#this was a pretty quick sketch so it might not look 100% right but... i loved drawing kieren cos he's a wonderful character <3 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lingering-42-long · 1 year

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König SFW Alphabet

I think somebody has already done one of these for König but hey what the heck why not who’s stopping me from doing my own! I will do a NSFW soon! Enjoy!

A= Affection (how affectionate are they)

Very affectionate! He would give you diabetes with how much affection that he shows. He loves cuddling with you and will snuggle with you whenever and wherever (provided it’s not with a whole bunch of people watching). Just let him make the first move.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Loyal AF! Being friends with him means you got over his barrier. Remember, he was bullied a lot by other Kids and because of that he feels very insecure and shy around other people. Once you show him it’s OK to trust you (maybe also bringing back candy from Austria) he would be glued to your hip.

Friendship would probably start off at a café where he met you originally. Too shy to say anything except sketch away in his notebook. One day when you went to use the restroom he set the sketch next to your table. When you got back you saw the sketch And thought it was very cute. You saw him over there and so you walked up to his table and started talking with him. The rest is history.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Does he like to cuddle? Is the sky blue? Are trees green? Yes! 100% yes. Being in the next stage of your relationship he would definitely cuddle with you anytime he got the chance. At first he would probably be embarrassed to even mention some thing like that. May be settling for just simple touches on the shoulder or arm, and slowly becoming more and more comfortable with touching you as you seem not to be bothered by it. If you see him looking at you Longingly, just tell him that you want to cuddle and that man will be holding you in his arms the very second you say that. Tell him it’s OK to ask whenever he wants to and if he doesn’t want to ask, tell him to give you a tap on the arm or a nudge on the shoulder to let you know that he wants attention. He will snuggle down anywhere with you!

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

I feel like he might want to settle down later in life but as of right now he is very happy being in the military, however; if you’re unhappy then he would leave and You two could settle down anywhere. I would suggest moving back to Austria where he feels the most happiest.

He makes some amazing food not just from his home country, but also from wide varieties of other places. Surprisingly, for a socially awkward man, he enjoys trying out new foods. Then he likes to go home and re-create them. Let this man cook for you, you won’t regret it! Cleaning, he’s also pretty good at doing. He keeps his own place pretty tidy for the most part. If you two are doing chores together most likely he’ll be doing chores in the same room as you are.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

I don’t think he could break up with you you would have to do something horrific to have him break up with you. He loves you too much to end it. If he did have to break up with you for whatever reason he would probably tell it through a note; a very long and detailed note explaining why in great detail, that way you don’t feel like he’s trying to be an ass. He would request to have a short break if it isn’t serious just so that he could clear his head a little.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He’s in it for the long run. Note this: when you to start dating, it’s for the long run with marriage in mind. If you’re the one, expect to have the big question within a year or two at the most.

He would definitely want to get married fairly quick, but if you want to take time to plan out a more thorough detailed wedding then he’s OK with it. Just don’t make him wait too long OK? He wants to see you as his bride!

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

This boy is the epitome of what gentle is. This gentle giant is so weary of accidentally harming you anytime he touches you it’s very gentle. He is very aware of his strength and size and unless if you asked him to manhandle you, He is going to be incredibly soft.

Emotionally he’s also just as gentle. Ever in tune with your emotions, I feel like he might be an empath to some degree. If you’re mad then he feels it and wants nothing but to remove the madness. If you’re sad all he wants to do is bring you up close and hug you until you’re not sad anymore. If you’re happy then he is happy!

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

He loves hugs, just as much as cuddling! hugs to him are a great way of relieving stress and loving on a person.

Being in a relationship with him means you get hugs a lot. At first let him initiate the hugs, but once you too are more settled in, jump on his back and give him all the hugs. Especially if he’s coming back home from a long mission. This would make his whole week.

His hugs are like that of a Bears’ (without the claws of course). He is big and warm and his whole body envelops into you, and around you, and all over you. He’s like a walking weighted blanket.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

You would have to say it first. The poor guy would be so nervous about telling you how he feels towards you. However; he may whisper it to you in German if you are asleep, or write it somewhere on a piece of paper for you to find. He loves you so much that saying “I love you” scares him.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

I do not think he gets jealous. He just backs away and lets his overthinking and anxiety get the best of him. The guy that’s flirting you with? Yeah he is much better looking, much normal, much more the person that you might like.

He may get a little bit more emotional and a little bit more lovey-dovey when you to go back home. This is his way of trying to “win you over” again, or become incredibly quiet and very sad. No matter what, always remind him that he is loved by you.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Surprisingly he asked to kiss you. Of course he was very nervous and scared and visibly Shaking. The first kiss was a little awkward with the height difference and all as well as his lack of experience, but ever since then, his kisses are soft and tender. He likes to cup or stroke your face when doing so.

He likes to kiss you on the lips or forehead the most. The lips because it’s romantic and he wants you to know that he loves you. The forehead because he wants to let you know that he is close, he cherishes you, and he thinks about you.

He likes to be kissed oh the cheek or nose. To him it’s cute and makes him feel fuzzy. He loves to also be kissed on the lips of corse.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

He’s a little nervous at first, unsure about what to do with the tiny humans that are running around and underneath his feet. but once he gets to know the children he becomes very playful with them, deep down inside he’s still very much a child and will bring it out when other little ones are running around. He would make a great dad.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

He is not a morning person. He likes to sleep in as long as he can. Sometimes you two cuddle in bed until the sun annoys you enough to get you out, but if you are the type of person that likes to be up at the crack of dawn he will join you ever once in a while for coffee and a sweet treat while you to watch the sun rise.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Night time is when he is more awake. He likes to watch TV with you, or read beside you, or sketch at the table, or play video games/board games with you. Want to play Minecraft on your shared server? Count him in! Want to play battleship? He already has the game set up. Want to sit and watch a cooking show together? He will get the snacks!

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

He’s very shy when revealing stuff to you. It would definitely take you to be somewhere in the middle of the relationship before he finally starts talking about his past, at least the not so great parts.

He would never just dump some thing on you quickly. He would slowly let his past leak out so it doesn’t overwhelm you.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

His patience level is very high with you. You could be banging on pots and pans at three in the morning and he wouldn’t even be phased by it. With other people though, it’s a little bit of a different story. He can get a little agitated when something isn’t how he wants it to be or it’s not how he envisioned it, this also goes for him as well as he can get agitated with his own self. He rarely shows his displeasure. Being with you though, it has really helped him to understand that not everything has to be perfect or right by his standards to be OK.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He has a whole notebook full of things that you like in case he ever forgot. He knows your favorite color, your favorite flowers, where you like to go to vacation, your favorite books to read, and even down to your favorite blend of spices that you prefer to use (And how much per spice)

He remembers most details; there are a few things that he occasionally forgets because he does have a tendency to have his brain wander, but that’s why he has a notebook. Don’t be surprised if you see him pull out a notebook after you said some thing. That’s just him writing about you.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Marrying you. Seeing you walk down the aisle made him cry so hard. You were going to be with him for the rest of both of y’all‘s life. He had never been more happier in his whole entire existence.

If that hasn’t happened yet; he really loves to remember, the first time that he met you. It makes his face blush because of how awkward he was but he was so thankful to have met you because now you’re in his life and there’s nothing more than he could ask for.

He has so many fond moments of you he can’t just pick one.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Oh sweet bread from the heavens! He is very protective of you. If you’re showing any sort of distress he is on it. You are his mission and he will keep you safe.

If a guy is harassing you at a bar and you look over at König, he will get up and rise to his full height. He may not say anything but his sheer height and death stare is enough to scare anyone away.

Surprisingly/non-surprisingly he needs protection from himself. Deep down inside he’s very self-destructive and he needs somebody to let him know that it’s just him over thinking and he’s going to be OK. If somebody is bullying him at work and you’re present, comforting him after the incident is the biggest protection and self assurance he could ever ask for, however it is quite funny to him if you suddenly stand in front of him and the person who was teasing him and start harassing them. Payback is a bitch

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He puts in a lot of effort! If you two are having a date together he is dressing up for this! Your birthday? He is going to make it one that you’ll never forget.

His gifts are very well thought out as he looks at his notebook on you to figure out what would be the best gift.

If he can’t be there for a special holiday or what not, he makes sure to send a long letter with a sketch of wherever he is, or a picture of him. Something that you can have while he’s away from whatever he’s missing out on with you.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

His self destruction on his own image. Sometimes when things get too much for him he just shuts down. If you two are in a argument he’s just going to shut down and not continue. This makes his depression spike and he will most likely lock himself up somewhere or disappear for a few hours. No amount of coaxing or prodding is going to get him out.

He may also be a little anxious in public to the point where he may just not want to go anywhere. Like a horse that balks when it sees a plastic bag fluttering in the breeze. It may not be inherently bad, but it’s still nerve-racking and can cause him to shut down.

He’s also not very vocal and sometimes he doesn’t voice out everything that bothers him which intern can lead to a few issues down the road. And of course if you try to bring them up he may see it as a fight and shut down. He is working hard at not being like that though. Soft words and soft touches help.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Before he met you he didn’t care so much about how he looked or how many wounds he received or any of that. He did keep himself obviously groomed and clean but that was about it.

When he fell in love with you that changed everything. When you started worrying about his new scars and scratches he would be receiving, it made him think deeply on his life. Now he is much more careful than he ever was on the battlefield making sure to come home in one piece for you. Surprisingly, he enjoys using facial products with you and doing skin, hair, and nail care! He never felt so good in his whole entire life! That and he gets to be with you when you do it!

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Oh dear night sky! Just the thought of leaving you for a mission makes this man stressed. Even if you are just going to the grocery store for a few minutes and he’s by himself in the house, he feels lonely. Take him everywhere you go. Not only does he know that you’re safe but he also will be with you.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

He has a giving and a receiving love language:

Giving: Giftgiving. He loves getting you things that remind him of you such as a pretty flower that has the same color that you like, a sketch that he has been working on, or your favorite home-cooked meal. His gift giving stems from the fact that he’s not very vocal, but wants you to know that he pays close attention to you and he cherishes you.

Receiving: words of affirmation, quality time, or physical touch are all pretty high up there. physical touch was later down on the road but he has always appreciated you spending time with him and just being With him. Telling him how proud you are and how amazing he is really helps boost his confidence. The best combination would be after a long day You two are cuddling on the couch, watching your favorite movie, and you whispering ‘I love yous’ and thanking him for loving you back. This man would think he died and went to heaven.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Someone who isn’t nice. Anybody who doesn’t show another human being common decency of being respectful. There’s not much that he doesn’t really like but that is definitely on the top of his short list.

He also doesn’t like large crowds where he can’t see you. He doesn’t like crowds in general but if the crowds are so packed to the point where even he can’t find you or you walk away from his sight, yeah that’s not gonna go well. You’re going to have a disheveled, scared boyfriend, lost on aisle 13, hiding in a corner.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

He wraps around you like a cocoon, protecting you from all the dangers of the night. He’s a heavy sleeper and does have a tendency to roll around later on in the night. He does occasionally wake up from nightmares. But he always tries to go back to sleep as quickly and as quietly as possible so not to disturb you. If you do wake up from those nightmare fits be gentle with them. Let him catch his breath before talking to him. Let him cuddle back with you and don’t be surprised if he starts sobbing.

Hope you guys enjoyed! The sweet cinnamon roll deserves much more attention than what he gets already.

Part 2 nsfw

#könig x reader #könig #sfw #x reader #cod x reader #cod x you

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littledragondork · 11 months

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TES Cat AU: Skyrim Thieves Guild

My self indulgent TES Cat art is done, at least my favorite Skyrim Thieves guild NPCs are, Probably gonna’ post the Companions next because I was drawing the Skyrim Dark Brotherhood and for the life of me I couldn’t get Cicero to look right lol, but I’ll take suggestions :3c

(I’m so down with doing the rest of the Skyrim Thieves Guild eventually)

Anyway, my art for Skyrim Cat AU Brynjolf, Karliah and Mercer Frey under the cut, with some design notes :3

I wanted Bryn to be an orange cat, not only because I like orange cats and their low intelligence but because it just made sense. I also wanted him to be one of those massive fluffy cats, the ones that weight like 20lbs/9kg and have more fur than they know what to do with, he’d be 99% fur, go to pet him and your hand is just swallowed by the fur. I made him a mackerel tabby cuz’ I like mackerel tabbies and because they are just super common cat patterns. For a long time I wanted to give Brynjolf Sectoral Heterochromia, which is basically when one eye is 80% one color and has a little dot of another, in this case I wanted brown, but I couldn’t really get it to look right so I ultimately scrapped it.

He also has a docked tail because I liked the idea of all the known Nightingales having something fucked up with their tails.

I also did a little sketch with the thieves guild armor, I think it’ll fit like a harness with a few little pockets and bags. I imagine they’d all have dexterous enough paws where they can make stuff like furniture, buildings, tools, weapons, armor, cook food etc, makes everything a lot easier to me

I imagine all the Nords I’ll draw have ear tufts, extra fluffy paws and long fluffy fur coats, they’d probably slide on ice a lot lol, Think Maine coons, Norwegian forest cats, Siberians. I referenced Maine coons, Lynx and bobcats the most with Bryn here, but he is just a domestic cat.

So, for Karliah (same with all elves tbh) I wanted big ol’ ears, I feel like I could have made them bigger but I decided against it because I didn’t want them to be in the way too much (might change that later though). She is also mostly back cat because I felt it was simple and cute (I have a black kitty and I love her). It’s also not shown here much but she’d have pretty short fur, and a thin and small build, think 10lbs/4.5kg.

Karliah’s tail is shortened and broken (a painless break, the kind that happened as a baby) as to go with ‘all Nightingales have fucked up tails’ deal.

did a more meme-y sketch in this one, I was in a goofy mood and thought it funny how quick both Brynjolf and the Last Dragonborn were to just accept selling their souls.

I imagine all Dunmer would have black or dark grey base coats and those that are tabbies to have them be lighter than the base, so for example a black cat with white stipes or grey with red stripes. They, and all elves will be mostly based on the Oriental Long/short hair cats because of their big ol’ ears and narrow faces but I’ll take creative liberties of course.

Last in this batch is Mercer Frey, I redesigned him at least 8 times, first he was solid grey+ Tuxedo pattern, then he was a dilute grey tabby, then a spotted tabby before I settled on a colorpoint because he was said to be “high born” and coming from a wealthy family, and I was like “hey, colorpoints are fancy cat coats and I can see a rich and powerful family wanting to breed that into their line” and thus Colorpoint Mercer was decided on. I knew 100% I wanted him to be grey because of the whole “grey fox” fan thing he has going on in the game

Seems like every time I would get near him in my playthough, any playthough of Skyrim actually, he’d look at me like I just spat in his drink so I tried to capture that here. Also the Knife cat meme because I thought it fit him.

he doesn’t have a tail because he doesn’t deserve one it’s with the ‘all Nightingales have fucked up tails’ bit.

I also wanted to share my ideas for weapons (still no clue how to do bows) but swords, great swords and daggers, would be little gauntlets made of the specific type of metal that go on the paws, and they would range in size and weight depending on the weapon its based on, so great swords would be huge metal claws while daggers would just be apart of a little leather glove that wraps around the paws. Lots of good ideas cooking up in my Autistic little mind lmao /pos.

I imagine all Bretons will just look like the average street cat, standard issue cats if you will, the common domestic short/long hair, probably have the most diversity in fur patterns and the like.

So that’s what I was able to get done in about about a few hours (with frequent breaks and work in between) A lot of the time was looking at both official art, fanart and the in-game models to get a good sense on the personality (both fandom and canon) and seeing what I can convert more easily to a non-humanoid design, a lot of shape language practice because I like shapes :3

I have a Solid design down for Ulfric but I wanted to do batches with like characters, so all Thieves guild girlies with each other and so all Civil War Girlies with each other, some might be drawn in pairs as well, like Hadvar + Ralof or Vilkas + Farkas.

