#I’m traveling and don’t have my drawing tablet so here’s another sketch

[wolfpup026]

another sketch of my favorite guys

#Loki #mobius #marvel #mcu #lokius #loki series #I’m traveling and don’t have my drawing tablet so here’s another sketch #my art

[homomenhommes]

STORY: Ups And Downs 23

Stranger in the Crowd

When the warehouse doors opened at 6:00 p.m. for the reception, I was still on cloud nine from seeing my sketches on display for all to view…and perhaps to purchase. For 55 minutes, guests and potential customers drifted in until several hundred men had assembled in the massive structure. Some went straight for the artwork, though sales would not actually begin until 7:00, but most just milled around greeting old friends, making new ones, and exchanging phone numbers for subsequent hookups.

Then, at five minutes to 7:00, Aaron mounted a makeshift platform and whistled for everyone to listen up. Aaron thanked everyone for coming and assured them that they could find “that perfect Christmas present for the one you love.” He then acknowledged the presence of some of the artists whose works were on display. Most were from Connecticut or nearby states, but a few had traveled from Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, or Australia.

“And last but certainly not least,” proclaimed Aaron as he neared the end of the introductions, “we have the brilliant emerging sketch artist from California, Joe Campbell.” If I had been sitting down, I’m sure I would have fallen out of my seat. “Enjoy the show,” Aaron concluded, and before I could even think to thank him, Woody ushered me back over to the section where my works were hanging, and quite a few men followed us.

As the crowd admired my work, they peppered me with questions. “How long have you been drawing sketches?” “Who are your idols or mentors in the art world?” “Do you also paint?” “Where do you get your inspiration for your work?” “Will you be around all weekend?” “May I suck your dick?”

OK, so that last one wasn’t actually what was said, but I would not be bragging to say that I got hit on a lot, not just then, but throughout the weekend, and if I hadn’t had commitments to Mr. Block, Woody, and Aaron, I most definitely would have taken up some of these men on their propositions. Some of them were fucking hot.

Though I was besieged by fans, I kept looking over to Mr. Block and Woody to make sure I wasn’t needed for some chores, but they kept gesturing for me to stay put and revel in the admiration. By closing time at 9:00, that massive warehouse wasn’t big enough to contain my newly inflated ego.

“The doors will reopen tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock,” announced Aaron, “and don’t forget we will have a drawing session with two gorgeous young models.” I perked up at that announcement. I was not aware of this feature on the agenda, but I accepted eagerly when Aaron asked me if I would come in a couple of hours early to help him set up for the drawing session.

As Mr. Block, Woody, and I were heading toward the exit, Aaron ran up, grabbed my arm, and asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have any more sketches with you, would you?”

“I have my sketch book and my tablet back in my hotel room,” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, we sold out of the ones we had posted, all six of them, and I’m sure we could have sold more if we had had them.”

“Wow!” That was all I could say.

“Would you mind if I were to swing by your hotel and look at what you’ve got after I close up here?”

“Uh…oh….” I looked to my bosses to see if they had any problems with this plan, and when they nodded their consent, I gave Aaron my room number and rushed back to the hotel to organize my materials for his visit.

Since Aaron didn’t say how long he would be, I decided to take a quick shower after I laid out my sketches for him. The knock on the door came just as I was stepping out of the shower. Dripping wet, I quickly wrapped one towel around my waist and threw another one over my shoulders.

“Come in, Aaron. Please forgive my appearance. I didn’t expect you so soon.”

“No need to apologize, and your appearance looks pretty damn good to me,” he smiled.

Directing him to the sketches I had laid out, I invited him to look them over while I dried off and put on some clothes.

“Don’t bother on my account,” he said. Walking around behind me, he pulled the towel from my shoulders and began drying off my hair and my back. Then he reached around me with the towel and dried off my chest, belly, and arms. Before I knew what was happening, he removed the other towel from my waist and used it to dry off my butt and legs. When he reached around to towel off my lower abdomen and crotch, he pressed his body up close to mine. I could feel the erection growing in his pants, and he could feel the erection I had sprouted from his ministrations.

Gripping my head with his strong hands, he pulled my head back, leaned into me, and kissed me on the lips, slowly at first and then passionately. As he slid his tongue into my mouth, I swiveled around to face him, removed his coat, and then unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a deliciously firm and furry chest, the sight of which compelled me to take a deep breath before attacking his nipples as I fumbled with his belt buckle.

With his pants and boxer briefs down around his ankles, I dived at his cock, impaling my throat with his long, thick shaft. Practically disabled by the sensations emanating from his groin and surging through his entire body, he moaned with delight and finally managed to sigh, “My turn.” He lifted me up off my knees and threw me backwards onto the bed, where he lunged on top of me, returning the attack on his cock by virtually swallowing mine.

I was hungry to feel his big cock burrowing into my hole, but Aaron had a different idea. With me on my back, he straddled my body and sat on my stiff pole. I relished the vision of him bouncing up and down on my rod, as his face contorted with the impact of his prostate against my steel rod. I loved the sight, sound, and feel of his man meat slapping against my belly as he rode my cock like a wrangler. I delighted at seeing and hearing him gasp for air as his broad chest heaved with the strain of working so hard for his orgasm as well as mine. We had begun the exercise with drops of water covering my body, and now it was his body wet from perspiration that gave it a salacious glow.

As he leaned forward to kiss me, beads of sweat dropped from his forehead onto my face, some landing in my mouth, invigorating me with its salty taste. As he beat down on my cock, I met his actions half way, shoving my hips upward and my cock deeper and deeper into his hole.

His moans turned to screams as his prostate orgasm ignited the juices boiling up from his balls before they exploded from his hands-free cock, spewing white magic all over my face and body. My own orgasm quickly followed, blasting my gooey seed deep inside his thirsty guts.

With my firm cock still deep inside him, he collapsed forward onto my body, squishing his sweat and cream between our bodies. My dick plugged his hole for several more minutes before slipping out, releasing a torrent of white spooge cascading over my balls. I wanted to stay that way all night, but there was still work to be done.

Rising from the bed, we showered together, raising more temptations that we forced ourselves to resist.

“These are marvelous,” gushed Aaron as he assessed the sketches I showed him. “What’s this?” he asked, eyeing the set of four sketches I had drawn from my initiation at the Block estate, each one from a different perspective. There was my view of Tyler as he fucked me really hard, his view of me as I squirmed from the banging, and one view from each side.

“These are marvelous,” he gushed. “Is that you in the center?”

I confessed that it was, and he replied, “You know, this gives me an idea. Can I borrow these tonight?”

Of course, I did not object, though I did wonder what he had in mind.

The next morning, Aaron swung by the hotel to pick me up two hours before the day’s opening of the art show. He didn’t say anything about the sketches, he just went right to work. He showed me piles of lumber that had been stacked up in the back of the warehouse. “These are the modules of the platform that the models will stand on,” he explained. “We just have to move them over to the center and fit them together,” which was really quite simple. We also set up a couple of dozen folding chairs, placing a lap board on each chair.

Since I had a few minutes to kill before the doors were to open, I strolled over to the area where my sketches had been and saw that Aaron had replaced all the sold pieces with the four depictions of my initiation.

“I thought I heard familiar voices,” I said as I greeted Mr. Block and Woody, who had just entered the building with the crowd who had been waiting patiently outside.

“What’s wrong?” Mr. Block asked Aaron, who was engaged in an intense conversation with a very handsome young stud.

“Ward is here,” he said, motioning to the stud, “but Dimitri, the other model I had hired, just called to say he can’t make it. Something about car problems.”

“Can’t you just go with Ward?” asked Mr. Block.

“I suppose,” said Aaron, “but I advertised that there would be two models, and I hate like hell letting down my customers.”

“Well, it seems to me like your solution is staring you right in the face,” advised Woody, directing his gaze toward me.

“Who, me? But I’ve never done any modeling before.”

“It’s really not hard,” said Ward, reaching out to shake my hand. “I’ll go on alone for the first half hour. Just watch what I do, and then do the same thing—or whatever feels right—when it’s your turn. You’ll do half an hour, and then after a short break, we’ll go on together.”

I looked to Woody for his approval, but since it was his idea…. Then, I looked to Mr. Block, who just smiled.

“Well, I guess that settles it,” affirmed Aaron. “Ward, would you show Joe to the changing room?”

As it turned out, the so-called ‘changing room’ was really nothing more than a storeroom that had been drafted into use. Actually, it reminded me of the storeroom at my dad’s hardware store, which brought back vivid memories—some positive and some not so much.

I returned to the main area of the warehouse just as Ward was mounting the platform. He struck a variety of poses, changing about every five minutes, for the two dozen or so artists who were drawing his form. Occasionally one of the artists would ask that he turn one way or another or that he touch a particular area of his body in a particular fashion. It was all very professional but also very erotic.

Following a brief break, Aaron mounted the platform to introduce me, but he said something that surprised me. He introduced me as a “fellow artist” who had drawn the sketches that had all been sold out. “Because of the demand,” he added, “we have posted four more of his sketches which will be auctioned off tomorrow afternoon as one set. Bidding will begin at $400.”

That announcement just compounded my nervousness as I ascended the steps to the platform and took my position center stage. However, Ward stood amid the artists who were sketching me and encouraged me with his facial expressions and gestures. Every once in a while he would adjust his own stance or reposition his hands and arms to coach me.

Periodically, I glanced into the audience to see how they were responding, and apparently they were enjoying it very much. Mr. Block also had a big grin on his face, the kind of look my father used to give me when he was proud of something I had accomplished. Woody looked at me with his characteristic deadpan face, but I had been around him enough by then to know that his stoic mask was actually concealing a very satisfied smile.

When my solo time was up, the assembled artists surprised me with applause. I looked again to catch Mr. Block’s and Woody’s reactions, but they had both turned their heads to chat with another man whose face I could not clearly see. Every once in a while one of them would shift his stance, and I would catch a glimpse of the man. He looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t really tell.

“Fifteen minute break,” announced Aaron, “and then our two gorgeous models will return for a joint appearance.”

During that intermission, I was besieged by artists who wanted to compliment me on my posing or my artwork. Several handed me their business cards, which I could only hold in my hand since I had no pockets, and some asked if I would sketch them. When Aaron called Ward and me back onto the stage, I handed the cards I had amassed to Aaron, who had offered to hold them for me.

Ward was a real hunk and a sweetheart. In so many ways, he reminded me of Jeff Sullivan, Mr. Sullivan’s son and my mate on the football team, but even more so he reminded me of Viggo Sorenson, one of the Bel Ami Boys: handsome, athletic, agile, confident, passionate, affable (with a smile that was simultaneously boyish and devilish), hung, and a downright fucking hot stud.

As Ward and I stepped onto the platform, I once again scanned the audience, and still Mr. Block and Woody were engaged in rapt conversation with the man whose face I could still not make out.

Despite my initial anxiety, I felt very comfortable working with Ward. He was a natural. We started with simple poses—one of us sitting in a chair with the other one standing beside or behind him, reclining positions, etc.—until one of the artists asked if we would kiss. I assumed we would kiss “politely,” but Ward surprised me when he put his whole being, including his tongue, into it. His kiss was so passionate that I had a very hard time maintaining a frozen pose. I just wanted to grab him and jump his bones right there in front of everyone, and in reflection, I don’t think anyone, including Ward, would have minded if I had done just that.

Naturally, my cock refused to obey the rules of stationary posing. It sprang up and rubbed against Ward’s beautiful dick, which was also erect at that point. “Ignore it,” he whispered to me. “The crowd will love it.” The sensation of his breath on my ear just aroused me even more.

The artists may have called out other poses for us at that time, but frankly, I had already tuned them out. Ward and I just followed our instincts and did what came naturally, which was immensely provocative, and the artists apparently did love it.

“Thank you, everyone,” Aaron called time as Ward was about to lie on top of me. “Now go buy some artwork.” I think Aaron was afraid that Ward would actually enter me, and I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get the chance.

As Ward and I were about to descend from the platform, I glanced again toward Mr. Block and Woody just as Woody shifted his body enough that I could clearly see the stranger they had been chatting with. He was not a stranger at all. He was Eric, my brother.

To be continued

+

[malamiteltd]

Holiday Pictures 2023! (part 2)

A continuation of my holiday pictures for friends on Twitter!

This one is for Luna! I’ve drawn her Yoshi character quite a long time ago, but this was my first time drawing her porcupine self. I’ve admired her artwork for a long while, so hopefully my style does the character justice.

For AtroxChobatsu, it’s the ever-toony Sarah N. Dippity! I had drawn her a few times before, but this time I put her in a situation that shows more toony expressiveness. Seems she’s attempted to slow her fall, but that umbrella she’s using doesn’t appear to have held up…

This one is for the also-very-toony Dingoroo! I remember him from way back in my DeviantArt days. His art style was and still is very cute! I tried to make Dingoroo in my own style here. Not sure what he’s planning to do with that large mallet…

For LE-the-Creator, it’s their character Veggie Sprigwort. A very neat character design for a plant person! I was worried it would be hard to draw her well, but it ended up coming together a lot smoother than I thought. Maybe I’m becoming an artist after all…

For RakkuGuy, it’s his little kobold character Coal! She’s becoming an aspiring hero in a webcomic series, “Monsters Can Be Heroes Too!” This look mostly pulls from the more recent artwork I’ve seen, including a tattered yet stylish cape.

For CosmicCartoons, it’s the Ceryvian known as Demi. Here he seems to be struggling with a strange puzzle originating from Earth. This alien species wouldn’t be too out of place in the “Last Soldier” universe, though I don’t know how often they and the Teijru would interact.

This one is for – and featuring – Chaz Serir. If you ever wondered what possessed me to make various alien characters over the last few years, this is who inspired that. Now you may be asking, “What is going on here?” And my response is “That is correct.”

Oh hey, these are my characters! The two Tokarus, Sketch Tucker and Heather Britannia, are holding onto each other as they travel to other universes. Perhaps the characters we saw are some of the folks they met along the way. Who knows?

This ended up being quite the undertaking. I'm not confident that I'll ever make this many images for a holiday again. Either way, I hope everyone likes them, and that everyone have a Happy Holidays!

