Red narrows his eyes as he stares down at Cody, shutting up and listening as they explain. The corners of his lips twitch as they finish, the shadow cast over his eyes falling ever so slightly heavier.
“… So, that’s how it is, hm?”
“Barely… any different…”
“… Exactly what I…”
“…”
“I’ve gotta say, you’ve really got a way with words! You’re so articulate when you’re scared, Cody.”
He snickers to himself, hopping off the grave and pacing around, looking between the other and the Ghosts.
“Observant, too~! You’re right, I really couldn’t be bothered to care what you think of me. I’m not exactly here to make friends. I’m sure that’d the last thing you’d want, anyways! See, I’m just here to satiate some curiosity.”
He leans in front of Blastoise, tilting his head.
“I would like to formally apologize to the oversized Sobble-in-a-shell for my language. I’m not exactly used to being around others… Twenty-six years of imprisonment wouldn’t really teach a guy to have a filter, heh.”
He waves a hand nonchalantly, completing the circle.
“And as for your marketable figurine of a rat, well… I’m not interested in being a snotty kid forever. Unfortunately, I don’t need any hacking done to screw up my game badly enough to change some things around.
But, hey… I’m not here to make chit-chat with a couple of one-note monsters. It’s all about you, the most REAL one in this room. Cody, Cody, Cody, star of the show~! Let’s get back to the point. I know you don’t exactly think highly of… things like me. What was it you told that one poor girl- ‘You’ve had more than a decade to get over yourself,’ right?”
He throws his head back, cackling as if the old remark is the funniest thing he’s heard in his life.
“I meant it when I said that I don’t CARE. But I AM nosy, and your vitriol towards REDs in particular is just so interesting… Even seein’ the face clearly strikes a nerve. So honestly, I’d LOVE to hear EXACTLY what you’re thinking…”
“If only you were willing to spit out any fighting words, that is! But you’ve been so much more polite than I expected, after all the reading I’ve done…”
He passes by in front of the other, looking off into the distance.
In that moment- a moment of passing footsteps, of the blink of an eye, of a lack of care… something heavy fills the air.
A damning presence looks down on Cody with a dozen eyes, countless mouths, gnashing teeth and twitching claws, two hundred and fifty-five whispering voices. It’s a disgusting and shambling creature, a sick and unholy patchwork of amalgamated hearts and yellowed blood, wrapped up in tattered flesh and backwards fur, mismatched feathers and scales and blubber and skin. Writhing, wheezing, bleeding, rotting, every misplaced piece existing out of sync.
Something impossible. Unknowable. Invalid.
The feeling it imposes upon them is suffocating. Like not breathing for years, like something vile filling their lungs, a sickness that is rising, thrashing, tearing, desperate for a taste of “fresh meat” if one could even call a dead trainer that anymore.
“It almost seems like there’s something you’re worried about,” the voices from within it hiss, layered countless times under the casual and teasing tone of Red’s own that is lost under the madness…
… Yet the instant the words spill from his lips, that awful sensation is gone as quickly as it arrived. Everything is as it should be. Despite how intense it was… It was little more than two seconds of some sick kind of illusion.
Was it even real? Was that pain all false? Red hasn’t lifted a finger, no less even looked Cody’s way.
It’s as if nothing even happened.
“I wonder, I wonder, what it could be~?” the man babbles on as he walks away, feigning ignorance- because he must be, he must be screwing around with them at this point, right? How could he NOT be?
And now he’s laughing- giggling to himself under his breath, like this whole ordeal is some joke that only he’s in on.
“After all, I’m just some harmless little video game character. I’m not even real, right?” he chides, “Certainly nothing like one of your big bad players who could crush your shoddy little cartridge cause you decided to be a little bi…”
He trails off, managing to catch himself.
“… Decided to misbehave. What, you don’t think I hold any real power over this place, do you~? I can’t cause…”
“… Permanent damage.”
He slows to a stop several paces away from the monochromatic trainer, spinning on his heel to look at them with a smile that could be described as warm, but…
From heart, to flesh, to grin- there’s not a single warm thing about this man in this moment. Only proven further by a final remark, laced with a threatening kind of curiosity.
“So would you like to stop trying to play nice and tell me what you really think of me… Or are you gonna let me get bored?”
Updated looks and references for Blue, Leaf, Fire, and Glitchy will be uploaded over the next few days.
This ended up being more of an undertaking than I’d expected it to be, as this had started with the idea of just redoing their lineup- it ended up spiraling into a bigger thing, though. Not all details and information will be able to be posted yet due to spoilers, but I hope you’ll enjoy what’s there regardless. I put a lot of work into this and the improvement compared to their old references is really satisfying to me to see.
Being started as a lineup, by the way, their heights and proportions next to each other are accurate, arranged from shortest to tallest. Once the individual ones go up, I’ll probably put the unblocked lineup here for reference as well.
I’m not trying to blow smoke up my own ass hyping up a series of references- this was just a weeks worth of hard work that I’m really, really proud of, and I hope you’ll enjoy em.
with the last of the refs posted as of Just Now heres the original formats (of what i Can post) of the lineups. obviously theres a fair bit i cant show but the actual Refs are the more definitive versions and those’ll be rolled out as time goes on- this is more for the heights and side by sides as it was Originally Intended
A disheveled man in a twisted realm who claims to be Red- yes, THE Red, despite bearing no resemblance in appearance or personality. He somehow seems to possess knowledge of things he shouldn’t know, and an unnerving ability to do that which should be impossible. His body appears unstable, and though the same could be said of his behaviors… the odd man acts and talks as if he’s an old friend of yours, and always seems relaxed around you- showing off his loud and passionate personality, and always bearing a Cheshire grin.
[Transcription of design notes and color hex values under the cut.]
Back of Jacket + Patches: #e5e5a2 + #ffffff, #25222b + #8e4a4f, #521d21 + #d1d2d6, #8a8b90
ALT PALETTE (only for this outfit)
Yo.
Look, I’m not here to dick around with a buncha cryptic bullshit. I’d like to think I’m a pretty open book, yknow-
I just think that hiding this one would be really fucking funny. Trust me- you’ll find out soon.
A lot sooner than you’d think.
General Note:
Details of these forms can vary based on circumstance. This is more like examples and a style guides than a concrete reference- I’ve tried to note every key part for each.
[In terms of creative endeavors, we (mod starry) have still been taking it slow. Artfight was the most we’ve drawn in a while and we had to take a break after. Still thinking about Missing Numbers though… (it’s hard not to when they literally live rent free in my brain)
I still can’t say when I’ll update again, personally, but I’m gonna try and get back into drawing the gang and maybe even do an animation I have an idea for. I’ve got a new drawing program I’m still adjusting to, but I hope it’ll be useful in the long run.
I can also verify that the other mods have been chipping away at something related to the blog during this hiatus too… I hope you’ll like it when it’s ready.
In the meantime, thank yall again for your patience. Here’s some sketches we did tonight for a little something once again.]