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dzpenumbra · 11 months

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7/16/23

Guess who caught up on sleep? I'll give you a hint. It was me. I did.

I mean... kinda. It's likely gonna take me a few days to fully recover from the insomnia shitstorm that has been this week. But jamming some whittled shims into my upstairs neighbors' floorboards actually seemed to make a substantial difference. The sound is not gone, but majorly lessened. Instead of a series of cracks and pops, it's just one muted creak.

I didn't get to sleep until about 4:30... dawn was just starting to break. And I took my tincture, it's a pretty low-dose CBD/THC tincture by today's "go to the moon or don't fucking smoke" standards, and I took the smallest recommended dose possible because my tolerance is 100% gone by now... But I do credit that for helping too. I woke up, no surprise, to thump thump thump... but not the creak. And, yes surprise, it was past 10AM. I had trouble believing it. I put in my headphones, because... in a moment of clarity... I remembered that the only sound that got through the headphones was the creak, not the thumps. So... right back to sleep, after tossing and turning for a good 25 minutes... but I got there. And I got another couple hours of sleep. It worked out pretty well.

Today... I've just been on full recovery, honestly. I'm still out of it. I'm still kinda stalled out. So much that it was actually a nice day and... I didn't go skating. I didn't go for a walk at that farm nearby. I didn't go for a walk in town even. I just struggled to time it right, and by the time I got out of the shower, it was 8:30 and it was too dark. Another problem with sleep deprivation... your sense of time gets all fucked... so you can just be spacing out or zoning in on something and then suddenly 2 hours have gone by. Well, at least with me that happens.

So yeah... I decided to not beat myself up over that. I did prototypes for my grip tape art, quick sketches in my sketchbook so that I have something for visual reference. And I gathered reference photos, that was fun. And towards the end of the night, I had a (I hope) smart idea to use my old broken compass point to carve guide lines into the grip tape of my trick board instead of relying on the colored pencil. I'm just going to improvise the mandala, why the fuck not. And then I'll add the bird heads after.

I made a nice dinner tonight. I batch-cooked fried rice and it came out really good. I'm not used to doing that. I usually cook a whole big batch of fried rice and just eat it all. This time, I cooked 4 servings and just took one serving from it and had some soup too. It was a bit more cook time... which ate up a big chunk of my night and I couldn't paint because of it. But I have food prepped for later this week too, which is good.

So yeah, that's... that. Low key day. And... tomorrow is supposed to be all thunderstorms. So... fuck. So much for exercise tomorrow. Going on a week of no exercise now. -_- Welp, as long as I can keep the sleep consistent (fingers crossed) I can get the exercise plan started again.

I've been struggling a bit with career stuff. Just... self-esteem-wise. Direction-in-life-wise. I think it's because of the instagram post. I sometimes feel like it just does more damage than good. But yeah, I've been staving off that demon for most of the day. Which sucks because I have so many cool projects on my plate right now - too many, honestly - and yet... when that demon enters the room... they all look pointless. They all look stupid, or unoriginal, or above my ability level and "I'm just gonna fuck it up, I have to be super careful". You know... anxiety. Some days it's easy to just laugh at it and move on. Some days it sounds super fucking convincing. "yeah... I should just avoid painting a realistic bird... despite over 10 years of experience... because I might fuck it up and it might not look exactly like the reference photo that no one will ever even see... and even if I do fuck it up, I could just... fix it... but no... I should just not even start painting it." It's hard for me to believe now, after the fact, that it even sounds convincing. It sounds silly. But in the moment? When it's your voice saying that shit? Yeah, it's a tough one, man.

What's been helping me a lot is doing this abstract work. In fact, most of my creative expressions have taken this avenue as a way of bypassing anxiety and insecurity... and getting the creative juices flowing. The Zen/Jazz approach. There is no wrong. This is just a document of what occurred, there is no "right" or "wrong". And this idea is one that I have employed in writing, in music improvisation, in drawing, in painting. I really need to reconnect regularly with it. And I really think I have found out how. Through Zen.

I want to study more. All that I know about these practices has been pretty much self-taught through exploration. But I stumbled across some stuff in passing that I want to research, practice and share. Specifically, let's refer to the ensō, which is a common symbol associated with Zen. It's a circle painted in ink with a brush in one stroke. The intention is to represent - god, this is actually hard to put into words - it's like a fingerprint, I guess. I just thought of it similar to the language from the movie Arrival, but... not as complex, I guess? It's a display of imperfection, a unique one-of-a-kind imprint of the artist's pure expression for a short snapshot of time.

A lot of my... presented art... has been the complete opposite of that. It has been comprised of meticulously drawn and blended pieces. Recreating reference down the the feather or pore, like a photocopier. Or doing my best to work and blend colors into a smooth mush. And now? Now I'm drawing bubbles in ink on paper. No sketch. No "correct shapes". Organic. Every shape different and unique, with its own personality. And that style of work set me free. Mental-health-wise, that is.

I still make my realism art. I have plans to do several pieces. But like... where my art was originally born was doodling in pen in the margins of my notebooks in school. In pen. And drawing on my arms and legs and pants in pen. No sketches, no prototypes, no re-do's. I would draw half-sleeves on my left arm regularly, and just wash them off at the end of the day. Wonder why I got into tattooing? XD

I guess I'm kinda telling this because... I dug up my old black jeans today. I haven't worn them in a while. They have faded patchy color spots where I used to have a Mr. Mime drawn in full color on the pant leg. I used DecoPens and it came out in the wash, unfortunately. But I guess it really reminded me that I used to just grab a pen and just go nuts for fucking hours, and just fill that entire pant leg with a patchwork of drawings and zentangles and designs and quotes and shit. No one else was doing shit like that around me, and I didn't even notice. I was just compelled to do it. And I genuinely didn't care if it was "good". I just... made it. Because that's what I do. That's what I was compelled to do. Why does a dog chase a tennis ball? It just does, it's just what dog do. And what I do is draw stuff on things. Apparently.

So... right now... those black jeans are sitting on the floor next to my skateboard... which has guidelines carved into it. And it's really making me... --- it's putting me in a strange dilemma. Do I embrace the freestyle spirit from my past? And just... start painting and see what happens? Do I use reference? How true to reference do I stay?

I can feel the two worlds of my artistic self colliding and trying very hard to... fuse. To just pick up the permanent inks and just start drawing on my clothing. But yet... to sketch, and make sure my proportions are right, and maaaaybe take a few steps before-hand... hmm... maybe sketch first... ooo or I can do the whole piece on paper first and then do it in ink and then put the sketch under the pants and put all of it on my light table and... See? So... I start with "I should just pick up the pen and embrace the imperfections", and then I end up with "I should carefully precisely draw this 3 times - in pencil, in pen and then inked on the clothing". And those are like... polar opposite practices! So... where do I go with that?

My answer today? Because I was ping-ponging on that all night... My answer was to do very basic guidelines for the skateboard. Just 16 symmetry lines and 6 rings radiating from the middle at random intervals. The rest of the piece - at least the mandala section - I'm just going to improvise. That's my compromise between just grabbing the paint and winging it... and doing prototypes and sketches and shit.

I really do miss the days when I would just slap paint on something. But now... I get this silly idea that like... when you've been doing something this long... and you call yourself a professional... You better be on your shit 24/7. And that's bullshit. Sorry. It is. That whole "every piece has to be better than your last or else it's not worth making" myth, that's bullshit.

I guess it's just the permanence of this stuff that gets me. If I fuck up the shorts? It's one of 3 pairs of shorts I own... XD I love those shorts, I don't want to "ruin" them. I never used to say shit like this. I never felt that way about my black jeans. Ever. I'd just start drawing on them without even thinking. "Ruining" never even popped into my head. What a nasty thought-infection!

So yeah. I guess the biggest thing I want to get out of my head... is this stupid idea of "good" and "bad". Either I'm willing to embrace the piece for what it is, and what it has become... as a product of my creative process, at a specific time, with specific efforts. Or I'm not willing to accept it. For whatever reason.

Let me use an example of where I'm a little on the fence right now. That red-beaded necklace? My first preparation of ink-stained beads finished with tung oil. I had it sitting in a sealed bag with a piece of cinnamon to add a multisensory experience to it. (it didn't work) It's been chilling while I work on the newer beads for... close to a week now. I took it out to wear it yesterday. The beads... have a kinda satin finish to them. I was not expecting it at all. When I put them in the bag, they had a bit of a gloss to them. I guess that was residual oil. This was after 6 coats of oil separated 6 hours apart each, as instructed by multiple sources including the bottle itself. Well... I decided to look up tung oil finishes today and apparently... Apparently they take up to 3 days to dry each coat. And the phrasing on all the bottles and shit is completely wrong. So... what I've been doing is just... taking the same coat and just re-saturating it every 6 hours. So... cumulative, this finished piece has 1... maybe two coats of oil on it. And it's already strung and finished. Do I call that a finished piece? The beads are pretty water-resistant. The color does look nice. They are decently polished, but again... have a satin finish, not a gloss. Do I strip the beads off and add more coats to them until they get the glossy sheen I really want? Will tung oil actually give them that sheen? (I've read that it's possible it will not.) Do I try to polish the beads with a finishing coat of wax? Or do I leave it as-is?

This is an example of... if someone came up and saw this piece, they would have zero knowledge of what I was attempting with this piece. They would have no idea that I intended for the beads to be glossy. Or that I still technically could try to get that look, but I'd have to dismantle the piece in order to do it. Maybe they would like the look of something less flashy and more subdued even more than glossy. So... it calls out that "good" or "bad" dichotomy, which does. not. exist. It's entirely subjective. What I find appealing, you may not enjoy. What a friend likes on Instagram might be uninteresting for a paying consumer. And I'm trying so hard every damn day to keep my head in the mentality of... "what does this piece want?" Not "what do I want" or "what does a potential buyer want?" In the business world, they call this "bad business". Of course you want to find out what is trending and what's popular and what's going to guarantee the sale. DUH. That's how all that shit works. But when it comes to creative expression... "pure" creative expression... these pieces simply share space with trends. Trends are always going to leak in through proximity, through cultural influence and shit. But the shift that truly makes pieces special... is when the piece takes on a life of its own. When the only thing that matters is figuring out what the piece is asking for, and how to get it there.

That's clearly not the only form or art or craft. But it's the kind that I chase, that I am constantly pursuing and craving. When you just put a pen to paper and the piece just starts drawing itself. When you pick up a guitar and the song just starts calling your fingers to the next note. It requires so much immersion, so much faith. Trust in the process. And I love it. It has been the fuel in my confidence-battle against my severe anxiety disorder since I was very young, and I often forget how crucially important those leaps of faith are for my everyday functioning - especially socially.

So... I can feel when I'm not practicing this enough. And I can feel when I'm slipping into "well, I'll just play it safe", "I don't want to 'ruin' it..." And today, I went there. So, after cooking dinner, I made an effort deliberately to fill a container with water for my paintbrushes... and get a paper towel. And just put them on the floor next to the skateboard. Then all I need to do is just go over there tomorrow and just start working. Just... paint to canvas, let it go and see where it ends up.

You know what I need? What my brother, who is also crippled by anxiety but is a very talented musician, needs to do? Make a "bad song". What every struggling artist needs? Make a "bad piece". Get it fucking over with. And you'll see that it's never as "bad" as you think it is. And there's always a person out there who likes it.

So, make "bad" art. Make hasty art. Make impulsive art. Make messy sloppy art. But for the love of god, don't make dishonest art. You'll deprive your work of the one thing that makes art... art. Soul. You. The artist. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but I really don't think we need more examples of soulless art in the world. People are literally programming robots to do that. We're all set, thank you.

Maybe I'm just talking to myself, maybe the world, I don't know. But like... soulful art is really important. It reminds us of what life's all about. And it resonates with people... reminding them of their humanity, too. And it becomes this kind of conversation. Maybe not a literal conversation (sometimes, but rarely), but as my eccentric sculpture teacher used to say... "art is anything put on a wall that asks the question 'consider this...'" And... as viewers, we respond. So... rather than try to mindread what's going to be a hot-selling topic, or what's trending... or whatever? Why not say what your heart has to say? It may be bad business, or bad marketing... but it's art.

Easy to preach, hard to practice. Good luck being a professional artist when you have no social connections and can't get noticed on the internet because you don't give a fuck about trends... on platforms that are literally designed from the bones up to exclusively support the popular getting more popular. But I'll be damned if I'm going to let that stop me.

#diary #journal #online journal #stream of thoughts #stream of consciousness

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astaroth1357 · 3 years

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Demigod MC Series: Athena

So. I have to deal with the virgin goddesses… By mythos, there really shouldn't ever be children of Artemis, Hestia, or Athena (yes, Athena was a virgin goddess). PJ got past that by making it canon that Annabeth and her siblings were born from cracking open Athena's skull (yes, that's also more or less the canon explanation). They gloss over it real quick but I remember, Rick. I've always remembered and that mental image has haunted me for years...

I can't, in good conscience, ignore the history around Athena's worship (call it an academic restraint) but I REFUSE to do the skull thing. So, since I make the rules here, I'm going with magic adoption. They still get magic powers, they're just more human than demigod. Cool? Cool.

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena

Lucifer

The human that popped out of the portal seemed to have enough sense not to attack everyone in the room for a change, but even Lucifer could tell that was more of a strategic choice than for lack of ability...

Their very existence was highly unusual… and quite worrisome. He wasn't even aware Athena could have "children" of her own, but apparently she had been taking in some particularly bright humans to raise and train like her own...

Unbeknownst to him, a surprising amount of human scholars, diplomats, and generals have her to thank for their trade… and that alone should speak to the level of intrigue at play here.

Was this an accident or Athena's attempt to plant an Olympian spy in the Devildom too…? Either way, he didn't trust them from the get go…

Look, Lucifer isn’t stupid. Athena is a goddess of Wisdom and War and war happens on more than just the battlefield…

Since they've shown up records have been going missing, official documents keep getting misplaced, and he swears that there's some kind of bug in the student council room...!

It's infuriating watching the MC suck up to Diavolo when he's almost certain that they're running their own agenda behind the scenes! And he can't prove any of it!! They cover their tracks too well!

Lucifer has one of those corkboards covered in newspapers and string in a secret wing of the Castle - 100% dedicated to just tracking the MC's activities…. The longer they're there, the more obsessed he becomes...

He swears between Simeon, Solomon, and MC he feels like a shepherd wondering why the sheep are growling… The Devildom has never been in more danger than it is right now... Send help.

Mammon

To be honest, he kind of thought that they were just going to be Satan 2.0 but that's not really true.

They're more than just a book sponge! Though they do read, like a lot. Let’s just say from one schemer to another… Game recognizes Game.

They come up with plans and ideas soooo fast, it’s insane! Honestly, there are times where he has a new money-making plot and he just brings it to the MC first to run it over.

Nine times out of ten, not only do they sniff out any problems but they have a solution for him in a matter of minutes! His scheme game has been on point since they’ve shown up!!

They’re also even better tutoring than Satan is, so he’s even managed to get a couple A’s for the first time in his life! Lucifer actually told him he was proud (which he secretly recorded and now uses as a ringtone much to his brother’s regret...)

So yeah, he likes them... buuut that doesn’t keep him from thinking they act a little weird sometimes...

Mammon: *points to a unused tower close to the RAD building* Over there is the Tower of Sorrow. We use it for storage.

MC: Ah. Interesting… *starts writing in a notebook, muttering* It may need a few minor tweaks but the location is defensible...

Mammon: *stops* Ya say somethin’?

MC: *looks back up* Nope! Say, you’ve been to the Castle a lot haven’t you? Do you know any good ways in?