EXTRA

Here is Stephano, another character made by NS-Games. I experimented with the design a bit in this image – the eye area has white fur, and I gave him the Big Pant with a nifty pattern along the outer legs. I wonder what he’s drawing on that tablet…

He makes some things under the name of “Deyem Productions.” I ended up sketching a logo design concept for the “Deyem” name. It’s not the first time I looked into it, but I thought this was an intriguing avenue to explore…

#malamite #Luna Yoshi #Luna the Porcupine #atroxchobatsu #sarah n. dippity #Dingoroo #LE-the-Creator #Veggie Sprigwort #rakkuguy #kobold #Coal #Monsters can be Heroes Too #Cosmicartoons #Ceryvian #Demi #Chaz Serir #serir #tokaru #Sketch Tucker #Heather Britannia #Stephano #Deyem #this was a LOT of folks I drew #Fix-it Cat #NS-Games

[bogkeep]

Hey! I'm the one who asked the poorly worded art process question. I'm here to give it another try by being more specific. The problem is . . . that's hard. Because that was about a specific as I can get, since I kind of want to know everything about how your art works.

Big things, like how you come up with ideas, or how you design characters. But small things, too, like what tools you use for drawing, how you balance between traditional and digital art, and how you decide what color to use for your unique and beautiful line art.

I want to be more specific so you can answer, but the question in my head is too vague and broad for me to be specific about it. So . . . here are some subquestions of my question, I guess! Maybe that helps?

Sorry this is so weird, and thank you, your art is amazing

first of all, thank you so much <3

and yes, this is far more answerable! i hope i can satiate some of your hunger for insight without writing a whole book.

HOW DO I COME UP WITH IDEAS?

this is obviously going to be very different for everyone. i very rarely have to dig for ideas or sit down and brainstorm, unless of course i am trying to achieve something very specific, like fulfill art contest criteria or working on a commission. my brain is very visually wired, so a lot of my ideas literally just pop up in my head (i know of several artists with aphantasia - some people don't have any visuals in their head at all and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT'S LIKE AND I AM IN AWE OF THESE ARTISTS), sometimes i see a character or character design and im like HNNNG i need to draw them, or i just... have a concept i really want to Exist and i'm going to figure out how.

my biggest problem is that often, when i get an idea i want to DRAW IT, NOW NOW NOWNOWNOW, and that's just Not Feasible. sometimes because i'm Literally In Bed, sometimes because i have too many things i need to do or draw first... but i need to clear up space in my head, because my Urge To Draw will be like, beeping and whirring until i satisfy it... so i write it down on my TO DRAW-list! it's a real list that exists on my phone and i have to use it frequently. if i keep scrolling down i start finding weird notes that i have NO idea are supposed to mean anymore, but that's fine. i can't satisfy every Art Urge. sometimes i need to let them pass.

HOW DO I DESIGN CHARACTERS?

this one might vary a bit, but it can often be boiled down to "i sketch around until i figure something that Works." many of my characters, especially my older characters, became characters by accident when i kept drawing them over and over and i was like Ah I Like Drawing You... You Exist Now. that's how sparrow spellcaster happened, at the very least. this could happen because i had school and i would focus in school by doodling/sketching while listening to class. since i no longer go to school, pretty much all of my new characters are far more intentional. Timian and Vinta specifically exist as a result of a "favourite character fusion" challenge, and a lot of iphimery characters started with a Purpose rather than just harnessing the vibe of something i drew multiple times without thinking.

it helps to write down elements or tropes i want to include, like "sturdy-looking" or "VILLAIN OF EVIL SCARY MAGICS but it's a little girl and the dark magic is bright lightning and not shadows" or something. it can vary from a tiny visual detail to their role in the story. whatever i want to Achieve. my Intent. because my brain works so visually, i just really need to sketch somethign repeatedly until i nail it and can be like Yes That's It.

sketchbooks look a little messy but that’s what they’re for.

WHAT TOOLS DO I USE

for digital art, i’m currently using an ipad pro and procreate. i use a lot of the brushes that came installed, like Mercury is my primary lineart brush, and Moorilla is my primary sketching brush, but i also buy a lot of custom brushes on the hunt for More Delicious Textures (DAUB has a lot of good ones, especially if you want some that imitate traditional art). i have also used Huion and XP-pen tablets and generally recommend them, as well as clip studio paint as an art program (i love it very much and if it wasn’t subscription-based on ipad i would still be using it).

for traditional art, mostly just whatever sketchbook i have + my trusty mechanical pencil. i mean i have two: one with softer lead (it comes out darker) and 0,7 mm thickness, and one that’s 0,5 and harder lead for more light sketching, or if i’m going to line it with ink.

i also have a trusty pentel brush pen that i love DEARLY and feel bad for not having used in a while for reasons i will get to.

when i work on calendar pieces traditionally, i like to draw lines with ink - i use a dip pen with exchangeable nibs - and then color with watercolors. i have several sets because they’re all slightly different and i want the Range.

i sometimes travel with a little sketchbook in my bag and an assortment of pens, so that i can sketch Anytime, Anywhere. i think doodling with a pen can be very useful because you gotta become comfortable with the mistakes and imperfections and keep going anyway. if i doodle at work that’s the tools i have -  regular ball pens and a bunch of paper lying around.

HOW DO I BALANCE BETWEEN DIGITAL AND TRADITIONAL ART?

currently, i... don’t, really. it was easier when i had school, and i would just doodle freely and then maybe use some of my sketches as thumbnails or concept ideas. it’s harder now that i need to intentionally sit down with my sketchbook, and tbh... the ipad works very well for sketching. it’s so CONVENIENT and i have WORK all the time and my time to create art has become much more limited than it was. i miss going to my weirdo art high school where we would try out a whole bunch of different tools and methods. sure, yes, i had to paint with Acrylics My Beloathed, but getting to play around in different mediums is VERY valuable.

i genuinely want to be able to make more time and space for non-digital art again, but i just don’t have the ability to right now. it’s also different now that i’ve moved away from my parent’s place - i used to have an enormous desk and my mother has a large collection of art tools and there was a lot more storage space for whatever i created. digital art is very convenient and very accessible. ah well!

HOW DO I DECIDE ON THE COLOR FOR MY LINEART?

i usually line in black or a very dark color, and when i’m done coloring + shading i might play around with the colors and see what works. if you lock the layer you can just throw all the spaghetti at the wall you want. i decide on whatever fits the piece. i tend to be pretty fast and loose about it too, sometimes you can probably spot parts of my lineart that have slightly mismatchy color, but it’s like... done is better than perfect! i don’t have the energy to overlook every single pixel of my piece or else i would drive myself utterly mad.

HOPE THIS ANSWERS ANYTHING AT ALL!! THANKS FOR ASKING!!!

#art advice #(tag for archival purposes not to imply my methods are gospel) #everyone has their own ways!!!

[magisterlys]

Patience is Not a Virtue

Written Cross the Stars: Chapter 9

Summary: It's been weeks since the commander and Braham parted ways at the Eye of the North, weeks that she'd been avoiding him and focusing on her research at the Priory. Just as she's preparing to set out toward the culmination of months of work, she receives an unexpected visitor. Patience is not one of Braham's virtues.

The mentioned letter can be read here.

I really hope you all enjoy it! More soon.

Lys glanced once again between The Ways of the God-Kings and Thruln: Ages Past, trying to decide which of the two books deserved a place in her bag. The first was more thorough but impractically large for carrying through an ancient dwarven ruin. And yet, was there anything worse than not having access to the source material you needed in the field?  She sighed. Choices were hard. From his perch on the back of her chair, Notti grackled as if offering his opinion, fluffing his feathers up.

As Lys set the heavier book down she noticed that the sleeve of her blouse had crept up, revealing the burn scars that now climbed her forearm like vines. She frowned, tugged it back down and began to gather the scattered notes on the desk she’d commandeered for the last couple weeks, deep in the Priory’s special collections. Some of them were valid thoughts and bits of research but mostly she was distressed to realize how many were covered with a familiar pattern of circles and curved lines. The same pattern, over and over. She didn’t even remember drawing most of them … 

“Magister!” An asura  with bright red hair came scurrying through the stacks toward her, calling out in the raised faux whisper that everyone seemed to adopt in this space, “Sorry to interrupt, I have a message for you.”

That was odd, Lys thought, she hadn’t expected Braham to reply to her last letter yet. She held out her hand, “Give it here then, Klarre. And thank you.”

“No no, sorry.” Klarre was panting, one hand on the corner of the desk, “Whew! Those stairs are something. Why are there so many stairs? I mean you just go up and then right back down. They are completely unnecessary, really."

“Scholar.” Lys gave her a look, knowing from experience that if you didn’t interrupt Klarre she’d go on a meandering verbal walkabout for half an hour before reaching her original point.

“Oh yes! Right. Sorry. Message.” Klarre shook her head, “Nothing to deliver. Just there’s someone here to see you.”

“To … see me?”

“Yup!”

Lys sighed, “Any idea who?”

“Nope!”

“… none at all?”

“None!” Klarre flashed a proud grin, “Magister Makkay just caught me on her way down to get you herself. Said to tell you someone’s waiting at the Heart.”

No one outside of her guild and close associates knew where she was, and all of them would have just raised her on the com as soon as they got close. “Alright, thank you.” She set her notes down and circled around the desk. Notti flapped his wings, made as if to follow her but she shook her head at the bird, “Stay here, I’ll most likely be right back.” 

The light of the Heart of the Priory filtered down from above as Lys ascended the stairs into the public area. As usual, there were plenty of people milling about, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the whole of Lornar’s Pass were standing there, she’d still have instantly known who was waiting for her. And she’d have been no less unprepared to see him. 

Braham was standing with his back to her, looking up at the constantly shifting and rotating column of tablets. He was nervous, she’d known him long enough to read the tension in his shoulders, the way he kept flexing his fingers. The golden light of the Heart cast a shimmering glow to his silhouette and she was keenly thankful that he wasn’t facing her as she admired how the warm light highlighted his hair, how it cast the lines of his face in a gold like tempered sunlight as he somehow sensed she was there and turned to look over his shoulder.  It made her heart clench, to realize how glad she was to see him but also how terrified.   

“Braham?” At her voice, his face lite up with a smile that lasted only a moment before shadow crossed it. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the scar that now marred her cheek and her brow, the lasting reminder of what Bangar had done to her. When they’d last seen each other, weeks ago in the Eye of the North her wounds had been fresh enough to assume that they would heal. That apparently wasn’t the case and it annoyed her how self-conscious she suddenly felt.  She frowned and fiddled with her hair, trying to hide behind it.  “What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“Yes. No, I mean. I …” Braham moved toward her and she toward him, magnetically. They both stopped short a few feet apart, the distance between them like a living thing. Why hadn’t she mentioned this? All her letters had assured him that she was fine. That was true, he admitted, but he was unprepared for the spike of anger he felt seeing her like this … how it reignited his desire to break Bangar in half. The commander was shrinking away from him, looking away and he suddenly realized how his reaction might be mistaken so he smiled as he sheepishly continued,  “Bjora has been quiet. I read your last letter and I’m … impatient.” 

Lys swallowed hard, smiled awkwardly.  Why was he looking at her like that?  “Patience has never been your strongest virtue.” 

“Nah. It’s right up there with the ability to follow orders.” He chuckled and narrowed the distance between them  again, taking a step closer.  “I should have told you I was coming, on the com I mean. But I just ...”

“... are bad at following orders?”

“Yeah, that.” He gave her a smirk. 

If he was here because of her letter, that meant that he wanted to talk. She’d expected to have days yet, maybe weeks, to figure out what exactly she was going to say. But here he was, right now. And she still had no idea. “If you’d shown up an hour later you would have missed me. I was just about to set out south, into Timberline Falls.”

Braham raised a brow, leaned into the space between them, “What are you going there for?”

“What you’d expect.” She shifted to the side, “I’ve been searching for the location of a Stone Summit tomb since before the rally in Grothmar. I think I’ve found it.”

“So …” He’d successfully navigated the distance and now there were mere inches between him and the commander,“You were just about to go delving into a dwarven tomb? Dwarves. The ones who entertained themselves with most-horrific-deadly-trap competitions? Alone?”

“... yes? Well, when you say it like that it sounds like something I’d yell at you for doing.” 

“Uh huh.”

While she was caught up considering if she was being a Braham-level of foolish, he’d touched her forearm, slipped his fingers up to wrap around her elbow. And now he was looking down at her, too near for her to hide her scars. His brow was furrowed as his eyes traveled from the scar across her cheek to where it ran down her neck, disappeared under the collar of her blouse. He released her elbow and raised his hand, moved to touch her neck. 

“I’ll go change into my armor.” She stepped backward, away from him. Turned from his touch and his gaze. “Grab my things, and you can come with me?”

Braham let his hand drop, frowned after the already retreating commander. “... I’d like that.” 

A short while later Lys made her way back up the stairs, tugging on the buckles on her new armor as she did. Notti squawked his displeasure from his perch on her shoulder but she gave the raven a gentle tap on the beak to hush him. As she took the last stair she stopped to adjust the top of her boots. New armor was always such a beast to break in, damn Bangar for ruining her old set.  Finally settled she looked up to find Braham staring at her, mouth agape. She arched a brow, feeling uncomfortable again. “... something wrong?”

“No.” Braham blinked, realizing that he’d been gawking and cleared his throat as he watched the commander make her way over to him. He’d counted every moment since he’d last seen her, replayed their night hidden away together in the Keep a hundred times just to avoid remembering how close he’d come to losing her. And now here she was, alive and vibrant and wearing leathers that clung to every curve, that cut several inches above her boots to display a tantalizing flash of thigh. He couldn’t touch her, to ask him not to stare would be too much.

Lys pretended to be oblivious to his staring as she led him up the long hall, “Do you mind if we make the trip a flight? I asked someone to get Morrigna saddled, and assuming that she hasn’t bitten anyone  … “

“I’m fine with that. I think.” Braham begrudged,  “Given it was me she bit last time.”

“Aw, she didn't mean it.” They’d made their way across the open courtyard to where a pair of sylvari stood near the commander’s massive corvid griffon. The sylvari looked nervous, but the griffon churred happily as she spotted her rider and bent to butt her avian head against the commander as they arrived. Lys rubbed the cyan tipped feathers cresting Morrigna’s ears, “You didn’t mean it. Did you, girl?”

“I don’t know, did you mean to bite me?” Braham asked the griffon. Morrigna clacked her beak in response and turned one dark eye to look at Braham directly. 

