#I used a lot of white in this piece which makes it feel less finished to me but it’s what I was aiming for so kept being like | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

luveline · 1 year

Note

for the steve zombie au requests 🙏🏼 how about the first night when they finally get their own place at the college? ily

thanks so much for your request! steve zombie!au | fem!reader ♥︎ 1.1k

"My arms are crying," you say.

"Keep moving," Steve demands. "It's only another minute."

"I'm spoiled, Steve, you know this."

Steve is doing most of the work, dragging your double mattress through the series of doors that lead from the first wing of Little Hawkins to the second, where you and Steve have finally been given a room after sharing with Robin for two weeks and three days. You regret your happiness — Robin has proved to be exactly the kind of person worth walking the earth for. She's funny and zesty and a secret sweetheart. She's a lot like Steve, minus his moods.

Steve trusts her implicitly. You do not. You haven't slept properly in the days you've shared a room with her, and everyone can tell. It's why Steve isn't actually mad at your half-hearted pushing.

When your new front door is in view you stop pushing. Steve sighs and heaves it to the door jam. He turns to look at you as he finishes, wiping his hands together. You give the mattress a weak kick.

Steve, despite the image he projects, feels very sorry for you in that moment. You can see it in the soft wrinkle between his thick brows, and the immediacy with which he extends his hands.

"Celebratory hug," he says, kissing your temple quickly as he pats your back.

His hugs are two extremes. Swift and friendly or languid and long. This hug is the former, and you'd wanted the latter.

"Where's the key?"

You dig in your pocket for the key. There's a piece of white tape wrapped around the head with the apartment number and a sticker on the teeth, where you assume Jeremy, the communities co-leader, to have written your name in marker.

"See this?" you ask, brandishing the sticker at him with a peppy smile. "Know what that means? This is my room, Harrington. You're just sharing."

"Yeah?"

You don't like the sound of that.

He takes a step toward you as you take a retroactive one back, and your foot scags on the curved corner of the mattress. Steve throws his hand out to make sure you don't fall, and you grab his arm in turn, key digging into his forearm.

"For me? You shouldn't have," he says, pleased.

You roll your eyes and fork over the key. Steve opens the door, and everything feels much less scary, because he waits for you to take his hand before he walks inside. It's a very small room, meant for one person, and the bed frame is a single — your mattress won't fit.

"Oh," you say with a laugh.

"Don't worry, I asked Hopper about it, he said there's some crates behind the town hall."

"The town hall," you say. He's already using all the terminology, like he's been here for months.

"We can clear out the frame." He rubs the back of your hand with his thumb unconsciously. "We'll keep the desk though?"

"For what?"

"For stuff. We can have stuff. Books and clothes and stuff."

"Stuff."

He steps in front of you and turns, forcing you to meet his eyes. He watches you watch him, and he rubs under your eyelashes with a careful fingertip.

"Sit down, baby."

You feel strangely like crying. The soft but ordinate tone he uses with you in moments like this is shocking, the memory of his recent I love you thrumming at the front of your head. He loves you. You can feel it.

You sit down in a puddle of dust on top of the desk. It holds your weight no problem, only creaking quietly when you start to slouch in on yourself, cheek pressed to the side of one of the storage cupboards above it. It's cold, and it smells like a holiday home, or a hotel.

Steve lifts the bed frame all by himself, the muscles of his back bulging and shifting underneath his shirt. He peels it off and you rouse from your dozing to whistle, delighted by his scandalised face and the follow up smirk. He flexes his bicep and you laugh softly.

"Oh wow," you drawl, meaning it one hundred percent.

"Right?"

"Very impressive, Stevie. You've always been a loveboat, you know?"

"Tell me more."

He pushes the bed frame out into the hallway. You wait for him to appear again, though the mattress comes first, Steve pushing it inside your room like it doesn't weigh a thing. It is, admittedly, very hot.

"Even when we didn't like each other, I thought you were handsome. Hot," you admit.

He pushes the mattress down. It lands with a puff of dust so thick you both wince and lean back. The dust settles, and Steve sidles into the space between your legs, shirtless and a little bit sweaty, a smile on his pretty mouth.

"I've always thought you were pretty, but not so much anymore." You flinch as a pit opens in your stomach, alarmed and hurt that he would say that you. Steve takes your face into his hand, and he tilts his head to the side and says, "These days I think you're beautiful. Capital B."

"Smaller pause next time."

The tips of your noses kiss. He doesn't close his eyes, so you keep yours open.

"You get prettier every day. I feel real lucky that I get to see it." His smile turns bashful, the facade of his confidence fading away. "I can't believe we're here, and I know everything is different, and that it's been hard. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," you say, eyebrows pinching together.

"I want you to be happy," he says.

You pull his face closer to yours, impossibly closer, not an inch of room between you. "I am."

"I want you to sleep," he says knowingly.

You grin, and kiss him blindly, missing his lips a little. He's gracious enough to correct you, and to return it with an adoring ferocity.

You push him away so he can see your smile.

"I'll sleep just as soon as my boyfriend makes the bed."

Steve looks electrified with purpose. "I'm gonna make our bed so well," he promises. "Gonna make that shit into a sport. If they ever throw an Olympics again, they'll add a bed making category, and I'll win the gold for you, babe."

Our bed. Despite your worries, your impulsive fears, and your propensity for suspicion, you have to admit it: 'our bed' sounds pretty damn good.

#steve zombie!au #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington #stranger things x reader #stranger things fic #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things 4 #steve harrington fic

728 notes · View notes

lucerocosplay · 5 months

Text

Shohki Mask Cover

construction notes & photos under the cut

This has been a long time coming! I'm glad she's a costume I can work a mask into without it breaking the design of the character. I feel like people would be less inclined to ask that you remove it for photos this way ^^;

I went with a very thin cotton gauze fabric (#9 "coffee" if you're wondering), think a slightly thicker cheese cloth. It's very breathable as a single layer and seemed the best choice for an N95 cover. The shape was really only achievable with this fabric because of the shape of my mask underneath, and some strategically placed 1/2" wide horsehair braid tubing from the dollar tree. I usually stock up around halloween but they stock around christmas too!

Process is very straight forward, just traced my mask on the fold and made some rough adjustments for a card stock mock up. I like 90-110 lbs for this sort of thing but construction paper can work in a pinch too. Cut that out and fit to my face, tweaked the placement on the nose bridge and added a 1/4" allowance for bias tape/facing, and appropriate allowance for flat felled seams.

The ear tab was extended to cover the mask underneath, and included allowance for support fabric (denim scrap in my case) to support two eyelets intended to thread the elastic of my mask through. Then it was just patterning out the rest of the mask elements and making note of seam allowance and how to cut each piece. I trimmed the tape holding together the card stock mask apart and finally got to cutting out the fabric once that was done.

There isn't anything fancy going on, the hardest part was just the inset mesh panel over the weirdly shaped keyhole cut outs on the mouth piece. It's just black nylon mesh typically used for interfacing bras sewn on after making the keyholes.

This fabric is like if toilet paper were a textile, which is great for breatheability and weight but absolutely hell for machine work like this. It's not for a competition so for me, hiding messy stitching with weathering later was ok.

The portion of the mask running from the underside of each ear tab was finished with homemade bias tape. The same method was used for finishing the top portion that runs over the bridge of my nose. The ends were simply folded and sewn down at the ear tabs for a clean finish.

The side "filters" have an extra 1/2" long extension so I can tack in the ends of some horse hair tubing, then double fold the fabric back into itself before hand tacking with tiny stitches from the outside. That helps the light fabric balloon out into that shape, along with another layer of that same mesh interfacing.

They are really fun actually, very floppy with great movement. Though they stick out a tad too much so I did add one small french tack to the center of each to help them point downwards but retain that movement. The "filter" took the most hand finishing out of the whole thing, but that was to be expected.

Once the little side "filters" were sewn in, there was just light weathering to do. I wanted to add some shadows and potential "mold spores" to certain areas to really make the texture pop and hide some messy stitching. Light passes with a dry brush and some acrylic helped a lot, so did referencing photos of mold growth on clothes.

It was a pass of burnt sienna along all seams and large patches where high humidity would accumulate. Then another lighter pass of burnt umber to deepen up areas, and some very sparse areas of white. Finally I wanted to give it the "blue cheese special" and mixed a little viridian green and that same white and hit the white areas first then dry brushed the spaces between mold patches. I'm trying to replicate active mold colonies so reference photos came in handy here. I also used some nail polish to match the grommets to fabric.

Maybe when I am not crunched for time I will get around to digitizing the pattern, but for now I hope the photos help anyone else trying to plan out a mask. Obviously the shape will change a lot depending on the sort of fabric and mask you have on under it, not to mention face shape. I would imagine bifolds would give you more her classic feed bag profile than an origami style mask, however.

#my cosplay #cosplay wip #nausicaa #nausicaa of the valley of the wind #ghibli cosplay

101 notes · View notes

xbomboi · 17 days

Text

thoughts about Epic Winter, & reconciling its place in Ever After High’s story as a whole

i wanna talk about epic winter because it—arguably more than any other aspect of the franchise—is definitely ever after high’s ‘ugly duckling’ piece of media, so to speak.

now obviously, a lot of it has to do with being the final big installment in eah’s main story, its premise being a side quest that sidelines the main protagonists in favor of new characters who are comparably far less compelling as the show’s actual leads, leaving the audience without any actual closure to the story which they were following.

in isolation, epic winter isn’t that terrible (though i think most would agree its better parts are the ones centered around already-established characters as opposed to the new ones), but in context it leaves a sour taste.

i entirely understand why anyone rewriting the series would either heavily rework it, only keep more important story beats such as daring’s arc & faybelle’s side plot, or completely remove the outing altogether.

in my case, however, deleting epic winter isn’t an option; my intentions are to continue where ever after high left off, and organically finish what they started. that means epic winter stays in tact, sanity be damned.

with that writing handicap, i can’t edit any pre-existing media in the ever after high animated lineup, which has forced me to brainstorm ways to recontextualize the purpose for epic winter’s place in the story and make the time spent on its story retroactively feel, at the very least, a little more worth it.

and the solution i found comes from viewing all that is introduced in the special through chehkov's gun.