Mammon: Uhm… Why do ya want to know that…? *starts looking around for Lucifer*

MC: In case of emergencies. I like being prepared. 🙂

Mammon: Look, I don’t know what Lucifer might’a told ya…

MC: I’ll pay you a thousand Grimm for it.

Mammon: Well shit, ya want those maps with or without color?

... Yeeeah, that’s pretty weird… But it’s probably fine. I mean, as long as they keep giving him money, who’s he to complain? 🤷‍♀️

Leviathan

Also thought that they’d be a lot more like Satan but was pleasantly surprised that they were into more than books.

What else did they like exactly? Military strategy!!

It’s been a looong time since he’s been able to talk to someone who’s actually interested in all the battles he’s fought, both in the Celestial Realm and the Devildom, and their curiosity is kind of flattering...! Not a lot of people take his strategic prowess all that seriously anymore...

Plus, they are the BEST partner to have any turn-based strategy game. Hands down. He once got stuck on a level of D-COM for weeks until the MC walked in and mopped the floor with the AI!! They have a serious head for probability and tactics.

The House once made the mistake of letting these two be on the same team during a Hell Game and they absolutely demolished the competition. Mammon didn’t even get a single shot off before half his team was lost to a rigged paint grenade… It took a whole day to clean up…

However, Levi’s also noticed some odd things about the human… He likes that they’re interested in his past but maybe they’re a little… too interested?

Levi: -and that’s how we defeated the Four Horsemen before they escaped from Purgatory.

MC: Wow, Levi that’s seriously impressive!! *furiously scribbling on a notebook*

Levi: Well t-thanks… 😅 But, uhm... are you writing that down…?

MC: Hm? Oh no, just doodling. *they lift up the notebook to show a bunch of cute little sketches on the page… and not the magic-based invisible ink all over them…*

Levi: Oh you draw too? Can you do fanart???

MC: Eh, sometimes. But say Levi, can you tell me about your naval ranks again? I’m still really curious… *gets the pen ready again with a smile*

Satan

Oh, it's been a long game of cat-and-mouse between these two… and unfortunately, it’s been pretty addicting too.

He honestly had every intention of tricking the human into making a huge mess do he could bother Lucifer, but at every turn they proved just a hair too clever for him...

He once gave them a cursed book to “lend” to Lucifer, but they saw through it the moment they touched it and lifted the spell before handing it over.

He rigged a podium to spray glitter during one of Lucifer's speeches but the MC disconnected the trigger mic before he even got on stage. It was pretty dang frustrating...

At one point he got so desperate that, just as a test, he tried to trap them in the House's Music Room. Fortunately for them, it only took a few minutes to work out an escape. They even passed by him in the hallway with a wink!

It's confounding! It's infuriating!!

...and it's so damn sexy... He should be furious but he’s just in awe!!

Add on that they know their art, literature, and multiple different crafts thanks to the tutelage of their adopted mother and that’s it. He’s finished. This boy is in love.

Truthfully though, a part of him is 90% sure that they’re also gathering state secrets… Like, they’re watching Barbs and Diavolo far too close for comfort - but he just can't bring himself to care. 🤷‍♀️

The MC could walk into his room one day and say, "Hey, do you want to help overthrow the monarchy with me?" and he dreads it because deep down he knows that he wouldn’t say no…

Take some notes, kids. Some bad influences get you to drink or do drugs. Others pull you into a centuries long conspiracy to destabilize and topple rival realms from within… But he has fallen for their brain hard. Devil help them all…

Asmodeus

They’re pretty clever, he’ll give them that, but uh… Are they a little off to anybody else?

Asmo is a charmer by birthright so he has a bit of nose for when someone’s just a liiittttle too nice… Not much of a nose mind you, because he can be thrown off by compliments himself, but enough to think that the MC might be a little too… “kind” for their own good...

First off, who wants to spend that much time with Levi?? They don’t even seem that interested in anime! They just keeping asking him for old war stories…

Then all the sucking up they do to Diavolo and Barbatos? Look, he gets it. Diavolo is a delicious piece of man-hunk and his butler could give him a lesson or two in sweet-talk (and he has), but they seem to be just a little too… nosy.

Of course, Asmo’s suspicions disappear pretty quickly after they start to spoil him with spa nights and beauty secrets they picked up from “casual research” into the subject.

And you know, get a little Demonus in Asmo and start massaging his back? Oh, sweetie he’ll sing like a bird!! … with gossip. Singing with gossip.

Asmo: So I’ve heard that Lucifer has been spending more time at RAD than usual… His whole club is talking about it, they think he’s meeting with some witch!

MC: Hm, is that so? *works on a knot near his shoulder blades* What do you think?

Asmo: Ooh~! Right there, MC! *purrs and lays his head on his arms* Well come on, this is Lucifer we’re talking about! I’m sure he’s just working.

Asmo: Hmm... though come to think of it, I think I heard him asking Barbatos for the spare keys to the Tower of Sorrow…

MC: Oh really? Huh. *works out the knot and gets up* I just remembered that I left some papers with Satan... I’ll be right back.

Asmo: You’re going already??

MC: *waves him off quickly* I’ll be right back, Asmo. *hurries out the door to do totally on-the-up-and-up things… surely*

Beelzebub

Honestly he doesn't like this one… But not for the reasons you'd expect.

He agrees with everyone else that they seem a little shady, but Solomon and Simeon are too so it's not like that's anything new... 🤷‍♀️

No, no. He dislikes them because they're the person who FINALLY figured out how to keep him from eating all the food in the kitchen!!

Turns out that the trick was to put a teleportation charm on the fridge door that would send all the food away if it’s opened after a certain time of night…

And where does it go? The Purgatory Hall fridge. And where does the Purgatory Hall food go…? The HoL fridge…

It doesn’t sound so bad until you remember that it means half of their fridge is now Solomon’s leftovers…. 🤢

After they put the same kind of spell on the pantry, it was all over… He couldn't get midnight snacks from the House anymore… Everything was contaminated by Solomon…

The MC is a nice enough person, he doesn’t have a lot of complaints about them, but he wants them to leave. Now. This is inexcusable… He’s so hungry… and he doesn’t want to die by “goulash” or whatever Solomon calls his latest culinary catastrophe… He’s still too young for death… 😓

Belphegor

In a way, he absolutely could not have asked for a better person to help him get out of that attic.

… In another way, he got one of the worst possible people to try and kill... Like. They saw through his scheme sooo fast…

How was he supposed to know that the human had training in body language and sniffing out lies???

Getting the door open was a piece of cake for them. They knew enough magic to undo the seals and just rummaged around Lucifer's stuff long enough to find the key to the door. He could not have found a more competent individual for a break out, really.

It’s just… well he didn’t expect to go from locked in a room like a prisoner to tied up in enchanted rope, still like a prisoner but now mobile. 😑

They even used his own hug ruse against him! They caught his wrists when they got close and tied him up before he could shake them off...

Admittedly, it wasn't exactly the best look for them either - what with walking Belphegor downstairs to the others like a one-man-prison-caravan but they're as silver-tongued as they are sly so they talked their way out of it beautifully…

And like hell was he going to trust them after that!! And not even Beel liked them so something had to be up...

Well, you want a detective? Look no farther than Belphie (no seriously, it’s in the canon). He can put things together pretty fast when he puts his mind to it and watching the MC for a while gave him enough proof to work off of...

He always knew that, humans were bad news and the MC just proved it to him all over again. They are bad news, bad bad news and they’re going to-!

Overthrow… Diavolo…? Is that what he is getting from them…? Huh…

Wait a second, MC. You might just have him interested… 😏

#you say athena mc is smart #i say athena mc is spy #because where better to use your smarts #in war #obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me demigods

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oliviayamaoka · 3 years

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The Roseville Murders (Chapter 2)

Hi, just wanted to say I adjusted the plot slightly and will go into more detail with the story next chapter! This was a bit experimental and I wanted to write the growing relationship / rivalry between Y/N and Danny. I also wanted to write Y/N as a girlboss and to be just as witty as Danny!

Anyways, please comment any ideas or suggestions you may wanna see in future chapters! I have this planned out but would love any ideas or stuff I can add into the story! Tysm for reading!

It rained softly outside as you took a seat at your workplace. The desk was a bit cluttered with your art, notes, junk, and your papers regarding your current investigation.

One of the drawings on your desk was a sketch of Ghostface’s mask, attached to it was a few notes regarding the origin of the mask. Did Ghostface care for the history of it, anyways? You already theorized he was a narcissist who took pride in his work. Perhaps, he admired Edward Munch and his infamous “The Scream” artwork? Or maybe he based his persona off of it? You weren’t too sure but you did research the distribution and the company that made the masks. It wasn’t a particular popular company but it only distributed to the USA, Canada, and Brazil.

Ghostface didn’t seem too caring when it came to where he stabbed victims. As long as there was a lot of blood and something only he could perceive as art. And maybe you too. You felt excited, you already had a three year timeline. Maybe, you could get ahold of other states and ask if there’s been similar killings. Maybe even Brazil and Canada? You had to pinpoint a location and see if you could find just one name, any name.

Three years. Three countries. A part of you doubted he was Brazilian. Maybe Canadian? You weren’t so sure, you were pretty sure he was American. Y/N would probably have to go to the library tommorow to do research and use the slowly growing internet. Your research was suddenly halted when you knocked your sketchbook over.

Our slid a page. You kneeled down to pick it up, holding it as you examined the dark sketch. On the paper was a sketch of claws? No, they also looked like tentacles. Ever since the incident, you had dreams of these tentacle claws grabbing you and pulling you away from life as you know it. It must’ve been a sign of trauma or maybe it represented what happened through the nightmares? You slid it back into your sketchbook, deciding not to dwell on it. It would only make your room feel more depressing.

Beside your sketchbook was your leather journal. Y/N wrote everything in there, for mental health reasons. You included the incident and what Jonathan did for you. Your previous therapist said journaling your thoughts helped the healing process. It worked but journaling about how you killed your abuser was hell.

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted when your phone rang. It was a chunky, black mobile phone you got about a week ago? Y/N reached for it and answered.

“Hello?” You answered, using your other hand to organize your desk.

“Hello?” A voice answered, it was a male by the sound of it.

“Hi, who’s this?” Y/N asked, paying no mind to the phone call as she started to put some of her stuff away. Art supplies.

“Who’s this?” He replied.

“Y/N L/N, am I who you’re trying to reach?” You asked, sitting back down.

“Ah, you’re no fun, detective.” He chuckled as you stopped, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion. Who was this?

“My apologies but, this is my personal phone. Can I ask who gave you this number?” You questioned him.

“Why does it matter, gorgeous? I know it’s you now.” He responded.

“Please don’t call me that. And yes, I am indeed a detective but I’d feel more comfortable discussing anything with you on my work phone.” Y/N said sternly.

“Oh, yeah… Detective L/N, huh? Think you’re some sort of hotshot because you’re new? Where did you come from? Washington? Gonna take more than the feds to catch me.” He said to you.

You listened intently and stopped for a moment. Catch him? Must be a stupid prank. Although, not a funny one since he had your personal phone number. An eyebrow raised as you looked at your notes on Ghostface.

“You still haven’t told me your name. Let’s not be rude, yeah?” You responded, being a little more cocky since you were off-duty.

“Awe, don’t tell me you forgot my name. I’ll give you a hint… I’ve been quite famous lately. In fact, I think you’ve taken quite the interest in me, Y/N.” The man teased. It was 100% Danny.

“I asked for a name, not an alias.” You said.

“Maybe after dinner, hotshot.” Danny said to you as you furrowed your eyebrows.

“I’m not in Roseville to play games. Either verify you are who you claim to be or quit wasting my time.” Y/N spoke with a stern tone.

“My last victim had three stab wounds to the throat. It was going to be two but their scream wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be. And they had a tattoo on their upper thigh. Bella Smith.” He said as you froze for a moment.

It was true. The latest murder victim was a middle-aged woman named Bella Smith who worked at a convenience store. She had multiple stab wounds but it was pretty much impossible to see she had three wounds on her throat just looking at photos of the crime scene.

“Okay and how did you get my number? I imagine the infamous Ghostface doesn’t have access to these types of things. How do I know this isn’t some sort of elaborate prank orchestrated by my coworkers?” You questioned.

“Honey, I am Roseville. Also sounds like you have experience with these kinds of things. You ever get humiliated like that?” Danny asked, grinning widely.

“No, it’s just a very logical conclusion. And why would you be talking to me anyways?” You asked him.

While you spoke to him, you quickly wrote down what he said and what he sounded like. You quickly speculated what his age may be, maybe 25?

“I keep tabs on the cops who are investigating my work and to be honest? They’re all stupid, it’s pathetic. Although, I noticed something about you. You come from one of the big cities, don’t you? You’re actually smart compared to those other pigs.” He said.

“Those pigs you speak of have tried their best in pursuing you. They have families too.” You responded.

“Really, huh? You’ve only been here three weeks? I think you should just trust me on this one because those other officers really don’t know what they’re doing. If you actually find out who I am, are they gonna give you credit? The newbie? A woman?” He asked.

“I don’t understand why gender is an issue. And why would they try to steal credit?” You questioned.

“They’re stuck in this shit hole city and I bet they could just really use a promotion right now. They want so badly to be the hero that arrests me… but first, they’ll let the freshly graduated detective do the work. It’s so easy to overshadow women in this world.” Danny said.

“Well, I don’t care. As long as you’re put behind bars.” Y/N responded.

“The bars at this station? I must say, your desk is quite cute. A bit plain but I like your style… interesting files too.” He mused.

“Huh?” You responded, furrowing your eyebrows.

“Your lil’ office at the station, I like it. This place has always been easy to break into. You noticed it too, didn’t you? Their security sucks and their morgue is just too damn small.” Danny said as you frantically looked around, shoving your shoes on.

“I’m going to call them right now and tell them you’re there. That was a stupid move on your part.” You said, practically yelling.

“So young and naive. I’ll be long gone.” He responded, chuckling as you hung up.

“Fuck, shit!” You said, quickly dialling the number to the police station.

You practically flung your door open, sprinting down the hallway and out through the front doors of the apartment complex after three flights of stairs. Your heart rate increased as you continued running down the sidewalk, feeling more frantic when there was no answer.

“Answer…!” You yelled, calling the emergency number.

“911, how can I help you?” A staticky voice answered as you continued running.

“I’m Detective Y/N L/N! Please inform the police station that there’s an intruder! He might be armed and dangerous! Do not touch anything since there may be forensic evidence!” You instructed.

“Oh—yes, right away, ma’am!” The dispatcher answered as you hung up, continuing to focus on your running towards the station.

Back at your apartment complex, there stood Danny with his own mobile phone. It couldn’t be traced back to him since it was stolen and he didn’t leave any DNA on it. If anything, it had the previous owners. Bella Smith. Your apartment complex had fire escape stairs outside your window. Easy enough, he thought. His outfit was black and had some stuff hanging off it. Strings? Ribbons? Danny was quite quick and extremely quiet when it came to climbing the set of stairs.

He reached your window, pulling it open gently and hoisting himself through, landing gently whilst kneeled down. For precaution, he had his knife gripped in one hand. This was purely for investigation and to see what you truly had on him. His head tilted curiously as he noticed your desk. Your art and notebook. His gloved hand reached out to your sketch of him.

Danny was truly impressed at how detailed and good it was. He read through your sticky notes and theories. Other than the fact he was blown away, he knew you were a threat since you successfully guessed his age range and height. Wait, his height? You did a careful examination of the footage he was in, looking at objects around him and his boots to correctly guess a height.

“What the fuck…?” Danny muttered as he looked at your notes.

The Scream by Edward Munch and a costume company? He skimmed over your notes and the psychological profile you built on him. He felt somewhat panicked since you were indeed no joke. His gaze averted towards your leather notebook. Eagerly, he grabbed it and opened it. Most of it was your thoughts and causes of your stress and anxiety. He stopped flipping through when he saw a darker page. It was dark because of the writing and how crumpled it seemed.

