Query: I got an anon message asking if I’d post the folklore AU on Ao3 as a ‘not-fic’? That’s where folks post ideas or something, right? Or ??? Is that a thing that I should do?? idk, man. TELL ME THINGS. I’ll open up an answer box? Yes?
Anyways, here are some replies to the ask box, because I am super bad at remembering to do that
d2cm asked: hi! big fan of your comic and your folklore AU for TW. Since Stiles is a demigod, does that make his Dad the god? I’m really loving your AU and illustrations. Keep it up! ;D
I’m actually inking the thing that talks about his parentage right now! Though tbh I have alternate versions for who is the god, and it was a matter of picking which story I prefer. So ~*YOU SHALL SEE*~
minorlytwisted asked: Hey! Completely and utterly in love with your Stiles Stitching Derek’s Pelt picture <3 Think you will write more for that verse, and draw more? :)
The goal is to draw more! I’m sort of running out of things that I have ideas of to draw though, so it’s just going to turn into me drawing the AU versions of them doing dumb things, eventually, rather than stories;;
jabletown asked: omg i love your folklore au series. it’s absolutely amazing. are you writing any stories for it as well, or just providing backstory for the art? (the art is fantastic btw. i just love your style.)
Thank you! *u* I actually do have ideas for how some of the plot goes, but I’m not a writer at all, so these drawings are pretty much just going to stick to backstory. If I were to write, I’d be that fic author that has really interesting summaries but then you start reading it and you’re like oH GOD WHY (but you end up reading it anyways, as if you’re punishing yourself)
I know that feeling about fic. It is a terrible feeling.
dreamingrain asked: I just want you to know that I’ve had this blog open in a tab for about three days. Every time I go to close it I worry that I’ll forget the name of your blog so I won’t be able to look at your art anymore - which is completely ridiculous I could just bookmark it - but there you go!
fjsdkfds oh gosh hahajhdsa tHANK YOU
sometimes i consider changing this username to match with some of my other stuff, but then i go NO ONE WILL EVER FIND ME AGAIN (I lose track of so many cool people that way, augh), so i am down with being hydrae forever. *u*
randomaiko asked: Oh god, I know they probably already said this to you, but your art style is sooo gorgeous and unique and inspiring! And even if i love teen wolf so much ( sahjdka you hurt!styles pieces, yeah i’ve a thing for those ) it would be wonderful to see more original pieces from you! Keep going, hope you don’t mind the little likeandreblogandfollowingandstuff i’m doing here, yeah.. sob…. Bye <3
randomaiko asked: Ah and of course it wasn’t a critic or anything that teenwolf/more original stuff, i don’t know if it may sound like one but really it wasn’t *awwwkward i meant, moore original stuff in the future, i found you because of teen wolf but i like your originals and other fanarts too! and yeah this is getting more and more awkward as i write i should probably shut up and like/reblog your art and just love your skills and go.. away…. byeskkfhg <3
Haha, I understand! I haven’t really felt like finishing any of my original stuff tbh;; I have a bunch of sketches! There is even something waiting to be inked! But I’m feeling weirdly self-conscious about my original art, and I don’t know why! I even posted some original stuff for a grand total of five minutes but then promptly took it down because I immediately felt embarrassed. I just need to suck it up and deal. :(
Anonymous asked: your art is AMAZING. how many followers do you have?
I’m 3 followers away from 2k! I’m actually drawing a thank you thing right now shhhh don’t tell
It’s 1841 or 1920 or 1987 and Stiles Stilinski made one mistake too many. He’s a boy without a home, or a wanna be blues musician, or someone just looking for a little luck with handful of graveyard dirt and and thimble of candle wax. Hoodoo is in his blood either way, and hoodoo is what seals it—because when he goes down to the cross-roads on the dark side of town (and it doesn’t much matter when it is, who he is, what he is) he doesn’t come back.
Stiles knows all about the practice. His mother (grandmother) (great grandmother) (father) all told him the same things. You do the job work, you take the ends, and you put them in the ground by the railroad tracks or the cross-roads somewhere deep and dark and late.
And you never, ever, look back.
Stiles looks back.
.
It’s a century, or the next hour, or a dream and he’s still Stiles—but not. And he’s a demon—but not.
It wouldn’t much matter if it weren’t for the girl (child) (woman) (daughter) with her arms wrapped around his neck, pressing her chest down against his body like she wants to drag him all the way back down into hell. There is earth on her breath and a wolf’s scent draped across her shoulders like a pelt. It smells young and its impossible not to know: she is the hunter who will become hunted.
