#upside downtime

[numptypylon]

I thought I’d do an early-stage wip wednesday today, because I haven’t in ages, and I do have stuff in the works. Currently doing what I can to prep for the planned follow-up to my S1-3 between-episodes fics Downtime in Wartime and Upside Downtime, working titled Downtime’s Up, because I’m drawn to cheesy titles and puns and am steering into the skid. It’ll add in downtime scenes within and between episodes, mainly focused on banter, romance, humor and character drama. I just really enjoy writing between-scenes stuff, so I’m so damn hype to have a whole new crop of episodes soon!

Of course, I can’t really do any writing before the season drops, but I’m trying to nail down a chapter header style that’ll work for at least the upcoming season but potentially this entire arc of seasons, so I’ve been experimenting.

The headers for Downtime in Wartime was the first digital art I’d ever done, so my repertoire was really limited and I was basically copying what I knew from traditional art, and for Upside Downtime, it was the first lineless art I’d ever done, so I was figuring out that style, and what I could do with it. I’m trying to be bolder this time, more high-contrast and saturated, and using more colors rather than sticking to the monochrome. I’m using the ‘fragments’ motif from the s4 concept art and build-up to the season, but with scraps of paper to mimic the older sets of headers.

Here’s some header examples I’ve done, although bear in mind they’re more style experiments/practice, testing to see if the range of motifs I’ll be dealing with over potentially 3 seasons’ worth of headers, are something I can pull off in the style. I might use the first though, since we have a pretty good idea about the contents of the first episode, and you know it’ll very probably be some sad Callum pov for that one, I just can’t resist the allure of that sweet sweet angsty pining.

You can see my terrible title brainstorming below, if you’re curious. I usually don’t HAVE a title until the ao3 title field is staring at me all judgy on posting day, maybe I’ve grown 😄

[numptypylon]

Some Rayllum fall vibes 🍂

If you want some tree-shoving Rayllum action in fic form, the chapters Deadlock and the follow-up, Trees to Meet You, of my between-canon fic Upside Downtime, form a little self-contained mini-arc set on the road between the Midnight Desert and the Stormspire in S3 and was the inspiration for this image.

[numptypylon]

Wee Rayla’s winter hat appears in Upside Downtime 21, and that chapter was so gutwrenching to write that I had to draw this as a balm for the angst pain and then wee Rayla needed little Callum with his own hat... for reasons. So here we are 🤷‍♀️

[numptypylon]

Sketch of Rayla in Callum’s jacket, for chapter 8 of my between-canon-episodes fanfic, Upside Downtime. This is shortly after Rayla gets thrown into the mud by Soren at the Moon Nexus.

[numptypylon]

Upside Downtime 31 (epilogue)

Callum reached out to cradle her injured hands carefully, pointedly. “You should probably keep your right completely out of the water, he said. “If you can manage it.” Yeah, probably a good idea. Knuckles were just starting to heal, no good getting an infection from dirty bathwater or reopening them by soaking too long.

He washed her everywhere but… steering clear of invisible boundaries they hadn’t discussed, but… certainly, he was well clear of hers.

Her hair was a different kind of boundary, but they had already crossed that one, the night after the battle. He was gentle and diligent as he always was, rubbing the soap into her scalp, around the base of her horns.

The tension bled out of her. But that tension had also kept her going. Kept her from falling apart.

But by the time she realized this, it was too late. His softness had made it inside of her.

Her right hand, clutched high to her chest, shook so badly it almost slipped below the waterline she had carefully kept it above.

Read more of between-canon-episodes story Upside Downtime epilogue or its Callum pov companion fic Downtime in Wartime on AO3. Chapters are oneshots, and can be read on their own, this one takes place a few days after the final battle, where everyone’s overdue for a bath

Thank you to everyone here on tumblr who’s engaged with this story and left me sweet comments in the tags (I read them all), I appreciate you so much ❤️

[numptypylon]

Callum and Rayla, onboard the Ruthless in the quiet before the storm. It’s a scene from my between-canon-episodes fanfic Upside Downtime, where they talk about their complicated dad-relationships.

I actually really like this drawing, and that never happens, haha! I even colored it, which never happens either, but in the end I though the black and white was more atmospheric 😊

[numptypylon]

———

“Don’t be such a bleeding heart,” Rayla said roughly.

“So what if I am!” Callum shot back, anger pushing him out of the panicky fussing they didn’t have time for. “Gives me one up on you!” He gestured at her arm where red was mixing with brown dirt, and her head that she couldn’t see but… definitely feel. “You don’t get to tell me how to feel.”

“I get to tell you to feel it later, when we left an actual angry dragon back there,” she snarled. “I’m absolutely telling my own shit body the same right now, believe me.”

———

Excerpt from an upcoming chapter of between-canon-episodes fanfic Upside Downtime

[numptypylon]

Upside Downtime 30 (S3E9)

They soared with the rising wind.

The flight was all lightness and effortless grace and his lips against hers and the whoosh of his wingbeats carrying them upwards.

The landing… not so much.

It took three passes and some skidding along rough stone and probably some bruises but… at the end of it, they were on solid ground and none of them were chunks of very-dead teenager at the foot of the mountain, so… a roaring success for Callum’s first landing, Rayla thought, and his laughter set off hers,  free and loud and triumphant.

She looked down at him, grinning widely, still bubbling over with relieved laughter. The first rays of the setting sun were catching in his hair and lighting up his smiling face, full of love that she knew now was… how he felt, too.

He loved her. He really did!

Read more of between-canon-episodes story Upside Downtime chapter 30 or its Callum pov companion fic Downtime in Wartime on AO3. Chapters are oneshots, and can be read on their own, this one takes place as Callum and Rayla set down on the pinnacle after their fall. (The chapter is angstier than the snippet might suggest, just a heads-up)