Retro/Old School Cel Shade commission for my longtime friend, buddy, and doujinshi group member, @capnjamesman
This is Boltaire, the main protagonist of a project I've been working with him on. Honestly, this is my favorite piece of done of this character.
He didn't request a crusty version, but I added on anyway to REALLY give it that delicious bad DVD/artbook scan vibe. The rescaling here makes it look even crustier. ROFL
Also, I forgot to add my signature lmfao, but that's alright because I couldn't figure out where to put it anyway.
Retro/Old School Cel Shade commission for my longtime friend, buddy, and doujinshi group member, @capnjamesman
I've been working on a series of these since 2021, but slowly. This time, it's Misty, one of the main heroines of this project. I find her SO adorable, but her boofy curls were a bit of a pain to draw and color, haha!
For anyone who is curious, she's part of an original project I work on with James. It's a science fantasy that's, how should I say it... Deceptively cute? I would compare it to a 1980s cartoon similar to ThunderCats, with a superhero-esque main cast but in a mystical world and copious amounts of fridge horror.
Also, I added a crusty version just for Tumblr to make it look more "authentically" retro. XD
It's rare that I'll post my original work here anymore, but I was very proud of how this turned out and wanted to share it where I can.
This is for the Boltaire project my friend @taralen and I are working on. It's a more symbolic piece featuring the titular young lightning crystali (on the left) about to face off against his older brother/greatest enemy, Leonite. Looming in the background is their corrupt creator and one of Celestial Blue's two gods, known simply as "Mother".
I might share more of the project if anyone else is interested, but in the meanwhile I just wanted to share this piece~
"Imagine your OTP stuck on the side of the road after their car dies. It’s cold, and they’re in the middle of nowhere, and despite their initial dislike for each other they’re forced to squash into the backseat and huddle for warmth. They make awkward teasing jokes about personal space but end up falling asleep with their heads on each other’s shoulders.",
that everyone saw Snund in and I said I'd write it.
So here it finally is.
Enjoy~
_________________________________
“I think we’re gonna pull over for the night. So the next hotel we see, we’re gonna stop at, alright?” I was on the phone with Cry.
The Late Night Crew had decided to go on a bit of a road trip together. We all needed a break from the weekly streaming and everyone thought it would’ve been fun to go out and go somewhere fun for a change. So, we were driving from Florida all the way to California. Sure, we could’ve taken a plane, but someone suggested that if we drove, we could see more people and places and it’d just add to the fun. Of course, most of the group liked the idea so it was what we ended up doing. Though, soooomebody didn’t count right, so we ended up having two left out of the van. Who were those two? Just me and my rival, that was all. They had to pair me up with him. They just had to! They were dicks. No, Battlestar, that somebody that couldn’t fucking count correctly, was a dick. They piled everyone in the van while they decided to make me help Snake put some stuff in the back of the van. Once we were done putting everyone’s stuff in, Battlestar broke the news to us two that we were going to have to bring either his or my car and just ride together, since it was easier to have just two cars instead of worrying about three.
I couldn’t remember who was more pissed about this situation, Snake or me. We had to be paired in a car together for a few hours, and it was going to be that way for the whole trip unless I coaxed someone into trading places with me. Sighing as I leaned my head against the window, holding the phone up as it was on speaker, I noticed it was about to die. I had to make sure when we got to the hotel that I charged it. I wouldn’t want it dead for the trip. “I’ma let you go, Cry, alright? The next hotel, I’m sharing a room with you.” I called dibs and the mask man chuckled. “We’ll see. See you two there.”
I let my phone end the call and soon turned it off; trying to save the little power it still had left. Snake had the heat on and my hands were a bit cold, so I put them by a little heater. It was about twelve in the morning and we were just going to make it to the hotel. We were maybe a few miles off. It was silent, the car ride, until there were funny noises being heard that didn’t come from me or the other. “What was that sound?” I asked as the car soon started to slow and stop.
“Shit.” Snake swore and soon sighed, now getting out. I followed, just making sure that if I could help, I was out there, getting ready to do it so we could just continue on with our road trip.
---
Snake checked under the hood and under the car. I wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for, but he, apparently, didn’t find it when he let out another sigh and looked over at me. “It looks like we’re kinda stuck here for the night.” He let out a little growl after saying that. It must’ve left some sort of bitter taste in his mouth and some terrible thought in his head. That he’d have to stay the night with me.
I didn’t want to think about it. I thought he was joking with me, pulling my chain just to get me to react. “Ha, ha. Very funny. Now seriously, let’s go.” I said as I leaned against the car, waiting for him to say something that would prove I was right.