“I want it.” She says with a little girls petulance (a woman’s anger) and he would give it to her. He would give her everything—because he’s a teenage boy (but not). She breaths into the hollow of his throat and he feels like he is on fire. “I want respect.” And underneath that he can feel the vein of contention pull taught. “They train women to be leaders—such bullshit.”
“You know what it will cost?” Stiles feels the crooked stretch of his smile before he knows what he’s saying. It’s like this, sometimes, where he is (but isn’t) there. “No freebies, no take backs, Ms. Kate.”
“Ten years, right?” Her smile is old and brittle—like ten years have passed in a heart beat while still being ages away.
He nods and she kisses him. Kate tastes like fire and brimstone, like cheap soda-pop flavored chap-stick and scorn. Stiles laughs into the kiss because he knows, then, what what will happen, what has to happen.
What happens after the fire, though, now that’s something unexpected.
.
It’s not a moment later (or a week) (or a month) (or a year) that he lands back in Beacon Hills. It’s home (and not) and its so unchanged he doesn’t quite see, doesn’t quite remember there are things to be done and people waiting for a deal.
The wolf-scent is back. Babyfaced manchild (boy) (teen) (wolf) with an older sister (mother) (beta) (alpha) holding him taught against her side. Her eyes glow red and Stiles watches the teeth under her lips sharpen.
He grins, half bows, and then laughs in their faces. “You can’t destroy me.”
It’s as good as true—but not.
“That’s not why we’re here.” The wolf-woman (Laura, her name is Laura) says but there is a growl in her throat that promises yet.
Stiles cocks his head to the side and walks a wide circle around the pair. “Oh?” It’s a mocking thing he can’t quite control. “Oh?”
The boy-wolf (Derek—this is Derek—the one Kate loved and hated) growls deep in his throat but it’s a rattling thing, a dying thing. Stiles tuts, shushing him just out of reach.
“We want to make a deal.” Laura says and Stiles turns his attention back to her.
“It will cost you.” He says but she grins—a wolf smile under a pretty face that has gone white with grief.
“No,” She answers. “I think it will cost you.”
That is the most interesting thing that has happened all day (week) (month) (decade) and Stiles laughs again, delighted. “That so?” The laughter subsides into a thoughtful sort of silence. “That so?”
Laura nods. “Let us be your hounds for now.”
“Until the Argent woman.” Stiles nods as they do, pretending to think about it. “It will have to be a deal, you know.”
“I do.” She looks to be stealing herself for it—the kiss to seal their world into this subsection of hell but Stiles walks up to her and waves a finger back and forth in front of her nose.
“Oh, no.” He smiles again. “Not you.” He points at Derek. “I think I would prefer a matching set.” The howl is no surprise and neither is the lung towards him—all teeth and fur and fury. Stiles grabs him by the shoulders, throws him down on the dirt, and then leans down into the wolf’s face. One day, soon, he will be broader than Stiles—but that is a long day coming (ten years) (ten days) (ten minutes) for this pet and he will never, ever best him. “Come on, what’s a little kiss Derek?”
Its a taunt and both know it. Behind them Stiles can feel Laura fighting with her urge to protest—to try to rip Stiles off her family even if it would be futile(knows its futile).
Derek tastes of grief and tears but Stiles knows (will know) how he tastes before he tears Kate down to the rack and then he will taste of vengeance and fury.
“Good dog.” Stiles says and gets up, patting down the broken in jeans he’s work for a week (a month) (a year). “Lets go home.”
Laura grabs Derek by the shoulders, presses him close enough that her nose disappears into his curly flop of hair, and says nothing.
Stiles doesn’t look back once. He simply says, “Scott will just love you.”
I was waffling for a while on which of Stiles’ parents was the god, but ended up settling on his mom for the AU.
Both Stiles and Lydia’s mothers are part of a triple goddess who primarily preside over life and death (amoung other things). Unfortunately, the triple goddess are also the only ones in the pantheon who die, by cycling through the Maiden, Mother and Crone. The cycle ends with death and then starts up again with rebirth, but as an entirely new goddess, with no memory of the previous life. The Sheriff isn’t aware of the cycle and Stiles isn’t inclined to tell him about it, afraid the knowledge would just hurt him more. Stiles is convinced that his mother giving birth to him drained her and ended the cycle earlier than it would have gone, had he never been born.
Corvids are familiars of the triple goddess, though. And while the goddess that was his mother doesn’t recognize him as her son (the same with Lydia’s mother, when she eventually ends), her magic/nature does, and crows and ravens naturally flock to both Stiles and Lydia to act as guides. They are also not particularly fond of Derek at first and there will be a lot of fur pulling.
