#can you tell I like drawing opal

[u3pxx]

hey sun! sorry to bother you, but I'm currently doing a commission for a guy who wants a portrait made in the disco elusium style and I've never drawn in that style before ^^;

any tips, especially how to color?

not a bother at all! and while i'm not an expert on the disco elysium art style since i don't think i've done enough studies on it to say that i'm confident on saying what to do, i'll try my best to list out the things i've noticed while mimicking the art style. i'll split this into two parts, the composition of a portrait and the rendering and technical stuff behind it

i'll keep it under read more bc some of these portraits i'll be talking about are spoilers! whoops!

COMPOSITION

there's like, an unbelievable amount of variety when it comes to the portraits of disco elysium! personally, when i'm trying to mimic the art style, i try and look at the portraits in the game and see which of these characters are the most similar personality-wise to the character i'm trying to draw, and then i reference

1. PERSONALITY AND GROUNDEDNESS

let's compare the portraits of these two characters, ok? we have sylvie and idiot doom spiral. right off the bat, TOTALLY DIFFERENT VIBES, and that's good because we can instantly tell what kind of people these characters are supposed to be! and that's something disco elysium is excellent at.

sylvie's portrait is very simple; a very limited palette is used and the rendering on her is rather exact even with the rough-esque rendering that disco elysium's art uses. idiot doom spiral's portrait, on the other hand, is a lot more chaotic. there's more disorder to his portrait with how the paint strokes in the background seem to mix in with his face, there's a disheveled quality to how he's rendered.

ask yourself, how grounded is this character you're drawing? on a scale of sylvie to idiot doom spiral, how normal does their portrait look?

now, i'm not done with this klavier but i think it's pretty obvious that i heavily referenced smoker on the balcony's portrait because they have very similar vibes and role: pretty boy npc who your protagonist may or may not be a little infatuated with pftt (there's just something so different about them! i can't put my finger on it...)

2. WHAT DO THEY STAND FOR/THE ABSTRACT

ok! besides personality, they also have a knack for just doing some gorgeous portraits that truly reflect just, the history of a character and their role in the story. now i'm not the best at analysis so these are just gonna be some very simple observations about kim and dolores dei's portraits pftt.

the big white circle behind kim's face, besides doing an excellent job of framing kim, is very reminiscent of a nimbus which we typically see in religious art. it makes kim look like a very important figure, someone you should listen to. it's also kind of like a nod to how kim is like the few people who's like, civil and even nice to harry after his whole mind-breaking bender.

for dolores dei, GODDD i can rave about this portrait forever, it's such a favorite of mine. first, the rendering of her skin, she's like an opal or a golden statue; it's otherworldly, which makes sense because that's what harry thinks of her. and then, the splotchier and messier rendering below her, it's like she's fading away, she's just a distant memory of the past.

i'll use this very quick doodle of apollo in the de style to explain my point about symbols better. what is it that you want to emphasize about your character? are there any motifs you'd like to show?

i definitely wanted to portray apollo as determined and even heroic-looking in this portrait. leaning into his name, added that rim-lighting as if the sun was shining on him. emphasized his badge by giving it this exaggerated shine on it and lastly, made the background like the one he has when he perceives.

3. LOCATION

for backgrounds, i feel like you can go either three ways: abstract colors, political alignment, and location.

(i'm not happy that i have to use gary as an example here but he's the most blatant example of the second type of background AKSKSKS orz)

ok! so harry's bg, pretty funky, pretty fun. gary's bg, he's a fascist, that's the fascist flag in de. moving along trant's bg looks like a very abstract version of the wall in the building he's seen gazing at, heck, the way he's head is turned to you looks like you just called out his name and he quickly turned around to look at you but he is still very much facing the building.

more examples of those three things! garte: colors. titus: that red block is present on all union members. dicemaker: facing the window in the darkness of her workshop.

RENDERING

de has fairly very realistic looking faces, so brush up on your knowledge of the anatomy of a face or collect many faces/portraits that look the character you're trying to draw and reference the SHIT out of them!

1. BRUSHSTROKES

you're gonna be needing some brushes that have a texture to them ok. you're gonna need to slap those bad boys in that digital canvas and go wild ok. you can still do lineart kind of not everything is like rendered RENDERED bc some portraits make heavy use of smoother-looking black strokes to indicate lineart. ok i love you

2. PALETTES

think back to personality and symbolism, what colors are strongly associated with your character, and how grounded are they. the more normal they are the more minimal colors are used but if there's something going on with them you can go so so so wild

and also, you can eyedrop tool the colors from any of the de portraits, makes life easier pftt

3. HOW TO RENDER? HELP?

i'll go ahead and put my drawing of butch!kim here bc i basically just did a study of kim's portrait pftt. the art style is very painterly so i'm so sorry to say that you're gonna have to paint 😔 i know... i'm so sorry...

so block your colors! block your shadows and chip away on that thang, give it dimension! don't zoom in on your canvas in the earlier stages bc you'll end up fixating on one tiny part instead of the whole painting itself, and that's gonna make the duration of your drawing so much longer lol

ok i've been writing this for way too long and i can't think anything more to add so if there's anything else you want to know that i didn't mention here, feel free to ask me again. now good luck 🫡

#again not a bother at all i'm just terrible at answering asks quickly FDGHJD orz #sunnysidetutorials #sunnysideanswers #marchmay-may #described #id in alt text

[third-arch]

My Trafalgar Law HC’s!! pt.10🤍🤍🤍

ft. Kanna, aka Reader-ya!!

Law can speak some German!! Kanna likes making him speak German because she finds it cute and attractive.

He becomes pretty good at it just for her. But, only certain phrases.

His favorite phrase to tell her is,

“Du bist ein seltsames und schönes Mädchen”

He’ll refuse to listen to Car Seat Headrest, no matter what you do.

The only way to get him to check them out is by playing any of their Radiohead covers.

He’s not good at origami.

He doesn’t like the sound of scissors snipping. He probably won’t show it, though, and won’t say anything because it’s so specific and “silly”.

He has not watched The Godfather.

He hates Grey’s Anatomy. He likes it when they’re more realistic. Still, he powered through the first season with Kanna.

Kanna asked him things like,

“Law-ya, is this what they do where you work?”

“No.”

She’ll start making comparisons to how he does things, and he’ll be like “ugh” internally LOL

“Hmm…But what about how you-“

(Covers Kanna’s mouth with his hand)

“Shoosh.”

He’s not annoyed, I think he just doesn’t like realizing like “Tch, I guess I do things pretty off the rails at the clinic, too. Dammit!”

On Discord calls, he would be muted and typing all of his messages when first talking to Kanna. It would show that he has a crush on her when he starts unmuting.

He didn’t like Game of Thrones.

His favorite Steven Universe character is Lapis Lazuli. He also likes Opal.

While he’s not very good at drawing, he tries for Kanna-ya.

His desk still has glitter on it from the gifts Kanna gives to him.

He still has yet to have a word with her about it.

#one piece #op #trafalgar law #one piece art #trafalgar one piece #trafalgardwaterlaw #trafalgar d law x reader #law x reader #my Trafalgar law HC’s!!

[lilac-honey]

WIP intro: saints and pearls

genre: litfic, coming of age

pov: 1st person retrospective

setting: very very small valley town in southern bc. (i hear you. ur saying “but you’ve never been to canada !!!” no. you’re right. but i feel its Vibes within me). it’s an isolated, fundamentalist christian sect founded by a prophet in the 60s who claimed to be the living word of god, succeeded by his son. the year is between 2013-16, i sense.

themes/aesthetics: god, divinity & power, devotion & worship, girlhood & motherhood, innocence, sin & corruption, desire & temptation, resurrection & rebirth, truth, lies & false prophecy. identical grey houses, the sun setting through a wire fence, girls in white dresses cycling down an empty road, mountains in the distance dusted with snow, a town with no traffic lights, screaming and hearing no echo back.

cws: christian fundamentalism, cult, deeply patriarchal society, death, implied murder, disappearance / missing person, children in implied danger.

logline: when her mother vanishes, fifteen-year-old opal returns to live with her father in the isolated religious sect she grew up in. as she tries to find the truth about her mother’s disappearance, she becomes entangled in a sinister love affair with her father’s young new wife & the struggle to succeed the sect’s ageing prophet.

literal logline: opal’s reputation era takes an unexpected turn when she comes up against siblings as weird about god as she is

synopsis & characters under the cut <3

synopsis:

When her mother disappears, fifteen-year-old Opal chooses to return to the isolated sect she and her mother fled two years prior. But when she returns to Virtue, things have changed. Her father, Franklin, has remarried to a young new convert: the alluring, saintly Neeve, whom Opal is irresistibly drawn to. What’s more, the mounting health problems of the sect’s ageing prophet are set to kickstart the race to replace him in earnest at any moment.

The family are intent on ensuring Franklin’s accession as the next prophet, and Opal suspects they know more about her mother’s disappearance than they’re telling her. There’s a simple solution: gain Neeve’s trust and use her to find out what the family are hiding—yet Neeve’s magnetic zealotry only pulls Opal in closer, and their intoxicating relationship threatens to derail Opal’s quest to expose the truth.

Meanwhile, Opal’s rebellious flirtation with Warren, Neeve’s cunning older brother and Franklin’s main rival for the prophethood, opens the door to escape from her family’s control—and the opportunity for long-awaited revenge against the man and church who terrorised her childhood.

As Opal becomes entangled in the struggle to become Virtue’s final prophet—a deadly web of plots, fanaticism, and false prophecy—she draws closer to uncovering the dark secrets she’s sought all along about her family and community. But, with disaster edging ever-closer, Opal must confront the truth about herself, and her own hunger for power: is she really any different from the people she seeks to destroy?

this is not my Best Work unfortunately bc it does not accurately capture the goals, conflict and stakes but i will not be rewriting it again actually ! sorry ! i have suffered enough !

characters:

there are too many … more than listed here and that was not my intention

opal lauritzen

15/16, narrating the story probably in her 20s although unspecified.

delighted to unveil my very own unhinged teenage girl protagonist

she’s a little bit Scary !!

morally challenged, if you will

homosexually charged rivalry with neeve

fundamentally on a silly little mission to be adored & worshipped but she’s taken on a side quest (finding out who killed her mother)

she’s so remember my name by mitski coded. she needs someone to remember her name, something bigger than the sky…how many stars will she need to hang around her before she can finally be all done, somewhere like heaven?

everyone is a means to an end for her, apart from her adopted sister, runa (aged six), her bestie. can’t hate a child.

neeve lauritzen/sloane

17/18

neeve is playing chess while everyone else plays chequers

vegetarian (this is very important to her character like … after everything eating meat is still where she draws her moral lines in the sand. and i respect that!)

actually not as evil as opal thinks she is in the beginning. she does actually want to be friends.

she plans to name her baby cinnamon or cherry or similar. maybe moon. she’s silly and goofy like that

she’s fighting demons (comphet) and losing

alicent hightower … is that you ???

warren sloane

20/21

looks so much like austin abrams in my head

if neeve is playing chess … warren is playing monopoly

Charismatic Leader. manipulation is his thing

he’s mastered the female gaze but in a bad way

college dropout for sure. that stem major was so hard he became a creationist and joined a cult

franklin lauritzen

early 40s

opal’s father

a villainous little villain if ever there was one

wants to be the next prophet-leader So Badly it’s kind of embarrassing xx

he’s like low-key an incel he really hates to see women succeed

truly needs to get a life outside of terrorising teenage girls

runa caraway

6

opal’s adopted sister and also biological cousin

really need to develop her as a character but she’s basically an infant

fundamentally she reminds opal of her childhood self, creating Guilt and Conflict

asa and calvin lauritzen

20ish & 17ish

opal’s older brothers

they really Really hate each other xx

accidentally set them up as cain and abel so i’m now going to have to follow through on that foreshadowing

father paul

late 20s

token outside world character

this random catholic priest who becomes very concerned about opal after her mother goes missing

he wants to Fix opal and she knows this and very much enjoys pretending to be a damsel in distress around him

not really sure what purpose he serves in the story apart from a nice scene in a church (with candles !!) in chapter one

he gives her his number so i think she’s going to call him every now and then for a pep-talk

i think he’s going to try to stage an intervention for her later actually

betsy

15ish

opal’s slightly unhinged school friend

true crime girlie

i can’t explain her she’s best seen in action

like when opal and runa come to stay with her family when annora disappears she’s like .. exciting !!!! do u guys want to see my if i go missing folder !!!!! let me get all the true crime twitter girlies On to this !!!!

i might make her detective dreams come true later in the story so stay tuned xx

lux

15ish

opal’s childhood best friend in virtue

now betrothed to asa, opal’s oldest brother

retired from golden sunshine new career in false prophecy

newest addition to the cast but the story holds terrible things for her i fear

ask to be added to the taglist <33

#saints and pearls #wip intro #writing update #wip update #own work #this took so long to post oh em gee #sorry

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Daenerys and Viserys

Even on the chapter where Viserys finally dies, Daenerys continues to be submissive to her older brother until a specific event, which I'll further discuss later. This poor girl is raised only by her abusive brother and is taught that she owes him obedience and loyality because he's the true king and her only relative. What is more, for years he has threaten her that if she disobeys him, she'll "wake the dragon" in him. And by waking the dragon he means that he'll abusive her both emotionally and physically (sometimes even sexually). Viserys has no shame to use abuse towards his little sister when he's in a fool mood and he always let her know that it's her own fault ( as many abusers do with their victims).