Though, he sighed and shook his head, letting out a slight yawn. “Jund, do you think I want to be stuck with you here?” He asked as he shut the hood. “We’ll have to sleep here tonight and walk up to the hotel and get someone to call a tow truck, unless your phone has enough power to call someone.” He had a bit of a hopeful look. Did he really not want to stay with me? Well fine, fuck him. “I can try.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned it on. Once it was on, it started beeping, begging to be plugged into the charger so it could get charged. I ignored it and tried to type in Cry’s number, but the phone died on me before I could hit ‘Call’. “Damn it.” I growled at the electronic and shoved it angrily into my pocket.
“Guess I was right. Now come on and get in the car. It’s gonna get colder.” Snake said as he got back into the car. I sighed as I soon joined him. It was odd sitting in the passenger and driver’s seat without the car moving, though, I could deal with it. Though, if it wasn’t for the temp, I would’ve been fine. It started to get colder and I started to shiver. Apparently, Snake noticed since he moved in the backseat and basically pulled me back with him. I blushed slightly as I felt his arms go around me and he hugged me a big close. “What are you doing?” I shot him a look, wondering if you were insane.
“Look, we’re gonna fucking freeze if we don’t keep warm.” The male barked at me. He wasn’t looking at me, like he was embarrassed for him to be doing this. “So, this is basically the only way since we have no blankets in here.”
I didn’t want to agree with him.
I wanted to tell him he was wrong… but he was right. He was right and I fucking knew it. I sighed and just nodded, now rolling my eyes. “Whatever. You just wanted a reason to snuggle me.” I teased, feeling the movement from the other’s body. It was obvious he was shaking his head.
“I rather snuggle with a cactus than with you, Jund. Right now, though, it’s kinda a matter of falling asleep or hearing you chatter all night.” Snake said with a bit of a chuckle.
“My chattering isn’t that loud!” I defended myself.
“Hm. I guess not. I must be thinking about your snoring, then.”
“Hey!”
We both laughed at our own jokes and at the other’s reactions after a while. Sure, we were in an awkward situation, me pressed up against his body while his arms were hugging me close to him, but sort of… well, liked it after a while.
Time passed. Our conversation died and my head was resting on his shoulder. It wasn’t long until I felt his own head rest on mine. I blushed, wondering what he was doing, before I could hear his slowed, even breathing. He was asleep. I smiled a bit before sighing, wishing I could shake my head. “God damn it, Snake.” I whispered and shut my own eyes. It wasn’t long before I started to drift in and out of dream land, myself. “Night…”
We spent the whole night like that. Me in his arms, his head against mine, warm in the back seat of his car. I wouldn't ever admit it aloud, but I liked that. I felt super warm and it made me feel safe with those strong arms around me. Oh well, though. It was a once in a life time thing to experience.
Some of my followers didn't know I was a fanfic writer?
For PewdieCry and now Snund?
....
-Gets ready to lose followers-
Ha.
Anyways,
Hi.
Here's this.
I'm really tired right now and feel like I'ma barf because I drank a shit load of really sour lemonade to keep myself up.
Right now, I'm fighting my eyes just to type this.
So here.
First Snund fanfic.
Yay.
-Throws confetti-
Enjoy.
______________________
“Well you know what? I’m done with you. I’m fucking done with you!”
“Well fine, fuck you then!”
The sound of the Skype call ending soon filled my headphones as I breathed out an angry stream of air. It was another fight. Another fight between him and me. More fights had been happening between us lately… and I wasn’t quite sure why. Ever since this whole “Oh, I actually like you more than a buddy” thing came out about two weeks ago, it’s been nothing but fighting. It was like something changed and our playful fighting turned into seriousness. I couldn’t tell, half of the time, what we were even fighting about.
Rubbing my temples, I shut my eyes and just took in a steady stream of air. In and out. In and out. In and out. I had to calm myself. Hearing the sound of a message, I opened my eyes to see my buddy Cry had messaged me. Clicking on his name, I started to read the message before a Skype call interrupted my reading. It was still my masked friend. I hit the “Accept” and it was just Cry and I in a call.
“Hey Soup!” Cry sang happily from the other side of the screen.
“Hey…” I sighed, hoping the other wouldn’t notice the tone of my voice. Sadly, he did.
“…You guys had another fight… didn’t you?”
I didn’t want to answer, so I was going to play it off like I didn’t even hear it. “So, man, how are you doing today? Make any videos? How’s that one game with the chick with the perky breasts?”
Cry was silent for a while. I heard him sigh and I felt bad. I totally ruined his mood.
“I’m sorry, I’m just gonna g—“ I started to say but Cry soon interrupted.
“Man, no. Don’t.” The male had begged me to stay on the Skype chat. “You know you need to go talk to him about it.”
I groaned loudly into my mic. I didn’t want to talk to Snake at all right now.
