Alright here's a WIP I promised (bc of this post) of this parallax animation I've been working on and off since 2020.
This is one of the latest shots I've completed, and one of my favorites so far.
So far I'm taking a break so that I don't burn out working on it. I actually don't have that far to go on the overall animation to finish it- I just needed a break lol
The final chapter and the chapter that inspired me to write the rest of the fic.
Enjoy
Marinette groaned as she collapsed into the chair across from Adrien with her lunch.
“That bad?”
It took all her remaining willpower not to glare at her friend. She leaned forward menacingly so that only Adrien would be able to hear her.
“Let's see, first I got locked in a forgotten store room by girls that hate me for no reason other than I pollute their space with my commoner germs.” She started to count out her fingers. “Then I end up in another dimension helping fight a rebellion against the actual Queen of Hearts for four months before returning here to some shady warehouse only 24 hours after I left. Thirdly, I am kidnapped by a fake Hatter wannabe that wants me to play a fake Dormouse in his twisted fantasy tea party. Next I am picked up by Batman after I had already saved myself and I am brought to the Police Commissioner, of all people, who I have to find some way of explaining how I ended up in a position to be kidnapped without coming across as crazy. I am then returned to my dorm with enough time to get two hours of sleep before waking up for classes.” She paused long enough to catch her breath. “To top all that off with a cherry, news of Tetch trying to mind control me got out so people keep…”
She was cut off by some man or boy that neither of them recognized “Hey Alice, Did you like your unbirthday?”
She was fuming. Luckily, for the idiot, Adrien was an expert at picking up on her moods and placed a hand over hers to try and calm her. Truthfully it did help. He also glared at the idiot until he left. Adrien was sunshine incarnate until he glared. His glare held ions of destruction behind it and people couldn’t help the fear they felt even if they couldn’t comprehend why it frightened them.
“This just proves how stupid people are.”
“Hmmm?” His voice snapped her out of her musing.
“You are clearly more of a mouse or bug than an Alice.”
She laughed and allowed herself to fully relax, “Thanks Chaton.”
“Now what’s this about another dimension?”
She lit right up, “You would love it. Time works weird there so we could use it to get more hours of free time or catch up on missed work. It is also where Tikki and Plagg were born.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” She finally allowed herself to smile wide, “We can go grab the mirror later tonight and bring it back to my room, maybe yours, but I think we would probably get noticed bringing it across campus.”
“How big is this mirror?” Adrien leaned closer and dropped his voice.
“Large enough that we will likely need some miraculous level strength to carry it.”
He let out a low whistle as he sat back and took a bite of his lunch. “What else can you tell me now?”
“Cheshire looks like an older but male me and the city looks industrial if the industrial age had been developed with magic instead of science.”
“Despite the revolution you really loved it there.”
“There is just so much that I can’t put into words.” Her voice turned dreamy, “I felt like I belonged, I haven’t really felt that way since we first became friends.” She put her fork down suddenly and starred at him, “You are making time this weekend and I am taking you there.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Look it’s Alice.” A female voice this time. “Did you like the Hatter’s tea?”
She went to lunge at the person but Adrien had stood too quickly to grab her from across the table.
“It’s okay Mari, they will get bored soon. Even sooner if you just ignore them.”
“It’s just,” she paused to wipe away an angry tear. “In Wonderland, most teas were an emotion manipulating drug and then the tea I was served by Tetch contained a drug of some sort to ensure compliance in his puppets.”
Adrien came around the table to give her a hug. “Come on, we are going to pack up and head to the roof.”
She could only nod as She took comfort from the sense of balance he gave her.
“Have you been dealing with this all day?”
“Since I walked into the common area this morning.” Her voice was muffled and probably too quiet for anyone not blessed with feline hearing.
“Fuck, really Maribug. That’s it, I am buying us an apartment.”
“Adrien, no.” She shoved him back and began to pack up her lunch.
“Adrien, yes.”
“No, we discussed this.” She hadn’t unpacked much so she helped him gather everything so they could start walking. “We don’t plan on staying after we graduate, an apartment is just a waste of money.”