Look how Dany reacts when she finds out that Viserys tried to stole her eggs:

For a moment Dany was so shocked she had no words. "My eggs … but they're mine, Magister Illyrio gave them to me, a bride gift, why would Viserys want … they're only stones …"

"The same could be said of rubies and diamonds and fire opals, Princess … and dragon's eggs are rarer by far. Those traders he's been drinking with would sell their own manhoods for even one of those stones, and with all three Viserys could buy as many sellswords as he might need."

Dany had not known, had not even suspected. "Then … he should have them. He does not need to steal them. He had only to ask. He is my brother … and my true king."

She's willing to give away her eggs to her brother if he asks her to. She even try to justify it by saying that he's her brother and her king. This isn't Dany giving away a pretty present she got, she's willing to give away those eggs which brought her comfort when she was at her lowest when she first joined the Dothraki. It shows that there is almost nothing that Dany wouldn't give to Viserys if he asked her no matter how dear it was to her.

Continuing her conversation with Ser Jorah she explains that Viserys is all the family she has left:

"He is your brother," Ser Jorah acknowledged.

"You do not understand, ser," she said. "My mother died giving me birth, and my father and my brother Rhaegar even before that. I would never have known so much as their names if Viserys had not been there to tell me. He was the only one left. The only one. He is all I have."

Poor Dany, for thirteen years she only family she got was an older brother who often abused her.

When Viserys enters Vaes Dothrak and draws his sword - something that is forbidden within the city according to Dothraki laws- Dany tries to make him see reason and even offers him her eggs which she believes that could calm him down. This time she's terrified both of and for him.

"The blade … you must not," she begged him. "Please, Viserys. It is forbidden. Put down the sword and come share my cushions. There's drink, food … is it the dragon's eggs you want? You can have them, only throw away the sword."

However, the moment Viserys threatens her belly with his sword, the narrative stops refering to him as Daenerys' brother. That's because he's no longer threatening only Dany but her unborn baby as well. Her mother instict kicks in and she won't allow Viserys to abuse her child like he did with her. The moment he puts her unborn son in harm while he's threatening her, Viserys crosses the line and there is no turning back. He's no longer her brother or her king daand she feels neither obendiance nor loyalty towards him.

The sword point pushed through her silks and pricked at her navel. Viserys was weeping, she saw; weeping and laughing, both at the same time, this man who had once been her brother.

Viserys keeps being referred as "the man who had been her brother" until his death.

"What did he say?" the man who had been her brother asked her, flinching.

When the sun of her life reached her, Dany slid an arm around his waist. The khal said a word, and his bloodriders leapt forward. Qotho seized the man who had been her brother by the arms

At the last, Viserys looked at her. "Sister, please … Dany, tell them … make them … sweet sister …"

When the gold was half-melted and starting to run, Drogo reached into the flames, snatched out the pot. "Crown!" he roared. "Here. A crown for Cart King!" And upended the pot over the head of the man who had been her brother

Daenerys' brother and abuser is finally dead. She has the epiphany that he's not a real dragon. Viserys had her convinced that he was the real dragon, someone who inspired fear on her. But on the last few months, she started having dragon dreams and she has already connected with her dragon eggs. She has seen a different side of the dragon, not being embodied by someone she fears but the dragon(s) as a source of comfort, feeling as home. Between the dragon as a source of fear and the dragon as a source of familiarity and comfort she chooses the second and therefore Viserys no longer fits on her perspective of what makes someone a dragon. He's not a dragon, he's a pathetic man who threatened his pregnant sister he had sold to slavery.

#daenerys targaryen #viserys targaryen #house targaryen #asoiaf meta #valyrianscolls #viserys and daenerys #daenerys meta #viserys meta #mymeta

[itsquakey]

Say it with me.

Did Opal-Owl-Flight groom minors? NO

Did Blue-Jester groom minors? NO

Did they go too far up by making a lot of very questionable sex jokes and showing imagery that is suggestive to minors? YES

Are you kidding me??? I was aware that the words “Groomer” and “Pedo” are thrown around just like that on the internet. But…holy shit. So what are these two being accused of? Well. Grooming. Because they were saying some very out of pocket risky jokes and had art that is risky (According to sources of both sides no actual porn was posted, just risky content in which you could argue teeters on NSFW because remember, not all NSFW is blatant porn. It’s a spectrum.) Okay so let’s look at the definition of grooming here. According to Oxford Dictionary grooming is the attempt to form a relationship with someone for them with the sole intention of sex or being in a sexual relationship with them.

From interviewing both sides as well as looking into the two hundred paged doc (which we will get there soon my friends), there was no instance of grooming here, they didn’t try to get closer to these kids to try and use them for sex, the closest thing you could tie that to is the pinup drawings, which I don’t even think Opal or Blue knew what they were doing when they posted that. Oh. And one more thing.

Hey owl. I know we’re mutuals and all. And I saw you already fixed this but I feel the need to say it. You are an adult. I am an adult. We should not be throwing the word groomer around especially when you are in contact with the doc maker and likely already read it all. I understand grooming is a very serious thing however we should remain mostly neutral if not stand our ground a little bit but be open while we listen to all sides of the story before jumping to conclusions.

So what about the doc? Hey where did it go? Yea it got deleted or just taken off public view from what I’ve seen. If I were to take a guess…it may or may not have to do with the lack of censorship when it came to the minors in this situation! Yes, they did not censor a large amount of the minors interactions in this doc opening them up to harassment. I know one of these minors and went to them in hopes of them telling me more. But guess what? They did what most kids would do in such a situation and freaked out, which was my fault for trying to do such a thing without thinking. These kids are basically open to a rain of gunfire now because of no censorship. I thought we were trying to protect them? What’s up with that? I don’t consider it doxxing as doxxing is the reveal of personal information on the internet/ to the public. The info of those minors were public in a way. But it’s still VERY scummy whether or not the doc makers knew that. And to add onto this, according to a few people some or all of these screenshots were taken out of context. I was not given any further proof so take it with a grain or salt. If the doc maker is reading this. I’d recommend actually taking time in making that doc better because all it does is make you look aggressive even if you may have a point in some things. Or just… go to those involved and try to fix it in private so unneeded drama like this doesn’t happen.

Opal, Blue, any other adult who happened to be heavily involved. I understand sex jokes = funny. I understand we can go too far. Hell. This situation made me realize I did a similar thing a while back and how it was not at all cool of me to do. I know that sex humor is a staple in minors and at the end of the day we can laugh about “magic condoms” or how much of a slut Mago is. Here’s the thing. I do think you guys went too far. A sex joke or two is funny and not out of the ordinary (again, I have I think a couple of those on my account if you look hard enough) and I know it’s easy to go take a couple steps too far from the path. What I want you lads to do is be aware that a lot of the more raunchier jokes and images wasn’t okay around minors and you need to take responsibility for it. No defensive words. Just say “Yeah I messed up, but guess what. I can fix this” and I’m not just expecting this just out of you, I’m expecting this out of the other side and those who jumped on these claims without looking into them. Here is an idea for you, what can possibly fix your issue with regards to content within your server. Make a 18+ channel or a series of them, having them locked and people only allowed in by mods who give it a green light when the person wanting in is 18 or older. That way you can post content and make jokes to your hearts content without worrying about these folks calling you groomers. Worst case scenario you get called a degenerate but I mean…come on. If you’re a degenerate then I am 100x more of one judging by the jokes and content I’ve made in the shadows. The adult channels is something I’ve seen in multiple Kirby servers and if you plan on keeping your current server or moving to a new one to protect minor identity keep that idea of mine in mind please. This is kinda like the maturity option on tumblr posts, which if you haven’t used yet for spicier content I highly recommend!

And this is just for Opal. Hey, I wanna say this so you don’t catch flack for it later but author doesn’t equal character is not an excuse in this situation. I understand the thought process of this, but keep in mind you are the one speaking through Magolor. You are the one who wrote him to have this character and you should be very aware that if you use that excuse on anyone who isn’t as open as I am they will likely just completely believe you are trying to save your own ass.

FYI If later on in the timeline it does come out someone here no matter what side they’re on is actually grooming minors with undeniable proof, they’re going to have to deal with my ass and the cops.

I don’t think I will be involved in drama again, unless it’s of this magnitude in which I’d highly recommend saying your prayers because I will not be nearly as nice as I was in this post.

TLDR: Opal and Blue aren’t groomers, stop throwing that word around. Everyone in this situation is at some sort of fault and should just take responsibility like a fucking adult instead of excusing and worming their way around it.

Please do not contact me unless you are involved in this drama or are a close mutual of mine. I’m afraid I may blow up on you because my fuse has been eaten up by the flame of this situation. Goodnight Tri-State area.

Edit: Please read comments and tags as they share different opinions and may cover things I didn’t cover or may have gotten wrong. Thanks.

#tw: grooming #psa #important stuff #kirby

[timecanonlytell-blog]

Head cannons

But it’s only characters i know a lot about

Kabu

He hates being touched by people he doesn’t care about, if he cares about someone it’s ok.

When he was a kid people would talk over him, he hated it. He still hates it, but now he can do something about it.

I wanna say he’s bi and trans i think. Goes under the pronouns of he/him he came out as trans when he was 18-20 a couple years after surgery he moved to where he is now.

If he finds a lost or distrusted ( that’s how he met allister ) he’ll try his best to calm them down and help them .

One year the other gym leader gave him a ‘ best dad ever ‘ shirt that’s the first time they had ever seen him cry like ever.

Man’s knows what your thinking and before you can do anything stupid he’ll tell you to stop it

Bede

Like kabu he also hates touch, and they hates it even if you know him, in-fact he’s only ok with it if your dating them or have known him for many many years.

I wanna say Demisexual/gay and his also trans and goes under the pronouns of he/they.

He was horrible with dancing until opal taught him how to( he still stumbles a lot in it though )

I like to think he got his stuck up personality because he was in foster care, when he was 7-9 ( then rose picked him up ) because none of the homes wanted him because he was ‘ to traumatized for they’re likening’ so in a way of coping they start to act like that, he also came out as trans when he was 11 ( rose may be a bad man but he supported bede).

