#leon diante

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I have been doing a lot of little sketchbook character noodling since october started!

These are most of the ones relating to Darkbloom (I may have missed some...)

Nothing spectacular, just thoughts and keeping my hands busy on trains.

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Leon had decided long ago that there was something a little off about the writer he’d recruited to help him find his partner. Leon had worked with the paranoid and the reclusive before, but there was just something about Reynard he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

That was before strange things had started happening around him. 

It had started small. An odd comment, knowing someone’s name before they had introduced themselves, and swiftly grew into periods of dissociation followed by a revelation the man could have no way of knowing, like the exact address and room number of the motel one of the people responsible for taking Emmerson had stayed in.

When Leon asked Reynard how he could possibly know that, Reynard had just stared at him, unable to articulate  what he had experience that had let him to this conclusion. All he knew for sure, was that he was sure.

So there they were. The small roadside motel Reynard was ‘sure’ had some connection to Leon’s missing partner. Leon was skeptical, but with no leads left and a growing number of true revelations under Ren’s belt, he was willing to try just about anything.

It was already late when they arrived, because for some reason Reynard had insisted they get there just before check-in closed. They collected their key from a mildly irritated clerk and retreated to the room.  It was very small, but neat and clean, and Leon worried that whatever evidence that might have been there would have been cleared away long ago. 

Reynard didn’t seem to have that concern. He stepped into the room after Leon and froze. Another episode? Leon sighed and shut the door behind them, setting himself down on the bed to watch Reynard and make sure he didn’t hurt himself this time. 

He was watching a long time. In fact, Leon was sure the previous incidents hadn’t been this long. 

“Reynard?” He stood and moved over to the younger man. He was hesitant to touch him, uncertain if it was akin to some sort of sleep walking, but luckily he didn’t have to. 

Reynard blinked, his formerly blank expression taken over by notable frustration. 

“Leon- I…” He pressed the heels of his thumbs against his eyes, “I can’t think straight. There’s so much noise here, too much to make sense of all at once.”

Leon stared. Ren had never been so coherent after an episode, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing ot not, given what he was saying. Leon knew for sure that he couldn’t hear anything aside from the neighbours television rumbling quietly through the wall. 

“We can leave if it’s too-“ He started to offer, but Reynard shook his head and cut him off.

“No. No… I just…need a minute.” Reynard took a few deep breaths and let his hands fall from his face. He looked exhausted. 

“You need to sleep.” Leon, while unsettled by these changes in Reynard’s already odd behaviour, did care about his wellbeing. He gently touched Ren’s shoulder and guided him to the bed, coaxing him to lay down. “Whatever’s going on…” He paused, not sure if he could bring himself to say it would be okay. “…Maybe it will be quieter in the morning.”

That seemed to do it. Some of that frustrated tension left the younger man’s body, and he just rolled over and closed his eyes without another word. He was clearly asleep only moments later, and Leon sighed. He joined Ren on the bed, his back to him as he too rolled over and tried to get some sleep.  It wasn’t easy. Not with the thoughts about who had been here previously, and that stranger’s roll in Emmerson’s kidnapping. But eventually sleep took him. 

—-

It was dark outside. Outside? Inside?

Leon shifted. He was standing up. When had that happened? It didn’t matter. He was standing now, and that meant he had to move. He needed to move. No time to waste. Never time to waste. So he moved. Leon walked through the dark. 

Caught. He’d stopped. Why? He looked down. Water. Shallow and black. Black on black. It was cold. He couldn’t stop. He had to keep moving. Keep searching. No time to-

A sound. A cry. Sharp. Clear as a bell inside his head. It hurt.

On his knees. Hands in the water. Hands upon his hands. Reaching up his arms. Pulling. It would be so easy to let them take him. Take him into that dark water. He wouldn’t have to keep moving. Keep searching. 

A new sound. Quiet. Murmuring. A hum. Harmony. A song he’d head before. 