The norn and griffon staring match was interrupted by a high pitched voice, “Magister! Magister Fiora, you forgot something!” Klarre pattered across the courtyard, waving a stack of papers over her head.

“I didn’t …” Lys attempted to tell the scholar that she hadn’t forgotten her strange sketches and had, in fact, thrown them away on purpose but Klarre had already thrust them into her hands. “... thank you.” She said instead. 

“Sure thing! Are you sure I can’t come with you? You know my interest in the jotun language is second only to yours. You never know when you might need another pair of hands or a sharp set of eyes and by the Alchemy! You are tall.” Klarre seemed to have just noticed Braham. 

Braham barely heard the asura, he was too busy trying to get a better look at the papers Lys was hastily shoving into her bag. He recognized those drawings. They were the same ones he’d had to scold her a dozen times for doodling instead of resting, in the days they stayed together in the Eye of the North. “Yeah, well.” He began a response. Why was she still drawing those things? And why had she been so quick to hide them? Distracted, he continued, “I’m norn. We’re tall.” 

Lys interrupted before Klarre could inevitably try to helpfully inform Braham that she was an asura, and they are short. “I’m certain, Klarre. Braham and I can handle it, and I promise to take detailed notes and organize a proper expedition if it’s required.” 

“I suppose that is adequate.” Klarre waved enthusiastically as she took off across the courtyard again. “See you soon! Have fun!” 

“She’s uh … “ Braham chuckled and looked over at the commander. She was smiling and shaking her head, not hiding behind her hair for once and he met her eyes as she turned toward him.  “Makes me miss Taimi.” 

“Yeah, I think they’d …” Lys realized how intently he was looking at her and quickly turned to secure her bag to Morrigna’s saddle, gestured for Notti to hop up as well.  “I think they’d get along.” 

“Commander.” He caught her arm as she turned away. 

She glanced back toward him, but didn’t turn. “Yes?”

“Look at me?” Braham’s voice was gentle. He didn’t force her to face him, just gave her arm a squeeze.

Reluctantly, she acquiesced, keeping her head down as he turned toward him.  He used his hold on her arm to pull her closer and touched his fingertips to her chin. She looked up at him finally.

“I just wanted to say ….” He touched her hair, brushed it out of her eyes so that he could see her face. All of it. She didn’t know how his voice managed to become even softer, but it did, washed over her like silk as he spoke, “You’re beautiful, Lys.”

“Braham.” How could he say that? She frowned and glanced away from him lest she start weeping like a vain idiot in the middle of the Priory.  

“I mean it.” He gently touched her forehead, traced the jagged lines of her scar until his hand came to rest on her cheek, cupping her face in his palm. As she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze he leaned closer and made a faint growling sound in the back of his throat, “ And I’m not saying that just because you look hot as hell in that skirt and those boots.”

“Braham!” She laughed suddenly, shoved his shoulder playfully as she extracted herself from his dangerous nearness. 

“I mean really, Lys!” It was good to hear her laugh. She clearly didn’t believe him, but that just meant he’d have to tell her again and again until she understood.  “Are you trying to drive a guy crazy?” 

“I promise that wasn’t on my list of goals when I chose it.” Lys gripped the strap along the back of Morrigna’s neck and swung gracefully up onto the griffin’s back. As she settled into the saddle she admitted to herself that catching Braham’s attention had at least been a bonus of this particular armor choice. But he didn’t need to know that. She leaned over and offered her hand to him. 

He took her hand, trusted her to counter his weight as he used her help to climb into the saddle behind her. Morrigna rustled her wings as if in protest to the second rider. “Yeah yeah,” Braham apologized, “I know you don’t like me, but I promise to watch my heels this time.” 

Lys laughed and patted the griffon affectionately on the neck, then turned to look over her shoulder at Braham, “Hold on tight?”

She didn’t need to ask, he’d been aching to do so since the moment he saw her. Braham rested his hands on the commander’s hips then slowly, purposefully slid his arms around her waist, pressing his chest against her back as he quietly responded, “Gladly.” 

She allowed herself to lean back against him a moment, to brush her hands against his arms as she reached for the straps of the saddle. She dared not look over her shoulder again, she could almost sense how he was looking at her. Dangerous man. “... just don’t let go.”

There was no chance for a response as the slightest encouragement from her rider sent the feline form of the griffin bounding toward the edge of the courtyard. With a powerful leap, Morigna cleared the cliffside, spreading her raven black wings to the sky and took off southward. 

#braham/commander #braham eirrson/commander #braham eirrson #chapter fic #gw2 fanfiction #oc: lys fiora #tyriaslibrary #lws5 spoilers

[houseofvans]

SKETCHY BEHAVIORS WITH KIM SIELBECK

With a background in fashion, textile, illustration and printmaking, Honolulu based artist and designer Kim Sielbeck creates colorful, bold, and fun paintings and patterns inspired by lush landscapes in Hawaii. From murals to digital canvases, Kim recently created some our favorite customs as a Vans Custom Culture ambassador, using her signature color palette and designs! Find out more about Kim, what inspires her, and what she has coming up for the rest of the year.  Take the leap! 

Photography courtesy of the artist. 

Could you introduce yourself to everybody?  Hello! My name is Kim Sielbeck. I'm an illustrator living in Honolulu, Hawaii and have been here for about two years. Before that, I was in New York City for almost twelve years. I went to school at the School of Visual Arts. I grew up in a Coast Guard family and lived in Hawai'i as a child- it's much different being here as a grown up! Fun tidbits: I am a dog person, I was born in Alaska, I once broke my toe in mid-air taking a jumping photo.

How would you describe the art you create? How would you describe your particular technique? My work is colorful, bold, and fun. Mixing colors and choosing them before I start on a piece is something I love.  I limit myself to flat colors–this evolved from focusing on printmaking in school and working as a textile designer for several years. Pattern is important in my work, which also carried over from the textile world.

What are your favorite things to paint? What are your favorite things to paint on? I'm very inspired by the verdant, lush landscape in Hawai'i- the plants here are unlike any other in the world. I also love painting people relaxing and having fun. A lot of what I paint is a reaction to current events today. I paint the world I want to live in. As far as surfaces- murals are my current favorite! Painting on a giant wall, getting covered in paint, and working in a public space beats working in my usual set-up, which is an iPad or computer.

What’s a typical day in the studio for you like? And what are you currently working on in the studio? Every day is different. It usually involves a couple hours of combing through emails, finding the right balance of podcasts and music (with some dance breaks), and zoning out while I'm drawing. Currently I'm working on some new personal pieces- I just painted a portrait of my friends Sarah and Danny and their puppy. I'm also working on a few editorial pieces for some magazines!

My studio is very unique- it's located in the Old Blaisdell Hotel, which was one of the first hotels built in Honolulu. There are lots of other creatives in the building, and it's nice to take breaks and talk story with them during the day. We all support each other and it's a great community.

When you're working developing a new painting or piece, how does it begin - take us from sketchbook, to color choices, to finished painting?   A new painting starts as a tiny thumbnail to get the composition right. Then I'll start sketching right on the surface (normally wood panel) with a light underpainting. Picking color is something I do very early on- sometimes it informs the composition and the subject matter. I try to limit my palette to 5 or 6 colors per piece. Sometimes, I'll be 3/4 done with a piece and have another color idea- so I'll have to go back in and repaint entire sections of the painting. It's all trial and error, and you can always repaint something.

We love the colors and compositions of your works and designs. Can you tell us how you arrived at your color palette and how composition comes into play when you’re creating a piece? Years of working in the fashion and textile industry has given me a keen sense of color and color combinations. So much of my job as a textile artist was using colors that were popular for each season- we always had trend forecasting books laying around, and would often color or recolor a piece until it was right. We also limited our palettes to what commercial printers could print- usually no more than 8-15 colors per design. Additionally, color palettes were always the first thing we came up with when starting a design. I still have that approach today and often pick my colors before anything else is completely set in stone.

What tools will someone always find you using at your studio? I've got plenty of tubes of acrylic gouache laying around, lots of different brushes, and lately a lot of leftover house paint from murals. My go-to tools for commercial work include my iPad, desktop, and Wacom tablet. I'm able to leap from painting to digital work- most people can't tell a difference between the two!

How do you unplug yourself so to speak? What do you do to center or re-focus yourself if you find yourself stressed out about deadlines, art shows, and the sort? One of the reasons I moved to Hawai'i was to be able to unplug more. Prioritizing things like going outside and being in nature are great ways to step back and put things in perspective. I also make sure to keep a planner so deadlines don't creep up on me, and hit the gym to work out any lingering stress.

You recently worked as one of our Vans Custom ambassadors! We absolutely love the Vans you created for it. Can you tell us a little bit about the process, your concept, and the response you got? Thank you! I loved painting the Custom Vans... people always ask me where they can get a pair! My concept was to create one shoe with a tropical print and one with a desert print. They could be used to walk everywhere and anywhere across the globe. The colors I wanted to really pop- you would notice these shoes on someone's feet!

What do you enjoy about collaborations like this? If you could pick anyone in the world, who would you collaborate with? I've been a fan of Vans since I was a kid and tried to sneak into to the Warped Tour. I had big ambitions of skateboarding and surfing as a kid (I am finally learning how to surf!). The lifestyle, attitude, music, artistic improvisation, and boldness of skate/surf culture has always been magnetic, so working with Vans has been a dream job.

I love collaborating on all sorts of projects–I don't think I have one specific dream client. I love seeing my work adapted in new ways, like animation. I'd love to paint more murals, and also work on some big-impact projects that can reach more people and bring some color and joy into their lives.

What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps? A career is not something that happens right away- you have to constantly work for it and adapt. I was hoping right out of school I would instantly become a world-famous illustrator... not the case. It took a few years to find my style and voice, and that's ok. More advice is to always pursue outside interests, and grow as a person. I was in a punk/pop band for several years in NYC (shout out Puppies!), learned how to sail, and traveled a lot. All these things, while not necessarily being art-related, helped influence my work and life.

How did start becoming interested in art and design? When did you find yourself doing it as a career? Moving around so much as a kid, art was something that was a constant. I could express how I felt, what I was going through, and could make friends doing it. Early in high school, I realized I could maybe do it for a living. My parents sat me down and asked me to come up with a plan for college and beyond, so I had realistic expectations and saw the hard work it would take. A good work ethic, some luck, and many hours of practice helped me push through. When I graduated college in 2009, there weren't many jobs. I lucked out and got a full-time job at the textile studio, while freelancing on the side. Eventually, 8 years later, the freelancing became stable enough to do illustration full-time.

When you’re not busy creating art, how do you unwind and chill out? When I'm not in the studio I'm trying to explore new places, go on hikes, go to different beaches, or learn how to surf. At the studio, my brain is on New York speed, but walking outside I switch back to Island Time immediately.

If you weren’t an artist, what do you think you’d be doing instead?   I'd be a guitarist and lead singer, traveling the world in my amazing punk rock girl group.

So we gotta ask what are your FAVORITE Vans? I have some surf-green high tops I've worn for YEARS. I got them in Pasadena one night at an art opening when my sandals snapped in half. The Vans store was miraculously still open, and I ran in and grabbed them in the five minutes I had to spare. They saved my outfit and my night, and they've since traveled to London, Italy, Hawai'i, Japan, and beyond.

What’s coming up next for you? I'm going to Europe in September, for some work and some fun. I'm looking forward to a few bigger projects I can't talk about yet. I'm also working on some local Hawai'i projects, including working with the Humane Society. A beach towel collaboration with Surfer Towel's Christie Shinn (who you just interviewed!) just came out, too.

FOLLOW KIM | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | BEHANCE 

#Art #Vans #Vans Art #Vans Girls #Art School #Kim Sielbeck #interview #painting #digital #surfer towel #female artist

[nagatsukinura119]

Day 3 at Japan Expo Malaysia (28th July 2019)

Today was the last day. The day that I would last see the KiREI members. Cue gonna be a cry baby and go through Post Concert Depression (look it up hahah). Since I wanted to make the most of it, I wore the KiREI T-shirt I bought the first day I met them, which is gorgeous by the way (albeit it was a stock from their concert in Bangkok), especially the back side and I really love it!

As I said in the part one in Day 2’s report, I promised Hanapii that I was gonna draw an illustration for them. But here’s the thing, I initially thought to just post it on Twitter, but then my father said, “You should show them tomorrow” and that was exactly what I did! Now, the previous night’s adrenaline rush and fatigue was no joke, I was so exhausted, and my mind was so jumbled since I was still processing what happened at AKB48’s concert and at the airport (toldya it was VERY overwhelming). Thankfully I brought my drawing tablet in this trip (I don’t know why I did, but thank God I did). I barely finished sketching until I succumbed to exhaustion and went to sleep. The next morning I literally finished breakfast within 10 minutes and went back to our room and stayed there to finish the illustration. Since their last concert started at 2, and I had like 3 hours left to finish it (I wanted to be there by 1). Thankfully I finished on time and I quickly made my way to Pavilion.

When I arrived, once again I was surprised with the lack of people waiting at the stage (outdoor by the way), and this time I didn’t care what people thought and I just stood at the front row under the blazing sun, all in black clothes, and texting to my Discord fellas (lol). So first Austin and another host went up the stage and gave a quick introduction about KiREI and apparently KiREI was made up of 3 disbanded idol groups named “Tokyo Clear’s Smile” (this is the group where Hanapii originally came from, which I found out a couple nights ago lol), “Spring Chubit” and “Astarisk”. The girls were called in and dear gosh! Today they wore yukata again, but different designs than the first day! I just really like it when J-idols wear yukatas or any form of traditional clothing. It’s even more amazing that these girls were not just dancing, but also jumping in them! You have to admire their abilities, if not, impressed, cuz here’s the thing some of their dances were pretty vigorous, and after seeing their performances 3 times now, I could tell that Chori-chan is the ‘genki’ girl as she tended to jump the highest, dance with the most energy and also the one to rile up the audience. Miayan has the best and brightest smile that would capture anyone’s hearts (which explained why she has a fan account). Meanwhile Hanapii has the best balance in terms of her dance, her movements weren’t too extreme, and the fluidity and precision made her dance moves better, hence for me she’s the best dancer among the trio.

