Jul 31, 2021
little animated snippit of a moment in @jayofmemory ‘s branded au! here’s the fic its from: https://jayofmemory.tumblr.com/post/184698509664/adjusting-branded-au
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little animated snippit of a moment in @jayofmemory ‘s branded au! here’s the fic its from: https://jayofmemory.tumblr.com/post/184698509664/adjusting-branded-au
Marvin The Magician
Magic: Illusion
Gender: Male
Age: 24 (at capture)
Here is the first of many reference sheets! All of them will be reblogged onto this post so keep an eye on it!
I decided to give marvin more of a showman/formal outfit since i always felt his old design was bland and too simple, so i gave him a fancy vest!
Day 9 of Marvin being gone (since 1/1/2020)
Mask 2, Branded (original concept by @jayofmemory )
I was so happy to be requested to do this, I really loved the design (link here) and thought it would be a good way to start this project
(I already made the original mask, so I'm counting that as Mask 1)
Branded
A JSE Fanfic
I wrote a short thing based on this picture by @blade-of-memeora, which was in turn inspired by Branded by NWTB. Because that picture was really, really cool and the song is good. For some reason I love this concept a whole lot, it’s really interesting and it was fun to write. Hope you guys like it ^-^
He thought something was off the moment he started walking up the path to the doorstep. There was no reason for this, just an...itching, crawling feeling on the back of his neck, running down his spine. He almost didn’t want to go inside. But that was ridiculous, it was his house...yeah, it was. He’d been out late, and he needed to, you know, eat and sleep. There wasn’t any sign of a break-in.
Cautiously, he pushed open the door. It was unlocked, but he was pretty sure that was his fault. He wasn’t the best at remembering to do that. Whatever, the neighborhood was safe enough. He reached over and flipped on the lights, revealing a totally normal—
Everything flickered. He gasped, but whatever it was, it was gone as quickly as it had come. What was that? He could’ve sworn he saw someone standing right in front of him, way too close, with a mask hiding most of their features. He shook his head, pressing a hand to his temple. He must really be tired. Maybe he could just go to bed, he wasn’t that hungry anyway. But he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong, that he wasn’t...alone.
Fine then. He’d do a check around the house to satisfy his paranoid brain. First up, the living room. Down a short hallway and into said room, with its yellow walls and marble fireplace. Nothing there. Now to check everywhere else.
This house was much too big for one person, but he liked the space. Even though it meant he had to wander through several rooms and halls to get anywhere, and that was a pain in the ass. Luckily, the place had come with fancy decorations already hanging on all the empty walls. Mostly paintings. He walked past one on the way to the study, and...could’ve sworn it looked different. He stared at it as he passed.
Nothing in the study. Nothing in the bedroom. Nothing in the bathroom. He was basically walking in a giant circle at this point, because for some reason every room, even the bathroom, had at least two doors. He walked past another hanging and thought the painted eye blinked. But he dismissed it as nothing, because painting don’t blink. They don’t have eyes to follow you, tracking your movement. They don’t give you the creeps when the hairs on the back of your neck rise like you’re being watched.
He blinked. There was another flicker, another image like there was somebody else with him that he couldn’t quite see. He faltered, then kept on.
He ended up back in the living room. He was feeling a bit...dazed. Mindless. Like his brain was a TV that just turned to a blank channel. Mechanically, he walked straight over to the fireplace, leaning on the mantle. He sighed, and turned around.
There were people.
He just stared for a moment. How did they get in? How did he miss them? There were six, dressed rather well, all in dark colors, and a few had capes. Some were sitting in his furniture, others standing. And they all wore masks of some sort, metal and styled, almost like that steampunk he’d heard about but also just...strange.
That was all he could register before fear and adrenaline kicked in and he bolted for one of the room’s many doors.
He made it just in time. When he glanced behind him, the masked ones were running after him. He slammed the door shut, feeling them pound on it, trying to push it open. His mind raced. There was a small table in this hallway, so he hooked his foot around one of its legs and with some effort pulled it over. He wedged it against the door, under the doorknob, and ran.
After a mad dash down the halls, he ended up hiding in the bathroom. Shit, this couldn’t really be happening. Whatever this was. Who were these people? Why were they after him? Maybe they wouldn’t find him...he had to hope that, because he didn’t have a weapon, nor did he have anything like that in the house. He could throw a lamp at them. At all...six of them. He leaned back against the bathroom door and exhaled slowly.
This situation was looking bad. But he needed to keep calm. Keep his head clear. It didn’t help that he still felt kind of fuzzy and tired. He pushed away from the door and crossed over to the sink, turning the handles once he got there. He cupped the water in his hand and splashed his face. Then he shut off the water and leaned on the sink, blinking water out of his eyes. He looked up at the oval mirror hanging on the wall over the sink.
The mirror showed somebody else.
It was just a split second long. But he clearly saw it. A face that almost looked like his own, but with dark green hair. The eyes were open, and empty black. The face was grinning too wide. Then the mirror shattered, showing broken pieces of his own reflection.