December 23rd, 1992

I was walking down an alleyway two weeks ago. It was cold so I had a jacket over my uniform. I suppose that’s why the man didn’t know I was an officer.

At first, I thought that he was going to try and rob me. It took me a while to realize that my money and belongings wasn’t what he was after. I suppose it would be appropriate to say that I was in shock for a moment. He never finished what he started. Despite being in shock, I was able to feel everything and the adrenaline only helped my rage.

Why? Why did this have to happen to me? After getting him off, I pulled my gun out and he stopped. I still remember the look on his face after I shot him. He was scared and pathetic, as he was in life. I don’t regret killing him. I never will. I just feel utterly violated. Never once have I been touched like that so violently. Is this what this fucked up world has come to? What if I didn’t have my gun and training?

He definitely did this to other women… he deserved to die. And I would do it all over again to him and to other men just like him. Of course, I had to call the police. They were going to charge me with manslaughter but they said that they would push this all under the rug, just as long as I never tell anybody. Did I contribute to corruption in the police force? This getting out would ruin everything. I don’t know but I do know that this was my gift.

Freedom was my gift for killing that man. It felt oddly exhilarating. I hope nobody remembers him, I hope his family know what kind of monster he was. Anyways, I’m being reassigned somewhere. They said they’ll give me my first investigation. In a smaller city.

Danny’s fingers trailed over the page. He felt angry and sad for you. That this happened to you. But, something arose in him when he kept re-reading that paragraph. You… enjoyed it? Behind the mask, he had a soft expression on his face. He imagined your beautiful face full of blood with you and your gun. He smiled gently as he kept the notebook.

He did indeed feel bad for you but he wasn’t satisfied with his limited knowledge of you. Danny decided to use this notebook of incriminating evidence to hold some leverage over you. Not only that but he figured he’d get to know you better if they had something interesting to talk to you about. Danny couldn’t help but grin when he thought about your journal entry and the sketches you made of him. So smart yet so naive.

Danny quickly took a look around your apartment to see all points of entry. He took a peak into your bedroom, it was neat and tidy. He seemed somewhat paranoid so quickly went back to your living room window, making his swift little escape. Not without taking some of your notes on him and your sketchbook.

About two hours later, you rubbed your eyes in frustration as another officer came to talk to you. There was a forensic team still investigating your little office space. Apparently, there was nobody here and your office seemed untouched. For about thirty minutes, you inspected any points of entry and tried to look for out of place shoe marks since it rained outside.

“Detective, are you certain it was the killer who called? We get prank calls a lot.” He said as you nodded.

“Yes, I’m certain. It was him, he knows I’m going to catch him soon.” You said as he nodded a bit.

“Okay, well, we’ll take it from here. Come early tommorow.” He said as you sighed.

“I will but please, don’t miss anything. I’m starting to think he was lying. It was him though.” You said as you turned, walking down the hallway towards the exit.

It seemed to be evening at this point and the rain stopped pouring. It was slightly humid but the city looked oddly beautiful when it was wet? You couldn’t stop thinking about your phone call with Ghostface earlier. Y/N already had some tech professionals try to track the number he called from and all of the information regarding the phone company. You’d have to wait two days at the latest for the results to come back.

As you walked through light puddles, you felt more and more tired. All the running and frantically searching for him was enough to just make you exhausted. It was all last-minute too. Y/N stopped dead in her tracks when she felt her mobile phone ring. You pulled it out of your pocket and answered it.

“Hello?” You asked, tired.

“Hey, gorgeous. Just wanted to apologize for my little deception trick earlier.” He responded as your eyes widened.

“Ghostface…” You responded, shocked that he had the courage to call you again.

“God, hearing that from you…” He said with a slight husk as you took a deep breath quietly to calm yourself.

“You know I’m close, don’t you?” You questioned him as he chuckled.

“Of course, I do… only these hands of mine can do wonders for you.” Danny said to you as you scoffed.

“You’re disgusting.” You say to him.

“Don’t lose your temper now, detective. There’s… things we should discuss.” He cooed.

“Things? Seriously?” You asked him, already tired of his bullshit.

“Yeah! Like, this lil’ notebook of yours! Really deep stuff… Victor Houston, was it? The serial rapist? Must’ve felt real good to put him down, didn’t it? Did it feel as good as you said it did in this thing?” He asked as you froze.

You probably let out a small whimper of shock as your hands trembled. Your heart pumped hard and fast. It was all you can hear as you felt your face heat out of pure embarrassment and shock. He… read your journal? This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good.

“W-What…?” You asked as he cackled.

“God, you’re so hot when you sound scared. Don’t be offended though, babe. You still sound real sexy in your cop tone.” He said as he continued.

“Yeah, I read all about the guy you killed. And how it was all covered up to accommodate you. Are you a star student or something? It’s hard covering up murders… or has it always been easy for you?” He asked.

“I-I, um… how did you get that…?” You asked him, trembling.

“You see, Y/N… we’re the same. You and I are too smart for Roseville. It’s just that I got the upper hand this time. While you rushed to the police station, I took a quick trip into your apartment.” He said as you let out a light gasp.

“Yeah, that’s right! I know where you live, I know where you’re from, and your number. I know who you truly are, Detective Y/N L/N.” Danny said mockingly.

“And what are you going to do with it?” You asked him.

“Always so straight to the point. I might give that annoying little journalist Jed Olsen. You’re trying to work with him, aren’t you? You mentioned in one of these notes… you also think he’s handsome.” He said as you covered your eyes.

You fought tears.

“Why? Why would you do this?” You ask.

“I should be asking you that. I’m a bit jealous you find someone like Olsen… attractive. He’s so boring, so normal, so… ugh, I hate talking about him. Still though, nice to know I have another fan besides him.” He said to you.

“Where are you going with this?!” You snapped as he chuckled darkly.

“I won’t tell anybody. Just as long as you halt your investigation for a while. I still want to have fun in Roseville here and well… get to know you.” He said.

“Go to hell.” You muttered.

“How original… so what’ll it be? I kinda need to know now since I’m also on a bit of a time crunch.” Danny asked you.

“W-What the fuck do you want me to do? Sit back and watch as you kill more innocent people?! I won’t let you.” You said with a venomous tone.

“What are you gonna do? Stop me behind bars?” He asked mockingly.

“Fuck you.” You said.

“I’m sure we will. But first, I just want you to sit back and not do anything stupid. We’ll see each other eventually. I’ll call you from another phone soon.” He said, hanging up.

You held your phone in disbelief and quickly made sure you had your gun. How the hell could you have been so dumb?! It was genius, leading you away from you apartment and finding such leverage against you purely out of luck. Your breath trembled as you walked back to your apartment, having your gun ready in your pocket as you did so.

#dbd x reader #ghostface x reader #the ghostface #ghostface dbd #danny johnson x reader #jed olsen x reader #jed olsen #danny johnson #dead by daylight x reader #dead by daylight

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ladykissingfish · 3 years

Text

Driving with the Akatsuki

Itachi

Driving with this guy is ... nerve-wracking, to say the very least. It’s not as though he’s a reckless automobile operator; he observes all the laws of traffic, the radio is at a reasonable volume ((he’s the type to listen to podcasts rather than music)), he follows the speed limits, he actually slows down at a yellow light — but it’s the near-misses that are daunting. The just barely stopping in time before hitting the old lady crossing the street. The running up on the curb while parking. And then there was that incident with the tree — Itachi legally has to wear glasses when driving, but his passengers often wonder whether the glasses actually HELP him. Even with them on, he squints A LOT. And only someone with nerves of absolute steel, like Kisame or Kakuzu, will be in a car with him at night. However he is with driving, one thing he’s not blind in, is his car’s cleanliness. Will make passengers wipe feet before getting in, and after everyone is gone he’ll carefully scour the seats to remove even the faintest trace of lint or gum wrappers or any disturbance at all. Can be a bit of a “mom” driver; a holdover from his teenage years of constantly having to chauffeur around his younger brother and his brother’s rambunctious friends.

Kakuzu

Anyone getting into a vehicle with Kakuzu is in for a surprise. 91 years old? Surely he drives slow and steady, like a typical little old man, right? WRONG. Kakuzu is a goddamn speed-demon. He barrels down streets, he flies through intersections. Not many know this about him, but he was very much into drag-racing as a (much) young(er) man, and his current proclivity for quickness is a holdover from those days. Luck always seems to be on his side, as he’s gotten caught/received speeding tickets far less than he deserves. To make matters scarier, Kakuzu’s radio system has been broken for two years (and of course he’s too cheap to get it fixed), and the back left window doesn’t roll up to the top; so the only sound his passengers will hear is the wind rushing past the glass and Kakuzu’s deep, sinister chuckles as he sees other drivers (and pedestrians) scramble to get out of his way. Also, unless you’re a CLOSE-close friend, don’t expect a ride from him unless you have gas money.

Deidara

In all honesty, the blonde prefers to be the passenger rather than the driver, even in his own car. He gets his best inspirations for future art pieces when he’s traveling around, and it’s hard to pick up a sketch book when you need to be paying attention to the road. When he does have to be behind the wheel himself, he’s a fairly average driver. His passengers are always at risk of a case of auditory whiplash, as Deidara’s (loudly played) music tastes switch from one extreme to the other; and the guy isn’t exactly shy about singing along to his favorites. He’s also one of those eat-on-the-go guys, and his backseat will almost always be buried under a myriad of candy wrappers, empty plastic soda bottles and discarded burger wrappers. In the summer he prefers the wild and free feeling of having all the windows down, rather than turning the AC on, and he’ll have to remember to firmly tie up his long hair and keep it from blowing in his eyes or else everyone in the car will be taking an unscheduled trip into the nearest tree.

Zetsu

His car always has that calm, natural, “special plant” scent to it. The kind of smell that causes a panic when Zetsu sees a police officer anywhere in the area. A very relaxed driver; seat almost all the way back, one hand barely on the steering wheel. Obeys the speed limit but can put the pedal to the metal when in a hurry. Likes to listen to mostly reggae or jazz, and taps his fingers on he dashboard along to the beat. Water-bottle hoarder; has at least 1000 plastic water bottles, in varying staging of fullness, all over the front and back seats. The type to keep driving around the block until the song ends. Also the type to have really deep conversations with his passengers, and drive them out to really far away and scenic locations.

Hidan

If you have somewhere important to go, and need a ride, it’s best not to ask Hidan. He is the sort who always insists he knows a shortcut or a quicker route to every destination ... and ends up hopelessly lost. Can’t read a map to save his life and for some reason won’t trust a car’s gps system to guide him ((has some pretty crazy conspiracy theories about the voice behind the system)). Easily distracted by any and everything (both inside and outside of car), which makes being his passenger a bit daunting. Like Kakuzu, is a very fast driver, but infinitely more cautious as he has a LOT of tickets wracked up and isn’t looking to add more.

Really loves Led Zeppelin and Johnny Cash; has a visor full of those CD’s and will play those rather than listen to the radio. Also has a butt-load of swear word laden and inappropriate humor bumper stickers.

Pein

Who needs a car when motorcycles exist? This guy has a classic hog that he keeps in mint condition, that he rides around wherever he goes. Every year he’ll try and convince his close friends to ditch their boring cars for something more sublime, only to be met sure emphatic No’s each time. Is very protective over his baby and will go ballistic over even the tiniest nick or scrape. Drives at a normal speed when by himself, but will drive just a bit faster when carting around a friend (especially if it’s a female friend). Doesn’t really like to wear a helmet himself but will insist on any passengers putting one on. Prefers the quiet of the open road but if in a musical mood it’s always 80’s hair bands; a lot of Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, Van Halen. Can do a variety of tricks on his bike but doesn’t do them often as he doesn’t like to “mess up” his baby any more than necessary.

Sasori

Absolutely 100% HATES driving. Has massive anxiety anytime he has to get behind the wheel, almost to the point where he’d need to take a sedative just to relax. Drives slower than the slowest driver you can think of. Yellow light? Slow down. Green light? Still slow down. Will drive himself to and from work, but any other time would prefer being a passenger in someone else’s car ((in which case he becomes the worst backseat driver in history)), or simply taking the bus. Doesn’t like giving rides to others but if he must, it’ll be a very tense, silent drive (forget about him turning on the radio and ‘breaking his concentration’), and he’ll freak out if a passenger takes their seatbelt off before the car comes to a complete stop. Also has a hyper-awareness to anything that might possibly be wrong with his car; if that check engine light comes on you can bet he’ll be at the mechanic in a heartbeat. Also the type who feels “uncomfortable” if gas tank is below 3/4 full.

Konan

The type who’s always heading somewhere/running errands, and will ask if you need a ride. Very neat and organized car, and always suspiciously shiny (as if she visits the carwash every other day). Seems to know absolutely everybody; is always waving at or honking to people in other cars. Keeps the radio volume down when she has passengers, but when alone she loves to sing at the top of her lungs to 90’s boy bands (her rendition of I Want It That Way by The Backstreet Boys is American-Idol worthy). Is always prepared for anything, especially in the winter; in her trunk is a shovel, an extra blanket, water bottles and protein bars, even emergency flares. May be pretty and delicate but definitely knows her way around a car; can change a tire or check the oil with the best of them.

Kisame

Has very long legs, so needs a car or truck that provides him ample room to stretch. A very relaxed and mellow driver, always puts whoever’s with him immediately at ease. Doesn’t use air fresheners in his car but inside always smells like whatever his cologne is, which is always yummy. Gets a lot of fast-food but always keeps the bags and wrappers stored neatly in a little garbage bag that he empties out daily. Will let his passengers do pretty much anything in his car EXCEPT smoke; he can’t stand the smell of tobacco. Isn’t really a Point A to Point B driver; will always think of other places to stop or visit en-route to his destination. Big fan of Musical music; his all-time favorite cd is the soundtrack to Grease. Also (when by himself) is a car-emoter; Kisame doesn’t let most people see anything but his cheerful side. Bring alone in his car is the only time he’ll cry, or scream, or express anger regarding events or people.

Obito

The type of driver who very often spaces out and “forgets” that he’s driving. Prefers traveling more with animals than with people; most likely to take his dog on a weeklong broad trip. Has been a smoker since his teenage years but is trying to quit, so in his car is the only place he “allows” himself a cigarette (but only when he’s completely alone). Almost started a fire once when he threw a still-lit cigarette out the window, but it flew into the backseat instead. Drives fairly slow unless he’s in a hurry for something (but even then his foot doesn’t press the gas pedal THAT much harder). His musical tastes depend on his mood but whatever he ends up listening to is always car-shakingly loud. Seems to have a new (and interesting) trinket hanging from his rear-view mirror every week. The kind who drives around for several days with his gas tank close to/touching on E because ”he knows his car, it’s fine”.

#the akatsuki #driving #vroom vroom #deidara #sasori #obito uchiha #itachi uchiha #zetsu #pein #konan #kakuzu #kisame #hidan

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newcaptainofsquad9 · 3 years

Text

Twice wanting to help with their Black girlfriend’s hair would include...

I’mma see how this goes. I know all Black hair is different, but I’m going off of my own experiences as a Black woman. I just wanted to make some Black women Once’s smile with this. Some of these have potentials for becoming entire fics, but let me know if ya’ll like them. Hope ya’ll enjoy!

Nayeon

• Nayeon would be so fixated on your hair, giggling every time you combed through it and applied whatever products you chose.

• She’d be super curious, it might come off as a bit rude sometimes but she’d always follow it up with aeygo, a hug or kiss. If you were really having a hard time with your hair, maybe all three.

• “Jagi, your hair looks so different from before? Do all these different gels and moisturizers help?”

• You nod, eyes staying on your reflection in the mirror as your hands grow tired.

• Nayoen notices, reaching to grab your hand, but flinches as you sigh.

“I’m sorry Nayeon, I still need to get out a few more kinks in the back.”