For this performance, Mianyan noticed me the most and as I said, her smiles were SO BLINDING! I could feel myself getting overcome by it that I had to look through my camera lens instead of my own eyes lmaoooo. Since I’m heavily biased for Hanapii I tended to look at her the most, and I couldn’t help but realized that she seemed a bit down today. I guess it wasn’t surprising since 3 days straight of performing and doing meet-and-greets could tire anyone. However, when she made eye contacts, she made sure to smile as much as she could (God I love her). Meanwhile, Chori-chan climbed in my Oshimen radar because of her bright and energetic interactions with the audience, including myself, especially whenever she invited the audience to chant with her. She’s really like the Takamina in this trio (that’s what I call ‘charisma’!)

Before they started the fifth song, Chori-chan told us that it would be their last song (cue the “Eeeeehhh~” by the audience), and I started to sob and felt my heart twinge a bit. Emotions from the previous night in the airport kind of resurfaced and once again I told myself to not cry or that would make them feel bad if they noticed. Their last song was ‘Dame Otoko’ and I’d say this was my most favorite after ‘Say Yeah! Away!’ (which I kept humming and singing to when I was at the airport the night before) and ending it with this song just made it twice the impact. The performance went splendidly but there was one point again the tears just started to leak, and I had to use my camera to hide my face. Again, I was like “NO. Don’t ruin this for them!”

After they were done, they girls professed their love for being in Malaysia, wanting to come back again (OH HECK YAS, please come back again! And I will too!) Then everyone was called for the obligatory group picture, and now me being in the first row finally paid off!

After the photo session the girls needed some time to freshen up for the last greet-and-meet session. And being the excited fan I was, I waited nearby at their booth, trying not to stand out as much as I could lol. When the booth opened, I immediately lined up behind some prepared fans. This time the man who was selling the merch definitely remembered me as he was like “Welcome back!” This time I was gonna be greedy and bought two Cheki tickets for each member and a towel. He was counting the total cost and I told him “Sanbyaku ringgit (300 ringgit)” which impressed him, and he was like “Oh! Your Japanese is good!” While I was telling him that wasn’t true, he noticed the KiREI T-shirt I was wearing and smiled even more. Honestly I really wanted to shake his hand right then and there, to thank him for his great work, but we just ended up chatting a bit more hahahah.

Before I was about to join the line, Hanapii saw me and she thought I was gonna immediately take pictures with her (oh you sweet darling). But I told her that today I was going to take pictures with everyone, and that I would start from Mianyan, then Chori-chan and finally her. When I went to the line Chori-chan spotted me and immediately assumed that I was gonna take pics with Hanapii as she asked “With Hanapii, right?” I told her I was gonna take pictures with everyone this time, and she was VERY happy, as in she started hopping (ADORABLE).

So I took a picture with Mianyan first. She kept saying I was cute and ‘comel’ (Malay for ‘cute’) and she wrote that on the polaroid frame. I told her where I was from, and since she had a confused look (cuuuuuteee) so I explained the location. I also thanked her for following me on Twitter (she was the first one who followed me). For the first round she and I took a pic with the freshly bought towel hahaha (she was really impressed that I wore their T-shirt too). I was gonna take another picture with her since I bought 2 tickets for each of them but she needed to assist to take pictures for other people, so being the social awkward I was, I stood back awkwardly and ended up going back in line since I wasn’t sure if I should’ve stayed and wait for Hanapii and Chori-chan to be free so I could take pictures with them.

While I was lining up in the very long line I realized Hanapii ran past me to the end of the line to give the last guy a sign that says ‘the end of line’ ah so adorable, at the same time I guiltily thought “Ah crap, I bought 6 tickets which meant I basically took 4 to 5 people’s chance to interact with the girls…!” When I reached them, I made sure to use two of my Cheki tickets in one go so that I didn’t have to go back in line as I specifically said, “Two tickets”. Chori-chan was so happy when I said I was using two tickets (can she get more adorable??). The first round she and I did a heart pose and when she was signing it poor girl thought my main name was “Nagatsuki” she actually remembered me on Twitter (gasp!) and she double confirmed my name with Hanapii like “‘Nura-chan’ dakke? (Was it ‘Nura-chan’?” And Hanapii was like, “Un! Nura-chan!” LOOOL! Before taking a picture for the second round, I told her on my Twitter I post my art and showed her an illustration of them that I made. She went “Amazing!” so many times I thought she was going fangirling as she started hopping on the spot (SO KYOOT). For the second round she held me close with one hand while her other hand was patting my head (I find this a bit endearing since she and I are about the same height while the other two are taller). While waiting for the polaroid to print and while she was signing them she kept saying I was cute and all, then asked if I was travelling so I told her that I came here in order to visit the event, that I was willing to fly over. She then asked me to come and see them again in Japan and before I could even respond she pulled my pinky with hers and made a pinky promise looooooooool. I remember I was so shocked that I stuttered, “Ahhh yeah yeah I’ll definitely try”.

Since Mianyan was busy I had to take pictures with Hanapii first in order to let the line go smoothly. I don’t care how many times she has greeted me with the cutesy “Nura-chan~~~” my heart still fluttered so much! Before we could take a picture, I mentioned about the previous day’s promise that I’d draw something for them and showed my illustration to her. She was like “Eh?!?! No way!” as I told her that I finished it earlier that day. She was so shocked that she was speechless and Chori came over to us and was like “Amazing right! She even drew my red ribbon!” while pointing at my phone. They traded a couple of words together and I just stood there smiling like an idiot. So we ended up taking a picture with that illustration lol.

For the second round, Hanapii was so happy with my visits, my support and the illustration that she was thanking me so many times and she literally hugged me so closely for the picture (I’m not joking, even I was like “Is hugging okay???” and she was like “Yes its completely okay!”). I thought that I still needed to put some distance between our faces, just as precaution, but nope, Hanapii pulled me so close that our cheeks were touching each other! IM SO GLAD IM A GIRL cuz so far I’d seen when they hugged guys (I was the only girl who lined up for the meet-and-greet), they still put some distance. So yeah, I was SO HAPPY with how Hanapii treated me. I then told her that I teared up a bit during their last song since it was their last day and she was like “Eehh don’t cry~” and started patting my head. She then said, “Let’s meet again in Japan, I’ll wait for you.” I thought I’ve died enough. But this comment, THIS COMMENT. I remember I blanked out for a second or two and just nodded (I couldn’t make that promise since I needed to consider my circumstances but MAN I WANTED TO PROMISE HER SO BAD). I was very reluctant to leave and this may sound pretentious but it seemed like she didn’t want me to go either cuz when she held my hands it was firmer than the last 3 times she shook my hands. Before leaving she asked me if I was gonna attend the closing ceremony later that night. Sweetheart you know I won’t miss it for the world so I promised her that I would.

For the last handshake I told Mianyan that I cried during their last performance and she was like “Ehhh~ don’t cry~ were they happy tears?” I took a second or two to rethink my words and spewed “It was both happy and grieving tears since this is the last day” hence we both ended up laughing. I was gonna show her the illustration on my phone, she ended up commenting my Murayama Yuiri lockscreen “Ooh~ cute!” and I almost had to bite my tongue to stop myself from saying “Ah that’s another idol (who happens to be my waifu)” so I just giggled a thanks. Thankfully she was also very happy with the illustration that she took the phone from me (she also added I must post it on Twitter). She then asked me if I just started liking idols (girl if only you knew hahah) so I told her I’ve always loved idols. After taking the picture, Chori-chan told us I was good at winking (I didn’t realize I winked to be honest) so Mianyan went “Ehh seriously??” and quickly checked the polaroid frame and was like “Oh yeah!” while I was fluttering, going “oh nononono, I didn’t mean to do that”. Then she asked something I did not see coming, “Can you do it to me?” and I was like “Eh?” then she said SO CUTELY “A wink”. I laughed embarrassingly at first, but I did it anyway and she was soooo happy. I knew Mianyan is the boldest among this trio but guuurrrrllll you’re climbing on my Oshimen radar too strong! And that’s how I ended my last meet-and-greet session with KiREI members in Malaysia.

Day 2 reports are here (KiREI) and here (AKB48)! To be continued in Closing Ceremony!

Bonus pictures:

#Japan Expo Malaysia 2019 #KiREI

[mdgart]

Your advice for drawing was very inspiring and helpful! thank you!! Was just wondering if you had any advice on what specific drawing tools/brushes you use to create your art or if you'd consider maybe doing a guide on it one day? :):)

Nonnie!

I’m so sorry it took me so long to reply to this. I’m glad my last reply was helpful and I really hope you’re still around to see this 😶

SO let’s talk brushes/tools. 👇Under the cut for length👇:

Tools: It’s nothing special. I’ve been using a portable version of CS5 for a while now and I draw on a Medium Wacom touch and pen, which I’ve had for 4 years and it’s traveled well. I’ve used PS Elements, Paint Tool Sai and Corel in the past, with Corel being my least favorite. 

Brushes…well, I have to confess that I’m a brush hoarder. I have amassed a large collection of them over the years from all different kinds of artists. Some were free and still available, some I’ve paid for…..and yet for the most part I use the same four brushes for everything.

-I use a hard round opacity brush for sketching and another hard brush for line art (Deharme’s “hair single”). The line art brush has a bit of a texture and tapers nicely so it feels a bit like a mechanical pencil, which makes it my favorite.

-For blocking off colors, a simple Hard Round brush or for large areas sometimes i use the lasso tool and paint bucket. The hard round brush is exactly as it sounds it’s just a blunt, full opacity brush. No bells or whistles.

-Finally, the Hard round opacity brush again and a soft round brush to flesh out the details. Shading and highlights, that kind of stuff. The hard brush feels a bit like a marker while the soft brush is more like an air brush. 

I use the same versions of these brushes as an eraser btw, whenever i need to.

Here’s the link for Deharme’s brushes. His set is really great because it has a ton of other brushes you can experiment with to do details and fun highlights or textures to your finished piece. He has a particular set of brushes for painting skin that’s really challenging but awesome, if you have the patience for it. I couldn’t find the free link to Goro’s brushes anymore but here’s his site if you wanna go digging around. Really, though, you could just experiment with the presets  of the PS brushes you already have and you’ll have the same version...they’re pretty basic and straight forward.

For things like Michonne’s hair, I use a brush with more texture. I was lucky enough to snag Kyle Webster’s brushes before they became exclusive to CC. If you use it then the old brush 2 or the rough cutter from his inkbox are great.

If you want to know more about experimenting with brush presets to create your own, here’s a great tutorial I came across recently:

http://zuzartii.tumblr.com/post/179635817705/some-photoshop-tips

The last thing I would strongly recommend is an extension program called Lazy Nezumi Pro. It’s a pen stabilizing tool. If you have an amazing steady hand drawing on the tablet you won’t need it or if you’re using Paint Tool Sai, it’s a feature that’s already built into the program. Unfortunately, PS doesn’t have it and I don’t know about you but even though I have very steady hand, my lines still look like I drank ten cups of coffee. Now this one you have to pay for but imo, it’s totally worth it. You can do a free trial, it has a student license option if you’re a student and it’s a lifetime license so you don’t have to purchase it again (unless you change OS). I love the thing. It also has a bunch of other features I never use but that you might find useful.

ok... These were the very basics, I hope it’s somewhat helpful? 😂😂😂 and let me know if I can help w/ anything else. 💖

#Anonymous #sorry it took so long nonnie #long post for ts #in case the read more glitches #idk

[thehawaiianqueen-art]

Got any tips for left hands artist with drawing materials you found easy to use? I’m left handed and can’t get my art to look how I want however I’ve found I get different results depending on what I use. Just wanted another lefty’s take on it thx!! 🙏🏻❤️

in short i know for a fact my hand eye coordination was full on shit with none screen tablets so the switch to a screen display was something a personally found very helpful and also my art just improved more with me knowing where the lines where going to end up. 

Now some left handed people work just fine with bamboo tablets however i am not one of those people. if art is something you plan to do in the long term then getting one would be helpful. Right hand artist say you don’t need one when that’s not really that true imo. 

find the pencils that would for you mainly use this pencil for almost everything at this point it fits best in my hands and i can write well with it.

I have 3 one for normal 0.5 led, a gold for the red led and a blue for blue led both in 0.7. here is the amazon link if you wanna look into that. 

I also use the 2.0 pencils 

they are really good for keeping my sketches lose. the colored lead is shit imo but the normal lead is fine with me but test it for yourself. 

for sketchbooks i like the ones i an lay flat with soft covers. so i use the Leda Medium Sketch Book (8.25 x 5.5) this size i find perfect for me as i like my sketchbooks on the smaller size for travel and just easy to use.

also fine programs and bushes that work best for you. you really just have to try things out and see if you like it other than that its a lot of trial and error. 

SAI is good for me but i do like Clip Studio paints as well with the textures i can get from it. I’m not the person to ask about drawing in photoshop cuz i personally can’t use it to draw well in there and only use it for final edit and bg stuff before merging the folder. @zakuro-san uses photoshop very well and drop them an ask if you wanna know something specific and they will either redirect you or something im sure.  

for Procreate @elentori-art has a nice tutorial on her patreon HERE. 

@lightningstrikes-art has a nice breakdown of the Ipad vs Cintiq 13 HERE and also had nice tips for Clip Studio paint. 

I think that’s it but feel free to ask more questions and i’ll try to answer them the best i can. 

#ask kashi #art tips #left hand art tips #art reference #art tutorial

[vinku-iikku]

Yay I finally finished 2018 inktober! If you want to just scroll through them all please go here, and if you want to see some comments on each please look under the cut.

Day 01 Flowey and Overgrown Ruins This prompt I picked as is because as far as I remember Flowey stayed behind when the monsters left. If you can’t find him, he’s near the big root on the left. All other days the second prompt got randomised by a die (except when I reached the last two).

Day 02 Grillby and Exotic Flora Grillby’s on a journey to look at all the flowers that aren’t living in a wet environment. Maybe he’ll make some wine from the non-poisonous ones.

Day 03 Chara and Cave Entrance They are still curious about morbid things and places that could be portentially dangerous, practically running at danger.

Day 04 Undyne and Astral Plains/Dreamland Welp I’d rather have had her with some other prompt, but now she has an anime showdown/faceoff with a mean monster that harasses a moldsmal.

Day 05 Asgore and Rocky Ruins Asgore had a trip down memory lane and visited the place where their castle used to be, before the war. Not much is left any more.

Day 06 Frisk and Ancient Tree They are still precariously looking for adventure. I saw this article about a 800 year-old Finnish tree, as soon as I saw that top I wanted to climb that, looks like a perfect spot to see everything around you and chill for a bit.