There was a rattling sound behind him. He spun around and saw the doorknob of the door he’d come in was jiggling, with such force that it was shaking the door. He watched it burst open, and the masked ones came flooding into the room.
For once, he was glad that every room had multiple doors, as he darted the room and flung the other door open, running once again. They were right behind him, they were just as fast but he had to be faster, throwing doors shut whenever he passed through run as he sprinted down the halls.
And then, all of a sudden, they weren’t there anymore. It was so sudden, the realization that there were no longer footsteps behind him, that he also had to stop. He’d reached a T-intersection in the halls, and there was a narrow table leaning against the wall here. He stumbled, leaning on it, only to look to the left and see the masked ones staring at him, having somehow circled around.
Two of them stepped forward in eerie unison, both wearing capes. He backed up, hands half raised in the air, eyes darting to the doorways to his left and right before fixing on the masked ones again. They were close enough that he could notice something he hadn’t seen before...there were strings on their wrists, wrapped around their necks as well. The strings were red, and didn’t look entirely real, more like strands of translucent light. Then his eyes darted downward. The one on the left was holding something loosely in one hand. Another mask, this one copper and shaped like a cat’s face. He could see the symbols of the card suits in a diamond in the center of the forehead.
“What’s your name, young man?” The one on the right asked. The voice was blank, devoid of emotion.
“M-Marvin?” he stuttered out.
“Marvin.” The masked one said the name like it tasted exotic. The eyes behind the mask flashed. “You sound like you could make a lovely magician.”
He hesitated a moment too long, wondering about what that meant. When he tried to run again, the other masked ones had surged forward. They moved jerkily, limbs seeming to spasm. One blocked the way left, one blocked the way right, the two in front ran directly at him while the two remaining came at a diagonal angle. He was outnumbered. Hands grabbed his arms, arms wrapped around his torso. There was a mask everywhere he looked.
They dragged him down the hall, seemingly immune to his attempts at struggling and thrashing. Why were they so strong? He screamed, yelled, pleaded, and got no reaction. One of them threw open a door, and he realized they’d made it to the bedroom.
Despite his best efforts, they pulled him inside, throwing him down on the bed, where he landed on his back. He was staring up at a ring of masked faces. The one from before held up the cat-shaped mask, as if for him to see, then flipped it over. Now he was looking at the other side, the side that’s curved to fit a face inside.
“No—!” The word sounded ripped from his throat. They didn’t listen.
He jerked, trying to sit up only for hands to push him back down. Every attempt to rip free and fight back was blocked as they wrapped their hands around his arms and forced them to stay still. He tried to kick out, but they even pinned down his legs. He kept squirming and struggling. That mask was still there, getting closer to him. So he turned his head to the side, only for one of them to grab his face and hair and force it back to position. He twisted his head back and forth, resisting the inevitable. It was yanked back into place every time he tried. He cried out one last time, but the hand keeping his face in place was covering his mouth so even that was muffled.
The mask was inches from him. More hands came, forcing his head to stay perfectly still. He gave one last effort to get free, desperately trying to wrench free. He failed.
It fit on his face perfectly, like it had been made for him. Wide blue eyes stared through the eye holes. There was a single flash of green light, and suddenly his hair was a bright emerald shade, and his eyes were glowing to match.
When the strings wrapped around his wrists and throat, he stopped struggling and went blank.
A sketch of @jayofmemory’s Branded AU’s Masked! Shneeplestein. Using Ohuhu Markers! This was one of the first sketches using them so I hadn’t learnt the proper way to use them. But this turned out nice.
@berceusesonata ask
Did Mintha just say that they should escape from this place? Nix felt a chill wash over her body as she sat there, staring at the bard. Surely he knew what he was asking of her.. right? “I.. I can’t escape with you, Mintha. I-I..” The silverette rose a hand to grip her shoulder, recalling the brand upon the shoulder blade. This place was all she had left and Aries was taking care of her for the most part. She had some sort of freedom at the very least.
Though that didn’t mean Nix was going to turn a blind eye to Mintha’s predicament. He didn’t deserve to be trapped in this place, to be used and abused like he was. The silverette would be putting herself in a lot of risk but it would be nothing compared to the amount of guilt she’d had to live with otherwise. “B-but.. I can try to find.. your instrument. It’s the least I could do but.. I just.. I just don’t think I could make it very long if I escaped. I’ll be brought back here and Master Aries would be furious.”
a little fun comparison while I work on Branded cover art :)
my style may be more cartoony/manga like now and less realistic but I feel I’ve definitely improved my expressions in the two years (and three months) since this story began :D
WAIT ITS BEEN OVER TWO YEARS SINCE THIS STARTED?!?!?
wow.... :0
People have been disappearing. Random people, no connections. Soon after, a strange group of masked people appears, doing strange acts. Some steal, others murder. All anyone knows about them is that they are responsible for the disappearances. Updates every Saturday
Branded cover is up! come here to subscribe to the comic and be the first ones to be updated when i upload a page!