Lydia’s role in the pantheon is essentially Persephone/Kore because reasons.
Anyways, after the failure with Scott, Peter decides that targeting people who already have a connection to the underworld/cycle of life & death would be ideal, and two young gods (well, a goddess and a demigod) with that parentage? Hell yeah. Not wanting another failed connection and running out of time, he tries two methods: Lydia he attacks the same way he did Scott, while Stiles he attempts to get the consent of, by promising him things like more power, and knowledge of how to achieve immortality for his father so Stiles would never have to worry about losing him.
Stiles obviously refuses, even if he lies through his teeth to do it, but in the end it doesn’t matter for Peter since the connection to Lydia takes, and it eventually allows him to crawl his way back out of the underworld.
So uh, hey! I’ll respond to messages in the morning, but I just got home and I am way tired, and I just wanted to address a thing:
Please don’t delete my comments?? I’ve noticed it with the demon!stiles drawing and the first folklore au picture, and in the latter someone deleted everything but the first paragraph and that.. sort of defeats the purpose! I put a stupid amount of thought into a lot of the things I draw and so having it all deleted kind of sucks. And the demon!stiles thing I found rather rude since it was linking to a friend and her doujin.
At the very, very least, when it comes to the AU drawings, please put a read more link to the original post? I’d really much rather you didn’t delete anything at all, but.
Sorry if I come across as rude at all! I am tired and this made me a bit cranky;;;
mapsoftasmania asked: HI! your mithology au is the best thing ever!! not only your art is beautiful the story is super interesting! thank you very much for doing something so great :) have a nice day!
fjdhskjds thank you! I’m glad that folks seem to be liking the story/lore-ish bits. ;u;
angryblaineandbowties asked: So I’m completely in love with your folklore au and I just wanted to know if you had any plans to write a fic for it or something or if you were just gonna stick to doing the artwork with the descriptions. Either way, keep up the amazing work :3
I’m only going to be drawing things and writing descs, sadly! I am a terrible writer and I absolutely have no patience for it. I wish writing was a thing I could do sob sob. I must rely on others for all ficcage.
kisu-no-hi asked:I just wanted to tell you that you have a wonderful art style, I love the way you use colors (especially the red lineart) and how clean everything is,I could easily imagine your drawings as book covers! That’s it, have a good day~ ♥
djahdksa tHANK YOU. I have a stupid amount of fun with red lineart as opposed to black!
castielxfood asked:i love your folklore au plz never stop ok bye
confession time: I’M RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS FOR DRAWINGS
Anonymous asked: did that anon ever write more fic for you mythology au.
Nonny wrote parts 4-10, but 5 & 6, I think the numbers were, never came through! I sent the parts I got to them and they’re writing more, so. :D Nonny has asked me not to reveal their identity, though.
I haven’t really yet bought the sorta popular headcanon that Lydia is a witch, and I’m way more interested in the idea of her being completely immune, including to magic. Word of God, last I heard, is that Stiles himself isn’t magic, but his will meets the right criteria that allows him to wield objects that are.
Basically I really dig duality (and trinities, but that’s for another drawing), and the idea of Stiles sparking magic while Lydia smothers it is delightful.
Will Jade ever stop using circles? We just don’t know.
Oh gosh, I don’t even know. I wanted to do another set, with all of the kids as inspired by different mythical beasties from wherever they had roots. I got lazy, though! Oops.
All of the Hales are Black Dogs, Derek specifically is Moddey Dhoo/Mauthe Doog, a Black Dog who supposedly haunts Peel Castle, which is pretty much what Derek does anyways around the Hale house. Stiles originally was going to be Zduhać, but then I stumbled across the Leshy, which was too perfect to pass up, so. (As for the other kids, Jackson was going to be a Changeling, Allison was going to be the Beast of Gévaudan for ~*irony*~. I got too lazy before I got around to anyone else.)
Words come from Sir Walter Scott in The Lay of the Last Minstrel for Moddey Dhoo, and a poem I stumbled across that’s only cited as a folktale about Leshy.
And it is almost 5am, gOOD NIGHT.
edit: I got rid of the pink & blue fill b/c now that I’m awake, I wasn’t really sold on it!
duckyreads asked hydrae: Augh, I’m the worst at remembering when I’ve asked something properly vs when I’ve just contemplated asking it, so I apologize profusely if this is a repeat, but – would you consider doing a walkthrough / tutorial on any of your art pieces? I’m curious to see what your process looks like. I understand the cellphone-pics-to-Sai in theory, but seeing it somehow would be really cool (esp if you ink in raster, or lineart layers – & how you choose colours, & so on…)
I CAN CERTAINLY TRY!! But it’s really not anything special or interesting;;
So this is how I do art things!