Day 07 Temmie and Nature Untouched I did some research in a nearby forest for this one, the sales-Temmie has made a nest in a tree that has fallen down in a storm. The soil is shallow before solid rock so trees have their roots mostly close to the surface, when they fall the roots go up as well. Temmie on the left is sitting on an ant nest lol. There are seven Temmies in total.

Day 08 Muffet and Crystal Coves Crystal Coves is either a place where crystal business is the main employer, a cove that has crystals, or a cove with crystal clear water, I think. I tried to implement them all just to make sure. Muffet has now made a business in making spider-products with glass expertise.

Day 09 Fuku Fire and Freezing Fjord Finally back to the ‘monsters travelling’ theme, Fuku is taking a longer trip and is currently on a boat by Norway.

Day 10 Gaster Blasters and Townsquare The blasters are on their own for whatever convenient reason, Pap’s one is figuring how things work by destroying them, Sans’ is... playing with local children. :D The fountain is loosely based on Havis Amanda.

Day 11 Nice Cream Guy & Shanty Town He’s travelling the world and selling nice cream! Definitely inspired by Beadle in BotW.

Day 12 Mettaton EX & Cemetery This combination took me a moment, Mettaton is a bit loud and showy for a cemetery. Then I remembered that Napstablook said they’re already dead when you try to kill them, so here Mettaton’s visiting haunted places and telling everyone about this wonderful body he got and where to get one if you’re interested in becoming physical again. I worked in a cemetery for one summer years ago, felt weird pulling those visual memories to this...

Day 13 Toriel & Hall of Deities In order to become a teacher I’d imagine she’d have to brush up her knowledge on lots of things that’ve happened on the surface, and here she’s in a secret underground place with some sacred scriptures or something, she reads them and writes down notes and then returns the scrolls.

Day 14 Annoying Dog & Volcanic Terrain Another weird combination, but eh, it’s the dog. It’s feeding bones to the vulkins and admiring danger up close.

Day 15 Monster Kid & Path Along the Water I made a huge area with different textures so I could try learn something new by scribbling around, and I’m really happy how the boulders on top of the waterfall and the water itself look like.

Day 16 Doggo & Ancient Altar Room Took a moment to come up with an idea, then I read Doggo likes squirrels. So now he’s travelling the world too, and he always has time and seeds for any squirrel population he discovers.

Day 17 Alphys & Summoning Altar I thought I’d not be drawing Mew Mew, but here was a perfect opportunity for that! Alphys isn’t travelling, but discovering new things in her home, humans have such interesting books! All of the Japanese text mean something; the bowl has the kanji for ’love’, books under it are Mew Mew manga, there’s two yury books, a reference to Free!, Digimon, Pokémon, Rose of Versailles, Natsume Book of Friends... and it’s fine if you don’t get the one that says ‘corn’.

Day 18 Photoshop Flowey & Windmills and Grasslands I think the modern wind generators look super cool. I tried to make Flowey as cute as possible so he’d be more fun to draw there, this is some dream stuff or alternate universe since Flowey did stay behind.

Day 19 Papyrus & Desserted Drylands I’m pretty sure that’s an accidental typo, but since it was Papyrus I wanted to roll with the new pun meaning. First thought was Papyrus somehow being in the drylands and dropping a huge cake, thus ’desserting’ it, but that would’ve been a bit mean. This cake is made with 100% organic sand (some of which he ground himself when grooming Rocky), the tiny cow ornaments are modified mouse skeletons. :) The chef hat would be straight but there wasn’t enough room on the page of the notebook I draw these on... I remembered he had a triangle on the battle armor, but didn’t remember what way it points so avoided it by replacing it with a heart. :D

Day 20 Sans & By the Beach Sans is getting some more sand for Papyrus with his shortcut, then he took a nap unfortunately close to the tide..? The shore felt a bit bare so I added some animals to keep him company. I h/c that animals don’t mind having monsters around unlike how they usually try to run away when a human is near.

Day 21 Shyren & Buried Statue(s) She’s doing that Disney princess thing where you sit down and start singing and all small animals within hearing range come to listen.

Day 22 Asriel & Underwater Temple Another dream thing since Flowey stayed behind, this is how he imagines the oceans look like outside.

Day 23 Lesser Dog & Market Place Some people have to learn the hard way to not trust a dog that has opposable thumbs.

Day 24 Box Mettaton & Merchant’s Store Any website run by a popular monster must get an insane amount of curious folk, which leads to ad revenue being a good way to fund the next tour. There’s some.. insider jokes there if you’re in any kind of website business.

Day 25 Rocky the pet rock & Eldritch Forest I don’t actually know what the latter means, looking at Google images it’s probably just a forest that’s very dark or something. Wanted to try a different perspective for a change. Rocky has a bowl of food there but I can’t really think of any non-sad reason for why it’s in this forest.

Day 26 Froggit & Inn in th Middle of Nowhere Had to take a break for one day, regardless I’m proud of myself on being consistent this far despite everything going on. I first only had the top Froggit and the bg in the sketch, and didn’t like how it looked. Somehow adding more Froggits made it look a lot better to me...

Day 27 Burgerpants & By the Docs Birsd with human arms and birds sitting like humans will never not be hilarious to me.

Day 28 Bratty and Catty & Deep in the Woods Tried to play with perspective with this one, it’s kind of the opposite of the Rocky drawing.

Day 29 God of Hyperdeath & Idle Portal I had a hard time coming up with anything for this, so now poor goat is somewhere in a completely white dimention and the only way out is not active, though he’s quite chill about it.

Day 30 Amalgamate & Abnormal Formations This and last one’s world I didn’t leave for the die to decide, I really wanted to do Tetris with Napstablook and out of the two still left this prompt suits Endogeny more anyway. There’s a forest in Poland where several of the trees bend to north like this.

Day 31 Napstablook & Puzzling Platforms Only one I did during morning, my hands shake more then so all the lines are more or less wobbly. Every Tetris piece has it’s own signature design except the L-shape which is just blank to keep it interesting. Napstablook is enjoying game music while inside the game, maybe ghosts can possess videogames..? This also shows the notebook I drew all of these in and the tools I used most of the time.

It’s hard to tell if I’ve improved at all when comparing these to 2017 inktober, I haven’t draw regularly through the year and the main focus point this time was on backgrounds and not so much on lines and characters. I did learn new things and that’s always exiting, I think my trees, glass and rocks look way better than before I started, and I did some progress in shading metal too. All of these took 3 hours or less to finish, some only took an hour. I didn’t need to erase pencils like last year because I used a trick where I placed the sketch under the notebook page and my tablet with 100% brightness and a white bg under them, and traced that with ink. The notebook paper is pretty thin, you can see the Amalgamate drawing’s clouds showing through in the Napstablook photo. Anyway, this was fun, and I think I’ll try do it next year too!

#myart

[missinghmmingbird]

A Regular Saturday

Summary: 

Amethyst had a simple agenda for the day: play games at the arcade, grab her lunch—a ham sandwich with chips—and then visit her mermaid friend.

A mermaid AU for the latest Amedotbomb.

Words: 2704

Also on Ao3!

Amethyst ordered her usual ham sandwich, also buying some chips on the side, grabbed the bag, and ran, the ocean just in view. Her sandals flapped against the boardwalk. The sun had began to set, and far less people populated the beach since the morning.

Teens certainly loved to check out the beach once the moon rose. It was early May, after all. Yes, there were plenty of visitors because the always delightful Summer Break had at last arrived for college students the previous week. Still, it was only at the start of June when the crowds really went wild. All that aside, however, this was a perfect time.

Amethyst's face lit up when she came to where the boardwalk diverged into another path deeper into the ocean. The boardwalk there held games and even a few small rides. And she would have been more than content with spending the rest of the afternoon—and her pocket cash—to play those water shooting games for a prize, and perhaps even surprise—

Not at the moment, though. She slid down the hill and walked onto the beach, then walked over a path of rocks that reached out toward the sea. She ended up under the boardwalk and walked into the very center, jumping back onto sand. She found a group of rocks and sat on one of the smoother ones.

Taking out her sandwich and chips from the bag, she put as many chips as possible in between the buns. It wasn't complete without them! She opened her mouth.

Then she heard it. A splash. A noise of surprise escaped her throat, and she put down her sandwich. Amethyst jumped to her feet, wearing a wicked grin at the sight of fins of a green tail peeking from the water. With a quick spin, she dug into her duffel bag and took out an old fishing pole she... borrowed from Pearl.

Amethyst hurled the line in the radius of where she sat the tail. The bait, which was a piece of ham, floated in the water. She leaned against a boardwalk support, whistling. When a blond head popped out from the water, she stopped.

"It stopped being funny the first time, Amethyst." Peridot grunted, eyebrows narrowing.

Amethyst burst out laughing, arms clutching her stomach and abandoning the fishing pole. "Dunno what you're on about. Still cracks me up," she said after recovering. She swung her feet to sit down again and again grabbed her sandwich. "Hey, girl! Wanna piece?"

"Thank you, I suppose, but we've discussed this already. I don't eat." Peridot shook off some seaweed that littered her hair and swam up to Amethyst. She rested her arms on the rocks.

"Have you ever tried? I'm sure you can?" Amethyst suggested.

"Well, we can. I've known merpeople whose curiosity beat their common sense and tried your human food. Whatever it was didn't go well with their systems." Peridot eyed the sandwich and stuck out her tongue. "We're picky, I suppose you can say."

"Pft, weird." Amethyst adjusted herself, dipping her feet into the water, and put the rest of her sandwich into her mouth. "More for me, then," she added, but the food in her mouth made it come out more mumbled than not.

Peridot squinted. "Humans require random pieces of substance in order to survive. How is that not weird?"

"Food's great! Don't knock it!" Amethyst defended, then leaned back. She sorted through her bag to retrieve a notebook and a pencil and pen. Placing the notebook nearly atop her legs, she said, "'Kay, what'd you do today, then? Besides not eat delicious food?"

Peridot shook her head. "Let's see... well, I did find an abandoned ship a few miles off."

Amethyst gawked, quickly distracted from her notebook. “Shut up! What was it like?”

“Well, abandoned—”

“So observant, Peri.” Amethyst fluttered her eyelids.

“And creepy,” Peridot added, completely dismissing Amethyst’s snarky remark. “It looks as if it sank centuries ago. Since I’ve only recently started journeying away from home, there’s so much I haven’t seen before.”

“Look at you, checkin’ stuff out. You gotta show me someday!” Amethyst exclaimed, leaning forward with excitement.

“Yes, let me just get my magical device where humans can breathe underwater,” Peridot teased, but still grinning.

“Oh, so you’re finally working on it. Great!”

"You'll have to be the first test subject."

"Worth it!"

Peridot rolled her eyes. "So what did you do today, then? See any abandoned ships out there?"

Amethyst shrugged as she scribbled into her notebook. "Hung out at the arcade, played some games, junk like that. Nothing special." Her voice was curt, eyes concentrated on her work which she angled so Peridot couldn't look. "My life's boring. If I was a mermaid, I'd probably... well, I dunno what exactly, but it'd still be cool!"

Peridot scoffed. "Oh, please. I've only been exploring recently, and I can only travel so far. Otherwise, my home has nothing to do! Humans have so much more, er, things to do! From what I've seen, you can do so much more!"

"I guess that's true, but do you ever talk to any other humans? 'Sides me?"

"Not really." Peridot shook her head after thinking it over. "At most, I come near the beach to see you and that's it."

"Aww, how sweet!" Amethyst feigned a moment of swooning.

"Anyway!" Peridot exclaimed, blush dusting her pale cheeks. "I don't meet a lot of humans, if not any at all. You might very well be the first, unless I met one and completely forgot. Which I doubt is the case. You're definitely the first one I've ever become friends with."

"... S-seriously?"

"Of course I'm serious."

Amethyst's gaze averted from Peridot, face feeling warm. In attempts to brush off her racing heart, she added hastily and with a burst of fake pride, "Aren't I special!"

"I-I guess! I mean, yes, but... you know what I mean."

"That's reassuring. Lemme have this one, P-dot."

"R-right." Peridot eyed Amethyst's notebook, which Amethyst returned her attention to and had kept it there for several minutes now. With a suspicious eye, she glanced back up at Amethyst. "What are you doing, exactly, with that tablet?"

Amethyst's body froze. "Uhh, nothing! Don't worry 'bout it!" she shouted quickly, face painted red.

"I'm not worried about it!" Peridot tossed her a lazy wave. "I'm just asking what it is."

"I don't want to show you..." Amethyst turned away, pouting.

Peridot pulled herself a few inches from the water. "Why not? What is it!? Amethyst! Come on!" she whined, clasping her hands together. "Please!"

"Oh, pft, now you know the word please! Fine!" Amethyst exhaled a loud breath, but pointed firmly at Peridot, who lowered herself back into the water. "But don't laugh!"

"So I'm not supposed to laugh?"

"Well, I'd rather you not."

Amethyst turned the notebook around and placed it on the ground. Peridot observed it, getting as close as she could with her limited movement. She squinted at it, almost grabbed it before Amethyst yanked it away, shouting she worried it would get all wet. Finally, Peridot hummed.

“Is that me? How did you do that?”

Amethyst stared at her, then back at her sketch of Peridot. Her eyes grew. “Are you kidding? Ya’ll don’t have drawing? Or just... art!? Tell me I’m reaching or something.”

“Art? No, that doesn't sound familiar. This sounds familiar to meep morps. They're basically things we make out of other things. But we don't have paper, for, well, obvious reasons.”

"Meep—'kay, not gonna bother with that." Amethyst shook her head. "But it's, ya know, close to that."

"Then you're making art of me?" Peridot's pitch elevated.

She bowed her head and placed her notebook neatly back onto her lap. "It's not that good." She glared at the way the eyes didn't align properly, and she could never get Peridot's hair right! She cleared her throat. "I mean, yeah, I am, but... eh, I like to do this junk in my spare time."

"I like it."

"You do?"

"It's me, so of course I do." Mischief sparked in Peridot's eyes.

Amethyst grinned back, snickering.

"But you haven't drawn just me, have you?"

Amethyst snickered. "Gosh, of course not. I've been drawing stuff before meeting you. I've got a couple in here. Wanna see?"

