I Also Totally Forgot To Share This

I also totally forgot to share this 😷

I was really proud and I'm trying to look to the things I'm happy and proud of and actually share them regardless of how nervous it makes me. I just really like this piece and realized just because I can't draw doesn't mean I shouldn't share it... Yeah, I'm gonna try and ignore my brain that's saying the opposite.

Anyways, these four are the MCs (Lazarus ➡ Cassie ➡ Quana ➡ Tachi) in a story I've been obsessed with writing lately ☺

Sorry, I couldn't just fully post it 😓

So, while I try not to let my thoughts get to me as usual. I wanted to share this idea I was realy excited about!

Randomly, I thought of this old idea I had where a man who was "cursed" to transform into a wolf and a woman who's the only one who can tame him. This thing was dead officially.

Then this happened at the beginning of the month:

This is part of what I wrote that day.

Thus The Moon, Rabbit, and The Wolf was reborn 🕺

From there I started writing a story that I foolishly said would only be 6k words max. It's at 10k and I'm not even a little bit done with it 😷

So then the other day I wanted to see what "Shuichi' looked like.

Btw, his name got changed to Tsumi to match a theme in the story of him being a Mood God

I really enjoyed making this concept since I find him really adorable.

Backstory time: the top image is him before he "awakens" as his previous self/The Moon God. He's mischievous and a little impulsive. In general, he falls victim to his emotions too easily.

He's one part of this trio so if I ever get around to drawing the Wolf and the Rabbit I'll share them too 😄

Thanks for reading~🍂

Both these reaponces are way more creative than what I would have said. I would've just assumed it was the metal part on a pencil or somthing.

But, the answer is this thing:

The wooden (or fabric) thing you set hot pots onto.

Originally, I was calling this a pot holder 🙃

So, I wanted to start a reblog game(?) where you put the proper term for a object/phenomenon/process/etc... And let people guess what it is. I'm sure someone's already done this before... But I haven't so here we are.

I just wanted to share this word that took me almost an hour to find the proper term for 🗿

A Trivet is...

If I didn't need to describe this I actually would have never learned this word lol.

So, I always get infatuated with characters even if I have no idea who they are lol. So instead of ignoring my urge to write for them, I'm just gonna do it and just not bring up the series. Idk if I'll name this, but it's a good way for me to write about other stuff.

Either way, I hope you enjoy reading!

I'll be here for whatever and whenever you need me.

It seemed impossible for those words to actually be doable. The sentiment was sweet, but it didn't seem realistic. Yet, here Mika sat waiting for the boy who told her those words.

She hadn't been expecting him to actually show up, but just minutes after she texted him, there was knocking at her door.

"Hey, I'm here. You didn't fall asleep did you?"

Mika playfully rolled her eyes and got from under her warm blanket to open the door. In front of her stood her strangely disheveled friend.

"Why would I call you and fall asleep?"

He smirked. "You've fallen asleep on calls before."

"Because someone refused to let me end the call." Mika went back inside, allowing him to join her.

"Well, while you might be obviously remembering things wrong, maybe you can remember why you asked me to stop by."

Mika got back under her blanket while he sat on the chair beside the couch she was on.

"Before that, even though I really didn't think you'd actually show up whenever I needed something, what did I take you from?"

He looked to his body and seemed unbothered by the dirt caked into the seams of his shirt, unconcerned by the red bruises on his chin and cheek, and even flat out ignoring the fact that he was missing his usual accessories-- specifically his bag, which he carried his entire life in.

"Oh, I was working."

"You got a job? When? You didn't tell me about it."

"Because I was gonna surprise you with a gift on your birthday."

Mika narrowed her eyes. Knowing it was strange how quickly he volunteered an explanation.

Mika sighed. "This is exactly what I called you over for... Gino, why are you getting back into all that dangerous stuff again?"

"What? You know I quit that. I don't roll with that crowd anymore."

"Yet you still hang around those places? Look, Damara saw you waiting around 9th street. We all know it brings nothing but trouble."

Gino let out a sigh and ran his hand over his hair. "She shouldn't have told you anything..."

"Why? We're still friends and I get worried about you knowing you're still screwing around with those guys."

"That's the thing, I'm actually not. I'm not wrapped up in anything bad."

"Then what are you doing? And don't try to lie, otherwise you must think I'm stupid and can't tell you're all bruised up."

"Of course I knew you'd notice, but it's not from some stupid street fight. I just kind of can't tell you what it's from though."

Mika sighed loudly and put her head in her hands. "I swear, this is exactly why I broke up with you. Here I thought maybe if we were just friends you'd open up a bit more to me... Looks like things are the exact same no matter what."

Gino got up and sat beside her. "Wait a second, that's not what you said before. You said you didn't wanna be with a thug."

"That wasn't a lie, but it wasn't why I broke things off. If I said the real reason you would've started lying even more."

Gino took a breath. "I did listen though. I got out of the Trizards, cut things with almost everyone I knew, and got a legit gig... Kind of figured it would patch things up between us."

"If you did all that then what the hell is the problem with just telling me what you're doing?"

Gino said nothing. They stared at each other and the room's silence weighed on them. Mika's eyes, especially locked on Gino.

"I'm sorry... I just can't-"

Mika released the breath in her throat and turned her back to him.

"Look, I know, I'm being an asshole. I swear though, I'll tell you everything once things settle down."

"And that's suppose to mean something to me?"

"How about this then?" His hand on her shoulder manged to get her to look back. The deep scowl on her face made Gino avert his gaze, but he took out his phone and scrolled through the images before stopping and presenting the screen to her.