Theater kid

He’s nickname for people he cares about is idiot. Yes he shows affection through mean names

Listens to music that’s like the music sleeping at last makes

Probably have a squishmallow collection

Leon

I think that he’s a demi-boy ( trans ) he/they and he’s gay ( yes he has dated rahain )

Has a arua that can calm down any Pokémon or human

He stress draws, and he’s gotten good at drawing because he’s always stressed

Loves to put his head on peoples thighs if they’re ok with is, like it’s just a built in pillow for people

Other that kabu he happens to be one of the shortest mf’s you’ll ever find ( this is a joke )

Breedable

Probably also has a squishmallow collection

Bimbo

He’s gotten lost in a IKEA before, it was a challenge to find him

Play with his hair, he loves it

Leon has a undercut

Rahain

He’s pansexual ( i mean he already flirts with everyone he thinks is hot ) he goes by he/him

He’s a funny drunk, (yes that means blackmail )

Also likes to lay on peoples thighs( mostly Leon’s when he can get away with it )

The breeder

Has stolen Leon’s squishmallows before and will again

Peirs

He’s online friends with emmet

Hes reciprosexual and goes by he/him ( props to the people who know what that is )

He has so many chains in his closet he can and will strangle people with them, like an e-girl

Collects only the ‘scary’ squishmallows

He likes to fall asleep on his partners chest because he can hear they’re heart beat

Steals his partners clothes if they’re a size bigger than him because they’re comfortable unlike his

He has really pale skin right, but it wouldn’t burn he like, reflects all the like off him before it hits his skin

Hops

He’s gay ( has dated bede they ended it on goodish terms) and goes by he/him

He learned how to braid and put hair in a bun for leon, he still will and does Leon’s hair for him

Also has squishmallow but only because bede gave them to him as a birthday present

He can’t sleep alone for the life of him so his Pokémon all cuddle with him in his bed

Learned how to draw when he was younger so he could be like Leon ( not knowing leon did it only when he was stressed)

Marnie

Doesn’t really smile but when she does it’s only for family and loved ones

She’s bi. And goes by they/she

Is an absolute freezer and steals like all the blankets they can

She blacks out ( doesn’t know why still ) and it can cause her to faint

Has salt packets in they’re pockets don’t ask why ( black outs

Has a stuffy collection and a squishmallow collection

Ingo

He has adhd

I think that he’s gay and demisexual and his pronouns are he/him ( trans )

I can imagine ingo with one of those giant beer mugs so there’s that

He listens to peirs music because of emmet

He does little hand movements well talking

Has a overwhelming obsession on history more so, the Hisuian Sneasels

Has plushies of his Pokémon

Has dislexia has asked emmet to read stuff to him before

Emmet

He’s bi as F*** he’s pronouns are he/they ( trans )

They have adhd ( joliks being he’s main opposition’s)

He listens to peirs music, they’re online friends

He’s very touchy might come with being a joltik breeder thou Idk

Likes to sleep on his livers chest so he can here they’re heart beat, so he knows they haven’t disappeared to.

Has plushies of they’re pokemom

Emmets theme song is material girl by Madonna

Milo

I think that he’s pansexual ( mostly men ) and he’s a he/him

Has a mommy/breeding/pregnancy kink

Has adhd

Can talk on and on about wooloos and other grass type Pokémon for hours

He likes to pick up people well hugging them it’s just easier for him

He taught the wooloos how to Sence that someone’s going to have a panic attack

Has a squishmallow collection and plushies collection of his Pokémon

Hau

He is a demi-boy he/they and is pansexual ( he has dating gladion before )

Also has a squishmallow collection

He has a second bed set up at all times so gladion can sleep over

Can and will cuddle with his Pokémon

Gets nightmare easily

Does not like horror movies at all

He infact reads fanfics

Has his ears pierced

He knows how to draw

Gladion

He listens to peirs music

He is trans and gay and goes by he/him

Has gone to almost all peirs consorts

He gets panic attacks

He got bullied as a kid and now will beat the a** of anyone who’s bullying someone

He pierced hau’s ears for him

Has a squishmallow collection

Null is counting as his emotions support.. Pokémon? Idk

He knows how to draw

Has a strong fear of losing people close to him

Lillie

She’s bi/poly ( not sexual ) goes by she/her

Is dating mallow and lana

Collection squishmallows

Knows how to draw

Has a strong fear of people dear to her

She has tramau from a Pokémon attack, she can still touch them, she’s just slightly scared

Mallow

Lesbian/ poly ( not sexual ) they go by they/she )

Is dating Lillie and lana

Also collection squishmallows

Is a really good chef

Has a herb garden

Lana

They are neptunic/poly and go by they/them ( props to the people that know that )

Is dating mallow and Lillie

Is a really fast swimmer

Has adhd

Will and does collect little things from the shore and bottom of the sea, to give to they’re girlfriends

Professor kukui

Is a straight ally i mean his wife is bi so

Has adhd

Also has tramau from people leaving him

Has a fear of people leaving him

Has a breeding kink

Guzma

He is gay ( thought he liked kukui for a like just a hallway crush thou) and goes by he/they

Has adhd

Will collect little thinks he finds on the ground he gives to people he likes

If he finds another bug type trainer he will pick them up and leave with them

Likes cuddles

Likes to lay on his lovers chest so he can feel they’re heart beat

Allister

They are omnisexual and go by they/they ( non-binary )

Has a aura that attaches ghost types

Likes to write little stories

Has a squishmallow collection

Likes to draw

Does prank people with they’re Pokémon

Cuddles

Has really bad anxiety

Also has a peanut allergy ( they can use that to get away from annoying men)

Has adhd

He can tell who a person is based on they’re voice

Bea

They’re lesbian and go by they/she

She looks up to kabu a lot

Will ignore people she doesn’t like

Will fight anyone that hurts Allister

Has dislexia the only one to know about is it Allister

Gets migraines if they try to read to hard

N

I think they’re non-binary they/them don’t really mind if someone messes it up but if it’s on purpose they’ll kick you so hard you meet arceus, they’re also asexual

Has this arua around them that can calm down any Pokémon

Has adhd

Does little hand movements well they talk

Has ticks

They jump up and down and or shake they hands up and down when happy

Warden ingo

Still has adhd ( doesn’t know it )

He/him and pansexual ( it changed now you gotta have options)

He has a breeding kink

He has a over opposition on sneasels

Has dislexia still it’s just worse now

If he hates you he will forever hate you and ignore you

Has short term memory lose

I’ll add more later

#milo pokemon #peirs pokemon #warden ingo #guzma #pokemon bede #profesor kukui #bea pokemon #allister pokemon #x reader? #Pokémon #pokemon kabu #raihen Pokémon #hops Pokémon #marnie pokemon #ingo pokemon #hau pokemon #gladion pokemon #lillie pokemon #mallow pokemon #lana pokemon #n pokémon #leon pokemon #emmet pokemon #bede pokemon

[irunaki]

THE SECOND ONE IS.. OPAL!!!!

she was the first one with two comments with her name on last post, so she won

IMPORTANT

i forgot to tell the rules sry xd im so dumb

so it's like this:

you can only vote by putting the name of the character that you want in the comments of the post

you can vote for multiple characters, but you cant vote multiple times for the same character in one post

the character will be choosen by the times they are in the comments, the one with more wins

if there's multiple character with the same number of comments, i choose the one who got the last comment to numer (ex: there are three comments of Holly and three comments for Butler, the first one who got the third comment wins)

ill see the commentsand post the drawing one, two or three days after posting the last, depending if im busy

that's all! :D

tell me the next character u want to see :))

#artemis fowl #fowldom #art #artemis fowl fanart #fanart #minerva paradizo #opal koboi

[cerealmonster15]

[background template source!]

hmm yknow what. maybe i was supposed to describe the unique magic in that bottom box. oh well teehee!!!!!

updated references for twst rsa ocs Char and Dañarte!!!!! for now. i'll add them to artfight soon!!! I was gonna do another one for Dañarte's Scarabia Era but I worked on these all week.... so i'll just do that one separately sometime maybe lol. anyway i've posted about these guys a lot as u can see from the tags i gave them on my blog, BUT my main origin post about their soap opera lore is really long and intimidating to read.... I have a shorter lore post here, but JFKSJLDJFKLDS.... finding these templates made nice, more condensed intros for them lol. and I [slightly] updated their looks so they aren't just carbon copies of what the seven dwarf characters are wearing!!!! but i'm bad at clothing design so i didn't really change them much!!!!

also i tried to be careful but my handwriting is Bad so i'll retype the info / talk more under the cut.

First guy: CHAR

Age: 18

Best Subject: Animal Languages

Birthday: March 19

Class: 3-C

Club: Fencing [does rsa have a fencing club. idk. they do now.]

Height: 175 cm

Hobby: Horseback Riding

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Arts & Crafts, Shellfish

Dislikes: Keeping Secrets, Beets

Unique Magic: Unknown [I haven't decided one for him yet, and I may simply make him a late bloomer who hasn't discovered his yet lol]

Extra info:

Favorite Stones: Pink Opal & Chrysoberyl

Older Cousin to Dañarte

Long-lost childhood friend + new love interest to Cater

Source Character: Prince Charming from Cinderella

Second guy: Dañarte*

Age: 17

Best Subject: Ancient Magic

Birthday: February 13

Class: 2-C

Club: Equestrian Club

Height: 182 cm

Hobby: Writing Speeches

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Planning, Grain bowls

Dislikes: Tenderhearted people, Undercooked meat

Unique Magic: Kiss of Frost: He kisses something or someone and temporarily freezes them ICY STYLE!!!!! or something like that. idk it doesn't kill people[???? maybe it could. idk.] but it don't feel good. Perhaps the area of frost can vary as well, like a small smooch spot vs spreading through the whole body? We gotta workshop it a bit more I'll get back to u on that someday. maybe.

Extra info:

Favorite Stone: Apatite

Char's younger cousin

"Love interest" to Cater + later on, Jamil...

Source Character: Hans from Frozen

RSA -> NRC -> Scarabia [He gets expelled and/or leaves RSA for whatever reason, I still haven't come up w/that part LOL... and ends up at NRC post breakup with Cater and gets sorted into Scarabia.]

* Disclaimer bc I feel the need to point out whenever I bring him up about his name lol- Dañarte isn't truly a name, it's just a spanish verb that's like "to hurt you". his character literally spawned from a convo I was having with a friend when I was trying to think of a name for Char, and something I said got autocorrected to Dañarte, and we made jokes about an evil princely character... so he became his own thing and I just kept that as his name lol.

anyway. i like talking about them but i also get shy and embarrassed about it klfjslfjks. also i probs did not draw them to scale bc life is hard. so are colors. i went very basic bc im scared but im trying to remember how colors work again in our year 2024 or whatever. WAHOO FUNNY LITTLE GUYS!!!!

shoutout to op of this template [@unfinished-projects-galore] making me sit here and consider the lives of these boys a lil more w/that bio layout. i was tempted to put summoning as Char's best class but WHAT do they summon. tell me idia what does that MEAN - jk it's probably like how juice bb summons cauldrons lol. I also considered Potionology for Dañarte but I think he'd like stuff like history and all that jazz and older [perhaps FORBIDDEN] ways of doing things.

#twisted wonderland #twst oc #ocs #twst #cereal tries to draw #oc: char #oc: Dañarte #ummm did i have a caterella tag. idr. but they technically spawned from my caterella multiverse so #caterella #was that all the catalogue tagging. i think so. ok im going to go play persona now byebye. #but also. twst oc havers. our kids should hang out 👀 #well maybe char should. Dañarte's a bitch. but i'll make him go on play dates LOL JFDSKLFJKSDLJFLJ ok jkjk. or am i. jsklfjdskljls #ok actually im gonna slap these new refs on artfight and THEN go play persona #unless im at the pic limit then ill deal w/it later #ONLY A FEW MORE MONTHS TIL ARTFIGHT HANG OUT W/ME ON ARTFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT PLEEEAAAAAAAAAAASE #ok. bye. 🚶

[br0-k3n-sch00lb01]

🪐 - what is headspace like for you?

(saw this and felt like it might be fun to tell you guys about my headspace. Read under the cut if interested!!)

Sooo… my headspace is kind of a chaotic place, tbh. It’s not extremely orderly and there’s not like specific things i am tasked with. It’s just another reality.

-who’s in my headspace?