I actually draw on any paper handy because I’m pretty much out of Bristol, which is what I generally like to use when I want to ink by hand, and I haven’t felt like shelling out the money to buy a new pack. So instead I’ve been drawing in this shoddy little moleskine sketchbook I’d gotten in a pack of three for some holiday or another.
So when I go to start drawing, a cat shows up and lays down right on it.
Once I get the cat to go away, I do some dumb sketches. They vary in size because it doesn’t really matter since I’m just going to end up inking over it digitally anyways.
This is what the sketches for Derek and Stiles looked like.
(I finished sketching Derek way earlier, hence the lighting change;; Also Stiles was originally supposed to be with a living wolf but then I wanted to use the skull again, soooo. ALSO I DON’T KNOW IF YOU NOTICE but stiles was originally facing the same way as Derek, but I flipped the sketch later)
My sketches vary between kinda neat and hella messy. Oops. ANYWAYS.
I never feel like digging out my scanner (usually there is a cat on it. I HAVE THREE OF THEM, THEY ARE ON EVERYTHING), so I just take cell phone photos and email them to myself. I change the sizes & dpi in the Change Resolution tab in SAI, and then inkkkk.
The blue parts in the Stiles one and the white lineart in both were done in different layers, but I’d merged them into one after I finished. Also, I generally don’t ink using black! I usually use a colour, so I can mess with it in Filter > Hue and Saturation.
After that, I usually do the skin, but these had limited colouring, so have the lineart & skin of that Stiles & Lydia thing
With skin I just mess around with the Water and Marker tools in SAI until I get what I want. There’s not really any method to it, at all;;;;;
Then I do the rest of the colouring!
I already knew what colours I wanted to use because of the beasties I’d chosen for them (Moddey Dhoo has red eyes, the Leshy has blue blood and a red scarf).
I really don’t need the sketch layer anymore, but I keep a dark bg so I can see what’s going on. I usually bucket tool all the white, which inevitably bleeds under the lineart, and I’m planning to make them transparent anyways so I open them in Photoshop and drop a stroke.
Layer, I mean. Not an actual stroke. That would be terrible.
SAI sadly doesn’t have a stroke tool (as far as I know???) and also no text tool, so pretty much everything after this is the most basic stuff in Photoshop (which is still a mystery to me, hence why I use SAI for EVERYTHING).
(Also I could just go in and erase all the bits of the white bg that bled through, but aesthetically I like the stroke more, so!)
I usually leave it there, but this time I selected the white bg and filled it in with the pink & blue for.. some reason. I don’t know, it was after 4am and I can’t be held responsible for my actions. But then after that it was just the text and trying to move the words around to try and get them to fit, which probably took me the longest and was the most frustrating thing ever and I’m not bothering to screenshot it augh.
And then I just removed the gray bg so it’s transparent and uh.
what are your brush settings for lining? your lines are gorgeous
tbh I only use the default pen settings in SAI;; The only thing I change is the size! I used to not like digitally inking because I could never get them as neat as I could with a pen and I’m a stickler for line cleanliness. I think the wobbly lines had somewhat to do with the lack of traction on the tablet surface or something, but! BUT THEN I realized this existed
IT IS A LIFESAVER. It keeps your lines nice and smooth. S-2 is what I usually work with, though the higher the settings get, the slower your pen will move. I’m pretty sure Photoshop has a similar feature, but I don’t know where it’s lurking.
Anonymous asked hydrae: wow, your artwork just blew me away. i’m sure you get this a lot (heck, i saw your answers page, you DO), but your lineart skill is wonderful! consistently the lines are super smooth - even on all the rounded edges or long lines! but the one thing that i think i enjoyed the most was the way you draw hair. it just flows really well and looks natural all the time. do you mind if i ask how you learned to draw it like that? whenever i try to, the lines never look like they’re placed correctly!
jdshkfds thank you! Q__Q UM!! I can’t really describe how I draw hair because I’ve been drawing it like that since I first started actively drawing, pretty much! I wish I could explain, but I really don’t know how to.
Though it’s likely because some of my formative influences in art were Revolutionary Girl Utena, the Sailor Moon manga and way old school CLAMP because I was a giant weeaboo, and all of those were essentially love sonnets to ridiculous, flowing hair lbr.