“Kinks?”

•You explain how your hair is extremely different from her own, going into detail as she listens to every word. The moment you finish, she asks if she could help.

This took you a little by surprise, but you allowed her to help moisturize your hair.

“Like this?” she’d ask as she carefully rubbed the Creme of Nature throughout your hair.

You nodded and showed her how to comb down to the root.

•Whenever you’d flinch or jump as she comb through a tangle or knot, she’d stop kiss you and rub down your arms.

• It didn’t take as long with Nayeon’s help, but instead of stopping because of your tired hands, it’d be Nayeon wanting to make-out

• “But my hair’s not finished yet?” you’d ask.

Nayeon would flash her signature bunny grin and kiss you anyway.

“You’re still perfect jagi.”

Jeongyeon

• Jeongyeon sat down in front of you with her attention fully on you with a puzzled expression as she watched you mix in the two relaxers you bought with a tiny, flat wooden stick.

• She’d be so engrossed as you put on the gloves and began to comb out your hair; her expression changing from curious to concerned in a matter of moments as you tensed at the knots and kinks you came across.

• She hurried to retrieve your moisturizer, spritz and all while looking to help.

“You forgot to add the moisturizer,” she’d say. “Isn’t that why it’s so hard to comb? I remember you told me. To get it softer.”

• Your heart sank at her soft tone, she remembered.

“Aww, well I can’t mix the products in with the perm,” you say, gesturing to the relaxer before you. “I have to comb it out then put it in.”

“Will that make it easier to manage?” she asks. “I-I just hate to see you in pain.”

• You had to embrace Jeongyeon to ease her, she always worried about knots and kinks a lot.

“Could I put the perm in for you? it could can go an hour less if I help.”

• You couldn’t say no with Jeongyeon’s intense stare and how much you already knew she cared and wanted to learn.

• It took awhile for Jeongyeon to comb a bit harder without fear of hurting you, but once you reassured her, it went well.

• Showed you memes while you sat with the perm in your hair and applied more Vaseline to your forehead to avoid burns and rashes.

• She shampooed your hair at your request after the perm was initially washed out to ensure it was completely out. She scratched your scalp too, just to ensure a bit more comfort during the process.

• Helped you blow dry, grease your scalp and all before ending the day with cuddles and kisses.

Momo

• Momo is the type of girlfriend who’d sit you in between her legs to help you with your hair.

• You thought against it, getting flashbacks from when your mom would fix your hair but of course you couldn’t resist her pouts.

• Momo might be a bit slower than the others when picking up on fixing your hair.

• She’d try to run her fingers through the knotted, kinky parts, but stopped as soon as you flinched or hissed in pain.

“Sorry!” she’d yelp before stopping completely to hug and kiss your cheek.

• You’d always reassure her and told her to watch until she was confident enough to do it herself.

• Even if she was 100 percent confident, she’d always try to make you feel comfortable while she combed through the tough parts.

“Boo! Mommy wants to hold you!” she’d say to Boo as the dog trotted into the room.

It’s as if the dog and owner were linked because Boo came over to you, crawled into your lap and licked your fingers.

• Momo always whispered sweet nothings in your ear, urging you to hold Boo tight for you both.

“Boo and I got you baby, I’m almost done. I promise.“

Sana

• Would love to help braid your hair all the time.

• Was confused as to why you need so many sections platted off.

• “So, you aren’t keeping it braided up this time?” she asked.

“No, well at least over night,” you say. “I’ll take it out in the morning.”

“Why? I love the braids, they bring out your eyes.”

• You tell her about your worries of wearing your hair in braids or cornrows, due to how people perceive hairstyles like that.

• Sana always told you otherwise, but wanted to go with whatever hairstyles that made you happy and comfortable.

• Whenever your hand would get tired while taking out your braids, Sana would help.

• She’d always ask if she was going too fast or slow, making sure you were ok.

• Would be confused about the concept of a bonnet, since she loved touching your hair, but understood why thanks to a talk with you.

• She’s puzzled as hell in the morning when you both way up and it’s halfway on your head.

“What happened?” she asks.

You shook your head as you adjusted it back on your head.

“It happens when I sleep kind of rough.”

Jihyo

• Jihyo is the type of girlfriend who will make an attempt to buy hair care products for you.

Calls you asking which product you use.

“What’s it called again? The pink bottle, right?” she asks.

“Pink oil moisturizer,” you say. “Could you pick up a thing of grease too?”

“Of course baby.”

• Would like to completely educated on your hair, texture and all before she even attempts to help.

• You’ve even caught her looking up Youtube videos on how to braid, twist etc.

“You can always ask, you know,” you’d say.

“I know, but it’s a sensitive subject and I just want to approach it the right way.”

• When she does try though, she sits you in her lap and you have to talk her through it while she does so.

• Comments on how beautiful you are and kisses your cheek and neck whenever you get flustered.

• Always has your bonnet ready when and if you need it.

Mina

• Mina was always fascinated with your hair, and it wasn’t until you stayed over one night that she began to ask a lot of questions about it.

• You had never seen her so inquisitive, especially when she was in the middle of a game.

“Is everything ok, Mina?”

“Yeah jagi, it’s just--your hair is so--amazing! You need that entire bag of products to do it?”

• Will just stare into your eyes while you’re fixing your hair, and grins with glee once you catch her(like in the gif above).

“You look so beautiful when you’re concentrating like that,” she says. “I-I can’t help it.”

• Mina is the one who catches on extremely quick on how to fix your hair and often asks if she could help with any new styles you’d like to try.

“Only if you want to,” she’d say. “I wouldn’t want to ruin it.”

• Once you’re comfortable with her fixing it, she’d definitely let you sit in her lap while she works and you’re gaming.

“You’re doing amazing baby, you barely tensed up,” Mina says. “Gaming really does relax you.”

Dahyun

• Dahyun loved your hair, yet always tread lightly when it came to how you when about doing and fixing it.

• She often came up to you with a giddy smile, yet she couldn’t find the words to tell you.

“Hi babe, you good?” you’d ask.

“Yeah, uh. I know you do it yourself and all but I can help. You seem a little down at times.”

• While you showed her how to do it, she’d always lighten the mood if you grew frustrated.

If your hand got tired she’d hold it and never let go until you’re smiling.

• Like Jeongyeon, she will show you memes and even take pictures of you (after you’ve finished a new hairstyle of course :) ) so you can make your own.

The captain would read: “When you’re too pretty for your own good” or “when you know you’re girlfriend material”

Of course Dahyun would keep it between the both of you, and it never ceased to make you smile or cringe at times.

• Is super giddy when you let her practice braiding your hair. She gets super engrossed in talking about your hair and just talking about the funny thing that have happened that you have to put her back on track at times.

Chaeyoung

• Chaeyoung always wanted to know more about your hair and finally asked to help you during wash day.

• You happened to be about to go over to the sink with your towel, shampoo and conditioner.

Chaeyoung popped in to use the bathroom and couldn’t help but ask if you needed her to do anything to assist.

• Like Jihyo, she’d do her research, but will always find your opinion on your own hair valid.

• Loves to sketch you whenever you just fixed your hair, and gives you a cute aesthetic like Cottagecore.

• Will just take you outside in the fresh air to take in how beautiful you look and take many Polaroids.

• When applying whatever products you need, she’d be super slow and extremely careful. Often times a little too slow, since the oils and/or moisturizers feel a certain way to her.

“Ooo, it feels so cool!” she’d say.

“Uh, Chae? You still have four more sections to go.”

“Oh, right! Sorry!”

Tzuyu

• You both were going to dinner and a movie one night. Tzuyu really wanted to see you, but your hair wasn’t really working for you. It usually didn’t take you as long.

• Tzuyu texted and called you from the living room where she waited, but got worried and knocked on your bedroom door, urging if you were ok or not.

• You told her to give you a few minutes, only for you to turn around and see her standing at the threshold of door (of course you forgot to lock it). Tzuyu staring at while you finish combing out your hair.

• She just stared, blankly then walked out.

• At the end of the date that night she just brought the encounter up again.

“I could have helped jagi,” she said.

“Tzuyu, you don’t have to.”

“But you were frustrated. I know that look.”

• Unlike the others, I think Tzuyu would leave most of the handling to you. It’s not that she didn’t find herself capable, but that she knew you could handle it.

• She mostly held parts of hair for you, along with apply grease or spritz to an area you couldn’t reach.

• Loves to just sit in your presence, take in your beauty and compliment you.

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polaroid15 · 3 years

Text

Febuwhump day 7 - Poisoning

FIRST WEEK IS UP! THAT’S SO CRAZY!!!! THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT SO FAR!!!! <3333

Summary: "It’s one of the best dinners Tony has ever had in his life. They laugh, they catch up, they praise their kid. In hindsight, it was really only a matter of time before things went south."

Or, a celebratory dinner between Tony, May, and Peter takes a deadly turn when Peter is poisoned.

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29138196/chapters/71884206

----

“Cheers!”

Tony smiles as May and Peter raise sparkling glasses to meet his own. They look nervous, Tony thinks, but excited too. They’ve even dressed up for the occasion, though the sleeves on Peter’s dress shirt are rolled unevenly and May’s still wearing her sneakers from her shift at the hospital with her dress, claiming she had forgotten another pair.

It’s perfect.

“This is really fancy,” Peter mumbles, cutting quick glances at the other tables with wide, unbelieving eyes. “Are you sure they don’t use 100 bills as napkins?”

“Oh they definitely do.”

“What?”

May rolls her eyes in good nature, patting Peter on the arm. “He’s kidding Peter. Obviously.” She shifts her gaze towards Tony, the warm cutouts of light above them turning her glasses gold. “Thank you, Tony. You really didn’t have to-”

“Course I did,” he interrupts, swirling his glass. “We’re celebrating! It’s not everyday you score the winning point in nationals, right Pete?”

Sinking slightly in his chair, Peter offers a sheepish smile. “It was a lucky guess.”

“Nonsense,” May says, and Tony raises his glass in another pledge of agreeance.

A shy looking waiter appears beside them, holding three steaming plates of food on a wide black tray. There’s a sheen of sweat on his face and Tony notices how determined he is not to look him in the eye.

Starstruck, probably. Poor kid.

“E-enjoy your meal,” the waiter stammers, wiping his face with his sleeve. He looks hesitant, like he wants to say something further. He must decide against it, though, because without further comment he pivots on his heel and stumbles away.

He bumps into a chair, and Tony watches him go, bemused. When he turns to look at his plate, it’s filled with fettuccine. He frowns a little, sure he had ordered the linguine.

“Wow,” Peter gushes through a stuffed mouth. A mouth full of linguine, that is. “This food is to die for!”

The waiter must have messed their plates around by accident. Unsurprising, really. Tony shakes his head and smiles at Peter’s apparent enjoyment, tucking a cloth into the collar of his shirt. Fettuccine is good too, he supposes.

“Alright, I’ll admit I’m impressed,” May says, a rich burger held between her hands.

“Me too,” Peter agrees, his sentiments once again muffled.

Tony chuckles, curling the smooth pasta around his fork. “Jeez, kiddo. Take a breath before you choke.”

“No! It’s too good.”

It’s one of the best dinners Tony has ever had in his life. They laugh, they catch up, they praise their kid. They make fun of May’s sneakers and ask the waiter for the money napkins when he passes by to check on them.

In hindsight, it was really only a matter of time before things went south.

It all starts with Peter setting down his fork, his laugh from something May had said tapering off into silence. He reaches for his glass but his hand misses it by a mile.

Tony eyes the kid suspiciously, watching as he tries to correct himself. Leaning forward, Peter squints for the glass and redirects his hand.

He misses it again.

“You okay kiddo?”

Finally, Peter’s hands find the skinny stem of his glass. He lifts it up to his lips, the drink sloshing around as his hands shake.

“Peter?”

Looking surprised, Peter looks over in Tony’s direction, though his eyes don’t fully connect. “What?” He asks quietly. “Oh. Yeah- yeah sorry. Just a little-”

Concerned now, Tony leans forward, wrapping his own hand around Peter’s to steady the tremors. “A little what?”

“D-dizzy.”

May screams and Tony curses loudly when Peter’s eyes flutter, body listing limply to the side and off his chair. The glass he had been holding hits the table, its contents staining their white tablecloth.

“Peter!”

Guests gasp and scream at the scene as Tony joins May by Peter’s side. Her fingers are jammed against his throat, her other hand clutching up at her hair in panic. “Oh- oh god.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Tony asks while his stomach performs olympic-level backflips. The shaking has spread to Peter’s entire body now, his face ghostly under the lights. Is he even breathing?

“CALL AN AMBULANCE!”

“Thready pulse. I don’t know what happened!”

Tony rests his hands against Peter’s face, his skin hot to the touch. He shakes it gently, but the boy’s head just lolls.

He’s seen this before.

Curling his hands into fists, Tony stands, the restaurant seeming to tilt and spin around him. The waiter that had served them is standing in the midst of onlookers, looking half dead himself. Tony walks over to him in three vicious strides and fists his hand into his shirt. “What did you give him?”

In the distance, beyond the ringing in his ears and the heat in his veins, Tony hears gasps and screams. The waiter, if possible, grows more pale. “I- I didn’t-”

“The food he ate was meant for me!” Tony screams, fear constricting his heart so tightly, he can hardly feel it beat within his chest. He’s experienced enough guilt in his lifetime, he thinks, and this might just be the breaking point. “It was meant for me! He was poisoned!”

Further in the distance, sirens.

“I have no idea, I swear,” the waiter says hastily, looking two seconds away from a panic attack. “I just grabbed the trays!”

“Who knew I was here?”

“E-everyone!”

“Damn it!” Tony throws the boy away, his anger untouched. An older woman dressed in the restaurant’s uniform appears beside him, horror sketched deeply into the lines of her face. “Sir,” she says, “the ambulance is here.”

He feels torn, ripped to shreds.

“Someone poisoned him,” Tony gasps. He can’t breathe.

“I’ll tell the police,” the woman assures. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. Let me handle it, okay? Go be with your son.”

Son.

Feeling lightheaded, Tony stumbles back over to their table. EMTs are streaming into the building, a vacant stretcher held between them. They waste no time in securing Peter to it, limp and unresponsive, and inject him with needles and air. He catches May when she falls into him, sobbing, and together they follow Peter out into the chilled air.

----

Three hours later, and everything is okay.

“Told you the food was to die for,” Peter mumbles. He’s weak and pale, his eyes distant and foggy, but bright with the relief of being alive. Tony grabs the boy’s hand and hangs on for dear life, relishing in the warmth of his skin under the tubes and wires connecting him to his recovery.

Tony isn’t sure if the sound he makes next is a laugh or a sob. “Almost,” he corrects, “it was almost to die for.”

It doesn’t matter, because Peter is okay.

“Was still pretty good,” Peter whispers, half asleep. “Mm. Four stars. Would consider going again.”

“Nope. No. Not in a million years.”

“But we didn’ even get to try dessert-”

“Peter,” Tony says sternly, but he smiles as he says it, “never in a million, billion, years.”

“Mmm. Fine.”

“Go to sleep kiddo. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Eyes closed, Peter’s smile widens.

“I know.”