Me/ My alter ego Opal

My brother

my sister

and a few characters i have… occasionally other fictional characters but i have absolutely no idea where they come from or where they go when they leave. I see them occasionally.

my headspace can be scary at times but mostly it’s just a place of fun and silliness!

i guess in a way you could say the landscaping is very soft and muted. Like cutecore/dreamcore kinda stuff. Kinda blurry. I could probably find some examples that match it!!

theres buildings, and a plaza/ gazebo i normally hang out at… and a hospital although i dont know why…

thats really all i know. Maybe i can draw some things and post refs similar to how it looks in a reblog? Or you guys could let your imaginations go wild… i don’t care.

that’s it!! <33

#charlie rants #headspace

[walnutart]

😺 for veronica sawyer and the heathers

Absolutely!

prompt:😺 An animal related headcanon

Veronica:

Veronica LOVES animals.

She has a tabby cat named JFK.

JFK only likes Veronica.

He will hiss and bite at her parents if they try to get close to him.

JFK HATES Heather Chandler

She also likes insects. She continuously begs her parents to let her get a pet tarantula. Her mother absolutely refuses.

When Veronica was younger, she would collect spiders, beetles, and praying mantis in jars and plastic terrariums.

She would draw them and give them names.

Heather Chandler:

Chandler and JFK are Mortal Enemies.

Chandler doesn't appreciate when Veronica pays attention to JFK instead of her when they hang out.

She will passive-aggressively sigh and drape herself across Veronica's bed.

Veronica always tells her that it's completely unreasonable for her to be jealous of a cat

Heather insists that Veronica loves JFK more than her (notably something her girlfriend never actually denies)

Other than JFK, Chandler is not fond of animals. At All.

She thinks they're dirty and loud

However, she is definitely more of a cat person

Dogs are too happy and peppy for her taste

She appreciates and relates to the cold aloofness that cats exude.

If she did ever have a cat, she would probably have a white maine coon.

That cat would be the meanest fucking animal alive

It would be a female, and it would have a red bow collar/a red leather bell collar

Something extra like that

Its name would be something strange and kind of outlandish. Yet like still feminine.

Like Lilith or Opal. Maybe even Lucifer/Satan lmao

I imagine Heather Chandler would be like actually an awful pet owner though so the chances of her actually getting a cat are slim to none.

Heather Duke:

Heather has a snake. I don't have proof, but I can feel it in my

bones.

She has either a smooth green snake or a rainbow boa (look them up they're pretty neat)

Its name would be something like Medusa

Heather McNamara gets/makes little hats for her snake.

Duke reluctantly allows this simply to humor her girlfriend

So far, the snake has a top hat, a cowboy hat, and a little pinwheel hat.

Duke finds this incredibly asinine.

She definitely also has a black cat or a black teacup poodle maybe both

idk I just get a vibe she seems like a small dog person

Also more of a cat person

If she does have a black cat its name would probably be something like Ophelia or something fancy and sophisticated like that. (probably named after a classical literature

Heather McNamara:

Heather Mac also loves animals a lot, however she's more traditional with the animals she likes

She has a golden retriever and a golden doodle

The retriever is named Butterscotch

the golden doodle is named Curly

JFK mildly tolerates Mac (this is a point of great pride for her).

Her dogs are highly trained. They can shake, play dead, speak, also that fancy stuff

Her dogs have A LOT of clothing

Sweaters, tutus, vests, harnesses, ties, bowties, hats, you name it they have it

They usually wear a bandana or a custom collar though.

The dogs love Duke, much to the girl's chagrin

They demand she play fetch, rub her belly, anything

She half-heartedly complies after she sees how happy it makes Mac

Secretly Duke loves Mac's dogs

Mainly because Butterscotch and Curly remind her of her girl friend

#heathers headcanons #heathers the musical #heathers #heathers the movie #heather mcnamara #heather duke #heather chandler #veronica sawyer #chansaw #mcduke #veronica sawyer x heather chandler #heather mcnamara x heather duke #chandlamara

[melodyschaos]

Omg the poly ending was absolutely perfect!! So cute and fluffy!

If you're still open, could I request Bouquet of Hearts/Macaque and Sun Wukong/Male pronouns please?

After careful deliberation, Y/N picks up his phone. There were only two hearts for him: Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque.

"Hey guys, it's me. Can we talk? Can you two meet me at the Ferris Wheel?"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N didn’t have to wait long for the two obviously disguised monkeys to show up. When the three of them sat in a pod, they took off their hoods.

“Okay, I’ll admit it. Hoodies aren’t the worst things humans have ever invented.” Macaque lightly hugged his arms around himself, feeling the comfort of the woolen hoodie.

“I’ve tried telling you, Macaque. Hoodies are the future, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what Y/N called us for.” Wukong turned his head to Y/N. “So what’s up?”

Y/N cleared his throat, took a deep breath and said, “I’ve chosen both of you. I’ve eaten the immortality peach and...” He tilts his head, letting the opal earrings sway. “I love the gemstones. So, if it’s alright with the both of you...I’d really like to be your boyfriend.”

The two monkeys looked at each other. Wukong shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with it.”

Macaque turned to Y/N. “So..what’s the rule about us dating each other?”

“I don’t see any reason you two can’t date. This is a polycule, and the love’s gonna be shared.”

Wukong raised an eyebrow at Macaque. “You’re not SERIOUSLY suggesting..?”

“I’m only leaving the option open, just in case. Who knows? You might get jealous of Y/N getting all of my attention. After all, I’m basically irresistible~”

“The day I do is the day I’ll backflip into a pile of cacti.”

“Deal.”

Y/N cleared their throat. The two looked at him, only to see his arms outstretched. “Can’t I get some of that promised attention?”

Both of the monkeys went in for the hug, but Macaque hip-bumped Wukong, crushing him against the side of the pod. He sat to Y/N’s right. “Oops~” Y/N was given a kiss on the cheek as he sat down. Macaque then pulled Y/N into a hug, putting his head on their chin. “Don’t you worry Y/N, you’ll get all the attention you desire and more.”

Wukong sat on Y/N’s other side and pulled him into a hug of his own. “That won’t be necessary, I’ve got it covered.” Playfully, he stuck his tongue out at Macaque.

“Guys, guys!” Y/N giggled. “There’s plenty of hugs to go around. Look..” He sat back up and pulled the two monkeys closer, putting their heads on each of his shoulders, and arms around their shoulders. “See?”

“This’ll work. Oops-” Macaque flipped his hoodie back up as the pod slowed down. Wukong did the same. When the door opened and the three exited, both held one of Y/N’s hands. “Say, Wukong, why don’t we have a friendly little competition? Whoever wins Y/N the most prizes at this carnival gets dibs on the first date.”

“You’re on!”

At the end of the night, which ended in a draw, Y/N had enough plushies to cover their bed and a double-date planned for the weekend. Holding Macaque and Wukong’s hands, they were walked home protected and loved.

#lmk #legomonkiekid #lmk x reader #lmk x male reader #lmk sun wukong #lmk wukong x reader #lmk macaque #lmk macaque x reader #lmk x reader fluff

[demonlikejudgeoffire]

crashes through your wall wait i got another one opal are you up to writing some Pygmalion and Galatea flavored yoohan

solca you know that I am Always up to writing yoohan and the Pygmalion myth has been bouncing around my head for months (tho I'd originally planned on doing it as a sketch lol)

(vague ORV epilogue spoilers below the cut, though this is an AU)

Writing Ways of Survival takes more out of Han Sooyoung than she'd ever expected going into it. It had been a pet project that had begun sometime in her (very) early teens, scrawled in the margins of her notebooks and handouts. She cringes sometimes, thinking back to those early chapters, written with the confidence of a child believing that they were going to be the next bestselling author—she'd been right, of course, but that had come with time and practice. 

Still, even with that self-awareness, Han Sooyoung is proud of the long nights and the years of work she's put into her novel. She's always loved her story, and it's that love that has sustained her through everything that's happened since. It's the reason she updated it regularly, even though her other novel, the one actually written under her name, was the one that everyone liked. It's the reason she kept writing even though only one other person was interested in it. But…it's not the only reason, nor is WoS the only thing she loves.

When she writes Yoo Joonghyuk, it feels like he truly does come to life, like he's the one making his own decisions. There are so many times when a scene turns out differently than she'd plotted it out, and she has to change everything accordingly. She writes, and it's like she can see his face in front of her.

And then, he is. In front of her.

His hair falls perfectly on his forehead as he looks around her room, brows furrowed. His lips slant into a frown, and his hand (broad, calloused, scarred) falls to the hilt of his sword. He asks, "A new scenario?"

His gaze sharpens when he sees her. In the blink of an eye, his sword is drawn and pointed at her. Mouth dry, she stares up the length of the blade and finds his face dark; confusion and anger war in his expression. "You. Who are you?"

"Me?" Han Sooyoung can't help but laugh, disbelieving, even as his eyes narrow. "I'm the one who wrote you."

Before she can say another word, his hands are clenched in the front of her shirt. She hangs in the air, her feet kicking uselessly. She scrabbles against his grip but is powerless to break free.

"You're the one behind the scenarios?" Yoo Joonghyuk asks darkly.

"Let me—let me down and we can talk," she gasps.

He scrutinises her face, then looks her over. Likely deeming her not to be a threat, he lets go of her shirt. Han Sooyoung grunts as she falls to the ground. "You could have done that more gently," she complains bitterly, rubbing her butt as she stands. "That's probably going to bruise tomorrow, damn it."

He ignores her grumbling, of course. Her protagonist was supposed to be an asshole, especially in the latter scenarios, and particularly towards people who weren't his companions.

He sheaths his sword, but that hardly means anything when she'd just seen how quickly he could draw it. Glaring at her, he says, "Talk."

What else can she do but talk?

The explanation goes something like this: Han Sooyoung created Yoo Joonghyuk. She wrote his life into being. Every miserable event and death was because of her. Every regression was because of her. It was a painful story, but it was one where the protagonist always survived. He had to survive.

"Why?"

Han Sooyoung hesitates here. Less verbosely, she tells the story of a lonely boy.

Yoo Joonghyuk is silent for a time afterwards, hand clenched around the grip of his sword. Then, he asks, voice quiet, "Why me? Why am I here?"

The original outline for this scene had been vaguest here. She'd struggled to fill it in, before giving up and starting to write, thinking she'd figure it out as she went, the way she always did. That hadn't happened. Han Sooyoung bites her lip.

"You're here," she says slowly, "because your story has ended."

His brows draw together. "I'm still alive," he replies blankly.

"You—you were never meant to die," Han Sooyoung exclaims quickly. "Your story isn't the same as your life. Even after books end, the characters live on. Maybe the pages are finished, but that doesn't mean that they cease to exist, right?" She doesn't even realise it, but she's halfway to pleading as she says it. "Your story ending doesn't mean that you're gone. But I didn't want—I don't want to stop writing about you. And—" she searches his face "—you wanted to see who was behind the curtain, right? To find out why you were destined to regress and struggle through the scenarios. I finished the epilogue but it felt cruel to just. Leave you there. This was just supposed to be like, a fun extra. 'Character meets the author' is a pretty popular trope nowadays, and I thought that guy might like it and—"

"Answer the question," he says, cutting her off. "Why me?"

"Because you're you," she says, before her brain can catch up to her mouth. "I mean. Uh."

Yoo Joonghyuk's still holding his sword. She squeezes her eyes shut and says quickly, "You're my favourite character."

Silence. She cracks open one eye and peeks out at him. His expression doesn't look too murderous, so she continues hesitantly. "I don't mean it the way the constellations do, I swear. I just. When I first wrote you, I was just a kid, you know? You were supposed to just be some OP power fantasy protag. I thought I'd write a few chapters and move on to some other WIP. But I loved writing you. You were so—you never gave up. Even when you had nothing, when you lost the people important to you, you had the strength to try again. You were everything I needed to inspire me to keep writing, just. Rolled into one character. How could I not fall in love with you?"

"But I wasn't...real," he says.