Back at the end of s2 at some point, Raya asked me what I thought Teen Wolf would be like if the show took place a year after the fire, rather than six. My first thought was THAT WOULD BE ADORABLE but then my second thought was NO WAIT THAT’D BE HORRIBLE. Genuinely traumatizing things happen to them as is, so imagine how awful it’d be to a bunch of 11-12 year olds and a maybe-16/17 year old. I’d totally watch it.
I don’t remember anything about being 11/12, so?? ALL I KNOW IS THEY’D BE TINY. I actually have a whole line up of sketches of the kids as uh, kids, but Stiles and Allison were the only ones I liked the result of so shhh.
Made myself sad when I realized Stiles’ mom is potentially in the process of dying at that point too. \o/ Awesome.
Back at the end of s2 at some point, Raya asked me what I thought Teen Wolf would be like if the show took place a year after the fire, rather than six. My first thought was THAT WOULD BE ADORABLE but then my second thought was NO WAIT THAT’D BE HORRIBLE. Genuinely traumatizing things happen to them as is, so imagine how awful it’d be to a bunch of 11-12 year olds and a maybe-16/17 year old. I’d totally watch it.
I don’t remember anything about being 11/12, so?? ALL I KNOW IS THEY’D BE TINY. I actually have a whole line up of sketches of the kids as uh, kids, but Stiles and Allison were the only ones I liked the result of so shhh.
Made myself sad when I realized Stiles’ mom is potentially in the process of dying at that point too. \o/ Awesome.
And now there is fic! Thank you, hydrae, for your gorgeous and inspiring art & AU! <3
fjdshjkfds ohhhh my gosh, thank you!! This is so adorable and great, and bb!Stiles made me sad and I just jdhkjgfd EVERYONE GO READ IT.
On if I’m taking commissions, since I’ve gotten a few asks about it: I’m not right now! I’ll definitely make a post whenever I do again (though it’ll likely only be for a few slots at a time), but at the moment, I’m not. Q__Q Sorry! I don’t think I can be trusted to finish them right now, since I am having trouble with even my own art. Thank you all so much for your interest, though!!
Ask box answers under the read more, as usual
Anonymous asked: You have the best art. Seriously, so fucking good. I love the your Stiles so much! Thanks for sharing all of it with us. <3
ianboner asked: so um i’ve sort of fallen in love with your art
mmmessyart asked: Oh mamma jammas I really love your art! Very unique style you have going on; makes me want to roll around in it *V* heh keep it up and can’t wait to see more!!
Anonymous asked: You have the best art. Seriously, so fucking good. I love the your Stiles so much! Thanks for sharing all of it with us. <3
unicornachos asked: Sometimes I just come to your blog and cry happy tears about the amount of symbolism and lore in your artworks /gross happy sobbing/
jfdshkjfsd gUYS. thank you so much hsfhsdsdhf it really means a lot to me. ;u;
Researching about folklore and mythology and symbolism is one of my most favourite things, and I end up putting off drawing a whole lot just because I get wrapped up in reading articles.
p.s. i can’t stop giggling over ianboner hELP
patron-saint-hunter asked: Are you going to write the Stiles and Lydia demigod and goddess fan fic or is it just connected to the fan art?
I am a terrible writer and you don’t want to me writing anything ever. There is a nonny who has been writing the au, though! In fact they’ve sent me more recently. :D I need to get around to uploading them, but tumblr posts are hella finicky for me (even making this took me way too long. TEXT KEEPS VANISHING OR NOT FORMATTING RIGHT)
miss-fifer asked: ((I saw your Alan Wake art, and I really love it. Alan Wake is one of my favorite games; I’m still working on achievements for American Nightmare, but I have only one left in the main game itself. I’d like to say very well done with the art, it’s complex and beautiful.))
Thank you!! :D I forgot how much I loved the game until recently and I felt compelled to draw a bunch of art for it. Not nearly enough people played Alan Wake
imakegoodlifechoices asked: I love your Prepubescent Wolf art! Baby Team Human is adorable and heartbreaking all at once.
IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE BECAUSE I’M DRAWING TERRIBLE THINGS RIGHT NOW (which you can partly blame renqa for shhhh)
Back at the end of s2 at some point, Raya asked me what I thought Teen Wolf would be like if the show took place a year after the fire, rather than six. My first thought was THAT WOULD BE ADORABLE but then my second thought was NO WAIT THAT’D BE HORRIBLE. Genuinely traumatizing things happen to them as is, so imagine how awful it’d be to a bunch of 11-12 year olds and a maybe-16/17 year old. I’d totally watch it.