“We came here to escape bad memories and bullies in Paris. Escaping doesn’t really work if you are still being bullied.”
“I have a solution, I just need you to lend me your lawyer.”
“What? Why?” She didn’t have to look at him to feel the confusion.
“I am just going to punch the next person I don’t know that approaches me about the incident. If that doesn’t deter them than maybe suing them for psychological pain will.”
“You can’t just, it doesn’t work like that.”
She glared at him through the corner of her eyes as they kept walking.
“Look pigtails, if these people lose anymore brain cells they will have heads gooier than bad camembert.” Plagg piped up from Adrien’s shirt pocket.
She and Adrien started laughing so hard that they had to stop laughing and support each other.
It took several minutes before she finally calmed down, “Thanks Plagg, I owe you one.”
“I will except your thanks in the form of camembert filled cheese croissants.”
“Of course.”
They were discussing their separate classes and what type of apartment Adrien planned to buy them when a voice spoke up behind them.
“You’re the girl the mad Hatter grabbed.”
She had tuned and was punching before Adrien could stop her.
The man impressively dodged as he blocked. “I’m sorry, you were just kidnapped. I shouldn’t have come up behind you like that.”
That gave her pause and she glanced at Adrien.
He shrugged to let her know that he didn’t know why the guy was so fast. One didn’t get those reflexes naturally.
“I really should be apologizing for trying to hit you.”
“Please don’t. You’ve probably had a rough time, I know what it is like to be kidnapped and I should have known better. I react similarly when someone sneaks up behind me.” He sighed, “I am really not good at this. I just wanted to make sure you are okay and to let you know how awesome it is that you broke out of the mind control.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, speaking of, any tips you could share?”
Adrien shook his head, “Marinette has always been stubborn and incredibly strong willed.” He held out a hand, “Adrien Agreste, pleasure to meet you.”
The man took his hand silently.
She and Adrien shared a look of disbelief that the man somehow interpreted correctly.
“Tim Drake-Wayne. Apologies, I am used to everyone and there vultures knowing who I am.”
She smiled kindly, both her and Adrien could relate to that. “Want to join us on the roof for the rest of lunch? It is quite quiet up there.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I was looking for caffeine when I spotted you.”
“Mari has a thermos filled with her special coffee blend today, I am sure she could share.” She saw Adrien study the bags under Tim’s eyes, “You definitely look like you could use it.”
The smile he gave was blinding, “Really?”
She nodded reluctantly, part of her wanted it all to herself but he really did look like he needed the extra energy her coffee would give.
Tim seemed to gain energy just from the thought of coffee, “My family cut me off this week and bribed all the coffee shops in town not to sell me anything, thank you.”
She wondered why his family would cut him off, probably a good thing he was going to drink her coffee. It was a little strong sure but she had also magically infused it to give more energy with less side effects.
Adrien clapped Tim on the back and they pretended not to notice how he tensed.
“Excellent, in exchange for gifting you with coffee and food, you can help explain why the whole school knows Mari was kidnapped.”
Tim paused to think as Adrien picked open the roof door. She thought he may ask awkward questions or decide to report them but was pleasantly surprised .
“I found out because the Police Commissioner’s daughter is a family friend and told me this morning. She wanted me to make sure you were actually okay and not just in shock last night. As for everyone else,” He stopped to think about it as she set up her special rooftop picnic blanket.
“Either one of the officers told their kid or someone managed to buy an old police radio again.”
She poured him a small cup of coffee to make sure he could handle it, magic doesn’t mix with everyone. “People can do that?”
“Technically it is illegal since one of the rogues could always get their hands on it, but some officers believe it is a good way to keep dorm students out of dangerous areas.” He took a sip and his eyes widened.
She saw Adrien out of the corner of her eye preparing to shield the food in case Tim started coughing or spit out the coffee.
Instead he downed the rest and held out the cup for more as he got down on one knee, “I don’t care if you two are together, please marry me.”
Adrien, the traitor, just laughed.
She sighed, “Why does everyone think we are dating? He is just my best friend.”