(if you're unfamiliar, chehkov's gun is a narrative rule that everything introduced in a story must be done so with a purpose to serve. i.e. if you give a character a gun, they must shoot it.)

what's done is done; if we have to go on this detour following crystal winter and the top of the world, so be it. but let's pocket it like a tool that can be used later.

so here's my idea: bring crystal and the winter kingdom back into the story later down the line when the events of the story have reached a far more grandiose scale.

basically, i think the best way to use crystal would be when the story reaches a point of confronting and opposing the ruling powers in the fairytale world. having become the new snow queen, naturally, she'd be included in a gathering of the rulers of the kingdoms in the fairytale world.

i want there to be a moment in the story where the ruling powers gather together, and we see familiar faces return (including ones that we'd be introduced to after epic winter but prior to this), such as snow white, king charming, the queen of hearts, and of course, crystal.

with her outlook that would most reasonably be more aligned with the students at ever after high, she could end up being one of-if not the sole person-those present to voice opposition to whatever unfavorable verdict the rest of the rulers have made, as it would serve as direct conflict for the protagonists. she'd find herself outnumbered and ultimately her voice holding little to no power to sway the decision (especially being disregarded for her rather young age). afterwards we'd see her reflect on her frustrations with her colleagues and their rule of the system, thinking about it in terms of what kind of ruler she wants to be, before seeing her find determination towards something, though we aren’t yet shown what she actually decides to do.

the next time we'd see her would then come a little later, the conflict reaching the most dire circumstances. all hope is lost for our heroes; raven, apple, and co. would be down on their luck against odds they're unable to overcome. and that's when crystal would show up to offer her support, providing the numbers of her kingdom as allies to help better the odds. (she wouldn't be the only ally to show up, as this would be a 'getting help from all the friends we made along the way' ordeal. she would simply be one of said friends.)

crystal's help would ultimately play a part in winning the conflict. and because the audience would be familiar with crystal and the winter kingdom to a decent extent way prior to that point, the inclusion of it in the present fight at hand wouldn't feel like an ass-pull or a deus ex machina of sorts; it would make sense and feel earned for the most part.

and i think that's honestly the best thing to be made of epic winter's main adventure. we can't change it or fix it as it is, but we can create a payoff for it all later down the line. think of it like begrudgingly doing chores that lack any enjoyment factor, only to find that afterwards, you're glad you did.

so, yeah, that's my idea for how to give epic winter a genuine purpose. but i'm just spitballing.

38 notes · View notes

dollsorwhatever · 1 year

Text

2023 Ariel Restyles

These girls took me nearly three months to finish lol What started as a very simple attempt to redress my 2023 Ariel dolls in nicer outfits turned into an annoyingly expensive 3-month project in which I purchased multiple Ariel dolls, outfits, accessories and tons of sequins and pearls and repainting supplies in order to construct what I imagine a set of 2023 Ariel dolls would look like if they had the same budget, design team and quality of early-mid 2000's Mattel Disney dolls lol Literally so much fucking text below the cut because I couldn't help but explain every minute aspect of my decision making for these dolls like anyone cares!!!!

Mermaid Ariel is wearing a lot of different pieces combined together; my desire for this set was for them to look and feel like they had been manufactured and released by Mattel, so I pulled a lot of elements shared between various mermaid Ariel dolls that they've made over the years and combined them to look like a natural continuation of what they had been doing prior to 2016! Her tail comes from the 2008 Ariel and Friends gift set but has been given a few extra details that were heavily inspired by Forever Hair Ariel from 2004, the bra is from a hasbro Ariel but was altered to fit the Mattel body (and once again has details added to match the tail), and the starfish clip is from the 1997 Ariel and baby Sandy set with the addition of some extra shell sequins in a slight homage to the 2003 Charming Princess Ariel doll's hairpiece. The purse is from the 2023 Getting Ready Ariel doll but has been painted purple to match the rest of her outfit; this piece took the longest because I had to spray it with a base (Mr Hobby Base in White) in order for the acrylic paint to adhere which is something I have NEVER done before and felt incredibly daunting to even attempt (thank you for the help John!!!) but I finally got the courage to try and it worked out perfectly! I was originally dead-set on using real sculpted accessory parts from actual Mattel dolls to construct the embellishments on her outfit because Mattel will rarely use pre-made sequins and buttons for their dolls, but eventually I came to the conclusion that it's not too far out of the realm of possibility and I would be better off creating something that is evocative of factory-made dolls and has the right balance of colors and fabric than it would be to make a less cohesive outfit with a bunch of mismatched sculpted parts that don't look like they were made by the same person. If she were an actual release by Mattel, I think she'd either just be called Deluxe Mermaid Ariel or maybe Magic Pearls Ariel if she were a gimmick doll (perhaps with a color change gimmick on the pearls, hairclip and purse?) lol Some photos of the Ariel dolls that inspired me (Forever Hair obviously being the biggest inspo):

Pink Dress Ariel is a lot simpler but actually took the most work and took me the furthest out of my comfort zone when it comes to skill; her dress comes from the 2006 Glitter Princess Ariel doll but has been heavily embellished to look more 'deluxe playline', the peplum was gathered for a little more volume at the waist, pearls added to the waist, hem and collar and the darts on the front of her bodice were tightened to fit the bust on 2023 body more. Pink Dress went through the most trial and error because I couldn't figure out what to use for her tiara or the embellishments on her dress, but I eventually settled on sequins and pearls to match the Mermaid doll because I felt it would give the impression that they were designed as part of the same collection (and it also just looked the best out of everything else lol) Her tiara is from the 2023 Color Splash Ariel doll but was sprayed white and painted over with pearlescent white acrylic paint; I only painted it with one color because Mattel doll tiaras are rarely painted and the original Glitter Princess tiara is also one solid color. Originally I tried using a few Barbie tiaras that already came in the color I needed, but eventually came to the conclusion that she would only look right with an actual 2023 Ariel tiara lol Finally I gave her a choker (a very common design element with Mattel Ariel dolls that I really love) as well as the dinglehopper and shoes from the 2023 Getting Ready Ariel doll! Some photos of the Mattel Ariels that inspired me the most for her design (Glitter Princess is ofc the most obvious inspo):

As well as a bonus photo of her standing with my original 2006 Glitter Princess Ariel to show how the dress looked before all of my alterations:

(Glitter Princess didn't originally come with that choker but I had to give her one too lol)

For how deliberately playline-esque and simple these dolls are, it was honestly such a big project to put them together; I learned so many new skills through this project and it was a lot of fun to explore the elements that made the old Mattel Ariel dolls so special in order to combine them in a way that feels authentic, even if it results in a set of dolls that are purposefully lower-impact than a more elaborate custom would be lol

#ariel #the little mermaid #ariel doll #disney #disney doll #disney princess #mattel

81 notes · View notes

hoardlikegoldenirises · 8 months

Text

blurple time.

finally finished this~ months after he appeared 😅

you can tell there's a bit of a punk/industrial vibe infusing the whole design. i also drew from various details in the comics, and other random things like bulletproof leather jackets.

closeups, ramblings, (and a version with a cape) under the cut:

i was originally not planning to add a cape cause i wasn't sure if i could make it work and tbh. still not sure. i like the way the purple cape looks from behind but the inside is like. idk. if it's purple then it looks weird, but the black feels off to me too... I don't think any of the other colors would work.

oh also i decided this glows in the dark (predictable as always)

Helmet's been through some sketches and stuff, spent a while figuring out the mechanisms and so on and settled on this design in the end.

Obviously you can see here the top is leather, it's based on a combo of a motorcycle cowl (with an angled zip you can just see there, and then the shoulders from an armored motorcycle jacket i was looking at. then the blue is meant to be a (heavily) modified like, boilersuit or whatever those are. mechanic's jumpsuit.

Plus all the spikes. Obviously there's no spider-punk in this setting but I like the aesthetics, and I like giving Hobie like a little thing of his own in terms of hobbies/interests so I thought adding that punk aspect would be fun, esp as it ties into his whole thing with being unsure of himself and being a little different and so on.

the lenses are one piece each, just with different colors of film on them, like you see on a variety of custom motorcycle visors. used chrome silver for the white "eyes," which i think would look cool and matches the metal hardware. very reflective. hobie prob won't be the only design with chrome/mirrored lenses for reflective purposes (thinking about the hobgoblin) (well. technically peter will also have aluminized lenses at one point but that's a spare mask for fires, not a main look)

earlier concept which i drew on my phone actually lol. some of this i obv jus copy-pasted cause it was fine as is, other stuff got tweaked, like i ended up changing the lens shape to look a little more like the comics and i did end up scrapping that shape for the faceplate/chin.

and you can see there i edited a pic from the comics playing with what colors i wanted to use. i liked the steel blue that showed up in some of the older painted art from the Prowler's earliest appearances, and I felt like I wanted to give him a color other than purple and green, though I didn't wanna ditch the purple either, so I ended up with this kind of neon blurple + navy combo that I liked a lot. And the silver too.

back of the jacket and helmet. Didn't originally plan on adding all those spikes but then I was sketching this out and I was like, oh... that would look cool... so i committed!! i like how it looks.

Originally I also had no logo/symbol on the front of the chest so I decided to put one on the back. Then I ended up adding that flat panel to the chest and added the symbol there too, and decided to keep the back one as well. i can def see a 19 year old being like, hell yeah... sick... people will definitely take me seriously now. and you know what. he's right.

i will admit i ended up a little dissatisfied with the story i told involving the Prowler in the linked fic, but... I also probably shouldn't have tried to wedge it between like five warring subplots. But it was like, the spot that made the most sense. If this was a cartoon I think it would be a like... 1-2 issue special focused more on him. And also peter would jump out the window. (The real tragedy that I didn't include cause it's hilarious, poor Hobie XD)

Anywho. Is this mechanism needlessly complex? Perhaps. I tried to simplify it at one point but then the more I thought about it the less the simplified version worked so I stuck with the OG idea here. I mean, i guess I could have ditched the locking mechanism entirely but i thought it would be fun if the helmet was self-locking! I also wanted a way for it to rotate/go visor up even with the spikes, thus it being a pretty large rotating faceplate with the spikes on it instead of elsewhere. not that he ever puts it up in the fic. peter just takes hobie's helmet off there 😂

He's also wearing a balaclava under there which I didn't bother really drawing, mostly to protect his hair (which I put in twists for related reasons of helmet-wearing) (I briefly had been considering braids but then, well, ATSV and Miles G. happened and I said, well now I cannot do that XD) (I mean I COULD have but I wanted to do something else here lol) Anyway. The idea here is that it's a kind of slide lock with a spring-loaded peg that slots into the holes, and the square hole with the square peg locks the faceplate in place and prevents it from rotating, but when the square peg is in the round hole, the faceplate can rotate freely. The only wrinkle here would be that Hobie has to pull on both locks simultaneously or as close to it as possible or he'd risk cracking the helmet (i assume? stress and pressure etc.)