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moons-and-stars-and-shit · 3 years

Note

hello!!! i'd like to request a piece of 🍰 please <3 apologies for incoming info dump about my Entire Life :| & thank u so much darling!

basic information — i use she/her and i'm bisexual, an infj, and a scorpio. a yachi kinnie :)

appearance — i'm a 5'0 asian girl with long black hair and dyed caramel tips! my body type is petit and skinny - lack of butt, unfortunately, but i got some tibby! overall im pretty tiny and always look younger than my age lol. i also wear glasses because i am Very Near Sighted, and my clothing style is a weird mix between cutesy-pastel-female-kpop-idol fits, indie teenage girl, and faux cottagecore.

personality — i'm a rather introverted person, but i'm trying my best to work on that. i have depression, anxiety, and adhd, but i'm always telling myself uplifting things and trying to work on my mindsets, so i'd like to say that i'm also sincere and compassionate! i'm also very adaptable and easily influenced by the behaviors of people around me. i think at first impression, i look standoffish and judgemental, but i think it's because i lack the confidence to say what i think and express my emotions, which i'm also working on! once i'm comfortable, i think i'm a very funny, intelligent, and caring person (i'm an extremely sensitive person and receptive to others' emotions — i cried a LOT watching karasuno v shiratorizawa 😐), but i can also tease and be a little sarcastic if the relationship calls for it. i get very affectionate and touchy with close friends too! long story short - i might seem awkward and quiet, but give me a moment— i'm trying, and i'll get there eventually, and i think that'll be worth waiting for. :)

hobbies — i like to do visual art things, like sketch pretty anime boys and also cross-stitch and make calligraphy! i'm a bullet-journaler :) i also love love LOVE learning languages and about different cultures, especially asian ones. i think i'm a pretty studious person when i get into it but i do procrastinate a lot T____T i'm also super into playing genshin impact, but i easily hop interests, so one day i'll be on this and the next, it's something else i'm rambling about. get ready to get ur ear talked off about wtv i love that week <3

likes + dislikes — i like anime, bts (!!), and otome games :> i also enjoy desserts, boba tea, flowers, and sudoku puzzles 🥺 i'm also a lover of learning, asian cultures, and dogs (also cats, but mostly dogs!) <3 i reallllyyyyyy want a pet snake one day too 🥺 family is also very important to me because i'm the youngest of 7 children! i dislike spiders snd working out (seriously the last person to want to do any type of fitness). all that "moving" jazz... volleyball is the only sport i'll probably ever even bother to learn the rules of LMAO but do not expect me to play i will eat the floor </3 my arms are sticks and i will simply embarrass myself

what i want/need in a relationship — i have a pretty idealistic idea of romance - i want someone perfect, but i know that's not realistic. at the very least, i want someone who loves me very much and is honest about that. they also need to let me be affectionate and clingy, and will be the same way back, even if it's just a little bit. i'm someone who needs love and affirmation rather consistently, like a freaking plant. i NEED someone who'll make sure i'm doing things and being productive, and someone who will actively encourage me to both be a better person mentally and physically get things done. they also should be able to take care of me (i'm a youngest child so i like being babied~) <3

this is very long, apologies! thank you so much for your wonderful matchups, they're so detailed and you work very hard on them, i can tell. thank you for your hard work!! kisses 4 u! <3

@mochiiswan ok I see you stealing my husband from me 🥲

Romantic Matchup

Bokuto Koutarou

How yall met

Girl you were just having a bad day

Nothing seemed to be going right

So you showed up for school in a rather gloomy mood

Bokuto didn't know you

But he still didn't like how sad you seemed

So he approached you

He basically just started making small talk to try to cheer you up

You dont know why but his energy did seem to be having a positive effect on you

Bokuto really liked talking to you

And he was glad he was able to cheer you up

The bell had rung signaling it was time to go to class

But bokuto didn't wanna leave you

So he asked if you wanted to come watch his volleyball practice after school

You agreed to go

You went to his practice and bokuto found himself trying to impress you

He didn't know why

Wait...

“AKAASHI I THINK I HAVE A CRUSH”

😳

Yeah he straight up yelled that…

While you were in there…

After a quick advice break from akaashi

He asked you out on a date :)))

What they love about you

He loves that you try to improve yourself

It's one thing to have issues

But to acknowledge those issues and to want to fix them truly makes a strong person

So he loves that you love yourself enough to improve on yourself

And he WILL help you in any way he can

Eek

He loves how sensitive you are

Bb boy is sensitive too

So he's glad he's found someone to cry with when a dog dies in a movie

(Also do any of you cry when a dog dies but doesn't when a human does? No? Just me?)

He loves how you value family

Im convinced bokuto is a family man

He loves his parents and his sisters more than anything

So he's glad he's found someone with the same values as him

HE LOVES HOW CLINGY YOU ARE

DO NOT EVEN HESITATE WITH THIS BOY

You can't tell me ocultos love language isn't physical touch

Come on now

LOOK AT HIM

You will get all the physical affection you could ever dream of

Favorite things to do together

Ok hear me out

He just likes going to the pound…

And looking at the animals with you

and/or

He likes volunteering at the animal shelter with you

You+cute animals=happy bokuto

Random HC

You drew him doing a spike once and he bout cried

Keeps the drawing in his phone case and pulls it out to brag

You take me as a hopeless romantic

And good news for you

Bokutos a hopeless romantic too :)

So your relationship is the closest to perfect relationships can get

He 100% keeps you on track

Mans is like a personal trainer istg

However don't expect to be productive with him around...

He did try to get you to play volleyball

And you did in fact eat the floor </3

Astrology

When Virgo and Scorpio join together in a love match, these Signs that are two apart in the Zodiac are brought together.

Their placement gives the relationship an intense karmic bond

The Virgo-Scorpio couple is loyal and deep, with very strong ties.

Virgo and Scorpio enjoy working together toward acquisition: Virgo wants order and Scorpio wants power.

Both of these Signs are about resources, including inheritances and property.

This couple is very service-oriented and known to be dependable.

They like to lend a hand to a friend or to the community.

Additionally, Virgo can be withdrawn — while Scorpio is more opaque and outgoing.

Because of the disparity, both Signs can learn from one another if they can agree to meet halfway.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury and Scorpio is ruled by Mars and Pluto.

This combination is very heated, thanks to Pluto’s influence.

The two Signs unite to form the basic foundation of human relationships — Mercury’s communication and Mars’s passion.

Mercury and Mars go well together; Mercury is about the conscious mind, and Mars is about the passion of romance.

Scorpio is rambunctious and intense, and Virgo is attracted to this energy.

In turn, Scorpio needs the loyalty and practicality inherent in Virgo.

Overall Aesthetic

Pastelcore

Songs-

Are you bored yet - wallows

Strawberry Mentos - Leanna Firestone

Hey Lover - Wabie

Mystery of Love - Sufjan Stevens

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu fandom #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu hcs #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu matchups #haikyuu x reader #bokuto koutarou x reader #bokuto koutarou #bokuto x reader #bokuto x y/n #bokuto koutarou x y/n #bokuto #bokuto headcanons #bokuto hc

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aj-allen97 · 3 years

Text

Thoughts and Opinions while watching Zach Snyder’s Justice League Part One (which is apparently four hours long) (Methinks someone was trying to put do Marvel for longest superhero movie):

Spoilers!!!!

Spoilers for Part One, Two, and Three of JL!!!

-Why does it look like a VHS movie that was never properly updated to DVD format???

-It a bit blurry in the first few seconds...

-Wait What???

-Why do the Stones have the Mother Box just sitting in their closet????

-Oh...hey I almost forgot about Luther existing in this universe...

- WOW Superman final scream sure can reach a ton of places before fading...even taking a quick dip under water while it’s at it...

-Does...Does our Amazon Queen have a ton of people on guard duty on the off chance it might go off??? Like I guess that’s good foresight on her part but man that’s a lot of people to stand in active guard moment for how ever long before they guards rotate..

- huh this town has a few Atlantean’s looking symbols in this version then the last...

-I feel like Bruce Wayne going around introducing him by his true name and going around recruiting super hero’s for his team might end up being a red flag that he might be more then just a benefactor if that’s his angle???

- Also I thought Bruce Wayne/Batman was slightly paranoid and tried his very best to keep his secret identity a secret from his teammates?? Here? It’s all “Hey I’m Bruce Wayne and I’m also Batman”

- Does Bruce Wayne’s company even wonder where he is at any more?? Or are they up to the point that they don’t care because obviously some one or another is running the company for him...

- umm does American Currency even work where ever that small fishing town is??? I’m guessing since they ask for American currency...

- Oook slightly creepy with that lady sniffing Arthur’s shirt (I think someone has a crush) and all but does anyone have the English translation for that song the fisher village was singing?

- I love Alfred - no matter what incarnation Alfred is boss

- Wait is that the English translation to that fisher village song?? If not there is a lot of singing in this version

- holy moly you can actually see blood pools and splatter...

- Well he’s definitely dead...and possibly some bystanders as well...

-The higher in the ranks you are the more armor your wear??? I’m just trying to figure out Thymiscraian armor logic..

-Just start firing your arrows for heck’s sake - don’t just stand there!!!

- Spiky armor is Spiky

- Its not like sealing the temple will do much good...there is a open skylight after all...

-of never mind...the whole temple went down...that’s new...and makes more sense then sealing a temple with a open sky light...

- “Got it! Go!” Like women what do you think your queen is doing?!?

- Was...was she crushed to death by the horse?? Blunt force trauma??

- that camera image does not look like actor Ezra Miller tbh

- If I was janitor dude I would have been high tailing myself out of there the moment I heard a crash

-ooh that was a pretty speech and ceremony before the whole lighting of the torch

- I feel that is a very unpractical dress to wear when restoring art/sculptures...

- Ooh new filler scene, I like this filler scene tbh...

- TBH that sketch looks like Batman if a kid drew it

- it’s a good thing those police uniforms are in English or else we would have never have known there were the police

- oh come on are you telling me that Diana just walks right into the temple grab the arrow (the same arrow no one else seemed to have bothered to grab to study and then enter the underground chamber??? Those police men deserve to be fired.

- I think that ship is a lost cause...

- Why does Arthur bother wearing shirts if he just immediately take them off??? Snyder’s may as well have kept Jason M. shirtless for all the times he stays shirtless

- I will admit some of these Filler Scenes I like they make the movie plot more interesting tbh

- Wait were Kryptonians natural enemy’s of Steppenwolf and Darksied??? Did they try to conquer Krypton only to be defeated even though they weren’t at their yellow sun best??? So many questions so little time

- I honestly can’t tell most of these Gods apart 😆 I can recognize Zeus and Artemis

- Wait? Only one Green Lantern? And he died pretty quickly..

- Wait where was Steppenwolf during this great battle???

- I love how how Atlantean’s and Amazon’s place their mother box in a guarded temple while the human king buried his 😂😂😂

- Yeah!!! More Barry!! He’s adorable! And a utter sweetheart

- Welp his secret is out!!! Also Nice Save Barry!! 😆

- Zack Snyder loves his blood splatters doesn’t he???

- I’m honestly surprise that didn’t kill him with how large that blood splatter on the rock was...

- ooh the Cyborg creation scene was pretty neat I’ll be honest

-Zack Snyder loves his slow mo doesn’t he

- Mama Dr. Stone 1, Gotham Academy 0

- The reason why Zack Snyder Justice League gave us a Cyborg origin story is because at this rate we might see a full length film in...20never?

- Ahh look at our little Cyborg playing/experimenting with his new found powers

- Sweet Moment- Hopefully that women won’t get in trouble later for the unexpected monetary gift

- Snarky Barry Allen is Snarky

- I’m 100% sure Barry Allen more or less stole everything that he has in his little warehouse fort place...

- Alfred hon I’m sure Diana knows how to make tea and I’m also sure she’s just humoring you at this point

- Don’t be jealous Diana - Bruce just wants to feel included 😆

- Oh Hey! A F Bomb!! First blood splatter and now swearing!

- Oh hey another grace yard scene!

- Oh thank god! For a moment I thought Victor was gonna go all Victor Frankenstein on us

- Gordon sounds tired which is honestly mood

- TBH papa Stone deserved to get kidnapped if he didn’t noticed the parademon that wasn’t exactly even bothering to hide in his open spaced living room

- Ok point for Mera for that move almost did some damage

- huh I think I just spotted the moment Mera fell in love with Arthur

- Wait Wait I thought Mera’s dad was alive??? So Who is that dude then in the Aquaman movie???

To Be Continued!

#zack snyder’s justice league #zack snyder #justice league #dc justice league #Batman #wonder woman #the flash #cyborg #aquaman #dc films #dc universe #dc comics #superman #warner brothers #hbo max #long post

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kashuan · 4 years

Text

All right, there are quite a few things that come to mind with a question as broad as this, so here’s my best attempt to sum up what character design means to me in like 5 minutes :,D. I’m going to start with a few very quick sketches that talk about more my general approach to drawing, but I’m going to build up to how it all connects with character.

Step 1) Find reference! Whenever you can, use reference, it will always make your character’s posing look 100 times more genuine than anything you can pull from your brain, and that’s nothing to feel bad about. It’s not cheating because we’re not stopping at Step 2 either, which is where the misnomer comes in that you’re just ‘copying’ (protip: even step 2 isn’t a straight Copy; as long as you’re not tracing, you’re not copying, and even tracing has its uses for personal studies). I could do a whole answer of it’s own about picking your reference, but I’ll keep it short by saying: not every reference will fit every character. Keep in mind your character’s attitude when choosing your ref. Some poses are so generic they’re one size fits all, but even this very simple pose has unique character to it. The way the legs are posed, to me, gives it a young and girlish feeling, and depending how you played with the expression, you could even make it come off shy. An overbearingly confident character, while also taking an arms crossed pose, will likely position their legs differently, assuming a stance that takes up more space, etc.

Step 2) Draw pretty much exactly what you see first, but keep it simple. Think of the body like individual shapes; anatomy is not the focus right now, and you’ll actually hinder yourself if you hone in on that first. What you want to do at this stage is capture what the pose is generally doing; character isn’t involved yet Step 3) Now, working off 2′s framework, start considering body type. If you skip the previous step, you might have a hard time capturing the gesture correctly, since it’s a lot for your brain to juggle at once. When I sketched these two different body types, I built it straight off the first drawing, erasing lines as needed.

So the first image includes some extremely basic body type variations, this one pushes that idea further. 1 is the basic frame from the last image, while 2 is about playing with proportions. There are a lot of ways you can play with proportions, and as I’ll come to sound like a broken record about: make those decisions thoughtfully. For example, when I made this version shorter than the reference base, I had to consider exactly where I wanted her to lose that height. Here, I made her shorter waisted, took a little length from the legs, and gave her a squatter neck as well. You can do one of these or all of them. Just keep in mind those are all individual options. Letting your train of thought stop at ‘this character is short/tall so I’m just going to generally shrink/stretch their body’ means you’ll run out of variety pretty fast, and sometimes the overall proportions can end up looking wonky (though there’s always exceptions to the rule, remember that the individual body parts should remain correctly scaled in relation to each other). Image 3 is another approach to proportional manipulation, except rather than focusing on height, it focuses on fat distribution and to a lesser extent bone structure. Again, there’s so many individual places you can focus on here, make sure to mix them up. Arm size, shoulder broadness, chest and hip size, leg thickness and musculature, foot and hand size and so forth. Image 4 is a further exaggeration of image 3 and the lines have started to get a little more stylized. While image 3 is still reasonably realistic, 4 is just starting to cross into cartoon territory. Advantage of 4 is that when you are able to push the proportions further due to the leniency of style, you can sell a clearer idea and a clearer character. Downside is, well, it looks more cartoonish now, and depending on the needs of your image that might not be what you want ie: it can look like a mistake rather than a purposeful choice if everyone else around the character is drawn more realistically.

Also… I see variations on this general advice quite a lot for women, but don’t forget about doing the same for men. It’s great to see how eager a lot of artists are to experiment with the female form that is simply absent in a lot of mainstream media, but I find that men really tend to fall by the wayside here even though they often get equally shallow treatment in the mainstream. There’s usually like 2-3 ‘go-to’ body types for men and that’s it. Men’s bodies can have the exact same amount of variety as a woman’s, including the individual ways the fat can be distributed on it, and the assorted ways their proportions can be played with. Whenever I find an artist that does this it’s like striking gold to me tbh.

So there’s some very rough hows. But, perhaps even more importantly than any of that, is WHY you make these choices. This is going to get a little stream of consciousness, but with a question this broad, I tried to hit on as many general points I could think of in regard to my own process.