"I wanted you to be. Desperately. Even if it meant that every horrible thing I wrote actually happened to you, seeing you here, in the flesh—" she's shaking, she has to be "—it's like a dream come true."

Maybe this is a dream. Maybe she's finally collapsed from overwork the way her editor is always fussing she will, and this is some exhaustion-fuelled hallucination. Still, it had hurt when he dropped her, so maybe...

She reaches out. His skin is warm under her palm. His eyes track her movement. She steps closer, then closer still.

"I should kill you," he murmurs. "Why don't I hate you more for what you did?"

She laughs, dizzy and giddy all at once, and drunk on the feeling of it. Her fingertips find his cheekbones, his mouth, his tongue when his lips part. Closer. She needs to be closer.

"Every act of creation is one of love," she whispers. "How can that creation not love its creator?"

#orv #orv spoilers #yoohan #han sooyoung #yoo joonghyuk #opalwrites #solca #opalanswers

[hexedrosel-arts]

The sillies have been completed

With a persona bonus

Now; the facts ramble under the cut

Edden:

- Edden has trouble remembering anything. He'll just, forget. This includes his name, current location, or personality. He just forgets everything. - Edden's real eye color is actually amber. Do to factors out of his control, however, have made his eyes pure white

Opaline:

- Opal has no likes or dislikes. She is a very plain girl, other than the fact she is AI. - Despite her messy appearance, she always has everything in order. She also watches everything that goes on.

Lace:

- Lace would have that same amber eyes Edden does if they were alive. - Lace can shapeshift their appearance. They tend to make themselves look fem.

Ash:

- Ash's full name is actually Ashley. He adamantly goes by Ash. - Ash has a fear of spiders, he is terrified of them. - He is banned from playing card games with people because he will always win.

Winter:

- Winter travels through time and timelines which makes him have many different outfits for each time period or time line. His current outfit was made by Emory because she doesn't like any one of his older outfits, in time sense or the ones I use to draw him in. - If he feels close to people, he ends up calling sweetie or dear, or any old lady complimenting you name. The only exception is his sister, Carrie, who he affectionately calls 'Care Bear'. - Winter doesn't remember what age he is, he's been through so many timelines and periods that he can't pin point an age. He knows he is at least older than Carrie, which isn't saying much because she is 13.

Damien:

- Damien is roughly 10 ft tall. He is always leaning down to make sure he can talk to people face to face, or at least they don't have to stare up into the sky to make eye contact with him. - Damien can't see due to all the bandages over his face. - Damien has a soft spot for cats, underneath all the mumbling, he is a real sweetheart.

Azure:

- Azure is one of the youngest, along with Opal, being 5 years old. - Azure is terrified of everything and everyone. If your name doesn't start with O, she is scared of you and everything you do. - Her star necklace is a gift from someone who she doesn't remember. She wants to thank them if she ever does.

Lilith:

- Lilith is a really good cook. She has an recipe book of all her mother's recipes. - Lilith is the only one of her siblings to only have 1 design element of her outfit that resembles her card. Her tie looks like a spade(Ash has all the diamonds on his eye patch, bag, on his sleeves, he even has card earrings for both of his siblings. Any look at Elliot shows you the hearts on his design). - Lilith really likes bright colors, she adores scene and pastel clothing. But she never wears it as she feels it makes her business woman persona seem fake.

Cosmo:

- Cosmo will talk for hours about space. He will tell you space puns, talk about astronomers and astronauts for as long as you let him. - His hair style is just a literal play on space buns. The long parts are just an homage to an old hairstyle I gave him. - Cosmo's eyes aren't actually the neon green ones he has, no one has seen what his real eye color is.

Navy:

- Navy's veil is to resemble Jellyfish streamers. - If Navy were to open his eyes, instead of pupils, he would have infinity signs instead. - Navy has a brother, but he isn't around much anymore.

Celina:

- Celina wants to be an actress. She believes that with her dance skills and her 'condition' would make her a star in everyone's eyes. - The stars on her skin (the white dots) would be freckles. - When not dancing or practicing her acting, she likes to a baseball bat to various pictures of other people and smash whatever surface the picture is on. - Her leg strength is very powerful and she will kick your face in, but won't... :)

Carrie:

- Carrie always has her umbrella up, even indoors, she doesn't want people to see her face. - Carrie is very noise sensitive, if there is too much noise, she tends to swing her umbrella in the direction of the noise, hoping to hit whatever generating the noise. - Carrie is blind, she sometimes uses her umbrella as a walking stick when she is sure no one is around her.

.A.M.Y:

- .A.M.Y believes that she is an AI that was created to become human through mechanical means. She started by having a metal spine attached to her. - She loves to learn about mechanics and machinery, she wants to be an engineer when she grows up. - .A.M.Y likes her hair the most about her appearance. She doesn't even like someone touching her hair. She takes good care of it, she believes that's what her programing tells her.

Willow:

- Willow was a very lonely child growing up. He liked to dream of people to be his friends or siblings. When he learned how to make AI that felt human, he immediately created these people so he could be less lonely. - Willow hates his haircut. The only reason he has it is because his father says he should keep his hair at the length it is. - Willow has the remote control part of his wheelchair because of chronic pain he has had all his life. He can't manually move his wheelchair for long periods. - Willow seeks his dad's praise constantly, he would remove his AI creations if that meant his dad was proud of him.

Honor:

- Honor has only ever been seen eating meat. Not even Ray has seen her eat anything else. - Honor has 18 older brothers, she is the youngest of her family and the only daughter. - Honor likes plushies, she really likes bunny ones especially. - Honor knows how to sew and cauterize wounds, even ones that could only happen if one were chopping up body parts.

Elliott:

- Elliott's head band(hair tie? it's a long sash that goes on his head it could be both) was a gift from Willow, Elliott is never seen without it on. - The hearts on Elliott's boots, specifically the inner hearts, are actually buttons that activate the skates of his shoes. As seen in this height chart, he does not have the wheels. - Elliott prefers plants over people. His room is covered with plants, it's more of the plants room than his own. - Elliott always has his hair up in some way, if asked he'll tell you that it is because he doesn't want to look like his brother. - The thick part of Elliott's eyes are his eye brows, his eyes are more dot shaped, he is just constantly angry that his eyebrows have stayed that way

Ray:

- Ray remembers that his father was fisher, which makes him believe that he was named after the Manta Ray. - Ray hates the color blue. He gets irrationally upset when he made to wear it for long periods of time. This being said, he hates Ash's outfit, not Ash, just the outfit. - Ray talks via written word. He has never talked once, he can't. - Honor calls Ray 'popcorn head' cause his hair looks like white cheddar popcorn. Ray has regretfully accepted the fact that she will always call him that. - Ray always has something covering his face, usually the giant sketchbook. He has drawn various expressions on it. Due to this fact, Ray can also fall asleep anywhere, even standing up, and no one would notice .

Emory:

- Emory sews her own clothes. She likes to take inspiration from Lolita styled clothing. She has also sewn various items for other characters such as the frills underneath Navy's raincoat, the overcoat Winter has, and Damien's entire outfit. - Emory switches between first person and third person when ever she talks. No one knows if she is aware of this. - Emory has a posh British accent. She sounds more British than her siblings. - Emory prefers to wear clothes that coverup her body. Along with several layers underneath those clothes. Her current outfit is her most revealing.

#rose-laced art #rosey rambles #undeadandhexedchildren #these facts range from memory loss to silly nicknames from other characters #please ask me about my ocs #I'm going silly and deranged

[leebrontide]

Secondhand Origin Stories, Chapter 14

Here's this week's chapter! Reblogs welcome!

For those of you just joining us, I'm posting a chapter a week of my free near future scifi/low neon cyberpunk YA/NA novel, Secondhand Origin Stories, which has been described as

"-a character driven, compelling story full of family, queerness, corruption, brain altering nanites, secretly teen parenting AIs, and taking aspects of the superhero genre to their very human and rarely-explored natural conclusions."

For an index of already uploaded chapters that hopefully I will remember to update, content warnings and more, check here:

You can follow along by following #SHOSweekly

Chapter 14

Issac’s contacts blanked out before Lasansky was even inside the garage.  

No. Oh no no. Issac knocked his tablet against the metal chair. No sound effects appeared. 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. NO SIGNAL.

Lasansky must have high-grade, government restricted signal blocking. Which meant the security systems signal was jammed, too. Which meant their phones weren’t working and they couldn’t call in their backup. He couldn’t even contact Martin. Which meant the whole plan was fucked, and how was Issac even supposed to draw information out of Lasansky when he couldn’t have a conversation with the man? Stupid. None of them had even considered signal blocking.

This meant Lasansky was deliberately isolating them. And he’d brought serious muscle. So much for Issac’s last shred of hope that he hadn’t been breaking bread with the bad guys.

Fuck. This was going to go so badly.

He looked up, could see Opal had realized that there was a problem, but couldn’t tell if she knew what it was. He wanted to tell her, but four figures rounded the corner, entering the huge open garage door. Lasansky and three goons. 

Too late to explain. Too late to back out or fix the plan. All he could do now was trust the others, and bluff like hell.

Issac turned on an offended scowl, and pushed his shoulders back. Fear and anger had a lot of similar biological responses. Maybe he could make one look like the other. At least he could stop trying to hedge his bets. “What the hell, Lasansky. I already told you, I quit.”

Lasansky started yammering in response. Issac was shit at lipreading. Especially around that big plastic smile Lasansky was wearing. He strolled towards Issac and the diversionary tablet. This asshole. He could have actually helped. He could have actually saved and repaired lives.

Lasansky’s eyebrows tilted up. As if he was bargaining. A soft approach. He totally hadn’t realized his signal jammers were interfering with Issac’s contacts, so he probably assumed Issac hadn’t even noticed them.

Opal was leaning against one of the trucks with her arms crossed, looking annoyed but not, so far, ready to actually punch anyone. She said something to Lasansky, which distracted him. She didn’t like whatever it was Lasansky said back. 

Maybe Opal could cover for Issac’s inability to converse, and Issac wouldn’t have to expose it. The two of them traded a few more lines while Issac tried to restrain himself from looking up to check on Jamie. Opal got increasingly worked up, and Lasansky, increasingly amused. 

Issac couldn’t believe he’d let himself give this asshole the benefit of the doubt. Just because they both had to cover up a weakness, Issac had felt for the guy. He’d really wanted to believe that someone at the top could get it, and would still want Issac’s work.

Except it wasn’t really Issac’s work he was after.

Of all the stupid reasons to miss his hearing, wishing he had more distraction from his feelings right now had to be among the most stupid. 

Issac focused on the henchmen. Two of them looked bored. One of them was looking something up on her phone. Whatever she found, her eyebrows went up. She leaned over to Lasansky, showing him. Lasansky laughed, quick and delighted, and with one last glance at Opal, he turned back to Issac.

Whatever leverage Lasansky thought he’d just gained made him turn to Issac with much less delicacy, and a lot more open demand. What did he have? 

Issac’s attention flicked to Opal. She discreetly pointed at her other hand, which she positioned as if she was holding the drive. “I’m not giving you the data.” He clutched the useless thumb-drive-shaped slag in his hand, held it up a little higher, to make sure Lasansky had something to focus on. Stall stall stall…

More monologuing. It was hard to want to pay attention to the man. Issac glanced at Opal again. He’d have to rely on her to figure out when Lasansky had…had what? If they weren’t recording, then what was the goal, here? 

One of the guards casually laid a hand on a holster of some sort. 

Surviving was a good goal.

Lasansky had come in too close. Issac stepped back, but the back of his legs ran into a truck. Lasansky stepped in closer, and squinted at Issac. Issac caught a flicker of discomfort as Lasansky’s attention flicked to the goons behind him, and he pulled something out of his breast pocket.

Issac's blood ran cold. 

Reading glasses. Lasansky put them on, and glared down his nose at Issac, who tried to look like he wasn’t having a heart attack at a very young age. He jutted out his chin in his best Jamie impression, and stared Lasansky down. 