“You don’t have to right now, man… but you need to soon. I mean, you guys are still friends after that confession on the drunken call a few weeks ago.” Cry began to explain on why I should try to talk to Snake. In all honesty, I didn’t want to talk to him for a few days, but I knew Cry wouldn’t quit badgering me about it until I fixed it.
“Is he even on?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t. Cry looked and soon answered.
“Yeah. I’ma hang up. You go talk to him. Okay, Soup?” The other asked and I just sighed
“I’ll try.” I groaned slightly, knowing I was making Cry happy. He finally hung up and I slowly looked at my skype list, seeing Snake’s name just sitting there. I hesitated but soon clicked on call. My first call was ignored, since I literally waited ten minutes for an answer, and so was my second. I sighed and just typed to Cry: “He isn’t answering, so I guess we can’t talk. I’m gettin’ off of here. I’ll talk to you later.”
Before waiting for some response, I logged off of Skype. I sat there in my computer chair for a bit before getting up and stretching. I glanced at the clock and sighed. Ten o’clock. Might as well get some sleep for work tomorrow. I slid off my Best Buy uniform and switched into a t-shirt and some pants to fall asleep in.
I turned off my computer, brushed my teeth, and went to bed. Though, I didn’t fall asleep quickly. I laid there. I laid there and stared up at the ceiling for a bit. My body was tired but my head wanted to stay up. It was telling me that Cry was right, even though I didn’t want to admit it. It was telling me that I needed to apologize and fix things with Snake. We were just friends right now! Why did it matter? I mean, sure, he knew I had something for him… and suuuure, he may have had something for me, I wasn’t quite sure since he was more sober than I was at the time of the confession on the Skype call, but… we were still friends.
Repositioning myself from my back to my side, I found myself staring at my computer. Half of me was saying to get up, turn it back on, and try to call Snake up again, but the other half told me I needed rest. Sighing, I just shut my eyes and tried not to think about it, even though it was getting difficult. I’d just have to think about it in the morning.
---
It bothered me all last night.
I didn’t get any sleep… and I was dead ass tired.
I went to work, though, and almost fell asleep there. My coworkers kept having to poke me in the arm and kept having to make sure I didn’t fall asleep. Customers would ask if I was alright and asked if I needed to lie down, which of course I’d just respond with “I’m fine”, and you know if the customers start asking, it’s pretty obvious you’re super tired. Though, somehow, I made it through and I was home.
I slid my shoes off at the door and I went and laid down on the couch. I let out a groan as my cellphone went off. I wanted sleep, but I couldn’t let it go. “Hello?”
“Hey, Jund. Did you make up with Snake yet?” Cry. Damn it.
I yawned. “Mmmm… I’m really ti---“
“Jund.” Cry sternly said as he interrupted me.
I let out a sigh and just shook my head. “Not yet.”
“Well why not do it right now?”
“Because I’m sleeeeeepy.” I complained.
I heard Cry sigh on the other end. “Fine. After your nap, you better do it.” I heard the other threaten and I just nodded.
“Okay. Nooooow bye.” I hung up. I was getting cranky from a lack of sleep and Cry knew how I was when I was tired. Setting my phone to vibrate and sticking it back into my pocket, I just laid on my side, facing the back of the couch, and closed my eyes. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep.
“Okay, we have to drink whenever we fuck up a line, alright?”
“Sounds fine with me.”
“That’s not fair, I’m not good at this game!”
“Too bad, Soooup. That’s the deal. Snake and I are fine with it. You’re out numbered.”
I grumbled as Cry let out a chuckle and Snake was his usual silence. We were playing fucking Tetris. It was a Wednesday night, so it was a little break from Stream, and we were just having a friendly competition. We were going to see who could stay sober the longest. Cry picked the game and I thought he was insane for choosing Tetris because everyone knew Snake was good at it. It must’ve slipped his mind or something. It also must’ve slipped his mind that I hated that fucking game. Though, I wanted to be in on the fun, so I went with it. That was a big mistake.
It wasn’t even an hour in and I had finished my second drink. It was a bit strong and I could already feel myself feeling a little light headed. “Ugggh, how much longer are we playing this?” I complained as we soon started a new round.
“Until you and I both beat Snake.” Cry commented and soon cursed when he messed up a line. It was easy to hear him grab for his cup and take a drink of, what I was guessing was, his appletini. Snake would let a curse out rarely and Cry would make sure he drank.
By the end of the third round doing this, I had finished up about five glasses. I was feeling pretty good, right now.
Somehow, the conversation during the Tetris rounds was heading into love. Cry was talking about how he was girlfriendless and wasn’t really looking for a bit.
Snake said something but I couldn’t remember what he said. I just remember hearing his sweeting sounding voice in my ear.
Cry then said something but I couldn’t make it out, either. My thoughts were a bit clouded until Cry called for my attention.
“Scott!”
