed to feel Richie’s hand on him. “Richie, please,” he whimpered, “please, please touch me. I need you, I need you so bad, please, Richie.” Eddie was pouting now, grabbing aimlessly at Richie, his legs still wrapped tight around him.

“Fuck, you’re so hard for me,” Richie marveled, his voice sweet and condescending as he wrapped his hand around Eddie’s cock. Eddie nearly screamed at the contact, his back arching off the bed. Richie laughed a little, which just made Eddie even harder. The way Richie spread his precome over his cock, twisting his wrist just so as he stroked him had that familiar tension coiling in his lower stomach. “Aw, does that feel good? You gonna come on my cock, kitten?”

“Fuck, yes!” Eddie screamed. He gripped at the sheets as Richie stroked him, his voice washing over Eddie, mixing with the pleasure of Richie’s touch, of his thrusts. “Yes, yes, yes, please let me come, please, please, please.”

“That’s a good boy,” Richie purred, and Eddie could feel himself tipping over the edge at the words, at how low and affected Richie’s voice was. He groaned out, “Come on my cock like a good boy, princess,” and pure pleasure crashed over Eddie like a wave. He arched his back and cried out as he came, his moans filling the room as he squirmed under Richie, grabbed at him, at the sheets. It was fucking ethereal. He felt somehow so in tune with his body and yet so detached, like he was floating. He was barely cognizant of what Richie was saying, but when he put the sounds together and realized Richie had just said, panting, “Fuck, baby, gonna come,” Eddie felt like a live wire again.

“In me,” he said urgently. His mind was still a little too scattered for full sentences, but he knew what he wanted. God, he felt like he needed it. Like he needed to feel that connected to Richie. “Richie, come inside me, please.”

Richie apparently didn’t need to be told twice; he let out a moaned, “Oh, fuck,” before burying his face in Eddie’s neck, his breathy moans like music in Eddie’s ear. And then, as Eddie was coming down from his own high, he felt the holiest thing in the world: Richie’s cock, twitching inside of him, then his warm come filling Eddie up. It was unreal, being this close to him. Richie clutching at him as he came. It was even better than the little fantasies Eddie occasionally allowed himself. Richie was here, in his arms, pressing kisses to his neck as he caught his breath. Eddie was stroking his hair and rubbing his back as Richie nuzzled into him. Richie’s skin pressed against his skin, his legs wrapped around Richie’s waist, then falling to his sides, but still pressed to him. Still keeping him close. There wasn’t a single thought in his head that wasn’t about Richie.

Richie pulled him from his dreamy haze with light kisses pressed up his jaw, then over his cheeks. Eddie giggled at the onslaught of affection, still reeling from how fucking hot and euphoric what they had just done together had been. But he happily accepted Richie’s kisses, his heart bursting, then racing as Richie pulled back to look in his eyes. “Holy, fuck,” Richie beamed, his face flushed and blue eyes hooded from the weight of his orgasm, even as they sparkled.

“I know,” Eddie said, returning Richie’s grin as he basked in the surreality of having Richie on top of him, his dorky yet charming smile framed by lips that were red and swollen because of Eddie. His glasses were knocked askew, and Eddie instinctively reached up to fix them. With a sense of wonder, he realized that his touch was allowed to linger this time. He ran his fingers down Richie’s cheekbones, over his jaw, cupped his cheeks. “I love you,” he said. The words spilled out over his lips like he couldn’t stand not to say them. And while it made his heart race a little to say it out loud now that the adrenaline and tension was all worked through, it felt even better this time when Richie’s face softened and he nuzzled his nose against Eddie’s.

“I love you so fucking much.” Richie’s voice rarely got that soft, that sincere; it felt like a blanket wrapping around Eddie. It felt safe, secure. It felt like a promise. And if there was anyone in the world Eddie knew he could trust, it was Richie. That feeling of everything coming together came back to Eddie as he lay there under Richie, their lips moving together, feeling light as a feather now that everything was finally out in the open.

#reddie #notsfw #reddie smut #reddie fic

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meruz · 3 years

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once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous)

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL.

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close.

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

#ask #trying this new thing where i tag people in the body of the post instead

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