Lasansky wasn’t smiling now, and he was so close, Issac was fairly sure he lipread “What have we here?” Issac wanted to shove him away, but the only altered on his side in here was unarmed. Even Yael would take a while to rush in. And they had no backup, and they couldn’t call for help, and--

Lasansky laughed. He straightened, taking his glasses off before turning back to his goons and tapping his Botoxed crows’ feet. 

Damn Issac's dark eyes, Lasansky had seen that Issac’s contacts weren’t working.

Lasansky turned around with a speed Issac hadn’t expected from a man Lasansky’s age, and grabbed him.

* * *

It was the only opening Jamie was going to get.

She focused on trusting Opal and Yael. She had to convince herself that they would handle the situation in the garage for a few more moments. Otherwise, all of this was for nothing. Jamie was the only one inside who was still able to move freely, and the noise of Lasansky and Issac grappling for the prop covered her movement.

She slipped off of the top of the truck, straining to reach the guard rail of the upper walkway and hauling herself on, squeezing under the lowest railing. She’d get back as fast as possible. 

She crawled on her belly down towards the VIP suite, up on her feet once she was out of sight. She tried to ignore the sounds behind her. She eased the door open, slipped inside, and closed it again. She checked her phone. She’d been right about Issac’s reaction-- no signal. They really were on their own. No time to be embarrassed that they hadn’t considered that possibility. She had to act fast.

She’d never gotten around to pulling Issac’s bug out of her guitar, but the old Z-wave technology in it shouldn’t be bothered by the signal blocker.

The damn bug was hard to pull out. It was lucky her hands were so small-- she had to fit one almost completely into the guitar before she could scrape it out, snapping the strings with alarmed little pings. 

There were footsteps and muffled voices coming from down the hall. She ducked behind the sofa furthest from the door and checked her phone again. Success! A direct link from the bug to her phone, no outside signal required. Everything would be recorded. 

The suite door opened. “--Janet can handle one dumb altered kid.” Opal.

“Oh my G-d, look at this. It’s a whole trash apartment. What’s LodeStar’s kid doing in a heap like this?”

“Maybe Daddy didn’t like his new little supervillain-spawn girlfriend.”

Jamie was trapped.

“We’re not being sneaky, right? We can just turn the place out?”

A loud clatter, like a drawer hitting the floor, was the only answer. 

If they ransacked the room, they’d find her. She looked around frantically, but anyplace big enough to hide her would be big enough for them to look. At least there was no research for them to find. 

There was going to be a fight-- Jamie against two altered men. By herself.

This was the kind of do-or-die moment she’d imagined for herself all her life. 

She’d always imagined, in that moment, that she’d finally feel bigger. Stronger. 

So far, no dice.

She slowed her breathing the way years of fighting for oxygen had taught her to do. She stayed still. She couldn’t dart them yet. They were both faster than she was, and armed with more than darts. 

But she could record them, from here. She could keep still and wait.

“What the-- Mark, lookit this shoe. It’s tiny. How many kids have they got up here?”

“Forget that, look at these pants. Fucking giant. I’m not worried about Thumbelina, but we should wrap this up before whoever’s pants these are gets back. Could be an actual fight.”

“You don’t think LodeStar or Helix or somebody--”

“In this dump? It’s a squat for runaways. Hold on, this looks like the kid’s stuff.”

More rustling. More digging. A few steps in either direction could expose Jamie. She felt sick. Her heart hammered hard enough to make her hands shake no matter how slow she breathed. Her ears were ringing.

The rustling of clothes turned into the rustling of paper as Jamie tried to remember any paper in the suite. One of the guards barked a laugh. “Holy shit! ‘If you’re reading this, then I failed--’ Kid’s already written as good as a suicide note for us! Ha! It’s like he knew we were coming and baked us a cake.”

The letter Issac told them about yesterday. The one that explained about Martin. She couldn’t let anyone actually read it all the way through. And them wanting Issac to have written a suicide note--

“OK. So, kid dies of tech overdose, and when the boss finds him, the Flynn girl attacks, because she’s mad her dad’s locked up. So, we have to take her down. Doesn’t get any neater than that.” What could she do? She had to find an opening-- any opening…

A loud crack of a noise from outside shocked her. She’d heard it before, mostly on TV. It was a gun. Then clattering in the room, as the guards moved towards the window. Their earbuds made noises Jamie couldn’t make out. One of them barked an answer. “Do you need backup?”

The other’s voice was hushed with horror. “Ezekiel--”

A long silence as they watched whatever was going on outside. How could anyone mistake Yael for Ezekiel? There were no more gunshots. Nobody moved. Jamie waited, and prayed. 

“They won’t catch up to him,” one of them said. Jamie gave a slow, even exhale. Yael was safe. But Yael was gone.

Jamie didn’t feel bigger, or stronger. If anything, she felt smaller.

But it was good. Like she was distilled down to her most basic components, with no room left for doubt or panic. She could still feel her fear, feel her heart rattling in her chest, feel the weaknesses of her body, but they were dull and distant. They felt unimportant, compared to the glow of a perfectly clear mission.

“Bridgewater must have sent him. Explains the bait.”

“If that was Ezekiel, he wouldn’t have run. I’ll take this to the boss. Hurry and finish up. I want to get out of here.”

The door opened, and shut. 

Which left just one guard with Jamie.

Her opening. She stood, raising her arm. He’d half turned away, but saw her in his periphery. His reflexes were much faster, but his taser was holstered. He’d gotten it out of the holster and half raised by the time Jamie steadied her hand to shoot. 

First his hand dropped, then his eyes rolled back, and he went over, smashing his head on the corner of the dresser on his way down. Jamie picked up the taser and shoved it in her cargo pocket, next to her inhaler. She’d never used one before, but she’d watched videos. It would have to do.

She headed back into the hall.

* * *

Every line of the pilot’s face made it clear-- there’d be no bloodless end to this fight. He wouldn’t give up any more than Yael would. Xe knew he was altered. Xe couldn’t afford to hold back.  

Three wet snaps shuddered up xyr arm. Crinkling, crackling hot and cold ran over xyr hand. Xe tightened xyr fist.

He was breathless, but his voice was bold. “This was your mistake, monster! I would have just run!”

Monster. Monster. As if he deserved to use that word on xyr. Yael growled back, “I’m not afraid of you, and I’m not afraid of what I have to do. I won’t let you get away.” Xe lunged. He only partially blocked the blow, but to xyr surprise, he grabbed for xyr arm. The grip was wrong for a throw, and not even secure. 

Electricity arced from his skin to xyrs, racing across the highly conductive exoskeleton. Lighting burned up xyr arm and sizzled towards xyr spine. Yael’s arm went rigid. 

Electric shock ability. That was impossible. The Detroit line had never achieved it. Only Papa could do that.

The pilot didn’t smile at his short triumph. He edged back, hands up, not in surrender, but prepared to attack. “I’m from South Dakota, too. I know that skin. I never saw your face last time, but I know who you are.”

Yael screamed. Xe’d never have imagined xe could make such a feral sound. Xe attacked again, faster, with more conviction. Finally, after all the confusion, all the fear, there was something to attack. Something to do. A surefire way to protect. Xe felt a crack of bones under xyr fist, but it wasn’t enough. Not a crunch or a shatter. The pilot flew a few feet. His landing was graceless, but his recovery was lightning-fast. “Who are you?” Yael demanded. He shouldn’t exist. Couldn’t exist. No one with Papa’s ability had lived. These powers should never have hurt xyr.

“Your damned cult couldn’t kill all its experiments. We found ways to survive. Fewer sacrifices to your sick, twisted religion. We won’t be conquered by you or any of your kind!”

“My kind? MY KIND?” 

“How did you disappear for so long? Did Bridgewater cover you up, too? What is he planning?”

“I am not Ezekiel!” Yael screamed. “I’m not Miriam and I’m not Solomon and I don’t serve Nodiah! I am Yael, and I’m going to kill the villain who attacked my family!”

This time when xe attacked, he shot backwards, and didn’t counter. He hesitated. 

“What do you mean, you don’t serve Nodiah.” He circled. It wouldn’t matter. Xyr reach was much further than his. “I know you’re not Lasansky’s. If you’re not APB, then why did you attack me? Who are you?”

“You almost killed them. You left Issac vulnerable forever. Damaged everything in my life. You are a terrorist, attacking kids in their own house. Issac never did anything to you.”

Issac. Xyr pounding heart spasmed. Xe needed to get back to protect them. But xe couldn’t protect them with this supervillain running free.

Xe attacked again. Xe feinted a punch, which he blocked, but xe swept xyr leg behind his. He got in a punch to xyr head in the same moment, stunning xyr long enough to let him get back up before xe could try again. 

Xe was a better fighter than this. Xe should have dropped him by now. He was sloppy, untrained. Xe’d prepared for this xyr whole life.

Yael fought to keep the xyr temper stoked as real remorse entered his face. Xe could barely hear him over the ringing in xyr ear. 

“LodeStar’s kid. That’s who you’re fighting for?”

“He’s my brother,” xe growled. “And you hurt him. You drove him out of his house, his family--” Xe was telling him too much. 

“I wasn’t aiming for them! I didn’t even see them!” He stopped, studied xyr face.  Xe should have attacked, while his guard was lowered. But being seen was too tempting. “You. You were the big heat signature. You were with them, weren’t you?” His fists lowered slightly, and Yael’s vision blurred with tears that couldn’t escape xyr silver-black inheritance. “Who are you? Another escapee? Like me? Why were you in the tower?”

Yael didn’t lower xyr own fists. “I was there. Yeah, you attacked me, too. I could have forgiven that, but you attacked my siblings. In our home. And Issac won’t recover.”

Xe attacked again. A roundhouse kick earned xyr another painful shock, temporarily locking up xyr leg. Xe struck back with a specialized attack of xyr own, and pulled heat from his body into xyr fist, dragging a shocked choking sound out of him along with it. Xe blocked a blow, but his electricity arced from his hand to xyr chest, dangerously close to xyr heart.

That was enough to stun xyr, and he tried to get past Yael, to the only exit. Yael grabbed him by his shirt, throwing him to the ground. 

Xe should have beaten him by now. If xe could just think straight, past the blood rushing in xyr ears...

Xe accepted multiple hits to secure one of his arms to the ground with several inches of ice. Pulling so much heat out of the air, all at once, hurt worse than his electricity.

This time, he grabbed xyr throat, just like xe had grabbed the kidnapper’s throat two years ago. Xe knew what he’d do a moment before he did it, but xe didn’t evade fast enough. The shock lit up Yael's spine, and xe couldn’t even move enough to scream at the pain. 

It seemed to last forever. Even when he stopped, xyr nerves screeched and jumped, leaving xyr dizzy and disoriented as he tried to free his arm from the filthy asphalt. Xyr voice was rough and crackling. “You…almost killed them.”

“I didn’t mean to!” he yelled defiantly. He tried to use his electric powers to free his ice-encased arm. The ice made his tiny lighting arcs go wild, burning little holes into his restraint. Yael sucked more heat from the air, which pulled his lightning right into xyr hand, burning. But the hole he’d chiseled filled obediently back in.

He punched, but his left arm was less coordinated and not as strong. One skilled blow knocked Yael sideways as it connected solidly with xyr jaw.

Xe was making stupid mistakes. But xe’d never sparred using xyr other powers before. And never fought xyr father’s electricity. Never expected to. Xe wasn’t prepared. Xe was losing energy, losing focus.

“Why did you help Lasansky?” xe demanded. “Did you think he’d set you free? You’re going right back where you were!”

“I was supposed to die!” He kicked xyr off, and positioned himself as well as he could when he couldn’t get the lower half of his dominant arm off the ground. “The tower was supposed to shoot me down. I don’t know why it didn’t. I was never getting out of this.” 

“Did you want to kill that badly?”

“He said he’d let my mom go,” the pilot panted, his voice full of pain. “She’s sick. One of the altered-specific problems. They said she’d have to be in a clinic for months for her to even stand a chance. They say she’s too dangerous to let out that long. She’s a sick, old woman! I was never getting out. I accepted that a long time ago. But she still could.” 