I don’t remember anything about being 11/12, so?? ALL I KNOW IS THEY’D BE TINY. I actually have a whole line up of sketches of the kids as uh, kids, but Stiles and Allison were the only ones I liked the result of so shhh.
Made myself sad when I realized Stiles’ mom is potentially in the process of dying at that point too. \o/ Awesome.
I didn’t know I needed this in my life until now. BUT I REALLY REALLY NEED IT.
the day after the fire, Derek and Laura run. they run far and they run fast and they don’t come back until the property tax is due up and the county is threatening to take their land away. it’s /Hale/ land, and even if there aren’t that many Hale’s left now, it’s going to stay Hale land. Laura starts looking in to renovation costs and they stay in a tiny little apartment on the outskirts of town in the meantime. but they stay.
* the night before the first day of school, Laura and Derek argue about Derek returning to Beacon Hills High. he doesn’t want to, she does. it’s more like Derek stating his displeasure than an actual argument though, because Laura is his legal guardian and Laura is his Alpha, and Laura’s decision is law. in every sense of the word. Laura leaves before Derek’s obstinance actually drives her to raise a hand to him, because Derek has had the look of a battered housewife in his eyes ever since the fire and Laura isn’t going to be the one to add to it now. she goes for a walk in the woods to cool her head. * the night before the first day of school, Stiles falls asleep curled on the foot of his mother’s hospital bed, and nurse McCall doesn’t have the heart to rouse him or his father sleeping slumped in the hard-backed chair next to the bed and kick them out at the end of visiting hours. she lets them sleep. she calls home on her break and tells her son that she loves him, and to make sure that daddy didn’t fall asleep on the couch with a lit cigarette again before he goes to bed. Scott sleeps with his inhaler next to his bed because sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night and he just. can’t. breathe. * the night before the first day of school, Allison cries herself to sleep in a new, big, empty house. she isn’t going to know anyone in this new school, in a new town, and she’s tired of always having to leave her friends behind. the only thing unpacked in her room is a brand new compound bow. * the night before the first day of school, Laura meets her comatose uncle out in the middle of the woods, and gets her throat torn out by the same man who used to read her Dr. Seuss books before bed when she was a child. her last thoughts are for Derek. and for that look in his eyes that she’s going to end up adding to anyway. * the night before the first day of school, Peter’s first official business as an Alpha is to cut his niece in half to keep her from coming back. there’s no point in doing a job if you aren’t going to do it well, after all. * the night before the first day of school.
Allison is tall for a fifth grader, tall for a girl, and when they all stand in line to go to lunch Stiles only comes up to her shoulder. but Ms. Kachowski sat her next to him and Allison had bit her bottom lip and asked if she could borrow a pencil when she couldn’t find one in her bag. and she looks just as lost as Stiles felt this morning when his dad had to drop him off at school like his mom always used to do. Stiles holds her hand as he shows her the best table to eat lunch at, the best ball to play with at recess. Allison is tall, but she looks small when she frowns, so Stiles makes sure that she doesn’t.
Stiles holds her hand until her daddy comes to pick her up after school, and she waves at him from the window as they drive away. he waits for his dad to come pick him up too. he doesn’t, must have forgotten. Stiles sits on the curb next to Scott, a boy in his grade but a different class, and wonders who forgot to pick Scott up as well. twice a teacher comes by to ask if someone is coming for them and Stiles and Scott say ‘yes’ both times, even though Stiles is pretty sure they both know nobody is coming for them. Scott’s sort of mumbling into his knees the second time like he does, anyway.
they sit and watch the high schoolers walk home in silence. Scott shares a string cheese with Stiles.
the moon is out early today. still light out, but it’s big and round and full and draws Stile’s gaze before he spies the vice principal walking toward them with a frown. Stiles hops to his feet and grabs Scott’s hand to force him to do the same. waves like he’s just spotted someone he knows, and drags Scott into the middle of a group of teenagers surging past. probably just finished with a club sport. one or two look down to give them curious looks but most assume that they’re someone else’s little brothers and ignore them.
they stick to the middle of the group until Stiles can’t see the school anymore, can’t see the vice principal’s worried face anymore, and then they wade back out like explorers in the Savannah. except instead of tall grass it’s sharp elbows and sweat soaked t-shirts and lumpy gym bags they have to traverse.
