#theparadiseeffect

Full text can be found in the DeviantArt description: https://www.deviantart.com/moondoodles7/art/Paradise-960458034

When Princess looked back up, blinking away the remnants of her tearful promise, only Empress stood in front of her. The two sisters stood in silence for a few moments before both stepping forward, meeting in a silent embrace.

The day dragged on as any normal day would, and Princess took full advantage of the time. She knew it wasn’t real, but it still provided some comfort to get to spend some time with Empress again. She wished she had taken the time to say goodbye before she left. As night began to fall, the rest of the family returned. This time, no bitter words were exchanged. Instead, weapons were cast aside, and pelts were pressed together as the family curled up to sleep. A part of Princess was reluctant, knowing when she woke up, they would all be gone, but she chose to relish the moment. She would likely never get this chance again. So she simply closed her eyes, a soft smile on her face.

How do you define paradise? The words come from somewhere in the back of her mind. As she drifts off to sleep, she gives a silent reply.

This is paradise.

[Princess, Level 2 -> 3]

I may or may not have forgotten to eat a couple times working on this, but shhh it's okay, I just ate a liiittle late. But here's Princess' level up from 2 to 3! Also featuring the last two posts from a mini event we were doing in TPE. I wanted to make the landscape look very bright and kind of fantastical, so I tried something a little different with the sky. Not totally sure how I feel about it, but I think I like it. Also played with shading again, just something a tiiiny bit different from the piece of June, and I think I like it. Just a small change that makes it a little easier to manipulate some things. Overall, pretty happy with this! Also featuring Empress without her mask...but...I wonder.

For a moment, they stared at each other, almost as if it were still a reflection, though one look could reveal that was not the case. Blood dripped from the mirror Princess' muzzle.

A fearful whining emerged from the reflection's throat before erupting into a screech as she lunged for the real Princess. Flailing claws connected with Princess' shoulder, knocking her out of her shock. She cried out, staggering backwards. She brought a paw up to her shoulder, seeming almost confused as she pulled it back to see blood staining her paw. 

Another frenzied swipe whistled past her ear, and Princess moved instinctively, lunging to pin her reflection.

The reflection let out a garbled cry, barely managing to form words, "I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

Princess' breathing quickened as she stared into her own terrified eyes. She had seen eyes like them before. So full of fear and desperation. She had watched the light fade from them after she finished her job. But now she was confronted with her own eyes...and she found she didn't know what to do next.

~

Wanted to make some art for Princess' latest post >:D

I've always been a sucker for trail cam horror type stuff...glowing eyes in the darkness. I had already described Princess' reflection as a cornered animal in the post, and I thought it would be cool to really embrace that animalistic-ness by making her eyes glow like they do when you flash a light towards an animal in the dark. 

Also! Just wanted to share the original sketch for this, since I still quite like it, even though it was just done on my phone with my finger pfff I wanted to make a cleaned up version for the actual post, but the messiness of the original sketch is just kinda a neat vibe.

Technically finished this a couple days ago, but I didn't wanna double post.