Sliding the lock forward also slides the whole plate forward, which lets me (in theory) have a flush, smooth silhouette while still allowing it to come forward enough to push up. It's not vacuum sealed or anything though. But it does have like... air filters and a voice modulator and some other things. MOST of the suit is super low tech and doesn't require electricity but the helmet probably has batteries or something. (peter's new webshooters at this point are also battery powered lol)

Helmet is pretty typical fiberglass construction with foam pads inside. Idea there is that Hobie made a lot of this stuff using campus workshop resources like autobody or machining shop on campus, for stuff like getting fiberglass, having a space to work in, making polycarbonate lenses etc. Though it's totally possible to do fiberglass work at home too. (peter also uses campus resources for his lenses specifically btw)

Gauntlets!!! Uhhhh ngl very difficult. Trying to design armored gauntlets that don't look like knightly armor is very hard for me cause I always just google reference pics of knightly armor. LOL. I think these came out alright. There's a hint of motocross influence there too (though really even in modern days armor is armor so there end up being shared traits) The gloves ended up being mostly leather with some armored parts, though there is probably some inner armor which is not visible. The claws I left bare since you would not be able to sharpen claws coated in plasti dip—

oh yeah the purple color on all the hard parts is plasti dip, which is basically rubber paint.

The wrist gauntlets are very very very loosely based on a guy's grappling rope web-shooter thing which you can see in this youtube video: link. though i didn't wanna just rip him off so i mostly just said, alright, tubes and a harness—which the prowler already has in the comics anyway, albeit smaller. so really it's pretty much like the comics anyway.

Right wrist has the green laser dazzler, both have grapples, left wrist has EMP (not pictured) which Hobie uses in the scene I have him and Peter fight except then I realized recently I didn't actually explain what that was or how it was working 😂 I probably should have done that scene from Hobie's POV in retrospect. It's an EMP though and it scrambles Peter's spidey sense via interference/signal noise.

(electromagnetic signals being responsible for several cases of irl "hauntings" —> spider-man's haunted)

waist utility belt... I like the way the silver belt on the old art looks! So I decided to make these hard silver hinged cases instead of soft pouches (originally were soft but I changed my mind while coloring) — IDK if these really are metal or if they're just fiberglass with chrome paint lol but either way, shiny chromey, hinged to open, the insides are probably padded... buckle is actually metal though.

Boots—modified snow boots. These are loosely based off of a real thing btw: link to blog post

The silver things are the magnets. Gauntlets are probably also magnetic but those are not visible like the boot ones. I also read some comments saying certain kinds of electromagnets would be preferable for something like boots but ultimately, IDK how to draw that, so I just drew it like they look in jen foxbot's prototype.

There was some other stuff I initially planned on including that didn't make the cut, aside from the cape. I was toying with stuff like a jetpack (or really, a jump jet), gliding/wingsuit, etc. but... I didn't use any of those. Kept it simple and streamlined for the most part. so no gliding for this Prowler, but hey, he's got magnet boots.

maybe in the future if Hobie ends up with an Iron Man-esque collapsible suit, perhaps he'll be able to fly, but for now, he's a college student making a supervillain persona so he can keep himself from getting evicted...

And his face!!! cutie :3 loosely inspired by Greg Eagles' face (the voice actor for grimm from billy and mandy) Not that ATSV had no impact on this design but that was the main thing. Twists to keep his hair protected in the helmet under the balaclava etc. and something he can do himself, and then a twist out afterward.

plus you can see the nose rings I mention in Creep here.

#yes i did use the Peter base for this—they are supposed to be the same height and similar build #nadiart #fanadiart #arghdesign #hobie brown #the prowler #came in through the window last night #shiny art

23 notes · View notes

theputterer · 4 months

Text

Good Things In 2023

It’s that time of year again! Time to remember all the good things that happened in 2023. I’ve done this since 2017, and highly recommend doing this as a fun way to reflect (and to have something for future reference when you are feeling Down.)

woof ok here we go

PERSONAL

I visited two countries I haven't been to before: the Netherlands and Iceland!

The Netherlands: mostly Amsterdam but did also pop down to The Hague for a day. Did the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum, the Bloemenmarkt, a canal boat tour, the Royal Palace, the Mauritshuis.

Iceland: I was there for less than 48 hours but I saw THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!! they were subtler than I expected but so cool. also did the Perlan Museum and a Lava Show, which ruled.

Related: I turned 30 this year!

My dear friend Sam came to visit me in Dublin in June! The highlight of her visit was going with her to see Hozier at Malahide Castle.

Speaking of which, Hozier dropped UNREAL UNEARTH which isn't personal, per se, but is very personal to me

My sister visited me in November! We squeezed a lot in her time here, but highlights were Glendalough, the Hill of Tara, and the Galway Christmas Market.

A few aunts went on a trip to Ireland this fall and I joined them for a bit up in Donegal, as well as a day trip to Derry, which I'd not been to before.

Completely fucking forgot about this but I did write a 158k word long ROGUE ONE / FRINGE AU, ENDLESS FORMS MOST BEAUTIFUL. it was a real fuckin bitch to finish, let me tell you that

I got really into MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE over the summer (don't ask) and wrote a couple short pieces inspired by the most recent movie, DEAD RECKONING - PART ONE: LADY LAZARUS and WORTHY THE NAME OF SIR KNIGHT.

I jumped back on my bullshit in October and wrote a long, extended epilogue to my BINARY STAR SYSTEMS trilogy: TWO DESERTS. the way the series ended was always correct and good but it was fun to write this extended epilogue focusing on the fallout, the question of what it's like to live past the end of your myth.

Anything bolded below is something I particularly enjoyed and recommend.

MOVIES

2023 movies I saw and liked:

M3GAN

KNOCK AT THE CABIN

BONO AND THE EDGE, A SORT OF HOMECOMING WITH DAVID LETTERMAN

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

RENFIELD

THREE MUSKETEERS: D'ARTAGNAN

JOHN MULANEY: BABY J

SISU

THE LITTLE MERMAID

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER VERSE

ASTEROID CITY

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING - PART ONE

BARBIE

OPPENHEIMER

PAST LIVES

ELEMENTAL

A HAUNTING IN VENICE

CHEVALIER

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

BOTTOMS

THE ROYAL HOTEL

DREAM SCENARIO

ANATOMY OF A FALL

THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES

EILEEN

NAPOLEON

GODZILLA MINUS ONE

FERRARI

2022 movies I saw and liked:

TAR

THE LOST CITY

WOMEN TALKING

THE LAST OF US

PEAKY BLINDERS

BOOKS

super embarrassing how few books I read this year:

"Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires" by Douglas Rushkoff

"Donegal Folk Tales" by Joe Brennan

"Listen to the Land Speak: A Journey into the Wisdom of What Lies Beneath Us" by Manchan Magan

"Hell Bent" by Leigh Bardugo

"The Book of M" by Peng Shepherd

"The World We Make" by NK Jemisin

"The Echo Wife" by Sarah Gailey

"Daisy Jones and the Six" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

"White Cat, Black Dog: Stories" by Kelly Link

"Yellowface" by RF Kuang

"Ithaca" by Claire North

"Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann

"A Heart That Works" by Rob Delaney

"Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

"The Crying Book" by Heather Christie

"In the Dream House" by Carmen Maria Machado

"Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks" by Patrick Radden Keefe

"Fleabag" by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

"The Hurricane Wars" by Thea Guanzon

OTHER GOOD THINGS

*some of these things are Good as in well-written or well-made, but maybe not Good in topic.

"Eurydice" by Adrienne Su

"What Happens to a School Shooter's Sister?" by Jennifer Gonnerman for The New Yorker. A high school student murders his parents and several students at his school, and his sister is left to pick up the pieces. really powerful story on unconditional love.

"A Friend Died, Her Novel Unfinished. Could I Realize Her Vision?" by Leslie Jamison for The New Yorker. the grief of losing not only a dear friend but her art as well.

"Fuck you, I don't know?"

Werner Herzog pronounces Eeyore.

George Washington's Dream for America, an SNL sketch.

Judi Dench performs Shakespeare.

"Walking Brittany Home" by Devin Faraci for Washington Post. a really beautiful piece on death and love.

This thread on the struggle of trying to be fashionable in Ireland.

"The Return of the Marriage Plot: Why everyone is so eager for men and women to get hitched" by Rebecca Traister for The Cut.

"We Were Never Supposed to See Our Own Faces This Much" by Lola Christina Alao for Dazed Digital. on social media and personal reflection.

sunwoof

this story about Jimmy Buffett I loved

"She Wasn't Able to Get an Abortion. Now She's A Mom. Soon She'll Start Seventh Grade" by Charlotte Alter for Time. the cruelty is the point.

had a pilot named Ken yesterday and he introduced himself by saying his job is plane

"Cillian Murphy might be the star of a massive movie atm but to me he will always be the guy that showed up in the rain to our abortion rights marches"

"The 'Troubling Reverberations' at the End of OPPENHEIMER, Explained" by Bilge Ebiri for Vulture. it's an absolutely devastating ending, but the fact remains: there was no other way to end it.

this obituary for the great Sinéad O'Connor.

Kiké Hernandez returned to the Dodgers!

this behind the scenes video from the filming of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING - PART ONE where Tom Cruise's co-stars watch him drive a motorcycle off a cliff.

"How Christopher Nolan Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI" by Maria Streshinsky for Wired. good interview with Nolan, one of my favorite filmmakers / artists. (anyone who's ever read anything I've written is probably like yes, this is very obvious.)

"The Perils and Promises of Penis-Enlargement Surgery" by Ava Kofman for The New Yorker. an absolutely BONKERS but super important piece!

a new ending to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, lmao

"The Return of Ryan Gosling" by Zach Baron for GQ. really great profile writing going on here!

"LOST Illusions: The Untold Story of the Hit Show's Poisonous Culture" by Maureen Ryan for Vanity Fair. LOST is one of my favorite shows and has been super influential on my work. (again, this is probably very obvious). this piece is devastating in how it reveals the terrible racism and sexism behind the scenes of a show I have loved. important.

Henry Kissinger died this year (GOOD THINGS BABYYY) and this piece by Nick Turse, which came out in May, is a good explainer on why that's such good news: "Kissinger's Killing Fields".

"Talking With 'Swiftie Dads' at a Taylor Swift Concert" by Eileen Cartter for GQ. I thought this was very sweet.

The New York Times had an interactive feature about Connie Chung and her impact on young Chinese-American women, particularly the ones named after her. I love this video of her meeting some of them.

"Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?" by Ted Chiang for The New Yorker. Chiang is best known as the writer of STORY OF YOUR LIFE which was adapted into ARRIVAL, so it's wise to listen to him when it comes to tech and science.

Loved this speech Mark Hamill gave about Carrie Fisher at her Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony.

Accents white people can still do.

this absolutely incredible slapstick esque unintentional comedy scene.

As always, tagging anyone who’d like to do this!

@magalis @callioope @earnestfeeling @illuminahsti @fortysevenswrites @vaderkat @leaiorganas @garethsedwards @rifle-yes @buffyrat @alittlemomentum @i-am-slain @rogue-rook

#personal #about me #good things

13 notes · View notes

venus-cow · 1 year

Text

Dabi and Shigaraki both have issues managing their anger, and thinking about the two as a pair would probably result in a lot of toxicity and the like in people's minds.

But! Riddle me this:

They make each other better.

They get along, yes they had a rough start at their first meeting but every scene between the two after that includes very little bickering. If Shigaraki tells him to do something he does it. And though Dabi acts like a huge brat, Shigaraki doesn't snap at him about it. In fact, I believe the times he does snap at people it's never at the League, it's at either the heroes or the Liberation before he takes over it to become the Paranormal Front.

But I'm not here to argue about how they are sweet to one another in their own ways in canon. No, I'm here to spread a possibility as to how they avoid becoming a horribly toxic relationship. So here I present a beautiful bittersweet headcanon written out of my mind and heavily inspired by all the different versions of Dabi in the cosplay community.

Ever see the Dabi cosplays where his scars are presented in different styles of art or themes for holidays? You most likely do! Beautiful Candy Cane Dabi that is so strange but I oddly adore. And completely white scars, where he is given white hair and a white outfit, everything about it being uneasily alluring, especially if gold staples are used instead, sticking out so much. These versions are some of the many versions you may have seen!

CREDIT: kefi_cos on TikTok

Now where am I going with this? How exactly is this going to lead up to a headcanon?

Painting. Shigaraki and Dabi enjoy it, they used to create works of art on their own and were strangely good at it. But the two were raised to do everything they did perfectly which is why they strive to perfect every piece they make. But after AFO was taken and the base was destroyed, they lost a lot of the canvases they used prior, and we're unable to get more because going out in public would be idiotic of them, less they be captured and imprisoned.

So how did they solve this issue? At first, Dabi painted on his scars himself in private, doing so if only to make himself feel pretty. He hates how he looks, if he can cover up those ugly scars and turn them into art he can admire and be proud of, he won't feel ugly anymore.

One day, however, Shigaraki walks in on him painting his scars, and Dabi freaks out, wiping the paint off and feeling so, so ugly in that moment. Uglier than he ever did feel, and so ashamed like he shouldn't be doing anything of the sort. But Tomura reassures him, but not with words. They were never a couple who felt obligated to talk, instead they solve things without the need of useless words. Tomura picks up a paintbrush, and before Dabi can panic anymore than he already was, Shigaraki smears fluorescent blue over Dabi's scarred wrists.

And Dabi freezes, staring down at the mess of paint he'd smeared and ruined all over his chest, but he's so much softer staring at the beautiful blue contrasting the mess of colours across his arms. And without a single word, without so much as looking at each other's faces to get confirmation on if it was okay, they sit down in front of Dabi's full body mirror, and they paint a deep blue ocean over him, knowing full well that they are safe there, in that moment, together.

And as Shigaraki makes art on Dabi, Dabi feels more beautiful then than ever before, his own art could never compare to Shigaraki's, and Shigaraki was actually able to reach his back scars with ease, making him a fully completed art piece to be placed in museums and gawked at by those who only wish they could ever have him to be theirs. But the art is a mark, a mark that only Tomura would be allowed to imprint on him.

And from that moment on, they painted over each other's scars, and they would spend every moment in that room until they finished their painting for the day. Do not disturb them, for even after they finish, they sit and admire one another, feeling pretty just because the other wants to stay with them forever.

#shigadabi #dabishiga #art #body art #dabi mha #bnha dabi #dabi bnha #boku no hero academia shigaraki #shigaraki bnha #bnha shigaraki #don't ask me how they keep getting theor paint just let them be gay and artists and happy and autistic just like me #do they go out covered in paint? mayhaps #shigaraki definitely helps dabi staple himself back together #soft shigadabi go brr in my head rent free #anime

46 notes · View notes

yamisnuffles · 6 months

Text

twenty questions for fic writers

Tagged by my best gal @feralkwe

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 46. I have a lot of fic that just lives on Tumblr or that was on older fic sites, so that's not really indicative of my total fic amount lol.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 338,924. Again, A LOT of one shots and stuff elsewhere.

3. What fandoms do you write for? On AO3, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, FFXIV, Skyrim, Good Omens, One Piece, and Star Wars

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Blitzed (GO 1941 smut and my first smut ever lol), The Altus Inquisitor (DAI AU, pretty much as it says on the tin), Get Closer To Me (GO S1 night at Crowley's place fic), Heartbeats (a series of one shots for a One Piece Corazon lives AU), and The Ecstasy of Anthony J Crowley (GO divinity kink smut fic)

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to! I didn't always but I'm trying to get better about that because I really appreciate each and every comment.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Uuuuuh, might be For Want of Words? It's GO post S2 and not fix it so it is not happy lol. Possibly Wicked White, which ends as Shadowbringers ends and thus isn't the happiest place for a WoL/Emet fic lol. Otherwise, they're series and neither finished but my Law as the new Corazon AU series was just bummers all the way down and, ironically, Too Much of a Good Thing gets progressively less... optimistic. Lots of sad smut and series I guess.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? If I resist making a smut joke, Just For Two is one of the fluffiest things I've ever written. Pure GO S1 fluff fic written for the fun of it.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not really? I got an... indirectly cruel comment one time on something but people are generally very nice on the fics themselves.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes. The Good Omens kind lmao. I mean, I've branched out but it was the first fandom I wrote smut for and continues to be the one that gets the most. It hovers between that M and E rating for good reason. Very feelsy and in the case of GO, I love some religious symbolism lol. I like to weave it into longer works but I also happily write one shots (or try, sometimes it takes a few chapters to get to my one shot plans).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I don't think I've ever written a crossover. I've done crossover art but I tend to stay within a fandom for fic.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Again... I don't think so?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! I used to write with my best friend a lot in high school and I adored it. It's one of the things I miss most about that friendship and, in general, something I miss doing.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? Do I even have to say? Aziraphale/Crowley own my soul. That said, I do have the softest of soft spots for my Trev/Dorian and Shakarian. Also, Justice/Anders/Hawke because it burns with the added power of spite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Ahahaha... *sweats nervously.* So many. I am determined to finish the Altus Inquisitor but it's hard to get my heart back into DA with good reason. I'd love to continue my various OP series but I doubt I ever will for a few reasons.

16. What are your writing strengths? Characterization. I work really hard on it. I obsess over it. There is nothing I think of more in any fandom than characterization lol. I'd also like to think I'm good with emotion and description.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Finishing anything ever. I'm a whimsical creature and if I'm not into something at the moment, it's really hard to get myself to focus on things. I also feel like a monkey with a typewriter any time I'm trying to write smut, but I think that's just the nature of the beast.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I am really bad with languages so I try to just avoid it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Jurassic Park! As a wee bab I wrote about a raptor ripping someone open and eating them lmao.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? Oh man, oh man, this is actually really hard for me. There are a lot of things I've written that I'm fond of for different reasons. I adore my AUs because I put so much of my soul into them to make them feel authentic. Various fics for various fandoms hit hard for different reasons. If I absolutely HAD TO choose, I'd say either The Altus Inquisitor, because Lucien is my baby and I genuinely enjoy rereading it, or Dig Down from my GO AU, which I feel like is just a strong short fic and best sums up that whole series. Both are hard to recommend though because one is chronically unfinished (I am trying!) and the other is smack dab in the middle of a series.

I tag anyone who wants to do this because I am too tired to think rn. Go forth with my blessing

#ask memes #about me

7 notes · View notes

idungoofed · 2 years

Text

Mando Comes To Earth

Part 1

So I actually posted this about a month ago, but then deleted as it just felt so BORING. Apparently I have issues with needing to set the scene to the last detail, but this time I cut A LOT, and I think it’s better now. I hope anyway, let me know if you fancy? Im still getting the feel after not writing for so long, so might be a bit flat in some parts. It’s still a long one, a bit slow to start but it’s kinda just the set up for what’s next.

This is part one and me being super self indulgent, the character is based on me such as the introverted, arty thing - and if I was single I’d be wanting that wisteria covered cottage too! No name though, and I think the only description is eye colour? So hopefully it’s easy to immerse into!

*Edited a while after posting, as some things didn’t seem to fit any more/ wasn’t true to what I feel Mandos character is, and because I can hurhurhur, no major changes tho!

Enjoy, I’m off to write and re write part two, byeeeee!

Warnings: None? Like one swear word? Does that need a warning? No smut here… YET! So minors go away please!

Word count: 2,794

Prologue - Mando

The Razor Crest shudders around the Mandalorian and his small passenger. Lights flash as he flips switches to come out of hyperdrive, glinting red off of his shiny beskar armour. It wasn’t ideal using hyperdrive to lose the Imps after the damage they had dealt to the Crest during the chase, but needs must and it meant they had now lost their pursuers.

Working the controls and regaining control of the ship the Mandalorian eased off the thrusters putting it into a slow a drift. Peering out the front viewport, only the distant stars filled his vision. He turned to consult his nav system which confirmed his thoughts: never had he traveled this part of space.

“What do you think kid, any galaxies around here with a planet to lay low on for a few weeks?”

The green baby in the co-pilot seat cooed at the masked man, clutching a small silver sphere.

“Let’s see then.”

Zooming the nav out, the Mandalorian could see a small galaxy less than two days travel from their location; one star, eight planets but only one that’s inhabitable.

Turning his visor to look at the child, “Guess our decisions made for us.”

He swings back round to face the controls he set the coordinates on the nav and locked on to the small planet labeled “Earth”.

You

You dip and clean your paint brush for the last time that day as the sun began to dip behind the forest line at the back of your garden, causing long shadows to creep into your studio window.

A year ago you’d moved away from the monotonous hustle of London. With the constant pressures of adulthood; mainly being your parents wondering when you’d “meet a nice man” and “settle down”, and your friends being busy with their new young families and careers, this move was your escape from societies expectations.

Needing a change of scenery you chose the New Forest in Hampshire, one of Britains largest pieces of woodland and where you’d spent many childhood summers. With your savings you bought a small white cottage covered in wisteria, which backed onto the forest itself; with an out building big enough for a artist studio. All located down a half mile long track, and 5 miles from the nearest tourist trap village where you sold your art at the weekly market for a living.