“Hmmmm?” I asked, taking another drink of my sixth drink as I screwed up a line.
“Do you have anybody you’re keeping an eye on?” Cry asked. I could hear the grin in his voice, as if he already knew what I was going to say. Though, he didn’t. Nobody did. Not even me, because I didn’t plan on saying it ever.
Though… Drunk Scott had different ideas.
“Actually, yeah, I have my eyes on Snake.” My mouth blurted. My brain didn’t catch on to what had just happened until I realized how quite it got and I won because nobody else had moved and allowed their pieces to plié up. They just kinda stopped. I blinked before rethinking my actions, and soon felt really stupid. “I mean… u-uh…” There was no way to make an excuse for that. Not now, anyways. If I would’ve been a bit more sober, that would’ve helped.
“Er….” It was awkward in the chat now and I knew it. It was because of me. I was about to rush to the “End Call” button, but that was before Snake started talking.
“I need…. to go. I need to bathe my dog.” The raspy voiced male spoke quickly before hanging up. Oh God. I fucked shit up.
This was the worse day of my life.
Opening my eyes, I yawned as I felt my phone vibrate against my leg. I reached in my pocket and pulled it out, seeing someone call me. It was… him.
Why was he calling me?
I hesitated before I finally hit the ‘Talk’ button and put it to my ear.
“Hi….. Snake.”
----
“..You sound tired.” The other pointed out the obvious, not returning my hello. I shrugged as I soon sat up.
“You woke me up from a na---“ I yawned in the middle of my sentence . I recovered quickly and cleared my throat. “Sorry. As I was saying, you woke me up from a nap.”
“Oh. Sorry. If you want, I could just g—“
“What did you need?” I interrupted. I didn’t want him to get off the phone. I wanted him to keep talking to me… but I wasn’t going to say that aloud. That’d just make things more awkward between us and I couldn’t afford to do that anymore.
“I just wanted to call… to apologize.”
Apologize?
Snake?
Was this a dream?
“For what?” I questioned, wondering where the other’s head was in this situation.
“Er….. for… everything.” The man sounded pained to say it. It was like he was giving up his pride just to apologize to me.
“…What do you mean ‘everything’?” I was confused, still, on the reason he was calling. He did nothing wrong. It was all my fault… right?
“Don’t ask questions.” The other snapped back but soon sighed. “I’m sorry for being a douche to you… lately. I’m just kinda… confused on what you said a few weeks ago. That’s all…”
So Snake was still thinking about what I said? Oh fuck.
“Listen, if that’s gonna be a problem, then I can ju---“ I started but was soon interrupted.
“No. Well… I don’t know. I’m just confused, Jund….” He paused and sighed. “What you said just got me thinking. I know our relationship isn’t… well, normal, but I know… it’s just… I don’t really know how to explain it.” Snake sighed.
He was at a loss of words… and I was shocked. The other man usually knew how to say what he was feeling, but this time… it was hard.
“So… we’re good on that fight…?” I changed the subject, thinking it would’ve been a nice time to change it.
It was a bit of a silence, but I finally heard what I wanted to hear. “Yup.”
“Good.” I smiled. “I’m glad you apologized, tool.” I teased and we soon got into one of our petty bickers.
---
“I can’t fucking stand you!”
“Do you think I can?!”
“You’re just so... Ugh!”
“And you don’t find yourself annoying?”
“Hey…! Well… you know what….?! Fuck you!”
I could tell a smirk came from the other’s face as I said last line. There was always a smirk there. My “friend” didn’t need a face cam to show me. His next tone of voice would show me. It was always the same. Whenever he got me so worked up to say “fuck you”, he calmed down… and so did I and he’d always return the words. His voice had changed from anger to a happier one. I wasn’t exactly sure what Snake felt when he got me to get so worked up… but it was obviously a good feeling.
I knew he loved this… and strangely, so did I. This whole concept of fighting with your friend in order to make them smile was absolutely abstruse, but it was how we worked. Not that I’d admit this to the man himself, but I liked making Snake happy. I loved all our playful banter, teases, and even our fighting. It sounded weird, though, since it kinda sounded like an odd married couple. Oh well, though.
An audible chuckle was heard in my phone from the deeper voiced male before he mumbled back my last two words, adding “too” and my name into the equation. “Fuck you too, Jund.” I allowed myself to chuckle for a few seconds and sighed.
I caught myself smiling like a fool as I heard him say that. I shook my head and wondered what was wrong with me. Why would a normal person smile when someone close to them told them ‘Fuck you’? Nobody did that. Well, nobody but Snake and me. That’s how Snake and me worked and I, personally, liked it.
“Whatever.” I grumbled as I rolled my eyes. I could hear Snake laugh a bit more.
“You’re so fun to piss off.”
“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes as I continued to smile.