Stiles stops them under a large tree near the edge of the woods, lets go of Scott’s hand, and Scott fumbles in his bag for a moment and pulls out an inhaler. takes two puffs. asks Stiles: “why did we leave?” and “how do you say your name again?”
“just call me Stiles.” Stiles says, wrinkling his nose. even he has a hard time pronouncing his name, mom’s the only one who’s ever been able to say it right. dad never even tried, called him Sport instead. and he explains: “the vice principal was going to make us sit in her office until she could find someone to take us home. which is embarrassing. and Dad’s working and I don’t want them to bother him. your mom works at the hospital, right? you probably don’t want them to bother her either.”
“Dad was supposed to pick me up.” Scott says, and then blinks a bunch of times in quick succession. frowns and brings his inhaler up to his mouth again.
Stiles wonders if holding Scott’s hand will make him look any less small like it did Allison. decides it couldn’t hurt. Scott’s fingers twitch uncertainly in his grip for a moment before squeezing back. “it’s fine.” Stiles reassures him. “we can walk home on our own. it’s not like we’re kids or anything, we’re /fifth graders/ now. practically teenagers. and they walk home alone all the time.”
“alone?” Scott echoes uncertainly, squeezing his hand even tighter.
“well.” Stiles amends. “not alone alone. we can walk home together. I just got a GameCube and Super Smash Bros. Melee, and you can call home and leave a message so your mom knows where you are when she gets off work. it’ll be fun.”
Scott says: “well…”
“it’ll be fun.” Stiles says again. stubbornly. not much has been fun since his mom started bruising real easy in the Spring, even less since she started coughing up blood. but he’s almost certain that this would be.
“okay.” Scott says, barely getting the word out before Stiles starts dragging him past the border of trees. “wait!” he says, startled. “why are we going through the woods?”
“shortcut. duh.”
“oh. right.”
the sun’s completely disappeared beneath the horizon before Stiles is willing to admit that he’s lost.
that they’re lost.
“we might be lost.” he tells Scott stoically. and then, “sorry.”
Scott wheezes in quiet panic at his side and clutches even tighter to Stiles with one hand, to his inhaler with the other. “it’s really dark.” he says tinily, coughs, takes a hit from his inhaler.
“naw.” Stiles says. “it’s a full moon out tonight, it’s practically as bright as the sun.” Scott gives him a doubtful look and shakes his inhaler slowly up and down. he doesn’t say anything though. “look.” Stiles tells him, squares off to look him in the eye. smiles. “all we gotta do is find our way out, right?” Scott nods uncertainly. “so I’ll climb a tree and see where the treeline ends and we’ll be fine. we’ll be home and playing Mario in no time. okay?”
Scott nods again. slowly. shouts: “wait!” when Stiles makes to let go of his hand. “you’re leaving me down here?” his voice trembles a little on the last word. he has possibly the most deadly puppy eyes that Stiles has ever seen. it’s pretty unnerving.
“not for long.” Stiles promises. reaches up to pat Scott on the top of his head. makes a face because Scott’s chin is level with his eyes, and he doesn’t remember everyone being taller than him the year before. Scott’s chin is sort of lop-sided. “‘m just gonna climb up, look around, and climb right back down. five minutes.”
Scott frowns thoughtfully. “do you have a watch?”
Stiles looks down at his wrist. just checking. “nope.” he says. says: “why don’t you count? it’ll make the time go by faster while you wait and that way you can, like, punch me if I take longer than five minutes.”
“but I don’t want to punch you.” Scott says, and Stiles finally lets go of his hand. turns around and starts climbing a tree to the sound of Scott counting steadily behind him. “one. two. three…”
Stiles climbs. and climbs. and climbs. he scrapes his palm on the tree bark and can’t hold back a shout.
“sixty-fiv— Stiles? are you okay?”
“yeah! ‘m fine!” Stiles shouts down over his shoulder. settles himself on a sturdy branch and shakes out his hand. rubs out the smear of blood on the front of his hoodie. it’s red, it’ll be fine. Dad won’t even notice. he looks right, and then left. then spots the end of the treeline straight ahead. and the house just beyond it, his house. “ha!” he knew he wasn’t lost. they were just taking the scenic route.
“ninety-one, ninety-two, nintey-thr—” Scott’s steady counting cuts off suddenly in a scream.
Stiles feels all of the air leave his lungs in one sharp burst at the noise. like he was punched in the gut. “Scott!” he shouts. heart racing in his chest as he scrambles down the side of the tree, loses his grip and falls the last six feet to the ground in a tangle of limbs. twigs and leaves shower down around his head.