"See? These guys, I work with them and I pretty much trust them with my life. They'd never let me slip back to my old ways."

Mika saw Gino standing around a group of people. They were all smiling and seemed to be enjoying themselves. This was a stark contrast to who she knew Gino hung out with before.

"You can show me them, but not tell me what it's about?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I kind of don't wanna jinx it by telling everyone about it then it blows up in my face. I promise that's the only reason I don't wanna tell you. If that wasn't the case, we'd be up all night talking about everything I've been doing."

Mika couldn't help but smile at his near boyish excitement. He always got that way when he wanted to talk with her. She almost forgot she was upset.

"Then you have to promise me something."

"Anything."

"You have to come by my place just so I know you're not... dead or something."

Eagerly, he responded. "That's not a problem, but it's a little strange if you're gonna be going out with other guys and stuff."

Mika sighed. "I think you mean to say it'll be weird that we're not dating."

"You said it."

"You're so annoying. Look, I obviously never wanted to break up. I pretty much never stopped... loving you either."

Gino tried to hold back his smile, he failed however. "You sure can hide your feelings though. I really thought you were done with me!" He cupped his palm on her cheek. "But I'm so happy to know you actually weren't."

Leaning closer, his eyes closed and Mika was right there with him and their lips met just as their eyes closed.

Gino held Mika's face and kept her still while pushing her back against the arm rest of the couch. Mika let out a concerned muffled moan and pushed against his chest, stopping him.

"I know exactly what kind of kiss you're giving me and I'm not doing that tonight."

Caught red handed, Gino smiled at her. "I can't change your mind?"

"No, but I can do you one better. We can cuddle instead, but only if you change out of those clothes. You're filthy dude."

Gino chuckled and gave her a peck on her lips before he sprang off the couch and started to strip right in her living room.

"You still got my hoodie?"

"Exactly where we said you'd pick it up at."

"I'm guessing my sweats are there too?"

"I just washed them."

Gino smiled eagerly taking off with the outer layer of his outfit in his arms.

Mika smiled seeing him again. She felt an immense wave of gratitude wash over her knowing she could always reach out for him.

Omg, I got a super cool idea.

Flashes of a life they never lived, awakened within them. At the moon's pale glow and it's reflection on the three in it's cold light, they each realized their fight went deeper than just this life's disputes.

Vusha, the previous owner of this curse, ended up with Cassie thousands of years ago. Now, I guess you feel like you're suppose to win.

Of course, that wolf blood is no match for my Tsuki blood now. I learned from the mistakes deep in my ancestry and now I'll win this time.

And again the prize is me. Well, I have no intention of allowing just anyone to work with me. The hero or the villain? Who would I want to win? The one who will work the best with me.

Recently, I've seen a lot of debate about what makes a good villain and I just wanted to add my two cents so we can pay for this chip bag together.

Bad guys, villains, antags, whatever you call them are very interesting individuals. It doesn't even have to be a person, it can simply be an ideal that makes something negative for your main characters.

In this specific case, I was seeing a lot of people dislike the villain with the sympathetic background. I totally see where this is coming from so here's my take.

Most people don't feel like they can create a bad person without giving them a moral justification for what they're doing. I would assume this comes from the fact that most people irl don't do bad things for no reason.

Revenge

Sorrow

Rage

Are usually the things people in the backstories of villains.

Tell me you haven't heard one of these before:

I was married before this, but they took them away from me, now I have nothing to live for and nothing to care about.

When I was younger, everyone used to make fun of me, bully me into submission, and do whatever they wanted. Now that I'm stronger, I'll do to them what they did to me.

I swore revenge to those who crossed me. No one believed I could do anything, and now my goals are right in front of me.

These are normal human emotions taken to 11 and are stereotypical reasons why antags do what they do. They're not bad as everyone has love for the sympathetic villain or the misunderstood bad guy, but reasonably it's been over used to hell and any attempt to make the opposite is a one-dimensional mess.

Here's the thing though. The mindless villains who are evil for the sake if being evil are confusing to most people.

People try and come up with a backstory when there isn't one for a villain who just wants to smash some heads. Creators are almost forced to make a backstory because "there has to be something.

When, in reality, they're just a bad person.

A good way to avoid all of these cliches is to use real human emotions to your advantage. I happen to like true crime and have seen a lot of people who are worse than the scum in the drain of your toilet, but yet finding out they just "took pleasure" in their crimes is much better than them saying they're the way they are because of bullying, abuse, or trauma. Which is often used as an excuse rather than an actual reason.

Not to say these can't be valid reasons for someone's behavior, but sometimes people are just evil. Not every killer had an abusive dad or a vicious mom. Sometimes their life can be the most normal sitcom thing ever and they still turn out to be a rotten apple.

Now, in order to end this, I say we need to see more if every kind of villain. The sympathetic one, the mindlessly evil, the tactical bad guy, the power hungry one that everyone loves, and the one who everyone loves to hate.

Here's some "advice" about writing/creating a non sympathetic villain though. Don't think you have to make a reason, but if you want to give them a reason make it more related to their personality and not their upbringing.

For example, a villain I know nothing about seems to have the plot that he doesn't like the group he's apart of; so, people took that as the creators making him sympathetic. Most likely though, he probably just doesn't like the way in which those around him act. How foolish they act with the power they have. He wants the same thing they do, but not in the way they choose to go about getting it. This seems to just be the way he is regardless of if he was a bad or good guy. (I'll see if I'm even a little bit close when I finally see the game for myself).

This guy who I didn't even know existed until about an hour ago is what spawned this post. So use this as you will and thanks for reading~