Consider: Norman, Emma, and Ray going thrifting around their new hometown and learning a lot about the local people and even taking busted up VCRs or other old models of things. Seems like an excellent way to reclaim Ray's memories of taking apart old tech for the little machine he made to disrupt the trackers.
(Continued from here)
Oh my goddd they'd love anything that survived WWIII that provided more insight into the little mundane things of daily living they might have read about in books. Imagine them finding a betamax or CD player, or a built-to-last, old school refrigerator or sewing machine; the latter they end up gifting to Gilda, Anna, Gillian, or Vincent. Any older video game systems, especially ones with working digital libraries or those 250-in-one collections, would be a hit with the kids.
Lowkey obsessed with the scenario of the kids having a Mario Kart tournament that Norman and Ray aren't even a part of originally, but somehow they get roped into joining, and after like one or two races they're aceing it and eventually it's just like, deadass silent except for the rapid button mashing these two are doing because they don't shit talk each other but are just being absolutely vicious to each other on the screen, calculating more and more difficult angles to hit each other with green shells, drifting in front of each other just to throw back banana peels on the most precarious of turns with no edges, etc. Winds up the same way as their chess matches do:
Bonus! Mother Choi and Saejoong Choi designs underneath the cut!
I’ve done plenty of art for the cowboy universe in the past. But, the most we’ve seen in full body form is for Unknown and Seven. So, I figured it was high that I showed y’all the designs for everyone in Cereus. Now, I will probably post the designs for their looks after the end of that story and onward, but for right now, this was what y’all get.
Y’all know what the twins look like in this story, so let’s talk about some of the other characters.
Some of these designs aren’t a surprise, I’m sure. But, keep in mind the story is set in the mid-1890s so Yoosung has brown hair. However, he started to do his hair like Rika after her death all the same. His eye accident came from one bad dare. He took a hard tumble from a high rock and hurt himself, seemingly ruining his future until Rika pulled him from his low slump and asked him to join the bar for the time being to get back on his feet.
I, for one, love long-haired Jihyun, so this story reflects that. He keeps his hair from his face by tucking it back into a ponytail. The most distinct part of his look in this story is that his layered clothes are hiding burn scars from the fire. See, it wasn’t possible for his mom to get him out in time without major injury. His neck and back are covered in scars.
Zen is a performer. He isn’t wearing pants, those are tights, by the way. He loves the look. A corset and an open top? This man is living his best life. Gawk at him if you want, he doesn’t mind. Though, if you stared at Rika for too long and she wanted no part of that... well, good luck after his shift if he catches you. It won’t end well. The boa he wears is actually Rika’s after her death. It helps him feel a lot closer to her again.
Speaking of Rika, this is the first time I’ve drawn her in this universe. She is the ultimate performer in Jihyun’s bar and people turn heads when she walks by in any way, shape, or form. She’s confident here, only because she knows she’s a lot safer in the bar than she is anywhere else. You would never know what she’s hiding underneath her smile.
Jaehee is meant to appear unassuming in this universe. Underneath her skirt is a set of matching guns that she’s prepared to use at any moment. She was more or less trained to be capable with a gun from a young age but nobody wanted to hire her for it. So, she wound up at the bar, where Rika assured Jumin that she’d be a wonderful assistant and bodyguard. She keeps her long hair in this story as Chairman Han is hardly around for Jumin to be paranoid enough to ask Jaehee to change to avoid his nonsense.
Jumin dresses how you think he would, the only difference being that he wears a bolo tie that Jihyun got for him when they were younger. I think it’s the about the same for Vanderwood, since there isn’t much change from the original design for both of them. Still, it felt wrong to not draw them so there’s a complete set for all the characters. By I got to that point in drawing, I knew I needed to do Saejoong and Mother Choi. There isn’t much to say about Saejoong. He’s simple and this design is overall what you expect.
Mother Choi is up to my interpretation, though. The twins inherited their hair from their mother and their eyes from their father. That’s always how I’ve seen it in my head. She has wildly long hair that whips around her body when she lashes out and the memory of fiery red curls often haunts the twins more than either of the boys want to admit. She might be poor, but I added an elegant hat to show that if she gets money, she’ll always spend on herself before the boys.
Getting on the Cowboy PeePaw Trend before it completely dies
Both a Textless and Text version. They’re both outlaws and in a Dog eat eat Dog world I’d imagine that one outlaw would bag another for a quick buck. Also the Government where this take place is Tyrannical and corrupt
Cereus Mirae for @amee-racle ! Like always, based on @marshmallowprotection’s cowboy Unknown fic.
She’s got Unknown’s coat on her shoulders and all, I sure hope nothing bad happens to her bc of that.
This one is… the most normal Cereus. The one who has some respect for the og story. The ingenue. May her good heart and trustful nature not be scorched by the Sun.