Peridot nodded, and Amethyst hesitantly offered her notebook to her, though giving her a small threat ("Get the pages soaked, and you owe me a new one... somehow."). Peridot began flipping through the pages, angling her body so that while she did so, Amethyst could see what drawings Peridot was looking at. "Wow," Peridot commented under her breath, making Amethyst blush.

There were a few simple drawings, like one of a frog that she had found and brought home with her on a walk one day (she named it Cthulhu because why not?), but Amethyst noticed the ones where she was most inspired to actually kind of try.

Peridot stopped at one of those and glanced over her shoulder at Amethyst. She pointed at the drawing of Amethyst's favorite animal. "Now what's this?"

"Oh, that's a puma!" Amethyst took back the notebook, quietly amazed it sustained no water damage. "I like me some tigers. They're pretty cool land creatures that run real fast. I should just bring a whole book of things humans with feet have that you nerds don't. Pearl probably has something. I can show you all kinds of things you're missing out on."

"That'll probably be a lot of things," Peridot grumbled, mood quickly and visibly deflated.

Amethyst sighed, staring at her mermaid friend for a moment. "I'm guessing the movies are wrong, then?"

Peridot glanced at her. “What movies?”

Amethyst smiled. She had explained what movies a while back, talking about her favorites—the House, though that was due to irony and irony alone, and anything with comic book heroes where they didn’t take everything so seriously! So she was glad Peridot remembered.

As for mermaid movies… Amethyst shrugged. “Ya know, the ones where they have mermaids, and they can magically have feet on land. The rules are different sometimes—can’t touch water, can’t be out after the moon rises, stuff like that. Either way, you'd be able to be sort of human and see a bunch of stuff you can't really enjoy as a mermaid.”

Peridot made a noise of distaste. “Then those are grossly inaccurate, at best! No, I’ve always been a mermaid. Never a human. I don’t know a single mermaid who could walk on land. There have certainly been myths, but they never have proven to be actually true. We've got fins, and that's it.”

“Well, there has to be a way, I'm sure,” Amethyst exclaimed, arms spread out, then lowered her voice with a paranoid look around. The sun had long since set, and the beach side had a tired feel to it. Not many walked the boardwalk at this time, but still! She pulled her legs back up to stand up. “I never knew mermaids existed until I met you! Ya’ll were just myths to me! Maybe there’s a-a-a witch or-or a alchemist who can give you the ability to walk on land whenever you want!”

“There’s never been anything like that," Peridot said sternly. "Don’t you think we’d know if mermaids could walk on land? Of course I’d want to be able to in order to… to…” Peridot stopped, voice growing quiet until Amethyst could hear nothing from her. Peridot just stared at Amethyst in a weird way that made Amethyst's chest flutter.

“To what?”

Peridot blinked. “Uh… experience, you know, human things,” she mumbled, much shyer than previously. "See what it's like in comparison to my world."

Amethyst smiled at her. “Heck, I’d love to show you everything... around here, at least. I mean, yeah, that kinda sucks, but… I still like hanging out with you, if it helps. Tail and all.”

“I would hope so.” Peridot flashed her a smug grin.

Amethyst laughed. Then her phone buzzed. She checked the time after retrieving it from her pocket. “Aww, shoot! Pearl’s gonna have my head if I’m late again! Ugh!” she groaned, grabbing everything and placing the pole and her notebook back inside her bag.

"You have to go already?" Peridot could not conceal her disappointment. "It feels like we just got here!"

Amethyst threw the bag around her shoulder and turned to Peridot. “Sadly, yup. I got stuff to do tomorrow, but maybe I can see you Monday?”

Peridot’s lower lip pouted out, but she nodded. “I'll be waiting. Don’t be late like this time.”

“I wasn’t late! How do you know how time works? You live underwater without any clocks! For all you know, I was ten minutes early.”

“We still have the concept of time, Amethyst.”

"I guess that's true." She paused, halfway turning to walk away, but she stopped. Her eyes grazed over the rocks she stood on. Water washed over them as the ocean levels rose. Tiny splashes of water tickled her feet. Something stuck to her mind, and she worried about saying anything…

“Is something wrong?”

Amethyst looked back at Peridot, flinching. Again, hesitating.

Peridot’s glare deepened. “I can tell that something's bothering you, so—”

“Why me?”

Peridot's eyebrow rose. “Why you… what?”

“It's just... I wanna know! How am I the only human you’ve ever been friends with? There’s gotta be way more interesting humans out there to talk to. And way smarter ones who could tell you about all kinds of things you'd probably like! People who, ya know, don't just waste their time doing nothing all week. Why is it me that you decided ‘hey, maybe we can be friends’?” Amethyst’s questions came out in a rush, but nothing was stopping her yet. She let out an awkward laugh and threw her head back. “Is it ‘cause we both have gem names or something? Something dumb like that, because I guess it could be worse but—”

"Amethyst.”

Amethyst realized she was rambling and felt her face burn. She glanced down at Peridot, who had this determined look in her eyes. Amethyst sat back down, hand sitting in her lap.

Peridot sighed. “I don’t know why you’re the one that caught my attention out of other humans. After all, you aren’t the first one who saw me in the ocean by chance and tried to investigate like a typical nosy human.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes. “Great. That really helps,” she mumbled with a grimace.

“Wait!” Peridot hissed, as if afraid Amethyst would walk away then and there. She sighed heavily. “I don’t know why, but… I certainly don't regret that. You are much easier to talk to than anyone—or anything, really—so I kept coming back. I don't care about 'smarter' humans or ones who don't waste their time, whatever that refers to. I just... liked you. And still like you, I should clarify." Peridot pulled her gaze away when she finished, blush brushing her cheeks again.

Words failed Amethyst. She could tell her eyes were beginning to water and shook her head, hoping her hair could conceal her moment of weakness.

Peridot recoiled. "Oh, shells! Amethyst, I thought that would be at least a little reassuring, but—" Her hand awkwardly reached out toward Amethyst's lap, but never got there.

"S-stop, stop. Don't worry!" Amethyst interrupted her, shaking her hands. "I'm fine, I'm cool. I guess I'm just freakin' over nothing." She threw out a quick breath of laughter. "Typical Amethyst."

"Sure. Typical Amethyst," Peridot agreed but with a deadpan. Then she smirked. "You should probably leave or else that Pearl will take your head. I'd much prefer seeing you return with your head."

Amethyst giggled. "I make no promises." She leaned forward one last time to say inches from Peridot's face, "Night, Peri."

"Good night, Amethyst."

Amethyst turned and ran back up to the boardwalk. She took out her notebook one last time, flipping back to her portrait of Peridot. Her pace slowed, and she smiled. Being late became less of a concern because she couldn't stop staring. It wasn't that it was an amazing drawing, but...

It was certainly one of her favorites.

#missy writes #steven universe #amedot #perithyst #su fanfiction #peridot #amethyst #human au #mermaid au #amedotbomb8 #MERMAIDS

[moongoddesskiana]

Haruhi’s Cousin Chapter 1

Alex's POV

It happened so fast. One minute I was hanging out with my friends and then I'm told my family died in an accident. Then I'm put on an airplane headed to Japan a week later. At least I'll have Haruhi and Ranka with me, my last family. I arrive in Japan and I get a taxi to their house.

Time Skip

"Haruhi, Ranka! I'm here!" I say excited to see my cousin and uncle, even though I just lost my parents, I love my cousin and uncle dearly. Haruhi comes first to greet me. "Hey, Haruhi is Ranka working?" "Sadly yes. We should get your stuff unpacked from the trunk. We have school tomorrow." Haruhi told me. "I'm happy I got two scholarships to ouran, I don't want to burden you and uncle. I'm also going to get a job." "We can talk more after we get your stuff from the taxi." We got my stuff and put it in the apartment next to uncle Ranka and Haruhi's since it's my new home. I lived separately from my parents when I lived in America since we weren't close to my high school. I unpacked my kitchen stuff first and then started unpacking my room. This apartment is actually bigger than my old one. I might end up buying more furniture, with my own money of course. I already exchanged dollars to yen yesterday, so I can buy some stuff. I better head to the market. Thank goodness I am fluent in Japanese. I should get some tea, eggs, bacon, bread, steak, and other food before getting snacks. I'll get pasta for lunch tomorrow and get some chopped beef for dinner for the week. I get everything I need and still have more than enough money for shopping next week. I should probably get home. I head home and see limousines outside of my apartment complex. What the heck is going on here? They're heading towards uncle Ranka and Haruhi's house. Do they know them I'll ask later I need to put away my groceries and unpack. After I did all that I got out my dad's old suit it's a bit tight so I have to bind my you know whats. I set everything up for school tomorrow and head to bed. I put on music and I'm almost asleep. Until uncle Ranka opened my front door. "Alex you okay? Haruhi and I are worried about you."Ranka said. "I was going to sleep uncle Ranka. I'm exhausted. I went to the grocery store got food, unpacked and was about to go to sleep I have school in the morning." I replied annoyed, what can I say I'm tired, I have to get rest. "Sorry I was just worried. Good night Alex." Ranka said and left.

Time Skip

I'm tired and my stupid alarm on my tablet goes off. I take a quick shower and brush my short brown hair, I cut it for charity and because of knots and some rude kid put a piece of gum at the tip of it, I dry off and put the bindings on. I get on dad's old suit and my glasses, I like my frames even though their for guys, and get to school. Haruhi is in my class also so I'll know someone. Did I mention I am not good at socializing. I was always the kid in the back reading, writing and quietly humming. I used to read under my desk in class. I'm a geek so some were stories like star wars. I'm also a bit of an otaku so I also read manga like gakuen alice one of my favorites. Writing fanfiction or my own stories like once I wrote about twins traveling trying to save their country. I hope I don't make a fool of myself. The teacher motions for me to come in. "Hello my name is Alex Flanel nice to meet you. Please take care of me." I say successful in hiding my uneasiness. I hear girls whispering. "Any questions for the new student?" The teacher asks. A bunch of hands shoot up. "Where are you from?" "I'm from America." "Why are you in Japan?" "My parents died and I'm living next door to my cousin Haruhi and my uncle." "Do you mean the Haruhi in are class?" "Yes." "Do you have a scholarship?" "Yes, two in fact. One for the arts and another for general intelligence." "Are you joining any clubs?" "Yes it is a part of my scholarship but I don't know what to join." "Enough questions for now you can ask more during free period or lunch. Mr. Flanel take a seat next to the window second to last row." I'm not next to Haruhi that's a bit upsetting but I might start humming or singing it helps my think. I don't have skills on my schedule at least, I have ADHD so I have had skills since middle school.

Time Skip

Free period right before lunch so music or two episodes of something. Music and fanfiction, stories or drawing today. I listen to my cardcaptor sakura playlist which is full of songs that I think relate or would make good amvs for the show. First song Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera, I start to draw different outfits making sure no one is looking. I don't like people looking at my drawings unless I let them. I see twins looking in my way my arms are already covering my book. Poor Haruhi is sitting between them, I think by the looks on their faces they are surprised about me being here, they look close to Haruhi. I put away my sketch book and take out one of my note books, it's black and has good stationary for something that was $3, I write some fanfiction ideas or short paragraphs for it. I start writing a scene for a crossover fanfiction with a home movie in it. I nearly cry at what I'm doing to this poor character she did nothing wrong, but I decided to have her go to war at such a young age. The bell rings and I gather my stuff quickly waiting for Haruhi to be ready. "Hey Alex, are you enjoying school so far?" Haruhi asks, "It's okay, you and those twins are friends right? I can tell from the way they look a bit protective over you." "Your right as always." "I also see your worried about something and are in love with someone. Correct?" "I hate to say you might be right on the second one, but the first one is spot on. My friends might want you to join my club were kind of like a family to one another." We head to an empty classroom, I'd rather not be questioned by Haruhi's friends currently. Take out my pasta and start eating Haruhi gives me a questioning gaze but I'm to hungry to care. Then a blonde guy with purple eyes walks in, I'm guessing he is a junior and knows Haruhi. By looking at Haruhi's face this guy is her crush, I'll use it to my advantage later. "Haruhi we have a club meeting now you have to come." The guy says, I think he is a bit french or grew up in france by the way he speaks. "Tamaki-senpai I'll be there in a bit." Haruhi says, "Sorry Alex." "It's fine, you should go to your club, don't let me hold you back." I say, giving her a note saying 'Go with your crush Haruhi.' She blushes a bit after reading it, but walks out quietly. I put on my headphones and listen to music quietly while writing.

Time Skip

Last class of the day but while waiting for Haruhi's club to finish, I'll be in the fourth music room. Really though four music rooms. I got the room all to myself as long as I clean it and help the school with stuff involving the arts. They really want help with drama and writing skills. I clean the room and take notes on what other things I will put in here. I'm putting in a book shelf, a new microphone, another book shelf for scripts, an easel and a new piano someone broke it. Mr.Suoh kindly offered to pay for what I need in exchange for being the female lead in the school musical. This year it's Aladdin but they are going to use a fake name since don't want to be noticed by students or adults wanting me to work for them. Haruhi should be done with her club now she said it was in music room three. I walk to music room three quickly thanking a map I found online. I walk in looks like it's still open, I walk towards the table Haruhi's at ignoring the looks I'm getting. "Haruhi, we have to go or I'll be late for my interview and you'll be for the sale at the grocery store." I tell her, I can't be late for my interview and Haruhi needs to get some food best when cheaper than normal. "Okay, bye ladies I have to go but I'll be here tomorrow." We start walking out when I spotted those twins and Tamaki if I remember correctly giving me a weird look. I think they don't like me and Haruhi being close, they don't know me or the fact that I'm a girl not a guy. They are all clueless especially that one looking for dirt in the back.

#Haruhi's Cousin #ohshc #my ocs #Alex Flanel #tamaki x haruhi #haruhi fujioka #tamaki suoh #Chapter 1 #Haruhi's Cousin Chapter 1

[captivesrp]

Ffrewgí wakes up heavy with sleep and an absence that grows as he and Archora stir and leave the tent, heading to their now familiar groups and team leaders. Ffrewgí passes Anwen on his way to Asgell and Murchadh and the emptiness swells suddenly to his mouth; he walks silently passed her and stands with his head bowed beside Murchadh until Wyddryr appears.

The guides set off into the woods. Asgell leads them to an area of especially tangled, overgrown underbrush: thorny tendrils strangling tree trunks halfway up their lengths, drooping leaves as large as cloaks, and giant knots of vines piled higher than Asgell’s head.