Yael faltered. 

“Listen to me,” he pleaded. “Bridgewater is killing us. It’s genocide. Legal genocide. He’s been rounding us up for years, over anything. Now he’s going to--”

“I know about the bill!” Yael spat. “It only has a chance of winning now because you’ve made people afraid of us again! By attacking my brother!”

By protecting his family. Xe crouched, each of them out of the other’s range. Xe pushed xyr pain down. Xe could handle this. Xe was built for this. And xe needed to understand. “Then why’d you run?”

“Because I hit you, instead of Bridgewater. I failed. He said the deal was off. As if a commercial pilot knows anything about reading infrared signatures like that! I’m not going to get a second chance to save her. So there. Your brother’s hearing for my mom’s life. Does that satisfy you? With whatever you came after me for? Or do you still need to kill me, too?” He was brave. And loyal. Was this really who xe should fight?

“You can’t trust Lasansky.”

“Oh, you think? Damn, I never noticed that before, rotting in his prison for all these years. He blackmailed me into killing someone for him! But he’s the enemy of my enemy, and I want my mom to live.”

“The enemy of your enemy came over here trying to get his hands on brain altering nanites. Who do you think he plans to test them on?”

The pilot recoiled as far as the ice would let him, shock and revulsion on his face. Over several shaky breaths, grief, then hopelessness, tore him down. His shoulders drooped; his free fists fell loosely to the floor. His eyes dropped as he gave up on defending himself.

Yael sat on the ground, mind and body reeling. The truth had hurt him more than Yael’s fists or exoskeleton could. It made him too relatable to punch. Just like Yael, he’d been trying to protect his family. Just like Opal, he’d been trying to protect his family from Yael’s family.

Xe reached up a hand to xyr phone’s earbud, suddenly realizing xe hadn’t heard anything from the others. Xyr ear was empty. It was just the bud that came with xyr phone. It wasn’t meant for fighting. It could’ve fallen out at any time. Xe pulled out xyr phone, but it was hopelessly smashed in all the fighting. They couldn’t call xyr. Anything could have happened by now.

Xe shot to xyr feet, staggering, but righting xyrself fast. “I have to get back. I left them back there--” Xe’d chased the muscle instead of the mastermind. Stupid. 

Xe looked at the grieving man xe’d trapped on the ground.

Yael decided to trust. “Help me take down Lasansky. You’re not the one the APB really wants, he is. Help them.”

“And what, they’ll let me go? Let my mom go?”

“I…I can’t promise you anything. I’m seventeen. I’m not a superhero, and Nodiah only talks to me when he feels like it.” The pilot lifted his head. “But I swear, you’re not the only one against that bill. You might be the best person to bring Lasansky down. He blackmailed you into trying to kill someone.”

Xe moved forwards, and he raised a half-curled fist. Yael paused, and moved closer. He let xyr. Xe placed xyr hand on the ice, and squeezed, carefully, setting him free.  Xe looked him in the eye. “I don’t want to fight you. We were both just defending someone we love. None of them will get anything out of either of us dying. We both want justice.”

He moved away, standing, but he didn’t try to leave. Yael stood, too. “Come back with me. I’ll give you any protection I can. I’ll ask my family to help. Please, help me stop what Lasansky’s made. See him locked up. See where that can lead. You can’t kill Nodiah, now. But you can do this.”

He watched xyr, warily. “I have to go,” Yael nearly pled. “I left them alone and I shouldn’t have, and I have to go protect them. Will you help me?”

It was fair that he hesitated, but Yael couldn’t afford to give him the time this deserved. He looked at the opening of the alley. Xe wouldn’t stop him, if he left. Xe wouldn’t prove xyrself at his expense. 

“My freedom for the chance to change things. Again.”  He sighed, and braced himself, rolling his shoulders. “OK. Let’s go.”

* * *

When was Opal supposed to step in? When Lasansky grabbed Issac, she and the guards had all taken one step, then froze. If any of them touched Issac, or if Opal tried to help him, then this fight was going to escalate instantly. 

Issac could let go of the drive at any moment. It was just a prop. If he was still grappling Lasansky over it, then he was still playing along. 

So Opal stood, every muscle tense, as the guards stared at her, unmoving, ready. They weren’t interested in Issac.

She jumped as the sound of a gunshot from outside shattered any illusion of control, safety, or a real plan.

Yael was out there.

Even Lasansky’s head jerked up in shock at the noise. Issac clocked him. He had no idea his sibling had just gotten shot at-- or maybe shot. Yael could be bleeding out right now.

This was what Opal had signed on for. This was the future she’d fought for. She was terrified. She froze. One of the altered guards pinned Issac on the ground.

Too slow, she moved to help Issac, but a click behind her stopped her cold. It was a taser. They all had tasers-- she’d seen them when Lasansky’s posse came into the garage. They might not be guns, but they’d drop anyone from the Detroit line hard. She tried to think of something she could do that wouldn’t just get her instantly killed. She came up blank, and stayed frozen.

Lasansky bent and picked up the emptied flash drive. It was just a prop. She had to focus. Even if Yael was shot, xe might take hours to bleed out. Opal strained to hear some sign, but only heard running. Lots of footsteps running towards them, and much heavier feet running away.

They’d driven Yael away.

That was the only one of them who could fight, gone. Chased off by bullets. Opal couldn’t even blame xyr, but now what was she supposed to do? Issac was on the ground. Jamie had disappeared-- guards had walked by her hiding place and not seen her. Opal was on her own. This was not how this was supposed to go down.

Lasansky dabbed blood off his mouth, then bent stiffly and retrieved Issac’s tablet. He plugged the drive into it as several of his guards came running up the driveway. Their ruse was about to get noticed, and Opal still had barely even moved. There were so many guards, now. So many weapons. Sweat ran down her neck slowly. That and her hammering heart were the closest things to motion she could manage.

Opal couldn’t imagine Lasansky brought this many people and the pilot if he meant to leave witnesses.

Lasansky leaned against a truck, trying to boot up the tablet, ignoring Opal and Issac as irrelevant. Issac looked up at her from the floor where he was getting held down. He was scared, but he was angry, too. And he was waiting. 

He’d grown up with superheroes. He expected her to do something. To save them. This was the future she’d fought for. Why had she believed she could do this? She couldn’t see any avenue out.

One of the guards who’d gone upstairs clanged back into view across the metal walkway. He didn’t have Jamie. He was waving a sheet of lined paper and smirking. “Sir, I found something. The kid pretty much wrote his own suicide note. Talks about not surviving the trial and everything--”

Suicide note?

She looked back at Issac, who saw where she’d been looking and craned his neck to look at the stairway.

He’d been fighting from the start, but now was nearly tearing his own arms out of their sockets in his desperate, and futile, struggle. 

This must be the letter he’d told them about last night. The one that explained Martin. Today’s death toll might reach out even past this garage.

She had no good avenues. So she picked the only bad one she could even come up with. She launched herself at the stairs, raising a fist she’d just learned to make.

The guard blocked her easily, but he dropped the letter. He grabbed her in midair, and threw her off course, slamming her body into the unforgiving metal railing of the stairway. It was hard enough to stun her, knocking the air out of her body. He held on, drawing back a fist she wouldn’t know how to block. 

Opal’s frozen mind clicked over. She realized she did have an advantage on her side.

She knew the terrain. 

She pressed back into the railing, grabbing it so she could lift and kick out with both feet. He stepped out, and her feet barely skimmed his shirt, but it gave her just enough time to jump backwards over the side of the railing. She took off running. Not towards the door, as badly as she wanted to check on Yael. As badly as she wanted to get away. No, she ran the length of the garage instead, past the line of trucks. She heard the guards following her. What choice did they have? She was the only threat left. And it’d make some room for Jamie and Issac to do anything they could think of.

She had the barest scrape of seconds to find some sort of plan. A sketch of an idea started to materialize as she fumbled through it...They had tasers, But Opal could play that game, too. 

At the farthest truck, she tried to skid to a stop. Her sneakers shredded under her, the smell of burnt rubber blowing past. She just avoided falling as her bare soles found the concrete. Their shoes were built for this; hers hadn’t been, and her trip had cost her time. 

Now that she’d unfrozen, she could hardly keep up with her brain’s orders. She gripped the sole of a shoe in each hand, a little bit of extra protection against her next move. They were so close now-- close enough to shoot her. 

Opal tore the thick, industrial charger cord off the truck with a clang and a silent prayer to God to not let this be as reckless a gamble as it felt. In one sharp snap of motion, she tore the safety latch off the cord, hoping the rubber soles would give her some protection from the current. It did, a little, but she felt a painful warning tingle in each hand. She gripped the cord and whipped it out towards her attackers.

In the air, it hardly did more than spark, but when it glanced off one of the trucks, lightning arced out in every direction. They had tasers? She had an industrial truck charger! 

Two of them dove out of the way. A third one got hit, and Opal paused, horrified, as small bolts of lightning raced over his rigid, contorted body. She yanked the cord back off of him, and he dropped. 

Her moment of empathy gave the next guy time to dart forward and knock her in the kidney. She buckled, her grip on the cord going slack as her knees tried to collapse. 

She snapped the cord again, ripping it at the bend. Electricity arced. Some of it leapt to her hand, shooting through her body and freezing her arm, rooting her feet, freezing her into inaction again. The guard tried to retreat. One of her hands was only slowed, not frozen. She shoved the cord into his body. The electricity released her.

His scream cut off after a single burst of pained sound. His face lit up red, purple veins bulging in his neck.

She dropped the cord and leapt backwards, trying to keep the layout of the garage at the forefront of her mind. This was almost sort of working.

The second man didn’t fall to the floor like the first, but he dropped to one knee. 

She only saw three of them left. 

That number seemed off.

Opal heard a click behind her. She was always going to remember that sound after today. If there was an “after today” for her.

She dropped to her knees, and grabbed a huge toolkit by its handle. She came up in a spin. She didn’t hit the guard, but she knocked the taser out of his hand. She brought the toolkit down on top of it. She could make out a satisfying crunch under the clang of the impact.

The air smelt like burnt meat. How much of that had she caused? How much of that was her body? 

A kick to the side of her head took her by surprise. She hit the floor, hard. The steel corner of the toolkit tore a hot red line across her temple. The next kick connected with her ribs while her ears were still ringing. Then another, to the base of her spine. 

She curled in on herself, arms over her head for some scrap of protection, as pain closed in around her. They’d caught up. She’d lost her weapon. Her knowledge of the garage wouldn’t help her here. There were just too many of them, and there was nobody left to help her. They were probably all going to die, and Martin would be taken apart, and Opal couldn’t do anything about it. She reached out for the toolkit she’d dropped. A boot ground her wrist into the concrete. 

This was the life she came here to find. She wasn’t ready for it to be so short.

She squinted open one eye, desperate to find any advantage. Any blessing to help her survive just a little bit longer. To grab any little chance. 

All she could see was one of the guards, glittering a sickly green. His expression impassive, barely annoyed. This was just work, to him. Beating Opal was just a job, like hauling furniture. If he killed Opal, it’d mean less than scratching a customer’s antique armoire. 

All the fights Opal had held herself back from, waiting for her chance to make a difference, and here she was, beaten by people who didn’t even care. She hoped Issac and Jamie would survive this. She hoped Yael was OK, wherever xe was.

Eventually, the Sentinels would come. They’d know better than to believe Lasansky’s lies, and the APB was already on his scent. Maybe Jamie had even found some way to make the recording. She wouldn’t have deserted-- she must be doing something to help. Somewhere.

At least Lasansky could never get the nanites. She squeezed her eyes shut, felt tears mingle with blood on her face. Daddy was gonna be so mad...She’d gotten in over her head right away. Had her life chewed up by the same system that took him away.

Opal came here to be a hero. 

She’d wanted to do so much more than this. She wanted to be so much more than this. Aldis was going to come back to work to find Opal’s blood all mixed in with the oil on the floor. She felt ribs crack. Would Lasansky clean up the crime scene, or would the Sentinels show up and find Jamie’s little body, broken apart upstairs?