-When I start to design a character, I really need to have an understanding of them first. This includes things like backstory, personality, habits, so and so forth… Yes, all of this stuff shows up in their design, even if it’s just a drawing of them standing straight up. This isn’t just like ‘this character got this scar at age 7 so I need to know where it goes′, I mean in depth info about them. I touched on this a little bit earlier, bringing up the different ways a character would assume the same general pose, but let me expand on that. -What do I mean by personality? So there’s the most obvious answer, which is that a bubbly character will assume bubbly poses, a sullen character will slouch more, etc… But let’s take it further than that. This is a concept I’ve touched on in past tutorials, but here’s a quick recap. A character’s personality involves their opinions, for one; how do you make that show up in their design? Well, one of the most obvious questions I always ask myself is: what is their opinion on their own appearance (the thing we are drawing)/how do they want to be perceived by others? Consider a strong character. I see a lot of artists who take this thought as far as: okay, this character is strong, so I’m gonna throw a 6 pack on him, maybe a nice pair of guns, and call it a day. Which leads to like, nice art, but also...kind of bland? I think that’s because this is a rather half-baked approach. How can we take it further? Ask yourself more specific questions. Is your strong character concerned with being perceived as an ‘ideal’ sort of fit by others (the type you give that showy 6 pack to) or does that not matter to them? (more likely to look ‘chubby’ if not outright fat, though probably is just as if not more capable of actually doing some real heavy lifting than saran wrapped abs man). If they’re some kind of mystical being that can look like whatever they want (ie: the anime waif that can also lift 1000 lbs-trope), you should still take into account their personal perspective on appearance. Don’t just stop at ‘this guy/girl is strong so they’ll look super shredded’ or ‘they’re magic so I’ll do whatever’. Doing this, you’ve instantly lost a chance to inform the audience more about the individual there beyond ‘they’re strong’ -Break it down further with their habits. What is their daily life like? If they’re running ten miles every day they should probably have some strong looking legs. If their job involves a lot of lifting, maybe focus on the upper body more and leave the legs less defined. Do they eat a lot? Or drink? The way the fat distributes in both these cases will be noticeably different (and this isn’t even taking into account points like an endomorph vs an ectomorphs body, which I always suggest reading up on). I’d definitely recommend drawing as many different body types as you can just as studies, in order to add these variations to your mental library. I’m sure every artist has seen this popular athlete line up by now, but really study images like this. Don’t just mindlessly copy what you see when you create your own characters though; think about why those athletes have the bodies they have, what they specifically did to get them like that, and how that can apply to your character’s own life. -One thing that has always bothered me is how often artists are afraid to use the head (not the features; I’ll get to that in a second) as an extension of the body when it comes to imbuing it with variety and character. While it is absolutely possible to have a thin face and a fat body (as is any combo), it’s another missed opportunity not to experiment with chubby cheeks, a soft jawline, etc. It’s a cliche to mention him at this point as an inspiration, but one of my very favorite things about Mucha’s art was how he was able to make fuller faces look so beautiful despite being a rather nontraditional approach (so many art books try to tell you this is a big NO). example, example. These faces actually look like real individuals to me than a drawing that focuses too hard on being generically aesthetically pleasing. -So, facial features. A face with less traditional features isn’t just going to be more memorable than Stock Beautiful Face #73, but it’s basically a more zoomed in version of informing the audience about the character in the same way the body does. -Know tropes, play with tropes, do not rely on tropes. Sunken bone structure, long features-guy will always pretty much read like a villain (or at least someone off-putting), but find somewhere to make the formula your own. Give him thicker eyebrows or big ears. Give the girl with the standard doll-face a nose that sticks out a little more prominently or a crooked smile. -Speaking of are so many different ways to draw a smile, do not underestimate the mileage you can get out of this one feature alone. Artists tend to have a favorite way to draw smiles, in my experience, but remember your character. Would they have a big toothy grin, a handsome ‘cool’ looking smile, a small shy lopsided one, ones that touch the eyes, ones that don’t… This is probably a repetitive point by now but just do whatever you can not to draw the exact same feature on two different characters, and make sure to think through your reasoning for every choice you make. To me, it’s always immediately evident if an artist really knows their character or if they’re just trying to make something aesthetically pleasing. The former is always more attention grabbing in my opinion. -One of my favorite things to consider when designing a character who’s part of a family: genetics and how you can play with them to inform the audience more about the character’s story. Does this character take after their mother or father? How? Why? Why why, you might ask? This isn’t a photo of a real person, this is an illustration that you should be making deliberate choices about every step along the way. It’s one thing to draw a character that looks like their parent simply because logic dictates they should, another to make meaningful decisions as to where and why they do. Some examples: He has his father’s eyes because they carry the same intensity and other characters are a little put off by him because it (conversely, maybe he’s such a gentle character that this detail stands out twice as strongly). He has the same hair as his father, but he styles it differently to avoid the association. She has her mother’s nose which everyone compliments her on so shes happy to be seen in profile. She has her father’s broad shoulders and she’s a little self conscious about it so she tends to wear baggier clothing. Etc etc! In all these cases, you can communicate these details through even a simple drawing of the character standing alone, and should try to as often as you can. -In the end, the only way you’re going to know how to draw all these different details, whether they be different body types or different facial features, is by studying real people. Draw as many different kinds as you can, add them to your mental library. Your reference will never give you everything you need to work it, and I’m not sure if that’s maybe what this question as getting at-- if I have a reference folder of go-to ‘types’ or something. I don’t. I have a folder of poses labeled with characters I think they’d fit, and that’s about it. If you’re just imitating what you see in a photo, you’ll always be drawing That Person, not Your Character. So you are going to have to pull some of it out of your brain. Note, however, the important difference between just ‘making it up’ and recalling information you’ve studied in the past. That said, while on this last topic of expanding your mental library, that includes not just doing studies, but also learning and observing the ways other accomplished artists work. Here are some of my book recommendations when it comes to those which have most helped me in regard to this particular subject. This includes books that specifically tell you how to vary your body types, but also ones that just have a lot of examples of different kinds: Morpho: Anatomy for Artists Morpho: Fat and Skin Folds Famous Artists School Course in Illustration and Design (If anyone is interested in this one and has trouble finding a non $500 copy, hit me up and I’ll help you out) Spirit of the Pose Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters Drawing People: How to Portray the Clothed Figure Figures from Life (my favorite currently; not the most varied array of figures but he goes in depth on how to successfully grow an academic study of a model into an illustration influenced by your own ideas and personal style) If you found this answer helpful, although it isn’t specifically about character design, I go a little more in depth about some of the topics I briefly covered here (such as choosing the right reference, good vs bad reference in general, honing in on shapes, pushing the pose, etc) in this short book of mine :>

#tumblr messed up the coding on the original ask so I had to repost this!#art tutorial #hope this helps!!#not sure if got a little too rambly #i wonder if it's hashtag justintpthings to spend 3/4ths of a post talking about how to draw by talking about thinking lol

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sassyandclassy94 · 4 years

Note

Hi, there! These last few days have been pretty chaotic and stressful for just about everyone around these parts, so I was wondering if maybe you could share any fun headcanons you might have about Emma or Nealfire? <3 Or even any AU ideas for the two of them? :0

Hi there!!! Thank you so much for this ask (these things excite me like crazy and they’re even better when they’re SwanFire-related!)! Things have been pretty stressful but I for one am feeling better about things - at least right now anyway. Anyhoo, I can’t wait to answer and share these!! You might wanna sit down though... it’s gonna be quite the list. *drags my notebook out from under my bed* Literally. Shall we get started? *cracks knuckles* Let’s go!

SwanFire Headcanons

SwanFire has (have? It’s late... I’m having grammar brainfades😖Or it was when I started this; now I’m too lazy to proofread. Bear with me) three children after Henry. All girls: Ivy, Ella, and Ruth (Ruthie).

Emma gets cold easily, resulting in her either taking a heating pad to bed with her, or letting one of her children sleep in her bed with her when Neal is out of town.

Baelfire/Neal reads out loud to his kids every night before they go to bed.

Though not as avid a reader as Neal, Emma still enjoys reading, her favorite genre being dark thrillers (Karin Slaughter, hello hello). Sometimes, though she doesn’t like to admit it, if the plot is particularly intense, she’s left a little spooked, resulting in her snuggling up closer to Neal after he turns out the light. (Cute, I KNOW!!)

Emma has a hard time relating to and comforting her second child, Ivy, because of their very different personalities.

They always let their children name their pets, even if the names are borderline preposterous.

Neal is a morning person while Emma is not (although she will be if she has to be); both are also night owls when they want to be...🙊

Neal is a fairly good cook (Emma? Not so much) and does most of the cooking (happily I might add). Sometimes, with the best intentions, Emma will try her hand at making something special and gets really mad and frustrated with herself for messing it up. (Baelfire will eat it anyway though, with a stupid smile on his face - that was inspired by one of LilRedSoupBowl’s fanfics but🤫)

*NSFW WARNING* Though it’s pretty much even, Emma initiates many of their ‘nights of passion’🙈 (she’s so bad...)

*MIST HAVEN* Baelfire is gone a lot because of the duties required of the Mist Haven Army which results in his and Emma’s fair share of nasty disputes (they fight as hard as they love) *STORYBROOKE and a nod to him and Emma being the only ones who were able to leave town* He’s out of town a lot because of having to go to different estate auctions (at least that’s what my dad told me...? I don’t know if that’s accurate or not) to find more antiques for his father’s pawn shop. In both worlds/realities, Emma just ‘survives’ while he’s gone. (A nod to my favorite mom/lifestyle blogger and real life OTP, Janene and Aaron Crossley)

Neal is very clumsy (in both worlds/realities), resulting in some awkward and laughable situations

Emma really enjoys soaking in a bath and it’s one of her main means of relaxing and de-stressing. While Baelfire’s main mean of relaxing and de-stressing is drawing and sketching

Emma hates beets and turnips with a burning passion and refuses to eat them. Even the smell of them cooking makes her want to gag.

Baelfire detests goats with a burning passion - so does Charming and they could literally rant about it all day long. Emma and Snow think it’s rather hilarious .

Emma has a pronounced scar just above her left breast from a wound she received when she was four years old. Regina tried (rather unsuccessfully) to wipe out the Charming line. She says she remembers the attack like it was yesterday.

*This is more a Mist Haven one* Bae and Emma named their second child Ivy because she was born a month before Christmas and ivy was one of the things they used to decorate for Christmas back then. (My best friend LOVES that one, if anyone cares, lol) Plus, I personally think ‘Princess Ivy of Mist Haven flows rather nicely.

SwanFire loves Christmas and always decorates for it on the first Saturday of November. Emma hates untangling they lights though and happily leaves all that frustrating stuff to Neal.

Every time Emma was pregnant Baelfire hoped for and insisted the baby was a girl (hey! He was right 3 outta 4 times - not a bad track record).

Neal is a fan of anything pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin ice cream (that’s a thing, by the way. A Byrne Dairy exclusive), you name it. If it has pumpkin in it, he’ll eat it. Emma thinks it’s kinda adorable.

*Trigger warning: miscarriage* Emma suffered two miscarriages within months of each other (the first one at 10 weeks, the second one at 16 weeks😭) between Ella and Ruthie🥺 which resulted in her going into a deep and dark depression. (I might make this one into a fic so I’m gonna keep it vague because of !SPOILERS!)

Emma’s a big fan of the show ‘Castle’ and hardcore ships Caskett (Castle fans!! Where you at???). Neal claims he could take or leave the show but he sure answers real quick when Emma leaves the room for a second and asks, “What did I miss?” He’s also super quick to laugh at the funny banters between Ryan and Esposito.

Their kids are tucked into bed by 8:30 pm every night except Friday, when they get to stay up till a big whopping 9:00 pm (LOL! So not a inspired by my own childhood)

Emma’s favorite movies are ‘Titanic’, ‘The Notebook’, and ‘A Walk to Remember’ and although she loves them, she also hates them because they make her cry every single time and she HATES to cry. Bonus: Every time she watches them with Neal she looks up to see him crying too... (It’s so cute when men cry over sad romance movies😍😭)

*TRIGGER WARNING: Menstruation* Emma’s time of the month is really unpleasant for her during her first three days - she’s a heavy bleeder and gets really bad cramps and back pain and won’t take Advil for it because all that does is make them come back with a vengeance the next morning. She’ll find relief in curling up on the couch in the fetal position with a heating pad pressed against her lower belly. Sometimes that’s the sight that Baelfire will come home to and when he sees that, he knows to kinda give her space. He’ll ask her if she needs anything but her answer is usually peace and quiet. (“Take the kids and just LET ME TAKE A FREAKING NAP!”)

That’s about all I can think of for now - I have a few others too but I’m not 100% comfortable sharing those on here yet (they’re a little NSFW) but perhaps someday🤗 Thank you so much for this ask, it was really fun and I hope you (and everyone else who sees this) enjoys them!

#SwanFire #Emma Swan #Neal Cassidy #Baelfire #my headcanons #like how do I even tag this though?#oh and I gotta give my sister some credit over this because most of these we came up with together over the last 2 and half years #ugh!!! is it wrong to say that your own headcanons are so cute?

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saturdayxiii · 3 years

Photo

Yesterday at work, I had an inspiration to do a quick portrait from a photo reference, so I did. I used a black, fat, chisel marker on a panel of cardboard and it took about 5 minutes. The results weren’t great, but if you looked at the reference I think you could tell what I was going for. I was encouraged by this. I love the idea of being able to do portraits or capture images in the moment and bust out a recreation in a few minutes. So I decided to do some more practicing when I got home that evening.

Why did it go so horribly?

These pictures are my practice and while the one I half-assed at work wasn’t great, these ones are off the chart bad. I don’t know what exactly I need to fix in my approach to even get on the right path, but needed to post my thoughts about the experience. Maybe in hopes that that will be the trigger that helps me get better and leave these scraps behind, even though I don’t know how to improve even if I could be confident that I’d properly assessed my weaknesses. I mean, that’s why I did these sketches, because I thought I knew what areas to focus on, and it took me a huge step backwards.

What irritates me the most, is how none of the sketches even have the aura of their subjects. There’s a hint here or there, but nothing like “yah, the art’s not tight, but that is definitely that person”, and that’s really what I want to accomplish the most.

Here’s my individual notes:

1. I started digital because I really love the idea of having my one device that I take with me everywhere and do everything with. I’ve been pushing myself to prioritize digital art for about 6 years now, even though I was always familiar with digital coloring/touch ups, but the weaknesses really glare here. Accuracy is huge, as it’s next to impossible to get the lines that I want digitally. It’s always sketch, undo, sketch, undo, sketch, undo, and then when I get sick of that it’s sketch sketch sketch, new layer, slow trace, undo, slow trace. A lot of people understand this to be the nature of digital art, and I don’t 100% buy into that, but none the less it’s what I’m contending with. I didn’t really concentrate on going slow, and I think that’s something I really need to consciously aim for, but right here that defeats the purpose of doing fast portraits. I want to feel good and natural when drawing, so I decided to switch back to analogue art.

2. No. Stop. No matter what, I have a ridiculous number of false starts. Just trying to coordinate my brain with the medium I guess. Warm up exercises would probably help, but it also seems like a waste of resources if I happen to get lucky and make something reasonable on my first try.

3. Skew. I always skew. I’m well aware of my inability to do symmetry, and I try really hard to correct this when drawing. I’ve been addressing this for years, and it hasn’t gotten any better. This handicap is laid bare when I can’t start with a rough sketch. I am trying to measure and compare proportions, but they still skew as I go. I guess I really need to get my hand off the page, stop and check my work. But when I don’t have an initial sketch, and that’s the point of this exercise, what am I checking? The lines that don’t exist are in my head, and they don’t end up on the paper in the same spots. I have to work with the mistakes I’ve made no matter what.