“There’s an old above-ground rabbit warren in here,” Asgell says. “Your task today is to, as a group, map it.” She hands out three tablets of smooth, white wood and a bundle of writing charcoal bound in twine. “You can split up and combine your sketches at the end or work together from the start. You have as long as you need.”

Ffrewgí cannot help it: his first instinct is to look to Murchadh for direction. Before the green-eyed boy can speak, Ffrewgí reaches inside himself and, resolving to see the day’s activity as a fascinating experience, says, “I think we should work together on the same chart. That way each of us can employ his best skills and not have to, maybe,” he falters, “you know---I mean---I can draw pretty well but my sense of direction and scale is not that good.”

Murchadh gives Ffrewgí a proud smile.

“I’m the smallest,” says Wyddryr. “I can be the explorer.” He grins, but there is a grim light in his large eyes.

“And I can point you towards the entrances and exits,” says Murchadh, “and translate your travels for Ffrewgí to draw.” He lifts his withered arm. “I’m not much of an artist or a crawler.”

“That’s okay!” says Ffrewgí. “We don’t need you to be. Together, we are a perfect team.”

As it turns out, they really are. The warren is enormous---Ffrewgí has to restart his map on an empty tablet more than once to draw in a consistent scale---but despite its size the three guides have finished mapping it by late afternoon.

As Wyddryr crawls out of the final exit, covered in dirt and scratches---“Can’t even feel ’em,” he had said when Ffrewgí had expressed concern after his first trip through a passageway---and Ffrewgí draws his final line, Asgell stands up from the tree where she had been oiling a leather breastplate and comes to look over Ffrewgí’s shoulder.

“I’m impressed,” she says. “To be honest, I’ve no way of knowing how accurate this is except through my confidence in your process and in each of your individual skills.” She laughs at Ffrewgí’s stunned expression. “Wyddryr hardly fit!” she says, smiling. “I’ve certainly never crawled in there.”

Somehow, that does not diminish Ffrewgí’s feeling of proud accomplishment. Her compliments glow on, undeterred, inside him. He looks over at his companions and grins, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a flash of dizziness washes over him and he drops his charcoal.

Asgell’s hand is firm on his shoulder as he tries to shake the fuzz away. “I don’t---” he starts, then his consciousness is retreating into darkness, following a faint feeling of nausea.

Voices are the first things he recognizes as his mind awakes: indecipherable sounds in the swimming grey. He is sleepy, comfortable. Then, words, his name: “Ffrewgí? Ffrewgí!” It is Asgell. She comes into focus above him. Wyddryr is behind her. A wave of foul weakness cascades over Ffrewgí’s body as he comes fully conscious. He groans and curls up tighter, dirt pressing against his cheek.

“If they want us to succeed you would think they would feed us properly,” comes Murchadh’s muttered voice. There is an unmistakable hint of accusation in his words. 

A presence appears suddenly before Ffrewgí’s tightly shut eyes.

“Drink,” says Murchadh.

Ffrewgí forces his head to turn so Murchadh can pour warm water through his lips.

“Suck on these. Swallow when you can.”

Murchadh’s fingers push tart berries into Ffrewgí’s mouth. Ffrewgí winces as the sourness hits him, but the taste turns sweet in moments and with the change in flavour comes a diminishing of his nausea, then growing strength. He swallows and opens his eyes. Cold sweat is slick on his forehead; he wipes it and sits up. “Thank you.” He nods to Murchadh, his eyelids drooping heavily.

“How are you feeling?” asks Asgell.

Ffrewgí is about to answer when thunder fills the world.

“Let’s get some food in you.” Asgell crouches and offers Ffrewgí a hand up, which he takes. Asgell turns her face to the sky. “And see if we can’t avoid most of this storm.”

The moisture in the air is electric as the group collects the tablets and charcoal and sets off back to the village. Before the rabbit warren is out of view, the storm hits. Lightning and thunder dominates the sky, setting the tangled canopy trembling in silhouette and violent white. Then rain crashes down and their heads bow under it.

The walk back seems three times as long as the morning’s walk out. They are soaked through by the time they spill out of the woods and see the village ahead, illuminated suddenly by a crack of lightning.

Other captives are already sitting in the central clearing with damp food in their laps when the guides arrive. What is left on the table is crumbled and waterlogged. Asgell makes sure Ffrewgí gets an extra portion, and he notices that she gives Murchadh and Wyddryr extra, too. They eat together, battered by rain and silenced by the noise of the storm, then walk together to their tents.

“Goodnight,” says Ffrewgí as Murchadh and Wyddryr move to their beds. He clambers into his own tent and waits for Archora. 

At first, the storm keeps him awake. Then, he surmises, the time of day: hardly evening. Then a growing anticipatory feeling of doom---of something gone wrong.

Archora has not returned as the storm fades. Rain plays softly on the canvas of their tent. Ffrewgí lays awake, jumpy and afraid. His pants are uncomfortably wet and sticking to his legs. He turns over, shifting his wrist to lay under his ear and support his head. A clapping noise causes him to start, and he sits up before realizing it was just a peer moving against the canvas of a neighbouring tent.

“Where are you?” whispers Ffrewgí. The sense of wrong sits on his heart. He crawls awkwardly from the tent. Warm rain patters on his back, then his head as he stands. Not quite sure of his intentions, he takes a few steps over to a nearby tent. “Excuse me?” he asks, his voice at once terribly loud and quiet in the middle of the falling rain. He crouches down by the tent’s entrance. “Excuse me?”

A mass of black hair precedes the head and face of a little brown-eyed girl. “Hello?” she says, confused.

“I’m---I’m Ffrewgí. Um, have you seen Archora---my tent-mate?”

“I’m not sure---” starts the girl. 

A muffled voice from inside the tent cuts her off. “Heulwen, who are you talking to?”

Heulwen’s head disappears back through the tent flap. “A boy---one of us. Ffrewgí, I think he said.”

“Asking about Archora?” asks the other voice.

“Yeah. One of your teammates, right?”

A new head appears through the flap. Damp, dark orange hair frames a pale face. “You’re her tent-mate?”

Ffrewgí nods. “She . . . she hasn’t returned, and I think everyone is back, and . . .” He trails off, not sure where his thoughts are going and not ready to find out.

The girl looks at him compassionately. “She’s gone, Ffrewgí. Had she said anything to you?”

Lead settles in Ffrewgí’s stomach. “A few days ago . . .” he says quietly. He looks down at the dirt. “You trained with her!” His voice is suddenly excited. “You know what she can do. She’ll make it, right?”

The girl holds his eyes too long before answering. “Yeah. She’ll make it.”

Ffrewgí is weary and scared. “Thanks. For letting me know.”

“She’ll make it,” the girl says again.

“Goodnight,” says Ffrewgí, turning away and plodding back to his tent, numb to the rain. His tent is empty when he returns. He lies on his back, tight against one side, and stares unseeing at the dark canvas.

*     *     *

Ffrewgí wakes up alone, curled into a ball. He aches with more than just the usual bruises, scrapes, and muscle pain. He rolls onto his hands and knees and pushes through the tent flap. Warm rain and grey skies greet him as he stands and plods over to the guides’ meeting place. Before he makes it to Asgell, a boy steps in front of him---one of the hunters, Ffrewgí recognizes.

“She wanted to say goodbye,” the boy says.

Ffrewgí is frozen in place.

“That’s . . . that’s all.” The boy moves away, leaving Ffrewgí alone in the rain.

Eventually, he stirs himself and staggers over to Asgell. Wyddryr appears at his side and they walk the final few paces together.

“I appreciate your loyalty,” says Asgell as they arrive, smiling at them, “but you’re not with me today.”

Ffrewgí and Wyddryr look at each other, confused.

“All you recruits need a bit of knowledge about every discipline,” explains Asgell. She nods over to a large, dirty brigand with a bow over his shoulder. “You’re with Draeg today, learning about the art of the hunt.”

Ffrewgí recognizes Draeg. He had seen Archora standing with him on previous days. His ache at her disappearance redoubles and his vision blurs with tears.

“Come on,” says Wyddryr. 

Ffrewgí blinks and follows him as he moves over to Draeg. Murchadh is standing nearby talking with another brigand.

“Morning, kids,” growls the hunter as they approach. “You’re all mine today.”

The art of the hunt, considers Ffrewgí, his mind drifting back to his old shame. Apathy overwhelms the flicker of melancholy the thought brings, followed by the ache of regret and worry for Archora. He follows his group woodenly, hearing Draeg speak but not listening for words. The other brigand brings up the rear.

“Ffrewgí, I think we’ll be learning archery at some point today.” Murchadh slows to fall into step with Ffrewgí. “I won’t be able to hold a regular bow properly with my arm---do you think we can work together to figure something out---some sort of arm brace?” He explains his idea further when Ffrewgí is slow to respond.

Ffrewgí musters himself. A project. He can choose to focus on this instead of on Archora---regret dartles through his throat at the thought; he swallows it down and makes his choice. “Yeah---sorry for being slow, Murchadh---my, um, Ar---” He gathers himself. “I’d love to help out. I will make some observations and start thinking of ideas whenever we practice archery today.”

Murchadh’s green eyes gleam. “Great!”

*     *     *

The group only gets to archery in the afternoon, as the rain slowly turns to a fine mist, after spending most of the morning learning how to prepare animal carcasses---Ffrewgí still feels the blood on his hands and guts between his fingers---and the prime of the day being instructed in the basics of the hunting spear.

As he had known, Ffrewgí is not gifted in any of the aspects of this discipline. His tiny deer had lost a great deal of flesh with its skin, his spear-work was clumsy, and his arrows---

“You’ll have to run to fetch those back, brasterog boy, or the day will be over before you return.” Draeg laughs loudly as his own joke as Ffrewgí blushes deeply and jogs down the field after his wild shots.

Fortunately for Ffrewgí, though he feels guilty for thinking it, his peers are not much better, and Draeg and the other brigand quickly call it a day. Ffrewgí and Murchadh had been able to take a few brief moments during the session to explore their idea, and they discuss how to move forward after dinner, when they are without escort and heading towards their tents.

“I just don’t know if we’ll be allowed to work on it,” says Ffrewgí. “Your tent-mate and I spent an evening working on . . . nothing, really, and we were told it looked like we were making trouble.”

Murchadh nods thoughtfully. “Right. I will bring the idea before Asgell in the morning and see if she will let us work on it during training, for just a little while each day. She can keep the materials with her so we won’t have access to it unsupervised. I think that should be safe enough---I mean, why try to teach us archery if I am not able to shoot a bow?” He scoffs under his breath. “Not like I’ll be much of a threat even with the brace.”  

Ffrewgí smiles sympathetically at the comment, then turns away as they approach his tent, where he curls up and falls asleep, alone but for an aching memory.

*     *     *

Thanks to what Ffrewgí expects was more Murchadh’s social tenacity than simple fortune, though there must have been a dose of that, Asgell gives Murchadh and Ffrewgí permission to work on the archery brace during transitions between day training and star-charting sessions with Fuldryn, whenever they come around.

Fortune continuing to favour them, they start that night---the fog of the day turning to a clear, humid heat as evening started to fall. Ffrewgí manages to arrange and weave together a basic working concept, but does not have the time to work on how to attach it to Murchadh before Fuldryn arrives in the field to begin their nightly session.

Three days later they get another chance after a day of training under another discipline leader, a stern woman named Arial. The format of the day had been relatively familiar---a hike through the woods---but this time, instead of being told of then tested on pathfinding and tracking, Ffrewgí, Murchadh, and Wyddryr learn about plant identification and habitat. In the evening, before Fuldryn arrives in the field, Murchadh and Ffrewgí manage to rig the brace to sit upon Murchadh’s shoulder and arm. Unable to progress further without a bow to test with, they hand the contraption to Asgell and try to nap before night training.

Four days later, they have their chance to test it---and Ffrewgí is disheartened as the device fails to work properly.

“It’s too stiff,” he mutters to himself, fiddling with the reed-woven pocket that sits on Murchadh’s shoulder. “Too stiff but too loose!” he cries as it slips from his hands and the whole brace keels over.

Draeg laughs behind them.

“It’s okay,” says Murchadh quietly. “We’ll figure it out on our own time. It’s okay.”

Ffrewgí reluctantly lets the other boy detach his hands from the brace. 

Murchadh struggles to pull his withered arm through the weaves to take the device off but cannot maneuver his elbow past a particularly tough knot. “It’s not coming off,” he says.

“You’ve got three arms now!” laughs Draeg, pointing at the wooden structure dangling from Murchadh’s arm. “Too bad two of them are useless!”

“We’re gonna have to cut it,” says Murchadh, ignoring their trainer. 

Ffrewgí is terribly embarrassed, burning with hot shame despite the cool, damp air.

“It’s okay, Ffrewgí,” stresses Murchadh, watching Ffrewgí intently. “We will figure this out.” He smiles. “At least Wyddryr seems to be doing better.” He gestures with a nod to the stuffed target a stone’s-throw away, where Wyddryr’s two arrows droop from inside the painted circle.

The distraction does not stop Ffrewgí’s descent into overwhelming shame, and he is barely present enough to watch as the other hunting trainer cuts Murchadh free from the failed brace.

Luckily, archery marks the end of the training day, and before long Ffrewgí is swallowing his feelings with slimy chicken and waterlogged cornbread. After that, empty and sad, he walks alone to his tent, where his concern for Archora meets him like a faithful hound.

*     *     *

Ffrewgí is weary and worn. His eyes, dulled from worry and work, sit watery above shadows just a little darker than they should be. His hair is matted and clumped with dirt, his skin sallow, his feet browned with dirt and dried blood.

He has been a captive for weeks. Endless days of hiking in the woods; long, ever more sleepless nights on hard ground; and an unpleasant diet have beaten him down. Even Murchadh’s presence during the days, constantly positive and hopeful, has only kept him clinging to the right side of despair. Every night, his fingers loosen, every day, Murchadh encourages him to hold on.

“We’ll know what they intend soon,” he says, “then we can start to plan against them.”

They have finished another day of guide training. Despite his exhaustion, body and spirit, Ffrewgí can recognize that he has learned, and has learned a lot. Today, they tracked each other: Murchadh disappeared into the woods, Ffrewgí waited a movement of the sun, then pursued him. After another movement or two, Wyddryr had in theory two sets of tracks to follow, though both Murchadh and Ffrewgí had done their bests to travel discreetly and cover their tracks.