Hands upon his shirt. Gripping, clawing.

A shape. Light made of darkness. Melting into place. Black on black. White on Black. 

A face he knew. Eyes. Teeth. Colour. Oil on water. 

The hands retreat from the song. They dip. Gone.

Harmony folds around in. Holding him. Eyes. Knowing.

Knowing… He knew. 

It was there.

—-

Leon woke with a start. Cold sweat clung to his shirt, sticking the fabric to him as he hurried to sit up. He needed to move, before he could have a chance to forget. In a fervour, He thew himself upon the floor, feeling around under the bed-

His fingertips brushed something. Leon held his breath as he gripped the thing and pulled it out. 

A radio. A tiny, transistor radio. No marks on the dial, but when he turned it over, he saw a note taped to it. 

‘Find a threshold. Tune to call the elevator.’

———————————————————————————

I’ve had this in my drafts for weeks now and It was time to finish it up!

lil bonus of a snippet I straight up have not edited because it’s 4am and my eyes are going.

Anyway, love the idea of Ren’s weird fungus angel shape bleeding out of the darkness. Especially to help his friends.

[rubeau-art]

Something something flirting on field missions

Chris and Ren get up to a lot off the books after book two. There’s a lot of rips and tears in the world that need attention, and sometimes those tears let in things that can only be dealt with via fire axe.

Ren has got more of a handle on his personal changes and how they work. Chris has refused to be left out of his weird shit anymore.

Leon and Emmerson a least get a more chill time posted up north. They’ve just got to keep an eye on a sensitive area, and get used to Emmerson’s new ‘Altered’ status.

Giant bird-thing in the woods? That’s just Leon’s husband. Don’t worry about it.

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I did a poll a short time go asking which characters I don’t draw enough of people would like to see, and you all picked Emmerson and Leon!

These two are detectives working in London (because I am weak for detective stories), and are the main character of Darkbloom: Book two.

Emmerson gets assulted by someone they were after while on a case, and becomes an Altered (I don’t know if i have ever gone into the Altered here?? I should do that), and is disappeared by a good old shady agency.

Leon doesn’t go down without a fight, and continues looking for his partner even after everyone they work with appears to forget Emmerson even existed. His search eventually leads his to meeting Reynard, who he manages to convince to help him find Emmerson.

Emmerson is going through his own wringer in superjail while this is happening (A lot of that side of the story is setting some things up for book three).

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Rushed shower thoughts:

Reynard and Leon sometime after they teamed up to find Emmerson. They're chasing someone(something?) case relevant and they are NOT catching up.

In fact, Ren is progressively looking worse as they try to keep up, and Leon is torn between frustration at the person/thing getting away, and concern that his new friend looks like he's going to pass out.

Leon catches Ren when he finally collapses, but instead of passing out, he lurches and throws up some 4-5x his bodyweight in black water. All Leon can do is hold onto him and watch in mixed horror and awe as limbs and figures form from the dark liquid and give chase to the thing they were after...

Fun way to find out your new guy is full of weird ghosts who also want to help you find your partner.

---

(Edit) Additional thoughts:

Reynard's ghosts aren't really self aware.

They're a mix of memories and instinctual impulses that eventually bind so tightly to Reynard that they become an extension of him.

Reynard has very little control over it all at first. They'll extend on one side of the plane, allowing him to see around corners or into other places in the mortal/material side of the plane. Which is cool, but it's like being smashed in the face with a brick made of deja vu out of nowhere.

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Back on this train again!

Detectives. Partners. Husbands.

I really need to start drawing Emmerson and Leon more often. I love them very much.

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And they’re all done! Thank you all for your suggestions, these were really fun to do!

[Y’all still so horny for Jax I see]

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Just some sketches/studies of more of the Darkbloom cast. I don’t draw nearly as much of them as I should.

Also figuring out properly what Emmerson becomes in his book. He’s not always feathered when he shifts, but I wanted to make the cryptid design I did for him a part of the book.