Back in the present, you closed up the studio and make your way across the garden breathing in the summer air. The only sound made by a light breeze knocking the back garden gate on the post that led into the surrounding forest.

That evening, as you finished an alfresco dinner on your patio you gazed at the sky. The moon was full tonight, and the stars here were breath-taking, nothing you could ever compare to the dim pricks of light in the smog filled London sky.

A low drone fills the quiet, similar to that of a plane. It approaches closer, and the roar of engines passes overhead, but in the faded light you only glimpse a silhouette. It looked bulky and wingless, not what you were expecting. As you watch it pass over the trees at the end of your garden, you see it pivot in the air, still maintaining its original direction, moving further into the forest and begin its decent into what you imagine was the small clearing you’d discovered while walking through the trees when you’d first arrived here. Before you lose sight of it fully you can just make out a faint glow of engines perched either side of its body.

“What the..?”, you say to yourself, standing, not quite believing what you just witnessed. Taking small steps in the direction of where it landed you contemplate what you just saw. That did not look like anything you’d ever seen before.

I could go have a look, you thought. Although the forest was now dark, you knew it well enough, the clearing was only a 10 minute straight line from the back gate by foot. You would go take a quick peep from the trees and leave, no one would even know you were there. And anyway you had a right to know what’s just landed so close to your isolated home!

Mind set, you head inside to collect your trainers and grab a torch, and into the balmy night air through the back door, down the garden and into the dark forest.

Mando

As the Mandalorian guided the Razor Crest towards the planets atmosphere he made out a number of land masses made up from mixture of greens and browns, each one surrounded by the deep blue of an ocean, clouds being the only disruption to the view. He headed towards the side of the planet not yet hit by the sun and pushed through into the atmosphere. He kept high in the sky, and was dazzled by the twinkle and glow of lights that defined the coasts of each land mass.

He set his sights on a comparatively small island, sat between an expanse of ocean and giant stretch of land, and began heading towards the south of it to a large breadth of dark forest.

As he left the twinkling lights behind he swooped down low enough to be able to scan the ground for an opening between the tall trees to land, thankful of the full moons glow giving just enough light to differentiate between tree tops and flat ground.

There.

A break in the trees showed a small clearing just big enough for him to land the Crest. He pivoted the ship so he was facing the way he came, catching sight of a small white building as he dipped below the tree line.

Maybe not completely isolated, but then we’ll need supplies before we set off again.

The building was lost behind the trees as he begun the landing sequence.

You

You’re getting closer to the clearing now. Staring straight ahead, expecting the forest to break any minute, consequently not noticing the tree root about to trip you. The torch goes flying as you flail your arms, smashing as it hits a tree stump, plunging you into darkness. You smack into the hard ground; your hands taking the brunt of the fall.

Groaning you sit up on your knees, and bring your stinging hands to your chest.

Not being able to see, you tried to assess the damage by tenderly moving your hands and feel the stickiness of blood.

You start to stand when suddenly bright white lights blink on five yards ahead of you, revealing the grassy clearing.

Scrambling for cover you duck behind the nearest tree.

“Holy fuck”, you mutter, eyes bugging as you take in the huge piece of metal. It has two giant engines with a sleek silver body nestled between, the night sky reflecting on the windscreen.

Words like space ship and aliens flash though your mind.

The pain in your hands forgotten you edge closer, being careful to stay behind the trees. A hiss emits from the ship and metal groans as a ramp at the back starts the lower. You dash to your right, staying under the tree cover to get a better view of the opening. Light begins to pour out and you hear the clinking of boots on metal.

Your legs are locked in place as you watch the figure decend. They reach the bottom of the ramp and you see the glint of a helmet as they observe their surroundings. The sight of the human form exiting such a vehicle was unexpected; you release the breath you hadn’t realised you were holding and take a step back, breaking a stick with a sharp crack.

You freeze, taking your eyes off the figure for only a second to glare at the offending branch. When you look back up the clearing is void of life again. Although before you can turn and run two strong arms roughly wrap around you, locking your arms against your sides.

“Who are you?!” A deep voice exclaims behind you.

Ignoring the question you struggle against them, “Let go of me!” you scream delivering a well aimed stomp on their foot.

They let out a grunt and spin you around, keeping your arms pinned, but you swiftly bring you knee up into their groin, causing another grunt, this one filled with a bit more pain. The grip on you loosens and you attempt to slip from their grasp but they grab your wrist, pulling you to the ground they pin you again, legs squashed under their weight and arms held either side of your head.

“Please don’t hurt me!” You plead, a sob building in your throat.

“I don’t want to! Just stop struggling, why were you spying on us?!” The voice modulated by the helmet.

The words managed to sink in and you stop struggling for a moment, staring at the T-shaped visor filling your vision. “I’m /not/ spying! My names Y/N, I live on the other side of these trees, and wanted to know who or what just landed in my back yard!” You shout indignantly.

He didn’t answer, instead assessing if you were telling the truth. Seemingly coming to a decision, he loosened his grip on your wrists.

“You live in the house I flew over.”

It’s not a question but you nod, words failing you anyway.

The visor tilted as he looked at your hands above you.

“You’re hurt.” Voice softening and letting go of your wrists. “I can fix them up.”

Not giving you time to reply he stands up, pulling you by the wrists to your feet and abruptly turns to walk into the clearing.

“Wait!” You call, “What’s your name? Why are you here?!”

He stops before the tree line and lets out a sigh, “Call me Mando, and I’ll explain while I fix your hands up, okay?”

Watching him ahead of you, you take in his appearance. He was tall, covered head to toe in shiny metal armour over a brown flight suit. A soft grey cape that had seen better days hung from his broad shoulders, swaying as he walked.

Your mind spins with the sudden events, feeling like you’re in some sort of strange dream as you trail behind

Mando

Leaving you at the bottom of the ramp, Mando heads back into the ship. He checks on the sleeping Grogu in his cot, but mostly takes the time to collect his thoughts.

Of course he knew this planet wasn’t uninhabited, but he didn’t expect to meet someone so soon. Especially a human woman, one that as soon as he spun them to face him made his breath catch in his throat- and not just because of where you managed to hit him.

As Mando walked towards the Crest, hereplayed the moment. Your shocked, wide eyes turning accusing when you locked them with his visor, and small smirk hitching your mouth as you brought your knee up. Even through the pain you caused him he could only think one word: Beautiful.

You

Mando sat next to you on the ramp, opened the med kit and took out various items to clean and dress your wounds, and then held his hands out for yours.

You felt shy and started to protest, “They’re not that bad, you don’t have to-“

“I’ve seen smaller cuts get bad infections.” He said pointedly, still waiting for your hands.

You give in, gingerly holding them out, palms up.

Mando takes the left to start cleaning with some kind of antiseptic. Through the sting you register his bare hands, no longer clad in leather gloves. His skin a golden brown, with a smattering of dark hairs. His touch is gentle, and he mutters apologies when you flinch at the pain.

Mando finished the dressing, and whatever ointment he’d used was already working wonders.

You watch him replace his gloves, waiting for him to tell you about himself like he’d promised. However, when he began packing away the med kit you knew you would have to take the initiative, and there was one question you needed confirming.

“So… Mando, you’re a human from outer space?” Your face heated at the last two words, you felt disconnect from them like listening a child acting out an imaginary world.

You started to think he wouldn’t reply when you hear him slowly release a breath, “Yes, I am human, I was orphaned as a child and was saved by the Mandalorian’s and made a foundling…”

You listened intently as he explained who he is and how he came to be here. Mando didn’t seem to be bothered by your relentless questions about his creed, the planets he spoke of, and The Empire. You could tell he was leaving parts out, but you didn’t mind- it was a lot to take in.

“And this child you speak of, he’s on the ship now?” You ask, wondering how you hasn’t seen or heard a kid yet.

Before Mando can reply a soft babies coo sounds behind you, and you whip your head in its direction.

When Mando said “child” you simply imagined another human. So when you set eyes on the small green baby with large black eyes, small nose and long pointed ears you could only gape at it.

“I thought I told you to stay in the ship.” Mando says without turning.

The child toddles over to the armour covered warrior and clutches at what you now knew as his ‘Beskar’. He turned to you, and with the initial shock fading you found yourself thinking just how cute this little one was.

“This is Grogu, Grogu this is Y/N.” Mando introduced, and the child let out a soft “patuu” sound as if to greet you.

You smile at him, he looked like one of the fantasy creatures from your childhood fairy tales, which made you instantly warm to him.

“So you’re the reason why a space ship has landed behind my house! Well I suppose you can both stay…” you say grinning at Grogu and feigning having to think about it. “…as long as there’s no trouble!” You say, winking at the child.

“Thank you, it should only be two weeks- three at the most. That should be enough to shake the Imps off our trail. I need to fix the ship up enough to get us out of here and back into our star system, and we’ll need food supplies while we’re here and journey back.”

“That settled it then! I’m no mechanic, but I can help bring anything you need.” You say, standing and looking at your wrist watch. You had to do a rouble take at the time, you’d been in the clearing for close to three hours now and it was past midnight. The realisation made you yawn.

“I should get back, but you know where I am if you need me…”

“Wait here.” Mando says abruptly and walks into the ship. He returns a minute later to you and Grogu giggling at each other causing him to smile beneath his helmet.

He holds out a torch to you, “Take this, I think I saw what’s left of yours in the tree line. You can bring it back tomorrow.”

Your fingers brush with his leather gloves as Mando hands it over, a little zing going through you.

Smiling at the invite, and glad you didn’t have to make an excuse to come back yourself, you wave goodbye to Mando and Grogu and head back into the forest towards your home.

Mando

He watched you leave, the torch light growing dimmer as you weaved through the trees.

His mind kept jumping to the image of your face lighting up when you thought of another question for him. The way your eyebrows crinkled together and you worried your lip with your teeth when he described the Empire, who were now reforming and after Grogu.

It was obvious to Mando that you’d never met any off-worlders before, and he was impressed by you simply accepting the fact. He’d left some details out; like that of Grogu’s powers and his job as a bounty hunter, not wanting to scare you off. Although he would tell you soon, was sure there would be time.

When your torch light had finally been swallowed by the darkness he turned, scooping up Grogu and headed inside.