Scott is a sad, small little pile of clothes and a dark mop hair and tanned skin and red beside him.
“Scott.” Stiles’ voice breaks in the middle. he blinks away the moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes and bites viciously on his bottom lip when it starts to tremble. “Scott.” he says again, and presses a hand shakily to Scott’s shoulder.
a whimper, thin and low, muffled into the leaf strewn ground reaches his ears. Scott rolls over onto his back and turns his tear streaked face to look up at Stiles. dirt streaked too. “something bit me.” he says tremulously, and points at his side with fingertips stained red.
Stiles props Scott’s head up in his lap, pets his brow. drags the hem of Scott’s shirt up to his uneven chin and looks. “I think it was a dog.” Stiles tells him, trying so very hard to stay calm. touches his fingers to the edges of the bite and wipes away the beading blood as gently as he can. “I don’t think it’s too bad. can you walk? we’re practically right in my backyard, and we can clean you up and call and find out whether your mom is home yet or not.”
“or not.” Scott mumbles, brushes Stiles’ hands away from his side. “she’s not supposed to be home until tomorrow morning.” he eases himself up into a sitting position with a grimace, then to his hands and knees, then standing. “and that musta been a really big dog.” he says sourly, leaning his weight into Stiles’ shoulder as Stiles wraps an arm around his waist, careful of the bite.
they stumble their up way to Stiles’ house like they’re running a three-legged race, Scott muffling cries and whimpers into Stiles’ neck until his shirt collar is soaked through. Stiles doesn’t mind. it stops him from crying too. the cruiser isn’t in the driveway, Dad is either still at work or at the hospital. there’s no way for Stiles to be certain because there’s no note on the kitchen table.
Mom always left a note.
it means they can take care of everything without getting in trouble though. no one has to know that Scott almost got eaten by a rabid dog in the woods tonight.
“I hate dogs. I’m never having one.” Scott announces fiercely as Stiles cleans the bite with anti-bacterial wipes, and rubs away the fresh tears that streak down his cheeks. Stiles wets a rag and lets him wipe off his face and hands. takes Scott’s shirt and shoves it under his bed, and gives him a new one that doesn’t have teeth marks in it. Scott assures him that no one at home will notice he’s wearing a different shirt.
Stiles knows that no one will be cleaning under his bed any time soon.
Scott leaves a message on his home phone telling his mom he’s staying the night at a friends and Stiles does his best to cover up the bite with Neosporin and about five different neon colored band-aids arranged in a star pattern.
they eat PB&J and play Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros Melee until they fall asleep on the floor of the living room, crumpled on top of one another. twisting around each other so like a curlicue. the only proof they have that the Sheriff ever came home when they wake up the next morning early, crusty eyed and yawning, is an empty bottle of scotch in the trash can that wasn’t there the night before.
Stiles takes it out of the trash and puts it in the recycling, and he and Scott start to get ready for school without saying a word. no one ever called to checkup on Scott during the night either. before they leave Stiles insists on taking a look at the bite mark again.
when he peels off the band-aids, there’s nothing underneath them but clean, unmarked skin.
I’LL STOP REBLOGGING MY OWN ART NOW BUT I HAD TO REBLOG THIS FOR EVERYONE TO READ
Once in a blue moon I will draw original things. THERE WAS ONCE A TIME WHEN I NEVER DREW FANART HA Ha ha /lies down
A while back, I started making a bunch of superheroes by hitting random page on the superpower wiki, and this is Cosmonaut, who has the power of cosmic manipulation. Most of the time she just hits people with blunt objects since hurling baddies into event horizons willy-nilly can be kind of dubious business. She generally wears different kinds of helmets and masks, depending on how she feels, but I didn’t feel much like drawing them;;;
Basically her and her crews deal is that they were really really bored one day and decided to fight crime, and they’re kind of alright at it. Sometimes.
ladyofthelog/verity has been writing about tween wolves and in it, Scott sprouts claws when he gets nervous. And it got stuck in my head because the mental image of him burying his hands in his pockets and walking around like that is so awkward and adorable, help.
Try listening to Laura by Bat for Lashes and think of Laura Hale and try not to cry.
Your reminder that in the Tween Wolf AU, Derek finds Laura’s body when he’s maybe, probably 17. (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ You’re welcome!
Not too happy with this one because it isn’t cleeeaaaaaan but I was sort of all over the place and too many layers and ugh, so there isn’t really a way to fix anything without restarting the whole thing. Oh well!
p,s. you can blame renqa for this b/c she’s the one who suggested terrible things