Ffrewgí had lost Murchadh’s trail only once, and then for a short time---he had picked up the trail a distance down a stream: Murchadh had doubled back along the water, pulling a double bluff. That Murchadh had lived in the woods, that he survived because of these skills, was not lost on Ffrewgí as he came upon the boy hidden in an overgrown dell. Pride, however---even shame---is a feeling beyond his energy to feel.

Asgell stops them from plodding to their tents after dinner. “The evening has cleared,” she says. “Fuldryn---and your archery brace---” she looks at Ffrewgí and Murchadh---“will be waiting in the field for you.”

The boys turn to head to the field for another night of navigation-by-the-stars. Despite this more intellectual pursuit being objectively Ffrewgí’s favourite avenue of training, he cannot help but mutter, “Surely we’ve studied all the important stars by now,” as they pass through the last few tents and start onto the little path that leads to the brigands’ pastureland.

Fuldryn is not in the field when they arrive, but the brace is slung over a fencepost. Murchadh picks it up and turns to Ffrewgí. “Hey, Ffrewgí.” He steps close and holds Ffrewgí’s gaze with deep eyes. “Archora will be alright. She has a strong will and a good head on her shoulders . . . it would take more than a little forest to take her down. And,” he says, ducking to catch Ffrewgí’s gaze as it drops, “the brigands have obviously not caught her. She has skill.”

His face is genuine and his look unflinching, but Ffrewgí still finds it hard to believe him. He feels a sob rise in his throat, so he avoids speech and just nods, reaching out to take the brace from where it is slung over Murchadh’s shoulder.

“We’ll definitely figure this out tonight,” says Murchadh. “It’s just the knots that---”

“Murchadh!” Asgell’s voice interrupts him from a distance away. “Did you plan this?”

“No, I didn’t,” responds Murchadh, leaving the fence and walking over to their task leader. “What is she doing here?”

Their voices fade from Ffrewgí’s awareness as he looks down at the archery brace, trying to build the resolve to figure it out.

“Mind if I help out?”

Ffrewgí looks up.

“I hear it’s a knot problem. I am good with rope, maybe I can help.” 

Anwen gently takes the brace from Ffrewgí’s unresisting hands. He is suddenly aware of a tiny flicker of warmth---hope---in his gut.

“I think I can see what your problem is . . .”

Ffrewgí follows her as she walks a few paces deeper into the pastureland. She sits down, fiddling with the brace, and Ffrewgí sits next to her. “Of course!” he says abruptly, watching her shift an end of a lash to a different place on the wooden shaft. “That will stop it from shifting so much!”

Anwen smiles up at him and suddenly he feels how warm the evening is, notices how bright green the long grass is. He only remembers that he is there to study the stars when it is---as if night fell in a moment---too dark to see Anwen’s fine knot-work as she puts in a final lash.

“Ffrewgí, Anwen!” Fuldryn waves them over. Asgell and Murchadh are already sitting with them.

Surprised to find himself coming out of his almost unconscious reverie of pleasant crafting with his drive intact, Ffrewgí hustles over to the group, ready to learn.

The night passes pleasantly. Anwen brings a fresh energy and perspective to the guides and even inspires Ffrewgí to ask a few questions of Fuldryn throughout the lesson.

Ffrewgí is exhausted by night’s end, but full of interesting facts and motivation to be more focused on being positive. His situation will not change with his attitude, so he resolves to make the best of it---like Murchadh and Anwen.

His sleep, when the guides and Anwen are escorted back to the village, is short, but, for the first time in a long time, deep and dreamless.

*     *     *

He is not rested, but Ffrewgí wakes up feeling leftover resolve from last night--- though it is tempered with exhaustion and a quiet, familiar ache---when he is roused for the day by loud voices.

“We’re training with Draeg again today!” says Murchadh brightly, poking his face into Ffrewgí’s tent. “We’ll get to try out the brace!”

Ffrewgí rubs his eyes and crawls out after his friend.

When Wyddryr joins them by the glowering Draeg, they set off towards the slaughtering field. Murchadh’s excitement is contagious and, by way of grins and bright eyes, he passes it on to Ffrewgí and keeps him positive through the guts and blood that saturate the morning and then through a few movements of spear practice.

By the time Draeg pulls the three bows, six arrows, and the completed brace from the box by the archery range, Murchadh is practically bouncing with eagerness. He snatches the brace from the box and rushes over to Ffrewgí, who lashes it on.

“Ready to give it a shot?” asks Wyddryr dryly from by the box, holding up a bow and arrow.

Before he realizes it is because the wordplay has reminded him of Archora, Ffrewgí’s heart aches sharply and he stands still as Murchadh limps quickly away to take up the bow in Wyddryr’s hand. Ffrewgí looks up, his eyes falling softly on the forest to the south. “Gods be with you, Archora,” he whispers.

“It works!” 

Murchadh’s jubilant cry draws his attention, and Ffrewgí smiles. Wherever she is, Archora is doing her best. Ffrewgí walks over to pick up a bow and arrows, joins Murchadh and Wyddryr on the shooting line, and sets his jaw.

He will do his best, too.

#Ffrewgí #chapter six

[midwesttiltking-blog]

14- Gone Away

This Chapter isn’t really about anything specific, just connecting the dots between big scenes, I think its still pretty important to include though. I hope you like it!

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Matt sat on the ground, legs crossed with a sketch pad occasionally looking up at Kevin. A speaker attached to an ipod sat between them blaring some abrasive tones.

We’re no saviours if we can’t save our brothers

We’re no saviours if we can’t save our brothers

Kevin was sprawled out on the ground staring toward the sky, his eyes red and cheeks moist.

As the track died down, before the next one started up Kevin filled the noise “He’ll never have a dad. He’ll never have a dad cause I’m a fuck up”

The next track picked up and the two were silent again. Kevin’s hand ran through the grass, pulling out strands and throwing them away. Nanook was still laying in the tent, his chin resting upon his arms. Whenever Kevin or Moon walked by he’d raise his head and let out a slight whimper then return to moping. Garrett and Moon were packing up the camp preparing for the day's travel. Moon dumped a bucket of water over the campfire while Garrett put away the utensils they had used for cooking last night.

“Are you sure that we should travel today?”

Garrett’s voice showed no sign of sympathy  “The apocalypse isn’t going to wait for his feelings, besides it has been three days now, you got over it didn’t you? It’s time for him to nut up”

Moon stopped and looked over at Matt and Kevin “Yeah but Kevin can be hard to handle when he’s like this”

“You don’t have to tell me, I delt with him when we were in high school”

Moon shook her head continuing on, picking up electronics that had been thrown about the campsite. A few of them permanently damaged others still left running from last night. Moon grabbed a tablet, her thumb inadvertently activating the screen. She looked at it for a second, then to Kevin, then back to the device. She matched the pattern after a few tries which she learned from watching over Kevin’s shoulder from time to time. A drawing appeared on the screen. The picture was very dark, a dead tree on the edge lit by the moon. In the center frame Kevin lay on the ground split in half, a cut beginning at his waist and crossing up to his shoulder. All of his surroundings shown a brilliant crimson red. On the left side of the picture a figure colored in all black stood holding Kevin’s sword. The edge of the blade still dripping with blood. The figure had no distinct clothing or marks and at parts of the black figure seemed to fade in and out with the background. Moon sighed and powered off the tablet, returning it to Kevin’s backpack.

“I should’ve paid more attention.” Kevin pounded his fist into his forehead “If I had listened to him, he would still be here.” The two continued on like this for most of the morning, Sometimes Kevin throwing his head back against the ground muttering words “Selfish” “Stupid” “Useless”

Matt reach out and turned off the ipod. “I finished my drawing”

“Took you long enough, I finished mine last night!” Kevin took the pad from Matt and scanned it over. Matt’s drawing was from a first person perspective, the cockpit of a space ship. A control panel was lit up in various places along with a screen showing a layout of the ship in all red, heavily damaged and missing both of its wings.The pilot wore black gloves and the rolled up sleeves of a white jacket ran along the bottom edge of the picture. The pilot’s right hand was still on a control stick, while his left was facing the observer, half closed with tears in the palm. outside the window of the spaceship, the canvas was consumed on all sides by fire and debris. In the center of the picture a small hole within the flames, the darkness of space. In the bottom corner of the glass a profile of another pilot was glowing. This pilot also wearing a white jacket, appeared to be a fox wearing sunglasses. Underneath his picture was a text log “Never give up trust your instincts… You’ve become so strong Fox”

Kevin sat up leaving his arms extended the picture revolving around him as he moved. “This is fucking incredible. I love the detail so much. I can’t believe you remembered he wore black gloves!” Matt crossed his arms and blew a piece of hair from his face. Kevin stood up, letting go of the pad to wipe his eyes. He put his arms around Matt and embraced him tightly. “I have to find Mel and tell her about how much of a hero Darrin was.” After a moment he let go of Matt and drew both of his swords. He walked back to the center of camp and addressed Moon and Garrett “I’m going to scout ahead, we should be able to reach Chicago today if we leave now.”

Moon walked up to him and put a hand on his chest “Are you ok to go alone”

Kevin smiled through his pained demeanor “Don’t worry, I just need to go work some things out”

He turned toward the road and began confidently marching ahead. Moon walked over to Matt and picked up the drawing pad, looking at the picture for a minute. “How did you know this would cheer him up?”

Garrett chimed in “Kevin loves Star Fox, probably just reminded him of the good old days”

Matt leaned over the picture looking at it with Moon “This is the first game where Kevin could pretend he had a father. He’s only in one level but those ten minutes are a religious experience to Kevin”

Moon looked at Matt in wonder, her cheeks blushing a little “You know so much about him.”

Garrett put his arm around Matt and shook him a little “Yeah, we’ve been best friends decades, and Matt here remembers everything.”

They finished packing up camp and followed the path Kevin had taken. After traveling about fifteen minutes down the road a gas station became visible from the highway. As they got closer to the establishment a human yell could be heard. Moon picked up the pace and began running toward the building. Zombie bodies littered the pumps and a few walkers could be seen inside the building. Suddenly an undead body flew through the glass crashing on the sidewalk. The body had been carved up with at least ten visible cuts. The roar of the human voice boomed through the opening. Moon entered the building to see a zombie pinned to the cigarette rack behind the counter with Kevin’s two blades. Kevin rose from behind the counter top holding a shotgun. He extended the weapon with one hand and fired turning the zombie’s head to mush. He cocked the gun and fired again. This continued until no part of the zombie remained intact. Moon stood in the doorway with her mouth covered as she watched the execution.

Garrett pushed past her and examined the scene. “Well done brother, I like what I’m seeing. Kevin turned attempting to point the gun at Garrett. Before he could set his aim, Garrett grabbed the barrel of the gun and squeezed, the metal slowly bending inward. “It’s alright they are gone now.” The gun shook as they both vied for control of it.

Kevin’s chest heaved in and out for a few seconds. Then he looked and saw everyone had caught up to him. He dropped the gun and faked a smile “What took you so long?”

“It didn’t take us long, I think you may have been running ahead a little too fast” Garrett combed the shelves picking out some candy and nuts to bring along with him.

Kevin brushed off some zombie remains, still trying to catch his breath “Well… the path is clear...you’re welcome”

Moon grabbed a pack of gummi bears and tossed them to Kevin “Thanks, you are a real hero, here is your reward”

Kevin opened the bag and dumped a few into his mouth, then tossed it back to Moon. He pulled out both of his swords and wiped them clean on the countertop before returning them to their sheaths. Garrett pat Kevin on the back as they crossed paths while Matt and Moon just stared at him. Entering back into the sunlight Kevin was met by the dismayed faces of Matt’s gang. Many of them shaking their head in disapproval or crossing their arms. Kevin looked over the crowd realizing the impression he was giving off. He corrected his stance straightening his back and puffing up his chest “I’ll never let you down again” he spoke calmly towards them. He didn’t wait for a response or look to see their reception turning to continue walking east. Before he could get very far a woman riding a bike became visible on the horizon. Nanook ran ahead to stand along side Kevin as the stranger approached.

She dismounted the bike quickly and drew a large hunting knife. “I heard gunshots, is anyone hurt?!”

“No. I was just cleaning up some filth in that gas station back there”

She relaxed and put the knife away. Covering her eyes from the sun she glanced behind him “Oh, nice none of us have travel this far west, so I’d guess most of the buildings here are probably still infected”

“Us?”

“Yeah, there is a band much like your own a few miles northwest of Chicago> The city proved too hard to defend so a group of us decided to take refuge outside of it.”

Kevin smiled a bit “Well I’m glad to hear at least some of you have made it. I intend to set your city free. Perhaps we can join forces”

“Set it free? Are you daft? Even with our forces combined well have maybe 800 people able to fight? There is no way we can do it.”

“You just gotta believe, and a well thought out battle plan helps too” Kevin put his thumb to his chest “And I happen to be a master class strategist, at least based on my results Fire Emblem.”

“Fire Emblem?”

“It’s an old video game, one of my favorites”

“Your gunna base your strategy off of a video game? You are even more loony than I thought”

Matt and Moon appeared from behind Kevin. Moon stepped between the scout and Kevin “You’d be surprised, he got us here alive so far, and if you can see, he just cleared that building on his own, maybe thirty on one”

Kevin nudged her with her elbow “pfft, more like a hundred on one”

The girl scanned across her new acquaintances for a few seconds “Well I spose it can’t hurt to hear your plan. I’ll take you to our camp and you can state your case.”

They continued on the path Matt’s gang following at a distance, Nanook leading the pack. Moon walked along side Kevin glancing at him from time to time. Matt and Garrett followed behind the scout, Matt’s hand never leaving the hilt of his blade. After a few miles they reached a small park which was covered in tents and the few houses outside of the park bustling with humans. The woman whistled and droves of civilians wandered out of their tents so come see the commotion. Some of the members from Matt’s gang reunited with long lost friends, others immediately began bartering for survival goods.  Kevin face was covered with a joyful grin as he marched into the park. The woman explained to some of the others equip for combat who Kevin was and the outline of his plan. Some of them burst out in laughter while others looked at Kevin suspiciously. Kevin took his stance, tall and straight, arms crossed, in the center of the park and waited for everyone to gather around him.