Redesigning B.G. loosely from this lq gif I made a few years back:
She's a lil disproportionate, but that's why I love her ♡ true to form Undertale-inspired, the design doesn't have to be comprehensive, they just gotta be interpreted in a cool way!
"Ya know... I reckon, I know now. What... my favorite flower is. Do ya remember how I never gave ya a proper answer to that?" Chaewon murmured into the curly golden locks of the young woman pressed up tightly to her chest, her rough voice emanating with such foreign gentleness, she almost couldn't recognize herself. Oh, how she wished she could protect her dear friend from all the ugly and cruel things in this rotten world by simply holding onto her like this and letting her shed her tears freely into the thin fabric of her shirt.
"I reckon... I love wildflowers best of all. Ya know why, sunshine? They may be small 'n frail at first glance... But, they grow wherever they want to, scorchin' sun or whippin' winds be damned. They don't need anyone to fret over their every need. And no matter what anyone might try and do to put an end to their tiny blooms... their seeds will blow in the wind, findin' a new place to try again, leavin' something beautiful for us common folk to look at in the middle of the dry desert. 'Guess... I like wildflowers 'cause they remind me of you, Rika."
Some soft cowgirls for @marshmallowprotection 's wonderful cowboy au! Reading the first chapter of Rika's side story made me feel so utterly heartbroken for her... So, what better way to fix this than to give her a strong and tall cowgirl that is rough around the edges but secretly has a heart of gold? I always wanted to put Chaewon into the cowboy universe, but since we had so little info on Rika's backstory 'till now, it was difficult for me to do. Which is why I'm so excited to read this new story!
It's going to be painful to imagine how their fleeting romance will have to come to its inevitable and tragic end... But, that doesn't mean that what they shared between themselves did not make a difference to these two lost wildflowers in the middle of this hot and sandy town.
Make sure to go ahead and check out Wildflowers, it's really amazing and will definitely take your breath away with its play on our mysterious and complicated Rika Kim!
Hmm I feel like Ray would really enjoy reading and maybe even studying romance novels...?
He loves stories and escapism, so I keep wondering if he'd love just to delve into some love stories
And although he would know that all of these stories were fictitious - I can just picture him so clearly
Fervently taking notes
And just imagining our devoted princely man with so many books open around him - reading the so many examples, approaches, ways to engage with one's love...
It just...makes my affection for for surge even more.
Ray. My love for you. It's in outer space.
Ray thrives in daydreams. There is really no other way to describe it. If you have ever wanted to see the world's best example of what maladaptive daydreaming looks like, then look no further than him.
The only way he knows how to survive perilous situations is to disassociate and take away from what he's going through by living in a fantasy world for as long as humanly possible. It's not exactly the most healthy thing in the world because it allowed him to disconnect your true self from your fantasy self for quite a while.
His idea that he fell in love with didn't match up with who you really are until he got to meet you and be around you in the first place. He started to fall in love with you for real when he got to know you as a person. That's why he was able to disconnect from the state of disillusion that he put himself in in the first place. It's why he started to turn against the cult manipulation the way that he did right before he was sent to the basement.
But, if you want to talk about how far he can dive into his fantasies, then you have no idea what he's already done before he's comfortable around you.
He could spend hours reading different fairy tales thinking about ways to put you in those situations so he could rescue you.
He wants to take on the role of a prince and that means you're going to wind up in the role of somebody that needs to be rescued. It doesn't matter which terminology you wish to use to describe yourself, the only thing that matters is that you are going to be in distress and he's going to have to save you. That's not a great thing.
Which means it makes his fantasies come true.
If you were to give him a book or a place to start with your favorite fairy tales, it wouldn't take very long for him to take as many notes as humanly possible. He would want to recreate that for you in any way he could. It doesn't matter how unrealistic that may be. He is learning something about himself that nobody can take away from him once it's set into motion. That is to say, he would do anything to get happily ever after as his future. Even if he had to... dispose of a few people to get there.
He doesn't care about the realism of the situation, the only thing he cares about is making your fantasy come true. Which, in turn, is going to make his dreams come true just as easily. If you're happy, then he's happy. Of course, it's not as easy as that since a lot of this does feed into his fantasies, but it helps if you are interested in it just as much. As long as he has a fantasy, he has a sense of purpose. The fact that you exist at all is a testament to the fact that he can survive if he grabs onto something he wants.
It is entirely possible that he could spend hours trying to figure out the best way to put you in a position that would allow you to live out your dream. You shouldn't let him get carried away with that sort of thing because he would already be halfway through trying to make you a fancy outfit to fit the fantasy. He would find a way to bargain with his savior to hold a fancy party just to give you that.
He might not be able to make it happen, but God knows he would do everything in his power to give you a happily ever after. just be careful with what you do because there is a strong chance that the second you decide to hand him a story book or two, he is going to fill that book and every available surface area with notes about what he could do to make it happen and how he's going to make sure nothing can stop him from doing so. His obsessive nature can go a lot further than you think.