4. The features in this one are just so off. I can’t even. I had been marking points where I thought stuff should go, before drawing lines to connect them. Not only is everything still completely inaccurate, but the picture just looks so dead. It’s a corpse of a face that no one’s ever seen before.

5. So I bailed on pre mapping and went the n00b route of starting with individual features. Of course the eyes are where I feel most comfortable. I probably am most happy with this portrait, but it’s such a step back from every tutorial that I’ve been getting help from these days. I wish this was my starting point of my drawing exercise. I might be able to continue from this approach, but I need to get comfortable with a better starting point as this brings the usual issue of not being able to keep my drawing on the page. I know Davinci started with the ear, but that’s a little too around the bend for me. Maybe I can try starting from the cheek to the forehead or something to help me work on features while still having a better overview of my total size... maybe.

6. This one is wrong, but like the last one it doesn’t upset me. It was especially frustrating as I had the hair framing the face, then in full awareness but no ability to stop I watched myself draw the right eye too close to the hair, then the left eye too far away, despite having some pretty easy markers to work with. Speaking of markers, I switched to a traditional sharpie pen for this one. I had been using a dip pen. I think I need to hunt down a chisel tip marker like at work as that seems to be best of both worlds. Especially as my medium at work was pretty large, maybe about the size of legal paper, while everything I worked with at home was no larger than 6 inches.

Hopefully this word vomit cleanses me, or something. Though why would it? I don’t think my art has improved for the last 15 years. I have a couple helpful techniques for digital art, but nothing that applies in this exercise. I can’t even pin point anything I did right in these sketches. Like, nothing that’s says “that’s good, keep doing that.” It’s just, throw it all away and start at square zero again. At least I got some new teases, like, maybe try a chisel marker on a full canvas, find a way to fake a sketch that will let me test proportions before final lines, and looking at the thumbnails of my work is even helping me pick out better shapes in my subjects that I wish I noticed the first time.

*sigh*, maybe at some decade in my life I’ll be able to do consistent work of an adequate quality, or at least perhaps the false hope will keep me from falling into complete anhedonia. Maybe.

#art #thoughts #sketches #portrait #sketch #art practice #poor quality #self pity #ink

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salvatoreschool · 3 years

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Legacies boss breaks down its most memorable monsters, previews a few to come

Just like every story needs a hero — or heroes — every Super Squad needs a good villain. On Legacies, that's something the series delivers on a weekly basis.

When Legacies first premiered, it faced a difficult task: As the third show in the Vampire Diaries universe, how would is both seamlessly fit into the world fans knew and loved while also creating its own identity outside of both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals? And one of the key ways it was able to do just that was through its monsters. While the series that came before it were much more serialized — and generally less adventurous when it came to their Big Bads — Legacies came out swinging with a creative monster-of-the-week format, along with a more serialized arc of course, that has given fans everything from a dragon to Krampus (and soon ... a leprechaun).

"We have an incredibly talented monster department between [Creative FX Department Head] Mark Villalobos and [Creative FX Assistant Department Head] Heather Mages," says executive producer Brett Matthews. "As writers we'll pull references to let them know what we're thinking — is this a scary monster is it a funny monster? — and we have a lot of conversations about that at the beginning, and then Mark and Heather go away and work with their team and produce a sketch that we give notes on. And a lot of times we see that sketch and go, 'You guys really think you can achieve this?' And almost every time they do and a lot of times they exceed expectations. But generally it ends up looking pretty close to that."

In the beginning, much of the monster talk focused around what was possible. Could they pull off a practical monster, a.k.a. a man in a suit, just as well as something that involves more visual effects? And that's where the gargoyle came in.

"That was one of our very early monsters so it was a stress test for the mythology of the show and what we could achieve practically. Because that monster's almost 100 percent practical," says Matthews. "That's a guy in a suit and could we do that in a way that didn't look cheesy, could we achieve the show more practically than going the visual effects route for everything? I think that's the great success of that episode is that creature design."

In terms of story, the gargoyle was also the series' first monster with a specific backstory. "They're historically protectors and we liked that about it, we liked that turn about him choosing not to murder at the end," Matthews says, teasing that fans might see the gargoyle again in season 3.

Seeing as how most monsters aren't brand new creations, Matthews says, "We start with history because that's the public perception of what something looks like and then we always put it through the Legacies filter." For something like the dryad, it was about finding that balance between her being "at once monstrous and incredibly beautiful."

The dryad wasn't what Matthews calls a "name-brand monster," but rather something lesser-known. "We try to play the hits, we try to play dragon and give you the merman and the mummies and the name-brand monsters but it's also fun to really poke into monsters that people just haven't heard of that have their own rich mythology, and that's something you'll see us continue to do in season 3. There are some very specific monsters from some very specific regions that people may never have heard of, but that's part of the fun of it."

One example of the show using a better-known monster, Krampus has been seen across pop culture many times. So then the question became: How will the Legacies version of a well known creature vary? "Our version of the Krampus was probably a little less horrific than public perception because he's stealing your children and taking bad children away and eating them, so we avoided that element of it," says Matthews. "But he was pretty gross. A lot of the Krampus stuff was too gross to use, so some of that didn't make the show."

Matthews is also quick to point out that for all of their practical monsters, the final piece of the puzzle is the performer in the suit. (And yes, sometimes it's the same person playing multiple monsters. ) "No matter how good the suit is, the person who goes in it is ultimately what gives it that personality, that life," Matthews says.

And often times for these monsters, the devil really is in the details, because nobody's going to forget the qareen's chin anytime soon. "Jason Voorhees is this scary guy who runs through the woods but the hockey mask is the thing that makes that character iconic, it is that detail," says Matthews. "Even the Krampus, his eyes are red and green, so they all have these hyper-specific things that hopefully stick with you because those are the things that make monsters memorable. We try to treat the monsters like a character and so it's always, 'What would make sense in this design and also on a technical level, what do we need this monster to do in this episode and how can we free the performer in the suit up to do their thing?' The qareen is a very extensive application of a suit. The chin and the details stay with you."

Some monsters have the look ... and just a little something extra. The Necromancer began as the show's version of Death. "We wanted to do a character in that sphere, somebody who had a hand in the living and the dead," Matthews says. Cut to season 3 and the Necromancer is still playing a large part in the show's story.

"When we got into the voice of the character, he became this pompous asshole of a guy and then he became a real character that we knew would have a live within the show rather than just an episodic threat," says Matthews. "He's got his own story. He's just really petty. He has a very small drive that he's willing to go to grandiose lengths to preserve, and the notion that his legacy is lost is enough to drive him to the heights of villainy. He's clearly a monster without equal in terms of screen time and the journey he's been on and it's a journey that will continue in season 3. Ben Geurens is just a brilliant actor. It's kind of like how Crowley became a major player on Supernatural. Sometimes you get an actor and a part that just fit."

Along with the Necromancer, Legacies' third season will also feature a few new monsters, including the Lady of the Lake, who escapes from Malivore in the season 3 premiere. "That one's kind of ripped from the headlines," says Matthews.

The episode is titled "We're Not Worthy," and will bring a very old legend to the show. "It was a fun way to do something very medieval that also fit very much into our world and gave the Super Squad, who are hopeless, literally and figuratively int hat episode, a very stiff challenge to overcome," says Matthews. "That one's a little more straight ahead and a little more classic than we often do, but as with all things, it devolves into the technicalities and has a fun wrinkle that makes it modern hopefully that people will enjoy."

EW has a look at some concept art of another upcoming monster: A leprechaun. "At a time where the Salvatore School requires funding, this leprechaun comes into the world and gives you a window into greed and what is right and wrong and what is the responsibility of people when it comes to using their supernatural abilities for good or for ill," says Matthews. "And in typical Legacies fashion he's like a grubby little monster and a more monstrous version of the creature we all know. This one has murder on his mind."

Legacies airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.

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animalsatwildlilac · 3 years

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Power Outage with Bearded Dragon

This beardie has a job. His name is Stripy, and he is a working lizard. His life is full of adventure at Wild Lilac preschool. But he does get weekends off, vacations, and even mental health days, just like me. I think he is lonely when we are not together.

On Thursday, when WL announced an early release because of the winter storm warning, I got the whole day off because I only teach in the afternoons. But I still needed to go in, briefly -- to tend to the animals before the roads got messy.

On the way there, I stopped for supplies at my local pet store, Tropical Hut. I bought 100 crickets and a package of frozen bloodworms.

When I parked in front of the school, rain was falling and the temperature was dropping. Masked parents were picking up their unmasked kids. I left 50 of the crickets in my car with plans to take them home for Stripy, my bearded dragon, and then I went to the animal room.

I fed and tucked our critters in –

Two cubes of bloodworms for the Axolotl;

Cucumber and carrots for the just-hatched baby snails;

Fresh pinecones and toilet paper rolls for the gerbils;

Hay for the new-found guinea pigs (see previous post);

Crickets in with the animals that eat crickets: the tarantula, the geckos, and the cane toad;

And food for the crickets themselves (some apple, some dog food);

The Madagascan Hissing cockroaches still had food;

The walking sticks are all out of bramble – I’m sorry, but they will be okay for a few days without food.

I headed home.

As I brought the deli container of crickets into my house (they had been in my car for about 45 minutes) I realized something was tragically wrong -- all 50 of them were on their backs, heels to heaven. My first though was carbon monoxide. How could they all have DIED in such a short time? Then I realized maybe they weren’t dead – they were cold! Or did they freeze to death? It just hadn’t been that long. Such drama! I set them on a table and watched them, and as they warmed, they started to move. First a leg twitched, then another, then one flipped over. I was thinking how cool is this! Definitely something to explore with the kids – the freezing and warming of crickets.

And then, as I was deep in contemplation watching the flipping crickets, it’s 3 in the afternoon and -- the power goes out! There was no accumulation of ice or snow. The storm had hardly started. PGE said the power would be back on at 5pm. But at 5, they said 6, and at 6, it was 8.

When the temperature in Stripy’s tank dropped to 65 degrees, I had lifted him out and put him on my chest, zipped up a fleece vest over him, and put a fuzzy blanket around my shoulders.

My husband ventured out into the cold night to find a restaurant with power. He arrived home with salted peppered cod and garlic broccoli and kung pao shrimp from Powell Seafood, and the news that there were now 100,000 people without power in the greater Portland area.

At 8:03 our lights came on! Stripy was glad to get into his warm tank and eat some crickets. The humans were glad to catch up on what we had missed electronically in the past five hours.

Stripy poops biweekly, and does so in a predictable way – pretty much every time I put him in the bathtub; warm water brings it on for him like coffee does for me.

His poop in interesting. Part of it is white and rubbery, part of it loose and greenish brown.

At 2 in the morning my partner woke me. The power is off again, he says. PGE says the cause is under investigation and there is no estimated time for the power to return. In my Ambien induced slumber, I mumbled, “Please … bring me Stripy…”.

Stripy settled on my chest and closed his eyes. He clung to my nightie like a bur on a wool sweater, both of us covered with the duvet. Our dogs are not happy about Stripy joining us in the bed, and they move as close to my head as they can.

My partner kept checking on Stripy, to make sure he was staying on me, not straying into the sheets. But he needn’t worried. Why would this lizard leave the best heat source in the house -- a woman going through a menopausal transition?

Flanked by dogs, a lizard, and my partner who at this point in the pandemic has not just a beard, but a full wizard’s beard, we sleep. But not well. Our thermostat now says 54 degrees. I am worried about the crickets -- they are no longer chirping. but I am not going to snuggle them.

It is windy. My neighbor's roof is covered with snow and smoke is coming out of her chimney. Branches come down from the weight of ice. A car explodes and burns when a power line falls on it. All over Portland, people are lighting candles and caressing their reptiles, trying to keep them warm.

Stripy has two tanks – one at school, and one at home. His at-school tank is what I think of as his studio apartment; it’s furnished with a doll’s bed covered with a patchwork quilt, a hammock, a tiny ceramic toilet, and a small, hard copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. At home, he has a “desert” tank where I’ve built him tunnels and hillocks out of excavator sand.

In the summer, at the end of the day, he likes to join my family on the patio. We have cheese and crackers and glasses of chardonnay, and Stripy gets his own glass platter of mealworms. Yes, I know the mealworms are fatty and are supposed to be a treat, not a regular staple, which is why I’ve been trying to transition him to crickets. I want Stripy to chase crickets like how the beardie in the YouTube video chases blueberries, but he doesn’t.

I believe he doesn’t chase his food because he doesn’t have to.

He waits until a cricket crawls up on his hillock and then -- a quick snap nom nom nom -- he chomps on them. A drop of cricket juice spatters from his mouth.

But I know he still has his instincts, because I have watched him shoot across the patio to catch and eat a bee.

At school, the kids touch Stripy with one finger, and they know not to pet his head. Heads are personal spaces, and plus, that third eye! The first time I saw his third eye, I thought a child had drawn on him with marker.

When not roaming about the animal room, or sunning himself under a UV light, Stripy is carried in a woven sea grass basket filled with silks. He has castles built for him out of Magnatiles. The children pick fresh arugula for him from the garden and hand feed it to him. They sketch pictures of him that are pinned to the wall. The kids love him. They tell him this on a daily basis. They don’t imbue him with meaning, they just recognize him as sentient being.

The kids marvel at how his spikes look so sharp but are actually soft. They touch him and talk about his textures and colors, the orange rings encircling his eyes, his soft belly, his pointy tail. We watch his torso expand as he sighs, relaxing into his body.

What are those holes in the sides of his head?

What do you think they are?

Can he hear me? Why aren’t his ears on the outside like mine?

Will he lick me?

He might.

Why did he lick me!

He is tasting you. He’s finding out who you are.

This bearded dragon, does he know how to fly?

Not yet.

Well, his mommy needs to teach him!

I ask him questions in front of the kids … Stripy, do you want some dandelion greens? Oh, you do! Oh, Stripy, I can see you don’t want to be held right now. You want to move across the floor on your own!

I regularly give animacy to inanimate objects, too.

What is he saying now, Teacher Nikki?

What do you think he is saying?

Caring for animals helps us to build compassion. I want the kids to know that the animals are communicating with us, we just have to listen.

Sometimes, on my way home from work when I stop at Trader Joes, Stripy tells me that he doesn’t want to be left alone in the car, so I set him on my shoulder and he lies very still (but is supremely alert and watches everything) as I walk around the frozen foods and the wine aisles. Kids always notice him and want to connect. The crew usually notice him, too, and greet him with a wink. My sister, who likes animals but doesn’t have any, when I tell her about my experiences in Trader Joes with Stripy, says “Oh, Nik-Nac, you’ve become one of those people.”

And yes, I guess I have, it’s true. I have become that lady with the bearded dragon.

No, we are not supposed to have a lizard in a preschool -- because of the salmonella risk. However, I believe that risk is an inherent and natural consequence of childhood. Our preschoolers take turns on a broken seesaw that was homemade to begin with. They build with crates and cardboard boxes we scavenge from the furniture store on the corner. There is sometimes a sprinkling of nails in our sandbox. We have earthquakes here, and floods, and ice-storms. Our children breathe harmful air from wildfires. We have lockdown drills to prepare us for potential active shooters in our schools – a little salmonella isn’t going to shut things down for us!

In my more than 30 years of teaching with animals, I have probably exposed thousands of children to salmonella. It will be okay. For those of you who are still worried, let me tell you a little story.

I hosted a special COVID sleepover for some school-age kids recently (the kids were all from the same pod) and when it was discovered that one child had forgotten to bring a tooth brush, I said, “that’s okay, just borrow someone’s toothpaste and brush with your finger.” I mimed a demonstration and all the kids made faces of disgust. “I would never brush my teeth with my finger,” I heard. “I put my fingers in my butt too much!”

We do wash our hands as often as possible.

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