END OF PART ONE

#din djarin #mandalorian fanfic #mando fanfiction #mando fluff #mando x you #mine: pedro pascal #first fanfic #mando x y/n #mando x reader #help i’m in a real adult relationship but love mando #din x you #slow burn #mando #pedro pascal #the mandalorian #fan fic writing #baby writer

34 notes · View notes

vitruvianmanbara · 2 years

Text

finished my steel ball run bag 😗✌️

(some project notes below)

When I work on these projects, I usually make notes (typically voice recordings) throughout so I can organize my thoughts about the piece. I usually delete the recordings right after I've listened back to them, but since this project was a big learning experience, this time I feel like documenting some of my notes in writing.

This has been one of my favorite projects I've ever worked on! I got to try a lot of new things and work on improving certain techniques, overall I feel like I was successful in executing what I'd intended.

Some stuff that was new for me:

Embroidering on this weight/weave of fabric

Adding shading freehand after handwashing

Using a different handwashing technique to keep the integrity of the stitches

Using a greater variety of floss, as well as marker, pen, and pencil, to try to create a greater range of value for shading

Process:

Selecting the image - this took a lot longer than I thought, since many of my favorite JoJo characters/panels have features in them that wouldn't translate well to embroidery. I wanted to choose something that would look great in black and white too. I chose this one because it had a level of detail that wasn't unmanageable, the shading is primarily done with lines/hatching (so no complicated, small patterns), and I knew anything I'd have to add or omit to make it more effective as an embroidered piece wouldn't fuck with the depth (or recognizability) of the piece. Making the pattern - as usual, I used Procreate to edit the pattern. I took more time than usual to remove shading that I would be adding in after the wash. This included the big blocks of dark shading as well as any lines that were long and fine. Stitching the base design - for this piece I used my usual 1-2 strands of DMC embroidery floss, but for some of the bolder features, I used DMC Pearl Cotton 12 floss. I really liked using this, even though it's still 2 strands of floss, the fact that they are twisted together helped create a nice bold line that held up well in the washing.

Here's an in-progress pic. One area where I used the 12 Pearl Cotton was the outlining for Johnny's hat, which I think looks really nice and bold here!

(Before step 4, I'll clarify that I use a printable stabilizer to transfer patterns to the fabric - it's basically a sticker you can print directly on, stick to your fabric, stitch through, then wash out with water. It's great if you're like me and not good with tracing, drawing freehand, or usually use designs that are too detailed to use something like your average transfer pen for. But if you have an Inkjet printer especially, you will want to use as little ink as possible to reduce the risk of staining...honestly, if you have any questions about this product, feel free to ask me - I have a lot of experience with/thoughts on it lol) Washing - I opted to wash this piece in the hoop. I wanted to maintain the tension of the fabric while washing to hopefully minimize the warping I've experienced when washing in the past. I also didn't agitate the fabric as much or use any kind of soap or detergent to wash away the adhesive. This was really successful - not only did the stitches stay even, I didn't encounter any staining, which I'm really pleased about! Here's what it looked like post-wash, before I started shading:

Shading - this was the most intimidating part of the piece for me...I'm not someone who's very knowledgeable about the technical aspect of visual art, so the idea of placing shading lines without a guide was kind of scary. I followed the shading on my reference image more or less exactly, although I did omit some stuff that I thought would look too heavy.

I used a mix of sewing floss, pencil, marker, and pen to give myself some flexibility when it came to line weight and gradients. There were a couple areas where I knew floss would be too intense, such as the lips and eyes, the underside of Gyro's goggles, and the horse on Johnny's hat. For the horse and goggles, I used the texture of the fabric to my advantage, the rougher texture was definitely conducive to achieving a textured effect similar to the original image. I opted to shade in the underside of Gyro's hat completely black to complement that huge block of black shading on Johnny's neck. I used a regular 0.38 nib pen to add some details to Johnny's eyes and lashes too.

I'm mostly really pleased with the shading, except for the shading along Johnny's nose. tried to go in and fix it, but with a fabric this weight, I was hesitant to pull out stitches and completely redo it because I don't want to leave noticeable holes in the piece. If it keeps bothering me, I might go back and fix it later.

Final thoughts:

This piece really encompassed everything I like about doing this kind of embroidery. In real life, I get asked a lot by family and friends why I choose to embroider things from manga/anime instead of my own original designs. One of the main reasons I do this is because as someone who got into manga for the art, I find it's a really fun and hands-on way to "study" the work of artists I enjoy. Through translating it to embroidery, I have to pay attention to a lot of details about a piece I might not have otherwise. And I almost always pick up on something really interesting and exciting when I do this!

I knew I wanted to embroider something from Steel Ball Run when I reached the part of the manga where Araki's art shifted more to the detailed, dramatic, and cinematic. But having read the colored version, I didn't really appreciate how difficult it can be to achieve this level of detail and drama in black and white, especially without the use of digitally added texture. Through making this piece, and particularly while doing the shading, I really began to respect the amount of skill it takes to do something like this.

Overall, I think this is the most satisfied I've been with something I've embroidered. I'm a huge perfectionist about my embroidery so I'll always have something to nitpick, but even so, I can honestly say I'm really pleased with how well the process I'd planned out translated to the final product. And I'm really pleased with my progress overall.

#the hoop lines are fighting the iron so I'm just posting as is lol #and the notes are VERY long so don't feel like you have to read - just wanted to document!#gyro zeppeli #johnny joestar #steel ball run #jjba #embroidery

11 notes · View notes

autisticandroids · 2 years

Note

not to become a disciple or something. but do you have any media recommendations, like books/films/shows. because i like the way you think. sorry for mass rbing btw

Smiley also knew, or thought he knew - the idea came to him now as a mild enlightenment - that Bill in turn was also very little by himself: that while his admirers - Bland, Prideaux, Alleline, Esterhase, and all the rest of the supporters' club - might find in him completeness, Bill's real trick was to use them, to live through them to complete himself; here a piece, there a piece, from their passive identities: thus disguising the fact that he was less, far less, than the sum of his apparent qualities… and finally submerging this dependence beneath an artist's arrogance, calling them the creatures of his mind…

this passage from tinker, tailor, soldier, spy is what i think of every time anyone tries to put me on a pedestal as Tumblr User Autisticandroids. like genuinely my main skill is making connections with other people and essentially propping myself up through them, though of course i don't really do it on purpose.

anyway unfortunately my taste in media isn't going to contain what you want i don't think. i'm going to give you an extremely random list of things i like. not favorites, but just stuff i enjoy.

my favorite episode of star trek: the next generation is season six episode fourteen "face of the enemy," but if you're going to actually get involved with star trek i would recommend deep space nine instead. when i want to alienate people i put on an episode of the prisoner (1967) because i love that show but it's deeply unenjoyable. i unironically think kill la kill is a great anime. the private life of plants is probably the tv series i've seen the most times.

talking to you, talking to me by the watson twins is underappreciated and contains some of my favorite pieces of music. however, the only thing i've listened to lately is the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars by david bowie because it's a castiel thesis to me.

passing by nella larsen is one of my favorite books ever, and when i first read it i had this free online version where you could actually turn the pages, i think it was this version. i think speaker for the dead is wildly underrated but feel vaguely guilty about recommending orson scott card. a bad book that has brought me a lot of joy lately is absolute friends by john le carre. as a kid i really like the underland chronicles by suzanne collins. a while ago i read the three body trilogy by liu cixin and while the second one dragged and was rather poorly translated, i enjoyed the first for its creativity, classic scifi feel, and understated spookiness, and i enjoyed the third for its dark camp and comparatively strongly drawn characters. even the second had acceptable elements, but mostly because i was tickled by the fact that it reminded me a little of the futurological congress by stanislaw lem.

i just finished relistening to the white vault, a horror podcast which i like a lot but am more ambivalent about now that i know the ending (it wasn't finished the first time i listened). if you hate horror, my favorite non-fiction podcast is you're wrong about.

my favorite source for horror short stories is the scp foundation, and here are some faves.

my favorite movie is alice (1988) dir. jan svankmajer, which is an adaptation of alice in wonderland. it's very much a childhood nostalgia watch for me, unbelievable as that might seem. here's a link, but this version is in czech with english subtitles, so you might have to scout around if you want the english version. not that this movie has much dialogue. a rather eclectic selection of other movies i've liked that i just thought of in the last ten minutes is bride of re-animator (1989), x-men (2000), d.e.b.s. (2004), mirrormask (2005), isolation (2005), the host (2006), hard revenge millie (2009), black swan (2010), excision (2012), the handmaiden (2016), and swallow (2019). my movie taste is probably the closest you'll get in terms of media recs that you might enjoy based on my blog, since i hate movies and can only be tempted to watch them if they cater to me. but also big trigger warnings for some of those lmao.

#asks #leatherat

12 notes · View notes

sensitiveheartless · 2 years

Note

Where do you get all your ideas for these drawings and how do you actually find the strength to do them? Also what happens if you finish a piece and aren't satisfied with it?

Oof, oh man let's see...where I get my ideas from is a tough one, because I get bits of ideas from a lot of different places, and then they just ping around in the circus of my brain until they combine into something I want to make. And with soukoku specifically, there's something about them that appeals very strongly to my sense of humor (not just my sense of humor of course, but it was that aspect which drew me to skk initially), and that makes it easier for me to go "oooh, I want to draw them doing this", or "wouldn't it be funny if they—", etc.

Basically, because I think about them a lot, that leads to things like, say, me listening to the Little Mermaid soundtrack one day while cooking and thinking "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if Chuuya was Sebastian and Dazai was the french Chef" and then running with it and writing a very very weird oneshot. Or, me taking a walk in the snow and thinking "hey what if soukoku were walking in the snow and then Dazai flopped over and started being dramatic about being Snow White" and then my Snow Day comic happened.

As for how I find the strength to do them (and unfortunately I feel like this isn't going to be a very inspirational answer): for me, drawing is a way that I process, calm myself down, and just...express myself. Ah, for example, that recent "Operation Quiet Heart" comic I made recently! I binge-drew that in about two days, because several things had happened to make me Very Stressed and Upset, and so I drew something silly but also comforting because I knew it would make me feel better. And it did! By the time I had sketched it out I had gone from a state of "I am about to either start biting people, or burst into tears" to "Okay I can manage this actually, it's not that big of a deal".

At this point, honestly, it's worse for me when I don't draw. A while ago I hurt my drawing hand while gardening and had to rest it, and in less than a day I started trying to teach myself how to draw with my non dominant hand, just so that I could make something. That's how feral I was going, not being able to draw anything. (I'm actually slowly getting better at left-hand drawing! Can't really do lineart very well yet, but I've occasionally used it for very loose coloring/non-precision stuff when my right hand needs a break.)