“But?” He glanced at Adrien in pity as she refilled his cup.
Adrien grinned. “Tried it, liked being friends better. Now instead of marriage, how about you start with a date. She is free this Wednesday and enjoys ice cream.”
“Adrien!”
“Are you free at 6pm? She could probably meet you at the dorm entrance unless you would rather meet elsewhere.”
“Chaton!” Her face was hot and she could only hope he didn’t notice.
“Yes M’lady?” He had on that stupid innocent grin.
“You can’t just decide all this for him. You don’t even know his romantic alignment.”
“Oh right.” He looked to the stunned Tim. “I am sorry if I misunderstood your intentions, but she really is free Wednesday if you swing that way.”
She buried her face in her hands, maybe this is why they hadn’t made any friends yet. Adrien just kept scaring all the intelligent ones away.
“If Marinette is okay with it than I would love to take her out for ice cream, but only if she is okay with it.”
She glanced up to see him looking at her in concern. “I think I would enjoy that Tim.” She smiled sweetly at him while plotting revenge against Adrien.
She would enjoy tossing him at a jaberwocky.
Hope you enjoyed Not My Wonderland. Please keep alive and stay hydrated.
Final results for the vote were
Tim-4
Cass-3
Duke-2
No one-2
I actually had another ending planned in case of a tie between Cass and Tim. Maybe one day I will release that anyways for the giggles.
I'm not like super mad about this, but I did spend a good part of the other day detailing a church for the background of the current shot of my animation, only to begin work on one of the mid ground layers and then realize all that detailing will be mostly covered by trees...
And like I know it's ultimately fine, because the tree leaves aren't solid and you can see through them a bit and so that detail poking through will look like really nice attention to detail... but still... whyyyyyyy lol
Here's one of the first shots I completed for this one animation I'm making, since you guys said you were interested.
I got permission in late 2020 to create an animation for a song called Hey Alice by Rachel Rose Mitchell, and this particular shot was finished just over a year ago. I had gotten a few scenes in, then life got in the way and I took a several month break and a recently got back to where I could start working on it again and have since knocked out a lot more scenes in a (relatively) short period of time.
My goal is to create something a little in the style of like a moving storybook with parallax animation.
I'm really excited to see this through to the end, because I had been wanting to make this for years before I finally worked up enough confidence to ask her permission to create it, and if anyone is interested maybe I'll share another finished shot or two.
Cecil! Can you do smoke shapes? Like the one character in Alice in wonderland?
Huh, I don't actually know. *He tries and makes a star shape.* Whoa. - Cecil
*Remus elbows his sister.* Looks like someone is stealing your aesthetic. - REE
*Beatrice rolls her eyes and pushes Remus's head off his neck.* {He can be the Caterpillar if he wants. I'm styled as Alice. Though I guess in this instance Thomas would be Alice since he fell down the Faery Rabbit Hole.}
Hehe. Hole. Well, then you're the Queen of Hearts because OFF WITH MY HEAD! - REE
*Logan returns with a pouty elf child.* What is happening? - L
*Cecil is making more shapes, stars, moons, plants, animals.*
Cecil can make shapes from the smoke, and I think Beatrice and Remus are talking about Alice in Wonderland. - Thomas
*Roman is squirming.* {UNHAND ME, KNAVE!} - Prince Roman
Hey! Love your blog! I was wondering, do you know how could I contact alice, form narnianblessings? I know she's on an hiatus, but maybe you know how to get to her... I wanted to show her a drawing I did :)) Thanks in advance!
Hi! I am happy to hear it! Im on some sort of hiatus myself at all times, but luckily, my email will answer you. So;
I... do not... Alice is a sublime human, but she does value her privacy, which i do repsect. I wish I could reach out to her and tell her i miss her, but sadly i cant. If it helps at all, I can tell you that her private blog is @alice-c-anna . She might be active there before on @aslansblessings.
But if she is around?
Hey Alice, you most beautiful thing. I miss you a lot. Sadly we’ve both been away. So if this notification reaches you? Hi! People here miss you <3