She’d never been so hopeless. Not in the boxing ring. Not in the courtroom. Never. She was going to die, and she couldn’t protect anyone.

Fuck it. If she was gonna die, she wasn’t gonna do it curled up on the floor. These lukewarm killers-for-hire were the same people who tormented her daddy, and she was finally able to fight them the way she’d wanted to since she was ten years old. She’d at least go down swinging.

She struggled to push herself up against the boots and blows. Gained an inch. Another. Got knocked sideways. Pushed again.

A body hit the ground in front of her. Her other attackers paused to stare at their comrade suddenly slack on the ground. Opal didn’t have time to question it. She grabbed the tool kit and swung. It took out two of them at the knees. She rolled again to avoid one of them landing on her, and came up in a crouch. 

The woman from before was already aiming at Opal. Opal jumped as hard as she could and banked off a trailer. The trailer rocked, and Jamie, perched unexpectedly on top of it, almost fell over. Not shot or beat to death. Not yet. Opal almost missed the exposed metal beams of the ceiling, but got a hand around one. The woman’s aim followed her, smoothly, still professional despite the pained noises of her fellow guards all around her. 

She shot the taser up at Opal. 

Opal knocked open the toolkit, sending a shower of metal down and knocking the taser’s connectors away. Electricity arced all around her.

And Opal was holding on to a big metal beam. She swung and dropped, landing on top of the truck trailer Jamie was on. Three of the guards followed her. The last three? Opal threw the empty tool kit at one of them. He staggered, but it wouldn’t keep him down for long. 

He fell off the side of the truck, completely limp. Just like the other one. Jamie knelt behind Opal, Bion’s gauntlet raised.

Two left. Opal launched herself at one of them. Jamie wasn’t a superhero, but having backup and seeing at least one of her team safe stoked Opal’s fire. She and the guard traded a blur of blows, but this was where Opal was at a major disadvantage. She fell for feints, and couldn't automatically calculate leverage like the guard could. 

New tactic-- teamwork. She swiveled, getting the guard between Opal and Jamie-- risky, but it worked. His attention was divided, and even though he torqued Opal’s arm around hard enough to force her to one knee, Jamie got a dart into his calf. 

He might have been from a different line. He fought the tranquilizer, and for one terrifying moment, Opal thought they might have an opponent they had no good way to KO. After a breathless second, he fell, nearly dragging Opal off the side of the truck as he dropped.

But the move had cost them and distracted Opal. The woman guard from before was on Jamie, and had pinned her wrist under one bloodied boot. No more gauntlet. Jamie struggled, but she was too slow, and even going for the woman’s knees, she got no reaction. The woman drew back a fist. 

Auntie’s comment about Opal punching a non-altered and them exploding raced through her mind. One punch from the guard would be all it’d take.

Another leaping tackle, and Opal hit dead-on, grabbing the guard around her open torso, knocking her halfway off the truck. The woman responded with some kind of spinning, half-airborne move Opal could barely track.

She didn’t need to take the guard down. She just had to hold her still long enough for Jamie to actually aim. Opal tried a grapple again, but was thrown off almost immediately. Opal moved behind her, trying to make her turn her unprotected back to Jamie. She grabbed; was shaken off. Punched-- was blocked. Got punched, and staggered.

She saw Jamie out of the corner of her eye. She was trying to shoot, but apparently the guard’s boot was more than the vintage tech could handle. The gauntlet was out of commission.

Opal got knocked down, but thankfully not stunned this time. She saw Jamie dig something out of one of her pockets. 

It was a taser. 

But they were all on a big metal box. Knocking the guard out wouldn’t do any good if they were all knocked out, too. Jamie and Opal locked eyes. Opal nodded. She rolled up as fast as she could, barely escaping a kick, and rushed Jamie. She caught Jamie around the waist and jumped.

She grabbed the ceiling beams just as Jamie discharged the taser. The guard woman had jumped after them, and Opal had to lift her legs with an unheroic squeak as their electrified attacker almost crashed into them. The  woman went limp in midair, falling to the floor. Opal winced at the impact.

They dropped back to the top of the truck.

No one else came to attack.

But sound to her left drew her attention. Lasansky was bruised, bleeding, and his nose was broken, but he had a gun to Issac’s head, and was backing out of the garage. Making a run for it.

Opal moved to the edge of the truck. Lasansky screamed at her and Jamie, “Don’t try it! I will shoot him.”

Opal couldn’t get to them from here, not faster than he could pull a trigger. And they were out of weapons. They watched helplessly as he dragged Issac backwards. 

Just as bloodied as Lasansky, Issac dug in his heels, fighting as much as he could with a gun to his head. He was still scared. He was also still furious.

Then his expression changed in some kind of realization as they nearly got to the door. His head snapped up, looking out the door. “Dad?!”

Lasansky spun, Issac forgotten, as he trained the gun out the door, frantically preparing to fight LodeStar. 

Issac backed up just enough to slug Lasansky across the face. 

The man reeled, gun lowering slightly. Issac grabbed it and backed away from Lasansky, but threw the gun on the ground. Damn it!

Jamie squirmed in Opal’s arms, then threw her gauntlet down. It hit Issac in the head, but he caught it. This was tech he knew, and he opened some invisible hatch with perfect efficiency. 

Lasansky realized that LodeStar wasn’t here. Just as he was swinging around to face Issac, radiating rage, Issac threw the gauntlet at him. Tiny darts, almost too small to see, burst out of the gauntlet in a cloud of sparkly weaponized tranquility. 

And Lasansky went down.

For a second, everything was still. Opal could still hear some pained noises from the other side of the garage, but nobody appeared to attack them. 

They stood there, looking around, Jamie still tucked against Opal’s side. “We…won?” Opal asked.

“I…think we won,” Jamie agreed.

Issac was rifling through Lasansky’s pockets. He pulled out a little black box, and pressed Lasansky’s limp thumb to it. 

He waited a moment, then stood with a relieved sigh. “And I’m back.” He turned to them. “Did one of you get that recorded?” he panted.

Jamie gave a breathless “OK” sign. “All the parts that matter.”

Issac sagged against the edge of the garage door. “We made it. Hi, Martin. We’re OK. Go ahead and send the team in.” Issac smiled at whatever answer he got. “Martin says they saw Yael on some security cameras, and they’re OK, too.”

Opal sat heavily, accidentally dragging Jamie down with her. Jamie started laughing, raggedy but loud and unrestrained. She punched the air with both hands. “We won! We actually won! We stopped the bad guys!”

Opal joined her exhausted, jubilant laughter, and after a few moments, even Issac joined in. 

Opal was about to slide down off the truck and to the ground, but Jamie turned around in her arms, putting a hand on each of Opal’s shoulders. Jamie’d ended up in Opal’s lap. 

She was very close.

Jamie was flushed crimson and gasping for air, a wide, proud smile still on her lips and musical laughter in her words. “Wait. Don’t go down there barefoot. I took a few of them down, but I shot a lot of darts. They’re all still down there.”

Jamie was no unfinished watercolor. There was nothing missing from her. She was radiant, fierce, and probably half out of her mind from the same victory that was singing in Opal’s veins. This was Jamie with nothing held in reserve. Beautiful.

Opal could see the exact moment Jamie noticed how close they were. Pure triumph dawned into something astonished and open and wanting. Wanting Opal.

It was a movie kiss. Burning and triumphant and hyper-real. By the time they broke apart, they were both breathless.

A little too breathless. Jamie pulled away and dug her inhaler out of her pocket with a glance of apology but a giddy grin. Opal laughed and leaned her head on Jamie’s shoulder as Jamie got herself back to rights.

They won.

#SHOSweekly

[simply-yelly2]

Been so long since I last did a Kiesha'ra character that I forgot the feathers on her nape. Damn.

Tagging my old friends @opal-tea and @justawfulxmenart because we have another unfortunate sibling who died young because of the war.

This is Mara Shardae, the older sister of Danica who died before Hawksong at the tender age of fifteen. I will admit that I have thought about Mara only a few times compared to Sisal, but I saw a comment that Justawfulxmenart had made on my picture of Sisal and it mentioned Mara...and got me thinking and suddenly I wanted to try drawing her.

And here we go. For some reason, I saw Mara having really curly hair. It would come from their father as I see Nacola's hair being long and straight. Danica might have some waviness to her hair, but not as much volume as Mara has going on. Her skin tone is from the crayon colors of the world. I used the extra deep golden for Mara. Danica would have a deep golden skin tone, and Xavier would have medium deep golden. Xavier also has some thick curls, but his hair is short too.

And then we have the feathers...The "hawks" of Kiesha'ra are actually golden eagles.

So about Mara.

I like to think that the Shardae siblings were close, especially after the death of their father and aunts. There was some jealousy. Mara often got Nacola's attention because she was the heir. But Danica was more proper? I see Mara as being kind of a free spirit and often would convince her siblings to skip lessons in order to go for a walk, maybe have a picnic, and pretend the war did not bring death every single day.

One big thing is that Mara hated having to rely on the falcons for help. Yes, the poison is one of the reasons that the Avians can survive this long (which is telling IMO), but Mara doesn't trust the falcons, and had she become queen, then she would have tried to slowly wean the Avians off of their reliance. This probably would have come back to bite her in the butt.

But it's telling in her fashion. If you all remember my outfit for Sive (which I might have borrowed for Psyche...oops), it is based on the style that the falcons wear. Just less...exposed.

Mara's outfit is more what most Avians where. A high front and low back for the wings. Although I kind of wonder because most Avians don't wear the wings of their demi form.

But yeah. Here's Mara.

Enjoy.

#kiesha'ra

[topperscumslut]

The Most Beautiful Man I’ve Ever Seen: A Poem That I Never Meant to Write

You are the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen

Not just physically, though that too

It’s like your soul shines right thru me

Like a hit of sunshine straight into my heart

You twist the knife but it feels so fucking good

I know we’re only friends

But then why do you hold me like that

Like you want us to go back to being more

Why do your nails trace my back like that

When you pull me into you at 3am in the parking lot

Why are your eyes more beautiful than any opal I’ve ever seen

Yet resemble them so effortlessly

And why are your pupils always so large whenever I’m in your line of sight

Why does your hair fall down your face and neck like that

Like waves of a deep sea that I’d kill to drown in

Why can I still feel what it’s like to kiss you even when I know I never will again

And why do I still wonder if I might

If you’ll invite me over like before

And we’ll swear it was a mistake again, slipping into our old ways

But then I slip into your arms and suddenly everything feels okay

The way you always go out of your way

It’s who you are, you do it for everyone

But why does it feel so special when it’s for me?

Why can you see right thru me like this?

Why am I still reminiscing on opening night

Holding back tears when I saw him in the front row

And running straight to you, to tell you it all

Kissing you for the first time outside of your apartment

Why am I still reminiscing on Christmas Day

Sneaking away from time with the family I hardly see

Just to talk to you

My grandparents asking about the boy from Thanksgiving

Not knowing how quickly you had taken his place

It’s like you were hiding in plain sight, I liked it

Covering the crimson mark on my neck from them

With my hair that was once so long

Before drowning my tears over you with cheap wine and not even remembering cutting it

Distracting myself with a boy I barely knew all January

Just cause he had made me laugh on New Year’s Eve

But he never wanted me, while you only pretend not to, that’s the difference

Only to find myself on your couch at the months wake

February bloomed and it felt like December all over again

Now March is in like a lion tearing my heart open for you to do whatever you wish to it

Feast on it, as it only beats for you

Why is it whenever I wish things would go back to the way they were

Suddenly they do, like you’re a puppet on my strings

But deep down I know that it’s you who’s the ventriloquist

Drawing “I love you”s from my lips that I whisper in secret but never to your face

And as you go back again to being the one I love

I get more and more addicted, you’re my drug of choice

Why are you all I’ve ever wanted and everything I can’t have

The most beautiful man I’ve ever seen

#poem #poetry #writer #yearning #situationship