It's probably not the healthiest, but...I figure there are worse things I could rely on. Drawing daily has helped me get through some of the worst parts of my life so far—even at times when I couldn't express what I was feeling in words, I could still draw. I think that's just how my brain is wired, sometimes visuals are easier than words. (I like writing a lot, but it's definitely harder for me.)

Aaaand as for what I do when I don't feel satisfied with a piece—I'm gonna put the art ramblings under the cut, since this is already getting long—but the tl:dr is that it depends on how stubborn I'm feeling at the time :D

For example! Sometimes I finish a piece and go "eh", and then I just leave it!

Like this one! I don't hate it or anything, but after a while of messing around with it, it still wasn't quite what I wanted. Close, but not quite. Didn't quite like how Chuuya's hair turned out and such—so, I decided it was a learning experience and left it at that. Maybe I'll come back to the idea at a later point, but honestly I had no plan when I started this one and was just vibing, so I didn't take it as much of a loss.

And then sometimes I get really, really stubborn about a piece, and keep working at it until I get it to look how I want. For example, this one!

This one took me a WHILE, even just to figure out how I wanted the poses to work. I kept drawing sketches, turning off the layer and then trying again on a new layer. So first we had this:

But I felt like adding Dazai to this pose would be awkward, because he would be so eclipsed by Chuuya, so I tried again.

And nope, still didn't like it. having the profiles like this felt too stiff somehow, even though I liked how Dazai was holding on to him. (Also here's an example of me coming back to an idea later, because I recently made a side-profile-facing-corruption-piece that I ended up actually vibing with)

So, I tried again.

I don't have the full undersketch for this one, because I mangled it while drawing, but here—you can vaguely see what I was going for, mostly with where Dazai's arms are positioned. So I had the pose, but then of course there was the process of actually coloring it, and that was a whole other thing. Oh also Chuuya's face took a WHILE for me to get to a place where I didn't hate it.

Here I was mostly just trying to figure out base colors(and the background), and I ended up redoing almost all of it because I was being really sloppy—especially with Dazai's bandages and the curse marks on Chuuya's arms. Also Chuuya's head was a bit too large in proportion to his body, so I ended up selecting all those layers and shrinking it.

Getting closer, I fixed the curse marks and messed around with Chuuya's expression more (but I still didn't like it). Only now I felt like Dazai and Chuuya's heads were too zoomed out and small in this composition (also I tipped them too far back and now it looked like they were falling in a weird way), and also I wanted to add something else because I felt like Chuuya's hands were drawing a bit too much attention (plus it was a messy hand and I didn't feel like fixing it), so I decided to add a graviton to cover the hand and make that lower corner dark. I really wanted the focus to be Dazai's arms holding on to Chuuya.

So I changed Chuuya's expression again, adjusted the angle, zoomed it in, added the graviton, and then messed around with filters to get the colors more how I wanted them to look. And THEN I decided I was done, because I didn't want to overwork it, but yeah! That was one of the times where me being very persistent with a piece actually wound up with something I really liked.

Long answer short: sometimes when I don't like a piece I keep trying until I do, and sometimes I just let it be a learning experience, and try a different approach the next time.

#ask box #these were really interesting questions #thank you anon!#I hope this wasn't too much information aksdfjskdfjks #so much of me doing art is just throwing stuff at the page/canvas until something sticks #ESPECIALLY when it comes to painting #I'm getting better at doing quick and simple comics in my style but paintings take a lot more effort and time for me #*draws back curtain on my process* behold: a parade of clowns #...side note but #honestly I have really lucked out by finding people who appreciate me being weird #like #I was not expecting people on here to enjoy my stuff when I first started posting #but then people were really nice!#if i can make literally anyone laugh with my comics I'm absurdly happy #I really appreciate how kind people have been about the shenanigans I draw

17 notes · View notes

selvie-blue · 1 year

Text

Stories of Seduction: Coming Of Age - Part 2

Man, it's a hot one Like seven inches from the midday sun I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone But you stay so cool My muñequita, my Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa You're my reason for reason, the step in my groove

That's what was playing as soon as I opened the door. The lyrics and the rhythm and the beat of the music evaporated off a slick-style mirage that got caught up in my head. It made for a much cooler character than I could have ever felt to achieve. But that's how I felt. The moment I opened that door, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Like a scene out of a movie where the camera was panning on the main character. Just before he slipped those silver shades off his face and then tossed them. Where it went, no one really cared. They careened off camera and why would you give a fuck? You were too busy looking at a dream machine surveying the bar like he owned the place.

I didn't see him at first. Already, apprehensive pieces were punching holes in this cool, calm, collected character I was playing up. I wanted to have a game of wit and charm. But the only game I was playing was Where's Waldo?

But not to worry. Because there he was. It didn't take much. Just a white t-shirt fitted like a second skin and a rockin' pair of jeans was all he needed to make him out to be every fantasy I could ever possibly want. His hair had grown out a little bit. Just enough to where it swooped in that signature shine of jet black. Yes, Rouk, I wanted a ride.

He hadn't even age a day. He might as well have jumped out of the yearbook.

I, on the other hand, had aged since he last saw me as a sophomore. I had grown a little taller and my metabolism was doing me every favor in the world. Which I needed. Because that character I was pretending to be took off. He obviously heard 1996 calling. And it wanted its shades back.

Feeling a little…. Okay, a LOT less cool, I still manned up and started taking those first steps into the bar. Even though I was a year shy of 21, they still let me in since it was 18 and under this time of day. So if I wanted some liquid courage, the only choice I had was to get hyped up on some Mountain Dew.

I wasn't even taking audible steps. I was almost tip-toeing. Wanting to sneak up on him in his natural habitat. Maybe if I surprised him, I get use those milliseconds of awe to prepare anything I could say or do. But, ah, it was too late.

Oh, he didn't look up and see me, yet. The red-headed bartender got to him first. And she seemed to get tipped with open mouth. I stopped. Froze, actually. This was a bad idea. Best I turn back, now. I could always tell my mom I got stuck in traffic and never made it. Oh well, things happen. See ya, Rouk.

But before I could give my goodbyes while he wasn't looking, he looked. He parted lips with the redheaded demon that was stealing my hopes and dreams and just happened to slide his eyes over to me. Just like how I was wanting to. Fuck. Fuckin' hot Rouke stole my thunder.

I smiled… kind of. It was a nervous, twitchy kind of creature that snuck up through my lips as I coughed up a desperate exhalation. I looked away a few times. I already blew it.

But, that steely, abrasive mask he wore suddenly fell off and he did brightly smile in genuine shock as those blue eyes of his lit up.

“KID!” he exclaimed as he immediately got up off his stool and extended his arms.

I lifted my arms partway, still unsure whether he was putting me on or not. But before I could even finish saying “Hi,” I got the wind knocked out of me by his muscular arms wrapping around my back and pulling me in real close. He even tilted back to lift me up off the ground. For the flash of a second, I felt the temptation to jump up in his grasp, but I decided against it.

He put me back down, but didn't let go. He still kept hold of me. And God, he smelled good. A subtle hint of a musky ocean wave lifted up off his skin and right into my nose. I could feel his hot breath caress the side of my neck. And then he said, “I missed you.”

His lips half kissing that space between my ear and my shoulder. It sent tingles all over my skin and got me kind of excited. If he didn't stop, I'd soon have a key to start his engine. I had to think about things that disgusted me: rye break, the series of Friends, republicans.

But soon enough, I found my boner killer. I saw the bartender was looking right at me. She wasn't shooting daggers at me or spitting up spite from her eye sockets. No, it was warm and compassionate. She had shoulder-length hair with slight curls, sparkling green eyes, and a perfect nose with a soft hook at the end. And she seemed to almost be giving a look of appreciation? Dare I say gratitude? The questions were enough for my little guy to go back down.

Finally, Rouk let go of me. I was both relieved and disappointed.

“C'mon, man. Have a seat,” he said while fervently motioning his hand forward.

I nodded my head while wearing this smile that practically swallowed my face. I didn't want to look desperate. So far, so good, right?

We both sat directly in front of the girl he was kissing. “What'll it be?” she said, focusing her attention on me. I noticed how she hadn't yet looked at Rouk since I first noticed her looking at me.

I blew my face up with a quick-made balloon of air as it slowly deflated through a pin-sized hole I'd shaped in the center of my mouth. I then said, “Well, ummmm…” I looked at Rouk as if he'd know what to say next.

“Hey, don't worry,” he said while tapping my arm with the back of his hand. “Get whatever you want.”

I looked back to her.

She nodded her head, knowingly, and said, “It's a perk when you're fucking the bartender.”

I didn't mean to, but a small guffaw just seemed to slip out. I really, really didn't want to react like that.

“Kid, this is Kazzie,” Rouk said, nodding his head to the side. “She's a friend I like to, ugh, play… with when I'm in town.”

He did that thing where he slid his eyes over to her while having this slick smile.

She tapped his shoulder as if saying, settle. If I didn't know any better, it would seem like she was trying to not make me jealous. She then looked back at me and said, “Rouk has told me a lot about you.”

“Really?” I said, looking back and forth between them while not meaning to make that sound as aw, shucks as I did.

“Of course, man,” Rouk jumped in. “If it weren't for you, home ec would have been boring as hell.”

No, I didn't make elaborate recipes or knew how to cook. In fact, it was quite the opposite. My culinary accomplishments were legendary. Burnt wasn't even the proper term for my food. Try decimating. I once made a cherry pie that tasted like it was made for a commercial. In how they use glue, linoleum, and other inedible materials to make that crap look appetizing.

He patted his stomach. “Man, I could still feel that pie going in the other direction.” He laughed a few times, while I coldly arched an eyebrow. “But, hey, remember how Mason Freeply reacted to it?” He jutted his chin up to me in this you get me? kind of motion.

I looked up to the side as and laughed, myself, at that one.

“I don't think he came to school for a week,” he said, looking back at Kazzie. “But, hey, asshole deserved it. He was a fuckhead that wouldn't stop messin' with my good buddy, Kid, over here.” He rubbed his hand on my hair as he said that.

After he stopped that and I combed my fingers through my hair to brush it back, Rouk then said, “But his slice maaaybe had a few eye drops in it.” He then looked at me and said, “Not sure who did that?” He winked at me.

“Roulk. You didn't,” I said, surprised.

“Damn right I did. No one messed with my man, over here.”

I rolled my eyes in an appreciative way while carrying this flirtatiously thoughtful grin.

“Rouk certainly has a way of taking care of his friends,” Kazzie said. And when I looked at he, she then winked at me. “I'm gonna make you one of the house specialties,” she said. “You're gonna love it.” She walked away.

I looked back to Rouk. Again, thinking of what to say next. But Rouk did that for me by saying, “Don't worry there, Kid, we're gonna show you a good time this weekend.” He then patted my hand twice.

I was still having apprehensions about the two days in front of me while thinking to myself, I still wanna ride, Rouk. But this ride was now stuck on the side of the road with it's engine light on. For the moment, at least. But knowing Rouk, the road ahead was bound to have some curves.

#homoerotic fiction #gay #gay story #seduction #gay seduction

2 notes · View notes

sweetswesf · 1 year

Text

Check In

What I Did

Responded to a post I was tagged in in the channel for the Black-male dominated professional engineering group I am in outside of work...was honest about what going through a layoff is like and how people should support people going through it and immediately regretted it

Got through 4 DAYS of 100 Days of Python in a day to catch up

Didn't work out...sat at my damn desk ALL day and neglected dishes and eating better and working out...all to catch up with Python

Received yet another request to meet with this CEO next week who made a random post about a podcast episode I did...I have no clue where it's going and why he has not given up on trying to meet ME after all these years, but we'll see...

Bumped my face against the cabinet door AGAINNN

Finished Alice & Wonderland finally a few days ago and couldn't help but draw parallels, pick out the themes, and cry when Alice slayed the Jabberwocky! "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"...that's what I'm going to do with these things I've been battling

online shopped for like 2 hours (I know...way too long) for back to back days because they're having a special: spend $150 and get $100...I'm very indecisive because I don't have much time to shop and don't want to do it often, and the stuff I buy tends to stay with me for YEARS...and I had a LOT of gift cards at Free People (THAT IS MY STORE!!!)...I bought these! Hopefully they fit, hopefully it was worth it...I feel like I keep trying with little pieces...one day, people are going to be sending me my designer wardrobes for free...these are going to hold me over and hopefully inspire me to the attract the opportunities that help get me there; I like comfortable, cute, unique, different things...with a feminine hippie undertone:

What I Learned

They say people will be more attracted to you the less they know about you, and for someone as open and vulnerable as me, this has been hard...I guess this is why I feel like this blog is so therapeutic: I can get my feelings out, have them read without knowing who the reader is and without the reader knowing who I am

Feeling

Dependent on my friend...I really look forward to meeting with her biweekly; she couldn't come to our meeting today and I felt a little sad...it made me scared because I'm so used to being left/made to look dumb

Accomplished...I've built Hangman, Rock, Paper, Scissors, and a few other things; I regretted starting the 100 Days of Python since I already know the language instead of going harder on the Algos, but I am doing it to get to the harder lessons on stuff I don't know and just to get faster with the language which will help me both in the algos and on the job eventually, especially since, I tend to lose my train of thought mid-algo sometimes...Like today, I figured out how to add recursion to my problem by accident, and recursion is really difficult for me...PLUS, I'm learning a lot of new tricks and resources I never knew of even in these beginning lessons...most importantly it's getting me up to work at my desk and reminding me that I can sit for long, knock out some Pomodoros and ...I worked more hours yesterday than I have in one setting all month...

My A1C levels are on the bridge for pre-diabetes...like if I was 0.1 over on my score, I would be considered pre-diabetic...so I need to get that in check...I was inspired to check by this healthy Black YouTuber Hallease and my grandmother has diabetes...that life is NOT fun...movement helps but it contradicts going hard on this interview prep stuff...I added the Pomodoro Gym Chrome extension to make sure I get up because my FitBit watch KEEPS giving me a rash...I hate it...

Glad I overcame the paranoid thoughts of having a brain issue...

Sad at all the time I've wasted in the past on social media procrastinating from doing the work and making things harder for myself

Glad I meet weekly with an old colleague...white girl gets me and we relate...but she reminds me of an old friend that ended up ghosting me and acting like she didn't know me...PEOPLE are hard to trust

Takeaways

I'm going to get better at this stuff

I'm not getting fat...looking in the mirror I see more definition in my body despite me feeling chubby cheeked in the Google Meets video

Going to start doing Advent of Code: 25 Python challenges in the month of December...happens every year since 2015...I attempted once and gave up after like a day; FINALLY found the name of it after reaching out to a mentor to me who helped me get ad revenue on my project from bootcamp

I don't judge homeless people who spend money on drugs or other non-essentials...it's a HUMAN thing to spend things on what feels good in the moment and lose sight of what the money is really for...we're all trying

I can't judge people who are laid off, collecting unemployment, or food stamps, etc.

I believe I am going through a lot of these experiences to become more humble and judge less

Taking this time to focus on building skills is a good thing...I'd rather do it now than when I'm too old...I saw another guy on LinkedIn leave his good job to do the same: train up skills as he knew he wouldn't be able to work and do both...I'm excited to see who I will become after I learn these skills

I don't like my gym crush anymore...I embarrassed myself trying to get his attention in the gym and it was like chasing down a child...I already attract attention being this short, bulky, Black girl amongst all the men on the weights level...I noticed his new neck tattoo of praying hands and it just read to me "irresponsible spending" and I know I shouldn't think that way because I just bought clothes when I have PLENTY of them already and nowhere to go...we all try...

I have to stop panicking and getting in my head

How I Got Myself Out of a Rut

Prayer; reminding myself that God won't leave me

Pushed myself to finish the coding lessons

Told myself that I won't be in this forever, I'm going to get better, I'm limitless, and me getting to the next level is predicated on MY actions

Goals Completed

Found a therapist

Stopped listening to people worried about their own circumstances and remembering God works on his own time and that I am in no rush...

Got back on the ball

Being kinder to myself and stopping guilting myself if my energy isn't always on 100%

Goals To Complete

Strengthen my relationship with God

Understand the main concepts I need to from Interview Cake, AlgoExpert, etc. in 6 months, NOT less than 3

Drop my body fat percentage to Marion Jones, Michaela Cole, or Jade Cargill levels

Consistently fight urge to fill up my time with social media/YouTube

Fully forgive my family & build a great relationship with them

Be more confident & faithful

250 steps/hour & 10k steps/daily consistently

Drink more than 64oz a day consistently

Go on a date with a guy I actually like who actually likes me too

Learn more about my gym crush & get him to ask for my number

Get a house similar to that one in Spain

Update my personal app

Complete 100 Days of Python

Complete Advent of Code

Decorate the plastic Christmas tree with the ornaments I HAD to buy

2 notes · View notes

coolcattime · 2 years

Text

So me and my friend have been playing The Quarry (the spirital sequel to Until Dawn) and I just wanted to ramble about some thoughts/story changes I would've wanted. Spoilers under the read more.

As a general note this is the status of all the characters in our first and currently only finished playthrough: Conselors: Laura (Alive but imprisoned), Max (Killed by Caleb in Chp. 10), Abigail (Killed by Nick in Chp. 6), Kaitlyn (Killed by Caleb in Chp. 10), Nick (Alive but infected), Emma (Killed by Max in Chp. 4), Ryan (Died by bleeding out in Chp. 9), Dylan (Killed by Caleb in Chp. 10), Jacob (Alive) Other Characters: Chris (Killed by Ryan in Chp. 9), Travis (Alive), Jedediah (Alive), Bobby (Alive), Constance (Killed by Laura in Chp. 9), Caleb (Alive), The White Wolf (Alive and literally not mentioned in the playthrough until the who is alive/dead montage)

Ending: 9/10 Evidence pieces found (Attack Photo was missing). Remaining Hackett Family members arrested for the murder of the two missing hikers.

I think the map is a really cool feature, it helps to actually know the layout of the place we're spending time, even if I don't think the travel time between characters ever comes up.

Max being playable really feels tacked on so they can say 9 playable characters. His choice of 50/50 dead/alive feels cheap, especially when he's had nothing prior to do in game. They could've very easily given him a scene or two in the police station, or given him a chase sequence so his death could at least feel justified and not a random chance.

Harum Scarum feels really weird for a circus that was meant to be happening in 2015. Like I had assumed the circus plotline was meant to be at least a couple of decades back, like the miners in Until Dawn or the prologue storylines of Man of Medan and Little Hope. Like it felt really strange for a circus with such an old aesthetic to be so modern. I admit, I don't frequent circuses so maybe I'm missing something but I just thought it was out of place.

Sticking to the same topic, the tarot system is interesting. I like the aesthetic and having to choose which premonition you want to see adds a little more thinking onto the system, but that makes it really frustrating that some of the premonitions are just really bad. Now, the other games also have some bad premonitions a lot of them, but in the other games you can view all the premonitions so you can't miss a very useful one simply because you picked up a not useful one. This, combined with the fact that we couldn't find any way to make the premonition viewed bigger like in the previous game just made then feel a lot less useful. We literally got two that were events that were guaranteed to happen with the Chariot (which always happens, and therefore seems a bit odd of a premonition in the first place) and the Sun showed us Jacob alive, our final scene with Jacob put him in no danger. Also, while we didn't collect it The Hierophant is a really cool scene, I wish you could always get it and that it didn't come at the cost of one of the other premonitions. Also a kinda funny side note is my friend who I was playing with actually reads tarots and seeing their expressions at Eliza's reading of each card was a highlight.

Final problem related to the tarot, collecting them feels very annoying. The idea of them being in the camera angles and not physically being collected by the characters is cool, but it makes them really easy to miss because the camera angle will only switch at very specific points. A very clear example of this is the prologue where there's two paths around the area where the Fool is for seemingly no reason but making it possible to miss the card. Obviously the cards should be missable, but having to walk through every possible path of giant open areas to try and find them when they don't even have the advance of the other collectable of being highlighted when close to them, felt a little frustrating.

Some of the paths seem a little miss leading or don't really lead to anything, but that might be lessened with later playthroughs.

Lastly, we experienced a couple of glitches throughout the game. Most of them were visual issues, with clues and evidence only loading in as we interacted with them, or Abigail's hair shaking rapidly up and down during her talk with Nick in the pool house. Then there was some audio bugs where dialogue would restart or repeat as it had started before the visuals weren't ready, or the lines had continued into the pause screen. However, we also had a glitch where, I assume from shooting too close to the end of the timer, we had Abi shoot Nick, but then the game not register that and Nick killing her anyway. The tiles didn't get shoot of the walk either so I don't think we missed the shot. It was just a bit confusing.

Overall, I do really like the game. Don't take my ramblings as the game being bad, I just like the ramble about my thoughts and if I disliked the game I would not be spending so much time thinking about it. If you want a fun slasher experience and liked Until Dawn, you'll like the Quarry. And I can't wait for The Devil in Me to come out for more horror experience (this time, hopefully, Jigsaw style).

#cat's rambling

3 notes · View notes